Held in the beautiful Convocation Hall at McMasters University in Hamilton, the 2019 Canadian University Chess Championships provided a fun weekend of chess. The university itself is famous for studies in engineering and life sciences, and participating universities included favourites such as the University of Toronto, Waterloo University and McGill University.
A short note on the participants: though called the “Canadian University Championships”, of the 23 teams, 22 were from Ontario and one was from Quebec. As explained by the organizer and co-president of the McMaster chess club, Andrew Leber, an attempt was made to promote chess among Canadian universities by inviting teams from different provinces, but due to the lack of funding, many universities couldn’t send a team.
The lovely playing hall | Photo: Changrong Yu
The three young women: Qiyu Zhou (Toronto A), Rymn Wadhwa (Ryerson University, board 3), Alyssa Rusonik (University of Toronto, team C, board 3) | Photos: Changrong Yu
This annual event has become a Canadian university chess tradition since the first trophy was awarded in 2003. The universities dream of engraving their names onto the Queen’s Cup for Chess'
The tournament favourites were the teams from the University of Toronto (team A) and Waterloo University, with the latter also the defending champions. There was some fierce competition among the players, as proven by titled ones such as IM Michael Song (FIDE: 2437), FM Mark Plotkin (FIDE: 2326), myself (WGM Qiyu Zhou [FIDE: 2246]) and FM Terry Song (FIDE: 2124).
Apart from the “Champions” section, which was a round-robin between the best six teams by rating, there was also a “Reserve” section, which hosted the other 27 teams.
A considerably more “fun” tournament than “serious”, many players spent a lot of time catching up with old friends rather than playing long chess. For instance, the first round, which was supposed to start at 9 AM, didn’t actually kick off until 10:40!
Joey Qin and I used to play in the same chess club in Ottawa before going to different universities | Photo: Changrong Yu
With the stress about university assignments, it is only natural some would start doing schoolwork | Photo: Changrong Yu
The best part about the Canadian University Championships is that it is not restricted to just undergraduates! Graduate students can also compete.
Board one from University of Toronto Team B, Tanner McNamara, is a physics graduate | Photo: Leslie Tang
Not all fun and sunshine after realizing I was about to draw what was a completely winning endgame in round 2 | Photo: Changrong Yu
Many interesting games were played over the board, which tended to include Mark Plotkin of University Toronto (team A), who started his round three game in style with 1.a3! (third game below). The round one win by Terry Song was particularly beautiful (first game below).
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1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bf4 c5 4.f3 Qa5+ 5.c3 Nf6 6.d5 Qb6 7.e4 d6 8.Nd2 e5 9.dxe6 Bxe6 10.Nc4 Bxc4 11.Bxc4± Be7 12.Ne2 0-0 13.0-0 Nc6 14.Ng3 g6 15.Bh6 Rfd8 16.f4 Qxb2 17.Qf3 Nd4? 17...Rab8 18.Rab1 Qa3 19.e5± 18.Bxf7+‼± Kxf7 19.cxd4 Qxd4+ 20.Kh1 Ng8+- 20...Kg8 21.e5± 21.Nf5 Qa4 22.Nxe7 Nxh6 23.Qh3 Kxe7 24.Qxh6 Qc4 25.e5 Qf7 26.Rae1 Re8 27.e6 Qf5 28.Qg7+ 1–0
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| Song,T | 2211 | Qin,Z | 2514 | 1–0 | 2019 | A45 | CUCC 2019 | 1 |
| Dukic,Z | 2350 | Song,T | 2211 | 1–0 | 2019 | B98 | CUCC 2019 | 5 |
| Plotkin,M | - | Song,T | - | 1–0 | 2019 | A00 | CUCC 2019 | 3 |
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Round 3: FM Mark Plotkin – FM Terry Song, with Mark pondering 1. a3 | Photo: Changrong Yu
The showdown for the Queen’s Cup going into the last round was dramatic. A win from either team in the match between Western and Ottawa University would mean their team wins first place. However, the result between the two teams was a draw, leaving the door open for my team.
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.Qe2 b5 6.Bb3 Be7 6...Bc5 7.c3 0-0 8.0-0 d6 9.Rd1 Bb6 10.h3 h6 11.d3 7.a4 Rb8 8.axb5 axb5 9.Nc3 b4 10.Nd5 0-0 11.d3 h6 12.0-0 d6 13.Be3 Bd7 14.h3 Re8 15.Qd2 15.Ra6 Qc8 16.Rfa1 Nd8 16...Nxd5 17.Bxd5 Nd8 18.Ba7 Rb5 19.d4 exd4 20.Nxd4 Rb7 21.Bxb7 Qxb7± 16...Bd8 17.Qd2 Nxd5 18.Bxd5 Ne7 19.Ba7 Rb5 20.Bc4 17.Nxe7+ Rxe7 18.Nh4 Be6 19.Bxe6 Rxe6 20.Nf5 15...Bf8 16.Ra6 Nxd5 17.Bxd5 Ne7 18.Bc4 c6 19.Ra7 19.Bb3 Qc8 20.Rfa1 Be6 21.Bxe6 Qxe6 22.R1a5 22.b3 d5 22...d5 19...Nc8 20.Ra6 d5 21.exd5 cxd5 22.Bb3 22.Bxd5 Bb5 22...Bxh3 23.Bxf7+ Kxf7 24.gxh3± 23.Ra8! Rxa8 24.Bxa8 Qa5 25.Be4 22...Bb5 23.Ra2 d4 24.Bxd4 exd4 25.Bxf7+ Kxf7 26.Qf4+ Kg8 27.Qxb8 Bc6 28.Qg3 Qd5 28...Bd6 29.Qg4 Qf6 29...Bd5 30.Ra6 Qf6 31.Qxd4 Qe6 30.Re1 30.Qxd4 Qe6 31.Ra6 31.Rfa1? Bxf3 32.gxf3 Qxh3-+ 31...Bxf3 30...Rxe1+ 31.Nxe1 Ne7 32.Nf3 Bxf3 33.gxf3 Nd5 29.Rfa1 Nd6 30.Ra5 Nb5 31.Re1 Rxe1+ 32.Nxe1 Bd6 33.Qg4 Bd7 34.Qg6 b3 35.cxb3 Bb4 36.Ra1 Qxb3? 36...Bd6= 37.Ra8+ Bf8 38.Nf3 Nc7 39.Rd8 39.Rxf8+! Kxf8 40.Qd6+ Ke8 41.Qxc7 39...Qd5 40.Qe4 Qxe4 41.dxe4 Bc6 42.Nxd4 Bxe4 43.b4+- 1–0
- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
- Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
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| Singh,M | - | Zhou,Q | - | 1–0 | 2019 | C77 | CUCC | 5 |
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Despite this terrible loss on board 2, University of Toronto (team A) won 3-1 against University of Toronto (team B). The top board win by Ottawa's Zachary Dukic over Western's Terry Song was a key result in the match draw that allowed us to narrowly clinch the championship title.
Final Standings
|
|
Code |
Name |
Score |
|
1 |
UTOR-A |
UTOR-A W5 W3 D2 D4 W6 |
4.0 |
|
2 |
WESTRN-A |
WESTRN-A W4 W5 D1 W6 D3 |
4.0 |
|
3 |
OTTAWA-A |
OTTAWA-A W6 L1 W4 W5 D2 |
3.5 |
|
4 |
WATLOO-A |
WATLOO-A L2 W6 L3 D1 W5 |
2.5 |
|
5 |
MCGILL-A |
MCGILL-A L1 L2 D6 L3 L4 |
0.5 |
|
6 |
UTOR-B |
UTOR-B L3 L4 D5 L2 L1 |
0.5 |
Personally, I want to thank everyone on the University of Toronto chess team for making it possible.
Team University of Toronto! A mix of most of the people from the four teams
Also, a huge round of applause to the runner-ups, Western University, as well as everyone else who participated!
(L to R) Tony Huang, FM Terry Song, Brendan Adamo, Adam Cormier, who scored a perfect 5/5 in this tournament! | Photo: Adrian Santhakumar
The “Reserve” section was won by Queens University (team A) with a perfect team score of 5/5. Second place went to Ryerson University (team A) with 4/5 and third to Western University (team B) with 3½/5.
The second place winners in the reserve section: Ryerson University | Photo: Adrian Santhakumar
A final thank you to the organizers for hosting the tournament! | Photo: Adrian Santhakumar
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