NL Open Championship 2025

Published in News on Oct 5, 2025

Entry Fee: $40 if paid via pre-registration / $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 (S.J. Carew 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-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


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.

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  • Players who miss a round without notice may be withdrawn from the tournament.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 should not 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 case of a 1st place tie, the following tiebreak systems will be used in order 1-5 to decide who wins 1st place and NL Open champion. Please read carefully.
(Note: there will be no tiebreaks used for 2nd, 3rd, and so on. Prizes will be split.)

1. Direct Encounter (if all tied players met)
If the tied players have played each other, the result(s) of those games determine the order among them.

  • Example: if two players tie for first and one defeated the other in their individual game, that player ranks higher.

2. Median Buchholz
This system measures the strength of a player’s opposition by summing the final scores of their opponents, excluding the highest and lowest opponent scores.

  • Purpose: reduces the effect of getting paired with an unusually weak or strong opponent.

  • Favours players who faced consistently tough opposition.

3. Buchholz
Also based on opponents’ final scores, but includes all opponents.

  • A player’s Buchholz score is the total of their opponents’ final points.

  • Reflects the overall strength of a player’s opposition.

4. Cumulative Score
Adds up the player’s running total of points after each round.

  • Example: if a player’s scores after each round were 1, 2, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, their cumulative score is 1 + 2 + 2.5 + 3.5 + 4.5 = 13.5.

  • Rewards players who scored steadily throughout the tournament.

5. Most Wins
If players remain tied after all other systems, the player with the greater number of wins is ranked higher.

  • Encourages competitive play and avoids excessive short draws.




Please enjoy the event!

Tournament Director: Steve Martin

Contact: stevew83@gmail.com