Registrations will be accepted up to 6:45 p.m. on Friday, October 27th. Payment will be made in cash on-site, and full pairings will be made the night of October 27th.

See the updated tournament page.

The Alberta Junior Championship happens November 4-5 in Calgary. The Championship section is a closed, 6-player round robin, and then there is an Open section, a U1300 section, and a U800 section.

Find full details here.

**** Please note that the change in the Banff Centre Board of Directors as announced in the news recently will in no way impact the Banff Open. Everything is good. ***

Entries are now open for the 2023 Banff Open, Nov 10-12. This will be the last Banff Open organized by Ian Findlay. Entries are limited to 130 players. Last year, we had a waiting list by October 1st, so enter early if you can. Details and entry form can be found in Schedule 2023.

Please pay immediately when you enter. There is a $40 charge to play up a section. 114 entries as of Sept 6, with 4 on the waiting list for under 1600.

I am delighted to announce that two time Banff Open winner IM Mark Ginsburg has entered and Canadian legend Leon Piasetski who has represented Canada many times at the Chess Olympiad.

IM Raymond Kaufman is the latest IM to join.

Entries are now closed in the Under 1600 section. You may play up for $40 surcharge if you still want to play.

The link to the hotel reservations was corrected and should now work.

*** Entries are now CLOSED and waitlist removed ***

*** Anyone 30 minutes late for a round forfeits on time ***

*** Facebook page has been created for this event. ***

https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=banff%20chess%20open%202023

Congratulations to Anand Rishi Chandra, who won the Alberta Open with a perfect 6/6 score! His wins included FM Dale Haessel and former Alberta Champion NM Omid Malek.

Well done to Mahan Eshragi, Tymur Keleberda, and Yash Darvekar tying for second place.

Full standings are posted on the Edmonton Chess Club facebook page. Thanks to Rafael Arruebarrena for organizing and directing.

At the Annual General Meeting on Sunday, October 8th, President Rafael Arruebarrena said his farewells and ceded his office after four years.

Welcome to our newly elected President, Lars Lowther!

Dale Haessel will continue as Treasurer, and alongside Terry Seehagen as a re-elected Director, welcome also to four new Directors: Sam Hoekman, Zeeshan Munir, Sean Wu, and Lili Ou.

Minutes from the meeting can be found on the Minutes page.

Our thanks to all the volunteers who put in the time at the Grand Villa Casino in Edmonton on September 30 + October 1 to help the Alberta Chess Association complete a successful fundraising event.

Dale Haessel led the way, coming from Calgary to do all four shifts as Cashier. Terry Seehagen did three shifts. Paris Dorn, Dustin Koperski, Michael Lee, Andrew Lonegren, Steve Panteluk, John Quiring, Jake Slone, Ford Wong, and Mike Zeggelaar did two shifts each.

Rob Brazeau, John Clemens, David Ludwig, Wade Miller, Dmitri Pogosyan, Gerhard Reuter, Jordan Rohatynski, Dat Tran, and Elly Zeggelaar each did one shift.

Along with our professional Advisors – Heath Clegg, Ev Humphrey, and Andy Jou – these volunteer efforts will give the ACA the ability to continue to support chess activities in Alberta for another two years.

Team South once again earned the victory, starting out with a slim 6.5 – 5.5 lead after round one, and adding a 7 – 5 round two to take it 13.5 – 10.5.

Well done to the 2/2 players: Mark Ivanescu, Matthew Ivanescu, Zongyan Yu, Michael Prianichnikov, April Wang, Jake Chi Hang Li, and Allison Chan. You can find more game results here.

Thanks to Cristian Ivanescu for leading the organization.

The Alberta Senior’s Championship and Women’s Championship take place in Calgary on October 21-22. There is a $500 travel grant for the winner of each to their respective Canadian Championship. See the Schedule for information on both events.

The Alberta Open is October 7-9 in Edmonton. This six-round event is a qualifier for the 2024 Alberta Closed, and additionally the ACA is contributing $500 to the prize fund.

Tournament Page

Reminder that the 2023 Edmonton Junior Regional takes place this weekend, September 16-17. This event has two sections, Under 1300 and Open, and is open to everyone with birth year 2003 or later. See the tournament page for full info.

The Junior Battle of Alberta will be in Edmonton this year, on September 30th. Please see the event page and contact your team captain if you would like to play.