Newfoundland and Labrador Open Championship 2025

October 24th, 2025

MUN Engineering Building (SJ Carew Building) Room EN4000
Prince Philip Drive, St. John’s

Organizer: Steve Martin

Entry Fee: $40 if you pre-register. $50 onsite.

Please send e-transfer to williamhibbs0303@hotmail.com

In addition, please fill out this required Registration Form 

Date: Friday, October 24 - Sunday, October 26

Location: MUN Engineering Building EN4000. St. John’s, NL

Format: Swiss System, 5 Rounds

Time control: 120 minutes + 30 seconds per player per game. 

Schedule:

  • Check-in: Friday, 6:00 PM

  • Round 1: Friday, 6:30 PM

  • Round 2: Saturday, 10:00 AM

  • Round 3: Saturday, 4:00 PM

  • Round 4: Sunday, 10:00 AM

  • Round 5: Sunday, 4:00 PM

CFC Membership is required in addition to Entry fee. Join or renew via link below: https://www.chess.ca/en/players/membership-join/
In lieu of membership, you can pay a single tournament fee of $20 for adults or $10 for juniors.

Pre-registration link will be provided soon.


Prizes:

1st place - 35%
2nd place -15%
3rd place - 10%
Top junior - 10%
Top Under-1600 rated player (excludes unrated players) - 10%
NLCA and rating fees - 20%
(Note: a player may not win two prizes. In the case of top junior winning 1st or second, Top junior prize will go to the next highest place junior.)

Winner will also have their name engraved on the NL Open Championship Trophy.

Pre-registered list as of October 23, 2025 (16 players)

2142 Vimal Simha
1930 Steve Martin
1899 Bao (Moon) Nguyen
1861 Florin Popescu
1801 Chris White
1800 John David Farrell
1642 Cameron O’Rielly
1642 Luke Pittman
1587 Andrew Boyd
1579 Tanav Sharma
1548 John Hawkin
1538 Rensel Matthew Bacuyag
1231 Michael Pickard
Unr Keith O’Rielly
Unr Ben Parsons
Unr Luke Stuart


Byes

  • Players may request up to two half-point byes in rounds 1–4.

  • Round 5 byes are zero points.

  • Bye requests must be submitted no later than one hour after the completion of the previous round. Requests may be made in person or by email, and I will confirm each request.

Pairings

  • Pairings for each round will be announced within about one hour after the completion of the previous round, to allow for bye requests.

Attendance

  • Please arrive on time for your games.

  • If you are sick or unable to attend, email stevew83@gmail.com as soon as possible.

  • You may be late, but if you do not show up within 30 minutes of the round start time, your game will be forfeited.

  • Players who miss a round without notice may be withdrawn from the tournament.


Phone Policy: Phones are to be placed face down next to your clock and powered off. 

Any phone that rings, vibrates, or is found on a player’s person during a game will result in one warning being issued, and the next time will result in forfeiture of that game.
Spectators are not permitted to use phones in the playing hall. If they need to, they should step outside.

General rules and etiquette: No talking, or making loud noises, or otherwise distracting your opponent or other players. Standard CFC rules apply according to the CFC Handbook. Currently the CFC site has some errors in links they are using. It should link to FIDE Laws of Chess.

At the tournament site, I will make some announcements for players who may be new to over the board chess, such as touch move rules, using the same hand to move pieces and press clock and so on.


Tiebreaks

In the event of a tie for 1st on points, the following tiebreaks will be applied in order so that a clear first place can be determined:

  1. Direct Encounter

  2. Buchholz Cut 1

  3. Buchholz

  4. Sonneborn-Berger

  5. Cumulative Score

Please enjoy the event!

Tournament Director: Steve Martin

Contact: stevew83@gmail.com