By Chris Bird
I was the Bulletin Editor at this year's US Open (and also the Las Vegas Masters and National Open) and liaised with the MonRoi representatives in regards to collecting game scores for publication and also to help them set up their necessary equipment that allowed for spectators to observe the games of the top 6 boards on a big screen and provide live broadcast of the games on the Internet.
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
The first annual Kitchener Chess Festival, in Kitchener, Ontario, this July was a veritable potpourri of activities and presentations. For the first time ever the Canadian Open, Canadian Youth Chess Championships, and the Canadian Junior took place in the same location.
Montreal, Canada
The 2006 Quebec Open saw a change of venue after a number of years at the CEGEP de Vieux Montreal. The new location was the third floor of the Just For Laughs Festival headquarters at 2111 St. Laurent Blvd. It was there, from July 7-15th that 168 players gathered to compete in three sections for a prize fund of $10,500.
Philadelphia, USA
The 34thAnnual World Open was held at the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel, in Philadelphia, Pennslyvania from June 28th to July 4th, 2006. Despite heavy rainfall in the area, around 1500 players in total came to this year’s World Open.
Las Vegas, USA
The Las Vegas Masters Chess Tournament took place from June 10 - June 14 at the School House Chess Centeron Rigel Avenue. Thirty six players competed in this nine round Swiss System invitational event, including six Grandmasters. The co-winners with 6 ½ points were GM Dejan Antic of Serbia and Montenegro, GM Robert Fontaine from France and the German GM Leonid Fritz.
Turin, Italy
The Open A Tournament took place in Turin, from May 22-29 2006, as part of the 37th Chess Olympiad Festival. The tournament was organized by the Olympiad Organizing Committee, the Gruppo Scacchi Torino 2006, and the Italian Chess Federation under the aegis of FIDE.
Toronto, Canada
The 39th annual High School Chess Championships took place from May 12-14 at St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto. This event, which was first held in 1968, was organized by the Ontario High School Chess Association under the able supervision of two youthful Ontario chess organizers, president Wilson Chan and tournament director Jack Wong.
Toronto, Canada
During our stay in Toronto the MonRoi team had a chance to visit the Bayview Games Club at 1681 Bayview Avenue, two blocks south of Eglington. This is a large comfortable place to play chess seven days a week, in the old fashioned tradition of big city chess clubs.
Halkidiki, Greece
The 2006 World School Championship took place April 26-May 2 2006 in Halkidiki, Greece, as part of the 2nd Halkidiki Games Festival. This was the second consecutive year that Greece has hosted the event. The tournament was a huge success, attracting the participation of 269 boys and girls from 24 countries.
Milwaukee, USA
The 2006 National High (K-12) Championship took place April 21-23 at the Hilton Milwaukee. This year 1,425 players participated, 10 short of a new High School Championship record. First place in the Championship went to Landon Brownell and Bradley J. Sawyer.
Chicago, Illinois
The 2006 Spring North American FIDE Invitational took place from April 18-22 inSchaumburg. GM Victor Mikhalevski of Israel went undefeated to score 7 ½ out of 9, for clear first in the strong GM-A section. Second and third places were shared by GM Yuri Shulman of the U.S. and IM Giorgi Margvelashvili of Georgia with 6 out of 9.
Cincinnati, USA
MonRoi was very pleased to participate in the 5th Annual ChrisCollinsworth ProScan Foundation QueenCity Chess Classic which took place on April 1st at Paul Brown Stadium. With over 300 participants in attendance, Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory proclaimed the first of the month “Queen City Classic Chess Day.”
