It’s summer in Toronto and there are a thousand ways to celebrate! Summer starts officially in the Annex neighbourhood on Sunday June 8 with the Annex Festival on Bloor.
Then, Sunday June 15, Harbourfront Centre hosts Chessfest, presented by Scotiabank. Enter the blitz tournament, try your luck against the blindfold master, or just show up for free family fun: face painting, chess lessons, casual games, and more! (Chessfest returns August 10.)
Meanwhile, at 918 Bathurst, Annex Chess Club is celebrating summer every Monday night in June. The Celebrate Summer Swiss runs June 2 to June 30. It’s a five-round tournament in 3 sections: Crown, under 1900, and under 1500.
Round One – June 2
The tournament gets started at 7:30 pm with forty-two players paired. Before the round starts, Ted Winick celebrates our Annex A team (who won the GTCL Cup last week): Michael Humphreys, Pavel Peev, Zehn Nasir, and Bill Evans. Showing off our new trophy, Ted remarks that Annex Chess Club is “not just a pretty face” on the Toronto chess scene. The winners share a round of applause with all participants as Ted thanks all the Annex players who came out for the event.
When the round gets underway, it’s David-versus-Goliath chess as players wrestle with typically lopsided Round-One Swiss pairings. In the Crown section, Goliaths dominate, but at the end of the night the biggest Goliath of them all, Club Champion FM Michael Humphreys is held to a draw on Board One by Nicholas Gellner.
Things are much more topsy-turvy in the U1900 section. Rife with upsets, the section sees Adrian Chin, Cindy Qiao, George Supol, and Richard Morrison all take down higher-rated opponents. Ulli Diemer calculates after the round that the average rating of the five losers in the section is 1624, while the average rating of the five winners is 1469. Wow!
In U1500, Goliaths return to their rightful dominance, and David is defeated on every board but one. On that one board, it’s young Tigran Ghazarian, Canadian Chess Challenge Grade One Champion, who takes down Daniele Pirri.

Round Two – June 9
In the Crown section, there is a huge upset as Omar Shah defeats Club Champion Michael Humphreys. Shah joins Hugh Siddeley and Bill Evans in a three-way tie for first at 2.0/2.
In U1900, Adrian Chin and Greg Beal are tied for first with 2.0/2. Both prevail against tough opponents as George Supol and Cindy Qiao make the leaders work hard for their round-two wins. (Good luck to Cindy Qiao and Nicholas Vettese at the North American Youth Chess Championships in New York this week!)
In U1500, Raymond Lin and Max England are tied for first with 2.0/2.
Round Three – June 16
Not everyone can be perfect all the time. Round Three features a number of mini-playoffs between players with perfect records through two rounds.
In the Crown section, Hugh Siddeley prevails against Bill Evans, while Omar Shah takes a bye. Siddeley is now alone in first with 3.0/3.

In U1900 action, Adrian Chin and Greg Beal battle to a draw. Chin and Beal are now tied for the lead in the section with 2.5/3. Having played each other, they’ll now face challengers from the 2-point group.
In the U1500 section, Max England defeats Raymond Lin. England is now alone in first with 3.0/3.
Round Four – June 23
Round Four we welcome back Cindy Qiao and Nicholas Vettese from the NAYCC in New York. Nicholas Vettese won 2nd place in U10 (and earned a new CM title):
In the Crown section, Danny Zotkin defeats leader Hugh Siddeley to take over first place, with 3.5/4.

In U1900, Adrian Chin defeats Ulli Diemer while co-leader Greg Beal is held to a draw by Hooshang Abbarin, allowing Chin to pull into first with 3.5/4.
In U1500, Mark Gelowitz defeats leader Max England to take over first place, with 3.5/4.
The three new leaders will face a final challenger in Round 5 as they fight to hold their first-place positions.
Round Five – June 30
The final round of the tournament sees tournament leader Daniel Zotkin hold his half-point lead as he defeats Bill Evans to finish clear first in the Crown section with 4.5/5. Keeping the pressure on the leader, Hugh Siddeley wins his game against Chris Udrea to finishes second with 4.0/5. In third, Jianqiu Chen wins three in a row to finish with 3.5/5.
In U1900 last-round action, Claudio Sottile plays spoiler, knocking leader Adrian Chin down to second place, as Greg Beal, from half a point behind, wins his game against Ulli Diemer to takes clear first with 4.0/5.
In the 1500 section, Max England holds tough, defeating Howard Halim to take clear first with 4.0/5. Behind him, Mark Gelowitz and Vinorth Vigneswaramoorthy tie for second with 3.5/5.
Congratulations to Daniel Zotkin for taking the tournament, and to Greg Beal and Max England for winning their sections!
A new club tournament, the Drum and Dance Swiss, starts next Monday July 7, with Round One games starting at 7:30 pm. Arrive before 7:00 if you’re not pre-registered.
Final Results after Round Five
SwissSys Standings. Celebrate Summer Swiss: Crown
# | Name | ID | Rating | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Daniel Zotkin | 146857 | 2104 | D7 | W3 | W15 | W2 | W5 | 4.5 |
2 | Hugh Siddeley | 120619 | 2011 | W19 | W11 | W5 | L1 | W7 | 4.0 |
3 | Jianqiu Chen | 157842 | 1874 | H— | L1 | W14 | W16 | W10 | 3.5 |
4 | Omaray M. Shah | 121329 | 1965 | W14 | W9 | H— | H— | U— | 3.0 |
5 | Bill Evans | 103309 | 2013 | W13 | W15 | L2 | D8 | L1 | 2.5 |
6 | Arkadiy Ugodnikov | 146626 | 1802 | H— | L18 | L9 | B— | W19 | 2.5 |
7 | Chris Udrea | 155000 | 1911 | D1 | D8 | D16 | W18 | L2 | 2.5 |
8 | David Southam | 102535 | 2220 | H— | D7 | W19 | D5 | U— | 2.5 |
9 | Michael Humphreys | 131628 | 2288 | D16 | L4 | W6 | H— | U— | 2.0 |
10 | Daniel Wiebe | 132137 | 2041 | H— | H— | U— | W13 | L3 | 2.0 |
11 | Alex T. Ferreira | 127516 | 2072 | W17 | L2 | H— | H— | U— | 2.0 |
12 | Wajdy Shebetah | 148432 | 2022 | H— | H— | U— | W19 | U— | 2.0 |
13 | Armand Jess Mendoza | 156958 | 1854 | L5 | L19 | W17 | L10 | X15 | 2.0 |
14 | Marcus Wilker | 102713 | 1710 | L4 | W17 | L3 | H— | U— | 1.5 |
15 | Rodrigo Oliveira | 152923 | 2113 | W18 | L5 | L1 | H— | F13 | 1.5 |
16 | Nicholas Gellner | 132628 | 1949 | D9 | H— | D7 | L3 | U— | 1.5 |
17 | Pepin Manalo | 112277 | 1897 | L11 | L14 | L13 | H— | B— | 1.5 |
18 | Nicholas Vettese | 154199 | 1943 | L15 | W6 | H— | L7 | U— | 1.5 |
19 | Josep Sobrepere | 152976 | 1816 | L2 | W13 | L8 | L12 | L6 | 1.0 |
SwissSys Standings. Celebrate Summer Swiss: U1900
# | Name | ID | Rating | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Greg Beal | 101490 | 1673 | W10 | W7 | D2 | D3 | W8 | 4.0 |
2 | Adrian Chin | 155527 | 1570 | W3 | W6 | D1 | W8 | L5 | 3.5 |
3 | Hooshang Ab-barin | 152910 | 1656 | L2 | W13 | W12 | D1 | D7 | 3.0 |
4 | Richard Morrison | 135889 | 1303 | W12 | L9 | H— | D7 | W11 | 3.0 |
5 | Claudio Sottile | 148499 | 1440 | H— | H— | U— | W14 | W2 | 3.0 |
6 | George Supol | 152286 | 1395 | W8 | L2 | L10 | D11 | X12 | 2.5 |
7 | Cindy Qiao | 155864 | 1405 | W11 | L1 | H— | D4 | D3 | 2.5 |
8 | Ulli Diemer | 153538 | 1651 | L6 | W11 | B— | L2 | L1 | 2.0 |
9 | Hugh McNeil | 108257 | 1798 | H— | W4 | H— | U— | U— | 2.0 |
10 | Bill Thornton | 131181 | 1575 | L1 | H— | W6 | H— | U— | 2.0 |
11 | Jack Maguire | 144604 | 1653 | L7 | L8 | W13 | D6 | L4 | 1.5 |
12 | Mark A. Patton | 104721 | 1586 | L4 | B— | L3 | H— | F6 | 1.5 |
13 | Julian Pulgarin | 140527 | 1495 | H— | L3 | L11 | B— | U— | 1.5 |
14 | Adie Todd | 125156 | 1689 | H— | H— | U— | L5 | U— | 1.0 |
SwissSys Standings. Celebrate Summer Swiss: U1500
# | Name | ID | Rating | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Max England | 155135 | 1396 | W11 | W17 | W10 | L2 | W15 | 4.0 |
2 | Mark A. Gelowitz | 126627 | 1424 | W16 | D12 | W13 | W1 | U— | 3.5 |
3 | Vinorth Vigneswaramoorthy | 153938 | 1353 | W24 | U— | W20 | W4 | D18 | 3.5 |
4 | Daniele Pirri | 132983 | 1454 | L13 | W11 | W12 | L3 | W10 | 3.0 |
5 | Julian Csik | 133774 | 1358 | W7 | L10 | U— | W17 | W12 | 3.0 |
6 | Eli Teram | 107314 | 1250 | H— | H— | L11 | W22 | W7 | 3.0 |
7 | Rahul Gangolli | 156023 | 1044 | L5 | H— | W9 | W13 | L6 | 2.5 |
8 | Jean-Marc David | 151900 | 1351 | H— | D13 | H— | W16 | U— | 2.5 |
9 | Larissa Souchko | 145490 | 996 | L17 | D16 | L7 | W23 | W21 | 2.5 |
10 | Raymond Lin | 150193 | 1206 | W19 | W5 | L1 | U— | L4 | 2.0 |
11 | Nick Mourtos | 156384 | 1107 | L1 | L4 | W6 | X20 | U— | 2.0 |
12 | Dennis Li | 153129 | 1209 | W21 | D2 | L4 | D15 | L5 | 2.0 |
13 | Tigran Ghazarian | 155438 | 1191 | W4 | D8 | L2 | L7 | D19 | 2.0 |
14 | Abdolreza Radpey | 149018 | 1362 | W15 | H— | H— | U— | U— | 2.0 |
15 | Howard Halim | 153419 | 1056 | L14 | H— | W21 | D12 | L1 | 2.0 |
16 | Alex Geddie | 155388 | 1158 | L2 | D9 | W19 | L8 | U— | 1.5 |
17 | Milan Cvetkovic | 150817 | 1258 | W9 | L1 | H— | L5 | U— | 1.5 |
18 | George Supol | 152286 | 1395 | H— | H— | U— | U— | D3 | 1.5 |
19 | Zaynah Bhanji | 155866 | 895 | L10 | H— | L16 | H— | D13 | 1.5 |
20 | Kaizen Liu | 152053 | 1052 | H— | H— | L3 | F11 | U— | 1.0 |
21 | Areez Bhanji | 156144 | 904 | L12 | H— | L15 | H— | L9 | 1.0 |
22 | Luka Svirac | unr. | H— | H— | U— | L6 | U— | 1.0 | |
23 | Jeffrey Wang Zhu | 154705 | unr. | H— | H— | U— | L9 | U— | 1.0 |
24 | Michael Vermont | 151783 | 1002 | L3 | H— | H— | U— | U— | 1.0 |