7th Bowser Builders Supply Chess Tournament

Results

Jason Cao of Victoria returned to Bowser this year to win the first place prize.  He played in our first tournament 7 years ago before he won the junior world championship in Greece. The only point lost by Jason Cao was to Patrick Huang who won the junior prize.  After four rounds Roger Patterson and Nick Peters were tied for second place with 3 points each.  Roger was the winner of a blitz game but he graciously allowed Nick to have the second place Zagreb chess set from Chess Bazaar.  Other juniors, Michael Luo and Anthony Xu from Victoria performed well.  Thanks to all participants and our sponsors Mac and Betsy at Bowser Builders Supply. 

Lucette Fuerst of Nanoose once again wins the ladies trophy.

click the image to see videos from the tournament

You are invited to register for the August 9, 2015 open chess tournament sponsored again by Bowser Builders Supply at the Bowser Legion Hall.  Our sponsors Mac and Betsy have graciously agreed to provide premium chess sets for first and second place winners from the makers of fine hand-made ebony, rosebud and boxwood sets in India, Chess Bazaar.  As always our registration fee is only $20 for early-bird registration to attract top players and club players alike from all over the Island and overseas too.  The first place prize indicated on the Bishops home page is a 4.4 inch ebony and rosebud Staunton set.  The second place prize is a 3.8 inch boxwood Zagreb set reminiscent of Bobby Fisher's set.  Ladies and Junior winners will receive Conqueror pieces and tournament board purchased from the Chess Store in Portland.

Betsy and Mac at Bowser Builders have agreed to bump up the stakes for our 7th tournament in Bowser.  They have approved the purchase of two premium wood chess sets from Chess Bazaar in India.  For our 1st place prize this year we are offering a triple-weighted Staunton set of ebony and red bud rose with a 4.2 inch king.  Our second place prize is a boxwood Zagreb set natural and ebonized with a 4.1 inch king.  We like the Zagreb design, a variation on the original Dubrovnik design favoured by Bobby Fisher.  The Dubrovnik and Zagreb are variations on the Staunton design with a Russian/Balkan influence.  The Zagreb features contrasting finials on the bishop, queen and king while the Dubrovnik has a contrasting finial only on the bishop.  The Dubrovnik set has playfully exaggerated ball finials on the bishop, queen and king.  The Zagreb reverts to the Staunton tradition with a cross finial on the king.  Both styles stray from the Staunton tradition featuring stylized knights with down-turned heads.  This version of the Zagreb features a knight with a contorted elongated neck.  This set is out of stock since we received ours.  There are some interesting reports online about the history and origin of these sets in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.  I plan to bring our sets to other tournaments to promote our tournament in August and to show potential competitors the beauty and weight of these pieces.  We will continue to offer Conqueror plastic weighted tournament sets from the Chess Store for other prizes (top U15 and top lady)

Zagreb pieces in boxwood for second place

set weight 1757 grams or 62 ounces   
 

Ebony and Red bud rose pieces for first place

set weight 1900 grams or 67 ounces  

Visit Chess Bazaar to view their selection of outstanding wood chess pieces.  They offer free shipping to North America by Fedex.  Our parcel was well packed and arrived a week after the order was placed.  With the Fedex tracking system I was able to follow the parcel from India to Dubai to Milan, Italy to Memphis, Tennessee to Vancouver to Nanaimo . . . lots of fun.

We will have four rounds of 45 minutes for each player with a 5 second increment for each move.  The first round is at 9 am so we suggest players arrive by 830 am.  The second round will be at 11 am, the third at 1 pm and the final round will be at 3 pm.  Tie-breaker blitz rounds will be held if necessary when the results are compiled from the fourth round.  As in recent years Archbishop McFetridge will act as tournament director and may play as a stand-in to avoid byes.

Teahwan from South Korea played with the Bishops this past year while

visiting Oceanside as a foreign student in Qualicum Beach.

Policies

Our tournament policies are similar to those of the Victoria Chess Club except as follows.

• We have no requirement for membership in the BC Chess Federation or the Canadian Chess Federation.  No references to those federations apply to our tournament.
• This tournament has an overall section with a trophy and prize for first and a prize for second, a ladies section with a trophy and prize and a section for players 15 years and under with a prize only. 
• The winner of the first and second place prizes are not eligible for the U16 prize.
  
• Tie-breaks are settled by a blitz (5 minutes each) match.
• Our food rule is more relaxed.

Registration fees may be paid with Paypal to  Robert McFetridge.  Please request an invoice at mcfetridge@shaw.ca

As in previous years early-bird registration is only $20 up to the final week before the tournament.  After August 2, registration will be $25 and registration will still be available at the door but the fee will be $30.  No registration is completed until payment has been received.

All equipment, pieces, boards, clocks and score sheets are provided at the tournament.  Many come just to see our famous blue and yellow Ultimate sets that have gone the way of the Dodo.  See the case of the missing chess molds 

Ladies . . . don't be shy.  Last year we had 3 women and Lucette wasn't even able to attend.  She will be back this year and wants to see more ladies in the tournament.  We have a trophy and a prize just for the ladies.

Registrations: