The last time Canadian chess conducted a national over-the-board championship was back in 2019! Fast forward now to Easter (April) 2022, and with pandemic restrictions being loosened, eager players from across this vast northern country gathered in the central city of Kingston, Ontario; to play in the Canada Zonal and the Canada Women Zonal. At stake were places on the Canadian teams for the upcoming Olympiad, and qualification for the next World Cup and Women's World Cup.
The playing location was a very comfortable hotel at the Kingston waterfront, with a dozen DGT boards relaying the top games across the big country and to multiple international chess servers.
The 2022 Canada Zonal, with so much at stake (Olympiad team, World Cup) for just the top two winners, turned into a wonderfully aggressive tournament that resulted in some of the greatest upsets in Canadian chess history. Even though the field included a GM and six IMs, it was two FMs who truly shocked the event by tying for first place, a full point ahead of the third-place GM!
FM Yuanchen Zhang, was the winner on tiebreaks, winning six(!) games en route to a score of 7-2.
FM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux (pictured above), still a Junior, was unbeaten en route to the same score of 7-2.
Canada Women Zonal
The 2022 Canada Women Zonal was also very popular, with live video being continuously streamed on the BotezLive Twitch channel. Over the board, the top-ranked player, WGM Maili-Jade Ouellet, also still a Junior, was absolutely without a match, as she won all(!) of her games to finish with a perfect score of 9-0.
Reserve Sections
Other winners were:
U2200 Savio Joseph Benher, U1900 Randika Balasooriya, and U1600 Aaron Reeve Mendes.
Text: Aris Marghetis, IO/IA, Canada
Photo: John Upper, ChessCanada Facebook
