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Annex Chess Club Championship 2014 – January 13 to February 24

Two new trophies (one for each of the Championship and Reserve sections) were donated to ACC by inbusys inc., a keen supporter of the Club for the last three years.

Each trophy will have engraved on it the name of the respective winning Club member and his/her winning score – back to our Club’s first Championship in 2011.

Round One – January 13

With a flurry of last-day email and on-site registrations, we get 50 players paired and ready to go at 7:30 pm. The only casualty is a newcomer, Julian Pulgarin, who somehow gets left out of the player list and has to take a full-point bye. We’re sorry, Julian!

Round One of a Swiss always sees some of the biggest rating mismatches of the tournament as the players in the top half of the section get what should be an easy game, while those in the bottom half face perhaps their most challenging opponent of the tournament. The outcome, however, is never a foregone conclusion, even with a big rating difference. Tonight sees some tough games and quite a few upsets.

In the Reserve section, there are just two surprise results as Teresa Lee defeats Jean-Marc David – a 565-rating-point upset! – and Daniele Pirri defeats Adrian Chin.

But in the Championship section, there is a whole string of upsets, as no less than four underdogs leave the club with something to celebrate: Omar Shah, playing with industrial noise-eliminating earmuffs, defeats Dave Southam; Hugh Siddeley, with an extra tempo after a transpositional trick in an Accelerated Dragon, defeats Andrew Boik (from Alberta); Daniel Wiebe beats Wajdy Shebetah (the recent winner of our New Year’s Blitz); and finally Erik Malmsten takes a full point from Alex Michelashvili.

The top two players in the section, Digeng Du and Michael Humphreys, escape the slaughter on the top boards unscathed, as do Jonathan Yu and Bill Evans, but the field is blown wide open. Digeng and Michael are the two favourites from the outset, but Omar, Hugh, and Dan have shown that anything can happen in this event. It’s certainly interesting to see three players over 2200 playing a full-point Swiss Gambit.

Round One Game of the Week

In this week’s game of the week, Teresa Lee pulls off a big upset win over Jean-Marc David. Her bold bishop sacrifice (13. Bh6) initially looks fishy, but the consequent attack soon turns deadly.

Round Two – January 20

Another dozen players join the tournament in Round Two, bringing us up to 62 players.

In the Championship section, Digeng Du, Michael Humphreys, Bill Evans, and Daniel Wiebe are in the lead with 2.0/2. (Dan is on a tear! After beating Wajdy Shebetah in Round One, he upsets Jonathan Yu in Round Two to stay in the leader group.)

Just half a point behind the four leaders are a trio of new joiners who win their Round Two games after taking a bye in Round One: Pepin Manalo, Pavel Peev, and Hayk Oganesyan.

Among other new joiners this round, Olof Bergenstam – welcome back from Sweden, Olof! – is happy to get a game with international celebrity, Harmony Zhu. Harmony gets a draw against an opponent rated 150 points higher than her, and Olof gets a signed scoresheet he’s going to save.

In the Reserve section, the leader group consists of six players with a perfect 2.0/2 through two rounds: Hooshang Abbarin, Ulli Diemer, Mark Patton, Manuela Renteria, Mark Gelowitz, and Julian Pulgarin. It’s a tight group at the top, with another half a dozen players just half a point behind.

Round Two Game of the Week

In the Round Two game of the week, Hugh Siddeley looks to have defending Club Champion FM Michael Humphreys on the run, but it’s Michael who comes out on top after a rook sacrifice on h3.

Round Three – January 27

And then there were two …

At the halfway mark, the leader group in the Championship section is down to two. Digeng Du and Michael Humphreys are the only remaining players with a perfect 3.0/3. Round Four should see a showdown between the two leaders.

Behind Digeng and Michael, Pepin Manalo follows closely with 2.5/3. And behind him, there are seven players with 2.0/3, including the Swiss gambiteers, Wajdy Shebetah and David Southam, who were upset in Round One and are now chasing the leaders from a point back.

The spotlight tonight, however, is on the game between Jonathan Yu (2147) and Wunderkind Harmony Zhu (1830) as a CBC reporter, doing a story on Harmony, films the start of their game. Despite the media scrutiny, Jonathan holds Harmony to a draw, and both players now have 1.5/3 going into Round Four.

Another distinguished visitor to the club tonight is Sarah Gillet from the Habourfront Centre. (Hope you enjoyed your visit, Sarah!) Look for Annex Chess Club and our friends, the Chess Institute, to announce a chess event at Harbourfront soon. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, down in the Reserve section, the leader group is pared down to three. Hooshang Abbarin, Ulli Diemer, and Julian Pulgarin still have a perfect 3.0/3.

Behind Hooshang, Ulli, and Julian, Marcus Wilker and Michael Sharpe are tied for fourth at 2.5/3, followed by ten players with 2.0.

Round Three Games of the Week

The featured games this week include Olof Bergenstam’s struggle with Dave Southam’s Stonewall – Olof goes the distance against Dave, but in the end, with White in time trouble, Southam wins the pawn-up rook ending. Pepin Manalo has also submitted his game against Hayk Oganesyan. The endgame, he thought, was especially instructive. (Pepin wins a pawn-down ending with rook and knight against White’s rook and bishop.) After posting the game, as annotated by Pepin, I received from Hayk a couple of analytical objections, which I’ve now included as well. I don’t know whether that makes the assessments balanced or just confusing … Readers will have to judge for themselves.

Round Four – February 3

In the Championship section, the top board sees a showdown between the top two, still-perfect players, Michael Humphreys and Digeng Du. At the end of the night, Michael is smiling: through four rounds, he’s still perfect at 4.0/4, and he’s taken care of probably his most serious opposition on his way to a threepeat as ACC Champion!

Pepin Manalo, with a win against Zehn Nasir, is in second, just half a point behind at 3.5/4. Tied for third are a couple of players with 3.0, Digeng Du and Wajdy Shebetah.

In the Reserves, the big game on the top board sees Hooshang Abbarin take out Ulli Diemer.

Meanwhile, newcomer Julian Pulgarin defeats Marcus Wilker to join Hooshang at 4.0/4. Julian played seven rated games back in 2005, earning a provisional rating of 1052, but he’s obviously gotten a bit stronger now – I predict he’ll give Hooshang a run for his money next week!

Julian’s got some moves off the chess board as well:

In third place, Michael Sharpe, with a win over Mark Patton, has 3.5/4.

Round Four Games of the Week

Tyler took a moment behind the desk to do some analysis of Bob’s game, playing a Pirc against Manish. We also have the game, Dave Southam vs Bill Evans, which ended in a draw – thanks to Omar for entering Dave and Bill’s game!

Round Five – February 10

Each section has a dominating leader with a perfect record.

In the Championship section, Michael Humphreys now sits at 5.0/5 after fending off yet another challenger, Pepin Manalo. Michael heads into the final round a full point – or more – ahead of his closest rivals, most of whom he’s already played (L1 is peppered liberally through the top 6 players’ results).

Michael has won the Club Championship two years in a row, both times with 5.5/6. Can he make it a perfect 6.0/6 this year?

In the Reserve section, Julian Pulgarin’s win streak comes to a close as he finally loses a game at ACC – but not until he plays on the top board of the Reserve section. Hooshang Abbarin, after his win against Julian, is a full point ahead of the crowd with a perfect 5.0/5.

Will both trophies be engraved with 6.0/6 this year?

The final round will be played in two weeks time, after a week off for Family Day.

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NOTE: The club will be CLOSED Monday February 17 – and many ACCers will be playing in the 2014 Reading Week Open at Hart House, Saturday to Monday, February 15 to 17.

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Round Six – February 25

In the Championship section, leader Michael Humphreys faces one final challenger – Wajdy Shebetah. Wajdy let’s us know he’s going to be late and arrives with less than 45 minutes left on his clock. “It’s not really a disadvantage,” Michael says afterwards. “Wajdy never uses all his time.” Whether or not time is a factor, Michael is victorious. We are thus proud to announce our 2014 Club Champion, getting his name engraved on the trophy for the third year in a row, this time with a perfect 6.0/6, is … Michael Humphreys! Congratulations, Michael!

Behind Michael are four players with 4.0/6. On tie break, the silver goes to Daniel Wiebe. And the bronze goes to Hugh Siddeley. Congratulation, Hugh and Dan.

Meanwhile, in the Reserves, top board is Hooshang Abbarin, with 5.0/5, defending his title against the wily Jack Maguire who is a full point back at 4.0/5. Unfortunately for Jack, even after a win against Hooshang – thus tying him for first at 5.0/6 – it’s Hooshang who has the best tie break. Jack takes silver, and Michael Sharpe takes bronze. Congratulations to all three Reserve winners, and especially to Hooshang Abbarin, whose name will be engraved on the trophy this year!

See complete standings below.

[Note that the standings table is sorted properly within each point group using our 4 successive tie-break systems: 1. Modifided Median-Buchholz (the sum of opponents’ total scores, with bottom score, top score, or both, discarded, depending on whether the tied players’ final scores are plus, minus, or equal); 2. Solkoff (simply the sum of opponents’ total scores); 3. Cumulative Score (the sum of the player’s own cumulative scores from each round); and 4. Performance of Opposition (the average performance rating of the player’s opposition)]

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Final Results after all six rounds

SwissSys Standings. Club Championship 2014: Championship

#	Name	CFC#	Rating	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Total
1	Michael Humphreys	131628	2293	W9	W3	W2	W4	W6	W7	6.0
2	Daniel Wiebe	132137	1919	W7	W20	L1	H—	D5	W10	4.0
3	Hugh Siddeley	120619	1933	W12	L1	H—	D10	W20	W13	4.0
4	Digeng Du	107986	2295	W11	W8	W13	L1	W16	U—	4.0
5	David Southam	102535	2244	L8	W14	W15	D13	D2	W6	4.0
6	Pepin Manalo	112277	1783	H—	W18	W10	W17	L1	L5	3.5
7	Wajdy Shebetah	148432	2215	L2	W25	W8	W19	H—	L1	3.5
8	Omaray M. Shah	121329	1950	W5	L4	L7	D14	W26	D11	3.0
9	Nicholas Vettese	154199	1956	L1	L12	W25	D11	W15	D14	3.0
10	Hayk Oganesyan	152587	1963	H—	W24	L6	D3	W19	L2	3.0
11	Miroslav Stefanovic	154500	2003	L4	H—	D18	D9	W25	D8	3.0
12	Andrew Boik	131279	2231	L3	W9	H—	H—	U—	W18	3.0
13	Bill Evans	103309	2046	W24	W26	L4	D5	L22	L3	2.5
14	Alexandre Michelashvili	149568	2020	L19	L5	W24	D8	D18	D9	2.5
15	Olof Bergenstam	153937	1984	H—	D16	L5	D18	L9	W26	2.5
16	Harmony Zhu	151635	1830	H—	D15	D20	X27	L4	U—	2.5
17	Zehn Nasir	148198	2125	D18	H—	W26	L6	H—	U—	2.5
18	Daniel Zotkin	146857	1895	D17	L6	D11	D15	D14	L12	2.0
19	Erik Malmsten	100196	1884	W14	L21	W27	L7	L10	U—	2.0
20	Jonathan Yu	126131	2147	W25	L2	D16	H—	L3	U—	2.0
21	Pavel Peev	122223	2219	H—	W19	H—	U—	U—	U—	2.0
22	Jonathan Farine	148113	1952	H—	H—	U—	U—	W13	U—	2.0
23	Alex T. Ferreira	127516	2049	H—	H—	U—	U—	U—	W25	2.0
24	Arkadiy Ugodnikov	146626	1885	L13	L10	L14	B—	H—	U—	1.5
25	Chris Udrea	155000	1904	L20	L7	L9	W26	L11	L23	1.0
26	Josep Sobrepere	152976	1794	B—	L13	L17	L25	L8	L15	1.0
27	Allan Munro	140841	2071	H—	H—	L19	F16	U—	U—	1.0

SwissSys Standings. Club Championship 2014: Reserves

#	Name	CFC#	Rating	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Total
1	Hooshang Ab-barin	152910	1735	W40	W26	W10	W5	W7	L2	5.0
2	Jack Maguire	144604	1609	W23	L10	W15	W29	W5	W1	5.0
3	Michael D. Sharpe	100280	1537	W21	H—	W31	W6	H—	X7	5.0
4	Marcus Wilker	102713	1609	W22	D27	W16	L7	W10	W13	4.5
5	Ulli Diemer	153538	1659	W24	W17	W9	L1	L2	W15	4.0
6	Mark A. Patton	104721	1619	W11	W30	L7	L3	W29	W16	4.0
7	Julian Pulgarin	140527	1052	B—	W8	W6	W4	L1	F3	4.0
8	Robert J. Armstrong	100034	1516	W14	L7	L23	W21	W12	W11	4.0
9	Manuela Renteria	152627	1546	W28	W15	L5	D10	D11	X18	4.0
10	Mark A. Gelowitz	126627	1346	W42	W2	L1	D9	L4	W23	3.5
11	George Supol	152286	1282	L6	W25	W19	W17	D9	L8	3.5
12	Teresa Lee	154501	907	W20	L31	W26	H—	L8	W24	3.5
13	Sebastian Lamprea	8092215	1301	H—	L29	W14	W38	W20	L4	3.5
14	Alex Geddie	155388	993	L8	D40	L13	W42	W36	W20	3.5
15	Daniele Pirri	132983	1268	W18	L9	L2	W37	W30	L5	3.0
16	Milan Cvetkovic	150817	1310	H—	W39	L4	D22	W17	L6	3.0
17	Abdolreza Radpey	149018	1354	W36	L5	W41	L11	L16	W28	3.0
18	Adrian Chin	155527	1614	L15	W28	H—	W23	H—	F9	3.0
19	Joshua Allen	105802	1710	H—	H—	L11	W36	U—	U—	3.0
20	Jean-Marc David	151900	1472	L12	W21	D22	W24	L13	L14	2.5
21	Manish Pamwar	156524	1025	L3	L20	W43	L8	W25	D22	2.5
22	Dennis Li	153129	1136	L4	W43	D20	D16	L26	D21	2.5
23	Raymond Lin	150193	1187	L2	W42	W8	L18	H—	L10	2.5
24	Richard Morrison	135889	1292	L5	W37	D36	L20	W38	L12	2.5
25	Tigran Ghazarian	155438	815	L30	L11	W28	H—	L21	W38	2.5
26	Bill Thornton	131181	1442	W37	L1	L12	H—	W22	U—	2.5
27	Vinorth Vigneswaramoorthy	153938	1315	W43	D4	L32	H—	H—	U—	2.5
28	Nick Mourtos	156384	1035	L9	L18	L25	W40	W42	L17	2.0
29	Eli Teram	107314	1315	H—	W13	H—	L2	L6	U—	2.0
30	Ian Prittie	153588	1398	W25	L6	H—	H—	L15	U—	2.0
31	Jiaxin Liu	149747	1627	H—	W12	L3	H—	U—	U—	2.0
32	Nicholas O'Bumsawin	151261	1743	H—	H—	W27	U—	U—	U—	2.0
33	John Heisey	156203	1235	H—	H—	U—	U—	U—	W39	2.0
34	Jian Gajardo Rashid	154802	unr.	H—	H—	U—	U—	U—	W40	2.0
35	Kaizen Liu	152053	1053	H—	H—	U—	U—	U—	W37	2.0
36	Howard Halim	153419	797	L17	W38	D24	L19	L14	U—	1.5
37	Rahul Gangolli	156023	879	L26	L24	X42	L15	D40	L35	1.5
38	Larissa Souchko	145490	1029	H—	L36	W40	L13	L24	L25	1.5
39	Arno Lowi	155277	682	H—	L16	H—	H—	U—	L33	1.5
40	Alexander Hillel	153393	1310	L1	D14	L38	L28	D37	L34	1.0
41	Jeffrey Wang Zhu	154492	893	H—	H—	L17	U—	U—	U—	1.0
42	Rahman Durdyklychev		unr.	L10	L23	F37	L14	L28	U—	0.0
43	Seif Tawfik		unr.	L27	L22	L21	U—	U—	U—	0.0