Welcome to the BC Junior Chess Association

the home of junior chess in the province of British Columbia, Canada.

Canadian Chess Challenge - May 19 to 20, Ottawa, ON

                     GO Team BC  GO !!

                     Team BC to Ottawa

WA vs. BC International Match held on May 4 (Saturday) at Chess4Life, Bellevue, WA

Invitational K-12 Event,  Team BC  plays Team Washington

We travelled down the I5 to Bellevue with a team anchored by a few intermat veterans and about a dozen first timers. To be selected to play for an international match of this stature is in itself a notable achievement, and they all gained valuable experience that will help them and team BC in near future.

The day kicked off with the distribution of swank, embossed jackets (azure in colour), motivational speeches, group photo opps, Elliott Neff briefly going over the USCF rules of chess, and a pin exchange (thanks Victoria Doknjas) before the commencement of games.

The first round loss (9- 17) was heavy, according to some stalwarts, directly attributable to the Canucks having lost the previous evening. A perfectly legitimate excuse.

Team BC stayed true to form, in the second round, and pipped Washington by a single point. (13.5-12.5). Several momentous comebacks- Andrew Xu despite being a piece down did some clever rook, and knight maneuvering, trapping his opponent’s king in a mating net; Jason Qian coming back from a piece down (touch move call) to win a brilliant king and pawn endgame; Joshua Doknjas erasing a 3 pawn deficit, displaying great endgame technique in executing the Lucena position. Fine examples of our fighting team spirit.

Noteworthy perfect scores were achieved by Andrew Xu, Joshua Doknjas, Matthew Herdin, Ryan Lo, Janak Awatramani, and Tanraj Sohal. Perhaps the second half scoreline was a good enough reason to celebrate. 42 (parents and kids) ventured out for Italian fare. Much pomp, and merriment ensued, with the K-12s dining on a private table, banquet style, chaired by rising junior star (5yrs of age) Jason Qian.

In between courses, there was a toast to our team captain, Vivien Lai, and heartfelt thanks for all her diligent efforts, and dedication.

It was also acknowledged that this would be junior veteran Jack Cheng’s (Grade 12) last appearance for Team BC at the intermat. The occasion was commemorated with a cake and candle, courtesy of Eric Gedajlovic, and all 42 (parents, and by then raucous kids) broke out in song, and well wishes for the champ. We wish him every success, and much, much, more.

All the festivities despite an overall loss, bore testament to our team camaraderie developed over the years. As the saying goes, win with grace and loose with dignity- team BC certainly showcased that at the Olive Garden- in great style.

Sincere thanks to Elliott Neff and all the organizers in Washington for hosting the 22nd BC vs Washington International Match, and our congratulations to all of them for winning the match by a convincing score of 29.5 to 22.5. Team Washington will bring the trophy to BC in May 2014, and here it will stay.

The gauntlet has been thrown.

Goodluck everybody, and may god bless the United (junior) Chess team of British Columbia.

-Gyan Awatramani (Chief Arbiter)

More photos

Results:

Congratulations to the new BC Champions from K to 12!

BC Chess Challenge Results

To check your NWSRS ID and ratings here

Results from Regional Qualifiers:

1. Vancouver Chess Challenge

2. Victoria Chess Challenge

3. Fraser Valley Chess Challenge

Congratulations to our new BC Youth Chess Champions!

Competition was intense and in the end some were surprised by the results.
In Under 8  Open Neil Doknjas was undefeated taking first place ahead of  Rowan James and Kevin Low.
On the  Girl’s side it was Sarah Murray taking top spot ahead of Joyce Tang in second place.

Under 10 Open saw Luke Pulfer go undefeated to head a  field of 27 players.  A strong pack of players including Ethan Low, Kai Richardson, Alec Chung and Leo Qu were just a half point behind.
Cindy Zhao went undefeated to claim the Under 10 Girls  title, ahead of Rachel Pulfer and Anya Liu.

The battles on the boards were fierce in Under 12.  The  final round would decide the championship with front runner  Joshua Doknjas  challenged by Paula Brewster in the race for first.  If people were surprised that Paula chose to test her skills in the Open section rather than the Girls only section they were impressed to finder her 1 win away from taking the championship. All she had to do was overcome Brenden Wu in the final round and hope Joshua did not defeat Michael Su in their contest.  Although Dokjnas drew Su the best Brewster could muster was a draw,  making Doknjas the U10 Champion.
Meanwhile in the U12 Girls Section Annika Zhou went undefeated to finish first ahead of Rinna Yu and Yekta Saremi.

Under 14 Open saw the eldest Doknjas, John maintain the family tradition by going undefeated to claim the U14 title. That’s three champions under one roof.  John finished a full point ahead of Alex Lin, Jeffrey Dawson and Lionel Han.  On the Girl’s side Ashley Tapp finished ahead of Alexa Gogoescu.

The players in Under 16 Open were so evenly matched that no one player  emerged above the others.  Once again the field was enhanced by a girl playing in the open section. Not only did Joanne Foote play, she found herself playing the front runner Herdin for first place in the final round.  Joanne won and finished tied for First place with Jeremy Hui and Ryan Lo.  In the history of the BCYCC there has only been 1 girl’s name engraved on the champion’s trophy.  Joanne will make that two.

There was definitely a trend set at the 2013 BCYCC as the Under 18 open section not only also had a girl competing, but Alice Xiao finished first,  tied with Tanraj Sohal as U18 Champion.  With Alice adding her name to the champion’s trophy we have 2 female champions out of 6 age groups, with Paula just 1/2 point away from making it and even 50%.   One has to be impressed by the strength of the girls.  2013 will be remembered as the year of Girl Power.

Complete results can be found here.
List of Players Qualifying to the CYCC is here.
You can register online for CYCC 2013 in Ottawa here.

(Can’t book any hotel? We have some rooms blocked at Albert at Bay. Details)

BC Junior Championship -  November 12 & 13

Congratulations to the 2011 BC Junior Champion  John Doknjas.

See Results of BC Junior Championship with updated ratings here 
See the games in an online viewer.

See Results of October Junior Chess Tournament

2012 Canadian Youth Chess Championship

BC Junior Chess will host the 2012  Canadian Youth Chess Championship July 3rd to 6th at  the
Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel in Surrey.  Watch for details coming soon.

2011 Canadian Youth Chess Championship

BC players put in a good showing at the recently completed CYCC in Richmond Hill, On.  Young Harmony Zhu placed third in Under 8 girls, despite being two years younger than her competition and possibly the youngest player at the tournament.   Luke Pulfer placed second in the Under 8 Open section. Both have been invited to join team Canada for the World Youth Chess Championships in Brazil next November.

The future is bright for BC players as young Neil Doknjas and Patrick Huang scored second and third respectively for players under age 7 .  Joshua Doknjas was the top player under age 9.  We’re hoping for great things from these young talents in the future.

In U12 John Doknjas tied with BC’s World Champion FM Jason Cao and 5 others for second place with a score of 5.0 out of 7.  All are invited to represent Canada in Brazil.

Joanne Foote  won the U14 Girls section with a remarkable performance and 5  wins from 6 games.

Tanraj Sohal tied for the top player under age 15 in a U16 section that featured 10 players rated over 2000.

Many did not know who Loren Laceste was when the tournament started, despite his title as Canadian Grade 12 Champion.  Rated 7th going in and 400 rating points behind the favourites he was not given much chance of success by the locals.  Then the games started and the big guns fell one after another. In the end Loren was crowned U18 Champion.  For more check out this story in the Vancouver Sun.

I apologize in advance as I did not mention every BC player among the 242 competitors.

BC Junior Chess has submitted a bid to host the CYCC here next year. Stay tuned for the outcome of the CFC vote. We are looking for people to help with the organization.  This is your chance to find out what you can do for Junior Chess in BC.  Get involved!

2011 Canadian Chess Challenge

On May 22-23, 2011, Victoria, BC hosted the 23nd Annual Canadian Chess Challenge (CCC), where each provincial team brought forth their top Grade 1 to 12 students to compete for the National Championship by grade level.  This was the first time that British Columbia has ever hosted this National Championship. Read full report http://www.bcjuniorchess.com/canadian-national-chess-challenge-2011/

Get the Results   http://www.bcjuniorchess.com/canadian-chess-challenge-2011/

BC – Washington International Match

Team BC met Team Washington for the 20th annual International Match on May 14th. In the closest contest anyone can remember Team BC came out ahead by a single point  to bring the trophy to BC.  More on the event can be found on the Team BC page.

BC Youth Championship 2011

BC’s Youth Chess Champions for 2011

This tournament was held in Richmond on April 30/May 1 2011.

Tournament Results

Tournament Report

Photos

BC Chess Challenge Results

Alexandra Botez wins $105,000 chess scholarship to University of Texas.

A local girl who’s gone south in pursuit of chess dreams has just won first place at the All Girls National Championship in Chicago.  Many local players got their start when they were taught by Alexandra’s dad Andrei.  Although Alexandra plays extensively in the US she is still considered a BC girl and is a regular at local events. Check out the full story on the USCF website here.

Karsten McVay, Alexandra Botez and Michael Khodarkovsky,

Photo by Betsy Dynako, with thanks to The United States Chess Federation

See the Chess in the Schools story on USA TODAY

Check out this great student  news story on chess in the schools that just aired on CNN.

Results And Commentary From Recent Events

The second BC Junior Chess  scholastic tournament at Lansdowne Mall  (Feb 20th) saw 73 kids compete in all grades from K to 12.   Get the results crosstables.

Mayo Fuentebella won the Valentines Open with 4.5 points out of 5 in a strong field with three players rated over 2300 and 6 over 2000.

The first scholastic tournament of the new year (Jan 16th) welcomed 88 kids to the first BC Junior Chess  tournament  at the Lansdowne Mall location. Read the full commentary,  and get the results crosstables.

You can access all Results (most of them with crosstables) and get Chess News and commentary. Also, don’t forget out Photo Gallery, which has thousands of photos from many junior chess events.

2010 Highlight! Jason Cao – U10 Open World Champion!!

BC’s Jason Cao won the 2010 World Chess Championship for Boys Under 10 in Greece.

Nine year old Jason earned a FIDE Master title in the process making him the youngest chess master in the country. Jason competed in a field of 150 champions from across the globe. He played strong opponents from Brazil, the Ukraine, Belarus, Ireland, Spain, Italy. The toughest challenges came from India and the US. In the end he scored 8 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss for 9 points out of a possible 11.

Congratulations Jason.