(2004-11-07: images removed to save space, webmaster)
Round 1: The tournament was began on a hot Friday afternoon, just after lunch on a non-holiday weekend. As expected over 80% of all players made the first round showing just how keen the players are here in Nova Scotia. There were no upsets in any of the games.
Round 2: A few minor upsets as Dave Kenney and Bruce Fleury drew and Tyler Reddy defeated Harold Uuetoa but otherwise business as usual for the higher rated. A late start to the 7 pm round mixed with the building closing at 11 made for a series of adjournments in the open section. I chose to play them out at 10 am the next morning (the earliest time we could get back into the SUB). The players handled the wait in stride with few complaints. Nevertheless, I apologize for the scheduling problems which held everyone up. In future the rounds will start on time.
Round 3: The tournament begins in earnest with some hard fought games. Justin Gulati won a pawn early as black against Damir Miletic and carefully nursed the point with some very good endgame play. Alvah Mayo won easily against Mike Guignard. Steve Saunders and Glenn Charlton drew but Steve looked better throughout though Charlton mentioned he let Steve off the hook at the end. Bruce Fleury went to 2.5/3 by defeating Brian Burgess from what appeared to be a lost game.
Round 4: Justin Gulati and Alvah drew an interesting game. Steve Saunders beat Bruce Fleury. Damir Miletic could only draw against Jamie Gibson despite the 400 point rating difference. Longtime friends Charlton and Kenney drew quietly, and the game seemed to take the combative fire out of both players for the rest of the tournament.
Round 5: Gulati won over Saunders when Steve left a rook en pris in time pressure. Steve looked much better and was possibly winning so wasn't too happy. Mayo-Charlton drew. Miletic-Reddy was drawn. Damir seemed to be trying to win every game on technique alone and was rusty, making numerous errors. Jamie Gibson went to 3.5 with a win over Fleury.
Round 6: Some very short games and some very long. The shorter games included a two move draw between Davies and Miletic; a 9 move win by Bernard over Cordes in a battle of bad tournaments.
There was also some controversy aroused when I decided to pair Mike Guignard with Gulati rather than Glenn Charlton. Gulati had the high score and had to be paired with the next highest group. Normally Charlton would have gone up as the highest rated but unfortunately this would have necessitated giving him his fourth black. After re-checking the pairing rules in the CFC handbook I cited rule 627 which states that the primary objective in a tournament with an even number of rounds is to give white and black an equal number of times to as many players as possible. This seemed to be proper but many players disagreed with the decision, one player in particular rather vehemently.
As fate would have it, Guignard won over Gulati quite handily with the Alekhine. Saunders and Mayo battled for a long time, trading advantages. Alvah went into an endgame a pawn up and passed with R+N vs R+N but misplayed, allowing Steve to gobble his remaining pawns and later sac his rook for the passer, going into a R vs 3 connected passers with his King off in the hinterlands. With about a minute remaining Saunders won. A dramatic turn of events which allowed Steve to claim a share of first place.
Rated under 1800
1997 Nova Scotia Open
Dalhousie University
July 18-20, 1997
Open Section Player CFC# Rating rd1 rd2 rd3 rd4 rd5 rd6 Total 1.Damir Miletic 120541 2191 +0 +9 -4 =28 =22 =8 3.5 2.Glenn Charlton 103015 2160 +15 +8 =7 =5 =6 =28 4 3.Mike Guignard 104152 1988 +16 =11 -6 +30 +15 +4 4.5 4.Justin Gulati 110208 1977 +18 +14 +1 =6 +7 -3 4.5 5.David Kenney 103040 1956 +17 =13 +11 =2 =8 =0 4 6.Alvah Mayo 105142 1928 +19 +28 +3 =4 =2 -7 4 7.Steve Saunders 103353 1926 +20 +29 =2 +13 -4 +6 4.5 8.Cedric Davies 108964 1891 +0 -2 +22 +29 =5 =1 4 9.Gary Phillips 104589 1854 +21 -1 =17 -15 +30 -13 2.5 10.Brian Burgess 108219 1820 =22 +24 -13 =17 +29 =11 3.5 11.Jim Hayward 110980 1754 +23 =3 -5 =20 +16 =10 3.5 12.Harold Uuetoa 101504 1747 =24 -22 -20 =19 +18 =21 2.5 13.Bruce Fleury 109707 1745 +25 =5 +10 -7 -28 +9 3.5 14.Gilbert Bernard108248 1741 +0 -4 -29 -22 -23 +18 2 15.Albert Ede 105141 1731 -2 =20 +24 +9 -3 +23 3.5 16.Alex Fraser 101724 1712 -3 +19 -28 +18 -11 =0 2.5 17.Ed Keunecke 111891 1709 -5 +21 =9 =10 +20 +22 4 18.John Cordes 109008 1708 -4 +23 -30 -16 -12 -14 1 19.Steve Karis 104771 1701 -6 -16 +26 =12 =21 -20 2 20.George Beals 105503 1664 -7 =15 +12 =11 -17 +19 3 21.Dave Poirier 106289 1656 -9 -17 =23 +24 =19 =12 2.5 22.Tyler Reddy 111124 1623 =10 +12 -8 +14 =1 -17 3 23.David Gates 101536 1602 -11 -18 =21 +26 +14 -15 2.5 24.Pat Diggins 104190 1486 =12 -10 -15 -21 +26 +25 2.5 25.John MacLean 108891 1410 -13 =26 =0 =0 -27 -24 1.5 26.Phil Boyle 110332 1369 -27 =25 -19 -23 -24 +0 1.5 27.Kim Tufts 101735 1755 +26 -0 -0 -0 +25 -0 2 28.Jamie Gibson 109838 1718 +0 -6 +16 =1 +13 =2 4 29.Ken Cashin 103179 1640 +0 -7 +14 -8 -10 -30 2 30.Jason Kenney 110204 1445 =0 =0 +18 -3 -9 +29 3 U1600 Section 1.Steve Toth 102861 1555 -4 +5 -6 +3 +8 +7 4 2.Jason Kenney 110204 1445 +5 +3 -0 -0 -0 -0 2 3.Bryan Kenney 120195 1036 +6 -2 -7 -1 +0 -4 2 4.Kevin Priest 120518 998 +1 =0 =0 +7 +6 +3 5 5.Igor Geshelin 120657 699 -2 -1 -8 +0 -7 -6 1 6.Brian McGrath 120927 unr -3 +0 +1 +8 -4 +5 4 7.Yuri Geshelin new unr =0 +8 +3 -4 +5 -1 3.5 8.Peter King 120130 1322 =0 -7 +5 -6 -1 =0 2
A PGN File of the games of the Nova Scotia Open 1997 is available.
Many thanks to Kim Tufts who organized and directed this event! Also, many thanks to Rob Villeneuve and Alvah Mayo who assisted with the Tournament Director duties.
To leave a comment to the person who maintains this file, send email to nschess@chebucto.ns.ca