The 2010 GP Club Championship was held on Apr 24-25, 2010 at the Grande Prairie Chess Club. This was one exciting tournament as the end result didn't get determined until the final game was finished!
Defending champion, Tim Pradzinski, who was playing with a severely broken leg, was in the lead going into the final round. He just had to get by the up and coming junior, David Miller, to repeat as champion. As luck would have it (or not have it in my case), David was prepared to play into one of Tim's favorite lines in the Sicilian Najdorf. David was well prepared for this opening and Tim was unable to make any headway and David played a fine game to defeat Tim in 51 moves. The new champion then became Wade Caughlin. Wade defeated David in Round 4 and the tiebreak was given to Wade as both Wade and David ended up with 4 points in the final crosstable.
It was great to have Dmitriy Monakhov playing in his first tournament. Dmitriy is a new member to the club but will be moving to Red Deer during the summer. We wish him well and appreciated having him out at our club for the short time that he has been coming out. Chris White, 2 Time Road Warrior Champion, was unable to play in this year's championship tournament due to a car accident. Chris is fine but his car was totalled. Hopefully he will be out to some of our tournaments in the fall.
It was also good to have Elroy Deimert and North Alton playing in the tournament. Elroy was a last second entry into the tournament and almost defeated Tim in the first round. Play over that game and see how lucky Tim was to receive the win. Elroy even had a book draw at the end of the game but didn't realize it. So, Tim was extremely lucky to get out of that first round game with any points at all.
The Grande Prairie Chess Club added $125 to the prize fund in the form of a new Club Champion plaque. Wade will now have his name on the plaque 2 times in the last 4 years. Congratulations Wade on becoming our new champion!
Here are the results:
- Wade Caughlin (1926) - 3.5/5
- David Miller (1828) - 2/5
- Tim Pradzinski (1988) - 4/5
- Elroy Deimert (1746) - 2.5/5
- Dmitriy Monakhov (1400) - 2/5
- North Alton (1234) - 1/5
