Report by Fred McKim frmckim@itd.vac-acc.gc.ca:
A small, but enthusiastic turnout of 14 came out for Charlottetown's first weekend tournament in some years. We had three from NS and two from NB.
From the outset it appeared it would be a three horse race between
Justin Gulati, Steve Saunders and myself, as it was 200 points down to
the next group of 5.Round one saw very little in the way of upsets: Justin dispatched Andrew Wallbank (NS) after a faulty piece sac, eleven year old Scott Landry (PEI) put in a fine performance against Steve Saunders, before caving in once they hit the ending. My game with Ken Cashin (NS) could have been an upset, if I hadn't noticed a smothered mate threat just prior to making a move that appeared to win a piece.
The winners squared off in round two. Justin had little difficulty with Ed
Keunecke (PEI), while I had to go to the ending with Earle Bruce (PEI),
befor winning a pawn. As for Steve, he was unable to scramble in time
pressure and lost the exchange and was promptly mated by Aaron
Cooper (PEI).
I had white against Justin, and we battled hard in a French Tarrasch
(castling on opp wings) until we settled to a draw after about 25 moves
when both of us figured the risks of attacking were too great. Aaron's
chances to move into sole possesion of first took a downturn as he lost
a pawn in the middlegame to Ken, and later dropped a piece in time
pressure (actually it was recoverable but at the cost of another pawn).
Day 2 of the tournament saw Justin and I sharing first, with Steve, Ed, Aaron, Andrew and Ken all 1/2 pt behind. The first game to finish was Ken's minature over Earle, as Earle chose not to continue after dropping a piece in the opening. My game with Ed was marred by his loss of a pawn just out of the opening, followed by an inadvertant piece sac a few moves later. Aaron, once again in time trouble, lost his way against Andrew. The longest game of the tournament was also the most interesting. Steve barely survived the first time control only to be faced with a dilemma: how to stop Justin's passer. His solution was simple: push your own passer. Certainly Justin must be admired for his willingness to push on in seemeingly equal positions, but this time luck was not on his side as Steve pulled a small combo featuring 4 queens on the board, mate followed.
This set up the following situation for the final round: I now had a half
point lead on Steve, Andrew and Ken (the NS trio!!). I was black against
Ken (Benko), while Andrew was black against Ken (French). A very
complicated middlegame ensued in my game with Steve, I survived the
murky path, and was winning back the pawn in the ending, when I was
offered a draw (which I took without too much deliberation). Andrew
had two pieces for a rook and as Ken's time ran out Andrew was
infiltrating on both sides and winning oodles of material. Aaron survived
a vicious piece sac by Justin to win top junior. Patrick Goguen (NB) took
out Matthew Power (PEI) for top cadet.
=1st Fred McKim 4 $80 =1st (also most improved) Andrew Wallbank 4 80 3rd Steve Saunders 3.5 25 Runner Up Most Improved Ken Cashin 3 25 Top Junior Aaron Cooper 3 35 Top Cadet Patrick Goguen 2.5 25
A special thanks to Barry Gragg, who teaches at Colenel Gray High School and made all of the arrangements for the playing site, and played(!). This has to be one of the finest playing sites I've been at for a tournament up to about 40 bodies.
I'll be setting a date sometime within the next couple of weeks for the PEI Open. Offhand I expect it will be sometime around the end of October (a few weeks after the Maritime Open - maybe Oct 25-26). Make your plans now!!!!
Fred McKim frmckim@itd.vac-acc.gc.ca
Charlottetown, P.E.I
CHARLOTTETOWN OPEN
June 6-8, 1997
Old Perf New 1 2 3 4 5 T
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1.FRED MCKIM 1995 2031 2003 +4 +7 =6 +10 =3 4.0
2.ANDREW WALLBANK 1628 1919 1694/24 -6 +9 +8 +5 +4 4.0
3.STEPHEN SAUNDERS 1923 1869 1927 +13 -5 +11 +6 =1 3.5
4.KEN CASHIN 1612 1798 1661 -1 +8 +5 +7 -2 3.0
5.AARON COOPER 1694 1783 1717 +14 +3 -4 -2 +6 3.0
6.JUSTIN GULATI 1997 1803 1961 +2 +10 =1 -3 -5 2.5
7.EARLE BRUCE 1707 1702 1708 +11 -1 =0 -4 +10 2.5
8.VICTOR GOGUEN 1506 1541 1516 =0 -4 -2 +11* +13 2.5
9.PATRICK GOGUEN 1585 1490 1576 =0 -2 -10 +13 +12 2.5
10.ED KEUNECKE 1715 1613 1705 +12 -6 +9 -1 -7 2.0
11.BARRY GRAGG UNR 1487 1497/ 5 -7 +13 -3 +12 -8* 2.0
12.MATTHEW POWER UNR 1182 1188/ 3 -10 +0 =0 -11 -9 1.5
13.SCOTT LANDRY 1417 1215 1382/19 -3 -11 =0 -9 -8 0.5
14.ERNIE CURRIE UNR 1294 1296/ 1 -5 0.0
========================================================================
AR = 1678
* The game V.Goguen-Gragg was played between rounds
to avoid the necessity for byes.
Crosstable by Ken Duff duff@nbnet.nb.ca
(506) 634-7961
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