Canadian Chess Biographies

More biographies

Index - H

• Hale, John
• Haley, Phil
• Halkett, James
• Hallock, W.S.
• Hambleton, Aman
• Hamilton, Robert
• Hansen, Eric
• Harper, Bruce
• Hartman, Brian
• Harvey, John
• Hawkes, Rob
• Hayes, Rea
• Hébert, Jean
• Heino, Lauri
• Helman, Abraham
• Henderson, John
• Herder, David
• Hergott, Deen
• Hicks, William
• Ho, Andrew
• Holowach, Walter
• Holt, Edward
• Hood, A.
• Horton, Joe
• Howe, Henry
• Hua, Lefong
• Huber, Gregory
• Hunt, Joseph
• Hunter, Robert

John Hale

• First place, Continental Correspondence Tournament, Preliminary Round, Section 1, 1894-5

Philip (Phil) Haley

Photo: Copyright 2004 Phil Haley.

• Engineer, manager at Imperial Oil for 37 years
• 2001 First place, Under 2000 Section, Dutton Chess Club May Day Active
• 2000 Canadian Chess Hall of Fame
• 1994-2001 FIDE Representative
• 1977 Received Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal for contributions in the field of chess
• Chair, Pairings Committee, Olympiads (1976, 1978, 1980, 1982)
• 1973 International Arbiter
• Co-signed with Mayor Jean Drapeau Montreal's bid for the 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship match
• 1971-73 President, Chess Federation of Canada (CFC)
• 1959 Alberta Champion
• 1959-67 Chair, Chess Foundation of Canada
• 1956 Founding Trustee and first donor, Chess Foundation of Canada
• 1945 Played in Canadian Championship
• Pioneered use of (controlled pairing) Swiss system of tournament pairings in Canada and at FIDE Olympiads: pioneered tournament direction, pairing philosophy and features which have become standard, e.g., methods to ensure the best players quickly rise to the top; a method of accelerated pairings; an arbiter recording whose flag fell first; and pairing rules which assign players’ colours automatically (avoiding coin tosses)
• Active in CFC and FIDE for many years as player, tournament director, executive member

Here is one of the first games played by a computer in a tournament:

Phil Haley - Dataline PDP-10 (MacHack 7)
Labour Day Open, Toronto, Ontario, Round 3, 1969.08.31

Here are three of Phil Haley's selections for his best games:

Phil Haley - Alexis Popov
U.S. Open, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1965

Phil Haley - Leo Williams
International Open, Toronto, Ontario, 1985

Phil Haley - Bryon Nickoloff
Canadian Open, Scarborough, Ontario, 1988, Round 1

Contributor: Phil Haley (photo, biography, game selection).

James Halkett

Source: Chess Personalia by Jeremy Gaige.

W.S. Hallock

Aman Hambleton

Photo: 2009 Labour Day, Toronto. Copyright 2009 by the photographer David Cohen.

• 2010 7th place, Canadian Open Championship
• 2010 Canadian Under-18 Champion
• 2009 Awarded FIDE Master title
• 2009 6th place, Canadian Championship

This game won a best game prize:

FM Aman Hambleton - GM Vladimir Malaniuk
47th Canadian Open Championship, Toronto, Ontario, 2010.07.11, Round 2

This game won a brilliancy prize:

FM Aman Hambleton - GM Josh Friedel
47th Canadian Open Championship, Toronto, Ontario, 2010.07.15, Round 6

Robert Hamilton

Photo: 2004 Canadian Championship, Toronto. Copyright 2004 by the photographer David Cohen.

• FIDE Master 1987
• Canadian Junior Champion 1981

Here is Robert Hamilton's selection for an interesting game:

Alex Kuznecov - Robert Hamilton
1980-1 Canadian Junior Championship, Edmonton, Alberta

Eric Hansen

Photo: Copyright 2010 by Eric Hansen.

• 3rd International Master Norm, Calgary International 2010; qualified International Master title
• 2nd International Master Norm, Calgary International 2009
• Awarded FIDE Master title 2008
• Qualified FIDE Master title by rating 2008 (2362 in 2008.10)
• 1st International Master Norm, World Open 2008
• 2nd place, World Youth Under-16 Championship 2008
• Canadian Grade 10 Champion 2008
• Canadian Grade 8 Champion 2006
• Alberta Champion 2008
• Alberta Open Champion 2008
• Alberta Under-16 Champion 2008
• Alberta Junior Champion 2006
• Alberta Under-14 Champion 2006
• Alberta Under-12 Champion 2003

Bruce Harper

Photo: Chess Canada 1973.11.

• FIDE Master 1983

Bruce Harper's choice for his favourite game of his own:

Bruce Harper - Duncan Suttles
Canadian Open, Ottawa, 1973

Bruce Harper's choice for his favourite game:

Istvan Bilek - Duncan Suttles
Venice, Italy, 1974

Contributor: Bruce Harper (game selection)

Brian Hartman

Photo: 2009 Toronto Open Championship. Copyright 2009 by the photographer David Cohen.

• International Master 1992
• Canadian Team Captain, Olympiad 2004
• Represented Canada at Olympiad 1984
• Canadian Open Champion 1985

John Harvey

Photo: 1935 Canadian Championship, Canadian Chess Championship Tournament 1935, 1935.

• Tied 1st place Canadian Championship 1920

Rob Hawkes

• FIDE Master 1983

Rea Hayes

Photo: 1951 Canadian Championship, Vancouver.

• Actuary
• 1st place, South Saskatchewan Championship 1949 (9/9)
• Played Canadian Championship 1936, 1947 (3rd), 1951

Source (photo): Family of Frank Anderson.

Jean Hébert

Photo: Copyright 2004 Jean Hébert.

• Journalist, chess columnist for La Presse
• International Master 1978
• Correspondence International Grandmaster 1984
• 1st Francophone Champion 2009
• 1st place Canadian Championship 2007
• Canadian Champion (1978, 2009)
• Canadian Open Champion 2002
• 2nd place Canadian Correspondence Championship 1976
• Member Canada's 11th International Correspondence Chess Federation Olympiad Bronze medal team
• Canadian Junior Champion 1976
• Tied 1st place Canadian Junior Champion 1977
• Drew former World champion Mikhail Botvinnik in a simultaneous exhibition, Montreal, Quebec 1977
• Represented Canada at World Under-17 Championship 1974
• Represented Canada at World Junior Championship 1976
• Represented Canada at World Championship Interzonal 1979
• Represented Canada at World Cup 2009
• Represented Canada at Olympiads (1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1990, 1996, 2002)
• Bronze medal, Board 3, Olympiad 1982
• Author of Match Karpov - Kortchnoi 1978, Border Wars III 1984, Lecons d'échecs du tournoi international de Montreal 2001, Modern Benoni CD
• Canadian Chess Hall of Fame 2001
• Canadian Chess Player of the Year 2009

Here is Jean Hébert's choice for one of his best games:

Jean Hébert - Alexandre Lesiège
Pere Noel, Montreal, Quebec, 1994

Contributor (photo, game selection): Jean Hébert.

Lauri Heino

Abraham Helman

• Represented Canada at Olympiad 1939

John Henderson

Photo: Le Monde illustré, Vol.10, No.510, p.491, 1894.02.10 (Quebec National Library).

• Mayor, Saint-Liboire, Quebec for 8 years
• Magistrate, Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec for 12 years
• Montreal Gazette chess editor and columnist 1886-96
• Composed two songs: The Royal Game, 1877; Bold Champions of Caissa, 1879
• Won first Canadian Correspondence Championship 1878-80
• First place Canadian Correspondence Tournament 1874-5
• Won Hamilton Chess Club Correspondence Tournament 1880-2
• Played Canadian Championship 1872, 1879, 1881, 1882 (2nd), 1884 (2nd)
• Canadian Chess Hall of Fame 2005

John Henderson - W. Braithwaite
Correspondence - Canada, 1873

Sources: Hamilton Spectator 1872.09.25; British Chess Magazine 1882, 1896 (obituary); Daily Globe, Toronto, 1877, 1878, 1879.

Contributors: J. Ken MacDonald (game selection), Erik Malmsten.

David Herder

• FIDE Master 2003

Deen Hergott

• Chess columnist Kitchener-Waterloo Record (1983-90), Ottawa Citizen (1992-2009)
• International Master 1990
• Canadian Junior Champion 1982
• Canadian Open Champion 1995
• Represented Canada at Olympiads (1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1998)
• Nine times winner Eastern Ontario Chess Association Grand Prix (1988-9, 1989-90, 1990-1, 1991-2, 1992-3, 1996-7, 1997-8, 1998-9, 1999-2000)
• Bronze medal for Alternate 1 at Olympiad 1990 with 7/9 (+5 =4)
• 1st place, North Bay International Open 1995
• Top rated Canadian at Year-end 1991

William Hicks

• Educator
• Emigrated from England to establish a successful normal school, 1853
• Helped found one of Montreal's first teachers' associations, 1856
• Teacher (as of school's founding in 1857), later principal (1870-83), McGill Normal School
• Canadian Champion 1874

Source: J. Keith Jobling, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, 1891-1900 (Volume XII), University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2000

Andrew Ho

• FIDE Master 2003
• 5th place, World Youth Under-12 Championship 1995

Walter Holowach

Photo: 1951 Canadian Championship, Vancouver.

• Doctorate in violin/viola, Vienna Conservatory
• Played first violin, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
• Long-time violinist Edmonton Symphony Orchestra; Concert Master 1957-8
• Taught music, conducted; founded Empire Opera Company
• Code breaker during World War Two
• Manager, family business Expert Dyers and Cleaners Ltd.
• Represented Canada at Olympiad 1939
• Alberta Champion 5 years in a row without losing a game 1946-50
• Canadian Chess Hall of Fame 2009

Sources: Family of Frank Anderson (photo); obituary; Contented Knights 1949-50.

Edward Holt

• Played Canadian Championship 1877, 1878, 1879
• First place Globe Correspondence Tournament No. 2 1891

A. Hood

• First place Canadian Correspondence Tournament 1874-5

Joe Horton

Photo: Chess Canada 1973.07.

• Professor, Computer Science, University of New Brunswick
• FIDE Master 1988
• Atlantic Canada Champion 1984, 1992, 1996

Henry Howe

• Canadian Champion 1877

Lefong Hua

• FIDE Master 2003
• Canadian Under-18 Champion 1997
• Canadian Cadet Champion 1996
• Canadian Grade 12 Champion 2000
• Canadian Grade 10 Champion 1998
• Canadian Grade 8 Champion 1996
• Canadian Grade 7 Champion 1995
• Canadian Grade 5 Champion 1993
• Canadian Grade 4 Champion 1992
• Canadian Grade 2 Champion 1990
• Canadian Grade 1 Champion 1989
• Represented Canada World Under-10 1992, Under-12 (1993,1994), Under-16 1996, Under-18 1997 Boys Championships
• 1st place Charlottetown FIDE Invitational with 10/11

Gregory Huber

Photo: 2004 Canadian Championship - playoff for FIDE Master title, Toronto. Copyright 2004 by the photographer Mark S. Dutton.

• FIDE Master 2004

Contributor (photo): Mark S. Dutton.

Joseph Hunt

• Doctor
• Originator of Hunt Opening (1. b4)

Robert Hunter

• Played Canadian Championship 1908