The Greater Toronto Chess League runs chess matches between clubs in the Toronto region. Matches are four-on-four, featuring the strongest players in each GTA club.
Pairings, players, and other details for the 2014 season are available at ChessResults.com
GTCL is one of four regional leagues that make up the Ontario affiliate (OCA) of Canada’s chess governing body (CFC). The leagues are funded by CFC (through OCA) based on the numbers of CFC members in each region. As well as running the annual season of inter-club matches, GTCL coordinates the activities of chess clubs and organizations in the GTA, promotes chess in the region, and sanctions championship tournaments in Toronto.
Our team this season
The following four starting players and two alternates are on the 2014 ACC team:
FM Michael Humphreys (2293) (captain) Pavel Peev (2219) Wajdy Shebetah (2215) Zehn Nasir (2125) Miroslav Stefanovic (2003) Daniel Sirkovich (1796)
A home-and-away schedule at various clubs in Toronto on various nights of the week is hard to coordinate, so this year’s matches are all hosted at Willowdale Chess Club in North York on Tuesday nights, starting next Tuesday, January 14. Games start at 6:30 pm, at a time control of game in 60 minutes, plus 30 seconds per move, with adjudication (!?) at 10:00 pm. Teams are reminded to bring two chess clocks.
We have a relatively big club in the Annex (third biggest in the GTA, probably, behind the Scarborough and Mississauga clubs), but we don’t have quite as strong a four-player team as some of the smaller clubs. (ACC came 6th out of 8 teams last year, with a +2-4=1 record.) Nevertheless we will cheer on our top players as they face the best teams the other clubs in Greater Toronto can field!
Check last year’s League results (teams, players, etc.) at ChessResults.com.
2014 GTCL teams
Six clubs have registered teams for the 2014 League:
Annex Chess Club
Aurora Chess Club
GGY
Hart House Chess Club
Pinoy Chess Club
Willowdale Chess Club
Pairings, players, and other details for the 2014 season are available at ChessResults.com
Best of luck to our ACC team in the 2014 League matches!
Jan 14 – Round One sees ACC go down to Hart House Chess Club, ½-3½.
Jan 21 – Round Two sees ACC held to a tie by Aurora Chess Club, 2-2.
Jan 28 – Round Three sees ACC victorious over Willowdale Chess Club, 3-1.
Feb 4 – Round Four sees ACC blank GGY, 4-0.
Hart House is dominating the league this year, but ACC is in a close fight with Aurora Chess Club for second place. It’s likely we’ll be tying them in match points, and we tied them head-to-head, so it’ll probably come down to game points!
Feb 11 – The last round pits ACC against Pinoy Chess Club. Let’s get another shutout!
Format: Round-Robin tournament for 4-player teams; board order decided by team captains Dates: Tuesday nights, 7:00 to 10:00 pm, starting January 8, 2013 Location: All matches at Willowdale Chess Club, 4169 Bathurst, North York Arbiter: Fred Kormendi Organizer: Vladimir Birarov Time Control: Game in 60 minutes, with a 30-second increment from move 1 Entry Fee: Free – GTCL will cover rating fees Prizes: Trophies for winning team – provided by GTCL CFC-Rated: All games rated by Chess Federation of Canada – CFC Membership Req’d Registration: Contact Vlad Birarov by December 31, 2012
Hart House Chess Club Xu, Haizhou – 2320
Derraugh, Geordie – 2221
Ferreira, Alex – 2081
Yu, Jonathan – 2046
Roller, Robert – 1880
Willowdale Chess Club
Alex Rabinovich, IM – 2423 FIDE
Michael Barron, FM – 2268
Michael Kimelman – 2219
Vladimir Semyonov – 2030
Alexander Strugach – 1964
Dmitry Chernik – 1929 (captain) Annex Chess Club
Michael Humphreys, FM – 2270 (captain)
Pavel Peev – 2227
Wajdy Shebetah – 2144
Tyler Longo – 2095
Daniel Wiebe – 2057
Zehn Nasir – 2059
Chess Academy
Nikolay Noritsyn – 2598
Michael Song – 2322
Nikita Gusev – 2309
Konstantin Semianiuk – 2219
James Fu – 2127
Sergey Noritsyn – 1924
Knights of Chess
Victor Plotkin – 2350
Vladimir Birarov – 2273
Mike Ivanov – 2266
Mark Plotkin – 2161
Aurora Chess Club
Egidijus Zeromskis – 2244
David MacLeod – 2137
Yuan Chen Zhang – 2082
Jerry Wasserman – 1996
Patrick Yu – 1754
Bernie Prost – 1649
Stephen Yu – 1325
Radu Lupan – 1229
1. Aurora Chess Club
2. Annex Chess Club
3. Knights of Chess
4. Willowdale Chess Club
5. Hart House Chess CLub
6. GGY
7. Phantoms
8. Chess Academy of Canada
So, the first four rounds are paired as follows (teams on the left play white on the boards 1 and 3):
Round 1 on 2013/01/08 at 19:00 1. Aurora Chess Club – Chess Academy of Canada (½:3½)
2. Annex Chess Club – Phantoms (2:2)
3. Knights of Chess – GGY (4:0)
4. Willowdale Chess Club – Hart House Chess Club (1:3)
Round 2 on 2013/01/15 at 18:30 1. Chess Academy of Canada – Hart House Chess Club (3:1)
2. GGY – Willowdale Chess Club (0:4)
3. Phantoms – Knights of Chess (1:3)
4. Aurora Chess Club – Annex Chess Club (½:3½)
Round 3 on 2013/01/22 at 18:30 1. Annex Chess Club – Chess Academy of Canada
2. Knights of Chess – Aurora Chess Club
3. Willowdale Chess Club – Phantoms
4. Hart House Chess Club – GGY
Round 4 on 2013/01/29 at 18:30 1. Chess Academy of Canada – GGY
2. Phantoms – Hart House Chess Club
3. Aurora Chess Club – Willowdale Chess Club
4. Annex Chess Club – Knights of Chess
Chess Academy +2-0=1 (5 points)
Knights of Chess +2-1=0 (4 points)
Willowdale Chess Club +1-1=1 (3 points)
Annex Club +0-3=0 (0 points)
Congratulations to the Chess Academy of Canada! – view photos
Round One (Jan 9)
Academy – Willowdale 2:2 Roman Sapozhnikov – Michael Barron 1:0
Konstantin Semianiuk – Michael Kimelman 0:1
Michael Song – Dmitry Chernik 1/2
David Itkin – Alexander Strugach 1/2
Knights – Annex 3:1 Victor Plotkin – Michael Humphreys 1:0
Vladimir Birarov – Rolando Renteria 1/2
Mike Ivanov – David Southam 1/2
Mark Plotkin – Pavel Peev 1:0
With Pavel Peev’s game looking lost, David Southam’s drawn, and Rolando’s game looking drawish, we were all hoping for a win on board one to even the score. Michael Humphreys looked like he had an edge on the board and he certainly had a huge edge on the clock. But in the end, Victor Plotkin prevailed.
White: Plotkin, Victor (2374)
Black: Humphreys, Michael (2322)
GTCL Toronto Premier League (1)
2012.01.09
Toronto, ON
B09 Pirc Defence: Austrian Attack
Round Two (Jan 16)
Annex – Academy 1:3 Michael Humphreys – Roman Sapozhnikov 0:1
Rolando Renteria – Konstantin Semianiuk 0:1
David Southam – James Fu 1:0
Wajdy Shebetah – David Itkin 0:1
Knights – Willowdale 3:1 David Cummings – Michael Kleinman 1/2
Vladimir Birarov – Michael Barron 1/2
Razvan Preotu – Michael Kimelman 1:0
Mike Ivanov – Dmitry Chernik 1:0
Michael Humphreys had an interesting game with Roman Sapozhnikov, and he must have been winning at some point. It stayed complicated as both players faced time trouble, and in the end Roman won. So Annex suffered a second team loss.
Team records (after 2 rounds)
Knights of Chess +2-0=0 (4 points)
Chess Academy +1-0=1 (3)
Willowdale Chess Club +0-1=1 (1)
Annex Chess Club +0-2=0 (0)
But let’s focus on the positive: here’s Dave Southam’s win over James Fu.
White: Southam, David (2205)
Black: Fu, James (2178)
GTCL Toronto Premier League (2)
2012.01.16
Toronto, ON
D35 Queen’s Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation
Round 3 (Jan 23)
Academy – Knights 3:1 Roman Sapozhnikov – Victor Plotkin 1:0
Konstantin Semianiuk – Vladimir Birarov 1:0
Michael Song – Egidijus Zeromskis 1/2
David Itkin – Mark Plotkin 1/2
Willowdale – Annex 2.5:1.5 Michael Kleinman – Michael Humphreys 1/2
Michael Barron – Rolando Renteria 1/2
Michael Kimelman – David Southam 1/2
Dmitry Chernik – Hugh Siddeley 1:0
These were exciting last-round matches! Academy beat the Knights to take over the lead in the final round. And Annex needed a win over Willowdale to climb out of the basement, and almost had it, too – until ACC team captain Hugh Siddely flagged in a winning position.
Here are the Final Team records (after 3 rounds):
Chess Academy +2-0=1 (5 points)
Knights of Chess +2-1=0 (4 points)
Willowdale Chess Club +1-1=1 (3 points)
Annex Club +0-3=0 (0 points)
(from North York)
Michael Kleinman, 2408
(Leonid Strugach, 2293)
Michael Barron, 2266
Michael Kimelman, 2220
Dmitry Chernik, 2011 *
Alexander Strugach, 1964
(Evgeni Tobolovsky, 1808)
(from North York)
David Cummings, 2440
Victor Plotkin, 2378
Vladimir Birarov, 2259 *
Egidijus Zeromskis, 2248
Razvan Preotu, 2194
Mike Ivanov, 2156
Mark Plotkin, 1985
