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Bob, I notice you have 1.5 points after 3 rounds, a loss to Hansen in rd. 1, a draw in rd. 3 - did you win in rd. 2, if so against who? Or did you take a 1 pt bye?
Good luck with the rest of the tournament!
Ken
Thanks for the congrats on the master draw - but it was in fact a GM draw on move 13 ! He said he thought I was better, and he was black, and a draw seemed OK to him. I really didn't have to work for my half point.
Maurice chaired the meeting at David's request and with confirmation of the meeting.
Hal Bond, past CFC President, and Michael Barron, FIDE rep. , were the two exec. who attended.
Eric van Dusen had advised me that if he became president, I could introduce the motions at the incoming governors meeting under new business. However Maurice the previous day had advised he would not look kindly on the motions. As well, the provincial representation reduction motion was defeated. I felt that the atmosphere was not receptive to reduction, and so made a judgment call not to introduce them after all, and to deal with them when they come out in the next GL. Also, the Coalition will be looking at bringing a companion motion imposing an activity criterion on the governors - this may help make reduction more acceptable. I fear they would simply have been defeated if I had gone ahead. The motions are still good and beneficial to the CFC in my opinion, and the CFC Constitutional Coalition will still pursue them.
Re: Weekend Warrior & the CO Challenge - After Rd. 4
Posted today on the CFC Chess Forum:
Tuesday was a day of good news/bad news for this weekend warrior.
First some bad news. " Massacre " totally fails to describe my round four game against my third master in four rounds ( 2472, 2237, 2217 ).It is definitely in the running for one of my worst games ever - by move 14 I was down two pawns and about to lose a bishop. I think the less said about this game, the better. So here is my standing in the gang of 8 Toronto players in the U 2000 class - last:
1. Dalia Kagramanov ( 1941 ) - 2.5
2. Tyler Longo ( 1992 ) - 2 ( Scarborough CC member )
3. Brendan Fan ( 1992 ) - 2
4. Alex Ferreira ( 1987 ) - 2 ( Scarborough CC member )
5. Omar Shah ( 1921 ) - 2 ( past Scarborough CC member, and winner of the U 2000 section last year in the Montreal CO ).
6. Sam Arfin ( 1916 ) - 2 ( Scarborough CC member )
7. Jonathan Farine ( 1894 ) - 2
8. Bob Armstrong ( 1831 ) - 1 ( Scarborough CC member & your intrepid blogger )
The sole leader in our class is Richard Huang of BC rated 1952, who has 3/4 pts.. Dalia, who has 2.5 pts. and leads our Toronto group, is in a 7-way tie for second ( it appears she made a misjudgment late in the game, and it turned out a draw, instead of a win for her - she could have been in a 2-way tie for first had she won ).
Some good news is that I did the tourist thing in the afternoon before the round. Mario Moran-Venegas, another Scarborough CC member playing in the U 1800 class, and I headed out for the famous West Edmonton mall. It really is a tribute to capitalism - I always marvel how so many shops, many of whom are competing in such close quarters, survive. Also it has some major features : a skating rink, a huge waterworld swimming pool/lake and a large water pool with replica sail ship and small model boats for kids to steer from the side. And part of the latter includes a sea-lion performing pool. Luckily, we were there at the time of one of the performances. The tricks that had been taught to the animals ( the one adult was huge, much larger I think than seals ) are impressive. When I see this, I feel that we are generally quite prone to underestimating the intelligence of our animal compatriots with whom we share the globe.
The bad news is that after lunch at the mall at Boston Pizza, I managed to leave my jacket - and Edmonton in the early morning ( I get up early ) and late at night ( sun sets here at 10:00 - 10:30 PM ) has been chilly while we've been here. The good news is that I had the foresight to also pack a sweatshirt.
There was some bad news from the CFC AGM of the incoming new governors. Only 10 governors of 61 were actually present - there were 19 proxies filed, but it still means the majority of governors elected not to participate at all in the most important and only CFC governors' meeting of the year.
The good news is that CFC has a new president - Eric van Dusen of Ottawa. There was in addition, much praise for past president David Lavin - he presided last year over the most radical surgery ever to the CFC, and with it, he stopped the financial bleeding ( CFC has had an approximately $ 30,000 deficit each year for the last five years ). David has managed to present for 2009-10 a balanced ( or surplus ) budget ( not sure when, if ever, CFC has had a budget to guide it in the year's spending ). It is perhaps a good sign of CFC's recovering health that it was fortunate enough to have 2 good candidates for President - the governors were clearly divided - Eric won by the slimmest of margins, 13 votes to 12 votes.
So we have 2 new faces on the executive - Eric, and new treasurer, Maurice Smith, a past 3-term president ( and President of the Scarborough CC ). Returning to the same postions are Stijn de Kerpel as V-P, and Lyle Craver as Secretary. Changing positions are Hal Bond ( from past president to FIDE rep ), Michael Barron ( from FIDE rep to Junior Coordinator ) and David Lavin ( from President to past President - we will be fortunate to retain David's skills and experience on the Executive ). As to other officers who are not on the executive, Bela Kosoian remains as Women's Coordinator, and past president Bill Doubleday is the new rating auditor ( replacing Pierre Denommee who had held the post for a number of years ).
So a very eventful and mixed day at the very finely run Edmonton Canadian Open.
With 60 governors I think it is a disgrace that only a few are voting to decide the CFC AGM motions. I think a list of the missing governors should be posted and the areas effected should decide whether those missing Governors are really supporting the best interests of chess for that Province or Territory.
It's time to clean shop and get Governors who want to support and promote chess. Get rid of the slackers.
Why were there not more Proxies sent. I know in the past proxies have been abused. Really so many Governors sitting on the fence? It is no wonder the CFC falls apart. The fence would collapse with so much dead weight.
To have a CFC President running for re-election talking on a speaker phone, this to me shows that he really is not that interested in the future of the CFC.
If you want to be re-elected be at the meetings.
Micah;
If you are in the City and at The Cdn Open I think that counts as being a Governor there. From what I have seen you and your staff are running a top notch event. Keep it up. You'd have my vote if I lived in Alberta.
As for the rest of the no shows.... Well that should be questioned at both the Provincial, Territorial and Executive levels. Why keep those that have not produced. Maybe there should be a penality imposed on no shows like an increase in their CFC Dues. Now that would bring the CFC more revenues.
Maybe there should be a penality imposed on no shows like an increase in their CFC Dues. Now that would bring the CFC more revenues.
Not likely since I suspect that would lead to a loss of members (of course). One could argue that would be no loss at all, but that is a different story.
The real tragedy is that the CFC AGM is held at the Canadian Open instead of held as a virtual meeting over the Internet. That would make it a lot easier to participate (no guarantee in any case I suppose ...) and could eliminate the need for proxies, and might even result in some useful work being accomplished.
Not likely since I suspect that would lead to a loss of members (of course). One could argue that would be no loss at all, but that is a different story.
Hi Kerry,
There's a lot of money around chess. The thing is the players want to see some value for their money.
Let me give you an example. Back in the 70's a guy wrote and asked for information about the correspondence club. I sent it to him. Can't recall what the membership was but it was less than $5. per year.
He wrote back and said he didn't have the money for the membership fees. I wrote back and said that if he could afford the tournament entry and his stamps we'd cover his membership. He sent the money for an event and I sent the tournament assignment.
Within a few weeks he sent a cheque for around $100.00 for supplies and books. This in the 1970's when that much money was more than a lot of people earned for a weeks work.
I seem to recall myself and someone else who writes here tossed in his membership dues so the financial books would balance.
Re: Weekend Warrior & the CO Challenge - After Rd. 5
What can I say about Wednesday. It is the mid-point in the tournament - Rd. 5 of nine. The time has gone quickly with the tournament's great side events, the socializing ( group lunch at the Elephant & Castle at about 2:00 PM, and Denny's at 12:00 AM in the morning after the round has become a regular stop for a number of the Toronto players ( and others ) with some post-mortems ), the lazy early morning coffee at Timmy's reading Isaac Asimov's first sci-fi book, Pebble in the Sky ( he has a full Ruy Lopez chess game in it played by the main character and a supporting character - in descriptive notation - with moves interspersed in their conversation - I'll present it in my blog tomorrow ), and some touristing.
It has been interesting that since I have become a governor, some of my friends who have been quite deliberately apolitical re the CFC, have started asking some good and tough questions about the running of the CFC - what is the relevance of CFC governors, and of the CFC itself? why doesn't CFC abolish the national rating system and go just with the FIDE ratings now that it goes down to 1200 ? should the CFC be less democratic and more run like a profit business - smaller management ( and I dejectedly tell them that the CFC Constitutional Coalition motion on reduction of governors got defeated at Monday's AGM - and they say: " This is a surprise ? " )? and generally what does the future of the CFC look like? What I find hopeful in all this for the CFC is the fact that members, when someone is willing to answer questions, are not apathetic as some claim ( though I must say I'm unsure about some governors ). I think there are many different points of view in the membership, and many good ideas that the CFC can tap, if they can figure out how and where to engage the membership in intial ground-breaking dialogue. They may not be interested in a massive influx of " political " information, but they will ask some questions when given the chance. CFC can well hope, I think, that some orientation will lead them to be willing to monitor CFC information when it comes their way. And now that the finacial situation is stable, and the restructuring complete, it may be that the CFC will be able to focus more on member service and chess promotion, which will lead to less skepticism about the role of the CFC.
Yesterday when reporting on the incoming governors AGM, I forgot to mention a very interesting point that got discussed late in the meeting. The 2009-10 budget has in it an allocation of $ 10,000 for redevelopment of the webzine. The governors actually did their job and reviewed this. The feeling generally was that the webzine requires, to be good, more money than that, and more time, effort and person power than the CFC can afford. It was suggested strongly to the executive and governors not present, that it be replace by a good electronic newsletter, with good and new Canadian content, that might go monthly directly to members. This will provide something to members, plus have CFC communicte what's happening monthly to the membership - an attempt at better communication. And when it comes to the national championships, it was felt that at the moment, CFC should not see them as a money-making opportunity. Rather the $ 10,000 for the webzine should be reallocated as a fund to promote national championships, with a plan needing to be devised as to how the money might be best spent to help develop bids for these tournaments. This is a radical departure from past practice, and I think a good one. I hope we governors at the AGM can convince our absent or proxy fellow governors to move in this direction.
But what about the chess you ask? Well, I had to promise that I would not cry a lot in today's blog about my disastrous loss yesterday. In Rd. 5, I was paired down about 300 points and ended up playing a nice guy from Saskatchewan, whom I had played in last year's Montreal Canadian Open ( I had won ) !! I did get the advantage somewhat early and pressed for a K-side sac-attack. But before I got there, he ended up trapping his rook and I went up the exchange. Then, in hunting for a crushing, amazing, impressive, mind-blowing sac-mate, things started to go downhll and I became inaccurate. First I sacked a P, not seeing that at the end of my analysis, I had missed that he had a back rank mate ! In part of the process, I did finally sac my N for a pawn to destroy his K-side pawn structure, but failed to see he could decline it. I ended up with problems that meant I had to given him back the exchange, though I had gotten my P back. But I still had the back rank mate problem - however I was still winning and was poised to go up a P. At this point I went brain-dead. I put my queen on a square where it was a forced mate for me - except for one thing - I had put my queen right in front of one of his pawns - bye, bye queen, mate and game !.
But I won't cry a lot, as I promised, and will now move on to how the Toronto gang of 8 in the U 2000 class are doing. Dalia Kagramanov defeated a master in Rd. 5, Noam Davies, and took sole possession of first place, not only in our group, but in the whole class ! - go girl !! There is at least an 8-way tie for second, a half point back, with 6 of our group of 8 in the pack. Here are our standings:
1. Dalia Kagramanov ( 1941 ) - 3.5
2. Tyler Longo ( 1992 ) - 3 ( Scarborough CC member )
3. Brendan Fan ( 1992 ) - 3
4. Alex Ferreira ( 1987 ) - 3 ( Scarborough CC member )
5. Omar Shah ( 1921 ) - 3 ( past Scarborough CC member, and winner of the U 2000 section last year in the Montreal CO ).
6. Sam Arfin ( 1916 ) - 3 ( Scarborough CC member )
7. Jonathan Farine ( 1894 ) - 3
8. Bob Armstrong ( 1831 ) - 1.5 ( Scarborough CC member & your intrepid blogger )
Wednesday also saw the Canadian Blitz Championship and there was a good turnout of about 30 players, including a couple of GM's, IM's and FM's. The winner was local Alberta hero Eric Hansen ! Alex managed to tie for first with 3 others in the U 2000 class ( $ 12.50 ! - return of entry fee and a couple of coffees ).
Well, I hope I didn't cry too much about my dismal performance so far ( though I have played 3 masters out of my 5 rounds ) - but it is a great tournament and I'm happy to have come, and nevertheless am having a good time.
Wish me luck today for Rd. 6 - I understand I'm playing on of those shark-like underrated juniors !
It has been interesting that since I have become a governor, some of my friends who have been quite deliberately apolitical re the CFC, have started asking some good and tough questions about the running of the CFC... ( and I dejectedly tell them that the CFC Constitutional Coalition motion on reduction of governors got defeated at Monday's AGM - and they say: " This is a surprise ? ")
Hi Bob
Yes, I'm afraid your friends were right not to be surprised. Governors would be acting against their own interest if their province's representation was reduced by 50%. Some of the ones who voted No, among other possible reasons, might have feared they weren't going to be the ones re-elected/appointed the year following a 50% reduction of Governors.
The AGM (rather than through a GL) was the likely best chance for getting your motion through (since many inactive Govs were not rallied to send their proxies), but it still failed to pass. It may prove to be the same way with any proposed Governor inactivity rule. When the sleeping governors feel the CFC's existence or their own power is at stake, many may wake up and vote to prevent the threat, then go back to sleep.
The CFC does have a need to re-structure itself, but a much more palatable way for the Governors than any reduction of their ranks may be to simply enlarge the CFC Executive in a way that gives more representation to the provincial associations. Namely add each association's president onto the CFC Executive .
This would make the CFC a bit more of a federation than before, allowing much better provincial representation on the Executive. Yes, people may still point to all the inactive governors who only seem to vote once in a blue moon, in the face of some sort of dire threat, but the CFC may in any given year be bringing on board more people who would be active on behalf of the CFC, albeit on the Executive. Granted, the provincial associations all need to agree to this, but I imagine they could be eager to do so.
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Murphy's law, by Edward A. Murphy Jr., USAF, Aerospace Engineer
Re: Weekend Warrior & the CO Challenge - After Rd. 6
Thursday was a rehabilitation day. After 2 consecutive disastrous losses, I finally won a rather straightforward game. In our gang of 8 Toronto players in the U 2000 class, Dalia Kagramanov, who had sole possession of first place, lost. But Omar Shah, who was in the pack tied for second, won and jumped up into first place for our class with 4 pts., tied only with Paul Usselman ( 1886 ). There are 11 players with 3.5 pts., and 5 others in our gang are among them. So here are the standings:
1. Omar Shah ( 1921 ) - 4 ( past Scarborough CC member, and winner of the U 2000 section last year in the Montreal CO ).
2. Tyler Longo ( 1992 ) - 3.5 ( Scarborough CC member )
3. Alex Ferreira ( 1987 ) - 3.5 ( Scarborough CC member )
4. Dalia Kagramanov ( 1941 ) - 3.5
5. Sam Arfin ( 1916 ) - 3.5 ( Scarborough CC member )
6. Jonathan Farine ( 1894 ) - 3.5
7. Brendan Fan ( 1992 ) - 3
8. Bob Armstrong ( 1831 ) - 2.5 ( Scarborough CC member & your intrepid blogger )
There is a side bet among 5 of the gang ( Bob, Omar, Jon, Alex and Tyler ) that the winner collects $ 20 from each of the others towards the entry fee for the Toronto Labour Day tournament, on condition that the winner plays up a section. Omar is now leading on this side bet as well.
The side event on Wednesday was a skittles session with IM Leon Piasetski - he took three games of the attendees, and analyzed them while everyone looked on. He was quite willing to have the group participate as well to some extent, and this helped keep up interest. He was very personable and he found some interesting lines in the games. A nice side event.
On the " magic square " prize front, the prize winning move for Rd. 4 was Na5. Jonathan of our group had played it earliest and won a one-year membership to ICC. The magic square for Rd. 5 was Rb1 - Alex made the move, but not until move 28, so he's not optimistic he'll be the earliest mover. We'll find out tomorrow night at the start of the round.
We made it to Denny's just after midnight this morning, and spent a few hours feasting and analyzing - they're getting to know us there now - and we haven't been kicked out yet !
Finally, I mentioned in yesterday's blog that I was reading Isaac Asimov's first sci-fi book, Pebble in the Sky. And that he has his main character and a supporting character, play a chess game while they dialogue with each other. The game is a great Ruy Lopez - here it is:
Hmmm - " payees ... unless you get a winning streak " - not clear yet I think - if I won all my last 3 games ( would mean a streak of 4 wins in a row ), then I would have 5.5/9 - some of our Toronto group think that will be enough to share in prize money in our U 2000 class. But that will mean that in the last round at least I would likely be playing up - Can I do it? Nothing ventured nothing gained ! Optimism helps ! We'll see.
The CFC membership dues and rating fees remain the same .... at the moment ( I generally will not remain silent when it comes to CFC members' questions, " slackers " or no slackers ). But our new President has already waded into the debate on this. Here is what he recently posted on this site, before he got elected:
" The CFC could still have a magazine but revenue would have to be raised, which at this point would have to be an increase in the annual membership fee or an increase in user fees, for example, rating fees.
The CFC governors have not been naturally disposed to an increase in any fees. For example, the membership fee has not been increased in eight years, which ignores the effects of inflation as measured by the consumer price index resulting in a decrease in real dollars of purchasing power.
Any homeowner knows full well that if they want the present level of services from their municple government, property taxes need to increased over time. "
It worries me that Eric is still thinking of a paper magazine - though he may not now be thinking that after the AGM and the governors saying the current webzine is too expensive to do one that would be good ( or even just adequate ). And the paper magazine is much more expensive than the webzine.
It also worries me that he is mumbling about raising membership and /or rating fees. I don't know how much support he'd have for this among the governors. I think the membership would be somewhat distressed. They've lost the paper magazine, and the governors want to axe the webzine. So the membership only gets ratings out of their membership, and the " good feeling " that they are helping to support and promote chess in Canada ( which I happen to think is part of getting a membership - it is not just what members get out of CFC but also what they can contribute ). Now some of the governors want the e-zine replaced by an electronic " Canadian news " newsletter monthly to all members ( maybe we could have paid yearly subscriptions for non-members [ or maybe to promote chess, CFC should distribute it free ? ] ). So this will add to the value of the membership. But I am inclined at the present time, at least until the e-newsletter has been out for a while, not to want to raise either membership or rating fees ( CFC does have a balanced ( maybe surplus ) budget, and we should at least see if we can meet its constraints, or whether we fall short and again go into deficit for the sixth straight year ). Such an event might show that CFC does need to raise more revenue.
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