This week's articles:

- Quebec Chess Challenge
- Ontario Chess Challenge

- New Brunswick Chess Challenge
- Saskatchewan Chess Challenge


 

QUEBEC CHESS CHALLENGE


                                   QUEBEC CHAMPIONS 2016

296 regional champions were invited to participate in the Quebec Chess Challenge, a five round super tournament held in Montreal on April 17. The best players in each school grade were crowned as the Quebec champions, earning them a spot on the provincial team at the national Canadian Chess Challenge.

To give you an idea of the strength of the competition, there were eleven players with perfect 5-0 scores: Luca Georgescu, Alex Jikai Yan, Mathéo Huard, Kevin Zhong, Richard Zheng, Haruaki Omichi, Qiuyu Huang, Tyler Tanaka, Maïli-Jade Ouellet, Alan Luo, and Nicholas Johnson.

But for two of these players, it was not enough to win first place.The fight for the title continued with playoff games. Alex Jikai Yan defeated defending champ Mathéo Huard in grade 1, while Qiuyu Huang won the honours for the fifth consecutive year in grade 5, over Tyler Tanaka. A true battle of nerves!

The twelve provincial grade champions will represent Quebec on May 22-23 at the nationals in Regina, Saskatchewan. Some of the 2016 champions, Qiuyu Huang, Maïli-Jade Ouellet, and Richard Zheng, already have Canadian titles to their credit. Good luck, Québec!

Kindergarten

    
1Luca GeorgescuMontreal5.0/5.0
2Lucas CautruSt-Laurent4.0/5.0
3Yunqi LiuMontreal4.5/6.0
    
4Michael ZhangMontreal3.5/6.0
5Nikita RamamonjisoaMontreal2.5/5.0
6Gabrielle SiroisSherbrooke2.5/5.0
7Elson YinLachine2.5/5.0
8Evan XuanMontreal2.5/5.0
9Nicolas BrunetGatineau2.5/5.0
10Jeffrey AnMontreal2.0/5.0


Yunqi Liu won the playoff against Michael Zhang.
 

                             Top 3 - Kindergarten.

Background: Lefong Hua, Quebec team captain.

Grade 1

    
1Alex Jikai YanVerdun6.0/6.0
2Mathéo HuardRouyn-Noranda5.0/6.0
3Éric LiuLachine5.0/6.0
    
4William HickesonMontreal4.0/6.0
5Nikaël DuquetGatineau3.5/5.0
6Michel MouradMontreal3.5/5.0
7Emery NottawayRouyn-Noranda3.0/5.0
8David LuoLachine3.0/5.0
9Ica HeMontreal3.0/5.0
10James LiMontreal3.0/5.0


Alex Jikai Yan won the playoff against Mathéo Huard.

Éric Liu won the playoff against William Hickeson.
 

Grade 1 champion: Alex Yan.                                      The Top 3.

Grade 2

    
1Kevin ZhongPierrefonds5.0/5.0
2Alexander ChangMontreal5.5/6.0
3Neilson TaoMontreal4.5/6.0
    
4Freddy XueKirkland4.0/5.0
5Kevin OmichiMontreal4.0/5.0
6Vincent LatorreMontreal4.0/5.0
7Richard BocanMontreal4.0/5.0
8Gwyn ChapdelaineMontreal3.0/5.0
9Ze Yue LiMontreal3.0/5.0
10Mathieu BéliveauBoischatel3.0/5.0


Alexander Chang won the playoff against Neilson Tao.
 

Grade 2 champion: Kevin Zhong.                                     The Top 3.
Kevin was the defending champion 2015.

Grade 3

    
1Richard Q. ZhengMontreal5.0/5.0
2Prince Éric Jr Guipi BopalaBlainville5.5/6.0
3Edgar CaoSt-Laurent4.5/6.0
    
4Rachel WangLongueuil4.0/5.0
5Chen Rui ZhangMontreal4.0/5.0
6Zachary NguyenSt-Laurent4.0/5.0
7Zhong Xuan LiMontreal3.5/5.0
8William ZhangSt-Laurent3.5/5.0
9Justin SunLasalle3.5/5.0
10Kevin LiuMontreal3.0/5.0


Prince Éric won the playoff against Edgar.
 

Grade 3 champion: Richard Zheng.                                          The Top 3.
Richard: 3-time Quebec champion and Canadian champion 2015.

Grade 4

    
1Haruaki OmichiMontreal5.0/5.0
2David CraciunMontreal4.5/5.0
3Zihi ZhongMontreal7.0/8.0
    
4Julia KuleshovaMontreal4.0/6.0
5Tristan GonzalezLa Prairie4.0/6.0
6Eric ChenPincourt5.0/7.0
7Jiaqi HeLachine4.0/6.0
8Tony CaiMontreal3.5/5.0
9Yihan XuMontreal3.0/5.0
10Mina MikhaelLaval3.0/5.0


Zihi Zhong won the five-way playoff for third place. What a battle!


Grade 4 champion: Haruaki Omichi.                                   The Top 3.
Haruaki: 2-time Quebec champion and defending champion 2015.

Grade 5

    
1Qiuyu HuangMontreal6.0/6.0
2Tyler TanakaWestmount5.0/6.0
3Alan YanLaval5.0/6.0
    
4Yan LiRepentigny4.0/6.0
5Daniel Tianqi YuMontreal3.5/5.0
6Le Cong LiMontreal3.5/5.0
7Marc-Antoine BrunetGatineau3.5/5.0
8Léo RichardLorraine3.5/5.0
9Hugo LarocheSt-Cyrille-de-Wendover3.5/5.0
10Owen LiuLaval3.5/5.0


Qiuyu won the playoff against Tyler. 

Alan won the playoff against Yan.
 

Grade 5 champion: Qiuyu Huang.                                        The Top 3.
Qiuyu: 5-time Quebec champion and Canadian champion 2015, 2014 et 2013.
 

Grade 6

    
1Wenxuan ZhongMontreal4.5/5.0
2Shawn Rodrigue-LemieuxMontreal5.0/6.0
3Francis DuretteAnjou5.0/7.0
    
4Alexis DemersLongueuil4.0/6.0
5Mathias GrandmontDrummondville3.5/5.0
6Dustin ZuoMontreal3.5/5.0
7Xi Ming YuMontreal3.5/5.0
8Caroline WangLongueuil3.5/5.0
9Luca AbruzzeseMontreal3.5/5.0
10Leo ShiSt-Laurent3.0/5.0


Shawn Rodrigue placed second, and Francis Durette third, after a three-way playoff.


Grade 6 - The Top 3.
Wenxuan: 2-time Quebec champion.

Secondary 1

    
1Gabriel Philip TinicaDollard-des-Ormeaux4.5/5.0
2Allison TsypinPointe-Claire5.5/7.0
3Zi Yu GuanSt-Laurent5.5/8.0
    
4Alec YuSainte-Anne-De-Bellevue3.5/6.0
5Muyuan YangSt-Laurent3.5/6.0
6Jia Yu LuoMontreal3.5/6.0
7William ZhaoLongueuil3.0/5.0
8Tony LiMontreal3.0/5.0
9Alexander Lin-HuLaval3.0/5.0
10Susan CaiMontreal2.5/5.0


Allison Tsypin placed second, and Zi Yu Guan third, after a five-way playoff. 
 

Secondary 1 champion: Gabriel Philip Tinica.                     The Top 3.
Gabriel: 2-time Quebec champion and defending champion 2015.

Secondary 2

    
1Maïli-Jade OuelletSt-Lambert5.0/5.0
2Run Kun FanBrossard4.0/5.0
3Yoakim TurgeonMontreal4.0/6.0

 

Secondary 2 champion: Maïli-Jade Ouellet.                                  The Top 3.
WFM Maïli: 3-time Quebec champion and Canadian champion 2013.

Secondary 3

    
1Ananda SahaMontreal5.0/6.0
2Matthieu Johnson-ConstantinMontreal4.0/6.0
3Zachary SaineOutremont3.5/5.0


Ananda won the playoff against Matthieu.
 

Secondary 3 champion: Ananda Saha.                                  The Top 3.
Ananda: 2-time Quebec champion.

Secondary 4

    
1Alan LuoMontreal5.0/5.0
2Ling Yun (Linda)ShiMontreal4.0/6.0
3Marc-Antoine LévesqueDrummondville3.0/6.0


Linda won the playoff against Marc-Antoine.


Secondary 4 champion: Alan Luo.                                           The Top 3.

Secondary 5

    
1Olivier Kenta Chiku-RattéMontreal4.5/5.0
2Zong Yang YuMontreal4.0/5.0
3Hongrui ZhuMontreal3.0/5.0


Secondary 5 champion: Olivier Kenta Chiku-Ratté.                The Top 2.
FM Olivier: 3-time Quebec champion.
 

Cegep 1

    
1Nicholas JohnsonOutremont5.0/5.0
2Gabriel HarrisMontreal3.0/5.0
3Philip BilskiBoisbriand2.5/5.0

 

Cegep champion: Nicholas Johnson.                                     The Top 3.
Nicholas: 5-time Quebec champion and defending champion 2015.


More photos:


 

 

For lots more photos from the Quebec Chess Challenge, see
Photos of the QCC

 

 

For complete results, see Quebec Chess Challenge


 


 

ONTARIO CHESS CHALLENGE

 


442 regional champions took part in the Ontario Chess Challenge, held on April 17 at the International Centre in Mississauga. The tournament crowned twelve players as provincial champion in their school grade, earning them a place on Team Ontario at the Canadian Chess Challenge on May 22-23 in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Thirteen players scored a perfect 5 for 5 in this high-calibre event. Congratulations to Andrew Rong, Anthony Atanasov, Daniel Xu, Max Chen, Max England, Kevin Zheng, Nicholas Vettese, Alan Li, Ricky Luo, Joseph Bellissimo, Qiyu Zhou, and Michael Razvan for their outstanding performance!

You might think that a perfect score would guarantee you first place on the podium. But this was not the case for three players who had to settle for second after a playoff. In grade 5, defending champion Max England was victorious over Kevin Zheng. Grade 6 saw Nicholas Vettese (also defending champion) defeat Alan Li. And Joseph Bellissimo won against Qiyu Zhou in grade 10.

This tournament was particularly special for the new grade 12 champion, Zehn Nasir. Zehn began playing in CMA tournaments in 2006 while in the third grade. He participated in his first Ontario Chess Challenge two years later and has climbed the ranks ever since. Imagine his excitement when he finally won the championship in his final year. All he needs now to complete the fairy tale is a victory next month in Regina. Good luck, Zehn!

Here are the results.

Kindergarten

    
1Arnav ManeToronto4.5/5.0
2Jacob GefenToronto4.0/5.0
3Kingsley BaiNorth York3.0/5.0

 

Kindergarten - Medallists

Grade 1

    
1Andrew KsenychToronto5.0/5.0
2Winnie ZhuangToronto5.0/7.0
3Kush KheniToronto5.0/7.0
    
4George RaymondHamilton5.0/6.0
5Greta QuToronto4.0/6.0
6Johnathan HanKanata3.0/5.0
7Nathan WangToronto3.0/5.0
8Richard WangScarborough3.0/5.0
9Lawrence WoodToronto3.0/5.0
10David ShamroniWaterloo3.0/5.0


Playoffs:

Kush Kheni 1-0 Greta Qu

George Raymond 1-0 Winnie Zhuang

Kush Kheni 0-1 Winnie Zhuang

 

Grade 1 - Top 3

Grade 2

    
1Anthony AtanasovOakville6.0/6.0
2Daniel XuOttawa5.0/6.0
3Eric NingMarkham4.0/5.0
    
4Hao Ran FanThornhill4.0/5.0
5Daniel WangToronto4.0/5.0
6Vincent QinOttawa4.0/5.0
7Éric LiToronto4.0/5.0
8Sam RipleyHarrow3.5/5.0
9Andrew ChenRichmond Hill3.5/5.0
10Divjot LochamWindsor3.5/5.0


Playoff:

Daniel Xu 0-1 Anthony Atanasov

 

Grade 2 - Top 3

Grade 3

    
1Max ChenNorth York5.0/5.0
2Zack DinatoloToronto5.5/6.0
3Kousihan BalachandranMarkham4.5/6.0
    
4Tigran GhazarianNorth York4.0/5.0
5Jeffrey R ZhaoToronto4.0/5.0
6Austin XieMarkham4.0/5.0
7Henry LiuMississauga4.0/5.0
8Matthew ZhuOttawa4.0/5.0
9Faina PobereshnikovaToronto4.0/5.0
10Grant ChenAncaster4.0/5.0


Playoff:

Kousihan Balachandran 0-1 Zack Dinatolo

 

Grade 3 - Top 3

Grade 4

    
1Nameer IssaniToronto5.5/6.0
2Dorian KangAurora4.5/6.0
3Aahil NooraliToronto4.0/5.0
    
4Mysha GilaniToronto4.0/5.0
5Max RusonikThornhill4.0/5.0
6Max ZhuWindsor4.0/5.0
7Benjamin DeCostaToronto4.0/5.0
8Yunkun LuToronto4.0/5.0
9Stephen ShiBrampton4.0/5.0
10Bhavatharshan JeyakumarScarborough3.5/5.0


Playoff:

Nameer Issani 1-0 Dorian Kang
 

Grade 4 - Top 3

Grade 5

    
1Max EnglandToronto6.0/6.0
2Kevin ZhengToronto5.0/6.0
3Jonathan ZhaoToronto4.0/5.0
    
4William ShiToronto4.0/5.0
5Matthew TangMississauga4.0/5.0
6Licheng ZhouOttawa4.0/5.0
7Jordan OstenToronto4.0/5.0
8Alexandru LunguToronto4.0/5.0
9David ShiToronto3.5/5.0
10Eric WangToronto3.5/5.0


Playoff:

Max England 1-0 Kevin Zheng
 

Grade 5 - Top 3

Grade 6

    
1Nicholas VetteseToronto6.0/6.0
2Alan LiMarkham5.0/6.0
3Nick AkophyanToronto4.0/5.0
    
4Arhant WashimkarNorth York4.0/5.0
5Benjamin YuOttawa4.0/5.0
6Emma HeToronto4.0/5.0
7Jack LiWindsor4.0/5.0
8Kylie TanMississauga4.0/5.0
9Max KuchleinKingston4.0/5.0
10Adrian D'SouzaPickering3.0/5.0


Playoff:

Nicholas Vettese 1-0 Alan Li
 

Grade 6 - Top 3

Grade 7

    
1Eugene HuaWaterdown5.5/6.0
2Richard FengToronto4.5/6.0
3Larry JuKanata4.0/5.0
    
4Daniel LiuNorth York4.0/5.0
5Benito SuryaMississauga4.0/5.0
6Svitlana DemchenkoOttawa4.0/5.0
7Henry ZhangWindsor3.5/5.0
8David LiuMarkham3.5/5.0
9Justin TangMarkham3.5/5.0
10Tianyi ShenHamilton3.0/5.0


Playoff:

Eugene Hua 1-0 Richard Feng
 

Grade 7 - Top 3

Grade 8

    
1Ricky LuoNorth York5.0/5.0
2Jason CaiMarkham5.5/6.0
3Hairan LiangMarkham4.5/6.0
    
4Kevin Yi-Xiao YieMarkham4.0/5.0
5James IansavitchousLondon4.0/5.0
6Daniel CaronGuelph4.0/5.0
7Andrew XueToronto3.5/5.0
8Jacky JiaToronto3.5/5.0
9Yue Tong ZhaoStouffville3.0/5.0
10Yi DengToronto3.0/5.0


Playoff:

Jason Cai 1-0 Hairan Liang
 

Grade 8 - Top 3

Grade 9

    
1Richard ChenAncaster4.5/5.0
2Dennis ShamroniWaterloo5.0/6.0
3Harry ZhaoToronto4.0/6.0
    
4Ruo Pan FengToronto3.5/5.0
5Caroline ChenKanata3.5/5.0
6Jeffrey XuMarkham3.0/5.0
7Jeffrey Xin-Yu ZhuWindsor3.0/5.0
8Denver TangKitchener3.0/5.0
9Andy SunMarkham2.5/5.0
10Patrick XieMarkham2.5/5.0


Playoff:

Harry Zhao 0-1 Dennis Shamroni
 

Grade 9 - Top 3

Grade 10

    
1Joseph BellissimoToronto6.0/6.0
2Qiyu ZhouToronto5.0/6.0
3Eric WangRichmond Hill4.0/5.0
    
4Derick AghamalianThornhill3.5/5.0
5Joey ZhongRichmond Hill3.0/5.0
6Sean LeiMarkham3.0/5.0
7Jeff ZhangOttawa3.0/5.0
8Neerav MullurCornwall3.0/5.0
9Aidan StoreySt. Catherines3.0/5.0
10Tyler D'AmoreWindsor2.5/5.0


Playoff:

Joseph Bellissimo 1-0 Qiyu Zhou
 

Grade 10 - Top 3

Grade 11

    
1Michael SongThornhill5.0/5.0
2Razvan PreotuBurlington4.5/5.0
3Atharva WashimkarToronto3.0/5.0
    
4Ethan MoonToronto3.0/5.0
5Daniel MuntanerToronto2.5/5.0
6Yinshi LiNorth York2.5/5.0
7Michael LiToronto2.5/5.0
8Adam PackerWoodbridge2.0/5.0
9Jonathan HayAjax2.0/5.0
10Selvin LeenusToronto2.0/5.0

 

Grade 11

Grade 12

    
1Zehn NasirEast York5.0/6.0
2Kajan ThanabalachandranToronto4.0/6.0
3Tony LinToronto3.5/5.0
    
4Mark PlotkinThornhill3.5/5.0
5Martin LiMarkham3.0/5.0
6Brendan CaterToronto2.5/5.0
7Joseph SuthonsFonthill2.5/5.0
8Andrew PakVaughan2.5/5.0
9Huxley AnjilvelInverary2.5/5.0
10Tristan GriffithsWelland1.0/5.0


Playoff:

Zehn Nasir 1-0 Kajan Thanabalachandran
 

Grade 12 - Top 3

 

For complete results, see: Ontario Chess Challenge

 


 

NEW BRUNSWICK CHESS CHALLENGE

The New Brunswick Chess Challenge took place at Cité des Jeunes A.M.Sormany in Edmundston on April 16th. It is always one of the biggest annual chess tournaments in Canada. This year there were 330 players! The winners in each section qualify for the nationals in Regina, Saskatchewan over Victoria Day weekend. Additionally the top two in each grade qualify for the Maritime Scholastic Team Championship in November, where they will face off against teams from Nova Scotia and P.E.I. 

The tournament was excellently organized by Mylène Bossé Lamarre in collaboration with the New Brunswick Chess’n Math Association.

Grade 1
1. Maxence Smith
2. Xavier Daigle
3. Cédric Rioux

Grade 2
1. Jeremy Green
2. Gavin Steeves
3. Jacob Maltais

Grade 3
1. Tristan Richard
2. Tiger Xu
3. Ina Steeves

Grade 4
1. Stephan Ramjbar
2. Alexi Colette
3. Alex Leblanc

Grade 5
1. Jacob Tibbo
2. Alexandre Leblanc
3. Yi Yang

Grade 6    
1. Austin Leblanc
2. Mingda Shen
3. Luc Blanchette

Grade 7 
1. Cynthia Cui 
2. Jordan Capello
3. René-Pierre Cyr

Grade 8
1. Leonardo Cui
2. Robin Weiland
3. Philippe Giard

Grade 9    
1. Ben Yeomans
2. Alex Mawhinney
3. Logan Austin Reid

Grade 10    
1. Sam Song
2. Alexandre Robichaud
3.Nam Vu

Grade 11    
1. Jong Su Kim
2. Mathieu Perron-Cormier
3. Craig Carson

Grade 12 
1. Isaac Lee
2. Amir David
3. Sandor Cselengi


Grade 10. Sam Song (left) was last year’s national grade 9 champion.

 

Grade 8. Leonardo Cui (left) is a three-time New Brunswick champion.

 

Grade 7. Cynthia Cui (left) will be playing in her fourth nationals. She tied for 3rd
place in grade 6 last year.


New Brunswick has finished fifth at the Canadian Chess Challenge the past three years, winning the special award for best Atlantic Canada team. 


 


 

SASKATCHEWAN CHESS CHALLENGE

The Saskatchewan Chess Challenge was held in Regina on April 16. The winners in each grade will be part of the provincial team playing at the nationals next month. Good luck to this year’s home team!

Grade 1
1. Leo Lin
2. Liliya Solomentseva
3.Hector Schuck

Grade 2
1. Natasha Sasata
2. Greyson de Padua
3. Yuxuan Bao

Grade 3
1. Brooks Jiang
2. Felix Lin
3. Amanda Naeima

Grade 4    
1. Leonard Carolino
2. Joseph Van Der Loo
3. Colby Welliver

Grade 5
1. Alexander de Padua
2. Sean Van Der Loo
3. Anastasia Sasata

Grade 6
1. Alexander Sasata
2. Eleazar Carolino

Grade 7
1. Daniel Wei
2. Stefan Cismaru
3. Evan Pope

Grade 8
1. Ruiqian Dai
2. Sahej Singh
3. Joshua Soifer

Grade 9
1. Andrew Li
Grade 10
1. Avram Tcherni    
Grade 12
1. Jimmy Bartha
2. Saed Teymuri
3. Leah Schwartz


Sahej Singh qualifies to represent Saskatchewan in grade 11.



For more information on the Saskatchewan Scholastic Chess Association, visit http://chesssask.blogspot.ca/

 


About us

The Chess and Math Association (CMA) is a non-profit organization which, with our provincial coordinators, aims to promote chess in schools in Canada.