Canadian Chess Challenge  
May 17-18, 2015  
Quebec City, Quebec  –  Laval University  
 
TEAM BC Report  
By:  Ron Hui  
May 20, 2015

What can beat being in beautiful Quebec City during spring and exploring the rich culture of this historical city?  Carriage rides through the cobble stone streets of Old Quebec and visits to Chateau Frontenac and the Citadelle of Quebec are all very wonderful but for the members Team BC, testing their chess skills against the best from other provinces and reacquainting with old friends and meeting and new ones from across the country are even better. 
 
 

The 27th annual Canadian Chess Challenge, sponsored  by  the Chess & Math Association of Canada,  was held this year in Quebec City.  The venue for the  Grades 1 to 12 competitors from all 10 provinces was a spacious and comfortable playing hall in the campus of Laval University.

 
A  big  congratulations to Team BC for representing the province of  British Columbia so well this year.  Despite not having a few of our top BC players at this year’s competition is resilient  BC  team  was  able  to  maintain  its  top  three position, behind only to the Ontario and Quebec teams. 

Trophy winners include:  

• Grade 4  –  Patrick Huang: 2nd Place, 8/9  
• Grade 5  –  Leo Qu: 3rd Place, 6/9  
• Grade 6  –  Ethan Low: 2nd Place, 8/9  
• Grade 8  –  Matthew Geng: 3rd Place, 6/9  
• Grade 11  –  Jeremy Hui: 2nd Place, 7/9

Memorable highlights include outstanding performances by Patrick Huang and Ethan Low from the grade 4 and 6 sections respectively, both with 8 wins out of 9 games.  Matthew Geng from the grade 8 section and Jeremy Hui from Grade 11 secured a draw and a win respectively against Ontario  opponents with  much higher chess ratings of 2200  –  2300.  It was exciting to see Leo Qu secure third place in the Grade 5 section by winning in a 3 person playoff.  A nail biting playoff also took place in the Grade 11 section between Jeremy Hui and the Quebec player to determine second place; after a draw in the first playoff game, Jeremy was able to win the second game, a 5 minute blitz.

It was not just all chess competition.  Besides visits to Old Quebec, there were of course blitz and bughouse games.  The team dinner at Boston Pizza was also a great time for the older players to bond with the younger ones and for the parents to get to know each other.  

Congratulations to the Trophy winners and to all members of the team.  A special thanks to Vivian Lai for organizing Team BC and to Maxim Doroshenko for rallying the troops in between rounds.  A big thanks also go to Larry Bevand and the Chess & Math Association for putting on another fine event.  Finally, but not least, kudos also to the parents who took time out from their busy schedules to bring their kids across the country to participate in these events.