Thank Gibbons Open - November 28-29

Thank Gibbons Open
(sub-titled - Be Home by Saturday Supper)

University of Winnipeg
Room 5L24
wish to start earlier)

Update: A very competitive set of eight entrants are battling it out in essentially an under 1800 section.
Ryne Swift  (1808)
Saul Magnusson  (1738)
Stephen Lipic  (1710)
Tomas Manicdao  (1706)
Clifford Goodman (1684)
Cory Letain  (1594)
Eric Williams  (1466)
Lorne Gibbons  (1292)

Standings and games at chessmanitoba.com

Note: Saturday's two rounds were over by 2:30 p.m. !

Cecil's Saturday Puzzle November 21 2009

from the Saturday Winnipeg Free Press

White to mate in 3 (Densmore)
Solution is 1. Qa2 !

Cecil's Saturday Puzzle November 7, 2009

from the Saturday Winnipeg Free Press

White to mate in 3 (Dobbs)
1. Kg2
One line is
1...Ne3+ 2.Rxe3+ Kxe3 3.Nf3#

Manitoba Junior has been rated

See crosstable here
New high ratings achieved by:

Paolo Araull0 2187
Igal Raihman 1968
Leah Green 1304

Congratulations !

ND Chessnuts Results 2009

GM Alex Yermolinsky

See the Open results here

and the U1900 results here

Ken Einarsson playing Black in the U1900 Section

In Match scores, we defeated Minnesota, but lost to North Dakota. (I will have to confirm the scores with Blair Rutter), but from what I can determine - Stephen Lipic and Blair Rutter both contributed a +2 score against Minnesota.

I scored 3 / 5 - clear 5th overall and good enough for a piece of some U2100 prize - apparently $ 100.

But the titled players kept avoiding me :-)

Yermolinsky took a first round bye, IM Victor Adler fell ill earlier in the week, and thus on Friday night I was paired with IM Sandor Kustar on first board.


After half an hour or so it was determined that he was not going to be able to play in the tournament, so Brian Thompson filled in and I was fortunate to win a see-saw endgame.

Mike Sailer (Black) vs. Blair Rutter (White)

In the second rd I drew Aron Kaptsan. In third round I beat an expert, Nikita Barabanov and found myself with a surprising 2.5. I thought that I may have a crack at "Yermo" in round 4, but I assume the colours didn't work.

Aron and Zaczek both got to play Yermo. Aron lost in an interesting endgame, I saw Zaczek in the "private" skittles room analyzing with Yermolinsky after round 5, so that must have been fun for Jonathon.

Zaczek-Rutter

Yermolinsky drew Okechukwu Iwu of Duluth.
These two, Mike Sailer and Dmitri Babarbanov tied for first with 4 points
Iwu and Waldemar Schulz

Stephen Lipic was in the running for an under 1900 prize in the Open section; I am sure he will let me know the result.

GM Yermolinsky provided a lecture and Q & A.

Connections

As you have read below - Aron Kaptsan won the 2009 Manitoba Senior Championship on Sunday.
It then occurred to me that the World Senior had just ended a few days earlier with Jānis Klovāns of Latvia tying for first. (Klovans has won the event on three previous occasions. )

On the way home Sunday, I asked Aron if he knew Klovāns. Yes, he replied, and related some stories.

What he didn't tell me was this !-

Championship of Latvia- 1969
Rk	Name	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	P
1	Petkevich J.	*	1/2	1/2	1/2	1	1/2	1/2	1	1	1/2	1/2	1/2	1	1	1	10.0
2	Shmits A.	1/2	*	1/2	1/2	1	1	1/2	1	1	1/2	1	1/2	1	1/2	1/2	10.0
3	Peterson A.	1/2	1/2	*	0	1	1/2	1/2	1	1	1	0	1	1/2	1	1	9.5
4	Zhuravliov V.	1/2	1/2	1	*	0	0	1/2	1/2	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	9.0
5	Gutman L.	0	0	0	1	*	1/2	1/2	0	1/2	1	1	1	1	1	1	8.5
6	Kirilov V.	1/2	0	1/2	1	1/2	*	1/2	1	1/2	1/2	1/2	1/2	1	1	1/2	8.5
7	Klovans J.	1/2	1/2	1/2	1/2	1/2	1/2	*	1/2	1/2	1/2	1/2	1/2	1	1	1	8.5
8	Abrosimov A.	0	0	0	1/2	1	0	1/2	*	0	1	1	1	0	1	1	7.0
9	Kaptsan A.	0	0	0	0	1/2	1/2	1/2	1	*	1/2	0	1	1	1	1	7.0
10	Kirpichnikov V.	1/2	1/2	0	0	0	1/2	1/2	0	1/2	*	1/2	1	1/2	1	1	6.5
11	Kliavinsh J.	1/2	0	1	0	0	1/2	1/2	0	1	1/2	*	0	1	0	1	6.0
12	Chembaev E.	1/2	1/2	0	0	0	1/2	1/2	0	0	0	1	*	1/2	1/2	0	4.0
13	Matvik N.	0	0	1/2	1	0	0	0	1	0	1/2	0	1/2	*	0	1/2	4.0
14	Osipov I.	0	1/2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1/2	1	*	1	4.0
15	Daudzvardis J.	0	1/2	0	0	0	1/2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1/2	0	*	2.5
16	Vitolinsh A.															*	3.5(of 9)

2009 Manitoba Senior

Five players contested the inaugural Manitoba Senior Chess Championship.

Aaron Kaptsan, John Wierda, Gary Campbell, Andy Kohalmi, Lorne Gibbons.

Round 1 saw Campbell hold Kaptsan to a draw, and Kohalmi flagging in a won ending against Wierda.

Kaptsan - Campbell

Kohalmi-Wierda

Round 2 saw rating favorite Kaptsan on Board 1 defeat Wierda in what turned out to be the pivotal game of the tournament.

Round 3 saw Wierda with the bye - and pairings Gibbons-Kaptsan and Campbell-Kohalmi both had Black winning.

Round 4 pairings Wierda-Gibbons and Kaptsan-Kohalmi, had both rating favorites win.

The result is that Aron Kaptsan is the 2009 Senior Chess Champion of Manitoba at the young age of 80.

TD Tony Boron congratulates Aron Kaptsan

Other prizes:

2nd place - John Wierda

Top over 75 - Andy Kohalmi

Top over 65 - Gary Campbell

Top D - Lorne (Camera Shy) Gibbons

2009 Manitoba Senior Championship

2009 Manitoba Senior Championship (60 and over)

Format: Four round Swiss system (players play all four games
- win or lose)
Time Control: Game/60
Location: University of Winnipeg - Room 3C14
Dates:  November 8, 2009

Eligibility:
Open to those born before November 7, 1949

Registration: 9:30 am to 9:50 am - Sunday, November 8, 2009

Schedule:

Round 1 at 10:00 a.m.,
Rounds 2, 3, 4 tentatively scheduled for noon, 2:30, 4:30,
however if games are
finished in less than two hours rounds may start earlier.

$ 5 entry fee
Time Control: Game/60

Chess Federation of Canada membership not required
Class/Age prizes.

Cecil's Saturday Puzzle October 24, 2009

from the Saturday Winnipeg Free Press
White to mate in 3 (Hargreaves)

1. Rf7