It’s the time of year for making – or breaking – New Year’s resolutions. At the same time, our first tournament of the year honours the risky “make-or-break” move that puts the game on the line.
The Make or Break Swiss is a five-round event on Monday nights starting January 4, in three sections: Crown (min. 1800 CFC), U1900 (min. 1300), and U1400. It will be followed by our 2016 Club Championship.
Round One – January 4
In Rd 1 David-versus-Goliath matchups, the rating Goliaths win most of the games. However, a couple of Davids pull off upsets: Alex Ferreira (2057) defeats fellow Hart House alumnus Jon Yu (2257) in the Crown section, while Volkan Eryildir (1376) scores an upset victory over Hooshang Abbarin (1631) in U1900.
Winners will face winners in Rd 2.
Round Two – January 11
In the Crown section, draws on the top boards leave a huge leader group at 1.5/2 and a seven-way tie for first.
It’s the same story in U1400, with a draw on board one and a few byes resulting in a five-way tie for first at 1.5/2.
Only in U1900 is there a clear leader, as Tigran Ghazarian scores a second win and takes sole possession of first place at 2.0/2.
Round Three – January 18
The lead group is down to a two-way tie in all sections.
In the Crown section, Michael Humphreys and Alex Ferreira both win their games to stand at 2.5/3. In U1900, Tigran Ghazarian is held to a draw by Vinorth Vigneswaramoorthy, allowing Dragan Jevtic to catch up to him at 2.5/3. And finally, in U1400, Zhong Zhao and Nick Jafari both win their games to stay in the lead group with 2.5/3.
All of these players should have a chance to take sole lead next round!
Round Four – January 25
A sole leader emerges in every section!
In the Crown section, Michael Humphreys defeats Alex Ferreira, to take sole first at 3.5/4.
In U1900, it’s Tigran Ghazarian with a win over Richard Morrison to take sole first at 3.5/4 a full point ahead of the competition.
And in U1400, it’s Zhong Zhao over Nick Jafari for 3.5/4 and a full-point lead.
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
Our toils obscure an’ a’ that,
The rank is but the guinea’s stamp,
The man’s the gowd for a’ that.
Round Five – February 1
See final results below.
Join us for our upcoming Club Championship, starting February 8! New players are always welcome to join ongoing events with up to two half-point byes for rounds missed. Rd-1 games start at 7:30 pm on February 8, but new players must register before 7:00 in order to be paired.
Final Standings after Round Five
SwissSys Standings. ACC Make or Break Swiss: Crown
| # | Name | Rtng | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Tot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Humphreys | 2343 | W10 (w) | D2 (b) | W8 (w) | W3 (b) | W7 (w) | 4.5 |
| 2 | Sergey Malakhovets | 2139 | W14 (b) | D1 (w) | D6 (b) | W9 (w) | D5 (b) | 3.5 |
| 3 | Alex T. Ferreira | 2057 | W11 (w) | D6 (w) | W12 (b) | L1 (w) | D8 (b) | 3.0 |
| 4 | Josh Guo | 2249 | H— (-) | W13 (w) | D5 (b) | W6 (w) | U— (-) | 3.0 |
| 5 | Miroslav Stefanovic | 1959 | H— (-) | W10 (b) | D4 (w) | D7 (b) | D2 (w) | 3.0 |
| 6 | David Southam | 2222 | W7 (w) | D3 (b) | D2 (w) | L4 (b) | W11 (b) | 3.0 |
| 7 | William Li | 1959 | L6 (b) | W14 (w) | B— (-) | D5 (w) | L1 (b) | 2.5 |
| 8 | Daniel Zotkin | 2086 | H— (-) | W9 (w) | L1 (b) | D12 (w) | D3 (w) | 2.5 |
| 9 | Fernando Marshall | 1974 | H— (-) | L8 (b) | W10 (w) | L2 (b) | W12 (w) | 2.5 |
| 10 | Armand Jess Mendoza | 2124 | L1 (b) | L5 (w) | L9 (b) | B— (-) | W14 (w) | 2.0 |
| 11 | Jonathan Yu | 2257 | L3 (b) | H— (-) | H— (-) | W14 (b) | L6 (w) | 2.0 |
| 12 | Arkadiy Ugodnikov | 2030 | H— (-) | H— (-) | L3 (w) | D8 (b) | L9 (b) | 1.5 |
| 13 | Daniel Wiebe | 2073 | H— (-) | L4 (b) | H— (-) | U— (-) | U— (-) | 1.0 |
| 14 | Kamran Amirirad | 1818 | L2 (w) | L7 (b) | H— (-) | L11 (w) | L10 (b) | 0.5 |
SwissSys Standings. ACC Make or Break Swiss: U1900
| # | Name | Rtng | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Tot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tigran Ghazarian | 1666 | W5 (w) | W4 (b) | D3 (b) | W7 (w) | U— (-) | 3.5 |
| 2 | Dragan Jevtic | 985 | H— (-) | W15 (b) | W12 (b) | L5 (w) | W6 (w) | 3.5 |
| 3 | Vinorth Vigneswaramoorthy | 1646 | W13 (b) | H— (-) | D1 (w) | H— (-) | W5 (b) | 3.5 |
| 4 | Ulli Diemer | 1550 | B— (-) | L1 (w) | L9 (b) | W10 (w) | W11 (b) | 3.0 |
| 5 | Robert J. Armstrong | 1523 | L1 (b) | W13 (w) | D10 (b) | W2 (b) | L3 (w) | 2.5 |
| 6 | Michael D. Sharpe | 1577 | D10 (b) | H— (-) | W14 (w) | H— (-) | L2 (b) | 2.5 |
| 7 | Richard Morrison | 1486 | H— (-) | H— (-) | W11 (w) | L1 (b) | U— (-) | 2.0 |
| 8 | Volkan Eryildir | 1376 | W11 (b) | L12 (w) | H— (-) | H— (-) | U— (-) | 2.0 |
| 9 | Max England | 1655 | H— (-) | H— (-) | W4 (w) | U— (-) | U— (-) | 2.0 |
| 10 | Harry [Siqi] Chen | 1370 | D6 (w) | L11 (b) | D5 (w) | L4 (b) | W12 (w) | 2.0 |
| 11 | Hooshang Ab-barin | 1631 | L8 (w) | W10 (w) | L7 (b) | W12 (b) | L4 (w) | 2.0 |
| 12 | George Supol | 1475 | H— (-) | W8 (b) | L2 (w) | L11 (w) | L10 (b) | 1.5 |
| 13 | Mark A. Gelowitz | 1412 | L3 (w) | L5 (b) | B— (-) | H— (-) | U— (-) | 1.5 |
| 14 | Michael Sutton | 1756 | H— (-) | H— (-) | L6 (b) | U— (-) | U— (-) | 1.0 |
| 15 | Joshua Allen | 1416 | H— (-) | L2 (w) | H— (-) | U— (-) | U— (-) | 1.0 |
SwissSys Standings. ACC Make or Break Swiss: U1400
| # | Name | Rtng | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Tot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zhong Zhao | 1386 | W2 (w) | D6 (b) | W7 (w) | W5 (b) | W8 (w) | 4.5 |
| 2 | Henry XianRui Zhang | 1087 | L1 (b) | W11 (w) | D4 (b) | W6 (w) | X5 (-) | 3.5 |
| 3 | Larissa Souchko | 989 | L6 (b) | L4 (w) | W13 (w) | W11 (b) | W7 (w) | 3.0 |
| 4 | Howard Halim | 1048 | L9 (w) | W3 (b) | D2 (w) | W8 (b) | U— (-) | 2.5 |
| 5 | Nick Jafari | 1191 | W11 (b) | H— (-) | W6 (w) | L1 (w) | F2 (-) | 2.5 |
| 6 | Christopher Field | 1217 | W3 (w) | D1 (w) | L5 (b) | L2 (b) | W13 (w) | 2.5 |
| 7 | Michael Finkelstein | 1090 | H— (-) | H— (-) | L1 (b) | W13 (w) | L3 (b) | 2.0 |
| 8 | Jacob Tobin | 858 | H— (-) | W13 (b) | H— (-) | L4 (w) | L1 (b) | 2.0 |
| 9 | Michael Saltat | 1286 | W4 (b) | H— (-) | H— (-) | U— (-) | U— (-) | 2.0 |
| 10 | Akop Tozlian | unr. | H— (-) | H— (-) | U— (-) | W12 (b) | U— (-) | 2.0 |
| 11 | Alex Moiseev | 669 | L5 (w) | L2 (b) | B— (-) | L3 (w) | U— (-) | 1.0 |
| 12 | Jeff Pancer | 1100 | H— (-) | H— (-) | U— (-) | L10 (w) | U— (-) | 1.0 |
| 13 | Larry Tobin | 718 | H— (-) | L8 (w) | L3 (b) | L7 (b) | L6 (b) | 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)
(b) = game played with black pieces
(w) = game played with white pieces
Did you make or break any new year’s resolutions this year? Leave a comment below – especially if it’s chess-related!
That either makes me, or fordoes me quite.”
~ Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello Act V Scene i
Hey can you post my game from round two, I gave it to you guys and I think it deserves to be published on this site.
Hi, William. I think we’ve discussed before that while we do collect many of the games (yellow carbon copies), we don’t actually have a volunteer to enter them in pgn format so they can be posted to the site, nor to make a selection of games for the site. It would be lovely if we had a volunteer to do so. (If anyone has the time and inclination for this sort of work, please speak to Tyler.)
On the other hand, nearly everyone eventually enters their own games each week, so an easy fix is just to have players send in their own games with or without commentary when they feel there’s something worth sharing.