2025 Canadian Closed

[Hans Jung]

Congratulations to IM Nikolay Noritsyn 2025 Canadian Champion!

[Erik Malmsten]

Here's some useless trivia:

There has been 16 Canadian Championships since the swiss format was adopted in 1999. Amazingly, IM Nikolay Noritsyn has played in 12 of them, now winning 3. He has
scored 71.5 points with a winning percent of 61%.

GM Bator Sambuev has played in 8, won 3, scoring 63, 87.5%.
Bator has the highest Canadian Closed CFC performance rating of 2818 in 2012 and 2741 in 2011.
GM Alexandre Lesiège in 3 swisses, winning 2, obtaining 23, 79%.
GM Pascal Charbonneau has played in 3 swisses, winning 2, 22 points, 75.9%.
GM Razvan Preotu has entered in 5, scoring 34, 75.5%.
GM Kevin Spraggett, had won 5 championships, played in 4 swisses, scoring 28.5, 75.0%.
GM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux has played in 5, scoring 33.5, 74.4%.
GM Mark Bluvshtein played in 4, scored 25.5, 70.8%
IM Leonid Gerzhoy has played in 5, scoring 31.5, 70%.

IM Igor Zugic played in 3 swisses, winning 1, 18.5 for 68.5%.
IM Jean Hébert, a past champion, played in 4, scored 26, for 68.4%
IM Richard Wang and IM Jonathan Tayar in only 2, got 12 points, 66.7%
IM Lawrence Day, past winner, only twice in swiss, scored 11.5 points, 63.9%.
IM Tomas Krnan played in 4, winning 1, 23 points for 63.9%
IM Mike Ivanov played in 2, scored 11.for 63,9%
IM Michael Schleifer and Anthony Atanasov both played in 3, scoring 17, 63%.
IM Eric Lawson has played in 5, 29.5 points, 62.8%.
IM David Ross only in 2 swisses, 12.5 points for 62.5%.
IM Shiyam Thavandiran, defending champ, played in 9, 50.5 points, 62.3%.
IM Yuanchen Zhang played 3 times, won 1, scored 16.5, for 61.1%

Some of the players over 50%:
IM Artiom Samsonkin played 4 times, scoring 21.5 for 59.7%.
IM Stephen Glinert played 3, 17 points, 58.6%
IM Arthur Calugar only in 2, 10.5 points for 58.3%.
IM Raja Panjwani has played 9 times, accumulated 46.5 points, 57.4%.
FM Max Rusonik played 3 times, scored 15.5 for 57.4%.
GM Eric Hansen played 4, scoring 20.5, 56.9%
FM Doug Bailey, Louie Jiang and Sebastian Predescu 3 times, scored 15 for 55.6%.
FM Robert Hamilton had played in 8, getting 38.5, 53%.
FM Victor Plotkin has played 9, accumulating 40.5 points, 50%.

IM Michael Barron in 8, scoring 33.5, for 46.5%.
FM Hans Jung has played in 7 swisses, getting 26.5 points, 45.7%


Historical Players by number of points scored:

1 Maurice Fox 17 times won 8 championships, 164 points, 77%.
2 GM Abe Yanofsky 15 times won 8, 142 points, 76%.
3 John S. Morrison 14 times won 5, 133,5 points, 77%.
4 GM Kevin Spraggett 13 times, 124.5 points 74%.
5 IM Lawrence Day 12 times, 98.5, 60%.
6 Harry Belson, 10 times won twice, 97.5 points, 72%.
7 James E. Narraway 13 times won 3, 91 points, 61%.
8 Boris Blumin 10 times, won twice, 86 points, 68%.
9 IM Zvonko Vranesic, 8 times, 73 points, 64%.
10 IM Leon Piasetski, 10 times 72.5 points, 55%.
11 IM Nikolay Noritsyn, 12 times, 71.5 points, 61%.

(16 IM Frank Anderson 7 times won twice, 56.5 points, 77%.)

Will Noritsyn be like Ovechkin in passing Gretzky's record?

[Hans Jung]

Love the trivia Erik! - keep it coming!

[Salim Belcadi]

Congratulations to IM Nikolay Noritsyn, the new Canadian Champion, and WIM Yunshan Li the new Canadian Women’s Champion!

First of all, we are grateful to WEIC Sports United's sponsorship that allowed us to organize and run the event. It's great to see institutional investors taking interest in the Chess world, and we hope this opens the door for future collaborations, as well as attract a new breed of sponsors.

Thanks to all the participants who keep the chess scene alive in Canada and in Toronto.

A huge thank you to our tournament team who ensured the event ran flawlessly despite the large number of participants:

• IA Omar Shah (Chief Arbiter)
• FA Alex Ferreira (Pairings Officer)
• NA Tanner McNamara and NA Deepanshi Matai

Your professionalism and dedication were key to the event’s success.

Special thanks to Heidi Gay, the lead organizer of the championship as well as the open and blitz side events. Her tireless work and attention to detail made it all possible.

I am also deeply grateful to Keith Denning, ACC Club Manager, for overseeing the event's progress, and to the great volunteers who gave their time and energy:

Michael Blair
Caitlin Denning
Clara Dolderman
Frank Helwig
Iris Lai
Erik Malmsten
Henry Prickett-Morgan
Grace Taylor
Edgar Zapata
Michelle Zhang
Cindy Zheng

Lastly, thank you to Derek Ma and John Upper for capturing the event with professional photos — we can’t wait to see the final shots!

[Hans Jung]

Thanks Salim for all that you do and giving recognition to those key inidviduals (often behind the scenes) that made the Canadian Championship a successful event.

[Sasha Starr]

Yesterday Canadian Closed Championships, both Open and Women's, were completed! Congratulations to the winners: Nikolay Noritzin and Yunshan Li! Besides the winners I'd like to have a special notice of possible future stars of Canadian chess: Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux (Open) and Deepak Laksshana, watch them out! Cross Tables and games are available on the Internet.


Special mention deserve ALL organizers, arbiters and volunteers:

Organizers
Salim Belcadi
Keith Denning
Heidi Gay

Arbiters
IA Omar Shah
FA Alex Ferreira
FA Heidi Gay
NA Keith Denning
NA Deepanshi Matai
NA Tanner McNamara

Volunteers
Michael Blair
Caitlin Denning
Melanie Directo
Clara Dolderman
Frank Helwig
Iris Lai
Erik Malmsten
Henry Prickett-Morgan
Grace Taylor
Edgar Zapata
Michelle Zhang
Cindy Zheng

Photography
Derek Ma
John Upper

The only regrets are: the playing site was not accessible to people with disabilities, no spectators were allowed and the broadcast had technical difficulties. The closest hotel was a 30 minutes a subway ride, so it was impossible to rest between the morning and the afternoon games. The possible solution is to have 1 game per day or have it played in the hotel. But that is maybe wishful thinking...