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.

Ukrainian Grandmaster Alexander Moiseenko allowed only two draws, to GM Abhijit Kunte of Indiaand National Master Sylvain Barbeau ofMontreal, en route to 8/9 and clear first in the Open section. He collected $2000 for his efforts. Tied for second through fourth were the aforementioned Kunte, WGM Ghate Swathe, also from India, and Montreal IM Michael Schleifer with 6 ½ /9 for $858. The top section prize list was rounded out by Quebec Masters Roland Chabot, Steve Bolduc, and Sam Kleinplatz on 6/9 for $288 each. The Reserve Section (Under 2000) was taken by Dominic Menard, who scored 7 ½ /9 for $500 and the winner of the Amateur Section (Under 1600) was Aleki Morin-Duchesne who gave up only one draw en route to an 8 ½ /9 score, good for $300. The MonRoi Personal Chess Manager (PCM) was used for all the games in the open section, with simultaneous live broadcast on the World Databank of Chess. MonRoi Engineer Jianjun Zhou was on hand to implement the system.  A theater located off the main tournament hall saw the live projection of the top six boards on a large white screen. Pictures of the players, which player was on the move and the time remaining until the next control were indicated as well.  Spectators commented that this is a great improvement over demonstration boards until now, which have required the presence of a monitor to physically move the pieces at every turn. The Quebec Chess Federation has now invested in the MonRoi system, along with the Chess and Math Association. Both organizations have purchased several PCMs and a Professional Tournament Manager so they can broadcast their events live on the Internet. Daniel Rousseau, president of the Quebec Chess Federation said, “MonRoi represents the future of tournament chess organization.”  Richard Berube, the Director General of the same organization is equally enthusiastic about the MonRoi system. “We want to use it in all our tournaments,” he said.  “It’s a really impressive technology!” MonRoi would like to congratulate all the winners and commend all the participants in the 2006 Quebec Open. We look forward to seeing you next year.