NORTH SHORE OPEN 1997

Date sent:        Mon, 02 Jun 1997 18:39:31 -0400
From:             dassaff  
Subject:          Re: north shore open report

First off, I'd like to thank the out-of-town (and province!) players for
making the slightly arduous trip to Bathurst (in spite of fixed-link traffic
jams and other silliness).  The turnout was not what we expected in numbers,
but with a median participant rating in the mid-1700's, was fairly strong.

In terms of a response to Alvah's comments, I can't speak for the games I
wasn't personally involved in (I'm not much of a kibitzer and I haven't had
a chance to review any of the other games yet).  Still, I must disagree with
Alvah's statement that, with respect to the final round game between myself
and co-winner Cedric Davies, that "both players went into the game looking
for a draw".  In the game, I had achieved a slightly favourable P structure
in that I had the more advanced 3P vs 2P on Qside, and he had less-advanced
4P vs 3P on Kside.  (Both sides castled Kside).  Obviously this is far from
a won game, but I did have the intention of trying my luck in the endgame,
hence I was only too happy to exchange pieces early.  As it turned out,
Cedric had a nice repetition of B-moves which I was more or less obliged to
copy, so the game ended a draw.  I could have broken the repetition, but
only at the risk of weakening my position.  I definitely did not enter the
game looking for a draw, but at the end of the day I think the draw was a
fair result.

As far as my second round slaughter at the hands of Alvah, yes, I must agree
that I lost the game theoretically at an early stage, due largely to my
unfamiliarity with his opening line. I think most of us have had the
occasional wonderful experience of losing quickly due to a bad opening.
Later that day I was able to analyze the line for an hour or so, and I would
certainly encourage Alvah to try this line against me again sometime!  
And finally, I'm sure the official word on Justin's "black eye and facial
damage" is that it was actually quite innocent. I wouldn't want people to
get the wrong impression of Bathurst nightlife or anything!  :-)

Regards,
David Assaff

At 12:56 PM 6/2/97 -0400, you wrote:
>Alvah Mayo posted the following great report on the North Shore Open
>on chess-ns today. Thought you might be interested!
>
>...Fred
>
>Howdy all,
>          Cedric and I just got back from the North Shore Open held in
>Bathurst. We left for New Brunswick in search of money and rating and
>points, and we were successful on both counts. Cedric and Justin Gulati
>finished tied for first place with 4/5 taking home $70 each, while I
>grabbed clear third place with 3.5.
>     In round 1 I played against the TD Leo Legacy. It was basically a
>textbook Sicilian where as Black I kept the position almost totally
>strategical, sound advice when playing a lower rated opponent. Cedric
>had White against Chris Maunce of Fredericton, and Cedric made the 500
>point rating difference show with a free lesson on the French Defense.
>     In round 2 I had the white pieces against Dave Assaf. I dusted off
>an old favourite of mine the Chigorin French. He was totally baffled and
>by move 15 or so black was totally lost. Cedric had Black against Gulati
>and despite Justin's aggressive attack against the Caro-Kann Cedric held
>and agreed to a draw with rook and pawn for Davies vs rook for Gulati.
>     I took a half point lead over the field into round 3. With White
>against Gulati I played 1 d4. The position was quickly blocked up and a
>draw was agreed. In the meantime Cedric had White and was
>hammering
>Hubert Duivenvoorden in some sort of Modern that looked like a Sicilian
>middlegame without a half open c file for Black. Cedric missed a bunch
>of nice wins but his position was so overwhelming that it didn't matter.
>So now Cedric and I were in first place with 2.5/3 followed by Gulati
>with 2/3.      
>     That night we had the North Shore Open Blitz Tournament. Gulati
>didn't play, so I ended up winning it with 12/14. Cedric took second
>place with 11.
>     The turning point of the tournament was the round 4 game between
>the two Nova Scotians. Cedric had the white pieces and as Black
>against
>the English I played to win a pawn instead of locking the center with
>advantage. The ensuing tactics went badly for me and left me down a
>pawn
>in a rook ending that should have been drawn. Cedric and I then
>proceeded to exchange blunders several times, finishing with me
>blundering a pawn with R+P vs R+P and the draw with it. Who said
>those
>positions are "dead" draws anyway?:) In the meantime Gulati was paired
>with a 1350 player (Boudreau I think) who he easily disposed of. That
>left Cedric with 3.5/4, Gulati with 3/4 and me with 2.5/4. 
>     In the last round Cedric had Black against Assaf and we soon saw
>another Caro-Kann. Both players went into the game looking for a draw
>and soon after Cedric achieved the thematic c5 lever most of the pieces
>got traded and a quick draw was agreed. Gulati was Black against
>Duivenvoorden, who apparently plays 1 b3 in every game with White!
>Gulati built up a big centre and scored an easy win. So now Cedric and
>Gulati each had 4/5. I had the white pieces against Franco Frenette and
>was quite happy to see 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5!. We whipped off about
>15
>moves of theory in about 10 minutes for me and 20 for him, resulting in
>a closed center with an open c file. Some manuvering then took place,
>with Franco slowly burning more time on his clock. By move 20 I had
>used
>21 minutes and Franco was up to 58 minutes. I had doubled my rooks to
>the c file on c1 and c6 and Franco moved his knight a couple of times
>aiming for the c5 square. On move 22 I intuitively played a really nice
>exchange sacrifice (R1xc5!) which looked good because his remaining
>pieces were so uncoordinated and the position was very complicated.
>By
>move 30 it was clear that White had a winning position, though Franco
>played on until move 47. Thus I finished with 3.5 points.
>     So the end result ratings wise was Cedric gaining 62 points to
>bring him to 1910. I gained 18 points to bring me back to 1924. I have
>no idea how many points Justin gained, though I do know he made it
>back
>over 2000 again. That should compensate him for the black eye and
>facial
>damage he acquired at some point Saturday night:)
>     I would like to publically thank Leo Legacy who not only served as
>TD but also billeted Cedric and I in rather luxurious accomodations at
>his home. I would also like to thank Dave Assaf for organizing the
>tournament as well as the New Brunswick players for donating another
>80
>points to Nova Scotia. Don't forget to come down for Cedric's Summer
>Open July 18 and try to win the points back!
>

 

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