Visiting organizer Daniel Rokhvarger is arranging chess events on June 28th in Red Deer. The Rapid (info here) will start at 11:00 a.m. and the Blitz (info here) will follow at 5:00 p.m.

Contact daniel.rokhvarger@yahoo.ca to register.

A new event, the Summer Demi-Classical, is open for registration. This tournament will be six rounds of 45+30, on June 21-22 in Edmonton. Full info here.

Reminder that the Trumpeter Open is June 7-8, and the Medicine Hat Open is June 14-15.

Congratulations to Alberta’s top finishers at the Canadian Chess Challenge in Ottawa:

– Rafael Lee placed 3rd in Grade 2
– Muneer Hussain won a tiebreak to place 3rd in Grade 3
– Michael Xu placed 3rd in Grade 7
– Tri Tran placed 3rd in Grade 10

Captain Cristian Ivanescu reports that Team Alberta won the t-shirt competition! Thanks to him for his organizing contributions. In the chess, Alberta finished 5th place overall. Nova Scotia had an outstanding weekend, placing third behind Ontario and Quebec.

Information is posted for the 2025 Calgary International, July 31st to August 4th.

The International is open to players rated over 2000 FIDE. Info and registration here.

There are also Under 2000 and Under 1600 sections. Info and registration here.

– The Steinitz-Menchik in Calgary is May 23-25.

– The 40th Trumpeter Open in Grande Prairie is June 7-8.

– The Medicine Hat Open is June 14-15.

Registration is open for all events, via the links or the ACA Schedule.

Congratulations to the winners at the Alberta Youth Championship:

U8 – Raphael Lee, 5/5 (2nd place: Platon Bilyk)
U10 – Michael Prianichnikov, 4.5/5 (2nd place: Saanvi Shamanth)
U12 – Ryan Li, 4.5/5 (2nd place: Isaac Sajosh)
U14 – Matthew Ivanescu, 4/5 (2nd place: Steven Gan)
U16 – Jonathan Wu, 5/5 (2nd place: Tri Tran)
U18 – Mishka Mathur, 3/5 (2nd place: Nate Dyck)

Thanks to the CJCC and all involved for organizing and running the event.

Registration is open for the Edmonton Spring Sectional, May 10-11. The registration deadline is Monday, May 5th, so that pairings can be done ahead of time. Full information here.

Congratulations to the 12 grade winners at the Alberta Chess Challenge:

Grade 1: Anzhi Hu, 4/4
Grade 2: Raphael Lee, 5/5
Grade 3: Muneer Hussain, 5/5
Grade 4: Hien Son Tran, 4/5
Grade 5: Austin Lu, 4.5/5
Grade 6: Jack Sheng, 4.5/5
Grade 7: Michael Xu, 3.5/4
Grade 8: Matthew Ivanescu, 5.5/6
Grade 9: Christopher Nikolov, 4/5
Grade 10: Tri Tran, 5/6
Grade 11: Nate Dyck, 3.5/6
Grade 12: Arshia Jafarnadar

Huge thanks to Cristian Ivanescu for organizing, and to Alex Nguyen and the CJCC for their assistance.

Next is the Alberta Youth Championship, April 26-27 in Calgary.

Congratulations to the 2025 Alberta Closed champion, Tymur Keleberda! He and fellow Edmontonian Amir Mohammad Bahmani were both at 4/4 going into a 5th round showdown, which Keleberda won to finish with a perfect 5/5, as Bahmani had to take a risk to avoid a draw and the tiebreak. Sherzod Khodjimatov took third with 3/5. Games and standings can be viewed on Lichess.

Well done also to Eric Jin, who won the Alberta Reserves with 4.5/5, ahead of Tri Tran at 4/5 and a four-way tie at 3.5/5.

Thanks to Lars Lowther for organizing the Closed, the CCC for hosting, and Maxim Vasic for directing.

The Alberta Closed is underway, and games are available live on Lichess. Round 3 is in progress, as of 4:00 p.m. Results can also be viewed on chess-results.