9th Montreal International

[Bob Armstrong]

Posted by Richard Berube on the Old Chesstalk on August 23, 2008, 16:54:16

The 9th Montreal international chess tournament will take place in the headquarters of the Empresa compagny, 304 Notre-Dame est in Montreal (metro Champ-de-Mars).

Dates : August 24 to september 2 (RR 9 rounds)
Category : 13
Participants : GMs Nakamura, Shulman, Akobian, Mazé, Nataf, Kovalyov, Bluvshtein, Charbonneau and IMs Roussel-Roozmon and Zugic.

Live games on the site.

http://perso.b2b2c.ca/lesechecauquebec/tim2008.htm

[Bob Armstrong]

Note that the rounds for " live games " start at 5:00 PM ( except the last round, which starts at 2:00 pm ).

Bluvshtein and Charbonneau won their first round games.

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

Can. GM Mark Bluvshtein ( 2548 ) is playing GM Yuri Shulman ( 2623 ) in Rd. 2 ( he is in a three-way tie for first ). At move 31, he is up Q vs R + B + P. Should be an interesting middle game.

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

At move 41, it looks like Shulman's R & B have trapped Bluvshtein's K on the K-side in a perpetual check, and Mark's Q is not in position to help. Though no final result is yet posted , there haven't been any moves for a while. It looks like a draw to me. I'll let you know if it turns out otherwise ( since we patzers are known to fumble the ball from time to time ).

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

In the column for " Federation " , Anton Kovalyov is shown as " Canadian ". But I just checked with the FIDE site, and his federation is still shown as " Argentina ", where he just played in the Argentinian championship.

The other boards have had messages saying that there were mix-ups in CFC dealing with Anton on changing federation, he had become frustrated, and was not pursuing a transfer of federation to Canada at the present time ( though he and his family now live in Canada ).

Does anyone have an explanation for this discrepancy in the listing of Anton's federation on the official Montreal International site? :confused:

Bob

[Peter Stockhausen]

Keving Spraggett has lived in Portugal for 20+ years, yet plays under the Canadian Flag.
Nothing unsual, look at soccer players....
Cheers
Peter

[Bob Armstrong]

Posted by Stephen Wright on the Old ChessTalk on August 26, 2008, 0:19:13, in reply to "9th Montreal International"

Why, in the Canadian Open and now in the International, is Kovalyov being referred to as a GM? He may have completed the requirements and the title has been applied for, but according to the FIDE site it has not yet been awarded. This is important in situations where other players are seeking norms and need to meet a certain number of titled players.

[Bob Armstrong]

Hi Peter:

Different situation - Kevin has kept his link to the Canadian Federation. You can live anywhere, yet still play for your home country. Here Kovalyov is still attached to his home country, but is wrongly ( I think ) shown as belonging to the Canadian Federation. Why did the organizers do this?

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

Hi again Peter:

Note that Hikaru Nakamura, who is now living in Canada, is shown as with the USA Federation, while Kovalyov is shown as Canadian, not Argentina. Why the discrepancy?

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

After 3 rounds, GM Hikaru Nakamura ( who now lives in Canada, but still is a member of the USA federation ) and Canadian GM Pascal Charbonneau, 2 time Canadian Champion ( who now lives in USA ), are co-leaders with 2.5 pts..:)

Bluvshtein, who had been sharing the lead, lost to Akobian.:(

Bob

[Kerry Liles]

Hi again Peter:

Note that Hikaru Nakamura, who is now living in Canada, is shown as with the USA Federation, while Kovalyov is shown as Canadian, not Argentina. Why the discrepancy?

Bob

I don't think Hikaru Nakamura has actually moved to Canada, I understood he was here for educational purposes. Perhaps that is incorrect?

[Jonathan Berry]

We're all here for educational purposes, Kerry.

If you mean that you think that Hikaru is taking something on the order of University classes, no, not AFAIK.

Strange thing in this reply tab (Firefox 2.0.0.16): the page just kept trying to reload (every couple of seconds) until I pressed the Esc key, then it seemed normal, knock on wood.

I agree with Lawrence. That game sure took the hack out of Накамура. Tust to jest that Cyrillic could be copied-and-pasted, of course!

[Bob Armstrong]

The co-leaders going into Rd. 4, GM Hikaru Nakamura ( USA - 2697 ) and GM Pascal Charbonneau ( Canada - 2499 ), 2 time Canadain Champion, played each other and drew, ending up in a 4-way tie for the lead. The other 2 with 3 pts. are : GM Varzuhan Akobian ( USA - 2610 ) and GM Yuri Shulman ( USA - 2623 ).

Canadian GM Mark Bluvshtein ( 2548 ) won against fellow Canadian IM Thomas Roussel-Roozman ( 2486 ), and is half a point back with 2.5 pts..

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

2 time Canadian Champion, GM Pascal Charbonneau ( 2499 ), who now lives in USA, and who was tied for the lead going into Rd. 5, had a rather quiet draw with Canadian GM Mark Bluvshtein ( 2548 ). This dropped him out of first place, and he is now ½ pt. behind the sole leader, USA GM Yuri Shulman ( 2623 ).who now has 4 pts. Another co-leader, USA GM Hikaru Nakamura ( 2697 ) went down to defeat to 2006 Canadian Champion, IM Igor Zugic ( 2457 ). USA GM Varzuhan Akobian, also tied for first going into Rd. 5, drew as well ( Q + P vs B + N + 3 P’s ), and so also dropped into a tie for second with Charbonneau.

[Bob Armstrong]

It is interesting to note that in covering the Montreal International, the Susan Polgar Blog and The Week in Chess both show Kovalyov's federation as Argentina ( not Canada as the Montreal organizers are doing on their site ).

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

It's 5:40 pm, Friday, and I went to the official site and under " live games " it is still showing yesterday's Rd. 5 games. The rounds start at 5:00 pm.

Does anyone know what's happening with Rd. 6? Is today a " rest day " or something?

Bob

[Kerry Liles]

It's 5:40 pm, Friday, and I went to the official site and under " live games " it is still showing yesterday's Rd. 5 games. The rounds start at 5:00 pm.

Does anyone know what's happening with Rd. 6? Is today a " rest day " or something?

Bob

Check the schedule... http://perso.b2b2c.ca/lesechecauquebec/ronde_6.htm

Rd 6 is on Saturday, so I guess today is for resting up.

[Bob Armstrong]

Hi Kerry:

Thx

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

After 6 rounds, USA GM Yuri Shulman, held onto the lead by half a point ( 4.5 pts. ), with a draw against 2nd/3rd placer USA GM Varzuhan Akobian, who remains tied for 2nd/3rd. Tied with him now is Canadian GM Mark Bluvshtein, also with 4 pts., who defeated 2006 Canadian Champion, IM Igor Zugic ( who had defeated USA GM Hikaru Nakamura in Rd. 5 ! ). Nakamura and 2 time Can. Champion, Pascal Charbonneau ( who lost to Argentine GM Anton Kovalyov ), are tied for 4th/5th with 3. 5 pts..

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

U.S.A GM Yuri Shulman drew in Rd. 7 , to stay in first place ( 5 pts. ), 1/2 pt. ahead of Canadian GM Mark Bluvshtein ( 2548 ) who also drew ( with USA GM Hikaru Nakamura - 2697 - Nakamura could not promote his extra P in the ending ) and who is alone in second now. USA GM Varzuhan Akobian who was tied with him for 2nd/3rd going into Rd. 7, lost ( and so now has 4 pts. - tied for 3rd/4th with Nakamura ). Pascal Charbonneau, who had been tied for 4th/5th, lost to French GM Sebastien Maze, and drops down into 5th/7th, with 3.5 pts..

[Bob Armstrong]

1 - GM Nakamura Hikaru 2697 USA * ½ 1 - ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 0 5
2 - GM Shulman Yuri 2623 USA ½ * ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ - 6
3 - GM Akobian Varuzhan 2610 USA 0 ½ * ½ 1 1 0 - ½ 1 4½
4 - GM Mazé Sébastien 2553 FRA - 0 ½ * 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 4
5 - GM Bluvshtein Mark 2548 CAN ½ ½ 0 1 * - ½ ½ 1 1 5
6 - GM Kovalyov Anton 2548 CAN 0 0 0 ½ - * ½ 1 ½ ½ 3
7 - GM Nataf Igor 2534 FRA ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ * ½ - ½ 4
8 - GM Charbonneau Pascal 2499 CAN ½ 0 - 0 ½ 0 ½ * 1 1 3½
9 - MI Roussel-Roozmon Thomas 2486 CAN 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ - 0 * ½ 2
10 - MI Zugic Igor 2457 CAN 1 - 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ * 3

[Bob Armstrong]

The final 9th round was played tonight, and USA GM Yuri Shulman ended up in first, after leading for much of the tournament, a full point ahead of 2nd/4th ( 6.5 pts. ). In 2nd/4th at 5.5 pts. were USA GM Varzuhan Akobian ( the only decisive game of the round, defeating 2 time Canadian Champion, GM Pascal Charbonneau ), and USA GM Hikaru Nakamura ( highest rated player in the tournament ). Canadian GM Mark Bluvshtein, is shown on the results table as having an unplayed game against GM elect, Anton Kovalyov, and thus only 5 pts., rather than 5.5 pts, tying him for second. But he and Kovalyov played in the last round and drew, so it must just be that the results table has not been completed. Thus Blluvshtein ties for 2nd/4th as well.

Other Canadian scores were:
3.5 pts - Charbonneau and 2006 Canadian Champion, IM Igor Zugic
2.5 pts. - IM Thomas Roussel-Roozman

GM elect, Anton Kovalyov, who plays for Argentina , but now lives with his family in Canada, scored 3.5 pts.( though currently shown on the results table as having and unplayed game with Bluvshtein; likely just not completed yet ).