History
CUCC 2025 photo by Jad Anhoury
History of the Championships
Regular competitions between universities have occurred in Canada long before the Canadian University Chess Championships (CUCC) was established in 2003 with historical notes compiled by the Hart House Chess Club indicating games played between universities as far back as 1934.
Since 2003, collegiate chess saw a permanent revival when the University of Western Ontario hosted an Ontario Inter-University Chess Championship. The following year this event was hosted under the new name The Canadian Inter-University Chess Championship and has continued as an annual event to the present.
The tournament is open to all universities and colleges in Canada with participation initially largely dominated by schools in Ontario and Quebec. In recent years, schools from the Maritimes and as far as Alberta have become regular participants in the festivities.
Notable Canadian masters who have played in the tournament include: GM Aman Hambleton, IM Shiyam Thavandiran, IM Raja Panjwani, IM Mark Plotkin, IM Bindi Cheng, GM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux, WGM Nemo Zhou, IM Nicholas Vettese, IM Michael Song, IM Mike Ivanov, IM Yuanchen Zhang and many more chess players.
The name of the trophy awarded to the winner of the Championships is the "Queen's Cup of Chess".
The organizer of each year's Championship is selected during the prior year's CUCC Championships called the President's Meeting.
Starting in 2024, the Crown section has been FIDE rated.
Past Champions
Canadian University Chess Champions
| Year | Winner | Players | Host |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | TBD | To be determined January 2026 | University of Toronto |
| 2025 | University of Toronto | Nicholas Vettese, Sergey Noritsyn, Max Rusonik, Fengxi Mao, Samuel Zhang | Université de Montréal |
| 2024 | McGill University | Tyler Tanaka, Jerome Genzling, Savas Marin Stoica, Ata Madanchi | Queen’s University |
| 2023 | Université de Montréal | Raphaël Nunez-Painchaud, Olivier Lalonde, Gabriel Tininc, Hou Han Zhang | University of Ottawa |
| 2022 | University of Waterloo | Yuanchen Zhang, William Li, Richard Chen, Lambert Liu | University of Western Ontario |
| 2021 | Université de Montréal | Sai Krishna, Zongyang Yu, Seymour M-G, Jonathan Turcotte | Online |
| 2020 | McGill University | Ryan Sowa, Maroun Tomb, Andy Caen, Yuren Tak Mok | Wilfrid Laurier University |
| 2019 | University of Toronto | Mark Plotkin, Qiyu Zhou, Joseph Bellissimo, James Fu, Zehn Nasir | McMaster University |
| 2018 | University of Waterloo | M. Song, J. Qin, D. Shi, J. Li, T. Lin | University of Ottawa |
| 2017 | University of Toronto | M. Ivanov, L. Mai, C. Knox, Z. Nasir | University of Western Ontario |
| 2016 | University of Toronto | G. Derraugh, L. Mai, M. Ivanov, C. Knox | Queen's University |
| 2015 | McGill University | R. Sturt, M. Kleinman, K. MacKinnon, F. Dumont | University of Toronto |
| 2014 | McGill University | L. Jiang, M. Kleinman, R. Sturt, K. MacKinnon | University of Ottawa |
| 2013 | McGill University | M. Kleinman, R. Sturt, K. MacKinnon, K. Ah-Lan | University of Ottawa |
| 2012 | University of Western Ontario | R. Panjwani, S. Thavandiran, A. Hambleton, J. McDonald | University of Western Ontario |
| 2011 | University of Waterloo | K. Chung, A. Sundar, I. Lacau-Rodean, N. Pan | University of Waterloo |
| 2010 | University of Toronto | G. Derraugh, D. Krupka, H. Xu, A. Ferreira | University of Toronto |
| 2009 | University of Western Ontario | R. Panjwani, J. Tayar, S. Rachar, J. Vadachkoriya | Queen's University |
| 2008 | University of Toronto | D. Peng, W. Chan, A. Ferreira, G. Derraugh | University of Guelph |
| 2007 | Université de Montréal | L. Hua, H. Massé, A. Régnier, J. Poschmn | University of Ottawa |
| 2006 | McGill University | A. Abounassif, R. Kapadia, M. Kayembe, J. Riordon | McGill University |
| 2005 | Université du Québec à Montréal | S. Gravel, H. Massé, O. Tessier, A.-M. Charbonneau | University of Toronto |
| 2004 | University of Waterloo | S. Glinert, A. Gurevich, D. Raheb, G. Mehta | Queen's University |
| 2003 | University of Toronto | V. Tipu, K. Hackat, K. Ng, V. Pechekin | University of Western Ontario |