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Ottawa Winter Open: the event report
The Eastern Ontario Grand Prix wasted no time getting back into action after the holiday season, with the 2011 Ottawa Winter Open in mid-January. This traditional annual tournament was formerly called the RA Winter Open, and remains a great opportunity to enjoy chess in comfortable warm surroundings while the weather outside dips and dives! There was a bit of snow on Saturday morning, but other than that, the weather seemed to work out quite well.
Despite modest registrations of 53 players, we stayed with the 5 sections as originally planned, putting faith in the FIDE Swiss System, and the positive emphasis it brings to colour alternation. I have to admit that there were some scary pairing moments, but in the end, everything worked out just great! ;)
I would like to switch things up in this report by starting off with thanking some key people. A lot of us felt that this weekend was one of the most smooth in recent memory in Ottawa, and I believe that was because of a solid foundation established by certain key volunteers. First of all, David Cohen, one of the key people organizing the 2011 Canadian Open in Toronto, was onsite even before I was! He then proceeded to efficiently execute every little preparation that I could think of. For example, many players expressed appreciation for how clean the playing area was, and how well the available space was used. Well, that was thanks to David, enabling me to focus on registrations and pairings. The other thing that really helped me out this weekend was that we had 2 very capable and flexible floaters, John Upper for the CFC&FIDE sections, and Peter Arseneau for the CFC-only sections. They played a total of 5 games, and that not only avoided 5 forced byes, but it also made it much easier for me to get at least half the pairings done ahead of time for the next round. This just made everything easier, less pressured, and added to the enjoyment of the weekend. So, David-John-Peter, thank you very much for all of your help!
Finally, I would also like to thank IM Brian Hartman, who donated his $200/3 prize from our previous tournament, which we used to pad up the U1600 prize. Brian could not attend this event, but his contribution increased a prize for a Junior, and pushed the total prize fund to $2200. So, thank you again Brian!
Now, to the results! We had 5 sections: Masters-U2200-U2000-U1800-U1600. All of them are being rated CFC, and the top 2 are also being rated FIDE. The Masters section featured 8 very tough players, which led to quite a few changes on the leaderboard as the weekend progressed. The only player with a FIDE title, GM Bator Sambuev, survived 2 draws to finish in clear 1st place with a score of 4-1, and take home $500. Right behind him at 3.5-1.5, and with quite strong showings to wrap up their weekend, Roman Sapozhnikov and Michael Humphreys tied for 2nd and 3rd place, to each claim $250 in prizes.
Incidentally, Roman's last game was one of the last 3 to finish, and 2 of those last 3 were rare K+Q vs. K+R endgames. Never seen 2 at the same time! :)
The U2200 section results were less spread out, with 3.5-1.5 being enough to lead the section. Both David Filipovich and Claude Carrier achieved that score, but as Claude was playing as an Amateur, David secured the full $300 prize. Claude should be recognized though for his impressive performance, as he was the lowest rated player in the section, and even floated up to the Masters section once, and still won! For 2nd place, 3-2 was the sufficient score, which both Zhiyuan Zhang and David Forget reached. However, David was playing as an Amateur, and so Zhiyuan captured the full $100 prize.
Moving along to the sections that are being rated CFC only, the U2000 section was again the largest, and featured intense exciting chess all weekend. However, this section was also one of the most dominated, as Emil Smilovici drew his last game to finish with 4.5-0.5, which was still a full point ahead of the nearest other players. Emil is a very nice man who is always a pleasure to see, and his chess experience really shone through this weekend, winning him $300. The nearest other players, at 3.5-1.5, were veteran player Alex Danilov and rising youngster Yuanchen Zhang, who shared the $100 2nd prize.
The U1800 section was the most unique, in that it had only 6 players, which ideally would work out to a hotly contested perfect round-robin, but as the smoke cleared, it also resulted in the only perfect score of the whole tournament. The always gutsy and tenacious Phil Lidstone demolished the section, with the nearest opponent a full 2 points below him. With a perfect score of 5-0, Phil grabbed the $200 prize, and his games were awesomely complicated!
Finishing off with the U1600 section, there was a $200 prize up for grabs, and awarding it took a little bit of double-checking. You see, the section was officially won, with scores of 3.5-1.5, by Tony Luo and Terry Ju. For those of you who do not know these little guys, they are very young, and they were rated very low in the section, making their performances even more impressive! However, they were also both playing as Amateurs, and so I went down the results to those who scored 3-2. Interestingly, this included 4 players: Dave MacNevin, Pranav Sharma, Keven Eyre, David Zhang. These are all very well-liked local players, but as Dave and Pranav were playing as Amateurs, that left Keven and David to share the section prize, therefore $100 each.
Please visit the weblink below for a PDF of the wall chart. It should be up in a day or so, and please note it includes a couple of format changes. First of all, some people were asking for a return to how I used to use shading to denote Amateur players, but I know that many people prefer to actually see the word "Amateur". So, now I just do both, LOL! There is a new very narrow column to the far right that is entitled "$". If that box is blacked out for that player, then he is either an Amateur or a floater, in other words, he cannot win any "$". Also, I replaced the word "bye" with "*", where a "W" or "B" would normally be.
Looking ahead to our next events, please note the following special plans :
1) I am looking for up to a floater per section! That's free chess with peers!
2) I am now going to also FIDE rate the continuously robust U2000 section.
3) The Eastern Ontario Open this year will be a 6-rounder straddling the Canada Day long weekend in Ottawa, which is a great time in the national capital region! I am trying to line up budget accommodations, and will post them soon, so that people can book earlier than they would for just a regular weekend.
Yours in chess,
Aris Marghetis, FIDE Arbiter
Organizer/TD, EOCA President
http://www.eoca.org/htm/tournaments_2010-11.html
My next event will be the Ottawa Spring Open, scheduled for March 4th-6th. Stay tuned for 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.
Despite modest registrations of 53 players, we stayed with the 5 sections as originally planned, putting faith in the FIDE Swiss System, and the positive emphasis it brings to colour alternation. I have to admit that there were some scary pairing moments, but in the end, everything worked out just great! ;)
I would like to switch things up in this report by starting off with thanking some key people. A lot of us felt that this weekend was one of the most smooth in recent memory in Ottawa, and I believe that was because of a solid foundation established by certain key volunteers. First of all, David Cohen, one of the key people organizing the 2011 Canadian Open in Toronto, was onsite even before I was! He then proceeded to efficiently execute every little preparation that I could think of. For example, many players expressed appreciation for how clean the playing area was, and how well the available space was used. Well, that was thanks to David, enabling me to focus on registrations and pairings. The other thing that really helped me out this weekend was that we had 2 very capable and flexible floaters, John Upper for the CFC&FIDE sections, and Peter Arseneau for the CFC-only sections. They played a total of 5 games, and that not only avoided 5 forced byes, but it also made it much easier for me to get at least half the pairings done ahead of time for the next round. This just made everything easier, less pressured, and added to the enjoyment of the weekend. So, David-John-Peter, thank you very much for all of your help!
Finally, I would also like to thank IM Brian Hartman, who donated his $200/3 prize from our previous tournament, which we used to pad up the U1600 prize. Brian could not attend this event, but his contribution increased a prize for a Junior, and pushed the total prize fund to $2200. So, thank you again Brian!
Now, to the results! We had 5 sections: Masters-U2200-U2000-U1800-U1600. All of them are being rated CFC, and the top 2 are also being rated FIDE. The Masters section featured 8 very tough players, which led to quite a few changes on the leaderboard as the weekend progressed. The only player with a FIDE title, GM Bator Sambuev, survived 2 draws to finish in clear 1st place with a score of 4-1, and take home $500. Right behind him at 3.5-1.5, and with quite strong showings to wrap up their weekend, Roman Sapozhnikov and Michael Humphreys tied for 2nd and 3rd place, to each claim $250 in prizes.
Incidentally, Roman's last game was one of the last 3 to finish, and 2 of those last 3 were rare K+Q vs. K+R endgames. Never seen 2 at the same time! :)
The U2200 section results were less spread out, with 3.5-1.5 being enough to lead the section. Both David Filipovich and Claude Carrier achieved that score, but as Claude was playing as an Amateur, David secured the full $300 prize. Claude should be recognized though for his impressive performance, as he was the lowest rated player in the section, and even floated up to the Masters section once, and still won! For 2nd place, 3-2 was the sufficient score, which both Zhiyuan Zhang and David Forget reached. However, David was playing as an Amateur, and so Zhiyuan captured the full $100 prize.
Moving along to the sections that are being rated CFC only, the U2000 section was again the largest, and featured intense exciting chess all weekend. However, this section was also one of the most dominated, as Emil Smilovici drew his last game to finish with 4.5-0.5, which was still a full point ahead of the nearest other players. Emil is a very nice man who is always a pleasure to see, and his chess experience really shone through this weekend, winning him $300. The nearest other players, at 3.5-1.5, were veteran player Alex Danilov and rising youngster Yuanchen Zhang, who shared the $100 2nd prize.
The U1800 section was the most unique, in that it had only 6 players, which ideally would work out to a hotly contested perfect round-robin, but as the smoke cleared, it also resulted in the only perfect score of the whole tournament. The always gutsy and tenacious Phil Lidstone demolished the section, with the nearest opponent a full 2 points below him. With a perfect score of 5-0, Phil grabbed the $200 prize, and his games were awesomely complicated!
Finishing off with the U1600 section, there was a $200 prize up for grabs, and awarding it took a little bit of double-checking. You see, the section was officially won, with scores of 3.5-1.5, by Tony Luo and Terry Ju. For those of you who do not know these little guys, they are very young, and they were rated very low in the section, making their performances even more impressive! However, they were also both playing as Amateurs, and so I went down the results to those who scored 3-2. Interestingly, this included 4 players: Dave MacNevin, Pranav Sharma, Keven Eyre, David Zhang. These are all very well-liked local players, but as Dave and Pranav were playing as Amateurs, that left Keven and David to share the section prize, therefore $100 each.
Please visit the weblink below for a PDF of the wall chart. It should be up in a day or so, and please note it includes a couple of format changes. First of all, some people were asking for a return to how I used to use shading to denote Amateur players, but I know that many people prefer to actually see the word "Amateur". So, now I just do both, LOL! There is a new very narrow column to the far right that is entitled "$". If that box is blacked out for that player, then he is either an Amateur or a floater, in other words, he cannot win any "$". Also, I replaced the word "bye" with "*", where a "W" or "B" would normally be.
Looking ahead to our next events, please note the following special plans :
1) I am looking for up to a floater per section! That's free chess with peers!
2) I am now going to also FIDE rate the continuously robust U2000 section.
3) The Eastern Ontario Open this year will be a 6-rounder straddling the Canada Day long weekend in Ottawa, which is a great time in the national capital region! I am trying to line up budget accommodations, and will post them soon, so that people can book earlier than they would for just a regular weekend.
Yours in chess,
Aris Marghetis, FIDE Arbiter
Organizer/TD, EOCA President
http://www.eoca.org/htm/tournaments_2010-11.html
My next event will be the Ottawa Spring Open, scheduled for March 4th-6th. Stay tuned for 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.