1997 Loyalist City Open Report

Saint John, New Brunswick
July 11, 12 ,13, 1997

Text by Fred McKim FRMCKIM@ITD.vac-acc.gc.ca
Photos by Steve Saunders ssaunder@fox.nstn.ns.ca.

This was the third year of the KingCon SciFi & Fantasy Festival along with it's Loyalist City Open Chess Tournament. As usual the total prize fund for the event exceeded the entry fees. Both KingCon and the chess sponser Family Games Room should be thanked for their continued support of high level chess.

Photo right: Fred McKim (left) who directed the tournament presents the winner, Anthony Howarth (right) with the Loyalist City Open Trophy. Click on the photo for a larger image.

While I had expected to see as many as thirty show up this year, we had to settle for a final figure of 26 players , with well over half sporting 1800+ ratings. Nova Scotia, once again did more than their fair share of promotion and ended up sending 9, along with Justin and myself from PEI. Of the 15 NB players, only 2 came from outside Saint John (Fredericton).

I expect this will likely be the strongest Maritime tournament of the year, and with 5 players rated over 2100, you would expect to see a wealth of great chess, but surprisingly enough not a single game was played between these players.

There has been recent speculation that Mileic will dominate the NS Open. Well there is no speculation involved in stating that Anthony Howarth dominated the Loyalist City Open. That he didn't face any of the top five certainly can't be blamed on him. The only game where he might have even remotely broke a sweat was in our third round encounter, but until it's analyzed it's difficult to say who had the advantage up until I managed to trap my Queen in the ending.

So what happened to the other "top guns"?

Photo left: Left to right: Neil Davis, Bill Bogle and Brian Boyce do a game postmortem. Click on the image for a larger view.

#2 Bill Bogle hadn't played in a weekend event in over 18 months, and it showed as he had a poor Saturday, drawing Alvah Mayo, and losing an ending against Steve Saunders.

#3 Matthew Grabove was even rustier as he hadn't played a CFC game at all in nearly two years. After somehow winning a game where his flag was hanging for what felt like hours against Andrew Wallbank, he faltered in round 2, losing another ending to Steve Saunders. Matthew had a fourth round match up with current Jr Champ Justin Gulati, which ended in a draw after some middlegame fireworks.

#4 Rob Villeneuve incredibly lost a third round encounter against Neil Davis, where he held R + 3P vs R + B. That was the only blemish as he took second place with a tenacious last round ending triumph over Steve Saunders.

#5 John Torrie joined us in round 2, and never really seemed to get untracked as he fell twice on the final three rounds. Alvah Mayo whacked him pretty good in round 3, and Justin Gulati nursed a pawn lead for the whole game for a final round upset.

#6 Neil Davis had the pleasure of facing the two masters on Sunday after jumping out to a perfect 3-0 score. He got wore down in the ending by Anthony Howarth and then got wore down in the middlegame by Bill Bogle. His third round R + B vs R win over Rob Villeneuve was one of the gems of the tournament.

#7 Fred McKim (MOI) fell to Anthony Howarth in the third round (as mentioned previously). The next round I was blasted out of the waters by Brian Burgess, only to batten down the hatches and hold on until a perpetual surfaced (down the exchange, 3 pawns, another sacked piece and another piece en prise). Apparently this is the same variation Brian played at the NB Open for the amazing Rook sac game with Daniel Mallais, that should be put up on the web page!

#8 Bill Buckley lost pawn after pawn against Rob Villeneuve in round 2. Playing the Most Improved player, Saied Salamat, the following round, his two piece sac only helped Salamat clinch the most improved prize.

Photo Left Justin Gulati (left) drew with Matthew Grabove(right). Photo right: Alvah Mayo (left) plays Anthony Howarth (right). Click on the Photo for a larger image.

#9 Justin Gulati faced Anthony Howarth in round 2, but ended the event on a good note drawing Matthew Grabove and beating John Torrie.

#10 Alvah Mayo had a great event - his only loss was to Anthony Howarth in the final round. He drew the other master Bill Bogle, and had convincing wins over John Torrie and Steve Saunders.

#11 Steve Saunders didn't finish on the prize list, but should nonetheless be pleased with his performance. Before suffering last day losses to Alvah Mayo and Rob Villeneuve (endgame slip), he knocked off #2 Matthew Grabove and # 3 Bill Bogle, both times with precise endame play.

Andrew Wallbank took Top U1800 with victories over Tyler Reddy, Larry Fyffe , and Caleb Shea. Saied Salamat took Most Improved with victories over John Hanson and Bill Buckley. Reena Kapadia took Top U1600 with victories over Andrew Wallbank and Ian Webb.

Photo left - Reena Kapadia (left) who took the top under 1600 rating prize prepares to play Ian Webb (right), both from Saint John, NB. Photo right Andrew Wallbank took the under 1800 rated prize. Click on the photo for a larger image.

Saint John, N.B.
LOYALIST CITY OPEN
KingCon SciFi & Fantasy Convention
Saint John Trade & Convention Centre Rds 1-2
Colonial Inns Rds 3-5
July 11-13, 1997

                            
CFC No.                      Old  Perf  New      1   2   3   4   5    T
========================================================================
112692  1.ANTHONY HOWARTH    2250 2367 2278    +16 +4  +7  +8  +3   5.0
101284  2.ROBERT VILLENEUVE  2166 2133 2167    +20 +10 -8  +12 +9   4.0
105142  3.ALVAH MAYO         1928 2164 2006    +23 =5  +13 +9  -1   3.5
110208  4.JUSTIN GULATI      1977 2154 2021    +24 -1  +19 =6  +13  3.5
105067  5.BILL BOGLE         2249 2032 2221    +19 =3  -9  +22 +8   3.5
112986  6.MATTHEW GRABOVE    2194 1969 2165    +11 -9  +17 =4  +14  3.5
100145  7.FRED MCKIM         2017 1966 2020    +26*+15 -1  =14 +12  3.5
111760  8.NEIL DAVIS         2097 2108 2103    +22 +14 +2  -1  -5   3.0
103353  9.STEVE SAUNDERS     1927 2076 1974    +18 +6  +5  -3  -2   3.0
104790 10.BILL BUCKLEY       2009 1806 1981    +17 -2  -12 +21 +18  3.0
120071 11.ANDREW WALLBANK    1698 1725 1701    -6  -18 +26 +24+17   3.0
120898 12.SAIED SALAMAT      1516 2002 1736/9  =0  +16 +10 -2  -7   2.5
103666 13.JOHN TORRIE        2136 1867 2098    =0  +21 -3  +15 -4   2.5
108219 14.BRIAN BURGESS      1820 1854 1834    +26 -8  +24 =7  -6   2.5
108964 15.CEDRIC DAVIES      1897 1728 1877    +25 -7  =22 -13 +23  2.5
101889 16.JOHN HANSON        1815 1694 1794    -1  -12 =23 +25 +22  2.5
111124 17.TYLER REDDY        1623 1791 1649    -10 +20 -6  +19 -11  2.0
108418 18.REENA KAPADIA      1445 1719 1506    -9  +11 -21 +20 -10  2.0
101735 19.KIM TUFTS          1755 1657 1734    -5  +23 -4  -17 +25  2.0
105980 20.IAN WEBB           1698 1569 1671    -2  -17 +25 -18 +24  2.0
111957 21.LEWIS BROWN        1664 1730 1669    =0  -13 +18 -10 -0   1.5
113027 22.BRIAN BOYCE        1653 1717 1655    -8  +26 =15 -5  -16  1.5
108430 23.RONAK KAPADIA      1456 1585 1478    -3  -19 =16 +26 -15  1.5
109507 24.LARRY FYFFE        1633 1474 1604    -4  +25 -14 -11 -20  1.0
103904 25.CHRIS MAUND        1379 1360 1369    -15 -24 -20 -16 -19  0.0
       26.CALEB SHEA          UNR 1329 1339/5  -14 -22 -11 -23 -7*  0.0
========================================================================
   AR = 1826
     
* The game McKim-Shea (15 v. 7) was played between Rounds 1 and 2.
TD & Rep.: Fred McKim

Webmaster's Note: Many thanks to Fred McKim who organized and directed this event! Also, thank you to the KingCon Society and the chess sponser Family Games Room of Saint John NB!