Rank Player Rating Rd1 Rd2 Rd3 Rd4 Total 1 CM Alvah Mayo 2028 +7 +4 =2 +18 3.5 2 CM Damir Miletic 2022/11 +11 +10 =1 +3 3.5 3 Gerard Leblanc 1971 +8 +5 +6 -2 3 4 Greg Johnson 1644 +12 -1 +10 +15 3 5 Brian Hubley 1612 +14 -3 +13 -8 2 6 Brad Poulette 1603 =15 +17 -3 -7 1.5 7 Robert Black 1602 -1 -15 +9 +6 2 8 Mato Miletic UNR -3 +12 +17 +5 3 9 Larry Boutilier 1598 -13 +14 -7 =11 1.5 10 Tom Poulette 1593 +16 -2 -4 =13 1.5 11 Rick Hanes 1454 -2 -16 +14 =9 1.5 12 Jarod Paul 1438/5 -4 -8 =0 +14 1.5 13 John Maclean 1425 +9 -18 -5 =10 1.5 14 Alfred Alex 1384/9 -5 -9 -11 -12 0 15 Paul Mackinnon 1331 =6 +7 =18 -4 2 16 Levi Poulette 1162 -10 +11 WD------ 1 17 Wayne Rich UNR =0 -6 -8 WD 0.5 18 Gilbert Bernard 1764 =0 +13 =15 -1 2
Alvah Mayo mayo@north.nsis.com writes:
The return of the long defunct Sydney Open turned out to be a success with 18 participants, some of whom haven't played a tournament game in years. This added a bit of suprise to results, as some of these guys have had 5+ years of chessic improvement without any change in rating. In other words, underrated!
The non chess discussion at the tournament centered around 2 questions: Where is Justin Gulati? (I must have answered this one about a dozen times) and Where is Gilbert Bernard? Turns out Gilbert had a touch of flu and with heroic effort pulled himself out of bed and to Sydney in time for the second round.
I took every chance to chat about the upcoming tournaments in Halifax and Lunenburg. Hopefully we can get some of these guys to more tournaments! If they do come, watch yourselves, because they are likely to take more than their share of sectional prizes. There was very little mention of the scheduling conflict between the Open tournament in Sydney and the Active event in Halifax. Basically, Larry didn't feel that he would get too many players from Mainland Nova Scotia, especially with the long driving it would entail, and uncertain weather conditions. It turned out I was the lone warrior to defend the honour of the Mainland!
I stayed at Larry Boutilier's house during the tournament, and he once again proved that Maritime hospitality is second to none. He showed me a huge scrapbook of his that has detailed information/results from Nova Scotia Chess from about 1977-1985. It was an interesting trip down memory lane, with $0.50 rating fees, the rise of Billy Peckford, Carlos Jauregui, etc. Anyone doing research on NS Chess history should definitely get hold of Larry Boutilier!
As one could see by looking at the crosstable, the tournament would come down to 3 players; myself, Damir Miletic, and Gerard Leblanc. Damir once again played up to his strength, putting out of his mind his horrible Nova Scotia Open result (where he lost a heartbreaker to Gulati and phoned it in the rest of the way). We met in the third round, and I had Black. After about 23 moves and 3 hours, I had a slight advantage due to the pawn structure but not enough to win. I offered a draw, and Damir accepted. Afterwards, Gerard told me "Ok we know you can draw him, now next time beat him!" Meanwhile, Gerard Leblanc was beating up on Brad Poulette, putting him in first going into the last round.
The round 4 pairings gave me White against Gilbert Bernard on Board 2, and Board 1 saw Gerard Leblanc with White against Damir. Gerard played what looked like a passive version of a Benoni reversed, and Damir unleashed a tremendous textbook attack on the kingside, driving Leblanc's king into the center.
Gilbert played a strange looking opening novelty that gave him weak doubled b pawns. I gave him an isolated d pawn as well, and set to work on the two weaknesses. In a near lost position, Gilbert blundered away the d pawn and the game. Therefore, Damir and I tied for first. I suggested to Damir that he give some of his game scores to Larry Boutilier so I could put them on the listserv at a later date.