Nova Scotia Chess News #1

Nova Scotia Chess News

Written and compiled by Kim Tufts an169@chebucto.ns.ca except where otherwise noted.

June 1995 Volume 1

This seems as good a time as any to take stock of where chess is in Nova Scotia and where it is going. And since chess means for most players the occassional tournament my remarks will be concentrated there. But I'll also try to offer a glimpse of the complete picture as well, including opinions on the CFC, club recognition, children's chess, computer chess and chess on the Internet.

CFC Membership

The number of CFC players rises and falls with the number and quality of tournaments in any given year. Simply, the more tournaments there are the greater numbers of players there will be. For instance, in the period 1990-93 there were relatively few good opportunities to play and the numbers of players declined dramatically, perhaps by 60%. Since 1993 however, the numbers have increased steadily, from a low of 89 in June 93 to 127 in June 94. The next update should see Nova Scotia top 170 CFC members. If this sounds impressive consider that in Newfoundland chess had virtually died, becoming as rare as cod. But in the last year or so they've gone from a mere handful to well over 100 members. And its no secret how to accomplish these resurrections: organize and promote. Every player who considers chess important should also be involved in the promotion of the game.

The CFC does a rather shameful job of self-promotion and of attracting new members. For example, in the United States membership has risen from just over 50,000 to 80,000, while in the same period (1988-95) Canada has remained stagnant with between 3200 and 3800 CFC members. Exaccerbating the situation is the largely mindless squabble with the FQE (Quebec chess organization) where chess in Canada operates in fragmented fiefdoms of activity, related though rarely united.

Tournaments

Chess tournaments are what most players join the CFC for. The opportunity to measure themselves in a competitive atmosphere, not with bloodless computers or with the niceties of "recreational chess" but with the real game, the one with sweat and stress, clocked and rated.

Here in Halifax we've tinkered with a variety of formats, trying to find what is best for the majority of players. The first priority has been to stage some kind of event at least every three months to maintain interest. On occassion this has meant paying site rentals, a practice which can eat prize funds in a hurry. Or resorting to the much dreaded 2-day tournament schedule. Surprisingly, any criticism has been light in such instances. More often site conditions, time controls, or other variables which can affect play are the sources for complaint. It is my belief that any well-advertised tournamnet with reasonable playing conditions will succeed in Nova Scotia.

Halifax is now becoming a well-entrenched area for chess. We're finally seeing some progress in terms of awareness and visibility in the local community but there is a long way to go yet. Halifax is the key but other areas have to do their part if chess is to really become established in Nova Scotia. I'm thinking of Wolfville, Bridgewater, New Glasgow, Truro, and Cape Breton. Any of these areas can host a tournament with a little planning and forethought. If you can find a site the rest is easy (sort of). for chess to really succeed here someone else will have to carry the ball too...

The following players are area contacts who can help other players locate chess clubs or tournaments near them.

Valley
Brad Armstrong 1018 Garden Crt     New Minas, NS  B4N 3L4   1 (902) 681-1941
Tom Cosman          RR2            Wolfville, NS       B0P 1X0   1 (902) 542-9443

Bridgewater
Brian Burgess       RR3 Middle La Have  Bridgewater, NS     B4V 2W2   1 (902) 543-9916
Steve Saunders RR1            Blockhouse, NS B0J 1E0   1 (902) 624-9361

Truro
Terry Thorsen       67 Victoria Rd      Truro, NS      B2N 1Z2   1 (902) 897-4897

New Glasgow
Jim Hayward         Box 1278       Westville, NS       B0K 2A0   1 (902) 396-5324

Cape Breton
Allan Googoo        General Delivery    Eskasoni, NS        B0A 1J0

Most areas have clubs which meet at least once a week. Some are:

Bluenose Chess Club Halifax--meets every Monday night from 6:30-11:30 at the Dalhousie Student Union Builiding. Contact Kim Tufts at 425-8551 or Manvinder Singh at 434-3450.

Eastern Kings Wolfville--meets every Monday at the Town library. Contact Tom Cosman at 542-9443.

Knights of Glasgow New Glasgow--meets every Tuesday night at the Trinity United Church Hall, Temperance St. Contact Jim Hayward at 396-5324.

Lunenburg Lunenburg--meets every Tuesday at the Fisheries Museum. Contact Steve Saunders at 624-9361.

I believe Truro and Dartmouth have clubs as well. Contact Terry Thorsen at 897-4897 in Truro and Roy Yetman in Dartmouth at 464-9888.

Past and Future Tournaments

The recent Halifax Spring Open (April 28-30) was perhaps the best tournament in Halifax in many years. The attendance was high (55), the competition good, and the sections blanced. Paul LeBlanc and Jonathan MacDonald (NB) scored 4/5 to win the Open Section. Gary Phillips won on tie-break over Manvinder Singh and John Paterson in the U1800. Gilbert Bernard swept the U1500 section. The tournament will probably serve as the model for most future tournaments in Halifax.

New Brunswick Open (June 9-11) St John at UNBSJ, Condon Student Centre, 5 Rd Swiss Rds 8/9&4/9&3 30/90,SD1 EF $25 Phone Fred McKim at 658-1970

Dalhousie Summer Open (June 23-25) A tournament similar to the Spring Open.

Nova Scotia Open (July 28-30) A 6 Rd Swiss with one section.

A few of us recently attended the Ontario Open (May 20-22) in Toronto. Ed Urquhart did especially well, winning the U2100 section with 5/6. Alvah Mayo also had a fine tournament with 4/6 in the U1900 section. There is talk of playing in the Canadain Open and of North Bay. If you're interested contact the Bluenose Club.

The Canadian Chess Challenge was also held in Toronto at the same time. Nova Scotia improved over the last two years and will be even better next year. John Paterson won silver in Grade 12 and narrowly missed gold. Ontario finally beat Quebec (by 1 point!) after years of frustration.

Nova Scotia Chess Team

Grade 1  Curtis Enman    Halifax   	Grade 7   Donovan Westhaver   	Dartmouth
Grade 2  Kirk Sutherland Dartmouth 	Grade 8   Robert Croxen       	Dartmouth
Grade 3  Alexei Abrahams Port Williams  Grade 9   Billy McGee       	Enfield   
Grade 4  Mathieu Bernier Dartmouth 	Grade 10  Charles Virge      	Truro
Grade 5  Chris Woodin    Dartmouth 	Grade 11  Mike Conley        	Shubenacadie   
Grade 6  Astrid Nowak    Halifax   	Grade 12  John Paterson      	Halifax

Computer Chess

Probably the most significant news recently has been the incorporation of the Internet Chess Server to "Internet Chess Club". A fee of $50/year is now requested to join this "club" ($25 students). There are free servers too but are not nearly as popular or operate as well. For more information telnet to chess.lm.com 5000 or e-mail icc@chess.lm.com your questions. Or e-mail me at nstn1286@fox.nstn.ca Gerry Kasparov defeated Chess Genius the other day. Mr Kasparov predicted more of such matches for the popularity of chess. He also said human players are beginning to understand how to play against computers. Perhaps this means 1.e3 has been dropped from his opening repertoire. The Bluenose Chess Club will soon be on the Chebucto Freenet for club and tournament news. Paul LeBlanc has a digital Fischer clock for sale. Phone 455-6614.

Games

Glenn Charlton (2061) - Paul LeBlanc (2041) NS Spring Open, Rd 5 April30/95

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.ed cd 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nf3 Bb4 7.cd Nd5 8.Bd2 0-0 9.Bd3 Nc6 10.0-0 Bd6 11.Rc1 Nf4 12.Be4 Ng6 13.g3 Bd7 14.h4 f5! 15.Bb1 Qf6 16.Bg5 Qf7 17.h5 Nge7 18.Ne5 Be5 19.de5 h6! 20.Nb5 Nc8!? 21.Bf4 a6 22.Bf4 a6 23.Nc3? Rd8 24.g4 Be8 25.Qe3? fg 26.Bg6 Qe7 27.Rfd1 Nf3+ 28.Kf1 Bg6 29.hg6 Qe8 30.Bh6! Ne7! 31.Bg5?! Rd1 32.Rd1 Ng6 33.Rd4?! Ne5!? 34.Re4 Nh2+ 35.Ke2 Nef6 36.Re6? Nd4+ 37.Qd4 Qe6 38.Kd1 Nf3 39.Qe3 Ng5 40.Qg5 Re8 (0-1)

David Scott (2057) - Eddie Urquhart (2083) Ontario Open, Rd 6 May 22/95

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.ed cd 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 dc 7.d5 Ne5 8.Qd4 Nd3+ 9.Bd3 cd 10.Qd3 a6 11.Nf3 h6 12.Bg5 gf 13.0-0 Bd7 14.Rfe1 Qb6 15.Rfd1 0-0-0 16.Re4? Rg8 17.d6 e6 18.Rf4? Bc6 19.Rf6 Bd6 20.Qc2 Qc7 21.g3 Bc5 22.Rd8 Rd8 23.Qh7 Bf2! 24.Kf2 Qb6+ 25.Kf1 Qb2 26.Qf7 Qc3 27.Qe6+?? Bd7 28.Qe5 Bh3 29.Kf2 Rd2+ (0-1)

Kim Tufts (1584) - Guido Bortolotti (1686) Ontario Open, Rd1 May 20/95

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Be7 7.f3 (My longest "think" of the game as entering into the dragon against a booked opponent is not pleasant.) 7...a6 ( A relief. This is one of the worst lines in my opinion. I felt I would not lose after this move.) 8.Qd2 0-0 (Probably an error already.) 9.Bc4 b5 10.Bb3 Bb7 11.0-0-0 Re8 (Seemed rather pointless and was as it turned out.) 12.h4 h5 13.Bh6 Bh8 14.g4 hg 15.h5 Nxh5? 16.Rxh5 (Winning.) e5 17.Nf5! (A pretty move which caused my opponent immediate grief. Qf4 was also possible.) 17...gxh5 18.Nxd6 Re7? (Kh7 was better but also loses, though not so quickly.) 19.Qg5+ Kh7 20.Qxh5 Nd7 21.Bg5+ Kg8 22.Bf7+ (1-0) Send your notices, information, etc or anything you'd like to see published in this newsletter to Kim Tufts, 6312 Chebucto Rd, Halifax, NS B3L 1K8.

Addendum (February 6/97) :

For the sake of completeness I decided to re-write this and have it put on our website as I'd lost the original file. So now all 8 issues of the newsletter will be up. A few things strike me. I made some projections in it that were far too optimistic. We are around the same number in Feb 97 as we were in June 95. Similarly, of the NS Team in 1995, none of the kids in grades 1-6 play competively in NS anymore! This is a big reason why NS does so poorly at the Nationals. This is really quite sad in my opinion. I put another game of my own from the Ontario Open than the one in the original newsletter. The new game is perhaps more interesting for the readers though the original was a Kings Gambit and I have a sentimental attachment to it :)

Regards . . . Kim Tufts.
an169@chebucto.ns.ca

The Nova Scotia Chess Site

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