2019 QUEBEC CHESS CHALLENGE
BY GRADE
QUEBEC CHAMPIONS 2019
First row from right to left: Grade 1- Arnaud Jutras, Grade 2- Hugo Guillemette, Grade 3- Luca Georgescu-Nicolau, Grade 4- Alex Jikai Yan, Grade 5- CM Kevin Zhong, Grade 6- Richard Q. Zheng; Second row from right to left: Grade 7- Storm Lei, Lefong Hua, captain of the Quebec Team, Grade 8- CM Tyler Tanaka, Grade 9- FM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux, Grade 10- Gabriel Philip Tinica, Grade 11- WIM Maïli-Jade Ouellet, Grade 12- Ananda Saha.
Missing in the photo: Kind: Samuel Ghattas
504 young champions from all over Quebec were invited to participate in the 31st edition of the Quebec Chess Challenge by Grade, a five round tournament held in Montreal at the Reception Hall The Rizz on April 14th. 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.
Competitive level:
First of all, this tournament invited only the best players in Quebec (except for kindergarten kids where it was open to all). To play the Provincial, you must either be in the top 10 of your school grade or qualify in a qualifying tournament. To give you an idea of the strength of the competition, no less than 10 players already titled took part in this tournament including five Experts, two Canadian Masters, two FIDE Masters and one Woman International Master!
Fourteen players in eleven different sections finished with a perfect 5-0 scores and for three of them it wasn't enough to win first place (Ouch!). The perfect scores belong to Samuel Ghattas, Arnaud Jutras, Hugo Guillemette, Richard Hu, Luca Georgescu-Nicolau, Yunqi (Lucas) Liu, Alex Jikai Yan, Kevin Zhong, Benjamin Roy, Richard Q. Zheng, Storm Lei, Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux, Gabriel Philip Tinica and Maïli-Jade Ouellet.
The fight for the title continued with playoff games in three sections. Hugo Guillemette won the title against Richard Hu in grade 2, Luca Georgescu-Nicolau won in grade 3 against Yunqi (Lucas) Liu while Kevin Zhong succeeded in keeping his title for the fifth consecutive year in grade 5 against Benjamin Roy. WoW!
But the most thrilling competition happened in grade 8 this year. An extraordinary performance from Tony Wu changed the face of the podium. Tony, defending champion of Prince Edward Island who now lives in Quebec, played an incredible tournament and took any chances at the podium for Qiuyu Huang for the first time in eight years. Qiuyu was undefeated at the Quebec Chess Challenge and is a five time Canadian champion. Double WoW! Tony, who finished third, won three games, but most of all tied against the big names in his section: Qiuyu Huang, Tyler Tanaka and two times against Leo Richard. Leo finally won second place by Armageddon against Tony. What a fight, it took eight games for the final decision! A true battle of nerves! The Kindergarten section also had a five-player battle for second and third places!!
The twelve provincial grade champions will represent Quebec on May 19-20 at the nationals in Vancouver, British Columbia. Some of the 2019 champions, Alex Jikai Yan, Kevin Zhong, Richard Zheng, Shawn-Rogrigue-Lemieux and Maïli-Jade Ouellet, already have Canadian titles to their credit. Good luck, Québec!
Kindergarten
| 1 | Samuel Ghattas | La Prairie | Notre-Dame/St-Joseph | 5.0/5.0 |
| 2 | Yuxuan Chen | Brossard | Au Pied de L'Échelle | 6.0/7.0 |
| 3 | David Cericov | Montréal | Enseignement à la maison | 5.0/7.0 |
| 4 | Julie Anna Craciun | Montréal | La Vérendrye | 5.0/7.0 |
| 5 | Ziyi Ye | Lasalle | du Petit-Collège | 4.0/6.0 |
| 6 | Zhiyu Yang | Beaconsfield | St-Rémi | 4.0/6.0 |
| 7 | Brendan Xu | Montréal | Marc-Favreau | 3.5/5.0 |
| 8 | Bruce Cui | Mont-Royal | St-Clément | 3.5/5.0 |
| 9 | Jacob Sévigny | Saint-Henri-de-Lévis | Belleau-Gagnon | 3.0/5.0 |
| 10 | Anastacia Kirilenko | Montréal | F.A.C.E. | 3.0/5.0 |
For second place:
Yuxuan Chen won the playoffs against Julie Anna Craciun and David Cericov.
Top 3 - Kindergarten
Grade 1
| 1 | Arnaud Jutras | Montréal | Chénier | 5.0/5.0 |
| 2 | Sean Tang-Han | Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot | Charlemangne | 4.5/5.0 |
| 3 | Alejandro Lopez | Montréal | Internationale | 4.0/5.0 |
| 4 | Cheng Qian | Montréal | Notre-Dame-des-Anges | 4.0/5.0 |
| 5 | Maksim Ivanov-Yuan | Montréal | Marie-de-France | 4.0/5.0 |
| 6 | Zihua Wei | Brossard | Guillaume-Vignal | 4.0/5.0 |
| 7 | Stephan Wu | Lachine | Ste-Anne | 4.0/5.0 |
| 8 | Victor Scorteanu | Montréal | Internationale | 4.0/5.0 |
| 9 | Johnny Fang | Gatineau | de l'Amérique-Française | 3.5/5.0 |
| 10 | Baige Chen | Montréal | Marc-Favreau | 3.5/5.0 |
Top 3 - Grade 1
Grade 2
| 1 | Hugo Guillemette | Blainville | de Fontainebleau | 6.5/7.0 |
| 2 | Richard Hu | Brossard | Marie-Victorin | 5.5/7.0 |
| 3 | Weixuan Qin | Longueuil | Ste-Claire | 4.0/5.0 |
| 4 | Jingwei Wang | Brossard | Félix-Leclerc | 4.0/5.0 |
| 5 | Edouard Wang | Montréal | Cardinal-Léger | 4.0/5.0 |
| 6 | Aaron Lou | Montréal | Internationale | 4.0/5.0 |
| 7 | Mathieu Duval | Laval | Les Trois-Soleils | 4.0/5.0 |
| 8 | Danila Sychev | Côte Saint-Luc | Des Amis-du-Monde | 4.0/5.0 |
| 9 | Martin Evgeniev | Pierrefonds | Charles-Perrault | 4.0/5.0 |
| 10 | Rolf Bertomeu | Montréal | Fernand-Seguin | 4.0/5.0 |
Hugo Guillemette won the playoffs against Richard Hu for the first place.
First game: tye; second game won by Hugo.
Top 3 - Grade 2
Grade 3
| 1 | Luca Georgescu-Nicolau | Mont-Royal | St-Clément | 6.0/6.0 |
| 2 | Yunqi Liu | Brossard | Marie-Laurier | 5.0/6.0 |
| 3 | Chen Chen | Brossard | Internationale | 4.0/5.0 |
| 4 | Eric Yin | Pincourt | Charlemagne | 4.0/5.0 |
| 5 | Michel Ding | Montréal | Fernand-Seguin | 4.0/5.0 |
| 6 | Saad Memon | Montréal | St-Léon-de-Westmount | 4.0/5.0 |
| 7 | Evan Xuan | Hampstead | Michèle-Provost | 4.0/5.0 |
| 8 | Varun Pai | Sherbrooke | Sherbrooke | 4.0/5.0 |
| 9 | Michael Zhang | Montréal | Judith-Jasmin | 4.0/5.0 |
| 10 | Chu Fan Fang | Montréal | Fernand-Seguin | 4.0/5.0 |
Luca won the playoff against Yunqi.
It's a second provincial title for Luca. He won in 2016 in the Kindergarten section.
Top 3 - Grade 3
Luca Georgescu-Nicolau: 2 - time Quebec champion.
Grade 4
| 1 | Alex Jikai Yan | Verdun | des Marguerite | 5.0/5.0 |
| 2 | James Li | St-Laurent | Fernand-Seguin | 5.5/6.0 |
| 3 | Eric Liu | Lachine | Victor-Thérien | 4.5/6.0 |
| 4 | Barron Jiyu Jiang | Montréal | Judith-Jasmin | 4.0/5.0 |
| 5 | Emanuel Kot | Rawdon | Enseignement à la maison | 4.0/5.0 |
| 6 | Vikrant Harihara | Pierrefonds | Emmanuel Christian | 4.0/5.0 |
| 7 | Christophe Dufresne | Rouyn-Noranda | St-Joseph | 4.0/5.0 |
| 8 | Yuanen Hou | St-Laurent | Lafontaine | 4.0/5.0 |
| 9 | Valentino Salvatore | Mont-Royal | Mont-Jésus-Marie | 4.0/5.0 |
| 10 | Kevin Zhang | Montréal | Notre-Dame-de-Sion | 4.0/5.0 |
Pour second place:
James Li won the playoff against Eric Liu.
Top 3 - Grade 4
Alex Jikai Yan: 2 - time Quebec champion and Canadian champion 2016.
Grade 5
| 1 | Kevin Zhong | Pierrefonds | Collège Beaubois | 6.0/6.0 |
| 2 | Benjamin Roy | Montréal | St-Barthélémy | 5.0/6.0 |
| 3 | Zekai He | Lachine | Des Berges de Lachine | 4.5/5.0 |
| 4 | Vincent Latorre | Montréal | Ste-Cécile | 4.0/5.0 |
| 5 | Toma Suda Lafontaine | Montréal | Fernand-Seguin | 4.0/5.0 |
| 6 | Yao Feng Li | St-Laurent | Laurentide | 4.0/5.0 |
| 7 | Gwyn Chapdelaine | Montréal | Enseignement à la maison | 4.0/5.0 |
| 8 | Ze Yue Li | Montréal | Internationale | 4.0/5.0 |
| 9 | Ilyas Mehdi Belaid | Montréal | La Vérendrye | 4.0/5.0 |
| 10 | Rafaël Adam | Laval | Ste-Dorothée | 3.5/5.0 |
Kevin Zhong won the playoff for first place against Benjamin Roy.
Top 3 - Grade 5
CM Kevin Zhong: 5 - time Quebec champion and one time Canadian champion in 2017. - Defending champion -
Grade 6
| 1 | Richard Q. Zheng | Montréal | Notre-Dame-de-Grâce | 5.0/5.0 |
| 2 | Prince Eric Jr Guipi Bopala | Blainville | des Semailles | 4.5/5.0 |
| 3 | Esteban Bezin | St-Laurent | Katimavik | 4.0/5.0 |
| 4 | Jiacong Li | Pointe-Claire | Saint-Louis | 4.0/5.0 |
| 5 | Edgar Cao | St-Laurent | Guy-Drummond | 4.0/5.0 |
| 6 | Daniel Orejuela Liu | Montréal | St-Léon-de-Westmount | 4.0/5.0 |
| 7 | Nicolas Lim | Montréal | The Priory | 4.0/5.0 |
| 8 | Kevin Liu | Montréal | Internationale | 3.5/5.0 |
| 9 | Zhongxuan Li | Dorval | Gentilly | 3.5/5.0 |
| 10 | Anthony Navala | St-Laurent | Katimavik | 3.5/5.0 |
Top 3 - Grade 6
Richard Q. Zheng: 5 - time Quebec Champion and Canadian champion 2015. - Defending champion -
Grade 7
| 1 | Storm Lei | Montréal | Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf | 5.0/5.0 |
| 2 | Jiaqi He | Lachine | Collège Saint-Louis | 5.0/6.0 |
| 3 | David Craciun | Montréal | Collège Jean-Eudes | 5.0/7.0 |
| 4 | Anahita Farahdel | Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot | Collège Sainte-Marcelline | 4.0/6.0 |
| 5 | Hunter Wei | Saint-Laurent | Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf | 3.5/5.0 |
| 6 | Haruaki Omichi | Montréal | Collège Jean-Eudes | 3.5/5.0 |
| 7 | Julia Tsukerman | Montréal | Internationale | 3.5/5.0 |
| 8 | Danyal Azizov | Montréal | F.A.C.E. | 3.0/5.0 |
| 9 | Yihan Xu | Montréal | Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf | 3.0/5.0 |
| 10 | Yu Xi He | Anjou | Collège Jean-Eudes | 3.0/5.0 |
For second place:
Jiaqi He won the playoff against David Craciun.
For third place:
David Craciun won his second playoff game against Anahita Farahdel.
Top 3 - Grade 7
Grade 8
| 1 | Tyler Tanaka | Westmount | Lower Canada College | 4.5/5.0 |
| 2 | Léo Richard | Lorraine | Académie Ste-Thérèse | 6.0/8.0 |
| 3 | Dongze (Tony) Wu | Brossard | Antoine-Brossard | 5.0/8.0 |
| 4 | Qiuyu Huang | Montréal | Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf | 3.5/5.0 |
| 5 | Owen Liu | Laval | Collège Notre-Dame | 3.0/5.0 |
| 6 | Daniel-Tianqi Yu | Mont-Royal | Internationale | 3.0/5.0 |
| 7 | Arturo Hall | Montréal | F.A.C.E. | 3.0/5.0 |
| 8 | Émile Bergeron | Laval | Poly-Jeunesse | 3.0/5.0 |
| 9 | Tani Bercuvitz | Montréal | Royal West Academy | 2.5/5.0 |
| 10 | William Wang | Laval | Internationale de Laval | 2.5/5.0 |
Léo Richard won by Armageddon against Dongze (Tony) Wu in playoffs for second place.
Top 3 - Grade 8
Grade 9
| 1 | Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux | Montréal | Sophie-Barat | 5.0/5.0 |
| 2 | Xi Ming Yu | Brossard | Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf | 4.5/6.0 |
| 3 | Alexis Demers | Longueuil | Collège Durocher | 3.5/6.0 |
| 4 | Wenxuan Zhong | Montréal | Internationale | 3.0/5.0 |
| 5 | David Zhou | La Prairie | Collège Jean de la Mennais | 3.0/5.0 |
| 6 | Jacob Jolicoeur | L'Îsle-aux-Allumettes | Secondaire Sieur-de-Coulogne | 3.0/5.0 |
| 7 | Tong Cheng Wei | Brossard | Collège Durocher | 3.0/5.0 |
| 8 | Mickaël Bonneau | Lévis | L'Envol | 3.0/5.0 |
| 9 | Victor Guo | Montréal | Collège Regina Assumpta | 2.0/5.0 |
| 10 | William Mai | Montréal | Internationnale | 2.0/5.0 |
Xi Ming Yu won the playoff against Alexis Demers for second place.
Top 3 - Grade 9
FM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux: 5 - time Quebec champion and Canadian champion 2017 and 2018.
- Defending champion -
Grade 10
| 1 | Gabriel Philip Tinica | Montréal | Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf | 5.0/5.0 |
| 2 | Marin Kiryakov | Montréal | Joseph-François-Perrault | 4.0/5.0 |
| 3 | Wei-Sen Wang | Saint-Constant | Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf | 3.0/5.0 |
| 4 | Dhiaa Naas | Gatineau | Secondaire de l'Île | 3.0/5.0 |
| 5 | Julien Forget | Henryville | Marcel-Landry | 3.0/5.0 |
| 6 | Benjamin Armstrong-Giroux | Montréal | Le Vitrail | 2.5/5.0 |
Top 3 - Grade 10
Gabriel Philip Tinica: 4 - time Quebec champion. - Defending champion -
Grade 11
| 1 | Maïli-Jade Ouellet | St-Lambert | Collège Durocher | 5.0/5.0 |
| 2 | Hou Han Zhang | Île-Bizard | Collège Charlemagne | 3.5/5.0 |
| 3 | Étienne Latreille | Val-des-Monts | Enseignement à la maison | 3.0/5.0 |
| 4 | Yoakim Turgeon | Montréal | Collège Jean-Eudes | 2.5/5.0 |
| 5 | Abel Becerra-Herrera | St-Hubert | Collège Charles-Lemoyne | 2.5/5.0 |
| 6 | Xavier Gaumont | Laval | Collège Mont-St-Louis | 1.5/5.0 |
Top 3 - Grade 11
WIM Maïli-Jade Ouellet: 5 - time Quebec champion and Canadian champion 2013 and 2016.
- Defending champion -
Grade 12
| 1 | Ananda Saha | Montréal | Collège Vanier | 4.0/5.0 |
| 2 | Zachary Saine | Outremont | Collège Marianopolis | 3.0/5.0 |
Champion - Grade 12
Ananda Saha: 5 - time Quebec champion. - Defending champion -
Our champions in action:
Kindergarten - Grade 2
Top left: foreground black sweater: Samuel Ghattas; blue t-shirt: Arnaud Jutras; striped sweater: Hugo Guillemette.
Grade 3 - 6
Top left and right: Luca Georgescu- Nicolau and Kevin Zhong. Bottom left and right: Alex Jikai Yan and Richard Q. Zheng.
Grade 7 - 9
Left: Storm Lei; right up and down: Tyler Tanaka and Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux.
Grade 10 - 12
Top left and right: Gabriel Philip Tinica and Ananda Saha; bottom left: Maïli-Jade Ouellet.
Plaque handed to Zachary Saine and Evan Zhang:
Written on the plaque:
The Chess'n Math Association, Canada's National Scholastic Chess Organization, is proud to recognize Evan Zhang (Zachary Saine) as having been one of the rare elite players to take part in 12 consecutive Quebec Chess Challenge Championships.
2008 - 2019
Montreal April 14th 2019
Challenge Fever!
This exceptional number of players is the result of the popularity of scholastic chess tournaments throughout Quebec. Chess'n Math has seen a 25% increase in attending in the Qualifiers this year. Organizers from across Quebec are running different tournaments to apply the learning concepts but also to bring an exciting sport to our young players. These kinds of activities in a healthy atmosphere of competition really combine learning with pleasure!
From regular tournaments to regional championships, such as School board championships, the Outaouais Chess League Championship or the Abitibi-Temiscamingue Championship and many others, our young people are proud to participate in their regional championship and are delighted to continue at the provincial level for the Quebec Chess Challenge.
As coordinator of the Quebec Challenge, I was able to visit championships or tournaments that were also Qualifiers for the Quebec Chess Challenge. It was good to see the excitement of young people at these tournaments, to hear them ask if they had qualified for "the big tournament".
It is worth mentioning here that many of these 504 players did not qualify on the first try; they had to try more than once. The perseverance they have shown is exemplary.
So, to all of our 504 players, we congratulate you all for your efforts throughout the year and we are very happy to welcome you year after year! May the fever continue for the Quebec Chess Challenge 2020!
Take a look at the Quebec Chess Challenge 2019:
A work of pro!
Our team: Virginie Roux, Tournament Director, assisted by Anaïs Charmillot. Assistant (Claude Lalumière), Chief Referee (Thierry Libersan) and referees.
A captivating sport!
We proudly wear the badge and read with interest the booklet of the event.
It's all about concentration:
The official photo of the Quebec Chess Challenge 2019:
Chess is a gentleman's game!
Every $ of our chess equipment sales is reinvested in our activities. It's a beautiful wheel that has been running for 34 years!
Challenge Family Photos:
Our beautiful regions: QAIS, Outaouais, Grandes-Seigneuries School Board, Levis, Rouyn-Noranda, Outremont, Chambly, Estrie, etc. Thank you, parents!!!
The whole team thanks you!
Virginie Roux, Tournament Director; Maria Manuri, Quebec Chess Challenge Coordinator; invite you for next year!
Special thanks to Lefong Hua and Gaston Chouinard for their beautiful photos.
Tournament results
Lefong Hua and his photos
Gaston Chouinard and his photos
(more than 600 beautiful photos)
The table is set for next year at the 2020 Quebec Chess Challenge!
Author of the article: Maria Manuri, Coordinator, 2019 Quebec Chess Challenge