The final round was played at 12:00 PM on Sunday July 19, 2009. My Round 9 game was against Chris White from LaCrete, Alberta. Chris is rated 1766 and he is the 2-Time defending Road Warrior Champion of Alberta. This means that Chris really likes to travel to play chess and he does so as often as he can. Actually, Chris has played in every Canadian Open since 2001 which is quite a feat since this is only my 2nd one!. Chris was also my roommate during the tournament where we stayed at the Delta Edmonton City Centre Hotel in Edmonton. We could actually look outside our hotel room and see the playing hall. It was really cool!
It was kind of weird though having to play Chris in the last round. I have to admit that I would of rather played someone else. I really didn't have the energy to win this game as I thouroughly enjoyed having Chris as my roommate for the week. So, I played a quiet game and if the game was even towards the end, I decided before the game that I would offer Chris a draw. If he accepted, great. If not, then I would play it to the end. I never really had any chances in this game and material was traded off quite quickly. By move 27, I felt that the position was equal and decided to offer Chris a draw which he gladly accepted.
Click Here to Replay my Round 9 game against Chris White. I have annotated this game and have put comments in for the average user to give them a better understanding of my thought processes during the game. I ended up the tournament with 4 out of 9 points.
Here are the final standings and results after ALL 9 rounds for the Grande Prairie crew:
Saturday night's Round 8 game was against Philip Santelices from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Philip is rated 1629 and we had a very interesting game. Actually, we were the last ones to finish for the day. In this game, I wound up getting my Queen trapped on the side of the board and had to trade it off for a Rook and a Bishop. The game lasted 71 moves and it was quite intense throughout. I think you will enjoy looking at this game. This game was all about attack and counter-attack.
Click Here to Replay my Round 8 game against Philip Santelices. I have annotated this game and have put comments in for the average user to give them a better understanding of my thought processes during the game. I now have 3.5 out of 8 points.
Here are their current standings and results after 8 rounds for the Grande Prairie crew:
Friday night's Round 7 game was against fellow Grande Prairie Chess Club member, Elroy Deimert. Elroy is rated 1580 but for some reason, he always plays way above his rating when playing me. Last night, Elroy played a fantastic game against me and beat me. I blundered under time pressure and he was able to capitalize with an awesome move that there was no defense against. This will make it the second Canadian Open where Elroy has beaten me. He beat me in 2005 as well. The Canadian Open seems to be Elroy's tournament!
Click Here to Replay my Round 7 game against Elroy Deimert. I have annotated this game and have put comments in for the average user to give them a better understanding of my thought processes during the game. I now have 2.5 out of 7 points and don't have any chance for a cash prize.
Here are their current standings and results after 7 rounds for the Grande Prairie crew:
Thursday night's Round 6 game was against Philip G. Haley. Philip is around 90 years old (that's what I was told anyways) and has been playing chess for 80 years and has supposedly played in over 30 Canadian Opens. I didn't know all of these things when I sat down at the board though. Philip has a very distinguished chess career and I was able to to find this bio information on him:
So, it was nice to have played someone of his experience even though I lost the game. I thought for sure I was going to win though as my opponent was playing very slowly and had 1 minute and 45 seconds left (plus he would receive 30 seconds back on his clock after each move) on the first time control to play the next 19 moves. I thought there was no way he was going to be able to do that at the pace he had been playing the game so I tried to keep the position complicated. Boy, was I mistaken as to his abilities. Philip blitzed me off the board! For every good move I came up with, he came up with a better one and pretty much instantly at that. My congratulations go out to him for beating me. I have to give him credit and only hope that I can play as well when I get to be his age!
Click Here to Replay my Round 6 game against Philip Haley. I have annotated this game and have put comments in for the average user to give them a better understanding of my thought processes during the game. I now have 2.5 out of 6 points and I will definitely need to win ALL my remaining games if I want any kind of a chance to win a cash prize.
Here are their current standings and results after 6 rounds for the Grande Prairie crew:
My Round 7 game tonight is against one of the Grande Prairie crew - Elroy Deimert. Elroy always gives me a battle and actually beat me in the 2005 Canadian Open. I hope to have good luck against him.
The morning started off the with 2009 Canadian Open Blitz Championship. Blitz is a form of chess where both opponents have only 5 minutes on their clocks for the entire game. Illegal moves actually cost you the game if your opponent catches them and YES, your opponent can actually capture your King! Sometimes the last 30 seconds of a game are very exciting to watch. This is definitely a high adrenaline form of chess and you need to be ready for it.
I didn't play too badly in the Blitz Championship scoring 6 wins out of 12 games. There were a couple of games that I could have actually won from the ones I lost. Anyways, my performance was good enough to tie for 1st in the Under 2000 section. There were International Masters and Grandmasters playing in this tournament (of which I got to play only 1 of them and lost both games).
In the evening, my round 5 game was against Lucas Davies rated 2244 from Vancouver, British Columbia. Lucas told me after the game that this is his 9th Canadian Open and I would say that Lucas is about 21 to 22 years old. That is quite amazing to me to be playing in the Canadian Open since you were about 12 years old! According to the CFC charts, Lucas is a very active chess player. He was a good opponent and I really enjoyed my game against him even though I lost.
After a good start, I have kind of faltered a little by losing my last 2 games. I won't be too hard on myself though as my opponents were rated 2279 and 2244. But, today is a new day with new possibilities!
Click Here to Replay my Round 5 game against Lucas Davies. I have annotated this game and have put comments in for the average user to give them a better understanding of my thought processes during the game. I now have 2.5 out of 5 points and I will definitely need a couple of wins in a row if I want any kind of a chance to win a cash prize.
Here are their current standings and results after 5 rounds for the Grande Prairie crew:
Here's hoping that the Grande Prairie crew will have an excellent Round 6. Four of us had losses so hopefully we will have somewhat easier opponents this time around.
My round 4 game was against "Rocket" Rob Gardner rated 2272 from Edmonton, Alberta. Rob and I have played twice before and he has beaten me both times. So, I knew going into this game that it was going to be tough. Rob has a very methodical way of playing and from my past experience with him, he doesn't seem the type to play "risky" chess. Rob will take a slower path to victory if it means that he will have a better chance at winning. Rob is what I would call a "grinder." He will grind you down until your position just collapses.
Click Here to Replay my Round 4 game against "Rocket" Rob Gardner. I have annotated this game as well and have put comments in for the average user to give them a better understanding of my thought processes during the game. I NEVER felt in control in this game. True to form, Rob was able to take advantage of the board and slowly, methodically grind me down until my position just collapsed on itself. I have to give Rob credit for winning this game. He played an excellent game! I will be looking forward to a rematch some time in the near future I hope.
I now have 2.5 out of 4 points which will still give a tough opponent in Round 5. I am looking forward to the next game.
As for my other Grande Prairie chess club members, they had a GREAT night! They all won their games!! Here are their current standings after 4 rounds for the Grande Prairie crew:
As a side note (not chess related), I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince at the midnight show. There were over 500 people waiting in line to see the movie at around 10:00 PM. They started letting us in the theatre at 12:00 AM and the movie started around 12:15 AM by the time the previews and stuff were done. I thought the movie was EXCELLENT! They changed some things from the book but that is OK. They were not major things. However, I enjoyed the book way better than the movie in this installment. The movie couldn't do justice to the book in just 2 hours. I heard rumours that the last book is going to be done in a 2 part movie totalling around 5 hours. That would be cool! Anyways, I will be seeing it again this week. Hopefully it will be on the IMAX in West Edmonton Mall. Myself, David Miller, Chris White and David Deimert went together to see the movie last night, Chris White was way too tired and missed big parts of the movie. I really felt sorry for him because he was really looking forward to the movie. I was going to nudge him a couple of times but I wasn't sure how he would react. Oh well, that gives me an excuse to see it again!
Before I get to my results from Round 3, I just wanted to say that I almost won a year's membership to the Internet Chess Club. Each day, the organizers of the 2009 Canadian Open (who are doing an excellent job by the way) are drawing a secret move for the previous day's game. The first thing they do is to pull the piece, then the lettered square and then the numbered square. So, for the Round 1 game, they pulled the secret move of Ra8. Normally, this move doesn't get played too early as the Black Rook starts on a8. But, in my 1st round game, I had moved my Rook from a8 to c8, then I decided a couple of moves later to put it back to a8. I did this on move 19 which I thought would be early enough to win. However, someone else also played this move on move 19. So, they had to draw to see who won and they picked the other guy. Oh well, at least I had a chance to win!
My round 3 game was against Jonathan Farine who is from Ontario and rated 1894. Jonathan told me before the game that he has only been playing rated tournaments since 2008. I checked on the CFC website and his climb to his current rating has been a steady one since he started playing. I think it is only a metter of time before he is over 2000. If I would have to guess as to Jonathan's age, I would say he is probably around 19 or 20 years old. He was very poised and a very pleasant person to play against.
Click Here to Replay my Round 3 game against Jonathan Farine. I have annotated this game as well and have put comments in for the average user to give them a better understanding of my thought processes during the game. I was not nervous at all in this game. I felt in control of my emotions during the game and only towards the end of the game when he started his Kingside attack did I get worried that he saw further into the position than I did. However, I did feel that I saw enough of the position to at least get a draw and with a little luck possibly even a win. I guess luck was on my side this game.
I now have 2.5 out of 3 points which is really good for this type of tournament. I thought that I am going to be in tough in tonight's Round 4 game and I am right. I checked the pairings and I will be White against Rob Gardner from Edmonton who is rated 2272. Rob's nickname is "the Rocket" and he has played in the Trumpeter Classic in Grande Prairie many times and I believe he is actually a 4-time winner of our prestigious event held each year in January. I believe that my lifetime record against Rob is 0-2. I hope by the end of the night that it will be 1-2 and that Iwill be in an enviable position of having 3.5 out of 4 points. Only time will tell!
If I don't win, at least I have my ticket to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which officially opens July 15. A bunch of us are going to the opening at midnight. I guess I will have to console myself with a big bag of buttery popcorn (win or lose)!
Last night I played the Alberta Grade 2 Champion for 2009 from Edmonton, Alberta. His name is Adam Mawani. Going into this game I had no idea as to the strength of my opponent as he didn't have any rated CFC tournaments. The competition that he has to face in Grade 2 is not the same as playing in adult level tournaments. But, there are really good 8 - 10 year olds out there who are as good if not better than me. I haven't had to play one yet though, thankfully.
Anyways, I went into the game with the idea that he knew how to play the game well. I have to say that I wasn't disappointed with his play. He played well for his age but you could tell he still has some work to go on his way to becoming a great player. You will be able to see that he has a good understanding of how to open a chess game and to even see some threats from his opponent. I would hazard to guess that he suffers the same problem that most inexperienced players share and that is that they don't see deep enough into a position. They don't spend enough time to analyze their moves and what their opponents will do in response. This is crucial in life as well as in chess. Every thing you do should be thought out on how it will affect other people and what they will do in response to what you do. That is why chess is such a great game for kids because it helps them develop this most crucial skill.
Click Here to replay my Round 2 game against Adam Mawani. I have put in lots of comments on the moves so that those who might be new to chess could understand my thought process during the game (and how you should be thinking during your games). I think it is helpful to have these kind of comments in an instructional game as you don't always find useful information in chess books. Sometimes you only find variations without explanation. I like putting things in terms of relatability. Can you understand the thought process in my chess games. I hope so. My rating is only 1969 at the moment but I have a good understanding of chess principles.
In my 1st Round game, my opponent was Piotr Pisanski from Lethbridge. Piotr is from Poland. I was wearing my Polska shirt with the Polish White eagle emblazoned on the front. When he sat down at the board, he proceeded to greet me in Polish but soon figured out that I didn't speak too much Polish. My opponent was rated 1428 but played like he was 1700 - 1800. I never felt comfortable in this game and used up most of my time trying to figure out how not to lose this game. I got extremely lucky to get a draw. Click Here to Replay this game and you will see what I mean by lucky!
I have checked the pairings for Round 2 and I will be playing White against the Alberta Grade 2 Champion from Edmonton, Adam Mawani. I will make sure not to take him for granted just because he is in Grade 2. His rating is listed as 1500 but he doesn't officially have a CFC rating yet. He only has a Chess N' Math rating.
I have been waiting for this day for a long time. It has been 4 years since I have last played in a Canadian Open Chess Tournament. The last time was in 2005 when I took both my children, Alex and Stephanie, with me. It was in Edmonton (5 hours from my home in Grande Prairie) at the Delta Edmonton City Centre hotel. We had a blast! This year, the tourname is also in Edmonton at the same hotel. This time, I am staying at the Delta Edmonton City Centre hotel as it is a beautiful hotel and I am just one floor from the playing venue. This is my vacation for the year so I decided that I might as least stay where the tournament is going to be so I don't have to look for parking! My roomate during the event is Chris White. Chris lives in LaCrete, AB which is about 4 hours North of Grande Prairie. Chris is originally from Newfoundland and will be going back home for 5 weeks after the tournament is over.
Here are my plans for the day:
1:15 PM - I am going to attend the FREE lecture to be given by GM Alexei Shirov. The lecture should be well attended by lots of people. I am hoping to get some good pictures (which I will post later).
4:00 PM - Round 1 begins! I am hoping to be paired against a lower rated player (paired down) in the first round. I would like to get the nervous jitters out agains a lower rated player.
My ideal playing strategy is to NOT lose to anyone rated lower than me this tournament and to beat a few players rated higher than me! My ulitimate goal is to get my rating over 2000 for the first time ever! I have worked extremely hard over the last year after seeing my rating drop to the low 1800's. The goal that I set for the 2008-2009 season (which I set back in August 2008) was to get back over 1900. I am now at 1969!
I will post my results and some photos after Round 1 is complete. I will try to post my results that evening or the following morning along with my impressions of the event for that day!
Since I am going to the Canadian Open in Edmonton this July 11-19, I have decided that I am going to create this blog to talk about my experiences at the Open. I will post my impressions of the event, good or bad, as well as some pictures of the cool things I might have seen. I will be also letting everyone know of how the rest of the members of the Grande Prairie Chess Club are doing at the Canadian Open. So far, the following players will be playing in this year's Open:
It should be lots of fun and we will have lots of time to soak up the chess atmosphere. The tournament will be held at the Delta Edmonton City Centre hotel. This is a fabulous location and there are many amenities there such as a Cineplex right in the mall. There is also an awesome food court in the lower level of the mall.
That's all for now. I will be making daily posts starting July 11th so keep posted to this blog. However, I might make a few more posts before then to talk about my preparations for the Open. Last time I went to the Open in Edmonton in 2005, I lost close to 100 rating points. This year, I would like to finally get my rating over the coveted 2000 mark. I am currently sitting at 1969 which is 20 points from my all-time high rating.
