1 Canada’s Only “ Independent ” Chess E - Newsletter Covering Toronto Chess News, and Beyond! “ Chess IS Life! ” – GM Bobby Fischer Issue # 1-2 – September 15, 2012 INTERNATIONAL World Chess Olympiad, Turkey – Open Section – From the Canadian Perspective Gold – Armenia ( on tie-break with Russia ) Silver - Russia Bronze - Ukraine ( partly adapted from ChessVibes ) On Monday, August 27, the World Chess Olympiad started in Istanbul, Turkey. It ran to September 9.159 countries registered a team for the open section. Rounds 1-5 were played August 28th - September 1st, rounds 6-10 on September 3rd-7th and the final 11th round, together with the closing ceremony, were scheduled for September 9th. The teams in both the open and the women's sections consist of four players, one reserve player and a team captain who may also be one of the players (or reserve). Each federation may also be represented by a chief of delegation In the open section, the top favourites were:
Transcript
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Canada’s Only “ Independent ” Chess E - Newsletter Covering Toronto Chess News, and Beyond!
“ Chess IS Life! ” – GM Bobby Fischer
Issue # 1-2 – September 15, 2012
INTERNATIONAL World Chess Olympiad, Turkey – Open Section – From the Canadian Perspective Gold – Armenia ( on tie-break with Russia ) Silver - Russia Bronze - Ukraine
( partly adapted from ChessVibes ) On Monday, August 27, the World Chess Olympiad started in Istanbul, Turkey. It ran to September 9.159 countries registered a team for the open section. Rounds 1-5 were played August 28th - September 1st, rounds 6-10 on September 3rd-7th and the final 11th round, together with the closing ceremony, were scheduled for September 9th.
The teams in both the open and the women's sections consist of four players, one reserve player and a team captain who may also be one of the players (or reserve). Each federation may also be represented by a chief of delegation
In the open section, the top favourites were:
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Russia. Their last victory was in Bled in 2002. Their line-up this year: Vladimir Kramnik, Sergey Karjakin, Alexander Grischuk, Evgeny Tomashevsky and Dmitry Jakovenko Armenia. They won gold in 2006 and 2008. They played with the strongest possible line-up: Levon Aronian, Sergei Movsesian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian and Tigran Petrosian.
Ukraine. Defending their 2010 title, looked impressive: Vassily Ivanchuk, Ruslan Ponomariov, Alexander Moiseenko, Andrei Volokitin and Pavel Eljanov.
China is among the top favorites again with Wang Hao, Li Chao, Wang Yue, Ding Liren and Bu Xiangzhi.
USA. Won the bronze medal both in 2006 in Turin and in 2008 in Dresden. Their line-up: Hikaru Nakamura, Gata Kamsky, Alexander Onischuk, Varuzhan Akobian and Ray Robson.
So the 2 top pre-tournament favourites, did come first and second. And the third favourite took third. No upsets this Olympiad!
Now let’s look at the Olympiad from the “ Canadian Perspective “:
1.e4² 0.34 Fritz 13 evaluates the position as a " slight " advantage to W. This evaluation is not
generally accepted. W has " initiative ", but with best play by Bl., many believe Bl equalizes. 1...c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 [3.Nc3²] 3...cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6?!± ( verified depth 21 ) Handzar gets a " clear "
1.d4² 0.29 Fritz 13 evaluates the position as a " slight " advantage to W. This evaluation is not
generally accepted. Though W has " initiative ", many feel that Bl with best play, equalizes. 1...d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e6 4.e3 Bd6 5.Bd3 f5 6.Nge2 Nf6 7.f3 0-0 8.0-0 Qe7 9.Bd2 Kh8?!± Fernando
Position after 14…cxd5 XABCDEFGHY 8rsnl+-tr-mk( 7+pvl-wq-zpp' 6p+-+-sn-+& 5+-zPpzp-+-% 4-+-zP-+-+$ 3+-sNL+-+-# 2PzPQvLN+PzP" 1tR-+-+RmK-! xabcdefghy 15.Bg5?= allowing the B to be trapped [15.Qb3 Qf7 (15...Rd8?! 16.Rxf6 gxf6 (16...Qxf6 17.Rf1 Qc6 18.Nxd5 Be6 19.Be4 Bg8 20.Qf3 Rxd5 21.Nc3 Nd7 22.Nxd5 Rf8 23.Nxc7 Qxc7 24.Qg3 Rxf1+ 25.Kxf1 Bxa2+− 2.07) 17.Nxd5 Rxd5 18.Qxd5 Nc6+− 1.84) 16.dxe5 Bxe5±] 15...e4?!² trapping the B is OK, but not quite best [15...Be6 16.Bxh7 Nc6=] 16.Nxd5 Fernando temporarily
goes up a P 16...exd3 17.Qxd3 Bator is up B vs 2 P's 17...Qd8 18.Nec3 Be6 19.Nxc7 Qxc7 20.Rae1?!= Fernando has lost his advantage [20.Bxf6 gxf6 21.Rae1 Bg8²] 20...Bg8 21.Bxf6 [21.Bf4 Qf7 22.Bd6 Re8=] 21...gxf6 22.Ne4?!³ for the first time in the game, Bator gets the
Canada – Rd. 4 – ( 53 ) CAN Canada 2 ½ - 1 ½ - Mongolia MGL ( 56 )
BD.1 GM Sambuev, Bator 2523 0-1 IM Gundavaa, Bayarsaikhan 2519
BD IM Noritsyn, Nikolay 2472 1-0 GM Sharavdorj, Dashzegve 2446 BD IM Hansen, Eric 2472 1-0 GM Batchuluun, Tsegmed 2493 BD IM Porper, Edward 2418 ½ - ½ FM Gunbayar, Myagmarsuren 2358
Canada – Rd. 5 – ( 53 ) Canada ½ – 3 ½ Azerbaijan ( 7 )
Canada had had 3 wins and 1 draw in its first 7 games, an excellent run out of the starting blocks. That is why it ended up on Bd. 6, against the 7th ranked Azerbaijan – Canada’s toughest match of the Olympiad..
Bo. 53 Canada Rtg - 7 Azerbaijan Rtg 1/2 : 3 1/2 6.1 GM Sambuev, Bator 2523 0 – 1 GM Radjabov, Teimour 2788 6.2 IM Gerzhoy, Leonid 2448 0 - 1 GM Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2729 6.3 IM Noritsyn, Nikolay 2472 0 – 1 GM Mamedov, Rauf 2634 6.4 IM Hansen, Eric 2472 ½ - 1/2 GM Guseinov, Gadir 2613
54H 55H
Canada – Rd. 6 – ( 38 ) Mexico 2 ½ – 1 ½ Canada ( 53 )
Bo. 38 Mexico Rtg - 53 Canada Rtg 2½:1½
17.1 GM Leon Hoyos, Manuel 2579 - GM Sambuev, Bator 2523 1 - 0
17.2 GM Gonzalez Zamora, Juan Carlos 2553 - IM Gerzhoy, Leonid 2448 ½ - ½
17.3 GM Gonzales Garcia, Jose 2532 - IM Noritsyn, Nikolay 2472 1 - 0
17.4 IM Ibarra Chami, Luis Fernando 2481 - IM Hansen, Eric 2472 0 - 1
After 6 rounds, playing Bd. 4 for Canada, IM Eric Hansen of Alberta had 4.5/6 pts. He was on track for a GM Norm at that moment. Here is an interview he gave at the time: 56Hhttp://www.chessdom.com/im-eric-hans...deo-interview/ Canada – Rd. 7 – ( 53 ) Canada 1 – 3 Belarus ( 32 ) Bo. 53 Canada Rtg - 32 Belarus Rtg 1 : 3
Canada – Rd. 8 – ( 136 ) Maldives – Canada ( 53 ) Canada’s fortune’s changed with the Rd. 5 loss, and including that, they lost 3 straight match-ups. Thus in Rd. 8, they found themselves on Bd. 36, against the 136th ranked team. Bo. 136 Maldives (MDV) Rtg - 53 Canada (CAN) Rtg 0 : 4
29.2 GM Jumabayev, Rinat 2525 - IM Gerzhoy, Leonid 2448 0 - 1
29.3 GM Kostenko, Petr 2494 - IM Noritsyn, Nikolay 2472 0 - 1
29.4 IM Kuderinov, Kirill 2484 - IM Hansen, Eric 2472 0 - 1
Here is Eric’s win over Kuderinov ( Annotations by Bob Armstrong, using Fritz ): Hansen, Eric (2472) − Kuderinov, Kirill (2484) [C97] Olympiad 0:06.28-0:12.24 (9), 06.09.2012
1.e4² Fritz 13 evaluates the position as a " slight " advantage to W. This evaluation is not
generally accepted. Though W may have " initiative ", many feel Bl. equalizes with best play.
28.2 IM Noritsyn, Nikolay 2472 - IM Mehmeti, Dritan 2437 1 - 0
28.3 IM Hansen, Eric 2472 - IM Seitaj, Ilir 2400 1 - 0
28.4 IM Porper, Edward 2418 - FM Rama, Lorenc 2292 0 - 1
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Here is Nikolay’s nice win, going up the exchange in the process ( Annotations by Bob Armstrong, using Fritz ): Mehmeti, Dritan (2437) − Noritsyn, Nikolay (2472) [A48] Olympiad 0:26.53-0:20.07 (11), 09.09.2012
1.d4² 0.29 Fritz 13 evaluates the position as a " slight " advantage to W. This evaluation is not
generally accepted. Though W has " initiative ", many believe, with best play, Bl. equalizes.
31.Re1 Qxe1+ 32.Qxe1 Nxe1 33.Rxe1 Rac8∓] 31.Rxb1 Nf3+ 32.Kg2 Nd2 33.Ne6 Rfc8 34.Ba3 Be7 35.Rbe1 Nxf1 36.Kxf1 Nikolay is up the exchange, but Dritan has a P compensation.
36...Rc2 37.Nf4?-+ Nikolay gets back a " winning " advantage [37.Ng7 Bg5 38.Ne6 Bd2³]
37...Kf7 38.Re6 Rxa2?-+ − 1.45 Nikolay is up the exchange [38...Rd8 39.Re2 Rdc8-+ − 2.82]
39.Bxd6 Nikolay is up the exchange, but Dritan has a P compensation 39...Bxd6 40.Rxd6 Rc8 −
43.Re6+ Kd8 44.Nf7+ Kc8 45.Nd6+ Kd7 46.Nxf5 Rcc2-+ − 3.07] 42.Re6 Rd2 43.Re3?!-+ [43.Ne5+ Kf8 44.Rf6+ Kg8 45.Rxf5 Rxd4∓] 43...Ra1+ 44.Ne1 Rxd4 Nikolay is up the exchange
45.Re5 Re4 46.Rxe4 fxe4 47.Ke2
XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-+-+( 7zp-+-+k+-' 6-zp-+-+-+& 5+-+P+-+-% 4-+-+p+p+$ 3+P+-+-zP-# 2-+-+KzP-+" 1tr-+-sN-+-! xabcdefghy Rxe1+! simplifying to win the ending ; good exchange sac 48.Kxe1 material equality 48...Ke7 49.Kd2 Kd6 50.Ke3 Kxd5 Nikolay goes up a P 51.Kf4 − 13.85 [51.b4? a5 52.bxa5 bxa5-+ −
28.64] 51...a5 52.Kxg4??-+ material equality but leads to mate [52.Ke3 b5 53.Kd2 Kd4-+ − 19.21
( Fritz 13 cannot " see " the mate without being allowed an inordinate amount of time to see that
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far ahead ).] 52...b5 53.Kf5 mate in 66 moves [53.Kh5? a4 54.g4 axb3-+ mate in 25 moves; 53.f3
exf3 54.Kxf3 a4-+ mate in 53 moves] 53...a4-+ mate in 65 moves 0-1
Canadian Opposition According to Final Ranking # 10 – Azerbaijan # 16 - Sweden # 22 – Argentina # 29 – Belarus # 31 - Turkmenistan # 43 – Mexico # 46- Mongolia # 50 - Kazakhstan # 52 – Canada # 66 – Albania # 127- Maldives # 136 - Haiti So in effect, Canada “ played up “ 8/11 times. We really had only 2 “ easy “ matches. Canadian Individual Results GM Bator Sambuev – 3/9 ( 33 % ) IM Leonid Gerzhoy – 5/8 ( 63 % ) IM Nikolay Noritsyn – 6/9 ( 67 % ) IM ( now GM-elect ) Eric Hansen – 7/10 ( 70 % ) IM Edward Porper – 4/8 ( 50 % )
Under the circumstances, a credible showing, equaling initial ranking, especially given the number of times playing up. Congratulations to all the team members for representing Canada! World Chess Olympiad, Turkey – Women’s Section – From the Canadian Perspective Gold – Russia ( on tie-break over China ) Silver - China Bronze - Ukraine
131 countries registered a team for the women's section. The favourites were:
Russia. Won in 2010. They had: Tatiana and Nadezhda Kosintseva, Valentina Gunina, Alexandra Kosteniuk and national champ Natalija Pogonina.
China. Had Hou Yifan ( Women’s World Champion ), Zhao Xue, Ju Wenjun, Huang Qian and Ding Yixin.
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Other Favourites: Georgia, Poland and Ukraine.
Again, the pre-tournament favourites came to the top!
Here is the Olympiad from the Canadian women’s point of view:
Canada – Rd. 6 – ( 59 ) Canada ½ - 3 ½ USA( 5 ) The Canadian women also had a pretty good start: 3 wins; 2 losses. So they ended up in Rd. 6 on Bd. 15 against the strong USA team. Bo. 59 Canada Rtg - 5 United States of America Rtg ½ :3½
15.1 WIM Khoudgarian, Natalia 2158 - IM Zatonskih, Anna 2512 0 - 1
Here is Iulia’s win, with a nice, speculative f7 B-sac ( Annotations by Bob Armstrong, using Fritz ): Lacau−Rodean, Iulia (1999) − Abdelmenaem, Sohayla (1732) [B07] Olympiad 0:06.27-0:01.25 (9), 06.09.2012
1.e4² 0.34 Fritz 13 evaluates the position as a " slight " advantage to W. This evaluation is not
generally accepted. Though W has " initiative ", many feel Bl equalizes with best play. 1...d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nbd7?!± Iulia gets a " clear " advantage [3...e6?! 4.Bd3 e5±; 3...d5?! 4.exd5 Nxd5±;
28.4 WCM Botez, Alexandra 2009 - Reyes Jara, Paula 2115 0 - 1
After Rd. 11, with a score of 6/9 on 2nd board, Jackie Peng earned her WFM title!
Congratulations Jackie! Here is her last round win ( Annotations by Bob Armstrong, using Fritz ):
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Toro Pradenas, Maria Jose (2040) − Peng, Jackie (2009) [B22] Olympiad 0:03.21-0:06.56 (11), 09.09.2012
1.e4² 0.34 Fritz 13 evaluates the position as a " slight " advantage to W. This evaluation is not
generally accepted. Though W has " initiative ", many feel Bl, with best play, equalizes. 1...c5 2.c3?!= [2.Nf3²] 2...Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 Jackie goes up a P 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Bc4 e6?!² [6...Nb6
goes up a P again 21.Ba5??-+ loses a 2nd P; for the first time in the game, Jackie gets the
advantage, a " winning " advantage [21.axb5 Nac8 22.Nf1 Bxb5=] 21...Rxc1 22.Qxc1 Nxa4 Jackie goes up 2 P's 23.Qb1 Nc6 24.Bxa4 bxa4 25.Rxa4 Jackie is up a P again
Position after 25.Rxa4 XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+qtrk+( 7+p+lvlpzpp' 6-+n+p+-+& 5vL-+pzP-+-% 4R+-zP-+-+$ 3+-+-+N+-# 2-+-sN-zPPzP" 1+Q+-+-mK-! xabcdefghy
25...Nxe5! nice tactic − Jackie is up 2 P's again 26.Ra2 Nxf3+ 27.Nxf3 b5 28.Ne5 f6 29.Nd3 Bd6 30.Bb4 Bxb4 31.Qxb4 Qc8 32.Nc5 e5 33.f3 Bc6 34.Ra7 e4?!³ Jackie is losing her advantage
[34...Qe8 35.Nd3 e4-+] 35.fxe4?-+ − 1.59 Maria Jose is up a P [35.Nxe4! dxe4 36.Qe7 Bb7
37.Rxb7 Qc1+ 38.Kf2 Qd2+ 39.Kg3 Qg5+ 40.Kf2 exf3 41.gxf3 h6³] 35...Qg4?= Jackie has lost
her advantage [35...dxe4 36.Qb3+ Kh8-+] 36.h3 Qg3?+− Maria Jose gets a " winning "
advantage [36...Qc8 37.Qb3 Qb8=] 37.Ne6 Qe3+??+− leads to mate in 22 moves [37...Rf7
38.Qc5 h5+− 2.74] 38.Kh2 Rf7 39.Rxf7??+− 9.76 Maria Jose misses the mate line [39.Qd6 Qf4+
40.Nxf4 Rxa7 41.Qb8+ Kf7 42.Qxa7+ and W mates in 9 moves] 39...Kxf7 40.Nd8+??= Maria
Jose has lost her advantage [40.exd5 Bxd5 41.Qf8+ Kxe6 42.Qe8+ Kd6 43.Qxe3+− 10.02]
40...Kg6 41.Nxc6?∓ Maria Jose is temporarily up N vs P, but Jackie gets a " clear " advantage
[41.Qc5 Qf4+ 42.Kg1 Qe3+ 43.Kh2 Qf4+=] 41...Qf4+ 42.g3 Qf2+ 43.Kh1 Qf1+ 44.Kh2 Qe2+ 45.Kg1 Qd1+ 46.Kf2 Qc2+ 47.Ke3 Qxc6 Jackie is up a P 48.Qc5?!-+ Jackie gets a " winning "
57...Qd3+ − 14.00 [57...Qxg3? 58.Qf5+ Kh6 59.Qe6+ Qg6-+ − 6.93] 58.Kc1 e3 59.Qe5 Qe4 60.Qxh5+ material equality 60...Kg8 61.Qe2 d4 62.Qc4+ Kh7 63.Kd1 Qb1+ 64.Ke2 Qb2+ 65.Kf3 Qf2+ 66.Kg4??-+ leads to mate [66.Ke4 e2 67.Qb4 e1Q+-+ − 28.61 ( Fritz is limited by
the " horizon effect " − it can only see so far ahead − from " seeing " that this is an inevitable mate
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)] 66...e2 67.Qd3+ mate in 21 moves [67.Qc2+ g6 68.Qc7+ Kg8-+ and Bl. mates in 22 moves]
67...Kh8-+ mate in 17 moves 0-1
Canadian Opposition According to Final Ranking # 10 – USA # 12 – Kazakhstan # 34 – Venezuela # 38 - Chile # 45 - Croatia # 46 - England # 61 – Malaysia # 64– Canada # 81 – Egypt # 102 – South Korea # 103 – Lebanon # 123 - Aruba
Under the circumstances, just a slightly disappointing showing, since they did come close to their original ranking of # 59, and effectively had to “ play up “ 7/11 times. Canadian Individual Results WIM Natalia Khoudgarian – 4/10 ( 40% ) WCM ( now WFM-elect ) Jackie Peng ( 14 years old ) – 6/9 ( 67% ) WCM Yelizaveta Orlova - 5.5/9 ( 61 % ) WCM Alexandra Botez - 4.5/9 ( 50 % ) Iulia Lacau-Rodean - 2.5/7 ( 36% )
Congratulations to all the team members for representing Canada!
Olympiad Side-Issue Boils Over
Ali Nihat Yazici has been elected President of the Turkish Chess Federation three times now. And he has turned Turkey into a major chess country in his 8 years at the helm ( he is also a FIDE Vice President ). But some complain about his erratic behaviour.
TCF was the organizer of the recent Chess Olympiad. And, overall, they did quite a good job, despite some early round glitches. But one thing they did was refuse journalist accreditation to the editor of a Russian chess website, chess-news ru, Evgeny Surov. Yazici made the preposterous claim that he was not a journalist. Many have considered this totally unjustified, and a personal whim of Yazici.
So, elite chess players, through their organization, Association of Chess
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Professionals ( ACP ) came to Surov’s defence with an open letter to the FIDE asking President, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, to intervene and grant Surov journalistic privileges. Prior to this, the Russian Chess Federation had done an open letter supporting Surov. In the past, Ilyumzhinov has supported Yazici. So what would he do??
Here is the letter:
Open Letter of the Participants of the Olympiad to the President of FIDE Kirsan Ilyumzhinov Wednesday, 05.09.2012 03:32
• 83HChess-News
Dear Mr. Ilyumzhinov,
It seems to be unfair not to provide Mr. Evgeny Surov (the editor-in-chief of the site Chess-News.ru) with accreditation for the coverage of the Olympiad. And it also darkens the main chess event of the year.
You are the only one who may settle out this issue. We earnestly ask you to intervene and provide Mr. Surov with accreditation.
Aronian Levon, GM Topalov Veselin, GM Ponomariov Ruslan, GM Kamsky Gata, GM Shirov Alexei, GM Leko Peter, GM Movsesian Sergei, GM Volokitin Andrei, GM Jobava Baadur, GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw, GM Navara David, GM Eljanov Pavel, GM Onischuk Alexander, GM Bykhovsky Anatoly, IM, Chairman of Trainers Committee of the Russian Chess Federation Moiseenko Alexander, GM Sulypa Oleksandr, GM, Captain of the Ukrainian team Chuchelov Vladimir, GM, Captain of the Netherlandish team Bartel Mateusz, GM
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Akopian Vladimir, GM Giri Anish, GM Najer Evgeniy, GM, Coach of the Russian women team Fridman Daniel, CM Sargissian Gabriel, GM Kazhgaleyev Murtas, GM Socko Bartosz, GM Cheparinov Ivan, GM Van Wely Loek, GM Petrosian Tigran L, GM Swiercz Dariusz, GM Macieja Bartlomiej, GM Giorgadze Gia, GM, President of the Georgian Chess Federation Petrosian Arshak, GM, Captain of the Armenian team Krasenkow Michal, GM, Captain of the Polish team Sturua Zurab, GM Sokolov Ivan, GM Gagunashvili Merab, GM Stupak Kirill, GM Akobian Varuzhan, GM Sanikidze Tornike, GM Tukmakov Vladimir, GM, Captain of the Azerbaijani team Konopka Michal, GM, Captain of the Czech Republic team Smeets Jan, GM Matlak Marek IM, Coach of the Polish women’s team Mista Aleksander GM, Coach of the Polish women’s team Stellwagen Daniel, GM Zhigalko Sergei, GM Zhigalko Andrey, GM Grabinsky Vladimir, IM, Coach of the UAE team Vasilyev Mikhail, IM, Coach of the Vietnamese women's team Manakova Maria, WGM Sutovsky Emil, GM, President of the ACP Players who join the chess Olympiad participants: Khalifman Alexander, GM Andreikin Dmitry, GM Galliamova Alisa, WGM Tarlev Konstantin, IM Aveskulov Valery, GM Krjakvin Dmitry, GM Gansvind Valeria, WF Doluhanova Evgenia, WGM Klimets Elena, WFM Maksimov Andrei, Captain of the Chess Club
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Ershova Svetlana, WIM Sharafiev Azat, IM Nadanian Ashot, IM Kantaria Mikhail, IM Janikyan Hrach, Journalist Schetinin Alexander, Coach Komarov Dmitry, GM Smirin Ilya, GM Evdokimov Alexander, GM To our knowledge, Kirsan did nothing, and Surov never got to cover the Olympiad for his website. Is it a wonder, chess has such a checkered political image? September 1, 2012 Regular FIDE Rating Lists
Magnus Carlsen ( Norway ), # 1 for most of 2010 & 2011, and all of 2012 so far, the youngest player ever to hold this position, and the one with the second highest rating ever, remains in top spot, with a rating of 2843. He is now within 8 pts. of matching the highest rating ever achieved! The only other player over 2800 is Armenian Levon Aronian, at 2816, in second place. [ Garry Kasparov ( Russia ), 13th World Champion, now retired, was the first player to break 2800 ( highest rating ever in July 1999 – 2851 ); Vladimir Kramnik ( Russia ), 14th World Champion, was the second player; Veselin Topalov, 2005 FIDE World Champion, was the third; Viswanathan Anand, 15th and current World Champion was the fourth; Magnus Carlsen was the fifth; and Levon Aronian is the sixth. ]. Besides these 2 in the 2800’s, there are 42 players in the 2700’s. The top players are ( birth date of younger players [ 22 yrs. & younger ] in brackets, after country ) :
# 1 : Magnus Carlsen ( Norway - 1990 ), rated 2843 ( up 6 pts. );
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# 2 : Levon Aronian ( Armenia ) – rated 2816;
# 3 : Vladimir Kramnik ( Russia ), 14th World Champion, rated 2797 (dropped below 2800 on July list ).
# 10: Alexander Morozevich ( Russia ), rated 2758 ( down 12 pts. );
# 48 : Judit Polgar ( Hungary ), the strongest women’s player in the world, with 2698 ( down from # 46 – was over 2700 on the July list ) – ( in 2005, she was in the top 10
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with a rating of 2735. She has taken periods off to have children and had dropped below 2700 for a while, before going back over 2700 this year; she is again now below 2700 ). .
Some other past World Champions/FIDE World Champions still in the top 100, and their current ratings are : # 22: 2002 FIDE World Champion, Ruslan Ponomariov ( Ukraine ) at 2729 ( down from # 19 ); # 68 : 2004 FIDE World Champion, Rustam Kasimdzhanov ( Uzbekistan ) at 2684 ( down from # 65 ) .
Here are the younger ( Under 22 as of Jan. 1 ) players we’re watching - not in the
top ten, but in the top 30, ( birth date in brackets after country )[ note: “ juniors “ = U 20 yrs. as of Jan. 1 ]: # 20 : Anish Giri ( Netherlands – 1994 ) – 2730 ( up from # 35 !! ); # 28 : Dmitry Andreikin ( Russia – 1990 ) – 2718;
Four women have broken the 2600 barrier: GM Judit Polgar ( Hungary ) – also only woman to break 2700; Humpy Koneru ( India ); Hou Yifan ( Chinese surname first ) – current Women’s World Champion; Anna Muzychuk ( Slovenia ).
The top 10 women in the world are : # 1 : GM Judit Polgar ( Hungary ) – 2698 ( first woman player in history to break 2700; peaked at 2735 in the July 1, 2005 rating list; back in the 2700 club briefly in July/12, after a number of years in the 2600’s);
# 2 : IM Anna Muzychuk ( Slovenia ) -2606 ( 4th woman to break the 2600 barrier! ).
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# 3 : GM Hou Yifan ( China – 1994 ) – 2599 –( 18 years old – third woman over 2600 ) – current Women’s World Champion.
# 4 : GM Humpy Koneru ( India ) – 2593 ( second woman over 2600 );
# 5 : GM Zhao Xue ( China ) – 2549;
# 6 : GM Nana Dzagnidze ( Georgia ) – 2547;
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# 7 : GM Kateryna Lahno ( Ukraine ) – 2542;
# 8: WGM Ju Wenjun ( China ) at 2528.
# 9/10: GM Nadezhda Kosintseva ( Russia ) at 2524.
# 9/10 : GM Tatiana Kosintseva ( Russia ) – 2524;
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NATIONAL September 1, 2012 Regular FIDE Rating List – Canadian Rankings
The 11 highest FIDE rated Canadians ( active in the last 24 months, internationally or in Canada ) are :
# 1 : GM Kevin Spraggett, 4 times Canadian Champion ( last in 1996 ), at 2572 – down 23 pts. ( has been over 2600 ) – now playing out of Portugal – excellent staying power, given he is 58 years old on Nov. 10, 2012;
# 2. GM Bator Sambuev at 2535 ( up 12 pts. ) – 2012 Canadian Champion (& 2011 );
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# 3 : GM Pascal Charbonneau, 2002 & 2004 Canadian Champion, at 2517 – now working in USA;
# 4 : GM-elect Eric Hansen at 2502 ( up from # 5; up 30 pts.!! );
# 5 : GM Thomas Roussel-Roozmon at 2476.
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# 6/7 : IM Nikolay Noritsyn at 2461 ( down 11 pts. ) .
# 6/7 – IM Leonid Gerzhoy, rated 2461;
# 8 – IM Zhe Quan, rated 2431; # 9 – IM Edward Porper, rated 2420; # 10/11 – IM Bindi Cheng, rated 2415; # 10/11 – IM Tomas Krnan, rated 2415.
GM Mark Bluvshtein retired in late 2011, rated 2590 ( had been over 2600 ); so for our FIDE list purposes, we have now removed him from the active list even though technically he would have been active in the past 2 years.
There are two Canadian GM’s with another federation : 18 year old GM Wesley So ( Philippines citizen; plays for that federation ) at 2667 ( # 84 in the world; up from # 99 ) – the top-rated Canadian!; GM Anton Kovalyov ( citizen of the Ukraine; Canadian permanent resident; plays for Argentina ) at 2598 (has been over 2600 ) ( he has now started the process to change federations to Canada, but there is a waiting period )!.
There is one previously inactive GM, Dimitri Tyomkin ( his last rated game in Canada was August 2005 ; and after playing only 2 FIDE rated games in Europe between
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Jan. 1, 2006 and the end of 2010, in early 2011 & Jan. 2012 Dimitri played a number of games for teams in the Spanish Team Championships; he is rated 2486 ). Canada has 2 inactive GM’s : Alexander Le Siege; and Duncan Suttles.
The top 10 FIDE rated Canadian women players are ( active in the last 24 months, internationally or in Canada )
# 1 : WIM Yuanling Yuan ( 1994 ) at 2220 ( now at university in USA ) ;.
# 2 : WIM Natalia Khoudgarian, current 2012 ( and 2006, 2007 & 2011 ) Canadian Women’s Champion, at 2165 ( up 7 pts. ).
( photo by Egis Zeromskis )
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# 3 : WFM Dina Kagramanov, 2009 Canadian Women’s Champion, at 2067;
# 4 : WFM Daniela Belc, at 2044; # 5 : Anastasia Kazakevich, rated 2033; # 6 : WCM Alexandra Botez, at 2022 ( up 13 pts. ).
# 6 : Iulia Lacau-Rodean, rated 1999;
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# 7 : Myriam Roy, rated 1996; # 8: WCM Jackie Peng at 1982 ( down 27 pts. ).
There are 5 inactive Canadian WIM’s : Vesma Baltgailis; Johanne Charest;
Dinara Khaziyeva; Diane Mongeau, Smilja Vujosevic. The highest FIDE-rated Canadian woman is WFM Valeriya Gansvind, at 2246, who plays for another federation - Estonia. Another highly rated Canadian woman in Hong Kong, who plays under the Canadian flag, is WFM Yamei Wang, rated 2045 ( but since 2004 she’s only played infrequently in Hong Kong, against one opponent 1866, and a few others in the 1700’s ). CFC The 58 CFC Governors from across Canada will be meeting on-line, in a public forum ( can view, but not post ), on Monday, October 1 85Hhttp://www.chesscanada.info/forum/index.php . Come and see your tax dollars at work!
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Montreal Open Played Sept. 7-9. Won by FM Aman Hambleton of Ottawa with 4.5/5 pts. ( undefeated ) – three were ½ pt. behind, tied 2/4, including GM Anton Kovalyov . Aman recently won the Toronto Labor Day tournament in early Sept., and in August, he put in a memorable performance at the World Junior, capturing an IM .Congratulations Aman! Chess Website Activity ( submitted by freelancer, Erik Malmsten ) I wondered if the big summer tournaments would affect the rankings of chess websites on the Alexa.com website. Some websites aren't listed as they can't be separated from their parent website (such as Hart House, Hamilton and Victoria). Also, this isn't the complete traffic figures but more like a sampling of activity as only those computers registered with Alexa are counted; the lower ranked are more inaccurate. These are rankings of activity by Canadians, the lower the number the greater number of visitors. Google is ranked 1, facebook 2, youtube, yahoo, etc. Online playing sites top this list but not included are multi-game sites like pogo.com or itsyourturn.com. I think people visiting the Toronto International helped raise the annexchessclub site, and monroi, providing games, kept on list. The CFC is doing better with its new website. Also, junior sites are getting alot of activity.
04 GREATER TORONTO AREA From the GTCL Perspective ( submitted by TCN Liaison for GTCL, Egis Zeromskis )
The Greater Toronto Chess League coordinates and solicits the main Toronto area’s chess championships. Currently there are three – Senior, Women, and Junior - championships approved by the GTCL Executives. Annex Chess Club will host Women and Junior events starting on October 15 till December 3. Both these events will be rated by the CFC and FIDE. At the Willowdale Chess Club Seniors will compete from October 18 till November 27. The GTCL will search hosts for the Toronto Closed and Reserve, as well as for Clubs competitions. The GTCL supports these tournaments by providing prizes and paying rating fees, helping with promotions in various media.
Rick’s Chess Trivia ( questions/presentations researched by columnist Rick Garel,
former Scarborough CC Executive, former SCC member, Orillia CC President ) Last Issue’s Chess Trivia was the Question: What famous chess player had a cat name “ Chess “? .Answer : Alexander Alekhine Bragging Rights Winner : Amazingly, Rick stumped all our new TCN subscribers’ with this one. So the bragging rights are still pristine for the next question.
Today’s Trivia Question is:
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Which modern (19th - 20th century) royal played in a chess tournament? You can use any resource available to answer the question ! Just find it fast and send it in as fast as you can, by e-mail, to Rick: [email protected]
The first correct e-mail received wins, and gets bragging rights. Also, we will publish the honoured winner’s name in the next newsletter, along with a few details they provide as to their chess experience ( if they wish ), along with the researched answer. Thanks for playing !! Chess History is fun !! Also write Rick if you have any chess trivia questions or presentations you’d like him to consider for his column. We will give credit to the author if we use your suggestion. GTA Club & Tournament News TCN hopes as it develops to establish liaisons with chess clubs in Toronto and the greater GTA ( Halton, Peel, York and Durham ). whereby one member at each club will take responsibility for submitting their club news to TCN on a regular basis for this section. This can be announcements, club tournament reports, or club games ( TCN will annotate some of the best ones ). It will take time for this administrative arrangement to take effect and expand. But we already have a number of clubs in our stable. We, of course, also want to link up with organizers of tournaments in the GTA, to publish tournament reports, and publish some interesting games from them ( TCN will be willing to annotate some of the best ones ) Tournaments
The Toronto Labour Day Open This 6-round swiss in four sections was played at U of T’s Hart House from Sept. 1 – 3. It attracted a total of 156 players, the highest for some time. Here are the top finishers: Open # Name ID Rtng Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Tot Prize 1 IM Tomas Krnan 132215 2545 W13 W6 W3 W8 L2 D4 4.5 2 FM Aman Hambleton 129797 2468 W20 L3 W10 W11 W1 D5 4.5 3 IM Artiom Samsonkin 146305 2555 W12 W2 L1 D4 D6 W11 4.0 4 IM Peter Vavrak 143973 2486 D10 D8 W5 D3 W9 D1 4.0 5 FM Roman Sapozhnikov 138609 2470 W11 D15 L4 W13 W8 D2 4.0
Here is an interesting game by your intrepid editor ( playing up in the U 2200 section, rated 1642 ), with an amazing twist! ( Annotations by Bob Armstrong, using Fritz ): Armstrong, Robert J. (1642) − Runstedler, Albert (1941) [A20] Toronto Labour Day Open ( U 2200 ) Toronto (3), 02.09.2012
Position after 23…Raf8 XABCDEFGHY 8-+-+-tr-tr( 7zppmk-vl-+p' 6-+pzp-+-+& 5+-+-+qsN-% 4-+Pzp-+-zP$ 3+Q+-+-zPR# 2PzP-+-zPK+" 1tR-+-+-+-! xabcdefghy 24.Qf3!! this is what I should have done. But unbelievably, I made an illegal move and moved my
Q to d2??? I had had only 3 hours sleep the night before, and here it showed. And Albert did not
notice either, and the game just continued!! So I've interspersed some moves to get us to the new
illegal position, to play out the rest of the game. [the following is what should have happened
24.Qf3 Qc2 25.Ne6+ Kb8 26.Nf4 Qxc4∓; 24.Qc2??-+ -16.35 24...h6??² I get back the advantage
24...Qc8 artificial move to get to illegal position 25.Qe2 artificial move 25...Qf5 artificial move to
get Q back to game position 26.Qd2 artificial move to put White Q back on game position 26...h6 the game continues, following up on my blunder earlier. Even an illegal move doesn't help me !!!
LOL 27.Re1 − 2.47 [27.g4 Qxg4+ 28.Rg3 Qd7 29.Nf3 Bf6-+ − 2.18] 27...Bxg5 28.hxg5 hxg5 Albert goes up a P 29.Reh1 Qf3+ 30.Kg1 Rxh3 31.Rxh3 c5 32.Rh7+ Kb8 33.Rd7??-+ leads to
mate [33.Qe1 a6 34.Re7 Ka7-+ − 2.47] 33...Rh8-+ I resigned. It is mate in 10 moves 34.Rd8+ Rxd8 35.Qxg5 Rh8 36.Qh4 Rxh4 37.gxh4 d3 38.h5 d2 39.Kh2 d1Q 40.h6 Qdh1# 0-1
Never know what’s going to happen in chess, do we?? SCC Member, and SCC Treasurer, Ken Kurkowski, won the U 1600 section , undefeated ( 5 wins, 1 draw in the last round, where it clinched sole first for him ). He earned a cool $ 500 for his effort! Here is his win against an oft seen strong finisher in the U 1600, John Brown of Peel CC ( Annotations by Ken Kurkowski, using Fritz ): Brown, John ( 1527 ) − Kurkowski, Ken ( 1503 ) [C12] Hart House Labour Day U1600 (4), 02.09.2012
C12: French: Classical System: McCutcheon Variation 1.d4 e6 2.Nc3 Veresov's opening, but it
quickly transposes to a French Defence. 2...d5 3.e4 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 dxe4 7.f3 I sort of expected this− John likes playing gambit lines! 7...h6 8.Bd2 [8.Bxf6 Qxf6 (‹8...gxf6 9.fxe4 Qd6 10.Nf3±) 9.Qe2 e5 10.Qxe4 Nc6³] 8...c5 [8...0-0 9.fxe4 Nxe4 10.Nf3∓] 9.fxe4 Nxe4
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10.Nf3 [10.Qg4!? is worth consideration 10...Nxd2 11.Qxg7∓] 10...Nc6∓ 11.Bd3 Nxd2 12.Qxd2 cxd4 [12...Qa5 13.Rb1∓] 13.cxd4³ 0-0 [13...Nxd4? is a mistake 14.Nxd4 0-0 (14...Qxd4 15.Bb5+ wins on the spot− I had to watch out for this trick for several moves, even after castling (due to
Bh7+).) 15.Qe3+−] 14.0-0-0 [14.Qe3!?³ looks like a viable alternative] 14...Qd6∓ [14...Nxd4? is
worthless because of 15.Nxd4 Bd7 16.Kb2+−] 15.Qc3 [15.Kb2 Nxd4 16.Be4 Qb6+ 17.Qb4 Nc6
Be8 22.Qxc6 Bxc6-+ (22...Rxc6?! 23.Bb5 Rxd1+ 24.Rxd1³; ‹22...bxc6 23.Be4∓) ] 20...Qa4 [¹20...Be8 21.Qe4 g6 22.Qxc6 Bxc6-+ (22...Rxc6?! 23.Bb5 Rxd1+ 24.Rxd1³; ‹22...bxc6 23.Be4∓) ] 21.Qe7? Trying to stir up complications, but it doesn't work. [¹21.Qb4-+] 21...Be8 [Inferior was 21...Rf8 22.Qxd7 Qxd7 23.Bh7+ Kxh7 24.Rxd7 Kg8 25.Rxb7 with equality.]
Position after 21…Be8 XABCDEFGHY 8-+rtrl+k+( 7zpp+-wQpzp-' 6-+-+p+-zp& 5+-+-zP-+-% 4q+-+-+-+$ 3zP-+L+-+-# 2-+P+-+PzP" 1+-mKR+R+-! xabcdefghy
22.Qxd8 [22.Rf2 Rd4 23.Rdd2-+] 22...Qxa3+ [22...Rxd8 is also ok.] 23.Kb1 Rxd8 24.Bh7+ Kxh7 25.Rxd8 Qb4+ 26.Kc1 Ba4 [¹26...Qc3 threatening Qa1+, seems even better 27.Rdd1 Ba4-+]
27.Rxf7 [27.Rc8 desperation 27...Kg6 28.g3-+] 27...Qc3 28.Rf2 Loses more material, but there is
nothing better due to Black's mate threat. 28...Qe1+ White resigned.[28...Qe1+ 29.Kb2 Qxf2-+] 0-1
Chess Club News Toronto Scarborough Chess Club News SCC e – mail : [email protected] SCC Website : http://www.ScarboroughChessClub.ca Birkdale Community Ctre, 1299 Ellesmere Road
( between Midland Ave. and Brimley Road )
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SCC AGM On Sept. 6, SCC started its 2012-3 year off with its Annual General Meeting. All 5 executive were present, along with 10 members ( a relatively average turnout, given past years ). The full executive stood for office again, and all were acclaimed: President – Maurice Smith Vice-President – David Krupka Secretary – Steve Karpik Treasurer – Ken Kurkowski Officer-at-large – Hamid Azizi A number of important decisions were made:
1. The SCC Games Database will cease. 2. The Scarborough Community of Toronto Chess News & Views, the SCC
Newsletter, will cease. 3. “ Publishable Games “ will be collected from members each week by Ken
Kurkowski, who will enter them all, and determine which ones he agrees are publishable. He will act as TCN Liaison for SCC to send publishable games to Toronto Chess News, for the “ Scarborough Chess Club News “ section of TCN.. Bryan Lamb may from time to time, annotate some of these games for use by TCN..
4. There will now be consequences for non-appearance without notice at tournaments. The first time, SCC will attempt to repair the opponent after 15 min.. If this is not possible, the opponent will receive, after 1 hour, a rated forfeit. If the defaulting player wishes to play the following round, he must so advise the executive, or show up for the next round before the pairings are done. Otherwise he will not be paired again. On such second offence, he will be disqualified for the rest of the tournament. Two such non-appearances, not consecutively, will also lead to expulsion from the tournament.
5. The Club Championship top Round Robin section will be FIDE-rated, if there are 4 FIDE-rated participants.
6. The club will present a certificate to those juniors getting an award under the SCC Junior Development program, in addition to their monetary credit.
7. A club vote will be held on whether to have a one evening “ Club Quick Chess Championship “ This will likely be Game/10 min. or Game/15 min.. ( note: vote was held Thursday, Sept. 13 - ………………)
SCC Starts First Tournament of 2012-3 On Thursday, Sept. 13, SCC held Rd. 1 of the Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss ( 7 rounds ). It will be run in three sections: 1800+ ( 1700’s can play up ); U 1800 ( to 1400; 1300’s can play up ); U 1400. There were 80 players registered for Rd. 1: 1800+ - 17; U 1800 – 34; U 1400 – 29..
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Annex Chess Club News ( by TCN Liaison for ACC, Marcus Wilker ) 918 Bathurst St., Toronto ( north of the Bathurst Subway Station ) Annex CC website: http://annexchessclub.com/ Summer Action As the summer draws to a close, so does ACC's Summer Love Swiss. With two rounds to go, David Southam, with 3.0/3 and a better tie-break than Pavel Peev, is leading the top section. As well as holding our regular Monday-night tournaments this summer, we also hosted a lecture and simul by Nigel Short, who dropped in on his way to the Edmonton Chess Fest. He even wrote a nice article about his Toronto visit, which has just appeared in New in Chess. Back to School. Annex launched the Fall session of kids' classes this past Monday. The session runs through to the winter break, and classes are filling up quickly. We also held the first round of a CFC quick-rated children's tournament in our ACC Kids' Club. The kids' club was hopping again this week after a summer lull. But school is not just for kids. We're excited to see our adult introductory chess course (with beginner and intermediate levels) taking off again this fall. And we're proud to have Bindi Cheng teaching an advanced course for tournament players. Bindi's course explores the process of developing an opening repertoire, as an integral part of one's whole game. Check tournament results, upcoming events, and more at 87Hhttp://annexchessclub.com Here is a nice attack by George Supol against Bill Thornton in the ACC Summer Love Swiss: Supol, George (1393) − Thornton, Bill (1641) [D03] ACC Summer Love Toronto CAN (3), 10.09.2012
Here is a game of Dave Southam in the premier section of the current AAC tournament, against Pepin Manalo – Dave is leading the tournament, with 3/3pts., tied with Pavel Peev:
Southam, David (2180) − Manalo, Pepin (1845) [D06] ACC Summer Love Toronto CAN (3), 10.09.2012
Willowdale CC News Location: Earl Bales Park Community Centre ( Bathurst St./Sheppard Ave. ) Meeting: Tuesday, 7:00 – 10:00 PM Willowdale CC has been closed for the summer. But they will start their 2012-3 season on Tuesday, Sept. 18 @ 7:00 PM. Generally, the evening is devoted to casual chess play. On Tuesday, October 16, they will host the first round of the Toronto Seniors Championship. Halton Burlington C C News ( by TCN Liaison for the Burlington CC, Bob Gillanders ) Website: 88Hhttp://www.burlingtonchessclub.com/ Email: [email protected] Location: The Red Cross Building 262 Guelph Line Burlington, ON L7R 3K7 (Southwest corner of Guelph Line and 1st Street)
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Burlington is Canada’s friendliest chess club. The club meets every Tuesday evening throughout the year and features primarily CFC rated slow chess with 2 hour sudden death time controls. The next scheduled tournament gets underway October 2nd. For the juniors, the Burlington Junior Chess Club resumes October 10th in the cafeteria at M.M. Robinson High School. Check the website for details. Peel Mississauga Chess Club News ( by TCN Liaison for Mississauga CC, Bob Gillanders ) Website: 90Hwww.mississaugachessclub.ca Email: [email protected] Location: U of T – Mississauga Campus (see website for map) Junior club: Thursdays, 6:45 – 8pm, Spiegel Hall Adult club: Thursdays, 8-11pm, Faculty Lounge, Room 3141 The Mississauga Chess Club has experienced exceptional growth over the past several years. The catalyst has been the introduction of the junior club a few years ago. The growth is now filtering up to the adult club as our juniors graduate and want to challenge their elders. Current membership stands at 236 (182 juniors, 54 adults). The club meets year round except for a few weeks in December when the university shuts down for Christmas. On a typical week we may get between 80-100 juniors and 20-30 adults. I stand to be corrected, but Mississauga may now just be the largest chess club in Canada. Attendance was down over the summer, but last week (the first week after Labour Day) we matched our junior attendance record set back in March 2012 of 114 kids. The really great news is that we secured a new room just in time, Spiegel Hall. The University is undergoing major renovations, and Spiegel Hall is the old cafeteria, lots and lots of room! It is great news for the adult club too, making it easier to get started on time without interference from the junior club two floors below. More club news in future issues of Toronto Chess News. But why wait, come visit us soon! York Aurora CC News ( by TCN Liaison for Aurora CC, Graeme Knight ) The Aurora Chess Club. I first started playing chess again in April 2010. During a brief stint as a kid in a local club of old guys, I had the privilege of seeing Short play Kasparov at the Park Lane Hotel, London. Anand was there. He was a skinny kid and a rising star. Other greats from the British chess world attended and it amazed me to catch a glimpse of the chess
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superstars I had seen on TV and read about in the British Chess Magazine. I participated as a spectator in a simultaneous display with IM Paul Littlewood, and I was blown away with the skill at which these talented players quickly dispatched their opponents. The upcoming Michael Adams was most certainly one of my first chess heroes. At that time I was one of only two kids who participated in the club. With no support structure, no real welcome, and certainly no real guidance from the adults in the club, my chess career was ended swiftly. Roll on a good few years to when I picked up a chess piece once again. It occurred to me that I had just wasted twenty five years not participating in a game I really started to love when I was younger. It was a shame that I had wasted these precious years because of a support structure that could so easily have existed just wasn't there. But my regrets are always short lived and I always look to the future. Aurora, a wonderful suburb of Toronto lacks in population compared to the metropolis, and it also lacks in chess clubs. I was happy to participate in the Seniors Association until I was unceremoniously ousted by the Board of Directors for being underage. Whilst my friends in the Association supported the introduction of younger players, they did not have the influence to sway the powers that be. In a brief moment of frustration I bought the Aurora Chess Club domain, built a web server, and composed some content. In my mind, the club existed at least. Roll on a year and the club is now registered as a non-profit organization. We have informal meetings at the local library or the coffee shop while we are trying to secure a location for regular meetings. And that we shall! Having registered for space with the York Region District School board, as well as contacting a small number of private businesses in the area, we feel that a regular club meeting place is just around the corner. The hard work will then start as we learn how to run club activities and energize our local chess scene. I can only hope that the Aurora Chess Club and its members will be welcoming to one and all. It is my wish that we can group together to give support to any member - to help them learn and improve in their chess, and have fun doing it. Our mandate is simply to encourage and promote chess to anyone within the surrounding community - no matter what race, age, or gender. We want to play, learn, improve, and have fun. With these lofty goals in mind, and a willingness to work hard, it might just happen. In the interim, you can find information about the club at 92Hwww.aurorachessclub.ca and you can email [email protected] for correspondence. We soon hope to update our website with further information regarding regular meetings. Durham Ajax CC News ( TCN Liaison for Ajax CC, David Ho ) Ajax CC was founded 3 years ago in our current location (115 Ritchie Ave, Ajax). Our club fosters a friendly atmosphere where all levels of chess players can come and play. We have both juniors and adults participating. There are about 40 members half of which are juniors. All games are casual as this club is more for social play than tournament style. We meet every 1st, 3rd and 5th Fridays of the month. Club starts at 7:00-8:30pm for juniors and adults play up to 11:00pm. We have two major club tournaments in the
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year (Spring and Fall). We have special chess events throughout the year and guest speakers. Annual Membership is $50 for adults and $40 for juniors. For further information, contact David Ho at [email protected] SOUTH-WESTERN ONTARIO Hamilton CC News ( by TCN Liaison for Hamilton CC, Bob Gillanders ) Website: 95Hhttp://chesshamilton.mygamesonline.org/news.php Email: [email protected] Location: moving (check the website) The annual meeting was held on Wednesday, Sept 12th . The meeting was at our temporary home at the Red Cross Building in beautiful downtown Hamilton. Returning President Garvin Nunes delighted the membership by announcing the club will be returning to its traditional Friday nights starting Sept 21th at a new location. If all goes well, the new location will be Sir Winston Churchill High School. Members are advised to check the website for details. The new executive slat for 2012-2013 elected are: President: Garvin Nunes Vice President: Joe Ellis Treasurer: Bob Gillanders Besides Garvin, Joe and Bob are returning executives but have decided to swap jobs. We are looking for a fourth executive member to serve. Garvin will be doing some arm twisting in private. It was great to see 3 of our former club leaders attend the meeting: Oscar Lopez, Marco Greco, and Steve McGrahan. Marco praised Garvin for his club leadership and his work with the Hamilton Junior club. The club championship is coming up fast. Check the website for details. TCN Readers’ Section TCN Readers Have Questions This column invites readers to submit to TCN any type of chess question they wish ( e.g. What does FIDE stand for? ), and TCN will try to find the answer.
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TCN’s Readers’ Opinion Column Got a chess issue that has been bothering you for a while? Got a favourite chess topic that you’ve always wanted to share with other chess players? Read something in TCN that you profoundly agreed with, or maybe ( surely not ! ) disagreed with? We are very open to publishing freelance articles from our readers. Drop us a line, and we’ll read it over, and let you know if we’d like to use it. Also, if you would like us to cover some topic, send us your idea, and we’ll see if we can write something up on it.
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Tournament Notices Toronto Women’s Championship
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Toronto Junior Championship
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Toronto Seniors Championship Date:
2012/10/16 - 2012/11/27
This will be an eight player round-robin tournament comprising of the eight highest rated players
born in 1962 or earlier who apply.
The deadline for entries will be 9pm Tuesday, October 9 at the Willowdale Chess Club (4169
Bathurst St., inside Earl Bales Park), where the draw for position will take place.
A reserve section will be available if 6 or more additional players enter.
The event will be CFC rated, and the rating fees will be paid by the GTCL.
CFC membership is required.
Schedule: Games will be played on consecutive Tuesdays at 7pm at the Willowdale Chess
Club (Earl Bales Community Centre at the Earl Bales Park near Bathurst and Sheppard
intersection)
Time control: 90 minutes for the game.
Entry fee: $20;
for players born in 1952 or earlier - $15,
for players born in 1942 or earlier - $10.
Prizes: Chess books for top 3 finishers & Trophy for the winner.
Canada Thanks to Volunteers Many thanks to current and future freelancer and volunteer helper, Erik Malmsten, former long-time secretary of the GTCL, for creating our new Toronto Skyline Masthead. Looks pretty cool, we think! It really adds to the front page. Thx again Erik. Thx also to Steve Karpik who has volunteered to construct the new TCN website for CCCS. NOTES: A - Contact Bob Armstrong, editor. , at Canadian Chess Consulting Service ( CCCS ) ( [email protected] ) to :
1. Be added to the free e-mail list; 2. Submit content ( fact, opinion, criticism, recommendations! ).
B – The opinions expressed here are those of the editor, and not necessarily those of Canadian Chess Consulting Service;. C - To review this newsletter after it has been deleted, or some of the archived newsletters, visit our own TCN official website at :( being negotiated; hoped to be 98Hhttp://www.torontochessnews.ca ) . D – Please notify us if you wish to be removed from the free subscription list.. Editor: Bob Armstrong. Publisher: Canadian Chess Consulting Service ( CCCS ) Canadian Chess Coordinator: Bob Armstrong Consulting Service [email protected]
