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We received belated notice for the Maritime Open, about mid to late September, after we had already booked a room at Dal and told our fellow players at the Bluenose Club of our intentions. When the notice finally arrived a debate was made whether to continue or scrap the event entirely. Almost unanimously it was agreed to go ahead, with some reservations expressed by the more experienced players, those who know something of the inherent problems of chess organization and provincial communication. (My own vote was to continue as free space is a luxury.) As a compromise I mailed about 50 "Maritime Open" notices, in addition to our NS tournament notices to potential players for both events. [The origin for the Maritime Open delay seems to have been "En Passant"s failure to publish the notice in time for the August issue, which is unfortunately all to easy to imagine.]
The Maritime Open was held in Summerside, PEI Oct 7-9. It was won on tie-break by Jonathan MacDonald of Saint John, with Peter MacKean of Charlottetown. Only eighteen players showed up, a mere six from PEI. Tournament organizer Mike England expressed disappointment over these figures and questioned whether the Inn which staged the event would continue to do so in the future.
While I commend Mr England's efforts I must state my skepticism that a province with only 14 CFC members can really support a Maritime wide event, especially with the inherent travel difficulties. Although PEI got no favours from Nova Scotia this year, frankly I'm not convinced it made much of a difference. I did however speak with Mr England and offer an explanation.
Nova Scotia is scheduled to host this event in 1996. An organizer is needed to secure sponsorship and attend to the details essential for providing a good event. My opinion of 5 round Opens with accelerated pairings is that they are not serious events (a la Jean Hebert) so my own participation is unlikely under the current format.
On a happier note, John Paterson of Halifax finished 1st with 5.5/6 in the U1800 section at Toronto's Labour Day Open, collecting $500 for his efforts which should come in handy as he attends Waterloo this year. The following month, as a lark, John surprised two masters by drawing with them in the premier section of another large Toronto tournament. John has since seen his rating rise to 2002, becoming the first NS Expert since Ed Urquhart.
Not to disparage John's achievement but it is generally held that CFC ratings are inflated in Ontario and most other large provinces, while Nova Scotia and especially Newfoundland are much lower relative to actual ability. The relationship between FQE (Quebec) and CFC ratings is very silly with 200-300 point differences quite common. As an example, every section at North Bay this year was won by a Quebec player! Small wonder eh ?
Thanksgiving Open , Dalhousie Oct. 6-8 Open Section Player Rating Perf Rd1 Rd2 Rd3 Rd4 Rd5 Total 1.Rob Villeneuve 2162 2200 +7 +13 +2 +3 +6 5 2.Mike Eldridge 1959 2004 +9 +11 -1 +6 +7 4 3.Alvah Mayo 1901 1757 =8 +5 +12 -1 -13 2.5 4.Paul Hake 1877 1035 -12 -0 -0 -0 -0 0 5.Brad Armstrong 1806 1701 -11 -3 +10 =13 +8 2.5 6.Steve Karis 1783 1774 +10 =12 +8 -2 -1 2.5 7.Jim Enman 1672 1872 -1 +10 +13 +11 -2 3 8.Jamie Gibson 1664 1711 =3 +9 -6 +12 -5 2.5 9.Cedric Davies 1658 1338 -2 -8 =11 -10 -14 0.5 10.George Beals 1653 1510 -6 -7 -5 +9 =12 1.5 11.Charles Culver 1575 1673 +5 -2 =9 -7 -0 2 12.Bill Pettipas 1431 1700 +4 =6 -3 -8 =10 2 13.Gilbert Bernard 1668 1827 +14 -1 -7 =5 +3 2.5 14.Bradley Poulette 1577 1660 -13 -0 -0 -0 +9 1 Under 1600 Player Rating Perf Rd1 Rd2 Rd3 Rd4 Rd5 Total 1.Dave Poirier 1560 1654 +6 -11 +3 -10 +2 3 2.Ross Young 1547 1405 =7 -8 +6 +9 -1 2.5 3.David Gates 1524 1439 =8 =7 -1 +11 =9 2.5 4.Pat Diggins 1479 1376 =9 -10 -7 +6 =8 2 5.Christian Rose 1464 1813 =10 -0 -0 -0 -0 0.5 6.Roger Stevens 1409 1076 -1 -9 -2 -4 -0 0 7.Ken Cashin 1387 1623 =2 =3 +4 +8 -10 3 8.Steve Toth 1354 1450 =3 +2 =9 -7 =4 2.5 9.Garnet Bezanson 1317 1462 =4 +6 =8 -2 =3 2.5 10.Mark Ziubinski unr 1813 =5 +4 +11 +1 +7 4.5 11.Bradley Poulette 1577 1465 =0 +1 -10 -3 -0 1.5
Jordan Fleury of Antigonish won his second consecutive Cadet title (for kids under age 16). Donovan Westhaver of Dartmouth placed second. Both boys earned the right to compete at the Maritime Cadet in Dieppe, NB January 13-14.
I'd like to remind kids that our chess tournaments are for all ages and not just for adults. The fastest way to improve is to play better players, but equally important is to play seriously. And this doesn't mean with a frown or a scowl either. It means always trying your best. Only in this way can a player hope to improve; to play chess otherwise becomes a large waste of time . Our U1500 or U1600 sections are very good for making the jump up from children's events.
Nova Scotia Cadet Dalhousie Oct 7 Player Rating Perf 1 2 3 4 5 Total 1.Donovan Westhaver 1244 1503 x =2 =3 +4 +5 3 2.Jordan Fleury 1293 1595 =1 x +3 +4 +5 3.5 3.Matthew Furrow 1587 1317 =1 -2 x +4 +5 2.5 4.Jason Kenney 1343 1078 -1 -2 -3 x +5 1 5.Alex Livingston unr 988 -1 -2 -3 -4 x 0
Some of you may have noticed that four Nova Scotia players appeared on the October list of most active players in Canada. Alvah Mayo has already stated that he plans to wrest the title from perennial leader Doug Burgess of Ontario by eating, drinking, and sleeping chess this year. A tall order but if anyone is capable.... : )
Actually, any game that is G60 (ie not Active) or greater is counted on the list. Matches are also counted and are simple to arrange as two players need only send in the results and their $2 each to have the results rated. The only stipulations are that the rating difference does not exceed 400 points and the players' rating can only increase or decrease a maximum of 50 points, provided players have established ratings. And matches are a great way to prepare for tournaments.
And keen eyes may also have recognized the NS contingent at North Bay by the photo on p. 13 of the October issue of "En Passant". Gilbert Bernard, Jordan and Bruce Fleury are pictured watching a game on a giant chess set, but just out of sight are Alvah Mayo and Ed Urquhart (who was playing). GM Bent Larsen was giving a rather wry commentary of the game I'm told, which he seems to like to do for NS players, past or present (see p. 15).
Stephen Duffy won the U1800 section, while Calvin Scallion and Big Bill Pettipas tied for 2nd. Bill's earned his nickname by continually knocking off much higher rated opponents in the last few tournaments. Jonathan Bjornson and Pat Diggins were the top U1500 players.
The planned Ladies tournament had to be aborted when only one woman showed up.
Halifax Open Nov 10-12, Dalhousie Player Rating Perf Rd1 Rd2 Rd3 Rd4 Rd5 Total Finish 1.Jim Mathers 2077 2207 +7 +5 +4 =2 +9 4.5 1st 2.Glenn Charlton 2052 2209 =0 +7 +6 =1 +4 4 2nd 3.Alvah Mayo 1879 1854 +8 -6 -9 +11 +12 3 3-6 4.Steve Saunders 1864 1979 +9 +12 -1 +6 -2 3 3-6 5.Jim Hayward 1884 1742 +10 -1 +11 -9 -6 2 8-10 6.Brian Burgess 1848 1953 +11 +3 -2 -4 +5 3 3-6 7.Paul Hake 1847 1797 -1 -2 +12 =10 =8 2 8-10 8.Dusan Kustudic 1868 1440 -3 -11 -10 -12 =7 0.5 12 9.Brad Armstrong 1787 1963 -4 +10 +3 +5 -1 3 3-6 10.Albert Ede 1710 1814 -5 -9 +8 =7 +11 2.5 7 11.Harold Uuetoa 1685 1600 -6 +8 -5 -3 -10 1 11 12.Gary Phillips 1680 1664 +0 -4 -7 +8 -3 2 8-10 U1800 Section Player Rating Perf Rd1 Rd2 Rd3 Rd4 Rd5 Total Finish 1.Stephen Duffy 1786 1975 =12 +2 +3 +9 +6 4.5 1st 2.Steve Karis 1782 1152 -13 -1 -20 -0 -0 0 21-22 3.Jim Enman 1716 1298 +14 =0 -1 -15 -19 1.5 17-19 4.Jamie Gibson 1715 1570 +15 -9 -14 +20 +12 3 5-8 5.Gilbert Bernard 1696 1494 +16 +10 -13 -14 =22 2.5 9 6.Calvin Scallion 1684 1820 +17 +11 +9 +13 -1 4 2-3 7.Gary Phillips 1680 1710 +18 -0 -0 -0 -0 1 20 8.George Beals 1621 1573 +19 -13 =16 =12 +9 3 5-8 9.Bruce Fleury 1656 1498 +21 +4 -6 -1 -8 2 14-16 10.Ed McKearney 1646 1278 +20 -5 -15 =19 -17 1.5 17-19 11.Lewis Brown 1564 1637 +22 -6 =17 +16 +15 3.5 4 12.Matthew Furrow 1540 1535 =1 -14 +22 =8 -4 2 14-15 13.Bill Pettipas 1506 1889 +2 +8 +5 -6 +14 4 2-3 14.Pat Diggins 1464 1715 -3 +12 +4 +5 -13 3 5-8 15.Jonathan Bjornson 1428 1685 -4 +19 +10 +3 -11 3 5-8 16.Ken Cashin 1448 1511 -5 +20 =8 -11 +18 2.5 9-13 17.Steve Toth 1386 1494 -6 +21 =11 -22 +10 2.5 9-13 18.David Kimber 1310 1225 -7 -22f =0 +21 -16 1.5 17-19 19.Alex Fraser 1317 1500 -8 -15 +21 =10 +3 2.5 9-13 20.Jordan Fleury 1363 1455 -10 -16 +2 -4 +21 2 14-15 21.Ian Mahar 1087 1004 -9 -17 -19 -18 --20 0 21-22 22.Mike Conley unr 1490 -11 +18 -12 +17 =5 2.5 9-13
Antoni Wysocki gave a blindfold simul the Monday night prior to the event, playing 4 boards in the SUB lobby. As a promotional idea the event was a success as many curious onlookers stopped by and literally gaped. Antoni displayed stellar concentration in a noisy venue for the first couple of hours but lost two won games on lapses late in each contest. Alex Fraser managed a win by hyper-complicating the play, a very good strategy. The Bluenose Club will be doing more of these type of events in the future.
Glenn Charlton (2052) - Steve Saunders (1864) Rd 5, Halifax Open
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Be2 Nc6 5.d4!? cd4 6.cd4 Ne4 7.d5 Qa5+ 8.Nc3 Nc3 9.bc3 Ne5 10.0-0! g6 [The tacit offer of another pawn is very dangerous. From ECO, Basman-Stean Hastings 74 went Qc3 11.Bd2 Qe5 12.0-0 Qd5 13.Rb1 with a clear plus for white via a transposition of moves. Perhaps e6 was a better idea for Black.] 11.Ne5 de5 12.Qb3 a6?
13.Be3 Qc7 14.Bb6 Qd6 15.c4 Bg7 16.c5 Qf6 17.Rad1! Qf5? (O-O) 18.Qa4+ Bd7?? (Kf8)
19.c6 bc6 20.dc6 Bc8 21.c7+ (Rd8#) Bd7 22.Rd7 Qd7 23.Rd1 Resigns 1-0
The Maritime Junior was held Nov 11-12 in Summerside, PEI. Although Cedric Davies and John Klapstein, both of Halifax, seemed a little disappointed with their play, Cedric did defeat the eventual winner Ashish Gulati from PEI. Other players were Aaron Cooper of PEI and Eric Bertrand of NB, who lost the tie-breaker to Gulati.
Prior to the Open I received a game of Stephen Saunders' via email, which was appropriate as it was an email game anyway. Email makes correspondence play much quicker and cheaper, and the game attractive for players who would not otherwise consider correspondence chess. To make up for the game above I'm including one with a happier result for Steve.
White: Steve Saunders - Black: Stan VerNooy
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 e5 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Ne2 0-0 7.0-0 cxd4 8.exd4 d5 9Bg5 dxc4
10.Bxc4 Be7 11.a3 a6 12.Qd3 b5 13.Qf3 bb7 14.Bd3 Na5 15.Qh3 g6 16.Bh6 Re8
17.Rac1 Re8 18.Rfd1 Nb3 19.Rb1 Qd6 20.Bf4 Qc6 21.f3 Nh5 22.Be5 Qb6 23.Kh1 Red8 24.Ne4 f6 25.g4 Bxe4 26.Bxe4 Ng7 27.Nf4 fe5 28.Nxg6! Bxe7 30.Qxh7+ Kf8 31.Bg6 1-0
The ECG (International Email Correspondence Group) now boasts over 2200 members in 65 countries. There are numerous sectional tournaments and some of the best players in the world. An interesting way to meet international chessplayers. I recently received an invitation to play ICCF GM Morgado in a simul. I did play in a simul against a Canadian master on FICS and surprised him. The secret to defeating a superior opponent? Guile, alertness and luck.
White: Marc Ghannoum (aka "Shirov") 2390 - Black: Kim Tufts (aka "Kim") 1900
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3 cd 4.Nd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 7.Bg5 Be7 8.Bf6 gf6 9.e4?! (Nd5 Qa5) a6 10.Na3 Nd4 11.Bd3 f5 12.Qh5 fe 13.Be4 Qd7 14.0-0-0 Rb8 15.f4 Qg4 16.Qg4 Bg4 17.Rd2?! f5 18.Bd5 b5?! (The exclam part is for the psychological affect, otherwise its just stupid. My opponent played sleepily after this.) 19.cb ab 20.Nab5 Nb5 (Although the N at d4 looked good it wasn't strong anyway.) 21.Bc6+ Kf7 22.Bb5 ef 23.Re1 Rhc8 24.Bd7 Bg5! 25.Bc8 (h3!) Rc8 26.Kb1 f3 27.Rd6? (Rf2) fg 28.Rd7+ Kg6 (Notwithstanding the material deficit Black has a large advantage.) 29.Nd5?? (An unsuspecting move. White played in a fog from move 19. Rg1 was the only move I think.) 29....Rc1+ 30.Rc1 Bc1 31.Rd6+ Kg7?! (Kg5 wins but I imagined a trap, giving my opponent a chance) 32.Rd7+ Kf8 33.Nf6! Bg5! (if g1=Q, Nh7+ draws!) 34.Rd8+ Ke7 35.Re8+ Kf6 0-1
A brief synopsis: Rob Villeneuve won against Gerald Lomond's blusterous attack by defending carefully and Gerald missing his chances. Mike Eldridge won with ease as Black by playing "normal chess" - a Grunfeld - against a baffled and unrecognizable Antoni Wysocki. These were the only games that were at all well contested. Glenn Charlton defeated Tom Cosman handily, a blunder hastening the end. Alvah Mayo lost to Brad Armstrong with mysterious moves and/or an apparent suicide attempt. On a sour note, Alvah played almost to mate, down 2 or 3 pieces [ }:--( Marge Simpson frown] . Dusan Kustudic and Jim Brennan drew in one of those monotonous KP openings where White plays an early d3. Jamie Gibson won our encounter when a stunning sacrifice (!) was merely the losing move (?? oops). Gary Phillips and Calvin Scallion played a strange game of chess as Gary blundered with a winning position and resigned. Cedric Davies and Jack Hynes played at the same table as the previous contest and had an even stranger game. Cedric dropped a piece on move 8, had the favour returned about move 12, battled back to "dynamic inequality", won a piece, then sank his King-for no obvious reason- in a snakepit of angry pawns in a kind of self-mate.
A planned rematch will be held in Halifax, probably in early February. Win or lose, the Bluenose club promises a return match of real fighting chess, not this shoddy time-wasting stuff.
Both games I'm including from the event feature speculative attacks where the winner defends well, avoids complications and gains a winning advantage from his positional and material superiority:
Gerald Lomond (2026) - Rob Villeneneuve (2179)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be2 Bg7 7.h4 h5 8.Be3 Nc6 9.Nc6?!
( "Giving up the N to reinforce Black's control of the centre can't be good. Also, where will Black castle? The Q on a5 and the R on b8 will give Black an improved version of his typical attack on the Q-side.") 9...bc6 10.Qd2 0-0 11.f3 Be6 12.Nd1 d5 13.e5 Nd7 14.f4 Qc8 ("to push c5 and have a nice pawn centre" and "eye the sensitive g4 square") 15.Nf2 c5 16.c3 f6?! ("now the g6 square becomes too weak") 17.g4 (Rob gives 17.Qd3 Bf7 18.e6! Be6 19.Qg6 as very good for white so Qd3 may force Kh7) 17..fe5 18.f5 ("One has to admire the courage. If 18.fe5 hg4 followed by Qc7 and the pawn at e5 will fall. Sensing the stategical loss, Gerald goes for complications. It is the best practical decision.") 18...gf5 19.gf5 Rf5 20.Rg1 Kf7 21.Nh3 ("White makes the obvious move which turns out to be wrong! Chess Genius [ED:software] sees 21.Bd3! Rf6 (if ..e4 22.Ne4! de4 23.Be4 forking f5 and a8) 22.Bg5! Rf3 24.Bh5+ ...I think maybe black should give up the exchange. So here both players missed a lot of things!) 21...Nf6 22.Bh6 ("Gerald misses his chance again! Both players are making moves and not seeing much in this game. Both rely on instinct and if white is to make much of his chances he has to "calculate like a machine". 22.Ng5+! forces Kg8 or Kf8 in order to protect the g7 Bishop after Ne6. The c5 pawn will then be hanging and the King still in the danger zone.") 22..Bh6 23.Qh6 Ke8 24.Ng5 Kd7 25.Bh5 Qh8 26.Qh8 Rh8 27.Bg6 Rf4 28.h5 e4 29.Ne6 Ke6 30.Rd1 Rh4 31.Rg5 Kd6 32.Kf2 Rh2 33.Ke3 e6 34.Rd2 Rh4 ("If I had played d4+ 35.cd4 Nd5? 36.Rd5+! and my rook on h2 is gone. To tell you the truth, I did not see any of this.") 35.Rgg2 Rh3+ 36.Kf4 Nh5+ 37.Kg5 Ke5 38.Kg4 Nf4 0-1 (Annotations by Rob.)
Antoni Wysocki (2060) - Mike Eldridge (1930)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cd5 Nd5 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.e4 Nc3 7.bc3 0-0 8.Rb1 c5 9.Be2 Nc6 10.d5 (!?/?! More prudent would have been Be3. Antoni is willing to give up a pawn for a lead in development.) Bc3+ 11.Bd2 Bd2+ 12.Qd2 Nd4 (Nb8 is of course more testing. Black settles for equality.) 13.Nd4 cd4 14.h4? (Antoni later criticised this move as overly ambitious, perhaps as a result of Black's cautious 12th move.) e5 15.h5 g5! (Effectively quelling any Kingside aspirations. Much better than Qd6.) 16.h6 Kh8 17.Rh5 Rg8 18.Rb3 f6 19.Kf1 Rg6 (A fine series of defensive moves, ala Petrosian.) 20.Qb4 b6 21.a4 f5 22.ef5?? (Antoni felt this to be a blunder. While its not good I could find no appealing alternatives either. If 22.f3 Qf6 looks strong. And if 22.Bf3 a5 23.Qd2 Qf6 and White is stuck as Black will play f4, winning another pawn at h6, so maybe White is just lost here with best play. White's only hope may have been patience and poor play/or impatience by Black, eg 22.Bf3 Qf6 23.Qb5 g4 24.Be2 a6 ? 25.Qe8+ Rg8 26.Rb6! Re8 27.Rf6 fe4 28.Bb5 or Re5 and White is better, or similar lines where Black plays fe4 too early.) Bf5 23.f4 (I think this is the real losing move, inspired by the previous move no doubt.) Qd5 24.fe5 Qe5 25.Qd2 Re8 26.Rb5 Qe4 27.Rh2 Bd7 28.Rb4 Rf6+ 29.Ke1 (Note if 29.Bf3 then Rf3+! 30.gf3 Qf3+ 31.Qf2 Qd1+ 32.Kg2 Bc6+ etc.) Bg4 30.g3 Be2 31.Qe2 Qa8 0-1 (Annotations by Kim Tufts on move symbols and in later conversation with Antoni.)
Ed Urquhart has begun organizing the NS Closed for Jan. 19-21 at Saint Mary's. I believe Ed plans to run it as a 5 Rd Swiss with the top players invited. At stake are births in the Maritime Closed. If you feel you're deserving contact Ed at 425-6504 at SMU.
The annual Bluenose Club Championship is tentatively set for Feb 23-25 at the Dal SUB. In addition the Bluenose Club is having a round-robin event throughout January with 4 player, double game matches of tournament length (30/90, SD 1) games every Monday night. See enclosed sheets for further details.
Word just in has the FIDE championship between GM Karpov and GM Kamsky being played in Montreal beginning in May. The match should be closer than the recent Kasparov-Anand series although Karpov should still be the favourite.
The next newsletter will be available during the Bluenose Club tournament and will come out every three months instead of two. It'll also be longer. Send any notices or information you may have to Kim Tufts, 6583 Quinpool Rd, Halifax NS, B3L 1B6 or phone 423-9274. Easier still, email me at nstn1286@fox.nstn.ca.
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