Toronto Labour Day Open - Final Standings

[Bob Armstrong]

See the website: http://gtachessevents.memberlodge.com/standings

Bob

[Bryan Lamb]

Re: Toronto Labour Day Open - Final Standings

CONGRATULATIONS to this year's
Toronto Labour Day Open Champions:
GM Bator Sambuev
&
IM Leonid Gerzhoy

Congratulations to all the winners!
http://gtachessevents.memberlodge.com
Total prizes awarded: $7,100

OPEN
GM BATOR SAMBUEV 5/6 $850.00
IM LEONID GERZHOY 5/6 $850.00
IM ARTIOM SAMSONKIN 4.5/6 $400.00
FM SHIYAM THAVANDIRAN 4.5/6 $400.00


U2300
AMAN HAMBLETON 4/6 $ 400.00
LIAM HENRY 3.5/6 $ 133.33
MICHAEL DOUGHERTY 3.5/6 $ 133.33
ANDREI MOFFAT 3.5/6 $ 133.33


U2200
PAVEL RAKOV 5/6 $ 325.00
DAVID SOUTHAM 5/6 $ 325.00
YURIY KRYVOSHLYK 4.5/6 $ 150.00


U2000
MICKEY STEIN 5/6 $ 400.00
DANIEL APARICIO 5/6 UNR
ALEX FERREIRA 4.5/6 $ 200.00
JAMES FU 4.5/6 $ 200.00


U1800
MICHAEL SONG 5/6 $ 400.00
DMITRY CHERNIK 5/6 UNR
FERDINAND SUPSUP 4.5/6 $ 200.00
JACKIE PENG 4.5/6 $ 200.00


U1600
JOSEPH BELLISSIMO 6/6 $ 300.00
MARK PLOTKIN 4.5/6 $ 75.00
REBECCA GIBLON 4.5/6 $ 75.00
STEVE KARPIK 4.5/6 $ 75.00
TED TERMEER 4.5/6 $ 75.00


U1400
FRANK WANG 5.5/6 $ 300.00
BABUJIE ARULSUBRAMANIAM 4.5/6 $ 200.00
STANLEY SU 4/6 $ 50.00
QUIANG LI 4/6 $ 50.00


UNRATED
BENJAMIN H. YANG 3.5/6 $ 100.00


WILDCARD
RENEE CADAY $100.00

[Erik Malmsten]

Re: Toronto Labour Day Open - Final Standings

Arthur Calugar had an impressive performance: He was beating Gerzhoy but lost on time, defeated fellow teenagers Sapozhnikov and Thavandiran, drew Milicevic and in the last round survived an attack from Noritsyn to have a K+R vs K+N declared drawn by the TD, the last game of the tournament. A quiet, unrated little kid, Ashkan Azali, entered this section to get more FIDE-rated games.

In under 2200 David Southam, Saturday Blitz regular, returned to master form, tying for first. Yuriy Kryvoshlyk, only 1902, was impressive to finish 3rd without losing a game.

In the under 2000 section Daniel Aparicio and in the under 1800 Dmitry Chernik both scored 5-1, but being unrated weren’t eligible for a prize. In under 1800 Michael Song, only 1620, did a Swiss sacrifice, losing his first game and winning the rest to get first.

In the large under 1600 section (51 players) Joseph Bellissimo had the only perfect 6-0 of the tournament. Frank Wang, only 1218, did a Swiss sacrifice of a first round draw then won the rest. Two Scarborough Chess Club veterans Steve Karpik and Ted Termeer managed to get prizes among the kids.

These one-room tournaments, with the TD being busy in another room, require adult supervision. Many adults are distracted by kids fidgeting, eating and gathering at the game’s end. In one game a kid pushed over her king to resign then saw the winning king move. Teachers should know better than to discuss the just completed game while other games continue on nearby boards. A few people registered online but didn't show up and a few withdrew without marking the pairings sheet, resulting in unplayed forfeits.

Photos from the event:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/82698797@N00/

From Bryan Lamb’s website:

ATTENTION PARTICIPANTS: If you played an interesting game during the Labour Day Open, please submit a copy to bryan.lamb@rogers.com; and if chosen for publication will get extra $10 off your next entry fee.

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Toronto Labour Day Open - Final Standings

Sounds like a great tournament!! I've played this event in previous years and had a great time.

I heard a story about a strange incident from this tournament, where police were summoned to deal with threats of violence against the TD by a player, who was then expelled and led away. Can anyone confirm this and provide additional details!? Sounds quite nasty. This sort of behaviour has no place in chess.

[John Brown]

Re: Toronto Labour Day Open - Final Standings

Frank;
Your sources are faulty. The evicted is a friend of mine. If Children would stop being so unruly then people who have troubles dealing with this unruly behavior would not get so upset. Plus fight in the Spanish War and then you can appreciate the turmoil.
Enough said. Had the upset player gone to the TD and asked for a time adjustment for the unruly behavior as I suggested maybe the eviction would have been avoided.
But no police were sent to solve the chess problem.
Better to wash you hands of this and comment on the Greatness of the well run event.

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Toronto Labour Day Open - Final Standings

John: Be that as it may, but it amazes me how two people who attended the same tournament (you and my source) are able to come up with two totally different explanations on what actually happened. The story I heard doesn't seem to be one which someone would make up from scratch, so there must be quite a bit of truth to it. Police arriving at a chess event is a very rare occurrence (first I have heard of in my nearly 40 years in Canadian chess); this apparently happened, and it isn't something that would be invented by another player at the event.

Perhaps there were extenuating circumstances which led to the outrageous behaviour at the chess event, but that doesn't excuse it, by any means. Bryan Lamb, who ran the Labour Day event, is a very experienced and skilled TD, so if he had to take such serious steps, it wouldn't have been for nothing. I have enough confidence that had Bryan been approached in a civilized manner, he would undoubtedly have found a peaceable solution.

For a much higher profile example of the same sort of behaviour, see the recent atrocious conduct of Serena Williams at the U.S. Tennis Open, at the conclusion of her semi-final match against Kim Clijsters. Williams, the defending champion and #2 seed in the event, was called for a foot fault, giving her opponent match point. Williams then verbally threatened the linesperson who had made the call; the match referee had no choice but to award the next point to Clijsters as well, since Williams had in frustration earlier destroyed her own racquet at the end of the first set, which she lost. (She brought a new racquet out for the second set.) The awarded point gave Clijsters the match, knocking Williams out of the event. Williams has now been fined $10,000 U.S. (the maximum allowed in a Grand Slam event), and further penalties against her are being considered, according to media reports today. Interestingly, in golf, should a player damage a club in frustration during a tournament round, the player is NOT allowed to replace it during that round. If the club is damaged in the normal course of play (for example, hitting a shot where the club hits a tree and breaks, as actually happened to Tiger Woods at the Masters a couple of years ago, on the 11th hole; it's also happened to me, but not during a tournament round), the player would be allowed to replace it during the round. Perhaps tennis should consider something similar.

Apparently the player involved in the Toronto chess outburst will potentially be banned from GTCL events in the future. Potential sanctions this serious wouldn't be considered in the face of 'nothing' happening.

[John Brown]

Re: Toronto Labour Day Open - Final Standings

Hi Frank;
The police must have come after I went back to play my game. I saw no Police.
I guess there was more to this than met my eyes.

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: Toronto Labour Day Open - Final Standings

Hi John:

It was serious. I understand that the person in question made a death threat against Bryan in front of a number of witnesses. This may only be anger, and nothing to it, but it must be taken seriously in case.

Bob

[John Brown]

Re: Toronto Labour Day Open - Final Standings

Hi Bob;
Thanks for the update I knew nothing about this part of the affair.

I think Bryan needs some volunteer help to watch for incidents in the playing halls now that we have so many young juniors involved in these chess tournaments.

It is sad that people have to revert to such threats and cannot deal with the problems in a more rational manner. We tried to get him to calm down at the board
but it looks like it was a wasted attempt.