The second day of our modest open was so violent there was blood all over the chess pieces.
In the open section, Artiom had to fend off Hamiltonians back to back with victories over Doug Bailey in round 4 and then Alexander Friedman,(the co-winner of the 09 Winter Open) in round 5.
Current Hamilton Club Champion, Doug Bailey had a come back in round 5, though, when he won over Roman Sapozhinikov (the other co-winner of the Winter Open).
Mike Dougherty and John Upper, along with Doug, all tied for second with 3.5/5.
In the U1900 Section Jaime Solis and Joe Bellomo tied for first/second with 4/5 points. Solis got a win over Matthew Nicholson in round 4 and then a draw against Boris Iriarte in round 5; while, Joe got a win over Mario Moran-Venegas in round 4 and a draw against Matthew Nicholson in round 5.
Tied for third were Ferdinand Supsup and Doug Gillis with 3.5/5 points each
The prize fund was $1422 and was given out as follows:
Open 1st - Artiom Samsonkin 5/5 $ 438 2nd-3rd - Doug Bailey, Michael Dougherty, John Upper 3.5/5 $ 140 each
Under 1900 1st-2nd - Jaime Solis, Joe Bellomo 4/5 $ 222 each 3rd - Ferdinand Supsup, Doug Gillis 3.5/5 $ 60 each
KIDS!
There was plenty of excitement in the Junior section (age 15 and under) including an exciting 3 way tie breaker for the second place trophy.
Big kudos must be given to Leslie Tang who came clear first with 4.5/5. Leslie also won Hamilton's Junior Championship in July, so you know this is one twelve year old with a lot of hardware.
Special mention to James Law who is the only opponent Leslie didn't defeat. (Their game ended in a draw in round 5). Claudio Sottile, Jeffrey Lee along with James Law all tied for second place with 4/5 and a tie breaking formula was demanded to see who would get which trophy. Standings and ratings were not affected by the tie breakers.
The organizers decided to do a double blitz (5 minute) round robin so that each player could get a chance to play black and white. A coin toss was used to see who would have to play back to back, and who would get the rest break. When the dust settled the results of the round robin were as follows:
Jeffrey Lee:2.5 James Law:2.0 Claudio Sottile:1.5
As you can see even in blitz there wasn't much difference between our second place finishers and all deserve credit for putting up a hard fight.
To see the overall Standings for the Hamilton Summer Open, and, the pairings for round 4 and 5 please visit the following link:
Don't forget to keep checking our web site at chess.servegame.com/hamilton for pictures of this event.
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I'd like to thank Gordon Gooding, Joe Ellis and Robert Gillanders for their efforts in helping me organize this tournament. Without Mr. Gillanders help in particular the extra work of adding multiple sections and juniors would not have been possible.
We invite all tournament participants to email their constructive criticism to chesshamilton@gmail.com so that we can make our next weekend swiss the best one ever.
Also, please email your favorite game from this tournament to Robert Gillanders at robertgillanders@rogers.com (pgn or cbase format preferred)
Thank you all for attending our weekend swiss and supporting chess in Hamilton!
On day 1 the pieces were flying in Hamilton. Some of the excitement included Constantine Khayutin's draw with Doug Bailey and Lee Hendon's upset victory over Daniel Abrahams.
Of course some things in life remain boringly predictable, such as, Artiom Samsonkin's sole possession of first place with 3/3.
There is still day 2 however. And Artiom will likely face Hamilton's city champion, Doug Bailey, in round 4. But until that time we have plenty of chess data to look at by visiting the following link (There you will find the current standings and tentative pairings for round 4):
Hamilton's Weekend Swiss Is Just Around The Corner!
The Hamilton City Chess Club would like to thank FM Mike Dougherty, club champion Doug Bailey and International Master Artiom Samsonkin for agreeing to play in the Hamilton Summer Open on the weekend of August 22-23.
Artiom made a splash at the Toronto Open earlier this year when he defeated Hikaru Nakamura, a player rated over 2700 from USA.
If you would also like to play in Hamilton this August please send us an email requesting pre-registration. Those who pre-register by email will get at least a five dollar discount. Remember to tell us in your email what section you want to play in. (Choices are Open, U1900 and "Junior").
To see a detailed poster of this event please visit the following link:
Congratulations to Laurence Crichton for winning this summer's "Big Brain" series. His positional style brought him victory after victory. The only person who managed to draw against Laurence was Stan Percival in round 2.
Since Laurence was in the optional prize fund he also won the money! Here's to a job well done.
To see the results and standings of this event please click on the following link: Big Brain Series 2009
Please don't forget to submit your games for Analysis on "Coaches Corner" Next week! Our coach needs time to analyze the games so we need them by this Friday. Thanks!
