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RA Spring Open: the event report
Spring seems to be arriving early in Eastern Ontario this year, and what better way to celebrate than with a weekend chess tournament! 68 players agreed, and met in Ottawa the first weekend of March for the RA Spring Open, part of the EOCA (Eastern Ontario Chess Association) Grand Prix series.
Due to recently growing registration numbers, we figured risking having 4 sections. As TD, I was a little concerned with how the pairings might work out if a section were too small, but somehow, the pairings worked out just fine! The 4 sections were a Top Section, U2000, U1800 and U1600. In order to avoid any forced byes, there was some floating between sections. As a result, if you played any games as a floater, or against a floater, please note that the resulting CFC crosstables might include you in more than 1 section. In addition, all games between players in the Top Section will also be rated FIDE.
I have been attending the RA Centre for years, and I found it actually noisier than usual this weekend, as we were assigned a double room near the gym. Well, I can tell you that it wasn't just my imagination, as on the way out after the end of the tournament, one of the maintenance staff was telling me that there were major arguments at a charity volleyball event, that spilled out into the parking lot! By contrast, our chess gang caused no trouble whatsoever!
But now, let us get to the results! Headlining the tournament were 4 very talented players rated at least 2400. They were the highest rated player going in, IM Artiom Samsonkin, GM Bator Sambuev, IM Tom O'Donnell, and Roman Sapozhnikov. In a dramatic resolution to the whole tournament, these 4 players battled in the last round on the top 3 boards for the top $1400 in prizes. However, rather than report on that first, for something different, this report will provide the results based on the chronological order in which they unfolded. You guessed it, that means starting with the U1600 section and moving up!
The winner of the U1600 Section was the first to be determined. Veteran player Dave MacNevin was the only one who scored a perfect 5-0 this weekend, and had earned the $200 U1600 1st place prize after just Round 4! As the U1600 Section had more players than usual, there was also a $100 2nd place prize, which was scooped up by Anthony Pace, who finished the strongest amongst several players who had a shot at 2nd place, scoring 3.5 out of 5.
The next winners were confirmed at the beginning of the last round, for the U2000 Section. When the pairings were posted, it was apparent that no one could catch Mateusz Dydak and Gilles Groleau, who were paired against each other. By drawing quickly, they both scored 4-1 and earned $200 each.
The new somewhat small U1800 Section took a couple of hours to figure out, with Alan Tomalty and Dan Liu (twice floated up to U2000) both scoring 3.5 to lead the section both in rating and score. However, Dan had entered as an Amateur, leaving Alan to take away the $200 U1800 1st place prize on his own.
At this point, the only section left to resolve was the Top Section. After about another hour of play, Christian Collins and Jason Riordon both completed their events with very respectable 50% scores, to share the $200 U2200 Class prize. Both players deserve credit for not giving up in quite a tough section! Christian's first 2 opponents were both rated at least 2400, and Jason was paired up every single round! But they both finished very strongly, only losing a half-point each over the last 3 rounds, and both winning both of their Sunday rounds. I for one was very impressed with their positive battling attitudes!
So now we enter the 4th hour of play in the last round, and perfectly appropriately, the only 4 games left are the top 4 boards. Then on Board 4, previous EOCA Grand Prix Champions David Gordon and Bill Doubleday reduce to a drawn knight and multiple pawns endgame. That leaves the top 3 boards to decide the top $1400 in prizes. I pick up every other board, tuck in the rest of the chairs, and jot all the completed scores on the wall chart. Assistant TD Dave Gordon cleans up the skittles room. The top 3 boards play on. Players turned spectators keep gathering around the top 3 boards, and the realization sets in that draws are getting more and more unlikely, that the remaining players had all decided much earlier that they just had to go for it! Young man Nikita Kraiouchkine from Granby enters the last round as the sole leader, after a superb first 4 rounds, including scoring 2.5 out of 3 against 3 of the 4 players rated at least 2400! In the last round on Board 1, the only elite player left for Nikita to meet is IM Tom, while IM Artiom and GM Bator face off on Board 2. Roman is on Board 3 against Hugues Masse, who tied for 2nd place at the RA Winter Open less than 2 months ago. These last 3 bouts continue.
Then in a suddenly dramatic fashion, all of the remaining games expire decisively within 4 minutes of each other! IM Tom, GM Bator, and Roman, all win to finish with great scores of 4-1, thus sharing the $1200 Top Section prizes for 1st through 3rd places. Nikita, with a very impressive 3.5-1.5 result earns the $200 U2400 Class prize. It is now 4 hours after Round 5 started, with IM Tom and Nikita still graciously going over their game on Board 1 with interested spectators. Some shake their hands, and congratulate them on a wonderful last game to finish up the event. A very cool way to wrap up the tournament!
As usual, I would like to conclude this event report by thanking everyone who helped us all weekend. There are many people who I am missing from the following list, but I really appreciate all of the nice little things that many people did, which made the weekend more enjoyable for all of us. Assistant TD Dave Gordon, in addition to doing a slew of things while I was busy, saved me literally hours by completely owning the skittles room setup, maintenance, and takedown. After the tournament, Dave is also the man who is ensuring that all of our CFC and FIDE ratings are done most effectively. During the tournament, I found myself repeatedly appreciative of Wei Xiong, who was extraordinarily flexible in helping me compensate, sometimes at the last minute, for any uneven numbers of players, thus helping ensure that no one ever got hit with a forced bye. Finally, thanks to Billy Carroll for the Timmies gift card!
Please visit the weblink below for a PDF of the wall chart. It should be up a day or so after the event, and will eventually also link to the CFC crosstables.
P.S. John Upper was collecting scoresheets that were left at the front, and might write a game analysis article for the CFC email newsletter. Please feel free to let me know if you have another game that you would like John to consider for inclusion in his next article. Thanks again John for those articles!
Yours in chess,
FIDE Arbiter Aris Marghetis
Organizer/TD, EOCA President
http://www.eoca.org/htm/tournaments_2009-2010.html
My next event is the Eastern Ontario Open, scheduled for June 11th-13th. Stay tuned for event details, including multiple early registration discounts!
If you would like to receive details about that event directly via email, please email arismarghetis@rogers.com to be added to my private email list.
Due to recently growing registration numbers, we figured risking having 4 sections. As TD, I was a little concerned with how the pairings might work out if a section were too small, but somehow, the pairings worked out just fine! The 4 sections were a Top Section, U2000, U1800 and U1600. In order to avoid any forced byes, there was some floating between sections. As a result, if you played any games as a floater, or against a floater, please note that the resulting CFC crosstables might include you in more than 1 section. In addition, all games between players in the Top Section will also be rated FIDE.
I have been attending the RA Centre for years, and I found it actually noisier than usual this weekend, as we were assigned a double room near the gym. Well, I can tell you that it wasn't just my imagination, as on the way out after the end of the tournament, one of the maintenance staff was telling me that there were major arguments at a charity volleyball event, that spilled out into the parking lot! By contrast, our chess gang caused no trouble whatsoever!
But now, let us get to the results! Headlining the tournament were 4 very talented players rated at least 2400. They were the highest rated player going in, IM Artiom Samsonkin, GM Bator Sambuev, IM Tom O'Donnell, and Roman Sapozhnikov. In a dramatic resolution to the whole tournament, these 4 players battled in the last round on the top 3 boards for the top $1400 in prizes. However, rather than report on that first, for something different, this report will provide the results based on the chronological order in which they unfolded. You guessed it, that means starting with the U1600 section and moving up!
The winner of the U1600 Section was the first to be determined. Veteran player Dave MacNevin was the only one who scored a perfect 5-0 this weekend, and had earned the $200 U1600 1st place prize after just Round 4! As the U1600 Section had more players than usual, there was also a $100 2nd place prize, which was scooped up by Anthony Pace, who finished the strongest amongst several players who had a shot at 2nd place, scoring 3.5 out of 5.
The next winners were confirmed at the beginning of the last round, for the U2000 Section. When the pairings were posted, it was apparent that no one could catch Mateusz Dydak and Gilles Groleau, who were paired against each other. By drawing quickly, they both scored 4-1 and earned $200 each.
The new somewhat small U1800 Section took a couple of hours to figure out, with Alan Tomalty and Dan Liu (twice floated up to U2000) both scoring 3.5 to lead the section both in rating and score. However, Dan had entered as an Amateur, leaving Alan to take away the $200 U1800 1st place prize on his own.
At this point, the only section left to resolve was the Top Section. After about another hour of play, Christian Collins and Jason Riordon both completed their events with very respectable 50% scores, to share the $200 U2200 Class prize. Both players deserve credit for not giving up in quite a tough section! Christian's first 2 opponents were both rated at least 2400, and Jason was paired up every single round! But they both finished very strongly, only losing a half-point each over the last 3 rounds, and both winning both of their Sunday rounds. I for one was very impressed with their positive battling attitudes!
So now we enter the 4th hour of play in the last round, and perfectly appropriately, the only 4 games left are the top 4 boards. Then on Board 4, previous EOCA Grand Prix Champions David Gordon and Bill Doubleday reduce to a drawn knight and multiple pawns endgame. That leaves the top 3 boards to decide the top $1400 in prizes. I pick up every other board, tuck in the rest of the chairs, and jot all the completed scores on the wall chart. Assistant TD Dave Gordon cleans up the skittles room. The top 3 boards play on. Players turned spectators keep gathering around the top 3 boards, and the realization sets in that draws are getting more and more unlikely, that the remaining players had all decided much earlier that they just had to go for it! Young man Nikita Kraiouchkine from Granby enters the last round as the sole leader, after a superb first 4 rounds, including scoring 2.5 out of 3 against 3 of the 4 players rated at least 2400! In the last round on Board 1, the only elite player left for Nikita to meet is IM Tom, while IM Artiom and GM Bator face off on Board 2. Roman is on Board 3 against Hugues Masse, who tied for 2nd place at the RA Winter Open less than 2 months ago. These last 3 bouts continue.
Then in a suddenly dramatic fashion, all of the remaining games expire decisively within 4 minutes of each other! IM Tom, GM Bator, and Roman, all win to finish with great scores of 4-1, thus sharing the $1200 Top Section prizes for 1st through 3rd places. Nikita, with a very impressive 3.5-1.5 result earns the $200 U2400 Class prize. It is now 4 hours after Round 5 started, with IM Tom and Nikita still graciously going over their game on Board 1 with interested spectators. Some shake their hands, and congratulate them on a wonderful last game to finish up the event. A very cool way to wrap up the tournament!
As usual, I would like to conclude this event report by thanking everyone who helped us all weekend. There are many people who I am missing from the following list, but I really appreciate all of the nice little things that many people did, which made the weekend more enjoyable for all of us. Assistant TD Dave Gordon, in addition to doing a slew of things while I was busy, saved me literally hours by completely owning the skittles room setup, maintenance, and takedown. After the tournament, Dave is also the man who is ensuring that all of our CFC and FIDE ratings are done most effectively. During the tournament, I found myself repeatedly appreciative of Wei Xiong, who was extraordinarily flexible in helping me compensate, sometimes at the last minute, for any uneven numbers of players, thus helping ensure that no one ever got hit with a forced bye. Finally, thanks to Billy Carroll for the Timmies gift card!
Please visit the weblink below for a PDF of the wall chart. It should be up a day or so after the event, and will eventually also link to the CFC crosstables.
P.S. John Upper was collecting scoresheets that were left at the front, and might write a game analysis article for the CFC email newsletter. Please feel free to let me know if you have another game that you would like John to consider for inclusion in his next article. Thanks again John for those articles!
Yours in chess,
FIDE Arbiter Aris Marghetis
Organizer/TD, EOCA President
http://www.eoca.org/htm/tournaments_2009-2010.html
My next event is the Eastern Ontario Open, scheduled for June 11th-13th. Stay tuned for event details, including multiple early registration discounts!
If you would like to receive details about that event directly via email, please email arismarghetis@rogers.com to be added to my private email list.
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