Deen Hergott
Encyclopedia
Deen Hergott is a Canadian International Master of Chess
. By profession, he is a mathematician, computer programmer, and chess
journalist.
, and by his mid-teens was approaching National Master strength. He was selected to play for Canada at the World U26 Team Championship, Graz
1981. Hergott won the Junior Canadian Chess Championship
, 1981–82, and represented Canada in the 1982 World Junior Chess Championship at Copenhagen
, scoring a respectable 6/13.
Hergott studied mathematics
at the University of Waterloo
, graduating with an honours bachelor's degree in 1986. He also successfully represented the University in team chess competition, for example at the Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship
, held in Kitchener, 1984, where he played board one. The World Chess Federation (FIDE) awarded him the FM title in 1988, and the International Master title in 1991. Hergott moved to Ottawa
in the late 1980s, and has resided there since.
1984, the first of his seven national selections. He was on the second reserve board, and scored 1/3. For Dubai
1986, he was on board four, and scored 6/10. At Thessaloniki 1988, he was first reserve, and scored 5/9. For Novi Sad
1990, he was again first reserve, and scored a superb 7/9, unbeaten, to win the bronze medal on that board. For Manila
1992, he was on board three, and made 5.5/10. At Moscow
1994, he ascended to board two, and scored 6.5/11. Not selected in 1996, he returned on board four at Elista
1998, and scored 5.5/11. His aggregate over seven Olympiads is 36.5/63 (+26 =21 -16), for 57.9 per cent, according to olimpbase.org, the comprehensive site for team chess results.
Hergott made his first appearance in the Closed Canadian Chess Championship
at Winnipeg
1986, also a Zonal year, where he scored 6.5/15 in a strong field. He tied for third the next year in the Closed at Baie-Comeau, with 5.5/9. He played in the British Championship, Swansea
1987, scoring a solid 6/11 in a powerful field headed by Grandmaster Nigel Short
; Canadian Masters, as Commonwealth
citizens, are eligible to play in the British Championship. The next Canadian Zonal was Windsor
1989, where he made an even score with 7.5/15. He tied for fourth in the 1992 Zonal at Kingston
, with 6.5/11. His best Zonal performance was Hamilton
1994, where he finished clear second, with 10.5/15, a point behind Grandmaster Kevin Spraggett
. In the controversy-marred Closed at Ottawa
1995, Hergott tied for third place with 5/8. Hergott placed seventh in the 1996 Zonal at Toronto
with 8/15.
1993 round-robin in Mexico
, he tied for third with 9.5/15. That same year in an International Open at Sitges
, Spain
, he tied for first with 7/9, along with Liuben Spassov and Luis Comes Fabrego. Perhaps the best result of his career was a clear first place at the 1994 Marshall Enhance tournament in New York
, with 7/10.
Hergott tied for first place in the 1995 Canadian Open Chess Championship
in Toronto
with 8/10. A few weeks later, he shared first at the North Bay
International Open on 6/8, along with Bent Larsen
and Alexandre Lesiege
(En Passant magazine, October 1995, p. 13). The next year in 1996, at the Canadian Open in Calgary
, he tied for third with 7.5/10. In a very strong field in the Canadian Open at Winnipeg
1997, Hergott made 7/10 to finish tied for 9th place. At home in Ottawa
for the Canadian Open in 1998, Hergott made a fine 7.5/10 to tie for fifth place. Later in 1998 at the North Bay
International Open, Hergott tied for sixth with 6/9.
At home in Canada, Hergott has won the Grand Prix series championship for the Eastern Ontario Chess Association nine times, and has been victorious in several dozen weekend tournaments in Eastern Canada, often with dominant scores, including several perfect scores. Included among the perfect scores were a 7/7 to win the RA Club Championship in 1997, and a 5/5 to win the Ottawa / Hull Championship in 1998. Hergott reached his peak Canadian rating of 2580 in 1995, and this is the third highest ever recorded, behind only Grandmasters Kevin Spraggett
and Alexandre Le Siege. His International rating crested at 2485 around the same time.
20th Anniversary event, held in Kingston
, 2005, where Ottawa defeated all-Master teams from Toronto
, Montreal
, and Quebec City
. He won the RA Spring Open in March, 2007, and served as live games commentator at the 2007 Canadian Open Chess Championship
at Ottawa.
newspaper in 1994, and has held that post since. His weekly Saturday column features an annotated game from either Canadian or international play, along with some news and insightful commentary. Hergott has been a successful writer for Canada's national chess magazine Chess Canada, with his topics having included instruction by annotating amateur games, international tournament reports, and intensive master games analysis.
Hergott is also a ranked Master in bridge
and a rated expert in Scrabble
.
Hergott's chess style tends to be tactical in nature, sometimes exceptionally sharp. It encompasses a wide range of openings. He can play solidly, or tend on occasion towards the bizarre; this makes him difficult to prepare for. He sometimes favours unusual defences with the Black pieces; these have included the Modern Defence, Owen's Defence, and the English Defence
. From the late 1980s, he had success against strong competition with a highly eccentric, virtually unbooked Modern Defence line, which has been also variously named the Dutch Benoni, the Dzindzhi-Indian (for Grandmaster Roman Dzindzichashvili
), and the Beefeater; the line runs 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 f5!? With the White pieces, Hergott has mostly favoured the Closed openings. There is a selection of 550 of his games at chessbase.com.
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
. By profession, he is a mathematician, computer programmer, and chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
journalist.
Early years
Deen Hergott learned chess in his hometown of KitchenerKitchener, Ontario
The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...
, and by his mid-teens was approaching National Master strength. He was selected to play for Canada at the World U26 Team Championship, Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
1981. Hergott won the Junior Canadian Chess Championship
Canadian Chess Championship
This is the list of all the winners of the Canadian Chess Championship, often referred to as the Canadian Closed Championship to distinguish it from the annual Canadian Open tournament. The winner of the Canadian Closed advances to the next stage of the FIDE World Chess Championship cycle...
, 1981–82, and represented Canada in the 1982 World Junior Chess Championship at Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, scoring a respectable 6/13.
Hergott studied mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
at the University of Waterloo
University of Waterloo
The University of Waterloo is a comprehensive public university in the city of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The school was founded in 1957 by Drs. Gerry Hagey and Ira G. Needles, and has since grown to an institution of more than 30,000 students, faculty, and staff...
, graduating with an honours bachelor's degree in 1986. He also successfully represented the University in team chess competition, for example at the Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship
Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship
The Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship is the foremost intercollegiate team chess championship in the Americas...
, held in Kitchener, 1984, where he played board one. The World Chess Federation (FIDE) awarded him the FM title in 1988, and the International Master title in 1991. Hergott moved to Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
in the late 1980s, and has resided there since.
Canadian Olympian
Hergott was chosen for the Canadian Olympiad team for ThessalonikiThessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
1984, the first of his seven national selections. He was on the second reserve board, and scored 1/3. For Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
1986, he was on board four, and scored 6/10. At Thessaloniki 1988, he was first reserve, and scored 5/9. For Novi Sad
Novi Sad
Novi Sad is the capital of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, and the administrative centre of the South Bačka District. The city is located in the southern part of Pannonian Plain on the Danube river....
1990, he was again first reserve, and scored a superb 7/9, unbeaten, to win the bronze medal on that board. For Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
1992, he was on board three, and made 5.5/10. At Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
1994, he ascended to board two, and scored 6.5/11. Not selected in 1996, he returned on board four at Elista
Elista
-Twin towns/sister cities:Elista is twinned with the following sister cities. Howell, New Jersey, United States Lhasa, Tibet, China. Ulan-Ude, Buryat Republic, Russia-See also:*Geden Sheddup Choikorling Monastery*Burkhan Bakshin Altan Sume-External links:...
1998, and scored 5.5/11. His aggregate over seven Olympiads is 36.5/63 (+26 =21 -16), for 57.9 per cent, according to olimpbase.org, the comprehensive site for team chess results.
Hergott made his first appearance in the Closed Canadian Chess Championship
Canadian Chess Championship
This is the list of all the winners of the Canadian Chess Championship, often referred to as the Canadian Closed Championship to distinguish it from the annual Canadian Open tournament. The winner of the Canadian Closed advances to the next stage of the FIDE World Chess Championship cycle...
at Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
1986, also a Zonal year, where he scored 6.5/15 in a strong field. He tied for third the next year in the Closed at Baie-Comeau, with 5.5/9. He played in the British Championship, Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
1987, scoring a solid 6/11 in a powerful field headed by Grandmaster Nigel Short
Nigel Short
Nigel David Short MBE is an English chess grandmaster earning the title at the age of 19. Short is often regarded as the strongest English player of the 20th century as he was ranked third in the world, from January 1988 – July 1989 and in 1993, he challenged Garry Kasparov for the World Chess...
; Canadian Masters, as Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
citizens, are eligible to play in the British Championship. The next Canadian Zonal was Windsor
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
1989, where he made an even score with 7.5/15. He tied for fourth in the 1992 Zonal at Kingston
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...
, with 6.5/11. His best Zonal performance was Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
1994, where he finished clear second, with 10.5/15, a point behind Grandmaster Kevin Spraggett
Kevin Spraggett
Kevin Spraggett is a Canadian chess grandmaster. He is the fourth Canadian to earn the grandmaster title, after Abe Yanofsky, Duncan Suttles and Peter Biyiasas. Spraggett is the only Canadian to have qualified for the Candidates' level, having done so in 1985 and 1988...
. In the controversy-marred Closed at Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
1995, Hergott tied for third place with 5/8. Hergott placed seventh in the 1996 Zonal at Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
with 8/15.
International successes
Hergott has achieved some significant successes in international events outside Canada. At the strong LinaresLinares, Nuevo León
Linares is a small city in the state of Nuevo León, Mexico. The city serves as the administrative centre for the surrounding municipality of the same name and it is the largest urban centre of the so called "orange belt" region. The city had a 2005 census population of 56,065, while the...
1993 round-robin in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, he tied for third with 9.5/15. That same year in an International Open at Sitges
Sitges
*Church of Sant Bartolomeu i Santa Tecla . It houses two Gothic sepulchres , belonging to the an older church located on the same site...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, he tied for first with 7/9, along with Liuben Spassov and Luis Comes Fabrego. Perhaps the best result of his career was a clear first place at the 1994 Marshall Enhance tournament in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, with 7/10.
Hergott tied for first place in the 1995 Canadian Open Chess Championship
Canadian Open Chess Championship
The Canadian Open Chess Championship is Canada's Open chess championship, first held in 1956, and held annually since 1973, usually in mid-summer. It is organized by the Chess Federation of Canada....
in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
with 8/10. A few weeks later, he shared first at the North Bay
North Bay, Ontario
North Bay is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of Nipissing District, and takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing.-History:...
International Open on 6/8, along with Bent Larsen
Bent Larsen
Jørgen Bent Larsen was a Danish chess Grandmaster and author. Larsen was known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play and he was the first western player to pose a serious challenge to the Soviet Union's dominance of chess...
and Alexandre Lesiege
Alexandre Lesiège
Alexandre Lesiège is a Canadian chess grandmaster, who has won three Canadian championships and represented Canada in World Championship qualifying events and Olympiads....
(En Passant magazine, October 1995, p. 13). The next year in 1996, at the Canadian Open in Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, he tied for third with 7.5/10. In a very strong field in the Canadian Open at Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
1997, Hergott made 7/10 to finish tied for 9th place. At home in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
for the Canadian Open in 1998, Hergott made a fine 7.5/10 to tie for fifth place. Later in 1998 at the North Bay
North Bay, Ontario
North Bay is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of Nipissing District, and takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing.-History:...
International Open, Hergott tied for sixth with 6/9.
At home in Canada, Hergott has won the Grand Prix series championship for the Eastern Ontario Chess Association nine times, and has been victorious in several dozen weekend tournaments in Eastern Canada, often with dominant scores, including several perfect scores. Included among the perfect scores were a 7/7 to win the RA Club Championship in 1997, and a 5/5 to win the Ottawa / Hull Championship in 1998. Hergott reached his peak Canadian rating of 2580 in 1995, and this is the third highest ever recorded, behind only Grandmasters Kevin Spraggett
Kevin Spraggett
Kevin Spraggett is a Canadian chess grandmaster. He is the fourth Canadian to earn the grandmaster title, after Abe Yanofsky, Duncan Suttles and Peter Biyiasas. Spraggett is the only Canadian to have qualified for the Candidates' level, having done so in 1985 and 1988...
and Alexandre Le Siege. His International rating crested at 2485 around the same time.
Health problems, semi-retirement
Hergott's health problems in the early 2000s prevented further progress towards the Grandmaster title, and he has been virtually retired from serious play for several years, since 2002. Hergott did return to captain the victorious Ottawa team to a win in the Four Cities' Chess'n Math AssociationChess'n Math Association
The Chess'n Math Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing chess into Canadian schools...
20th Anniversary event, held in Kingston
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...
, 2005, where Ottawa defeated all-Master teams from Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, and Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
. He won the RA Spring Open in March, 2007, and served as live games commentator at the 2007 Canadian Open Chess Championship
Canadian Open Chess Championship
The Canadian Open Chess Championship is Canada's Open chess championship, first held in 1956, and held annually since 1973, usually in mid-summer. It is organized by the Chess Federation of Canada....
at Ottawa.
Writings, style
Hergott became the chess columnist for the well-respected Ottawa CitizenOttawa Citizen
The Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper had a 2008 weekly circulation of 900,197.- History :...
newspaper in 1994, and has held that post since. His weekly Saturday column features an annotated game from either Canadian or international play, along with some news and insightful commentary. Hergott has been a successful writer for Canada's national chess magazine Chess Canada, with his topics having included instruction by annotating amateur games, international tournament reports, and intensive master games analysis.
Hergott is also a ranked Master in bridge
Contract bridge
Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...
and a rated expert in Scrabble
Scrabble
Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a game board marked with a 15-by-15 grid. The words are formed across and down in crossword fashion and must appear in a standard dictionary. Official reference works provide a list...
.
Hergott's chess style tends to be tactical in nature, sometimes exceptionally sharp. It encompasses a wide range of openings. He can play solidly, or tend on occasion towards the bizarre; this makes him difficult to prepare for. He sometimes favours unusual defences with the Black pieces; these have included the Modern Defence, Owen's Defence, and the English Defence
English Defence
The English Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6. White often gains a broad pawn centre with 3.e4, which Black puts pressure on with moves like ...Bb7, ...Bb4, and sometimes even ...Qh4 and/or ...f5. It was developed by the Leicester player P.N...
. From the late 1980s, he had success against strong competition with a highly eccentric, virtually unbooked Modern Defence line, which has been also variously named the Dutch Benoni, the Dzindzhi-Indian (for Grandmaster Roman Dzindzichashvili
Roman Dzindzichashvili
Roman Yakovlevich Dzindzichashvili is a chess Grandmaster .-Life and career:Born in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR into a family of Georgian Jews, he won the Junior Championship of the Soviet Union in 1962 and the University Championships in 1966 and 1968. In 1970, he earned the title of International...
), and the Beefeater; the line runs 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 f5!? With the White pieces, Hergott has mostly favoured the Closed openings. There is a selection of 550 of his games at chessbase.com.
Notable chess games
- Deen Hergott vs Sergio Mariotti, Dubai Olympiad 1986, Queen's Gambit Declined (D52), 1-0 Young Hergott knocks off the experienced Italian Grandmaster.
- Deen Hergott vs Anthony Miles, Groningen Open 1988, Reti Opening (A04), 1-0 Two chess improvisors get together, and the young Canadian comes out on top.
- Deen Hergott vs Sergei Kudrin, Thessaloniki Olympiad 1988, Grunfeld Defence (D93), 1-0 Hergott emerges triumphant after a very tough endgame.
- Deen Hergott vs Lawrence Day, Canadian Zonal Championship, Kingston 1992, King's Indian Defence, Saemisch Variation (E80), 1-0 When these two original players clash, you know some weirdness will soon arise.
- Deen Hergott vs Mihai Suba, Sitges 1993, English Opening, Symmetrical Variation (A30), 1-0 A booked opening variation for a change, and Hergott trumps the creative Romanian.
- Todd Southam vs Deen Hergott, Toronto Remembrance Day Open 1994, Keres / Owen's Defence (A40), 0-1 Another highly unusual game.
- Deen Hergott vs Kevin Spraggett, Toronto International Open 1995, Queen's Indian Defence (E13), 1-0 Among Canadians, there is no bigger scalp than Spraggett.
- Lawrence Day vs Deen Hergott, North Bay International Open 1995, Modern Defence (B06), 0-1 Yet another strange game filled with sacrifices and some bizarre ideas.
- Deen Hergott vs Gerard Welling, Den Bosch 1999, Queen's Pawn Game (D02), 1-0 Welling never stints his imagination, but winning usually takes more than that.