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It’s that time of year again! Our 2015 Club Championship kicked off on Monday, February 9, with games starting at 7:30 pm.

The Annex Chess Club Championship is in two sections, Championship and Reserve. The Reserve (U1800) section is for players with a maximum CFC rating of 1799, and the Championship section has a minimum rating of 1700. The six-round Swiss tournament runs February 9 to March 23. All games are CFC-rated, and the Championship section is also FIDE-rated. (There’s no round on Family Day, February 16, but don’t miss the Hart House Reading Week Open, February 14-16!)

Entry is not limited to club members (players may drop in to play a single round, or buy a six-week tournament membership) but only full-year club members are eligible to become Club Champion or Reserve winner. These winners will have their names engraved on beautiful permanent trophies, generously donated to the club by inbusys, I.T. Support Specialists for demanding SMB environments.

Round 1 – February 9

It’s an interesting first round in the Championship section as two of the frontrunners, Michael Humphreys and Jonathan Yu, are held to a draw in their games by lower-rated opponents. Atop the lead group, Joseph Bellissimo gains the full point (see game below) as do Dave Southam, Ismail Ibrahim, Robert Bzikot, and Sergey Malakhovets.

Meanwhile, 26 players in the Under-1800 section are vying for the Reserve title. After one round, there’s a 10-way tie for first.

Games from Round 1

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Round 2 – February 23

After two rounds, there’s a two-way tie for first in the Championship section. Young Joseph Bellissimo and veteran Dave Southam both have 2.0/2. Humphreys, Yu, and Siddeley are half a point behind with 1.5/2.

In the Reserve section, England, Armstrong, and Amirirad are in a three-way tie for the lead with 2.0/2, but no less than seven players are just a half point behind. There are four more rounds to separate out this lead pack!

Round 3 – March 2

With a draw on board one between Dave Southam and Joseph Bellissimo, defending champion Michael Humphreys joins the lead group with 2.5/3 by defeating Hugh Siddeley. Ibrahim, Yu, Ferreira, and Evans are half a point behind with 2.0/3.

In the Reserve section, Max England defeats Bob Armstrong on the top board and Amirirad loses to Essery. England is now alone in first with 3.0/3, the only perfect score in the tournament! Essery, Diemer, and Abbarin trail by half a point with 2.5/3.

These are still close races. Three rounds to go!

Round 4 – March 9

A draw on the top board leaves Joseph Bellissimo and Michael Humphreys tied for the lead at 3.0/4. Now, with the head-to-head match out of the way, they must battle each other indirectly by their results against other players. Taking advantage of the point split on Board One, Alex Ferreira and Jonathan Yu score victories to join the lead group.

Meanwhile, in the reserves, Max England makes it a perfect 4.0/4 with a win against Ulli Diemer. Arnstrong, Abbarin, Essery, Vigneswaramoorthy, Amirirad and Beal are in a six-way tie for second, a full point back at 3.0/4.

Round 5 – March 16

Michael Humphreys defeats Alex Ferreira while Joseph Bellissimo wins his game against Daniel Wiebe, so both front-runners remain tied for the lead at 4.0/5. Jonathan Yu, who takes a bye in the penultimate round, stays just half a point out at 3.5/5.

In the Reserves, leader Max England finally meets his match in top-rated Greg Beal, who now joins England at 4.0/5. The lead group going into the final round also includes Hooshang Abbarin with a win over Bob Armstrong and Vinorth Vigneswaramoorthy with a win over Richard Essery. So it’s a four-way tie with just one round to go!

See complete results on the standings chart below.

A couple interesting notes about this round:

• One is that all the games are decisive; there are no draws. This is somewhat strange for the fifth round of a Swiss when opponents should be closely matched.
• Second (for all the Annex Chess Club historians!) is the latest in a long, hitherto one-sided rivalry between Ulli Diemer and Jack Maguire, Maguire having had an unbroken string of victories as white by employing the dreaded Blackmar-Diemer Gambit against its namesake, Diemer. But here is the game that finally breaks the string:

Games from Round 5

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Round 6 – March 23

Before the ultimate round, Rhys Goldstein gives a chess talk, “A lecture on losing,” starting at 6:45 pm. Lecture notes are now available.

At 7:30 the games begin!

At the end of the night, when the dust settles, it comes down to tie breaks to determine the winners. Greg Beal wins the Reserve section (on tie break over Hooshang Abbarin: Beal had more wins), and Michael Humphreys wins the 2015 Club Championship (on tie break over Joseph Bellissimo: Humphreys played more games as black). Congratulations, Michael Humphreys (once again!) and Greg Beal!

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Final Results after Round Six

SwissSys Standings. ACC Club Championship : Crown

#	Name	CFC ID	Rating	Post	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Total
1	Michael Humphreys	131628	2383	2376	D14	W11	W13	D2	W6	D4	4.5
2	Joseph Bellissimo	147544	2218	2230	W9	W18	D4	D1	W14	D6	4.5
3	Armand Jess Mendoza	156958	1970	2002	L18	W9	L10	W17	B—	W13	4.0
4	David Southam	102535	2190	2207	W6	W5	D2	L7	W13	D1	4.0
5	Ismail Ibrahim	105228	2045	2067	W17	L4	W20	L13	W9	W10	4.0
6	Alex T. Ferreira	127516	1982	2033	L4	W17	W15	W10	L1	D2	3.5
7	Jonathan Yu	126131	2206	2212	D12	W8	H—	W4	H—	U—	3.5
8	Daniel Zotkin	146857	1921	1961	D15	L7	L9	W20	W19	W14	3.5
9	Rhys Goldstein	110906	2026	2030	L2	L3	W8	W19	L5	W18	3.0
10	Bill Evans	103309	2047	2041	H—	D12	W3	L6	W18	L5	3.0
11	Robert Bzikot	132541	2041	2037	W20	L1	H—	L14	W15	D12	3.0
12	Miroslav Stefanovic	154500	1995	2010	D7	D10	H—	D15	H—	D11	3.0
13	Hugh Siddeley	120619	2110	2094	H—	W19	L1	W5	L4	L3	2.5
14	Daniel Wiebe	132137	2039	2036	D1	D16	D18	W11	L2	L8	2.5
15	Barry Nash	120160	2042	2002	D8	H—	L6	D12	L11	W20	2.5
16	Jacob Stein	108627	1951	1964	H—	D14	D19	D18	H—	U—	2.5
17	Arkadiy Ugodnikov	146626	1936	1901	L5	L6	B—	L3	W20	U—	2.0
18	Sergey Malakhovets	158413	2102	2054	W3	L2	D14	D16	L10	L9	2.0
19	Erwin Casareno	146639	2005	1956	H—	L13	D16	L9	L8	B—	2.0
20	Tigran Ghazarian	155438	1609	1593	L11	B—	L5	L8	L17	L15	1.0

SwissSys Standings. ACC Club Championship : U1800

#	Name	CFC ID	Rating	Post	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Total
1	Greg Beal	101490	1702	1712	W16	L4	W10	W22	W6	W5	5.0
2	Hooshang Ab-barin	152910	1689	1723	W18	D9	W3	D12	W8	W6	5.0
3	Daniele Pirri	132983	1548	1588	H—	W14	L2	W10	W4	W9	4.5
4	Kamran Amirirad	158329	1581	1590	W20	W1	L12	W11	L3	W15	4.0
5	Vinorth Vigneswaramoorthy	153938	1615	1610	L11	W23	W18	W24	W12	L1	4.0
6	Max England	155135	1588	1613	W30	W29	W8	W9	L1	L2	4.0
7	Joshua Allen	105802	1464	1506	H—	H—	U—	W26	W11	W12	4.0
8	Robert J. Armstrong	100034	1582	1586	W28	W11	L6	W16	L2	W13	4.0
9	Ulli Diemer	153538	1576	1582	W22	D2	W13	L6	W19	L3	3.5
10	Brendan Grady	158392	1234	1290	H—	W19	L1	L3	W27	W14	3.5
11	Richard Morrison	135889	1286	1346	W5	L8	W29	L4	L7	W22	3.0
12	Richard Essery	135206	1656	1628	W25	D13	W4	D2	L5	L7	3.0
13	Mark A. Patton	104721	1557	1530	W17	D12	L9	D14	W18	L8	3.0
14	Milan Cvetkovic	150817	1244	1278	D19	L3	W23	D13	W24	L10	3.0
15	Guillermo Mansilla	154509	1473	1450	H—	H—	L22	W28	W16	L4	3.0
16	George Supol	152286	1419	1401	L1	W17	W26	L8	L15	W20	3.0
17	Larissa Souchko	145490	1009	1033	L13	L16	H—	H—	W31	W27	3.0
18	Jean-Marc David	151900	1393	1381	L2	W28	L5	W25	L13	D21	2.5
19	Jack Maguire	144604	1590	1535	D14	L10	W31	W27	L9	U—	2.5
20	Howard Halim	153419	1088	1073	L4	H—	L27	B—	W22	L16	2.5
21	Ryan Liu	151979	1189	1209	H—	H—	U—	U—	W28	D18	2.5
22	Christopher Field	108098	1086	1105	L9	W30	W15	L1	L20	L11	2.0
23	Martin Pitt-Bradley	158457	887	907	H—	L5	L14	H—	W30	U—	2.0
24	Mark A. Gelowitz	126627	1455	1424	H—	W31	H—	L5	L14	U—	2.0
25	Raymond Lin	150193	1313	1302	L12	H—	H—	L18	W26	U—	2.0
26	Henry XianRui Zhang	156492	1018	1027	H—	H—	L16	L7	L25	W28	2.0
27	Michael Finkelstein	158620	880	889	L29	H—	W20	L19	L10	L17	1.5
28	Derek Chen	156690	1089	1065	L8	L18	W30	L15	L21	L26	1.0
29	Bill Thornton	131181	1557	1517	W27	L6	L11	U—	U—	U—	1.0
30	Alex Geddie	155388	1093	1048	L6	L22	L28	W31	L23	U—	1.0
31	Rahul Gangolli	156023	1047	1011	H—	L24	L19	L30	L17	U—	0.5

Legend

W = win (e.g., W9 means a win against player 9 – worth 1 point)
L = loss (0 pt)
D = draw (½ pt)
H = ½-pt bye (requested in advance or assigned on registration, max 2 per player, not in final round)
B = 1-pt bye (“forced bye” – e.g., odd number of players)
U = 0-pt bye (e.g., when max ½-pt byes previously awarded, or in final round)
F = forfeit loss (0 pt)
X = forfeit win (1 pt)