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Canadian Junior - Event Report
Hi all,
The Canadian Junior ran very smoothly in just about every front. I struggled with technology throughout due to some incompatibility issues, but it turned out quite alright. 14 participants came out and played some very competitive chess. It was interesting to see the contrast between several deep theoretical lines and early attempts to avoid preparation from the opponents, from game to game as if to say, "lets play chess".
On the west wing of Hart House's 2nd Floor, we were for good part isolated from several other activities. The old-school dining rooms with the wooden tables and blue-leathered chairs was a nice touch. Sunday was a bit of an unusual day, with all the traffic delays downtown and the subway being down in the morning, forced us to start about half hour late. The wedding after-party in the evening across the hall was full of colourful characters, forcing us to close the doors on them.
The atmosphere was fantastic. Naturally several of the participants have been playing each other for many years and maintain solid friendships. Everyone was analyzing games, helping each other prepare for the next game, but it didn't stop anyone from giving their all when having to play each other. Very healthy sense of competition.
Some parents came out and supported their sons, always in good mood while understanding the seriousness of the competition, which was quite neat.
It took until Round 7 for someone to emerge as a favourite, with Shiyam Thavandiran needing to score 1.0 out of 2 having already played those closest to him. Even after 7 or 8 rounds of chess marathon, nobody seemed mildly interested in agreeing to a short draw, on any board.
Congratulations to Shiyam Thavandiran, the new Canadian Junior Champion!
Not without its challenges, Shiyam remained near the top and pulled away in Round 7, capitalizing in the final 2 rounds, while still facing determined challengers in Paul Gelis and Michael Kleinman. 2nd place Bindi Cheng fought hard and won the last two games against Roman Sapozhnikov and Arthur Calugar in long endgame battles, but it was not enough to catch up. Alex Martchenko who started out in the lead including a win over Shiyam with black, played inconsistently in the middle rounds but came up with more fine wins in the end of the tournament.
All games are posted on www.chess5.com
Check under "Public Games" in the red tab.
No membership is required to view the games, only to post comments.
You can also filter / view them in order by clicking on the title of the event in any of the games, and a list will show with all the event's games. From there you can even download in PGN in a link on the top left of that list.
Final Standings:
Standings. Junior
# Name ID Rtng Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Tot Prize
1 Shiyam Thavandiran 2455 W9 L3 W10 W6 W5 D2 W4 D8 W7 7.0
2 Bindi Cheng 2422 L10 W13 W11 W8 W7 D1 L6 W4 W5 6.5
3 Alexander Martchenko 2344 W12 W1 D7 L5 L4 W9 D8 W10 W6 6.0
4 Roman Sapozhnikov 2477 D8 W10 D6 D7 W3 W5 L1 L2 W12 5.5
5 Arthur Calugar 2370 W11 L7 W9 W3 L1 L4 W12 W6 L2 5.0
6 Nikita Gusev 2256 D13 W8 D4 L1 D9 W7 W2 L5 L3 4.5
7 Michael Kleinman 2223 W14 W5 D3 D4 L2 L6 D9 W11 L1 4.5
8 Paul Gelis 2186 D4 L6 W13 L2 W12 W10 D3 D1 L11 4.5
9 Jesse Wang 2110 L1 W12 L5 W10 D6 L3 D7 L13 B--- 4.0
10 Haizhou Xu 2037 W2 L4 L1 L9 W14 L8 B--- L3 W13 4.0
11 David Itkin 1922 L5 W14 L2 H--- H--- L12 W13 L7 W8 4.0
12 Jonathan Farine 1813 L3 L9 W14 W13 L8 W11 L5 B--- L4 4.0
13 Ian Mahoney 1639 D6 L2 L8 L12 B--- X14 L11 W9 L10 3.5
14 Griffen Eumague 1635 L7 L11 L12 B--- L10 F13 U--- U--- U--- 1.0
The tournament should be rated this coming Wednesday.
There were no disputes during the event :) just good quality chess.
Canadian Junior Champion Shiyam Thavandiran gets a $1,400 prize to represent Canada at the World Junior, which takes place in Poland in August.
I'd like to thank this opportunity to thank Bryan Lamb for guiding me through a few things and being available on call if something crazy happened (luckily nothing went wrong). Thanks also to Stuart Brammall & Geordie Derraugh for the on-site assistance, including printing games bulletins or entering them online, as well as aiding with the reports.
Alex Ferreira
The Canadian Junior ran very smoothly in just about every front. I struggled with technology throughout due to some incompatibility issues, but it turned out quite alright. 14 participants came out and played some very competitive chess. It was interesting to see the contrast between several deep theoretical lines and early attempts to avoid preparation from the opponents, from game to game as if to say, "lets play chess".
On the west wing of Hart House's 2nd Floor, we were for good part isolated from several other activities. The old-school dining rooms with the wooden tables and blue-leathered chairs was a nice touch. Sunday was a bit of an unusual day, with all the traffic delays downtown and the subway being down in the morning, forced us to start about half hour late. The wedding after-party in the evening across the hall was full of colourful characters, forcing us to close the doors on them.
The atmosphere was fantastic. Naturally several of the participants have been playing each other for many years and maintain solid friendships. Everyone was analyzing games, helping each other prepare for the next game, but it didn't stop anyone from giving their all when having to play each other. Very healthy sense of competition.
Some parents came out and supported their sons, always in good mood while understanding the seriousness of the competition, which was quite neat.
It took until Round 7 for someone to emerge as a favourite, with Shiyam Thavandiran needing to score 1.0 out of 2 having already played those closest to him. Even after 7 or 8 rounds of chess marathon, nobody seemed mildly interested in agreeing to a short draw, on any board.
Congratulations to Shiyam Thavandiran, the new Canadian Junior Champion!
Not without its challenges, Shiyam remained near the top and pulled away in Round 7, capitalizing in the final 2 rounds, while still facing determined challengers in Paul Gelis and Michael Kleinman. 2nd place Bindi Cheng fought hard and won the last two games against Roman Sapozhnikov and Arthur Calugar in long endgame battles, but it was not enough to catch up. Alex Martchenko who started out in the lead including a win over Shiyam with black, played inconsistently in the middle rounds but came up with more fine wins in the end of the tournament.
All games are posted on www.chess5.com
Check under "Public Games" in the red tab.
No membership is required to view the games, only to post comments.
You can also filter / view them in order by clicking on the title of the event in any of the games, and a list will show with all the event's games. From there you can even download in PGN in a link on the top left of that list.
Final Standings:
Standings. Junior
# Name ID Rtng Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Tot Prize
1 Shiyam Thavandiran 2455 W9 L3 W10 W6 W5 D2 W4 D8 W7 7.0
2 Bindi Cheng 2422 L10 W13 W11 W8 W7 D1 L6 W4 W5 6.5
3 Alexander Martchenko 2344 W12 W1 D7 L5 L4 W9 D8 W10 W6 6.0
4 Roman Sapozhnikov 2477 D8 W10 D6 D7 W3 W5 L1 L2 W12 5.5
5 Arthur Calugar 2370 W11 L7 W9 W3 L1 L4 W12 W6 L2 5.0
6 Nikita Gusev 2256 D13 W8 D4 L1 D9 W7 W2 L5 L3 4.5
7 Michael Kleinman 2223 W14 W5 D3 D4 L2 L6 D9 W11 L1 4.5
8 Paul Gelis 2186 D4 L6 W13 L2 W12 W10 D3 D1 L11 4.5
9 Jesse Wang 2110 L1 W12 L5 W10 D6 L3 D7 L13 B--- 4.0
10 Haizhou Xu 2037 W2 L4 L1 L9 W14 L8 B--- L3 W13 4.0
11 David Itkin 1922 L5 W14 L2 H--- H--- L12 W13 L7 W8 4.0
12 Jonathan Farine 1813 L3 L9 W14 W13 L8 W11 L5 B--- L4 4.0
13 Ian Mahoney 1639 D6 L2 L8 L12 B--- X14 L11 W9 L10 3.5
14 Griffen Eumague 1635 L7 L11 L12 B--- L10 F13 U--- U--- U--- 1.0
The tournament should be rated this coming Wednesday.
There were no disputes during the event :) just good quality chess.
Canadian Junior Champion Shiyam Thavandiran gets a $1,400 prize to represent Canada at the World Junior, which takes place in Poland in August.
I'd like to thank this opportunity to thank Bryan Lamb for guiding me through a few things and being available on call if something crazy happened (luckily nothing went wrong). Thanks also to Stuart Brammall & Geordie Derraugh for the on-site assistance, including printing games bulletins or entering them online, as well as aiding with the reports.
Alex Ferreira
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