The Edmonton International Qualifier will not be running this year, nor will the Edmonton International and Open. In place of the Qualifier, a sectional event will be held the at the Edmonton Chess Club — details and registration on the facebook page.

There will also be an ACA tournament in place of the International in June (details TBD).

A significant group of Albertans travelled to Victoria, BC, to play in the Grand Pacific Open last week, including several of our top players. Huge congrats to NM Omid Malek on winning the event over fellow Albertan FM Tymur Keleberda, and IM Quang Long Le, all with scores of 5/6.

Malek and Keleberda drew in the last round, and Malek beat both Le and IM Raymond Kaufman along the way, which was good for a performance rating of 2510 in the six-round event.

Meanwhile, NM Butch Villavieja tied for fifth place with a 4/6 score. Well done to him and also to Dustin Koperski, who was the top finisher from Alberta in the U2000 section at 4/6.

Congratulations to the twelve grade winners:

Grade 1: Kaiser Nguyen
Grade 2: Saanvi Shamanth
Grade 3: Lucas Wang
Grade 4: Ryan Li
Grade 5: Bryan Chan
Grade 6: Matthew Ivanescu
Grade 7: Jonathan Wu
Grade 8: Rostyslav Spiian
Grade 9: Anand Rishi Chandra
Grade 10: Hemant Srinivasan
Grade 11: Samuel Hoekman
Grade 12: Andi Superceanu

Good luck to those travelling to Montreal for the Canadian Chess Challenge in May.

Big thanks to Sean Wu for organizing and running the event.

[April 1, 2023]

Late last night, rumours surfaced that ACA President Rafael Arruebarrena was planning an unexpected repertoire change. To the shock of many observers, indications are that he will be focusing his attention on the Dutch Defence.

One anonymous source said, “I couldn’t believe it. Rafael has always been one of the staunchest opponents of the Dutch. He’s even on record saying it willingly creates a bunch of holes in your position.”

Responding to 1. d4 with …f5 is widely considered to be dubious, a belief supported by its lack of appearances on the top level beyond such players as opening eccentric Richard Rapport, “Famous [Freaking] Legend” Gata Kamsy, and elite-player-turned-streamer Hikaru Nakamura.

In response to an e-mail inquiry to the ACA’s official address, Secretary Michael Ludwig answered, “I just run the e-mails,” and advised contacting Arruebarrena and Treasurer Dale Haessel directly. Haessel abstained from commenting.

Arruebarrena initially declined to comment, before insisting it was natural for a player’s tastes to change over time. “I am not confirming any accusations, however even if I did change my openings, I would expect the respect due of a Candidate Master,” he stated.

Sources close to the President also believe that the recent Alberta Closed may be responsible for the sudden switch. Arruebarrena is said to be tired of getting good positions and not converting, so he wants to mix it up by skipping the first step.

Much like the Dutch Defence, the leak is not expected to induce resignation.

Reminder that the Alberta Chess Challenge takes place in Red Deer on Saturday, April 8th — full information here.

There are close to 60 players registered so far! Sign up now to guarantee your spot.

Congratulations to IM Bitan Banerjee, who secured his sixth Alberta Championship victory with a 5-move draw in the final round! The draw ensured he would at worst finish tied at 4/5 with FM Tymur Keleberda, but having defeated Tymur in the first round Bitan was set to finish first on the head-to-head tiebreak.

Instead, however, Sherzod Khodjimatov survived a highly unpleasant position against Tymur in the last game and turned it around to win in 83 moves. Congratulations to him on solo second place (3.5/5).

You can review the games and standings on the Lichess broadcast, and pictures on the CCC facebook page.

One more congrats to Jinghui Bai, who scored 4.5/5 in the Alberta Reserves to win by half a point over Hemant Srinivasan and Yash Darvekar.

Many thanks to Bhavik Dave for organizing and directing.

Registration is open for the Alberta Youth Championship. Find full event information and sign up here.

Please note: discounted hotel rooms are only available until March 30th.

This year’s B.C. vs. Alberta match is scheduled for May 5-7 in Salmon Arm, B.C. Please see the following for event information:

2023 B.C. vs. Alberta Match

And please contact team captain Rafael Arruebarrena (rafael.arruebarrena@gmail.com) to enter.

Registration is open for the Lethbridge Open, April 1-2. Full information on the tournament is available here.