The 2012 Bowser Builders Supply Open Chess tournament at the Legion Hall was a wild success.  Although numbers of registrants was down, the competition was fierce with players coming from as far away as Port Coquitlam.  Players were welcomed by Bowser Builders Supply sponsor Betsy Poel and by Area H director Bill Veenhof.  This year was the first that we have not been graced by the presence of world champion, Jason Cao who was busy competing in the US nationals in Oregon.  Participants were constrained by the fact that our tournament was scheduled on the August long weekend.  Since that was the only August day available at the hall we had to take what we could get.

In the end we had 12 competitors although I had to stand in for one absentee.  In lieu of Jason Cao we were blessed to have the company of another young comer, seven-year-old Patrick Huang was there with his father Charles from Victoria.  Patricks performance was remarkable.  He offered the faltering Neil Cruden (last years champion) a draw only to be turned down on a number of occasions.  Finally when Neil saw no chance he accepted another gracious offer from the young Patrick.  Patrick also defeated me quite handily.  Although that may not be such a surprise to some, I thought I had him beat when I noticed he was threatening to mate me first with a knight and a bishop.  I tried to hold him off but he was just too strong.

The biggest upsets were in round 1 when Patrick Huang drew against Neil Cruden and in round 5 when Nick Peters defeated Dejan Radic.  Perhaps the most improved player was Jordan Lathwell who tells me he has been studying with chess.com.

Tom Sprandel served again as our Tournament Director and his experience proved invaluable when the Swiss pairing software crashed.  His experience allowed him to do efficient pairing manually.  Good job Tom.  We are lucky to have you and your wife Marie in our Island community.

Many thanks to Bowser Builders Supply for the trophies and prizes and to the Regional District of Nanaimo for providing our equipment and to TOMM's Food Village for the much appreciated  gift bags.  We would also like to thank Legend Chess products and  American Chess Equipment who were very generous in providing prizes.

Cross Table Results for the Tournament

                           R1    R2    R3    R4	  Total
1  Paul Leblanc      1915  W12   W3    W4    W2    4
2  Rick Martinson    1662  W10   W9    W5    L1    3
3  Nick Peters       1485  W7    L1    W11   W5    3
4  Neil Cruden       1738  D9    W6    L1    W10   2.5
5  Dejan Radic       1814  W8    W7    L2    L3    2
6  Charles Huang      850  W11   L4    D10   D8    2
7  Jordan Lathwell    803  L3    L2    W12   W11   2
8  Micah Chesher     1250  L5    L11   W9    D6    1.5
9  Patrick Huang     1229  D4    L2    L8    W12   1.5
10 Dave Wilson       1213  L2    W12   D6    L4    1.5
11 Lucette Fuerst    1565  L6    W8    L3    L7    1
12 Robert McFetridge 1300  L1    L10   L7    L9    0