Recap: 2026 Toronto Open Breaks Records

The 2026 Toronto Open was organized September 5th to 7th, 2026 by the Annex Chess Club at St. Casimir's Parish Hall in the Toronto's west end community of Roncesvalles. The tournament consisted of 6-rounds played at a time-control of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment across 5-sections; held across 3-days of play over the Labour Day long-weekend in Toronto. Players consisted of all levels, from Grandmasters and International Masters to players playing their first tournament. There was a record turnout of over 280 players across all sections, the largest Toronto Open in the last 20+ years.

The Crown section consisted of 48-players including 1 GM, 4 IMs, and 2 FMs. The tournament was won convincingly by Grandmaster Razvan Preotu, scoring 5.5/6 while defeating IM Mark Plotkin, drawing IM Nikolay Noritsyn, and defeating untitled 2352 FIDE player Vadim Razin. This will be good preparation for both Preotu and Nortisyn as they prepare to represent Team Canada at the 2026 FIDE Chess Olympiad starting this month September 16–27, 2026 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. They will be joined in the Open Olympiad by Toronto-native, 2025 Toronto Open winner, and now-GM Anthony Atanasov. In the Women's Olympiad, WFM Hancy Jiang and WIM Yunshan Li will also represent Toronto. We wish all of Team Canada the best of luck in the tournament!

The other sections of the tournament saw similarly competitive results. Notable performances include perfect scores (6/6) by Valentyn Trofimov-Malyshkin in the U2200, Patricio Baeza in the U1900, and Saeid Borji in the U1300. These are impressive results considering the turnout to the event and the large section sizes. The prize fund was over $8,000 and was split between players on ties. Congratulations to all winners!

The Greater Toronto Chess League, as the sanctioning body of the Toronto Open, thanks the organizers, volunteers, and arbiters for making the tournament a success. In particular, Tournament Director Keith Denning, Organizer Salim Belcadi, and the Arbiter team consisting of Chief Arbiter IA Uttam Dhungel, and Deputy Arbiters FA Tanner McNamara, and FA Michael Corrie. Finally, thank you to the participants for making the 2026 Toronto Open one of the top tournaments of the year not only in Toronto but across Canada. We hope to see you next year at the 2027 Toronto Open!

For some important links:

• Live games were broadcast on Lichess.org here.
• Pairings/Results are available here.
• Photos taken of the event are courtesy of the Chess Federation of Canada's John Upper: here.

GM Razvan Preotu at 2026 Toronto Open, photo by John Upper

Winners

A full list of winners of the event are available below.

Crown (48 players)

• 1st Place: GM Preotu, Razvan(5.5 pts)
• 2nd Place:IM Vettese, Nicholas (5 pts)
• 3rd Place (Tie): Razin, Vadim (4.5 pts)
• 3rd Place (Tie): IM Plotkin, Mark (4.5 pts)

U-2200 (68 players)

• 1st Place: Trofimov-Malyshkin, Valentyn (6 pts)
• 2nd Place: Rudakov, Ivan (5 pts)
• 3rd Place (Tie): Pan, Julian (4.5 pts)
• 3rd Place (Tie): Zhan, Jayden Zihan (4.5 pts)
• 3rd Place (Tie): Patil, Tanishq (4.5 pts)

U-1900 (86 players)

• 1st Place: Baeza, Patricio (6 pts)
• 2nd Place (Tie): Haider, Armaan (5 pts)
• 2nd Place (Tie): Dunikov, Glib (5 pts)

U-1600 (51 players)

• 1st Place: Mehta, Ayaan (5.5 pts)
• 2nd Place (Tie): Lakatosh, James (5 pts)
• 2nd Place (Tie): Khudayarov, Kamron (5 pts)

U-1300 (44 players)

• 1st Place: Borji, Saeid (6 pts)
• 2nd Place (Tie): Heynen, Foster (5 pts)
• 2nd Place (Tie): Delgashev, Daniel (5 pts)
• 2nd Place (Tie): Lalwani, Om (5 pts)

Category Prizes

• Top Woman: Nobuko Takeuchi (U-1300, 4 pts)
• Top Senior: Muthukumaran Atanasundaram (U-1300, 4 pts) & David Filipovich (U-2200, 4 pts)
• Top Junior: Daniel Delgashev (U-1300, 5 pts)
• Top Junior Girl: Shannon Zhao (U-2200, 4.5 pts)
• Top ACC Member: Usman Afzal Minhas (U-1900, 4.5 pts)