Hello everyone!

Thank you for an amazing 2023! Annex Chess Club is closed for the holidays and will re-open on January 8, 2024.

In January we start our new regular tournament, appropriately named A New Leaf.

We are also starting our Junior tournament, open to players 16 and under. These tournaments will start at 5:00 on Mondays and have a time control of 30+30. These games are perfect for serious young players who need to get home early on a school night.

We wish you all the best for 2024, and we'll see you in January!

ACC's motto is Chess For Everyone!

Everything we do is informed by this. This is why we offer tournament play and casual play. This is why we offer classes for beginners and advanced players.

This is why we launched the Toronto Women's Chess Club in 2023. At ACC we strive to create a safe and welcoming environment for everyone.

One area where we've fallen down is providing an opportunity for competitive play for younger players.

True, many juniors play in our regular tournaments, but many more cannot participate because the games go too late for a school night.

We're pleased to announce the launch of our Junior Tournaments.

These are classically-rated tournaments that will mirror our regular tournaments, with one round per week. Rounds start at 5:00 p.m. and have a time control of 30+30, meaning that games should be over by 6:30.

Aside from the short time control and early start, everything about these tournaments is identical to our regular tournaments. Players must record their moves, and these tournaments will be supervised by qualified arbiters. This offering is ideal for younger players who want to play serious games but can't play until 11:00 p.m.

If we have good numbers, we will have multiple sections; otherwise we'll just have one.

We plan to launch on January 8 2024, after our holiday break, but the actual start will depend on registration.

The cost is $10 per round, or $40 for a full tournament. A valid CFC ID is required.

You can sign up here.

We're excited to announce that the Toronto Women's Closed Championship is finally getting underway! 

There's still room in this seven-round Swiss tournament. The first round is on Monday December 11 at 6:30. Time control is 60+30. This shorter time control and earlier start time makes this tournament appealing to younger players.

Round two will take place on January 8, after the club's holiday break.

We're thrilled to have WIM Yunshan Li playing.

On Monday Nov. 27th, ACC hosted the 2023 GTCL Cup. Twenty-nine teams from many different chess organizations (ACC itself, of course, Hart House CC, Etobicoke CC, Willowdale CC, Pub Chess, Chess In The Park, and more) participated in this five-round rapid teams tournament.

In the Championship Section, a three-way tie for the top prize (between Kids and Dads, Kramnik Fanclub and Chess Stars, each with 4 team points, was broken by the total match score, in which Kids and Dads edged out the other teams. Congratulations to Kids and Dads (Mark Plotkin, Victor Plotkin, Max Rusonik, Greg Rusonik, and alternate Mike Ivanov)! Mike and Mark are pictured hoisting the cup!

Here's the final standings for the Championship Section:

Rank	Team Name	Team Points	Individual Points
1.	Kids and Dads	4	14.5
2.	Kramnik Fanclub	4	14
	Chess Stars	4	14
4.	Hart House Alumni	2.5	11
5.	Willowdale CC	2.5	10
	20th Century Juniors	2.5	10
7.	ACC A	2	9
8.	Hart House A Team	2	8
9.	Etobicoke CC	1.5	8.5
10	ACC A Team	0	1

And here are the final standings for the U1800 Section:

Rank	Team Name	Team Points	Individual Points
1.	Parktically GMs	4.5	15
2.	Lorne's Butlers	4	13.5
3.	ACC C	3.5	11.5
4.	Willowdale Youth	3.5	10
5.	Smuggling Beats	3	12.5
6.	Hart House Friends	3	12
7.	ACC D	3	11
	Anarchy Posse	3	11
9.	Tigers 1	3	10.5
10.	Persian Knights	2.5	10
11.	Pub Chess	2.5	9.5
12.	Park Timers	2	9.5
13.	Knight Riders	2	8.5
14.	ACC Ladies	2	8
15.	ACC E	2	5
	Chess Chefs	2	5
17.	Tigers 2	1.5	7.5
18.	ACC B	1.5	5.5
19.	Wright Bros.	1.5	4.5

Congratulations to all of the winners. Individual results will take a few days to be posted on chess-results.com. A link will be provided when this is ready.

Hello everyone!

We have quite a bit of news to deliver this week.

First, thanks to everyone who joined us in our very successful ACC Hallowe'en Rapid! We're grateful for the sponsorship of Spirit of Math, Central Toronto Campus for this event.

Special thanks to everyone who gave their time and efforts to make this tournament work so well, especially Heidi, Daniel, and Gabriel.

You can view the final results of this tournament on chess-results.com 

This five-round rapid tournament had a field of 101 players from near and far. Thank you for visiting our club!

Congratulations to the tournament winners, IM Mark Plotkin and Brendan Cater, each with a perfect 5/5 score.

The prize for top score by women is shared by Olena Kucherenko, Haneul Park, and ACC members Adie Todd and Samantha Tajik, each with 3.0/5.

The prize for top juniors is shared by ACC members Noah and Amirmahdi, each with 3.5/5.

We had first thought to award only one prize for best costume, but we've doubled it, to give costume prizes for adults and kids!

Best costume (adult) is tied between A.J. Smit (a clever Alice in Wonderland mashup) and Adie Todd (with a costume evoking something belonging to the Hellboy universe, I think...)

 

Best costume (juniors) is tied between Terra (Death playing chess, from Ingmar Bergman's classic The Seventh Seal), and Tanishq (The Rooooooook!) 

Prizes will be sent by e-transfer. Congratulations everyone!

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You'll be pleased to know that our online classes are starting this week! On Tuesday evenings, IM Mark Plotkin will guide you through the dense jungle that is the Middlegame.

On Thursday evenings, FM Michael Humphreys will teach you about Strategic Thinking In Chess.

Both courses still have spots available, and ACC members get an amazing 50% discount!

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Our new regular tournament (Chill Out!) starts on Monday November 6. If you're planning to play in the tournament, please register here.

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We've made the decision to delay (again) the start of the Toronto Women's Closed. We hope to start this in December.

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Registration is open for the GTCL Team Cup, which is happening on November 27! You can register your team for $10 per player ($5 for ACC members.)

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Finally, a reminder that Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend. Be sure to adjust your clocks and arrive at the right time for our new tournament, and classes, on Monday!

Hello everyone!

Just a reminder that our club is closed this evening for Thanksgiving.

We're re-launching our Advanced Online Classes, with IM Mark Plotkin and FM Michael Humphreys! ACC members get a 50% discount! 

Also, don't forget about our upcoming special events: the Toronto Women's Closed Championship and our annual Hallowe'en Rapid!

Our most recent tournament has had a name change! Originally called "Harvest Moon," we've decided to rename it the "2023 Ted Winick Memorial."

As many club members will know, Ted founded the club in 2010. ACC is one of the most successful clubs in Toronto, hosting many major tournaments with great success, and welcoming a number of big names in chess, including Wesley So, Nigel Short, Aryan Chopra and Hikaru Nakamura.

Ted's impact on the Canadian chess scene can hardly be overstated, having also founded National Chess Camp and Chess Institute of Canada. Ted passed away, far too young, in 2019.

As Ted's birthday is in late September, ACC will name any of our regular tournaments that run at that time after him.

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ACC now uses the program Swiss Manager for pairing. Updates and results from our tournaments are now on chess-results.com

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We're pleased to announce that in our regular tournaments our Crown section (1800+, with the option of playing up for those 1700+) is now FIDE-rated, as well as CFC-rated.

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We are working on a Master section for our tournaments. The hard floor for this section will be 2200, with no playups. Any interested participants should email the club at info@annexchessclub.com.

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The 2023 Toronto Women's Closed is currently on hold, but we hope to re-open registration soon!

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Our next big event is the 2023 Hallowe'en Rapid! Please register for this today!

ACC hosted the 2023 Toronto Blitz Championship this past Monday, August 14. We've hosted this event for the past eight years, and were pleased to do it again.

We're grateful for the support of the GTCL.

The event attracted nearly 100 players, including eleven titled players. The Blitz Championship is a seven double-round tournament with a time control of 3+2, meaning that nearly seven hundred games of chess were played in one fairly hectic night!

The arbiter team was sometimes a bit overwhelmed, but we fell in to a good rhythm and kept the event moving smoothly for the most part. Keith was the chief arbiter. Thanks to Abdul, Riley and club member Daniel for their hard work.

At the end, we had a $1500 prize fund, which was awarded to the overall winners, as well as the following prizes:

• 1st Place: IM Nicholas Vetesse (13/14, $600)
• 2nd Place: Jeffrey Zhao (11.5/14, $300)
• 3rd Place, three-way tie: IM Artiom Samsonkin, IM Shiyam Thavandiran, AFM Saarthak Malakar (11/14, share $150 prize)
• Top Scoring Woman: WFM Oksana Golubeva (10/14, $90)
• Top Junior: AFM Saarthak Malakar (11/14, $90)
• Top Female Junior: Haneul Park (8/14, $90)
• Best U1800: Noah Velasquez (9.5/14, $90)
• Best U1400: Artur Jankobayev (9.5/14, $90)

Jeffrey Zhao's performance was particularly impressive, gaining over 200 rating points!

A great deal of fun was had by all! Thank you to our photographer, Leo.

1. IM Ilyass Msellek plays Rapid/Blitz Simul at ACC

Ilyass Msellek, an International Master from Morocco, will play a rapid chess simul at ACC this evening, Monday June 19, starting at 8:00 PM, for a couple of hours.

Ilyass recently played in our Canadian Transnational Chess Championship, Crown Section. He had a nice performance finishing T17/38 in the Blitz, T11/34 in the Rapid and T14 in the Classic. He finished 16/29 Crown players who played in all 3 events. In total, 63 players participated in at least one Crown section event.

The simul is free for all ACC members and $10+HST ($11.30) for non-ACC members. This is our normal casual play drop-in fee. Several players will simultaneously play Ilyass using a 10|5 rapid time control. Players will be continuously rotated at the end of each round. There may also be some blitz games.

GM Hikaru Nakamura (left) plays blitz against IM Ilyass Msellek at CTN post-tournament play

2. Toronto Closed Makeup Game Evening at ACC

This evening, the Toronto Closed Chess Championship continues with 9 makeup games, as follows:

Championship Section:

• Board #1 (DGT): Fred Gandolfi vs IM Michael Barron (M4) - Rd #9
• Board #2 (DGT): Isaak Huh vs Abhinandan Mohan (M7) - Rd #3
• Board #3: Tony Bohan Bao vs Hugh Siddeley (M5) - Rd #3

Reserve Section:

• Board #4: Ryan Xu vs Daniel Sirkovich (M3) - Rd #1
• Board #5: Saarthak Malakar vs David Southam (M9) - Rd #3
• Board #6: Toy Chack Kwan vs Sean Liu (M12) - Rd #4

Development Section:

• Board #7: Nicolas Bonnard vs Peter Grucza (M2) - Rd #5
• Board #8: Beau McArthur vs George Supol (M11) - Rd #4
• Board #9: Sudhir Pokhrel vs Karandeep Basi (M19) - Rd #6

Next Monday, June 26, will be the final round of the Toronto Closed. Participating players in this round-robin event are competing, in their respective sections, for 1st, 2nd 3rd place prizes. The total prize fund is $2,000, with $500 going to first place in the Championship Section.

3. Hazy Days 5-Week Rated Tournament Continues

Round #2/5 continues. The June 12 results for Rd #1 are presented here.

It is possible that several (of the 12) players not competing this week in the Toronto Closed makeup games may decide to get their weekly ACC chess fix by participating in our weekly tournament.

Players may register online here.

4. ACC Chess Classes Continue

In-person chess classes continue tonight, as follows:

• Beginner kids and adults, weeks 3/4 (1.0 hrs. class) - taught by Sue Foster
• Intermediate kids and adults, weeks 3/8 (1.5 hrs. class) - taught by NM David Filipovich
• Advanced kids, week 3/8 (1.5 hrs. class) - taught by FM Michael Humphreys

Online classes continue tomorrow evening, as follows:

• Intermediate/Advanced Maneuvering Class for Club Players, participating in weekly rated tournaments - Class #2 (Maneuvering in Queenless Middlegames) - Tuesday, June 20 at 7:30 PM - taught by IM Mark Plotkin

Students may register for single drop-in classes or 4- or 8-class bundles for both in-person and online courses. Discounts are available for both ACC members and non-members. Registration and pricing options are available here.

Students of both in-person and online classes may pop in and out of classes as long as they have pre-registered/paid for each attended class.

CTN Official Image

Classic Crown Section Play in Montreal

Classic General Section Play in Montreal

The 2023 CTN Prize Funds were distributed as follows (all figures in CDN $'s):

Crown Section

• Classic - $3,500
• Blitz - $1,500
• Rapid - $2,050
• Bonus Pool - $6,500

Total - $13,550

General Sections

• Classic Open - $1,750
• Classic U1600 - $700
• Classic U1300 - $450
• Classic Special - $100
• Blitz - $500
• Rapid - $950

Total - $4,450

Combined Total - $18,000

Here are the CTN Classic Prizes for all sections:

1. Classic – Crown Section

• 1st - GM Toms Kantens (LAT) - 7.5/9 - $2,000
  
• T2nd - IM Shawn Rodrigues-Lemieux (CAN) - 6.5/9 - $750
  
• T2nd - GM Marteusz Bartel (POL) - 6.5/9 - $750
  

Total - $3,500

2. Classic – General Section (Open)

• 1st - IM Thanh Nha Duong - 5/5 - $1,000
  
• T2nd - Daniel Pomeranz - 4/5 - $187.50
  
• T2nd - Derek Wang - 4/5 - $187.50
  
• T2nd - WIM Omya Vidyarthi (USA) - 4/5 - $187.50
• T2nd - Mathieu Duval - 4/5 - $187.50

Total - $1,750

3. Classic – General Section (U1600)

• 1st - Leo Auersperg - 5/5 - $400
  
• T2nd - Marcus Sanders - 4/5 - $75
  
• T2nd - Sartaj Banger - 4/5 - $75
  
• T2nd - Ting En Ryan Wu - 4/5 - $75
• T2nd - Xavier Portier - 4/5 - $75

Total - $700

4. Classic – General Section (U1300)

• 1st - Vigneshwaran Krishnamurthy - 4.5/5 - $200
  
• 2nd - Joseph Nguyen - 4/5 - $150
  
• T3rd - Jean-Phillippe Cloutier - 3.5/5 - $34
  
• T3rd - Rohan Mullur - 3.5/5 - $33
• T3rd - Sasha Corps - 3.5/5 - $33

Total - $450

5. Classic – General Sections (Special)

• < 12 ans/years old - TBD - $50
  
• Top Femme/Woman - TBD - $50

Total - $100

Here are the CTN Bonus Pool Prizes for the Crown Section:

6. Bonus Pool – Crown Section

• T1st - GM Awonder Liang (USA) - 12.875/18 - $2,250
  
• T1st - IM Shawn Rodrigues-Lemieux (CAN) - 12.875/18 - $2,250
  
• 3rd - GM Marteusz Bartel (POL) - 12.625/18 - $500
  

• 1st Woman - WGM Thalia Cervantes Landeiro (USA) - 8.375/18 - $1,000
• 2nd Woman - WGM Yulesy Hernandez Moya (CUB) - 5.875/18 - $500

Total - $1,500

Combined Total - $6,500

Crown Section Bonus Pool Prizes were determined based on a relative weighting of Blitz (25%), Rapid (50%) and Classic (100%) points earned. Here is a list of the raw and weighted points earned in the CTN Crown Sections of all three events. The Blitz was played in Toronto on June 3. The Rapid was played in Toronto on June 3-4. The Classic was played in Montreal during the week June 6 - 11.

Congratulations to all the winners. Prizes will be distributed shortly.

Here is a link to our previous news post on the CTN Blitz and Rapid events. That post summarized the winners and prizes earned.

Note: Any errors or omissions should be immediately brought to the attention of the CTN Organizers.