Last updated January 19, 2009

Canadian Post-Secondary Championship Reports

Summary Report from Gary Ng

Round 2: Dalhousie (1) - U of Guelph (3)

Gary Ng 2244 - FM Christian Stevens 2396 (0-1)
Johnathan Gottlieb 2154 - Julien Touboulic 2211 (0-1)
Ronak Kapadia 2172 - Kevin Fernandez 1673 (1-0)
Jose Gonzalez-Cueto 2004 - Michael von Keitz 1568 (0-1)

We suffered a surprising loss to Guelph in round 2. We had beaten Guelph the last 2 years with scores of 3-1. However, this year they had a new addition on board 2, a 2200 FIDE rated player from France. I achieved a really good position against FM Stevens on board 1, played a few inaccuracies which led to me dropping an exchange and the game. Jon lost a tough Sicilian on board 2. Ronak defeated his opponent pretty easily on board 3. The score was 2-1 for Guelph at the time, with Jose's game remaining. Jose had a slightly better Rook+Bishop VS Rook + knight endgame. Jose declined several draw offers in hopes of winning. He pushed too hard to win and actually ended up losing the endgame. Good effort by Jose.

Round 3: Dalhousie (2) - Toronto A (2)

Gary Ng 2244 - FM Bindi Cheng 2369 (0-1)
Johnathan Gottlieb 2154 - Geordie Derraugh 2090 (1-0)
Ronak Kapadia 2172 - Alex Ferreira 2017 (0-1)
Jose Gonzalez-Cueto 2004 - Leon Perelman 1904 (1-0)

In round 3, we played the defending champions and 3rd seed Toronto A. This match was quite interesting. Toronto A had a pretty obvious strategy, which was to try to draw on boards 2-4 and try to win on board 1. This became obvious when the Toronto players chose lines in which queens get traded off in the opening, resulting in drawish games. Jose won quickly on board 4, while boards 2 and 3 both seemed very drawish from the start. I achieved another good position against FM Cheng with the black pieces, only to play another inaccuracy where I drop material. Ronak pushed very hard for a win on board 3 but ended up in time trouble and got into a losing endgame. My favourite game of the tournament has to be Jon's game this round. This was truly something to watch. I wish I had game to post. Jon realized his opponent's prepared drawish line and tried everything he could to allow more winning chances, such as playing weaker non-book moves, sacing pawns, etc. and pushing for a win in what was probably a slightly worse middle game for him. The coolest part was the finish. Please see attached .jpeg picture for the position diagram. Jon is white here and he has

Click to replay (full) game
Click to view replayable ending with Gary's notes

had no time for a while now (just playing on the 30 second increment), while black has about 5 minutes here. White plays 1.Nf4+ Rxf4 this move actually loses by force now. His opponent offers a draw now and believes he has achieved a draw for his team and the win. All he has to do is promote the pawn then white has to sac his rook for it and just stop the h pawn with his Bishop. 2. Kxf4 d3 3. h6 d2 4. Rg1! Bg8... looks drawish right? ... 5.Rg2+!! The only winning move. 5...Ke1 (5...Kd3 6.Rxg8 followed by Rd8) 6. Rxg8 d1=Q 7.Rg1+ 1-0 Jon found all the correct moves in time pressure. Very exciting to watch. With the win we were able to walk away with a tie.

Round 4: Dalhousie (3.5) - Ottawa (0.5)

Gary Ng 2244 - Jean-Bruno Chartand 2004 (1-0)
Johnathan Gottlieb 2154 - Danail Donev 1817 (1-0)
Ronak Kapadia 2172 - Laurent Mirabeau 1659 (1-0)
Jose Gonzalez-Cueto 2004 - Kar-Fai Gee Unr (0.5-0.5)

In round 4 we find ourselves with an easier pairing against U of Ottawa. Ottawa has beaten us 3-1 the last 2 years, but are definitely not as strong as previous years. The top 3 boards won without much trouble while Jose was held to a draw on board 4.

Round 5: Dalhousie (2) - Western (2)

Gary Ng 2244 - FM Raja Panjwani 2392 (0.5-0.5)
Johnathan Gottlieb 2154 - FM Johnathan Tayar 2363 (0-1)
Ronak Kapadia 2172 - Sean Rachar 1904 (1-0)
Jose Gonzalez-Cueto 2004 - Irakli Vadachkoriya 1965 (0.5-0.5)

In the final round, the top 2 seeds faced off. Western has cruised through the rest of the tournament with 4 wins. All they needed was to secure a draw for clear first. This team was very strong anchored by 2 FM's. Jose and I drew quickly, Jon lost to FM Tayar who finished with 5/5, and Ronak won on board 3 to tie the match.

The draw gave us 2 wins, 2 draws and a loss. Good enough to tie for 2nd place with Guelph, Waterloo, Queens and Toronto! The tiebreaker was the total game points, giving us the bronze medal on tiebreak.

Final Standings:
1. Western
2. Guelph
3. Dalhousie

Interesting note: Charles Lu from Halifax who is attending Waterloo University played board 2 for the Waterloo B team.

A good tournament overall. The playing conditions were pretty crappy, playing chess with 6 layers of clothes is not much fun. Kingston was pretty fun, a good university town. This will probably my last year as I graduate in May. Hopefully Dal will continue participating in this event in the future.

Gary

On [2009-01-17 at 11:40am] Gary Ng wrote:
Hi all,

Here's a quick recap of what happened in round 1:

There are a total of 10 teams in the A section. We were seeded #2 and played 7th seed host Queens University. The result was a 4-0 sweep for us but the games were hard fought. Jose (board 4) won a very tricky game where he won a piece but had to give it back but got a winning endgame. Ronak (board 3) got into trouble early in the opening but outplayed his opponent in the middle game as his opponent failed to take advantage of a poor opening by Ronak. Jon (board 2) played a nice tactic to win easily. Gary (board 1) won a pawn in the opening and ground out for 60 moves to convert.

The playing conditions are ridiculously cold. We were wearing jackets and still really cold! Ronak had to take his mittens off during time trouble, taking one for the team! Today we will play Guelph University in round 2. They also won 4-0 yesterday and is headed by FM Christian Stevens and a 2300 level player from France on board 2.

Report from Frank Dixon [ChessTalk]

Canadian Post-Secondary Championship 2009 (Kingston) 16–18 January 2009
Frank Dixon reports (ChessTalk): Congratulations to the team from the University of Western Ontario, which captured the 2009 Canadian Post-Secondary Team Championship, hosted in Kingston by Queen's University this weekend!!

Western, the top seed, scored 4.5/5 match points, defeating in head-to-head encounters Toronto (#3 seed), Waterloo (#4), Guelph (#5), and Carleton (#6). Only in the last round did they allow a drawn match with #2 seed Dalhousie, after they had already clinched at least a tie for first going into the round. Western wins the Queen's Cup for Chess, donated by the Queen's University Chess Club for annual national competition at this level.

Western's team is (from boards one to four): FM Raja Panjwani, FM Jonathan Tayar, Sean Rachar, and Irakli Vadachkoriya.

There was a five-way tie for second place, among Dalhousie, Toronto, Waterloo, Guelph, and Queen's. Guelph had the most game points, so is placed second on tiebreak.

Board prizes in the top section were won by: 1: FM Christian Stevens (Guelph), 4.5/5 2: FM Jonathan Tayar (Western), 5/5 3: Alex Ferreira (Toronto), 4.5/5 4: Irakli Vadachkoriya (Western), 4/5.

The Group B tournament was won by University of Toronto C, with a perfect 5/5 match points. McMaster placed second on tiebreak over Western B, both with 3.5/5.

Thanks to everyone who braved the nasty midwinter weather to make the trip to Kingston. And especial thanks to IA / IO Hal Bond, Chief Arbiter, and Head Organizer Tyler Longo, President of the Queen's Chess Club. The event ran very smoothly with no disputes, and the players displayed outstanding sportsmanship. Feedback from players showed they were happy with the event.

Next year's championship will be hosted in January, 2010 by the University of Toronto, Hart House Chess Club. This is a strong organizational group, and everyone is confident they will do a great job to raise the profile of the championship, and hopefully increase attendance.

I will have more detailed results in the days ahead, including team crosstables, on this site. And more games will be sent to chess5.com soon.

Cheers,
Frank Dixon
Deputy Arbiter and Organizer, 2009 CPSCC.