2025 ACC Looking Ahead
33 players participated in this 5-round tournament, held from 17 Nov 2025 to 05 Jan 2026 in Toronto, ON, Canada. 1 titled players from 5 federations. Top 10 Elo average was 2091, and top seed was Duc Minh Lai (🇻🇳 VIE, 2310).
Jeffrey R Zhao (🇨🇦 CAN, 2189) won with 4.5/5, ahead of Duc Minh Lai (4.0) and David Southam (3.5). Zhao broke clear in the final round.
The biggest upset came in round 2: Lyam Katz (1792) beat Nader Haji Ghanbari (2034), a +242-point gap.
- 🥇
- 🥈
- 🥉
How it unfolded
Top 6 · 5 roundsJeffrey R Zhao led from R5; +0.5-point edge over the runner-up. Title race converged from 2 co-leaders at R4 to 1 by R5.
Jeffrey R Zhao held the sole lead from R5 through R5 without losing it.
Jeffrey R Zhao 4 wins (R2–R5)Duc Minh Lai 4 wins (R1–R5)David Southam 3 wins (R2–R4)
Key matchups · top 4
Head-to-head between the four finishers| Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Jeffrey R Zhao | * | — | 1 | — |
| 2Duc Minh Lai | — | * | — | — |
| 3David Southam | 0 | — | * | 1 |
| 4Aashwin Mittal | — | — | 0 | * |
Grille américaine
| # | Player | Elo | Fed | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Pts | Bu C1 | Bu | SB | Perf | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zhao, Jeffrey R | 2189 | CAN | =18N | +31B | +22N | +8B | +3N | 4.5 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 7.50 | 2177 | +14.6 |
| 2 | Lai, Duc Minh | 2310 | VIE | +20B | +9N | F | +11B | +5N | 4.0 | 10.0 | 11.0 | 8.50 | 2628 | +9.2 |
| 3 | Southam, David | 2016 | CAN | =17N | +4B | +6N | +12B | −1B | 3.5 | 12.5 | 14.0 | 8.75 | 1997 | +23.8 |
| 4 | Mittal, Aashwin | 1952 | CAN | =7B | −3N | +30B | +14N | =6B | 3.0 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 5.00 | 1851 | +9.6 |
| 5 | Mammadov, Nihad | 2001 | CAN | =11N | +26B | +15N | =7N | −2B | 3.0 | 10.5 | 11.0 | 4.50 | 1899 | +9.2 |
| 6 | Katz, Lyam | 1792 | CAN | =16N | +19B | −3B | +21N | =4N | 3.0 | 9.0 | 10.0 | 4.25 | 1819 | +13.8 |
| 7 | Chertkow, Matthew | 2106 | CAN | =4N | +18B | +32N | =5B | F | 3.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 4.00 | 1955 | +14.4 |
| 8 | Nazareno, Merlin | 2047 | CAN | +12N | +15B | F | −1N | =9B | 2.5 | 13.0 | 14.5 | 4.75 | 1966 | +12.0 |
| 9 | Pan, Julian | 2026 | CAN | +21B | −2B | −11N | +16N | =8N | 2.5 | 10.0 | 11.0 | 3.75 | 1817 | -15.2 |
| 10 | Dick, Joel | 1844 | CAN | −15N | =13B | F | +19N | +12B | 2.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 4.00 | 1874 | +30.4 |
| 11 | Mendoza, Armand Jess | 1896 | CAN | =5B | =23N | +9B | −2N | −13B | 2.0 | 11.5 | 12.5 | 4.50 | 1831 | +1.8 |
| 12 | Allahverdi, Umid | 1925 | CAN | −8B | +30N | +16B | −3N | −10N | 2.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 1.50 | 1655 | -36.0 |
| 13 | Ugodnikov, Arkadiy | 1717 | CAN | F | =10N | F | =15B | +11N | 2.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 4.00 | 1904 | +21.0 |
| 14 | Ming, Wenyang | 1953 | CAN | F | +33B | +20N | −4B | F | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 1.00 | 1788 | -5.0 |
| 15 | Sherman, Joshua | 1992 | CAN | +10B | −8N | −5B | =13N | −16B | 1.5 | 10.0 | 11.5 | 3.50 | 1580 | -30.2 |
| 16 | Kolndreu, Albion | 1878 | ALB | =6B | F | −12N | −9B | +15N | 1.5 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 3.00 | 1711 | +12.0 |
| 17 | Hosseinzadeh, Amirmahdi | 2176 | CAN | =3B | F | F | F | +24N | 1.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 2.75 | 1956 | +2.0 |
| 18 | Tenkov, Arkadii | 1969 | CAN | =1B | −7N | F | F | =23B | 1.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 2.75 | 1811 | -4.8 |
| 19 | Haji Ghanbari, Nader | 2034 | IRI | −22B | −6N | +26N | −10B | F | 1.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 0.50 | 935 | -41.2 |
| 20 | Blair, Michael | 2005 | CAN | −2N | F | −14B | F | +29B | 1.0 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 0.50 | 1227 | -9.4 |
| 21 | Furrow, Matthew | 1879 | CAN | −9N | F | F | −6B | +26N | 1.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 0.50 | 998 | -14.0 |
| 22 | Lazarev, Shon | 1949 | CAN | +19N | F | −1B | F | F | 1.0 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 1.00 | 1942 | +9.4 |
| 23 | Campbell, BrettFM | 1994 | CAN | F | =11B | F | F | =18N | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.50 | 1821 | -8.6 |
| 24 | Lau, Jayden | 1863 | CAN | F | F | F | +27N | −17B | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.50 | 1763 | +5.2 |
| 25 | MacIsaac, Alexandre | 1728 | CAN | F | F | F | F | +27B | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.50 | 1611 | 0.0 |
| 26 | Izrailov, David | 1641 | CAN | F | −5N | −19B | =29N | −21B | 0.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 0.25 | 1000 | 0.0 |
| 27 | Ma, Quentin | 1753 | CAN | F | F | =28N | −24B | −25N | 0.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 0.25 | 1462 | -12.8 |
| 28 | Zivojinovic, Viktor | 1718 | CAN | F | F | =27B | F | F | 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0.25 | 1591 | -0.8 |
| 29 | FIDE 2681315 | 1764 | — | F | F | F | =26B | −20N | 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0.25 | 992 | 0.0 |
| 30 | Fines, John | 1776 | CAN | F | −12B | −4N | F | F | 0.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 0.00 | 987 | -13.4 |
| 31 | Vinuya, Ruth Joy | 1954 | PHI | F | −1N | F | F | F | 0.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 0.00 | 1210 | -4.4 |
| 32 | Papadatos, Stephen | 1816 | CAN | F | F | −7B | F | F | 0.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 0.00 | 1017 | -8.0 |
| 33 | Denning, Keith | 1250 | CAN | F | −14N | F | F | F | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.00 | 1081 | 0.0 |
Key insights
Biggest movers and upsets — the story behind the numbers.
- 1Dick, JoelCAN+30.42.5 pts · #7
- 2Southam, DavidCAN+23.83.5 pts · #3
- 3Ugodnikov, ArkadiyCAN+21.02.0 pts · #11
- 1Haji Ghanbari, NaderIRI-41.21.0 pts · #25
- 2Allahverdi, UmidCAN-36.02.0 pts · #12
- 3Sherman, JoshuaCAN-30.21.5 pts · #14
- R2+242 Elo gap
- R4+190 Elo gap
- R5+179 Elo gap