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Twenty-five players took part in the last of these monthly events, held at the Vancouver Bridge Centre on March 5.  Ties were the order of the day in the Sunday Open, with eight out of the ten players taking a share of the prizes available.  Lucas Davies won first overall; Louie Jiang, Noam Davies, Vlad Gaciu, and Arik Milner shared second, while the U1700 prize was split between Jack Cheng, Michael Wee, and Alex Sabaratnam.

 

The U1500 junior section was run as a round robin.  Alexandra Botez and Foster Tom were both undefeated, but Foster drew an additional game, allowing Alexandra to claim first with 3/4.  The Booster section was won by Janak Awatramani with 4.5/5.  Janak has consistently placed at the top of the Booster sections this season, amassing two third prizes and three firsts from the five events he played in.  Another junior player on the rise!  In second place was Jonah Lee, and third was split between Jacon Jensen, Algerd Karavai, and newcomer Matthew Ching.

 

 

 

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Miners at Williams Creek, 1867; the gentleman third from the left is John Adair

 

The early history of chess in B.C. is largely undocumented.  When the province's fledgling cities grew large enough, organized chess followed almost as a matter of course, e.g., the Victoria Chess Club in 1892.  However, before that time chess, along with horse racing, gambling, and other more adventurous activities, served as a social outlet from the hardships of pioneer life, and thus is not often mentioned in contemporary sources.  One important early account, describing what was perhaps B.C.'s first chess tournament, occurs as a letter to the editor of the Victoria newspaper The Daily British Colonist of March 18, 1865:

 

Williams Creek, 18th February 1865

To the editor of the British Colonist

Sir,

It may not be uninteresting to your readers, at least that portion of them who are chess players, to receive an account of a chess tournament which lately took place among the players on the creek.

A public notice was put up by some of the most enthusiastic players that a meeting for the purpose of getting up a chess tournament would be held on the 10th ult.

At this meeting twelve gentlemen gave in their names as competitors for the championship.  It was decided that the players should be divided into pairs by ballot, to play five games, and the first three games won by either of the contestants to decide between them; the winners of these first games to be again paired off to play a like number of games, and so continue to pair off until only one winner remained, who should be declared the champion of the tournament.

Accordingly the players in the first ballot were as follows:

    J.A. Fraser vs. D. McNaughton

    J. Elliott vs. B. Bellenbur

    Jas. T. Steele vs. W. Reynbow

    W. Dodd vs. E. Hodgens

    J.S. Thompson vs. J. McLaren

    [the sixth pairing, involving John Adair, is missing from the original]

 

Second Ballot

   

    J.A. Fraser vs. John Elliot [sic]

    John Adair vs. James T. Steele

    Edward Hodgens vs. J.S. Thompson

 

Third Ballot

The players were now reduced to three, Messrs. Thompson, Fraser and Steele.  On drawing for partners the lot fell upon Messrs. Thompson and Fraser to play together and the winner to play Mr. Steele.  In this match Mr. Fraser was again the winner.  This gentleman had now played three matches without losing a single game, and his friends felt confident that he would come out the victor in the next, but his opponent Mr. Steele proved a tough customer, and after playing five well contested games, they stood two each the fifth one having been a drawn one; then came the deciding game of which I annex a copy, which was won in good style by Mr. Steele, who was accordingly declared the champion of the tournament.

I am, yours, &c.

A Chess Player

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.e5 Ne4 6.0–0 d5 7.Bb5 Bd7 8.Bxc6 Bxc6 9.Qxd4 Bc5 10.Qd3 0–0 11.Nbd2 Ng5 12.Nb3 Nxf3+ 13.Qxf3 Qe7 14.Bf4 Bb6 15.Qg3 Qe6 16.Kh1 d4 17.Rad1 Rad8 18.Bg5 Rd7 19.f4 Re8 20.Rfe1 Qf5 21.Bf6 g6 22.Qh4 d3 23.Qh6 Bxg2+ 24.Kxg2 Qg4+ 25.Kh1 Qf3# 0–1

 

 

 

And what of the players?  There is no way of knowing for certain if they are the same persons, but there is a J. McLaren and J.A. Fraser buried in the Barkersville cemetery.  John McLaren was a grammar school headmaster before coming to the Cariboo in 1864; for a time he edited the local newspaper, the Cariboo Sentinel.  He was killed at age thirty-one by a slide of sand and tailings in 1869.  John Alexander Fraser was the fourth son of explorer Simon Fraser; he came to Cameronton in 1864 as an engineer.  Money woes over his family's mortgaged farm and an unhappy love affair led him to commit suicide on May 20, 1865 - he was thirty-two.  The next day one of the companies he had invested heavily in struck a rich lead.  John Adair is identified in the photo at the beginning of this article.  A James Steele worked for John Cameron's company, and can be identified in a photo of the latter.  There was also a Steele Claim on the creek, said to be the richest piece of ground in the area; in 1861 it was producing thirty to forty pounds of gold a day.

 

 

Bring sets and digital clocks  CFC membership required: $10 for the event or $48 for one year

 

 

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ABUSE YOUR ILLUSIONS RR

Date: April 5, 12, 19, 26, May 3, 2006 (Wednesday nights)

Place: Mollie Nye House, 945 Lynn Valley Road, North Vancouver

Rounds: 5

Type: Regular CFC-rated round robin (6-players)

Times: 7-10pm

TC: SD 90 club control

EF: $15

Prizes: 1^st $60 plus bonus ChessBase training CD for clear first; $5 best game prize

Reg/TD/Org: interested players please e-mail or call CTD Vas Sladek, 604-562-3736, chessfm@telus.net

1) all players must agree to pay a weekly drop-in fee to the chess club, $1 for members, $2 for non-members

2) training software donated by Chess First! Enterprises, BC’s online chess store, www.chessfirst.com

3) CFC membership required; $48/year or $10/event

4) score sheets and equipment provided

5) ear plugs recommended; all rounds are played on club nights

FM Goran Ivankovic

Vas Sladek

 

 

Dates Friday, May 19 to Monday, May 22, 2006

Location Hungarian Cultural Centre, 728 Kingsway, Vancouver BC

Sections Open, Under 2000, Under 1600

Time Control 40/120, SD/60

Rounds Open: 7 Rounds; U2000, U1600: 6 Rounds

Round Times Friday 5:30 (Open Section only); 11:30, 5:30 / 10, 4 / 9, 3 or ASAP

Prizes Based on entries. Unrated players may play in any section, but are only eligible for prizes if they play in the Open section. Unrated players who place in the other sections will have their entry fee returned.

Entry Fees                               (Open / U2000 / U1600)

Before or on March 30, 2006      $110 / $95 / $80

Before or on May 12, 2006       $130 / $110 / $90

At site                                          $150 / $125 / $100

 

Discounts Born after May 20, 1986: 50% (proof of date of birth required)

            Born before May 20, 1941: 50% (proof of date of birth required)

            FIDE rated players w/o Titles 25%

            FIDE Titled Players Free entry

 

Surcharge $25 extra for those players who wish to play in the Open Section, but who have a lifetime highest rating under 2000

 

Registration please mail cheques (payable to BCCF) to: British Columbia Chess Federation, PO Box 15548, Vancouver, BC V6B 5B3

On-site Open Section: Friday, May 19, 3:00 to 5:00 pm

             U2000 and U1600: Friday, May 19, 3:00 to 10:00 pm, Saturday, May 20, 9:00 to 9:30 am

Those registering after the respective deadlines (5:00 pm Friday for the Open, 9:30 am Saturday for the other sections) will receive pot-luck pairings or a half-point bye in the first round

Miscellaneous CFC rated, Open Section also FIDE rated; half-point byes may be requested for all but the last round; sets and boards provided, please bring clocks.  The BCCF Annual General Meeting will be held at 9:00 am on Saturday, May 20

Contact Stephen Wright, swright2@telus.net , (604) 221-7148