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Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
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---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
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Correct. I did not want to have the arbiters trying to merge groups in a very short timeframe if the games ran long in the morning.
Also the pairings for the 9-day players would not have been able to be posted the night before (as they have been) as they would have changed based on the results of the morning round.
Hi Andrew - Thanks.....perfectly sound and human reasoning!
I have now done five prior blogs (9-day Option Schedule):
1. Preliminary Notice (Posted Sunday, July 9)
2. Day 1 (Saturday) – Rd. 1 – 9-day Group (Posted Sunday, July 9)
3. Day 2 (Sunday) – Rd. 2 – 9-day Group (Posted Monday, July 10)
4. Day 3 (Monday) – Rd. 3 – 9-day Group (Posted Monday, July 10)
5. Day 4 (Tuesday) – 9-day Group – Rd. 4//6-day Group – Rds. 1 & 2 (Posted Wednesday, July 12)
For those who have not been following the blog, reading them before this Blog # 6 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 (Tuesday)
After I returned from playing my Rd. 4 game, after visiting with Undriadi, I continued entering and analyzing my prior CO games. Then I finalized my Day 4 Blog.
The Wee Hours of the Morning (Wednesday)
I posted the Day 4 blog shortly after midnight this morning (Wednesday). I hit the sack at about 12:30 AM. I was tired – my game with Claude had been aggressive, complex, hard work and lots of fun to play, but tiring. But I am still quite happy about my over-all play so far (though not so much re Game # 3 Monday night against Victor), and the fact that I am now tied 3rd/7th out of 15 players (My original ranking is # 11/15)!
But the tournament sleep schedule kicked in this morning (sigh) – awake after 2 ¼ hrs. sleep. I lay there quietly ‘til 4:15 AM (Resting does do a lot for me, though for me with Bi-Polar, sleep deficit is not so good). My mind was racing with some of the good things going on in my life recently (this is a change!), and I could tell it was hopeless.
So I got up, made some corrections to my Tuesday Day 4 blog (Already posted), and started on this Wednesday Day 5 Blog draft. Then I sent some tournament updates out to the wife and a few friends. I also did an update for PEERS. PEERS is my personal Fb page…..I have turned it, with my friends, into an international discussion group on everything! I do most of the main posts, though other members chip in a post from time to time. But lots of my over 700 Fb friends from around the globe, have joined the discussion club by publicly declaring their presence on this site – they “comment”, “reply” or give some public reaction ("Like”, “Angry”, etc.). We now have about 200 of my Fb friends who have joined the discussion club. Of the other 500, I assume many are reading our conversations, thinking about the ideas put forth, but wish to keep their opinions to themselves……..there is definitely a privacy issue around social media.
Later Morning
I had some breakfast in my room (I brought my favourite cereal and have milk in the common fridge on the floor). Then at 6:30 AM I drove over to Timmies for a hash brown and to get my morning coffee……it started raining cats and dogs, so I just organized my “Life Reminder Notes” (Needed because of my medically deficient memory) and just relaxed. I got home about 7:30 PM and the rain was a lot lighter by then.
I found I was a bit tired (Duh – after 2 hrs. sleep), and so went to see if I could sleep – 3 ½ hrs. later I re-surfaced…..very good for my Bi-Polar…….
I worked some more on this blog draft, and posted a few articles from twitter to PEERS.
Afternoon
At noon I went over to the playing hall to watch the 6-day group games in our section (And I do look at some of the other section games…….but we all really know where the important games are being played in that hall, right??)
About 2:15 PM, I then decided on Swiss Chalet for an early dinner and drove over to the one nearest the residence. I returned to the hall to take a look at 3:15 PM, but there was only one game left, so I returned to the residence.
I then entered my Tuesday night game with Claude (Such fun, and hard work), and also continued work analyzing my games I had entered, and working on today’s blog.
I then had to do a bit of a lengthy e-mail to a friend, and afterwards really needed a break……so I went to drive around the Sault again, like I did last Sunday, to get to know it better, and to unwind before the round.
I got to the playing hall about 5:40 PM. I chatted in the lobby with both Wane Inkwell (Whom I ended up playing tonight) and Craig Sadler, whom I had played in Rd. 1. We discussed a bit why some seniors (Like me – 72 y.o. at the end of the month) are still enthusiastic about playing, despite having lost some of our ability through getting older (Doesn’t happen to all, but in my experience does happen to most). All I could answer was that playing chess for me is a “high” – there has to be tons of Adrenalin being produced! I guess one could say some of us elders, play for the “rush” (Shhh….don’t let it get out……..our clubs will suddenly be over-run by seniors). As one chess friend said, after a certain age, it is arguable that chess is better than sex for us!
My Rd. 5 Game
I (Rated 1522) played White against Wane Inkpen (1696) on Bd. 2 in our section (Of 7 boards).
I played an aggressive game on the Q-side to Wane’s Dutch Defence. But Wane managed to win a P on me, but I did get it back shortly thereafter. Then the middlegame got very tactical and complicated…….at one point I offered my Q, but Wane saw that when the smoke cleared, if he took the Q, he’d stand worse. Then I went up a P. This maintained for a while, but into the R & P ending, I won a second P. So I had passed P’s on both the b and g files, on the 5th rank. Wane did his best to try to draw. But eventually I was able to sac one of the P’s, to draw the K too far away from the resulting action, and I could queen my lone extra P. Wane commented that it was one of his most exciting losses in a while, and he felt pretty good about his play, despite losing……we both agree that for us older guys, it is not points or ratings (Though we may cry a lot publicly about these)……it is about “personal best” – and you can do that either winning or losing!
After the Game
I watched the games ‘til I had the results of my 9-day group U 1800 section. So at 10:00 PM I went back to the residence to finish work on this Rd. 5 Blog draft. I had to take some time to deal with a friend of mine who had contacted me, and then I returned to the blog.
At 11:30 PM I was able to post it.
The Group Merger Issue
It has been explained that both the organizers and the arbiters have agreed that the groups will be merged only in Rd. 7 @ 1:00 PM on Friday, July 14. I am quite fine with that. There are arguments why this is the best option to choose.
But it seems to me there is another option – merging in Rd. 6 on Thursday night @ 6:00 PM. I am not clear about why the organizers/arbiters considered this the inferior option. It would be great if one of the arbiters/organizers could shed some light on this for us all.
The reason I ask is that it, on first blush, seems that the most important principle is to merge the two groups at the earliest possible round? I know this dual option system has been used for years, and I’m sure the officials have found out what is done in the USA tournaments. But nevertheless, this is a new thing to Canada, and I’m sure I’m not the only one curious as to how this issue has been analyzed.
Or maybe someone else has looked into this, and maybe they would post what they understand.
U 1800 Leaders after Rd. 4 (9-day group – 15 players)
1st – 4.5/5 pts. – Undefeated – Victor Itkin (1761 – top seed in our group).
2nd/4th – 3.5/5 pts. – Grisha Crnilovic (1617); Me (1522); Robin Belanger (1439).
U 1800 Leaders after Rd. 2 (6-day Group – 24 players)
When I left the hall, because the 9-day group was all completed, there were still games on in the 6-day group in our section. So I will have to add an addendum to this blog later, once the final standings have been posted by the arbiters.
But there is a second problem with getting the other group scores. I know the players in my group, and I get the result directly from them before they take their scoresheets to the arbiter. But I do not know the other group well enough to do this, plus it would become too burdensome and affect my play in my own game.
So here is what I had previously understood to be the case with respect to the Arbiter’s own private results sheets……I will just copy from my prior blog on this issue:
“At normal weekend tournaments, there is a results page posted on the wall outside the playing hall. All players are to make sure the result is posted. This is great for both players and public, since with a bit of work, they can list who is leading.
But at Canadian Opens, usually, it is more formal. The public results sheet is done away with. The arbiters receive the scoresheets and results. They keep their own private results sheets. These are not for public viewing, theoretically. In fact though, they are often willing to show someone who has some semblance of a reason for needing the information…..because I do this blog, the arbiters are always most willing to show me for a short time the sheets, to copy down the information I need.
But a problem arises………sometimes the scores/players are showing up at the arbiter’s table fast and furious. The arbiters are trying to check them and then pile them in sections. As a result, the arbiter is not always able to keep his/her private results sheets current…..and for them it doesn’t matter……..when the chaos is over, they can then update their results sheets from the scoresheets, when they are not being bothered.
But organizer Andrew Peredun kindly pointed out to me on Chesstalk, Canada's national chess discussion board (Which I had not known), that over where the arbiters are piling the scoresheets as they come in, is a publicly visible duplicate of the arbiters' results sheets!
I had not seen them, nor ever been referred to them.
However, from Andrew's comments on Chesstalk, I am not sure if they also sometimes are behind, and not updated. I will certainly check this out tonight after Rd. 6! This would allow me to get the 6-day group results as well, before leaving the playing hall.
My Score
3.5/5 pts. – Wins: 3 (Rds. 1, 2 & 5); Draw: 1 (Rd. 4); Loss: 1 (Rd. 3 – to the top seed in our 9-day group)
My Opponents’ & My Scores
4.5/5 pts. – Victor Itkin (1761) – I lost in Rd. 3 – alone in first.
3.5/5 pts. – Me (1522) – tied 2nd/5th – quite satisfactory is an understatement!
2.5/5 pts. – Wane Inkpen (1696) – I won in Rd. 5.
- Craig Sadler (1642) - I won in Rd. 1.
- Claude Toussaint (1516) – I drew in Rd. 4.
1.5/5 pts. – Paul McNichol (1556) - I won 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….consider carefully before sacking your B on h2 or h7!!
Later Addenda
U 1800 6-day Group Leaders after 4 Rounds:
SwissSys Standings. 2017 Canadian Open: U1800 6 Day (Standings (no tiebrk))
I think K and R vs K and B is a theoretical draw but usually the side with the B makes a mistake unless he has studied the proper technique.
R and B vs R takes 75 moves and it is a win for RB. 50 move rule was waived for this ending.The rules changed decades ago if the CFC would update their Handbook,
R and B vs R takes 75 moves and it is a win for RB. 50 move rule was waived for this ending.The rules changed decades ago if the CFC would update their Handbook,
I don't see any mention of K+R vs K+B. Maybe the rule has been changed again.
FIDE removed 75 rules some years ago for specific endings (don't recall well, I think some were 2N vs p). Now it's 50 moves rule that you can claim a draw; and 75 moves that the arbiter shall stop the game and declare a draw.
"9.6 If one or both of the following occur(s) then the game is drawn:"
"9.6.2 any series of at least 75 moves have been made by each player without the movement of any pawn and without any capture. If the last move resulted in checkmate, that shall take precedence."
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:
I have now done six prior blogs (5 - 9-day Option Schedule; 2 - 6-day Option Included):
1. Preliminary Notice (Posted Sunday, July 9)
2. Day 1 (Saturday) – Rd. 1 – 9-day Group (Posted Sunday, July 9)
3. Day 2 (Sunday) – Rd. 2 – 9-day Group (Posted Monday, July 10)
4. Day 3 (Monday) – Rd. 3 – 9-day Group (Posted Monday, July 10)
5. Day 4 (Tuesday) – 9-day Group – Rd. 4//6-day Group – Rds. 1 & 2 (Posted Wednesday, July 12)
6. Day 5 (Wednesday) – 9-day Group – Rd. 5//6-day Group – Rds. 3 & 4 (Posted Wednesday, July 12)
For those who have not been following the blog, reading them before this Blog # 4 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 (Wednesday)
After I returned from playing my Rd. 5 game, I finalized my Day 5 Blog and posted it about 11:30 PM. At the same time a friend and I exchanged some e-mails.
The Wee Hours of the Morning (Wednesday)
I also e-mailed my wife and two university friends (We all go back over 50 years!) who live here in the Sault. My one friend is bringing my wife in from the airport to the residence today, sometime before noon. We are having a kind of small reunion over today and the next 3 days….somehow my chess is supposed to survive all this……we’ll see how the universe unfolds!
I went to bed shortly after midnight. I went to bed rather surprisingly pleased to be sitting in 2nd/4th place in my group……had not been expected…..not only by others, but certainly by me….I’m far from old, but I think I do have to acknowledge that almost 72 y.o. is no longer exactly young!
I was awake after 4 hrs. sleep – as I’ve mentioned, not unexpected for me during chess tournaments..
So I got up, made some corrections to my Wednesday Day 5 blog (Already posted – thanks Craig & Andrew), and started on this Thursday Day 6 Blog draft. I also did an update for PEERS (See Wednesday’s blog).
Later Morning
At 6:45 AM, I decided to go to McD’s for breakfast & to get my morning coffee fix. I updated my “Life Reminder Notes” (A necessary daily activity) and just relaxed. I got home about 8:00 AM.
The residence staff are still working on my Neanderthal land line to my room, so I now have to do the impossible……I must carry (But hopefully not have to use) my wife’s cellphone (sigh). I begged them not to call unless absolutely necessary……just show up at the residence at noon – no need to call me to tell me what I know….that you are coming! Anyway, I do know how to turn it on, so there it sits, beside my laptop, like a witchdoctor, waiting to cause chaos in my life. I really am not a Luddite (Some have very wronged me and hurt my feelings by giving me this label……new tech is wonderful)……just why should I have to USE it…..Neanderthals aren’t so good at all this stuff with no labels on the icons, etc. Anyway, you’ll likely hear wailing and gnashing of teeth later in this blog, if the universe unfolds as it shouldn’t……..
I worked a bit on this blog draft, posted a few articles from twitter to PEERS. I then felt a bit tired, and thought I should try sleeping….I was able to get 1 ½ hrs.!
Then I entered my exciting Rd. 4 game against Claude (We drew), and also a good game against Wane (I won). Then I got some time to start analyzing Wane’s game – I was lucky – I was losing a big part of the time, though it was so complicated, I didn’t even realize it! I anxiously looked beside my laptop, waiting for my wife to give the witchdoctor its instructions……truly quaking…like when you get a chill….really! I am told I am a bit prone to exaggeration sometimes…..
Then Vlad Drkulec from next door stuck his head in to say “Hi”……Vlad has been trying, as CFC President, to be transparent about the Canadian Closed incident with Bator and Nikolay…he is trying to get the information out there to the CFC members. But there are arguments and counter-arguments, and so it is all a bit of a mess. Vlad noted that he does become a target, and some want him not to be so interactive, but he opined that it was worse in the days when CFC told its members nothing…everything was hidden….he wishes to leave those days behind. In my opinion, his job of a balancing act is not all that easy…the President job is volunteer after all…….now it still has to be done right, but the volunteer factor should keep the CFC officers from being totally crucified, no?
Anyway, the witchdoctor rang! So Vlad headed to his room, noting my extreme distress!……OMG…..what do I do?……..
Well….I’m learning! it was a piece of cake…..I found the text……and they have this pre-set “OK” – so I touched it and sure enough, up it came……and I can read the word “send”. They were on their way to the residence.
So I decided to go down and pace outside waiting (I sort of do something like meditation, which I call “contemplation”) and this seemed an OK time to get it in while waiting. But going past the office Luke motioned to me that he finally had the telephone no. for my room for my Neanderthal phone land line! I explained my wife was coming, but said he definitely had priority! I went back up to the room for him to phone me and check it worked. I waited……..and waited……and then heard the door to the pod open. Then Luke stuck his head in…..isn’t recognizing the number (sigh)……might need to be activated somehow……..he’d have to call back the techies to see what was happening……oh god…now I am dependent on my wife’s cellphone…..the world is just an awful unfair place to we Neanderthals.
Afternoon
I then went back down to the parking lot to contemplate and await my “Precious” :) Sure enough, shortly my two friends, with my wife in tow, drove in. It was great to see the two of them again….oh yeah, and of course “Precious” :) So we got my wife’s stuff out of the trunk of our car, for her to stay at one of our friends for the duration.
Then we all went to a nice restaurant on Great Northern, and started our reunion, talking about old times, and how we hadn’t aged in the least over the last 50 years! We all quickly agreed that the lunch was going to be a Trump-free zone, and we stuck pretty well to that. We had a very nice start to our mini-reunion.
They then drove me back to the residence about 1:30 PM, and my wife happily toddled off with them to get set up at my friend’s place.
I then went over to the playing hall to watch for any first time control scrambles. I checked out the public results sheets Andrew had drawn to my attention ,,,,,,,, this is great. But I did notice they were not totally up-to-date – for example Joey was in the hall and finished……and he was in first place (Tied) – but when I checked the sheet his result had not yet been entered. So I may or may not still have to rely on doing my blog after the arbiters publish the official results on the website.
But later when I checked they had all been updated!
But my body was now asking for its traditional afternoon nap…….as a retiree, I have found that there are two options here:
1. Power Nap – I am a real go-getter retiree;
2. Siesta Nap (Latin American Style) – I am a real laid-back and lazy retiree!
So I drove over to Metro (They do have some good stuff) on my way back to the residence. I worked on my chess games a bit, while wolfing down some ice cream (Great having a refrigerator on the floor!). Then I took my ________ nap – you fill in the blank! I didn’t sleep, but I do try to take a quiet hour anyway, and either zone out, or contemplate. I usually try to rest this way ‘til the alarm.
I then continued work analyzing my games I had entered, and working on today’s blog draft.
Pre- Round 6
I went to the playing hall about 5:40 PM and just sat in the lobby and kind of tried to centre.
My Rd. 6 Game
I (Rated 1522) played black against my friend, Grisha Crnilovic (1617 – a former member of one of my chess clubs in Toronto, Ontario) on Bd. 2 in our 9-day group in our section (Of 7 boards).
I played a somewhat unusual opening, and Grisha really didn’t know how to deal with it…..I was up 2 P’s in the early middlegame. Then I saw two options for continuing.
One was the safe exchange of a set of minor, and hopefully win in the ending up 2 P’s.
But the second option caught my attention more (sigh) – I could sack a minor for a 3rd P (So it would be equal material), and then try to double R’s on the open g-file, attack his K (No pawns to hide behind), and eventually win with my passed hP. This looked much more exciting! I just couldn’t help it……no control……I went for it. But Grisha managed to force one of my R’s off the g-file and I never ever did get them doubled there. But it was still a quite wide-open game. I really don’t know who was winning!
But it didn’t matter because I soon blundered my R for free……….oh boy……
After the Game
I chatted with Grisha about chess fortunes, and Ed Selling from USA joined us. Then Ed and I chatted a bit outside about USA politics (Ed is not exactly a happy camper).
Then I went to get a Subway sandwich to bring back to the hall, since I had had nothing since lunch.
I watched the games ‘til I had the results of both my 9-day group, and the 6-day group, in our U 1800 section.
The arbiters have now set up a great system for the results sheets…they now have a duplicate of their private sheets, on public showing, where they pile the scoresheets. It was a breeze now to get the results I needed, and come back to the residence early and finalize this blog. Thanks guys!
So at 10:00 PM I went back to the residence
. . .
So …until the next time….consider carefully before deciding you are channeling Tal!!!
[QUOTE=Bob Armstrong;115164]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:
2017 Canadian Open Chess Championship – U 1800 – Day 7 (Friday.)
Day 7 – Friday, July 14/15
Round 7 (@ 1:00 PM)
Prior Blogs
I have now done seven prior blogs:
1. Preliminary Notice (Posted Sunday, July 9)
2. Day 1 (Saturday) – Rd. 1 – 9-day Group (Posted Sunday, July 9)
3. Day 2 (Sunday) – Rd. 2 – 9-day Group (Posted Monday, July 10)
4. Day 3 (Monday) – Rd. 3 – 9-day Group (Posted Monday, July 10)
5. Day 4 (Tuesday) – 9-day Group – Rd. 4//6-day Group – Rds. 1 & 2 (Posted Wednesday, July 12)
6. Day 5 (Wednesday) – 9-day Group – Rd. 5//6-day Group – Rds. 3 & 4 (Posted Wednesday, July 12)
7. Day 6 (Thursday) – Rd. 6 (Combined groups) (Posted Thursday, July 13)
For those who have not been following the blog, reading them before this Blog # 4 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 (Thursday)
After I returned from playing my Rd. 6 game (I blundered in a pretty good game to then), I finalized my Day 6 Blog and posted it about 11:30 PM. Last night I was indeed tired by then, and went to bed before midnight (Pretty unusual for me generally).
The Wee Hours of the Morning (Friday)
Unfortunately, I awoke at……3:00 AM. This is a bit short, even for me, so I decided to just rest, and get into a peaceful and quiet zone for another hour…..I am able to benefit from this, especially if I happen to be able to do my contemplation thingee.
So at 4:00 AM, up I got. The first thing on the agenda, was technology! Have to practice says “Precious”.
I used the cellphone….to text Claranne, one of our Soo university friends, with whom my wife is staying…….my message:
“Texting……..Just because I can!”
Just getting to be a “Techie Wizard” eh?!
I also tried sending an email to my wife’s tablet……I did get logged into the College Wi-fi……moving right along……..but then ran into problems I’d rather not discuss in public…abandon that lesson!
Back to my beloved laptop finally……..and started working on this blog draft.
Got hungry @ 5:00 AM, so went to the floor refrigerator to get my milk for the cold cereal I had brought.
Then I had to deal with my Fb discussion club, PEERS. So I checked Twitter and my Fb Newsfeed, and re-posted some articles of interest.
Later Morning
At 6:45 AM, I decided to go to McD’s for a breakfast top-up hash brown & to get my morning coffee fix. I updated my “Life Reminder Notes” (A necessary daily activity) and just relaxed. A quick stop at Metro and I got home about 7:30 AM.
Lo and behold if my avatar didn’t want to go back to bed…….maybe it thought it could sleep? Anyway, I gave in and sure enough, I didn’t surface ‘til the alarm 2 hrs. later.
Then I entered my game with Grisha in Rd. 6 Wednesday….still smarting a bit from just dropping that rook in a good game……”S” happens, they say……..Then back to analyzing it and a few games I hadn’t yet finished.
My wife e-mailed from Claranne’s that she had had a lovely day with our friends yesterday, and a good night’s sleep. She asked how game # 6 went…she’s pretty supportive of my chess hobby……….she even let me teach her to play some time ago, but it really just isn’t her thing……but she now does know what I’m crying about when I explain my sad stories, like dropping a R for free against Grisha, in a game that was OK (I haven’t a clue which of us were winning, it was so messy…….and fun!)
I then needed a break and it had stopped raining. So on the way out I stuck my head in Undriadi’s room. He had the earphones on and was watching a movie. I asked if he’d yet been for his daily run…..he said no because it had been raining……so I asked if he wanted to join me for a walk? He was not long in deciding he was sticking with the movie. So I walked north on Northern to where it ends at the long-term care place…….looks quite nice. There is then a walking trail. I returned after about ½ hr.
Undriadi was going to lunch and stopped by…..we got into a conversation about the book business, and new book shops closing up, but used book shops, and comic shops, are surviving. I mentioned that my family owned a small bookstore in my hometown, Sarnia, for 25 years. But when Chapters came into the downtown, my brother saw the writing on the wall and closed it. But it had a stamp section for collectors. So he took the business on-line, and has been modestly successful, though only doing it part-time (He works full-time).
Afternoon
Then Vlad joined us and we discussed his beyond-addiction to buying chess books! Undriadi left and Vlad and I discussed the Canadian Closed Decision/Appeal Decision a bit. Then Undriadi returned and we arranged to walk over to the hall together at 12:45 PM for rd. 7.
I then had to do an e-mail to a friend, and then went back to analyzing my game with Grisha in Rd. 6.
At 12:45 PM Undriadi came by and we went to the playing hall for Rd. 7.
My Game 7
I (Rated 1522) played black against Robin Belanger (1439) on Bd. 7 in our section (Of 18 boards).
I attacked early and temporarily sacked an N to open the g-file. Robin then had to sack back to save his Q but in the process went up a P. But then I equalized.
But there was a pin, and Robin again picked up a P.
I continued my attack, but Robin found a way to cause all the main pieces to be exchanged, winning a second P temporarily. But I won a P right back, and then play shifted to the centre and q-side as I had a passed P on d6.
Robin had two passed P’s on the K-side now, but he couldn’t start to push them until he dealt with my threats. I was then down a P, but I had the two B’s against B + N (later with one B each, they were of opposite colour).
I thought I could draw in this situation and so offered a draw on move 46. But Robin was now in no danger of losing, and so correctly played on. We subsequently exchanged two sets of P’s, and now we each had a P on the a-file, and he had his extra passed P on the f-file. I still think this is a draw, but I went wrong somewhere, and had to sac a B for his passed fP.
I think the game was lost now, but I blundered into an N-fork, losing my B……that’s all she wrote folks.
Post Game 7
Once I had enough results to determine the section leaders, I returned to the residence. I started entering my game against Robin. But I found I was tired. So I texted our friend Claranne that they could come and pick me up and then the four of us were going to her place for dinner. Then I lay down and I think slept for about 15 min. and then awoke.
Evening
No reply text yet. So I called on the cellphone (!) and left a message I was ready. Soon I got a text back…..she had received no text from me (Oh, Oh……did something wrong), and they would pick me up at 6:20 PM outside the residence door. So I continued entering the game, and then went down. They picked me up. They brought me back at 9:30 PM. I knew I couldn’t handle the blog right away, so went for a sleep for an hour. I then went to get my ice cream, did some analyzing of my game with Robin this afternoon, and then back to today’s blog.
When the three had picked me up, they had all had a most enjoyable afternoon together. They had ordered a pizza, and so we picked it up on the way home. They had earlier made a salad, and some red wine topped it all off.
The pizza was very good – from Aurora’s (A Restaurant & Takeout). They had also picked up some delicious Italian pastry called genettis. We talked about a friend of all of us who had just died of cancer – he had dedicated his life to helping achieve social justice in the world…..his funeral had been quite a tribute to his life.
We discussed the unusual way I ended up in the legal profession – due to a dream…..but that is for another time…….I’ll just say that despite my philosophical and theological background, I decide many things purely intuitively……law was one of those kinds of decisions.
We reminisced about how all four of us had gotten into the “Helping” fields. My wife coaxed Rosanne to come work with her…..would not really have been a first choice for her, but for some reason she agreed. She recently retired, and the kudos were many for her contribution re race relations, feminism, equality, etc. Claranne had been a Catholic nun, and then a teacher…..again with a view to helping kids and families.
I discovered to my horror that Claranne, who, as a long-suffering friend, follows my Fb exploits, was reading my blog to Precious and Rosanne. Soon I was being cross-examined by Precious on this ice cream thingee……like how much did I eat? Did I have some left and was it in the floor refrigerator? What flavour was it (She loves ice cream too)? How many litres? Etc. – Just kidding! But I did take somewhat of a roasting for my cellphone incompetency…….but they kind of let me off lightly.
The Wee Hours of Saturday Morning
At 1:00 PM I was able to post yesterday’s Day 7 (Friday) Blog.
At 1:00 PM I was able to post yesterday’s Day 7 (Friday) Blog.
U 1800 Leaders after Rd. 6 (9-day group & 6-day groups now combined – 39 players)
1st – 6/7 pts. – Undefeated – Joey Orozco (1740);
2nd/4th – 5.5/7 pts. – Victor Itkin (1761 – second seed); Kai Wang (1679); Junior Boy Jeffery Renfei Zhao (1525).
5th/6th - 5/7 pts. – Ferdinand Supsup (1739); Junior Boy Youhe Wang (1448).
7th/10th – 4.5/7 pts. – Junior Boy Alfred Dagan (1727); Amos Kuttner (1706); Grisha Crnilovic (1617); Robin Belanger (1439).
My Score
3.5/7 pts. – Wins: 3 (Rds. 1, 2 & 5); Draw: 1 (Rd. 4); Losses: 2 (Rd. 3 – to the second seed; Rds. 6 & 7).
My Opponents’ & My Scores
5.5/7 pts. – Victor Itkin (1761 – second seed) – I lost in Rd. 3 – tied 2nd/4th.
4.5/7 pts. – Grisha Crnilovic (1617) – I lost in Rd. 6 - tied 7th/10th.
- Robin Belanger (1439) – I lost in Rd. 7 – tied 7th/10th.
4/7 pts. - Craig Sadler (1642) - I won in Rd. 1.
3.5/7 pts. – Wane Inkpen (1696) – I won in Rd. 5.
- Me (1522)
3/7 pts. - Claude Toussaint (1516) – I drew in Rd. 4.
2.5/7 pts. – Paul McNichol (1556) - I won in Rd. 2.
Ponderings
It is just impossible to keep up with the surreal rush of time at a Canadian Open. Each year I am flabbergasted when we have already reached the 2/3 mark in the tournament, as we have now. Time has just flown!
The days have been filled with socializing with chess friends (A much bigger factor than the non-chess playing public would believe, given the public stereotype of the taciturn two older opponents, sitting at their board, enveloped in cobwebs!).
Fast food places also loom large for we chess tournament players, and there are millions of them within walking distance of the Sault College Campus.
And there is the technical drudgery side of having to play some chess while we are here, or we don’t get to socialize . But we all are in love with Caissa…….and she presents us with opportunity after opportunity of emotional rollercoasters…….I’m winning……no, I’m losing…….it’s a draw……I don’t have a clue what’s going on! But the Adrenalin rush compensates for all – competition sort of seems to do this to us humans. And of course, the ultimate challenge…..”Personal Best”.
And it really helps when those you are dependent on are friendly and helpful……even though we aren’t finished, I want to say some thanks, in case I forget later.
Roman and Andrew have been especially helpful to me since attempting to register on-line and failing (Techie superb …. Yup), though I got the wrong room package (sigh). And they have happily answered questions and given directions throughout the tournament. In smaller localities, the CO numbers are sometimes down, but this has been a most enjoyable “Life & Chess Holiday” for me, here in the Soo. Thanks guys, and your volunteer team.
Hal and Aris have run their traditional very professional tournament…..and have gently, but firmly, enforced the rules when we players forget and get excited, and transgress. And their setting up of public results sheets is a very nice evolution in the scheme of Canadian Opens, IMHO. I think future arbiters need to consider this attention to the players and public, even while being much more official than the local weekend tournament. Again…. Thanks.
I’d also like to put a plug in for Luke and Linley at the residence staff office…I have been forcing them back into the era of Alexander Graham Bell, asking for a Neanderthal room land line. Wouldn’t have been a problem, except that the techie who does this has been away! So everyone else on the techie side has been scrambling to deal with the archaic system I desperately wanted (Would avoid the cellphone, and I could return it to my wife!). Now one could say they have so far (Only here for 3 more days!) been unsuccessful…..the system refused to recognize the number that was supposed to be the right one…….but I like to think I am paving the way for the next technically incompetent Neanderthal who may register at their premises! I have always made clear though, that there was no emergency…..after all, I did have my wife’s cellphone! :) Don’t let the system beat you guys……conquer it for future guests! And they have been friendly, and fun to deal with.
And lastly thanks to Claranne and Rosanne, our university friends of over 50 years, for coaxing my wife out of her basement pottery studio, to the Soo, for our mini-reunion for 5 days. And of course, both of you are invited to come and watch me sit nervously at the board some round, should the spirit so move you (So far it hasn’t!....can’t understand that…..chance of a lifetime!).
It has been a fun time, and socializing with our university friends for the last days will be the icing on the cake, of a most enjoyable CO.
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….consider carefully before deciding you will promote the P to an N!!!
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:
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 Eight Blog (Saturday.) was posted shortly after midnight today (Sunday), if someone wants to re-post it here.
Glad it is available to more people now.....thanks for the re-posting!
2017 Canadian Open Chess Championship – U 1800 – Day 8 (Saturday)
Day 8 – Saturday, July 15/15
Round 8 (@ 1:00 PM)
Prior Blogs
I have now done eight prior blogs:
1. Preliminary Notice (Posted Sunday, July 9)
2. Day 1 (Saturday) – Rd. 1 – 9-day Group (Posted Sunday, July 9)
3. Day 2 (Sunday) – Rd. 2 – 9-day Group (Posted Monday, July 10)
4. Day 3 (Monday) – Rd. 3 – 9-day Group (Posted Monday, July 10)
5. Day 4 (Tuesday) – 9-day Group – Rd. 4//6-day Group – Rds. 1 & 2 (Posted Wednesday, July 12)
6. Day 5 (Wednesday) – 9-day Group – Rd. 5//6-day Group – Rds. 3 & 4 (Posted Wednesday, July 12)
7. Day 6 (Thursday) – Rd. 6 (Combined groups) (Posted Thursday, July 13)
8. Day 7 (Friday) – Rd. 7 (Posted Saturday, July 15)
For those who have not been following the blog, reading them before this Blog # 9 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 Wee Hours of Saturday Morning
At 1:00 PM I was able to post the Friday, Day 7, Blog. I was then tired, and hit the sack.
Later Morning
I slept my more normal length this morning – five hours (1:00 AM – 6:00 AM).
So I started out re-posting some new articles from Twitter to PEERS (See prior blogs). Then I finished analyzing my Friday game with Robin. And then I started the Saturday Blog.
Got hungry @ 8:00 AM, so went to McD’s for a breakfast. On the way out, Undriadi came in from his daily run, so he said he’d come over and join me. I had breakfast, and did a rather rigorous update of my “Life Reminder Notes” (A necessary daily activity) and just relaxed. I finished a bit before 9:00 AM and Undriadi hadn’t shown; I assumed he’d changed his schedule, so I left…..I wanted to do an e-mail to my wife before she, Claranne and Rosanne might go out (From my beloved laptop; not the bewitched cellphone!). Then on the way back to the residence I saw Undriadi walking towards McD’s, but I decided I’d better do the e-mail rather than returning to McD’s to join Undriadi. When Undriadi came in about 9:30 AM we sorted out what had happened.
So I now went back to finish analyzing my Rd. 4 game with Claude, and updating the blog draft.
Lo and behold if my avatar didn’t want to go back to bed again this morning. I gave in and did sleep for an hour.
I then went back to game analysis.
But my wife then sent an e-mail about our daughter in Cuba. She is in a professional College here in Ontario, but presently in Cuba on holiday. But she has to be at the college campus a week from Monday, and will be returning to Toronto Pearson Airport early that morning, and we will go pick her up. But apparently her school e-mail account is blocked from Cuba as a commercial account, so she can’t get her school e-mail study material for the week after she returns!
At the same time, I then saw an e-mail from Undriadi and Bob Gillanders inviting me to join them for lunch at 11:00 AM Cagney….I had gone to Undriadi’s room shortly after 11:00 AM but he had already left. .I was going to go (If I could locate the address), but then had to cancel. The reason is that I did find my daughter’s school e-mail, but she had forgotten to send the password to my wife. So I wrote our daughter and then had to hope she saw the e-mail and got back to me before I had to leave for Rd. 8 @ 12:30 PM yesterday.
So I updated this blog draft, and got back to my Rd. 4 game analysis, while I waited
Afternoon
During the day, randomly, I do go check Twitter and my Fb Newsfeed to find articles I think are important and re-post them in PEERS. Sometimes, if I am energetic, I will do a short preliminary analysis, from my point of view, and insert it before the article. This often encourages members to participate by making comments/replies. The goal of PEERS is for all the members to learn from each other…..it works relatively well I think……..We have gone up to 200 members today (From Jan. 1 when it started)!
At 12:45 PM Undriadi came by and we went to the playing hall for Rd. 8. I chatted a bit with Craig McGilly of our section. Somehow we got talking about DQ, and he was unaware of the big breakthrough they made with their “Ultimate Burger” many years ago…..it became one of my favourites….very fitting conversation given we were entering the penULTIMATE round!
My Game 8
I (Rated 1522) played black against Bob Gillanders (1771), CFC Executive Director. My luck to have to play the top seed in Rd. 8 (sigh). We played on Bd. 10 in our section (Of 17 boards).
I played an unusual opening, but Bob G sorted his way through it. We both tried to set up K-side attacks. I felt Bob’s was the one that was going to succeed based on his white-squared B. But I saw I could sac a P, and force Bob G to exchange the B. That did work. Then we played a pretty equal game into the ending. I then found an odd-looking line that I felt at least drew, and maybe won. So I set it up. Bob G then gave me the opportunity to play it………and I had by then forgotten the whole point. I made a different move (Stupid, stupid, stupid!). Nevertheless, I played a strong ending, trying to hang on, but it was hopeless and I lost.
Post Game 8
I got the results I needed to determine the section leaders. Then Bob G and I went to analyze the game. My friend Grisha joined us. We found lots of alternate lines to be explored, and sure enough I did have a draw at one point.
Then I chatted with some of the Filipino guys from Toronto, some of whom play at the two Toronto clubs, in addition to their own Manila CC. Joey and Jelvis are both playing exceedingly well.
Then I chatted for a bit with Roman’s wife, Daphne, who has been a volunteer helper I believe.
When I returned to the residence, the first order of business was comfort food – still had ice cream in the floor fridge! I continued analyzing my game against Claude. I also updated the blog a bit more.
Then e-mailed my wife I was ready to go out now.
Evening
Our friend, Claranne, texted me that she was going to pick up my wife and Rosanne, and then they’d be over to get me. So I dutifully turned off the cellphone as I was being taught, and worked further on analyzing my Rd. 4 game.
Then about 6:20 PM I went down to meet them at the front door. Well…..there was my wife, with one of the guests opening the front door for her to come in to get me. Claranne and Rosanne were in the car. Apparently they had been waiting for me down there for about 10 minutes…….I never expected they would be so fast - they said I was still thinking Toronto travel times . But I was quickly forgiven and we headed out for dinner. They brought me back at 8:30 PM, and I was quite tired from my game earlier in the day with Bob Gillanders.
So I took an hour nap.
We all had gone for a burger dinner at the A & W nearest the residence. Then we went to the Big Moose Ice Cream Parlour, out Great Northern Road. WOW – the number of flavours they have is unbelievable, and the helpings are generous.
When I got up, I saw an e-mail from Bob Gillanders that a group, including the arbiters, had reserved a table at Casey’s for dinner. Undriadi was going, and I was invited. But I couldn’t go, but I would have if I had had no plans. Undriadi then dropped by and said it was nice, but about 12 people showed. The table reserved was only for 5. So everybody went in together and ate at the long bar, and chatted with those next to them (A second best save). After Undriadi left, Vlad came into the pod, and he had just played a very young up and coming junior at my Scarborough CC (Had gained about 500 points in the last year), Eric Ning. He had won, using a bit of help from David Cummings chess book, which he just randomly decided to check out about 10 minutes before going to the game! He won.
There was also an e-mail from my daughter giving me her password to her school e-mail account. That task is for tomorrow morning…….there are a number of days before it may get a bit critical.
My wife e-mailed me about a mutual friend, who was a Fb friend.
I then wanted to post some articles in PEERS, and to finish analyzing my Rd. 4 game and did.
The Wee Hours of Sunday Morning
I finally got to finalizing my blog. I was able to post it about 12:15 AM.
U 1800 Leaders after Rd. 8 – 39 players)
1st – 7/8 pts. – Undefeated – Joey Orozco (1740 – from my Scarborough CC);
2nd – 6.5/8 pts. – Junior Boy Jeffery Renfei Zhao (1525 – from my Scarborough CC).
3rd – 6/8 pts. - Ferdinand Supsup (1739).
4th/7th – 5.5/8 pts. - Victor Itkin (1761 – second seed); Junior Boy Alfred Dagan (1727); Amos Kuttner (1706); Kai Wang (1679).
8th/10th - 5/8 pts. – Junior Boy Alan Bui (1716); Nicholas Konovalenko (1706); Junior Boy Youhe Wang (1448 – from my Scarborough CC).
My Score
3.5/8 pts. – Wins: 3 (Rds. 1, 2 & 5); Draw: 1 (Rd. 4); Losses: 4 (Rd. 3 – to the second seed; Rds. 6, 7 & 8).
My Opponents’ & My Scores
5.5/8 pts. – Victor Itkin (1761 – second seed) – I lost in Rd. 3 – tied 4th/7th..
4.5/8 pts. – Bob Gillanders (1771 – top seed) – I lost in Rd. 8.
- Grisha Crnilovic (1617) – I lost in Rd. 6 .
- Robin Belanger (1439) – I lost in Rd. 7 ..
4/8 pts. – Wane Inkpen (1696) – I won in Rd. 5.
- Craig Sadler (1642) - I won in Rd. 1.
3.5/8 pts. - Me (1522)
3/8 pts. - Claude Toussaint (1516) – I drew in Rd. 4.
2.5/7 pts. – Paul McNichol (1556) - I won in Rd. 2 – withdrew
. . .
So …until the next time….consider carefully before deciding you will sack the exchange for a positional advantage!!!
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