Nova Scotia
ChessTournaments and Activities - Recent Tournaments
Nova Scotia
Chess
The Bluenose Chess Club Open Chess Championship was held at Mount Saint Vincent University over the February 24-26, 2012 weekend with nineteen players participating. Chris Felix (1969) won the tournament with his 4.0 point result in this five round swiss system event. Chris went undefeated, winning three games and drawing his games with both Troy MacDonald and Glenn Charlton. Second place went to David Kenney (1967) with his 3.5 point result. There was a six-way tie for third place between Troy MacDonald (1923), Glenn Charlton (2030), Florent Herbinger (1816), Eric Newman (1735), Ed McKearney (1703) and Kyle Creamer (1420) who all finished the tournament with a 3.0 point result.
The Top Under 1600 prize was shared between Florent Herbinger and Kyle Creamer. This was the first CFC rated tournament for Florent Herbinger who entered as an unrated player and received a provisional CFC rating of 1816 as a result of his performance. Kyle Creamer's provisional CFC rating increased by 130 points as a result of his achievement in this event.
As a result of his victory in this tournament, Chris Felix will have his name engraved on the annual "Bluenose Cup" trophy which has been used to record the names of all of the Bluenose Chess Club Champions since 1974. Congratulations Chris for winning one of the major chess tournaments in Nova Scotia.
In closing, I would also like to thank all of the players who came out to participate in this tournament.
David Kenney
Tournament Director
James Doyle, a junior player, was best U1700 with 5 points. Doyle posted some impressive results against higher rated competition. He drew with Paulo Ferreira and refuted Eric Newman's Sicilian Grand Prix attack to score the full point.
Doyle and two other players travelled all the way from Newfoundland to participate, battling wind and rain storms and enduring an over 24 hour boat departure delay in their effort to get here. Hats off to Brian Oliver, Samir El-Gohary, and Doyle for their support of our chess tournament.
Noteworthy, too, was the participation of two brand new CFC members: Harry Mah and Kyle Creamer, who learned about the tournament at the Bluenose Chess Club just last week. It was nice to see two new people sign up in these times of declining enrolment. Both keen competitors, and having never entered a chess tournament before, Mah scored three wins including a last round upset of Eric Newman, and Creamer found a way to out fox John MacLean in a rook and pawn endgame.
Thanks everyone for coming out. The next local tournament will likely be in the spring sometime. Otherwise, there's always Fred McKim's 2011 PEI Open November 18-20 http://reallyhightech.com/chess/peiop11.html
And, don't forget that the Bluenose club is holding Active events on most Monday nights, all winter. See schedule: http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Recreation/NSChess/bncc_agenda2011-12.html
See you all next time!
When the dust settled, Jim Gilks won clear first with four points. For his effort he took home a $50 cash prize.
David Kenney, Paulo Ferreira and I shared the 2nd – 4th spot with three points each.
In the final round, playing for first place, Jim Gilks had the white pieces against myself in a Kings Indian Defense. Jim successfully fended off my kingside attack, but the resulting Knight versus Bishop endgame appeared to be advantageous for Black. With both clocks showing only a few minutes left, Jim dug in his heels and blockaded and won my passed pawn, while I tried to create another on the other wing. Jim was able to scurry across the board in time to stop me and he ended up creating a passed pawn of his own, which won him the game.
It was nice to see a good turnout of several younger players at this event. Both Lucas Dorrance and Jeffrey Wang finished with two points each. Lucas won impressively against adult player Conrad MacNeil, while both Jeffrey Wang and Sei-Jin Tufts defeated John MacLean.
Youngster Andrew Kiefte and tournament veteran Phil Boyle contested an exciting game, in which Phil was down a piece, but had three extra pawns for compensation. It looked as if Andrew was going to win the game, but he ran out of time. Such is often the case with Active chess youve always got to keep an eye on the clock!
The next installment of these one-day Active tournaments runs Sunday,
May 1st at MSVU. Hope to see even more people there next time. It's a
great way to spend an afternoon.
--Ken
Perhaps the best way to describe the winner of the 2010 Paul Hake Labour Day Open, though, would be to say that she succeeds in great measure through determination and grace under pressure.
Notice that the winner is indeed a she, one 18-year old Jasmine Du, a first year student at Dalhousie University. Jasmine has been playing tournament chess since 2005 when she first moved to Canada.
She's come a long way since the 2005 edition of the Paul Hake tournament, where she emerged with a CFC rating of 1418. Since then Jasmine has competed all over Canada and the world at CFC youth competitions. She successfully defended her under-18 title at the Canadian Youth Chess Championship in July 2009 and last November she competed in the World Youth Chess Championship in Turkey. She also played in the 2008 world youth championship in Vung Tau, Vietnam.
All of this tournament experience has served her very well. She went undefeated at this year's Paul Hake, which attracted 17 players. Jasmine beat top Nova Scotia talents Antoni Wysocki (2199), Alvah Mayo (2118), and many others. She bested Gordon Giacomin (2063), David Kenney (1925), Stephen Duffy (1891), and Albert Ede (1640) and in the final rounds drew with Brendan Martin (1900) and Harold Uuetoa (1676).
Jasmine will be playing at the Maritime Open, which runs next month, October 8-11 at MSVU.
Brendan Martin continued to impress with another placement near the top of NS tournament cross tables. At this years Paul Hake he tied with Stephen Duffy for 2nd-3rd place, with 5.5 points. Brendan will likely be the next NS chess expert.
Hope to see everyone at the Maritime Open. Please try to let us know if
you are coming. We are expecting a good turnout, as the event has been
in New Brunswick for the last two years and hopefully people will be
itching to come to play in Nova Scotia. See you there!
--Ken
Top ranked Chris Spicer, originally from Windsor NS and now living in Ontario, hasn't had the opportunity to play in too many tournaments here. He made up for it this weekend, though, losing only once, to the tournament co-winner Brian Pentz.
Like George Beals himself, Pentz, too, could be described as a "veteran" of the NS chess scene. He's crossed swords with many of the top players over the years and placed well in his fair share of events. Pentz recently won the NS Open 2010.
Adam Dorrance (1865), not even a teenager yet, terrified many of his opponents with his precise play and ability to punish mistakes. I fell victim to him, as did Ed McKearney (1593) and Raffi Jivalian (1407). Spicer, himself, had nothing but positive comments about Adam's play. I'd like to point out that in addition to Adam's chess skill he's also a good sport and always thanks his opponent for the game, win or lose.
Stephen Duffy (1779) continued his fine play of late with an impressive five-point score. After losing to me in the second round he racked up four more points and ended with a win in a long game in the final round. Chance Robinson (1734) from the U.S., a new player on the local scene, made Duffy work for it, though, in a tricky game with King and Knight vs. King, Knight and three pawns. The game's result tied Duffy with Adam and myself for 3rd-5th place overall.
Speaking of terrifying, Eric Newman (1794) has added a new weapon to his arsenal. Known for his caveman tactics, the former lacrosse star is getting all prophylactic and positional on us. Under the tutelage of sparring partner Mike Eldridge, Newman is becoming an ace in closed positions and - heaven forbid - he's actually studying openings! Psst, word of advice: don't get on the black side of his Max Lange Attack. I managed to beat Newman over the weekend, mainly because he got overzealous in a tense ending and went for a knockout instead of forcing a draw. The only other player he lost to was event co-winner Chris Spicer. As a result of his performance at the George Beals, Newmie's rating will likely go over 1800.
Does anyone remember Phil Boyle? Of course you do. Originally from the U.K., the former NS soccer scoring champion was active on the local chess scene for about a decade before retiring from teaching in 2005 and moving away to BC. He and his wife recently moved back to NS and he hopes to be a regular at our tournaments once again. Boyle (1636) showed few signs of rust at his first tournament here in eight years, winning the Under 1700. Once the World Cup Soccer is over Phil will likely get serious about chess and give us all lots of competition in 2010. Look for lots of English openings coming to a board near you.
Next up is the Natal Day Open, July 30-August 2, and then the Paul Hake Labour Day Open September 3-6. This year is Nova Scotia's turn to host the
Maritime Open, which runs October 8-11. Hope to see everyone soon!
--Ken
Jasmine continues to show the benefit of her experience at various national and international youth tournaments. The Grade 12 student at Citadel High School in Halifax successfully defended her under-18 title at the Canadian Youth Chess Championship in Victoria this summer and in November she will compete in the World Youth Chess Championship in Turkey. She competed at last year's world championship in Vung Tau, Vietnam.
Brendan Martin continues to improve, too, finishing near the top of the cross tables at our last few local tournaments. The first-year university student and New Glasgow native will likely soon be seeing a major rating boost. Brendan lost only to Desforges and Brian McKay (1886) and finished strong with two wins on Monday.
Ontarian Zachary Burrows was a welcome surprise at the Paul Hake Labour Day Open. Having never played a tournament here, the Dal student Googled us on the Internet, showed up with an outdated rating of 1026, and proceeded to make it to the 5th round before losing a game. Zach lost only to Jasmine and Brendan and drew with Desforges, Gordon Giacomin (2038), and Eric Newman (1718).
Thanks everyone for coming out to play. We're planning a second annual Chess for Alzheimer's event in November. Stay
tuned for details.
--Ken
I want to congratulate Gary Ng and Jason Kenney for sharing first place in this tournament with a four point result. The Bluenose Cup trophy will have the names of both Gary and Jason engraved as co-winners of the 2009 tournament. Congratulations are also extended to the top U1800 prize winners Alex Lambruschini and Ken Cashin who both finished the tournament with three points.
I also would like to thank all the players who participated in this event.
Your support for local chess events is very much appreciated.
--David
The Chess for Alzheimer's charity tournament yesterday at Halifax Shopping Centre was a tremendous success! It was even covered by CBC radio news!
In all, 27 people came out support Alzheimer's, including new players Carol Lemarche, Gray O'Bryne, and Julien Derr. The five-round G30 fundraiser tournament also drew out formerly active players like Gordon Giacomin, Steve Saunders, and Gary Phillips. We had a great location in the mall's Main Court, where we had the opportunity to expose chess to hundreds of people, many of whom came over to watch, ask questions, and pick up one of our brochures about chess in Nova Scotia, which were made up specifically for this event.
A real crowd pleaser was Antoni Wysocki's blindfold simultaneous chess exhibition, where, in a throng of spectators, he took on three opponents at once -- and won all three games! The Alzheimer Society was also on hand and during the break they presented an educational seminar about Alzheimer's disease and the steps you can take to reduce your risk of developing the disease, which destroys vital brain cells.
Antoni Wysocki, Paulo Ferreira, and Brian McKay shared first place in the tournament with 4 points. Paulo, who upset Antoni in round three, was leading with 4 points going into the final round, where he lost to Brian in an exciting finish.
Steve Saunders, David Kenney, and Gary Phillips tied for 4th-6th place, with 3.5 points.
Thank you everyone for coming out and supporting this! Many people also volunteered their time and in some cases equipment to make it all happen. Joe Shea and Albert Ede were tremendous as were many others. Everyone left with a smile on their face and the initiative seemed to invigorate our chess community. Judging by the support for this event, and the many positive comments we received, if we want to, we will have no trouble making this an annual event. Hopefully we can build on our success yesterday and put on an even better event next year at the second annual Chess for Alzheimer's!
Thanks everyone,
--Ken
Twelve pictures from the event, courtesy of Ken Cashin, are here. (Warning: file sizes roughly 100 KB each)
Having scored first place in many local tournaments in recent years, Paul Hake Labour Day Open 2008 champion Antoni Wysocki (2190) knows all about finishing at the top of the crosstable. At this weekend's Paul Hake Labour Day Open, Antoni notched seven points out of eight, a full point ahead of second place finisher Jason Kenney (2073). Interestingly, Jason beat Antoni in their fifth round encounter. Unfortunately, although Jason was tied with Antoni at five points going into the penultimate round, Jason suffered a forfeit loss to Brian Pentz (1863) on Monday morning because he showed up too late, unaware of the early starting time on the last day. This was Jason's only loss.
At the end of the tournament, Antoni put it best when he said, half jokingly, Jason, you won all your games of the ones that you actually played!
Perhaps Antoni or Jason will share their game and we can put it up on the NS Chess Web site. [Webmaster: Yes! And others too, please.]
Jean Desforges (2100) from New Brunswick scored five and a half points on his way to third place. Jean might have tied with Jason for second if not for a draw with Leighton Steele (1888). Jean showed some nice tactical finesse in his first round victory over myself in a game that I should share on the Web site.
Several of the top players were surprised by the strength of the grossly underrated newcomer Brendan Martin (1391), who toppled four players, including Rex Naugler (1836), Stephen Duffy (1827), and even Mr. Improvement himself Chris Jones (1899). Brendan, a teenager from New Glasgow, won the top under 1700 prize.
Donovan Westhaver (1679) had several tense games on the weekend, but managed to place second under 1700. He beat some very tough customers, including the always solid Brian McKay (1830) and Danger is my Middle Name Eric Newman (1757). Eric has been playing very well lately, having learned to calculate more deeply, sac more judiciously, and play with greater patience. If the tactical menace and former Lacrosse player ever reads Nimzovich we may all be in big trouble!
Well, that's it for tournaments in Nova Scotia this year, aside from the Chess for Alzheimer's charity event November 8th. This active tournament, a fundraiser for the Alzheimer Society, is a new initiative and hopefully many of you will come and take part in this event as well. It'll be a great way to promote chess in Nova Scotia. We're expecting some media attention for this, so I'm hoping we get a good turnout of players. We've already got a dozen players confirmed. It'll be your last chance to play in any kind of tournament here until probably February, 2009.
The Maritime Open takes place in Fredericton, New Brunswick October 10-13, 2008.
See you again soon!
--Ken
The chance to match wits against an IM attracted many out of towners, including two from New Brunswick and three people who drove here all the way from Newfoundland.
Another trend I'm noticing lately is that formerly active players are coming back. This time we saw the return of Leighton Steele (1812), who hasn't played in a standard tournament since the mid 1990s. The MSVU professor must have scraped off any rust before game time, though, as he finished in the winner's circle, winning four in a row and losing only to Tom O'Donnell (2458) and Antoni Wysocki (2184).
Leighton shared the 4th-8th spot with some very worthy competitors: Newfoundlander Jim Duffett (1897), the always solid Paulo "Rubinstein" Ferreira (1883), Jasmine Du (1811), who recently tied for first in her age group at the national championships, and Jim Enman (1783), who lost only once this weekend, to New Brunswick's Jean Desforges (2112).
Jean Desforges was the only player to take a piece out of Tom O'Donnell, drawing him in the last round. Tom won all his other games. Although he began the event with two byes, as expected, Tom climbed to the top board quickly and stayed there without too much trouble.
Antoni Wysocki (2184) is surely all smiles this morning, too. The tournament co-champion's fine performance this weekend will likely boost his rating over 2200 for the first time. Although he lost his encounter with Tom O'Donnell, he had good chances to win the game and ended with the same score as the IM, at 6.5 points, a full point ahead of the second-seeded Gary Ng (2249) who placed third.
On the heels of his great performance at the recent UPEI Open, Annapolis Valley's 10-year old Adam Dorrance continued to play well beyond his years. He drew with Rex Naugler (1867) on his way to a score of four points.
Eric Newman (1725) also kept up the forward momentum. Inspired by his several emphatic wins at the Canadian Open a few weeks ago, the ultra-aggressive competitor scored four points, including a comeback draw with Chris Jones (1914) and a win over Alex Livingston (1875). Another one to watch is Cape Breton's Donald MacLean (1564) who tied for 2nd-4th U1700. Donald upset Brian Pentz (1836) in the first round and impressed me in our game with a tricky combination that forced a draw.
Our next tournament is the Paul Hake Memorial / Labour Day Open, August 29–September 1, 2008. I would advise that as many people as possible come out to this one, as it will likely be our last one of the 2008 season. The Maritime Open, traditionally held in October, is being hosted in Fredericton this year and we have no plans to hold our annual Remembrance Day Open because we could not secure a room booking at the Mount. So, the Paul Hake Labour Day Open will probably be your last chance in 2008 for tournament chess in Nova Scotia. See you all in a few weeks!
One final note: Albert's little fridge stocked with cold drinks and bottled water was a big hit with the players. Albert said he's glad it went over so well and he promises to bring it again next time.
Ten-year-old Adam Dorrance from the Annapolis valley played well beyond his years, too, drawing with myself and scoring upset wins over promising junior Jasmine Du (1802), and tournament veterans Mike Eldridge (1747) and Eric Newman (1586). Adam tied for top U1700 with Cape Breton's Walter MacNeil, who is getting back into tournament chess after many years away from the game.
Jason Manley (1787), another New Brunswick junior, also had a good tournament, winning his last three games and finishing with five points, near the winners circle. Brian Pentz (1823) and Harold Uuetoa (1719) also ended with five points and were on the top boards for most of the weekend.
Our next tournament is the Halifax-Dartmouth Natal Day Open, August 1–4, 2008. See you there!
In the final frame, after a disappointing result in his over five-hour struggle with Chris Felix, Antoni found himself on the black side of an f4 Sicilian attack against myself. Unable to castle, and with several pieces out of play, he had to summon all his strength to ward off some rather nasty designs on his king. After an impressive defense in severe time pressure, Antoni managed to win the game and finish half a point ahead of Jose Gonzalez-Cueto, who won his last three games and lost only once, to Antoni.
Jean Desforges from New Brunswick also had a steady hand on the wheel all weekend and weathered all attempts to beat him. Other standouts this time were septuagenarian Harold Uuetoa, who never lost a single game, and Bruce Fleury, who scored some impressive wins against higher rated opponents, like Jim Gilks (1859) and myself, and fought to a draw with Paulo Ferreira (1858).
A noticeable trend in this event and other recent tournaments is an increasing number of players rated between 1800-1900. I'm not sure why this is so, but I think it's an encouraging sign that the level of play is improving. Players like Chris Jones (1888), Paulo Ferreira, Chris Felix, and many others, seem to be getting better with every tournament. The confluence of A-class players is also making for some highly competitive chess games and giving the expert and near master players stronger competition.
Another trend, also encouraging, is that formerly active players are coming back. This tournament saw the return of Bridgewater's Steve Duffy (1859) and Walter MacNeil (1749) from Sydney. Neither Steve nor Walter has played a tournament in over a decade, and they both said they enjoyed themselves very much this weekend and plan to come out to play in more of our events.
Our next tournament is the George Beals Canada Day Open, June 28–July 1, 2008. See you there!
1. Brian McKay $27 2. Hans Broersen $15 3. Chris Felix $10
NS Open 2007
Comfy Corner Café Active April 2006
Bluenose / Dalhousie Chess Club Championship 2006Director's Report:The Dalhousie Bluenose Chess Club Open Chess Championship was held this weekend. There were 21 players who participated in this year's event. The attendance was down from the 30+ players who usually attend this tournament due in part to the NS Scholastic Provincial Championships also being held today. We were missing a good many of the junior players who usually participate but this is understandable considering the tournament conflict. The Bluenose Chess Club Open was originally scheduled to be held last weekend but the dates had to be moved to this weekend at the request of the DAL Student Union Building due to our playing site no longer being made available to us on the original dates.
At the end, defending club co-champion Jason Kenney finished in sole possession of first place with a score of 4.5/5 in this five-round tournament. Congratulations Jason on yet another fine performance. Ken Cashin was the only player to hold Jason to a draw [replay the game here]. Tied for second place were Rex Naugler and Brian McKay who both finished with 4.0/5. Both of these individuals played some excellent chess this weekend, each losing only a single game to the tournament winner.
The top Under 1600 first place prize went to Max Rau-Chaplin who completed the tournament with a 3.0/5 score. There was a four-way tie for the Under 1600 second place prize among Eric Newman, Robin Saunders, David Spencer, and John McLean.
I want to thank everyone who participated in this year's tournament.
David Kenney
Tournament Director
Comfy Corner Café Active December 2005
Remembrance Day Open 2005The Remembrance Day tournament suffered a power interruption part way through the Friday evening round, resulting in a shorter tournament than the planned 7 rounds. There were 24 participants in total.
Paul Hake Memorial / Labour Day Open 2005George Beals / Canada Day Open 2005NS Open 2005NS Closed 2005
Halifax (Easter) Open 2005Bluenose / Dalhousie Chess Club Open 2005Director's Report:The annual Bluenose / Dalhousie Chess Club Open, held at the Dalhousie University Student Union Building on February 25-27, 2005, attracted 30 players to the two section tournament. In the Open Section, we had 18 players including five candidate masters (2000+ ratings). In the Under 1700 section 12 players participated in a fiercely competitive event. The tournament started Friday evening under severe winter weather conditions as a storm passed through the province during the day.
At the end, we had a two-way tie in the Open Section with Jason Kenney (2119) and Gary Ng (2112) both finishing with 4.5 points in this five round tournament. Jason and Gary were paired in the 3rd round and had a very long hard fought draw. Their game ended by perpetual check after the 57th move with both clocks only having about two or three minutes remaining. I will try to post the game score on the NSChess web site during the next few days for those of you who may want to see the game [now available in our Games Collection]. Both Jason and Gary will have their names engraved on the Bluenose Cup trophy.
Tied for 3rd - 5th place with 3.0 points were Antoni Wysocki (2064), Alvah Mayo (2058), and Shane Wang (1709). It was nice to see Alvah Mayo at the tournament after a 16 month absence from the local chess scene. I was also extremely pleased to see Glenn Charlton (2092) come out as well as he has won this tournament at least three times in the past. Unfortunately, since Glenn could not play in two rounds due to prior committments, he was not in the running to finish in the top spots. In addition to the above players, both Mike MacGillivray (1765) and Chris Felix (1760) deserve honourable mention for their tournament performance, finishing with 2.5 points.
In the Under 1700 Section, we had a three-way tie for first place among Luke Richards (1606), Paulo Ferreira (1577) and Richard Moulton (1487) who all finished with 4.0 points. After four rounds, Richard Moulton led the group with 4 points, but he was defeated by Luke Richards in his fifth round game.
I want to thank everyone who participated in the tournament and congratulate all the winners and hope to see everyone back at our next tournament scheduled for Easter weekend.
David Kenney
Tournament Director
