Our first impression of Canadian Closed is mixed: excited but nervous.
The tournament information was published pretty late; almost at the same time that we were looking for a tournament nearby to replace World Open that we canceled due to the moving scheduled in July. When I saw the tournament information, I said to myself: this is it.
From Wikipedia, I got a glimpse of the FIDE Zonal system:
The system is designed to select the best players in the world for the coming World Cup. There are 4 major zonal divisions: Europe, America, Asia/Australia and Africa, with zones and sub-zones. Those Zones will organize a zonal tournament to allocate those places. In US and Canada, the zonal is simply the national championship. In others, it is a more regional championship.
That being said, “Zone 2.2 Canada 1M 1W” means there will be one female winner and one male winner who earn a spot in the biennial world cup.
To play such tournament, first thing that one has to overcome is the fear when facing higher rated player who most likely has a formal FIDE title, either FM, IM or GM. In the end, it really boils down to one thing: having faith in yourself.
It turned out to be a great start of a chess summer full of excitement, tears and joy and eventually his dream came true. Throughout this tournament, Qiuyu never lost his risky and unpredictable style, although he drew several rounds. He was proud of his performance and thought this was the one that he performed the best so far.
This is also a tournament that I learnt that tournaments like this are usually a big challenge to new particpants. Brutal sometimes.
- The tournament schedule was packed. Two rounds a day with the time control like this made his eating schedule got all mixed up. 2 days in a row, he finished the game around 3:30PM and rushed for lunch as the next round started at 4PM. We also learned a lesson that in this case, red meat is not a good lunch option as it is heavy and takes too long to digest.
The better alternative is chicken or fish.
- No time for physical exercise. The afternoon round usually finished after 8PM. Literally no time for a good exercise. He ended up going to bed with his brain exhausted but stiff body due to a long-day’s sitting.
Overall the tournament was a great experience. There are always new people to meet, learn from, and share new memories with. This one is especially the case.
The first game is extremely crucial, as it sets the tone whether he will play up or play down. He always wants to get sharks who are possibly going to crush him; instead of getting bogged down in battles with underrated players.
He drew the first game with an FM and did the same for a few other rounds. As days went by, his hope to get 6.5 out of 9 got diminished and died out eventually. But in general, this tournament equipped him with some kind of confidence. With that confidence at heart, he continued his chess journey and played on for the rest of the summer.
We met some friends. There is this friend who had been suffering insomnia for a while: Zhong Yang. He wasn’t having his best time in the beginning of the tournament: lost a game to a massively lower rated player. He told me that he was deeply frustrated by long-hours awake at night. But he quickly recovered himself from the shock and gradually picked up the pace and nailed an IM norm in the end. Q had never interacted with him before as he felt intimidated just by speaking to Zhong Yang. But by getting a draw with Zhong Yang at this tournament, he felt now it was ok to reach out to him to start a conversation. What? Obviously, it is not easy for me to understand the logic behind this….
Another friend from Ontario, Rohan, had not so great time in the beginning either but slowly caught up afterwards. Two kids knew each other and they crossed their paths again in Sault St Marie and later in New Jersey. I have no doubts that they will have more paths crossed in the future.
It is amazing to see those big names concentrating on the boards like everyone else. Some of them have killer style on board. How they can play like that is a myth to me. I figure as time goes by I have gradually turned myself into a big chess fan.
Qiuyu has already wrote one small article for this tournament (in French though). I write this again as sometimes I feel obligated to write down everything that I remembered like an observer. I wish I could engrave everything in my head; but memory fades no matter how…
The board sets the mood:
A peek of inside:
Hardworking arbiter Vadim I. Tsypin:
