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