A two round tournament prioritized for social players / beginners — limit 4 players.

Date: August 29, 2015
Time: 1:15pm
Entry fee: free
Location: third floor, 91 Albert Street

Prize: photo opportunity with a trophy (then we’ll need it back!). (Sponsors for additional prizes welcome)

Time control: no clocks on regular games unless deemed necessary by tournament director, tiebreaks if required will be 5 minute blitz

Format: four players only, winners of round 1 will play in round 2 for first and second place, remaining two players will play for third and forth place. Round 1 pairings and colours will be random. Round 2 colours will be reversed from round 1 if possible or else random.

Room conditions: This event will be held alongside our regular casual chess club day, as such, do not expect a quiet room. Players competing in the tournament are permitted to talk to each other during their games as long as they are not doing so in a manner disturbing to their opponent.

To have a clear winner, and to ensure there are only two rounds, this event will be limited to four players only. Admission to the limited tournament slots will be prioritized as follows:
1) Adults who have never played in a tournament before
2) Children who have never played in a tournament before
3) Adults who have played in a tournament before but are believed to be below 1500 CFC strength on the basis of ratings and/or results, to be prioritized by lowest rating
4) Children who have played in a tournament before but are believed to be below 1500 CFC strength on the basis of ratings and/or results, to be prioritized by lowest rating
5) Players (children and adults) above 1500 CFC strength, to be prioritized by lowest rating

All other things being the same, players will be selected based on arrival time. The club opens at noon.

Do not worry that you will show up and not get to play chess! Because this tournament is being played alongside a normal casual day for the club, you will find there are also casual players present not in the tournament to play with.

In addition, if a overwhelming number of social players without tournament experience show up, we will guarantee spots in future micro-tournaments or possibly even hold tournaments for two 4 player groups in parallel.

The tournament director may also place additional limitations on the field to avoid a lopsided event, for example if there are only two social players and two 1800 players showing up, the two groups would compete in their own two game matches for the photo op prize.

The priority here is fun.

May-June, 2015 financial report

Income

• $151.23 donations
• -$13.75 June 13, 2015 tournament (lost money)

Total income: $137.48

Expenses

• $200 rent
• $20 other

Total expenses: $220

Net income: $-82.52

Assets

• $105.88 Bank account
• $280.85 Petty cash
• $28.96 Held by executives in trust
• $147.00 Equipment

Total assets: $562.69

No Liabilities

Equity

Year 1 retained earnings: $645.21
Year to date retained earnings: $-82.52

Total equity (net worth): $562.69
Net worth less equipment: $415.69

1. 2 .. Bg7 -> the thinking here is that if white just nomnoms with Bxg5, black will play c5 and ratchet up pressure on the a1/h8 diagonal. Theo clearly recognized this and did Nc3 to reinforce the diagonal, at which point black DOES need to worry about the g5 pawn, and has to do h6 to hold it. This is also one of the reasons that this approach has a fairly bad reputation. If all black gets out of this is having launched his kingside pawns forward prematurely, then one would think that white would happily pay him to do this.
2. 5 b3 I was happy to see this as I get to continue putting pressure on d4 and the diagonal generally despite e3 being thrown in
3. 9 b4 when I originally calculated the main line, I had the misconception that I could mess up white’s pawns with Nxc3 bxa5 Nxd1 but then I realized he can just do Bxc3 leaving me with probably just a worse position. I had to regroup my thoughts and see if I had to allow that variation to happen or if I had something else. I saw that Qf5 was a possibility since Bd3 would bet met with Qxf2#. But what if Qc2 pinning the knight and covering f2? Thankfully I have Ng3/Nxf5.
4. 12 Nb5 -> this covers d4 and also threatens Nc7+/Nxa8 , however, during the game I thought that Nd5 might be better. It doesn’t bother to defend d4 but has the advantage of Na6/b5 which seems to force me to do some sort of e6 counterattack which seems to really mess me up
5. 16 Be4 -> at first glance this is a killer move. My bishop is tied to holding the f5 knight, my a8 rook is tied to the a7 pawn, and if I have to do Rfb8 it seems to be very yuck (those would not be happy and active rooks). I was happy to find d5!? .. if Bxd5 then my bishop is no longer tied down and I can Bxb5, and either Bxb7 Rb8 or cxb5 Nc7. He can’t cxd5 because Bxb5 attacks his rook losing the exchange after Bxf5
6. 18 Rfe1 -> A really sneaky beak kind of move, the “first glance” move of e6 allows Nd6 threatening to either snag b7 or else kick me in the teeth with Nxf5. I think that Rfe8 is forced here, to allow the pawn to maintain control of d6. Note that if instead 18 cxd5 I’d do my own cheapo via Bd3 forking rook and knight.
7. 21 .. Bc4 -> I felt that if Nxc4 dxc4 I can gang up on d4, even though I may not retain my pawn on c4.
8. 22 .. Bxe5 -> he has a choice here, the rook move (as played) allows me a pawnstorm aided by attack on his rook. If instead he takes with pawn then I get a protected passed pawn. It may have been better to allow the passed pawn as it seems harder to work with than the pawnstorm.
9. 25 .. d4 -> Theo said “oops” during the game and at first I thought I misheard him, or that I’d missed something. I was confused and stared at the board and quickly rechecked my analysis, but still saw that Ne4 seemed to work due to Nxf6+ . I figured that either he was messing with me or that he didn’t see it, either way, d4 was still the correct move.
10. 28 .. Nb5 -> this is a slight nuance. It pushes the bishop back to b2 to defend a3, and only then do I capture on e5, to snag a pawn out of the deal
11. 31 .. Kf7 -> I could also just exchange rooks, but I’m going to need to activate my king for post-exchange follow through so I might as well do it immediately.
12. 36 Bd2 he’s clearly gunning for my kingside pawns. I decided that I was willing to give a pawn back in exchange for further simplification and bringing on the endgame, when my light bishop had boatloads of tempo to spare for preventing his pawns from promoting.
13. The rest of the game is fairly simple technique. After I block his defense of his b4 pawn with my knight, exchange, and grab the b pawn, my a pawn just rolls to promotion.

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A Friday night (July 10) tournament on short notice.

$5 gets you 3 games, pairings formed quad style in groups of four by rating.

50/50 fundraiser for the chess club, 50% of entries go to prizes — 75% of prize fund goes to first place for each group, 25% for second place.

Time control: 20 minutes or 10m+10s if an entire group has digital clocks.

Bring a clock if you can.

7pm. Second floor 91 Albert.

Facebook event

April 26, 2014 through April 24, 2015

Income

• $1077.60 admission contributions
• $147.00 equipment contributed
• $145.50 Nov, 2014 tournament
• $65.00 March, 2015 simul
• $126.00 April, 2015 tournament
• $54.20 other

Total income: $1615.3

Expenses

• $935 rent
• $35.09 other

Total expenses: $970.09

Net income: $645.21.
Net income less equipment donated: $498.21

Assets

• $260.00 Bank account
• $297.50 Petty cash
• $1.96 Held by executives in trust
• $147.00 Equipment

Total assets: $706.46

Liabilities

• $50 rent
• $11.25 tournament fund

Total liabilities: $61.25

Net worth: $645.21
Net worth less equipment: $498.21

Our tournament will be a four round swiss with all pairings as double match-ups where you’ll be able to play as both white and black making for a total of 8 games.

Doors at noon, registration ends at 12:30.

Cost: $15

Time control: 5 minutes + 2 seconds

Between rounds 2 and 3 (around 13:30) there will be an included pizza lunch provided by Panago.

Guaranteed cash prize fund provided by Chandra Iyer of $100 + 50% of all entries fees. Under prize structure to be announces soon, but expect a greater emphasis on overall prizes vs our first tournament.

1st place overall will include a cash prize and $100 Mariaggi’s theme suite hotel and spa. Tie breaks around 4pm will be held if required for this indivisible prize.

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Income

• $952.60 admission contributions
• $147.00 equipment contributed
• $145.50 tournament
• $54.20 other

Total income: $1299.30

Expenses

• $810 rent
• $35.09 other

Total expenses: $845.09

Net income: $454.21

Assets

• $318.50 Petty cash
• $24.96 Held by Mark in trust
• $147.00 Equipment

Total assets: $490.46

Liabilities

• $25 rent
• $11.25 tournament fund

Total liabilities: $36.25

Net worth: $454.21
Net worth less equipment: $307.21

A simultaneous chess exhibition with National Master Jonathon Zaczek. To be followed by a lecture on most interesting games/positions.

Where: 3rd Floor 91 Albert Street
When: 1-4pm, March 7, 2015

Admission: $10 (in support of Rudolf Rocker Chess Club)

Discounted admission for players registered in the Canadian Chess Challenge (Scholastic Chess Association of Manitoba):
Grades 1-6: free
Grades 7-9: $3
Grades 10-12: $5

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Mark secures his first class C norm (1509 tournament performance) and third long time control draw in a row. Won a $15 prize! (another first)

Income

• $725.75 admission contributions
• $45.00 equipment contributed
• $145.50 tournament
• $54.20 other

Total income: $970.45

Expenses

• $655 rent
• $35.09 other

Total expenses: $690.09

Net income: $280.36

Assets

• $276.25 Petty cash
• $20.36 Held by Mark in trust
• $45 Equipment

Total assets: $341.61

Liabilities

• $50 rent
• $11.25 tournament fund

Total liabilities: $61.25

Net worth: $280.36
Net worth less equipment: $235.36