After a 33-year hiatus, Victoria has a high school chess champion.
Mount Douglas High School, led by top scoring Matthew Geng captured the team championship at the Hotel Grand Pacific on Easter weekend. The tournament was held as a 5-round active swiss event with the total points earned by the top 4 players from each team counting as the team total. Mount Doug finished with 14.5 points, far outdistancing Pacific Christian School with 6.5, Claremont High School with 5.0, Parkland High School with 4.5, and Esquimalt High School with 2.0.
Fittingly, my two co-organizers were Dave Gardner, a Claremont teacher and member of the 1986 Claremont championship team as well as Dan Myers, who at that time was a teacher and prominent junior chess organizer. Elliot Raymer was our hard-working TD.
To recognize the winning team, the J. Baines-Lewis trophy, was brought out of retirement. It had been gathering dust in the custody of the Victoria Chess Club since last awarded in 1970. We hope to add many more names to it in coming years.
the Victoria High School Championship was held in conjunction with the VYCC and the Grand Pacific Open for a great Easter weekend of chess in Victoria
2019 Victoria High School Championship team, Mount Douglas High School. William Ma, Haibo Sun, Matthew Geng (holding the J. Bains-Lewis trophy), Johnny Cole, Evan Guilford, Surya Narayan and Suhao Hu. The team is flanked by organizers Paul Leblanc (left) and Dave Gardner (right)
Daniel Myers, erstwhile junior chess organizer, came out of chess retirement to facilitate the championship
Report by Paul Leblanc
Team Results:
Code | Name | Score | |
1 | MOUNTDO | MOUNTDOUG | 14.5 |
2 | PCS | PCS | 6.5 |
3 | CLAREMON | CLAREMONT | 5.0 |
4 | PARKLAND | PARKLAND | 4.5 |
5 | ESQUIMAL | ESQUIMALT | 2.0 |
Individual Standings:
# | Name | Rtng | Team | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Tot |
1 | Matthew Geng | 1897 | MOUNTDO | W16 | W4 | D3 | W2 | W6 | 4.5 |
2 | Haibo Sun | 1545 | MOUNTDO | W6 | W14 | W12 | L1 | W3 | 4.0 |
3 | Dylan Fox | 1319 | W19 | W13 | D1 | W12 | L2 | 3.5 | |
4 | Aaron Anandji | 1078 | W15 | L1 | W7 | D5 | W10 | 3.5 | |
5 | Thien Tran | unr. | PCS | L10 | W19 | W11 | D4 | W13 | 3.5 |
6 | Jishang Jiang | unr. | CLAREMON | L2 | W20 | W13 | W9 | L1 | 3.0 |
7 | Josiah Plett | unr. | PCS | D18 | W11 | L4 | W14 | D8 | 3.0 |
8 | William Ma | unr. | MOUNTDO | D11 | D18 | W14 | D10 | D7 | 3.0 |
9 | Surya Narayan | unr. | MOUNTDO | L12 | W16 | W18 | L6 | W15 | 3.0 |
10 | Johnny Cole | 634 | MOUNTDO | W5 | L12 | W15 | D8 | L4 | 2.5 |
11 | Suhao Hu | 1278 | MOUNTDO | D8 | L7 | L5 | W20 | W12 | 2.5 |
12 | Inna Rabinovich | 1079 | PARKLAND | W9 | W10 | L2 | L3 | L11 | 2.0 |
13 | Evan Guildford | 659 | MOUNTDO | W20 | L3 | L6 | W16 | L5 | 2.0 |
14 | Andrew Datcu-Romano | 805 | W17 | L2 | L8 | L7 | W19 | 2.0 | |
15 | Dallas McNeil | unr. | PARKLAND | L4 | W17 | L10 | W18 | L9 | 2.0 |
16 | Jacob Hardy | unr. | ESQUIMAL | L1 | L9 | W17 | L13 | W20 | 2.0 |
17 | Chiao Ping | unr. | CLAREMON | L14 | L15 | L16 | W19 | W18 | 2.0 |
18 | Irena Datcu-Romano | 693 | D7 | D8 | L9 | L15 | L17 | 1.0 | |
19 | Robin Lipke | unr. | PARKLAND | L3 | L5 | D20 | L17 | L14 | 0.5 |
20 | Michaela Schneider | unr. | L13 | L6 | D19 | L11 | L16 | 0.5 |