News for 2005-2006

• Canadian Closed and Zonal (18-27 August 2006, Toronto, Ontario):

  BC junior player Louie Jiang received "Great Upsets" award and named "Top BC Player" at the closing ceremory. Louie's father Patrick Jiang received "Chess Parent of the Year" award (details)

• 2006 Chess Superfest (Ottawa, Aug. 19-20, 2006)

  BC junior player Janak Awatramani won first place for Grade 1. Janak was the only player from BC. Ontario and Quebec players dominated top spots of other grades. See standings.

• Canadian Open (Kitchener, Ont., July 15-23, 2006)

  BC junior Alexandra Botez won U1600 section with 7.5/9.0. Other BC juniors also had outstanding performance in U2000 and Open sections. See their standings, games and photos.

• Canadian Junior and Canadian Youth Championship (Kitchener, Ont., July 10-13, 2006)

  Bindi Cheng won 2006 Canadian Junior Championship with 6.5/7.0, and Richard Huang won 3rd place. In Canadian Youth Championship, many BC juniors had outstanding performance: standings and games.

• More BC games online: Supplement, June 06 (465 new games from Stephen Wright's collections)

• A slide show of GM Charbonneau/IM Krush Simuls and Pairs Exhibition (June 10, 2006).

• BC Juniors at Washington Open (Everett, WA, May 27-29, 2006)

  Competition in this well-run event was very strong, as many top players (including juniors) from Washington and Oregon joined the event. GM Gregory Serper, IM Georgi Orlov and Ignacio Peres tied for first in Open section. BC juniors Jack Cheng and Vlad Gaciu also played in Open section (also FIDE rated), Arik Milner in U2000 section, Aviv Milner and Alexandra Botez in U1700 section and Donovan Zhao in U1400 section. Full standings shown here. This photo shows some BC and Washington junior players before the game. In WA Open Scholastic on Saturday May 27, Janak Awatramani won the 5th place trophy in grade K-3 group and Donovan Zhao won the second place trophy in 4-6 group (Standings). Thanks to Alfred Pechisker for providing one of his annotated games at WA Open (click to play).

• Junior players at Keres Memorial (Vancouver, May 19-22, 2006)

  BC junior player Fanhao Meng tied with IM Georgi Orlov for second with 5/7 in Open section. Bindi Cheng, Lucas Davies, and Noam Davies tied for 4-9th place with 4.5/7. In the Under 2000 section Richard Huang tied for third with 4.5/6 followed by Kevin Goodman, Evan Raymer and Jack Cheng with 4/6. Three junior players in U1600 section also did well: Dylan Parker and Hafiz Dhanani with 3.5/6 and Donovan Zhao with 3/6. See games and photos. Thanks to TDs Stephen Wright, Lynn Stringer and Lyle Craver with assistance from Katherine Davies and others.

• Team BC won 4th place in National Chess Challenge (Moncton, NB, May 21-22, 2006)

BC's National Chess Challenge trophy winners:

Grade 1 Janak Awatramani, first place.
Grade 3 Alex Sabaratnam, third place.
Grade 4 Tanraj Sohal, third place.
Grade 7 Elliot Raymer, third place.
Grade 11 Jingwei Li, third place.
Team Score: Ontario (90.0), Quebec (79.0), Manitoba (63.5), BC (58.5) and Alberta (52.0). See Results.

• 2006 BC Youth Chess Championship (May 13-14, 2006)

Fifty-four players joined this annual event to determine BC Chess Champions by age group This year's champions are: Arik Milner (U10 Boys), Jenna Wild (U10 Girls), Joshua Wild (U12 Boys), Vera Tardos (U12 Girls), Michael Wee (U14 Boys), Chelsea Ruiter (U14 Girls), Stefan Trandafir (U16 Boys), Ana Maria Luca (U16 Girls) and George Li (U18 Boys). Tournament director is Stephen Wright with assistant Katherine Davies. Final Standings and medal winners by Stephen Wright and photos by Andrei Botez.

• GM Pascal Charbonneau and IM Irina Krush: a chess exhibition (June 10, 2006 at Univ. of BC)

• Junior players at Worker's Memorial (Kamloops, April 14-15, 2006)

  Vlad Gaciu tied for first with 4.5/6.0 and Alexandra Botez won U1600 prize with 3.5/6.0 (see standings, thanks to Andrei Botez)

• 2006 BC Chess Challenge (April 15, 2006)

  There were 204 junior players who joined 2006 BC Challenge at BCIT. This year's grade champions are: Janak Awatramani (grade 1), Harrison Lee (2), Alex Sabaratnam (3), Tanraj Sohal (4), Jack Cheng (5), Gabriel Panaitiu (6), Elliot Raymer (7), Kristijan Gorgevik (8), Ritik Looned (9), Lo-Ching Chow (10), Jingwei Li (11) and Lucas Davies (12). Tournament Director and organizer are Stephen Wright and Katherine Davies, with help from Toni Deline, Lynn Stringer, Elizabeth Towers as assistant directors. Organizers would like to thank all parents who helped out in many ways during the tournament. Please see trophy winners list and final standings. Photos are coming.

• Vancouver Regional Chess Challenge (March 25, 2006)

  Thanks to TD, organizers and helpers Stephen Wright, Katherine Davies, Andrei Botez, Gabi Gaciu and Elizebath Towers, this annual event produced many winners, some of them are first time tournament players, see standings.

• March Sunday Open (March 5, 2006)

  Lucas Davies won the Open section and Alexandra Botez won the U1500 section. Grade 1 player Janak Awatramani won the U1000 section for the third time (standings).

• Interschool Elementary Final and Secondary School Team Championship (February 25, 2006)

  Elementary Team Final: after 6 rounds competition among the 7 teams, St. George's Team A won the championship with a score of 22.0 (max 24.0), followed by St. George's Team B (15.0). Westcot finished third with 12.0. Other teams in the final are Chartwell, Pauline Johnson, St. John's, and York House.

  The secondary team competition were among 10 teams. Port Moody won the championship with 19.0 (max 20.0), followed by Seaqum (15.0) and Winston Churchill (12.0).

  The tournament director was Stephen Wright with assistance from Elizabeth Towers. See final standings and photos.

• February Sunday Open (February 12, 2006)

  Thirty players joined the tournament. Vlad Gaciu won the Open section, Foster Tom won U1500 section and Janak Awatramani U1000 section. Stephen Wright was the tournament director, assisted by Marina Milner. Final standing here.

• Annual BC Interschool Elementary Preliminaries (January 28, 2006)

  After 5 rounds fierce competition among 29 teams, St. George's A won the preliminary with a score 18 out of 20, followed by St. George's B (14.5), Pauline Johnson (13.5), Chartwell (13), Westcot (12.5), York House A (12.5) and St. John's A (12.5). Due to the 3-way tie of 5-7th places, all top 7 teams have been invited to participate in the Elementary Finals, to be held at WPGA on February 25. Thanks to St. John's School for supporting such an important annual event and providing a welcome environment for all players and their parents. The tournament director is Stephen Wright with assistance from Andrew Young, Alisa Young, Elizabeth Towers, Sukhbir Bolina and many helping staff members of St John's School. Final team standings can be found here. A slide show is also available (click on the first slide and wait).

• Annual BCIT Scholastic Chess Tournament (January 22, 2006)

  Eight-seven young chess players (as young as age 5), including players from Washington state, attended this well-run event, thanks to TD Stephen Wright and coordinator Katherine Davies, with help from Andrei Botez, Toni Deline and Michael Yip as TD assistants. The first place winners for each section are: Janak Awatramani for K-2, Alex Sabaratnam for grade 3-4, Jack Cheng for 5-6 and Lucas Davies for 7-12. Many trophies and medals are awarded to many players for outstanding performance. Final standing here.

• January Sunday Open (January 8, 2006)

  Thanks to TD Stephen Wright and coordinator Katherine Davies, the first event of year 2006 attracted 42 players, including some new players to tournament chess and players from Washington state. In U1000 section, Michael Levine and Kyle Zheng tied for first with 5.0/6.0. After playoff Michael won the first place trophy, Kyle the second. Brothers Quincy Welsh and Karson Welch tied for third place with 4.0/6.0. One took the third place trophy and the other cash prize. In U1500 section, Tanraj Sohal won the first prize with 4.0/4.0, followed by new player David Luo with 3.0/4.0. Jakab Tardos and Hafiz Dhanani tied for third place with 2.5/4.0. In Open section II, Clyde Chen and David Pash tied for first with 2.5/3.0. Noam Davies and Michael Yip tied for first with 2.5/3.0 in Open section I. Final standing here.

• Thomas Hook Cup (Dec. 10, 2005)

Forty young chess players, half of them are first timers to play CFC rated tournament games, joined this fun event. Foster Tom, who won all of his five games, took the first place trophy. 2nd place winner: Marko Mitrovic, 3rd place winner: Mitchell Lam. Melissa Jin received the trophy for the tournament's top girl. U900: Alejandro Torres-Lopez, U600: Paul Lee and K-1: Reuben Szijjarto. Many players won medals for their outstanding performance. See complete report, standings and photos here.

• BC-Washington Scholastic Match (Dec. 10, 2005): BC 30.5; WA 17.5, this trophy stays in BC

In the 15th BC-Washington International Chess Match, Team BC won convincingly. Thanks to organizers Katherine Davies, Bill Lee (BC) and Karen Dixon (Washington) and TD Stephen Wright, 48 top junior players from both sides of the border had many good games. See results here and games online. Two slide shows here.

• BC Juniors at Washington Class Championship (November 25-27, 2005)

  In FIDE rated Master/Expert Top Section, three BC young chess master/experts had a strong showing: in Master Section Lucas Davies was clear second place winner with 4.0/6.0. In Expert Section Noam Davies had a score 3.0/6.0 and Louie Jiang with 2.0/6.0. In C/D Section, Alexandra Botez finished with 4.5/6.0, a top 2 finishing. In E/Unrated section, facing a few unrated adult players, Donovan Zhao had 3 wins and 2 loses. Photos here and cross tables.

• November Sunday Open (November 20, 2005)

In U1000 section, six years old Janak Awatramani won the first place trophy after playoffs. Dennis Wang was the second place winner. After many more rounds of playoff games, Michael Levine won the third place trophy. Kyle Zheng and Narek Bobloyan received cash awards. In U1500 section, Alexandra Botez and Donovan Zhao tied for first with 3.0/4.0. Hafiz Dhanani and Kai Somers (new to BC chess) shared the third and U1000 prizes with 2.5/4.0. In open section, Lucas Davies, Noam Davies, Michael Yip and Clyde Chen all tied for first with 2.5/3.0. See Standings by Stephen Wright and U1000 playoff photos (1, 2) by Andrei Botez. Thanks to Katherine Davies and Stephen Wright for organizing and directing this event.

• Chess Tournament for Kids (K-8), November 19, 2005: results

Thanks to TD Luc Poitras, fourty-two young players from 14 schools had great fun. A lot of medals were given in prizes and 11 talented chess players received chess books as prizes. The next tournamnent will be scheduled in February. Please check the event page of this web site for more details then.

• BC Junior Championship (November 11-13, 2005)

Lucas Davies (last year's co-champion) has won the championship with a score of 4.5/5.0. Eleven years old player Louie Jiang was second with 4.0/5.0. Clyde Chen won the reserves section with 4.5/5.0 and new player Jakab Tardos was second with 4.0/5.0. Thanks to Stephen Wright and Katherine Davies for organizing and directing the event and congratulations to all players (final standings).

• Canadian junior games online (CYCC 2005, Victoria, 501 games) thanks to Lynn Stringer

• October Sunday Open (October 16, 2005)

RResults and photos

• Chess by the Sea (an all girls event) results posted

• BC Closed and BC Open Results (October 8-10, 2005, Vancouver)

  Thanks to the help of Marina Milner, the tournaments were held in Hebb Building, on beautiful University of BC campus. Jack Yoos won BC Closed with a score 5.5/7.0 and became three times BC Chess Champion (2003, 2004 and 2005).

  In BC Open, thirty-four players (2/3 of them were junior players) joined this Thanksgiving 6-round event, including players from Washington State, Vancouver Island and Northern BC. Vicente Lee won the first prize with 5.5/6.0.

  Junior players who had outstanding performance: in BC Closed Lucas Davies (4.0/7.0) tied for 3rd place among 8 master level players. Aviv Milner (3.5/6.0), Joshua Wild (3.0/6.0), Richard Huang (4.0/6.0) and Noam Davies (4.5/6.0, 3rd place winner of BC Open) had won or drew many games against much stronger players. See results on BCCF Web site.

• First 2005 Fall Sunday Open (Sept. 18, 2005)

This tournament had three sections: junior U1000 (Booster), U1500 and an open section (unrated) adult can play. David Choi took the first prize in U1000 section with a score 4.5/5.0. Alex Sabaratnam won the U1500 section with a score 3.5/4.0. Luc Poitras won the Open section with score 3.0/3.0. Congratulations to all players for their efforts and performance! Thanks to Katherine Davies, Stephen Wright and Andrei Botez for organizing and directing the tournament. See results and photos.

• More BC games online (Dec., 1989 - July, 2005) 6,570 games compiled by Stephen Wright.

Many junnior players' games of CYCC2005 and Mackasy are included. The pgn web viewer is from LT-PGN-VIEWER, thanks to Lutz Tautenhahn. (be patient, as the file is large to include all these games).

• More News for 2004-2005