The 2007 Canadian Open Chess Championship, to be staged from July 7 to 15 at the Ottawa Marriott in Canada’s capital, has all the makings of a milestone event for chess in Canada. In the last month, the organizers have announced a number of positive developments, including:
* The projected prize fund has increased to $25,000 CAD based on 200 paid entries
* Confirmed are 15 GMs and 7 IMs, representing more than a dozen chess federations (Norm-seekers take note!) The top seeds are GMs Nigel Short, Vadim Milov, Sergey Tiviakov and Victor Mikhalevski. The other GMs are GMs Mark Bluvshtein (Canada), Viorel Iordachescu (Moldova), Suat Atalik (Turkey), Alex Yermolinsky (USA), David Howell (Great Britain), Borislav Ivkov (Serbia), Valerie Aveskulov (Ukraine), Abhijit Kunte (India), Frank de la Paz (Cuba), Tu Hoang Thong (Vietnam) and Tomas Likavsky (Slovakia).
* The event have more than 170 registered players taking part in its single section, of which more than 140 are paid entrants.
* There will be a great slate of side events, made possible because during the weekdays of our event, there is only one evening round. On tap are lectures by GMs Yermolinsky (The Classical Sicilian), Mikhalevski (The Grunfeld Defence) and Likavsky (chess psychology / preparing for specific opponents). IM Lawrence Day will launch his book on the late Canadian IM Bryon Nickoloff. There will be a number of simuls too, and some titled players will be offering individual and group lessons.
* A blitz tournament with an enhanced prize fund and a bughouse tournament are in the works.
The 2007 Canadian Open will be staged at the Ottawa Marriott from July 7 to 15 in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. Ottawa is a 90-minute direct US Air flight from Philadelphia, if you are playing the World Open but feeling like more chess after. If you haven’t registered yet, but are thinking about it, please bear in mind:
* Until May 31, the entry fee is $125 CAD. After, until July 6, the entry fee is $150 CAD. At the Marriott, the entry fee will be $175 CAD.
* Until June 6, Canadian Open players can reserve hugely discounted accommodation at the Ottawa Marriott — $89/night single or double; $99 CAD/night triple; $109 CAD/night quad. After June 6, the rate will almost certainly soar, and we recommend that out-of-towners reserve if there’s a chance they will play – the reservations can be cancelled with no penalty until July 2.
The website www.canchess.ca http://www.canchess.ca provides links for:
* online registration
* online reservation of accommodation at the Ottawa Marriott
* full tournament details
* a constantly updated list of registered players
* a blog with detailed tournament news and updates
The event is extremely grateful for the kind and generous support of numerous corporate sponsors and donors, topped by Hill & Knowlton Canada and Magmic Games.
Hill & Knowlton Canada is Canada’s industry leader in public relations, public affairs and strategic communications. http://www.hillandknowlton.ca
Magmic Games, based in Ottawa, is a leading developer and publisher of mobile entertainment, offering a wide variety of action, sports, casino, puzzle, and multiplayer games for BlackBerry, J2ME, Brew, and Sidekick handsets. (www.magmic.com)
Other sponsors include: The Ottawa Marriott, The Ottawa Citizen, OZ Optics, ATFCAN, Bell Canada, the British High Commission, the Embassy of the Slovak Republic, the Embassy of Israel and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland.
The Canadian Open even overlaps this year with the the Cisco Systems Ottawa Bluesfest!
E-mail: canopenchess@gmail.com
Event website: http://www.canchess.ca
Wow. I didn’t know about this one. Thanks!
Susan, you told here before that you were coming to Ottawa for this event. Please let us know which day you’ll be here, I want to come to see you from Montreal..
Melody
That’s a darned good GM turnout for only 25,000 Loonies!
Waw
That’s a great event! Really a milestone for Canadian chess. I don’t remember any tournaments of this caliber ever played in Canada.
That’s great news.
abie weiler !
1979 Montreal: Tal, Spassky, Larsen, Karpov..
It was the strongest tournement of Canada..
Regards,
Melody
One round in the evening is just lovely. It sounds like a european tournament. You have time to enjoy the city with your family during the day instead of being holed down with two rounds a day.
I wish them great success so the tournament comes back next year.
Borislav (Boris) Ivkov (12. November 1933, Belgrad) ist ein serbischer Schachmeister und war jahrzehntelang einer der führenden Schachspieler in Jugoslawien.
Bereits als 14jähriger gelang es ihm, Jugendmeister Jugoslawiens zu werden, zwei Jahre später errang er den nationalen Meistertitel durch einen geteilten 4.-7. Platz bei der Jugoslawischen Meisterschaft. 1951 gewann er als 18jähriger die erste Jugendweltmeisterschaft, die die FIDE ausrichtete. In den Jahren 1964 – 1979 qualifizierte er sich fünf Mal für das Interzonenturnier und gelangte auch einmal, in Amsterdam 1964 (7. Platz), ins Kandidatenturnier. Er verlor im Viertelfinale (Bled 1965) gegen den Dänen Bent Larsen mit 2,5-5,5 (+1-4=3).
Ivkov vertrat seit 1956 Jugoslawien 12 Mal bei der Schacholympiade und wurde mit seiner Mannschaft sechs Mal Silbermedaillen- und drei Mal Bronzemedaillengewinner. Als Einzelspieler gewann er bei den Olympiaden zweimal Gold für das jeweils beste Einzelergebnis an seinem Brett. Sein bestes Turnierergebnis erzielte Ivkov 1965 in Zagreb, als er mit Wolfgang Uhlmann den ersten Platz teilte und den amtierenden Weltmeister Tigran Petrosjan hinter sich ließ.
Ivkov gewann fünf Mal die Meisterschaft Jugoslawiens. 2006 wurde er in Davos Europameister der Senioren.
Seine beste historische Elo-Zahl von 2715 erreichte er im Oktober 1956.[1] Seine aktuelle Elo-Zahl beträgt 2414 (Stand: April 2007).
That is great! It seems Canada is really working to improve their chess and tournaments in their country.
If I was local I would surely come to this tournament.
I assume their will be some type of live coverage on the internet with monroi since it is a Canadian event?
Thanks for the kind words above! Two follow-up points…
1) Susan will be in Ottawa July 3 for the Canadian Youth Chess Championship. She is the event’s honorary chairwoman.
2) Yes, MonRoi will be covering the top boards. I can’t recall off-hand how many will be covered, but it’s on the order of 10 to 25, I think.
This event will be great. I know the organizers and they are top notch gentleman. They are putting in a lot of time to make this a successful event and obviously their connections are paying off. Good job guys.
Abie Weiler,
The 2005 Canadian Open in Edmonton had Ivanchuk and Shirov and Bologan playing, along with other GM’s.
This is a great event, but I’m just noting that Canada has held other tournaments with top level GM’s too.
Way to organize, Peter!
Micah Hughey