Tag: Upcoming Events

The Hart House Spring Junior Open is back for another year and is open to anyone born in 2006 or later! The tournament is an opportunity for up and coming juniors to play other juniors and utilize free onsite expert-analysis from some of UofT’s top chess players.

With two sections for anyone U1300 or new-to-chess, this is the perfect opportunity to bring families and young children to their first chess tournament. It is also a great opportunity to meet some of UofT’s best chess players and explore Hart House and the University of Toronto. We look forward to welcoming families and young chess enthusiasts to the magnificent Music Room on March 24th.

Where: Music Room, Hart House, University of Toronto
When: Sunday, March 24th, 2024
Rounds: 9:30 am, 11:30 am, (lunch), 1:30 pm, 3:30 pm (Game Analysis available 10 am – 4 pm)
Award Ceremony: 6:00 pm or ASAP after round 4.
Style: 4 Round Swiss in 2 Rating Sections: U1300, and U900.
Time Control: 30 minutes plus 30 seconds per move from move 1, for all sections.
Rating: All sections will be CFC Classical Rated (Chess Federation of Canada).
Byes: Maximum 1 half-point byes in rounds 1-3, if requested in advance before the start of Round 1.
Prizes: Trophies for top three finishers and top girl in each section. First and second place receives in both sections also receive 1 tickets to either Rd 6 or Rd 7 Candidates. 
Entry Fee: $40 for online registrations before 11:59 PM March 22nd. 
Arbiters: Hart House Chess Club provided
Organizer: Hart House Chess Club
Game Analysis: Free expert-level analysis will be provided by UofT’s Varsity Chess Team and other U of T players (see below).
Notation: 
E-mail: hhchess@studentorg.utoronto.ca

Other Info: Chess sets and clocks will be provided

CFC Memberships: Registrants must create a CFC ID before registering. Paid CFC memberships are not required as this is a juniors-only tournament with time controls. Rating fees will be covered by HHCC. Unrated players will get a CFC Regular Rating after this tournament and are welcome and encouraged to play! 

Parents: WiFi will be provided and you can use rooms such as the Reading Room, or Burwash Room (skittles/analysis room) while waiting for games to finish. 

Withdrawals: Full refund by March 10, Refunds from March 11th to close of online registrations are charged $10 fee.  

Registration: 

• All players must have been born on or after year 2006. Tournament is for juniors 18 and under.
• Online registration is recommended and available until March 22nd at 11:59pm. 
• Extra $10 to play up a section. Playing up is allowed only for players within 100 rating points of the section’s minimum rating. The $10 added play up fee is charged in-person. For example: a player in the Under 900 section who wants to play up in the Under 1300 section must have a rating no lower than 800.
• The tournament will admit up to 45 participants. 

Photography:

HHCC will aim to provide an official photographer for this event. By signing up, you permit HHCC the ability to take and use photos from the tournament on its social media. If you would not like your photo used, please email us.

Game Analysis:

Game analysis will be provided by UofT’s Varsity Chess Team and other strong players after each round in the Burwash Room. All players are encouraged to show their games to HHCC player’s for their feedback and learn from their games. 

Standings and Pairings

U1300 Section
U900 Section

Pre-Registration

If there are any corrections, please let us know via email to hhchess@studentorg.utoronto.ca. Please do not call Hart House as they are not informed about the specific details of the tournament. 

See the 2019 Spring Junior Tournament for more details of the last time we ran this event!

On March 3rd, 2023, 20 players joined the Hart House Chess Club for its 2023 Fischer Random Championship. With lightning striking and snow falling, a phenomenon very rarely seen, travelling to Hart House was treacherous and only a handful travelled from outside the University to the event.  The event consisted of 6 single rounds of chess with a built in “study time” to prepare for each position. This was unlike any other event in Canada and we hoped to showcase the interesting games that arise from this incredible chess variant. Conveniently, this year’s Fischer Random Championship occurred on March, 3rd, 2023, 6 days before the birthday of Bobby Fischer himself on March 9th, 1943.   

Fischer Random Chess or Chess 960 is a variant of chess, which employs the same board and pieces as standard chess, but the starting position of the pieces on the players’ home ranks is randomized. Certain restrictions apply on the randomization, preserving the dynamic nature of the game by retaining bishops of opposite colors for each player and the right to castle for both sides. The result is 960 unique possible starting positions.

In this tournament, the same starting position was used for all games of the same round of the tournament, but for every new round of the tournament, there was be a new starting position.  

This year’s event started with top-seed IM Advait Patel missing because of the weather. Thus, WIM Yunshan Li and IM Nicholas Vettese entered as the top seeds. The resulting 6 rounds proved competitive, with IM Nicholas Vettese and Matthew Shih both tying for first at 5/6. However, in the ensuing playoff, IM Nicholas Vettese defeated Matthew 2-0 for first place overall. Jim Zhao took home clear third. 

Young prodigy from South Korea, unrated Isaak Huh, finished tied third with WIM Yunshan Li and Yixiao Wang, who both tied for top-woman. Isaak was the only player able to take off a win against Nicholas throughout the entire event.

Top U1600 was won by Joshua Bakradze and Michael Ashcroft.

There was another strong showing by UofT’s unrated players, as almost 50% of the field was yet again unrated.

Thank you for attending this year’s event and we hope to see you out here at Hart House again!

Original event post below:

FORMAT AND EVENT DETAILS

• WHEN: Friday, March 3rd, 7pm – 10pm.
• WHERE: Hart House (7 Hart House Cir, Toronto) – East Common Room
• WHAT: 6-round, single-section, single-round blitz event (Swiss) using a 5 minute + 2 second increment time control.
• RATED: Unrated
• ENTRY FEE: FREE for members, and $15 for non-members. Free for FMs at least 1 week before (email entry). In-person and online registration available.
• PRIZE FUND: Guaranteed $300 – $100 for first, $75 second, $50 third, $25 top-woman, $25 top-unrated, $25 top-U1600.
• SPECIAL PRIZES: All participants will be entered into a door prize for a HHCC t-shirt and toque.
• MAXIMUM CAPACITY: 68 players
• ORGANIZER: Hart House Chess Club
• NOTE: chess sets and boards provided

Positions will be released via random assignment from one of the 959 different positions (we will not use the original position) at the start of each round. Players will be given 3 minutes of “study time” before the round.

pre-registered, Standings, Pairings

https://chess-results.com/tnr737077.aspx?lan=1

CONTACT:

Any questions can be sent to: hhchess@studentorg.utoronto.ca

The Hart House Spring Junior Open is back this year and is open to anyone born in 2005 or later! The tournament is an opportunity for up and coming juniors to play other juniors and utilize free onsite expert-analysis from some of UofT’s top chess players.

With three sections for all skill levels, this is the perfect opportunity to bring families and young children to their first chess tournament. It is also a great opportunity to meet some of UofT’s best chess players and explore Hart House and the University of Toronto. We look forward to welcoming families and young chess enthusiasts to the magnificent Debates Room on March 18th.

Official Flyer – EVENT REPORT

Where: Debates Room, Hart House, University of Toronto
When: Saturday, March 18th, 2023
Rounds: 9:30 am, 11:30 am, (lunch), 1:30 pm, 3:30 pm (Game Analysis available 9:30 – 5:30)
Award Ceremony: 6:00 pm or ASAP after round 4.
Style: 4 Round Swiss in 3 Rating Sections: Open, U1300, and U900.
Time Control: 45 minutes plus 15 seconds per move from move 1, for all sections.
Rating: Both sections will be CFC Classical Rated (Chess Federation of Canada).
Byes: Maximum 1 half-point byes in rounds 1-3, if requested in advance before the start of Round 1.
Prizes: Trophies for top three finishers and top female player of each section.
Entry Fee: $40 for online registrations before midnight March 16th. 
Arbiters: Hart House Chess Club
Organizer: Hart House Chess Club
Game Analysis: Free expert-level analysis will be provided by UofT’s Varsity Chess Team (see below).
DGT Boards: DGT boards will be used for top 12 boards to aid in game analysis. 
E-mail: hhchess@studentorg.utoronto.ca

Other Info: Chess sets and clocks will be provided

CFC Memberships: Registrants do not need CFC memberships as this is a juniors-only tournament with time controls. Rating fees will be covered by HHCC. Unrated players will get a CFC Regular Rating after this tournament and are welcome and encouraged to play! 

Parents: WiFi will be provided and you can use rooms such as the Reading Room, Library, Map Room, or Burwash Room (skittles/analysis room) while waiting for games to finish. 

Coffee, snacks, and light refreshments will be provided for parents and players. 

Withdrawals: Full refund by March 10, Refunds from March 11to close of online registrations are charged $10 fee.  

Registration: TOURNAMENT SOLD OUT – WAITLISTS ARE OPEN – see HHYCC for our next junior event 

• All players must have been born on or after year 2005. Tournament is for juniors 18 and under.
• Online registration is recommended and available until March 16th at 11:59pm. Telephone and in-person registration also available through the Hart House HUB. You can join the waitlist to be informed of any openings. 
• Registrants after March 17th must pay on-site entry fee ($50). Extra $10 to play up a section. Playing up is allowed only for players within 100 rating points of the section’s minimum rating. The $10 added play up fee is charged in-person. For example: a player in the Under 900 section who wants to play up in the Under 1300 section must have a rating no lower than 800.
• The tournament will admit up to ~70 participants. 

Photography:

HHCC will aim to provide an official photographer for this event. See HHCC Holidays Open for examples of our tournament photos.

Game Analysis:

Game analysis will be provided by UofT’s Varsity Chess Team and other strong players after each round in the Burwash Room and Committees Room. All players are encouraged to record their moves and show them to HHCC player’s for their feedback and learn from their games. The Club will also utilize its storage of DGT Boards with move tracking to aid in the Varsity Team’s analysis and provide real-time analysis immediately following games. 

Results and Pairings

OPEN: https://chess-results.com/tnr743293.aspx?lan=1

U1300: https://chess-results.com/tnr745144.aspx?lan=1

U900: https://chess-results.com/tnr743294.aspx?lan=1

Pre-Registration 

The following are players pre-registered as of  March 17th. If there are any corrections, please let us know via email to hhchess@studentorg.utoronto.ca. 

See the 2019 Spring Junior Tournament for more details of the last time we ran this event!