The second annual Lake City Chess Open featured serious competition, organizer Scott Richardson said.
“Some great games in both the open and youth sections,” he said. “Many of the players used all their time making some exciting end games.”
This year’s tournament, held at the Williams Lake Library, also featured five players from Quesnel.
Jared Martin of Quesnel won six straight matches taking first in the youth section.
His father, Andrew Martin, was second in the open division — not without making 12-year-old Kai Richardson of the Chilcotin, the top under-12 player in B.C. and the fifth-ranked under-12 player in Canada, sweat.
“Kai won first by half a point,” Scott, also Kai’s dad, said.
Nicholas Campbell finished third in the open division.
Andrew’s youngest son Matthew, meanwhile, is an up-and-coming chess combatant and was the fifth wheel from Quesnel, Scott said.
George Cooper, one of the more experienced players in the tournament, caused grief in the open section. Ralph Potkowski of Mahood Lake drew Cooper and played right to the last seconds on the clock for one of the most exciting matches of the tournament.
Nick Weber, a retired Williams Lake teacher and chess instructor, played excellently winning three games, two of which were against Williams Lake’s Bill Dawes and Ben Shoults, but found his match facing long-time Williams Lake player Ken Mitchell.
This year also saw a father, daughter duo participate. Glen Burrill played in the open section and his daughter, Amelia Burrill, took fourth after edging a tough player, Gabrielle Chauvette, in the youth division.
The youth section, however, was dominated by Jared, while Timu Kruus finished a close second losing only to Jared. It was the first youth battle between Quesnel and Williams Lake.
Nicholas Gysel, 8, pre-registered in the open section and fought a good battle before opting to play in the youth division.
“Special thanks to our volunteer floater, Nick Maviglia, a young lawyer from 100 Mile House, who all the youth enjoyed playing against,” Scott said.
“We would like to thank our sponsors because everyone went home with something they can use.”