Summer Chess Tournaments

[Matthew Turner]

Hi,
I would like to play a chess tournament in Canada in the summer, any time from the last week in July to the end of August. My hope is to combine playing a tournament and watching a CFL game (I went to Minneapolis to see the Vikings last year). My rating is about 2520 GM; I am not looking for massive appearance fees, but obviously if I can earn some money to help pay for the trip it would be nice. Any help or advice on tournaments would be much appreciated.
Matt Turner

[Kerry Liles]

Hi,
I would like to play a chess tournament in Canada in the summer, any time from the last week in July to the end of August. My hope is to combine playing a tournament and watching a CFL game (I went to Minneapolis to see the Vikings last year). My rating is about 2520 GM; I am not looking for massive appearance fees, but obviously if I can earn some money to help pay for the trip it would be nice. Any help or advice on tournaments would be much appreciated.
Matt Turner

What month is it in England? It is already half-past September here in Canada, so your July through August timeframe is well behind us...

[Matthew Turner]

Sorry, I am trying to plan ahead, so I am talking about 2012. We have nothing interesting in England then

[Kerry Liles]

Sorry, I am trying to plan ahead, so I am talking about 2012. We have nothing interesting in England then

Cool - sorry for pulling your chain ( a little ).

I am amazed that England plans their hiatus so early and so thoroughly.
You may want to look at the tournament calendar on this forum (see "tournament announcements") - the most likely tournament for you might be the 2012 Canadian Open.

Here is the announcement for that tournament:

http://monroi.com/2012-cocc-home.html

[Matthew Turner]

I know a number of English players who have been to the Canadian Open and had a great time. Unfortunately, it is at the beginning of July and the big bad world of work prevents my attendance

[Fred McKim]

I know a number of English players who have been to the Canadian Open and had a great time. Unfortunately, it is at the beginning of July and the big bad world of work prevents my attendance

The Quebec Open might fit your schedule. It is usually the last week in July with at least 6 or more GM's.

[Matthew Turner]

Last year I tried E-mailing the Quebec organisers in mid Feb (in English) then the beginning of March (in French). I never got any response. That is one reason for me being quick off the block this time around. Is there somebody good in Quebec to get in touch with?

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Hi,
I would like to play a chess tournament in Canada in the summer, any time from the last week in July to the end of August. My hope is to combine playing a tournament and watching a CFL game (I went to Minneapolis to see the Vikings last year). My rating is about 2520 GM; I am not looking for massive appearance fees, but obviously if I can earn some money to help pay for the trip it would be nice. Any help or advice on tournaments would be much appreciated.
Matt Turner

Hi Matt,

At the Canadian Open last year the organizers addressed the CFC general assembly meeting and mentioned that they planned to organize a high profile tournament in Toronto around August with a similar schedule and format to the Canadian Open as an alternative to bidding on the 2012 Canadian Open which then went to a group from British Columbia. I will look into into whether these plans are proceeding and post my findings here. There are usually tournaments in Guelph, Kitchener and Hamilton (all three a one hour drive from Toronto) around this time but those are small weekend events that usually attract a GM or two and a few IMs. Hamilton, Toronto and Montreal all have CFL teams, though I don't follow Canadian football that closely.

Vladimir Drkulec
CFC Masters Representative
and CFC Tournament Coordinator

[Kai G. Gauer]

A site for Canadian Football League http://www.cfl.ca/ would show schedules (typically, on weekends such as the Labour day classic, teams with histories of facing of repeatedly that week tend to often play one another - examples are: Calgary vs Edmonton, but am not sure how they choose which city to host it at ... often, the stadium with larger seating gets it, & likely there could be a couple of choices of cities for your favourite team). http://www.nba.com/raptors/ (NBA), http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=tor (MLB) & http://www.nhl.com/ (NHL) seem to be other major sporting leagues with some Canadian teams participating.

Rumours about commuters trying to avoid the Toronto Indy traffic near Gardiner made for a couple of days of holiday weekend gridlock, if that's what you seek in a Canadian open. Perhaps the SWOCL, EOCA, GTCL or Montreal leagues (to name but a few) have their 2012 calendars up yet - but some of the SWOCL tournaments seem to cycle between cities relatively periodically during the past few seasons (example: check for the canadian universities' reading week schedules to see when a city is likely to rent a cheap & quiet university hall rate). Toronto & the Labour Day (chess) classic often seem to be synonymous with the same weekends, but it doesn't appear that much has been announced yet. Some tournament flyers also post ideas for players trying to make tournaments across the border such as Pennsylvania's World open or similar - often times, a quick train trip around the Toronto - Montreal - NY corridors.

[Hugh Brodie]

I can keep anyone updated on the Quebec Open. The 2012 edition will be held July 21-28 in Montreal. I'm not involved with invitations, sponsorship money, etc. - but I can put you in contact with people who are.

Primary contact would be Richard Berube (the "director-general" of the Quebec federation) at dirgen@fqechecs.qc.ca, or info@fqechecs.qc.ca .

Mention my name, and if you don't get a reasonably quick reponse, let me know.