Bob's 2017 Canadian Open (U 1800) Chess Blog

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  • Bob's 2017 Canadian Open (U 1800) Chess Blog

    As many of my friends know, I have attended most Canadian Opens since 2007. For a number of them I have done a chess blog - sometimes here on Chesstalk, sometimes on tournament websites (Like when the FQE organized an open in Montreal). I was getting about 500 hits per day over 10 consecutive days.

    This year I am posting my blog to my personal Facebook page (And two other Fb sites). If you might be interested, here is my URL:

    https://www.facebook.com/bob.armstrong.9235

    Bob A

    P.S. As a teaser.......I am alone in first place during the first scheduled option of play, after 2 rounds. There are 6 players tied for 2nd, 1/2 point back.

  • #2
    Re: Bob's 2017 Canadian Open (U 1800) Chess Blog

    I hope you don't mind, Bob,

    Bob's blog from facebook:

    Preliminary Notice

    Welcome Back!

    For those of you who know me, you will know that over the last number of years, I have played in the Canadian Open Chess Championships. I would guess that re tournament chess players in Canada now, I am around the 60% mark re rating (Let me know if I am off on this):

    1. CFC - Standard rating is 1522; Quick Rating – 1680;
    2. FQE - Standard rating – 1715; Semi-Rapid rating – 1599;
    3. FIDE - Standard rating - 1581; Rapid rating – 1591;
    4. USCF – Standard rating - 1546.

    Over the last 10 years, I have made it to most of the Canadian Opens. And in a number of these, I have posted a chess blog on my section of the tournament. One year I even got a modest honorarium for doing it for the FQE’s tournament website. For a number of years it was posted on Canada’s national discussion board, Chess Talk. It has been, I believe, somewhat popular – I receive about 500 hits per day for 10 consecutive days (I am told this is good for a chess post).

    I feature my own section since, like, who cares what happens among the 1500’s – 1700’s. Well, the truth is that a majority of world chess tournament players are in this range. And the Canadian players in this range know and have played against the U 1800’s currently playing in this 2017 tournament……..so they ARE interested! So we will see who are the “Favourites” and who are the “Dark Horses”….we will follow them through each round and see if they are falling by the wayside, to lower-rated up-and-comers (e.g. junior sharks!)

    So hop on for the ride…….I will try to make it both newsy, and exciting (yeah, right….CHESS……exciting; chess players and their lives…..exciting……..right).
    Now, now……….be open to the future that you may be surprised at!!

    Tournament Details

    Where: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada.

    When: Saturday, July 8 (Rd. 1 was @ 6:00 PM EDT) to Saturday, July 16 (Rd. 9 @ 11:00 AM EDT)

    Four Sections: Master (2200 + generally – but open); U 2200; U 1800; U 1600.

    Style Option:
    Option # 1 - 1 game per day for nine days;
    Option # 2 - 2 games per day for 3 days, 1 game per day for last 3 rounds. (Rd. 1 on Tuesday, July 11)

    Option # 1 Master Section Titled Players (Currently Playing)
    GM's – 6
    IM’s – 7
    FM’s - 4

    Day 1 Blog (Rd. 1 – Saturday, July 8)

    It will be posted today, in a few hours, and before the start of Rd. 2 @ 6:00 PM tonight.

    Hope you all enjoy my shot at conveying the atmosphere of Canada’s top open annual tournament…….I also hope to make it informative and entertaining (If I can)……It will really only be partly about technical chess. I hope to bury you in the minutiae of who I meet during the time off, what we talk about, where I go for dinner, and what is happening at the venue with all of us. After all, we all are just nosy at heart!

    Bob

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Bob's 2017 Canadian Open (U 1800) Chess Blog

      reposted from facebook for Ken:

      2017 Canadian Open Chess Championship – U 1800 Section - Rd. 1

      Day # 1 (Round 1 – Saturday, July 8 @ 6:00 PM)

      An Early Morning

      On Friday night (July 7), my wife and I were at a family function in Sarnia, Ontario, my former hometown. I had booked the Sault College residence room for the tournament, starting on Friday night, but the date for my family effort was set after I had made my arrangements – so …. A conflict. I had driven to Sarnia from my now hometown, Toronto, Ontario, a 3-hour drive, on Thursday, to visit first with my brother and sister-in-law and their new dog, Ruben (The cutest!), and stay over with them. And I had just driven from Montreal, Quebec to Toronto on the Wed. (July 5), a 6-hour drive.

      So driving from Toronto to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (It took me from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, with the Sudbury lunch, gas, etc. break) on Saturday, the day of round 1, was a rather brutal last leg of my gallivanting all around! Fortunately I am somewhat of a Zen driver – I love driving and relax totally……so all was well. It was a nice day, the scenery up was great (Trees, rocks, rivers), and I actually was in OK shape when I arrived, to play Rd. 1 (One tournament game can take up to 5 hours, so I was expecting that likely I’d play ‘til 11:00 PM, and not get to be ‘til midnight).

      Accommodation

      I had already advised the organizers of my plight re not being in the Sault Friday late afternoon to check in as would be expected……organizers: Roman and Andrew Peredun. And I advised I maybe might not have enough time to check in before Rd. 1, if I had any delays. They assured me they’d get me checked in at midnight, after the round, if that turned out necessary.

      So when I arrived at the campus @ 4:30 PM, I decided I could check in myself…….kiss of death!

      Problem # 1 – I can’t get in the outside door!??? I see the sign – Office staffed ‘til 4:00 PM (sigh) – person at the service desk, I later found out, was not one of the accommodation staff. Fortunately, some other player had had the same problem, and he had gotten in somehow…..so they opened the door to let me in. One of the CYCC players at the reception desk (Jennifer?) pointed me to the after-hours tel. no. on the board behind her.

      Problem # 2 – I am a Neanderthal……I understand the first public cellphone appeared in 1973,,,,,,so……do the math……I have resisted the pressure to get one for 44 years! Well, fortunately, my wife just got a smartphone about a week ago (we had to cave because of a family situation where we needed to be able to call in an emergency). It is NOT my phone, and I have had little, if any interest, in finding out how to use it……..others have to turn it on, and dial the number for me when I’ve used someone else’s phone in the past 44 years. But I did bring it.

      Do you see it coming? Yup….I only know how to call someone on the contacts list (I do know something)……but where is the number pad on a smartphone…….they hide it on purpose to bug people like me! Thank god for Jennifer – I pathetically explained my problem to her…..kindly she showed me the icon to get the number pad……..back in business!…….

      Problem # 3 – Because of some medications, I now have a slight……..tremor…..oh, oh…….the touch keyboard on a phone is very, very, very small……to ME! Double click after double click on the number pad…….make correction……and of course, Rd. 1 is now only about an hour away, and I haven’t even contacted after hours check-in yet. Sooooooooo back to my Saviour….Jennifer….she kindly dialed the number for me, since I really did have to get this task accomplished quickly!

      Problem # 4 – Ring, Ring, Ring……..you have reached the office of etc., etc. – leave a number (I didn’t know my own cell no. by heart yet (sigh)). Time to abandon Plan A of checking myself in.

      Problem # 4 – Roman, who was to help me if I arrived at 5:00 PM (it was now a bit after that) was in the playing hall……..duh……where is the Health and Wellness Centre, in relation to the residence. So fortunately I had printed out the college map Roman had sent me, and I drove over there.

      Problem # 5 – I go into an almost empty playing hall. I know Aris Marghetis, one of the arbiters, and so he directed me to Roman’s wife who was helping out. Nope……Roman wasn’t at the hall any more……he just left!

      But fortunately, someone else couldn’t get checked in either, and they had all headed back to the residence, for Roman to arrange to get them in. So back I go, full of optimistic hope of getting checked in and not being late for the start of Rd. 1, now about ½ hour away.

      Problem # 6 – Yup, there’s Roman and he lets me into the lobby…….but what is he doing? He’s calling the after-hours number…..Oh, Oh I said to myself……been there….done that! And though he had spoken to someone a few seconds earlier (I think he got cut off), now he was getting the message machine. But apparently in the first call, it was said that someone was getting someone somewhere to come over as soon as possible….3 minutes pass; 5 minutes pass…..no staff person appears. So Roman says he’ll try to solve it…….

      Then a helpful young lady comes flying into the parking lot and runs in and opens the office……she very efficiently gets both my companion player and I booked in, we get our keys and instructions, and Roman, and us, are quite happy and relieved!

      Round 1 – U 1800 Section – My Game

      Under option # 1, there are only 15 players playing in my section at the moment……the others join us on Tuesday morning. I played someone a bit over 100 points higher rated than me, Craig Sadler, from Owen Sound, Ontario (Our family happens to have a recreational property in that area, and so I had heard his name before).

      I was able to play a defence I know against his opening. And he did attack right away, as happens to me all the time in this variation. But then somewhat into his attack against my K, something went wrong for him……he got too aggressive, and thought he saw he could mate me.

      So he decided to sack an N to get the mate.

      His problem was that I had seen the possible mating line, and before my last move, had discovered a few moves in, a very dicey defence, where I’d have to sack back the exchange to keep from being blown away……but I’d end up with two minors for a R! So Craig went for it, and I raised my defence…..I could see that he had not seen it himself earlier…..he saw the consequences, but he would hardly be dead in the water……he could still play on to see how I did.

      But I think he was discouraged, and at the end of the line, made a weak move that allowed me to force him to exchange queens……without his queen, any remaining possible attack was dead. Craig was down a minor, now had doubled isolated P’s, the pawn structure in front of his K was a mess, and his attack had evaporated. Craig resigned and we were the first game in the hall to finish.

      Post- Game

      This had been totally unexpected! So I went back to the residence and brought all my stuff in and set up my laptop……..problem……I had forgotten my internet cable……..so on to the WiFi……but my anti-virus seemed to be blocking getting the connection……..I am really not a techie….I only know how to do what I want to do…….so……I decided to forget it, deal with it on Sunday (if a problem, find a friend!), and returned to the playing hall to watch.

      Fortunately, my chess friend, Vlad Drkulec, Chess Federation of Canada President, had just finished his game. Roman had told me he had the room next to me. He was returning to the residence so he offered, when I explained my new plight, to come look at it then, if I wanted…..no-brainer….so he did manage to find that I had to use my old Internet Explorer browser to log in and I was set to go!

      To Bed

      To say by 11:00 PM I was a bit tired, is somewhat of an understatement (I am almost 72 y.o. and retired, and we old guys aren’t supposed to be living like this…..something the doctors call stroke or heart attack??)

      U 1800 Option # 1 Leaders

      As I have mentioned, there are currently 15 players……so there were 7 boards last night, and one player had to get what is called the Director’s 1 point bye.

      So here are the ones who won their first game/got the bye and now have 1/1 points:

      Victor Itkin (1761)
      Undriadi Benggawan (1634)
      Grisha Crnilovic (1617)
      Paul McNichol (1556)
      Craig McGilly (1524)
      Me (1522 – they missed my last rating update, and so are showing my rating as 1503).

      I know almost all of them from years of play, and think I have played them all at least once, except maybe not Paul.

      I am quite thrilled to sit in a tie for first place after Rd. 1 – really not expected. I’ve probably now set the bar too high for future (sigh)…….

      Invitation

      After posting a blog, I will be checking the three posting sites regularly (See “Preliminary Notice" Blog, below)…..so I invite everyone to comment with questions, observations, past experiences, corrections, additional information, etc.

      Let’s all have fun with this, and we even may learn something worthwhile from each other!

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Bob's 2017 Canadian Open (U 1800) Chess Blog

        Originally posted by Erik Malmsten View Post
        I hope you don't mind, Bob
        Hi Erik:

        Thanks for sharing my Fb post here........it is just a matter of time allocation that I have not myself posted it here, as well as on the three Fb sites.

        If you are interested and willing, you can be the official Bob's Blog "Copier and Paster"! I am pleased to have it read by my compatriot Chesstalkers!

        I did the Rd. 1 Blog on Sunday, July 9 (Along with this "Preliminary Notice").

        The Rd. 2 blog was posted this afternoon (Monday).

        And if anyone wants to share the workload with Erik, and divide up the copy/paste over the course of the tournament, I'm sure Erik would cede some of his newly-acquired authority!

        Thanks.

        Bob A

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Bob's 2017 Canadian Open (U 1800) Chess Blog

          Hi Erik:

          As I mentioned in my comment on the "Preliminary Introduction", I posted the Rd. 2 Blog at about 3:00 PM today on my personal Fb page.

          Thanks for joining in on my chess promotion project!

          Bob A

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Bob's 2017 Canadian Open (U 1800) Chess Blog

            Originally posted by Bob Armstrong View Post
            As many of my friends know, I have attended most Canadian Opens since 2007. For a number of them I have done a chess blog - sometimes here on Chesstalk, sometimes on tournament websites (Like when the FQE organized an open in Montreal). I was getting about 500 hits per day over 10 consecutive days.

            This year I am posting my blog to my personal Facebook page (And two other Fb sites). If you might be interested, here is my URL:

            https://www.facebook.com/bob.armstrong.9235

            Bob A

            P.S. As a teaser.......I am alone in first place during the first scheduled option of play, after 2 rounds. There are 6 players tied for 2nd, 1/2 point back.
            On my way, in Sudbury gassing up

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Bob's 2017 Canadian Open (U 1800) Chess Blog

              Originally posted by Bob Gillanders View Post
              On my way, in Sudbury gassing up
              Hi Bob G:

              It's a great playing venue, and the Sault surroundings are gorgeous.........you'll love this years CO!

              Bob A

              Comment


              • #8
                CO (U 1800) New Blogs Awaiting Posting On Ct

                On Fb, I have now posted the following blogs (Not yet re-posted by anyone to Chesstalk):

                a. Day 2 – Rd. 2 (Posted Monday, July 10)
                b. Day 3 – Rd. 3 (Posted Monday, July 10)

                I'll post in this thread in future, when additional blogs have been posted that are not yet here.

                Bob A

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: CO (U 1800) New Blogs Awaiting Posting On Ct

                  Bob's Chess Blog

                  (See Knight Logo below)

                  2017 Canadian Open Chess Championship – U 1800 – Rd. 2

                  Day 2 - Round 2 (Sunday, July 9/15 @ 6:00 PM)

                  Prior Blogs

                  I have now done two prior blogs:

                  1. Preliminary Notice (Sunday, July 9)
                  2. Day # 1 – Rd. 1 (Sunday, July 9)

                  For those who have not been following the blog, reading them before this Blog # 3 may be helpful to get more details, as background. I must do blogs, based to some extent on earlier ones, otherwise there is way too much repetition for regular viewers. You will have to scroll down my personal page a bit to find them.

                  The Night Before (Saturday)

                  After watching the finish of most games of Rd. 1 on Saturday night, I came back to the residence here at Sault Community College, called Ray Lawson Hall. I am in what is called a “pod” at the end of the hall……eight bedrooms with 2 shared bathrooms. The whole floor shares a kitchen and common living area.

                  I was quite tired after driving 9 hours on Saturday to get from Toronto to the Sault in time for Rd. 1. To say by 11:00 PM I was a bit tired, is somewhat of an understatement (I am almost 72 y.o. and retired, and we old guys aren’t supposed to be living like this – see prior 2 Blogs)! Needless to say, I did not set any stupid alarm!

                  Morning (Sunday)

                  I did wake up early. I do not sleep a lot at chess tournaments, as those who have followed my prior years' C.O. blogs know. I woke up at 5:00 AM. Getting 6 hrs. sleep is just fine for me! Normally I sleep about 1:00 AM to 6:00 AM, with a one hour siesta nap sometime in the mid-afternoon.

                  I then dealt with outstanding e-mails, and did a few things for my company, Canadian Life Consulting Cooperative (CLCC) – it manages its own Fb Page.

                  At about 6:00 AM I decided to go for a walk around campus and see the architecture, and how it was laid out.

                  Then at 7:00, I drove around the Sault a bit to get to know it; then to a local Timmies for breakfast. I have a medically defective memory, in addition to it getting hammered by aging, and so I have a hard copy note system to keep track of all the things I’d otherwise forget……so I updated it while I had breakfast, before I did forget the things I’d not yet had an opportunity to write down…..I do forget some of them by the time I get to pen and paper, but over time I usually catch them eventually in one update or another.

                  Then I found a Metro (24 hrs.!), and stocked up on some very good things…..have somewhat of a sweet tooth, and don’t know why I don’t keel over and die during tournaments, from my diabetes (SHHHH – this is confidential…….not for the wife to know!)

                  I got back at 8:00 AM.

                  As those of you who have read my earlier blogs know, I am totally in love with modern technology, being a Neanderthal, and especially love my wife’s week old cell phone :) ! So I used it to call my precious wife in Toronto (This gets me credits!). I was able to report that I had won my Rd. 1 game against Craig Sadler from Owen Sound……we have a second property up there nearby, a hobby farm called “Spirits’ Den”.

                  I did bring my more-favoured non-electric Neanderthal phone with me, as advised by one of the organizers (Roman Peredun) early on after I registered, but I had had no time Saturday to get my room telephone number, to give it to my wife (I am loath to carry a cell phone because I am the classic “absent-minded professor” and lose everything I own).

                  I then went back upstairs to my room to check a few Fb pages where I am an administrator or co-administrator, and made a post or two.

                  I was then tired, and lay down for an hour but couldn’t actually sleep…..but for me a quiet relaxing time is almost as rejuvenating as sleep.

                  When I woke, one of my Toronto chess friends, who is in my section, Undriadi Benggawan, stopped by my door to chat…..we talked a few minutes and then I got him to come in and visit for a bit, since he did have some time. I advised that my wife was joining me on Thursday, flying in from Toronto. We have two friends from a kind of first year university clique who live in the Sault, and with whom we’ve kept contact over 50 years. She will stay with one of them, and we’ll all get together to socialize during my non-playing time over the last four rounds – there go my hopes of pulling off some great upsets in the home stretch! But socializing in this case, does equal the chess character of the week……..I’ll just have to hopefully do some kind of wonderful balancing act!

                  We chatted about a mutual friend chess player from Toronto, Pino Verde, who is a professional sculptor (My wife is an amateur potter).

                  Undriadi just took over managing the Mississauga Chess Club (Beside Toronto, and now the second biggest city in Ontario). He was interested in how one of the clubs I belong to, the Scarborough CC in Toronto, handles no-shows to the weekly tournament…….SCC has a zero tolerance policy….don’t appear without any notice, three consequences:

                  1. The no-show forfeits the game that night;
                  2. The game is CFC rated, and the no-show loses the appropriate number of rating points;
                  3. The No-show is suspended for the next round and is given a “0” point score (On a second breach of etiquette, the suspension is two consecutive rounds, etc.)

                  Undriadi thought he’d talk to the MCC executive about putting this on the agenda of their next Annual General Meeting!

                  We made plans to go to breakfast together on Tuesday morning; Undriadi is going to take a bye on Monday, to go on the Sault canyon train trip.....apparently a wonderful nature outing!

                  Undriadi is just coming back to chess after about a 20 year absence……..he used to play when his two daughters played competitive chess…….one was a top Canadian female player, and played for the Canadian Women’s Olympiad Team a few times I believe.

                  Afterwards I entered my Rd. 1 game into ChessBase 11, and used Stockfish to analyze it..

                  The Afternoon

                  My lovely wife had packed me some ham sandwiches for Saturday’s drive up to the Sault from Toronto, and I had some left, so that was my Sunday lunch.

                  In the afternoon, I had to get posted my “Preliminary Notice” blog, and prepare my Rd. 1 blog.

                  I posted my second blog about Rd. 1 yesterday at about 5:00 PM., just before the start of Rd. 2 @ 6:00 PM that evening.

                  Before the Rd. 2

                  I spoke briefly with my USA friend, Ed Sellars, who had again come back up to Canada to play in a Canadian Open, on fairly short notice……I have a number of American chess friends, and for some reason they all say they love to come up to Canada to play in our premier annual tournament (Of course, too, we Canadians are just so likeable, shy, retiring, polite, etc.)

                  My Rd. 2 Game

                  I (Rated 1522) played White against Paul McNichol (1556) on Bd. 3 in our section (Of 7 boards).

                  Paul played a Grunfeld (Favourite of multi-time Russian champion, Peter Svidler). The opening was not even; I played an off-beat line, and suddenly Paul had a very cramped position, and a terrible time developing his pieces.

                  On move 26 I was able to temporarily sac my B and end up ahead on material by one P. Paul had had such trouble, he had used up all his time and by then was just playing on increment (Time control was 40/90 + 30 sec.).

                  Amazingly, though I pressed him hard (I still had 53 minutes – I play pretty quickly usually), he made the 14 moves to get to first time control. So I now had 1 hr and 15 min. and Paul had 30 min.

                  But being down material, and me having a better position, at move 46, Paul was again playing on increment and had only 30 sec. left……under the time pressure, however, I had just blundered into a nice tactic Paul found, where he won my B! He had the game won!

                  But on move 46, he blundered back his B under such severe time pressure, and I was again up a P going into the ending, with, again, Paul playing on increment. Paul plays speed chess better than Standard time control….son of a gun, if it didn’t take me another 30 moves (!!) to mate him, all of his moves being played on increment………

                  If I had my way with the arbiters, I’d order them to give me the point, but award Paul ½ pt. for great speed play!

                  The Post-Mortem

                  Paul and I then went to analyze the game, with my chess friend, Grisha Crnilovic, of Toronto, who is in our section, and who was then tied for second place; another player from Toronto passed by and joined in as well (He was playing in the section above us).

                  Sooooo - I was now leading, alone, by ½ point, in the initial 9-day option part of the tournament!

                  U 1800 Leaders after Rd. 2 (Schedule Option # 1)

                  1st – 2/2 pts. – Won all games – Me (1522 - !!?? – what am I doing here??)

                  2nd/7th – 1.5/2 pts. – Undefeated – Victor Itkin (1761 – top seed); Wayne Inkpen (1696); Undriadi Benggawan (1634); Grisha Crnilovic (1617); Craig McGilly (1524); Claude Toussaint (1516).

                  My Score

                  2/2 pts. – won both Rds. 1 & 2. I am in the sole lead.

                  I will certainly pay for this in my Rd. 3 pairing! I now have to play the top seed in our group in Rd. 3 @ 6:00 PM tonight, my chess friend Victor Itkin (1761).

                  My Opponents’ & My Scores

                  2/2 pts. - Me
                  1/2 pts. – Craig Sadler (1642) - I defeated him in Rd. 1.
                  – Paul McNichol (1556) - I defeated him in Rd. 2.

                  Had to cut

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Bob's 2017 Canadian Open (U 1800) Chess Blog

                    Bob's Chess Blog

                    (See Knight Logo below)

                    2017 Canadian Open Chess Championship – U 1800 – Rd. 3

                    Day 3 - Round 3 – 9-day Option Schedule (Monday, July 10/15 @ 6:00 PM)

                    Prior Blogs

                    I have now done three prior blogs (9-day Option Schedule):

                    1. Preliminary Notice (Posted Sunday, July 9)
                    2. Day 1 – Rd. 1 (Posted Sunday, July 9)
                    3. Day 2 – Rd. 2 (Posted Monday, July 10)

                    For those who have not been following the blog, reading them before this Blog # 3 may be helpful to get more details, as background. I must do blogs, based to some extent on earlier ones, otherwise there is way too much repetition for regular viewers. You will have to scroll down my personal page a bit to find them.

                    The Night Before (Sunday)

                    After Paul and I analyzed our Rd. 2 game on Sunday night, I came back to Ray Lawson Hall Residence about 11:30 PM. I dealt with a few e-mails and Fb Messages, and went to bed about 12:30 AM Monday morning…..tired but quite happy about my play!

                    Morning (Monday)

                    I again woke up early @ 5:00 AM; 4 ½ hrs sleep is not unusual for me during tournaments ….guess it has something to do with Adrenalin, and that I normally sleep on 5 hrs. in the early mornings.

                    I then dealt with a pleasant personal matter that took a lot of the early morning.

                    I have brought my favourite cold cereal and had gotten milk at my new-found 24-hr. Metro, so had a nice bowl of cereal. Then I did want to get out and get a break, so I drove to my favourite Timmies to finish my breakfast, and update my life organizing notes (See Day 2 Blog).

                    When I got back to the residence, I called my wife on her precious cell phone (Which I have not yet lost!). She knows how I’ve been playing in the last 5 years, and she was more surprised than I am when I reported in that I was the sole leader in the 9-day Option group! I got caught up on the coming and goings of my two adult children……my son apparently returned from the USA 10-day project job at some ungodly hour this morning, and has a work meeting with his funder at 9:00 AM!!?? And my daughter is coming in to Toronto from Montreal at 12:30 AM tomorrow morning, to then go to Pearson Airport, to fly to Cuba for a week! I promised I’d get the land line number for my room for her, and an emergency arbiter number in case she had to contact me during a game.

                    Then when I came back, I found I was still a bit tired…..I do usually try hard to follow what my body tells me……..I am retired now, so I can go for a power nap when my body wants it at almost any time of the day…..I didn’t surface ‘til after 11:00 AM!

                    I then did some posting on my Fb page (I’ve turned it into an international discussion club on EVERYTHING for my friends from around the world. We all learn from each other on politics, war, climate change, etc.)

                    The Afternoon

                    I then had to spend some time getting my Day 2 Blog together. I did manage to get it posted by about 3:00 PM on the three Fb sites where I am posting it.

                    Although my blog is somewhat time-consuming to prepare and get out, I never study chess, nor prepare. So it is not onerous…..I do have the free time.

                    In past years I have received numbers of thanks from non-attending players for volunteering my time to do this……because I focus more on the Life Side, than the Chess Side, I am told that I do a good job conveying the atmosphere and environment of the particular CO – “Reading your blog was like I was really there!” That’s a nice compliment, and who doesn’t like compliments.

                    And I am someone who promotes chess whenever I can….for a 5-year stretch, I was involved in Canadian chess politics at national, provincial, regional and local levels. So this is actually fun for me, especially since one of my other hobbies since retiring has been being a writer. So this writing, trying to be a bit newsy, nosy and entertaining, is really pure fun (As long as I don’t get myself backed up to a deadline).

                    I then spent some time on my Rd. 3 Blog draft, completing what I could for the morning and afternoon recitation part……

                    I then discovered that my friend, Erik Malmsten, was copying my Fb blog to the national Canadian chess discussion board, run by the Scholastic organization, Chess ‘N Math Association. It is called Chesstalk. He asked if this was OK with me…..I said it was great, and he could become my official Ct “Copier/Paster” if he wanted to continue doing it…….so far he’s already re-posted the first two blogs…….and already there has been some commenting! This is great since many have reservations about social media, and so won’t access Fb……this opens the blog to them!

                    I then went down to the Residence Admin Office….but Linley didn’t have my room telephone no., and the tech people had already left for the day. She promised it to me first thing Tuesday morning when they open at 8:30 AM.

                    Then I went to Subway for lunch about 4:00 PM, with a DQ sundae for dessert.

                    By the time I got back, I checked e-mails and Fb messages, and went to the playing hall for the start of Rd. 3 @ 6:00 PM.

                    My Rd. 3 Game

                    I (Rated 1522) played Black against top seeded Victor Itkin (1761) on Bd. 1 in our section (Of 7 boards).

                    I played a Pirc Defence (Victor intended to castle long). I thought for a bit a few moves in, and decided to play one of the more aggressive defence lines. It started off well-enough, but somewhere I went wrong, and Victor won a P and got a modest attack.

                    Still there was play if I could get back the P.

                    BUT…..I know I played too fast…..guess I couldn’t take the pressure of unexpectedly being the sole leader! :)

                    I blundered on move 18, failing to see the N-fork (either he mates or wins my B – sigh). I then played a terrible move and resigned………far from an auspicious showing on my first time on first board in this tournament……we were finished in an hour, and the first game in the hall to finish.

                    But, better, I guess, to get a very bad one out of my system early, and it may as well be against the top seed!………I still do have 2 pts. out of 3 games, and this is better than I had originally hoped…..so back into the fray tomorrow!

                    After the Game

                    Since it was only 7:00 PM, and the games would not generally get interesting to watch for another 2 hrs., when approaching first time control, I went back to the residence to do more work on the Rd. 3 Blog draft.

                    Then I e-mailed my wife about the coming residence tel. no., and about my rather dubious appearance on board one as section leader……Then my adult daughter e-mailed me from her home in Montreal, to see how the drive was up on Saturday, and how I was enjoying my time. Well……when a family member asks me about chess……do I respond?? Like, the occasions are rare as hen’s teeth…..so I blabbed on about my so far pretty decent effort.

                    I then started to enter into ChessBase my Rd. 3 game.

                    Then Andriadi from our section, who had taken a bye tonight, and Vlad, CFC President, who had lost his game blundering a piece (U 2200 section), both returned to our pod. So they came to the doorway and we discussed in part, the controversy over GM Bator Sambuev winning the 2017 Canadian Closed championship, over IM Nikolay Noritsyn. Then they left, and I worked a bit more on my blog. Vlad went back to the playing hall, and Andriadi went to his room. At 8:45 PM I also went to watch the rest of the games finish, and get our section results so I could complete this Rd. 3 blog, hopefully before midnight, and get it posted tonight!

                    By 10:00 PM, the critical games in the section had finished, so I returned to the residence to finalize this Rd. 3 Blog.

                    U 1800 Leaders after Rd. 3 (Schedule Option # 1)

                    1st/3rd – 2.5/3 pts. – Undefeated – Victor Itkin (1761 – top seed); Grisha Crnilovic (1617); Craig McGilly (1524).

                    4th/5th – 2/3 pts. – Undriadi Benggawan (1634); Me (1522).

                    My Score

                    2/3 pts. – Wins: 2 (Rds. 1 & 2); Loss: 1 (Rd. 3)

                    My Opponents’ & My Scores

                    2.5/3 pts. – Victor Itkin (1761) – I lost in Rd. 3. Victor is tied for first.
                    2/3 pts. - Me
                    1.5/3 pts. – Craig Sadler (1642) - I defeated him in Rd. 1.
                    – Paul McNichol (1556) - I defeated him in Rd. 2.

                    An Interactive Blog

                    All my FB friends are invited to “comment” on my blogs......I would be pleased to answer any questions about my blog material or the tournament.

                    I do this for fun (Though one year the FQE gave me a modest honorarium to do it officially for them on their tournament website, when the CO was in Montreal). I find many readers enjoy getting a taste of what it is actually like right at the tournament.
                    So fire away, and hopefully we’ll all have a good time together over the next 7 days.

                    I hope to generally post my new blogs by noon the next day (though I often shoot for about 3:00 AM if at all possible…..depends on how tired I am after the game…but often I’m still revved after the game, so might as will use the still-flowing Adrenalin to finish the blog). I do have a template I sort of generally use, and so also do often get part of it written up the day of the round, in the afternoon.

                    So …until the next time….Queen all 8 of your P’s!!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Bob's 2017 Canadian Open (U 1800) Chess Blog

                      Sorry for the delay in posting. I had read the round 2 post yesterday and clicked "like". Had to cut the last part as the program told me it was too long.

                      I was a bit distracted by my game at the ACC last night. I was happy with the pawn up endgame win and then checking with the computer today I saw that we missed a stalemate. I'm such a patzer, but you're an inspiration to keep on playing.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Bob's Day 4 CO (U 1800) Blog

                        Originally posted by Bob Armstrong View Post
                        As many of my friends know, I have attended most Canadian Opens since 2007. For a number of them I have done a chess blog - sometimes here on Chesstalk, sometimes on tournament websites (Like when the FQE organized an open in Montreal). I was getting about 500 hits per day over 10 consecutive days.

                        This year I am posting my blog to my personal Facebook page (And two other Fb sites). If you might be interested, here is my URL:

                        https://www.facebook.com/bob.armstrong.9235

                        Bob A

                        P.S. As a teaser.......I am alone in first place during the first scheduled option of play, after 2 rounds. There are 6 players tied for 2nd, 1/2 point back.
                        The Day 4 Blog (Tuesday, July 11) was posted today, Wed., July 12 on the 3 Fb sites.

                        Bob A

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: CO (U 1800) New Blogs Awaiting Posting On Ct

                          Hello Bob

                          In your round 2 game, 52...Kd5 appears to be illegal - what am I missing? Incidentally, 60...Nf5 wins your h-pawn.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: CO (U 1800) New Blogs Awaiting Posting On Ct

                            Originally posted by Stephen Wright View Post
                            Hello Bob

                            In your round 2 game, 52...Kd5 appears to be illegal - what am I missing? Incidentally, 60...Nf5 wins your h-pawn.
                            Hi Stephen:

                            Thanks for following up!

                            You are absolutely right about Move 52 by Paul.....neither of us noticed it at all.....ever.........'til I got back to the room, and Stockfish was having conniptions about my trying to make the move......in my entering/analyis I had to fictionalize a couple of moves to get to the next legal position, so I could continue!

                            As to your suggested move 60....Nf5:

                            See move 56.....Nf7. Paul's Knight does not move 'til it goes 60...Nd6, correct? So Paul's N cannot move to f5 from f7, as far as I can see........Check your line again....we've got a discrepancy somewhere........let me know what we're missing.......

                            Appreciate you checking out our game......it was a pretty good one from both our patzer points of view....

                            Bob A

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: CO (U 1800) New Blogs Awaiting Posting On Ct

                              Originally posted by Bob Armstrong View Post
                              Hi Stephen:

                              Thanks for following up!

                              You are absolutely right about Move 52 by Paul.....neither of us noticed it at all.....ever.........'til I got back to the room, and Stockfish was having conniptions about my trying to make the move......in my entering/analyis I had to fictionalize a couple of moves to get to the next legal position, so I could continue!

                              As to your suggested move 60....Nf5:

                              See move 56.....Nf7. Paul's Knight does not move 'til it goes 60...Nd6, correct? So Paul's N cannot move to f5 from f7, as far as I can see........Check your line again....we've got a discrepancy somewhere........let me know what we're missing.......

                              Appreciate you checking out our game......it was a pretty good one from both our patzer points of view....

                              Bob A
                              If you substitute 52...Kd7 (illogical but legal) for 52...Kd5 the rest of the game makes sense:

                              52. Kd3 Kd7 53. Nf5 Ne5+ 54. Ke3 Nf7 55. f4 gxf4+ 56. gxf4 Ke6 57. Nd4+ Kf6 58. h4 Nd6 59. Kf3 h5 60. Ne2 Nf7

                              When I referred to move 60 I meant the scoresheet numbering; your 'reconstruction' seems to have added two moves, so for you it would be 62...Nf5.

                              Stephen

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