Chess in Brazil

The Calgary Chess Club supported a school in Brazil by supplying them with some chess equipment. Here is a Picassa photo album showing the school and some of the kids playing chess.

http://picasaweb.google.com/calgarychess/ChessInBrazil

I'm sorry I can't write more but I don't know the exact details. Hopefully someone will post more soon.

Juraj

Tournament Schedule 2009

Calgary Chess Club Tournament Schedule 2009

Title Dates Type Director

Calgary Close 06-Jan Swiss Open/Top 8 Close, Regular M. Cole
13-Jan
20-Jan
27-Jan
03-Feb
10-Feb
17-Feb

Speed #1 24-Feb Swiss, Speed, Unrated M. Robichaud

Calgary Club Championship 03-Mar Swiss, Regular W. Watson
10-Mar
17-Mar
24-Mar
31-Mar

Speed #2 Apr. 7 Swiss, Speed, Unrated M. Robichaud

Team Apr. 14 Sectional, Round, Regular J. Daniluk
21-Apr
28-Apr
05-May
12-May

Speed #3 19-May Swiss, Speed, Unrated M. Robichaud

Spring Open 26-May Swiss, Regular J. Pivovarov
02-Jun
09-Jun
16-Jun
23-Jun

Speed #4 30-Jun Swiss, Speed, Unrated M. Robichaud

Thematic 07-Jul Swiss, Active, Unrated S. Vassilyev
14-Jul

Active 21-Jul Swiss, Active W. Watson
28-Jul

Speed #5 04-Aug Swiss, Speed, Unrated M. Robichaud

Blindfold/Active 11-Aug Swiss, Active, Unrated V. Lapiy
18-Aug

Speed #6 25-Aug Swiss, Speed, Unrated M. Robichaud

Fall Open 01-Sep Swiss, Regular S. Vassilyev
08-Sep
15-Sep
22-Sep
29-Sep

Speed #7 06-Oct Swiss, Speed, Unrated M. Robichaud

Active 13-Oct Swiss, Active J. Daniluk
20-Oct

Fischer Random 27-Oct Swiss, Active, Unrated J. Pivovarov
03-Nov

Speed #8 10-Nov Swiss, Speed, Unrated M. Robichaud

Calgary Open 17-Nov Swiss, Regular V. Lapiy
24-Nov
01-Dec
08-Dec
15-Dec

Christmas Party Dec. 22 M. Cole

Casual 29-Dec

Tournament Schedule 2008

Calgary Chess Club Tournament Schedule 2008

Title Dates Type Director

Speed Chess Nov 4 Swiss, Speed, Unrated M. Robichaud

Calgary Open Nov 11 Swiss, Regular V. Lapiy
Nov 18
Nov 25
Dec 2
Dec 9

Christmas Party Dec 16 M. Cole

Casual Dec 23
Dec 30

FIVE way tie in SAO

The Southern Alberta Open on Nov 15th and 16th 2008, had a fantastic turnout of 34 players. Many came from out of town including North Battleford, Saskatoon, Lethbridge, Edmonton and Leduc.

The 34 players was a record attendance since 2002 (when 36 attended.) This was pretty much the best attendance for the last 10 years. In fact, 34 is probably getting close to a maximum that we can support at the Calgary Chess Club location. One table had 3 boards crammed together, while others had a comfortable two games each.

Thanks goes to Jim Daniluk for helping get the word out on newsgroups and websites. He did a fantastic job as the organizer, even staying at the site on Friday with Stephan Vasilev to set up the room. Saturday morning, everything was ready to go!

Another nice attribute of the tournament was the wide range of ratings. There were players from the 1200's up into the 2200's, with a good uniform mix throughout. An even rating distribution is important so that all players can find opponents close to their rating range. This was certainly the case, as in the last round not a single game finished really early. All were tough
fights, right down to the bottom boards.

This may be a record, but FIVE players tied for 1st place with a score of 4.0/5. (Please see cross table below). Rob Gardner won the tie-break in terms of earning a qualification spot in the prestigious Alberta Closed. Brothers Victor and Thomas Kaminski, Keith MacKinnon, and Jan Lazo all scored four as well.

There was a total of $800 in prizes awarded as follows

Open $400
U2000 $150
U1800 $150
U1600 $105

The extra $5 in the U1600 came from a cell phone going off. We announced at
the start of the tournament that cell phone interruptions would be $5 for the first
offence, per player, and then a forfeit. Only one cell phone went off, and the
$5 was added to the prize money in that section.

Open (4 way tie)

1st Rob Gardner 4.0/5, $100
Victor Kaminski 4.0/5, $100
Thomas Kaminski 4.0/5, $100
Keith MacKinnon 4.0/5, $100

U2000

1st Jan Lazo 4.0/5, $90
2nd Rick Pedersen 3.5/5, $30
Adam Harris 3.5/5, $30

U1800

1st Bob Macfie 3.0/5, $90
2nd Mike Zeggelaar 2.5/5, $20
Samer Louise 2.5/5, $20
Shanker Raman 2.5/5, $20

U1600

1st Nicka Kalaydina 2.5/5, $75
2nd Bronislaw Swiecicki 2.0/5, $30

I tried to shush everyone as best as I could. Keep in mind if you were shushed
(rudely) by me, that while you were playing I was shushing everyone else (equally rudely)
on your behalf.

Thanks to the players for keeping the noise down quite well in general, and showing
respect to all their fellow players.

Excellent tournament - see you all again next year! Congratulations to the tournament winners,
section leaders, and of course all players that came out.

No Name Feder Intl Id Rtg Loc Total 1 2 3 4 5

1 Gardner, R 108323 2237 2220 4 27:W 5:W 9:W 2:D 3:D
2 Kaminski, V 127461 2284 1978 4 22:W 16:W 0:D 1:D 11:W
3 MacKinnon, K SK 133701 2206 4 17:W 6:D 14:W 7:W 1:D
4 Kaminski, T 130786 2060 1740 4 19:W 20:W 0:D 6:D 9:W
5 Lazo, J 148645 1942 1380 4 33:W 1:L 27:W 10:W 26:W
6 Pedersen, R 143057 1885 1544 3.5 29:W 3:D 15:W 4:D 8:D
7 Harris, A 139386 1859 1510 3.5 34:W 26:W 0:D 3:L 19:W
8 Vasilev, S 146955 2105 1636 3.5 18:D 13:D 21:W 17:W 6:D
9 Haessel, D 112476 2289 2042 3 21:W 15:W 1:L 13:W 4:L
10 Milne, A 101874 1878 1669 3 25:W 14:D 24:W 5:L 12:D
11 Yearwood, R 102743 2059 1881 3 24:L 18:W 22:W 14:W 2:L
12 Macfie, B 111989 1759 1501 3 14:L 32:W 0:D 24:W 10:D
13 Kalaydina, R 141148 1584 1334 2.5 23:W 8:D 0:D 9:L 21:D
14 Hughey, M 109502 2226 1878 2.5 12:W 10:D 3:L 11:L 18:W
15 Zhang, D 145883 1968 1518 2.5 28:W 9:L 6:L 32:W 17:D
16 Bentley, B 103443 1894 1730 2.5 32:W 2:L 0:D 19:L 28:W
17 Zeggelaar, M 144013 1738 1792 2.5 3:L 25:W 20:W 8:L 15:D
18 Raman, S 148420 1736 2.5 8:D 11:L 29:W 26:W 14:L
19 Louise, S 145256 1710 2.5 4:L 31:W 23:D 16:W 7:L
20 Sequillion, A 123727 1860 1477 2.5 31:W 4:L 17:L 22:D 30:W
21 Brodmann, D 111306 1835 1450 2.5 9:L 30:W 8:L 25:W 13:D
22 Wang, Y 147881 1823 1404 2.5 2:L 28:W 11:L 20:D 31:W
23 Daniluk, J 105606 1974 1830 2.5 13:L 0:D 19:D 28:D 29:W
24 Robertson, T SK 111334 1684 2 11:W 0:D 10:L 12:L 27:D
25 Swiecicki, B 101111 1523 1652 2 10:L 17:L 0:W 21:L 34:W
26 Tam, E 111298 2019 1825 1.5 30:W 7:L 0:D 18:L 5:L
27 Razzaq, A 148100 1799 1844 1.5 1:L 33:W 5:L 30:L 24:D
28 Janzen, T SK 144561 1574 1.5 15:L 22:L 34:W 23:D 16:L
29 Dunne, E 140419 1533 1531 1.5 6:L 0:D 18:L 33:W 23:L
30 Viminitz, P 110246 1622 1676 1.5 26:L 21:L 0:D 27:W 20:L
31 Shi, D 145882 1453 1402 1.5 20:L 19:L 0:D 34:W 22:L
32 Ahlquist, G 109727 1562 1567 1 16:L 12:L 33:W 15:L 0:
33 Bist, K MB 104604 1563 1 5:L 27:L 32:L 29:L 0:W
34 Todd, A 125516 1250 .5 7:L 0:D 28:L 31:L 25:L

Juraj Pivovarov

PS. Unclaimed prizes for Bob Macfie, Bronislaw Swiecicki, and Shanker Raman and Samer Louise were left with Tony Ficzere. I accidentally paid
Mike Zeggelaar $30 for a two way tie, instead of $20 for the actual
3 way tie. I hope you guys can work it out.

Tony Ficzere was kind enough to take over the submission of the event
and the submission of the numerous memberships to the CFC.

And thanks to Greg Huber for the two rides home!

Chess Lecture on Friday Nov 21

Hello everybody,

This is to inform you that starting this month of November we are
going to have a free chess lecture at the club every third Friday of
each month.

The first lecture, hosted on Friday, November 21st at 7.00 p.m., will
be given by:

Paul Usselman on the subject: "Why you should study the classical games"

This is a wonderful chance for Juniors to take advantage of this
opportunity as well!

We'll be looking forward to seeing you at this event.

Thanks Paul for volunteering! ;)

***
Stephan Vasilev

P.S.: Regarding our December lecture, it will be on Friday, Dec. 19
and Eric Hansen, the current Alberta Champion, will be our host!! Wo-Hoo!

FCO R5 Pairings

No Name                          Rtg  Total  Result   Name               Rtg  Total

 1 Roy AB Yearwood               2131 [2.5]     :     Stephan AB Vasilev 2070 [4]  
 2 Jim AB Daniluk                2024 [2.5]     :     Brian AB Miller    1848 [3]  
 3 Adam AB Harris                1806 [2.5]     :     Artur AB Wojtas    1843 [2.5]
 4 Erik AB Tam                   1979 [2]       :     Yuekai AB Wang     1760 [2]  
 5 Bob AB Macfie                 1758 [2]       :     Walter AB Watson   1900 [2]  
 6 Regina-Veronicka AB Kalaydina 1565 [2]       :     Arthur AB Milne    1788 [2]  
 7 Elmer AB Pasadilla            1871 [1.5]     :     Bill AB Bentley    1867 [1.5]
 8 Dr. Ronald AB Hinds           1899 [1]       :     Vladimir AB Lapiy  1737 [1.5]
 9 Mark AB Cole                  1375 [1]       :     Eoin AB Dunne      1523 [.5] 

FCO R4 Results

No Name               Rtg  Total  Result   Name                          Rtg  Total

 1 Stephan AB Vasilev 2070 [3]      1:0    Jim AB Daniluk                2024 [2.5]
 2 Artur AB Wojtas    1843 [2]      ½:½    Roy AB Yearwood               2131 [2]  
 3 Yuekai AB Wang     1760 [2]      0:1    Brian AB Miller               1848 [2]  
 4 Arthur AB Milne    1788 [1.5]    ½:½    Adam AB Harris                1806 [2]  
 5 Walter AB Watson   1900 [1.5]    ½:½    Erik AB Tam                   1979 [1.5]
 6 Vladimir AB Lapiy  1737 [1.5]    0:1    Regina-Veronicka AB Kalaydina 1565 [1]  
 7 Mark AB Cole       1375 [1]      0:1    Bob AB Macfie                 1758 [1]  
 8 Bill AB Bentley    1867 [1]      ½:½    Dr. Ronald AB Hinds           1899 [.5] 
 9 Eoin AB Dunne      1523 [.5]     0:1    Elmer AB Pasadilla            1871 [.5] 

FCO Round 4 Pairings

No Name               Rtg  Total  Result   Name                          Rtg  Total

 1 Stephan Vasilev 2070 [3]       :     Jim Daniluk                2024 [2.5]
 2 Artur Wojtas    1843 [2]       :     Roy Yearwood               2131 [2]  
 3 Yuekai Wang     1760 [2]       :     Brian Miller               1848 [2]  
 4 Arthur Milne    1788 [1.5]     :     Adam Harris                1806 [2]  
 5 Walter Watson   1900 [1.5]     :     Erik Tam                   1979 [1.5]
 6 Vladimir Lapiy  1737 [1.5]     :     Regina-Veronicka Kalaydina 1565 [1]  
 7 Mark Cole       1375 [1]       :     Bob Macfie                 1758 [1]  
 8 Bill Bentley    1867 [1]       :     Dr. Ronald Hinds           1899 [.5] 
 9 Eoin Dunne      1523 [.5]      :     Elmer Pasadilla            1871 [.5] 

FCO Round 3 Results

No Name                Rtg  Total  Result   Name                          Rtg  Total

 1 Brian Miller     1848 [2]      0:1    Stephan Vasilev            2070 [2]  
 2 Jim Daniluk      2024 [1.5]    1:0    Walter Watson              1900 [1.5]
 3 Roy Yearwood     2131 [1]      1:0    Arthur Milne               1788 [1.5]
 4 Yuekai Wang      1760 [1]      1:0    Bill Bentley               1867 [1]  
 5 Artur Wojtas     1843 [1]      1:0    Regina-Veronicka Kalaydina 1565 [1]  
 6 Adam Harris      1806 [1]      1:0    Mark Cole                  1375 [1]  
 7 Bob Macfie       1758 [1]      0:1    Vladimir Lapiy             1737 [.5] 
 8 Erik Tam         1979 [.5]     1:0    Eoin Dunne                 1523 [.5] 
 9 Dr. Ronald Hinds 1899 [0]      ½:½    Elmer Pasadilla            1871 [0]  

FCO Round 3 Pairings

No Name                Rtg  Total  Result   Name                          Rtg  Total

 1 Brian AB Miller     1848 [2]       :     Stephan AB Vasilev            2070 [2]  
 2 Jim AB Daniluk      2024 [1.5]     :     Walter AB Watson              1900 [1.5]
 3 Roy AB Yearwood     2131 [1]       :     Arthur AB Milne               1788 [1.5]
 4 Yuekai AB Wang      1760 [1]       :     Bill AB Bentley               1867 [1]  
 5 Artur AB Wojtas     1843 [1]       :     Regina-Veronicka AB Kalaydina 1565 [1]  
 6 Adam AB Harris      1806 [1]       :     Mark AB Cole                  1375 [1]  
 7 Bob AB Macfie       1758 [1]       :     Vladimir AB Lapiy             1737 [.5] 
 8 Erik AB Tam         1979 [.5]      :     Eoin AB Dunne                 1523 [.5] 
 9 Dr. Ronald AB Hinds 1899 [0]       :     Elmer AB Pasadilla            1871 [0]  

Results in round 2

No Name                Rtg  Total  Result   Name              Rtg  Total

 1 Stephan AB Vasilev  2070 [1]      1:0    Yuekai AB Wang    1760 [1]  
 2 Brian AB Miller     1848 [1]      1:0    Bob AB Macfie     1758 [1]  
 3 Eoin AB Dunne       1523 [.5]     0:1    Jim AB Daniluk    2024 [.5] 
 4 Walter AB Watson    1900 [.5]     1:0    Vladimir AB Lapiy 1737 [.5] 
 5 Bill AB Bentley     1867 [.5]     ½:½    Adam AB Harris    1806 [.5] 
 6 Arthur AB Milne     1788 [.5]     1:0    Erik AB Tam       1979 [.5] 
 7 Elmer AB Pasadilla  1871 [0]      0:1    Roy AB Yearwood   2131 [0]  
 8 Dr. Ronald AB Hinds 1899 [0]      0:1    Artur AB Wojtas   1843 [0]  

Fall Class Open, Round 1 results

No Name          Rtg  Total    Result   Name           Rtg  Total

 1 Roy Yearwood    2131 [0]      0:1    Brian Miller     1848 [0]
 2 Artur Wojtas    1843 [0]      0:1    Stephan Vasilev  2070 [0]
 3 Jim Daniluk     2024 [0]      ½:½    Arthur Milne     1788 [0]
 4 Yuekai Wang     1760 [0]      1:0    Dr. Ronald Hinds 1899 [0]
 5 Elmer Pasadilla 1871 [0]      0:1    Bob Macfie       1758 [0]
 6 Vladimir Lapiy  1737 [0]      ½:½    Bill Bentley     1867 [0]
 7 Walter Watson   1900 [0]      ½:½    BYE
 8 Eoin Dunne      1523 [0]      ½:½    BYE

We have approximately 14 players in the tournament so far and are expecting some latecomers next week.

I won't post the pairings for round 2 since the pairings will likely change but I will do so for rounds 3, 4 and 5.

The average rating for this touranment is 1900ish, so it's a great tournament to play against some higher rated opponents before the Alberta Open and the general flurry of chess activity in September. Medicine Hat Open, etc.

Hope to see many more of you out for round 2. Just show up, and I'll mix you in to the tourney with a 1/2 pt bye. Thank you to Walter for taking a bye as we had an odd number in round 1.

Boik 5-0 in Fischer Random

Andrew Boik was unstoppable in the first ever Fischer Random tournament at the Calgary Chess Club. 22 players competed, including some very strong masters like AB Champion Eric Hansen, along with Daniel Kazmaier, and Roy Yearwood.

What was his secret?

He said he tried to transpose into something familiar as soon as possible. Also, if he had a rook on the e or d file, that was usually his opening pawn move. Another tip: play strong moves throughout! He also recommends having a few warm up fischer random blitz games, preferrably against a weaker player, to build up your confidence and get the rules straight for castling again.

Seriously, everyone loved it and we all got to play some interesting positions.

The young kids did excellent, including Yuekai with 3.5, Diwen with 3.0, and Tony Cai with 2.0. Excellent job. Yuekai didn't even have a lost, he was given a 0.5 pt bye for missing the first two rounds and then won all three games! Some players dropped out for the last 3 rounds due to other commitments, while many newcomers joined in.

See you next week for the speed chess tournament.

No Name             Feder Rtg  Loc  Total  1    2    3    4    5  

1  Boik, Andrew           2184 1760 5     14:W 19:W 11:W  6:W  5:W
2  Hansen, Eric           2347 1855 3.5    0:   0:   4:D 11:W  6:D
3  Wang, Yuekai                1339 3.5    0:   0:  12:W 16:W  9:W
4  Yearwood, Roy          2158 1930 3.5   12:D  7:W  2:D  9:D 10:W
5  Shi, Diwen             1395 1306 3      9:L 22:W  7:W  8:W  1:L
6  Kazmaier, Daniel       2236 2029 3      0:   0:   8:W  1:L  2:D
7  Lapiy, Vladimir        1759 1452 3     20:W  4:L  5:L 13:W 17:W
8  Miller, Brian          1869 1646 3     13:W 10:W  6:L  5:L 11:W
9  Pivovarov, Juraj       1976 1671 2.5    5:W 11:L 14:W  4:D  3:L
10 Watson, Walter         1916 1700 2     15:W  8:L  0:D 14:D  4:L
11 Milne, Arthur          1805 1633 2     22:W  9:W  1:L  2:L  8:L
12 Vasilev, Stephan       2118 1636 2      4:D 20:L  3:L 18:W 14:D
13 Wood, Deweese               1071 2      8:L 15:L 21:W  7:L 16:W
14 Cai, Tony              1683 1445 2      1:L 21:W  9:L 10:D 12:D
15 Ong, Simon             1560 1373 2     10:L 13:W 18:W  0:   0: 
16 Snow, Donald           1300 1300 1.5    0:   0:  17:W  3:L 13:L
17 Halwa, Justin          1300 1300 1.5    0:   0:  16:L 21:W  7:L
18 Bowman, Nathan         1300 1300 1      0:   0:  15:L 12:L 21:D
19 Harris, Stephen        1984 1650 1     21:W  1:L  0:   0:   0: 
20 Bentley, Bill          1867 1771 1      7:L 12:W  0:   0:   0: 
21 Cole, Mark             1375 1302 .5    19:L 14:L 13:L 17:L 18:D
22 Daniluk, Jim           2001 1843 0     11:L  5:L  0:   0:   0: 

Fischer Random a big hit

This was the first time ever that the Calgary Chess Club hosted a Fischer Random Chess event and it was a real hit. I think players really enjoyed playing all the strange positions. Positional players were stuck in attacking games, and tractical players had to play positional ones. Almost everyone was out of the comfort level at some point in the evening.

We had 16 players turn out and the only player I remember at 2.0 is Art Milne. He beat Jim Daniluk and then yours truly with almost the full time remaining on his clock. He handled every position like it he'd known it for years.

Please come back next week for 3 full rounds, and if you missed it, come by a little before 7:00 and I'd be happy to re-explain it to you and deal you in. Start time is 7:00pm. Keep in mind there is no fee and there are no rating points at stake. Come down, laugh, enjoy yourself, and rediscover the fun of chess.

Juraj

TD Workshop on Swiss Perfect

Today we had a workshop on using Swiss Perfect, a windows pairing program for chess tournaments.

It went very well, and almost all of the six participants received hands-on experience with the program. We covered some of the difficult things such as importing ratings data from the CFC website, as well as handling bye requests, forced byes, and late entrants and withdrawals. The software ran very smoothly and I think everyone got something out of it.

Thanks to all who attended: Walter Watson, Jim Daniluk, Mark Cole, Stephan Vasilev, Bob Macfie, and Simon Ong. If you're at the club, and have trouble with Swiss Perfect, please ask one of these gentlemen for assistance.

I really appreciate Mark Cole giving me a ride to and from the workshop. We noticed at the last minute that we didn't have the projector and Mark was kind enough to drive home and pick it up. He really saved the day.

Juraj Pivovarov

New Blog for Calgary Chess Club

Managing the news articles for the Calgary Chess Club has been a difficult task.

- It used to be done on the ACA website www.albertachess.org For various reasons, the new ACA website has not been as easy to work with as the old one.
- On the www.calgarychess.com website, it's hard to update and we haven't been keeping an archive of older messages.
- On http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/calgarychess, we've had complaints that you need a yahoo id, and on top of that there are very invasive ads.

A blog seems to solve many of these issues. It's very easy for the Chess Club Exec to keep it updated and is searchable and keeps an archive of older posts. And we can even add photos.

What are our plans for the blog?

The blog will be updated by club executives to keep the membership in the know on Calgary specific chess news. This includes tournament details, notifications of meetings, and general news. (the tournament schedule will still be available on the ACA website as well)

What are our plans for the other sites?

We will still try and keep our tournament schedule on the ACA website. The www.calgarychess.com website will mainly provide our location, hours and links to other sites. And finally, the yahoo groups site is still useful as a newsgroup for people to chat, coordinate rides to out of town events, and post games etc.

Welcome to the new Calgary Chess Club blog.

Welcome

Welcome to the Calgary Chess Club Blog.