2016 Gibraltar Masters - Game 1

The first game in the Masters was at 3 p.m. the same day as Round 2 of the Challengers A.
While all the Challengers and Amateur games were played upstairs in the room you saw in the Challengers Round 2 post; the Master's boards were spread over two floors.  Boards 1 - 75 were played in the well-lit upstairs room, whereas  boards 76 to the end (approx 130)  were played a couple of floors below street level in an area that is normally a restaurant (from what I gathered). The lighting here was objectively hit or miss, but it did not affect me. Fellow Canadian, FM Michael Dougherty who had played in Gibraltar at least once before, dubbed this floor, "the Dungeon", and the objective was to escape and play upstairs

My opponent for round 1 was Spanish IM David Martinez (2407)

A nice touch by the organizers was the name card pre-placed at your board for every game, including the Challengers and Amateur. 

About the game.  I played a dubious positional idea in the opening. David spent a lot of time deciding how to exploit my weaknesses, and with surgical position executed. I resigned on move 21.

2016 Albert Boxer Memorial (March TNT) starts Tuesday, March 1, 2016

2016 Albert Boxer Memorial (March TNT) –
CFC (Chess Federation of Canada)  rated. FIDE rated. CFC Membership required (see below)

$ 20 entry fee  –   Prizes will be based on entries.

Location: University of Winnipeg – Rm 4CM42

5 rounds – March 1, 8, 15, 22, 29,   – (This is not a knockout tournament, players will play all 5 rounds)   (Players may take up to 1  half-point and any number of zero-point byes.  Half-point byes for round  5 must be requested before Round 2.

Please note that we intend to start the first round at 7:00 p.m. sharp. There is one game per week.
Contact for byes, etc.  TD:  Tony Boron  204-798-nine-four-six-four

All of the TNTs are Swiss (pairing) style tournaments with a time control of G /110 minutes [Each player has 1 hour 50 minutes  to complete their moves, the game will be be approx. 3 hours and 40 minutes maximum]. We will also be using FIDE Rule Appendix G.4 for situations with players having under 2 minutes remaining.

$ 20 entry fee and CFC membership required.

All players must be CFC members (can be obtained during registration on-site)

[$ 20 for a one-tournament adult membership or $ 49 for 12 months- new adult members pay only $ 36 for a twelve-month CFC membership, or $ 16 for a one-tournament membership]

Junior (under 20)  members pay $ 10 for a one-tournament membership, $ 34 for a twelve-month CFC membership, new junior members pay only  $ 24 for a twelve month CFC membership, or $ 8 for a one-tournament membership]

Registration for tournament -Tuesday, March 1  – approximately 6:35 pm to 6:50 pm

Registration will be cut off at 6:50 pm. (If you think you may be late, please send an email to chessmanitoba ‘at’ gmail.com) before 5 pm (you can try later, but the wireless access at the U may be problematic) . Players can join in Round 2, they will receive a half-point bye for Round 1.  Additional bye information will be added.

Location: University of Winnipeg – Rm 4CM42

Easiest way to get there is to take the elevator at the north end (Ellice) to the 5th Floor(if that Elevator is operating) Otherwise, there is an elevator just to the west of the old Bookstore location.  Our goal is to start the first round at 7:00 p.m. sharp.

Cell phone rules:
In all FIDE-rated events all players shall be asked to turn off their phones and place them on the table in advance of the game and throughout play. Any use of cell phone during a game without TD permission will result in forfeiture of the game. Players needing special consideration shall consult with TD.

2016 Gibraltar Challengers A - Game 2

On the day of Round 1 (Monday, January 25), I had met an older gentleman (born 1940), Sead Kozarcanin of Croatia.  He asked me if I could message his daughter to indicate that he had arrived safely for the tournament, and of course I did.  He was one of the folks staying in La Linea.

As fate would have it, we met in Round 2.  Still sporting a credible rating of 2073 at 75 years of age, he had been 2243 as recently as ten years ago.

 

A view of the main tournament hall. The view is from the section of the room with boards from approx 40 to 75.

I (only my nose and hair are visible) am by the window, just to the right (in the picture) of the player in the blue shirt.

2016 February TNT has been rated by the CFC

 Please see the crosstable  here.

Congratulations to the following who achieved new peak established ratings:

Will Bonness 1728

Gibraltar - Chess Free Evening - continued

After returning from the monkey visit, I decided to take a short trip to the frontier (that's what they call the area near the border with Spain to do some grocery shopping at Eroski.  This was a simple trip; go to Casemates to catch the # 5 bus, 5 minutes later, you are at the store.

The flat had a fully functioning kitchen with stove, microwave, fridge, toaster, kettle, etc., so all I need was some more food.  Below are some items that may look familiar, but if you see these variations in Winnipeg, please let me know,

Prosciutto !

'Prosciutto Ham'

\Salami Mozzarella Pesto !

Cecil's Saturday Puzzle - February 20, 2016

from the Winnipeg Free Press

White to mate in 2 (Wurzburg)
1. Nd4

Monkey business on a half-free day.

As I mentioned, Monday was the only day that had a Challengers Day, and no Masters round, I decided to see the famous Gibraltar 'apes' in the afternoon.  From the flat it was about a 15 minute walk to Cable car that takes visitors to the top of the Rock where the apes hang out. Technically, they are Barbary Macaques. According to Wikipedia, "The Barbary macaque population of Gibraltar is the only such population outside of Northern Africa and the only population of wild monkeys in Europe. The Rock of Gibraltar is populated by approximately 230 macaques."

A few steps from the cable stop at the top, I came across the first

2016 Gibraltar - Challengers A - Round 1

Ok. Time to play some chess.  I had entered the Challengers A (for U2250), the Challengers B, and the Masters (Open). Each of the Challengers was a 5 round Swiss; the Masters, 10 rounds,  The Challengers start at 9:45 a.m., the Masters at 3 p.m. The Masters started one day after Challengers A started and ended the day after Challengers B concluded. I was ranked near the bottom of each section with all-time low ELO of 1915.(My high was ~1960).

I took a taxi (~ 5 pounds)from Casemates to the Caleta Hotel, as I wasn't quite sure yet, about the bus schedule or the route.  And although all participants enjoyed free bus travel around Gibraltar, I hadn't been to the hotel to pick up my credentials.

My first round opponent was 'Osi' Omoifi of Nigeria.  He has spent some time in the USA as a student and had a USCF rating of 2350-ish at one point.  I noticed soon after the game that one of local players had posted that the game appeared on chessbomb, so you can play through it there.

http://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2016-gibraltar-a/01-Boron_Anthony-Omoifo_Osemekhian_I

I was feeling pretty good around moves 27-30, as I thought I could work on the backward pawns. But I underestimated his queenside pawn advances as does the chessbomb engine. It indicate .21 before 32...a4, but  .0 after that move.  (not that is a big difference) I had a tough decision on move 33; play Nxc4 with the mess that ensues, or cxb4. I decided that I would live dangerously with the former, as I still had 19 games to play! The complications turned out well for opponent, and he conducted the rest of the game quite precisely. In the post mortem, we had a long look at 48. Qd8 which Osi suggested and feared; it took us a long time to find the lines that won for Black, so that would have been a good practical try.

Photo by Sophie Triay

https://www.facebook.com/Sophie-T-Triay-Events-Photography-122051511204702/

2016 January TNT rated by the CFC

We interrupt my Gibraltar trip report to catch up on news of the 2016 January TNT, which concluded while I was in Gibraltar.

Please the crosstable here.

Congratulations to Isaac Wiebe (2220) who is now a National Master !  Congratulations !  Very few achieve this.