2007 National Capital Open

In Canada, "Indian Summer" refers to the beautiful and refreshing weather that we are sometimes blessed with after Thanksgiving. The 2007 National Capital Open saw 45 players come together in Ottawa during this year's Indian Summer, for the chess version of a full weekend with good friends.

The players were split into two sections, with the cutoff at a CFC rating of 1800. Section A was the strongest in years for an Ottawa weekend tournament, featuring Russian GM Bator Sambuev, and local IMs (and icons!) Deen Hergott and Tom O'Donnell. And it was Tom that held Bator to a draw in the last round, enabling David Gordon to tie Bator for first and second with scores of 4/5. David had also drawn Bator in the second round, to highlight an exceptional performance by him this weekend!

Sharing third place in a big tie with scores of 3.5/5, were the four other players rated over 2200, namely Deen, Tom, Mihnea Voloaca, and the winner of the very last game of the weekend, Armando Valdizon.

After the top three prizes, there was a nice identical class prize for every 200 rating points. Indicative of the strength of the first section, was that the first class prize started at U2200! Four players also tied here, now with scores of 3/5. They were Karoly Szalay, John Upper, Danilo Aniag, and Joey Qin. However, as John and Joey were playing as Amateurs, this class prize was split between Karoly and Danilo, a gentleman from the Philippines, who was happy to make it to our event via bus from Toronto.

Then there was also a 1999-1800 class prize in Section A, whose finale was set up perfectly by the standard Swiss pairing system. Entering the last round, Michel Desjardins and Emil Smilovici were tied for the lead, and ended up getting paired against each other. In this, the second-longest game of the last round, Emil won a tough B vs. N endgame, winning a clear point ahead of his class with 3/5.

In Section B, the finale for the 1799-1600 class prize was also set up perfectly, with the two leaders, Gordon Ritchie and David Li, being paired against each other in the last round. The game was just a slugfest, with simultaneous attacks. Gordon won violently to take the subsection with a clear 4.5/5.

Finally, for the 1599-UNR subsection, two boys from Montreal, Mike Brichko and the unrated Zhiyuan Zhang, both scored an impressive 3/5. As Mike was playing as Amateur, Zhiyuan took the class prize.

And in a very nice gesture before the last round, Karoly's wonderful parents, Karoly Sr. and Lianhua, brought Timbits for everyone, in honour of their son's birthday. It really was nice to see so many people thanking and congratulating the Szalays, a family who represents all that is right with Canadian chess!

Looking ahead, the next event by this Organizer/TD will be the RA Spring Open, from February 29th to March 2nd, 2008, with plans already in place to include at least the following special new features:

- flexible multiple section structure with the guarantee of no forced byes!
- more Amateur options for players interested in playing only a few rounds
- rebates for players who billet other players registered from out of town
- an extra section just for kids who are more beginner and/or very young

If you might be interested, please send your email address to Aris Marghetis (arismarghetis@rogers.com)