2018 Montreal Summer Chess Classic (July 30 - Aug. 3) - Blog

**Bob Armstrong** · Sunday, 29th July, 2018, 06:12 PM

Blog # 1 (Sunday – 18/7/29) Part II (Of 2 Parts)

[See Part I above]

Montreal Summer Chess Classic
The Day Prior

The Favourites in My Open Section

In my blog, I follow who is leading, round by round.

And so I start with following, in this case, the 4 highest rated players in the section, all Candidate Masters (Sometimes referred to as "Experts") to see how they do.

Then later, if players from down below are winning and rising to the top, I bring them in and follow them as “Dark Horses”.

So here are the 4 “Favourites” (As of the Pre-registration list):

1. 2094 – Richard ZHENG

2. 2093 – Bora YAGIS

3. 2083 – CM Kevin ZHONG

4. 2023 – Brandon ZHU

The Wee Hours of Sunday Morning

One of the first things I need to alert you to is that, unlike nearly all chess players, I have never studied chess (My very, very small chess library is covered in dust), nor do I prepare for opponents (I love surprises over the board!). Read my Blog for today and the next 5 days, and you will see this confirmed. I am not saying these are not very beneficial things to do....but for various reasons this old chess player (I was 73 y.o. yesterday) can't, or won't, do them

At midnight (I go to bed late usually and sleep short, especially in chess tournaments) my adult daughter, who lives in Quebec (As do my adult son and his daughter - my perfect 2 1/2 year old granddaughter! - not biased in any way) called to sort out us getting out for a lunch or dinner (We tried during COQ, but our schedules couldn't mesh). I had already arranged for dinner tonight with my son at 5:00 PM in Verdun, where he lives. I drove to Montreal, and so it was fast to get there for me. My daughter decided to join us......so she said she'd call my son to confirm this.

I had gotten a bad cold/flu bug last Wed. night, and have not really been feeling all that well since then. But this morning I am not exhausted as I have been, and I do often go to bed normally after midnight.

So I entered more of my COQ games into my ChessBase "My Games" database.

I have transformed my personal Fb Account into a international "world issues/life discussion club". And so I spent some time responding to comments, and making some new article posts.

Then I roughly calculated what effect COQ was going to have on my rating. IMHO, I am to gain approximately 30 rating points, despite starting as # 31 out of 31 players.

At 2:00 PM I went to bed.......but unfortunately it took about 1 1/2 hrs for me to finally fall asleep.........and even then I woke up after only 4 hrs. (@ 8:00 AM).

The "Playing Up" Issue

In Quebec, a section is "open" - that means anyone from below the cap can enter the section, even if by rating they should be playing in a lower section. In Ontario, to play up, you must be within 100 rating points of the floor of the section above....and you must pay an administrative playing up fee to enter a higher section.

But in both situations, the argument is that stronger players should not have to play down with weaker players who should be in lower sections. The weaker players often argue that they play better when being challenged by higher-rated players, and they win a basketful of rating points should they win a game!

I won't take a position in this blog on the general arguments.

But I will argue why I feel I am justified in "Playing Up", which I almost always do if given the option (Even when I have to pay the playing up fee in Ontario). Here is why I play up:

1. Some time ago my peak rating was 1911, and I hold a CFC "Class A" Certificate for that period of my play.

2. Though my game has deteriorated with age (I am now 73 y.o.), I am still capable, on occasion, of stringing a good game together against a stronger opponent - I have drawn masters and one IM.

3. Over the last 6 years, when i have been in the bottom third of the section draw, on average, I have gained 20 pts. per tournament.

4.The COQ - I played 8 games - I was no. 31 out of 31 - my CFC rating was, then, 1512. The average rating of my opponents was 248 pts. higher than me (1760). Despite all this, I played better against stronger opponents - I had 2 wins and a draw - I will likely gain 30 CFC rating points. So this is what has been happening over the last 6 years!

So I am again playing up.....and I am ranked # 9/10 out of 10. I have sometimes just been crushed playing up ... but this has actually been an anomaly.....that rarely happens. So let's see how I do here, "Playing Up".

The Morning

I set about my normal daily tasks as a chess addict senior retiree (While eating my breakfast in my room - cold cereal and juice, which my stomach, still a bit upset, would accept):

- checked e-mails and Fb messages, and responded;

- again dealt with my Fb World Issues/Life Discussion Club;

- checked the COQ Blogs to see if there were any comments to respond to;

- finished entering the rest of my COQ games in my ChessBase database;

- on my Fb account, I started dealing with the over 100 notifications I had since last time I dealt with them.

At 11:30 AM, I took a break to get some exercise and to go the 20 min. walk and back to the Cote Des Neiges commercial strip for lunch.

I wasn't on any kind of deadline, and so I didn't wear my watch. I find it is healthier to just go at my own normal pace in a case like this - better for both spirit and body - not always looking at the clock - for absolutely no reason except to stress yourself.

I wanted to go to St. Hubert (I love chicken), but knew my stomach couldn't take a full meal. So it was just a McDonalds' burger and a coffee. I have a very bad memory, due to some medical treatments some time ago, and so I also updated my "Reminder Lists" so things didn't just fall below the radar forever.

Then I got some milk and juice (I have a small bar fridge in the room) at the Metro close by, and got home at 1:30 PM.

The Afternoon

I first made my personal standings lists for both the Norm tournament and our Open Section.

At 2:00 PM, I phoned my wife who is at our hobby farm in Central Ontario while I am in Quebec. She grows about 400 garlic in one of our raised vegetable gardens. And they were ready to be harvested - but the first bunch showed some problems this year - about 25% either didn't take or were soft (There is a fungus called Basil Rot that can attack them - it happened to us a few years ago). And this year's bulbs were small. Her sister was there to help her harvest, and put them all in the garage to dry out. So I said I'd call back later tonight.

At 2:30 PM, I lay down for my normal daily 1 hour siesta time (Since I both sleep short in the early morning, and am now older). I hadn't fallen asleep, when my daughter called.

Change of Plans - she and her brother had thought this all out better......rather than me, and her, going all the way to Verdun for dinner, they would both come my way by subway, but for 6:00 PM (Not 5:00 PM). Then we will either all go over to the commercial strip on Cotes des Neiges, or we will go by car to my daughter's area in north/central Montreal for dinner (She has some friends coming tonight to stay at her apartment). I agreed it was a better plan - she'd call her brother to let him know the new plan was now on!! Not unusual when dealing with children, eh? These last minute re-plannings! You learn to roll with it, yes? Or else you go crazy!

I was now up, so I decided to just do this Blog # 1 and post it before they arrived, which I accomplished.

Invitation

Over the years, I have blogged officially for chess federations, and also done so personally on discussion boards, websites, Facebook, etc. On average, I used to get about 500 views of my blog, each day, on Chess Talk…..I believe that is quite high for chess. I have been told my style is easy to read, and interesting…..often there is a comment like: “…it almost makes me feel like I am there…….”.

So this encourages me, of course, to continue to inflict myself on my friends!

One part I do enjoy, is discussing anything anyone finds of interest. So I am happy to answer questions, make responses to comments, etc. This often helps make the daily blog more interesting to others.

So comment, reply, post, whatever…..jump right in with both feet….and hopefully we’ll have a fun 6 days together.

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Monday, 30th July, 2018, 10:50 PM

Blog # 2 (Monday – 18/7/30) - Part I (Of 2 Parts)

Montreal Summer Chess Classic
Round 2

This Blog

I always do my Blogs in English. The one year I was given a small honorarium to do it for FQE, they arranged for the posting of a French translation of the Blog on their website as well. That was a great feature. But they were able to absorb having on of their staff do this as a tournament expense.

Henry (Aka Dark Knight), the new owner of Chess Talk, and the French Board, Parlons Echecs, at my request, has consented to anyone willing to do a French Blog translation, to post it on his French Board. So Henry, the tournament organizers, and I, am all hoping some crazy chess player, who is bi-lingual, and has nothing better to do with his/her life, will arise from the depths and take up the challenge as a total labour of chess love! I am waiting ....but not holding my breath. I'll advise on whether this chess hero arises, in a future Blog.

The Night Before (Sunday Night)

I got my Blog # 1 posted at about 6:00 PM, while my two adult children were cooling their heels in my ZUM Hotel (U of Montreal residence) room, waiting for me. I must admit, as I got ready then to go out with them for my belated 73 y.o. birthday party (It was Saturday), my daughter, who plays chess, as does my son (I taught them very young), actually read through my whole Blog # 1 - as with most kids, you can't torture them to tell you what they think, if they don't want to! So....no comment.......

They took me to a very good Indian restaurant - the place was busy all Sunday night while we were there. We talked family and world events and what not, and had a great time together. Then we walked around the area for about an hour continuing to chat.

My daughter lives close by, so I dropped both of them off a ways from her apartment. My son was then taking the subway home to Verdun where he has his apartment.....he had some work stuff still to prepare for Monday morning.

I got back to the residence at 10:00 PM

My wife, who is currently up at our hobby farm in central Ontario, while I am frolicking here in Montreal, and I, had agreed earlier in the day I would now call her. But she had left a telephone message that she and her sister had spent all day harvesting and preparing our garlic (About 300) to dry in the driveshed (Garage). She was exhausted and going to bed...so call her on Monday morning before going to my tournament.

I am retired, and to keep myself out of trouble I have created a number of retiree projects for myself, to keep me out of trouble. A couple are contributory to society in some way; others are just for my own personal enjoyment, and help pass the time. So I kind of have a normal cycle of things I do a couple of times per day, and it is no different in my off-time at chess tournaments.

So I set about the following tasks:

- checked e-mails and Fb messages, and responded;

- checked whether Henry of Chess Talk had yet OK's a French blog translation on Parlons Echecs - he had consented......

- checked to see if there had been much interest in my Blog # 1 in the 4 hours it had been posted on Chess Talk - there were 33 views already, which I think is not too shabby!

- My Fb page I have morphed into an international World Issues/Life discussion club - it has over 200 members out of my over 800 Fb friends from around the world (https://www.facebook.com/bob.armstrong.9235). On it I:

a. checked for some new articles on my Twitter and in my newsfeed from my friends, and posted a number;

b. Kept working on the over 100 Fb Notifications I had started on earlier in the day (With new notifications added, I was likely back up to over 100 again!).

At 11:30 PM, since I had not gotten on Sunday my normal 1 hr. afternoon siesta, I was tired and went to bed (No need to set an alarm, since my round 1 today was not until 1:00 PM.

The Wee Hours of This Morning (Monday)

I lay quite peacefully and quietly in bed for 1 1/2 hrs., and then decided that in fact my body, though a bit tired, really was not ready to go to sleep! So I got up. I'll do some stuff on the laptop for a while, and eventually I will get tired enough to go back to bed and sleep. So I finished dealing with the balance of my Fb Notifications. By 2:30 AM I was able to go to bed and sleep. But as is often the case for me during chess tournaments, I slept pretty short - I awoke after only 3 1/2 hours.

Charging into the Day!

So here I was up at 6:00 AM!

I started into the normal routine I would generally at home (Similar to last night):

- dealt with e-mails and Fb messages. My daughter had left a very nice message earlier in the morning to the effect that she had thoroughly enjoyed the family time with me and her brother at my birthday dinner (She had sprung for it as a present to me, and to her brother who has been so supportive of her in the last while)..

- checked out Blog # 1 (On Fb & Chess Talk) to see if there was anything to respond to....replied to some Fb comments.

- checked ChessResults to see how the entries were coming for my Open Section - we were up to 12 players! Great! And now the ranking was by FIDE ratings for both the IM Norm Section and our open section. So I revised a bit the standings lists I keep for myself during the tournament for my blogging purposes. But there were no pairings yet......likely because they do take last-minute on site entries.

- updated the Fb World Issues/Life discussion club

- saw that Lefong Hua, the organizer, now had a CT thread/link to follow the first 4 elite tournament games "live"!

At 8:00 AM I showered, dressed and had breakfast in my room (Just cold cereal and juice).

At 8:30 AM I telephoned my wife at our hobby farm, but she must have been outside gardening, and I left a message to call me back. She did at 9:00 AM. She had hung about 300 garlic on Sunday, to dry out! We talked for about an hour - as I said in my earlier COQ blog, I find it absolutely amazing that after 47 years of marriage (Our first and only), we still blab on and on about everything!

Lunch

I headed out with my chess bag about 10:30 AM. I like to have a light meal a few hours before the round. A Timmies grilled cheese with bacon, with a coffee, would do nicely. In settling in, I put my back support lumbar roll on the chair - I threw my back out badly here in Montreal in an earlier Kids' VIsit on May 15. Though now recovered, the roll helps me to remember to sit erect.

Then Gary Hua, of Oakville, Ontario, and his wife and two children came in. Gary is a new organizer on the Canadian chess scene and has been the Chess Federation of Canada junior coordinator in the past. HIs organizing company called "Elevate Your Chess" is organizing its first Quebec tournament the weekend after Labour Day, in Montreal - the Montreal Open.

His son, Eugene is playing in the IM Norm Section, and his young daughter, Michelle is in the U 1800 section.

We all chatted, and then we went to the playing hall about a 10 min. walk away.

Pre-Round 1

I met Vadim and his assistant arbiter wife (She had also been an arbiter at COQ, like Vadim), and we all chatted, and laughed about how my wife and I seemed to be thriving quite well.....apart from each other for 2 weeks! LOL. I knew of Lefang Hua, and had seen him at prior tournaments, but formally met him for the first time today - he is the tournament organizer.

I got my pairing in the Open Section, and went to my board to settle in. At this point I realized that I had forgotten my back support roll at Timmies. This was not a good starting omen!

[Continued in Part II Below}

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Monday, 30th July, 2018, 10:52 PM

Blog # 2 (Monday – 18/7/30) - Part II (Of 2 Parts)

[See Part I above]

Montreal Summer Chess Classic
Round 2

My Open Section & Favourites

In my blog, I follow who is leading, round by round.

And so I start with following, in this case, the 4 highest rated players in the section to see how they do.

Then later, if players from down below are winning and rising to the top, I bring them in and follow them as “Dark Horses”.

So here are the 4 “Favourites” (As of the Final Pre-registration list, using FIDE ratings) and how they fared. I have picked the 4 above 1900 (This list is a bit different because a new top seed joined late):

1 pt.

NM Eric BEAULIEU (2129 - # 1 seed)

Richard ZHENG (1986 - # 2 seed)

CM Kevin ZHONG (1925 - # 4 seed)

One Dark Horse has joined them in the lead:

Bora YAGIS (1862 - my Rd. 1 opponent - I lost)

1/2 pt.

Brandon ZHU (1959 - # 3 seed)

3 Dark Horses have joined him:

Marc-Andre JOANIS (1793)
Ellis STEINBERG (1701)
Alessio DIMATTEO (0)

My Rd. 1 Game

I played White (I am 1529). Bora is 1862 - he has 333 pts. on me - no problem! We were on Bd. 5 of 6 boards.

The bad omen was accurate...I was a bit brain-dead this game. I blundered on move 7. Bora, playing black, brought his Q to a5 - it was too much for me to look across the 5th rank all the way to the other side of the board and see that my B on g5 was hanging (Sigh). So I lost it on move 10!

But I decided to try to make a fight out of it nevertheless, and see if he might make a mis-step if I could set a few tactical traps. But Bora just did a journeyman's job of winning a won game....I struggled, and tried to harass him a bit....

I dragged it out 'til move 42, but then had to resign.

Post Round 1

My Montreal chess friend, Hugh Brodie, who maintains the Canadian games chess database, CanBase, showed up in mid-afternoon and was surprised to see I had lost so quickly. I could only opine that chess wisdom is to get your bad games out of you early!

We both watched the continuing Norm Section and Open Section games. When the Open section games were complete, I said good-bye and that I was going back to Timmies in hopes my back roll might have been given in to the staff. We planned to go out for dinner on the Cote Des Neiges strip Tuesday night after my Rd. 2.

Going Back to ZUM Hotel

I got to Timmies @ 5:00 PM, with a somewhat heavy heart, expecting it was gone. Lo and behold, some kind patron had taken it off the chair and put it on the window ledge, just beside. And there it still was. I got it and explained it to the staff, and happily headed out for dinner.

I stayed at the ZUM Hotel in 2016 when I played in a major chess tournament that summer. So I have my favourite local Subway sandwich place on Cote des Neiges, and I went there. I had them wrap each 1/2 separately - half there, and half in my room later as a midnight snack after posting this blog.

I then walked south to my favourite local Metro supermarket, and on the way picked up a coffee for tonight in my coffee travel tumbler at my favourite local McD's. Then at Metro, I got some juice and cookies (They had no butter tarts - YIKES).

It was then a good walk with my chess bag, and my grocery bag, back to the residence.

Evening

I got back at the residence about 6:30 PM. I checked e-mails, Fb messages, and my Blog # 1 posts.

I was a bit tired from all the walking today, with my chess bag, and so at 7:00 PM set the alarm for an hour, and went out like a light.

At 8:00 PM when I got up, I called my wife again. We chatted for a more reasonable shorter time tonight, agreed we were both enjoying this agreed upon temporary separation, and that we would easily survive the rest of it, before I again joined her up at the farm in early August.

I then set about creating and posting to both Fb and Chess Talk, this Blog #2, which I did before 11:00 PM.

The Norm Tournament

Although I focus my blog on my daily activities, and in this case, on the "Open Section" in which I am playing, I know people want to know also how the elite tournament is progressing. So at the end of the Blog, I always give an updated standings.

Here are the Standings (FIDE Rating) - all games were decisive! this is going to be a battle royal:

1 pt.

FM Levy Rozman (2417)

FM Zong Yang YU (2389)

FM Richard CHEN (2312)

FM Olivier Kenta CHIKU-RATTE (2278)

FM Shawn RODRIGUE-LEMIEUX (2267)

0 pts.

IM Alex OSTOVSKIY (2424)

IM Konstantin KAVUTSKIY (2409)

FM Eugene HUA (2340)

FM Dagur RAGNARSSON (2247)

IM Thanh Nha DUONG (2201)

Invitation

Over the years, I have blogged officially for chess federations, and also done so personally on discussion boards, websites, Facebook, etc. On average, I used to get about 500 views of my blog, each day, on Chess Talk…..I believe that is quite high for chess. I have been told my style is easy to read, and interesting…..often there is a comment like: “…it almost makes me feel like I am there…….”.

So this encourages me, of course, to continue to inflict myself on my friends!

One part I do enjoy, is discussing anything anyone finds of interest. So I am happy to answer questions, make responses to comments, etc. This often helps make the daily blog more interesting to others.

So comment, reply, post, whatever…..jump right in with both feet….and hopefully we’ll have a further fun 4 days together.

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 31st July, 2018, 11:54 PM

Blog # 3 (Tuesday – 18/7/31) - Part I (Of 2 Parts)

Montreal Summer Chess Classic
Open Round 2

The Night Before (Monday Night)

I had managed to create and post the prior Blog # 2 (Monday) before midnight.

The Wee Hours of This Morning (Tuesday)

I was not really too tired, since I had had an early evening nap Monday evening from 7-8 PM. So I was still ready to rock and roll!

One of the two chess clubs I play at in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is the Annex Chess Club in downtown Toronto. Last night (We play on consecutive Mondays), they started Round 1 of the new Relax and Unwind Swiss - they had 34 players in 3 sections. I play in the middle U 1800 Section.

So I sent in an e-mail to register me now (I had needed a bye for round 1, since I am here in Montreal). But I will be in Toronto for Rd. 2 on Aug. 13 (Closed Aug. 6 for the Ontario Civic Holiday).

I also play in a Toronto club in the old city of Scarborough - the Scarborough CC. But it closes for the summer (July and August).

I was then hungry. Monday night I had a Subway sandwich for dinner, and had them divide the foot-long into two parts - one i ate there. The other I brought home Monday night, just for this purpose of a midnight snack on Tuesday morning.

I then checked if there were any responses to my Blog # 2 (Both Chess Talk and Fb). There was one on Fb and so I replied to it. I noted that since 6 PM Sunday, when I posted Blog # 1 on Chess Talk, the blog thread now had 83 views.

I've mentioned before my retiree social conscience project on Fb - my personal account is now an international discussion club on World Issues/Life in General (https://www.facebook.com/bob.armstrong.9235). And I get many notifications, given the way I am operating. So I cleared all the O/S ones!

I also operate 4 other Fb sites as retiree projects:

1. A chess discussion group, Chess Chat (https://www.facebook.com/groups/340524269771672/);

2. An Inspired Living Group, Canadian Spirits' Den Contemplation Centre (https://www.facebook.com/groups/402812806533693/);

3. A religious group, Theist Community (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1052227598173591/)

4. My company, Canadian Life Consulting Cooperative (CLCC) has its own Fb page, Canadian Life Consulting (https://www.facebook.com/Canadian-Li...4065437044857/)

These are at various levels of activity, much less than my main life discussion group.

At 1:30 AM I hit the sack.

The Later Morning

I awoke after 5 1/2 hrs. sleep (7 AM) - pretty good for me during a chess tournament!

Since I am retired, I do just have a normal, easy-paced routine that I follow in the mornings, dealing with my personal and project affairs. At the chess tournament, I tend to just stick with it, with chess added.

So I set about the following tasks:

- checked e-mails and Fb messages. One of my chess discussion group co-administrators wrote, Joe Fatula, and so I wrote him back.

- checked to see if there had been much interest in my Blog # 2; the Chess Talk (CT) thread was almost to 100 views!

- My Fb World Issues/Life discussion club -

a. made some new article posts;

b. cleared the over 14 O/S notifications.

- The Fb chess discussion group - added some new chess posts;

At 8:45 AM, it was exercise time.- it is about a 30 min. walk to my favourite local Metro supermarket, over on Cote Des Neiges. So I went out and got a few things there, and stopped for breakfast at my favourite local Timmies on the way back. I now know this commercial strip well, since I also stayed at the ZUM Hotel (U of Montreal Residence) in 2016 when I was here then for a chess tournament.

I am now well stocked for the next few days - yogurt, grapes, granola, cold cereal, milk, juice, cookies, potato chips, etc.

I did routine things on the laptop for a short while.

At 11:15 AM, I went for my normal 1 hr. siesta. I didn't sleep, but peacefully rested, and then got up at 12:15 PM, to get ready to go to the playing hall - the Rd. 2 started for the Open Section at 1 PM.

My Open Section

There are 13 players in this section, rated from 2129 to Unrated (FIDE ratings). My FIDE rating is 1529 - I am # 12 out of 13.

Open Section Leaders After 2 Rounds

In my blog, I follow who is leading, round by round.

And so I started with following the 4 highest rated players in the section to see how they do.

Then later, if players from down below are winning and rising to the top, I bring them in and follow them as “Dark Horses”.

Here are the leaders:

1st/2nd - 2 pts.

NM Eric BEAULIEU (2129 - # 1 seed & one of the Favourites)
Bora YAGIS (1862 - my Rd. 1 opponent - I lost - One of the Dark Horses)

3rd/4th - 1.5 pts.

Brandon ZHU (1959 - # 3 seed & a Favourite)
William Bremner (1648 - one of the Dark Horses)

The Other Favourites

Here is how the Favourites not in the lead are doing:

1 pt.

Richard ZHENG (1986 - # 2 seed)
CM Kevin ZHONG (1925 - # 4 seed)

[Contiuned in Part II Below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 31st July, 2018, 11:55 PM

Blog # 3 (Tuesday – 18/7/31) - Part II (Of 2 Parts)

[See Part I Above]

Montreal Summer Chess Classic
Open Round 2

My Rd. 2 Game

I was Black on Bd. 5 (Of 5) against Joseph Vignalou (1754). So he had 225 points on me - but I play up for the challenge!

I played an aggressive black, but ended up with a mixed position with some pluses, but a lot of minuses - especially being very weak on the white squares in the centre, and having a backward K Pawn.

But I did myself in by a blunder of a minor piece on move14 - my N was attacked by a P, and I failed to see it had an escape square (Hopeless). So I sacked it for a P. My game already being bad, it then went south.....I resigned on move 25.

Post Rd. 2

Joe and I went to the analysis room and looked over the game, but there really was not much of interest. My Montreal friend, Hugh Brodie, and I, were going to dinner tonight, and he came in and he had known Joe for about 45 years. We three chatted about family, and being grandparents (Joe has 2), and I told them a bit about how our central Ontario hobby farm operates. Joe left.

Then I teased Lefong Hua, the organizer, who was keeping all the chess technology working and current, that he was going to be the next star of this blog....but I'll be satisfied to just say that I told him I was thoroughly enjoying his little swiss, though my chess could certainly be better.

Hugh and I then went and watched the few O/S Open section games finish. Then we decided about 4:30 PM to go to dinner together, and come back later to watch the end of the Norm Tournament games (Their second game today [Rd. 3] started at 3 PM).

Dinner

Hugh and I went over to St. Hubert chicken on Cote Des Neiges, and chatted about all kinds of chess stuff, and life in general. We had a nice time and returned to the playing hall at 6:00 PM.

The Evening

We watched 4 of the 5 norm games which were still going. Then I advised Hugh I was a bit tired, and would head home to nap, and then do this Blog # 3. He was going to watch a bit longer. He said he would come back to watch again on Wednesday.

Joe had told us he was taking a bye for Rd. 3 on Wednesday.....this was great, since there would be an even number of players (No one would miss a game, and get the Director's 1 Pt. Bye).

But then we found that the top seed, NM Eric Beaulieu, who was co-leader, had withdrawn. Now there were an odd number of players again, and me with no points, was getting the Director's Bye on Wednesday - I knew I would likely get hit with it at some point. So I told Hugh I would come over Wednesday about 3 PM to watch the end of the Open Section games, and all of the elite games, which started at 3 PM.

At 7:00 PM at the residence, I did the normal stuff:

- emails and Fb messages

- checked ChessResults and updated my personal standings lists I keep to help with this blog;

- checked on Blog # 2 (Fb & CT).

At 7:45 PM I sacked out for an hour.

When I got up, I called my wife up at the hobby farm. She had been gardening and pruning part of the day, and when it was too hot, reading in the farmhouse - we do not have Air Conditioning, but have 2 fans on each floor. And when my wife renovated the farmhouse, it was very well insulated - so in the summer this does help to keep the heat out a bit.

At 10:00 PM I set about creating and posting, in both places, this Blog # 3, and did this before midnight.

The Norm Tournament After 3 Rounds

Although I focus my blog on my daily activities, and in this case, on the "Open Section" in which I am playing, I always give at the end an updated standings for the Norm tournament.

Here are the Standings (FIDE Rating):

1st/2nd - 2.5 pts.

FM Levy Rozman (2417)
FM Zong Yang YU (2389)

3rd/4th - 2 pts. -

FM Richard CHEN (2312)
FM Olivier Kenta CHIKU-RATTE (2278)

5th/6th - 1.5 pts.

IM Konstantin KAVUTSKIY (2409)
FM Shawn RODRIGUE-LEMIEUX (2267)

7th/8th - 1 pt.

IM Alex OSTOVSKIY (2424)
FM Eugene HUA (2340)

9th/10th - .5 pts.

FM Dagur RAGNARSSON (2247)
IM Thanh Nha DUONG (2201)

Invitation

One part of blogging I also do enjoy, is discussing anything anyone finds of interest. So I am happy to answer questions, make responses to comments, etc. This often helps make the daily blog more interesting to other viewers.

So comment, reply, post, whatever…..jump right in with both feet….and hopefully we’ll have a further fun 3 days together.

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Wednesday, 1st August, 2018, 11:29 PM

Blog # 4 (Wednesday – 18/8/1) - Part I (Of 2 Parts)

Montreal Summer Chess Classic
Open Round 3

The Wee Hours of This Morning (Wednesday)

I was not really too tired, since I had had an early evening nap Tuesday evening. So I was still ready to knock myself out for a while!

I then checked if there were any responses to my Blog # 3 (Both Chess Talk and Fb), that I had posted a few hours earlier, late Tuesday night. I noted that in a little over two days, since 6 PM Sunday, when I posted Blog # 1 on Chess Talk, the blog thread now had 125 views. The thread on this wonderful Norm Tournament, and small accompanying 3 section swiss, is averaging over 50 views per day - for this kind of chess tournament, I think the interest is quite high.

I checked ChessResults. The reason is that today there are an odd number of players in the Open Section. So one of the bottom players does not get a game - they get what is termed a Director's 1 pt. Bye. I am that player today. So I thought I'd just check to see if anything might have happened to change today's pairings - it was still the same, as I expected.

I've mentioned before my retiree social conscience project on Fb - my personal account is now an international discussion club on World Issues/Life in General (https://www.facebook.com/bob.armstrong.9235). So I did some updating on it:

1. I cleared 34 O/S Fb Notifications;

2. I checked some of my friend's timelines, and my newsfeed, to see if any of my Fb friends had a post that I wanted to share to the discussion club.

By 1:30 AM I was finally tired, and hit the sack.

Charging into the Day

I actually had 5 hrs. sleep - a long one for me during chess tournaments!

I again checked on Blog # 3, and on Fb, answered faithful viewer Robert Song, who lives in Ontario, a bit north of Toronto, who had positively commented to the effect he was enjoying the blog.

I was a bit hungry for a morning snack, and so had some juice and yogurt in my room - my small residence room does have a small bar fridge......and I admit....a couple of Metro's chocolate chunk cookies. I had to assure my daughter, who lives in Montreal, whom I met later in the morning, that I acknowledge this is terrible, and that I am not trying to promote it on this blog as a beneficial lifestyle!

I then checked the federal government weather site, and found a 40% chance of showers - I'll take my raincoat this morning when I go for breakfast over on Cote Des Neiges commercial strip, about a 20 min. walk from the residence - flat, then uphill, and then, thank goodness, downhill.

On my Fb World Issues/Life Discussion Club:

1. I cleared 14 new Fb notifications;

2. checked my Twitter Feed to see if there were good articles to post;

3. checked friend's sites for good articles to share.

For my Fb chess discussion group, Chess Chat (https://www.facebook.com/groups/340524269771672/) - Made a few posts.

For my Fb Inspired Living Group, Canadian Spirits' Den Contemplation Centre (https://www.facebook.com/groups/402812806533693/) - made some posts.

For my company, Canadian Life Consulting Cooperative (CLCC), which has its own Fb page, Canadian Life Consulting (https://www.facebook.com/Canadian-Li...ing-16406543…/) - made some posts.

I then wanted to take a break, and get some exercise. So I showered, dressed and headed out for my usual quick stop at the Metro supermarket, and then a breakfast at Timmies on the way back.

Since I had no Rd. 3 game today, I left my watch in the room - where there are no deadlines, I prefer to meander on at a pace that is comfortable for me physically and spiritually - no need to look at my watch - just an artificial stresser in this situation.

At Timmies, I usually sit inside to enjoy the air conditioning. But for some reason I wanted to sit outside on the corner patio this morning. I had my "Reminder List" to update, since I have a medically defective memory.

The Pleasant Surprise

Suddenly, I looked at the people at the south-west corner of Cote Des Neiges, and Jean-Brillant.......and there was my daughter on her phone, standing on the corner. She looked at me, totally surprised! So she came up and sat down. She had just been in the area for an appointment, and was going to work later in the day. But when she saw me, she decided to call in and get the afternoon off, so we could just hang out together for the day.

The Afternoon

She suggested going to a lovely garden up at the Brother Andre Oratorium near by. I said my dance card had no takers yet, and so she was my best, and only, offer...so I'd accept! She picked up a coffee and pastry on the way there, and kindly carried my re-usable bag for me with my Metro stuff, and my writing binder. There are lots of steps up to the garden!

The garden was beautiful. My daughter is fluent in Spanish (I still know some) and we saw a couple that clearly were wanting to ask her to take their picture with their cell phone. So my daughter offered, and they accepted. They were from Mexico and visiting Canada - my daughter also knows Mexico, and so a wonderful Spanish conversation ensued, with my daughter giving them some tour guide info. They were quite pleased, and the husband gave her his card, and invited her to visit them if she was ever in their area of Mexico.

Then she and I went into the church and wandered around for a while, and looked at this totally beautiful building.

Next my daughter suggested I come to her apartment now. We could have an early dinner there. It was only about a 10-15 min car ride away, and I had my car at the residence, so we had a further plan.

Off and on, I had been explaining this tournament to my daughter - she plays casually (I taught her when very young). Walking back to the residence, she asked if we were not close to the playing hall I had been mentioning? We were only about 5 min. walk away. So she asked to just go see what the tournament room looked like - duh! Guess my answer.

So at the playing hall at 1:00 PM, I introduced her to the arbiter team, Vadim and Diana. Of course, they knew of her from my prior conversations with them.....and my 2 blogs. Then I introduced her to the organizer, Lefong Hua. I then showed her which section was my Open Section, and pointed out something about two of the players in my section. She smiled when she saw all the chess juniors in the bottom section all sitting at the tables - the Swiss Rd. 3 had just started.

As I have said, I am the one who did not have a game today.

[Continued in Part II Below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Wednesday, 1st August, 2018, 11:37 PM

Blog # 4 (Wednesday – 18/8/1) - Part II (Of 2 Parts)

Montreal Summer Chess Classic
Open Round 3

Early Dinner

We did not stay long at the playing site, and then walked back to my residence room at ZUM Hotel. I got my stuff to go to her apartment for a while, and then we climbed these steep stairs up to my residence parking area, up the mountain behind the residence. We then drove to her apartment.

She made a lovely pasta (My wife taught both our daughter and our son how to cook, starting when they were barely two years old - my wife and her two sisters are all excellent cooks; my daughter and son have followed in their footsteps. It was a delicious, simple pasta, with nice cold watermelon as a dessert.

My daughter then called my wife, up at our hobby farm in central Ontario, to say we were hanging out together for the day. But my sister-in-law was there, and so both my daughter and I said we'd each call her later in the day.

I then left and was back at the residence at 4:30 PM. My daughter then had one of her part-time jobs tomorrow, and was hitching a ride with the employer in the early evening.

Back in my Temporary, Cozy, Little Den!

I did a few tasks first:

1. checked e-mails and Fb messages;

2. checked to see if there had been interest in my Blog # 3 (Tuesday);

3. checked out new Chess Talk threads;

4. from ChessResults, I updated my own personal standings sheet that helps me when I blog.

At 5:00 PM, I took my normal afternoon 1 hr. siesta time (I set the alarm - i find that if I sleep longer than an hour, I am too groggy waking up, and it takes a while for me to get moving. At 1 hour, I am refreshed, and pretty ready to go right away).

The Evening

At 6:00 PM, I again started out on my normal project tasks, as I might do any evening.

The one point that is of some interest, that is different, is that I was debating with one of my American PEERS club members (The Fb discussion group) the pro's and con's of current world capitalism. This led to me to start a new post, based on my partisan political position - I did a long post on Democratic Marxism, and why that was the next phase for the world economy - to achieve more equitable distribution of wealth/income. Chile under President Salvador Allende in 1970-3 is my best example of it in human history so far (IMHO)!

At 8:30 PM, I called my wife back, as I said I would, and she was thrilled that by serendipity, our daughter and I got to hang out together for much of the day. We chatted for about 1/2 hr. Tomorrow she is going over to her sister's - she owns a 50 acre farm about 5 min. drive from us. Her sister would pick her up and bring her back, since I have our car. My wife was going for a "sleep-over"!

At about 9:00 PM, I started assembling my stuff to do this Blog # 4, created it and posted it before midnight.

My Open Section

There are 12 players now in this section - the top seed, rated 2129 has withdrawn. So the rating spread now is from 1986 to 1524 (FIDE ratings). My FIDE rating is 1529 - I was # 12 out of 13.

Open Section Leaders After 3 Rounds

In my blog, I follow who is leading, round by round.

And so I started with following the 4 highest rated players in the section to see how they do.

Then later, if players from down below are winning and rising to the top, I bring them in and follow them as “Dark Horses”.

Here are the leaders after 3 rounds:

1st - 2.5 pts. - undefeated - William BREMNER (1648 - one of the Dark Horses)

3rd/5th - 2 pts.

Brandon ZHU (1959 - # 3 seed & a Favourite)
CM Kevin ZHONG (1925 - # 4 seed & one of the Favourites)
Bora YAGIS (1862 - my Rd. 1 opponent - I lost - One of the Dark Horses)

The Other Favourites

Here is how the Favourites not in the lead are doing:

1.5 pts.

Richard ZHENG (1986 - # 2 seed)

Withdrawn

NM Eric BEAULIEU (2129 - # 1 seed - withdrew after Rd. 2, with 2/2 pts. - had won his first two games, and was co-leader when he withdrew)

My Score

1 pt.: Losses: 2 (Rds. 1 & 2); Director's Bye: 1 (I pt. - Rd. 3)

My & My Opponents' Scores

2 pts. - Bora YAGIS (1862 - tied 2nd/4th) - I lost in Rd. 1.
1.5 pts. - Joseph VIGNALOU (1754) - I lost in Rd. 2.
1 pt. - Me (1529)

The Norm Tournament After 5 Rounds

Although I focus my blog on my daily activities, and in this case, on the "Open Section" in which I am playing, I always give an updated standings at the end for the major tournament.

Here are the Standings (FIDE Rating):

1st - Undefeated - 3.5 pts. - FM Zong Yang YU (2389)

2nd/5th - 3 pts.

IM Alex OSTOVSKIY (2424)
FM Levy Rozman (2417)
IM Konstantin KAVUTSKIY (2409)
FM Olivier Kenta CHIKU-RATTE (2278)

6th - 2.5 pts. - FM Richard CHEN (2312)

7th/9th - 1.5 pts.

FM Eugene HUA (2340)
FM Shawn RODRIGUE-LEMIEUX (2267)
IM Thanh Nha DUONG (2201)

10th - 1 pt.

FM Dagur RAGNARSSON (2247)

Invitation

One part of blogging I also do enjoy, is discussing anything anyone finds of interest. So I am happy to answer questions, make responses to comments, etc. This often helps make the daily blog more interesting to other viewers.
So comment, reply, post, whatever…..jump right in with both feet….and hopefully we’ll have a further fun 2 days together.

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Thursday, 2nd August, 2018, 10:45 PM

Blog # 5 (Thursday – 18/8/2) - Part I (Of 2 Parts)

Montreal Summer Chess Classic
Open Round 4

The Wee Hours of This Morning (Thursday)

I was not really too tired, since I had had an early evening nap Wednesday evening. So I was still ready to go on for a while, 'til I tired.

I then checked if there were any responses to my Blog # 4 for Wednesday (Both Chess Talk and Fb), that I had posted a few hours earlier, late Wednesday night. I noted that the blog thread now had 200 views! For this tournament, I think this is a fair interest.

I checked my 2 e-mails and my Fb Messages, and then did feel tired. So at 12:15 AM I went to bed.

Charging into the Day

I actually had 4 1/2 hrs. sleep - not too bad for me during chess tournaments!

I then set about doing my usual morning routine tasks:

1. Again checked for e-mails/Fb messages;

2. Checked on Blog # 4 (Fb & here on Chess Talk);

3. Read the new & active Chess Talk threads;

4. Fb Notifications - I cleared the 24 that were O/S;

5. World Issues/Life Fb Discussion Club:

a. Checked some friend's timelines for posts to share into the club;

b. Checked friend's posts in my own newsfeed, for posts to share;

c. Went to my Twitter account to find posts.

Somewhere in there, I was a bit hungry for morning breakfast in the room. So I had some juice, a bowl of my wife's great made-from-scratch granola, yogurt and grapes.

At 8:00 AM I tired a bit, and so lay down and had a very short nap.

When I got up, I decided to check if all the ratings had been done for the Quebec Open I played in here in Montreal last week. It is sort of interesting that I both gained and lost points!

Here is how I fared:

CFC Rating: Went up from 1530 to 1541 (Gain of 11 pts.);

FQE Rating: Went down from 1715 to 1668 (Loss of 37 pts.)

FIDE Rating: Went down from 1529 to 1520 (Loss of 9 pts.).

I then again worked on my Fb World Issues/Life Discussion Club.

At 10:00 AM I showered and dressed to start getting ready to go to the playing hall for the 1 PM Rd. 4.

I did a bit more puttering on the laptop, and at 11:00 AM I headed out for my exercise walk - I was now on mission!

Lunch

I stopped in at my favourite local Subway sandwich shop - I like to eat at least 1 hr. prior to tournament games. One of the players who I recognized from the U 1800 Section came in and we chatted when he came in, and then again when I left.

I then went to my favourite local Timmies to pick up a coffee for ammunition for Rd. 4.

I arrived at the playing hall a bit early on purpose - I was OK to watch the Norm Tournament Rd. 6 that had started at 10;00 AM. All 5 games were still going.

Then the Open Section Rd. 4 started sharp at 1:00 PM.

My Open Section

There are 12 players now in this section - the top seed, rated 2129 has withdrawn. So the rating spread now is from 1986 to 1524 (FIDE ratings). My FIDE rating is 1529 - I was # 12 out of 13 when we started.

Open Section Leaders After 4 Rounds

In my blog, I follow who is leading, round by round.

And so I started with following the 4 highest rated players in the section to see how they do.

Then later, if players from down below are winning and rising to the top, I bring them in and follow them as “Dark Horses”.

Here are the leaders after 4 rounds:

1st/2nd- 3 pts.

CM Kevin ZHONG (1925 - # 4 seed & one of the Favourites)
Bora YAGIS (1862 - my Rd. 1 opponent - I lost - Dark Horse)

3rd/5th - 2.5 pts.

Richard ZHENG (1986 - # 2 seed)
Ellis STEINBERG (1701 - Dark Horse)
William BREMNER (1648 - Dark Horse)

The Other Favourites

Here is how the Favourites not in the lead are doing:

2 pts.

Brandon ZHU (1959 - # 3 seed & a Favourite)

Withdrawn

NM Eric BEAULIEU (2129 - # 1 seed - withdrew after Rd. 2, with 2/2 pts. - had won his first two games, and was co-leader when he withdrew)

[Continued in Part II Below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Thursday, 2nd August, 2018, 10:51 PM

Blog # 5 (Thursday – 18/8/2) - Part II (Of 2 Parts)

[See Part I Above]

Montreal Summer Chess Classic
Open Round 4

My Open Section Rd. 4 Game

I (FIDE 1529) played Black on Bd. 6 (Out of 6) against the 12th ranked player, Alessio Di Matteo of the Longueuil Chess Club. He is 1524 CFC rating (He is somewhat new to tournament chess, and doesn't have yet a FIDE rating).

There is some very old chess wisdom, that has come down through the centuries from the time of the creation of chess before Christ that goes something like this:

"Thou shalt not win......if thou plays....terrible chess!" LOL

Suffice it to say: I was terrible!

1. Blundered on move 6, giving up a P, and losing the right to castle;

2. Blundered on move 21 and lost a second P (Though at least it was doubled)

3. At move 37 I had managed to get a drawn position with opposite coloured B's and P's. I was not satisfied, since I had a passed P on the 4th rank in the centre????

4. I blundered on move 35 - any simple ending calculation would show that if I try to win, I lose. I did it....I went to win a P (Which I could do), and which made no difference at all in the universe...I just lose because I have taken my K off defence (Sigh).

I did try to see if Alessio might play inaccurately, and got to move 55. But he was going to sack one queening P on one side, to queen a second queening P on the other side of the board. I resigned on move 56......I now had 3 losses out of 3.

My Score

1 pt.: Losses: 3 (Rds. 1, 2 & 4); Director's Bye: 1 (I pt. - Rd. 3)

My & My Opponents' Scores

3 pts. - Bora YAGIS (1862 - tied 1st/2nd) - I lost in Rd. 1.

2 pts. - Joseph VIGNALOU (1754) - I lost in Rd. 2.

- Alessio Di Matteo (1524) - I lost in Rd. 4.

1 pt. - Me (1529)

Post Rd. 4

Alessio and I went and analyzed the game for a while, and it was a tricky ending with lots of chances for Alessio to go wrong, but he didn't.

My Montreal friend Hugh Brodie came in to the analysis room to say good-bye....he would not be coming to the hall on Friday. So we agreed we'd see if we could get together on my next family visit to Montreal in mid-August....but it seemed he might be in Toronto, Ontario then.

Then I went back into the hall to watch the finish of the rest of my section games.

Dinner

When the Open section games were done, I left and went to El Habanero Mexican grill nearby on Cote Des Neiges.....my one and only time visiting Mexico was back in the summer of 1966.

The beer and one very big Burrito were my comfort food for this disastrous tournament.

Then I went down to my favourite local Metro, for more comfort food - Juice and Chocolate Chunk cookies.

By 7:00 PM I was back at ZUM Hotel.

The Evening

I checked for messages, and how the Blogs were doing. Then I checked ChessResults to get my final Friday Round 5 pairing - I will play white against Ellis Steinberg. The Norm tournament Rd. 7 was likely still going on.

I dutifully entered my rd. 4 loss into my game score stats I am keeping for 2018 (Sigh - another loss).

At 7:30 PM, I napped for an hour.

When I got up, I phoned my wife at her sister's place, near our hobby farm in Central Ontario - she had gone for a sleepover tonight (Thurs. night/Fri. morning). But she and her sister were in the midst of baking, so I agreed to call back at 9:30 PM.

So I then started doing this Blog # 5.

At 10:00 PM, I again called my wife - we chatted for about 15 min., and I cried a lot about my terrible play this tournament - she's a good listener......but every once in a while she does just get fed up and says: "Just go win one for a change!"

I then finished and posted this Blog # 5.

The Norm Tournament After 7 Rounds

Although I focus my blog on my daily activities, and in this case, on the "Open Section" in which I am playing, I always give an updated standings at the end for the major tournament.

Here are the Standings (FIDE Rating):

1st/5th - 4 pts.

IM Alex OSTOVSKIY (2424)
FM Levy Rozman (2417)
IM Konstantin KAVUTSKIY (2409)
FM Zong Yang YU (2389)
FM Olivier Kenta CHIKU-RATTE (2278)
6th - 3.5 pts. - FM Richard CHEN (2312)

7th/9th - 3 pts.

FM Eugene HUA (2340)
FM Dagur RAGNARSSON (2247)
IM Thanh Nha DUONG (2201)

10th - 1 pt.

FM Shawn RODRIGUE-LEMIEUX (2267)

Invitation

One part of blogging I also do enjoy, is discussing anything anyone finds of interest. So I am happy to answer questions, make responses to comments, etc. This often helps make the daily blog more interesting to other viewers.

So comment, reply, post, whatever…..jump right in with both feet….and hopefully we’ll have a fun final day together.

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 3rd August, 2018, 09:08 PM

Blog # 6 (Friday – 18/8/3) FINAL - Part I (Of 2 Parts)

Montreal Summer Chess Classic
Open Round 5 (Final)

The Night Before (Thursday)

At 11:00 PM on Thursday night, I had Blog # 5 (Thursday) posted on both my Fb account, and here on Chess Talk.

Then I entered into ChessBase my first 3 games from this Classic tournament.

The Wee Hours of This Morning (Friday)

I was not really too tired, since I had had an early evening nap Thursday evening. So I was still ready to go on for a while, 'til I tired.

First I checked if there were any responses to my Blog # 5 for Thursday (Both Chess Talk and Fb), that I had posted a few hours earlier, late Thursday night. On Fb, I got moral support from my friend, Robert Song. He encouraged me to try again today - new game! I noted that the blog thread now had over 250 views (255)! For this tournament, I think this is a fair interest.

I checked my 2 e-mails and my Fb Messages. Then I did some updating on my Fb Discussion Club.

At 1:30 AM I then did feel tired. So I went to bed.

Later Morning

I actually had 5hrs. sleep!

I was hungry, so had an early bowl of cold cereal.

I then set about doing my usual morning routine tasks:

1. Again checked for e-mails/Fb messages;

2. Checked on Blog # 5 (Fb & here on Chess Talk);

3. Read the new & active Chess Talk threads;

4. World Issues/Life Fb Discussion Club:

a. Dealt with 38 O/S Fb Notifications;

b. Visited some special friend's timelines for posts to share into the club;

c. Checked friend's posts in my own newsfeed, for posts to share;

d. Went to my Twitter account to find posts.

At 7:45 AM I went out to get some exercise; didn't take my watch; went to McD's about 30 min. walk from the residence. I was back at 9:30 AM.

I then again worked on my Fb World Issues/Life Discussion Club.

At 10:00 AM I took a nap 'til 11:00 AM - but I was still tired. I got a bad cold/flu during the COQ, a week ago Wednesday, and it is still hanging on partly - I am coughing because my lungs deep down are congested, and I still have a runny nose. I think over time this is tiring me out. I'm going to go see my personal physician in Toronto on Monday.

Then I did a bit more puttering on the laptop.

I then decided that I wanted a bit of time to "Contemplate". This is kind of like meditation or mindfulness, but different. I've been practicing it for about 20 years now. Part of this is that it is done pacing, in any area without any obstacles. So I went outside the residence onto the sidewalk for a while - my environment (Cars; people walking, etc.) doesn't affect me anymore. Since I am now just about finished my kids/chess/blogging holiday, it is time for me to take up again my one goal I have and get on with it again...contemplating often helps me determine the best next step. My Fb group - Inspired Living - named Canadian Spirits' Den Contemplation Centre (https://www.facebook.com/groups/402812806533693/) explains more about this.

Lunch

I decided to skip lunch today, and went right to the playing hall. I give myself lots of time to make it stress-free, and I arrived at the playing hall a bit early on purpose - I was OK to watch the Norm Tournament Rd. 8 that had started at 10;00 AM. All 5 games were still going.

Then the Open Section Rd. 4 started sharp at 1:00 PM.

My Open Section

There are 8/13 players left in this section, given a number of withdrawals, mostly after Rd. 4. The rating spread was originally from 2129 to 1524 (FIDE ratings). My FIDE rating is 1529 - I was # 12 out of 13 when we started.

Open Section Winners (After 5 Rounds)

In my blog, I follow who is leading, round by round.

And so I started with following the 4 highest rated players in the section to see how they do.

Then later, if players from down below are winning and rising to the top, I bring them in and follow them as “Dark Horses”.

Here are the winners:

1st- 4 pts.- Bora YAGIS (1862 - my Rd. 1 opponent - I lost - Dark Horse - from New York, USA)

2nd - 3.5 pts. - Ellis STEINBERG (1701 - Dark Horse)

3rd/6th - 3 pts.

Richard ZHENG (1986 - # 2 seed)
CM Kevin ZHONG (1925 - # 4 seed)
Joseph VIGNALOU (1754 - Dark Horse)
William BREMNER (1648 - Dark Horse)

The Other Favourites

Here is how the other Favourites (not among the winners) did:

Withdrawn

2/2 pts. - NM Eric BEAULIEU (2129 - # 1 seed - withdrew after Rd. 2 - had won his first two games, and was co-leader when he withdrew)

2/4 pts. - Brandon ZHU (1959 - # 3 seed - withdrew after Rd. 4)

[See Part II Below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 3rd August, 2018, 09:10 PM

Blog # 6 (Friday – 18/8/3) FINAL - Part II (Of 2 Parts)

[See Part I Above]

Montreal Summer Chess Classic
Open Round 5 (Final)

My Open Section Rd. 5 Game

I (FIDE 1529) played White on Bd. 3 (Out of 4) against Ellis Steinberg (1701).

Suffice it to say: I was not as terrible as Thursday, but still not good!

1. Played very inaccurately for the white opening I played, leaving a big hole on my g4; I suffered for this for the whole game.

2. Blundered on move 14. It was a complicated centre and my calculation of my line was totally inadequate. I pushed a P, trying to exchange it and open the centre. But, by force, it eventually lost me 2 P's.

I did try for some counter-play, but there was none, and I resigned on move 29.

Post Rd. 5

After my game, I went to the analysis room and talked with Gary Hua (His son was in the Norm tournament - Eugene; and his 10 y.o. daughter, Michelle, had just come clear first in the U 1800 section). I congratulated Michelle, who did know me, and she gave me a big smile. I asked her to keep on improving.

I then watched the conclusion of the Open Section games, and then the final Rd. 9 of the Norm tournament. But I tired with 3 games still in progress, and decided to go for dinner - I needed some comfort food.

Dinner

I went to Brits & Chips on Cote Des Neiges, and the beer, fish and chips were just what I needed.

Thanks

A great big shout-out for Lefong Hua, organizer, and the arbiter couple, Vadim and Diana. I thanked them all before I left the playing hall and said their tournament had contributed to my having a great longer Montreal holiday. They said they had enjoyed my blogs.

My Score

1 pt.: Losses: 4 (Rds. 1, 2, 4 & 5); Director's Bye: 1 (I pt. - Rd. 3)

My & My Opponents' Scores

4 pts. - Bora YAGIS (1862 - clear first) - I lost in Rd. 1.

3.5 pts. - Ellis STEINBERG (1701 - clear 2nd) - I lost in Rd. 5.

3 pts. - Joseph VIGNALOU (1754 - tied 3rd/6th) - I lost in Rd. 2.

1.5pts. - Alessio Di Matteo (1524) - I lost in Rd. 4.

1 pt. - Me (1529)

Back at the Residence

I then got back to the residence at 7:00 PM.

The Evening

There was a message from my wife when I got in, and so I called her first. I confirmed I would leave for Toronto at 9:00 AM on Saturday morning.

I checked for computer messages, and how the Blogs were doing (The CT Blog Thread was now over 300 views, without this final Blog # 6 having yet been posted!!).

Then I checked ChessResults to get the final standings of the Norm Tournament (After 9 rounds) for this Blog.

Then I dutifully entered my rd. 5 loss into my game score stats I am keeping for 2018 (Sigh - another loss). This tournament is certainly going to hurt my CFC rating!

I then checked and read any new and active Chess Talk threads.

I then finished and posted this Final Blog # 6.

The Norm Tournament - Final Standings (After 9 Rounds)

Although I focus my blog on my daily activities, and in this case, on the "Open Section" in which I am playing, I always give an updated standings at the end for the major tournament.

Here are the Final Standings (FIDE Rating):

1st - 5.5 pts. - IM Alex OSTOVSKIY (2424)

2nd/4th - 5 pts.

IM Konstantin KAVUTSKIY (2409)
FM Eugene HUA (2340)
FM Olivier Kenta CHIKU-RATTE (2278)

5th/7th - 4.5 pts.

FM Levy Rozman (2417)
FM Richard CHEN (2312)
IM Thanh Nha DUONG (2201)

8th - 4 pts. - FM Zong Yang YU (2389)

9th/10th - 3.5 pts.

FM Shawn RODRIGUE-LEMIEUX (2267)
FM Dagur RAGNARSSON (2247)

The Future

I enjoy doing this Blog at my tournaments, and I get enough positive feedback that I feel my labour of love is contributing something.

I believe I may come to the 2019 COQ over the 2019 Regina, Saskatchewan Canadian Open (I have played in both over the years). If so, I will likely try to blog again. And if the timing of this Classic tournament in 2019 is the same as this year, it also is on my possible list.

My next tournament is the Toronto Open on the Labour Day Weekend. I will ask Henry (Aka Dark Knight), the owner, whether he will again consent to me re-posting my Fb Blog here. We'll see....it is harder to Blog, because it is 2 rounds for each of the three days. But we will see....

Thanks to all those who read my Blogs, and to those who interacted with me around them.

Cheers for Chess in Canada (To quote my friend Gary Hua)

Bob A

2018 Montreal Summer Chess Classic (July 30 - Aug. 3) - Blog

2018 Montreal Summer Chess Classic (July 30 - Aug. 3) - Blog

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