The 2026 Ontario Open has officially concluded at 901 King Street West in Toronto, cementing its status as one of the province’s premier chess events of the year. Organized by the Annex Chess Club, the seven-round Swiss tournament drew a massive crowd, reaching its maximum capacity across all divisions.
While hundreds fought for medals and class prizes across the U2200, U2000, U1800, U1600, and U1300 sections, all eyes were on the prestigious, FIDE-rated Crown section.
The Crown section featured a highly competitive field of 41 elite participants, all meeting the strict eligibility criteria. Among them were several professional titleholders who took advantage of the organizer’s free entry offer for GMs, IMs, WGMs, and WIMs.
Despite the fierce competition, Vadim Razin emerged as the undisputed champion of the tournament. Razin put on a tactical masterclass, collecting a phenomenal 6 points out of 7 rounds to take home the guaranteed $1,500 first-place prize.
In the last two rounds, Razin was paired against the tournament’s top two seeds, IM Nikolay Noritsyn and GM Razvan Preotu, back-to-back. Defying the odds, he defeated both of them in consecutive fashion, pulling away from the field to finish a full point ahead of the chasing pack.
Beyond the cash prizes handed out from the $7,500 total prize fund, the top non-member finishers in each section were awarded a six-month membership to the Annex Chess Club.
Crown group final standings:
1 Razin Vadim 2329 – 6
2 IM Noritsyn Nikolay 2453 – 5
3 IM Keleberda Tymur 2357 – 5
4 NM Joseph Benher Savio 2180 – 5
5 GM Preotu Razvan 2483 – 4.5
6 IM Liang Jason 2440 – 4.5
7 IM Chiku-Ratte Olivier-Kenta 2346 – 4.5
8 FM Malakar Saarthak 2306 – 4.5
9 FM Plotkin Victor 2280 – 4.5
10 Yin Zeming 2078 – 4.5
11 IM Vettese Nicholas 2410 – 4
12 FM Latorre Vincent 2247 – 4
13 FM Jaferian Koosha 2237 – 4
14 Wu Nolan 2001 – 4
15 GM Sambuev Bator 2434 – 3.5
16 IM Kot Emanuel 2328 – 3.5
17 CM Moses Neil 2172 – 3.5
18 Iordanescu Victor Nicolae 2017 – 3.5
19 CM Kola Venkat Karthikeya Reddy 2127 – 3.5
20 Woltery Nicolai 2084 – 3.5
21 NM Dhaliwal Jaipreet Singh 2116 – 3.5
22 NM Huang Youhe 2129 – 3.5
23 IM Mendes Aaron Reeve 2352 – 3
24 Chen Larry Zhou 1995 – 3
25 IM Duong Thanh Nha 2141 – 3
26 Xu Leon 2065 – 3
27 Momin Fayzan 2095 – 3
28 CM Gao Heye 2064 – 3
29 Pelev Iassen 1933 – 3
30 Zhu Elber 1981 – 3
31 NM Yang Larry 2101 – 3
32 NM Gavrilin Roman 2156 – 2.5
33 Yao Henry 1979 – 2.5
34 IM Barron Michael 2028 – 2.5
35 Ivanchuk Serghii 1905 – 2
36 WIM Miller Rachel 2005 – 2
37 Qian Eric 2063 – 2
38 WFM Jiang Hanxi (Hancy) 1998 – 2
39 NM Lu Eddie 1978 – 1.5
40 Hosseinzadeh Amirmahdi 2025 – 1
41 NM Zhang Samuel 2126 – 0.5
