Maritime Chess Festival

10/13/2026

Yesterday's play featured the final two rounds of the Maritime Open Championship. The final regular game finished just after 7pm.

OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP Section (FIDE and CFC)
GOLD - IM Mark Plotkin (Toronto, ON)
SILVER - GM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux (Montreal, QC)
BRONZE - WGM Maili-Jade Ouellet (Montreal)

=1st - Mark & Shawn
=3rd - Maili-Jade and Calix Marchand (Halifax, NS)
Top U2200 - Titan Dunahee (Moncton, NB), Jason Manley (Fredericton, NB), and Louis Fillmore (Halifax, NS)
Top U2000 - Chris Felix (Halifax)
R-Up U2000 - Riley Tangoan (Moncton), Aidan Arsenault (Miscouche, PE) Rutvik Reddy Allampati (Moncton), Ruffy Tangoan (Moncton), Matt Kelly (Saint John)
Top U1800 - Harshiv Varada (Moncton)
Most Improved Junior - TBA

OPEN CHALLENGERS Section
GOLD - Omar Khan (Halifax)
SILVER - Chengyu Sun (Halifax)
BRONZE - Jedidiah Chiongliu (Moncton)

1st Omar
2nd Chengyu
3rd Jedidiah
Top U1800 - Craig Carson (St Andrews, NB) and Iain Crowell (Sackville, NB)
Top U1600 - Justin Nguyen (Charlottetown, PE)
R-Up U1600 (and Top Junior) - Austin Mckinnon (Miramichi, NB) and Marcus Lai (Charlottetown)
Top U1400 - Emmanuelle Manuel (Miramichi)
R-Up U1400 - Axel Aubin (Moncton)
Most Improved Junior - TBA

After the regulation play was finished, we had one last activity which was to see who would win the special donated Winner-Takes-All prize of $500 and get their name on the Colpitts Trophy, right alongside the 2025 entry of Hikaru Nakamura. Mark "won" the right to take the Black pieces by making the lowest time bid and had 1 munute 49 seconds vs Shawn's 4 minures (2 second increment for both). Quite a fight ensued with the game proceeding with each player eventually having less than 10 seconds on the clock for what must have been two minutes ---- the defence held and Shawn eventually had to concede the draw. So congratulations to our new Maritime Open Champion, Mark Plotkin

Many thanks to all of our participating masters, to all of our great volunteers, arbiters, and staff at the Credit Union Place. Hope to see you all in the future.

This event wouldn't have been possible without our sponsors. Cash, product and in-kind services totaled over $11,000. Thanks to The City of Summerside, SpryPoint, Tourism PEI, Cavendish Farms, PEI Mutual Insurance, Murphy's Pharmacies, Curran and Briggs, Maritime Electric, Summerside Toyota, Microtel Wyndham Summerside, Holman's Ice Cream, Summerside Shipyard, Brother's Two, Granville St Diner, Summerside Waterfront Cafe and Credit Union Place.

I have already reached out to reserve our traditional weekend for next year. Stay tuned. See less

10/12/2026

Sunday was the busiest day of the weekend.

First up IM Mark Plotkin presented a talk on "Fighting Back in Losing Positions" to a packed hous of about 50 spectators. Well received.

The SpryPoint Maritime Junior was held immediately afterwards with a total of 40 players across 3 divisions

OPEN

GOLD - Rye Zymon Canlas (St Stephen, NB)
SILVER - Davud Nabiev (Saint John, NB)
BRONZE - Austin Macdonald (Charlottetown, PE)

1st - Rye Zyman
=2nd - Davud and Austin

UNDER 1600

GOLD - Victor Petrishki (Montreal, QC)
SILVER - Axel Aubin (Moncton, NB)
BRONZE - Johnny Nguyen (Charlottetown, PE)

=1st - Victor and Alex
=3rd - Johnny and Charlie Teeter (Fredericton, NB)

UNDER 1200

GOLD - Judah Dennuse (Kensington, PE)
SILVER - Sourish Reddy Allampati (Moncton, NB)
BRONZE - Yiming Chen (Fredericton, NB)

1st - Judah
=2nd - Sourish Reddy & Yiming
4th - Maria Gabrielle Manuel (Miramichi, NB)
Top U1000 - Ryan Yan (Charlottetown) and Sid Hart (Moncton)
Top U800 - Reuben Dennuse (Kensington) and Jace Felix (Halifax)

The sole leader after 4 rounds in the Maritime Open Championship Section is WGM Maili-Jade Ouellet (Montreal) with a prefect score. GM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux (Montreal) and IM Mark Plotkin (Toronto, ON) are only 1/2 point back.

In the Challengers Section, there is a tie for first between Peter Turner (Moncton) and Omar Khan (Halifax). Both have 3.5/4

Last night we have 42 players come out to get down with some Blitz. IM Mark Plotkin won the event with 13/14, and he just edged out GM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux by 0.5 points.

GOLD - IM Mark Plotkin
SILVER - GM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux
BRONZE - Jorge Moreno (Charlottetown)

1st - IM Mark Plotkin
2nd - GM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux
=3rd Jorge Moreno and Iam Martinovsky
U2000 - Imran Nabiev (Saint John)
U1750 - Rutvik Reddy Allampati (Moncton), Raphael Tangoan (Moncton), and Vadim Mandel (Saint John)
U1500 - Jedidiah Chiongliu (Moncton), and Davud Nabiev.

Play wraps up today with rounds 5 and 6 in the Maritime Open.

10/11/2026

Yesterday we started off with a lecture by GM Shawn Rodrigue Lemieux on King Safety. We had a packed house with close to 50 participants.

The Maritime Amateur had 39 paricipants with an Open and a Junior (U1400) Section.

Open ($425 in cash prizes)
GOLD - Imran Nabiev (Saint John, NB)
SILVER - Rutvik Reddy Allampati (Moncton, NB)
BRONZE - Raphael Tangoan (Moncton)

1st - Imran
2nd - Rutvik Reddy
=3rd - Raphael, Riley Tangoan (Moncton), Austin Mckinnon (Miramichi, NB), Omar Khan (Halifax, NS)
Top U1500 - Ziqing Ren (Fredericton, NB)

Junior
GOLD - Charlie Teeter (Fredericton)
SILVER - Rilan Gallo (Summerside, PE)
BRONZE - Nathanelle Manuel (Miramichi)

=1st - Charlie and Rilan
=3rd - Nathanelle, Johnny Nguyen (Charlottetoen (PE), Maria Gabrielle Manuel (Miramichi)
Top U1200 - Sourish Reddy Allampati (Moncton)
Top U1000 - Sid Hart (Moncton)

We've ended up with a record setting 70 players participating in the Maritime Open, with 39 in the Championship Section and 31 in the Challengers Section.

After 2 rounds of play the leaders in the Top Group are GM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux (QC), IM Mark Plotkin (ON), WGM Maili-Jade OUellet (QC), FM Calix Marchand (NS), NM Jerjis Kapra (NS), and NM Ian Martinovsky (NB), and the leaders in the Challengers group are George Hensel (NB), Ron Belczewski (NB), Omar Khan, Jedediah Chiongliu (NB), and Chengyu Sun (NS).

Results of both sections can be found at https://s2.chess-results.com/tnr1505646.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=2&flag=30&SNode=S0

Follow the top 4 boards at https://www.chess.com/events/2026-maritime-open-chess-championship/games

This morning IM Mark Plotkin is presenting a lecture about Fighting Back in Losing Positions at 9am. The Maritime Junior goes at 9:45am and Round 3 of the Maritime Open is at 10am, followed by Round 4 at 3pm. Tonight we have the Maritime Blitz starting around 7:40-7:45pm.

10/11/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1CQE45wJKZ/

10/10/2026

The 2026 edition of the Maritime Chess Festival got off to a bang yesterday.

First up was WGM Maili-Jade Ouellet (Montreal, QC) as she gave a lecture to a packed house, showing her round 2 victory from the recent Chess Olympiad in Uzbekistan.

This was followed with the first event of the MCF, the Maritime Rapid with 36 players. Prizes totalled $1,060

GOLD - GM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux (Montreal)
SILVER - IM Mark Plotkin (Toronto, ON)
BRONZE - NM Jerjis Kapra (Halifax, NS)

=1st - Rodrigue-Lemieux and Plotkin
=3rd - Kapra, Ouellet, CM Dmitry Kalinin (Fredericton, NB), and IM Raymond Kaufman (Vancouver, BC)
Top U2000/1750 - Omar Khan (Halifax), Fernando Hibbert (Thunder Bay, ON), Bill Bogle (Saint John, NB), Matt Kelly (Saint John, NB), Craig Carson (St Andrew's, NB), and Austin Mckinnon (Miramichi, NB)
Top U1500 - Rebecca Sijo (Summerside, PE)

The complete Rapid results (and Open and Blitz) can be found on Chess Results
https://s1.chess-results.com/tnr1505644.aspx?lan=1&art=4&flag=30&SNode=S0

Things get rolling later this morning, with GM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux presenting a lecture on King Safety at 9:30am. This will be followed by the Maritime Amateur at 10:30am and then the first round of the Maritime Open at 11:30am, followed by round two at 4:30pm.

Play on the Top Four boards of the Open can be followed at
https://view.livechesscloud.com/ -c078-49e6-9a46-8f220247c653

10/06/2026

https://gooddayatlantic.com/2026/10/05/prince-edward-island-was-just-named-one-of-the-best-places-in-the-world-to-visit-in-2027/?fbclid=IwY2xjawUxqh5leHRuA2FlbQIxMABwZG9mBWJyaWQRMXphRlNwbmRCVzdHdmtCdlJzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeEWVx-KK8NFBAc1dzqArdM5_acgDYXvGktY8BMkBLsntJ4lB7lxr1ojWFLnc_aem_Zkaj4TrYqRQIQ4ro2pWctA

Prince Edward Island might be Canada’s smallest province, but it just earned some major international recognition. Lonely Planet has officially named Prince Edward Island one of its 25 must-visit d…

09/27/2026

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeKI7X_FvyA

Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux joined us for an interview after his win aga...

09/15/2026

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2047584305935996&set=a.1161274564566979

MCF Featured players SRL and MJO will be representing Canada on the World Stage !

1 DAY TO GO! Are you excited?🤩

♟ FIDE Chess Olympiad 2026
📍 Samarkand 🇺🇿
🗓 Game days: September 16-27

07/29/2026

♟ FIDE Interim President Viswanathan Anand (Vishy Anand) welcomed the announcement of 🇨🇭 Geneva as the host of the FIDE World Championship Match 2026:

“Several countries expressed a strong interest in hosting the FIDE World Championship Match, including India, the United States and Cyprus. After carefully considering all the proposals, FIDE has decided to stage the match on neutral soil and bring it to Geneva, a city with a historic tradition of bringing nations and cultures together. We look forward to welcoming the global chess community to Switzerland. The local chess fans will have the opportunity to experience world-class chess in person, while millions of fans around the globe can follow the battle online as the duel for the highest title in chess unfolds.”

The FIDE World Championship Match 2026 between reigning World Champion 🇮🇳 Gukesh D and Challenger 🇺🇿 Javokhir Sindarov will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, from November 25 to December 15.

07/25/2026

Statement by FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich

Today, the EU decision to include my name in the 21st sanctions list was published. I want to state unequivocally that I consider this decision unlawful and unfair, and this decision will be immediately challenged by all possible means. I am confident that justice will prevail.

However, given that until a formal court decision is rendered and/or such decision is cancelled or amended, these sanctions could hinder the stable functioning of FIDE, I have decided to voluntarily suspend the exercise of my powers and duties as FIDE President with immediate effect and for as long as I remain subject to sanctions under the EU and Swiss laws and regulations. In accordance with the FIDE Charter, the duties of the President will be assumed by the FIDE Deputy President, the 15th World Champion, Viswanathan Anand.

I would like to emphasize that I believe in the FIDE Council and I am confident that the FIDE Council and administration will overcome all challenges and do the utmost to safeguard continuous work of FIDE, its events and social programs.

Taking into account the statement above, the FIDE Council has decided the following:

The FIDE Council accepts and ratifies the decision of Mr Arkady Dvorkovich to suspend the exercise of his rights, duties and prerogatives as President of the FIDE. Accordingly, Mr Dvorkovich will not exercise the responsibilities, duties, rights and prerogatives provided by the FIDE Charter, particularly at article 18 of the FIDE Charter, and other regulations, as long as the measures provided by the “Ordonnance instituant des mesures en lien avec la situation en Ukraine” and the EU Regulations No 269/2014, are in force. Specifically, Mr Dvorkovich shall not act in the capacity of “détenteur de contrôle” (“owner, holder or controller”) of FIDE or its assets.

In accordance with article 19.2 of the FIDE Charter, Mr Anand Viswanathan, Deputy President of FIDE, shall act as Interim President as long as Mr Dvorkovich is subject to the restrictive measures provided by the Swiss and EU laws and regulations in force.