Toronto Chess Festival for Women & Girls runs big

Thursday, 18 May 2023 15:16

On Sunday, May 14th, Toronto became the centre of the female chess movement. The All4chess & Chess4All: Toronto Chess Festival for Women & Girls, which took place at the Hart House Chess Club of the University of Toronto, brought together more than 60 participants.

The one-day free-to-attend event came to life thanks to the joint effort of the FIDE Commission for Women's Chess, Chess Federation of Canada, Ontario Chess Association, and Hart House Chess Club. Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board, WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola, was the Festival's special guest. It was her first visit to Canada's largest city.

The day was packed with activities. The morning started with inspiring and instructive lectures by WGM Anna Burtasova, who spoke about the first Women's World Champion Vera Menchik, WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola, "How to Win the Game: a Secret to a Smart Game", and WFM Oksana Golubeva who demonstrated impressive tactical strikes from the games of top women players.

In addition, Ala Mischanka told the audience about FIDE's "INFINITE Chess" project for children with ASD amid the plans to launch it in Canada. Soon we will publish the recording of the speeches on the FIDE YouTube channel.

After a lunch break with free pizza for all attendants, the next item on the menu was a simultaneous exhibition by WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola, WGM Anna Burtasova, and WFM Cindy Qiao.

The simuls warmed everyone up for the afternoon rapid tournament. Played over the six rounds, it had numerous prizes in age and rating categories. Fifty-four players played hundreds of games and only a handful ended in draws.

WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola showed her class by sweeping the rapid event by a perfect 6 out of 6, followed by the group of players who shared for second with 5/6. The tiebreak criteria put WGM Anna Burtasova in second place and WFM Oksana Golubeva in third.