The Unama'ki (Cape Breton) Chess Tournament was hosted at the Waycobah First Nation High School in Whycocomagh, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia from June 27th to June 29th, 1997. Gilbert Bernard did a fine job organizing the tournament and Alvah Mayo directed. Perhaps the most interesting wrinkle of the tournament was the participation by the Bosnian immigrant, Damir Miletic, who was said to have a international chess - F.I.D.E. rating of approximately 2300. It was a beautiful weekend in a magnificant area of the province.
The following report was given by Alvah Mayo mayo@north.nsis.com on the CHESS-NS Listserv, photographs (well all but one) were taken by the Nova Scotia Chess Webmaster, Steve Saunders ssaunder@fox.nstn.ns.ca using an Espon PC Digital Camera:
Photograph: Allan Googoo plays on Alfred Alex in the foreground, while Alvah Mayo plays on Damir Miletic in the background. in Round 2. Click for a larger image.
As most of you know by now, the Unamaki Open is now over. For the second straight time I came to a tournament with a small turnout (14 players) but I got to play almost all strong opponents. My hat goes off to Gilbert Bernard for injecting life into the Cape Breton chess scene with this fine tournament. The revitilization of chess in Nova Scotia can in large part be attributed to the efforts of organizers in the smaller centers of Nova Scotia. I had a quiet worry free time as TD for the Unamaki, which is usual in Nova Scotia. My only remotely tough decision was deciding how to seed NS Chess rookie Damir Miletic- I decided to give him the number 1 seed based on his 2245 FIDE rating...obviously not your typical unrated!
Photograph: Our hosts warm up for the big tournament. Gilbert Bernard is in the foreground left, and Edmund Paul in the foreground right. Allan Googoo is in the background left and Alfred Alex is in the background right. The guy standing? Well he was one of the many chess fans that came in to visit. Click on the picture for a larger image.
In Round 1 I was paired as Black with Chris Maund of Fredericton. He sacrificed his rook on h7 on about move 12, and continued to throw material into the pot in a determined yet unsound effort to win. He finally resigned when he had only Q+6P vs Q+R+2B+N+5P.
In the meantime, Damir Miletic as White was dismantling Allan Googoo in a Grunfeld up two tempi. As Allan is quite a strong player (some of you may remember Allan from his victory at the Bluenose Championship over Jim Mathers), most took immediate notice of the newcomer. Once Damir made time control he was up an exchange and a pawn, which he easily converted for the win.
Photograph: Allan Googoo and Alfred Alex review a round 2 game. Click on the picture for a larger image.
I looked at Justin Gulati's game as White once he reached a knight ending up a pawn vs Gilbert Bernard. After that it was a simple matter for Justin to bring home the full point. Steve Saunders had Black vs Jim Hayward in what looked like some sort of Dutch Leningrad. Steve started throwing his kingside pawns up the board with gusto where I felt sure Jim would expose the advance as an overextension but that never happened. After making time control Steve proceeded to cash in the win in the ending thanks to a monster passed a-pawn.
Photograph: Alvah Mayo, left grinds Damir Miletic to a draw.
As luck would have it I was paired with White against Damir Miletic in the second round. Damir played some sort of delayed Schliemann and soon achieved a slight advantage with Black. He had more active pieces but I had a better pawn center and more importantly no kingside weaknesses. By contesting key squares and playing a few defensive moves I prevented Damir from hunting my king. He instead inflicted a third pawn island upon me compared to his two and soon therafter we traded off both rooks and reached an ending of B+N+6P vs B+B+6P. Damir used his B's to force me to advance one of my queenside pawns after he first traded off his center pawn for one of mine. I managed to activate my king and advance my central passer while he created a passer on the a file. My activity was so great that he agreed to a draw, thus we each now had 1.5 points.
Photograph: Fredricton's Chris Maund prepares to play Jim Hayward (standing) while Justin Gulati prepares to play Gerald Leblanc (hidden).
Justin Gulati had Black against Gerrard Leblanc and soon blundered a piece in the opening. Gerrard was so far behind in development that Justin had fair chances to pull the win out of the fire according to the peanut gallery. But it was not to be, and so Gerrard would end up with 2 points after 2 rounds. Steve Saunders joined Leblanc in the lead with 2 points after a strange game as White vs Tom Poulette. After about a dozen moves in a book opening (looked like a King's Indian Saemisch) Poulette complained of illness accompanied by coughing, promptly resigned the game and withdrew from the tournament.
Photograph: Justin Gulati right prepares to play Gerald Leblanc while behind him Chris Maund prepares to play Jim Hayward.
Photograph: Round 3 starts - Gilbert Bernard(left) versus Jim Hayward (front), Chris Maund versus Alex (middle), and Steve Saunders versus Gerald LeBlanc (back).
In Round 3 I got the Black pieces vs Allan Googoo. Months of studying the Dzindzi-Indian FINALLY paid off as Black had a huge advantage coming out of the opening. I castled queenside as is normal and proceeded to launch my kingside pawn storm backed up with rooks, while Allan's attack on the queenside was never allowed to materialize because of White's horrid pawn structure. However, I misplayed the pawn storm and was unable to open kingside lines for attack, so I grabbed a hot P on the queenside. Allan followed that with a logical looking knight sacrifice on a7 to try and open me up. Allan had a mighty bind for the longest while, and I spent about 30 moves with most of my minor pieces on the back rank and around my king. I finally managed to get my king over to the kingside and out of danger, wherupon I converted the extra piece without difficulty. This game proved that I AM willing to suffer for my occasional greediness.
Photograph: Justin Gulati (left) takes on Damir Miletic (right). Click for a larger image.
Damir Miletic had the White pieces against Justin Gulati. The game looked like some sort of Queen's Gambit Declined where Damir gobbled a pawn in the early middlegame. Justin fought gamely in the ensuing ending, but the result was never in doubt, at least in my opinion. So now Damir and myself each had 2.5 points.
Steve and Gerrard met in the "Battle of the Perfect Scores" on Board 1. As White Steve had a nice lead in development against Leblanc's Old Indian setup and looked to me on his way to a nice advantage. The next time I looked Steve was down oodles of material and was on the brink of resignation. So now Gerrard had the lead with 3 and Steve remained with 2 points.
Photograph: Gerald Leblanc of Sidney takes on Damir Miletic in Round 4. Click for a larger image.
Damir Miletic had the honour of facing Gerrard Leblanc on top board. I didn't see the game all that much, but the result was a win for Miletic as widely expected. So after 4 rounds Damir and I were tied for first with 3.5, followed by Gerrard Leblanc at 3.
Photograph: John MacLean plays Jim Hayward in Round 4. Click for a larger image.
In Round 5 I received the White pieces yet again, this time against Gerrard Leblanc. I trotted out my Chigorin French (2 Qe2) and Leblanc replied with 2...e5?!?. I almost burst out laughing here because just the day before while discussing the Chigorin I had been telling Justin that here White can play 3 Qd1! and play as Black! Needless to say I emerged from the opening with a large edge in development and a huge advantage. I even decided to move my king to h2 from g1 as a "fine defensive move" to prevent any and all checks later on. Unfortunately this "cute move" lead to my demise after I played d4 to open up the center, only realizing after my move that after he takes the pawn that if I take with my Queen on e3 then he plays Ng4 WITH check and wins my unprotected Queen. So I had to leave my c3 knight to hang and I resigned in short order.
Photograph: Tournament Organizer Gilbert Bernard goes over a game with Edmund Paul who played in his first serious chess tournament. .
Having thrown away equal first but consoling myself with the 24 rating points I added for the tournament as a whole, I watch Damir as White take apart Jim Hayward in a Queen's Gambit. Jim later on pointed out that at one point he actually was ahead in development 4 or 5 pieces to 2 for Damir. Of course Damir had a massive pawn center!:)
Seed Player Name Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Total Standing 1 Damir Miletic +6 =4 +2 +5 +7 4.5/5 1st 2 Justin Gulati +8 -5 -1 +10F +9 3/5 4th-5th 3 Steve Saunders +7 +13 -5 -4 +8 3/5 4th-5th 4 Alvah Mayo +11 =1 +6 +3 -5 3.5/5 3rd 5 Gerard Leblanc +12 +2 +3 -1 +4 4/5 2nd 6 Allan Googoo -1 +10 -4 -8F +11 2/5 8th-9th 7 Jim Hayward -3 +11 =8 +9 -1 2.5/5 6th-7th 8 Gilbert Bernard -2 +12 =7 +6F -3 2.5/5 6th-7th 9 John Maclean +10 =0 =0 -7 -2 2/5 8th-9th 10 Alfred Alex -9 -6 =11 -2F +0 1.5/5 10th-12th 11 Chris Maund -4 -7 =10 +12F -6 1.5/5 10th-12th 12 Edmund Paul -5 -8 +0 -11F =0 1.5/5 10th-12th 13 Tom Poulette +0 -3 WD------------ 1/2 13th
Full point byes, denoted as "+0", are those awarded by the TD. Half point byes, denoted as "=0", are those requested by the player. "F" next to a result denotes a forfeited game. All forfeited games count for CFC rating purposes.
Photograph: The old Cape Breton Open Trophy - minus one handle.
Damir took clear first with a score of 4.5 and a performance rating of about 2191 plus or minus 5. He received $101.00 for his fine result. Gerrard Leblanc grabbed second place and $60.00 with 4 points. I ended up with 3.5, enough for clear third, and no money. John Maclean nabbed the under 1600 prize of $25.00 with a score of 2 out of 5.
After seeing Damir up close and personal I can honestly say that we have a new gunslinger in town. We'll know more after Damir plays the Nova Scotia Open in July, but the opinion is pretty well universal that guys like Charlton, Mathers, Urquhart etc are about to get a wakeup call in just a few weeks.
Webmaster's Note: Many thanks to Gilbert Bernard and friends who organized this event! We haven't seen an open chess tournament in Cape Breton in some time. Well done!
To leave a comment to the person who maintains this file, send email to nschess@chebucto.ns.ca