2006 RA Spring Open

On the first weekend of March, the RA Chess Club and the Eastern Ontario Chess Association, were happy to host this year's edition of the RA Spring Open. As a relatively new organizer/TD, the writer is not aware of previous years' numbers, but this year, we reached a whopping 51 players participating!

One of the advantages of so many players was being able to go with 2 sections that were large enough to enable good swiss pairings for the planned 5 rounds. Section A was comprised of the top players and a 1999-1800 class. Section B was comprised of 3 classes: 1799-1600, 1599-1400, and U1400.

The traditional Canada Room at the RA Centre was indeed a great playing venue. Thanks to longtime organizer/TD Mike Holmes from the RACC, every game was on an individual card table, and already stocked with a board and pieces. Coupled with the TD's zeal for peace and quiet, the players were expressing their appreciation for enjoying long undisturbed games. In addition, there was a completely separate analysis room, also stocked with boards and sets, and a big CFC kiosk in the building lobby.

Over the boards in Section A, top-rated Mihnea Voloaca was the clear winner with 4.5/5 for $330, drawing in the last round with 2nd-place finisher William Doubleday at 4/5 for $200. After these two gentlemen, three other strong players battled their way into a tie for 3rd-place at 3.5/5 and $46 each: Kevin Pacey, Ozren Nezirovic, and Dusan Simic. The 1999-1800 class prize went solely to Lloyd Mai, after a stunning sacrifice victory in the last round gave him 3/5 and $140 in a section that included 16 higher-rated players, 15 of them over 2000! This section provided spectators many fascinating games.

In Section B, in the 1799-1600 class, Walter Kosmin took away the honours with 4.5/5 and $120, while in the 1599-1400 class, Mate Marinkovic was tops with 3.5/5. However, as Mate was entered as an amateur, the $100 prize was split between Saul Schwartz, Martin Serre, and Timothy Bailey, all at 3/5. Note that Christopher Pace and Joseph Shea, although entered as amateurs, also finished at 3/5. Finally, in the U1400 class, relative newcomer Hongyi Li finished with a very strong 4/5, at least 1.5 points ahead of his nearest rival, and took home $80. So, the total prize fund was a nice juicy $1110!

Aside from money prizes, every player received a specially made commemorative mug as a memento of a fine chess weekend. In addition, there was $237 worth of door prizes! Michael Guignard walked away with a chess tube donated by David Gordon from Strategy Games, and Peter Arseneau from the CFC really came through with over $200 worth of door prizes! Hongyi Li and Grand Schaper both won Completely Chess 2 sets with Legends pieces, Karoly Szalay won a book of his choice, Christopher Pace won the book Tiger's Modern, and CFC ball caps were won by Jeff Sullivan and Keven Eyre.

The writer would like to take a moment here to reiterate his gratitude to Peter Arseneau of the CFC, David Gordon of Strategy Games, and Mike Holmes of the RACC. None of these tireless chess guys ever hesitated when asked for assistance of any kind, and they truly ensured the success of this event.

Aris Marghetis Organizer/TD