Scarborough Chess Club Falling Leaves Swiss (Nov. 1 - Dec. 13) - Blog

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 2nd November, 2018, 07:32 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Falling Leaves Swiss - Blog

Rd. 1 - 18/11/1 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 1 (Part II of 3 Parts)

[For Part I see above]

Start of Template

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 have another retiree project besides my Facebook one. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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 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. But I have a somewhat unique system for doing this.

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 the "Fb/chess" projects. 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

End of Template

Heading Out

At 7:15 AM I headed for my favourite local coffee shop, The Last Drop, where I often stop in for a while in the morning. I had made arrangements with my friend Darryl to spend longer than usual there this morning, so we could get some time to chat. We talked a bit about Darryl's architect career, his daughter and 2 grandchildren, and my recent week at my hobby farm about 3 hrs. drive northwest of Toronto, called Spirits' Den.

I then left and got home about 9:45 AM to touch base with my wife since she was going out for the late morning/early afternoon.

Later Thursday Morning

She needed to do a few things, so I made a quick trip to the bank and back. Then she and I reviewed a bit of our finances. I have traditionally done all of it, but now she wants to know what in the world I am really doing!! This is certainly going to be interesting!

At 11:00 AM she went out to her appointment. I went back to my long list of Fb Notifications.

Afternoon

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 at 2:00 PM I sacked out for an hour.

At 3:00 PM I realized I had forgotten to do something at the bank that morning, so made a quick trip back to do that task.

When I got home, my wife was back. We live in 3 different locations during the year, and so organizing our schedules is somewhat crucial. So we did that 'til 4:30 PM.

Then it was back to the Fb Notifications!

Heading Out for Rd. 1.

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 about 5:30 PM. My routine is that I go 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 a bit before 7:00 PM I drove to SCC (About 5 min. away).

Pre-Round 1

I set up the Display Table.

I chatted briefly with Toy Kwan, and confirmed our get-together tomorrow morning for a coffee visit, as we have now started doing about monthly. Then I spoke with Fred Henderson, a member back after not playing at the club for about 10 years (Though he said he has been playing on-line for the last year).

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

Rd. 1

I finished my game fairly early, so I watched mainly the games in our section and the top section. But I also stayed until I had the number of decisive results for all sections.

Then I headed for home. I went right to work writing and posting this Blog # 1.

My U 1800 Section Report - Rd. 1 - Thursday, Nov. 1/18.

I am rated 1574. I am in the 2nd of the 4 sections. My section rating spread is effectively, from 1734 to 634. I am just barely in the top 1/3 of the section.

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

Rd. 1 - U 1800

There are 47 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.).

No of decisive games: 18 (I will give leader names after the second round when the no. of co-leaders is fewer)

[For Part III see below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 2nd November, 2018, 07:35 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Falling Leaves Swiss - Blog

Rd. 1 - 18/11/1 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 1 (Part III of 3 Parts)

[For Parts I & II see above]

My Round 1 Game

I have provided some of my own light annotations (No engine analysis yet) to explain a bit of what I was thinking as the game went on:

[Event "Scarborough CC Falling Leaves (U 1800)"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.11.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Veecock, Carl"]
[Black "Armstrong, Robert J."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "1066"]
[BlackElo "1574"]
[Annotator "Armstrong, Robert J."]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2018.11.01"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 c5 4. e4 Qb6 5. d3 {It appeared Carl did not know this unusual defence, and couldn't believe there could be a threat on only move 4. So he fairly quickly made a routine opening move, without really calculating the position.} Bxb2 {I go up a P. The loss of this pawn soon hurts, as his other pawns on the Q-side quickly become targets, being hard to defend.} 6. Bxb2 Qxb2 7. Nbd2 Nc6 8. O-O Nb4 9. Nc4 {a mistake; I think 9. a3 forces me not to take the cP.} Qxc2 {I go up 2 P's.} 10. Qxc2 Nxc2 11. Rac1 {I think 11. Rad1 stops me from winning another P.} Nb4 12. Ra1 Nxd3 {I go up a 3rd P. The game is now most difficult for Carl, though he tries to get into my back ranks for counter-play.} 13. a3 {My d3N has no square to go to. So I must create an exit square for it.} b5 14. Nce5 Nxe5 15. Nxe5 Rb8 {Removes the R from the long diagonal where Bg2 could be an attacker if the White eP was pushed. As well, it is now set up to support my Q-side pawn push.} 16. Nd3 d6 17. e5 Bf5 18. Rad1 Bxd3 19. Rxd3 dxe5 {I now go up 4 P's.} 20. Bc6+ Kf8 21. Rd7 a5 22. Rfd1 Kg7 23. Rd8 Rb6 {Where normally the rule would be to exchange material when up material, this looked better this time, than exchanging one set of R's.} 24. Rc8 Nf6 {I can't let Carl get both his R's on the 8th rank.} 25. Rxh8 Kxh8 26. Rd8+ Kg7 27. Bg2 b4 {Starting the Q-side pawn push} 28. axb4 cxb4 {I now have 2 connected, passed P's.} 29. Rd1 b3 30. Rb1 b2 31. Bf1 Rb4 {I don't want Carl's B to get to c4, where then it and the R may blockade my pawn advance.} 32. Bd3 a4 33. Bc2 a3 34. Re1 a2 35. Bb1 {Carl only saw this from the viewpoint of him sacking his B for a P, to continue to blockade with the R after the P capture/promotion. He had a good laugh when he saw my next move, which he had just not considered!} a1=Q 0-1

My Score

1/1 pts. - Win: 1 (Rd. 1).

My Opponents' & My Scores

1/1 pts. - Me (1574)

0/1 pts. - Carl Veecock (1066) - I won in Rd. 1.

The Less Important (!!) Sections:

i) 1800+ - 17 players; 6 boards.

No. of decisive games: 5

ii) U 1400 Juniors - 16 players; 7 boards.

No. of decisive games: 7

iii) U 1000 Juniors - 24 players; 10 boards

No. of decisive games: 10

Note: The low no. of draws in Rd. 1 is not unexpected in the Swiss system, since this is the round where there is the greatest rating disparity between the players.

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 (When I am not residing in my computer/internet - free hobby farm north of Toronto).

So jump in with both feet, and we'll all enjoy the blogging adventure!

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 9th November, 2018, 02:13 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Falling Leaves Swiss - Blog

Rd. 2 - 18/11/8 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 2 (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. It is too much to expect new readers to scroll down my Facebook timeline to find my most recent Blog, which by now is far down the scroll.

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 (in English): https://www.facebook.com/bob.armstrong.9235;

ii) sometimes on the national Canadian English 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). That time the blog was posted in both French and English.

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 National Canadian French Chess Discussion Board

Henri Hughes, a member of both Chess Talk's English and French chess discussion boards, volunteers, subject to demands of his school studies, to translate my blogs into French, and post them to Parlons Echecs, the Canadian French discussion board also owned by Henry Lam. Thanks from all to Henri for his volunteer effort.

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 - Falling Leaves Swiss

This is the 2nd 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 Nov. 1 - Dec. 13 (Final chess meeting of 2018). 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 ($ 30)", and some 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 (No fee).

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 all 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.

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).

End of Template

# 2 - Falling Leaves Swiss (2nd tournament of the season) - 109 (So far) (1800+ - 17; U 1800 - 48; U 1400 Jrs. - 20; U 1000 Jrs. - 24)

The Day of Rd. 2 - The Early Morning

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

I woke up at 5:30 AM, before the alarm. I got 6 hrs. sleep which is normal for me now (During weekend tournaments I often sleep much less).

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.

The Daily Routine

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

[See Parts II & III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 9th November, 2018, 02:16 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Falling Leaves Swiss - Blog

Rd. 2 - 18/11/8 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 2 (Part II of 3 Parts)

[See Part I above]

Start of Template

1. Check for e-mails and Fb messages;

2. Check new posts/comments on CT;

3. Check 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 my newsfeed and 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 have another retiree project besides my Facebook one. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

So on my own time, I go back and forth between my Facebook project and my chess hobby project.

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. But I have a somewhat unique system for doing this.

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 the "Fb/chess" projects. 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

End of Template

Heading Out

My wife belongs to an exercise studio about 35 min. walk from our place. When she attends, I walk her over. But this week she is cutting herself some slack, and so we drove over at 7:15 AM.

Then I headed for my favourite local coffee shop, The Last Drop, where I often stop in for a while in the morning when exercises are on the agenda. I met about 7 of the regulars about 7:50 AM - some of them are more usually on the after-8:00 AM shift, but they claimed to being confused still by the time change - they were still adjusting!

I then left to go pick up my wife and we got home about 8:45 AM

Later Thursday Morning

When my wife and I are working jointly on tasks, or both have separate life tasks to do, I use a variant of the 25/35 system. It is the 20/40 system - I take my own time for 20 min., and then work for 40 min.

So this morning during "work" time, I

1.got the waste out for the garbage people;

2. emptied the dish drainer rack;

3. made some notes in our farm transit journal (We have a hobby farm in the Southern Georgian Bay area about 3 hrs. drive from Toronto, and we go back and forth often, living in both places. So we need a clear list of what is going back and forth with us each time);

4. continued to deal with Air China re a schedule change to my daughter's ticket;

5. photocopied a slew of my wife's recipes - she, her two sisters, and their cousin in England, are making up a family tradition cook book with all kinds of recipes.

6. raked the side of the house and back yard to get three large leaf piles; then my wife and I put them into a big garden waste bag and then I dumped it into our leaf compost. At the back of the yard, we have a triangular area with the back fence, and then two 6-ft. pieces of red plastic snow fence. It is hidden by trees and bushes, and takes all the leaves from a season. "Leaf Mold" is very good for roses, and as a green fertilizer generally.

Afternoon

At about 12:30 PM, my wife and I made and had lunch, and cleaned up.

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 crashed from 1:15 - 2:15 PM (We take the land line off the hook - infuriates some family and friends! LOL).

At 2:30 PM my wife and I headed to our neighbours two doors down for our fairly regular "neighbours' coffee club". It is small and consists of the two of them, us, and a more elderly widow neighbour across the street from us. We generally just blather on about everything and solve all the world' problems. We came home about 4:45 PM.

Heading Out for Rd. 2.

I then prepared my stuff for the SCC Display Table (I do this as a member volunteer job). I checked a few things on the computer, and then headed out by car for SCC about 5:30 PM. My routine is that I go 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 around 7:00 PM I drive to SCC (About 5 min. away).

Pre-Round 2

I set up the Display Table. I was a bit later arriving than usual tonight, and so didn't really get a chance to have a real conversation with anyone before the round.

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

Rd. 2

I finished my game a bit after 10:00 PM (We have to vacate the hall somewhat early because our permit expires at 10:45 PM). For a while, I watched mainly the games in our section and the top section. But I generally stay until I have the names of the leaders of our section (For this blog).

Then I headed for home. I went right to work writing and posting this Blog # 2.

[For Part III, see below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 9th November, 2018, 02:22 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Falling Leaves Swiss - Blog

Rd. 2 - 18/11/8 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 2 (Part III of 3 Parts)

[See Parts I & II above]

My U 1800 Section Report - Rd. 2 - Thursday, Nov. 8/18.

I am rated 1574. I am in the 2nd of the 4 sections. My section rating spread is effectively, from 1734 to 634. I am just barely in the top 1/3 of the section.

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

Post-Rd. 2 - U 1800 - Leaders

There are 48 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.).

The leaders are:

1st/7th - 2/2 pts. (Won both games) - Jr. Boy Ronan Uthayakumar (1699); Sujeev Mahendran (1612); Jr. Girl Lucy Gao (1591); Me (1574); Jr. Boy Edward Xiao (1554); Sudhir Pokhrel (1531); Jim Paterson (1505).

My Round 2 Game

I have provided some of my own light annotations (No engine analysis yet) to explain a bit of what I was thinking as the game went on:

[Event "Scarborough CC Falling Leaves (U 1800)"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.11.08"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Armstrong, Robert J."]
[Black "Granic, Luka"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D07"]
[WhiteElo "1574"]
[BlackElo "1355"]
[Annotator "Armstrong, Robert J."]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2018.11.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. e3 Bf5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Bd3 Bg6 6. Ne5 Nxe5 7. dxe5 Nd7 8. Bxg6 hxg6 9. e6 {My goal is to mess up his K-side P's pretty badly.} fxe6 10. cxd5 Nb6 11. dxe6 {I go up a P} Qxd1+ 12. Kxd1 O-O-O+ 13. Ke2 Rd6 14. h3 Rxe6 {Material equality. Luka will have to work a bit to get his B into action.} 15. Nc3 g5 16. Bd2 g6 17. Nb5 a6 18. Nd4 Rd6 19. Rac1 Bg7 20. Bb4 Rd7 21. Rhd1 Rh4 22. Bc3 Rd6 23. Nf3 Rh7 24. Rxd6 exd6 25. Nxg5 {I go up a P again; I will now play to win the ending.} Rh5 26. Ne6 Bxc3 27. Rxc3 Rh7 28. Nf4 Rg7 29. h4 g5 {an error; loses a second P.} 30. Ne6 Nd5 {a blunder of his N.} 31. Nxg7 Nxc3+ 32. bxc3 gxh4 33. Nf5 Kd7 34. Nxh4 Ke6 {I then queened and mated Luka on move 62.} 1-0

My Score

2/2 pts. - Wins: 2 (Rds. 1 & 2).

My Opponents' & My Scores

2/2 pts. - Me (1574)

1/2 pts. - Jr. Boy Luka Granic (1359) - I won in Rd. 2.

0/2 pts. - Carl Veecock (1066) - I won in Rd. 1.

The Less Important (!!) Sections: Leaders

i) 1800+ - 17 players; 5 boards.

1st/6th - 1.5/2 pts. - Jr. Boy Jeffery Xu (2269 - National Master or has a norm); Jr. Boy Nameer Issani (2175 - former club champion, I think); Jr. Boy Sean Lei (2161); David Southam (2130 - National Master & former Club Champion); Jr. Boy Benjamin Lin (2091); Jr. Boy Jeffery R. Zhao (1983);

ii) U 1400 Juniors - 20 players; 8 boards.

1st/2nd - 2/2 pts. (Won both games) - James Qiu (1258); Jett Lai (1120).

3rd/7th - 1.5/2 pts. - Undefeated - Ben Smolkin (1226); Daniel Odoemelam (1217); Ethan Zhang (1196); Girl player Jewel Li (1145); Ivan Huang (1000).

iii) U 1000 Juniors - 24 players; 9 boards

1st/2nd - 2/2 pts. ( Won both games) - Girl Player Mathusha Jeyakumar (880); Andy Huang (741).

3rd/5th - 1.5/2 pts. (Undefeated) - Fahad Bashar (777); Bravin Pavanantharajah (668); Justin Tso (388).

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 (When I am not residing in my computer/internet - free hobby farm north of Toronto).

So jump in with both feet, and we'll all enjoy the blogging adventure!

Bob A

**Toy Chack Kwan** · Friday, 9th November, 2018, 05:49 AM

my supplement to Bob's blog...

my efforts this week was somewhat better than last week's, when I suffered a 'senior moment' lapse, playing my N to d4 instead of e5, allowing White to play e5! (see 2nd attached jpg below), and I resigned soon after;

in this week's game, I gained some initiative as White vs a Pirc, and after Black played .10..Qxd1? 11.Rxd1 Nfd7 12.Nd5 won the a8 Rook the next move...(see 1st attached jpg below) and eventually the game;

I then hung around and watched (and hopefully learned something) some remaining games...how David Southam defended resolutely to a draw vs Benjamin Lin in an inferior R+Ps endgame was particularly intense;

...further (mis)adventures next week in rd 3;

Attached Files

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 9th November, 2018, 09:06 AM

Hi Toy:

Great to have you chime in!! Adds to interest and gives more of an impression of the impressive Scarborough CC!

I invite other SCC members to post here about their SCC experience - it needn't be long - you can just post a sentence of interest to you.

As well, non-members are also invited to join in, ask questions of the blog, supplementaries or the club.

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 16th November, 2018, 10:24 PM

Scarborough Chess Club Falling Leaves Swiss - Blog

Rd. 3 - 18/11/15 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 3 (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. It is too much to expect new readers to scroll down my Facebook timeline to find my most recent Blog, which by now is far down the scroll.

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 (in English): https://www.facebook.com/bob.armstrong.9235;

ii) sometimes on the national Canadian English 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). That time the blog was posted in both French and English.

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 National Canadian French Chess Discussion Board

Henri Hughes, a member of both Chess Talk's English and French chess discussion boards, volunteers, subject to demands of his school studies, to translate my blogs into French, and post them to Parlons Echecs, the Canadian French discussion board also owned by Henry Lam. Thanks from all to Henri for his volunteer effort.

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 - Falling Leaves Swiss

This is the 2nd 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 Nov. 1 - Dec. 13 (Final chess meeting of 2018). 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 ($ 30)", and some 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 (No fee).

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 all 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.

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).

End of Template

[See Parts II & III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 16th November, 2018, 10:28 PM

Scarborough Chess Club Falling Leaves Swiss - Blog

Rd. 3 - 18/11/15 (Thursday)

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

[See Part I above]

# 2 - Falling Leaves Swiss (2nd tournament of the season) - 110 (So far) (1800+ - 17; U 1800 - 49; U 1400 Jrs. - 20; U 1000 Jrs. - 24)

The Day of Rd. 3 - The Early Morning

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

I woke up at 4:30 AM, before the alarm. I got 5 1/2 hrs. sleep which is not that unusual for me now, though it is usually 6 hrs. (During weekend tournaments I often sleep much less).

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.

The Daily Routine

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

Start of Template

1. Check for e-mails and Fb messages;

2. Check new posts/comments on CT;

3. Check 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 my newsfeed and 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 have another retiree project besides my Facebook one. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

So on my own time, I go back and forth between my Facebook project and my chess hobby project.

Sometime during this process, I usually get my breakfast and eat it at the computer, if my wife is not yet up. So today, I got dressed at 6:00 AM and had breakfast, since my wife was still pulling herself together.

As well, I go back and forth between my routine items above and my own personal life tasks to be done that day. But I have a somewhat unique system for doing this.

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 the "Fb/chess" projects. 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

End of Template

Heading Out

My wife belongs to an exercise studio about 35 min. walk from our place. When she attends, I walk her over - this is how I get some exercise. We will usually arrive at 7:30 AM.

Then I headed for my favourite local coffee shop, The Last Drop, where I often stop in for a while on the way back, when the morning exercises are on the agenda. I met about 5 of the regulars about 7:50 AM - they often come in then or sometimes after 8:00 AM

On her way back from the exercise studio, my wife came to the coffee shop to pick me up, and we walked home; got there about 8:50 AM

Later Thursday Morning

When my wife and I are working jointly on tasks, or both have separate life tasks to do, I use a variant of the 25/35 system. It is the 20/40 system - I take my own time for 20 min., and then work for 40 min.

So this morning during "work" time, I

1.got the waste out for the garbage people;

2. emptied the dish drainer rack;

3. went out to the front of the house, and bagged leaves and cut ivy. Our small front garden has an ivy ground-cover. It grows quickly over the summer, over the bumper at the edge of the garden, and onto the inter-locking brick parking pad at the front of our house. This ivy is a pain when you have to start snow-shoveling. I have been going to cut it back all fall, and didn't get to it. So today I thought I just needed to complete this job. I bagged the leaves and the cut ivy, and put it out with the garbage.

Little did I know at that time, that Toronto was going to get its first real Fall snowfall tonight - so I got it done in the last window of opportunity.

4. my wife and I went shopping to get some things for our trip Friday to Montreal, Quebec, to see our two adult children and granddaughter.

Afternoon

We were near a COSTCO when we finished shopping. Yesterday, while working in her cooperative pottery workshop (Getting everything set up for their Fall Sale on Thurs. to Sun.), one of the potters brought in some COSTCO chicken wings from their restaurant. My wife was impressed, so we headed there for a somewhat quick lunch, since we had lots to do to get ready to go to Montreal.

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 today when we returned, we crashed from 2:30 - 3:30 PM (We take the land line off the hook - infuriates some family and friends! LOL).

At 3:30 PM our Montreal granddaughter called us on Skype! So we video visited with her and my son for 1/2 hr.

After that we had to gather up from all over the house, the stuff we were bringing with us to Montreal (The car becomes one big "care" package), and pile it in the living room. So I then spent the rest of the afternoon, packing items into reusable bags and figuring out how to try to get it all in.

[For Part III see below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 16th November, 2018, 10:35 PM

Scarborough Chess Club Falling Leaves Swiss - Blog

Rd. 3 - 18/11/15 (Thursday)

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

[See Parts I & II above]

Heading Out for Rd. 3.

I then prepared my stuff for the SCC Display Table (I do this as a member volunteer job). I printed out the Rd. 2 Standings for each of the 4 sections, so I could put them out on the table. Then headed out by car for SCC about 5:45 PM; took a bit longer because of the snow, and I had to clean off the car first. My routine is that I go 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 around 7:00 PM I drive to SCC (About 5 min. away).

Pre-Round 3

On the way in, I talked to Warren McKelvie at the pairings desk and we chatted a bit about the last municipal election.

I then went into the playing hall and set up the Display Table.

Afterwards I said "Hi" to one of our veteran players, Jim Paterson, and we discussed how the tournament was going for each of us; we are both in the U 1800 section. We were both in the 7 player tie for first.

Then I talked to my friend, Toy Kwan, who is also in the same section. Next I chatted with Elaine Chen, mother of one of the good juniors in our section - we chatted a bit about my Fb project (She is a member of my Fb life/world events discussion club).

Warren then came up and asked if he could take the standings sheets. Apparently the computer had just died, and with it all the tournament info. The only info we had was on my sheets. So off he went with them, and they had to pair all 4 sections manually. Needless to say we started about 10-15 min. late (Usually start sharp at 7:30 PM). This came back to haunt us at the end of the night.

Rd. 3

I finished my game a bit later than usual, but a number of games were still going on (We have to vacate the hall somewhat early because our permit expires at 10:45 PM). For a while, I watched mainly the games in our section and the top section. All games finished except the two national masters on Bd. 1 in the top section. It went right to 10:45 PM, and was not finished - had we started on time, they likely would have been finished. So arbiter Martin Chang adjourned the game to be continued before the start of the round next Thursday.
Then I headed for home. I went right to work writing and posting this Blog # 3.

My U 1800 Section Report - Rd. 3 - Thursday, Nov. 15/18.

I am rated 1574. I am in the 2nd of the 4 sections. My section rating spread is effectively, from 1734 to 634. I am just barely in the top 1/3 of the section (49 players).

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

Post-Rd. 3 - U 1800 - Leaders

There are 49 players; there were 20 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/3rd - 3/3 pts. (Won all games) - Me (1574); Jr. Boy Edward Xiao (1554); Jim Paterson (1505).

My Round 3 Game

I have provided some of my own light annotations (No engine analysis yet) to explain a bit of what I was thinking as the game went on:

[Event "Scarborough CC Falling Leaves (U 1800)"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.11.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Uthayakumar, Ronan"]
[Black "Armstrong, Robert J."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "1699"]
[BlackElo "1574"]
[Annotator "Doe,John"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2018.11.15"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Be3 Nf6 {Pirc Defence} 5. f3 a6 6. Qd2 b5 7. h4 h5 8. O-O-O Bd7 9. e5 b4 10. exf6 bxc3 11. Qxc3 Bxf6 {Ronan must allow in his analysis for the fact that his dP is now pinned against his Q.} 12. Bc4 e6 13. g4 Bxh4 {I go up a P - I'm not sure if this was an oversight, or a sac to half-open the h-file} 14. Qd2 {Removing his Q from the pin} hxg4 15. fxg4 Bf6 16. Nf3 Bb5 {I want d7 for my K, so my Q will defend my h8R as well.} 17. Bxb5+ axb5 18. Rxh8+ Bxh8 19. Rh1 Kd7 20. Rh7 Qg8 {I decided I needed to defend, and had no time to capture the P on a2.} 21. Ng5 {f7 is becoming the target} Bg7 22. d5 Rxa2 {I go up 2 P's and threaten mate on a1.} 23. dxe6+ fxe6 24. Qc3 { a bad blunder, losing the exchange} Qxh7 {Ronan was surprised by this; he had not considered it.} 25. Nxh7 Bxc3 26. bxc3 {Ronan had 5 min. left, and I had 26 min.} Ke7 {must stop the N from going to either f6 or f8 and checking, and winning my gP.} 27. Bg5+ Kf7 28. Bd8 Ra7 29. Ng5+ Kg8 30. Nxe6 {I am now up the exchange + P.} Na6 31. Nf4 Kf7 32. g5 c6 33. Bf6 Nc5 34. Bd4 Ra1+ 35. Kb2 Rf1 36. Bxc5 dxc5 37. Nd3 Rf5 0-1

My Score

3/3 pts. - Wins: 3 (Rds. 1, 2 & 3).

My Opponents' & My Scores

3/3 pts. - Me (1574)

2/3 pts. - Jr. Boy Ronan Uthayakumar (1699) - I won in Rd. 3.
- Jr. Boy Luka Granic (1359) - I won in Rd. 2.

1/3 pts. - Carl Veecock (1066) - I won in Rd. 1.

The Less Important (!!) Sections: Leaders

i) 1800+ - 17 players; 5 boards.

1st - 2.5/3 pts. - Jr. Boy Benjamin Lin (2091)

Potentially able to tie for first: National Master Jeffrey Xu (2269) OR National Master Dave Southam (2130 - former club champion) - each has 1.5 pts. and their Rd. 3 game has been adjourned.

2/3 pts. - Jr. Boy Nameer Issani (2175 - former club champion); Jr. Boy Sean Lei (2161).

ii) U 1400 Juniors - 20 players; 7 boards.

1st - 3/3 pts. (Won all games) - James Qiu (1258).

2nd/3rd - 2.5/3 pts. - Undefeated - Daniel Odoemelam (1217); Ivan Huang (1000).

iii) U 1000 Juniors - 24 players; 9 boards

1st - 3/3 pts. (Won all games) - Girl Player Mathusha Jeyakumar (880);

2nd/8th - 2/3 pts. - Alex Mou (849); Andy Huang (741); Kaison Wang (977); Girl Player Dayna de Costa (605); Kailey Liu (455); P. Brown (Don't have rtg.); Rajveen Sharma (Don't have rtg.).

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 (When I am not residing in my computer/internet - free hobby farm north of Toronto).

So jump in with both feet, and we'll all enjoy the blogging adventure!

Bob A

**Jeffrey Xu** · Saturday, 17th November, 2018, 12:15 AM

Due to computer problems the pairings had to be done by hand, which delayed the round start by around 25 mins (maybe more/less). This very unfortunate case had a huge impact on my game vs David Southam...

**Toy Chack Kwan** · Saturday, 17th November, 2018, 12:40 AM

my supplement to Bob's blog,

recently, the book 'The Woodpecker Method' by Axel Smith and Hans Tikkanen has received quite a bit of attention: they advocated doing a set of some 1100 tactical puzzles repeatedly, at a faster and faster pace so that it becomes ingrained into your subconscious and you become more tactically aware of opportunities, as well as committing fewer blunders;

1100 puzzles is a LOT to do (and as an amateur, am not looking at Gm norms!), fortunately, there is also the Pareto 80/20 principle in which one can gain 80% of benefits from 20% of the input;

I am going to try this, (300 is a lot more doable than 1100!) and to this end, I am using Westeschnik's '300 Chess Tactics from Scratch' as my main tactical patterns template, as well as creating a set of my own flash card (jpgs) from my own+others games that fit within my repertoire...

the following diagrams are from rd 3 of the current tournament in which as White, I tried a new variation vs the Sicilian,
the 1st 2 diagrams showed missed opportunities/tactical blows which would have given me a serious advantage, and in the 3rd diagram, playing on the increment,I missed an 'easy' winning pattern with my pawn on the 6th rank (though I did manage to eventually win the game):

solutions at bottom of page:

1:

...
2:

...

Click image for larger version

Name: 2018-11-16 Kwan-JerryLi Chekhover Sicilian 1-0 17...exd5 18.Ne5 d4 19.Qe2 if...dxc3 20.Nxg6.jpg
Views: 30
Size: 18.3 KB
ID: 196249

3:
....

Click image for larger version

Name: 2018-11-16 Kwan-JerryLi Chekhover Sicilian 1-0 43...Re7 44.Rd2Re8 45.Ra2.jpg
Views: 43
Size: 14.2 KB
ID: 196250

1) I did not see the retreating Nd2 move and then Nc4 attacking the Q and pressuring d6

2) I saw Black's ...d4 threat to fork my Q and N, missing my own counter threat of Ne5 intending Nxg6 ( ie Ne5 then if ...d4 simply Qe2)

3) Rd2 to force Black's rook back to e8, then Ra2-a7 and Bc7 would force through b7

...further (mis)adventures rd 4 next week!

...

**Bob Armstrong** · Saturday, 17th November, 2018, 09:59 AM

Hi Jeffrey:

I agree that the late start was unfortunate. Our computer died at the very start - with all tournament info! Good thing I had a hard copy of the post-rd. 2 standings for all 4 sections on the club display table.

Here is my opinion on what happened. There were two choices faced by the club arbiter that night, Martin:

1. Reset all clocks to take off 15 min.: a) have to be done to all 45 some odd clocks; nightmare in an already delayed round; b) leaves G/55 with 15 sec. increment - top section is FIDE rated - don't know if FIDE would accept this time control for rating purposes.

2. Wing it and hope for the best - that games will be played fast enough to not bump up against our hall permit leaving time of 10:45 PM (Hall is to be EMPTY!) - Martin went with this option.

So I think, Jeffrey, there maybe wasn't really any better answer to the potential problem that you and David faced than what Martin did.

Hi Toy:

Informative post - thanks.

I am taking a bye for Rd. 4. So maybe you can sub for me and make an original post of your own - needn't be a blog post - just one of your own interesting posts.

To both of Jeffrey and Toy

- thanks for supplementing the Blog - gives viewers an idea of how the club operates night to night and what problems a club can face on an ordinary evening. Plus it is nice if viewers get some chess educational information.

Bob A

**Francis Rodriguez** · Saturday, 17th November, 2018, 01:23 PM

The SCC President is seriously indisposed - for how long is uncertain,
but the computer glitch would not have occurred under his watch:)
Luckily Martin was available!

:)

Scarborough Chess Club Falling Leaves Swiss (Nov. 1 - Dec. 13) - Blog

Scarborough Chess Club Falling Leaves Swiss (Nov. 1 - Dec. 13) - Blog

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