Victoria Chess Club
From its beginning in 1892 until 1941, the original club was known as the Victoria Chess Club. In 1932 a new club was formed, the Victoria City Chess Club which supplanted the old Victoria Chess Club on its demise in 1941.
On July 9 th , 1964 the club was registered with the province as a society under the new name Victoria City Chess Club. The following were listed as directors: Charles Birch (President), Reginald Randall Bennett, Albert George Moody, Gerald Francis Topham and Frank Reginald Hasse. On April 6 th , 1982 the club was de-registered by the province, not having filed an annual report since November 2 nd , 1973. The club however continued to meet at various addresses between 1964 and 1992.
In the 1970’s the club merged with the Gordon Head Chess Club. The Gordon Head club had begun meeting in 1971 at the Gordon Head Recreation Centre and was re-named the King’s Head Chess Club for a few years prior to the merger with the Victoria City Chess Club in 1976. On December 30 th , 1992, the club was registered again and adopted the historic name Victoria Chess Club with the following listed as officers: Jordan Tinney (President), Lynn Stringer, Alois Holzknecht, Edward Seedhouse and Dan Scoones.
Club member Paul Leblanc has amassed a large amount of material covering the history of chess in Victoria from newspaper archives, personal anecdotes, CounterPlay (the BCCF official magazine of record for many years) and other sources. Links are below (large files - be patient).
History Files by year:
1892-1899
1900-1939
1940-1969
1970's
1980's
1990's
2000's
2010's
2020's
Presidents:
Victoria Chess Club (historic)
1892-1894 Rev. J.B. Hewetson
1895 Peter Schwengers
1896 Maj. B. Williams
1897 T. Lawrie
1902 A.F. Gibson
1908 W.S. Sutton
1913 Aaron Gonnason
1930 Aaron Gonnason
1931 William Marchant
Victoria City Chess Club
1932 T.E. Ainscough
1934 Frederic Wills
1936 D.W. Mills
1937 Lawton Partington
1938 Lawton Partington
1939 Lawton Partington
1940 F. Stratholt
1941 J. Baines-Lewis
1942 J. Baines-Lewis
1943 J. Baines-Lewis
1944 J. Baines-Lewis
1945 N.R. Stewart
1946 N.R. Stewart
1947 N.R. Stewart
1948 N.R. Stewart
1950 James Marshall
1951 A.G. Moody
1953 H. Parry
1954 T. Curteis
1955 Dr. Simon Marinker
1956 Dr. Simon Marinker
1960 Lou Basanta
1964 Charles Birch
1964-1966 August Strodyk
1967 Charles Birch
1968 E.C.S. Woodcock
1969-1970 Charles Birch
1971-1972 Darrel Hunt
1973-1977 Charles Birch
1978-1979 Bob Van Zweeden
Victoria Chess Club (modern)
1992 Jody Tinney
1993-1994 Don Rycroft
1995-1998 Ed Seedhouse
1999-2000 Dan Scoones
2001 Dave Herder
2002-2006 Jim Craig
2006-2023 Roger Patterson
Locations (Victoria Chess Club and Predecessors):
Victoria Chess Club (original version):
1892-1895 Wilson Block
1895-1908 Five Sisters Block
1908 1208 Government
1912 Lee Building
1913-1914 Hibben-Bone Block
1915 625 Fort
1917 620 View
1918 Hibben-Bone Block
1920-1921 Metropolis Hotel, 712 Yates
1922 Arcade Building
1923-1926 303-612 View Street (Union Bank Building)
1927-1930 7-112 Government Street (Mahon Building)
1931-1941 YMCA, 1203 Blanshard
Victoria City Chess Club:
1932-1933 Maccabees Hall, Fort Street
1934-1953 1118 Langley Street
1955-1959 Royal Trust Building, Government and View
1959-1964 Westholme Hotel, Room 117 – 1417 Government Street
1965-1968 204-1104 Douglas Street (Kresge building)
1969-1972 Newstead Hall, (Knights of Columbus building), 734 Fort Street
1973-1974 Boardroom, Royal Athletic Park
1974-1975 Provincial Library, Quadra building
1975-1977 Camosun College downtown library, Quadra between View and Yates
1977-1978 Quadra Street Recreation Centre (Nelson’s Music building)
1979-1990 Crystal Pool, Quadra Street
1991 Victoria YMCA
Victoria Chess Club (modern version)
1991-1995 McDonalds Restaurant, Douglas Street at Fort Street
1996-2003 Silver Threads, Fisgard and Government
2004 James Bay Senior Centre, Menzies Street
2005-2013 Silver Threads, Government between Fisgard and Herald
2014 CNIB Building, Bay and Richmond
2015-2019 Victoria Central Library, Broughton Street
2022 (Feb-Oct) Monterey Recreation Centre
2022 (Nov) Esquimalt Recreation Centre
Victoria Chess Club Online.
During the COVID pandemic of 2020-2021, the club operated an online version of it's club on chess.com. Weekly active events were held along with occasional other events (blitz and variants). The club operated a Grand Prix competition for the first half of 2021. Final standings for the Grand Prix event can be see here. Crosstables for all of the online events on the club can be found here.
The Victoria Chess Club has a number of trophies that have been awarded over the years. These trophies are:
The Victoria Championship (1921-1930)
The Victoria Championship (1936-.....)
The Victoria Reserves Championship
The Summer Ladder Competition
The D.A. MacAdam Award
The Victoria High Schools Championship.
Winners of these trophies are listed below.
Victoria Championship (1921-1930) The Gonnason Cup
Presented by A. Gonnason, March 1921.
The cup on the right is the Gonnason Cup awarded from 1921-1930. The trophy on the left is the trophy awarded from 1936 onwards (see below).
For some more information on this Cup, see the BCCF bulliten #35 http://chess.bc.ca/Bulletins/bccfbulletin35.pdf
Starting in 2016, this cup will be used for the Victoria Chess Club Championship.
Gonnason Cup Winners:
1921 W.J. Barker
1922 A. Gonnason
1923 L. Partington
1924 W.J. Barker
1925 L. Partington
1926 L. Partington
1927 W.J. Barker
1928 F. Knowles
1929 W.J. Barker
1930 W.J. Barker
2016 Roger Patterson
2017 Roger Patterson
2018 Roger Patterson
2019 Roger Patterson
2020 No club champion awarded due to COVID-19 pandemic.
2022 Roger Patterson
2023 Roger Patterson
2024 Roger Patterson
Victoria Championship (1936 -on wards)
Photo below: It is a very nice silver plated cup on a base and is recently restored by the club.
It is not clear if this is for a club championship or city championship, although the distinction may not be significant. From 2012-2015, this cup was used for the Victoria Chess Club championship. Starting in 2016, it is to be used for the top Victoria player in the Victoria Open.
| 1936 Lawton Partington |
| 1937 E.Cox |
| 1938 E.Cox |
| 1939 A.G.Moody |
| 1940 J.Baines-Lewis |
| 1941 C.H.Dodwell. |
| 1942 F.W.Plant |
| 1943 Stonier |
| 1944 N.R.Stewart |
| 1945 F.W.Plant |
| 1946 C.D.H.Moore |
| 1947 J.Hobson |
| 1948 C.D.H.Moore |
| 1949 J.Hobson |
| 1950 C.D.H.Moore |
| 1951 Lionel Basanta |
| 1952 T.N.Curteis |
| 1953 Olavi Sarakannas |
| 1954 T.N.Curteis – J.Baines –Lewis |
| 1955 T.N.Curteis |
| 1956 B.A.Potter |
| 1957 Len Hall |
| 1958 D.B.S.Marinker – L.Basanta |
| 1959 J.Doesburg |
| 1960 L.Basanta – J.Hobson |
| 1961 J.Chapman |
| 1962 J.Hobson |
| 1963 O.Sarakannas |
| 1964 O.Sarakannas |
| 1965 A.Lane |
| 1966 A.Lane |
| 1967 A.Lane – Ed Seedhouse |
|
1968 Ed Seedhouse
|
| 1969 Dan Scoones |
| 1970 M. Emig |
| 1971 H. Brown |
| 1972 G. Adlkirchner |
| 1975 G. Dinesco |
| 1976 P. Levesque |
| 2012 Roger Patterson |
| 2013 Roger Patterson |
| 2014 Roger Patterson |
| 2015 Roger Patterson |
| 2016 Harry Moore |
|
2017 Valeria Gansvind
2021 Matthew Frietag
2022 Patrick Huang
2023 Howard Wu
2024 Roger Patterson
|
2024 Roger Patterson
|
| |
Victoria City Chess Club "B" Trophy
(Presented by F. W. Plant, 1948)
Apparently awarded to the winner of the Reserves Section of the Club Championship. However, the years awarded do not match the years for the club championship trophy.
The plaque is labled the "B Class Trophy" and was donated by F. W. Plant in 1948
Eric A. Cox Trophy for the winner of the Summer Ladder Competition
(some first names have been added in place of initials where known)
The D.A. MacAdam Award
Awarded to the winner of the MacAdam Memorial (previously held in the wintertime)
Names on Trophy:
1988 Leon Piasetski (crosstable)
1990 Gehard Neufahrt (crosstable)
1999 Jack Yoos (crosstable)
2000 Mike Carlisle (crosstable)
2001 Howard Wu (crosstable)
2002 Jack Yoos (crosstable)
2003 Valeria Gansvind (crosstable)
2004 Dan Scoones (crosstable)
2005 Jack Yoos (crosstable)
2006 Harry Moore (crosstable)
2009 Roger Patterson (crosstable)
2010 Gavin Steininger (crosstable )
2011 Gavin Steininger (crosstable)
2012 Roger Patterson (crosstable)
2013 Alois Holzknech (crosstable)
2014 Alois Holzknech (crosstable)
2015 Ivan Nicolici (crosstable)
2016 Ivan Pauric (crosstable)
2017 Ivan Pauric (crosstable)
2018 Roger Patterson & Reza Sardari (crosstable)
2019 Roger Patterson (crosstable)
2020 Roger Patterson (crosstable)
2022 Roger Patterson (crosstable)
2023 Roger Patterson (crosstable)
2024 Roger Patterson and Eli Grant (crosstable)
Victoria High School Championship.
(donated by J. Baines-Lewis F.R.S.A.)
Names on the trophy:
1956
|
S. J. Willis Jr. High School
|
1957
|
Victoria High School
|
1958
|
Victoria High School
|
1959
|
Victoria High School
|
1960
|
Victoria High School
|
1961
|
Victoria High School
|
1962
|
Victoria High School
|
1963
|
Victoria High School
|
| 1964 |
Victoria High School |
| 1965 |
Victoria Sr. Sec. |
| 1966 |
Claremont Sr. Sec. |
| 1967 |
Victoria Sr. Sec. |
| 1968 |
Oak Bay Sr. Sec. |
| 1969 |
Oak Bay Sr. Sec. |
| 1970 |
Victoria High School |
| 1986 |
Claremont Sec. |
| 1988-2018 |
not held |
| 2019 |
Mt. Douglas High School |
| 2020 |
Cancelled. Pandemic |
| 2021 |
Cancelled. Pandemic |
| 2022 |
not held |
| 2023 |
Mt. Douglas High School |
| 2024 |
Esquimalt High School |
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