Making moves: Chess masters, amateur players alike flock to Calgary International tournament
Chess masters from across Canada and around the globe are playing their best gambits at the 16th annual Calgary International tournament, hosted by the Calgary Chess Club.
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From Thursday to Monday, players of every age and skill level are competing at the Calgary Sheraton Cavalier Hotel.
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With more ways to play chess, tournament director Vlad Rekhson said the game is becoming more popular at both the casual and competitive level.
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Tournaments like the Calgary International give top-level players the chance to face each other, while introducing amateurs to the competitive scene.
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'For example, we had something called 'simultaneous exhibition,' so a grandmaster played quite a few people at the same time, so amateur players could get a chance to play a grandmaster, which they normally wouldn't be able to do,' Rekhson said. 'We had a lecture by Canadian champion Shiyam Thavandiran, so all sorts of events that I think are good for the community as a whole.'
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The tournament also features Alberta's highest-rated player, grandmaster Dimitri Komarov, and Canada's newest international master, Michael Ivanov. Victor Mikhalevski, an Israeli grandmaster and one of the top 500 players in the world, is also participating.
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'I love coming to Calgary,' Mikhalevski said. 'I play way too many international tournaments here.
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The event consists of nine rounds over five days. Each game, players are given 90 minutes and receive a 30-second increment for each move. Matches can last up to four hours.
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Rather than a knockout system, the tournament runs via the Swiss pairing system.
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'They use a similar format in Champions League soccer from last season, and basically the idea is the top player or the ones with the most points get to meet each other, and the ones not doing as well also meet each other,' Rekhson said.
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An interesting aspect of tournament-level play is the length of matches throughout the day. At lower levels, Rekhson notes that games run much faster compared to those at higher levels.
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