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“November always seemed to me the Norway of the year.”

“November always seemed to me the Norway of the year,” wrote Emily Dickinson (in perfect iambic heptameter). This is a Norway November for sure, as Norway’s Magnus Carlsen defends his World Champion title in Sochi, Russia, November 7 to 28. His challenger is the previous World Champion, India’s Vishwanathan Anand, whom Carlsen defeated in a title match last November. Since then, Norway has run the No Logo Norway Chess supertournament and hosted the Tromsø 2014 Chess Olympiad. The whole country seems to have caught the chess bug, as media outlets now vie for broadcast rights, chess coverage enjoys high ratings, and Carlsen was even featured in a November issue of Donald Duck.
Meanwhile in Tøronto, the ACC Norway Swiss takes place November 10 to December 8. It’s a five-round regular club Swiss tournament, divided in three sections by CFC rating: Crown (minimum 1800), Under-1900 (minimum 1400), and Under-1500. The time cøntrol is game in 90 minutes with a 30-second increment each move from move 1, which makes for a 3- or 4-hour game. Games are CFC-rated, and the Crown section is also FIDE-rated. Rounds are Monday nights at 7:30 at the ACC clubhouse, 918 Bathurst.

Round 1 – November 10

Forty-five players came out for the start of the tournament. Round One of a Swiss-paired event sees many David-vs-Goliath matchups, with underdogs having a chance for a big upset.

The night, as it turns out, is relatively free of such upsets, but it does see Kevin Gaffney (1599) victorious over Chris Udrea (1883) in the U1900 section.

Round 2 – November 17

After the night’s bouts, the leader group in each section is down to two or three. In the Crown section, Daniel Wiebe (with a win over Barry Nash) and Robert Bzikot (with a win over Armand Jess Mendoza) are in a two-way tie for first with 2.0/2.

In the U1900 section, there’s another two-way tie for the lead, as Heimo Haikala (with a win over Ulli Diemer) and Sergey Malakhovets (with a win over Kevin Gaffney) share the honours.

In U1500, it’s a three-way tie for first among Mark A. Gelowitz, Richard Morrison, and Raymond Lin, all with 2.0/2. Only time will tell.

Round 3 – November 24

In the Crown section, the bout between Bzikot and Wiebe ends with victory for Robert Bzikot, now in clear first with 3.0/3.

In U1900, top board sees Sergey Malakhovets against Heimo Haikala, and the game ends in a draw. Meanwhile Kamran Amirirad, with a victory over Daniel Pirri, joins a three-way tie for first at 2.5/3

In U1500, Mark Gelowitz has top honours after defeating Richard Morrison. Gelowitz stands in clear first with 3.0/3.

Games from Round 3

Round 4 – December 1

Round 4 sees Joseph Bellissimo take over first place in the Crown section, with a victory over leader, Rob Bzikot. Bellissimo has 3.5/4 with 3 straight victories after a Rd-1 bye.

In U1900, co-leaders, Heimo Haikala and Sergey Malakhovets remain neck and neck after Rd-4 victories. Both have 3.5/4, with 3 wins and a draw against each other.

In U1500, Jean-Marc David takes over first place by defeating leader Mark Gelowitz. David has 3.5/4, with 3 wins after a Rd-1 draw.

One more round to go!

Round 5 – December 8

Last round sees Crown section leader Joseph Bellissimo, at 3.5/4, face club champion Michael Humphreys, at 3.0/4. With a win, Humphreys would be tied by points and have a better tiebreak on head-to-head. As it turns out, Bellissimo holds onto first place with a draw against Humphreys, so 4.0/5, and a better tiebreak than Robert Bzikot, having defeated him in Round 4. Congratulations, Joseph Bellissimo!

In U1900, Sergey Malakhovets finally pulls out of the tie with Heimo Haikala, after the latter is defeated by Chris Udrea. Malakhovets finishes in sole first with 4.5/5 after a victory over Hooshang Abbarin. Congratulations, Sergey Malkhovets!

In U1500, Jean-Marc David holds onto sole first place by defeating Richard Morrison. David finishes with 4.5/5. Congratulations, Jean-Marc David!

Next week, December 15, we’re running a one-night, one-section, six-round Year End Rapid tournament, at a time control of 10’+5″. New players are welcome! Register by 7:00. Round 1 starts at 7:30 pm!

After that, we’re closed for two weeks! The club re-opens in the new year on January 5. Hope everyone has a great holiday!

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Final Results after Round Five

SwissSys Standings. Norway Swiss: Crown

#	Name	CFC ID	Rating	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Total
1	Joseph Bellissimo	147544	2206	H—	W10	W5	W2	D4	4.0
2	Robert Bzikot	132541	1897	W9	W12	W3	L1	W6	4.0
3	Daniel Wiebe	132137	2042	W21	W14	L2	D8	W11	3.5
4	Michael Humphreys	131628	2270	H—	W7	D13	W12	D1	3.5
5	David Southam	102535	2177	W22	D11	L1	D7	W8	3.0
6	Bill Evans	103309	2024	H—	D8	W14	W13	L2	3.0
7	Hugh Siddeley	120619	2085	D19	L4	W10	D5	W12	3.0
8	David Filipovich	103521	2194	D10	D6	W11	D3	L5	2.5
9	Matthew Struthers	110170	2074	L2	D16	H—	H—	W17	2.5
10	Daniel Zotkin	146857	2035	D8	L1	L7	B—	B—	2.5
11	Ismail Ibrahim	105228	1984	W20	D5	L8	W16	L3	2.5
12	Armand Jess Mendoza	156958	2069	W18	L2	W17	L4	L7	2.0
13	Jonathan Yu	126131	2172	H—	W19	D4	L6	U—	2.0
14	Barry Nash	120160	2105	W17	L3	L6	D19	D16	2.0
15	Alex T. Ferreira	127516	2048	H—	H—	U—	W21	U—	2.0
16	Ian Mahoney	149124	1747	H—	D9	H—	L11	D14	2.0
17	Miroslav Stefanovic	154500	1994	L14	W18	L12	W20	L9	2.0
18	Jacob Stein	108627	1805	L12	L17	H—	H—	W21	2.0
19	Arkadiy Ugodnikov	146626	1924	D7	L13	D20	D14	U—	1.5
20	Rodrigo Oliveira	152923	2104	L11	H—	D19	L17	U—	1.0
21	Max England	155135	1639	L3	H—	H—	L15	L18	1.0
22	Wajdy Shebetah	148432	2013	L5	H—	H—	U—	U—	1.0

SwissSys Standings. Norway Swiss: U1900

#	Name	CFC ID	Rating	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 5	Total
1	Sergey Malakhovets		unr.	W17	W11	D3	W7	W9	4.5
2	Chris Udrea	155000	1883	L11	W17	W14	W5	W3	4.0
3	Heimo C. Haikala	107606	1767	W10	W8	D1	W4	L2	3.5
4	Robert J. Armstrong	100034	1621	L14	W18	W10	L3	W7	3.0
5	Qi Zhou	158050	1485	H—	H—	W16	L2	W11	3.0
6	Tigran Ghazarian	155438	1562	L9	W15	H—	W12	H—	3.0
7	Kamran Amirirad	158329	1410	B—	D9	W13	L1	L4	2.5
8	Ulli Diemer	153538	1563	W12	L3	D11	W13	U—	2.5
9	Hooshang Ab-barin	152910	1642	W6	D7	H—	H—	L1	2.5
10	Mark A. Patton	104721	1576	L3	W12	L4	D15	W18	2.5
11	Kevin Gaffney	102701	1599	W2	L1	D8	D18	L5	2.0
12	Vinorth Vigneswaramoorthy	153938	1646	L8	L10	W18	L6	W13	2.0
13	Daniele Pirri	132983	1605	W18	D14	L7	L8	L12	1.5
14	Marc Ben-Avraham	145628	1529	W4	D13	L2	U—	U—	1.5
15	Bill Thornton	131181	1698	H—	L6	H—	D10	U—	1.5
16	Antonios Valkanas	158189	1565	H—	U—	L5	H—	U—	1.0
17	Jack Maguire	144604	1616	L1	L2	H—	H—	U—	1.0
18	Marko Stevelic	157957	unr.	L13	L4	L12	D11	L10	0.5

SwissSys Standings. Norway Swiss: U1500

#	Name	CFC ID	Rating	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Total
1	Jean-Marc David	151900	1332	D6	W15	W4	W2	W3	4.5
2	Mark A. Gelowitz	126627	1370	W13	W9	W3	L1	W4	4.0
3	Richard Morrison	135889	1367	W10	W8	L2	W6	L1	3.0
4	Raymond Lin	150193	1316	W11	W7	L1	W8	L2	3.0
5	Eli Teram	107314	1129	H—	D6	H—	D11	W7	3.0
6	Rahul Gangolli	156023	1107	D1	D5	W14	L3	W12	3.0
7	Larissa Souchko	145490	1039	W14	L4	W9	W13	L5	3.0
8	Milan Cvetkovic	150817	1276	W16	L3	W12	L4	U—	2.0
9	Brendan Grady	158392	1227	W12	L2	L7	H—	D11	2.0
10	Dylan Xiong	152060	1124	L3	U—	U—	W15	W13	2.0
11	Howard Halim	153419	1077	L4	L12	W16	D5	D9	2.0
12	Derek Chen	156690	987	L9	W11	L8	B—	L6	2.0
13	Teresa Lee	154501	1129	L2	H—	W15	L7	L10	1.5
14	Rose Tuong	158024	619	L7	W16	L6	H—	L15	1.5
15	Martin Pitt-Bradley		unr.	H—	L1	L13	L10	W14	1.5
16	Kaizen Liu	152053	990	L8	L14	L11	H—	B—	1.5

– Um…now look…now look, mate, I’ve definitely ’ad enough of this. That parrot is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not ’alf an hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein’ tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk.

– Well, he’s…he’s, ah…probably pining for the fjords.