BCCF E-MAIL BULLETIN #58
Stephen Wright
[Back issues of the Bulletin are available on the above webpages.]
WORLD YOUTH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2005
The 2004 WYCC, currently underway in Heraklio, Crete, runs
until November 14. The tournament is an 11-round Swiss, divided in categories by age and
gender The Canadian delegation includes three players from B.C., Alexandra Botez
(U10G), Tiffany Tang (U14G), and Stefan Trandafir (U14B); after nine rounds they have 5, 4, and 2.5
points respectively. An indication of the strength of the competition can be judged from the
U14 Boys Section: out of the 123 participants there are 3 players over 2500, 4 IMs, 33 players over
2200, and 80 over 2000.
The only games by B.C. players that are currently available are two by
Alexandra Botez:
Tulay,S - Botez,A [B33] WYCC G10 Heraklio
(3.10), 06.11.2004
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Nd5 Nxd5 8.exd5 Nb8 9.c4 a6
10.Nc3 Bf5 11.Bd3 Bxd3 12.Qxd3 Be7 13.0-0 0-0 14.Be3 Nd7 15.Rac1 f5 16.f4 e4 17.Qd2 Rc8 18.Ne2 Nc5
19.Rc2 Qe8 20.b4 Nd3 21.Nc1 Nxc1 22.Rfxc1 Qd7 23.c5 dxc5 24.bxc5 Rfd8 25.d6 Bf6 26.Bd4 Bxd4+ 27.Qxd4
Rc6 28.Qb4 Rb8 29.a4 b6 30.Qb3+ Kf8 31.Rc4 a5 32.Qb5 Rb7 33.Rb1 h6 34.Rc2 Kf7 35.Kf1 g5 36.g3 g4
37.Ke2 h5 38.Rc3 Qc8 39.Rcc1 Qd7 40.Rc2 Kf8 41.Rcc1 Kf7 42.Rc2 Kf8 43.Rcc1 Ke8 44.Qb3 Qf7 45.Qb5 Qd7
46.Qb3 Qf7 47.Qb5 Qd7 48.Qb3 Kf8 49.Qb5 Kg7 50.Rc2 Kg6 51.Rcc1 Kf7 52.Rc2 Kf8 53.Rcc1 Ke8 54.Qb3 Kf8
55.Qb5 Kg7 ½-½
Botez,A - Litvak,E [A12] WYCC
G10 Heraklio (4.10), 06.11.2004
1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 c6 3.b3 Bg4 4.e3 e6 5.Be2 Nf6 6.d3 c5 7.Bb2 Be7 8.0-0 Nc6 9.Nbd2 0-0 10.cxd5 exd5 11.a3
Qc7 12.Rc1 Nd7 13.d4 b6 14.dxc5 bxc5 15.Ne1 Be6 16.Nd3 Rab8 17.Nf4 Bd6 18.Nf3 Bxf4 19.exf4 Qxf4
20.Rc2 d4 21.Bc4 Bg4 22.Bc1 Bxf3 23.Qxf3 Qxf3 24.gxf3 Na5 25.Bf4 Rb6 26.Rb1 Nxc4 27.Rxc4 Rf6 28.Bg3
Rxf3 29.Bd6 Rc8 30.b4 Rf5 31.bxc5 h6 32.Rxd4 Nxc5 33.Rc4 Rd5 34.Be7 Rc7 35.Bxc5 Rdxc5 36.Rb8+ Kh7
37.Rxc5 Rxc5 38.Rb7 Ra5 39.Rb3 Kg6 40.Rg3+ Rg5 41.Kg2 Kf5 42.Rxg5+ Kxg5 43.Kg3 Kf5 44.Kf3 g5 45.h3 h5
46.a4 a5 47.Kg3 Ke4 48.f3+ Ke3 49.Kg2 Kf4 50.Kf2 g4 51.fxg4 hxg4 52.h4 g3+ 53.Kg2 Kg4 54.h5 Kxh5
55.Kxg3 Kg5 56.Kf3 Kf5 57.Ke3 Kg4 58.Kd4 f5 59.Ke3 Kg3 60.Ke2 f4 61.Kd3 f3 62.Kc4 f2 63.Kb5 f1Q+
64.Kxa5 Qf3 65.Kb4 Qa8 66.Kb5 Kf4 67.a5 Ke5 68.Kb6 Kd6 69.a6 Qb8+ 70.Ka5 Kc5 71.a7 Qxa7#
0-1
WORLD SIMULTANEOUS BLINDFOLD RECORD
On November 6 our own Jonathan Berry tied a world record for most number of games played in a
blindfold simultaneous display by an exhibitor over 50 - 12! Yes, that's right folks, 12
games played at the same time without looking at the boards; his previous lifetime best was 10 games,
accomplished in Winnipeg in 1974. Further research is necessary, but at the moment it appears
the only other person to manage 12 boards over the age of 50 was George Koltanowski, in a display on
February 23, 1955 in Vancouver - he was 51 at the time. Congratulations to Jonathan on this
remarkable achievement; further details and his recollection of the games can be found at
http://members.shaw.ca/berry5868/blind.htm.
For comparison, here are three of Koltanowski's games from the 1955 display; it should be noted that
Koltanowski adopted the usual practice of taking White in all the games, while Jonathan accepted
Black on the six lowest boards.
Koltanowski,G - Arden,B [C50] Simul -
Vancouver, 23.02.1955
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d4 Bxd4 6.Nxd4 Nxd4 7.f4 d6 8.c3 Nc6 9.f5 a6
10.Bg5 b5 11.Bd5 Bb7 12.b4 Qe7 13.a4 0-0 14.axb5 axb5 15.Na3 Nd8 16.Bxb7 Nxb7 17.Nxb5 Qd7 18.Rxa8 Rxa8
19.Bxf6 gxf6 20.c4 c5 21.bxc5 Nxc5 22.Qd5 Ra6 23.Rd1 Nb7 24.Kf2 Qc6 25.Qxc6 Rxc6 26.Ra1 Rxc4 27.Ra7 Nc5
28.Nxd6 Nxe4+ 29.Nxe4 Rxe4 30.g3 Rd4 31.Kf3 h5 ½-½
Koltanowski,G - Butkov,E [B50] Simul - Vancouver, 23.02.1955
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 Nf6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Be2 Bg7 8.0-0 0-0 9.h3 a6
10.Be3 b5 11.a3 Bb7 12.d5 Na5 13.b4 Rc8 14.Bd4 Nc4 15.Nd2 Nxd2 16.Qxd2 e6 17.dxe6 fxe6 18.Rfd1 e5
19.Be3 d5 20.exd5 Kh8 21.Bc5 Rf7 22.d6 Qd7 23.a4 Rxc5 24.bxc5 b4 25.Na2 Qc6 26.Bf3 e4 27.Nxb4 Qxc5
28.Rac1 Qb6 29.Be2 e3 30.Qxe3 Qxb4 31.Rc7 1-0
Koltanowski,G - McLeod,Mrs. [D33] Simul - Vancouver, 23.02.1955
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.g3 Nc6 7.Bg2 Bd6 8.0-0 h6 9.h3 0-0
10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Na4 Bd6 12.Be3 Be6 13.Nc5 Qc7 14.Nxe6 fxe6 15.Rc1 Qd7 16.Nd4 a6 17.Nxc6 bxc6 18.Bc5 Rf7
19.Bxd6 Qxd6 20.e4 d4 21.e5 Qxe5 22.Re1 Qf5 23.Qxd4 Nd7 24.Rxc6 Raf8 25.Rexe6 Qb1+ 26.Kh2 Rxf2 27.Re7
Rxg2+ 28.Kxg2 Qf1+ 29.Kh2 0-1
VANCOUVER SEASONAL GRAND PRIX #1: FALL OPEN by ben daswani
Sixteen players showed up to the Fall Open, including one master (Lucas Davies) and three experts
(former B.C. Champion Dragoljub Milicevic, Stephen Wright and Mehrdad Yousefzadeh). The
tournament was four rounds which, ideally, is perfect for a 16-player Swiss. The tournament
took place at SFU, which was a very nice location for the first day! More on that later...
Round one featured only one upset, when Aviv Milner (who is greatly underrated) beat
the #5 player, Noam Davies. When Yousefzadeh and Wright took byes in rounds two and three
respectively, and Lucas Davies conceded a draw to Ben Daswani in round two, Milicevic rose to the top
of the pack. In round three, with white, he drew Lucas Davies and in round four he easily
disposed of Daswani to clinch first with a score of 3.5/4. In second was Lucas with 3.0/4 and
in third were a multiplicity of players. In the end, the prizes broke down like this:
First: Dragoljub Milicevic
Second: Lucas Davies
Third, 1st U2000, 2nd U2000, 1st U1600, 2nd U1600: Mehrdad Yousefzadeh, Noam Davies, Ben Daswani,
Vlad Gaciu, Richard Huang
1st U1300: Aviv Milner
2nd U1300: Valery Milner
As I said before, SFU was a very nice site on the first day. On the second day,
however, shockingly, the room was locked. After inquiring of the security officers, we
were informed that as we had no proof that we were really chessplayers (as opposed to thieving
pirates out to pilfer laminated paper chessboards), we would not be allowed to go into the
room. After an hour of negotiating, we were able to acquire the sets but, unfortunately, we
were not allowed to play in the room (even after offering to pay double rent). Eventually, we
found a functionable study area on campus and set up shop there.
Crosstable: http://www.chess.ca/xtable.asp?TNum=200411048
36th CHESS OLYMPIAD - CALVIA
Valentina Goutor finished the 36th Chess Olympiad in Calvia, Spain
on a high note, helping the Women's team to win its last two matches to end the tournament
in a tie for 37th (out of 87). The last round brought her her first win, exploiting a weak
d4-square on the Black side of a King's Indian Defence:
Pleim,M (LUX) - Goutor,V (2013) [A48] Calvia ol wom Calvia (14.3), 29.10.2004
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bf4 Bg7 4.e3 0-0 5.c4 d6 6.Nc3 Nbd7 7.Be2 c6 8.0-0 Qe8 9.Rc1 e5
10.dxe5 dxe5 11.Bg5 h6 12.Bxf6 Nxf6 13.e4 Bg4 14.h3 Bxf3 15.Bxf3 Qe7 16.Qb3 Rfd8 17.Rfd1 Ne8 18.Rxd8
Rxd8 19.Rd1 Rxd1+ 20.Nxd1 h5 21.Qd3 Nc7 22.Nc3 Ne6 23.Bd1 Nf4 24.Qf3 Qc5 25.Bb3 Qd4 26.Qd1 Nd3 27.Qe2
Bh6 28.Nd1 Bc1 29.c5 Nxc5 30.Qc4 Qxc4 31.Bxc4 Nxe4 32.f3 Nd6 33.Bb3 Kg7 34.Kf2 Nb5 35.Bc2 f5 36.b3
Kf6 37.Bd3 Nd4 38.Nc3 Bd2 39.Ne2 Ne6 40.Bb1 Nc5 41.Ng3 h4 42.Nf1 Bb4 43.Ke2 Ke6 44.Bc2 Kd5 45.Nd2
Bxd2 46.Kxd2 Kd4 47.Bb1 e4 48.fxe4 Nxe4+ 0-1
Internet coverage: http://www.36chessolympiad.com/ or http://chess-olympiad.com/ (among others)
VANCOUVER SATURDAY NIGHT SWISS by Eduardo Azmitia
The delayed final game of this tournament between Noam Davies and Savvas Kyriakides was a
hard-fought draw, resulting in both players tying for first in the event with 3.5/5.
Crosstables:
VANCOUVER ADULT/JUNIOR GRAND PRIX #3
IMPORTANT!! Grand Prix #3 (November 14th), originally scheduled for the Vancouver
Bridge Centre, will instead take place at St. John's School, 2215 10th Avenue West, Vancouver. We
hope to see you all there (the Open Section is open to adults as well as juniors).
1954 B.C. CHAMPIONSHIP
"Miervaldis Jursevskis won the major section of the 1954-55 B.C. chess championship tournaments, thus
becoming the provincial title holder, with the score of 8-2. The championship has been won by Mr.
Jursevskis upon two previous occasions. In the present event, runners-up in a triple tie were:
Leo. M. Duval, Jack Taylor and George Zerkowitz, each scoring 7-3. Remaining scores in this
strongly-contested tournament were as follows: Howard Rideout, 6.5-3.5; John G. Prentice, 5-5; Frank
May, 4-6; Axel Carlson and Charlie Millar, 3.5-6.5; G. Kowalewski, 2.5-7.5; and E.B. Nelson, 1-9."
[Vancouver Province, May 5, 1954.]
Jursevskis went on to win the B.C. title a total of six times, a feat subsequently equalled by Elod
Macskasy but only surpassed by John Ewing, the first title holder, who won the championship seven
times. Jursevskis recently celebrated his eighty-third birthday, so it's appropriate to recall
his life and playing career:
Miervaldis Jursevskis ("Walter") (November 6, 1921 - )
Born in Riga Beach, Latvia. He studied architecture at the University of Riga for four years, but
eventually decided to concentrate on art. In May 1945 he left Riga by sea just before the
advancing Soviet forces arrived; he landed at Kiel, and spent the next two years in various D.P.
(Displaced Person) camps across Germany. In 1948 Jursevskis emigrated to Canada, and after a
year's employment with the CPR (to fulfill contractual requirements) he settled in Vancouver, working
as a commercial artist for the Eatons company. In later life he carried out freelance work and
also repaired porcelain and crystal. He is still alive, leading a quiet retirement in North
Burnaby.
Jursevskis learnt chess from his father at age six or seven, and achieved success in a number of events
in Riga, including winning the city championship on one occasion. As a displaced person after WW2
he played in a number of small international events, including Blomberg and Lübeck (both 1945),
Meerbeck (1946) and Hanau (1947). In these events Jursevskis crossed swords with strong players
from the Baltic countries who were also in D.P. camps, along with German and Austrian masters,
including Bogoljubow, Sämisch, Rellstab, Zemgalis, Endzelins, and Arlauskas (the latter two emigrated
to Australia and became correspondence GMs).
After moving to B.C. Jursevskis largely outclassed the local opposition, a situation which continued
until the arrival of Elod Macskasy in 1957. Jursevskis entered the 1949 B.C. Championship and won
it with a perfect score, repeating the same feat the following year. He went on to win the
championship a further four years in succession, 1954-1957; in recognition of his achievements,
Jursevskis was given the championship trophy, the Chris Spencer Cup, in perpetuity. He played in
three Canadian Championships, his best result occurring in 1957 when he tied for third behind Vaitonis
and Fuster. Jursevskis was a very good blitz player, and is still a formidable opponent, despite
being over eighty-years old! His two favourite openings are the Ruy Lopez and the Cambridge
Springs defence - an example of the latter appears below:
May,F - Jursevskis,M [D52] BC ch Vancouver (6),
19.04.1954
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Nf3 Qa5 7.Nd2 Bb4 8.Qc2 dxc4 9.Bxf6 Nxf6
10.Nxc4 Qg5 11.a3 Be7 12.Ne4 Nxe4 13.Qxe4 0-0 14.Ne5 Bd6 15.Nf3 Qa5+ 16.Nd2 e5 17.dxe5 Bxe5 18.Qc2 Be6
19.Bd3 h6 20.0-0 Rad8 21.Rab1 Rxd3 22.Qxd3 Rd8 23.Nc4 Bxh2+ 24.Kh1 Qh5 25.Qxd8+ Kh7 26.Qd3+ g6 27.Qd1
Qh4 28.Qd4 Bf4+ 29.Kg1 Qh2# 0-1
Taylor,J - Zerkowitz,G [B74] BC ch
Vancouver (6), 19.04.1954
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be2 Bg7 7.Be3 Nc6 8.0-0 0-0 9.Nb3 Be6 10.f4 Qc8 11.h3
Rd8 12.Nd4 Nxd4 13.Bxd4 d5 14.e5 Ne8 15.g4 f6 16.Bd3 fxe5 17.fxe5 Nd6 18.Bxg6 Nc4 19.Bf5 Nxe5 20.Kg2
Bxf5 21.Rxf5 Ng6 22.Bxg7 Nh4+ 23.Kh1 Nxf5 24.gxf5 Qxf5 25.Qd4 Qxh3+ 26.Kg1 Rd6 27.Kf2 Rg6 28.Rg1 Qh2+
29.Kf1 Qxg1+ 30.Qxg1 Rxg1+ 31.Kxg1 Kxg7 32.Nxd5 Kf7 0-1
UPCOMING EVENTS
To save space, from now on I will only give basic information for events - date, place, and type.
Full details for all the events listed here may be found on the BCCF site,
www.chess.bc.ca.
Junior Events
Nov. 14 Island Junior Open #3
Nov. 14 Vancouver Grand Prix #3
Nov. 26-28 B.C. Junior Championship, Vancouver
Dec 12 Victoria City Championship
UBC November Tuesday Night Swiss
Dates: November 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30
Place: UBC SUB
Type: 5-round Swiss
Silver Star Challenge (Interior Qualifier)
Date: November 13 & 14
Place: Holiday Inn Express, 4716 34th St., Vernon
Type: 5-round Swiss
Vancouver Grand Prix #3
Date: November 14
Place: Vancouver Bridge Centre
Type: 3-round Swiss
Jack Taylor Memorial
Date: November 20-21
Place: University of Victoria
Type: 5-round Swiss
Kamloops Fall Classic
Date: November 27-28
Vancouver Team Tournament
Dates: January 15, 16
Place: UBC SUB, rooms 214/216
Type: 5-round Swiss or round robin
Don McAdam Memorial
Date: January 22-23
Place: University of Victoria
Type: 5-round Swiss
Date: April 23-24
Place: University of Victoria
Type: 5-round Swiss
Island Open
Date: June 11-12
Place: University of Victoria
Type: 5-round Swiss