Ontario HS Championship 2016

[Frank Dixon]

The Ontario HS Championship for 2016 was completed yesterday. It was hosted in Toronto, by University of Toronto Schools, and more than 100 players competed in three sections over two days.

It was a success, with no disputes, and more than 300 games played. The prize ceremonies wrapped up after 9 pm last night.

I was privileged to serve as Chief Arbiter, the fifth time, four in the past six years, that I have had an arbiter function with this event. :)

I also played in this tournament four times in the 1970s.

The new Ontario HS champion for 2016 is NM Richard Chen, rated CFC 2353, a grade nine student from Westmount HS in Hamilton, who is coached by GM Bator Sambuev. Richard scored 4.5/5.

Thanks to the chief organizer, Sergui Ianine, a teacher at UTS, and Tournament Director Christopher Field, retired Toronto teacher, who both did yeoman service. Chris has been involved with the event in a major capacity since 1978!! They will be posting more detailed results in the near future.

Congratulations and thanks to all of the coaches and parents who assisted.

I have nine games from the event, including four by our new champion, and will be posting these to chess5.com in the days ahead. Thanks to the players who assisted me with this.

All the best to everyone,
Frank Dixon
Kingston

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Ontario HS Championship 2016

I've posted the first two games from this event on chess5.com, in the public games section. Anyone can log on and play through them on the screen.

1) Richard Chen (Grade 9, 2353, Westmount HS) vs. Vladimir Nitu (Grade 11, 1751, UTS), round 4, 1-0, 33 moves.
The game was a French Tarrasch, where both Kings took extended strolls, before White creatively broke through on the K-side, ready to queen his f-pawn.

2) Richard Lin (Grade 12, Bayview SS) vs. Richard Chen (Grade 9, 2353, Westmount HS), round 3, 1/2-1/2, 28 moves.
This game was a Benko Gambit Half-Accepted. Carefully played by two Masters, but still interesting, with plenty of play in the final position, but drawn in the third game that day.

I'll be getting back to posting more games soon. I would encourage anyone who has interesting games from the event, and there were plenty of them, to post them on chess5.com for everyone to enjoy. :)

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Ontario HS Championship 2016

I've posted two more games from this event on chess5.com. Anyone can log on there and play through the public games on the screen.

3) Vladimir Nitu (Grade 11, 1751, UTS) vs. Jiarong Zhu (Grade 9, 1688, Markham SS), round 5, 1-0, 49 moves.
The game was an inventive Slav Defense, with Q's exchanged by move 12, where White played a superb endgame, showing the dominance of knight over bishop, with balanced pawns on both sides, but with Black's Q-side pawns immobilized on the same colour as her bishop.

4) Tony Lin (Grade 12, 2259, Bethune) vs. Harold Hunter (Grade 12, 1585, Twin Lakes SS), round 5, 1-0, 53 moves.
In a Queen's Gambit Exchange Variation, Black fell into a known opening trap, losing a pawn. Then, White showed excellent technique to convert the win.

I hope to get back to posting more games soon. :)