Bluenose Chess Club Championship 97

February 21, 22, 23, 1997

St. Mary's University, Halifax

The Bluenose Championship was held at Saint Mary's University on the February 21st-23rd weekend. Emerging in first place was Gerald Lomond of Wolfville with 4.5/5 in the Open section. Gerald played solid chess only getting in trouble in one game against second place finisher and last years winner Robert Villeneuve. Gerald down two pawns against Robert with his pieces all in one corner manage to get a perpetual when Robert made a dubious move. Gerald is shy of photographs - so we snapped a quick picture him before the fourth round, above. Robert was never in danger in any of his games but his slip against Lomond cost him a repeat title. Steve Saunders and David Kenney (in the blue, right) shared the rated under 1900 prize with 3.5/5. Kenney solidified his reputation as a hard man to beat going undefeated including 3 draws and two wins. Steve also had the same performance of two wins and 3 draws.

The Rated Under 1700 section was won by Alex Fraser (photograph left) with 4.5 /5. In a key game David Gates and Alex missed mutual forced wins and Alex eventually won going on to need only a draw in the last round. John Klapstein finished second with 4/5 again being good as well as lucky winning against Aaron Cooper when Aaron missed a win in time pressure and fell to a cute tactic by John. Jason Kenney (son of Dave) won the U1500 section with 3/5 and a performance of 200pts+ over his 1379 rating.

I hope to see some of the higher placing individuals from the U1700 section in the open section next time around. I feel some players are keeping bad habits by being able to win messy games simply because of more talent. It is time to step up and learn some discipline and sound (sounder :-) ) chess boys, you know who you are.

I was happy with using a pairing program (see Jim Brennan with computer and fans on the right) this time around which avoided some whining and disputes and was very much easier than doing pairings by hand. Thanks to all the participants and especially to Kim Tufts for helping me to promote and run the tournament.

Jim Brennan.

Open Section Cross Table

#	Name	rating	round1	round2	round3	round4	round5	Total
1.	Robert Villeneuve	2190	d13	w19	d2	w11	w10	4.0
2.	Gerald Lomond	2081	w14	w10	d1	w20	w15	4.5
3.	Ashish Gulati	1997	d15	w13	L11	l9	w23	2.5
4.	Alvah Mayo	1953	w16	d12	L20	d6	w14	3.0
5.	Steve Saunders	1899	w17	d11	d15	d7	w20	3.5
6.	Brad Armstrong	1886	Bye	L15	w21	d4	d9	2.5
7.	David Kenney	1886	w18	d20	d12	d5	w11	3.5
8.	Mike Eldridge	1876	L19	w14	w18	L15	L17	2.0
9.	Brian Burgess	1860	L20	w22	d23	w3	d6	3.0
10.	Tom Cosman	1838	w21	L2	w19	w12	L1	3.0
11.	Cedric Davies	1804	w22	d5	w3	L1	L7	2.5
12.	Gary Phillips	1773	w23	d4	d7	L10	w18	3.0
13.	Jamie Gibson	1747	d1	L3	l14	d22	-wd	1.0
14.	Gilbert Bernard	1745	L2	l8	w13	w19	L4	2.0
15.	John Cordes	1743	d3	w6	d5	w8	L2	3.0
16.	George Beals	1725	l4	L21	L17	bye	L22	1.0
17.	Albert Ede	1714	L5	L18	w16	w23	w8	3.0
18.	Kim Tufts	1686	L7	w17	L8	w21	L12	2.0
19.	OhKo Kyung	1669	w8	L1	L10	L14	L21	1.0
20.	Ed Keunecke	1662	w9	d7	w4	L2	l5	2.5
21.	Ken Cashin	1636	L10	w16	L6	L18	w19	2.0
22.	Tyler Reddy	1602	L11	L9	Bye	d13	w16	2.0
23.	David Kimber	1368	L12	Bye	d9	L17	l3	1.5

Games

Here is a nice game by Cedric Davies as he describes as his best of the tournament.
White:Cedric Davies 1804- Black:Justin Gulati 1997
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 Bc5 5.Nf3 d6 6.d3 h6 7.Na4 (I go in search of Bishops) Be6 8.Nxc5 dxc5 9.Be3 Qe7 10.0-0 0-0-0 11.Nh4 Kb8 12. Nf5 Bxf5 (Maybe he shouldn't have given up the other bishop as now after the pawn recaptures my g2 bishop breathes fire down the diagnol) 13.exf5 Nd4? (going after the f5 pawn. Now I have a neat three mover which vastly improves my position) 14.c3 Nxf5 15.Qf3 Nd6 (the only move) 16.Bxc5 c6 17.a4 Qd7? (The centre should first be strangthend by Rhe8 before this or else maybe Qc7) 18.Qe3 (either winning a pawn or going into the text) b6 19. Bxb6 (I get three passed pawns for the piece, more then enough compensation) axb6 20.Qxb6+ Qb7 21.Qxc6 Qxc6 22.Bxc6 Kc7 23.Bg2 Nb7 24.a5 Rxd3 (of course the pawn can't be taken but what else is Black to do?) 25.a6 e4 (if the knight moves I queen) 26.axb7 Kxb7 27. Rfe1 Rhe8 28.Rad1 Rxd1 29.Rxd1 Kb6 30.h3 Kc5 31.Rd4 Rb8 32.b4+ Kb5 33. Bxe4 Nxe4 34.Rxe4 Rb7 35.Kf1 Rc7 36.Re3 Kc4 37. Re5 (a cute little tactic to make winning the game even easier. The pawn cant be taken, as Rc5+ would win easily) Kb3 38.Rc5 Re7 39.b5 Ka4 40.c4 Ka5 41.Rc6 f5 42.b6 Ka6 43.Rc7 Rxc7 44.bxc7 Kb7 45.Ke2 Kxc7 46.Ke3 g5 47.Kd4 Kd6 48.f4 gxf4 49.gxf4 h5 50.h4 resigns

U1700 section Cross Table

#	rating	round1	round2	round3	round4	round5	total
1.	Steve Karis	1693	w10	w6	L8	w9	d5	3.5
2.	John Klapstein	1664	w11	w7	L5	w6	w8	4.0
3.	Garret Keddy	1646	L12	L9	w16	w14	w13	3.0
4.	Murray Copage	1638	w13	L5	L12	L7	-WD	2.0
5.	Alex Fraser	1633	w14	w4	w2	w8	d1	4.5
6.	Ross Young	1626	w15	L1	w13	L2	L7	2.0
7.	Aaron Cooper	1600	w16	L2	l9	w4	w6	3.0
8.	David Gates	1596	w17	w12	w1	L5	L2	3.0
9.	Matthew Furrow	1545	Bye	w3	w7	L1	w11	3.5
10.	Nassim Kaadou	1542	L1	Bye	d15	w15	w17	3.0
11.	Jonathan Bjornson	1494	L2	w15	d14	w12	L9	2.5
12.	Jason Kenney	1379	w3	L8	w4	L11	w14	3.0
13.	Ralph Finck	1365	L4	w16	L6	w17	L3	2.0
14.	Robin Saunders	1175	L5	w17	d11	L3	L12	1.5
15.	Andrew Wilson	810	L6	L11	d10	bye	w16	2.0
16.	Mark Kenney	Unr	L7	L13	L3	L10	L15	0.0
17.	Kevin Priest	Unr	L8	L14	bye	L13	L10	1.0

Scenes from the 1997 Bluenose Chess Club Open.

Images captured by Steve Saunders using an Epson Photo PC Camera.
For larger view click on the image!