Chess Challenge Playoffs (7 April)

We had an great time, 170 players, of whom 83 went home with trophies. Full report here!

Chess Challenge playoff practice #2 (31 March)

We had an excellent tournament, 35 players, playing in four sections. The room was much quieter than the previous event, and the quality of play seemed higher, at least on the lower sections.

Three players scored 100%, Rohan Talukdar in the A section, Ricky Wiebe in the B-section, and Peter Avdoulos in the D section. Altogether, 5 gold and 12 silver medals were given.

Take a look at the list of all the top-scoring players here.

Thanks to William Cheung, Terry McAlinden and Herb Alice for being arbiters, and Anita Salamone for being the snacks lady.

The playoffs are on April 7th. Info here!

Chess Challenge playoff practice (17 March)

We had 30 players for this event, playing in four sections. The idea was partly that the kids could practice playing in a "real" event with long time controls, and partly so the organisers could practice using a computer for pairings.

Two players scored 100%, Bilal Ahmed in the D section, and Jeffrey Zhu in the C section. Very many games were hard-fought, resulting in multiple ties for top places.

Take a look at the list of all the top-scoring players here.

Thanks to William Cheung and Herb Alice for being arbiters, Maureen Schiller for doing the registration, and Anita Salamone for being the snacks lady. Last but not least, Terry McAlinden fixed my mouse, making it a lot easier to operate the laptop.

Next playoff practice tournament is on March 31. Info here!

Chess Challenge practice tournament (18 February 2012)

This tournament was sold out, and registration was closed a couple of days before the event. There were a couple of no-shows - flu - and the final number was 38 players.

So, 38 players in 4 sections... in the very strong A-section, Minya Bai came 1st - again - winning every game. There was a 3-way tie for 2nd between Rohan Talukdar, Lukas Cheung, and Zhehai Zhang. In the B-section, Yoyo Zhou won every game, gaining 118 rating points in the process. Lorenzo Pernasilici, Rahma Gillan, and Frank Hou tied for 2nd, excellent results for all of them. Lorenzo was undefeated, with two wins and three draws.

Yoyo Zhou

The other undefeated player on the day was Vithushan Krishnamohan, in the C-section. Jie Hu and Tian Hou tied for 2nd, followed by Jack Li and Rose Forshaw.

Jathushan Krishnamohan was the big winner in the D-section, winning five games and drawing one. Alessia Pernasilici, playing in her first tournament, score 5 out of 6, losing only to Jathushan. Rony Naim came 3rd... he managed to draw with Jathushan, but lost to Alessia.

Many thanks to the hard-working volunteers, William Cheung, Eric Forshaw, Emily Robinson, and Herb Alice. The snack lady was Maureen Schiller. As usual, I cruised about with a coffee, cracking the whip.

Guelph Pro-Am (11-12 February 2012)

Three Windsor players braved our first snow of the year to drive to Guelph for the winter edition of the Pro-Am.

The playing hall is very spacious, each game is at an individual table. There are three sections in the event, Pro, under 2000, and under 1600. In the very strong pro-section, Vlad Drkulec finished in the middle of the pack after an unfortunate last-round draw with his nemesis, Tery Song. In the under-1600 section, Rachel Tao tied for 4th, with two wins, two draws, and one loss. An excellent result for Rachel. Ellen Tao was the lowest-rated player, but managed a draw with someone rated almost 400 points higher. All the Windsor players gained rating points.

More pictures from Ed Tao, here.

Chess Challenge practice tournament (4 February 2012)

We had a huge turnout, 44 players, in a room which can comfortably hold 36. Fortunately, the library had a couple of extra tables. We had enough chairs for players, but parents mostly had to stand. I borrowed chess sets from the adult chess club next door, so we were okay for sets. In the very strong A-section, Minya Bai came 1st, with Erica Forshaw 2nd, and Lily Zhou 3rd, and excellent result for Lily, playing in the top section for the first time. Yup, all the winners were girls.

In the B-section, it was all boys taking home medals, as Lorenzo Pernasilici took home the gold medal, with Prushoth Vivekanantha and You Zhou tying for silver.

The C-section featured two players tied for 1st, Kiran Menon and Jack Li. Three players took home bronze medals, Frank Hou, Vithushan Krishnamohan, and Jie Hu.

In the D-section, Shuhan Dai scored 5½/6 to come first. Taking chess lessons certainly pays off, eh? Stefano Lee was 2nd, and Bilal Ahmed was 3rd.

Many thanks to the intrepid volunteers, Eric Forshaw, William Cheung, and Herb Alice. The snack lady was Maureen Schiller.

February 18th tournament NOW SOLD OUT

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Universal Mall (Michigan) Quads (28 January 2012)

Erica Forshaw was the Canadian high-flier in Michigan, beating players rated 1260, 1378, and 1517 on her way to a huge rating gain. At the other end of the scale was Vlad Drkulec, who had problems with his blood sugar again, and came home without a smile. Vlad is Erica's coach... maybe they did a brain exchange?

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Chess Challenge practice tournament (21 January 2012)

Lots of dancing chess players tonight.... in the 6-player A-section there was a 4-way tie for first, and no time for playoffs. Of course, they all wanted a first-place medal, and refused to be bought off with money instead. Congratulations, I guess to Erica Forshaw, Minya Bai, Jeffrey Zhu, Zhehai Zhang, who all scored 3/5.

There was something similar in the B-section. Lily Zhou won every game, Prushoth Vivekanantha came second, and then... can you believe, a 3-way tie for 3rd, between Karthik Baskaran, Kiran Menon, and Emily Deng. This is getting like soccer, where you get a medal just for showing up.

The C-section welcomed 4 new players from H.J.Lassaline school, and 2 new players from Talbot Trail. You Zhou scored 5½/6, so the Zhou siblings (Lily and You) didn't lose a game today. Frank Hou, Jack Li, and Rose Forshaw tied for 2nd, and... what the heck, Jie Hu took home a bronze medal for coming in a half-point behind.

Thanks to Emily Robinson and Terry McAlinden for looking after the sections, and William Cheung for keeping general order. Maureen Schiller was the snacks lady.

The next tournament will be February 4, click here for info.

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Michigan Class Championships (14-15 January, 2012)

There were a whole bunch of Windsor players in Lansing for the 2012 Michigan Class Championships: Vlad, Brendon, Melissa, Frank, Zhehai, Jeannie, Lily, Rachel, Ellen, Jack... did I miss anyone? I wonder if we can get a quantity discount?? In general, the Windsor players did very well. Rachel Tao tied for 1st place in Class E (under 1200), winning $120. Lily Zhou was a half-point behind Rachel, tying for 3rd place (and 1st under 1100).

Frank Lee came first in class D (under 1400), and his son Brendon won the under-1700 prize in Class B. Melissa started off great, winning her first three games, but lost the last two.

In the novice section (under 1000), Jack Li won the under-700 trophy with 2½/5; Ellen Tao scored 3/5, but came home empty-handed.

Vlad wrote "I wish I had the kids' energy. When they weren't playing, they were running through the hotel playing hide and seek (I think Zhehai did the best job of disappearing). They also played blitz and one minute chess."

Lots of photographs here...

The next tournament will be: Jan 21, CMA-rated, at Riverside library (half-day)
tournament ad...

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January Sobeys Swiss (14 January 2012)

Half the usual crowd travelled to the Michigan Class Championships; I have to give the kids (and their parents) credit for energy.

Three of the 10 players at Sobeys were within one rating point of each other... Rohan Talukdar and Erica Forshaw at 1208, and Lukas Cheung at 1207. Minya Bai was 4th-rated at 1146.

Erica and Minya tied for first with 2½/3, and Rohan and Brian Bashura tied for 3rd with 2 points. Lukas made a couple of miracle saves, incredible. In the final game, he had only a queen remaining, against queen, rook, knight, bishop, and a bunch of pawns. Draw!! You've heard of the "crazy rook" drawing technique... we had a "crazy queen".

Kiran Menon won the under 1000 trophy.

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Canadian Junior Chess Championship (5-8 January, 2012)

Brendon Lee and his sister Melissa Lee took a family trip out to Calgary for the Canadian Junior Chess Championship. Brendon finished in 7th place, with 3/7, while Melissa scored 3½/5 to finish 3rd in the parallel girls section.

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The next tournaments will be:

Jan 14, CFC-rated, at Sobeys (all day, 3 games, slow chess)
Jan 21, CMA-rated, at Riverside library (half-day, 5 games, quick chess)
Click here for tournament ads

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Chess Challenge Practice Tournament (7 January 2012)

We had a good turnout, 26 players in three sections.

In the A-section, Jeremy Matthews showed no signs of rust, as he prevailed in a very strong top section. Rohan Talukdar was second, and Rachel Tao and Erica tied for third. In the B-section, Lukas Cheung continued his winning ways, scoring 4½/5, despite being 4th-ranked. He gained 120 rating points! Zhehai Zhang was second, and Joshua Mathews was third.

In the 14-player C-section, Prushoth Vivekanatha and Karthik Baskaran tied for first with 5/6. Kiran Menon came 3rd. On second thought, I've decided to award 4th place medals, because this was such a big section. Congratulations to Lorenzo Pernasilici, Emily Deng, and You Zhou, who tied for 4th. I'll give those medals out at the next tournament.

Thanks to William Cheung for his work looking after the biggest section. Monique Forshaw was the snacks lady.

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Holiday tournaments (28 and 29 December 2011)

We had two good tournaments at Sobeys. On Wednesday, there were 12 players; Erica Forshaw won every game, so she got her entry fee back. Lily Zhou played a wonderful attacking game against Prushoth Vivekanantha, relentless pressure for 50 moves, till Prushoth cracked. In the top section, trophies were won by Erica, Minya Bai, and David DeForest. For the lower half (rated under 1000), Lily Zhou was the only player to score more than 50%, so she came first, followed by Emily Deng and You Zhou. On Thursday, we were at capacity with 16 players. Many of the same people as Wednesday... these kids have more energy than I. Lukas Cheung was the champ, winning all three games. Rhama Gillan scored 2½. There were a whole bunch of players tied at 2 points, so I let the computer-generated tiebreaks decide the trophies... in the top half, Lukas Cheung, David Deforest, and Burak Yilmaz took home shiny stuff. In the bottom half, it was Rhama Gillan, Kiran Menon, and Lily Zhou. Most of the stronger players used the time appropriately, particularly Erica, David, Burak, Lukas, and Lily. Most of the younger players move much too quickly... if you are playing so fast you can’t write down the moves accurately, you are going too fast. The Chess Challenge practice tournaments will be starting soon at Riverside Library... the first one is on Saturday, January 7th. The ad for January 7th is here. Only days left till the 2012 Chess Challenge, February 27 - 28 Click here for the Chess Challenge website All future tournament dates here.

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Chess in London (8 December 2011)

There was an active tournament in London... London Ontario, that is. Mostly adult players from the London area. It is an exhausting day, I should think. Two hour drive, FIVE games, and then a two hour drive home. Vlad Drkulec tied for first place with 4½/5, Rachel Tao played well to score 50%, and Erica Forshaw brought up the rear, winning on the board, but losing on the clock. It's tough to play 30 minute games with no increment.

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Chess in Michigan

Motor City Open (26-27 November 2011) Vlad Drkulec played in the open section, with mixed results, scoring 3½/6. Shaumik Baki played in the u1800 section, also scoring 3½, and placing 9th. In the under 1400 section, Zhehai Zhang scored 5/6 to place 2nd, while Jeremy Mathews scored 4/6 to come 4th. Minya Bai was tied for 7th, with a score of 3½. Erica Forshaw and Joshua Mathews tied for first in the under 1000 section with 4/5. Report from Vlad Drkulec.

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Michigan Scholastic (4 December 2011) Four kids from the Friday night chess group went to the 15th Annual Universal K-12 Scholastic Championship in Michigan on Saturday December 4th. In K-8 section, both Lily Zhou and Jeannie Zhang, apparently recovered playing opposition at the WYCC in Brazil, won all 4 games easily. Lily defeated a boy with a 1253 USCF rating in the last round and won the 1st place trophy by tie break, Jeannie won 2nd place trophy. In the same section, Jie Hu was pleased to win a game despite that she learned chess only 2 months ago.

In K-3 section, Jack Li easily won 4 games and brought home the 2nd place trophy by tie break.

Photographs here from George Zhou.

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World Youth Chess Championship (17 -26 November 2011)

The four Windsor players scored 16½/36, or 46%, on the Canadian team for the World Youth Chess Championship in Brazil. This is a little worse than the Canadian team as a whole, which scored 176½/360, or 49%. The most successful Canadian player was Michael Song, who placed 3rd in the under-12 boys section. The Windsor Friday Knights chess club supplied 10% of the Canadian team, more than any junior chess club in Canada. Congratulations to Vlad Drkulec and the other strong players who help out on Fridays. Rohan Talukdar scored 4 points, and placed 50th out of 86 players in the under-8 open section Jeannie Zhang scored 5 points, and placed 19th out of 56 players in the under-8 girls section Lily Zhou scored 4 points, and placed 41st out of 67 players in the under-10 girls group Rachel Tao scored 3½ points, and placed 63rd out of 88 players in the under-12 girls group The official website is here The Canadian blog, with a million photographs, is here

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Michigan Women's Championship (19 November 2011)

Three Windsor girls went to the Michigan Women's Championship, and all brought home hardware. The most successful was Erica Forshaw, winning every game... can't get much more successful than that! Erica brought home a BIG trophy. Melissa Lee scored 50%, good enough for top C class player in the open section. Ellen Tao won a trophy in the reserve section. Photographs here...

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World Youth Chess Championship (17 -26 November 2011)

There are four Windsor players on the Canadian team for the World Youth Chess Championship, which will be held in a resort in Brazil. Jeannie Zhang will be playing in the under-8 girls section Rohan Talukdar will be playing in the under-8 open section Lily Zhou will be playing in the under-10 girls section Rachel Tao will be playing in the under-12 girls section The official website is here The Canadian blog, with a million photographs, is here Photographs of Windsor players on the flight and arrival at the airport here...

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Michigan Scholastic (12 November 2011)

Thirteen Windsor players from the Friday Knights went to Michigan for the Michigan Scholastic team competition. Our teams won second in K-8, fifth in K-5 and 7th in K-3 despite not having as full a complement of players as many of the other teams. Individual results and lots of photographs here...

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Chess in the Windsor Star (7 November 2011)

The Windsor Star has carried a couple of articles on the four Windsor players going to Brazil for the World Youth Chess Championships (WYCC).

The first article was on Rohan Talukdar, and then a second article on the other three... Jeannie Zhang, Lily Zhou, and Rachel Tao.

We've had a couple of practice sessions to try and get the kids used to the very long time control at the WYCC - a game might take as long as five or six hours!

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Dearborn International (29-30 October 2011)

Several Windsor players crossed the border for this big event. The player with the biggest smile at the end was the youngest...

Ellen Tao played in the under-1000 section, scoring 2½/5 and placing first under-600. Ellen won a big trophy and $75.

Joshua Mathews also played in the under-1000 section, and placed second, with a score of 3½/5.

In the open section, Vlad Drkulec scored 3/5, losing only to a GM and an IM, and winning a little money. In the under-1800 section, Shaumik Baki scored 3/5 to tie for first under-1600, an excellent result.

In the under-1400 section, Jeremy Mathews led the Windsor contingent with 3½ points, tying for second. Frank Lee and Rachel Tao both scored 2½, with Rachel gaining 43 rating points.

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Canadian Women's Chess Championship (8-10 October 2011)

Two local girls played in the 2011 Canadian Women's Chess Championship over Thanksgiving weekend in Toronto. Rachel Tao (the lowest rated player in the tournament) wanted to go as practice run for Brazil and Melissa Lee wanted a field trip to Toronto's old Chinatown.

Rachel finished with 1/6 and Melissa finished with 3/6 with some strong players. Unfortunately they had to play each other in the last round. We also ran into a couple of former Windsor chess kids playing the Thanksgiving Open under 2000 section - Hanyuan Ye and Yimang Yang.

The reults and crosstables can be found here for the girls and the former Windsorites. Report from Frank Lee.

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Fall Pro-Am Report (1-2 October 2011)

We had a total of 24 players, not a bad turnout for the first weekend swiss in 25 years.

The site was excellent, carpeted, windows, even a fireplace! There was a large lobby for skittles, with computers connected to the internet, and a coffee shop for the caffeine addicts.

There were 8 players in the top section, and top-rated Vladimir Drkulec breezed through the field, winning first prize of $200, with a $50 bonus for winning all four games. Laurentiu Grigorescu was second, despite a first-round loss to Jesse Goron. The under 1800 prize was split three ways between Melissa Lee, Terry Coulombe, and Jesse Goron.

In the Amateur section, Tony Bohan Bao won all four games, playing with a very confident, mature style. Zhehai Zhang came second. The Under 11 trophy was won by Dilpreet Chana, with a second-place tie between Jeannie Zhang, Prushoth Vivekanantha, and Karthik Baskaran. Upkar Chana won the sportsmanship award.

A crosstable showing only the players who scored more than 50% is here. A full crosstable is available on request. The ratings will be done late Wednesday, and will be posted on the CFC website.

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Rating gains (2 Sept 2011)

Report from Denton Cockburn

Remember that according to the rating system (ELO) used in chess, 100 points = twice as good, and 150 = roughly 3 times as good. We've had a few people that have gained a significant amount of rating points in the past year.

This list is generated from a quick look over our rating changes. Let me know if I've missed anyone...

Numbers are: 1-year ago, now, and gain

• Shaumik Baki: 1302, 1572, +270
• Jeannie Zhang: 856, 1020, +164
• Lukas Cheung: 1040, 1196, +156
• Denton Cockburn: 2141,2249, +108
• Rohan Talukdar: 1065, 1173, +108
• Istvan Kiraly: 2085, 2174, +89
• Joshua Myers: 1630, 1710, +80

Shaumik has gained a LOT of points. This means that if Shaumik-of-Today was to play Shaumik-of-Last-Year in a 6 game match, Shaumik-of-Today would win the match with a score of 5 games to 1.

Jeannie Zhang and Lukas Cheung have also increased significantly. These players are over 3 times as good as they were last year.

It's nice to see myself on the list, I've gained over 100 points, which isn't an easy feat when you're already about 2100. Rohan is keeping exact pace with me, which is a testament to how much he studies.

While Istvan Kiraly and Josh Myers didn't double their strength, they have shown a big increase in their strength over the last year. I've recently told Josh that he has until the end of this year to get to 1800.

A big congratulations to all our big performers for their excellent hard work over the past year.

Denton

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August tournament report (20 Aug 2011)

A very nice turn-out today, which was very gratifying.

We had 9 players in the Amateur section and 6 players in the pro section. Jeffrey Zhu got to play in the Pro section, where his closest opponent was 300 points away.

In the Amateur section, we ended up with a crazy 4 way tie for first! Minya Bai, Lukas Cheung, Zhehai Zhang and Prushoth Vivekanantha scored 3/4. They didn't even make the tie-breaks easy, as there was a circle among the first 3. Minya beat Zhehai, who beat Lukas, who beat Minya! Based on the tie-break though, Zhehai came first, Minya second, and Lukas third. Congratulations to all these players for doing so well.

You'd think the Pro section would make it easier, but you'd be wrong. We had a 3 way tie for first in this section! Joshua Myers, Shaumik Baki and Terry Coulombe all scored 3/4 (which is pretty ridiculous). Terry McAlinden and Jesse Goron served as the lambs in this group, not joining the 3/4 club. There were some really good games in this group. Terry McAlinden resigned in a theoretically drawn position with Terry Coulombe (ouch), which I showed them after the game. Oh well, live and learn.

I'm moving more toward league tournaments, so this is probably my last 1-day tournament for a while (due to inconsistent turn-outs). Thank you to everyone that have come to the tournaments that I organized.

Denton

Updated CFC ratings for Windsor players

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Massey high school chess team

This is not "news" at all, but I overlooked the information when it was sent to me a few months ago.

The Massey team finished second this year in the CMA Ontario Scholastics Chess Team Championship with a team score of 4/5. The event was held in Toronto. The Massey team has had a good run at this event capturing medals 4 in the 6 years they have entered.

• 2006 Bowen Jiang, Brendon Lee, Eric Sonenvirth, Frank Ban - First in Grade 7-9 Section
• 2007 Bowen Jiang, Brendon Lee, Eric Sonenvirth, Melissa Lee - Third in the K-12 Section
• 2008 Bowen Jiang, Brendon Lee, Eric Sonenvirth, Melissa Lee - fourth in the K-12 Section
• 2009 Bowen Jiang, Brendon Lee, Melissa Lee, Eric Sonenvirth - First in the K-12 Section
• 2010 Bowen Jiang, Brendon Lee, Melissa Lee, Joseph Zhou - fourth in the K-12 Section

This year's edition of the team consisted of Bowen Jiang, Joseph Zhou, Melissa Lee, and Mohan Wu. The two veterans Bowen and Melissa were consistent as usual scoring 4.5/5 and 4/5 respectively. Joseph did a nice job stepping up into second board which was left vacant due Brendon's graduation last year with a score of 3/5. The rookie Mohan had an excellent debut on the fourth board taking 4 out of 5.

This will be Bowen's last year playing first board for the team due to his pending graduation this summer.

The Massey team was invited to the 2011 Team Championship Ontario vs Quebec (June 11th) in Kingston after their 2nd place finish on March 5th in the Ontario Team Championship in Toronto. The team of Bowen Jiang, Joseph Zhou, Melissa Lee and Mohan Wu finished in the hardware for the first time in Massey's fourth appearance in this event, claiming the Bronze.

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Canadian Youth Chess Championship (6-9 July 2011)

It was a record turnout in Richmond Hill (just north of Toronto), 237 players, including 13 from Windsor. Some of the Windsor players did very well, others struggled with the tough competition at a national championship.

Notable successes include... Jeannie Zhang, 2nd, Under 8 girls Rohan Talukdar, tied 2nd, Under 8 open Lily Zhou, tied 3rd, Under 10 girls Rachel Tao, 3rd, Under 12 girls Other players who did well are Joshua Myers, who gained rating points by scoring 50% despite being paired up in almost every game. The same thing happened to Michael O'Neil. Complete final standings at the CYCC website.

Lots of pictures at the Monroi website and some pictures of local players here.

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