THE HISTORY OF MONTREAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
OVERVIEW
According to the archives of Mr.
During the first half of the twentieth century, the championships were a round-robin affair, disputed at the rate of one game per week. The champions of those days had to battle for ten games or more over several months before they could claim the title. With the increasing popularity of Swiss tournaments, championships gradually came to be decided by only five or six games over a weekend session.
It is not always clear whether the competition was open to all or by invitation only. Sometimes, both formats took place only a few months apart. A number of Closed Championships actually featured several separate sections of play with players assigned to sections by rating. In 1950, for example, the Montreal Chess Club hosted a large open tournament in order to qualify three players to the top section of the subsequent City Championship.
Whether Swiss or round-robin, open or closed, few championships featured only one section of play. The archives list some of the section names in use at the time : First or Major or Premier, Challenger, Reserve, Juvenile and even "Minor" which must have been hard on the ego!
In 1938 a women’s club, "Le Cercle FEMINA," was born. With its yearly club championship tournaments, it was dynamic enough to give birth to distinct Women’s Championship events from 1949 through 1952 when it stopped. It was shortly revived in 1964 and 1966, after which there are no records of any subsequent events until last year, when the tradition was revived.
The year 1954 marked the launch of no fewer than three different Championship events ! First, the City Championship started in February with 22 players. That one ended in May 1954 with the victory of Mr. Heinz Matthai (8½ -1½). Next, in November, Lionel Joyner won the Open Championship (7½ -1½). Before the month ended, a new invitational Championship began with this rule: all residents of the island of Montreal were eligible, subject to approval by a selection committee. Sixteen participants vied for the title in a round-robin tournament that ran until May of the following year. Eventually the supremacy of Mr. Matthai (12-3) was reconfirmed.
THE RECORD
Who won the coveted title more often than anyone else ?
The record title holder is Montreal-born grandmaster Kevin Spraggett, who now lives in Portugal. He won eight times, either alone or tied with others : 1973 to 1976 inclusive, 1979 (twice that year), 1982 and 1986.
Chasing after him with six titles are Messrs. Laszlo Witt (1959, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1979) and
TIE BREAK
Unfortunately, we cannot always identify a single champion. The convention of sharing prize monies in the event of multiple ties has often left behind the question of who among the tied leaders was the most deserving.
There are only two recorded instances of tie breaks in the archives. In 1933 a playoff match to break a 12-2 deadlock was organised between Boris Blumin and Louis Richard. Mr. Blumin won 3½- 2½. In 1960 Ireneus Suchorski narrowly prevailed over N. Williams and Nicolas Engalicev. However the tie break method used was not documented.
In regard to the Montreal Championship of 2010, a tie for first place in Section A will be broken by the following methods, in order: (1) Direct encounter (2) Sum of progressive scores (3) Solkoff (4) Games played with Black.
Direct encounter
If there are two players tied and they played each other and the result was not a draw, the winner of that game will be declared Champion.
Sum of progressive scores
After each round a player has a certain tournament score. These scores are totalled to determine the Sum of Progressive Scores. It is assumed that a player who drops points early in a tournament has faced weaker opposition during the entire competition. For example, if two players finish tied 4-1, the first one losing in the first round and the second one losing in the fifth round, they will score in the first case 0+1+2+3+4 = 10 break points and in the second case 1+2+3+4+4 = 14 break points. The higher score wins the title.
Solkoff
This is the sum of the final scores of opponents faced. For each unplayed game of an opponent met, for whatever reason (bye, forfeit, withdrawal from the tournament), the opponent is deemed to have drawn against himself. The highest number decides the title winner.
Games played with Black
The player having played the most games with the black pieces is declared Champion.
TRIVIA
It should be said that there have been other styles of City Championship events. From 1949 until the 70s with a few interruptions there were quite official Montreal Speed Championships. The early ones featured a gong sounding at every 10-second interval. There also were a few tennis-style Championships in 1956, 1957 and 1965. A player who lost was eliminated outright from the tournament.
The winners of these tournaments are not listed in the table that closes this article.
TABLE OF MONTREAL CHAMPIONS
Here is the best list that we could reconstruct of the valiant past Montreal chess champions. Hail to them !
|
AnnéeYear |
Champion |
Participants |
|
1923 |
H. Rombach (9½-1½) |
12 |
|
1924 |
Dudley D. LeDain (7½-1½) |
10 |
|
1925 |
Léopold Blanchard |
21 |
|
1926 |
Alexis Cartier (8-3) trophée La Presse |
46 |
|
1927 |
B. W. Moncur |
? |
|
1928 |
Maurice Fox (9-1) |
11 |
|
1929 |
Maurice Fox (5½-½) |
15 |
|
1930 |
M. Dardel (9-1) |
30 |
|
1931 |
----- no information available ----- |
|
|
1932 |
Louis Richard (12½-1½) |
> 15 |
|
1933 |
Boris Blumin (12-2, after tie break match) |
41 |
|
1934 |
Boris Blumin (12½-1½) |
16 |
|
1935 |
Maurice Fox (15-0) |
47 |
|
1936 |
Boris Blumin (13-1) |
15 |
|
1937 |
Boris Blumin (13-1) |
> 16 |
|
1938 |
A. Weiner (6½-1½) |
11 |
|
1939 |
Boris Blumin (7½-1½) |
> 12 |
|
1940 |
Joseph Rauch |
? |
|
1941 |
Joseph Rauch (4½-½) |
10 |
|
1942 |
Joseph Rauch trophée la Patrie |
10 |
|
1943 |
Charles Smith (7-2) |
? |
|
1944-6 |
----- No tournament ----- |
|
|
1947 |
J. Rauch, W. Tannenbaum |
36 |
|
1948 |
Maurice Fox (14-2) |
65 |
|
1949 |
Maurice Fox (12-2) / Firma Bone (4-1) Women’s champion |
65 / 5 |
|
1950 |
Ignas Zalys (12½-2½) / Firma Bone (6-1) Women’s champion |
16 / 8 |
|
1951 |
M. Cohen (12½-1½) / Firma Bone (4-0) Women’s champion |
15 / 5 |
|
1952 |
N. Williams (11½-1½) / Doris Robertson (4-0) Women’s champion |
46 / 5 |
|
1953 |
N. Williams (12-4) |
19 |
|
1954 |
Heinz Matthai (8½-1½) ; Lionel Joyner (« Open », 7½-1½) |
22 ; ? |
|
1955 |
H. Matthai (12-3) ; J. Engel, Dudley D. LeDain (« Open »,7-1) |
16 ; 28 |
|
1956 |
Lionel Joyner (17-0) |
18 |
|
1957 |
Lionel Joyner (18½-½) |
20 |
|
1958 |
Allan Reither (10-2) |
80 |
|
1959 |
Lionel Joyner (9½-½) ; Lionel Joyner (« Open », 11-3) |
104 |
|
1960 |
Ron Hirsh ; Ireneus Suchorski (« Open » after tie breah) |
22 ; 68 |
|
1961 |
Ignas Zalys (6½-1½) ; Laszlo Witt (« Open », 10½-1½) |
40 ; 54 |
|
1962 |
Emil Schlosser, Laszlo Witt (9-2) |
54 |
|
1963 |
Heinz Matthai (9-1) |
48 |
|
1964 |
Gerry Rubin (9-2) ; Susan Prokopenko (7-0) Women’s champion |
44 ; 8 |
|
1965 |
Laszlo Witt (9½-1½) |
62 |
|
1966 |
L. Witt (10-0); A. Michaely (« Open »,7-1); S. Prokopenko (5½-½) |
58 ; 67 ; 7 |
|
1967 |
Jacques Fontaine (7-1) ; Klaus Pohl, Gerry Rubin (« Open »,7-1) |
25+ ; 46 |
|
1968 |
Klaus Pohl (5½-1½) ; Klaus Pohl (« Open », 7-1) |
104 ; 59 |
|
1969 |
Klaus Pohl (6-2) ; Klaus Pohl (« Open », 7½-½) |
57 ; 29 |
|
1970 |
Jack Gersho, Gilles Brodeur (6-2) |
23 |
|
1971 |
Adrian Michaely |
58 |
|
1972 |
Edward Formanek |
222 |
|
1973 |
Kevin Spraggett, Leo Williams (6-0) |
270 |
|
1974 |
Kevin Spraggett (5½-½) |
198 |
|
1975 |
Delva-Kafadarow-Grant & K Spraggett-Vardi, Wihl, Williams (5-1) |
310 |
|
1976 |
Kevin Spraggett (5½-½) |
255 |
|
1977 |
Bill Goichberg (5½-½) |
292 |
|
1978 |
Camille Coudari (5½-½) |
273 |
|
1979 |
K. Spraggett, L. Witt (5½-2½) ; K. Spraggett (« Open », 5½-½) |
16 ; 258 |
|
1980 |
George Levtchouk, Jean-Jacques Rousseau |
265 |
|
1981 |
|
137 |
|
1982 |
J. Hébert, K. Spraggett, J-J Rousseau, R. Billyard |
204 |
|
1983 |
Anthony Ibrahim |
121 |
|
1984 |
|
158 |
|
1985 |
Kiril Georgiev |
175 |
|
1986 |
Kevin Spraggett |
142 |
|
1987 |
Igor Ivanov |
129 |
|
1988 |
Sylvain Barbeau, |
162 |
|
1989 |
|
189 |
|
1990 |
Barbeau, M. Cazelais, T.N. Duong, A. Gaudreau, Hébert, Léveillé |
166 |
|
1991 |
Sylvain Barbeau, Jeff Reeve |
175 |
|
1992 |
Alexandre Lesiège |
199 |
|
1993 |
Jeff Reeve, Jose Abreu Cordero |
219 |
|
1994 |
Alexandre Lesiège, G. Levtchouk |
192 |
|
1995 |
Alexandre Lesiège, Oleg Linskiy |
177 |
|
1996 |
Oleg Linskiy, Robin Girard |
110 |
|
1997 |
S. Fillion, M. Gagnon, Girard, M. Khassanov,Lesiège, N. Rashev |
164 |
|
1998 |
Martial Larochelle |
179 |
|
1999 |
Jeff Reeve |
186 |
|
2000 |
Oleg Linskiy, Goran Mikanovic |
152 |
|
2001 |
Lefong Hua, Oleg Linskiy |
132 |
|
2002 |
Michel Gagnon, Igor Ivanov, Michael Schleifer |
137 |
|
2003 |
|
125 |
|
2004-7 |
----- No tournament ----- |
|
|
2008 |
S. Barbeau, R. Chabot, M. Larochelle, H. Massé, A. Rainfray |
126 |
|
2009 |
|
191 |
|
2010 |
? |
|
