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I am creating a separate thread for this event, and plan to do another one for the 2017 London event as well (which I also directed). This was the first of the current series of University Team Championships, run annually since then. Prior to that year, the event's hosting had been somewhat sporadic. Three keen first-year university students from Toronto, who were friends, decided to start the new tradition. They were: Andrew Pastor (Western), Alex Lambruschini (Queen's), and Morgan (now Morgen) Mills of U of T. This was an impressive initiative!!! They chose an early January weekend date, just as classes were resuming for the winter term, following the holiday break. Western would host, and those three invited me to direct, paying my transportation to and from Kingston, accommodation, and an honorarium. It was five rounds of team Swiss play over two days, and ten teams of four players turned out, on a very cold, bright weekend with plenty of snow on the ground. Three rounds at G/60' the first day, then two rounds at G/90' the second day. I have previously posted a fair number of games from this event, on chess5.com, shortly after the tournament, but this site no longer exists, unfortunately, so I am unclear on precisely which games have been posted. I know that Hugh Brodie of Montreal, creator of CanBase, has transferred my posted games from chess5.com from the event to his site, but I don't think he has this game yet, and there are other games for which scoresheets were problematic, which I have now solved. So, enjoy!!
Denzil Wickrama (McMaster) -- NM Vladimir Pechenkin (U. of Toronto)
London (ONT.) 2003, played Jan.11
University Team Championship, rd. 1 of 5, board 4 of 4
Org: Western Chess Club; Andrew Pastor
TD: Frank Dixon
Time controls: G/60'
Scandinavian, B01
Notes by Frank Dixon
[Not too much needed in the way of notes for this game; it is a definite mismatch, talent-wise, but still an instructive game; I play this variation as Black. I believe this was one of the Russian NM Pechenkin's first Canadian events; he was studying Engineering at U. of T., in his first year. He bears a strong resemblance to GM Anatoly Karpov, and is from the same region, east of Moscow, as I learned from him at the pub after round 3. He now lives in Edmonton, works as an engineer, and is just below IM strength.]
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nxd5 4.Bc4 Nb6 5.d3 Nxc4 6.dxc4 Qxd1+ 7.Kxd1 Bg4+ 8.f3 Be6
[The Scandinavian still holds many lesser-trodden paths, and has grown more popular at all levels -- from club player to super GM -- since the 1970s. Black certainly has a good position here already.]
9.b3 Nc6 10.Bf4 O-O-O+
[A frequent theme in the Scandinavian -- long castling, sometimes with check! One 19th century player who often played these sharp, open, rarely seen lines, with success, was J.H. Blackburne (1842-1924). He was active in major events for 50 years, right up to St. Petersburg 1914, which was the first tournament where World Champion Dr. Emanuel Lasker and future challenger and Champion J.R. Capablanca both played; Lasker won narrowly.]
11.Kc1 Bf5 12.g4 Bg6 13.h4 h5 14.Nge2 e5 15.Be3 Ba3+ 16.Kb1 Nb4! 17.Ne4 hxg4 18.c3 gxf3 19.N2g3 Rxh4 20.Bc1 Rxh1 21.cxb4 Rxc1#, 0-1.
Denzil Wickrama (McMaster) -- NM Vladimir Pechenkin (U. of Toronto)
London (ONT.) 2003, played Jan.11
University Team Championship, rd. 1 of 5, board 4 of 4
Org: Western Chess Club; Andrew Pastor
TD: Frank Dixon
Time controls: G/60'
Scandinavian, B01
Notes by Frank Dixon
[Not too much needed in the way of notes for this game; it is a definite mismatch, talent-wise, but still an instructive game; I play this variation as Black. I believe this was one of the Russian NM Pechenkin's first Canadian events; he was studying Engineering at U. of T., in his first year. He bears a strong resemblance to GM Anatoly Karpov, and is from the same region, east of Moscow, as I learned from him at the pub after round 3. He now lives in Edmonton, works as an engineer, and is just below IM strength.]
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nxd5 4.Bc4 Nb6 5.d3 Nxc4 6.dxc4 Qxd1+ 7.Kxd1 Bg4+ 8.f3 Be6
[The Scandinavian still holds many lesser-trodden paths, and has grown more popular at all levels -- from club player to super GM -- since the 1970s. Black certainly has a good position here already.]
9.b3 Nc6 10.Bf4 O-O-O+
[A frequent theme in the Scandinavian -- long castling, sometimes with check! One 19th century player who often played these sharp, open, rarely seen lines, with success, was J.H. Blackburne (1842-1924). He was active in major events for 50 years, right up to St. Petersburg 1914, which was the first tournament where World Champion Dr. Emanuel Lasker and future challenger and Champion J.R. Capablanca both played; Lasker won narrowly.]
11.Kc1 Bf5 12.g4 Bg6 13.h4 h5 14.Nge2 e5 15.Be3 Ba3+ 16.Kb1 Nb4! 17.Ne4 hxg4 18.c3 gxf3 19.N2g3 Rxh4 20.Bc1 Rxh1 21.cxb4 Rxc1#, 0-1.