The Edmonton Chess Club

The 2026 Edmonton Championship was played, from January 15 - March 5. Here are some of the more interesting games from the tournament, for those who might not have seen them.

Tymur Keleberda (now an IM) defeated the 2025 Champion Amir Bahmani (now an FM) in the final match , 1½-½ . Here was the decisive game of the match :
(the ratings shown in brackets were the players' CFC ratings at the time of the tournament)

Bahmani (2412) - White vs Keleberda (2504) - Black
1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 d6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 g6 5. O-O Bg7 6. c3 O-O 7. d4 e5 8. Na3 Nc6 9. Nc4 cxd4 10. cxd4 exd4 11. Nxd4 Nxe4 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Qa4 d5 14. Qxc6 Be6 15. Ne3 Rc8 16. Qa4 Nc5 17. Qa3 d4 18. Rd1 Re8 19. Qxa7 Re7 20. Qa3 Qe8 21. Nf1 Bg4 22. Bg5 Re2 23. Rac1 Ne6 24. Rxc8 Qxc8 25. Rc1 Rc2 26. Rxc2 Qxc2 27. Qa8+ Bf8 28. Bh6 Be2 29. h4 Qxb2 30. Bh3 Qb1 31. Kh2 Qe1 32. Kg1 Bxf1 33. Bxf1 d3 34. a4 d2 35. Bxd2 Qxd2 36. a5 Kg7 37. a6 Bc5 38. Qf3 Qd4 39. Bg2 Nf8 40. Qe2 Nd7 41. Bb7 Nf6 42. Kg2 Ng4 43. f4 Qg1+ 44. Kf3 Nh2+ 45. Ke4 Qd4 # 0-1

In the Semi-finals, Keleberda defeated Yanchen Zheng 1½-½ , while Bahmani defeated 5-time Champion Belsar Valencia 1½-½ .
Bahmani produced a fine attack to win the decisive game against Valencia :

Bahmani (2412) - White vs Valencia (2303) - Black
1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. O-O Nf6 9. f4 d5 10. Kh1 d4 11. e5 dxc3 12. exf6 gxf6 13. Be4 Bb7 14. Qd4 Be7 15. f5 e5 16. Qc4 cxb2 17. Bxb2 c5 18. Rad1 Bxe4 19. Qxe4 Rc8 20. Bc1 h5 21. Rd5 c4 22. Rfd1 Rg8 23. h3 Rd8 24. Rxd8+ Bxd8 25. Qa8 Rg3 26. Qxa6 Qb6 27. Qc8 Qc7 28. Qa8 h4 29. Qa4+ Kf8 30. Bh6+ 1-0

Keleberda played with great accuracy to force a decisive passed pawn early in his game against Zheng :

Keleberda (2504) - White vs Zheng (2233) - Black
1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Nf3 g6 4. c4 c6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O Nbd7 8. b3 dxc4 9. bxc4 c5 10. Rb1 cxd4 11. exd4 Nb6 12. h3 Bf5 13. Bxf5 gxf5 14. Qd3 e6 15. c5 Nbd5 16. Rxb7 Nxc3 17. Qxc3 Ne4 18. Qc4 Qa5 19. Bf4 Rac8 20. c6 Qa3 21. c7 1-0

In the Quarter-finals, Keleberda defeated Ivan Korolov 2-0 , Bahmani defeated Yash Darvekar 2-0 , Valencia defeated Samuel Hoekman 1½-½ , and Zheng defeated Rauf Kohestani 3-1 (winning an active-timed playoff 2-0 after having tied the long games 1-1) .

Rauf Kohestani (1941) was the surprise of the early rounds ; defeating the 2018 Champion Rafael Arruebarrena in the first round 1½-½, then almost doing the same against Yanchen Zheng in the second round (Kohestani won the first game in 75 moves, then lost a 105-move, 6-hour-long marathon second game).

Here are his games against Arruebarrena :

Arruebarrena (2208) - White vs Kohestani (1941) - Black
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 d6 7. Bxc6+ bxc6 8. d4 exd4 9. Nxd4 Bd7 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Bf4 Ne8 12. Qd3 Bg5 13. Bg3 g6 14. Rad1 Bh4 15. Nf3 Bxg3 16. hxg3 Ng7 17. e5 d5 18. Na4 Qe7 19. c4 c5 20. Qa3 Bxa4 21. Qxa4 d4 22. b4 Ne6 23. Qc6 cxb4 24. Nxd4 Qc5 25. Qxc5 Nxc5 26. Nc6 a5 27. Rd5 Ne6 28. Rxa5 Rxa5 29. Nxa5 Ra8 30. Nc6 Rxa2 31. Rb1 Ra6 32. Nxb4 Ra4 33. Nd5 Rxc4 34. Rb8+ Kg7 35. Nf6 g5 36. Rg8+ Kh6 37. f4 gxf4 38. Ng4+ Kh5 39. Nf6+ Kh6 40. Rg4 Rc1+ 41. Kh2 fxg3+ 42. Kxg3 Rh1 43. Ng8+ Kh5 44. Nf6+ Kh6 45. Rg8 Rd1 46. Kh4 Rh1+ 47. Kg4 Rd1 48. g3 Rd8 49. Ne8 c5 50. Kf5 Rxe8 51. Rxe8 Ng7+ 52. Kf6 Nxe8+ 53. Kxf7 Nc7 0-1

Kohestani (1941) - White vs Arruebarrena (2208) - Black
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bd2 O-O 5. Nf3 d5 6. e3 b6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Be2 Re8 9. O-O Bb7 10. a3 Bd6 11. Nb5 Bf8 12. Ne5 c5 13. f4 Nc6 14. Nxc6 Bxc6 15. Rc1 Qd7 16. Nc3 b5 17. Nb1 Ne4 18. Be1 b4 19. axb4 cxb4 20. Bg4 Qb7 21. Bf5 Bb5 22. Rf3 Nd6 23. Bxh7+ Kxh7 24. Rh3+ Kg8 25. Qh5 f6 26. Bxb4 Bd3 27. Bxd6 Bxd6 28. Nc3 Rac8 29. Ra1 Be4 30. Nxe4 Rxe4 31. Qh7+ Kf7 32. Qh5+ Ke7 33. Qg6 Rg8 34. Rh7 Kf8 35. Qxf6+ gxf6 36. Rxb7 Rg7 37. Rxg7 Kxg7 38. Rxa7+ Kg6 39. Kf2 Bxf4 40. exf4 Rxd4 41. Ke3 Re4+ 42. Kf3 Rb4 43. Rd7 Rb3+ 44. Kg4 Rxb2 45. f5+ Kh6 46. g3 Rb4+ 47. Kf3 Rb3+ 48. Kf4 Rb4+ 49. Ke3 Rb3+ 50. Kd4 Kg5 51. Rxd5 Rb2 52. h4+ Kg4 53. Kc5 Kxg3 54. Rd6 Kxh4 55. Rxf6 Kg5 56. Rf8 Rf2 57. Kd6 Rxf5 58. Rxf5+ Kxf5 ½-½

Two of the top Junior players in Edmonton, Samuel Hoekman and Michael Prianichnikov, produced two very complex games in the first round of the tournament, each winning one :

Prianichnikov (1996) - White vs Hoekman (2167) - Black
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 a6 8. Qd2 b5 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Bxc5 Nxc5 11. Qf2 Qb6 12. Bd3 b4 13. Ne2 b3 14. axb3 Nxd3+ 15. cxd3 Qxb3 16. Qc5 Qb4+ 17. Qxb4 Nxb4 18. Kd2 Bd7 19. Rhc1 Bb5 20. Ned4 Bxd3 21. Ra4 a5 22. Rxb4 axb4 23. Kxd3 Kd7 24. Ng5 Rhf8 25. Nb5 Rac8 26. Rxc8 Rxc8 27. Nxf7 Rf8 28. Nbd6 Ke7 29. g4 h6 30. f5 Ra8 31. Ke3 Ra2 32. Nh8 Rxb2 33. Ng6+ Kd7 34. Nf8+ Ke7 35. Nxe6 Rc2 36. Nxg7 b3 37. f6+ Kd7 38. f7 d4+ 39. Kxd4 Ke7 40. Ngf5+ Kf8 41. e6 Rd2+ 42. Kc3 1-0

Hoekman (2167) - White vs Prianichnikov (1996) - Black
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 e6 6. dxe6 fxe6 7. Nc3 d5 8. e4 Nxa6 9. exd5 exd5 10. Bb5+ Kf7 11. Nf3 Qe7+ 12. Be3 Bb7 13. O-O h6 14. Re1 Qc7 15. Rc1 Be7 16. Qd2 Rhd8 17. Bf4 Bd6 18. Bxh6 gxh6 19. Qxh6 Bf4 20. Qh3 Bc8 21. Qh4 Bb7 22. g3 Rg8 23. Rcd1 Rg7 24. Ne2 Rg4 25. Qh3 Bd6 26. Nc3 d4 27. Bc4+ Kg7 28. Nh4 Bc8 29. Be6 Bxe6 30. Rxe6 Rh8 31. Nf5+ Kg8 32. Nh6+ Rxh6 33. Qxh6 Be7 34. Rde1 Rg7 35. Rxf6 Bxf6 36. Nd5 Bg5 37. Re8+ Kf7 38. Qe6 # 1-0

The complete results from the first round of matches was :

Tymur Keleberda (2504) defeated Sheldon Chow (1818) 2-0
Amir Bahmani (2412) defeated Mark Tuvera (1839) 2-0
Belsar Valencia (2303) defeated Lester Soco (1866) 2-0
Yanchen Zheng (2233) defeated Adria Trilla (1919) 2-0
Rauf Kohestani (1941) defeated Rafael Arruebarrena 1½-½
Samuel Hoekman (2167) defeated Michael Prianichnikov 2½-1½
Yash Darvekar (2139) defeated Micah Hughey (2025) 1½-½
Ivan Korolov (2050) defeated Zlata Butenko (2030) 1½-½

The Edmonton Chess Club would like to congratulate Tymur Keleberda for several recent outstanding achievements.

On April 30, Tymur was officially awarded the International Master (IM) title by FIDE , by having achieved a rating of over 2400 and having obtained three tournament performance ratings of over 2500.

On April 7, Tymur tied for 4th place in the 2026 Canadian Chess Championship, after having tied for 1st place in the July 2025 Canadian Open.

On March 29, he won the 2026 Alberta Championship, repeating his victory of 2025.

On March 5, Tymur won the 2026 Edmonton Championship, defeating defending champion Amir Bahmani in the final match 1½-½ .

And, Tymur had won the Alberta Open tournament of 2025 , as well as scoring 3-straight Alberta Junior Championships in 2023 , 2024 , & 2025.

This is probably a series of success that is unprecedented in the history of Alberta chess !

And that is a wrap! thank you to all who participated in the Alberta Reserves/championships!

Reserves: Congratulations to Yash Darvekar for winning clear first place and taking home $270 in prize money! Maybe next year he will play the closed!

Championship: After a lot of hard fought games, with triumph and tragedy, as well as many minutes of arguing over tiebreaker procedures, Tymur Keleberda emerges victorious, as he had a better Koya Tiebreaker than Amir. Additionally, congrats to Amir on a well played tournament, and Sherzod for a very respectable 3rd place finish! Full standings and results can be viewed in the photos:

Results of the tournament and pairings can be found at this link:

Alberta Reserves 2026 Tournament details and information.

Round 2 pairings!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScqNgjKfpgrnSTUqJfLOdTAhKDSeWPjKeFc-qY5LAq6TRSXSw/viewform?usp=publish-editor

YEG Easter Chess Festival 2026 (APRIL 3-4-5) Edmonton Easter Chess Festival 2026 will be divided into 2 events: (April 3 Friday) will be 11 rounds 3+2 blitz event, registration on site starting 5pm,and game starts 6pm. (April 4-5 Saturday and Sunday) 5 rounds Fast Classical time control of 60+30 sec./move, schedule will be as follows:( Saturda...

Edmonton Chess Club – CFC & FIDE Rated Weekend Tournament

Join us for a 5-round CFC & FIDE-rated classical tournament at the Edmonton Chess Club, running January 31 – February 1. The event features Over-2000 and Under-2000 sections, played at a 60+30 time control, with prizes based on entries.

Rounds 1–3 take place on Saturday (11:00, 2:30, 6:00), with Rounds 4–5 on Sunday (11:00, 2:30).
The tournament is directed by Mike Zeggelaar and is capped at 40 players, with 20 guaranteed spots for the Over-2000 section.

Free entry for 2200+ FIDE players.

Register here:

January 31-February 1 swiss 2026 January 31- February 1 Round 1, 2, 3, Saturday, January 31st, 11, 2:30, 6 Round 4-5, Sunday, February 1st, 11: 2:30 Time Control: 60+30 Location: Edmonton Chess Club Sections: Over-2000 Under 2000 CFC and FIDE rated Director: Mike Zeggelaar Entry Fee: $60 for Over-2000 CFC, $40 for Under 2000. Play....

We would like to announce that the next CFC- and FIDE-rated tournaments will be starting soon.

The Edmonton Reserves tournament will start this Thursday, January 8 (registration from 6:30 - 7:00 p.m.), continuing through February 26. More on that near the end of this message.

The 2026 Edmonton Championship will start the following Thursday, January 15. The format and prizes of the Championship are the same as in 2025. The 16 highest-rated people who are there on January 15, and want to play, will be in the Championship section. They will play 2-game matches, which will reduce the field, every two weeks, from 16, to 8, to 4, to the final 2. (The pairings for the first round of matches will be : #1 vs #16 , #2 vs #15 , #3 vs #14 , and so on to #8 vs #9 .) The time-control for the games will be 90 minutes/player, with 30-second increment from move 1, plus an additional 30 minutes/player added after move 40.
The cash prizes for the Championship tournament will be as follows : Champion - $900 , Runner-Up - $500 , Losers of Semi-finals (winners of two matches) - $200 each , Losers of Quarter-finals (winners of one match) - $50 each.
The higher of your CFC and FIDE ratings will be used to determine who makes the top 16. Registration will be from 6:30 - 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 15. (If you cannot get there by 7:00, then phone the Club at 780-424-0283 and leave a message before 6:55 p.m. that night.) Entry fee is $20, except free for players with an official FIDE title (GM , IM , FM , CM, and W titles). (Also, Amir Bahmani and Yash Darvekar, who tied for 1st in our last Thursday night tournament, the Daniel Naroditsky Memorial, get free entry.) CFC membership is required, which can be purchased at the Club.
There are two additional regulations to be eligible to enter the Championship Section. Firstly, you must have played in at least one CFC-rated or FIDE-rated tournament in 2025 to be eligible (or be a former Edmonton Champion), and secondly, someone with a CFC rating that is 'provisional' (less than 20 total games played) would not be eligible for the Championship, unless they have a FIDE rating which is high enough to qualify.
(It should be mentioned that if someone knows that they will not be able to play on two or more Thursdays during January + February, then they should not enter the Championship. If you can not play on one Thursday, an arrangement can usually be made with the opponent, in consultation with the Tournament Director, to play on another day. However, if no arrangement can be made, the player who could not play on Thursday would have to forfeit that game. People who cannot play on two or more Thursdays are welcome to enter the Reserves tournament, in which unlimited byes can be taken.)
Players in the Championship who lose matches can, if they wish, then join the Edmonton Reserves tournament with no additional entry fee. The Reserves is a regular Swiss tournament which includes all the players who are not in the top 16. There are also cash prizes in the Reserves ; 8 prizes with values of - $120 , 100 , 80 , 60 , 50 , 40 , 30 , 20 . Both the Championship and Reserves will be CFC and FIDE rated.
As mentioned earlier, the Reserves tournament will begin January 8, while the Championship begins January 15. We are doing this because, in the past, sometimes players are not in town on the first Thursday of January, due to holiday travel. While this is not an issue for the Reserves tournament, where unlimited byes can be taken, to enter the Championship you must be there on the opening night.
Higher-rated players are welcome to play one game in the Reserves on January 8 if they wish, then switch over to the Championship on January 15, with no additional entry fee. And, as already mentioned, you can then return to the Reserves if you lose a match in the Championship.

Happy New Year to everyone. We would like to announce that there will be a Blitz tournament at the Chess Club this Thursday night , New Year's Day January 1, starting at 7:00 p.m.
Registration will be from 6:30 - 7:00 p.m. Entry fee $10. All of the entry fee money, plus a $100 donation, will be returned as cash prizes.
The tournament will likely be 9 rounds, with a timing of 5/2
(5 minutes/player, with 2 second Fischer increment).

On the following Thursday, January 8, the next CFC and FIDE rated tournament will begin, the Edmonton Reserves. And, the Thursday after that, January 15, the annual Edmonton Championship will begin. The formats of those tournaments should be similar to previous years. More details will be posted in a few days.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIRshSKzNZsvyk_O-TsNrQyGIVc94kOkB6eUswNytCxHckjw/viewform

December 19-21 Swiss December 19-21 Round 1: Friday, December 19th, 7pm Round 2-3, Saturday, December 20th, 11am, 4pm Round 4-5, Sunday, December 21st, 11am, 4pm or ASAP Time Control: 90+30 Location: Edmonton Chess Club Sections: Over-2000 Under 2000 CFC and FIDE rated Director: Mike Zeggelaar Entry Fee: $50 for Over-20...