Third Annual Collingwood Chess Festival May 3-5

[Hal Bond]

We have reached capacity for Collingwood this weekend. In order to ensure all bye requests have been entered, PRELIMINARY pairings will be posted around 1pm on Chess-Results. Kindly contact the organizers if a problem is spotted.**Final pairings will be posted at 5pm.

[Hal Bond]

The Third Annual Collingwood Somborac Chess Festival attracted a record 90 players and featured a guaranteed $4,000 prize fund. Next year we will need a bigger venue!

The drama at the board was simply delightful once again this year. The fact that Tony Li (1948) quietly posted a 2400+ performance to finish clear first (congratulations Tony! Simply awesome) was practically eclipsed by the thrilling story of the Starrs.

Nava and Sasha Starr have been shining in Collingwood from the very beginning in 2022.

After falling to Tony in the first round, WIM Nava Starr posted 4 straight wins, finishing alone in second, half a point off the pace. Nava recently turned 75, and yet played with the endurance of a teenager.

Sasha was also in good form, racking up 3.5 points in the first 4 rounds. He was on first board in the final round with the ultimate champion Tony Li.

Two of our young women joined Sasha in the 3.5 point group – congratulations to Valerie Ruchinskaya and Hancy Jiang.

The U1900 featured a 3 way tie for first place at 4/5. Congratulations to Mario Moran Venegas, Andrew Leliveld and Zihan Hong.

Slobodan Markovic topped the U1500 division with 4.5, followed by 5 players at 4.0. They are Mila Aung Thwin, Robert Gillanders, Caleb Hart, Evan O’Connor Fernando and Alex Dodd. The top unrated prize went to Calvin Van Harten.

Next year, the first weekend of May, see you at the 4th Annual Collingwood Somborac Chess Festival!