Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (Sept. 13 - Oct. 25) - Blog

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 21st September, 2018, 01:22 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss - Blog (Part II of 2 parts)
Rd. 2 - 18/9/20 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 1 (Continued)

[See Part I Above]

The Day of Rd. 2 - Early Morning

My main principal residence is in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and that is where I am at the moment.

I went to bed about midnight today, and woke up with the alarm @ 6:00 AM. This is a usual routine, since I get my exercise by walking my wife to her exercise studio (1/2 hr.) and back (1/2 hr.); on the way back, with about 4/5 of my walk completed, I drop in at my local coffee shop, and meet and chat with the regulars of the 8:00 AM shift! My wife then comes by and picks me up and we go home together.

If we are not going to the studio, then my routine is to get up and go to my home office and start up the old laptop. I then go to get my morning coffee, and return to carry out my normal morning routine, which I follow whether I am playing in chess tournaments or not:

1. Check for e-mails and Fb messages;
2. Check new posts/comments on CT;
3. Update this Fb world events/life discussion group that I have created here on my own personal Fb account, called PEERS (A Discussion Club of Equals) - Fb URL above. I do this by checking some of my Fb friends timelines for posts to "share to PEERS" and my Twitter inbox for articles to re-post onto PEERS.
4. If there are chess posts of interest, I share them to my Fb Chess Chat group - see Fb URL above.

Sometime during this process, I get my breakfast and eat it at the computer. As well, I tend to go back and forth between my routine items and my own personal life tasks to be done that day.

Late Morning

My wife and I got back home about 9:00 AM, and she set about preparing her stuff to attend at her Potters' Studio (She is an amateur potter, and belongs to this 50 member potters' cooperative). I started my normal morning routine I've outlined above.

But at 9:40 AM, I had to leave for an appointment at my local bank. I returned at 11:00 AM, and then drove my wife to her Potter's Studio for the day.

When I returned, I got myself some lunch and sat out on our deck to eat it and relax. It is a small backyard, but quite park-like with all the large trees in ours and our adjoining neighbours' yards. Then I spent some time on the "Reminder Lists" system I have to have, since I have a most poor memory.

Afternoon

I then continued my home office routine.

At 73 y.o., and given that I often sleep short compared to many in the morning night, I have found that the European/Latin American practice of a siesta time in mid-afternoon works really well (I usually set the alarm and do not sleep more than 1 hour). So I hit the sack between 3-4 PM.

At 4 PM my wife phoned that she had done what she wanted, was exhausted, and ready to come home. So I went and got her - only about 15 min. drive from our house.

Heading Out for Rd. 2

I went upstairs and got my file and bag of stuff ready to go to SCC - I volunteer to set up our SCC Display Table during the rounds, and it involves a bit of prep time each Thursday before I go.

I usually go by car to SCC, and left about 5:20 PM. I got to my favourite local Tim's, and had a light dinner, and again worked for a while on my Reminder Lists. Then I drove to SCC (About 5 min. away), set up the Display Table, renewed my Seniors' Membership for 2 more years and socialized with friends I hadn't seen since Spring. The round started shortly after 7:30 PM.

I had taken a bye for Rd. 1, since I had been at our hobby farm, Spirits' Den, about 3 hrs. northwest of Toronto.

My U 1800 Section Report - Rd. 2 - Thursday, Sept. 20/18.

I am rated 1519. I am in the 2nd of the 4 sections. My section rating spread is effectively, from 1734 – 634. I am in the middle 1/3 of the section.

Note: Any adults below 1400 must play in this 2nd section.

Rd. 2 – U 1800 – Leaders

There are 55 players; there were 21 boards (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, suspensions, withdrawals, etc.).

Leaders

1st/6th - 2/2 pts (Won all games) – Arkadiy Ugodnikov (1734); Jr. Boy Aaron Chen (1644); Peter Vuong (1555); Toy Kwan (1529); Jr. Boy William Guo (1510); Jr. Girl Lucy Guo (1479).

My Round 2 Game

I, rated 1519, played White on Bd. 11 (Of 22). I won against Wayne McKelvie (1271).

The game was equal out of the opening, but I managed early to totally miss that I had left a P hanging. Warren won it. But it then turned out that the P was really quite poisoned. On taking it, I got a massive lead in development, with his K still caught in the centre. I ended up with numerous different threats.

In the complications, Warren missed the most crucial one - my B pinning his Q against his K.

Warren resigned on move18.

My Score

1.5/2 pts. (75%) – Win: 1 (Rd. 2); Bye: 1 (1/2 pt. in Rd. 1).

My Opponents & My Scores

1.5/2 pts. – Me (1519)

.5/2 pts. – Warren McKelvie (1271) – I won in Rd. 2.

The Less Important (!!) Section:

1800+ – 18 players; 7 boards.

Leaders

1st/2nd – 2/2 pts. (Won all games) –- Junior Boy Jeffrey Xu (2245); Dave Southam (2083 - National Master and former club champion).

Scarborough CC Games - Top Section

The games of the top section can be played over by going to the SCC Website (URL above), and the tab for "Results". Then after the link to the 1800+ section standings, is "Round x Games". Click on that and you get a game board/score, and you can play over the game right there and then!

Invitation

I am most happy to interact with readers re anything about what I have posted.....so react, comment, reply, post, etc. - both favourable comments and constructive criticism....I will do my best to respond to everyone. So jump in with both feet, and we'll all enjoy the blogging adventure!

Bob A

**Henri Hughes** · Friday, 21st September, 2018, 08:19 AM

hey bob have you ever played in Guelph, If so I would like to see a blog from those tournaments thanks
what other tournaments are looking at in the future

**Bob Armstrong** · Monday, 24th September, 2018, 12:32 AM

Hi Henry:

I have a rather fixed annual non-club tournament chess Schedule: None in Fall or Spring; 2 in Winter: Hart House Holidays Open (Dec.); Hart House Reading Week Open (Feb.); 2 in summer: Quebec Open (July); Toronto Open (Sept.).

The odd time, depending on my calendar, I may add a tournament or two........for example, on Sat., Nov. 24 I will play in the one-day rapid tournament in Oakville, organized by Elevate my Chess.

At this time, I have no plans to add anymore tournaments in the last part of 2018, nor the first part of 2019 (To Sept./19).

Bob

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 28th September, 2018, 12:21 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss - Blog (Part I of 3 parts)
Rd. 3 - 18/9/27 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 2
(See Knight Logo below)

Club

Scarborough Chess Club, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

(See logo below)
(SCC Website: http://www.scarboroughchessclub.ca/)
(SCC Fb Page: https://www.facebook.com/ScarboroughChessClub/)

Bob's Blog

For a number of years now, I have been posting my chess blog:

i) on my personal Facebook Account for my over 800 Fb friends from around the world: https://www.facebook.com/bob.armstrong.9235;
ii) sometimes on the national Canadian chess discussion board, Chess Talk [CT] (https://forum.chesstalk.com/…/193542-henry-dark-knight-admi…);
iii) occasionally on other chess websites, such as that of FQE (Province of Quebec's Chess Association).

More recently I also have been "re-posting" my Fb blog:

i) on my Fb chess discussion group, Chess Chat - A Project of Chess Companions of Caissa (https://www.facebook.com/groups/340524269771672/);
ii) my Scarborough CC tournaments Fb Blog to SCC's Fb Page (URL above)
iii) my Annex CC tournaments Fb blog to ACC's Fb Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/172335039452033/);

Henry (Aka Dark Knight), the recently new owner of CT, and I have an agreement (From the summer of 2018) that I will re-post my Fb Blogs on CT for both my chess club official tournaments, and my non-club weekend (Sometimes longer; sometimes shorter) tournaments, in which I play between Summer 2018 and Summer 2019. After that, Henry and I can then renew our agreement for another year if we both so wish.

So, under this agreement, most recently I have been re-posting my current Scarborough CC and Annex CC tournaments. My future weekend blogs to and including Summer 2019 will be (Given my current schedule):

1. The 2018 Hart House Holidays Open (Prior to Christmas - Dec. 14-16);
2. The 2019 Hart House Reading Week Open (Usually on the Family Day Holiday Weekend in February).
3. The 2019 Quebec Open (July).
4. The 2019 Toronto Open (Sept.)

The Blog Focus

I mainly focus on the section I am playing in (Has been U 2000, U 1900 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 classes and under. And many of my class viewers have actually played players about whom I am blogging (Ones I play and ones with whom I may socialize during the tournament, who then are mentioned in the Blog). So this adds a bit more interest for them.

I do also cover (Bare Bones) the top section standings each blog, and in the last blog, the winners of all sections.

I do hope my blogs will continue to provide a window onto class tournament chess, and what THIS chess player does in tournaments between and before rounds (A bit of my personal life). I know many other chess players approach tournaments quite differently than I do, and so one cannot generalize from what I do.

Blog Feedback

Over the years, and in these more recent blogs, I have had generally positive feedback on my blogging, on both my own Fb Accounts, the SCC & ACC Fb accounts, and on CT.

It has been said that my writing style is easy to read, factual, and often entertaining. It is a find for all us "nosy" chess players!

Thanks to all those who have supported my Blogging on various sites, and kept encouraging me to continue.

Tournament - Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss

This is the 1st regular swiss tournament at SCC for the new 2018-9 Season (Runs from Sept. to June - Closed: July-August)
It is a 7-round swiss that runs from Sept. 13 - Oct. 25. There are 4 sections: 1800+; U 1800; U 1400 - Jrs. Only; U 1000 - Jrs. Only. All sections are CFC-rated. The top section is also FIDE rated. Time control is G/70 + 15 sec. (From move 1). Players within 100 pts. of the floor of the section above have the option to play up, on paying a "playing up fee", and many do.

Notes:

1. The Club Championship has only two sections: Championship (1800+); Reserves (U 1800)
2. The regular SCC Swisses, in the past, used to have three sections 1800+; U 1800; U 1400, with playing up within 100 pts. allowed.

Joining

Lots of room and so SCC WELCOMES all new members. You can inquire about joining at the general SCC e-mail address: info@ScarboroughChessClub.ca. You can join a tournament in progress….you will get ½ pt. byes for the missed rounds.

SCC Tournament Registration History

2013-4 Season

Jack Frost Swiss (3rd tournament) - 131 - peak registration for the season.

2014-5 Season

Club Championship Swiss (5th tournament of the season) – 126 - peak registration for the season

Season average registration (for the 6 tournaments) – 117

2015-6 Season

Club Championship (5th tournament of the season) – 141! (1800+: 35; U 1800 – 106) - Peak for the season & the current RECORD for recent times!

Season average registration (for the 6 tournaments) – 131

2016-7 Season

Jack Frost Swiss (3rd Tournament of the season) – 139 – 1800+: 32; U 1800: 35; U 1400: 72. – Peak Registration for the season

Season Average Registration (for 6 tournaments): 133! (Highest Seasonal Average since keeping records here).

2017-8 Season

# 1 – Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (1st tournament of the season) – 130 (1800+: 27; U 1800: 46; U 1400: 57) - Peak Registration for the season.

Season Average Registration (for 6 tournaments): 122. Below the 2016-7 Season Average of 133.

2018-9 Season (Current)

# 1 - Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (1st tournament of the season) - 113 (So Far) (1800+ - 18; U 1800 - 55; U 1400 Jrs. Only - 15; U 1000 Jrs. Only - 25).

(NOTE: SCC tends to pick up a number of new players during the course of its tournaments; so the registration total may rise.)

[See Parts II & III Below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 28th September, 2018, 01:36 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss - Blog (Part II of 3 parts)
Rd. 3 - 18/9/27 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 2 (Continued)

[See Part I Above]

The Day of Rd. 3 - Early Morning

My main principal residence is in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and that is where I am at the moment.

I went to bed about 12:30 AM on Thursday, and woke up at 7:30 AM (My wife and I had not set any alarm). This is a somewhat long sleep for me (7 hrs.) - Wednesday had been a very busy day.

My normal morning involves getting up and going to my home office and starting up the old laptop. I then go to get my morning coffee, and return to carry out my normal (morning and throughout the day) routine, which I follow whether I am playing in chess tournaments or not:

1. Check for e-mails and Fb messages;
2. Check new posts/comments on CT;
3. Checked my Twitter feed to see what had been happening in the world (I follow numerous mainstream media from countries around the world, such as CBC, NBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, France 24, China Daily, Al Jezeera (English), Japan Times, The Guardian, etc.)
4. Update this Fb world events/life discussion group that I have created here on my own personal Fb account, called PEERS (A Discussion Club of Equals) - Fb URL above. I do this by checking some of my Fb friends timelines for posts to "share to PEERS" and my Twitter inbox for articles to re-post onto PEERS.
5. If there are chess posts of interest, I share them to my Fb Chess Chat group - see Fb URL above.

Sometime during this process, I get my breakfast and often eat it at the computer.

But yesterday morning I decided to have breakfast on our back deck - our backyard is very like a small park, given our plants and flowers, and ours and our neighbours large trees.

As well, I tend to go back and forth between my routine items and my own personal life tasks to be done that day, throughout the whole day.

So this was the process I followed Thursday morning before and after breakfast.

My wife and I get together on a monthly basis (If we all can) with three of our neighbours for our "Coffee Club". So I called one of the neighbours to start the ball rolling for our invitation to all to meet at our place this week.

Off to Meet with a Chess Friend

At 9:30 AM, I headed up to a coffee shop not too far from our Scarborough Chess Club, to meet my friend, Toy Kwan, for coffee at the McDonalds. I drove up from old Toronto, and he drove down from Markham. We chatted about each other's pre-retirement careers, what we did or did not do re studying chess, and discussed his comments on having been a "Reader" for two of my articles I had written (Non-Fiction).....I am an amateur, unpublished writer. The 1 1/2 hrs. just flew by. We parted about noon.

The Afternoon

When I got home about 12:30 PM, I found my wife had been baking her famous gluten-free almond cookies. A friend of hers from her local exercise studio was going to a wedding in Vietnam shortly, and my wife had volunteered to make some for her to bring (Her son had made a special request for some cookies!). So I helped clean up the kitchen, do and dry dishes and prepare lunch. My wife also called her friend, who was stuck at home because of an injury, to arrange for me to deliver the cookies to her on my way to the chess club in the late afternoon.

After lunch, we launched into the "Freezer Project" - we needed to pack it better and get some stuff out (It was jammed to the gills) because we were going to Montreal soon to visit our two adult children (And one granddaughter) who all live there. And my wife was doing some baking and cooking for that too, and it needed in the interim to go into our refrigerator freezer (All we have in Toronto). This was a major project and took a while.

At 73 y.o., and given that I often sleep short compared to many in the morning night, I have found that the European/Latin American practice of a siesta time in mid-afternoon works really well (I usually set the alarm and do not sleep more than 1 hour). So I hit the sack between 3:30-4:30 PM.

At 4:30 PM I did some stuff on the laptop, and my wife's friend then phoned that she was now home (She had been out the afternoon), and so I could now deliver the cookies. Then we got a telephone call from our 2 1/2 y.o. granddaughter in Montreal - we chatted a bit...sometimes she doesn't quite get the difference between Skype and the Telephone, and so she will sometimes try to show us stuff over the phone! She's the greatest in-house entertainment!

I then prepared my stuff for the SCC Display Table (I do this as a member volunteer job).

Heading Out for Rd. 3

I usually go by car to SCC (Unless my wife and I have a time conflict), and left about 5:20 PM and went and delivered the cookies.

I then got to my favourite local Tim's near the club about 6:30 PM, and had a light dinner, and worked for a while on my Reminder Lists (I have a bad memory, and so need to keep lists). Then I drove to SCC (About 5 min. away), and set up the Display Table.

I chatted briefly with the father of one of the juniors in our club - I had played his son not long ago in one of the weekend tournaments - though his son is stronger by a bit, I had played well and won a difficult game. Toy also came up and chatted with us a bit.

I had a very good life-long chess friend, who died recently, and was from my hometown, and a former member of the club, Phil Haley. His wife had made a donation to the club and it was for the most-improved player in the year (By Rating). Unfortunately his widow was in poor health and could not come that particular night to make the award. So Phil's granddaughter came in her place.....so I went up and chatted with her for a while - I had not met her before, but had met her mother when she was young.

The round started shortly after the 7:30 PM. presentation - we had had three juniors increase over 400 (!) rating points, and so the club recognized all 3 with prizes.

Round Three in My U 1800 Section

My game was one of the last to finish in the hall.

But after my game, I watched the final few games still in progress until they finished and then I headed home.

The Later Evening

I got home about 11:15 PM, and found that my wife, after visiting for a few hours with her best friend, had decided to sort, peel and cook up the apples (Organic) we had harvested last weekend at our hobby farm 3 hrs. northwest of Toronto, Spirits' Den. We have about 10 apple trees - we planted all of them. So I helped her bag the rest of the applesauce for the refrigerator freezer (Where we had made space earlier in the day). Then we cleaned up and did and dried the dishes.

The Wee Hours of Friday Morning

Though I had been tired driving home from the club, after the kitchen stint, I found myself revived and decided I'd try to do this Blog # 2. I was able to complete it and get it posted here on my Fb page by 2:00 AM, and then re-posted on CT and on the other two Fb sites.

[See Part I Above; Part III Below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 28th September, 2018, 01:37 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss - Blog (Part III of 3 parts)
Rd. 3 - 18/9/27 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 2 (Continued)

[See Parts I & II Above]

My U 1800 Section Report - Rd. 3 - Thursday, Sept. 27/18.

I am rated 1519. I am in the 2nd of the 4 sections. My section rating spread is effectively, from 1734 – 634. I am in the middle 1/3 of the section.

Note: Any adults below 1400 must play in this 2nd section.

Rd. 3 – U 1800 – Leaders

There are 55 players; there were 23 boards (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, suspensions, withdrawals, etc.).

The Leaders are:

1st - 3/3 pts. (Won all games) - Jr. Boy Aaron Chen (1644).

2nd/9th - 2.5/3 pts. (Undefeated) - Arkadiy Ugodnikov (1734); Jr. Boy David Liu (1578); Jr. Boy Harry Liu (1570); Peter Vuong (1555); Jr. Boy Wing Li (1539); Me (1519); Jr. Boy William Gao (1510); Jr. Girl Lucy Gao (1479).

My Round 3 Game

I, rated 1519, played Black on Bd. 3 (Of 23). I won against Junior Boy Ronan Uthayakumar (1699)...who's father I had chatted with before the round.

The game was equal out of the opening, but then I decided to play a thematic sack for the position, totally not knowing whether it was sound in this particular position or not (I just couldn't pass it up - I've been wanting to play it for years - I've had it played on me sometimes when I've been white). It worked out well, and I slowed down his attack on my K-side enough to start a counter-attack against his K on the queenside (He had castled long). Then it was a race.

Ronan sacked his B to further his attack, but I declined to take it and continued my counter-attack. The upshot of all this excitement was that neither of us were successful, we traded off pieces, and ended up in an equal material ending! I went up a P, and Ronan couldn't stop my two advancing passed P's, and resigned on move 53.

I have been wanting to include the moves of my games now, but tonight there is not time to enter it and post it here. So I will add it later today as a Fb comment below.

My Score

2.5/3 pts. (83%) – Wins: 2 (Rds. 2 & 3); Bye: 1 (1/2 pt. in Rd. 1).

My Opponents & My Scores

2.5/3 pts. – Me (1519)

1.5/3 pts. - Jr. Boy Ronan Uthayakumar (1699) - I won in Rd. 3.

1/3 pts. – Warren McKelvie (1271) – I won in Rd. 2.

The Less Important (!!) Section:

1800+ – 18 players; 6 boards.

Leaders

1st - 3/3 pts. (Won all games) - Jr. Boy Jeffrey Xu (2245)

2nd - 2.5/3 pts. (Undefeated) - Jr. Boy Fengxi Mao (1842)

3rd/7th - 2/3 pts. –- Dave Southam (2083 - National Master and former club champion); Bobby Palacios (2065); Jr. Boy Eric Ning (1942); Jr. Boy Raymond Gao (1928); Junior Boy Jeffrey R. Zhao (1906).

Scarborough CC Games - Top Section

The games of the top section can be played over by going to the SCC Website (URL above), and the tab for "Results". Then after the link to the 1800+ section standings, is "Round x Games". Click on that and you get a game board/score, and you can play over the game right there and then!

Invitation

I am most happy to interact with readers re anything about what I have posted.....so react, comment, reply, post, etc. - both favourable comments and constructive criticism....I will do my best to respond to everyone. So jump in with both feet, and we'll all enjoy the blogging adventure!

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 28th September, 2018, 10:37 PM

Here is the Uthayakumar-Armstrong game referred to in the Blog # 2 above. It is entered into a ChessBase games database, and copied to here.

[Event "Scarborough CC Howard Ridout (U 1800)"]

[Site "?"]

[Date "2018.09.27"]

[Round "3"]

[White "Uthayakumar, Ronan"]

[Black "Armstrong, Robert J."]

[Result "0-1"]

[ECO "B07"]

[WhiteElo "1699"]

[BlackElo "1519"]

[Annotator "Armstrong, Robert J."]

[PlyCount "104"]

[EventDate "2018.09.27"]

[EventType "swiss"]

[EventRounds "7"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Be3 Nf6 5. f3 O-O 6. Qd2 a6 7. g4 Bxg4 8. fxg4

Nxg4 {Ronan is up B vs 2 P's} 9. O-O-O Nxe3 10. Qxe3 b5 11. h4 h5 12. Nh3 Nd7

13. Rg1 c5 14. dxc5 Nxc5 15. Be2 Qa5 16. Bxh5 {Ronan is up N vs P} b4 17. Nd5

Qxa2 18. Nxe7+ Kh8 19. e5 Qa1+ 20. Kd2 Qxb2 {Ronan is up N vs 2 P's} 21. Nxg6+

fxg6 22. Rxg6 {material equality} Qc3+ 23. Qxc3 bxc3+ 24. Ke3 dxe5 {I go up a

P, going into an ending now.} 25. Rdg1 Ra7 26. Rc6 Nd7 27. Ng5 Nf6 28. Bg6 Bh6

29. Ke2 Rd7 30. Rd1 Rd2+ 31. Rxd2 cxd2 32. Kxd2 {material equality} Rd8+ 33.

Kc3 Nd5+ 34. Kb2 Rb8+ 35. Ka1 Bxg5 36. hxg5 Rb6 37. Rxb6 Nxb6 38. Kb2 Kg7 39.

Bd3 Na4+ 40. Ka3 Nc5 41. Bf5 a5 42. Kb2 e4 43. Kc3 e3 44. Bg4 Kg6 45. Kd4 a4

46. Be2 a3 47. Kc3 Kxg5 {I go up a P and now have two passed P's on the 3rd

rank.} 48. Bd1 Kf4 49. Be2 Kg3 50. Bc4 Kf2 51. Bb5 e2 52. Bxe2 Kxe2 0-1

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 28th September, 2018, 10:38 PM

There will be no Blog for Rd. 4 on Oct. 4/18, since I will be taking a "bye".

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 12th October, 2018, 07:31 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss - Blog (Part I of 2 parts)

Rd. 5 - 18/10/11 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 3

(See Knight Logo below)

Note: This Blog is directly copied from the original blog on my own personal Fb account; so that is the reference point when reading the Blog here on Chess Talk (CT).

Club

Scarborough Chess Club, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

(See logo below)

(SCC Website: http://www.scarboroughchessclub.ca/)

(SCC Fb Page: https://www.facebook.com/ScarboroughChessClub/)

Note: The next sections, down to the registration history for this current first tournament of the season, are a template. I repeat them in each Blog....I cannot simply refer new readers to my prior Blog # 2. It is too much to expect new readers to scroll down to find my Blog # 2, which by now is practically down far enough to be burning in the fires of you-know-where.

So I ask my regular readers to be tolerant, and you can skip the template parts (I will alert you if there are any revisions of the template).

Template Begins

Bob's Blog

For a number of years now, I have been posting my chess blog:

i) on my personal Facebook Account for my over 800 Fb friends from around the world: https://www.facebook.com/bob.armstrong.9235;

ii) sometimes on the national Canadian chess discussion board, Chess Talk [CT] (https://forum.chesstalk.com/forum/ch...-chess-needs!=);

iii) occasionally on other chess websites, such as that of FQE (Province of Quebec's Chess Association).

More recently I also have been "re-posting" my Fb blog:

i) on my Fb chess discussion group, Chess Chat - A Project of Chess Companions of Caissa (https://www.facebook.com/groups/340524269771672/);

ii) my Scarborough CC tournaments Fb Blog to SCC's Fb Page (URL above)

iii) my Annex CC tournaments Fb blog to ACC's Fb Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/172335039452033/);

Henry (Aka Dark Knight), the recently new owner of CT, and I have an agreement (From the summer of 2018) that I will re-post my Fb Blogs on CT for both my chess club official tournaments, and my non-club weekend (Sometimes longer; sometimes shorter) tournaments, in which I play between Summer 2018 and Summer 2019. After that, Henry and I can then renew our agreement for another year if we both so wish.

So, under this agreement, most recently I have been re-posting my current Scarborough CC and Annex CC tournaments. My future weekend blogs to and including Summer 2019 will be (Given my current schedule):

1. The 2018 Hart House Holidays Open (Prior to Christmas - Dec. 14-16);

2. The 2019 Hart House Reading Week Open (Usually on the Family Day Holiday Weekend in February).

3. The 2019 Quebec Open (July).

4. The 2019 Toronto Open (Sept.)

The Blog Focus

I mainly focus on the section I am playing in (Has been U 2000, U 1900 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 classes and under. And many of my class viewers have actually played players about whom I am blogging (Ones I play and ones with whom I may socialize during the tournament, who then are mentioned in the Blog). So this adds a bit more interest for them.

I do also cover (Bare Bones) the top section standings each blog, and the other two junior sections if I have the results.

I do hope my blogs will continue to provide a window onto class tournament chess, and what THIS chess player does in tournaments between and before rounds (A bit of my personal life). I know many other chess players approach tournaments quite differently than I do, and so one cannot generalize from what I do.

Blog Feedback

Over the years, and in these more recent blogs, I have had generally positive feedback on my blogging, on both my own Fb Accounts, the SCC & ACC Fb accounts, and on CT.

It has been said that my writing style is easy to read, factual, and often entertaining. It is a find for all us "nosy" chess players!

Thanks to all those who have supported my Blogging on various sites, and kept encouraging me to continue.

Tournament - Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss

This is the 1st regular swiss tournament at SCC for the new 2018-9 Season (Runs from Sept. to June - Closed: July-August)

It is a 7-round swiss that runs from Sept. 13 - Oct. 25. There are 4 sections: 1800+; U 1800; U 1400 - Jrs. Only; U 1000 - Jrs. Only. All sections are CFC-rated. The top section is also FIDE rated. Time control is G/70 + 15 sec. (From move 1). Players within 100 pts. of the floor of the section above have the option to play up, on paying a "playing up fee", and many do.

Notes:

1. The Club Championship has only two sections: Championship (1800+); Reserves (U 1800)

2. The regular SCC Swisses, in the past, used to have three sections 1800+; U 1800; U 1400, with playing up within 100 pts. allowed.

Joining

Lots of room and so SCC WELCOMES all new members. You can inquire about joining at the general SCC e-mail address: info@ScarboroughChessClub.ca. You can join a tournament in progress; you will get ½ pt. byes for the missed rounds.

SCC Tournament Registration History

2013-4 Season

Jack Frost Swiss (3rd tournament) - 131 - peak registration for the season.

2014-5 Season

Club Championship Swiss (5th tournament of the season) - 126 - peak registration for the season

Season average registration (for the 6 tournaments) - 117

2015-6 Season

Club Championship (5th tournament of the season) - 141! (1800+: 35; U 1800: 106) - Peak for the season & the current RECORD for recent times!

Season average registration (for the 6 tournaments) - 131

2016-7 Season

Jack Frost Swiss (3rd Tournament of the season) - 139 - 1800+: 32; U 1800: 35; U 1400: 72. - Peak Registration for the season

Season Average Registration (for 6 tournaments): 133! (Highest Seasonal Average since keeping records here).

2017-8 Season

Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (1st tournament of the season) - 130 (1800+: 27; U 1800: 46; U 1400: 57) - Peak Registration for the season.

Season Average Registration (for 6 tournaments): 122. Below the 2016-7 Season Average of 133.

End of Template

2018-9 Season (Current)

# 1 - Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (1st tournament of the season) - 121 (So Far) (1800+ - 19; U 1800 - 57; U 1400 Jrs. Only - 18; U 1000 Jrs. Only - 27).

(NOTE: SCC tends to pick up a number of new players during the course of its tournaments; so the registration total may rise.)

The Day of Rd. 5 - Early Thursday Morning

My main principal residence is in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and that is where I am at the moment.

I went to bed about 12:30 AM on Thursday, and woke up at 6:30 AM (My wife and I had not set any alarm). This is a somewhat normal sleep for me (6 hrs.).

My normal morning involves getting up and going to my home office and starting up the old laptop. I then go to get my morning coffee, and return to carry out my normal (morning and throughout the day) routine, which I follow whether I am playing in chess tournaments or not:

1. Check for e-mails and Fb messages;

2. Check new posts/comments on CT;

3. Checked my Twitter feed to see what had been happening in the world (I follow numerous mainstream media from countries around the world, such as CBC, NBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, France 24, China Daily, Al Jezeera (English), Japan Times, The Guardian, etc.)

4. Update this Fb world events/life discussion group that I have created here on my own personal Fb account, called PEERS (A Discussion Club of Equals) - Fb URL above. I do this by checking some of my Fb friends timelines for posts to "share to PEERS" and my Twitter inbox for articles to re-post onto PEERS.

5. If there are chess posts of interest, I share them to my Fb Chess Chat group - see Fb URL above.

6. Check the activity level on my company Fb Page (Canadian Life Consulting - https://www.facebook.com/Canadian-Li...4065437044857/) and its group, Canadian Life Consulting Cooperative Supporters' Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/2042495809374373/). I make posts to both of these during the day, as well as to PEERS.

Sometime during this process, I get my breakfast and often eat it at the computer, which I did do Thursday morning.

As well, I tend to go back and forth between my routine items and my own personal life tasks to be done that day, throughout the whole day.

So this was the process I followed Thursday morning before and after breakfast.

[See Part II below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 12th October, 2018, 07:37 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss - Blog (Part II of 2 parts)

[See Part I above]

Rd. 5 - 18/10/11 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 3 (Continued)

(See Knight Logo below)
Afternoon

My wife had been out during Thursday morning, and when she returned, we Skyp'd with our son, and 2 3/4 y.o. granddaughter in Montreal - she understands pretty well the concept of the camera, and that she has to show the camera anything she is trying to show "Nonni" (Italian for Grandmother) and "Gampa".

My wife is an amateur potter, and is part of a new sale for her from Friday to Sunday. So she has been assembling her sale pottery. I helped with suggestions re pieces to bring and pricing. I just got started wrapping and packing the pottery pieces coming.

At 73 y.o., and given that I often sleep short compared to many in the morning night, I have found that the European/Latin American practice of a siesta time in mid-afternoon works really well (I usually set the alarm and do not sleep more than 1 hour). But today it was missed.

After all was packed and ready to go, my wife wanted a couple of little indoor plants to help market a couple of her plant holders. So we headed out by car and checked four stores with plants, before she found what she wanted.

On our return, I finished the packing.

Heading Out for Rd. 5.

I then prepared my stuff for the SCC Display Table (I do this as a member volunteer job).

I went by car, as is usually the case, to SCC (Sometimes my wife and I have a time conflict, and when she needs the car, I go by Toronto Transit Commission - subway and bus). I left about 5:20 PM and went first to my favourite local Tim's near the club. I usually have a light dinner, and I worked for a while on my Reminder Lists (I have a bad memory, and so need to keep lists). Then I drove to SCC (About 5 min. away), and set up the Display Table.

I chatted briefly with one of our veteran SCC members, Jim Paterson, and then with Elaine Chen, mother of junior boy, Wing Li, who was tied for 1st/2nd in my U 1800 Section. Elaine is a member of PEERS here.

The round started shortly after the 7:30 PM.

Rd. 5

I finished the game a bit early (A bit before 10:00 AM). So I watched mainly the games in our section between the leaders, until I had the results for leaders of all sections after the 5 rounds.

I headed for home, and gassed up the car on the way. I then set about doing this Blog # 3, and got it posted about 12:30 AM today, Friday, Oct. 12.

My U 1800 Section Report - Rd. 5 - Thursday, Oct. 11/18.

I am rated 1519. I am in the 2nd of the 4 sections. My section rating spread is effectively, from 1734 to 634. I am in the middle 1/3 of the section.

Note: Any adults below 1400 must play in this 2nd section.

Rd. 5 - U 1800 - Leaders

There are 57 players; there were 24 boards (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, suspensions, withdrawals, etc.).

The Leaders are:

1st - 4.5/5 pts. (Undefeated) - Jr. Boy Wing Li (1539).

2nd/3rd - 4/5 pts. (Undefeated) - Jr. Boy Harry Liu (1570); Me (1519).

My Round 5 Game

I, rated 1519, played White on Bd. 3 (Of 24). I won against Junior Boy Michael Grant Wang (1580).

The game was equal out of the opening, but then I blundered, totally missing a Q + N attack on f2, where I was forced to give up the exchange to prevent an N-smother mate. But I seldom lose my motivation when I am just down material, and continue to play to win as long as I have pieces.

At move 21, Michael followed the general rule of exchanging material, when you are up in material. So he offered a trade of Q's. But this was a position that was an exception to the rule. Michael's P's were indefensible and I had the B-pair. So I just started exchanging off P's and went up one and then two P's, plus have a passed P on the 6th rank, that was unwinnable practically.

So on move 41 Michael resigned (I was down the exchange, but had 2 P's compensation).

Note: I had started putting my game score into my Blog. But I am currently having difficulty with my integrated ChessBase/Stockfish analysis program - can't get my entered games saved (sigh). When I solve this, I will continue to put the game score right into the Blog.

My Score

4/5 pts. (80%) - Wins: 3 (Rds. 2, 3 & 5); Byes: 2 (1/2 pt. in Rd. 1 & 4).

My Opponents & My Scores

4/5 pts. - Me (1519)

3/5 pts. - Jr. Boy Michael Grant Wang (1580) - I won in Rd. 5.

2.5/5 pts. - Jr. Boy Ronan Uthayakumar (1699) - I won in Rd. 3.

1/4 pts. - Warren McKelvie (1271) - I won in Rd. 2. He withdrew after Rd. 4.

The Less Important (!!) Sections - Leaders:

i) 1800+:- 19 players; 6 boards.

1st - 5/5 pts. (Won all games) - Jr. Boy Jeffrey Xu (2245)

2nd/3rd - 3.5/5 pts. (Undefeated) - Jr. Boy Nameer Issani (2184); Dave Southam (2083 - National Master and former club champion).

ii) U 1400 Juniors - 18 players; 7 boards.

1st - 5/5 pts. (Won all games) - Junior Boy Luka Granic

2nd - 3.5/5 pts. - Junior Boy Tristan Li

3rd/5th - 3/5 pts. - Junior Boy Daniel Odoemelam (1242); Junior Boy Ethan Zhang (1210); Junior Boy Jame Qiu (1188).

iii) U 1000 Juniors - 27 players; 12 boards

1st - 4.5/5 pts. (Undefeated) - Junior Boy Daniel Esson (975).

2nd/3rd - 4/5 pts. - Junior Boy Kaison Wang (969 - undefeated); Junior Girl Mathusha Jeyakumar (838).

Scarborough CC Games - Top Section

The games of the top section can be played over by going to the SCC Website (URL above), and the tab for "Results". Then after the link to the 1800+ section standings, is "Round x Games". Click on that and you get a game board/score, and you can play over the game right there and then!

Invitation

I am most happy to interact with readers re anything about what I have posted.....so react, comment, reply, post, etc. - both favourable comments and constructive criticism....I will do my best to respond to everyone. So jump in with both feet, and we'll all enjoy the blogging adventure!

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 19th October, 2018, 01:06 PM

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss - Blog

Rd. 6 - 18/10/18 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 4 (Part I of 2 parts)

(See Knight Logo below)

Club

Scarborough Chess Club, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

(See logo below)

(SCC Website: http://www.scarboroughchessclub.ca/)

(SCC Fb Page: https://www.facebook.com/ScarboroughChessClub/)

Note: The next sections, down to the registration history for this current first tournament of the season, are a template. I repeat them in each Blog....I cannot simply refer new readers to my prior Blog # 2. It is too much to expect new readers to scroll down to find my Blog # 2, which by now is practically down far enough to be burning in the fires of you-know-where.

So I ask my regular readers to be tolerant, and you can skip the template parts (I will alert you below the template if there are any revisions to it).

Template Begins

Bob's Blog

For a number of years now, I have been posting my chess blog:

i) on my personal Facebook Account for my almost 850 Fb friends from around the world: https://www.facebook.com/bob.armstrong.9235;

ii) sometimes on the national Canadian chess discussion board, Chess Talk [CT] (https://forum.chesstalk.com/…/chesst...-chess-disc…);

iii) occasionally on other chess websites, such as that of FQE (Province of Quebec's Chess Association).

More recently I also have been "re-posting" my Fb blog:

i) on my Fb chess discussion group, Chess Chat - A Project of Chess Companions of Caissa (https://www.facebook.com/groups/340524269771672/);

ii) my Scarborough CC tournaments Fb Blog to SCC's Fb Page (URL above)

iii) my Annex CC tournaments Fb blog to ACC's Fb Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/172335039452033/);

Henry Lendryhl (Aka Dark Knight), the recently new owner of CT, and I have an agreement (From the summer of 2018) that I will re-post my Fb Blogs on CT for both my chess club official tournaments, and my non-club weekend (Sometimes longer; sometimes shorter) tournaments, in which I play between Summer 2018 and Summer 2019. After that, Henry and I can then renew our agreement for another year if we both so wish.

So, under this agreement, most recently I have been re-posting my current Scarborough CC and Annex CC tournaments. My future weekend blogs to and including Summer 2019 will be (Given my current schedule):

1. The 2018 Hart House Holidays Open (Prior to Christmas - Dec. 14-16);

2. The 2019 Hart House Reading Week Open (Usually on the Family Day Holiday Weekend in February).

3. The 2019 Quebec Open (July) - if in Montreal.

4. The 2019 Toronto Open (Sept.)

The Blog Focus

I mainly focus on the section I am playing in (Has been U 2000, U 1900 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 classes and under. And many of my class viewers have actually played players about whom I am blogging (Ones I play and ones with whom I may socialize during the tournament, who then are mentioned in the Blog). So this adds a bit more interest for them.

I do also cover (Bare Bones) the top section standings each blog, and the other two junior sections, if I have the results by the time my Blog goes to press.

I do hope my blogs will continue to provide a window onto class tournament chess, and what THIS chess player does in the day of club tournaments, and before and between rounds for weekend tournaments (A bit of my personal life). I know many other chess players approach tournaments quite differently than I do, and so one cannot generalize from what I do.

Blog Feedback

Over the years, and in these more recent blogs, I have had generally positive feedback on my blogging, on both my own Fb Accounts, the SCC & ACC Fb sites, and on CT.

It has been said that my writing style is easy to read, factual, and often entertaining. It is a find for all us "nosy" chess players!

Thanks to all those who have supported my Blogging on various sites, and kept encouraging me to continue.

Tournament - Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss

This is the 1st regular swiss tournament at SCC for the new 2018-9 Season (Runs from Sept. to June - Closed: July-August)

It is a 7-round swiss that runs from Sept. 13 - Oct. 25. There are 4 sections: 1800+; U 1800; U 1400 - Jrs. Only; U 1000 - Jrs. Only. All sections are CFC-rated. The top section is also FIDE rated. Time control is G/70 + 15 sec. (From move 1). Players within 100 pts. of the floor of the section above have the option to play up, on paying a "playing up fee", and many do.

Notes:

1. The Club Championship has only two sections: Championship (1800+); Reserves (U 1800)

2. The regular SCC Swisses, in the past, used to have three sections 1800+; U 1800; U 1400, with playing up within 100 pts. allowed.

Joining

Lots of room and so SCC WELCOMES all new members. You can inquire about joining at the general SCC e-mail address: info@ScarboroughChessClub.ca. You can join a tournament in progress; you will get ½ pt. byes for the missed rounds.

SCC Tournament Registration History

2013-4 Season

Jack Frost Swiss (3rd tournament) - 131 - peak registration for the season.

2014-5 Season

Club Championship Swiss (5th tournament of the season) - 126 - peak registration for the season

Season average registration (for the 6 tournaments) - 117

2015-6 Season

Club Championship (5th tournament of the season) - 141! (1800+: 35; U 1800 - 106) - Peak for the season & the current RECORD for recent times!

Season average registration (for the 6 tournaments) - 131

2016-7 Season

Jack Frost Swiss (3rd Tournament of the season) - 139 - 1800+: 32; U 1800: 35; U 1400: 72. - Peak Registration for the season

Season Average Registration (for 6 tournaments): 133! (Highest Seasonal Average since keeping records here).

2017-8 Season

Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (1st tournament of the season) - 130 (1800+: 27; U 1800: 46; U 1400: 57) - Peak Registration for the season.

Season Average Registration (for 6 tournaments): 122. Below the 2016-7 Season Average of 133.

End of Template

Addition to Template

Due to a recent change in my schedule, I will be playing in the Aurora Fall Open (Being held in Newmarket) and will blog it (Normally, I play no non-club tournament in the Fall).

2018-9 Season (Current)

# 1 - Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (1st tournament of the season) - 122 (So Far) (1800+ - 20; U 1800 - 57; U 1400 Jrs. Only - 18; U 1000 Jrs. Only - 27).

(NOTE: SCC tends to pick up a number of new players during the course of its tournaments; so the registration total may rise.)

The Day of Rd. 6 - Early Thursday Morning

My main principal residence is in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and that is where I am at the moment.

I went to bed about 12:00 AM on Thursday, and woke up at 5:00 AM before the alarm. I lay there for a bit, but I was refreshed, and so I got up, got my morning coffee, and started my morning routine on my old laptop in my home office, which I follow whether I am playing in chess tournaments or not:

1. Check for e-mails and Fb messages;

2. Check new posts/comments on CT;

3. Checked my Twitter feed to see what had been happening in the world (I follow numerous mainstream media from countries around the world, such as CBC, NBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, France 24, China Daily, Al Jezeera (English), Japan Times, Sputnik News, The Guardian, etc.)

4. Update my company's Fb page, Canadian Life Consulting (CLC) - https://www.facebook.com/Canadian-Li...ing-16406543…/. I do this by checking some of my Fb friends timelines for posts to "share" and my Twitter inbox for articles to re-post onto CLC.

5. Update the discussion group formed under my company page, called Canadian Life Consulting Cooperative Supporters' Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/2042495809374373/. I update it by sharing some more discussable of the posts now on the CFC page.

6. Update this Fb world events/life discussion group that I have created here on my own personal Fb account, called PEERS (A Discussion Club of Equals) - Fb URL above. I do this by also sharing some of the CLC page posts. But I also share some of my sources posts directly to this discussion club.

7. I share at least one chess post per day to my Fb Chess Chat group, formed under my personal Fb account - see Fb URL above.

8. When I find them, I share discussable religious posts to my religious Fb Group, Theist Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1052227598173591/. Sometimes these also appear in PEERS.

Sometime during this process, I got my breakfast; I often eat it at the computer, if I am up before my wife.

As well, I tend to go back and forth between my routine items and my own personal life tasks to be done that day, throughout the whole day.

[See Part II below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 19th October, 2018, 01:15 PM

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss - Blog

Rd. 6 - 18/10/18 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 4 (Part II of 2 parts)

[See Part I above]

Heading Out

As my regular blog readers know, my wife belongs to an exercise studio about 35 min. walk from our place; so often I walk her there. But this week we've been driving and I got her there for 7:25 AM, as usual.

Then I headed for my favourite local coffee shop, where I stop in for a while on the exercise studio mornings, before going home, or back to pick up my wife in the car. I met 4 of the regular 7:40 AM to 8:05 AM shift and we chatted about our lives generally. Then I went back and picked up my wife and we went home.

Life Tasks

As mentioned above, I have two retiree projects I spend a lot of the day on - one is somewhat community contribution oriented - my Facebook projects; the other is my "interlude" period, where I do something on my chess hobby.

Well I've noticed (We all do it) that I was spending much more time on my enjoyable personal matters, and not enough on life in general (Less enjoyable tasks and errands). So I decided to try an experiment. I'd set my alarm clock - 25 min to do my projects; then 35 min. to do the less important life projects.

It actually worked! During my "work-time" (As opposed to my "play-time"), my wife and I prepared our lunch early; I got out the waste stuff to the curb early; I packed pottery for my wife which is going to her potters cooperative Fall Sale in a few weeks (She is an amateur potter).

Out Again

I then drove my wife to her potters cooperative workshop for the day. Then I did an errand and returned home.

Afternoon

I had lunch at the computer, and continued the seeming successful "25/35 program"! In the work-time, I paid bills and updated Home-Budget financial records.

As my regulars know, at 73 y.o., and given that I often sleep short compared to many in the morning night, I have found that the European/Latin American practice of a siesta time in mid-afternoon works really well (I usually set the alarm and do not sleep more than 1 hour). But today it was missed.

Heading Out for Rd. 6.

I then prepared my stuff for the SCC Display Table (I do this as a member volunteer job).

Then I headed out to get my wife at the workshop, and bring her home before I went to SCC. But she had a ride with a potter friend (She had tried to call me, but I had left), so I went right to my favourite Tim's where I relax before the round, and update my "Reminder Lists" (Medically bad memory, on top of old age). I skipped having a light meal as I often do, since I had had my lunch in mid-afternoon. Then I drove to SCC (About 5 min. away).

I said "Hi" to regulars Hassan, Miguel and Sean and then set up the Display Table.

I chatted briefly with Toy Kwan, a chess friend in my section, about the upcoming Aurora Fall Open (In Newmarket).

The round started shortly after the announcements at 7:30 PM.

Rd. 6

I finished the game a bit early, so I watched mainly the games in our section between the leaders, but until I had the results for leaders of all sections.

Then I headed for home.

My wife was working on glazing designs for some pottery she was making for the upcoming sale, and so I offered my novice advice. Then I was too tired to do this Blog # 4, so I did a bit on my Community Project for a short while.

Friday Morning

I went to bed about 12:30 AM, and woke up at 7:00 AM with the alarm).

This Friday morning there was not time for my normal routine, since I again drove my wife to her exercise studio. I went to my coffee shop as usual.

I met 4 of the regular 7:40 AM to 8:05 AM shift and we chatted the upcoming Toronto municipal election and other interesting matters.

It was so interesting, I forgot about my wife!!! So, late, I then went back and picked up my wife. Note that I am still alive for some unknown reason! So I was able to do this Blog # 4 and get it posted.

My U 1800 Section Report - Rd. 6 - Thursday, Oct. 18/18.

I am rated 1519. I am in the 2nd of the 4 sections. My section rating spread is effectively, from 1734 to 634. I am in the middle 1/3 of the section.

Note: Any adults below 1400 must play in this 2nd section.

Rd. 6 - U 1800 - Leaders

There are 57 players; there were 22 boards (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, suspensions, withdrawals, etc.).

The Leaders are:

1st - 5/6 pts. (Undefeated) - Jr. Boy Harry Liu (1570).

2nd/4th - 4.5/6 pts. (Undefeated) - Jr. Girl Mysha Gilani (1624 - Undefeated); Jr. Boy Wing Li (1539); Me (1519 - Undefeated); Junior Boy William Gao (1510 - Undefeated).

My Round 6 Game

[Event "Scarborough CC Howard Ridout (U 1800)"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.10.18"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Liu, David"]
[Black "Armstrong, Robert J."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "1578"]
[BlackElo "1519"]
[Annotator "Doe,John"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2018.10.18"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. c4 c5 4. d5 Qa5+ 5. Bd2 Qb6 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Qc2 d6 8. h3 Na6 9. a3 Bd7 10. Bd3 Rb8 11. Na4 Qd8 12. Rb1 Nc7 13. Nc3 O-O 14. a4 a6 15. a5
b6 16. Na4 Bxa4 17. Qxa4 b5 18. Qc2 Qd7 19. b3 Rb7 20. Ne2 Rfb8 21. Nc3 Qd8 22. O-O Nd7 23. cxb5 Nxb5 24. Na4 Nd4 25. Qa2 Nxb3 26. Bxa6 Nxd2 27. Rxb7 Rxb7 28.
Bxb7 Nxf1 29. a6 Qa5 30. Kxf1 Nb6 31. Bc6 Qxa6+ 32. Qe2 Qxe2+ {I offered a draw; David accepted. David had 6 min. left and I had 10 min.} 1/2-1/2
I, rated 1519, played black on Bd. 2 (Of 22). I drew against Junior Boy David Liu (1578).

The game was equal out of the opening, and we spent the whole game maneuvering on the Q-side (We both castled K-side) trying to set up a winning breakthrough.

At move 23, David thought he had found the right pawn exchanges move. But it turned out to end up in exchanging lots of pieces, and me going up a passed P.

But with the position, and pieces left, and time left, I did not see an easy way to stop him from drawing. So I offered the draw (Up a P) on move 32 and David willingly accepted.

My Score

4.5/6 pts. (75% - Undefeated) - Wins: 3 (Rds. 2, 3 & 5); Draw: 1 (Rd. 6); Byes: 2 (1/2 pt. in Rd. 1 & 4).

My Opponents & My Scores

4.5/6 pts. - Me (1519)

4/6 pts. - Jr. Boy Michael Grant Wang (1580) - I won in Rd. 5.
- Jr. Boy David Liu (1578) - I drew in Rd. 6.

3.5/6 pts. - Jr. Boy Ronan Uthayakumar (1699) - I won in Rd. 3.

1/4 pts. - Warren McKelvie (1271) - I won in Rd. 2. He withdrew after Rd. 4.

The Less Important (!!) Sections - Leaders:

i) 1800+ - 20 players; 6 boards.

1st - 5.5/6 pts. (Undefeated) - Jr. Boy Jeffrey Xu (2245)

2nd - 4.5/6 pts. - Dave Southam (2083 - National Master and former club champion).

3rd - Jr. Boy Jeffrey R. Zhao (1906).

ii) U 1400 Juniors - 18 players; 7 boards.

1st - 5.5/6 pts. (Undefeated) - Junior Boy Luka Granic (1121).

2nd/5th - 3.5/6 pts. - Junior Boy Benjamin De Costa (1279); Junior Boy Daniel Odoemelam (1242); Junior Boy Nathan Zian Wang (1218); Junior Boy Tristan Li (998);

iii) U 1000 Juniors - 27 players; 11 boards

1st - 5.5/6 pts. (Undefeated) - Junior Boy Daniel Esson (975).

2nd - 4/5 pts. (Undefeated) - Junior Boy Kaison Wang (969);

3rd - 4.5/6 pts. - Junior Boy Bailey Min (967).

Scarborough CC Games - Top Section

The games of the top section can be played over by going to the SCC Website (URL above), and the tab for "Results". Then after the link to the 1800+ section standings, is "Round x Games". Click on that and you get a game board/score, and you can play over the game right there and then!

Invitation

I am most happy to interact with readers re anything about what I have posted.....so react, comment, reply, post, etc. - both favourable comments and constructive criticism....I will do my best to respond to everyone. So jump in with both feet, and we'll all enjoy the blogging adventure!

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 26th October, 2018, 01:09 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss - Blog

Rd. 7 (Final) - 18/10/25 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 5 (Part I of 3 parts)
(See Knight Logo below)

Note:

1. This Blog on my personal Facebook page is re-posted a few other places - so references refer to this platform.
2. The first sections, down to the registration history for this current tournament, are a template. I repeat them in each Blog....I cannot simply refer new readers to my prior Blog # 3. It is too much to expect new readers to scroll down my Facebook timeline to find my Blog # 3, which by now is practically down far enough to be burning in the fires of you-know-where.

At the same time, the template must be here for any new readers of my Blog.

So I ask my regular readers to be tolerant, and you can skip the template parts (I will alert you if there are any revisions of the template).

Template Begins

Club

Scarborough Chess Club, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
(See logo below)

(SCC Website: http://www.scarboroughchessclub.ca/)
(SCC Fb Page: https://www.facebook.com/ScarboroughChessClub/)

Bob's Blog

For a number of years now, I have been posting my chess blog:

i) on my personal Facebook Account for my almost 850 Fb friends from around the world: https://www.facebook.com/bob.armstrong.9235;
ii) sometimes on the national Canadian chess discussion board, Chess Talk [CT] (https://forum.chesstalk.com/…/chesstalk-canada-s-chess-disc…);
iii) occasionally on other chess websites, such as that of FQE (Province of Quebec's Chess Association).

More recently I also have been "re-posting" my Fb blog:

i) on my Fb chess discussion group, Chess Chat - A Project of Chess Companions of Caissa (https://www.facebook.com/groups/340524269771672/);
ii) my Scarborough CC tournaments Fb Blog to SCC's Fb Page (URL above)
iii) my Annex CC tournaments Fb blog to ACC's Fb Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/172335039452033/);

Henry Lam (Aka Dark Knight), the recently new owner of CT, and I have an agreement (From the summer of 2018) that I will re-post my Fb Blogs on CT for both my chess club official tournaments, and my non-club weekend (Sometimes longer; sometimes shorter) tournaments, in which I play between Summer 2018 and Summer 2019. After that, Henry and I can then renew our agreement for another year if we both so wish.

So, under this agreement, most recently I have been re-posting my current Scarborough CC and Annex CC tournaments. My future non-club weekend blogs to and including Summer 2019 will be (Given my current schedule - from time to time though my life schedule may change so that I fit in a tournament not on my schedule):

1. The 2018 Hart House Holidays Open (Prior to Christmas - Dec. 14-16);
2. The 2019 Hart House Reading Week Open (Usually on the Family Day Holiday Weekend in February).
3. The 2019 Quebec Open (July) - if in Montreal.
4. The 2019 Toronto Open (Sept.)

The Blog Focus

I mainly focus on the section I am playing in (Has been U 2000, U 1900 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 the classes under 1900. And many of my class viewers have actually played players about whom I am blogging (Ones I play and ones with whom I may socialize during the tournament, who then are mentioned in the Blog). So this adds a bit more interest for them.

I do also generally cover (Bare Bones) the top section standings; but I have to have been able to get the results before the Blog goes to press. I sometime will cover also the lower sections, if I have the results. For both, of course, it can be a matter of the time available (I am often doing my Blog in the wee hours of the morning).

I do hope my blogs will continue to provide a window onto class tournament chess, and what THIS chess player does in the day of club tournaments, and before and between rounds for weekend tournaments (A bit of a reality show - bits of my personal life).

I know many other chess players approach tournaments quite differently than I do (E.g. - study!), and so one cannot generalize from what I do.

Blog Feedback

Over the years, and in these more recent blogs, I have had generally positive feedback on my blogging, on both of my own Fb Accounts, the SCC & ACC Fb sites, and on CT.

It has been said that my writing style is easy to read, factual, and often entertaining. It is a find for all us "nosy" chess players!

Thanks to all those who have supported my Blogging on various sites, and kept encouraging me to continue.

Tournament - Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss

This is the 1st regular swiss tournament at SCC for the new 2018-9 Season (Runs from Sept. to June - Closed: July-August)
It is a 7-round swiss that runs from Sept. 13 - Oct. 25. There are 4 sections: 1800+; U 1800; U 1400 - Jrs. Only; U 1000 - Jrs. Only. All sections are CFC-rated. The top section is also FIDE rated. Time control is G/70 + 15 sec. (From move 1). Players within 100 pts. of the floor of the section above have the option to play up, on paying a "playing up fee", and many do.

Notes:

1. The Club Championship has only two sections: Championship (1800+); Reserves (U 1800)
2. The regular SCC Swisses, in the past, used to have three sections 1800+; U 1800; U 1400, with playing up within 100 pts. allowed.

Joining

Lots of room and so SCC WELCOMES all new members. You can inquire about joining at the general SCC e-mail address: info@ScarboroughChessClub.ca. You can join a tournament in progress; you will get ½ pt. byes for the missed rounds.

SCC Tournament Registration History

2013-4 Season

Jack Frost Swiss (3rd tournament) - 131 - peak registration for the season.

2014-5 Season

Club Championship Swiss (5th tournament of the season) - 126 - peak registration for the season
Season average registration (for the 6 tournaments) - 117

2015-6 Season

Club Championship (5th tournament of the season) - 141! (1800+: 35; U 1800 - 106) - Peak for the season & the current RECORD for recent times!
Season average registration (for the 6 tournaments) - 131

2016-7 Season

Jack Frost Swiss (3rd Tournament of the season) - 139 - 1800+: 32; U 1800: 35; U 1400: 72. - Peak Registration for the season
Season Average Registration (for 6 tournaments): 133! (Highest Seasonal Average since keeping records here).

2017-8 Season

Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (1st tournament of the season) - 130 (1800+: 27; U 1800: 46; U 1400: 57) - Peak Registration for the season.
Season Average Registration (for 6 tournaments): 122. Below the 2016-7 Season Average of 133.

End of Template

Addition to Template

Henri Hughes, a member of Chess Talk's English and French chess discussion boards, has now volunteered to translate my blogs into French, and post them to Parlons Echecs, the Canadian French discussion board. Thanks from all to Henri for his volunteer effort.

2018-9 Season (Current)

# 1 - Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (1st tournament of the season) - 123 (1800+ - 20; U 1800 - 57; U 1400 Jrs. Only - 19; U 1000 Jrs. Only - 27).

The Day of Rd. 7 - Early Thursday Morning

My main principal residence is in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and that is where I am at the moment.

I woke up at 5:00 AM, before the alarm (I went to bed about 10:30 AM on Wednesday night - quite early for me).

I felt quite refreshed, so I got up, went and got my morning coffee, and went to my home office (I am retired) and fired up my old laptop.

As those who have read my blogs before know, I have a kind of morning routine I follow, whether I am playing chess tournaments or not (Again this is a normal template, and regular readers can skip down to the next section):

1. Check for e-mails and Fb messages;
2. Check new posts/comments on CT;
3. Checked my Twitter feed to see what had been happening in the world (I follow numerous mainstream media from countries around the world, such as CBC, NBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, France 24, China Daily, Al Jezeera (English), Japan Times, Sputnik News, The Guardian, etc.)
4. Update my company's Fb page, Canadian Life Consulting (CLC) - https://www.facebook.com/Canadian-Li...lting-16406543…/. I do this by checking some of my Fb friends timelines for posts to "share" and my Twitter inbox for articles to re-post onto CLC.
5. Update the discussion group formed under my company page, called Canadian Life Consulting Cooperative Supporters' Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/2042495809374373/. I update it by sharing some more discussable of the posts now on the CFC page.
6. Update this Fb world events/life discussion group that I have created here on my own personal Fb account, called PEERS (A Discussion Club of Equals) - Fb URL above. I do this by also sharing some of the CLC page posts. But I also share some of my sources posts directly to this discussion club.
7. I share at least one chess post per day to my Fb Chess Chat group, formed under my personal Fb account - see Fb URL above.
8. When I find them, I share discussable religious posts to my religious Fb Group, Theist Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1052227598173591/. Sometimes these also appear in PEERS.

[For Parts II & III see below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 26th October, 2018, 01:13 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss - Blog

Rd. 7 (Final) - 18/10/25 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 5 (Part II of 3 parts)

[For Part I see above]

Sometime during this process, I usually get my breakfast and eat it at the computer, if my wife is not yet up. As well, I go back and forth between my routine items above and my own personal life tasks to be done that day.

New Additions to the Routine Template

1. Chess Project: I have another retiree project besides my Facebook one. Somewhere in the course of blogging, it got dropped and I didn't notice 'til now. Chess is a passionate hobby of mine, as you know. But I have never really studied seriously.

But what I do do, is I enter all my games, and annotate them, to try to learn something - Grandmasters do recommend this often. In addition, I integrate the opening (the first 10 moves) into an opening/defence tree I have for the opening/defence played. The value of this is pretty uncertain, given my inability to remember lines - but I do develop general impressions of how the opening can go. So on my own time, I go back and forth between my Facebook project and my chess hobby project.

2. My 25/35 System

Recently I found that I was spending a lot more time on my two retiree projects than my normal life tasks - don't we all spend more time on what we enjoy!

But I was falling behind in "life" while keeping up in "chess". So I did have to deal with this issue. So I came up with the "25/35 System". What this is: When I am at home, I spend 25 min. on my 2 retiree projects (Facebook & Chess), and then 35 min. on the rest of my life; I even set the alarm! And I try very hard to religiously stop when I am to change phases. This has actually worked out well....I am still abysmally behind in "Life", but not nearly as much as I used to be! LOL

Heading Out

As my regular blog readers know, my wife belongs to an exercise studio about 35 min. walk from our place; so often I walk her there. But this week we've been driving and I got her there for 7:25 AM, as usual.

Then I headed for my favourite local coffee shop, The Last Drop, where I stop in for a while on the exercise studio mornings, before going home, or back to pick up my wife in the car. I met 4 of the regular 7:40 AM to 8:05 AM shift and we chatted about the differences we have noticed between big city culture, and the rural Ontario culture. We, of course, also solved all the world's problems!

Then I went back and picked up my wife and we went home.

The Later Morning

We got in about 8:30 AM and I returned to my normal routine schedule. The "work" time (As opposed to the 25 min. "fun" time) involved packing pottery!

As my readers know, my wife has as a hobby, doing pottery. She also is retired, and she just does it as an amateur (She is not making her livelihood from it financially, as some of the others are). The coop's big Fall sale is in a few weeks, in November. So they are cleaning the place up and deadlines have arrived, to assist in their turning their workshop into a lovely retail store for the sale.

So my wife then drove to her potters cooperative workshop about 10 min. away, to do some of her cooperative jobs.

But at 9:30 AM, unexpectedly, I was exhausted. So I lay down and set the alarm for an hour. But when a wave of tiredness comes over me like that, often I cannot sleep. But I do rest peacefully, and I often find that the tiredness passes. And that was the case this morning - so after 1/2 hr. of just closing my eyes, I bounced back to normal. So back to my routine, with sanding pottery this time, taking up the "Life" time.

At 11:30 AM I went out to lunch with a good friend, Jim Creechan - my roommate in 1st year university - in 1964! We get together about every 4-6 weeks, and in between e-mail and interact on Facebook. We chatted about family stuff, politics, writing (He is working on a book; I am an amateur unpublished writer), etc.

Afternoon

I got home about 2:00 PM and my wife was back from her workshop.

As my regulars know, my wife and I have found, now that we are both in our 70's, that the European/Latin American practice of a siesta time in mid-afternoon works really well (We usually set the alarm and do not sleep more than 1 hour). So we both sacked out 'til 3:00 PM

As soon as we got up, our granddaughter (2 3/4 y.o.), who lives in Montreal, Skyp'd us! Our daughter, her aunt (Also resides in Montreal) had gotten her some plastic vegetables and fruit that could be cut apart with the plastic knife! We were quite into this, and got shown every piece she had, and watched her cooking her soup, under the watchful eye of her dad, our son.

Then at 3:30 PM, my routine got set aside, since we had a mission on pottery to meet some of my wife's self-imposed deadlines. So I was sanding and packing pottery.

I finished that and got a short time to do my projects.

Heading Out for Rd. 7.

I then prepared my stuff for the SCC Display Table (I do this as a member volunteer job).

Then I headed out by car for SCC. But my routine is that I went right to my favourite Tim's where I relax before the round, and update my "Reminder Lists" (Medically bad memory, on top of old age). I generally have a light meal.

Then I drove to SCC (About 5 min. away).

Pre-Round 7

I set up the Display Table.

I chatted briefly with Toy Kwan, and Mark Bercovici, chess friends who had also played last weekend in the Aurora Fall Open (In Newmarket), where I had played.

The round started shortly after the announcements at 7:30 PM.

Rd. 7

I was playing on Board one against the sole leader. I finished the game a bit early, so I watched mainly the games in our section between the leaders, but also stayed until I had the results for winners of all sections.

Then I headed for home. I went right to work writing and posting this Blog # 5.

My U 1800 Section Report - Rd. 7 (Final) - Thursday, Oct. 25/18.

I am rated 1519. I am in the 2nd of the 4 sections. My section rating spread is effectively, from 1734 to 634. I am in the middle 1/3 of the section.

Note: Any adults below 1400 must play in this 2nd section.

Rd. 7 - U 1800 - Winners

There are 57 players; there were 22 boards (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, suspensions, withdrawals, etc.).

The Winners are:

1st - 6/7 pts. (Undefeated) - Jr. Boy Harry Liu (1570).

2nd - 5.5/7 pts. - Jr. Boy Wing Li (1539).

3rd/5th - 5/7 pts. - Peter Vuong (1555); Jr. Boy Bhavatharshan Jeyakumar (1509); Sudhir Pokhrel (1471).

My Round 7 Game

I have provided some light annotation to explain a bit of what I was thinking as the game went on:

[Event "Scarborough CC Howard Ridout Memorial"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.10.25"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Armstrong, Robert J."]
[Black "Liu, Harry"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "1519"]
[BlackElo "1570"]
[Annotator "Armstrong, Robert J."]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2018.10.25"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ {Bogo-Indian Defence} 4. Bd2 Qe7 5. a3 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 b6 7. e3 Ne4 8. Qc2 Bb7 9. Be2 d6 10. O-O O-O 11. Nc3 f5 12. Nd2 Nxc3 13. Qxc3 Nd7 14. f4 e5 15. fxe5 dxe5 16. d5 c6 17. dxc6 Bxc6 18. Bd3 Qg5 {A very good reply that I did not see until after I had moved (Isn't that always the way?)} 19. e4 Qe3+ 20. Kh1 Nc5 21. Rf3 Qd4 22. Qxd4 exd4 23. Re1 Nxd3 24. Rxd3fxe4 {Harry goes up a P.} 25. Nxe4 {A blunder} ({This is the better move.} 25. Rxd4 Rfd8 26. Rxd8+ Rxd8 27. Re2 e3 28. Nf3 Rd1+ 29. Ng1 Rd2 {However, though material is equal, Harry's passed P gives him the "winning" advantage.}) 25... Bxe4 26. Rxd4 {I win a P for my B. I can't take Harry's B; there is a back rank mate on ....Rf1. This was a bit discouraging - I had seen the possible threat back on move 20, and had been watching for it each move.......and then just seemed to forget about it.......and missed it in analyzing new again.} Rae8 {Threatening to win the exchange with ....Bxg2+!} 27. Red1 Rf2 28. R4d2 Rxd2 ({Harry missed the little tactic winning a P.} 28... Bxg2+ 29. Kg1 Rxd2 30. Rxd2 Bc6) 29. Rxd2 Bd3 {Playing the back rank mate card again} 30. h3 Bxc4 {Harry is up a full B now.} 31. Rc2 Rc8 32. Rd2 Be6 33. Kh2 Kf7 34. Rf2+ Ke7 35. Re2 Rc5 36. Kg3 Kf6 37. Rf2+ Bf5 38. Kh4 {Threatening the pinned B with g4.} Rc2 39. Rxc2 Bxc2 40. g4 g5+ 41. Kg3 Ke5 42. Kf3 Kd4 43. Ke2 Kc4 0-1

My Score

4.5/7 pts. (64%) - Wins: 3 (Rds. 2, 3 & 5); Draw: 1 (Rd. 6); Loss: 1 (Rd. 7); Byes: 2 (1/2 pt. in Rd. 1 & 4).

My Opponents & My Scores

6/7 pts. - Jr. Boy Harry Liu (1570) - I lost in Rd. 7 - he came sole first.

4.5/7 pts. - Jr. Boy Michael Grant Wang (1580) - I won in Rd. 5.
- Me (1519)

4/7 pts. - Jr. Boy David Liu (1578) - I drew in Rd. 6.

3.5/6 pts. - Jr. Boy Ronan Uthayakumar (1699) - I won in Rd. 3. I did not have his result in Rd. 7.

1/4 pts. - Warren McKelvie (1271) - I won in Rd. 2. He withdrew after Rd. 4.

[See Part III below]

Bob A.

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (Sept. 13 - Oct. 25) - Blog

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (Sept. 13 - Oct. 25) - Blog

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