AlbertaChess Report

Publication of Alberta Chess Association • November/December 2006

Chatter in the CastleReport on Junior ChessActivities in Alberta

Inside this issue

HappyChess Holidays!May your games during the holidaysand 2007 be successful and fun!

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Master Lee plays Christmas simultaneousVicente Lee 25 - Edmonton Juniors 0As a Christmas treat

for a Junior Friday Nightsession, Chess MasterVicente Lee played asimultaneous at EdmontonChess Club against 25juniors with many parentsserving as spectators.

Lee’s perfect score, 25-0, came somewhat as asurprise considering thatthere were a few promis-ing juniors anxious toscore a big win.

After the simul, hewent on to explain thecommon mistakes that hisopponents were makingand suggested possibleimprovements.

The defeated juniorswere surprisingly quietand attentive during theMaster’s commentary,although they had beenbursting with excitement abit earlier as littleChristmas treats weregiven out while Lee was

finishing off the final fourboards.

Sean Lacy was the lastjunior out, preceded byMyron Loke, Ryan Lacyand Michael Williams.These four won freeentries to the January 7junior tournament atEdmonton Chess Club

Organized by RichardPua and Bruce Thomas,Junior Friday NightSessions are offering les-sons and rated play to

about two dozen playersand often feature guestslike Lee, Rob Gardner andNic Haynes.

Clip outthe 2007scheduleof ACA

activitiesSee Page 6

Inside this ACR:Results of Before Christmas

Team Event in Edmonton

Upcoming Tournaments

ACA President’s Report

Alberta Chess Report • December 2006 Page 2

The Alberta Chess Association in partner-ship with the Alberta Sport, Recreation,Parks and Wildlife Foundation, provides amore active llifestyle to Albertans by pro-viding programs to enhance living throughplaying chess. The ACA greatly acknowl-edges the support provided by ASRPWFwhich enables the association to delivermany of our programs.

Alberta ChessAssociation

President:Ford Wong

(780) 481-6474, fordie@shaw.ca

Vice-President:Micah Hughey

Treasurer:Ron Hinds

Secretary:Paul Viminitz

Directors:Vladislav Rekhson

Richard PuaGreg HuberMark Cole

Jim DanilukRobert Davies

One directorship is vacant

ALBERTACHESS REPORT

Please send items for The Report to:rovingchessnuts@shaw.ca or fax to: (780) 479-8363 or mail to: Alberta Chess Report, c/o pub-lisher, 12015 - 76 Street, Edmonton T5B 2C9.

Many ACA members will be getting TheReport with full color as pdf files via e-mail. Ifyou wish to get a copy in this format and savemailing and printing costs for the ACA, pleasee-mail a request to: rovingchessnuts@shaw.ca

Various ACA members and other chessorganizers around the province will receive bymail, printed copies of The Report which weask that they distribute to other local membersor to members of the public interested in learn-ing more about chess in Alberta.

If you wish to talk directly to co-editorsBruce Thomas or Richard Pua about the con-tents of The Report, phone (780) 474-2318.

Items submitted by e-mail should be intext form for articles and photos should be asjpegs or tiffs. The deadline for the next issuewill be January 21, 2006.

The next Alberta Chess Associ-ation casino will be on Tuesday andWednesday, January 9 and 10, atYellowhead Casino, 12464 - 153 Streetin Edmonton.

The ACA will be counting on itsmembers to help volunteer at this casi-no. Anyone who can help is asked tocontact ACA President Ford Wong,(780) 481-6474 or e-mail: fordie@shaw.ca.

Currently the ACA would stand toraise roughly $78,000 for a short 2 dayswork. However, with the opening oftwo new casinos in Edmonton, theamount is expected to be less.

Casino revenue has helped theACA fund many of its projects includ-ing the Canadian Open 2005, and travelfor many of our representatives tonational events. These revenues alsopay for rental of tournament sites andrating fees to the CFC.

ACA casinomay needmore workers

by Richard PuaAlberta Chess Association’s

November meeting in RedDeer was very productive.

The officers and directorsin attendance were FordWong, Ron Hinds, MicahHughey, Vladislav Rekhson,Richard Pua, Robert Davies,Jim Daniluk, Greg Huber andPaul Viminitz.

During the drive to themeeting, Wong suggested thatan award should be given toplayers who attend and sup-port chess events outside theirhome community.

His “Road Warrior” idea ismeant to promote higher atten-dance at ACA tournaments.

It would also reward play-ers travelling to harder-to-reach places in Alberta such asGrande Prairie, Lethbridge,and Medicine Hat.

It was ironic that theWongmobile experienced ablown tire during the trip andthe Edmonton directors were

delayed by half an hour.The board completed a list

of tournaments for 2007. (SeePage 6.)

The ACA is coordinatingwith other chess organizationsin regards to scheduling, hop-ing it will reduce conflictbetween various tournamentsand allow competitors agreater degree of flexibility inplanning their chess trips.

The ACA has agreed inprinciple to pay all rating feesincurred in the province.

Currently, the ACA paysfor all CFC rating fees of $3per player.

A request was made thatChess n’ Math rating feesshould also be paid by theACA.

The board is now waitingfor A.G.L.C. approval on thismatter.

Tournament director (TD)honoraria could soon be paidfor by casino funds.

Calgary Chess Club

received approval fromA.G.L.C. that TD’s can bepaid with casino fundsbecause “TD’s possess skillsthat other chess players lack”which translates to a legiti-mate expense of running anevent.

Alberta Chess Associationand Edmonton Chess Club arepursuing approval for this typeof use of casino funding.

“Honorariums constitute alarge part of a chess club’s reg-ular account expenses andhaving casino funds offset thisexpense will be very niceindeed,” said ACA Vice-President Micah Hughey.

The budget ceiling for the2007 year was set at $90,000.This motion was passed withfour in favor, two against andtwo abstentions.

The ACA has plans to hosta Canadian Open in 2008 inCalgary and to help sponsorthe National Chess Challengein Edmonton in 2008.

ACA directors sets budget amount for 2007

Alberta Chess Report • December 2006 Page 3

Chess Federation of Canada

Top 50 List for AlbertaHighest rated players in Alberta as of December 7

(Not all these players are currently active)# Name LocationRating1 Huber, Gregory Calgary 23282 Neven, Knut Calgary 23073 Reeve, Jeff Edmonton 23064 Peter, Steven Calgary 23035 Gardner, Robert J. Edmonton 23026 Hughey, Micah Edmonton 22967 Kaminski, Victor Calgary 22948 Mitrovic, Sinisa Calgary 22819 Purewal, Sardul Edmonton 222110 Schaeffer, Jonathan Edmonton 220611 Hansen, Eric Calgary 220312 Perron, Sean Cochrane 220013 Robichaud, Martin Calgary 219514 Gibney, Eugene Lloydminster 219115 Nguyen, Kim Calgary 217216 Haynes, Nicolas Edmonton 216417 Yearwood, Roy Calgary 215418 Booker, Brad Calgary 214519 Ottosen, David Edmonton 210320 Monaghan, Jim Cold Lake 209021 Gorelik, Lev Edmonton 207922 Dean, Tim Edmonton 206723 Daniluk, Jim Calgary 206724 Willis, Bradley J. Edmonton 206325 Gluckie, Jamin Lloydminster 206226 Kuczaj, Chris Calgary 204927 Yam, Alex Calgary 203728 Karmali, Hafiz Edmonton 203329 Tomaras, Pavlos Calgary 200430 Steele, Len C. Edmonton 198431 Trikha, Ravi Calgary 198432 Hinds, Dr. Ronald Calgary 198133 Miller, Brian Calgary 197734 Culjaga, Nikola Edmonton 197735 Kolenchuk, Tracy Edmonton 197636 Milne, Arthur Calgary 197537 MacIntosh, John J. Calgary 197438 Kaminski, Thomas Calgary 197239 Pua, Richard Edmonton 196840 Watson, Walter Calgary 196741 Stark, Mark Edmonton 196742 Regimbald, Adrien Edmonton 196743 Rusnell, Lorne Edmonton 196644 Sorgard, Graham Iron Springs 195045 Newton, Geoff Edmonton 192946 Douziech, Richard Edmonton 192847 Taylor, William P. Medicine Hat 190748 Shepherd, John Edmonton 190049 Bentley, Bill Calgary 189350 Quiring, John Edmonton 1892

by Richard PuaAlberta Open 2006 on

Thanksgiving weekendattracted 29 players fromCalgary, Edmonton,Grande Prairie andSaskatchewan.

There were five mas-ters and five experts com-peting despite the lowturnout, considering pre-vious Alberta Opens haveattracted over 50 players.

Many of the titledplayers had additionalincentive to competebecause this tournamentwas a qualifier for theAlberta Closed 2007.

Winners in the Opensection were VictorKaminski and MartinRobichaud. Both Calga-rians finished with 5points out of a possible 6.

Greg Huber of Calgaryfinished in third with4.5/6 score.Lower sections

The Under 2100 sec-tion was won by MicahHughey of Edmontonwith 4.5/6 points.

Under 1800 sectionwas split between Thom-as Kaminski of Calgaryand Keith MacKinnon ofNorth Battleford, Sas-

katchewan, each with a3.5/6 score.

The Under 1600 sec-tion was claimed byChase Cunningham andBronislav Swiecicki, eachwith a 3/6 score.

The tournament wasfull of suspense andupsets.

The Alberta masterswere having a tough timeagainst lower rated play-ers in the early rounds.

Young Thomas Ka-minski scored an upsetwin over Huber.

Jeff Reeve managedonly a draw against

Kaminski and Robichaud win Alberta OpenHughey and lost toAndrew Boik.

Rob Gardner lost agame to Martin Robi-chaud.

Juraj Pivovarov direct-ed the tournament whileJim Daniluk oranized theevent in Calgary at theQuality Inn.

2006 Alberta Open scenes

Greg Hubervs

Victor Kaminski

Calgary Closed - January 2 thru February 13Calgary Chess Club, Banff Trail Community Hall, 2115 - 20 Avenue NW

Entry fee: $257-Round Sectional - Round Robins according to rating

Please pre-register with TD Mark Cole(403) 263-2176 or 701-2653 muk499@yahoo.com

Alberta Chess Report • December 2006

The Calgary Fall Class Open attracted 25 competi-tors under the direction of Juraj Pivovarov.

In the six-player round-robin Section A, BrianMiller was the winner, tallying 4.5 points out of a pos-sible five. Alex Yam was runner-up with four points.

In the 19-player Section B, Michel Cloutier fin-ished with a perfect six victories. Teenager ChaseCunningham was second with five out of six points.

More recently, the Calgary Open attracted 24 play-ers to Calgary Chess Club.

Eric Tam and Roy Yearwood shared first place,each missing a perfect score of five by one.Meanwhile, Rodney Weis and Arthur Milne tied forthird at 3.5/5.

Calgary Chess Clublists victors of two events

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Greetings from AlbertaChess Association.The return of the

Alberta Chess Report hasbeen long in coming, dueto the inability of finding avolunteer with the time,energy and know-how toput together the issue. Agreat big thank you goesto Bruce Thomas andRichard Pua who havestepped forth to be co-edi-tors. With the revival ofthe ACR, I urge all organ-izers to provide tourna-ment reports, tournamentannouncements and chessphotos to Bruce andRichard.

I thank all our mem-bers who continue to sup-port the many ACA tour-naments throughout theprovince, especially to our“ROAD” warriors. Ourwebsite at www.alber-tachess.org remains a keysource of information andI urge our members tocheck there. You can alsocontact myself or many ofour active board memberssuch as Micah Hughey,Vlad Rekhson and JimDaniluk, for informationabout ACA activities.

Although the Albertachess scene may appearquiet, the ACA has been

very busy. Last year,the ACA sponsoredthe very successful(personal bias aside)Canadian Open 2005in Edmonton. Thenext time the ACA

sponsors a major event,we hope to have it inCalgary to give our south-ern members an opportu-nity to be the home team.

In addition, to our“CORE” tournaments (theACA hosts at least oneweekend tournamentevery month), the ACAintends in 2007 to featuremore titled players(Grandmasters, etc) inAlberta to provide lec-tures, simul events and toparticipate some of ourtournaments. New to thisyear’s tournament sched-ule was the “InternationalNorm Tournament” onEaster weekend whichgave many of our AlbertaMasters a chance to earn anorm.

As in past years, theACA will be “fully” spon-soring the travel of ourchampions to nationalevents which included our12 scholastic championsto the Canadian ChessChallenge Finals inMoncton, New Brunswickin May, our six championsto the Canadian YouthChess Championship inKitchener, Ontario in July,and our Alberta ClosedChampion to the CanadianClosed in Toronto. Last

year, the ACA sponsoredour Alberta Women'sChampion, CorneliaDinca, to the CanadianWomen's Championship.

The ACA has alsobeen actively helpingmany of the chess clubs inAlberta including theCalgary Chess Club andthe Grande Prairie ChessClub. The ACA has beensupplying clubs such asthe Lethbridge ChessClub, Okotoks ChessClub, and the U ofCalgary Chess Club withequipment. New clubsstarting up this yearinclude Banff led byJonathan Day and FortMcMurray led by JhonnyLabrador.

Junior chess is grow-ing greatly with the tire-less work of BruceThomas and RovingChessNuts with plans toprovide chess education toschools in rural Alberta.

The ACA will besponsoring its PublicLibrary Initiative wherethe ACA will help putchess books in librariesthroughout Alberta. Notto be missed will be theGiant Chess Set inMedicine Hat, a projectled by Bill Taylor and theMedicine Hat Chess Club(I can only assume thatthis set is used by the guywho lives in the giant TeePee there).

Ford WongPresident

President’sACA Report

Alberta Chess Association

Trumpeter Classic 2007in Grande Prairie

January 27 and 28Tournament Director: Tim PradzinskiPhone: 780-518-2281Email: database@telusplanet.netGrande Prairie Inn 11633 Clairmont Road 780-532-52215 Rounds, Swiss Pairing SystemTime Control: Game / 90 minutes + 30 sec per move

Register in Advance if possible!On-Site Registration: Saturday 8:45 to 9:45 a.m.

Round Times:Saturday, January 27Rounds #1 - 10:00 a.m. #2 - 2:30 #3 - 7:00 p.m.Sunday, January 28Rounds #4 - 9:00 a.m. #5 - 1:30 p.m.

Please Note: All players will play in one section, theUnder 1900 and Under 1500 Sections are only forprize distribution. CFC Membership is Required forthis tournament and can be purchased on-site duringthe registration process.

Grande Prairie Inn Info: 10 Double Rooms with 2Queen Size Beds. You must take care of your ownreservations and hold the rooms with a credit card.Quote Group Block #6100 or Grande Prairie ChessClub. Reservations number for the GP Inn is 780-532-5221. $99 plus taxes for Double; $96 plus taxes forSingle Sorry, the only rooms available in the hotel areSMOKING rooms.

Entry Fee$30

$1500 Prize Fund

Plan to attend:

Northern Alberta Open February 17 & 18Edmonton Chess Club, #204 10840 124 Street Phone 424-0283Tournament Director: Micah Hughey

Alberta Chess Report • December 2006 Page 5

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by Richard PuaA total of 41 players entered this year’s

Pre-Christmas event, which was a team basedswiss tournament held at Edmonton ChessClub, December 16 and 17.

Overall team winners were:The Raging Kramniks 11/15 points with

Micah Hughey, Roy Yearwood, RichardWang and Harris Wang.

Benko Brothers 11/15 points with Robert

Sasata, Jamin Gluckie and Jeff Willoughby.Best Under 1800 team was:The Sorceror’s Apprenti 8.5/15 points

with David Brodmann, Tom Asquith andConnor Quinn.

Best Under 1700 team was:Zwischenzug 7.5/15 points with Tim

Dean, Marko Culjaga and Anthony Wu.Best name prize goes to (4 way tie):The Raging Kramniks, Three and a Half

Men, Fishermen, Knights of the Square Table.It was interesting to see masters and jun-

iors working together as a team. Many veter-ans were willing to offer advice and other tipsto their teammates and the overall atmospherewas friendly. The number of juniors involved- 8 - was substantial.

Vladislav Rekhson organized the eventand volunteered to play for an out-of-townteam that was short a player.

Raging Kramniks, Benko Brothers share first before Christmas

Knights of Columbusdonates huge prize fund

Thanks to arrangements made by Arniel Frialde,the Knights of Columbus is donating $1,500 towardsprize money and general expenses of the upcomingACA Northern Alberta Open.

The tournament will be held at Edmonton ChessClub, February 17 and 18.

This will make the tournament extremely attrac-tive to players since it is also a qualifier for the AlbertaClosed 2007.

Edmonton Internationalwill offer IM norms

Organizer Vlad Rekhson has announced the 2007Edmonton International will be held in EdmontonAugust 2 to 6.

The 10-player round-robin will offer InternationalMaster norms opportunities.

At least three positions will be reserved forAlbertans and can be achieved by performances at theEdmonton Closed, Alberta Closed and Calgary Closed,provided these events have at least four players with rat-ings 2200+ CFC or 2100+ FIDE.

Other details about this event will appear on theACA website.

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A Game from the Alberta Junior ChampionshipNovember 11, 2006 - Round 1

White: Eric Hansen Black: David Mrugala1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Bg4 4. Be2 Bxe2 5. Qxe2 Qxd5 6. Nf3 e6 7. O-O Bd68. c4 Qh5 9. Nc3 O-O 10. c5 Be7 11. Bf4 c6 12. b4 Nbd7 13. b5 Nd514. Nxd5 Qxd5 15. Rfc1 Rfc8 16. a4 b6 17. cxb6 axb6 18. bxc6 Rxc619. Qb5 Rac8 20. Rxc6 Rxc6 21. Qxd5 exd5 22. a5 bxa5 23. Rxa5 Bd624. Bd2 Nb6 25. g3 Kf8 26. Rb5 Ke7 27. Ba5

(See diagram)

27 ... Bc7 {The move wasplayed in time pressure. Fritzrecommends 28...Rc1+ and29...Nc4}28. Bxb6 Bxb6 29. Rxd5 Rd630. Re5+ Kf6 31. Re4 g5 32.Kg2 Kf5 33. Re5+ Kf6 34.Nxg5 Rxd4 35. Rb5 Ba7 36.Nxh7+ Kg6 37. Ng5 Rd2 38.Nh3 Kg7 39. Rf5 Kg6 40. g4f6 41. Nf4+ Kf7 42. Nh5 Rd643. Rb5 Bd4 44. Rb7+ Ke6 45.Ng7+ Ke5 46. Nf5 Ra647. Re7+ 1-0

A Game from the 2006 Canadian ClosedAugust 18 in Toronto - Round 6

White: Vicente Lee Black: Nenad Ristovic1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3 6. bxc3 Qa5 7. Bd2 Qa48. Qb1 c4 9. Nf3 Nc6 10. g3 h6 11. h4 Nge7 12. Bg2 Bd7 13. O-O O-O-O14. Qc1 Kb8 15. h5 Ka8 16. Nh4 Bc8 17. Bf3 Rh7 18. Bg4 Rdh8 19. Kh2 g520. Ng2 Ng8 21. f4 f5 22. exf6 Nxf6 23. Be2 g4 24. Ne3 Rg8 25. Be1 Ne726. Qd1 Qe8 27. Rh1 Qxh5 28. Kg1 Qg6 29. Ng2 Nf5 30. Bf1 Ne431. Nh4 Nxh4 32. Rxh4 Nd6 33. Qe2 Nf5 34. Rh1 h5 35. Bg2 h4 36. gxh4 g337. h5 Qh6 38. Bd2 Rhg7 39. a4 Qf6 40. Qe5 Qf7 41. a5 a6 42. Rb1 Rh743. Qe2 Rgh8 44. Bf3 Ng7 45. Kg2 Nxh5 46. Bxh5 Rxh5 47. Rxh5 Rxh548. Rh1 Rxh1 49. Kxh1 e5 50. dxe5 Bf5 51. Kg1 Qh7 52. Qg2 Qh4 53. Be1 Qxf454. Qxg3 Qxg3 55. Bxg3 b6 56. axb6 Kb7 57. Bf2 a5 58. Bc5 Kc659. Kf2 Bc8 60. Ba3 Kxb6 61. Ke3 Kc6 62. Kd2 Kd7 63. Bd6 Ke664. Kc1 Kd7 65. Bc5 Kc6 66. Bd4 1/2-1/2

Anyone having anything to do with a chessclub - school, community, coffeeshop - is

asked to e-mail information that canbe posted in the ACR and the ACA website.

When and where do you meet? Format of play? Ages? Fees?

e-mail these details to:rovingchessnuts@shaw.ca

Alberta Chess Report • December 2006 Page 6

Alberta Chess Association Schedule for 2007The following tournaments/events are sponsored by the Alberta Chess Association

or are among those receiving ACA support

Date Name of Tournament/Event Organizer LocationJanuary 9-10 ACA Casino Ford Wong EdmontonJanuary 5-7 Schleinich Memorial Sectional Jim Daniluk CalgaryJanuary 21 ACA Board Meeting Ford Wong Red DeerJanuary 27-28 Trumpeter Classic Tim Pradzinski Grande PrairieFebruary 17-18 Northern Alberta Open Micah Hughey EdmontonFebruary 24-25 Alberta Youth Championships Richard Pua EdmontonMarch 11-12 March of Kings Jim Daniluk CalgaryMarch 23-25 Spring Sectional Micah Hughey EdmontonApril 6-8 Alberta Closed Jim Daniluk CalgaryApril 7-8 Alberta Reserves Jim Daniluk CalgaryApril 7-8 Alberta Women's Jim Daniluk CalgaryApril 14 Alberta Chess Challenge Bruce Thomas Red DeerApril 21-22 Lethbridge Open Jack Davies LethbridgeApril 29 ACA Board Meeting Ford Wong Red DeerMay 5 Alberta Active Greg Huber CalgaryMay 19-21 May Sectional Micah Hughey EdmontonMay 20-21 National Chess Challenge Chess’n Math Quebec CityJune 9 Churchill Square Chess Festival Bruce Thomas EdmontonSummer Western Canadian Invitational Junior Bruce Thomas EdmontonJune 22-24 June Sectional Jim Daniluk CalgaryJuly 3-6 Canadian Youth CC CFC Ottawa July 7-15 Canadian Open CFC Ottawa July 21 Battle of Alberta Hinds/Hughey Red DeerAugust 2-6 Edmonton Chess Festival Vlad Rekhson EdmontonAugust1 7-27 Canadian Closed CFCAugust 26 ACA Board Meeting Ford Wong Red DeerSeptember 1-2 Over / Under 1800 Mark Cole CalgarySeptember 15-16 Medicine Hat Open Dr. Bill Taylor Medicine HatSeptember 29-30 Junior Battle at the Border Bruce Thomas LloydminsterOctober 6-8 Alberta Open Ford Wong EdmontonOctober 27 Junior Battle of Alberta Bruce Thomas Red DeerNovember 10-11 Alberta Junior Richard Pua CalgaryNovember 17-18 Southern Alberta Open Jim Daniluk CalgaryNovember 25 ACA Board Meeting Ford Wong Red DeerDecember 15-16 Before Christmas Open Vlad Rekhson Edmonton

by Richard PuaMicah Hughey cap-

tured first place at theDance O’ Power at Ed-monton Chess Club witha perfect 5/5 score.

The tournament wasplayed over five Thurs-days in November.

Hughey won $60, butthis is misleading since he

donated his tournamentdirecting honararium tothe prize fund so he sim-ply was reclaiming hismoney!

Second place went toJason Wihnon with 4/5points. This has got to beWihnon’s best tournamentin years, losing only toHughey and defeating all

his other higher-ratedopponents.

Quite a few juniorsparticipated as well.David Mrugala finished

with 2/4, JonathanMrugala with 2/4, HarrisWang with 3/5 andRichard Wang with 2/5.

Some other notableplayers such as ArnielFrialde, Sasa Grumic andVladislav Rekhsonshowed up to make thistournament the mostinteresting one the ECC

has had in months.There were a few

upsets at the top boards.Rekhson got a draw withFrialde. David Brodmannscored a master scalp bybeating Frialde. Hugheydefeated Grumic in aninteresting opposite-side,castling-tactical meleethat ensured his victory.

Strong turn-out,interesting gamesat Dance of Power

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Alberta Chess Report • December 2006 Page 7

ACA MembershipHelp needed to keep updated

In order to complete Alberta Chess Associationmembership lists for the mailing of Alberta ChessReports and for government funding requirements, weneed the co-operation of chess organizers. When youaccept a new CFC/ACA membership, please send acopy of the person’s information to the ACA via: rov-ingchessnuts@ shaw.ca, fax (780) 479-8363. Sendthe money and original information to the CFC for pro-cessing. If you do not require CFC/ACA membershipfor your event, we would still like to add your partici-pants to our lists, particularly if you benefit from ACAsupport. We need to count all actual participants inorganized chess events.

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Edmonton ClosedJanuary 4 thru February 22

Edmonton Chess Club, #204 10840 124 Street, 424-0283Please pre-register with TD Micah Hughey

(780) 484-6075 mhughey@hotmail.com

by Richard PuaThe Halloween Open was a regular Thursday night

event held at the Edmonton Chess Club during October.Twenty players competed.David Ostapchuk and Micah Hughey shared first

place, both receiving a 3/4 score.The upset of the month was the Round 2 game

between Mark Stark and Hughey.In a queen ending where both kings were exposed,

Stark played a simple queen check forcing Hughey’sking to move. The move chosen by Hughey lead to amate in one.

Spooks left chess playersalone at Halloween Open

Packingthem inat ECC

The new location ofEdmonton Chess Club ismore than twice as largeas the former club space atthe Armouries, but evenso, the space is being test-ed by large junior events,attracting up to 84 players.

The new club spacehas had some problemsand is still scheduled to berenovated to accommo-date up to 60 adult playerscomfortably. There willalso be a fairly decentspace for skittles

In November, 13 elementary school teams competed at Edmonton Chess Club, filling the tour-nament room with 70 players and a half dozen adult supervisors.

Edmonton Chess Club#204 10840 - 124 Street

(780) 424-0283Hours of Operation:Mondays: 7:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.Johnchess (Active) Game/30 minutes 4 rounds Fees: $2.00 nightly dues or $20.00 ECC membership

Thursdays: 7:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.CFC rated tournaments Game/110 minutes + 30 sec inc. 1 roundFees: $3.00 rating fee, $41.00 CFC membership*

Saturdays: 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.Active Chess Game/30 minutes 4 roundsFees: $2.00 nightly dues or $20.00 ECC membership

* This is full adult membership. Lower for juniors, families, participating.

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Alberta Chess Report • December 2006 Deliver to:Returned undelivered copies to:

Alberta Chess Reportc/o Publisher12015 - 76 Street NWEdmonton, Alberta T5B 2C9

Alberta Chess Association’s

Schleinich Memorial SectionalJanuary 5 - 7 in Calgary

Quality Inn Motel Village, 2359 Banff Trail NW, Calgary, Alberta

Tournament Director: Jim DanilukPhone: (403) 248-7456 • Email: sacrat@shaw.ca

This Tournament is run in sections of 6 players by rating. Open to all ages of playersPre-registration is REQUIRED for this event

All entrants must register and pay by January 2 • Entry fee: $25 (FIDE masters free)Entries will be accepted at the Calgary Chess Club on Tuesdays

or may be mailed to Jim Daniluk at 52 Erin Mount Cres. SE, Calgary, AB T2B 2S3.Edmonton players may register with Micah Hughey at Edmonton Chess Club

Round 1 Friday 7 p.m. • Rounds 2-3 Saturday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.• Rounds 4-5 Sunday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.Time control is G/110 minutes +30sec. increment.

Projected prize fund is minimum $200 for top section and $100 for other sections

by Richard PuaFor a number of years,

a lot of chess players feltthat there was a ChessFederation of Canada(CFC) rating deflationproblem.

The argument was thatunder-rated junior playerssuck points from thelower boards in tourna-ments.

This then leads to lesspoints being available tohigher rated players whenthey beat lower-ratedopponents of any age.

The CFC adjusted itsrating system early inDecember.

The CFC has countedhow many games a playerhas had rated from July2004 to the present, andawarded bonus points forevery game via the fol-lowing formula:

Rating - Bonus Points0 - 1999 -

1 point per game2000-2199 -

1/2 point per game2200-2800 -

1/4 point per gameThe CFC rating com-

mittee is hoping that a lotof players receiving ahigher rating through thebonus points will meanseveral things, including

juniors being able to earnhigher ratings quicker andhigher-rated players get-ting more points for theirvictories.

The bonus is alsorewarding players whoparticipate in a lot of tour-naments with the beliefthat more experiencemeans more acquiredknowledge of the game.Three new Masters

Micah Hughey ofEdmonton, one of thecountry’s most activeplayers, experienced thehighest rating gain by faramong Albertans.

His new rating of 2296would put him #6 on theTop 50 Albertans list.

Other notable playersbenefitting from thebonus are Eric Hansen of

Calgary at 2203 andVladislav Rekhson ofEdmonton at 2201.

The bonus points haveallowed these three play-ers to become instantMasters although theywill have to maintain theirover 2200 rating over atleast 25 games.

Only time will tell ifthis adjustment will reallyhelp juniors and reflectaccurately, the relativestrengths of players of allages.

It will be interesting tosee if some type of ratingpoint feeding frenzy willoccur in Alberta!

CFC gives early Christmas present to players

The CFC Elves havegiven active playerslots of rating points,

just in time for Xmas!

Alberta Chess Report • December 2006

Chatter in the CastleReport on Junior Chess Activities in Alberta

For updates on Junior Chess Activitiesthroughout Alberta, keep in touch with:

Alberta Chess Association website:www.albertachess.org/

and get on The Roving ChessNuts contact list:e-mail: rovingchessnuts@shaw.ca

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During the May Victoria Day weekend in 2008,Edmonton will be hosting the National Chess Challengewhich will attract 10 provincial teams of students ingrades 1 through 12. A total of 120 players will partic-ipate.

The National Challenge, sponsored by the Chess’nMath Association, rotates between east, west and cen-tral locations and in 2007 will be in Quebec City. The2006 event was held in Moncton, New Brunswick.

While the actual competition is held over twodays, there will be other activities for visitors and thereare plans to use the National event to highlight chess inAlberta through affiliated events.

Eric Hansen (left) of Calgary received the2006 Alberta Junior Champ trophy from tourna-ment director Richard Pua.

Westbrook Elementary’s winning A Team - see Chatter Page 2

by Richard PuaThe Alberta Junior

2006 Championship wascomprised of two separatesections and was held onRemembrance Day inEdmonton.

The championship sec-tion, open only to playerswith a CFC rating above1600, featured four expe-rienced juniors battling itout in a round-robin.

The reserve sectionwas a swiss style tourna-ment which contained sixplayers.

Eric Hansen of Cal-

gary won the champi-onship event with a per-fect score with three vic-tories.

David Mrugala ofEdmonton was runner-upwith two points out of apossible three.

Jered Fokkema ofSylvan Lake and MarkoCuljaga of Edmontoneach finished with a halfpoint.

Alberta Chess Assoc-iation will send Hansen tothe next Canadian JuniorChampionship.

Yi Lun Wu captured

the reserve section with aperfect 3/3 score.

Anthony Wu andMyron Loke tied for sec-ond place with 2/3 scores.

Hansen wins junior title

Yi Lun (Allan) Wu

Edmonton will host2008 National Challenge

I N S I D E :

North wins FirstJunior Battle of Alberta

West Edmonton Mallto host Scholastic Teams

Alberta Chess Report • December 2006

Chatter in the CastleReport on Junior Chess Activities in Alberta

Calgary JuniorChess ClubTournaments held at

Calgary Centennial Arena2390 - 47 Avenue SW

Registration starts 12:30, ends 1 p.m. sharpCompetition 1:30 to 4:30

Upcoming DatesJanuary 14 • February 11

Grade Championship& Alberta Challenge Qualifier

March 24Days Inn South3828 MacLeod Trail

Registration at 9 a.m.

For further information about CalgaryJunior Chess Club, contact John Piera

cjccdirector@yahoo.ca

A Game from the Alberta JuniorNovember 11, 2006

White: Jered Fokkema Black: Marko CuljagaAnalysis by Richard Pua

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. O-O Bc5 5. c3 O-O{Necessary was 5...Nxe4 to kill one of the center pawns. White will nowadvance his center with great effect.}6. d4 exd4 7. e5 {A mistake. 7.cxd4 at once is nearly winning because Black does-n't have time to take the e-pawn. Now Black's best move would be 7...d5}Ne8 8. cxd4 Bb69. d5 Ne7 10. Bg5 d611. Re1 f6 12. exf6 Nxf613. Nc3 Bg4 14. Qd3 Bf515. Qd2 Qd716. Re2 Rae8 17. h3 h618. Be3 Ne419. Nxe4 Bxe420. Nh2 Bf521. Bxb6 axb622. Rae1 Ng623. Nf3 Rxe2 24. Rxe2 {Loses a pawn.}... Bxh3 25. Nh2 Bxg2{Nice tactic to exposeking and win morematerial.}26. Kxg2 Nf4+27. Kh1 Qh3 28. f3 Nxe229. Qxe2 Kh8 30. Bd3 Qh5 31. Qe4 g6 {Perhaps better is 31...Kg8}32. Qxg6 Qxg6 33. Bxg6 Rg8 34. Be4 Kg7 35. Kg2 Kf6+ 36. Kf2 Ke5 37. Ke3 h538. b3 Ra8 39. a4 Rg8 40. f4+ Kf6 41. Nf3 Rg3 42. Kf2 h4 43. Bc2 Rg4 44. f5 h3See diagram {Due to mistakes on the scoresheet, we cannot continue the game.Itwent on for a few more moves and somehow White managed a draw.}45. Bd3 1/2-1/2

Edmonton Junior New Year’sTournament - Sunday, January 7

Edmonton Chess Club, 124 StreetPlease pre-register by e-mailing:rovingchessnuts@shaw.ca

Compete 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.

p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p

Westbrook Elementary continues to dominate Edmonton team eventsAlthough Westbrook

Elementary School lostsome of its top playersthrough graduation,school transfer and othersports, it still seems to bethe top powerhouse ofchess in northern Alberta.

At a November 19school team tournamentheld at Edmonton ChessClub, the Westbrook A

squad continued the stringof victories, Westbrookhad last school year whenthe school never lost ateam match.

But it did not comeeasy in this tournamentwhich attracted 13 teamsfrom 11 different schoolsfrom Edmonton, St.Albert and SherwoodPark.

Going into the fourthand final round, it wasactually the Westbrook BTeam that was leading thetournament with a numberof schools not far behind.

In the final round, itwas Westbrook A versusWestbrook B and it wasthe A team which got aperfect 5-0 score, eventhough at one point,

Westbrook B was winningon at least two boards.

That round gaveWestbrook A a final tallyof 18 points out of a possi-ble 20 while Westbrook Bstayed at 14 points whichallowed York Academic tosneak by and take secondplace with a 14.5 score.

New Horizons Schoolof Sherwood Park came infourth with 13 points andclaimed a trophy as a newentry into scholastic chess.

Muriel Martin Schoolwas fifth and the top St.Albert school at the event,scoring 11 points.

Windsor Park Elemen-tary was fifth with 10

points while York Aca-demic B Team was sixth at9.5.

Other schools wereNeil Ross of St. Albert,Father Leo Green ofEdmonton, Holyrood ofEdmonton, Robert Rundleof St. Albert, SirAlexander Mackenzie ofSt. Albert and JJ Nearingof St. Albert.

A couple of the teamslacked five players, butsome teams had substituteplayers - the final playercount for the event was 70.

For some of the play-ers, it was their very firsttournament outside oftheir school.

by Richard PuaThis special event was

held on October 28 in RedDeer at Thurber HighSchool and attracted 26players.

The main strength ofthe North team was pro-vided by Jered Fokkema,Harris Wang, RichardWang and Derek Thomas.

The main strength ofthe South team were VladConstantinescu, Tony Cai,Mark Ting and SimonOng.

It was a close matchthroughout and afterRound 3, both sides weredeadlocked at 18 points.

Team North then wenton to claim victory byscoring 9-3 in the finalround, with the top sectionof the North getting a per-

fect 4-0 score.Best OverallPerformancesSection A:

Jered Fokkema receiv-ed 4/4 points for North.

Vlad Constantinescu got2/4 points for South.Section B:

Quinn Daviduck ofRed Deer played for theNorth and captured 3.5/4points. Johan Pierascored 3/4 for the Southteam.Section C:

Peter Hu and TrentDouglas of Pincher Creekwere perfect for the Southteam, scoring 5/5 and 4/4respectively. Top pointgetter for team North wasSebastien Despres with3/4 points.

This tournament wasorganized by The RovingChessNuts and CalgaryJunior Chess Club.

CJCC president JohnPiera was pleased with theturnout and impressedwith the operation of theevent. He vowed to puttogether an even strongerSouth team in next year’sBattle.

Players and parentswere provided with apizza lunch, organized byMonica Loke and YanLoke.

Alberta Chess Report • December 2006

Chatter in the CastleReport on Junior Chess Activities in Alberta

Beginner Junior PlayersSaturday Morning Lessonsat Edmonton Chess Club

9:30 to 11:45 a.m.Please call to pre-register

474-2318 or e-mailrovingchessnuts@shaw.ca

for details and possible registration

Sessions begin January 13

North beats Southin first Junior ChessBattle of Alberta

by Bruce ThomasWest Edmonton Mall invited the Alberta Chess

Association and Roving ChessNuts to put on a chessdisplay and demonstration during the Mall's CustomerAppreciation Day on October 12.

While it was hard to compete against the Mall'soffer of free admission to its various attractions, a fairnumber of people did stop by the chess tables and someeven played chess ... mostly bad chess but that led tosome parents realizing their youngsters needed lessonsand also led to a bunch of high school "chess players"realizing that they were no match for trained elementaryplayers.

About a half dozen adults made inquiries aboutEdmonton Chess Club and perhaps a dozen parents andyounger players inquired about junior chess activities.Complimentary copies of the Alberta Chess Reportwere handed out.

Junior players who helped with the WestEdmonton Mall promotion were Derek Thomas,Richard Wang, Myron Loke and Ryan Loke. RichardPua put in the most time manning the tables during themorning and again in the evening. The next publicchess event at the Mall will be January 21 when teamsfrom a number of schools will battle each other in theWest Edmonton Mall Scholastic Team Competition forElementary Schools.

West Edmonton Mall has been very supportive ofchess and holding events on the mall have attracted a lotof public attention and has helped to promote chess.The mall has also provided space for two Grandmastersimultaneous displays - GM Mark Bluvshtein per-formed on the deck of the Santa Maria during the 2005Canadian Open and GM Pascal Charbonneau per-formed in another public area of the mall during his2006 tour.

World’s biggest mallhelps promote chess

The winning North Team

The runners-up South Team

Intermediate & AdvanceJunior Players

Friday Night Lessons/Lecturesat Edmonton Chess Club

7:00 to 9:00 p.m.Invitation Only - Please call

474-2318 or e-mailrovingchessnuts@shaw.ca

for details and possible registration

Sessions resume on January 12

Alberta Chess Report • December 2006

Chatter in the CastleReport on Junior Chess Activities in Alberta

Instructional Chess Programsfor Schools, Groups and IndividualsBook now for 2007(780) 474-2318 • rovingchessnuts@shaw.ca

Roving ChessNuts& ChessMart12015 - 76 Street, Edmonton

Retail sales of Chess Sets, ClocksNew & Used Chess BooksOther Board Games and Educational Items

Over two dozen schools are involvedin Roving ChessNuts programs!

by Richard PuaThe York Academic

School Invitational tour-nament in October attract-ed 26 players from vari-ous schools. Section A:

Derek Thomas cap-tured clear first with aperfect score of 6/6.Desmond Baron finishedsecond with 3/6 and LukeChernezky finished thirdwith 2/6.Section B:

Nubian Lewis wonthis section with 5/6,

claiming the gold medaland a ton of rating pointsin the process. Taking thesilver medal was DavinNess with 4/6. Thebronze medal went toAngus McDonald with3/6 points.Section C:

Jamil Kassam put inanother impressive per-formance with a score of4/5. This young junior,who is only in Grade 1,has shown rapid improve-ment. The runner upswere Victor Vorng and

Jeffrey Doell, both having3/5 points.Section D:

This section featuredmostly unrated players.James Dickens won hissection with 4.5 out of apossible 5 points. Secondplace went to SpencerDegenstein with 4/5 andthird was nabbed byMariah Fournier with 3/5.Section E:

David Chernezky fin-ished with a perfect scoreof 5/5. Dennis Eang wasrunner-up with 4/5 points.

York Academic hosts after-school tournament

York Academic School in northeast Edmontonhas a very active chess program and its students,like the ones pictured above, are regularly compet-ing in open and team tournaments, winning theirfair share of medals. At the 84-player EdmontonJunior Christmas Tournament, 15 York studentswere entered. York chess enthusiasts are hopefulof upsetting the elementary powerhouse ofWestbrook School during the current school year.York holds three levels of weekly chess lessons.