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.

The Battle of Alberta ended in a 12-12 tie! By rule, defending champion Team South retains the trophy. Team North fielded an incredibly young team, and nearly overcame a significant average rating deficit — impressive performance. Thank you in particular to the captains, Sam Hoekman and Zeeshan Munir, for their organizing efforts.

For this Saturday, September 2nd (colours decided immediately prior to game one):

Tournament page: http://www.albertachess.org/home/2023-battle-of-alberta/.

The Over/Under 1800 will be played August 19-20 in Edmonton. This tournament has two sections, one for players rated over 1800 and one for players rated under 1800.

Please see the event page for info and registration, and check out the last few posts on the ACA front page for other current happenings.

The annual Battle of Alberta is coming up, Saturday, September 2nd in Red Deer. This team event puts the top 12 players from the North against the top 12 from the South in two-game matches. View the event page for full information including which team you would be eligible for.

Please contact your respective team captain,
Rafael Arruebarrena (North) — rafael.arruebarrena@gmail.com
Zeeshan Munir (South) — zeeshanchristy@gmail.com
if you are interested in playing.