2018 Toronto Open Chess Tournament - Sept. 1-3 - Blog

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  • 2018 Toronto Open Chess Tournament - Sept. 1-3 - Blog

    2018 Toronto Open Chess Tournament
    The Day Prior
    [Part I of 2]

    The Tournament

    It will be 6 rounds @ 2 games per day. It is being organized by the Organizing Committee of the Annex Chess Club, and held at its club location, 918 Bathurst Street (Just past the first signal light north of Bloor - Bathurst Subway Station is only a 5 min. walk away.) There will be four sections: Crown, U 2200, U 1800, U 1400. I will be playing in the U 1800 section - my CFC Standard rating is 1511 (Middle C Class). The top 2 sections will also be FIDE rated. Rounds are @ 10:00 AM & 4:00 PM. Time control is Game/90 min. + 30 sec. increment from move 1 - so the average game (40 moves and over) takes approximately 5 hrs. or a bit less. As of Thursday (Aug. 30), there were 191 pre-registered players (Sometimes there are withdrawals, and often some late on-site entries). The originally proposed prize fund totalled $ 7,000 (Based on 150 players); so likely it will now be increased, given 191 pre-registered's. There is more information on the Annex CC Website.

    My Blogging

    As many here on Chess Talk (CT) know, over the years I have had an arrangement from time to time with the former owner, Chess 'n Math Association, to Blog the tournaments I have been playing in (Usually longer tournaments like the Canadian Open, The Quebec Open, The Toronto International, etc.).

    Under the new owner, Henry (Aka Dark Knight), we have continued this arrangement. So most recently I blogged my participation in:

    1. 2018 Quebec Open - about 775 views of 5 days of blogging a 9 round tournament (New arrangement reached after tournament had started);
    2. 2018 Montreal Summer Chess Classic - about 375 view of 6 days of blogging a 5 round tournament.

    (Note: the CT Blog is a re-posting of the original blog I do on my personal Facebook Account for my over 800 Fb friends from around the world (I do not edit it much to re-post it here): https://www.facebook.com/bob.armstrong.9235 )

    We are now extending this agreement to cover my blogging my shorter weekend tournaments from the 2018 summer to the 2019 summer. This is the first one.

    My future blogs will be (Given my current schedule through to next summer):

    1. The 2018 Hart House Holidays Open (Prior to Christmas);
    2. The 2019 Hart House Reading Week Open (On the Family Day Holiday Weekend).

    Over the years, I have had generally positive feedback, on both my Fb Account, and here on CT, to my blogging. I mainly focus on the section I am playing in (Has been U 2000 or U 1800). I feel that these class sections are often not covered by chess media, and yet, the bulk of chess tournament players are in these sections and under. And many of my viewers have actually played players about whom I am blogging (Ones I play and ones with whom I may socialize during the tournament). So this adds a bit more interest. I do also cover (Bare Bones) the top section standings each blog.

    I hope my blogs will continue to provide a window onto class tournament chess, and what THIS chess player does in tournaments between rounds (A bit of my personal life); other players have totally different approaches. I have had feedback that my writing style is easy to read, and often entertaining. It is a find for all those "nosy" chess players (I think we are know for being more-than-normal nosy)!

    Thanks for your prior support of my blogs - I do emphasize that I love interactivity around my blogs, and so I encourage comments, questions, observations, etc., and I try to respond to as many as I can in the time available.

    I usually try to post before midnight of the next day, each of the 4 Blogs (But sometimes it does not get posted 'til the wee hours of the day following). This Blog # 1 is on schedule - posted late Friday night, Aug. 31.

    I hope people continue to find my blogs informative, and somewhat entertaining.

    Up for the Challenge - The Wee Hours of Friday Morning

    I awoke this morning @ 5:30 AM, having had 6 hours sleep. My usual average is between 5-6 hrs.

    But I have found, with Adrenalin flowing during tournaments, my chess tournament sleeping is often much shorter (Often up in the middle of the night), and erratic (I end up taking naps at odd hours). At least it is in longer tournaments, like the Canadian Open or Quebec Open, which are 1 game per day, mostly in the evening, starting @ 6:00 PM.

    But with weekend tournaments, the two games per day is tiring (Though at 73 y.o., I feel I do handle them quite well.......sometimes a bit tired during the ending of the last game). We'll see what happens with this tournament. I do admit that now I have institutionalized a normal 1-hr. afternoon siesta time daily - my short sleeping seems to now require it.

    The Early Morning

    I am retired for some time now. So I have my own daily routines, like many of us.

    So I first go to my laptop and check for e-mails and Facebook (Fb) messages to be dealt with. When my wife is away, I usually also check her e-mails, since she is not always so faithful to doing it.....I alert her when we call each other later in the day to anything needing response. I follow Chess Talk quite faithfully, checking for new posts a couple of times per day. As many of you know, I am also not too bashful about starting topics with original posts (Though I am told, MUCH less than when younger and active in chess politics! LOL). I gave notice here of the coming of this Blog on 18/8/22 (Over 250 views to date).

    As a retiree, to occupy myself, and try to keep myself out of trouble, I have a number of Fb projects. A number of them will be referred to during this Blog # 1.

    One Fb Project is re Chess......Under my personal account, some years ago, I started a Fb Chess Discussion Group - posts chess news and discusses it and international chess issues. I turned over management of it to a 4 person company I created (with another Canadian, a Ghanaian, and a guy from USA) - the company (Unincorporated) is Chess Companions of Caissa. We call the project "Chess Chat - A Project of Chess Companions of Caissa (https://www.facebook.com/groups/340524269771672/)". The original group, that had to be terminated due to some Fb regulations had over 5,000 members; the second successor group had over 3,000 members; the current project is the third successor group. I feel that this is somewhat of a community contributory activity for me, to the international Fb chess community who are members.

    So I regularly check (And did today) to see if there are any new applications to join the group, to be processed. Also, during the day, I post some of the chess articles I come upon in Twitter or on Fb (And I have today). I also re-post there, sometimes, my chess blogs originally posted on my own personal account. So I will re-post there this Fb Blog for the Toronto Open.

    A second Fb project I have is that I have morphed my own personal account into a World Events/News/Life Discussion Group, called "PEERS (A Discussion Club of Equals)" - https://www.facebook.com/bob.armstrong.9235 [Same as originally given at the start of this Blog above]. One might say I consider this group my main altruistic community-contribution activity. I gather articles from wherever I can, group them into topic threads, and facilitate and monitor discussion. It is the project I spend the most time on in a day. Some former friends have "unfriended" me because they found my posting too prolific; others just do not get notifications; some just come to my timeline from time to time, to see what havoc I am trying to create. But for this type of somewhat unique Fb account, it is important to keep up with breaking news, and you need a wide variety of posts to appeal to all the Fb friends I have (Over 800 from around the world). In a year, at least 200 of them will show themselves and be named to the club, by posting, commenting or replying or reacting.

    On the left sidebar of a Fb account are 9 pictures of friends with whom you seem to have more interaction...and when they have posted on their own timelines, the number of posts is shown over their photo. So clicking on the photo takes me to their timeline......then I can share to PEERS any relevant posts they have made. Behind these 9 photos there are pictures of other friends who have made posts since the last time I was checking, and they come up sequentially as well. So a good number of posts come to PEERS via my checking by this method.

    So I now did this for a while, and made a number of new posts, and comments on existing topics, from my friends' posts. You can go check my timeline if you have a personal Fb account. Otherwise, when you follow my PEERS link I have given, you will be asked to open your own Fb account, before they will let you access mine.

    Breakfast

    At 8:00 AM, I took a break and got myself some breakfast. We have a lovely deck and backyard (Some say the view from the deck is like looking out into a little park, with all the trees, bushes and plants). So I sat there for a while, and re-grouped.

    Then I put out our recyclable pollution (Compost & the Recycle Container). I then washed up some dishes from the day before, made some coffee, and brought my tumbler up to my home office to help me get through the morning!

    [Continued in Part II Below]

    Bob A
    Last edited by Dark Knight; Sunday, 2nd September, 2018, 01:37 AM.

  • #2
    2018 Toronto Open Chess Tournament
    The Day Prior
    [Part II of 2 - See Part I above]

    The Later Morning

    When I play in chess tournaments, my wife usually will high-tail it to our hobby farm, about 3 hrs. northwest of Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Though Toronto is our "primary" residence, in fact over the year, we spend twice as much time at the farm as we do in Toronto). It is a computer/internet-free zone!

    So she called to touch base - we dealt with her ordering garlic from a major herbs supplier part way to the farm - she plants in the Fall, and so now her order can be filled at any time by them.....we just have to let them know when we will come in to pick up the planting garlic. I also let her know about her current e-mails.

    Then my adult daughter called from Montreal, Quebec, where she lives - we discussed some of her life issues, and she was then going to call her Mom to continue the discussion with her. My son and his daughter also live in Montreal. We go down for at least a week to see them all, every 6th week.

    I then returned to PEERS, and again checked the friends' photos source for articles (And new posts they'd made since the last time). I also follow many international mainstream media on Twitter: CBC, Globe & Mail, Toronto Star, New York Times, Washington Post, China Daily, Japan Times, Al Jezeera (English), France 24, etc. So I went to my Twitter in-box and got some articles from there to re-post into PEERS. This is my source now for all my news!

    Errands

    At 10:00 AM, I had a number of errands to do, some for my wife, and a number for myself.

    Lunch

    Today I treated myself and so at 1:00 PM I was sitting in my favourite local Swiss Chalet for a beer and modest mid-day main meal. While there, I updated my "Reminder List" I keep of things to be done (Since I have a medically defective memory).

    The Afternoon

    I got back home about 2:30 PM. I called my wife to touch base with her about her conversation with our daughter. Then I called our daughter to finish up what she wanted to deal with.

    As I said, I periodically during the day, check my e-mails/Fb messages, check for new CT posts, and look for articles to share in PEERS. So I did this for a while.

    Siesta Time

    At 3:30 PM, I found myself tiring a bit, and so decided to take my normal siesta time nap. Usually I always set the alarm for just 1 hour - I find it is sufficient, and when I sleep more than that, I am often groggy for a while before I get back functioning again....but today I decided not to set the alarm, since it is somewhat of a free day. I awoke at 6:00 PM.

    Finally Some Chess

    One of the things I do when blogging, is keep my own list of players, and their scoring as the tournament progresses......I need this sometimes, in case the organizers may be delayed in getting results up onto the ChessResults website, or posting standings elsewhere. I need the information to do my blog, and I do shoot to post by 11:59 PM of the tournament day. So I printed out the list of players for my U 1800 section. Also, at the end of the second round, I make a list of the leaders in the top section, to be able to follow them through the tournament, and add a last section on their standings.

    You may have noticed that I have not done any chess studying to prepare for the Toronto Open. Unfortunately, I have never really been a hard core chess studier, ever since I started tournament chess 53 years ago. I did play seriously when younger, and did want to improve (Never sought to become a very good player), but for some reason never studied. Later, a clear reason surfaced as to why I had a mental block from studying chess (It's a bit of a saga; you can ask me some time if you dare). I have a very, very small chess library for the no. of years I have been playing. It is covered in cobwebs, and the books have not been cracked beyond the first 3-5 pages! Basically, I guess, I just love to PLAY tournament chess.

    But there are two things I do, that might be called studying (Though not very hard core I think - you can comment to me on your opinion on this!). I always analyze all my own games with a chess analysis engine. And before tournaments, to start getting in the groove, I do pick a game or two I have not yet gotten to, and do analyze it the day before the tournament. So I picked an interesting game I had in the recent Montreal Summer Chess Classic that I had not analyzed yet, and did it.

    The second thing I do is that I keep an opening book/tree for the openings/defences I do play regularly. And I integrate all the openings in my games into these trees, while analyzing with the chess engine. Because of my poor memory, it is not clear how helpful this is to my play......but I do get general impressions of positions that I may recognize in games, from time to time. Again, comment if you consider this to be "hard core studying". So I integrated the Quebec game.

    Dinner

    Since I had my main meal at lunch, at 9:00 PM, I went and prepared myself a nice healthy light dinner - 2 kinds of cheese, crackers, hummus, and a nectarine - as well as a coffee - to have while I did this Blog # 1.

    I finished the Blog about 11:30 PM and posted it on Fb and re-posted it here and on Fb Chess Chat.

    The Favourites in My U 1800 Section

    I usually pick some of the top-rated players on the pre-registered list to designate as "Favourites". After all, they are the highest rated....this tournament I have picked the five 1700's players. Here they are (Note that some of the higher 1700 players are "playing up a section" in the U 2000 Section):

    # 1. Joseph Tavana (1721)
    # 2. Keshav Jindal (1719)
    # 3. Ilya Fadeev (1713)
    # 4. Yun Hong (Kevin) Li (1707)
    # 5. Raymond Dixon (1701)

    (Note: I may later add to this list if some 1700's have registered today, or on site tomorrow morning).

    Dark Horses

    These are players from down in the pack, who rise to the occasion and get wins and join the leaders. I will start designating them after the second round.

    Crown Section

    I will give the standings for this section at the end of each Blog. For now, based on the pre-reg. list, my three favourites are the players over 2500:
    1 Nikolay Noritsyn 2604 Crown
    2 Artiom Samsonkin 2553 Crown
    3 Leonid Gerzhoy 2524 Crown
    Invitation

    As I said in the introduction above, I love to interact with viewers on anything I have said - whether positive support or constructive criticism; questions; comments; etc.

    So post away and we will have another 3 days of chess fun!

    Bob A
    Last edited by Bob Armstrong; Saturday, 1st September, 2018, 12:18 AM.

    Comment


    • #3
      2018 Toronto Open Chess Tournament - Sept. 1-3 - Blog # 2 - Part I (Of 2 parts)
      Rds. 1 & 2 (Saturday, Sept. 1)

      Introduction

      This is a 4-instalment Blog. I would recommend that in order to best follow this Blog # 2, viewers should read Blog # 1 (The Day Prior) - Friday, Aug. 31. It was posted here on Fb at about 11:30 PM on Friday night.

      The Tournament

      The Tournament is in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

      The registration total is 195 players in the four sections:

      Crown: 26 players

      U 2200: 39 players

      U 1800: 58 players

      U 1400: 72 players.

      My Blogging

      I am trying to post before midnight of the next day, each of the 4 Blogs - Blog # 1 made it late Friday evening. (But sometimes it does not get posted 'til the wee hours of the day following).


      The Wee Hours of Saturday Morning

      I had a 2 1/2 hr. nap late Friday afternoon, I was pretty wide awake after midnight today.

      So I worked on my PEERS Fb Project (See Blog # 1):

      - Checked for new posts to share via the friends' photos on the left sidebar;

      - Checked for other friends' posts to share by looking down my Fb newsfeed

      - Checked my Twitter account for articles to post (I follow many international mainstream media - Canada, USA, France, China, Japan, Middle East, etc.)


      To Bed

      I went to sleep at 1:15 AM this morning. But as I have already said, my tournament sleeping is much shorter (Often up in the middle of the night), and erratic (I end up taking naps at odd hours) than normal. So I awoke at 2:30 AM! But I did not feel totally awake this time (As often happens after an hour of sleep). So I decided to stay in bed - I was awake for a short while, but then, amazingly, I went back to sleep 'til 6:00 AM.


      Charging into the Day

      I am retired for some time now. So I have my own daily routines I follow, like many of us. And once up, I followed them again today, despite it being a chess tournament day:

      - I went directly to my home office and my laptop

      - checked for e-mails and Facebook (Fb) messages and dealt with them

      - my wife is up at our hobby farm, Spirits' Den, as she often is when I play in chess tournaments - so I also checked her e-mails for her (Our farm is a computer/internet-free zone!).

      - I follow Chess Talk quite faithfully, checking for new posts a couple of times per day; so I did that, and today did not have any new original posts I wanted to start

      - While on Fb, my sister-in-law saw I was on-line, and said "Hi" - we chatted for a while, and I confirmed I'd be giving my brother a call in a few weeks to touch base.

      - searched out articles to post on PEERS (Photo method), My Fb Newsfeed of friends' posts, and my Twitter account.

      - checked my Fb chess discussion group, "Chess Chat - a Project of Chess Companions of Caissa (https://www.facebook.com/groups/340524269771672/)", to see if there were any new member applications to be processed. I did not make any posts there this morning. I had also posted my Fb Blog # 1 there yesterday, and wanted to answer any comments that might have been posted.


      Breakfast

      About 7:30 AM I showered, dressed, got some breakfast, and went out on our nice deck to have it, and to take in our park-like backyard.


      The Later Morning

      I then started getting ready to go to the tournament - Rd. 1 was at 10:00 AM. I often go to the Annex CC, where the tournament is being played, by TTC - it only takes me about 40 min. door-to-door. Saves having to find parking, which is not always easy in the Bloor/Bathurst area - the community centre has no parking of its own.

      I didn't realize Annex CC was providing all clocks and sets, and packed mine in case. It was overcast early, and so I threw in my umbrella and rainjacket (Of course, not a drop today!). I also packed some snacks, in case I got caught in a long game, and did not have time to go out for a meal before the start of the afternoon round: Nut/Dried Fruit mixture; grapes; a banana - pretty healthy eh? I threw in two travel tumblers, one with my coffee for the TTC trip, and one for water. The bloody small bag was much heavier to carry than I had expected!

      I was in plenty of time when I came out of the Bathurst Subway Station, and had finished my coffee in transit. So I headed for my favourite coffee shop in the chess club area: The Green Beanery (South-east corner of Bloor/Bathurst).

      Happily, at the corner, I ran into my chess friend from British Columbia (Formerly from Ontario), Paul Leblanc. Among many tasks he does for the Chess Federation of Canada (CFC), one is being the national Rating Auditor. So he came across with me as I got my coffee, and then we headed up to Annex CC. He had been visiting family and friends for the past week, and tries his best to work in a chess tournament whenever he comes to Ontario (I suspect the dates of the visit seem somehow to often line up nicely with the chess tournament dates....surprise!).


      Pre-Round 1

      At the steps to the club, we met my good friend, Mario Moran-Venegas (A chess teacher). Mario and Paul knew each other a bit. I commented congratulations to Mario on recently getting a norm towards his FIDE Arbiter's Title, by taking a course offered in Guelph by Hal Bond and Aris Marghetis.

      We then went into the club and the Rd. 1 Pairings were up.

      I got my board number in the U 1800 Section, and went into the "Great Hall" playing hall for the higher sections. Once in I met a number of my chess friends/acquaintances and said "Hi" and we made some small talk: Shafkat Ali (In my section) - I confirmed to him that I was blogging this Toronto Open; Doug Gillis - member of Aurora CC, formerly long-time member at my Scarborough CC; Jeff Panzer - wasn't initially intending to play, but when he saw all the people he knew, he entered at the last minute; Dimitri Chernik - playing in the Crown section - I knew him from playing some tournaments in the past at his Willowdale CC.

      When I sat down at my board #34, beside me on the next board were two chess friends I've known for many years: Victor Itkin and Richard Wing - so we chatted a bit while waiting for the round to start.

      During the start of Rd. 1, while playing, I also said "Hi" to other chess friends/acquaintances: John Brown (In my Section); Hassan Pishdad, likely the oldest tournament player in the room, from my Scarborough CC (And he plays also in the Aurora CC); Zehn Nasir - I inquired how his father, Jack Maguire was doing, since he doesn't play any more (We played many, many times at the old Dutton CC and its successor the Dobrich CC); Rick Garel, down from Orillia - a friend who had been a long-time member of the Scarborough CC.


      My U 1800 Section

      There are 58 players in my section, with the rating spread being from 1752 to 1310 (B Class, down to middle of the D Class). My Standard CFC rating is now 1511 (In my younger years, I did reach a peak rating of 1911, and do hold, from then, a CFC Class A Certificate).


      My Rd. 1 Game

      I played Black against the fourth seed in our section, Ilya Fadeev (1713), on board 4 (Of 29 Boards). I got the better of the opening, and carried the play all game. On move 18, during a K-side attack, I sacked the exchange, winning 2 P's in the process. I still had a very strong attack; my pressure was significant on his K-side. So he then decided on move 31 to sack back the exchange, seeing that in the process he could win one of his P's back, and just be down 1 P. At this point he had 5 min. left, and I had 45 min. But after this Ilya just hunkered down and built a fortress around his K, and I could neither break in, nor attack the base of his P chain. After trying all different kinds of attacking options, all of which were countered, I finally just offered a draw on move 46 and Ilya was happy to accept, having been playing speed chess for the last 15 or so moves. I was happy with my play, since I did keep him on the defensive all game.


      Lunch

      At 2:00 PM, Mario, Paul and I went down onto Bloor Street, to go to a Thai restaurant Paul had earlier seen on his walk-around. We chatted about all things chess; and the food was delicious - we all highly recommend it - it has recently moved west of Bathurst from its former location closer to Spadina Ave.

      After lunch, Paul went for a walk before Rd. 3, and Mario and I returned to the club.

      [See Part II Below]

      Bob A

      Comment


      • #4
        2018 Toronto Open Chess Tournament - Sept. 1-3 - Blog # 2 - Part II (Of 2 parts)
        Rds. 1 & 2 (Saturday, Sept. 1)

        [See Part I above]

        Pre-Rd. 2

        When I went in I met my friend Erik Malmsten, who was helping out the club organizing committee as a volunteer. Hassan PIshdad also came up and joined us.

        Hassan went off to check his pairing, and then Colin Archibald, long-time weekend tournament player, joined Erik and I. While chatting, my friend Undriadi Benggawan came over to say "Hi" and we agreed we'd talk later or on Sunday.....his two daughters played when they were younger, and Amanda was on the Canadian Women's Olympiad Team a few times.

        Just before the round started there was a very nice presentation of a trophy in honour of a not-very-old Annex CC player who recently died. It was given to Ted Winnick, the owner of the Chess Institute scholastic chess school and the Annex CC.....well-deserved.


        My Rd. 2 Game

        I played White on Bd. 14 in our section (Out of 30 boards). I played junior boy Benjamin Wu (1652), who plays at my Scarborough CC (And who beat me the last time we played). The opening was equal, but on move 18 I was able to win his eP. On move 23, I won his dP. Although he fought valiantly, pieces got traded off, and I pushed my now passed dP. He was going to have to sack his N to stop the advancing dP, and so resigned.


        Post-Rd. 2

        I watched the games finish in my section, and brought up to date (With the help of Alex Ferreira, Arbiter) my own personal section standings list, which I use as a back-up, in case for some reason the results might not make it up on ChessResults by the time I get home and do this Blog.


        Heading Home

        About 8:45 PM, I headed out to get the TTC home. I got home about 9:15 PM, and settled in, and got out my snacks I'd brought to the tournament, for my light dinner while I did the blog (Just happened to have some ice cream in the refrigerator as well!!).


        This Blog # 2

        I then started this Blog, and finished it a bit before midnight Sunday, and posted it.


        The Under 1800 Leaders (After 2 Rounds)

        Three of the leaders (Won both games) are from my group of "Favourites" - 6 of them - all over 1700.

        Ted Hsu (1752) - # 2

        Victor Itkin (1738) - # 3

        Kevin Li (1707 - Junior) - # 5.

        5 of the leaders are ones I term "Dark Horses" - below 1700 but are rising to the occasion:

        Rick Garel (1636)

        Bruce Cao (1582)

        Jose Cabioc (1568)

        Henry Liu (1542 - Junior)

        Eli Shyngera (1391)


        The Other Favourites

        1 Pt.

        Ferdinand Supsup (1770) - # 1

        Ilya Fadeev (1713) - # 4

        Raymond Dixon (1701) - # 6


        The Crown Section

        Amazingly, the 4 leaders (Won both games) are all Dark Horses (Below 2500)!

        Rohan Taldukar (2350)

        Nicholas Vetesse (2341)

        Jim Zhao (2317)

        Hairan LIang (2316)


        The Crown Section Favourites

        1.5 pts. - Artiom Samsonkin (2553) - # 2

        1 pt. - Nickolay Noritsyn (2604 - former Canadian Champion) - # 1.


        Invitation

        As I said in the Blog # 1, I love to interact with viewers on anything I have said - whether positive support or constructive criticism; questions; comments; etc.

        So post away and we will have another 2 days of chess fun!

        Bob A

        Comment


        • #5
          2018 Toronto Open Chess Tournament - Sept. 1-3 - Blog # 3 - Part I (Of 2 parts)
          Rds. 3 & 4 (Sunday, Sept. 2)

          Introduction

          This is a 4-instalment Blog. I would recommend that in order to best follow this Blog # 3, viewers should read Blog # 1 (The Day Prior) - Friday, Aug. 31 and Blog # 2 (Rds. 1 & 2) - Saturday, Sept. 1. They were posted here on Fb around midnight each night.


          The Tournament

          The Tournament is in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

          The registration total is 195 players in the four sections:

          Crown: 26 players

          U 2200: 40 players

          U 1800: 58 players

          U 1400: 71 players.


          My Blogging

          I am trying to post before midnight of the next day, each of the 4 Blogs - Blog # 1 made it late Friday evening. But sometimes it does not get posted 'til the wee hours of the day following - Blog # 2 was posted a bit after midnight this morning.

          This Fb Blog is re-posted elsewhere as noted below, without editing, and so readers there have to take note of this.


          The Wee Hours of Saturday Morning

          After midnight this morning, I was still pretty wide awake, despite not getting my normal 1-hr. afternoon siesta nap. Hmmm....Adrenalin maybe??....after all, for me to have a draw and a win in the first two consecutive games, is pretty good for me at the moment!

          So I sort of puttered on my laptop:

          - Checked for any new Chess Talk (CT) posts;

          - Checked for e-mails and Fb messages;

          - Checked the FIDE website, and finally my 2nd summer swiss tournament in Montreal was rated - I dropped 12 rating points and so now am internationally at 1508. My CFC Standard Rating is now 1511.

          - I went to ChessResults, and got my Rd. 3 pairing for later in the morning (Morning rounds start at 10:00 AM).


          To Bed

          I hit the sack at 1:30 AM, and got 4 hrs. sleep before I awoke at 5:30 AM (Not unusual for me during chess tournaments).


          Charging into the Day (Sunday)

          As I have said before, I follow my same morning routine during tournaments, as I do normally. I went to my home office, and flipped on the laptop. I checked both my and my wife's e-mails - she is up at our hobby farm while I am playing in this tournament. Then I checked for any Fb messages. I checked Chess Talk to see if there were any comments on my blog needing response.

          While on Fb, my adult daughter had awakened early in Montreal, where she lives, and so she said "Hi" when she saw I was on-line. She queried me if I was playing my preferred "hairy & messy" chess, or whether I was being good and playing classically. I admitted I had played boring classical for both games - she noted that I had a draw and a win - say anything about the better way to play?? I sort of ignored her, and got her interested in the great Cuban World Champion, Jose Capablanca - she's going to google his photo - I told her he often looks quite dapper in photos. Many think he is one of the best "natural" players ever - I understand he studied little. I taught her and my son chess when they were still quite young. She was hanging out at her brother's place last night, and is going with him to take her niece to the market in the later morning. Then she said she was going to try to go back to sleep - this is the effect I have conversing with my kids??

          At 7:00 AM, I went to make myself a coffee and to have breakfast out on our deck here in Toronto. At 7:45, back up to the salt mine of my home office. My game in Rd. 2 had been an opening I had not played in years, forced by the line Benjamin played. So I entered and analyzed the game in my database of my own games.

          At 8:15 AM I called my wife up at our hobby farm - she gets up early there - she was working yesterday and today to transplant three gardens into one longer one.

          I then got packed up to go to Rd. 3 by TTC. I checked the weather forecast and there was supposed to be a rainstorm, and so I threw in my umbrella and rainjacket (Of course, again today, not a drop!). I also packed some snacks, in case I got caught in a long game, and did not have time to go out for a meal before the start of the afternoon round: Nut/Dried Fruit mixture; a peach and a banana. I threw in two travel tumblers, one with my coffee for the TTC trip, and Rd. 3, and one for water.


          Pre-Rd. 3

          In the playing hall I talked with Doug Gillis again, member now of the Aurora CC. He advised that our mutual friend from Scarborough CC, Dinesh Dattani would be down later in the day to watch the tournament for a while.


          My U 1800 Section

          There are 58 players in my section, with the rating spread being from 1752 to 1310 (B Class, down to middle of the D Class).


          My Rd. 3 Game

          I played Black against Junior boy Henry Zhang (1625), a member of my Scarborough CC, and who defeated me the last time we played.

          Unfortunately, on move 16, Henry blundered his N - he had missed that I had a check and picked off the unprotected N. Henry tried a few things, but his position was also not very good, and he resigned on move 28.


          Post-Rd. 3

          I watched my section games for a while, and kept updating my own section standings list I use to help with this Blog. I was also waiting for Mario Moran-Venegas, and Erik Malmsten, who were playing each other in the U 2200 section, to all go to lunch together. But when they finished, Erik and I just wanted a burger or some vegetarian equivalent, and Mario was up for sushi. So Erik and I went off together, and Mario went to wait with Paul Leblanc, for Ian Findlay to finish, and then they were going out together.


          Lunch

          At 2:00 PM, Erik and I went to A & W on Bloor, in the block just east of Bathurst. We chatted about chess, and life in general, and had a pleasant time. Then Erik went off one way, before going to the club, and I went to the Green Beanery coffee shop at the corner of Bathurst and Bloor. I got a coffee and relaxed there for a while, and then headed to the tournament hall.

          [See Part II Below]

          Bob A
          Last edited by Bob Armstrong; Sunday, 2nd September, 2018, 11:16 PM.

          Comment


          • #6
            2018 Toronto Open Chess Tournament - Sept. 1-3 - Blog # 3 - Part II (Of 2 parts)
            Rds. 3 & 4 (Sunday, Sept. 2)

            [See Part I Above]

            Pre-Rd. 4
            I went in to get my pairing. Then when I went into the Great Hall, the organizers were just finishing off showing a short chess movie to the players present.

            The round still started pretty close after 4:00 PM.

            My Rd. 4 Game

            I played White on Bd. 4 in our section (Out of 29 boards). I played the # 6 seed, Raymond Dickson (1701, who had gone to Quebec City, Quebec, this summer, to play in the 2018 Canadian Open). The opening was equal, but on move 18 I missed that he had a series of moves that were going to win him the exchange, with no compensation to me. So I played it a bit differently and was able to sack the exchange, but get the P compensation. But I also failed to see that at the end my dP was just hanging, and he picked it off....so now I was just down the exchange. Some pieces got exchanged, with Raymond trying for a K-side attack against my K. But I countered on the Q-side, and he had to defend, and his attack stalled for a while. But then I came up with some perpetual check threats, and we hunkered down into a bit of a stand-off, with my N being quite a monster on d6, protected by a P. And Raymond was having trouble determining how best to get his R into play. But he kept maneuvering, and my K was somewhat vulnerable. Then unfortunately I blundered my Q......but I think my position was lost anyways.

            Post-Rd. 4

            I watched the games finish in my section, and brought up to date (With the help of Alex Ferreira, Arbiter) my own personal section standings list, which I have mentioned before.

            Heading Home

            About 7:45 PM, I headed out to get the TTC home. I got home about 8:30PM, and settled in, and got out my snacks I'd brought to the tournament, for my light dinner while I did this blog (Just happened to still have a bit of ice cream left from the day before!!).

            I then first followed my normal routine, as I did early in the morning.

            This Blog # 3

            I then started this Blog, and finished it a bit earlier in the evening than usual and posted it here on my Fb Account. I also re-posted it on my Fb chess discussion group, Chess Chat, and also on the Canadian chess discussion board, Chess Talk.

            The Under 1800 Leaders (After 4 Rounds)

            The sole leader is a "Dark Horse" (One of the players under 1700) with 4 consecutive wins: Junior boy Bruce Cao (1582!!).

            There are three players who have 3.5 pts. and are tied for second (One is from our Favourite Group, and two are also Dark Horses):

            Ted Hsu (1752 - # 2 seed)
            Shafkat Ali (1667)
            Junior Boy Henry Liu (1542)

            The Other Favourites

            3 pts.

            Ferdinand Supsup (1770) - # 1
            Ilya Fadeev (1713) - # 4
            Kevin Li (1707 - Junior) - # 5.
            Raymond Dickson (1701) - # 6

            2.5 pts.

            Victor Itkin (1738) - # 3

            My Score

            2.5 pts. (63%): Wins: 2 (Rds. 2 & 3); Draw: 1 (Rd. 1); Loss: 1 (Rd. 4).

            My & My Opponents' Scores

            3 pts. - Ilya Fadeev (1713 - seed # 4) - I drew in Rd. 1.
            - Raymond Dickson (1701 - seed # 6) - I lost in Rd. 4.

            2.5 pts. - Me (1511)

            1.5 pts. - Junior Boy Henry Zhang (1625) - I won in Rd. 3.

            1 pt. - Junior Boy Benjamin Wu (1652) - I won in Rd. 2.

            The Crown Section

            The sole leader, with 3.5 pts., is junior boy Nicholas Vettese (2341), a Dark Horse (U 2500).

            With 3 pts., 6 players are tied for 2nd (Two are both our favourites; 4 are Dark Horses):

            Nikolay Noritsyn (2604 - former Canadian Champion) - # 1
            Artiom Samsonkin (2553) - # 2
            Rohan Taldukar (2350)
            Jim Zhao (2317)
            Hairan Liang (2316)
            Zachary Dukic (2276).


            Invitation

            As I said in my prior Blogs # 1 & # 2, I love to interact with viewers on anything I have said - whether positive support or constructive criticism; questions; comments; etc.

            So post away and we will have another final day of chess fun on Monday!

            Bob A
            Last edited by Bob Armstrong; Sunday, 2nd September, 2018, 11:30 PM.

            Comment


            • #7
              Oops, missed you by 10 minutes. I was reading your blog earlier, then went off to do a tournament flyer.
              Wanted to post it before your update, so you would see it, and spread the word.
              Gord and I are doing a CYCC qualifier next saturday for 2019. But with low registrations, we had a great idea.
              We decided to add an adult section, to help pay the rent.
              Here the flyer, hot off the presses. Gord already posted earlier today on chesstalk, but if you don't mind,
              I am gonna hijack your blog to advertise the good news.
              Maybe I will drop by the tournament tomorrow and bring some flyers.
              Hope you are enjoying the Toronto Open. Good numbers, congrats to the Annex Club organizers!

              http://chess.ca/sites/default/files/MissAdult3.pdf


              Comment


              • #8
                Hi Bob Gillanders.
                I printed up 15 flyers and will bring them Monday to Annex Chess Club. Hope this helps.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Hi Bob Gillanders and John Brown:

                  Nice to know that my Blog is "Multi-purpose"!! You never know what will happen in life, and blogging!! LOL

                  Bob A

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Thanks John and Bob. Please help spread the word.
                    With this oppressive heat, and the AC broken in my car, probably not coming today.
                    Good luck in your games.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      2018 Toronto Open Chess Tournament - Sept. 1-3 - Blog # 4 (Final) - Part I (Of 2 parts)
                      Rds. 5 & 6 (Monday, Sept. 3)

                      Introduction

                      This is a 4-instalment Blog. I would recommend that in order to best follow this Blog # 4, viewers should read Blogs # 1 to # 3, covering Friday to Sunday. They were posted here on Fb around midnight each night.


                      The Tournament

                      The Tournament is in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

                      The registration total is 197 players in the four sections:

                      Crown: 26 players

                      U 2200: 40 players

                      U 1800: 58 players

                      U 1400: 73 players.


                      My Blogging

                      I have been trying to post before midnight of the next day, each of the 4 Blogs - Blogs # 1 & 3 made; Blog # 2 was posted a bit after midnight; I'll see if I can squeak this Blog # 4 in before midnight Tuesday.

                      This Fb Blog is re-posted elsewhere (The Fb chess discussion group, Chess Chat - A Project of the Chess Companions of Caissa - https://www.facebook.com/groups/340524269771672/ - and the Canadian national chess discussion board, Chess Talk - https://forum.chesstalk.com/forum/ch...ur-chess-needs), without editing. So readers there have to take note of this PEERS' orientation throughout.


                      The Wee Hours of Monday Morning

                      I went to bed at midnight this morning - early for me - two games per day does take it out of many of us, especially us oldsters. I awoke at 5:30 AM (a pretty usual sleep for me normally), and was still feeling a bit tired, and lay there a bit to see if I'd fall back asleep - but my mind started whirring, and that was it......so I got up after about 15 min.


                      The Early Morning

                      As those reading the Blogs know, in the morning I follow my normal routine, even during a chess tournament: communications, Chess Talk, Fb Chess Chat and Fb PEERS (See prior Blogs).

                      I had gone to ChessResults Sunday evening, and so had my Rd. 5 pairing for later in the morning (Morning rounds start at 10:00 AM).

                      I then took a short break and went to have breakfast out on our deck here in Toronto. When I came back, I finally dealt with the over-100 Fb Notifications that had built up since I last dealt with them on Aug. 30.

                      The night before, I received an e-mail from a chess acquaintance in Windsor, Ontario, who had been following this blog. He said he loved reading my description of the game, but could I start putting in a pgn of the game, so people could clearly follow what I was explaining - good suggestion, and made to me a number of times before. I had said for this tournament of two games per day, and with me trying to blog before midnight the next day when I get home after the evening game, it is simply too much of a rush....plus, I've never posted a pgn on Facebook. But I did say I would look into it, and try it the next time I am blogging a one-game per day tournament, like the 2109 Quebec Open next summer.

                      But maybe I will see if I can get help to figure it out, and see if maybe I can work it in on my next weekend tournament Blog, for the Hart House Holidays Open (Dec. 14-16).

                      At 8:10 AM I called my wife up at our hobby farm - she gets up early there - she was working yesterday on cooking and freezing some peppers and tomatoes, and some herbs from our garden - parsley, basil, etc. I will go back up to join her in mid-week.

                      I then got packed up to go to Rd. 5 by TTC. I checked the weather forecast and there was supposed to be a rainstorm, and so I threw in my umbrella and rainjacket (Of course, again today, not a drop!). I also packed some snacks, in case I got caught in a long game, and did not have time to go out for a meal before the start of the afternoon round: Nut/Dried Fruit mixture; a nectarine and a banana. I threw in two travel tumblers, one for my coffee during Rd. 5, and one for water.


                      Off to the "Great Hall"

                      On the subway, I met Scarborough CC member Bobby Palacios, who was playing in the U 2200 section. Our first meeting of SCC for this fall in next Thursday, Sept. 6 - it will be the Annual General Meeting (There is no chess). On Sept. 13 we will start our first tournament of the 2018-9 season.

                      Bobby headed out when we got to the Bathurst subway station, and I headed to my favourite little local coffee shop at the corner of Bloor/Bathurst. But it was closed for the Labour Day holiday. So I went east one block to a Second Cup. While sitting out on the patio, one gentleman was leaving and said "Hi" to me, and we chatted a bit.....he was going to offer me his newspaper. So he sat down and we chatted - a most interesting guy - a computer programmer, now retired. We chatted about modern society vs simpler times, artificial intelligence and the future, writing (We are both amateur, unpublished writers), etc.

                      I then had to tell him I had to head out to the playing hall for Rd. 5, and he headed off.


                      Pre-Rd. 5

                      I just made it to the playing hall, and went to sit at my board.


                      My U 1800 Section

                      There are 58 players in my section, with the rating spread being from 1752 to 1310 (B Class, down to middle of the D Class).


                      My Rd. 5 Game

                      I played Black against Junior boy Divjot Locham (1492) on our section Bd. 10 (Out of 28 boards).

                      I feel I did get the better of the opening, and on move 22 won a P. But Divjot managed to set up an attack against my K (I had castled long). But I felt I had adequate defences. But I failed to see on Queen multi-purpose move of his, that after a few moves, won the exchange. Then still on the attack, Divjot won back the P, and I was just down the exchange. We both ended up with passed P's and it was a race....Divjot got his Q first, and I had my P on the 2nd rank, ready to queen. But it was impossible to hold onto the P, down the exchange against Q and R, so I resigned on move 64.


                      Post-Rd. 5

                      I watched my section games for a while, and kept updating my own section standings list I use to help with this Blog, with assistance a couple of times from arbiter Alex Ferreira, when the score had not been recorded on the public results sheets.

                      I also chatted a bit with Elaine Chen, a chess parent of a son who plays at my Scarborough CC, Wing Li. It so happened that I ended up playing her son in Rd. 6!


                      Lunch

                      Mario Moran-Venegas, and I went to lunch together, to a very busy, and very reasonable, sushi restaurant a bit east of Bathurst, on Bloor. We have been good friends for a long time now, and so we caught up, since we don't get out together now like we used to.

                      Then we went to the Second Cup I had been at earlier, got a coffee, and sat on the patio and chatted, and people-watched, for a while. Then we headed off for the final Rd. 6 at 4:00 PM.

                      [See Part II Below]

                      Bob A
                      Last edited by Bob Armstrong; Tuesday, 4th September, 2018, 12:12 AM.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        2018 Toronto Open Chess Tournament - Sept. 1-3 - Blog # 4 (Final) - Part II (Of 2 parts)
                        Rds. 5 & 6 (Monday, Sept. 3)

                        [See Part I Above]

                        Pre-Rd. 6

                        I went in to get my pairing. Then when I went into the Great Hall to find Wing.

                        My Rd. 6 Game (Final)

                        I played White on Bd. 44 in our section (Out of 27 boards). The opening was equal, but I eventually got some space, and pressure on the Q-side against his P's.....I had doubled rooks on the half-opened c-file. He was cramped, but managed to find ways to exchange off some pieces. But in the end, I won his aP, and that left me with a passed aP as a potential winner. But Wing saw he had a possible repeating check draw, and played for it. I realized too late that if I defended against the draw, then I could not stop him winning my passed P.....and then we were dead equal in a symmetrical pawn structure. This did not look inviting, and at 73 y.o., I figured young Wing had a lot more energy left than I did. So I offered him the draw, up a P, and he gladly accepted. It was fun and tough game....Can't think of a better way to spend a few hours of your life enjoyably, and challengingly.

                        Post-Rd. 6

                        I watched the games finish in my section, and brought up to date (Again, with the patient help of Alex Ferreira, Arbiter) my own personal section standings list, which I have mentioned before.

                        I also chatted with the mother of junior Anthony Atanasov, 10 y.o. in the Crown Section, rated 2126! I had beaten him much earlier in his career in a tournament in Mississauga I think, when he was a class junior. He was the youngest player in the section.

                        I also chatted for a while with the parent's of Nicholas Vettese (2341) who was leading the Crown Section going into round 6, by 1/2 pt. He was on board 1 playing former Canadian Champion and IM, Nikolay Noritsyn (2604)......they drew!

                        Heading Home

                        About 8:15 PM, I headed out to get the TTC home. When I got home I called my wife again up at our hobby farm......we chatted just briefly...we were both tired. Then I went and did a quick errand, and on returning, settled in to do this final Rds. 5 & 6 Blog.

                        This Blog # 4

                        I finished it just in time to beat 11:59 PM! I also re-posted it on my Fb chess discussion group, Chess Chat, and also on the Canadian chess discussion board, Chess Talk.

                        The Under 1800 Winners

                        The sole winner was a "Dark Horse" (One of the players under 1700) with 5 1/2 pts.: Junior boy Henry Liu (1569!!).

                        Second place went to Ferdinand Supsup (1770 - seed # 1) with 5 pts.

                        3rd/7th - 4.5 pts.

                        There were two players from our Favourites Group, and three are also Dark Horses):

                        Ted Hsu (1752 - # 2 seed)
                        Victor Itkin (1738 - # 3 seed)
                        Junior Boy Joey Zhou (1692)
                        Junior Boy Austin Xie (1620)
                        Junior Boy Michael Grant Wang (1399!)

                        The Other Favourites

                        4 pts. - Ilya Fadeev (1713 - # 5 seed)
                        - Junior Boy Kevin Li (1707 - # 6 seed)

                        3.5 pts. - Raymond Dickson (1701 - # 7seed)

                        3 pts. - Keshav Jindal (1719 - # 4 seed)

                        My Score

                        3 pts. (50%): Wins: 2 (Rds. 2 & 3); Draws: 2 (Rds. 1 & 6); Losses: 2 (Rds. 4 & 5).

                        My & My Opponents' Scores

                        4 pts. - Ilya Fadeev (1713 - seed # 4) - I drew in Rd. 1.
                        3.5 pts. - Raymond Dickson (1701 - seed # 6) - I lost in Rd. 4.
                        - Junior Boy Divjot Locham (1492) - I lost in Rd. 5.
                        3 pts. - Junior Boy Henry Zhang (1625) - I won in Rd. 3.
                        - Me (1511)
                        - Junior Boy Wing LI (1492) - I drew in Rd. 6.
                        1 pt. - Junior Boy Benjamin Wu (1652) - I won in Rd. 2.

                        The Crown Section

                        The co-winners, with 5 pts., were both Dark Horses (U 2500):

                        Junior Boy Rohan Taldukar (2350)
                        Junior boy Nicholas Vettese (2341)

                        Third place, with 4.5 pts. went to IM Nikolay Noritsyn (2604 - former Canadian Champion - # 1 seed)


                        The Other Favourite

                        3 pts. - IM Artiom Samsonkin (2553 - seed # 2 - withdrew after Rd. 5.

                        The U 2200 Section Winner

                        Nikhil C. Joshi IND 2103 5.5 pts.

                        The U 1400 Section Winner

                        Keith Denning CAN 1206 5.5 pts.

                        Thanks

                        To Marcus Wilker, George Supol, and the ACC team, as well as Arbiter Alex Ferreira, for a professionally run, and fun, tournament.

                        To all those who have supported my Blogs!

                        Bob A

                        Last edited by Bob Armstrong; Tuesday, 4th September, 2018, 12:13 AM.

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