We have an exciting lineup of kids’ classes on Monday nights at Annex Chess Club. We’re now in our summer session. Check our current and upcoming schedule.
Classes run in-house tournaments, with points for games won, analysis performed, riddles and puzzles solved, etc. Here are the latest results:
At Saturday’s annual general meeting of the Greater Toronto Chess League (GTCL), report after report recognized the emergence this year of the Annex Chess Club (ACC) as a remarkable positive development in the Toronto chess scene.
Accordingly, this year’s GTCL awards were presented to my friend Yakos Spiliotopoulos (ACC club manager) and to me Marcus Wilker (ACC communications director) for our work in getting this fantastic downtown chess club up and running so successfully.
In turn, Yakos and I would like to thank all our club members and all those who have supported Toronto chess through our club. Your help is much appreciated. Quite obviously, we couldn’t have done this without all of you!
On January 30, we started our second annual club championship (Wajdy Shebetah was the defending 2011 Club Champion).
Round 6 (March 19)
In the last round, Michael Humphreys defeated Hugh Siddeley to take the Championship section with a final score 5.5/6. Congratulations, Michael!
In the reserve section, Omid Nemati and Ulli Diemer each won the last round. So they ended up tied for first place with 5.0/6. Omid Nemati, with the better “Modifided Median-Buchholz” score (17.5 to 17), is the official 2012 winner of the Reserve section.
Check complete final results on the cross-table, below.
Complete final results:
Championship (>1800)
#
Name
ID
Rating
Rd 1
Rd 2
Rd 3
Rd 4
Rd 5
Rd 6
Total
1
Michael Humphreys
131628
2317
W18
W4
W2
W5
D7
W3
5.5
2
David Southam
102535
2211
D13
W3
L1
W9
W12
W6
4.5
3
Hugh Siddeley
120619
1953
W6
L2
W11
W4
W5
L1
4.0
4
Adrian David Valencia
153521
2023
W10
L1
W20
L3
W15
W12
4.0
5
Wajdy Shebetah
148432
2062
D21
W15
W9
L1
L3
W10
3.5
6
Alex T. Ferreira
127516
2055
L3
H—
W21
W17
W13
L2
3.5
7
Rolando Renteria
152626
2263
W11
H—
H—
W10
D1
U—
3.5
8
Daniel Wiebe
132137
1844
H—
H—
L10
W19
D9
B—
3.5
9
Pavel Peev
122223
2109
H—
W21
L5
L2
D8
W19
3.0
10
Zehn Nasir
148198
1870
L4
W18
W8
L7
H—
L5
2.5
11
Carlos Romero Alfonso
153128
1948
L7
W19
L3
L12
H—
W18
2.5
12
Pepin Manalo
112277
1879
H—
H—
H—
W11
L2
L4
2.5
13
Juliaan Posaratnanathan
146059
1917
D2
H—
W16
H—
L6
U—
2.5
14
Andrew Pastor
127521
1922
H—
H—
H—
U—
W20
U—
2.5
15
Erik Malmsten
100196
1866
H—
L5
H—
W18
L4
U—
2.0
16
Arkadiy Ugodnikov
146626
1809
H—
D20
L13
H—
D17
U—
2.0
17
Bruce McKendry
111714
1898
H—
H—
H—
L6
D16
U—
2.0
18
Nicholas O'Bumsawin
151261
1799
L1
L10
W19
L15
H—
L11
1.5
19
Daniel Zotkin
146857
1747
H—
L11
L18
L8
W21
L9
1.5
20
Joseph Bellissimo
147544
1903
H—
D16
L4
H—
L14
U—
1.5
21
Sahir Abbas
1896
D5
L9
L6
H—
L19
U—
1.0
Reserve (U1800)
#
Name
ID
Rating
Rd 1
Rd 2
Rd 3
Rd 4
Rd 5
Rd 6
Total
1
Omid Nemati
130676
1761
H—
W19
W6
W3
D9
W4
5.0
2
Ulli Diemer
unr.
L4
W23
W15
W21
W8
W3
5.0
3
Yakos Spiliotopoulos
151471
1698
W13
W8
W5
L1
W29
L2
4.0
4
Bill Thornton
131181
1417
W2
L6
W24
W11
W26
L1
4.0
5
Adie Todd
125156
1692
W20
W11
L3
D9
W12
D7
4.0
6
Hayk Oganesyan
152587
1585
W14
W4
L1
U—
W19
W9
4.0
7
Mohammad Zaki Uddin
152024
1723
H—
L22
W16
W10
W13
D5
4.0
8
Josep Sobrepere
152976
1495
W29
L3
W20
W26
L2
W15
4.0
9
Michael Sutton
151225
1688
D10
W16
W23
D5
D1
L6
3.5
10
Hooshang Abbarin
152910
1515
D9
W27
L11
L7
W22
W17
3.5
11
Jack Maguire
144604
1531
W23
L5
W10
L4
H—
W21
3.5
12
Manuela Renteria
152627
1672
H—
H—
H—
W18
L5
W13
3.5
13
George Supol
152286
1307
L3
W28
W14
W20
L7
L12
3.0
14
Jean-Marc David
151900
1124
L6
W26
L13
L15
W27
W19
3.0
15
Christopher Field
108098
1275
H—
H—
L2
W14
W21
L8
3.0
16
Milan Cvetkovic
150817
1255
H—
L9
L7
W23
H—
D26
2.5
17
Marcus Wilker
102713
1666
H—
H—
H—
W25
U—
L10
2.5
18
Anton Zverev
150115
1335
H—
H—
H—
L12
U—
W24
2.5
19
Shabnam Abbarin
151181
1335
H—
L1
D27
W24
L6
L14
2.0
20
Stefan Catona
129405
1190
L5
W29
L8
L13
B—
U—
2.0
21
Alejandro Renteria
152628
1422
W26
H—
H—
L2
L15
L11
2.0
22
Bazil Whitehead
153156
1260
H—
W7
H—
U—
L10
U—
2.0
23
Larissa Souchko
145490
1126
L11
L2
L9
L16
H—
W29
1.5
24
Dave Rutt
153519
1015
H—
H—
L4
L19
H—
L18
1.5
25
John Warner
152782
1087
H—
H—
H—
L17
U—
U—
1.5
26
Dennis Li
153129
919
L21
L14
D29
L8
L4
D16
1.0
27
Ian Prittie
unr.
H—
L10
D19
U—
L14
U—
1.0
28
Jennifer Ugodnikov
151196
1149
H—
L13
H—
U—
U—
U—
1.0
29
Raymond Lin
150193
935
L8
L20
D26
U—
L3
L23
0.5
Round 5 (March 12)
Through five rounds, Michael Humphreys is still leading the Championship section with 4.5/5. This round saw Rolando Renteria hold him to a draw.
In the Reserve section, Yakos Spiliotopoulos is back in the lead after defeating Raymond Lin. But he’s now sharing his lead with Omid Nemati, Ulli Diemer, and Bill Thornton.
Games from Round 5
Round 4 (March 5)
After four rounds, Michael Humphreys is leading the Championship section with a perfect 4.0/4. This round saw him defend his lead agains last year’s winner, Wajdy Shebetah.
In the Reserve section, the third-round leader, Yakos Spiliotopoulos, played the opening in his unorthodox style, and even went on a trademark Yak-attack, but was defeated by top-rated Omid Nemati, who now leads the section with 3.5/4.
Round 4 also saw Alex Ferreira take over TD duties from outgoing TD, Hugh Siddeley. Thank you, Hugh, for all your work over the past year and a half! Alex had a few wrinkles to iron out, taking over the tournament part-way through, but the round ran smoothly under his direction. Welcome, Alex!
On October 31, we squeezed a mini-AGM into our normal chess lecture slot. ACC Executive members Ted Winick, Hugh Siddeley, Marcus Wilker, and Adie Todd (Yakos Spiliotopoulos was busy teaching) briefly reported on our respective areas of responsibility (finances, tournaments, communications, and membership) and introduced the issues we are addressing as we move into year two. We are inviting member feedback on our initiatives and on the state of our club generally. In order to make the AGM as short and sweet as it was, and to accommodate as many members as possible, we are hoping to hear back from you through our survey.
Survey forms were available at the club, and could be returned until the end of November.
Final Survey results
16 surveys completed by November 28
1. Support for strict 7:30 tournament start time: 9/13 = 69% (+ 3 indifferent)
2. Interest in playing at ACC two days per week: 8/15 = 53%
2b. Suggestions for second day, if interested:
Tuesday: 2/6 = 33%
Wednesday: 3/6 = 50%
Thursday: 3/6 = 50%
Saturday: 1/6 = 17%
3. Support for outsourcing and publishing all ACC games: 5/13 = 38% (+ 2 indifferent)
4. Support for rigid minimum ratings in sections: 7/13 = 54% (+ 1 indifferent)
5. Satisfaction with current time controls: 12/15 = 80%
5b. Other suggestions for time controls:
40/2 SD/1: 1/4 = 25%
increment for all: 2/4 = 50%
faster – e.g., SD/1 +30s: 1/4 = 25%
6. Importance of lectures, out of 10: 91/15 = 6.1/10
6b. Interest in giving lectures: 8/15 = 53%
7. Frequency of checking the website:
daily: 4/15 = 27%
few times a week: 3/15 = 20%
weekly: 6/15 = 40%
rarely: 2/15 = 13%
8a. Favourite content on the website:
results: 4/11 = 36%
news: 3/11 = 27%
all aspects generally: 3/11 = 27%
events: 3/11 = 27%
visuals: 1/11 = 9%
lecture notes: 1/11 = 9%
selected games: 1/11 = 9%
frequent updates: 1/11 = 9%
8b. Least favourite content on the website:
club: 1/2 = 50%
none: 1/2 = 50%
9. Interest in submitting articles for the website: 9/14 = 64%
10. Interest in volunteering with the club: 6/14 = 43% (+ 1 possible)
11a. Other compliments:
atmosphere, community feeling, friendly people: 6/9 = 75%
On Thanksgiving Monday, Yakos Spiliotopoulos spoke to Karen Horsman on CBC radio one’s Metro Morning: “…but in one corner of the city it won’t be for dinner when they sit down at a table …”