Saskatchewan Scholastic Chess Association (SSCA)

This past weekend hot and humid Montreal played host to the annual Canadian Chess Challenge, as the best student chess players from across the country competed for the right to be called National Champion in their grade. Saskatchewan sent a 12 person team (11 boys and one girl) to Nationals, and we came home in 9th place, a mere half a point behind 8th place Nova Scotia.
The tournament opened well for Team Saskatchewan as we tied Nova Scotia six to six. The big upset (to outsiders), was William van der Kamp's stunning victory over eventual second place finisher Jasmine Du in the grade 12 game. Jasmine, who has been attending Nationals for years, and is the #3 female in Canada under 20, was stunned to find her Queen trapped by William's excellent play.
Round two saw Saskatchewan play the Quebec powerhouse, and we managed to escape with 1.5 points. Jimmy Bartha's draw in grade 6 was followed by Joshua Timm's win in grade 10 in a wild time scramble where each player was down to under 10 seconds on his clock.
Round three was our match against Ontario, a team that shut us out last year, and for the first time in my memory we scored two points against Ontario. Daniel Zhou in grade 5 snatched a win, as did Nigel Reynoldson in grade 8 when he defeated Master Joey Qin in the biggest upset of the tournament. (Nigel is rated 1123 while Joey was rated 2324. Nigel's victory was a great reminder to the team that players win games, not ratings).
Round four pitted Saskatchewan against Nfld. & Labrador, and Newfoundland traditionally has a good team. We scored five points against Nfld. and we were unlucky not to have secured a tie.
New Brunswick was our opponent in round five and we just missed a tie as the team scored 5.5 points. With the results of this round, Daniel Wei in grade one had 3 out of 5 points, as did Nigel in grade 8 and Joshua in grade 10. Perhaps we'd be able to capture some podium finishes.
Round six delt the team's hopes a serious blow. Alberta, which was strong top to bottom and placed a strong fourth overall, hammered us 11 to one. Only in grade 10 was Joshua able to stem the Alberta flood by finishing the day with a victory and a four out of six performance.
Monday morning's round seven was a nine a.m. start, and Manitoba was the opposition. Saskatchewan's four wins was a bit unlucky as we had serious chances to tie Manitoba. Joshua won another crazy time scramble where pieces were falling and flying all over the place as both players desperately tried not to run out of time. Joshua wisely rejected a draw offer made by his opponent when each player was down to under 15 seconds and Manitoba resigned after Joshua managed to promote his passed h pawn.
Round eight was against mighty B.C., who just missed finishing second overall, and we were only able to secure one point. Our unlikely winner was Maegan Krajewski in grade nine. She managed to get a piece up in the late middle game and slowly converted her advantage into a win. The whole team was watching with smiles on their faces as Maegan secured her first victory of the tournament to avoid the team being shut out.
The last round was against P.E.I., a province with a population half the size of Saskatoon. P.E.I. has been working hard at promoting chess within the province and it is starting to show. We scored an 8 to 4 win, which included Bryton Leason winning his first game and Joshua Timm winning his sixth game. Joshua then had to nervously await the outcome of the B.C. versus Alberta game. With Alberta's victory in grade 10 over B.C., Joshua's third place finish in grade 10 was secured.
Daniel Wei in grade one had a strong first appearance at Nationals. His score of four could easily have been a score of six, as he just missed a few extra points and his loss to P.E.I. in round nine was a huge surprise to me as I had been watching the P.E.I. grade one all tournament and I was sure Daniel would win that game so long as he avoided the opening trap the P.E.I. grade one had successfully employed in three of his games. Daniel did avoid the opening trap, however, at the grade one level, anything can happen and Daniel fell into a later trap of taking a free Rook, in exchange for being mated.
Sheldon Desjarlais was our grade two representative, even though he is only a grade one student. He was in tough in his section but he played hard throughout the event, never being blown off the board in quick time as sometimes happens in the early grades. I suspect he gained some valuable chess experience.
Fraser McLeod, playing in his third Nationals. had a rough start Sunday morning. After Sunday morning he went 3 for 6. Win or lose, Fraser, and his friend Avram in grade four, were always smiling.
Avram Tcherni was playing in his fourth consecutive Nationals, and like Fraser he finished with a score of three. This was Avram's first year using a clock at Nationals, and sometimes his game was over rather more quickly than it should have been as Avram fell victim to not using his time wisely. Avram was always a great team booster and he had a lot of fun.
Daniel Zhou in grade five scored a huge win over Ontario, however he was unable to keep that momentum going for the rest of the tournament. He lost some very close games in a tough section where six players finished with 5 or more points.
Jimmy Bartha was playing in his first Nationals, and his inexperience showed in his surprise draw against Quebec in round two. In an objectively drawn position, his Quebec opponent offered a draw, which Jimmy accepted. Unfortunately, Jimmy had not noticed that his opponent had already run out of time on his clock, but as only the players can call a fallen flag, his acceptance of the draw offer meant the game was drawn. To Jimmy's credit, he fully acknowledged that he had accepted the draw offer, even though he subsequently realized he could have won on time had he noticed the clock. Jimmy was almost always in all of his games, and with a little luck, he could have had a much better score than the one point in secured.
Jason Xiao was also a first timer to Nationals, and while he scored four out of nine, it also could have been better. A New Brunswick arbiter, who played for years on team N.B. and who is an Expert chess player, was impressed with Jason's knowledge of opening theory as he wanted to know who our grade 7 player was who could whip out 15 moves of theory in a Sicilian opening.
Nigel Reynoldson had his best ever finish at Nationals in a tough grade. His respectable fifth place with 5 points, including his HUGE upset win over Ontario, reflects the hard work he has recently been putting into chess.
Maegan Krajewski was one of only five girls (young women), playing at Nationals and this year her experience really started to show. She was never a push over. Not only did she secure our only point against B.C., she was consistently playing deep into the time control giving all of her opponents a good game. It will be interesting to see if Maegan decides to play a little more chess.
Joshua Timm was by rating the second worst player in the grade ten section, however, I predicted prior to the tournament that Joshua would surprise a lot of people and might finish on the podium as Josh's playing ability far exceeds his rating, and he did just that. Joshua played the tournament of his life, winning two crazy end game scrambles where both players were visibly shaking under the stress of the clocks inexorabley clicking down to zero. Unless you have been in a time scramble, you have no idea how exciting and terrifying it can be. Josh kept playing good moves even when he was having to do so virtually instantly, particularly in his win against Manitoba where there were a ton of pieces still on the board. In one game neither Josh nor his opponent saw that his opponent had flagged, but Josh kept playing winning moves. His third place finish, behind a National Master from Ontario, and an Expert from N.B. was very deserved.
Bryton Leason was a last minute replacement for Keith MacKinnon in grade 11. Bryton, a grade nine student from Hudson Bay Saskatchewan, played commendably well in the grade 11 section, and won his last game. Bryton was another player who refused to be just blown off the board by players rated much higher than he and I am sure that he found the experience of playing at Nationals a good one.
William van der Kamp, who appeared on the Saskatchewan chess scene last year, came back for his second Nationals this year, and played well. His three points, including his stunning first round upset of Jasmine Du, really under-represented how well he played. He could easily have finished with five points at least had he not stumbled in time trouble. Thanks William for being a mature and skilled grade 12 representative.
I was really impressed with the fighting spirit of the team this year. While I saw some typical mistakes (playing too quickly by some of the younger players), I saw incredible determination to try one's best. That is all anyone can ask for, and it made me very proud to see everyone trying to play their best chess. It was also very good to see the Saskatchewan players re-setting the pieces after their games, win or lose. Not all the players from every province were so courteous. It was wonderful to see the team spirit of the Saskatchewan players as they cheered on their team mates. It was also a pleasure to see the camaraderie between team Saskatchewan and other chess teams back at the residence. Chess players are a pretty tight community.
Thanks to the many parents who accompanied their children to Nationals, and thank you for supporting your children's chess ambitions.
Next year, the National Chess Challenge will be held in Victoria B.C., so start preparing for your opportunity to represent your province.