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

[Bob Armstrong]

We have a president that can do EVERYTHING! Yea, Omar!

[Bob Armstrong]

Scarborough Chess Club Falling Leaves Swiss - Blog

Rd. 5 - 18/11/29 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 4 [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 Canadian national chess discussion boards owned by Henry Lam (English: Chess Talk; French: Parlons Echecs), volunteers, subject to demands of his school studies, to translate my blogs into French, and post them to Parlons Echecs. 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) - 112 (So far) (1800+ - 17; U 1800 - 51; U 1400 Jrs. - 20; U 1000 Jrs. - 24)


[See Parts II & III below]

Bob A

[Bob Armstrong]

Scarborough Chess Club Falling Leaves Swiss - Blog

Rd. 5 - 18/11/29 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 4 [Part II of 3 Parts]

[See Part I above]

The Day of Rd. 5 - 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 6:00 AM, before the alarm. I got 6 hrs. sleep which is now normal for me. I used to sleep, when a bit younger, between 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 hrs per night; during weekend tournaments, however, I often sleep much less than normal.

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.


My 25/35 System

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.

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. But this morning she had a hair appointment downtown so she was intending to have me drive her over to the studio later, and then from there she'd go to her appointment by TTC. But she forgot I had advised her I had a coffee visit planned with a friend of mine, Daryll, for an hour or two at my favourite local coffee shop for 8:00 AM. So we worked it out that I'd walk over to meet my friend (It is about 10 min. away). Then she could drive herself to the studio, then drive back home, and then go downtown by TTC.

I often stop in for a while at the Last Drop on the way walking back after leaving my wife at her studio, when the morning exercises are on our agenda. This is where Daryll and I met initially. We chatted for about an hour and a half about the emerging role of China in world affairs, both our educational sagas, his daughter's educational path and subsequent career, etc. The time flew by.

I then walked home and got there about 10:00 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 I described above. It is the 20/40 system - I take my own time for 20 min., and then work for 40 min.

So this morning during " my" first 20 min., and thereafter, I continued this draft blog, and did some of my routine things on my Fb Project.

On my “work” times, I

1. got the waste out for the garbage people;

2. emptied the dish drying rack and prepared the kitchen for our regular neighbours' coffee club at our place in the afternoon (These are a neighbour couple a few doors down, and an older widower across the street, who watch our house for us when we are living elsewhere; we meet every 3-4 weeks for coffee and cookies and just shoot the sh*t for 1-2 hrs. about everything.)

3. packed my wife's pottery which was all over the house! Those who have read my blogs before know that my wife, as a hobby, is an amateur potter. She belongs to a 50 member cooperative workshop (some professionals, mostly semi-professionals, and a few amateurs, like my wife). The workshop had their annual Fall/Pre-Christmas sale from Nov. 15-18. We were out of town from during the sale 'til Nov. 23, and so last weekend we had to go pick up her inventory of pottery that had not been sold.......and it was unpacked so she could record her sales.....all over the house. So it all had to then be re-packed up afterwards in her large plastic storage containers to take to our hobby farm up in the southern Georgian Bay region (We have no storage space in our small Toronto semi-detached home).

4. fed “the Crew” - for readers of my blog, they know about our year round composting project in “vermiculture”. Here is Wikipedia on this:

Vermicompost is the product of the composting process using various species of worms, usually red wigglers, white worms, and other earthworms, to create a mixture of decomposing vegetable or food waste, bedding materials, and vermicast. Vermicast is the end-product of the breakdown of organic matter by earthworms. Wikipedia

So we have red wigglers in the basement in clay soil in a large plastic container who we call the “crew”. I chop up meal scraps and feed the worms once per week. At the end we have some nice composted soil to help regenerate the normal soil a bit in our raised vegetable gardens at our hobby farm.

5. Arranged a business appointment for my wife for tomorrow, since she was downtown this morning.

6. Provided some information by phone to my Bi-Polar Disorder psychiatrist.

7. Swept the livingroom, diningroom & kitchen before our company arrived, and generally straightened.

[See Part III below]

Bob A

[Bob Armstrong]

Scarborough Chess Club Falling Leaves Swiss - Blog

Rd. 5 - 18/11/29 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 4 [Part III of 3 Parts]

[See Parts I & II above]

Afternoon

My wife got home at 1:00 PM. She advised that in the morning, she had decided not to go to "Curves" - the day was too busy, and she wanted to do a bit of house straightening.

So we had some lunch, and then did some final preparation for the coffee club @ 2:30 PM.

At 2:30 our coffee club friends, with the addition of the husband's brother (And his little dog, Cuba) who was visiting, arrived. We chatted about the neighbourhood, pets, kids names, and other earth-shattering stuff. They all left a bit after 4:30 PM.

During the coffee club, our almost 3 yrs. old granddaughter from Montreal, Quebec, called us on the phone to say “Hi” (We would usually skype with her for half and hour, but today they just called since they knew we had company). But her attention span is less on the phone than skype......after saying “Hi” to me, she had to go be a doctor to fix her dolls who were sick! End of phone call! LOL

I then helped clean up, and then played personal secretary to my wife by e-mailing a recipe to one of her friends.......she has not used the laptop for some time, since she got her tablet, and was not sure how to locate the recipe in the filed documents on her tablet.


Heading Out for Rd. 5.

I then prepared my stuff for the SCC Display Table (I do this as a member volunteer job). I had printed out the Rd. 4 Standings for each of the 4 sections a few days ago, so I could put them out on the table. Then I headed out by car for SCC about 5:20 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.

But tonight about 6:15 PM, my chess friend from the club, Warren McKelvie, showed up and joined me. We had gotten together a few times a while ago before going to the club. But tonight he was there to meet our Vice-President, Maurice Smith, since Maurice's computer had a virus, and he receives the bye requests. Maurice arrived and he and Warren (On our pairings committee) huddled over Warren's laptop and got the data in to allow for doing the evening's pairings.

Maurice left and Warren and I chatted a bit about the current absence of our President for an indefinite period at this point, and what the club exec. was doing to deal with it.

Then around 7:00 PM we drove to SCC (About 5 min. away).


Pre-Round 5

I got in and set up the display table and put out all the flyers, standings sheets, etc.

I then chatted about the standings a bit with club veteran Jim Paterson;– he and I were part of a 4-way tie for first in our U 1800 section......this was new for us, since neither of us have been playing that well since September. Then I chatted with Toy Kwan and Alexander Mates (Our section) about the recent World Chess Championship, and a few other things.

Then the pairings went up, and Maurice got the round started.


Round 5

Jim and I got paired – we've been playing each other for about 30 years, and likely our score is about even over all. We played a most boring classical game and finished in less than 45 min., with lots of pieces off the board, and into an ending quickly, which we decided was a draw (But see my comments below re Jim's draw offer).

Since we finished so early, I watched mainly the games in our section and the top section. Tonight the top boards in all sections finished early, and I was able to head for home shortly after 10:00 PM.


The Later Evening

My wife had visited with a friend at our place that night, and when I arrived she was on the phone with her sister who lives up where we have our hobby farm. After they finished, my wife and I chatted about everything and nothing for about an hour.

Then I went to work to try to finish this Blog # 4 before I got too tired. I did a bit, but then tired and so had to finish it and post it on Friday.


My U 1800 Section Report - Rd. 5 - Thursday, Nov. 29/18.

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 (51 players).

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


Post-Rd. 5 - U 1800 - Leaders

There are 51 players; there were 18 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 Edward Xiao (1554).

2nd/6th - 4/5 pts. - Jr. Boy Ronan Uthayakumar (1699); Jr. Boy Harry Liu (1699); Me (1574); Jim Paterson (1505); Jr. Boy Richard Huang (1466).


My Round 5 Game

Warning: This game is verrrrry boring!
Plus: See my annotation on the agreed draw.

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:


Armstrong,Robert J. (1574) - Paterson,Jim (1505) [D40]
Scarborough CC Falling Leaves (U 1800) (5), 29.11.2018
[Armstrong, Robert J.]

1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 d5 4.e3 c5 I believe this is a standard opening (Transposed a bit), but I do not know what it is called. 5.Nc3 cxd4 6.exd4 I prefer to play with the isolated dP. 6...Nc6 7.a3 I'm hoping I might be able to get a space advantage on the Q-side. 7...dxc4 Jim gives me the isolated centre pawn 8.Bxc4 Be7 9.b4 a6 Jim is going to lock up the Q-side. 10.Bb2 b5 11.Ba2 This keeps pressure on the e6P (Sometimes there are good sacs here, and on f7 for a K-side attack. 11...Bb7 12.d5 exd5 13.Nxd5 0–0 14.0–0 Nxd5 15.Qxd5 Bf6 16.Qb3 Bxb2 17.Qxb2 Ne7 18.Rad1 Qc7 19.Ne5 I'm trying to penetrate into Jim's 7th rank - always good for W if it can be accomplished. 19...Ng6 20.Rd7 Qxe5 21.Qxe5 Nxe5 22.Rxb7 At this point, I was somewhat lazy on analyzing, perhaps because I thought it looked drawish now - so I didn't really do the hard calculation on how I might expect to win the ending. 22...Rfb8 Jim offered a draw. I thought about it somewhat cursorily and agreed. BUT later in the evening, when thinking about the final position, I realized that even with Jim wanting to exchange one pair of R's, I still could have a R on the 7th rank; and I'd still have the pressure on his f7P; and I can kick the N with f4 whenever I want; and I had no chance of losing (Barring a blunder). Soooo......I should have played on to see if I was right........and if not, then I could offer Jim a draw at that point. Oh well, it is not, by far, the worst judgment I've made in chess! LOL ½–½


My Score

4/5 pts. - Wins: 3 (Rds. 1, 2 & 3); Draw: 1 (Rd. 5); Bye: 1 (1/2 pt. - Rd. 4)


My Opponents' & My Scores

4/5 pts. - Jr. Boy Ronan Uthayakumar (1699) - I won in Rd. 3.
- Me (1574)

2.5/5 pts. - Jr. Boy Luka Granic (1359) - I won in Rd. 2.

1/5 pts. - Carl Veecock (1066) - I won in Rd. 1.


The Less Important (!!) Sections: Leaders

i) 1800+ - 17 players; 6 boards.

1st - 4/5 pts. (Undefeated) - National Master Dave Southam (2130 - former club champion).

2nd - 3.5/5 pts. (Undefeated) - Jr. Boy Benjamin Lin (2091).

3rd/8th - Jr. Boy Jeffrey Xu (2269); Jr. Boy Nameer Issani (2175 - former club champion); Jr. Boy Sean Lei (2161); Jr. Boy Youhe Huang (1959); Jr. Boy Fengxi Mao (1922); Jr. Boy Raymond Gao (1921).


ii) U 1400 Juniors - 24 players; 7 boards.

1st 2nd - 4/5 pts. - James Qiu (1258); Ivan Huang (1000 - Undefeated).

3rd/5th - 3.5/3 pts. - Ben (Gabriel) Smolkin (1226); Jett Lai (1120); Collin Wang (1056).



iii) U 1000 Juniors - 24 players; 9 boards

1st – 4.5/5 pts. (Undefeated) – Aryan Sethi (764);

2nd/3rd - 4/5 pts. - Girl Player Mathusha Jeyakumar (880); Andy Huang (741).


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).

Also, if any SCC member, or other reader, wishes to add in a supplementary post on their own game, or as a comment, please feel free to supplement my blog.

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

Bob A

[Toy Chack Kwan]

my supplement to Bob's rd 5 blog,

I played Ronan Uthayakumar (now in the lead with Bob) in this round and lost an equal game after suffering a moment of fancy...

I was Black and playing an accelerated dragon, reached this position after 18.Qxe5:



instead of equalizing with the simple ...Qb4, I decided to go on an adventure with ...Ng4?! instead, and a couple moves later blundered my Rook and the game

oh well, 'once more unto the breach' Thursday...





...

[Bob Armstrong]

Hi Toy:

Thanks for supplementing the blog -

You mentioned something about Ronan and I and the lead.....just to clarify, there is a sole leader after 5 rounds - Jr. Boy Edward Xiao (4.5 pts.). Ronan and I are in a 5-way tie for second (4 pts.).

Bob A

P.S. I will not be blogging Rd. 6 this week, since I am taking a bye. But I invite any SCC member to post here whatever they might like about Rd. 6. It needn't be a long post/blog - just a few sentences will do.

[Bob Armstrong]

[Bob Armstrong]

Scarborough Chess Club Falling Leaves Swiss - Blog

Rd. 7 (Final) - 18/12/13(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. 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/…/chesstalk-canada-s-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 Canadian national chess discussion boards owned by Henry Lam (English: Chess Talk; French: Parlons Echecs), volunteers, subject to demands of his school studies, to translate my blogs into French, and post them to Parlons Echecs. 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).

# 2 - Falling Leaves Swiss (2nd tournament of the season) - 112 (1800+ - 16; U 1800 - 51; U 1400 Jrs. - 20; U 1000 Jrs. - 25)

End of Template

Season Average Registration (for 2 tournaments): 118. Just slightly below the 2017-8 Season Average of 122.

[See Parts II & III below]

Bob A

[Bob Armstrong]

Scarborough Chess Club Falling Leaves Swiss - Blog

Rd. 7 (Final) - 18/12/13(Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 5 [Part II of 3 parts]

[See Part I above]

The Day of Rd. 7 - The Early Morning

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

I woke up at 6:00 AM, before the alarm. I got 5 hrs. sleep which is now a bit short for me (My normal sleep is now about 6 hrs.). During weekend tournaments, however, I often sleep this or even 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-Life-Consulting-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.

My 25/35 System

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.





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

A Work Morning

Although the above describes my usual morning, today was unusual.

I did get my breakfast to eat at my computer, since my wife was sleeping in 'til 7:30 AM.

But she had a business meeting this afternoon, and I keep all our financial records. So after dealing with a few e-mails from friends, I had to start hunting in files for documents needed at the meeting, and prepare a file for the meeting for my wife. I stayed at this 'til 7:30 AM when she got up, and announced she was going back to bed!

I showered and dressed and at 8:30 AM, I had to head out for my annual full physical with my personal physician (I am diabetic). On the way I dropped into a coffee shop since I was early. After he saw me, it was then off to get a blood test, and an electro-cardiogram. Then off to a different lab to get an imaging of my lungs. I finally got home about noon, and my wife and I chatted for about half an hour.

Afternoon

At 12:30 PM I went back to preparing the file for my wife's business meeting. We then had lunch, and headed out for the meeting – It was for 1:45 PM. It lasted 'til about 3:00 PM.

Then my wife had to go to her bank to deal with an issue that had arisen, and I drove her there.

After that came the “redosiers dogwood branches” project. During Christmas season, a popular decoration is the red branch dogwood. We own a hobby farm in the Southern Georgian Bay area, and on it we have many, many dogwoods growing.............so over the years, the list of those to whom my wife is giving branches has grown. We were living at the farm for a week up to yesterday, and we brought back red branches. So the first batch went to my wife's exercise studio for the owner and other members. Then we drove to the house of one of the women in my wife's neighbourhood women's group. We left a bunch on her porch, for members of that group to come and pick up.

We got home about 4:30 PM.

[See Part III below]

Bob A

[Bob Armstrong]

Scarborough Chess Club Falling Leaves Swiss - Blog

Rd. 7 (Final) - 18/12/13(Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 5 [Part III of 3 parts]

[See Parts I & II above]

Heading Out for Rd. 7.

I then prepared my stuff for the SCC Display Table (I do this as a member volunteer job) – I printed out and highlighted the post-Rd. 6 cross-tables, and prepared my Display Table file to bring. Then I had a bit of time to start the draft of this Blog # 5.

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 around 7:00 PM I drove to SCC (About 5 min. away).

Pre-Round 7

I got in and set up the display table and put out all the flyers, standings sheets, etc.

I then chatted about the standings a bit with club veteran Jim Paterson – he and I were part of a 4-way tie for first in our U 1800 section......as I had done two weeks ago. He was now in a 3-way tie for first place (Not too shaby, given he is 80 years old in March/19!!). Then I chatted with Toy Kwan and Alexander Mates (Our section) about the upcoming Hart House Holidays Open Chess Championship starting tomorrow night (Friday). Then the pairings went up, and Maurice, VP and acting President for the moment, got the round started.

A nice gesture that Maurice introduced years ago was to bring baking done by his wife on the last meeting of the year, to have for a holidays party – free tarts, cake, hot chocolate and coffee!

Round 7

I played Junior boy Edward Xiao, who was tied with me for 4^th/6^th. Edward defeated me the last time we played; I am only slightly higher rated than him now.

When we finished, I watched mainly the games in our section and the top section. The second board in our section was the last game to finish, and the winner ended up in a tie for 1^st/2^nd.

Then I headed home.

The Later Evening

My wife had visited with a friend at our place that night, and when I arrived she was finishing up the cooking they had done.

So I went to work to finish and post this Blog # 5 before I got too tired.

My U 1800 Section Report - Rd. 7 - Thursday, Dec. 13/18.

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 (51 players).

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

U 1800 Winners (Post Rd. 7)

There are 51 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 winners are:

1^st/2^nd - 6/7 pts. - Jr. Boy Ronan Uthayakumar (1699); Jim Paterson (1505 – Undefeated).

3^rd/6^th – 5/7 pts. - Jr. Boy Harry Liu (1699); Me (1574 - Undefeated); Jr. Boy Edward Xiao (1554); Toy Kwan (1526).

My Round 7 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:

Xiao,Edward (1554) - Armstrong,Robert J. (1574) [A80]




Scarborough CC Falling Leaves (U 1800) (7), 13.12.2018

[Armstrong, Robert J.]




1.d4 f5 Dutch Defence 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e6 4.Nf3 Ne4 5.Qc2 Bb4 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 0–0 8.Bf4 d6 9.e3 b6 10.d5 Bb7 I'll sac the eP temporarily (I believe I can win it back at any time) in order to keep a minor in the centre - a great outpost for either my N or B 11.Rd1 Nd7 the N on c4 will not be moveable; but I totally failed to see that I will stay down a P when Edward now wins my fP, by kicking my e4N - this was not a planned P-sac. 12.dxe6 Edward goes up a P 12...Ndc5 13.Nd4 Qe8 14.f3 Nf6 15.e7 Qxe7 16.Nxf5 Edward stays up a P 16...Qf7 17.Bg3 Rae8 pinning the eP and developing 18.Bd3 Nxd3+ 19.Qxd3 Nd7 20.Bxd6 Interesting exchange of B + N for R + P; may be adventageous to Edward being already up a P. It will give him R + 2P's vs B + N 20...Qxf5 21.Bxf8 Qxd3 22.Rxd3 Nxf8 it helpfully keeps the R off d7 and penetrating 23.Kf2 Unpinning the passed eP 23...c5 to keep the R off d4 and protecting the advanced doubled cP. 24.Rb1 Ba6 25.Rd6 Edward had 16 min. left, and I had 48 min.. Edward offered a draw. I would be undefeated this tourn., and finish 3rd/6th if I accepted. I was worried about his R penetrating to the 7th rank via the c-file. So I accepted. ½–½




My Score

5/7 pts. - Wins: 3 (Rds. 1, 2 & 3); Draws: 1 (Rd. 5 & 7); Byes (1/2 pt): 2 ( Rds. 4 & 6) – undefeated.

My Opponents' & My Scores

6/7 pts. - Jr. Boy Ronan Uthayakumar (1699) - I won in Rd. 3 - he ended up tied 1^st/2^nd .

- Jim Paterson (1505) – I drew in Rd. 5 – he ended up tied 1^st/2^nd .

5/7 pts. - Me (1574) – I tied 3^rd/6^th .

- Jr. Boy Edward Xiao (1554) – I drew in Rd. 7 – he tied 3^rd/6^th .

3/7 pts. - Jr. Boy Luka Granic (1359) - I won in Rd. 2.

2/7 pts. - Carl Veecock (1066) - I won in Rd. 1.

The Less Important (!!) Sections: Winners

i) 1800+ - 16 players; 6 boards.

1^st/2^nd – 5/7 pts. - National Master Dave Southam (2130 - former club champion); Jr. Boy Raymond Gao (1921).

3^rd – 4.5/7 pts. - Jr. Boy Fengxi Mao (1922);

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

1^st - 6/7 pts. - Ivan Huang (1000 - Undefeated).

2^nd/4^th - 4.5/7 pts. - James Qiu (1258); Ben (Gabriel) Smolkin (1226); Jett Lai (1120).

iii) U 1000 Juniors - 25 players; 8 boards

1^st/3^rd – 5.5/7 pts. – Kaison Wang (977); Aryan Sethi (764); Brahith Pavanantharajah (668).

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).

Also, if any SCC member, or other reader, wishes to add in a supplementary post on their own game, or as a comment, please feel free to supplement my blog.

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

Thanks

Thanks to all those who read the blogs, and participated in any way – over the first 4 Blogs/Responses, after 3 days being posted, there was an average of 72 views per Blog/Responses. This interest encourages me to continue blogging!

Bob A

[Toy Chack Kwan]

catching up in my last week's rd 6 game,
I was White in a French when on move 5, my opponent played the whimsical ...f5 (he later said that he thought he could plant his N on e4)




but after 6.exd5 exd5 7.Bb5 Bd7 8.0-0 Nf6 9.Re1+ he resigned after 7 more moves;
it was my shortest game ever...




this week's rd 7 game had me playing another French as Black this time, with my opponent trying to push me off the board with an aggressive with 4.e5 5.f4 and then a later g4...
I managed to hold the position and eventually, we reached 20.Rc1 Nc4...





rather than moving the R (again) to b1, he played 21.Bf4, I gained the advantage with Rf8 and eventually grounded out a win (and was also 1 of the last to finish);

I ended up with 5 points, and as Bob noted, we tied for 3rd-6th;

nice to finish the year on a positive note...hope springs eternal for '19...

TC