2025 Canadian Chess Championships: Nikolay Noritsyn and Li Yunshan
The 2025 Canadian Chess Championships crowned two new champions!
IM Nikolay Noritsyn won the Open Championship, earning his third national title.
WIM Li Yunshan claimed her first women’s national title.
Tournament Overview
The event took place from April 17 to 22 in Toronto, Ontario.
It featured two competitions:
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The 89th Canadian Chess Championship (Open Section)
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The 22nd Canadian Women’s Chess Championship
Both were 9-round Swiss tournaments with classical time control.
A total of 90 top players from nine provinces participated.
The lineup included:
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3 Grandmasters (GMs)
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13 International Masters (IMs)
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3 Woman International Masters (WIMs)
How Noritsyn Won
FM Tymur Keleberda started strong with 4 straight wins.
In Round 5, he drew with GM Bator Sambuev.
In Round 6, he faced IM Nikolay Noritsyn in a key game.
Noritsyn won that game, taking the lead.
He stayed ahead till the end, finishing with:
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7.5 points out of 9
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6 wins and 3 draws
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Undefeated performance
GM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux also stayed unbeaten but finished second with 7 points.
GM Razvan Preotu and IM Raymond Kaufman tied for third on 6.5 points.
Preotu took bronze due to better Buchholz tiebreaks.
Women’s Championship Highlights
WCM Ashley Qian led the early rounds with a perfect 5/5.
She drew with top seed WIM Li Yunshan in Round 6.
The top four remained consistent from Round 4 to Round 9:
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Li Yunshan
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Ashley Qian
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WIM Svitlana Demchenko
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WFM Morgen Mills
Going into the final round:
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Demchenko led by half a point, but lost to Li
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Mills beat WFM Oksana Golubeva
This led to a three-way tie: Li, Demchenko, and Mills all scored 7/9.
Tiebreaks decided the final standings:
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Li Yunshan took gold with the best Buchholz Cut 1 score
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Demchenko earned silver
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Mills took bronze
Photos: Derek Ma / Annex Chess Club and John Upper / Chess Federation of Canada, FIDE_chess
Source: FIDE CHESS NEWS
