Calgary Chess Club

Update to Alberta Junior Chess Championship

2011-10-30T12:27:00.002-06:00

The Alberta Junior Chess Championship 2011 will be held at Calgary Chess Club on November 5-6. We will have three sections: (1) Championship (2) Reserves and (3) Girls. The Championship section is open to all Alberta juniors regardless of ratings. Winner from this section will recieve ACA sponsorship to the Canadian Junior Chess Championship which will be held in Calgary on Jan 5-8, 2012. The Reserves is open to any Alberta juniors with 1400 CFC rating or below.

Both the Championship and Reserves will be 5 rounds swiss (the girl section will probably be round robin). Time control is Game in 90 minutes + 30 seconds per move.

The deadline to enter this tournament will be on November 1st at 6 P.M. You can pre-register by email to T.D/organizer Simon Ong (simong89 at gmail dot com).

Pre-registered list (players are arranged in no particular order):
1. NM Richard Wang
2. David Zhang
3. David Miller
4. Nicka Kalaydina
5. Tony Cai
6. Krish Singh
7. YueKai Wang
8. Diwen Shi
9. Raymond Ong
10. Jeff Anthony De Guzman
11. Brady Jahraus
12. Nicholas Lee
13. Chenxi Zhao
14. Mark Ting
15. David Yao
16. Zeling Li
17. John Vaganov
18. Derek Zhang
19. Makar Chenetsov
20. Seth Lalla
21. Xuyuan Zhang
22. Kaixin Wang
23. Mickail Hendi
24. Ian Zhao
25. Raphael Libre
26. Lenard Grossmann
27. Daniel Kostek
28. Kaining Lin
29. Chen Wu
30. Wayne Babiuk
31. Zehan Li
32. Rachael Gagne
33. Hope Gagne
34. Jyaree (Chantel) Bustos
35. Jane Wang

All pre-registered players must sign-in from 9:00 a.m. to 9:40 a.m (the latest) at the Calgary Chess Club.

2011 Alberta Junior Championship & Reserves

2011-10-08T10:43:00.002-06:00

All participants must pre-registered by November 1st @ 6 P.M. You may pay your entry fees on site.

The Alberta Junior Championship and Reserve 2011 will be held at Calgary Chess Club on November 5-6, 2011.

Both sections will be 5 rounds swiss. The winner of the "Championship" section will recieve ACA sponsorship to the next Canadian Junior Chess Championship. Cash prizes and/or trophies will be available for both sections.

Time control is Game in 90 minutes + 30 second increments per move. The round times will be 10:00am / 2:30pm / 6:30pm on Saturday and 9:30am / ASAP on Sunday (may change to give time to player to get lunch and dinner).

All byes must be requested before round 1 (with last 2 rounds counting as 0 point bye).

The full details for this tournament can be found on the following website:
https://sites.google.com/site/2011albertajunior/

Sponsors:
Alberta Chess Association
Calgary Chess Club
Calgary Junior Chess Club

Calgary Youth Chess Championship Report

2011-01-02T15:37:00.002-07:00

Calgary Youth Chess Championship Report- Organizers Roy Yearwood T.D Simon Ong

On January 2nd, the 3rd annual Calgary Youth Chess Championship took place at the Calgary Chess Club. There were a total of 17 players participating in the tournament. They were grouped into sections where they battled against players their own age. Winner of each age section will be awarded a medallion, an official Calgary YCC T-shirt, and funding to play at the Alberta Youth Chess Championship. Funding is provided by the Calgary Chess Club.

There were two age sections with one player: Under 8 and Under 18. Even though both of these players won the tournament by default, they played against relatively strong oppositions and performed very well. The Under 8 and Under 18 champions were Ian Zhao and Raymond Ong, respectively. Ian managed to score 2/3 against U10 players, whereas Raymond scored 3/3 against U16 players.

There were 3 players competing in the Under 10 section. The overall winner was John Vaganov, a new player from Russia. John scored flawlessly. The other two players were Albert Lambino and Jonas Alcantara who scored 0/2 and 1/2, respectively.

Winners of the other sections were Diwen Shi (Under 12 Champion), Chenxi Zhao (Under 14 Champion), and Yuekai Wang (Under 16 Champion).

Thanks to all participants for playing the first Calgary tournament of the New Year and congratulation to all the section winners and good luck in Edmonton.

There will be regular chess lesson for youth at the Calgary Chess Club starting January 14th. See Calgary chess club website for details.

Annotations done by NM Roy Yearwood.

YueKai Wang- Tony Cai

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 This is the Shevesnikov variation of the Sicilian. It features the backward pawn on the d-file and the question of whether black will have enough counter-play to compensate for this weakness. 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.Qd2 Better is Bd3 or c3. 11...Bg5 Diagram

12.Ne3 0–0 13.0–0–0 This is an aggressive plan for white. 13...Qb6 14.h4 Bh6 15.Be2 Be6 16.g4 Bf4 17.Kb1 Na5 18.c3 Rfd8 19.Bf3 Black has comfortable position because of white's inaccuracy on move 11. 19...Nc4 20.Naxc4 Bxc4 21.Nxc4 bxc4 22.Qc2 a5 23.Rdg1 Rdb8 24.g5 Better is a4. 24...Rb7 25.Ka1 a4 26.a3 Rab8 27.Rb1 Diagram
Unfortuately, black lost on time. After Qc5 with the idea of Rb3, black has small but persistant initiative. I guess you have to play theoretical position quickly to avoid time pressure. 1-0

Zeling Li- Nicholas Lee

1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Bc4 Nb6 5.Bxf7+?? This is a terrible error. White should know better. If you going to play theoretical openings, you should know what to do. 5...Kxf7 6.Qf3+ Ke8 7.Nh3 Nc6 8.e6 dxe6 9.Ng5 Qd5 10.Qf7+ Kd8 11.0–0?? Qxg5 12.d4 Qf6 13.Qh5 cxd4 14.Bg5 White tries to play like Tal but does not know enough about the principles required to play in this manner. 14...Qg6 15.Qxg6 hxg6 0–1

Stanley Wang-Raymond Ong

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nc3 c6 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Bg5 Bd6 7.h3 0–0 8.Bd3 Better is Re8. 8...Nbd7 9.0–0 Qc7 10.Re1 h6 11.Bh4 g5 12.Bg3 Bxg3 13.fxg3 Qxg3 While black has won a pawn, he has lost some control of his kingside's light squares and control the b1–h7 diagonal. White must act quickly as the pawn plus will soon tell. 14.Re2 Nh5 Better would have been 14. Ne2 in order to transfer the knight to the kingside. Also, it makes way for the pawn to go to c4 for some initiative in the center. 15.Qe1!? Qxe1+ 16.Raxe1 Nf4 17.Re3 Nxd3 18.Rxd3 Nf6 19.Rde3 Better might be Be6 closing e-file. One of the way to win when you're up material is to shut down all of your opponent's counter-play. 19...Rb8 20.Na4 Ne4 This is an easy position for black to play. He can make different mis-steps, but because of his material superiority and pawn plus and solid position, white finds it very hard to make an impression in order to gain counter-play. 21.Ne5 f6 22.Nd3 Bd7 23.Nac5 Bf5 24.Nxe4 Bxe4 25.c3 Bxd3 26.Rxd3 Rfe8 27.Rde3 Kf7 28.g4 Rxe3 29.Rxe3 Re8 30.Rxe8 Kxe8 31.Kf2 Ke7 32.Ke3 Ke6 33.b4 b6 34.a4 a5 35.bxa5 bxa5 36.Kf3 f5 37.gxf5+ Kxf5 0–1

Diwen Shi-Nicholas Lee

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 This is the Torre attack. This is an excellent opening for white. The former Alberta Champion for youth, Richard Wang, make this a standard part of his opening theory. This opening poses some difficult problems for juniors. 3...c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 Be7 6.e4 b6 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.0–0 0–0 9.Re1 Rc8 10.Bf1 d5 11.h3 cxd4 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 Better is e5 according to Diwen Shi. 13.cxd4 Nxd4 14.e5 Nxf3+ 15.Qxf3 Bg5 16.Nb3 Qd7 17.Bd3 Rc7 18.h4 Be7 Nicholas is outplaying Diwen quite easily thus far. 19.Nd4 f6 20.Qh5 g6? Better is f5. g6 gives white at least a draw, but of course, he wants more. 21.Bxg6 hxg6 22.Qxg6+ Kh8 23.Qh6+ Kg8 24.Re3 Bc5 25.Rg3+ Kf7 An unfortuate turn of events for black. Unfortuately, white's growing inititative starting move 19 has resulted in the loss of a queen. Oh well, sometimes an accident will happen. 26.Rg7+ Ke8 27.Rxd7 Kxd7 28.exf6 e5 White makes good use of the overloaded bishop on c5 to advance his kingside pawns. 29.Nb3 Bd6 30.Qh7+ Ke6 31.Nd4+ exd4 32.Re1+ Be5 33.Qxc7 1–0

2010-11-13T16:31:00.003-07:00

Thanks to all the particpants who played in our November 13th event. While many of the games were of uneven quality there were a few that had some interesting moments. This game from round 4 for example. White:Yaroslav Babich Black:Chenxi Zhao

1e4 e5 2Nf3 Nc6 3Bc4 Nf6 Black offers up the 2kts defence. White takes up the challenge and plays the fried liver attack. 4Ng5 d5 5exd5 Na5 6Bb5+Bd7 Black prefers not to enter the complications that would ensue after 6...c6 whether this because of a knowledge of the current state of theory or not is unclear. 7a4 this is weak soft etc. better is 7Qe2 when White makes an attempt to hold onto his pawn plus. 7...Nxd5 8d3 Be7 9Qf3 An interesting moment White defends by counterattacking against the f7 and d5 squares sharp tactics indeed. 9...Nf6 Black blocks the f7 attack while at the same time moving his attacked d5 kt. 10 Bd2 Nc6 11Bc4 0-0 120-0 h6 13Ne4 Nxe4 14Qxe4 Bf6 15Nc3 this is ?! according to Babich perhaps 15c3 with an eventual d4 after some preperation to follow is a better try. 15...Nd4 16Rfc1 Bc6 17Bd5 Ne2+!? Black plays a deflecting forcing chess move. 18Qxe2 Bxd5 19Nxd5 Qxd5 20Qg4 Rfe8!?Black overlooks White's Bxh6 threat and develops his own initiative. 21Re1!? White in his turn does not ignore his responsibility towards the centre. If 21Bxh6 it's possible that the response 21...e4 might cause some problems as both ...exd3 and ...Bxb2 are threatened and if in response to 21...e4 22 dxe4 is played then a rook capture on e4 presents some trouble for the White Queen and bishop. 21...Qd4 Black now attends to the Bxh6 threat. 22Qxd4 exd4 23Bf4 c6 24 g3 Rad8 Babich thought that 24...g5 would have presented more trouble for White. 25Bc7 Rc8 26Ba5 Kf8 27Kg2 Re5 28Bb4+ c5 29Ba3? this is too decentralizing better 29Bd2. 29...b6 30Rxe5 Bxe5 31Re1 Bf6 32Re4 Re8 33Kf3 Be5 34Kg4 White's moves give the impression of someone who is playing to prey on his opponents time pressure a poor strategy 34...g6 35Kf3 Kg7 36Ke2 f5 for wich he's properly punished. 37Rxe5 Rxe5+ 38Kf3 Re8

And soon 0-1. An interesting game. The Calgary Junior Chess Club's next event is on December 4th for 1 day starting at 9:00 am full details can be found at the Alberta Chess Association's website http://www.albertachess.org/. Roy Yearwood

University Blitz Tournament

2010-03-02T13:47:00.005-07:00

Adie Todd
UofC President
T.D./Organizer of U of C Blitz Tourney

Hello All,

The president of University of Calgary, Adie Todd, ran another successful blitz tournament on February 27th. It was held at the Rozsa Centre at the U of C. We had 28 players showed up including three masters: Victor Kaminski, Dan Kazmaier, and Alex Yam. The format of the blitz tournament was similar to the CCC's blitz tournament: double round robin. However, clock move was used instead of touch move to accomodate beginner players.

Alex Yam, a well-known CCC's attacking player, won the event giving 1.5 points to Dan Kazmaier who took second with 14/16. Victor Kaminski took 3rd with 13.5/16.

Other prizes were given to the following individuals:
Best Junior: YueKai Wang 10/16
2nd Best Junior: Andre Angelo Tolentino 8/16

Under 1600
1st: Curtis Goforth 9.5/16
2nd: Michael Wanless 8.0/16

Unrated
1st: Danial Cormeau 8.5/16

Complete crosstable can be found belew:
Standings. Name ID Rtng Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Tot
1st place
Alex Yam 138357 2222 $6 $13 $9 $8 $3 D2 $7 $4 14.5

2nd place
Daniel Kazmaier 131382 2268 $11 $5 $4 D3 $9 #1 $13 $7 14.0

3rd place
Victor Kaminski 127461 2315 $14 $7 $8 #2 L1 $4 $5 $13 13.5

4th place
Yuekai Wang 147881 1929 $17 $22 L2 $13 $5 L3 $8 L1 10.0

5th-6th place
Steven Blahitka 101574 1602 $23 L2 $20 $6 L4 $11 L3 #10 9.5
Curtis Goforth 149035 904 L1 $27 $28 L5 W20 W12 $21 #11 9.5

7th place
Vassily Vins 146917 1819 $19 L3 W12 $15 $10 $9 L1 L2 9.0

8th-11 place
Avelino Angelo Tolentino 149964 1940 $16 $28 L3 L1 #12 $18 L4 W9 8.5
Simon Ong 144016 1828 $24 $10 L1 $22 L2 L7 #12 W8 8.5
Michael Wanless 149077 1460 $21 L9 $23 W12 L7 $24 W14 D5 8.5
Daniel Cormeau 1400 L2 $19 L13 $23 $21 L5 $20 D6 8.5

12th-17th place
Adie Todd 125156 1692 W20 $15 W7 W10 D8 W6 D9 W16 8.0
Rogelio Lozano 1500 $27 L1 $11 L4 $17 $20 L2 L3 8.0
Deweese Wood 145476 1412 L3 L20 $24 W19 W15 $22 W10 W17 8.0
Devin Davis 1300 B--- L12 $25 L7 W14 L21 $27 $22 8.0
Andre Angelo Tolentino 149031 827 L8 $26 L22 L21 $27 W17 $18 W12 8.0
Nicholas Lee 150588 815 L4 W25 %21 $26 L13 W16 $19 W14 8.0

18th place
Clive Robertson unr. H--- H--- H--- H--- #22 L8 L16 B--- 7.5

19th-21st place
Lee Ma 148096 668 L7 L11 B--- W14 L24 $23 L17 $26 7.0
Patrick Angelo Tolentino 149030 667 W12 $14 L5 $28 W6 L13 L11 W21 7.0
Blake McConville unr. L10 W24 %17 $16 L11 $15 L6 W20 7.0

22nd-23rd place
Eric Limacher 149080 1468 $25 L4 $16 L9 D18 L14 $26 L15 6.5
Jackson Prather 149419 644 L5 B--- L10 L11 #26 L19 W25 $27 6.5

24th-25th place
Bill Xu 149405 738 L9 W21 L14 $25 $19 L10 U--- U--- 5.0
Steven Cawdry unr. L22 W17 L15 L24 B--- W27 W23 U--- 5.0

26th place
Eric Beaudoin unr. L28 L16 $27 L17 D23 B--- L22 L19 4.5

27th place
Aneesha D'Cruz unr. L13 L6 L26 B--- L16 W25 L15 L23 3.0

28th place
Robert Goforth 1500 $26 L8 L6 L20 U--- U--- U--- U--- 2.0

WE WOULD LIKE TO INVITE ALL PLAYERS TO OUR NEXT BLITZ TOURNAMENT AT THE U OF C ON MARCH 27th.

PLEASE EMAIL ADIE TODD AT chess@ucalgary.ca NOW!!

TD/Organizer: Adie Todd; Report: Simon Ong

UBOA Open 2010 Pre-Registered List

2010-01-08T23:17:00.002-07:00

Hello all,

The University Battle of Alberta Open 2010 will start next Saturday, January16th. Details of this tournament is posted on the ACA, CJCC, and CCC Blog website.

As of January 8th, we have more than 40 players signed up for the tournament. Afriendly reminder that this tournament will be OPEN to everybody!! If youhaven't pre-register for this tournament, then please send me an email at simong89 @ gmail . com

We are giving $5 discount to FIDE master and $10 discount to juniors. So, theentry fee for these individuals will be $20 and $15, respectively. As foreverybody who are not university students/staffs will be $25.

For update pre-register list, please check the following website:http://sites.google.com/site/calgaryjuniorchessclub/tournament-schedule-3/university-battle-of-alberta

Thanks. Hope to see you there.
Simon Ong

University Battle of Alberta Open 2009 Pictures

2009-12-12T11:45:00.013-07:00

JOIN THE UNIVERSITY BATTLE OF ALBERTA 2010!!

Take a look of these pictures. Hopefully after looking at these pictures you will pre-register for this event!!
Pre-registration: Email simong89@gmail.com

2009 UBOA Open Set-Up. Please suggest on how we should set up the 2010 UBOA Open (something similar to national or international FIDE event). Let me know as I am running out of ideas...lol.

More than 35 players showed up. It does not matter if you are university students, professors, or staffs. Community members are welcome!!

Experts and masters playing in the 2009 UBOA Open.

Juniors are welcome to participate in this event.

I remembered a few juniors who took on university students and won their games.

Look forward to see upset victories from our juniors in the 2010 UBOA Open.

Overall winners of the event. FM Pechenkin and Expert Karmali.
Who will be the overall winner of the 2010 UBOA Open?

I guess I have to wait and see...can't wait though lol.

2009 UBOA Team Champion

lol...I wasn't in the picture even I am on the team :(

Too busy directing.

We went to Joey Tomato to celebrate the success of this tournament. You can see we have a great time playing in the 2009 UBOA Open with a thumb-up given by National Master Roy Yearwood. We are planning to do the same in the 2010 UBOA Open.

SO WHAT YOU ARE WAITING FOR...

RESERVE YOUR SPOT NOW!!

2nd Annual University Battle of Alberta Open

2009-12-12T11:31:00.004-07:00

2nd Annual University Battle of Alberta Open
CFC Rated & FIDE Rated
Saturday and Sunday, January 16-17th 2010
Calgary Chess Club, #274, 3359-27 Street N.E.
Club Phone: 403-264-9498
Tournament Director and Organizer: Simon Ong

Open to all University and College students, professors, and staffs. Community members are encouraged to participate in the tournament.

Format: 5 round swiss
Time Control: G/90 + 30 second increment
Registration: All teams (players) must sign-in by 9:30 a.m. at the Calgary Chess Club.
Round Times: Round 1@10 am, Round 2 @2:30 pm, Round 3 @ 7 pm
Round 4@ 10 am, Round 5@ASAP
Award Ceremony @ 4 pm (We might go Boston Pizza or Joey Tomato to celebrate the success of this tournament like last year)
All byes must be requested before round 1. Last round counts as 0 point bye. Byes does not count toward team's score.

CFC Membership is required. It can be purchased on site
Entry Fee:

$20/per university students, professors, and staff (with current CFC membership
$30/per non-university students, professors, and staff (with current CFC membership
$30/per university students, professors, and staff (who want to purchase one-tournament CFC membership)$20 goes to the CFC, $5 goes to the ACA,$5 goes to the prize fund
$51/per university students, professors, and staff (who want to purchase CFC membership) $41 goes to the CFC, $5 goes to the ACA,$5 goes to the prize fund

Prize:

(1) The results of the top 4 finishers of each university/college team will count toward the score to determine the winner of University Battle of Alberta. The winning team will obtain the trophy and will be displayed in their university/college for a year.

(2) The entry fee will be used as cash prize and will be awarded to individual who have the best performance. Ex. Overall 1st, 2nd, 3rd as well as U1700 1st, 2nd, 3rd, U1400 1st, 2nd, and Unrated 1st. Community members are eligible for cash prize!!

Team Captains: U of C: Adie Todd adrienem80@hotmail.com

U of L: Thomas Fox chess.club@uleth.ca

U of A: Katlan and Georgia chem_kat@hotmail.com, gdavies@ualberta.ca

Community Members: Contact the T.D. simong89@gmail.com

Team captains are responsible to send their list of players (especially the top 4 who will represent the team to determine who is the winner) to the tournament director (that would be me) by December 31st. The pre-register list will be posted on the ACA website and this facebook event page.

University Battle of Alberta Pre-registered and Maybe's List

2009-12-11T22:51:00.005-07:00

Hello all,

28 players pre-registered for this event..14 players said "maybe"..,.
Reserve your spot by email to Simon Ong (simong89 @ gmail . com)

Updated Pre-registered List as of December 11 @ 10 AM
1) Victor Kaminski (2315)
2) Dan Kazmaier (2257)
3) Roy Yearwood (2211)
4) Erik Tam (2038)
5) Aaron Sequillion (2011)
6) Simon Ong (1839)
7) Thomas Fox (1816)
8) Cashe Tyler (1761)
9) Nayef Daher (1734)
10) Greg Holmes (1662)
11) Slava Illyntskyy (1658)
12) Steven Blahitka (1633)
13) Josh Willie (1625)
14) Raymond Ong (1622)
15) Adie Todd (1596)
16) Ihor Kurylo (1576)
17) Shandy Booth (1548)
18) Katlan Irvine (1532)
19) Michael Wanless (1504)
20) Josh Weber (1186)
21) Ben Schmaltz (996)
22) Nikolas Macmillian (UNR)
23) Marc Bellemare (UNR)
24) Georgia Davies (UNR)
25) John Morrey (UNR)
26) Robert Goforth (UNR)
27) Jacob Smith (UNR)
28) Madhusudan Rao (UNR)

Maybe's Pre-registered List
**Either told me in person, email, or facebook**
1) FM Eric Hansen (2494)
2) FM Dale Haessel (2328)
3) David Zhang (2088)
4) Hafiz Karmali (2081)
5) Brad Willis (2053)
6) Jered Fokkema (1868)
7) Chase Cunningham (1792)
8) Micheal Sekuloff (1585)
9) Avelino Angelo Tolentino (1448)
10) Mark Ting (1342)
11) Thomas McIntyre (1274)
12) Chris Espina (UNR)
13) William Morris (UNR)
14) Wyatt Boudreau (UNR)

U of C's Top 4 Players
1) Victor Kaminski (2315)
2) Dan Kazmaier (2257)
3) Simon Ong (1839)
4) Steven Blahitka (1633)
Average Rating=2011

U of A's Top 4 Players
Maybe 1) Brad Willis (2053)
1) Nayef Daher (1734)
2) Katlan lrvine (1576)
3) Georgia Davies (UNR)
4) Nikolas Macmillian (UNR)
Average Rating=1655 (2 players)
1788 (if we include Mr. Willis on the team)

U of L's Top 4 Players
1) Thomas Fox (1816)
2) Cashe Tyler (1761)
3) Greg Holmes (1662)
4) Slava Illyntskyy (1658)
Average Rating=1724

NOTE:The name of the tournament is University Battle of Alberta but that does not mean it is restricted to University students/staffs/ and professors. I strongly encourage community members to participate in this tournament. The prize fund of this tournament is open to all players who participate in this tournament.

We have many strong community players (including Roy Yearwood, Stephan Vasilev, Hafiz Karmali) who participated last year. Last year crosstable can be found on the following link: http://www.chess.ca/xtableSQL.asp?TNum=200901055

We also encourage junior players to play in this event. Juniors who participated last year included David Zhang, Jan Lazo, Raymond Ong, Yuekai Wang, Diwen Shi, etc.

Details are posted on our facebook group
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=197706362614
(It will be posted on the ACA website soon!!)

Hope to see you in this event.

Calgary's Weekend Tournament: Experiences vs. Raising Stars

2009-12-09T21:41:00.003-07:00

Experiences vs. Raising Stars
Open to Juniors (21 yrs and under) and adults
Chess n 'Math and CFC

CFC membership required. It can be purchased on the site.

Format: 5 round swiss or round robin depending on the number of players
Time Control: 25 minutes
Registration: Sign in at the club 9:45 - 10: 00 am
Please pre-register by mailing me at quantum_mechanics123@hotmail.com

Entry Fee: $ 10 with membership
Prize: Cash Prize or Medallions
Round: Round 1: 10a.m-11a.m
Round 2: 11a.m-12a.m
Lunch: 12a.m-1p.m
Round 3: 1p.m-2p.m
Round 4: 2p.m - 3p.m
Round 5: 3p . m-4p.m

Note: Schedule may change depending on the situation

Entrants: So far our entrants are:

Juniors: Simon Ong, Tony Cai (maybe), Raymond Ong, Chengxi Zhao, Patrick Angelo Tolentino, Justin Prather, and Andre Angelo Tolentino
Seigneur: Roy Yearwood, Angelo Tolentino

The list will be refreshed in Yahoo! CCC group.

Tony Cai

Transfer

2009-11-07T17:56:00.001-07:00

Since I'm accepted now as a member in the Calgary Chess Club newsgroup, I'll be kibitzing there. It's in: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/calgarychess/
Check there for updates.

Round 2

2009-11-07T15:05:00.004-07:00

Round 2 has started. The first two boards of the live games in the website have started.

Zhang-Wang
A Sicilian Rossilimo. White plays Bb5 focusing on development and the forming of the pawn center duo, d4 and e4, by playing c3. Yuekai has played the system with Qc7 and Nf6 which is usually used if Nc3 and Bb5 is played so that Nd4 Nxd4 cxd4 hits the knight. White now has formed a pawn duo but is struck back with d5. Yuekai played the Nfd7 which seems inferior. I have double check since usually, Ne4 is played. f3 is impossible right now because of the rook at e1 and knight. White has a cramping pawn on e5 should be thinking of kingside attack with Bd3-b1, Qd3, etc.

Kalaydina-Virji
A Giuoco Pianissmo. The game has just started and it is not all that clear. Both sides have their chances.

I'll get back later. I have to go somewhere. Sorry guys! Check the blog later for further updates.

Alberta Junior Chess Championsip Round 1

2009-11-07T14:32:00.003-07:00

Hello all! This is Jan Lazo here. I'm currently in Toronto now which is why I'm not there right now. I've currently watching live games of the top 3 boards. I'm gonna do my best to kibitz and annotate some/all games since I'm somewhat busy this week and it's not school.

Shi-Zhang game was the first to finish. It was an English that turned into a hedgehog. After some inaccurate moves by Diwen Shi, David Zhang managed to equalize without much difficulty and soon got the iniative after a unsuccessful break (e4). David soon got an extra pawn through tactics. The position still had some drawing chances for White but drastically changed after misguided sac, 24. Nxb5. At first, it seems after axb5 Rc7, White regains the piece and pawn restoring material equality but after Nxf3+ gxf3 axb5, c7 is guarded. After a few moves, White resigned.

The second game to finish was Virji-Wang. After Nf6 played by Black threatening Nxe4, White played the move played more than a century ago, Nxc6. After some testing, it was shown to give Black equality cause of the center pawns. This capture is only done in the Sicilian Dragon. Since White gains time with ... bxc6 e5. Black equalized without difficulty and might actually had an advantage because of his center pawns and e1-a5 pin. Black captured a pawn on a2 and g2 to secure a pawn advantage. White was able to get back one of the pawns and actually had drawing chances because of the bishop pair and pawn structure. White, in my opinion, lost it after b4 trapping his bishop. Black used his pass pawn as a bait and attacked the king, soon leading to a mate. I have to admit that it was nice to see a mate occur. I don't know if White felt that Black deserved the priviledge of mating but I for one sure would...cause of Nxc6.

The last game of the live games to finish is Miller-Kalaydina. It was a Closed Sicilian with fianchettoed bishops as usual. The game was about equal up about move 10 but the undevelopment of the dark-squared bishop caused White some problems. h3 is usually played so that Be3 is possible without any harassment from the knights. The uncoordination of the rooks and bishops gave Black an iniative especially after e5. The knights came at d5 and f5 and totally controlled the key dark squares. Black forced a making of a backward pawn (d3) and piled up on the d-file. Simplification occured with after about every three moves exchange of pieces and Black won the ending without difficulty.

The second game has started and it seems I'm forced to go again (first the chess in the library program...now a thanksgiving celebration). Who knows what's next? Anyway, I wish all of the juniors that they fare well in this tournament. I hope you all best show your skills in the game of chess.

- Jan Edmund Lazo

Alberta Junior Championship and Reserve 2009

2009-10-24T08:36:00.001-06:00

The Alberta Junior Championship and Reserve 2009 will be held at Calgary Chess Club on November 7-8, 2009. It will be a 5 round open swiss or round robin (if we have low entries). The winner of the "Championship" section will recieve ACA sponsorship to the next Canadian Junior Chess Championship. The Calgary Junior Chess Club will purchase plaques and will be given to the winner and runner-ups of both sections. Cash prizes will be available for both sections. Time control is Game in 90 minutes + 30 second increments per move. The round times will be 10:00am / 2:30pm / 6:00pm on Saturday and 10:00am / 2:30pm on Sunday (may change to give time to player to get lunch and dinner). All byes must be requested before round 1 (with last round counting as 0 point bye).

The full details for this tournament can be found on the following website: http://www.albertachess.org/Alberta_Junior.html

You can still join by emailing simong89@yahoo. ca (Tournament Director is Simon Ong).

CHAMPIONSHIP SECTION (OPEN):
(1) YueKai Wang of Calgary (1808)
(2) David Miller of Grand Prairie (1627)
(3) Aaron Ting of Calgary (1329)

RESERVE SECTION (RESTRICTION: BELOW 1700 CFC):
(1) Raymond Ong of Calgary (1613)
(2) Naveed Virgi of Edmonton (1478)
(3) Yaroslav Babich of Calgary (1256)
(4) Artsiom Akhverdziyev of Calgary (1186)
(5) Kevin Zhao of Calgary (1110)
(6) Krishneel Singh of Calgary (1077)
(7) Chenxi Zhao of Calgary (929)
(8) Jackson Prather of Calgary (877)
(9) Bill Xu of Calgary (772)
(10) Ryan John Tebbutt of Calgary (608)
(11) Andre Angelo Tolentino of Calgary (587)
(12) Lee Ma of Calgary (589)
(13) Zeling Li of Calgary (531)
(14) Patrick Angelo Tolentino of Calgary (513)
(15) Derek Zhang of Calgary (474)
(16) Imran Virji of Edmonton (UNR)

Alberta Blitz Championship 2009

2009-10-21T19:29:00.004-06:00

Alberta Blitz Championship 2009
Date: Saturday, November 14th, 2009
Location: University of Calgary, Macewan Hall, Room Cassio A/B
Registration: 9:00 AM to 9:45 AM (Tournament finishes around 4:00 PM)
Time Control: 5 minutes
Entry Fee: 5$ for U of C Chess Club members; 10$ for other players
Prize Fund: 100% of entry fees
Contact and Pre-Registration: Adie Todd, chess@ucalgary.ca

Pre-registration list:
(1) Ben Schmaltz
(2) Nicholas Moloney
(3) John Morrey
(4) Michael Wanless
(5) Jacob Smith
(6) Chase Cunningham
(7) Dan Kazmaier
(8) Steven Blahitka
(9) Robert Gaforth
(10) Simon Ong
(11) Monica Sommerville
(12) Brett Collier

Click the following link for the map to the playing site: http://www.ucalgary.ca/map/detailed_map/mhflo002.htm

University of Calgary Simul

2009-09-27T20:42:00.002-06:00

Hello everybody,

I got a message from Adie saying:

"U of C will be hosting a simul on Thursday, October 1st. If there are any players from the CCC who would like to participate, it's open to everyone!

Players: Daniel Kazmaier and Nicholas Moloney
Date: Thursday, October 1st
Location: North Courtyard, Macewan Hall, University of Calgary
Time: Register to play at either 11:00 AM or 1:00 PM
Email chess@ucalgary.ca to register"

They will have the giant chess set there as well so sounds like a fun event. I will encourage everyone to go there and play, give it a try. Thanks!

Stephan V.

Match Day

2009-08-30T21:20:00.002-06:00

Tired of inflexible tournament conditions? Annoyed by players hiding behind computer programs online? Need a break from the anonymity of correspondence chess?

Here's your chance to play live and on your own terms.

Every Friday, starting on September 18th, the Calgary Chess Club will be open for Match Day. Reply to this post by clicking "Comments" to appear on the club's sign-up sheet, or respond to someone else's ad by the same means. Be sure to set your conditions:

* number of games

* rated or unrated (but please include a ranking for information purposes)

* time control (with or without clock)

* bounty or no (to be decided between the players)

* standard rules, chess at odds, chess 960, or even blindfold

* starting time (remember that club hours are 6-11 PM)

Online submissions for a particular date close at 6:00 PM on that evening. Walk-ins will be accepted at any time. The cost to you will be only $2 per evening.

Let the games begin!

Bob Macfie

Active Grand Prix #2

2009-08-26T00:37:00.004-06:00

Hi everybody,

20 players showed up for our Active Grand Prix #2. We added another section so we had 5 sections of 4 players in each.

(btw do you like this active format? do you like the Grand Prix idea? any input would be appreciated!)

We used CFC regular ratings in order to assign sections, but the event will CFC active rated! So don't worry, your active rating will change!

Here are the results for each section:

Section I

Eric Hansen 3 pts -> $30

Stephan Vasilev 1.5 pt -> $15

Brett Campbell 1 pt

Daniel Kazmaier 0.5 pt

Section II

David Zhang 2.5 pts -> $30

Martin Robichaud 2 pts -> $15

Hafiz Carmali 1 pt

Walter Watson 0.5 pt

Section III

Brian Miller 2 pts -> $22.5

Bill Bentley 2 pts -> $22.5

Tom McKay 1 pt

Art Milne 1 pt

Section IV

Vlad Constantinescu 3 pts -> $30

Joseph Mugodo 2 pts -> $15

Cris Kuczaj 1 pt

Simon Ong 0 pts

Section V

Raymond Ong 2 pts -> $22.50

Deweese Wood 2 pts -> $22.50

Guillaume Masclet 1 pt

David Crimmins 1 pt.

Each section also contributed $15 towards the final standings in the Grand Prix.

For the Grand Prix we will tally overall scores for all six active tournaments. All of them are CFC active rated and you must be a CFC member.

New faces for the Grand Prix were master Brett Campbell, expert David Zhang, veteran A class Cris Kuszaj, Joseph Mugodo from Hamilton(he is new to our club), veteran A Class Walter Watson, as well as the current two time Alberta Champ "The Hansenator". :)

Grand Prix #3 will be on October 6th, 2009 which is a bit long to wait because we have the 5 round Fall Open starting on September 1st. The Annual General Meeting is scheduled for the 15th of September so please attend.

Thanks for playing and see you on Friday!

From TD Roy Yearwood, report - Stephan Vasilev, and Simon Ong.

CJCC Back to School Open 2009

2009-08-22T17:38:00.001-06:00

Hi all,

CJCC's "Back to School Open" had a modest turnout of 15 players that were put in 3 sections of 5 players each. The players were required to record their moves, the "touch move rule" was in effect, and there were medals for the top 3 of each section. In the second and third sections playoffs were necessary in order to award the medals.

Section winners are as follows:

Section 1:

1st Yuekai Wang 4 pts.
2nd Vlad Constantinescu 3pts.
3rd Diwen Shi 2.5 pts.
4th Artyom Akverdiev 2.0 pts.
5th Kevin Zhao 1 pt.

Setion 2:

1st Stanley Wang 4.5 pts.
2nd Krishneel Singh 3.5 pts.
3rd Andre Tolentino 2.5 pts
4th Patrick Tolentino 1.5 pt.
5th Lee Ma 0.5 pt.

Section 3:

1st Chenxi Zhao 3.5pts(tiebreak winnner).
2nd Zeling Li 3.5pts.
3rd Bill Xu 2.5pts(tiebreak winner)
4th Anna Chaykovska 2.5pts
5th Mehtaab Gill 0.5 pt

Thanks all for playing!

We want to see you all of you at our next tournament, which is on September 26, 2009 at St. Vincent Elementary School 4525 - 49 St. NW. Please don't show up at the chess club for this event!!! For more info or if you have any question, please contact Angelo Tolentino at 403-680-4374 or post on this board. Please show up on time for the registration of this event - from 9:00am to 9:45am!

From TD Roy Yearwood

Positive Experiences at the Chinatown Street Festival

2009-08-17T19:39:00.004-06:00

Hello all,

Here is a brief report of the festival:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chinatown Street Festival: Calgary Chess Club

Chinatown Street Festival is one of the most popular festivals in Calgary. Itconsists of merchant booths and entertainmentslocated at 3rd Ave and 1st St SE. It usually attract 50,000 people from allparts of Calgary. Every year this annual festivalconsists of the same activities: 3 on 3 soccer, mini golf, and Chinese Chess.However, there was something different about the9th annual Chinatown Street Festival. There were two tables set up with sixchess boards and pieces under 10'x 10' tent. Nextto the tent was a giant chess board that was set up by Bob Macfie, AngeloTolentino, Roy Yearwood, Raymond Ong and myself. The giant chess pieces wereassembled by our junior club players including the Tolentino brothers and Bill Xu. Then, the youngest of the Tolentino brother, Khino ("young Fischer"), placedthe assembled pieces on the giant board and ready to start a game against anyvisitors.

Regardless of the chilly weather in the morning, more and more visitors gatheredaround the giant chess board observing the gamebetween Bob Macfie and challengers from the crowd. The games on the giant chessboard were not short, the challengers actually givingBob a hard time at some point of the game. Other than the giant chess board wasa hit, visitors came to the tables to play chess against our president, StephanVasilev, and our veteran player, Roy Yearwood. Throughout the day, StephanVasilev, Roy Yearwood, and BobMacfie talked with visitors and answered any questions about our club. As wellthey handed out ACA&CCC pamphlets and Alberta Chess Reports. I helped answered any questions regarding to our junior chess club and passed out the CJCC newschedules. Stephan helped sellchess sets to visitors. It was nice to see the cooperation of our CCCexecutives.

Otherthan our CCC executives, we have many juniors playing chess in the festivalincluding David Zhang, YueKai Wang, Tony Cai,Diwen Shi, Chenxi Zhao, Kevin Zhao, Lee Ma, Gordon Cheung and juniors which Ihad already mentioned earlier in the report. Our juniors were playing blitz and bughouse. Some of our younger juniors werechallenged by visitors. It was suprising to see how our juniors were victoriousagainst visitors who are many times their age. I remembered seeing the AlbertaGrade 1 champion, PatrickTolentino, checkmating a visitor who claimed that he has been playing chess for more than 10 years. Never underestimate our juniors.

Later on the day, we have Raman Shanker dropped by to play chess games. The onlygame I saw Raman played was against Gordon Cheung. Raman easily won the game. Thanks for coming, Raman.

Overall the promotion of our club in this festival was a great success. We hopethat the visitors we met in this festival willcome to our club in the near future. It was a very positive experience for ourCCC executives, CJCC juniors, and visitors. Itwould be great if the CCC board will consider running the same thing in the 10thChinatown Street Festival. If we are doing thesame thing in the future, I strongly encourage our CCC/CJCC players to come outbecause after the festival you will be left withwonderful memories which I cannot explain unless you experience yourself.Stephan managed to capture some of the highlights of this festival and kindlyposted on the Calgary Chess Club Facebook group:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/photo_search.phpoid=2837384436&view=all

(I'm not sure if one need a facebook account to see these pictures).Again, I want to say "thank you" to all who came to help out in promoting chessand/or play chess in this festival. Special thanks to Stephan Vasilev, RoyYearwood, Bob Macfie, and Stacy Liu (Chenxi's mom) for helping with the teardown.

P.S. It would be great to see our CCC executives and CJCC players who came to the festival and write their experiences.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simon Ong
Secretary, Calgary Chess Club

Chinatown Street Festival: Calgary Chess Club

2009-08-07T12:18:00.003-06:00

Hello Everybody,

After a huge success in promoting chess at the Inglewood Sunfest festival, the Calgary Chess Club has decided that we will do the same for the upcoming Chinatown Street Festival on August 15th. We would like to invite you to come down to this festival, play chess, and help promote our club. We will also bring our the giant chess set.

The festival opens to public at 10:00 am and will continue until 8:00 pm. If you come to the festival at around 11:30 am you will witness the Chinese traditional "lion dance". There are other activities in this festival including: table tennis, 3 on 3 soccer, mini golf, mahjong, and EVEN CHINESE CHESS.

If you would like to volunteer in helping promote our chess club in this festival, then please contact me at simong89@yahoo dot ca. The volunteer work isn't very hard; it can be a lot of fun.

Here are some of the volunteer works:
-Set up the boards/pieces before the start of the festival
-Clean up at the end of the festival
-Talk and answer any questions of visitors
-Pass out flyers/cards/ ACR to visitors
-and EVEN PLAY CHESS

Here are the list of volunteers that confirmed with me that they will be helping out:
1) Stephan Vasilev
2) Bob Macfie
3) Roy Yearwood
4) Angelo Tolentino
5) Patrick and Andre Tolentino
6) Tony Cai
7) Simon Ong
8) Zachary and Sebastian Farkas
9) Gwen Farkas

For more information about this festival, you may visit their website:
www.chinatowncalgary.com/ccma/

To see where our tent is set up in this festival, please visit the following website:
www.chinatowncalgary.com/ccma/L2/SiteMap-dt.html

We should be set up in tent #20 next to the Chinese Chess Club (tent #21).

Thanks for your time. Hope to see you there!!
Simon Ong
Secretary, Calgary Chess Club

Active Grand Prix #1

2009-08-04T23:19:00.002-06:00

Hi all,

here are the results for each section of our first active Grand Prix:

Section I

Daniel Kazmaier 3 pts. -> $30
Martin Robichaud 2 pts. -> $15
Stephan Vasilev 1 pt.
Ron Hinds 0 pts.

Section II

Tony McKeon 3 pts. -> $30
Brian Miller 2 pts. -> $15
Art Milne 1 pt.
Bill Bentley 0 pts.

Section III

Tom McKay 2 pts. -> $30
Simon Ong 1.5 pts -> $7.5
Vlad Lapiy 1.5 pts. -> $7.5
Bob Macfie 1 pt.

Section IV

Raymond Ong 2.5 pts -> $22.50
Vlad Constantinescu 2.5 pts. -> $22.50
Guillaume Masclet 1 pt.
Deweese Wood 0 pt.

Each section also contributed $15 towards the final standings in the Grand Prix. For the Grand Prix we will tally overall scores for all six active tournaments. All of them are CFC rated and you must be a CFC member. New members joining tonight were Vlad Constantinescu and Tony McKeon. Next Grand Prix will be on August 25th!

If you have any suggestions on how to improve this and future events, please write us a comment since these tournaments are for you!

Thanks for playing and see you next Tuesday for our Bughouse "experiment"! :)

TD Roy Yearwood

Sicilian Active - Final Standings

2009-07-08T00:56:00.002-06:00

Hello all,

here are the final standings of our first thematic active tournament.

CCC SicilianActive Final Standings:

Name ID Rtng Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Tot Prize

1. Alex Yam 138357 1502 W14 W8 W2 D3 3.5 $70.00
2. Daniel Kazmaier 131382 2094 W9 W11 L1 W5 3.0 $30.00
3. David Zhang 145883 1550 W13 D5 W7 D1 3.0 $30.00
4. Jan Edmund D Lazo 148645 1480 L5 W13 W15 W9 3.0 $30.00
5. Roy Yearwood 102743 1874 W4 D3 W6 L2 2.5
6. Regina-veronicka Kalaydina 141148 1418 D7 W10 L5 W13 2.5
7. Brian Miller 102547 1740 D6 W15 L3 D10 2.0
8. Arthur Milne 101874 1662 W12 L1 L9 W15 2.0
9. Bob Macfie 111989 1501 L2 W16 W8 L4 2.0
10. Diwen Shi 145882 1460 D15 L6 W16 D7 2.0
11. Tom McKay 101022 1576 W16 L2 U--- U--- 1.0
12. Adie Todd 125156 1206 L8 W14 U--- U--- 1.0
13. Krishneel Singh 149141 952 L3 L4 W14 L6 1.0
14. Guillanme Mascler unr. L1 L12 L13 W16 1.0
15. Dr Ronald Hinds 106102 1832 D10 L7 L4 L8 0.5
16. Deweese Wood 145476 1056 L11 L9 L10 L14 0.0

Thank you all for participating, I hope you had fun!

Stephan

***

Roy Yearwood says: I enjoyed the tournament very much! 4 rounds is quite good and the games I played were very interesting. Most interesting were versus Dan Kazmier and Jan Lazo. I will be publishing some game analysis after the Canadian Open. I hope we have another active, soon.
Please comment or give us your feedback on this event, suggest some openings for future events if you like.
Also tell us what do you think of our new policy regarding nightly dues of $2 - serious comments only, please. Use the yahoo message if necessary or easier.

Good luck to all on the 2009 Canadian Open!

CJCC Calendar of Events July - December 2009

2009-07-03T18:49:00.004-06:00

2009 CJCC CALENDAR

All tournaments are subject to change. Contact the tournament director for detailed information.

July 4
Stampede Open
Time Control: Game in 25 minutes
Format: Active 5 rounds
Rating: CJCC rated
Entry Fee: free!
Director: Simon Ong(or Stephan Vasilev)
Prizes: TBA
Enter: Contact Simon at simong89@gmail.com or show up by 10 am
Bring $23 for your annual CJCC membership!

July 25
Junior Active Open
Time Control: Game in 25 minutes
Format: Round Robin or Swiss
Rating: TBA
Entry Fee: $7
Director: H. Persuad
Prizes: Sum of entries less expenses
Enter: Contact Hemant at alphastrike20@gmail.com or show up by 10 am

August 8
Tactical Summer Open
Time Control: Game in 25 minutes
Format: Round Robin or Swiss
Rating: TBA
Entry Fee: $7
Director: David Zhang
Prizes: Sum of entries less expenses
Enter: Contact David at zhang.d@live.ca or show up by 10 am

August 22
Back To School Open
Time Control: Game in 25 minutes plus 10 second increment
Format: Round Robin or Swiss
Rating: CFC and Chess&Math
Entry Fee: $15
Director: Roy Yearwood
Prizes: Sum of entries less expenses
Registration: 9:00 to 9:45 am

September 26
September Open
Time Control: TBA
Format: Round Robin or Swiss
Rating: CFC rated active
Entry Fee: $7
Director: Angelo Tolentino
Prizes: Sum of entries less expenses
Enter: Contact Angelo avelangelotolentino@yahoo.comor show up by 10am

October 3
Warm Up for Junior Battle of Alberta
Time Control: Game in 25 minutes
Format: Round Robin or Swiss
Rating: Chess&MathEntry
Fee: $7
Director: H. Persuad
Prizes: Sum of entries less expenses
Enter: Contact Hemant at alphastrike20@gmail.com or show up by 10am

October 17
Fall Open
Time Control: Game in 25 minutes
Format: Round Robin or Swiss
Rating: TBA
Entry Fee: $7
Director: S. Ong
Prizes: Sum of entries less expenses
Enter: Contact Simon at simong89@gmail.com or show up by 10am

October 31
CJCC Halloween Open
Time Control: Game in 25 minutes
Format: Bughouse
Rating: CJCC
Entry: $7 or wear a costume for no fee!
Director: David Zhang
Prizes: Sum of entries less expenses
Enter: Contact David at zhang.d@live.ca or show up by 10am

November 7 & 8
Southern Alberta Junior Championship
Time Control: Game in 90 minutes + 30sec
Format: Round Robin or Swiss
Rating: CFC
Entry Fee: $7
Director: S. Ong
Prizes: Sum of entries less expenses
Enter: Contact Simon at simong89@gmail.com or show up by 10am

November 28
November Active Open
Time Control: Game in 25 minutes
Format: Round Robin or Swiss
Rating: TBA
Entry Fee: $7
Director: H. Persuad
Prizes: Sum of entries less expenses
Enter: Contact Hemant at alphastrike20@gmail.com or show up by 10am

December 5
December Showflake Open
Time Control: Game in 25 minutes
Format: Round Robin or Swiss
Rating: TBA
Entry Fee: $7
Director: T. Cai
Prizes: Sum of entries less expenses
Enter: Contact Tony at tony.cai1996@hotmail.com or show up by 10am

December 12
Christmas Warm Up
Time Control: Game in 25 minutes
Format: Round Robin or Swiss
Rating: TBA
Entry Fee: $7
Director: J. LazoPrizes: Sum of entries less expenses
Enter: Contact Jan at jan_2_edmund_lazo@yahoo.com.ph or show up by 10am

We will be updating the 2010 schedule soon!

Scandinavian to Caro-Kann?

2009-06-29T13:17:00.016-06:00

This game was played in the Alberta Active Championship. It was round 3 against Art Milne. We've played a previous game in the Calgary Team Chess Championship where I suffered a loss due to carelessness. It was some sort of Catalan where despite my lack of knowledge for theory, I would say my position was favourable for me until I declined the trading of queens. Anyway, we have now the same colors as in the previous game but since he was close to losing that game, he changed moves and challenged my favourite opening.

Alberta Active Championship
W: Art Milne June 6, 2009
B: Jan Edmund Lazo 25 mins.
Opening: Scandinavian Defense

1. e4 d5 (!) 2. Nc3!?

Transposing to the Dunst Opening instead of the main line. According to my readings and experience, I say that this is not the way to get an advantage out of this opening and will only give equality since this allows some sort of reversed King's Indian set-up if 2. ... d4 Nce2 (Nb1!?) e5 d3 c5 Nf3 (f4!?) Nc6 g3 f6 or 2. dxe4 Nxe4 Bf5 and get an improved version of the Classical variation of the Caro-Kann Defense because c5 can be played in one go. I can't recall the moves of my previous game against the Dunst and the critical position of it but all I can say is that I favour Black and checkmate was near.

2. ... dxe4 (!)

Best way to exploit White's move order. Having studied the Classical Variation of the Caro-Kann, I realized that this move order as said allows c7-c5 in one go instead of c5-c6-c5 as in the main line of the Caro-Kann. An alternative and unamed variation is 2. ...d4 allowing the given variation and a possibility to go for a Reversed King's Indian. Both variations are playable and are just a matter of taste.

3. Nxe4 Bf5 4. Ng3 (?!)

I'm don't think White should really play as if c6 and d4 were played and instead play 4. Qf3 because of Black's move order. Play can continue with 4. ... Bg6 5. Bc4 e6 6. Ne2 Nd7 7. d4 Bd6 etc. (4. ... Bxe4 5. Qxe4 c6 is a safer option) because 4 ... Qd5? 5. Nd6! Qxd6 6. Qxf5 gives up the bishop pair for nothing but a few tempi because of White's queen.

4. ... Bg6 5. Nf3 Nd7 6. d4 Nf6 7. h4 h6 8. h5 Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6 11. Bd2 c5!

Attacking the center pawn and opening the a5-d8 diagonal for the queen. White isn't prepared to play d5 because there is no c4 yet. 11. ... c6?! gives up the opening advantage as 12. 0-0-0 Qc7 13. Ne4 0-0-0 14. g3 transposes to the normal lines of the Classical Caro-Kann

12. 0-0-0 Qc7 (Qb6!?) 13. Kb1 0-0-0 14. c3?

White weakens his queenside, removes the c3 square for the bishop, and wastes time for any kind of plan as d4 needs no reinforcement yet. Better was 14. Qa3 Kb8 15. Ba5! Nb6 16. Qc3 Bd6 which is equal in my opinon.

14. ... Bd6 15. Ne4 Nxe4 16. Qxe4 Nf6 17. Qd3 Qc6

Attempting to limit and control central light squares. 18. Ne5 is currently impossible due to the indirect pin in the d file. It seems to me that 17. ... c4 is the better move as this further prevents the movement of White's pieces especially White's bishop with tempo. Then after 18. Qe2 Nd5 or even b5, Black's control of light squares is obvious and a queenside pawnstorm with a5, b4, etc. is iminent.

18. Rhel?

Giving up a pawn for nothing. A better try is to play 18. Qc4 then 18. ... Qe4+ 19. Kal Kb8 20. Be3 but after 20. ... Rhe8 21. Rh4 Ng4, Black is slightly better .

18. ... Nxh5! 19. g3 Nf6 20. Qe2 Kb8 21. Ne5 Bxe5?

Black forgets that the his king on his b8 instead of c8. Because of this, Black's advantage becomes smaller. Better was 21. ... Qc7 with the idea of Bxe5 Qxe5 Qxe5 dxe5 Nd5 keeping the pawn advantage.

22. dxe5?

White forgets 22. Qxe5+ Kc8 23. Qxc5 Qxc5 24. dxc5 Rd5 25. Be3 Rhd8 Rd4 which will reduce Black's advantage from material to slight positional advantage. Now, Black's advantage of extra pawn is kept.

22. ... Nd5 23. Bc1 c4 24. Qg4 g6 25. Rd4 b5 26. Red1 Qb7 27. a4?

Trying to break the pawn chain and win the c-pawn but letting Black obtain the a-file if pawns are exchanged. Fisher's paradoxical idea of moving pawns at the side where your opponent pawnstorms is most likely applicable if that is the side where the king isn't there such as in KIA. Unfortunately for White, this does not apply because the a-file and/or b-file is/are just what Black's rooks need to infiltrate the enemy base as all files are closed as of the moment.

27. ... a6 28. axb5 axb5 29. Rh1??

White misguidedly aims on winning the h6 but pays a dear price. Explanation on the next move.

29. ...h5??

Black misses 29. ... Nxc3+!! 30. bxc3 Rxd4! 31. Qxd4 Qxh1 32. Qd6+ Ka7! 33. Qc7+ Qb7+!
34. Be3+ Ka8 and now White is an exchange down, 2 pawns down, and should resign.

30. Qe2??

White again misses Nxc3+. Qe4 is obviously better placing the queen in the h1-a8 diagonal or at least Qh4 controling the h4-d8 diagonal.

Rc8??

Threatening b4 with the idea of Rxc4 bxc3 Rxc8+ Rxc8 and a possible c2+ but missing Nxc3+ again.

31. g4?? hxg4?? 32. Rxh8!!

Finally, the threat Nxc3+ is no more!

32. ... Rxh8 33. Rxg4 b4?

Black plays as if his attack is decisive with threats on c3 but 34. cxb4 c3 35. Rc4! silences Black's attack. Better was the previous idea of b4 by playing 33. ... Rc8.

34. cxb4 c3 35. b3?

Since this is an active tournament, time seemed to be a factor to do this mistake other than series of mistakes committed by both sides for missing Nxc3+!! This move allows Black to continue his attack with no material loss whatsoever. Now, this should be a matter of technique but...

35. ... Nxb4 36. Qc4 Nd5 37. Kc2 Qa7?

Yes, the idea of attacking f2 with the queen instead of the rook first is indeed a mistake as this allows an exchange of queens and gives more time for White to defend.

38. Qb5+ Kc7?

Much better was to exchange queens with Qb7 because now White has his chances.

39. Be3??

This just saves Black's life. It was much better to attack with 39. Rc4+! Kd8 40. Bg5+ f6 41. Bxf6+! Nxf6 42. exf6 Qxf2+ 43. Kxc3 Rh3+ 44. Kb4 Qe1+ 45. Ka4 Qa1+ 46. Kb4 Qxf6 and Black's advantage is now just a pawn but his king is insecure. Now, it really is over.

39. ... Qa2+ 40. Kd3 Qb1+ 44. Kc4 Qf1+ 45. Kc5 Qxb5+ 0-1

Game Annotations and Tournaments

2009-06-28T21:19:00.004-06:00

Hey all,

I'm sorry for not posting any games with/without game annotations for a long time. I've been busy studying for my finals and projects in school. So, during this month, I'll be posting my games with annotations. I'll be also in the club during weekdays to prepare for the CYCC and be of assistance to anyone. There will be two upcoming tournaments before the Canadian Open: Sicilian Theme Active Tournament and Stampede Open. The Sicilian Tournament will be on two Tuesdays, June 30 and July 7. The Stampede Open will be on July 4 and 5, Sat and Sun. I recommend that juniors participate in these two tournaments to warm-up for the Canadian Open and get exposure to tournament play.

Since the club will be open during weekdays and weekends and it's the summer, I also recommend that juniors take this opportunity to study openings, analyze games, play matches or tournaments, etc. for preparation, improving one's playing strength, etc. other than on Saturdays.

I would also like to remind all CJCC board members again that our meeting will be on Friday, July 3rd at around 7 pm. This would be about our plans for the summer and for future plans during the school year.

Hope to see you all in the club!!

- Jan Edmund Lazo
CJCC President

Open for juniors on June 20th

2009-06-19T23:54:00.002-06:00

Hello everybody,

feel free to drop by this Saturday(June 20th) from 1 to 3 pm and have a group lesson and/or a game. The summer is here which means that the Canadian Junior in Victoria, BC is approaching as well as the Canadian Open in Edmonton. So it's preparation time!

See you all at the club,

Stephan

The CCC has a new Executive List...

2009-06-10T12:04:00.002-06:00

Hello everybody,

on our Special Meeting this Tuesday we elected a new Board. Here are the new executives:

President: Stephan Vasilev

Vice-President: Ron Hinds

Treasurer: Bob Macfie

Secretary: Simon Ong

Directors: Roy Yearwood, Tony Ficzere, and Hubert Shi

Let's see what we can do and improve our club. We are ready to listen to all suggestions so feel free to come up with ideas. We will listen!

This Friday the club will be open for some casual play and game analysis and then on Saturday we will be open for our juniors from 1 pm to 3pm. Come in and have a game or two. :)

Stephan V.

Chess events this weekend

2009-06-03T22:09:00.004-06:00

Hello everybody,

A few things I wanted to remind you because we have a chess weekend ahead of us:

1. Our club will be open on Friday evening for casual chess and game analysis.

2. On Saturday, we will open at 9:00 am for the 2009 Alberta Active Championship. Here you can read more info: http://www.albertachess.org/Alberta_Active.html

This tournament will be over by 4 pm so that means: no 1 o'clock meeting for our juniors!

3. On Sunday, Simon Ong will direct an invitational and an open tournament: Canadian Junior!?

He probably will post something in here soon, but as far as I understand, everybody can play because it's in 2 sections.

See ya all in the club!

Stephan V.

Some news

2009-05-27T15:23:00.003-06:00

Hi all,

our annual Spring Open tournament has started. Juraj Pivovarov is directing and still accepting players so that means that you can join us from round 2, which is next Tuesday, June 2nd.

***

Our club will be open this coming Saturday for all juniors who wish to play and learn. I will be there and Roy Yearwood will be there as usual.

***

I have also created an ICC account for our juniors. If you feel like playing or maybe observing some of the major tournaments troughout the world that are being broadcasted there... but don't wanna pay the annual fee :) then this account is for you!

Just download the ICC Dasher version(http://www.chessclub.com/helpcenter/interface/Dasher.html) on your computer and then login with

Username: CJCC

and

password: calgary

It'e easy and is fun! I already played two 5min-games and from provisional 1600 made our rating 2190. But let that not put you off! Just play and enjoy. If you are too worried about bringing the club rating down than simply select non-rated games when you seek a game.

Have fun!

Stephan V.

2009 Canadian Chess Challenge

2009-05-18T17:29:00.006-06:00

To briefly sum up the performance of the team, because we have had the strongest team we ever had generally speaking, it was a bit disappointing to see that we got 64 game points out of 108 games against the 9 provinces repeating our previous score before. We still haven't beaten our highest score of 65 game points. Some of our players had done and experienced upsets in their games. We have five players that placed in their grade: Patrick Tolentino for 3rd place, Jamil Kassam for 3rd place, Yuekai Wang for 3rd place, David Zhang for 2nd place, and yours truly for 2nd place (1st if not blew up his game against Calugar). Despite this, all we're happy to have joined the tournament and had fun during their stay in Toronto. Players not only played normal chess but also played card games, bughouse, etc., went to the baseball game, museum, etc. and all sorts of things to maximize their time. Thanks to Bruce, Patricia, Richard, Roy, and all parents who came with their children to support them in the nationals. I would say that this was indeed truly a memorable experience for some if not all.

-CJCC President Jan Edmund Lazo

P.S. About the game to show its importance, I will show my games in the nationals especially the Lazo-Calugar game and other games in my lecture in the chess club on Friday.

Calgary Junior Chess Club AGM and Club Championship

2009-05-12T09:59:00.004-06:00

Hello All,

Before our club championship, the Calgary Junior Chess Club (CJCC) had its own Annual General Meeting (AGM). More than 20 people attended the CJCC's AGM on May 10th. This is the first time that the CJCC has players attended our AGM. In the past, we organized the AGM at the same time as our tournament and thus players could not attend the meeting and play in the tournament at the same time. However, I decided that the juniors should have a "say" in things running in their chess club and should have an opportunity to run for board position.

There were three CJCC executives who attended the meeting: Seng Ting (VP), Hubert Shi (Treasurer), and yours truly. Seng came to the meeting to ask for the approval of the minutes from last AGM. After the approval, we proceeded to the President's annual report. I mentioned how the CJCC had a very successful year. Some of the highlights were the winning of the bid to host Canadian Junior Chess Championship, and our players winning in the Junior Battle of Alberta and Alberta Chess Challenge. Also, I mentioned how the Calgary Chess Club has offered help to the CJCC, including providing free coaching and fundings to our players. Lastly, I thanked resigning board members John Piera, Seng Ting, and Hubert Shi for the work they did, and Paul Gagne for offering assistance in directing our regular and special tournaments this year.

Hubert Shi presented our financial report. He mentioned how the junior chess club are currently low in money after paying for lap top repair, trophies, and other expenses.

Then, we have our election of board members. I am suprise and happy to see so many of our players willing to help their chess club even at young age. Our board of directors for next year are:

Past President and Executive Director: Simon Ong
President: Jan Edmund Lazo
Vice-President: Hemant Persaud
Treasurer: Stephan Vasilev
Secretary: Roy Yearwood
Director: Angelo Tolentino
Director: Raymond Ong
Director: David Zhang
Webmaster: Tony Cai
Other Volunteers: Diwen Shi, Krishneel Singh, and Bill Xu

Thanks to all who attended our meeting.

We then adjourned to play in the club championship.

Our club championship on May 10th was by far the strongest club championship in CJCC history with two expert level players: David Zhang and Jan Edmund Lazo. There were many interesting games and suprising upsets. Here are the crosstable of the Calgary Junior Open Chess Championship:
No Name 1 2 3 4 5
1 Lazo, Jan Edmund D. 16:1.0 12:1.0 7:1.0 2:1.0 3:0.5
2 Cai, Tony 18:1.0 15:1.0 4:1.0 7:1.0 1:0.5
3. Wang, Yuekai 10:1.0 13:1.0 6:1.0 1:0.0 9:1.0
4 Zhang, David 14:1.0 9:1.0 3:0.0 13:1.0 8:1.0
5 Babich, Yaroslav 26:1.0 7:0.0 17:1.0 16:1.0 12:1.0
6 Akhverdiev, Artyom 25:1.0 8:1.0 2:0.0 12:.5 15:1.0
7 Kalaydina, Regina-Veronicka 11:1.0 5:1.0 1:0.0 3:0.0 18:1.0
8 Persaud, Hemant 17:1.0 6:0.0 14:1.0 15:1.0 4:0.0
9 Piera, Johan 21:1.0 4:0.0 16:1.0 19:1.0 2:0.0
10 Tolentino, Andre Angelo 2:0.0 21:1.0 12:0.0 17:1.0 20:1.0
11 Tolentino, Patrick Angelo 7:0.0 20:1.0 15:0.0 21:1.0 19:1.0
12 Shi, Diwen 22:1.0 1:0.0 10:1.0 6:.5 5:0.0
13 Wang, Stanley 20:1.0 2:0.0 18:1.0 4:0.0 14:.5
14 Singh, Krishneel 4:0.0 19:1.0 8:0.0 22:1.0 13:.5
15 Ting, Aaron 23:1.0 3:0.0 11:1.0 8:0.0 6:0.0
16 Chen, Adrian 1:0.0 23:1.0 9:0.0 5:0.0 22:1.0
17 Zhang, Derek 8:0.0 27:1.0 5:0.0 10:0.0 23:1.0
18 Ma, Lee 3:0.0 25:1.0 13:0.0 23:1.0 7:0.0
19 Zhao, Kevin 27:1.0 14:0.0 22:1.0 9:0.0 11:0.0
20 Farkas, Sebastian 13:0.0 11:0.0 27:1.0 25:1.0 10:0.0
21 Xu, Bill 9:0.0 10:0.0 25:1.0 11:0.0 24:0.0
22 Li, Zeling 12:0.0 26:1.0 19:0.0 14:0.0 16:0.0
23 Farkas, Zachary 15:0.0 16:0.0 26:1.0 18:0.0 17:0.0
24 Ong, Raymond 0: 0: 0: 0: 21:1.0
25 Omotayo, John 6:0.0 18:0.0 21:0.0 20:0.0 0:
26 Omotayo, Samuel 5:0.0 22:0.0 23:0.0 0:0.0 0:
27 Silveira, Vinicius Ribeiro Da 19:0.0 17:0.0 20:0.0 0: 0:

We also improved the number of players showing up to our club championship from 14 players (last year) to 27 players (this year). The new CJCC champion was Jan Edmund Lazo who scored perfect. However, in the last round, his opponent Tony Cai could have claimed a quickplay draw because both players are "shuffling" pieces around and nothing was accomplished. So, the tournament report showed that Jan Edmund Lazo drew with Tony Cai.

Jan Edmund Lazo would defend his title sometime in August against the former champion Raymond Ong according to the CJCC's championship cycle. As a good sportmanship player, Jan decided to give Tony Cai a rematch after his match against Raymond Ong. So, stay tune for these exciting matches in August.

I would like to say "congratulation" to Jan Edmund Lazo and the runner ups David Zhang and Tony Cai. I would like to say "thank you" to everyone who came out to play in the event and volunteers including Stephan Vasilev, Roy Yearwood, and Seng Ting.

~Simon Ong

Tournament Organizer, Calgary Junior Open Chess Championship 2009

CCC Team Championship update

2009-05-08T17:18:00.005-06:00

Hi all,

things are heating up and our next(and last) round is going to be very exciting! "The Dark Knights", "The Royals" and "The JuggerKnights" all lost and left the door open, so to speak, for everyone. Here is what happen:

"You Got Pawned!" – "The Royals" 3:1

Daniel Kazmaier(2266)(W) – Roy Yearwood(2055)(B) 1:0

Nicholas Moloney(2206)(B) – Paul Usselman(1890)(W) 0:1

Bernd Hahn(1626)(W) – Vladimir Lapiy(1790)(B) 1:0

Adie Todd(1370)(B) – Ted Borowski(1557)(W) 1:0

"Chessperados" – "The JuggerKnights" 2.5:1.5

Stephan Vasilev(2144)(W) – Hafiz Karmali(2073)(B) 1:0

Arthur Wojtas(1903)( B) – Chris Kuczaj(1937)(W) 0.5:0.5

Brian Miller(1866)(W) – Elmer Pasadilla(1863)(B) 1:0

David Crimmins(unrated)(B) – Brad Nielsen(1652)(W) 0:1

"The Dark Knights" - "Nimzovich of the West" 1.5:2.5

Raymond Ong(1596)(W) – Walter Watson(1952)(B) 0.5:0.5

Jan Lazo(1990)(B) – Art Milne(1878)(W) 0:1

Simon Ong(1655)(W) – Bob Macfie(1768)(B) 0:1

Yuekai Wang(1784)(B) – Tom McKay(1598)(W) 1:0

****

Pairings for Round 5 (May 12th, 2009):

"Nimzovich of the West"* – "You Got Pawned!"

"The Royals"* – "Chessperados"

"The JuggerKnights"* - "The Dark Knights"

* board 1 and board 3 playing white

***

Current Standings:

1. "The Dark Knights" 9.5 points

2. "You Got Pawned!" 8.5 points

3. "The JuggerKnights" 8.5 points

4. "Nimzovich of the West" 8 points

5. "The Royals" 7.5 points

6. "Chessperados" 6 points

Come in and observe the final round - on May 12th - and catch all the excitment... Play some casual games in our skittles room if you want. :)

Chess in Brazil

2008-12-21T19:14:00.003-07:00

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

2008-11-30T18:24:00.002-07:00

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

2008-11-30T18:17:00.002-07:00

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

2008-11-16T20:08:00.001-07:00

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

2008-11-15T15:53:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-23T23:52:00.002-06:00


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

2008-09-23T23:52:00.001-06:00


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

2008-09-19T18:44:00.001-06:00


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

2008-09-19T18:43:00.000-06:00


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

2008-09-12T14:43:00.001-06:00


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

2008-09-12T14:36:00.001-06:00


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

2008-09-03T20:40:00.006-06:00


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

2008-07-29T23:32:00.003-06:00

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

2008-07-22T23:03:00.003-06:00

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

2008-06-22T20:16:00.002-06:00

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

2008-06-06T09:12:00.000-06:00

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

2008-06-05T15:58:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the Calgary Chess Club Blog.