National Capital Open: the event report

[Aris Marghetis]

By the weekend before American Thanksgiving, the air in Ottawa is getting chilly, which is perfect for spending the weekend playing chess! 65 players had the same idea, and got together at the RA Centre on scenic Riverside Drive for the 2008 National Capital Open. As Organizer/TD, I noticed that, besides having more participants, there were also quite a few new faces, and previous players returning from extended absences. One of the nice effects of such a player distribution was that, especially in the middle rating ranges, there were many games between players who had never played each other before.

It was especially neat to welcome back 3 generations of the Mirabeau family from the Ottawa area. This paragraph might seem corny to younger readers, but as a family man, I found it wonderful to see them enjoying the weekend together playing chess. My favorite scene was the 4th round, when grandfather Guy and grandson Anthony both had the white pieces on adjacent boards. Thanks to Laurent, the father, for bringing your nice chess family to our event.

Speaking of chess families, I would like to take this opportunity to appreciate the classy Xiong family from Ottawa. Jerry and Sonja are just great kids to have in your tournament, and it has been a lot of fun watching them improve over the years, challenging stronger players every time out. On top of that, their father Wei is an incredibly helpful chess parent if I need anything. For example, he spent the whole day Sunday acting as a floater player to even out odd numbers, to ensure that we never had any forced byes. Thanks also to Alan Tomalty and Peter Arseneau for doing the same on Friday and Saturday.

My final family thanks goes to the Renaud-Shaw family, who overheard me early Sunday morning lamenting the breakfast I should have had, and went out and brought back a delicious Timmies combo that they treated me to! Thanks again, and also to the fathers who would get me Cokes from the machine!

But now, let's get to the results! The 65 players were split across 3 sections. Section A for 2000 and up, Section B for U2000, and Section C for U1600. There was $1600 in prizes set aside for the top 3 finishers, and after that, there was a $300 class prize for every 200 rating points from U2200 to U1600, and a $100 class prize for U1400. All results are being submitted for CFC and FIDE rating, and at least Quebec players will be submitted for FQE rating.

GM Bator Sambuev absolutely dominated the event with a perfect score of 5-0, and entertained us all with fascinating games. Everyone was also quite impressed with how he kept playing for the win in the last round, even though he didn't need to. He loves playing, and he has become a very well-liked regular at our EOCA weekend events. Bator earned $800 for his efforts, and FM Robert Hamilton earned $500 for clear second place with a score of 4-1. He only lost a point to Bator, and both of these titled players played very strong games throughout. IM Tom O'Donnell was also entered, but unfortunately, he wasn't feeling well, and did not complete the tournament. I believe that this is the time of year when some of us are catching some version of the flu! :(

Rounding out Section A, there was a $300 prize for 3rd place, and a $300 class prize for U2200. 4 players (Kevin Pacey, Joey Qin, Patrick Kirby, David Dunn) had identical scores of 3-2. However, Joey was playing as an Amateur, and so the other 3 gentlemen split the $600 3 ways, each taking home $200. We often remember the titled players and their successes, but these 4 players should also be recognized, as they battled through some tough pairings and results, wrestled rating points away from higher ranked players, and finished the tournament very strongly on the Sunday. Veritable chess warriors!

Section B consisted of 2 $300 class prizes, for U2000 and U1800. In the U2000 subsection, 3 players (Gabriel Brown, Alex Danilov, John Bleau) finished with scores of 3.5-1.5, but as Alex was playing as an Amateur, Gabriel and John split the $300 just between them. Congratulations to Gabriel for battling back to tie for this prize, and it was nice seeing John again after decades. Between him and his friend Robert, they had enough money to cover dinner! :)

In the U1800 subsection, there was no other player even remotely close to David Li, who captured the $300 class prize with his own perfect score of 5-0. This might very well have been the single most impressive result of the whole tournament, as David, even though he was in the U1800 subsection, he was paired 4 times with higher ranked players from the U2000 subsection, and yet finished with a perfect score, 1.5 points ahead of anyone else in Section B!

Section C was also won by a perfect score of 5-0 for the U1600 class prize of $300, this time by Yuanhao Wei, who is rapidly increasing his rating. Closing out the prizes was a $100 class prize for U1400, which was won by Tom Jarmyn, who had the best score, 3.5-1.5, in his mostly Amateur U1400 subsection.

In closing, I wanted to share another story from the weekend that readers might find interesting. I am not much of an artist, and I was really fascinated by observing newcomer Matt LeBlanc, who after his game would finish, would pencil sketch other players whose games were still in progress. Many of us do not move much during our games, which allowed Matt plenty of time to capture wonderful chess action portraits. Thanks Matt for sharing your special skill.

Finally, I would like to say thanks to David Gordon for his support on Sunday, and most of all to Stijn De Kerpel, who was awesomely helpful all weekend, especially for setup and takedown, and easily saved me hours of effort. These guys are always so ready to lend a hand, and I really appreciate it, thanks!

Yours in chess,

Aris Marghetis, Organizer/TD
http://www.eoca.org/htm/tournaments%202008-09.html

My next event will be the RA Frosty Active on December 7th, and my next weekend tournament will be the RA Winter Open on January 16th-18th. I will be posting and emailing the event details soon. If you would like to be added to my private email distribution, please email arismarghetis at rogers dot com

P.S. The crosstable will be attempted in the next post, as there is a post size limitation.

[Aris Marghetis]

Re: National Capital Open: the event report

# rating player round 1 round 2 round 3 round 4 round 5 FIDE# CFC# FQE#
result# colour total result# colour total result# colour total result# colour total result# colour total

1 2540 GM Sambuev, Bator +9 W 1.0 +4 B 2.0 +3 W 3.0 +5 B 4.0 +6 W 5.0 4128290 146462 100539
2 2445 IM O'Donnell, Tom +10 B 1.0 =5 W 1.5 -15 W 1.5 +16 B 2.5 -0 bye 2.5 2600064 106245 31421
3 2370 FM Hamilton, Robert +11 W 1.0 +8 B 2.0 -1 B 2.0 +15 W 3.0 +5 W 4.0 2600234 102629 44043
4 2304 Pacey, Kevin +13 B 1.0 -1 W 1.0 -9 B 1.0 +10 B 2.0 +14 W 3.0 2600455 103715
5 2271 Valdizon, Armando +14 W 1.0 =2 B 1.5 +17 W 2.5 -1 W 2.5 -3 B 2.5 2603110 101864
6 2222 Qin, Joey -15 B 0.0 +11 W 1.0 +19 B 2.0 +9 W 3.0 -1 B 3.0 2605651 134989 97244
7 2208 Xiong, Jerry =17 W 0.5 =15 B 1.0 =16 W 1.5 =14 B 2.0 =9 W 2.5 2606844 133928 97143

8 2189 Kirby, Patrick +18 B 1.0 -3 W 1.0 =0 bye 1.5 +17 B 2.5 =15 W 3.0 2609754 107850
9 2187 Szalay, Karoly -1 B 0.0 +13 W 1.0 +4 W 2.0 -6 B 2.0 =7 B 2.5 2600544 134902 29160
10 2176 De Kerpel, Stijn -2 W 0.0 -14 B 0.0 =12 B 0.5 -4 W 0.5 -13 B 0.5 2606950 102011
11 2155 Doubleday, William -3 B 0.0 -6 B 0.0 =13 W 0.5 -0 bye 0.5 -0 bye 0.5 2682419 103754
12 2150 Fritzsche, Helmut =0 bye 0.5 -17 B 0.5 =10 W 1.0 =19 W 1.5 -16 B 1.5 4631544 145427 100593
13 2084 Mayo, Alvah -4 W 0.0 -9 B 0.0 =11 B 0.5 -20 W 0.5 +10 W 1.5 2603730 105142
14 2063 Marinkovic, Mate -5 B 0.0 +10 W 1.0 =0 bye 1.5 =7 W 2.0 -4 B 2.0 2605201 141393
15 2056 Dunn, David +6 W 1.0 =7 W 1.5 +2 B 2.5 -3 B 2.5 =8 B 3.0 2609746 108750
16 2035 Sadeghi, Saeid =0 bye 0.5 =19 W 1.0 =7 B 1.5 -2 W 1.5 +12 W 2.5 2606810 139655
17 2024 Pace, Christopher =7 B 0.5 +12 W 1.5 -5 B 1.5 -8 W 1.5 =19 B 2.0 141390
18 2004 Carrier, Claude -8 W 0.0 =0 bye 0.5 =0 bye 1.0 -0 bye 1.0 -0 bye 1.0 2682400 101380 78851
19 2001 Desjardins, Michel =20 W 0.5 =16 B 1.0 -6 W 1.0 =12 B 1.5 =17 W 2.0 2601427 131936 43165

20 1955 Pagayatan, Noel =19 B 0.5 +32 W 1.5 =0 bye 2.0 +13 B 3.0 -31 W 3.0 2605422 103404
21 1953 Brown, Gabriel +34 W 1.0 =33 B 1.5 +37 B 2.5 -31 W 2.5 +27 W 3.5 2603500 127626 43424
22 1935 Forget, David -31 W 0.0 +40 B 1.0 +30 W 2.0 -27 B 2.0 -0 bye 2.0 2604345 142032 75690
23 1928 Danilov, Alex =32 B 0.5 =39 W 1.0 +36 B 2.0 +33 W 3.0 =26 B 3.5 2603926 101895 31972
24 1666 Xiong, Wei =0 bye 0.5 =0 bye 1.0 -0 bye 1.0 +30 B 2.0 =33 W 2.5 136037
25 1889 Xiong, Sonja -33 W 0.0 +29 B 1.0 =39 B 1.5 +64 W 2.5 -35 B 2.5 2607182 133929 97154
26 1887 Bleau, John +35 B 1.0 +36 W 2.0 -31 B 2.0 +37 W 3.0 =23 W 3.5 111867 44313
27 1879 Gillanders, Robert -36 W 0.0 +35 B 1.0 +41 W 2.0 +22 W 3.0 -21 B 3.0 2606968 108202
28 1868 Dagenais, Wilfrid -37 B 0.0 -41 W 0.0 -0 bye 0.0 -0 bye 0.0 -0 bye 0.0 101651

29 1770 Lidstone, Phil -38 W 0.0 -25 W 0.0 +32 B 1.0 =39 B 1.5 -40 W 1.5 105262 35741
30 1767 Lavergne, Daniel +41 B 1.0 -37 W 1.0 -22 B 1.0 -24 W 1.0 -0 bye 1.0 102780 41523
31 1766 Li, David +22 B 1.0 +38 W 2.0 +26 W 3.0 +21 B 4.0 +20 B 5.0 2604965 134898 28596
32 1762 Roschman, Paul =23 W 0.5 -20 B 0.5 -29 W 0.5 =40 W 1.0 +53 B 2.0 113055
33 1751 Kalra, Agastya +25 B 1.0 =21 W 1.5 =64 W 2.0 -23 B 2.0 =24 B 2.5 2604744 137927
34 1733 Tomalty, Alan -21 B 0.0 =0 bye 0.5 =0 bye 1.0 -0 bye 1.0 -0 bye 1.0 2606380 112353
35 1705 Renaud, Joshua -26 W 0.0 -27 W 0.0 +40 B 1.0 +38 B 2.0 +25 W 3.0 2609177 134845
36 1687 Scantland, Patrick +27 B 1.0 -26 B 1.0 -23 W 1.0 -41 B 1.0 -0 bye 1.0 2605988 106803 35550
37 1686 Chan, Philip +28 W 1.0 +30 B 2.0 -21 W 2.0 -26 B 2.0 +39 W 3.0 2608510 135621
38 1665 Mirabeau, Laurent +29 B 1.0 -31 B 1.0 -65 W 1.0 -35 W 1.0 -0 bye 1.0 107918
39 1638 Burton, Joe =0 bye 0.5 =23 B 1.0 =25 W 1.5 =29 W 2.0 -37 B 2.0 2603551 142031
40 1624 Zhou, Kevin =0 bye 0.5 -22 W 0.5 -35 W 0.5 =32 B 1.0 +29 B 2.0 147545
41 1613 Best, Garland -30 W 0.0 +28 B 1.0 -27 B 1.0 +36 W 2.0 -64 B 2.0 2603241 103050

42 1585 Liu, Dan =54 W 0.5 +50 B 1.5 +57 W 2.5 -49 B 2.5 -46 B 2.5 147351
43 1584 Devine, Norman +55 B 1.0 +52 W 2.0 =46 B 2.5 +44 W 3.5 -49 W 3.5 127526
44 1569 Luo, Fangyi +56 W 1.0 +51 B 2.0 -49 W 2.0 -43 B 2.0 -54 W 2.0 146597
45 1517 MacNevin, Dave -57 B 0.0 +54 B 1.0 -53 W 1.0 -59 W 1.0 +62 B 2.0 2605074 129952
46 1507 Nguyen, Jason +58 W 1.0 +53 B 2.0 =43 W 2.5 +51 B 3.5 +42 W 4.5 148226
47 1506 Pace, Anthony =0 bye 0.5 =0 bye 1.0 -56 W 1.0 +60 B 2.0 +55 W 3.0 141389
48 1505 Mirabeau, Guy -59 B 0.0 =0 bye 0.5 -54 W 0.5 -61 W 0.5 -0 bye 0.5 107919
49 1482 Wei, Yuanhao +60 W 1.0 +59 B 2.0 +44 B 3.0 +42 W 4.0 +43 B 5.0 148318
50 1468 Eyre, Keven =0 bye 0.5 -42 W 0.5 +59 W 1.5 +56 B 2.5 +52 B 3.5 2604205 135113
51 1466 Sharma, Pranav +61 B 1.0 -44 W 1.0 +55 B 2.0 -46 W 2.0 -56 B 2.0 2606283 144311
52 1434 Pace, Nicholas +62 W 1.0 -43 B 1.0 +58 W 2.0 =53 B 2.5 -50 W 2.5 141391
53 1404 Farah, Liiban +63 B 1.0 -46 W 1.0 +45 B 2.0 =52 W 2.5 -32 W 2.5 148746

54 1387 Jarmyn, Tom =42 B 0.5 -45 W 0.5 +48 B 1.5 +57 W 2.5 +44 B 3.5 2604698 145247
55 1373 LeBlanc, Marc -43 W 0.0 +60 B 1.0 -51 W 1.0 +58 B 2.0 -47 B 2.0 148519
56 1356 MacIsaac, Alexandre -44 B 0.0 +61 W 1.0 +47 B 2.0 -50 W 2.0 +51 W 3.0 100598
57 1334 Buss, Andreas +45 W 1.0 =0 bye 1.5 -42 B 1.5 -54 B 1.5 +58 W 2.5 146449
58 1294 Latta, Jeremy -46 B 0.0 +62 W 1.0 -52 B 1.0 -55 W 1.0 -57 B 1.0 148520
59 1238 Martin, Jim +48 W 1.0 -49 W 1.0 -50 B 1.0 +45 B 2.0 -0 bye 2.0 147280
60 1140 Luo, Tony -49 B 0.0 -55 W 0.0 +62 B 1.0 -47 W 1.0 -0 bye 1.0 146598
61 1124 Wan, Kevin -51 W 0.0 -56 B 0.0 +63 W 1.0 +48 B 2.0 -0 bye 2.0 147460
62 866 Amirshadova, V -52 B 0.0 -58 B 0.0 -60 W 0.0 -63 B 0.0 -45 W 0.0 148747
63 787 Mirabeau, Anthony -53 W 0.0 -64 B 0.0 -61 B 0.0 +62 W 1.0 -0 bye 1.0 146499

64 1682 Brammall, Stuart =0 bye 0.5 +63 W 1.5 =33 B 2.0 -25 B 2.0 +41 W 3.0 145597
65 1899 Arseneau, Peter =0 bye 0.5 =0 bye 1.0 +38 B 2.0 -0 bye 2.0 -0 bye 2.0 101203 57374