Hundreds of championship-calibre chess players from across Canada will be in Surrey mid-July for a pair of national tournaments.
The Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel is where many chessboards will be set up for much castling and check-mating for 10 days starting July 8.
Victoria Doknjas and Tyler Sanderson are co-chairs of an organizing team for two different tournaments, held one after the other.
"In 2023, we won the bid to host both the 2025 Canadian Youth Chess Championship (CYCC) and the 2025 Canadian Open in July 2025 in Surrey," Doknjas told the Now-Leader.
"It has been over a decade since these national chess championships have been hosted in B.C."
From July 8-11 more than 500 chess players will compete in the , which is separated into 12 divisions by age and gender, and another 200 adult and junior players are expected for the , July 12-18.
In the Youth tournament, winners of each section will be invited to be part of Team Canada to compete at the World Youth Chess Championship and World Cadet Chess Championship later this year, Doknjas explained.
In the Open, chess grandmaster Gergely Szabo, head coach of Team Canada, will be among top players competing in Surrey, along with Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux, winner of the 2022 World U18 Championship and one of Canada's youngest-ever grandmasters. Also set to play is Grandmaster James Tarjan, who represented Team USA in five chess Olympiads.
Top local players include current 2024 BC Chess champion FIDE Master John Doknjas, and former BC Chess champions National Master Neil Doknjas (2023) and International Master Raymond Kaufman (2022).
Juniors to Masters Chess Academy (JtM) () is the provider of the national training program for Canadian youth, as sanctioned by the Chess Federation of Canada, Victoria Doknjas noted.
Vancity Chess, online at , is a registered non-profit organization dedicated to "building a positive and nurturing chess community in the Lower Mainland," with goals of uniting chess players, fans and enthusiasts of all ages, backgrounds and skill levels. The organization hosts meet-ups and tournaments including the Outdoor Chess Championship at KitsFest in August 2025.
