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When Toronto chess players feel that end-of-summer nip in the air, it means only one thing: not that the malls are in back-to-school mode, nor that the CNE is in full swing, but that the Toronto Labour Day Open is just around the corner. In other words, it’s time to hit the books and prepare for the 2014-2015 chess season.

The ACC Hit the Books Swiss is a five-round regular club tournament, divided in three sections by CFC rating – Crown (minimum 1800), Reserve A (under-1900; minimum 1400), and Reserve B (under-1500). Tournament games are CFC-rated, and games in the Crown section are FIDE-rated.

Rounds are every Monday night, August 18 to September 22 (except September 1, Labour Day).

Round 1 – August 18

The tournament starts with only 40 players – I hope the name didn’t scare anyone! As in every Swiss, Round One sees David-versus-Goliath matchups – and it’s fun to report the upsets.

In the Crown section, Hugh Siddeley scores an upset win over SCC Champion Dave Southam, Hanyuan Ye defeats 100-point favourite Daniel Wiebe, and Miroslav Stefanovic does well to draw Rodrigo Oliveira, the winner of our last club tournament.

In U1900, newcomer Nicholas Wu scores an upset win over Daniel Sirkovich, the highest-rated player in the section.

Finally, while U1500 is free of major upsets, we’re happy to welcome to the club unrated newcomers Jimmy Fitzgerald, Leon Gagarin, and Kamran Amirirad.

Round 2 – August 25

Before the round starts, players are treated to a lecture by Omar Shah, “Musings from Canadian Open: Montreal 2014.”

The lecture focuses on an interesting moment from one of Shah’s games at this year’s COCC, and uses the audience’s thinking about the position to mine gems of insight about the process of chess analysis.

Reflecting on the analytic process has been a preoccupation of Shah’s for the past year. For those interested in following him on this journey, he recommends starting with Soltis’ The Inner Game of Chess. Shah’s lecture also includes some advice on attending an out-of-town Canadian Open: don’t do it alone. The lecture is lively and interactive, with plenty of audience participation throughout. Thank you, Omar!

The round gets started at 7:30 pm.

Both Tigran Ghazarian and Jack Maguire, winners of last tournament’s U1500 and U1900 sections, are taking advantage of the opportunity to play in a higher section in this event, but both received full-point byes in the first round because of odd numbers. Now entering round two with a full 1.0/1, they each face tough veteran opponents in their sections. Amazingly, Tigran Ghazarian manages to take down Hooshang Abbarin, and now has a 2-0 record in U1900! Maguire, however, is not so lucky against Bill Evans in the Crown section.

Along with Bill Evans, the crème de la crème atop the Crown section includes Jonathan Yu and Club Champion Michael Humphreys, all with 2.0/2.

In U1900, Tigran Ghazarian is joined at the top by Ulli Diemer and Vlad Nitu, all with 2.0/2. U1900 play also sees newcomer Irina Saneblidze, who hasn’t played chess since she was young, start her triumphant return in fine style with a win against young Arhant Washimkar. Congratulations, Irina!

In U1500, two players are still perfect: Jean-Marc David and Qi Zhou stand atop the section with 2.0/2.

Round 3 – September 8

In the top section, Michael Humphreys, with a win over Jon Yu, and Bill Evans, with a win over Arkadiy Ugodnikov, are the only two who remain with perfect 3.0/3 records. Next week, Humphreys, the club champion, will face off against Evans, the veteran master. Southam, Yu, and Ferreira are just a point behind at 2.0/3.

In U1900, young Tigran Ghazarian, fresh from the U1500 section, is mopping up in the middle section as well! If he wins the U1900 section, he’ll be able to play in the Crown next tournament. With a win over Ulli Diemer, Ghazarian is now the only player with 3.0/3, but Vlad Nitu is just a half point behind at 2.5/3.

In U1500, there’s a three-way tie for the lead as unrated Kamran Amirirad, with a win over Richard Morrison, catches up with Jean-Marc David, who took a bye, and Qi Zhou, who was held to a draw by Raymond Lin.

Thanks to Pepin Manalo for sharing his game from the Crown section!

Round 4 – September 15

The cold weather seems to be bringing players back to the club; the Crown section has reached 20!

In that Crown section, three-time Club Champion Michael Humphreys stands undefeated after a win over Bill Evans. Standing a point ahead of the competition at 4.0/4, and having defeated both 3/0/4 contenders, Humphreys has clinched the event! Next week, he’ll have the opportunity for a victory lap to make it a perfect 5.0/5.

In the middle (U1900) section, Tigran Ghazarian’s streak is held in check as he and Hooshang Abbarin draw their game. Nevertheless, Ghazarian leads the section by half a point with 3.5/4 going into the final round.

In the bottom (U1500) section, Jean-Marc David takes a bye, allowing Qi Zhou, with a win over Kamran Amirirad, to catch him. Zhou and David enter the final round, both with 3.5/4.

Round 5 – September 22

The final round sees the champions take perfect results. In the Crown section, Michael Humphreys makes it a perfect 5.0/5, with a win over Daniel Wiebe. In the U1900, Tigran Vaganian wins by forfeit over an absent Vlad Nitu to take the section with 4.5/5. And in the U1500, Qi Zhou defeats Jean-Marc David to take first with 4.5/5.

Congratulations, Michael, Tigran, and Qi!

A new club tournament starts at 7:30 pm next Monday September 29. New players are welcome. Arrive by 7:00 if you’re not already registered!

See complete results on the standings table below.

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Final results after Round Five

SwissSys Standings. Hit the Books: Crown

#	Name	CFC ID	Rating	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Total
1	Michael Humphreys	131628	2307	W16	W7	W2	W4	W9	5.0
2	Jonathan Yu	126131	2076	W22	W19	L1	W13	W4	4.0
3	Daniel Zotkin	146857	2061	H—	H—	D7	W8	W10	3.5
4	Bill Evans	103309	2027	W17	W11	W8	L1	L2	3.0
5	Matthew Struthers	110170	2018	H—	H—	U—	W20	W13	3.0
6	Rodrigo Oliveira	152923	2216	D18	D20	D11	D10	W7	3.0
7	Hugh Siddeley	120619	1987	W10	L1	D3	W11	L6	2.5
8	Arkadiy Ugodnikov	146626	1947	H—	W12	L4	L3	W16	2.5
9	Daniel Wiebe	132137	2064	L19	W22	H—	W17	L1	2.5
10	David Southam	102535	2178	L7	W16	W18	D6	L3	2.5
11	Jack Maguire	144604	1608	B—	L4	D6	L7	X21	2.5
12	Ismail Ibrahim	105228	2027	H—	L8	L17	W22	D15	2.0
13	Alex T. Ferreira	127516	2048	H—	D18	W20	L2	L5	2.0
14	Jacob Stein	108627	1746	H—	H—	U—	U—	W22	2.0
15	Ian Mahoney	149124	1747	H—	H—	U—	D16	D12	2.0
16	Armand Jess Mendoza	156958	2001	L1	L10	W22	D15	L8	1.5
17	Pepin Manalo	112277	1824	L4	H—	W12	L9	U—	1.5
18	Miroslav Stefanovic	154500	1996	D6	D13	L10	H—	U—	1.5
19	Hanyuan Ye	144844	1954	W9	L2	U—	U—	U—	1.0
20	Nicholas Vettese	154199	1950	H—	D6	L13	L5	U—	1.0
21	Wajdy Shebetah	148432	2030	H—	H—	U—	U—	F11	1.0
22	Antonios Valkanas	158189	1957	L2	L9	L16	L12	L14	0.0

SwissSys Standings. Hit the Books: U1900

#	Name	CFC ID	Rating	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Total
1	Tigran Ghazarian	155438	1288	B—	W2	W6	D5	X4	4.5
2	Hooshang Ab-barin	152910	1659	W10	L1	W9	X8	D3	3.5
3	Vinorth Vigneswaramoorthy	153938	1599	H—	W5	D8	W7	D2	3.5
4	Vlad Nitu	154215	1731	W12	W9	H—	H—	F1	3.0
5	Nicholas Wu	154991	1541	W15	L3	W11	D1	L10	2.5
6	Ulli Diemer	153538	1552	W14	W11	L1	H—	L9	2.5
7	Daniele Pirri	132983	1442	L11	W10	X15	L3	U—	2.0
8	Irina Saneblidze		unr.	H—	W12	D3	F2	U—	2.0
9	Mark A. Patton	104721	1601	W13	L4	L2	L10	W6	2.0
10	Marc Ben-Avraham	145628	1439	L2	L7	L12	W9	W5	2.0
11	Atharva Washimkar	153285	1725	W7	L6	L5	D12	U—	1.5
12	Arhant Washimkar	153286	1507	L4	L8	W10	D11	U—	1.5
13	Mark A. Gelowitz	126627	1433	L9	B—	U—	U—	U—	1.0
14	George Supol	152286	1430	L6	H—	H—	U—	U—	1.0
15	Daniel Sirkovich	145096	1759	L5	H—	F7	U—	U—	0.5

SwissSys Standings. Hit the Books: U1500

#	Name	CFC ID	Rating	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Total
1	Qi Zhou	158050	1314	W18	W4	D5	W2	W3	4.5
2	Kamran Amirirad		unr.	D7	W16	W4	L1	W5	3.5
3	Jean-Marc David	151900	1336	W8	W19	H—	W6	L1	3.5
4	Richard Morrison	135889	1408	W9	L1	L2	W17	W12	3.0
5	Raymond Lin	150193	1199	W14	D6	D1	W10	L2	3.0
6	Dennis Li	153129	1213	D16	D5	W8	L3	W9	3.0
7	Dylan Xiong	152060	1046	D2	H—	D16	D9	W10	3.0
8	Rahul Gangolli	156023	966	L3	W14	L6	W13	U—	2.0
9	Howard Halim	153419	1124	L4	D10	W14	D7	L6	2.0
10	Eli Teram	107314	1201	H—	D9	W17	L5	L7	2.0
11	Adam Goldfarb	153496	1326	W15	U—	H—	H—	U—	2.0
12	Larissa Souchko	145490	1008	H—	H—	U—	X16	L4	2.0
13	Kaizen Liu	152053	1047	H—	H—	U—	L8	W14	2.0
14	Leon Gagarin		unr.	L5	L8	L9	B—	L13	1.0
15	Jeffrey Wang Zhu	154492	900	L11	W18	U—	U—	U—	1.0
16	Jimmy Fitzgerald		unr.	D6	L2	D7	F12	U—	1.0
17	Ryan Yu	156218	989	H—	H—	L10	L4	U—	1.0
18	Vicknam Harichandrabose	158191	611	L1	L15	H—	U—	U—	0.5
19	Mark A. Gelowitz	126627	1442	H—	L3	U—	U—	U—	0.5

 

 

“I started by just sitting by the chessboard exploring things. I didn’t even have books at first, and I just played by myself. I learnt a lot from that, and I feel that it is a big reason why I now have a good intuitive understanding of chess.”

~ Magnus Carlsen

 

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The title picture features Tal’s Life and Games of Mikhail Tal (1997) and Sheerer’s Blackmar Diemer Gambit: A modern guide (2011) – both available from Everyman Chess (formerly Cadogan Chess).