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Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7 Round 8 Round 9 Playoffs
[Most of the personal post were taken from Chesstalk -Chess Forum ]
| I dropped by the Closed tonight - looks like everyone was
satisfied with the conditions (yes - there were 2 demo boards - not from
AEM or the CFC!) - except the lack of a suitable analysis area (either
quietly at the back of the room, or in the mall, or in the bar
downstairs). No admission was being charged, and spectators (usually about
20 at any given time) were free to roam where they wanted.
All the favourites won, with the exceptions of (1) Jack Yoos flagging in a position in which he had chased Dale Haessel's K to g3 - but couldn't find a mate (there was none); (2) Irwin Lipnowski losing to Marc Ghannoum; (3) I'm not absolutely positive, but Thomas Roussel-Roozmon may have beaten Robert Gardner. Draws included Robert Hamilton and Roger Patterson, and Ray Philips and Michael Schleifer (there may have been one other draw). Michael Lipnowski has been designated the "official reporter", so look for his reports on Chesstalk, or on the Canadian Closed web site mentioned in another thread. Hugh Brodie. |
| I believe that the most exciting game tonight was on the
first board between Vladimir Gaspariants (FM) and Kevin Spraggett (GM).
Kevin was playing black. After a very rare opening (1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6
3.g3 d5 4.d3!? d4!? ...) the position was very complicated until the time
pressure. White sacrificed a pawn for the initiative on the king side but
in time pressure Kevin made sure he was controlling the situation. As
Kevin said after the game, at the end, right before the final mistake
(Qc6? instead of Qa8! ) white still had very good chances for draw... but
having only 3 minutes against many times Canadian Champion is not enough...
Game is soon to come.
Danny Goldenberg |
| The second day of the event is the hardest for most
players. They have to play two games at the same day. First game starting
at 10:30 am and second at 4:30 pm. This round also caused many surprises.
The main event of the second round is a draw between a young and talented
player from Toronto - Mark Bluvshtein, against of the favorites of the
tournament -Alexandre LeSiege (GM) from Montreal. I wasn't there to watch
the game but I can guess that Mark had a very good game. Good luck to all
participants!
Danny Goldenberg |
| After 3 rounds, Kevin Spraggett is alone with 3 points.
There are several 2.5 scores - including Alexandre Lesiege (drew
Bluvshtein in round 2), Ray Philips, and (maybe?) Stephen Glinert (beat
Schleifer in round 3 so I was told). A couple of games were still in
progress when I left.
Using "normal" Swiss pairings, we would expect a Spraggett-Lesiege matchup in round 4 - but with this newfangled pairing system, they could be playing anyone. Embarrassing moments: (1) one player forgot that there were two rounds today. (2) two players (which shall remain nameless) - both well over 2300 ratings - were playing each other on bottom board in round 3. Hugh Brodie. |