Canadian Chess Topics
Researched, compiled, written and copyright 2000-19 by David Cohen. Last updated: 2019.01.14.
Main web site & contact: Canadian Chess.
- 2012 Dmitry Gurevich, Anton Kovalyov (6.5/9) Swiss, 18 players in top section
- 2011 Jesse Kraai, Enrico Sevillano (6.5/9) RR, 10 players
- 2010 Victor Mikhalevski (7/9) Swiss, 18 players
- 2009 Anton Kovalyov, Edward Porper (6.5/9) Swiss, 20 players
- 2008 John Donaldson (5.5/7) Swiss, 35 players
- Founded 1921
- Organizes postal chess and chess by e-mail
- Chess Informant Volume 100's second best game was
Chanda Sandipan 1-0 Sergey Tiviakov, Round 9, Canadian Open Championship, Ottawa 2007
- Founded 1872 as Canadian Chess Association
- Reformed 1932 as Canadian Chess Federation
- Renamed 1945 as CFC
- Established at the Chess Federation of Canada (CFC)'s 1955 Annual
Meeting, through a motion by Baillargeon/Bergevin, as a Permanent Trust
Fund of the CFC
- First Chair (concept stage) was Bernard Freedman 1955
- First Chair (after establishment) was Moe Moss 1956
- First donation made by Phil Haley at the CFC's 1956 Annual Meeting
- Accepts charitable donations for chess
- Principal is not spent, income is given to CFC
- Non-profit organization for teaching chess in schools
- 2012 Nigel Short (7/9) RR
- 2011 Joel Benjamin (7/9) RR
- 2010 Magesh Panchanathan (8.5/9) RR
- 2009 Joshua Friedel, Victor Mikhalevski (7/9) RR
- 2008 Alexander Moiseenko (7/9) Swiss 25 players
- 2007 Melikset Khachiyan (7.5/9) RR
- 2006 Peter Vavrak (7/9) RR
David Levy made a bet in 1968 that no computer program would beat him in a
match within a decade. Over time, the bet grew in size to nearly $10,000,
as new parties joined in. In 1977.04, International Master Levy beat Chess
4.6 1-0 in a two game match. At the end of 1977, Levy beat KAISSA 1-0 in a
two game match at McGill University. In 1978.08.23, Levy beat
MACHACK/CHEOPS 1-0 in a two game match at Cambridge, MA, USA. To settle
the bet, Levy played a six game match against Chess 4.7 at the Canadian
National Exhibition in Toronto from 1978.08.26-09.04.
Game one was the first draw achieved by a computer program against an IM
under tournament conditions (40 moves in 2 hours, followed by 20 moves per
hour).
Levy recovered to win games two and three. Needing only a draw to win the
bet, Levy took a chance with some risky play in game four. This was the
first win achieved by a computer program against an IM under tournament
conditions.
Game five was the final game of the match, and it won Levy the
match 3.5-1.5 and the bet.
These famous Canadians have taken chess seriously at some time in their
lives - some have even competed in tournaments.
- Sid Belzberg - 3rd place Calgary and Alberta Junior Championships 1976
- George Casey - Member of Parliament; played Canadian Championship 1881,
1884
- Tony Clement - Canadian (2006-8) and Ontario (1997-2003) Cabinet Minister;
mentioned chess ambitions in his high school yearbook
- Walter de Havilland (1872-1968) - patent lawyer, professor, author of a
book on the game of go, father of actresses Olivia de Havilland and Joan
Fontaine (her search for him ended when she tracked him down at the
Victoria Chess Club)
- Jack Irving - Business leader in Atlantic Canada; chess champion in his school days
- Lennox Lewis - Olympic Gold Medal in boxing for Canada 1988; World
Heavyweight Boxing Champion 1992-4, 1997-2001, 2001-4
- Bernard Lord - Premier, New Brunswick
- Marnie McBean - 3-time Olympic Gold Medal rower
- Henry Morgentaler - Medical Doctor, appointed Member of the Order of Canada 2008
- Dave Sim - creator 'Cerebus the Aardvark', writer / artist Cerebus
No. 1-300; played chess 'every lunch hour ... in high school' ["Dave Sim
Interview" by Craig Miller and John Thorne, Following Cerebus (Win-Mill
Productions, Arlington, TX, USA), p.12, Vol.1, No.1, 2004.07.]
- First tournament in Canada in which a Canadian could achieve a
Grandmaster norm
- Double round robin won by GMs Yasser Seirawan, Anatoly Lein (6.5/10) ahead
of GM John van der Wiel (6); and Canadians Igor Ivanov, Lawrence Day (5)
and Robert Hamilton (1)
John van der Wiel - Igor Ivanov
Grand Manan, New Brunswick, Round 1, 1984.09
Annual Open Swiss style tournament in Victoria, British Columbia.
- 2013 Jack Yoos (5.5/6, 66 players in Open Section, 107 players total)
- 2012 Hikaru Nakamura (6/6, 67 players in Open Section, 120 players total)
- 2011 Nino Maisuradze (6/6, 86 players in Open Section)
- 2010 Lawrence Day (5.5/6, 73 players in Open Section)
- 2009 Lawrence Day, Valeria Gansvind, Vicente Lee Jr., Leon Piasetski (5/6, 62 players in Open Section)
- 2008 Bindi Cheng (6/6, 83 players)
- 2007 Hanniegn Pitre (4.5/5, 41 players)
- 2005 Abhijit Kunte, Sergei Shipov, Igor Zugic (6.5/9, 35 players)
- 2004 Alexander Moiseenko (7.5/9, 30 players)
- 2003 Alexei Barsov, Tomas Hutters (7/9, 38 players)
- 2002 Nikolai Legky (7.5/9, 49 players in top section)
Toronto-Montreal
1973 Toronto 15, Montreal 9 at Montreal, sponsored by the Montreal Star
- Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Champions 1969
- Hosted Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championship 1969
Montreal, Quebec firm MonRoi, which manufactures devices to electronically record chess games and webcast them,
sponsored an International Women's Grand Prix.
The finale was an 8 player round-robin held in Montreal, 2007.07.21-28, won by
GM Pia Cramling with 5/7 (+3 =4).
- 10 player double-round robin, 1979.04.11-05.06
- Anatoly Karpov, Mikhail Tal 12; Lajos Portisch 10.5; Ljubomir Ljubojevic 9; Boris Spassky, Jan Timman 8.5; Vlastimil Hort, Robert Huebner, Lubomir Kavalek 8; Bent Larsen 5.5
- Chess Informant Volume 27's 10 Best Games included Portisch 1-0 Huebner (#3); Spassky 0-1 Karpov (#4); Spassky 1-0 Larsen (#5); Portisch 1-0 Larsen (#8)
- Chess Informant Volume 28's Best Game was Timman 0-1 Karpov
Roger Lemelin beauty prizes
1st:
Boris Spassky - Mikhail Tal
Terre des Hommes, Montreal, Quebec, Round 10, 1979.04.24
2nd:
Anatoly Karpov - Bent Larsen
Terre des Hommes, Montreal, Quebec, Round 12, 1979.04.27
Round Robins with chances for Canadians to obtain FIDE title norms.
- 2009 Arkadij Naiditsch (7.5/11)
- 2008 Yuri Shulman (6.5/9)
- 2007 Vassily Ivanchuk (7/9)
- 2006 A: Pavel Eljanov (6.5/9); B: Alexander Huzman (6.5/9)
- 2005 Victor Mikhalevski (8/11)
- 2004 A: Efimenko, Zahar (7.5/11); B: Alexandre Lesiège (8/11)
- 2003 Eduardas Rozentalis (8.5/11)
- 2002 Jean-Marc Degraeve (8.5/11)
- 2001 Alexandre Lesiège (8/11)
- 2000 Eduardas Rozentalis, Sergei Smagin (8.5/11)
Large Swiss-style multi-section tournaments, organized by Derrick Bessette and Ron Smith.
- 1999 Lawrence Day, Jesus Nogueiras, Vladimir Lazarev, Ronald Burnett,
Normunds Miezis, Alexander Kalinin (6.5/9, 67 players in top section)
- 1998 Sergey Kudrin, Alexander Ivanov, Jesus Nogueiras, Dragan Kosic,
Dimitri Tyomkin (6.5/9, 65 players in top section)
- 1997 Grigory Serper, Sergey Kudrin (7/9, 59 players in top section)
- 1996 Ivan Morovic Fernandez, Patrick Wolff (7/9, 79 players in top section)
- 1995 Deen Hergott, Bent Larsen, Alexandre Lesiège (6/9, 61
players in top section)
- 1994 Alexey Yermolinsky (6.5/8, 269 players in 6 sections)
Winnipeg hosted the 1st Pan-American Individual Championship in 1974. The 16 player round-robin was won by Walter Browne with 13.5/15. Top Canadian was Peter Biyiasas, =3rd with 11.
- Computer chess program written at the University of Waterloo by Ron Hansen, Jim Parry, Russell Crook
- Canadian Computer Champion 1974
- ACM U.S. Computer Champion 1974
- Tied 2nd place World Computer Championship 1974
- 2nd place North American Computer Championship 1975 (as Tree Frog)
Here is the final round game which won Ribbit the ACM U.S. Championship with a perfect score:
Ribbit - Chess 4.0
ACM U.S. Computer Championship, San Diego, CA, USA, Round 4, 1974.11.12
Large Swiss-style multi-section tournaments, organized by David Lavin (1984-5);
Alex Knox, Shivaharan Thurairasah, Ignac Vucko, Vojin Vujosevic (1997-8);
Mark S. Dutton (2000 Toronto Summer International Open);
Hal Bond for Chess Institute of Canada (2012).
- 2012 Wesley So 6/7
- 2000 Eduardas Rozentalis 7/9
- 1998 Dmitry Gurevich, Boris Kreiman, Igor Novikov, Alex Shabalov 6.5/9
- 1997 Rashid Ziatdinov 5.5/7
- 1985 Igor Ivanov, Victor Korchnoi 7/9
- 1984 Igor Ivanov 8/10
- Internet Collegiate Chess League Team Champions 1998-9 with perfect score (4/4):
Board 1: David Ottosen; Board 2: Yngvi Bjornsson; Board 3: Dmitri Shefer; Board 4: Adrien Regimbald;
Alternate: Aaron Levi
- Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Champions (1965, 1973, 1974, 1980, 1981, 1982)
- Hosted Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championship (1971, 1999)
- Top 1900-2000 team, Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championship 1982
- Top Class A team, Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championship 1983
- Hosted Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championship, Kitchener 1984
Alexander Alekhine
(1892-1946)
- 1923 Montreal, Quebec City, Trois-Rivières
- Future World Champion Alekhine visited Toronto, Ontario, 1924, drawing
Maurice Fox and Sydney Gale and defeating John Morrison
- 1932 Toronto, Winnipeg
Alexander Alekhine - John Morrison
Toronto, Ontario, 1924
Henry Bird
- 1877.01-02 visited Hamilton, Toronto, Montreal and Sherbrooke
- 1889 visited Montreal, after the New York tournament
Mikhail Botvinnik
(1911-95)
- Former World Champion Botvinnik gave simultaneous exhibitions in
Montreal, Quebec, scoring +14 =6 (including a draw with Jean Hébert),
and Toronto, Ontario, scoring +12 =7 -1 (including a draw with Bryon
Nickoloff), in 1977
Jose Capablanca
(1888-1942)
- 1909 Toronto, Montreal
- Future World Champion Capablanca visited Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1912.06
Marcel Duchamp
(1887-1968)
- Artist
- Represented France at Olympiads (1928, 1930, 1931, 1933)
- Performed a music concert "Reunion" at Ryerson Theatre in Toronto, 1968.03.05 with John Cage; the moves of their chess games triggered a connection to a sound system
Sources: Toronto Star 1968.03.02 Sat. p.33 and 1968.03.06 Wed. p.41.
Machgielis (Max) Euwe
(1901-81)
- Former World Champion Euwe gave simultaneous exhibitions in
1949.01 in Montreal (+35, =4, -3) and Toronto (+48, =7, -6; +43, =6, -3); and Vancouver
Larry M. Evans
- From USA
- International Grandmaster 1957
- Canadian Open Champion (1956, 1966)
- 2nd place Canadian Open 1958
Robert Fischer
- 1956 Future World Champion Fischer finished 8th place at 1st Canadian Open Championship, Montreal, Quebec
- 1964 Simultaneous exhibition tour: Montreal, Quebec 02.23 (+46 -5 =4) and 02.24 with clocks (+10);
Quebec City, Quebec 02.25 (+48); Toronto, Ontario 02.27 (+40 -4 =6)
- 1971 Candidates Match, Vancouver, British Columbia
Edward Formanek
Photo: Chess Canada 1972.04.
- Represents USA
- Studied mathematics in Ottawa in 1970s
- Tied 2nd place, Canadian Open Championship 1973
- International Master 1977
Valeria Gansvind
- Woman FIDE Master; represents Estonia
- Highest rated female resident of Canada 2002-5
Kiril Georgiev
- From Bulgaria
- International Grandmaster
- World Junior Champion 1983
- Played Montreal, Ottawa (1st place Eastern Ontario Open, simultaneous
exhibition) 1985
Arkady Gilman
- Played Chess'n Math Association Futurity III, Montreal 2003 (6th place)
Nicolai Jasnogrodsky
(1859-1914)
- Gave 8 board exhibition at Yarmouth 1901 against local chess club members,
scoring over-the-board +6, blindfold against the best 2 players +1 =1
Anatoly Karpov
- World Champion Karpov won Montreal 1979
- 1988 Saint John
- 2007 Toronto
Gary Kasparov
- World Champion Kasparov gave simultaneous exhibition at Upper Canada College, Toronto, Ontario 1998, scoring 12/12
- 2007 Toronto
Paul Keres
(1916-75)
- From Estonia
- International Grandmaster 1950
- Won the last tournament of his career at Vancouver, 1975
George Koltanowski
- Blindfold simultaneous exhibitions in Montreal, Toronto 1938;
Vancouver 1946, 1953, 1955
- Set record for blindfold simultaneous exhibition for player age 50+,
12 boards (+7 -2 =3), Vancouver, 1955
Ilias Kourkounakis
- Represents Greece
- Studied in Toronto in 1980s
- International Master
Martin Kreuzer
- Represents Germany
- Mathematics professor
- Post-doctoral fellow at Queens University, Kingston, Ontario 1989-91
FIDE Master
- Correspondence International Grandmaster; made one of the norms in
Berthold von Massow Memorial-A while in Canada
Here are two of Martin Kreuzers favourite games:
Martin Kreuzer - Robert Hamilton
Canadian Open, Edmundston, New Brunswick, Round 8, 1990.07
Werner Metz - Martin Kreuzer
Berthold von Massow Memorial-A, Correspondence, 1988-95
Bent Larsen
Photo: Chess Canada 1974.09-10.
- From Denmark
- International Grandmaster 1956
- Canadian Open Champion (1968, 1970)
- Won Winnipeg 1967
- 1st place, North Bay International Open 1995
Two of Larsen's choice for his best 50 games were against Canadians:
Bent Larsen - Lionel Joyner
1st World Junior Championship, Birmingham, England, 1951
Zvonko Vranesic - Bent Larsen
Interzonal, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Round 12, 1964
Source: Larsen's Selected Games of Chess 1948-69 by Bent Larsen, 1970
Edward Lasker
(1885-1981)
- From USA
- International Master 1963
Emanuel Lasker
(1868-1941)
- 1892 Montreal, Quebec City
- 1894 World Championship match, Montreal
- 1905 Montreal
- World Champion Lasker gave a simultaneous exhibition in Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1907.06.11, scored +12 -2, losing to Magnus Smith, R.W. Worsley
- 1926 Toronto
Photo: Internationale La Presse Open Tournament, Montreal, 1973. Chess Canada 1973.09.
- From USA
- International Grandmaster 1960
- Canadian Open Champion 1956
Geza Maroczy
(1870-1951)
- From Hungary
- International Grandmaster 1950
- Visited Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1906
Tony Miles
- First Grandmaster born in Great Britain
- Toured Canada 1981, including simultaneous exhibition in Ottawa
Harry Pillsbury
(1872-1906)
- U.S. Champion Pillsbury gave a blindfold simultaneous exhibition in Montreal, Quebec, 1893
- Gave simultaneous exhibition in Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1899, scored +20 -3, losing to H.R. Pattinson, S.D. Morris, Magnus Smith
Sophia Polgar
- International Master, Woman Grandmaster; represents Hungary
- Highest rated female resident of Canada 2006-9
Kamel Skalli
(variation: Kamul)
- FIDE Master
- Represented Morocco at Olympiads (1984, 1986, 1988, 1994)
- Pilot for Royal Air Maroc
Boris Spassky
Photo: 1971 Canadian Open Championship, Vancouver. Chess Canada 1971.09.
- 1967 Nanaimo, Vancouver, North Vancouver, Winnipeg tournament, Montreal
- 1971 World Champion Spassky won Canadian Open Championship, Vancouver; Toronto tournament, Montreal
- 1979 Montreal tournament
- 1982 Mississauga
- 1988 Saint John
- 1994 North Bay
- 1995 Ottawa, Pickering, Toronto, Guelph, London
Wilhelm Steinitz
(1836-1900)
- World Champion Steinitz played 16 in a simultaneous exhibition at the Montreal Chess Club, Montreal, Quebec, 1893.11.13.
- 1894 World Championship match, Montreal
Wilhelm Steinitz - Frank Marshall
Simultaneous exhibition, Montreal, Quebec, 1893.11.13
Mikhail Tal
(1936-92)
- Former World Champion Tal won Montreal 1979, and World Blitz Championship, Saint John 1988
Robert G. Wade
- Born New Zealand
- New Zealand Champion (1943-44, 1944-45, 1947-48)
- British Champion (1952, 1970)
- Represented Britain at Olympiads (1954,1956,1958,1960,1962)
- International Master 1950
- International Arbiter 1958
- Order of the British Empire 1979
- 7th place Canadian Championship 1947
- Toured Canada in 1947 giving simultaneous exhibitions solo and in tandem
with D. Abraham Yanofsky
- 10 player round robin
- Klaus Darga, Bent Larsen 6; Paul Keres, Boris Spassky 5.5; Pal Benko 5; Florin Gheorghiu, Laszlo Szabo 4.5; Alexander Matanovic 4; D. Abraham Yanofsky 3.5; Shimon Kagan 0.5
Laszlo Szabo - D. Abraham Yanofsky
Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1967
- Five-minute chess, held at Saint John, New Brunswick
- Won by Mikhail Tal ahead of Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov
- Wilhelm Steinitz - Emanuel Lasker
- Games 12 through 19 (the last) were played in Montreal, Quebec where
Steinitz scored 4/8; however, he lost the match (7/19) and his title
Emanuel Lasker - Wilhelm Steinitz
World Championship, Montreal, Quebec, Round 19, 1894
- Montreal, Canada bid for the 1972 World Championship match between
Champion Boris Spassky (USSR) and Challenger Robert Fischer (USA)
- $75,000 prize fund offered, which ranked 10th out of 15 bids
- Fischer ranked Montreal 4th out of his 4 choices for where to play
Source: Profile of a Prodigy, 2nd ed., by Frank Brady, 1972
- 8th cycle, 1/4 Final Match, Vancouver, British Columbia
- Robert Fischer 6 - Mark Taimanov 0
Robert Fischer - Mark Taimanov
World Championship - Candidates Matches 1/4 Final, Vancouver, British Columbia, Round 6, 1971
- 14th cycle, 1/8 Final Matches, Saint John, New Brunswick
- Kevin Spraggett defeated Andrei Sokolov (6.5/12)
- Johann Hjartarson defeated Viktor Kortchnoi (4.5/8)
- Lajos Portisch defeated Rafael Vaganian (3.5/6)
- Jan Timman defeated Valery Salov (3.5/6)
- Jonathan Speelman defeated Yasser Seirawan (4/5)
- Nigel Short defeated Gyula Sax (3.5/5)
- Artur Yusupov defeated Jaan Ehlvest (3.5/5)
- Chess Informant Volume 45's sixth best game was Hjartarson 1-0 Kortchnoi, Round 1
Andrei Sokolov - Kevin Spraggett
World Championship - Candidates Matches 1/8 Final, Saint John, New Brunswick, Round 12, 1988
- 14th cycle, 1/4 Final Match, Quebec, Quebec
- Artur Yusupov defeated Kevin Spraggett (5/9)
Kevin Spraggett - Artur Yusupov
World Championship - Candidates Matches 1/4 Final, Quebec, Quebec, Round 2, 1989
- 2nd World Computer Championship, Toronto, Ontario 1977.08.08-12
- 6th World Computer Championship, Edmonton, Alberta 1989.05.28-31
- 4th World Junior Championship, Toronto, Ontario 1957
- Organized by Bernard Freedman
- Won by William Lombardy of USA
Annual Open Swiss style tournament in memory of Grandmaster Abe Yanofsky, in his home city of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
- 2011 Alex Yermolinsky (4.5/5, 29 players in top section)
- 2010 Jonathon Zaczek (4.5/5, 23 players in top section)
- 2009 Paolo Araullo, Rolando Bince, Trevor Vincent (4/5, 28 players in top section)
- 2008 Trevor Vincent (4.5/5, 25 players in top section)
- 2007 Samuel Lipnowski (4.5/5, 28 players in top section)
- 2006 Samuel Lipnowski (4.5/5, 51 players)
- 2005 Samuel Lipnowski, Svetlana Matveeva, Sergei Shipov (5/6, 63 players)
- 2004 Kevin Spraggett (5.5/6, 53 players)
- 2003 Arthur Bisguier (5/6, 35 players in top section)