Annex Chess Club Winter Is Coming Swiss (Nov. 5 - Dec. 10/18) - Blog

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 6th November, 2018, 07:40 AM

Annex Chess Club Winter Is Coming Swiss - Blog

Rd. 1 - 18/11/5

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

[See Part I above]

The Day of Rd. 1

Early Monday Morning

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

I awoke at 4:30 AM ( 5 1/2 hrs. sleep) - 6 hours is now about how long I normally sleep (But during weekend tournaments, I often sleep much less).

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

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

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 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

Charging into Monday Morning

So initially I followed my normal routine until my wife got up.

My wife belongs to an exercise studio about 35 min. walk from our place, so often I walk her there. But it was raining this morning, so I drove her there today. Of course, on our way out the door, our smoke alarm in the basement started beeping somewhat loudly that it needed attention - great timing....had to leave it 'til I got back.

Then I headed for my favourite local coffee shop, The Last Drop, where I stop in for a while on the exercise studio mornings, before going home. I met one person initially from the 7:15 AM shift, and then 2 more of the regulars on the 8:00 AM shift. We chatted about the upcoming USA Mid-term elections, and our own recent election, where our neighbours in Ontario brought in a conservative majority government provincially.

I then went and picked up my wife. Since it was raining, we gave a friend of hers from the studio a ride home, on our way home. We got home about 8:45 AM.

My Mental Health Challenge

As much of the Canadian and international chess community, and others, are aware, I have severe Bi-Polar Disorder (Formerly called Manic Depression). As you may have noticed, thanks to all the various supports in my life, I am quite high functioning......except when I am not! Then it can be a struggle, whether with Depression or Mania. And both can be on a spectrum of severity at any particular phase, from mild to quite severe. Generally I am aware of when I am entering a phase of either.

When we got home, I was aware of myself sliding into a Depression Phase. Though it seemed somewhat mild, it still kills one's motivation to do anything; it becomes very hard even to push oneself to accomplish normal things. So I likely will move pretty slowly today, will take breaks, and will not have high productivity expectations.

Later Morning

Once we got home, I did deal with our beeping smoke alarm.

Though when I am on my own, I follow my 25/35 system between my own time, and my life-task time, when I am working jointly with my wife on life tasks, I divide the time 20 min to myself, with 40 min. doing tasks.

So this morning I did one of my own tasks - getting a date set for coffee with my cousin (We meet about every 6 weeks). For our joint tasks, I prepared the food for "The Crew" and fed them. You may know about the composting method for gardening soil, called Vermiculture?

Wikipedia - Vermiculture is the process of using worms to decompose organic food waste, turning the waste into a nutrient-rich material capable of supplying necessary nutrients to help sustain plant growth. This method is simple, effective, convenient, and noiseless. It saves water, energy, landfills, and helps rebuild the soil.

We have a large plastic storage container in our basement filled with dirt and ...... worms! Red Wigglers! They work on the soil in the container for a few months, and it is improved enough for us to add it to our raised gardens at our hobby farm, Spirits' Den (Southern Georgian Bay area).

Pottery

Another task I dealt with was assisting my wife with her pottery hobby. She also is retired, and belongs to a pottery cooperative that has a workshop within 15 min. drive, and has about 50 members. She just does pottery as an amateur (She is not making her livelihood from it financially, as some of the others are). The coop's big Fall sale is in a few weeks, in mid-November. So I attached cheese knives to her cheese trays, and then packed them up in bubble wrap in one of her transportation containers, to be ready to take to the workshop on Sunday (They transform the workshop into a beautiful retail store for their 2 sales per year).

[See Part III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 6th November, 2018, 07:42 AM

Annex Chess Club Winter Is Coming Swiss - Blog

Rd. 1 - 18/11/5

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

[See Parts I & II above]

The Afternoon

As part of our joint projects as well, we started on some kitchen re-organizing (It had become somewhat of a mess with our being away a lot this summer).

At 12:45 PM we stopped for lunch.

Given that I often sleep short compared to many in the morning night, and that my wife and I are both over 70 y.o., we have found that the European/Latin American practice of a siesta time in mid-afternoon works really well (We usually set the alarm and do not sleep more than 1 hour).

So we both went out between 1:30 - 2:30 PM.

Then back to our 20/40 routine, and we worked most of the time continuing the kitchen re-organizing.

I was somewhat surprised today, that I managed to keep motivated to do the above work....sometimes when depressed, I just have to beg off....but today the phase was somewhat mild.

Heading Out for Rd. 1

At about 5:30 PM, I headed downtown to ACC by car, got there about 6 PM to my local favourite parking spot, and went to my favourite local coffee shop, the Green Beanery, for a coffee and very light dinner (corner of Bloor St. and Bathurst St). At this time, I relax a bit before the game, and update my "Reminder Lists" - I have a medically defective memory, that requires me to keep notes about what I am having to do, otherwise it all just falls below the radar, and some things I will remember, and many I will not.

Around 7:00 PM I walked up to ACC.

Pre-Round 1

I usually get to ACC about 20 min. before the round starts to give me some time to socialize a bit. But tonight, because of the mild depression, I really was not motivated to socialize...so I went and just sat at the edge of the playing hall til the round started.

Round 1

After some announcements about the club moving in a month (Close by on 459 Bloor St. W), the pairings were posted.

After my game, I watched a few of the games still in progress, mostly my section. I like to get my section results before going home, for this blog, though the club gets the results up on ChessResults quite quickly after the round ends. Then I headed home.

The Late Evening

I got home just before midnight, and did a bit of updating on my PEERS Facebook discussion club. Bu I was pretty exhausted and too tired to do this Blog # 1. So I completed and posted it the next day

U 1800 Section Chess Report on Rd. 1 on Monday, Nov. 5, 2018.

My Section – U 1800 Section

I am rated 1574. I am ranked # 7 out of 16 players (In the middle third).

Rating Spread

1600’s – 4
1500’s – 5 (my rating is here)
1400’s – 1
1300’s - 5 (Playing up)
1200’s – 1 (Special Playing up - for even number of players in Rd. 1)

Total - 16

U 1800 Standings After Rd. 1

There were 7 boards in the section (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, withdrawals, suspensions, etc.).

The no. of decisive games was: 6 (I will be providing names for the second round, when the no. of co-leaders will be less)

It is not unusual to see a low no. of draws in the first round of a tournament, since it is the round with the greatest rating disparity between the opponents.

My Round 1 Game

Here is my game, with a few light annotations, to show some of what I was thinking as I played:

[Event "Annex CC Winter Is Coming (U 1800)"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.11.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Armstrong, Robert J."]
[Black "Patton, Mark"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E14"]
[WhiteElo "1574"]
[BlackElo "1204"]
[Annotator "Armstrong, Robert J."]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2018.11.05"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 {Queen's Indian Defence} 4. e3 Bb7 5. Bd3 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 d5 8. b3 c5 9. dxc5 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Bxc5 11. Qe2 Qe7 12. Bb2 Nc6 13. Nb5 Rfd8 14. Nbd4 Nxd4 15. exd4 Bd6 ({There was a trap here if Mark thought he could win a P.} 15... Bxf3 16. Qxf3 Bxd4 17. Bxd4 Rxd4 18. Qxa8+) 16. Rfe1 Bb4 17. Red1 Nd5 18. Rac1 Rac8 19. Bxd5 {Here I was worried about .....Nf4 attacking the Q, and a possible sac with .....Nxg2. The point is that when the K takes the N, my f3N is then pinned. But in the post-mortem, we felt that this was unsound and I was worried about ghosts.} Bxd5 20. Ne5 Qg5 {For some reason, in my analysis, I missed this good move for Mark} 21. f3 {This is an awkward and risky move when under attack; likely just Nf3 was best.} Bd6 {Now I was worried about an attack on h2 once the Q got onto the h-file, and f6 was played, kicking my N and opening up the d6B. I will need engine analysis to see if I again was just seeing ghosts.} 22. g3 Qf5 23. Rf1 Rxc1 24. Bxc1 Rc8 {The ability of this R to penetrate to c2 is quite worrisome.} 25. Nd3 Rc3 26. Nf4 {trying desperately to survive Mark's attack, and not lose material.} Bxf4 27. Bxf4 g5 28. Be3 Qd3 {Mark said he could see no killing move, and so just decided to exchange and play for a draw. I suggested now ....Rc2 was strong, but Mark was not wanting to take the aP, since I had Qb4 and a possible perpetual check, or worse.} 29. Qxd3 Rxd3 30. Bxg5 {I offered a draw, and Mark accepted. I felt I was losing a lot after the early middle game, and felt I had dodged a bullet. Engine analysis later will show if I was as badly off as I thought.} 1/2-1/2

My Score

.5/1 pts. (50%): Draw: 1 (Rd. 1).

My Opponents' & My Scores

.5/1 pts. - Me (1574)
- Mark Patton (1204) - I drew in Rd. 1.

The Other Less Important (!!) Sections:

i) Crown (1800 +) - 10 players; 4 boards

No. of Decisive Games: 4

ii) U 1400 - 14 players; 7 boards

No. of Decisive Games: 5

Full Results

See ChessResults website (Canada): http://chess-results.com/fed.aspx?lan=1&fed=CAN

Invitation

I am most happy to interact with readers re anything about which I have posted.....so react, comment, reply, post, etc. - both favourable comments and constructive criticism....I will do my best to respond to everyone.

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

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 27th November, 2018, 02:45 AM

Annex Chess Club Winter Is Coming Swiss - Blog Rd. 3 - 18/11/26

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 immediately after the template if there are any revisions).

Template Begins

Club

Annex Chess Club, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
(See logo below)
(ACC Website: http://annexchessclub.com/)
(ACC Fb Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/172335039452033/)

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 the national English and French chess discussion boards (Chess Talk; Parlons Echecs), volunteers, subject to demands of his school studies, to translate my blogs into French, and post them to Parlons Echecs, 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 sometimes 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.

Joining Annex CC

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

The Tournament - ACC Winter Is Coming Swiss

This is the 7th regular swiss tournament at ACC in 2018.

It is a 5-round swiss that runs from Nov. 5 - Dec. 10 (ACC closed for Mon., Nov. 12). There are three sections: Crown; U 1800; U 1400. All sections are CFC-rated. Time control is G/90 + 30 sec. (From move 1). Players within 100 pts. of the floor of the section above have the option to play up, and most do.

Notes:

1. The summer format: Crown (1700 +); U 1700 - where there are usually fewer players; right to play up.
2. The Club Championship has only 2 sections (so lower two sections' players get to play some different opponents): Championship (1800+); Reserves (U 1800); 1700’s have option to play up and usually do.
3. For a short time in 2017, Swisses had 4 sections: Master (2200 +); U 2200; U 1800; U 1400. Players within 100 pts. had the option to play up, and most did. It was temporarily shelved because the top two sections each had too few players; it will be reconsidered if the membership grows, and gets stronger.

Tournaments Registration History

2015

2015 Average per tournament: 54 registrations (Based on the last three tournaments of 2015 – highest yearly average since we started keeping records).

2016

Back to the Grind Swiss – 48 registrations (Peak registration for 2016)

2016 Average per tournament: 43 registrations (Down significantly from the prior year - 54).

2017

Peak registrations for 2017:

Club Championship – 60! registrants: Championship (1800+): 20; Reserves (U 1800): 40.
Summer in the City Swiss – 60! registrants: Masters 8; U 2200 – 7; U 1800 – 10; U 1400 – 12.

2017 Average per Tournament – 53 registrants (2nd highest since keeping records here)

2018 (Current)

# 1 – Get the Skates On Swiss – 52 registrants: Crown: 13; U 1800: 19; U 1400: 20.
# 2 – ACC Club Championships – 51 registrants: Championship (1800+): 14; Reserve (Under 1800): 37.
# 3 – Spring Thaw Swiss – 45 registrants: Top: 25; U 1400: 20.
# 4 – Smash Crash Swiss – 42 registrants: Top: 27; U 1400: 15
# 5 – Strawberry Festival Swiss – 45 registrants: Crown: 9; U 1800: 21; U 1400: 15.
# 6 - Changing Leaves Swiss - 59 registrants: Crown: 14; U 1800: 24; U 1400: 21. This is well above the tournament average for the year so far.

2018 Average per Tournament (6 tournaments): 49 registrants (Slightly below the 2017 Average of 53)

End of Template

[See Parts II & III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 27th November, 2018, 02:47 AM

Annex Chess Club Winter Is Coming Swiss - Blog

Rd. 1 - 18/11/5

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

[See Part I above]

# 7 – Winter is Coming Swiss – 50 registrants (So far): Crown: 12; U 1800: 20; U 1400: 18.

The Day of Rd. 3

Early Monday Morning

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

I awoke at 5:30 AM ( 5 1/2 hrs. sleep) - 6 hours is now about how long I normally sleep (But during weekend tournaments, I often sleep much less).

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

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

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...lting-16406543…/. I do this by checking some of my Fb friends timelines for posts to "share" and my Twitter inbox for articles to re-post onto CLC.
5. Update the discussion group formed under my company page, called Canadian Life Consulting Cooperative Supporters' Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/2042495809374373/. I update it by sharing some more discussable of the posts now on the CFC page.
6. Update this Fb world events/life discussion group that I have created here on my own personal Fb account, called PEERS (A Discussion Club of Equals) - Fb URL above. I do this by also sharing some of the CLC page posts. But I also share some of my sources posts directly to this discussion club.
7. I 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.

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

Charging into Monday Morning

So initially I followed my normal routine until my wife got up.

My wife belongs to an exercise studio about 35 min. walk from our place, so often I walk her there. But it was raining this morning, and she had 2 medical appointments, so I drove her there today.

Then I headed for my favourite local coffee shop, The Last Drop, where I stop in for a while on the exercise studio mornings, before going home. One of the 7:00 AM regulars was there and we chatted about the recent General Motors decision to close the Oshawa, Ontario plant.

I then went and picked up my wife. Then it was off to west of Yonge Street for medical appointment # 1. Then back to East Toronto for medical appointment # 2 (a flu shot for her). This tour de force took us over 3 1/2 hrs. from the time we first left the house! We got home about 11:00 AM and decided to have a brunch. Then afterwards, we both felt we needed some time to do our own thing (One of mine being to start this draft Blog # 2 in my generic writing program).

The Afternoon

Given that I often sleep short compared to many in the morning night, and that my wife and I are both over 70 y.o., we have found 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 my wife announced that she was crashing from 12:30 - 1:30 PM. I wasn't yet tired, so I just kept on with my own projects (I didn't feel like doing my 25/35 routine yet).

But by 1:45 PM, I was tired too, and so, as she got up, I crashed – my turn!

I got up at 2:45 PM.

Then my wife called me down to the basement.

As my regular readers know, my wife is an amateur potter. But she does belong to a potters' cooperative which includes a few professional potters, a lot of semi-professionals (It is just a second income for them), and a few amateurs. There are about 50 members. When we renovated our house about 10 years ago, I insisted that half the basement become a decent studio for her hobby. So it has a potter's wheel, a kiln, a large work table, and lots of shelving. So she had been down cleaning up her space, since she recently had not had much time to be down there. And her “reclaim” board (Where unused clay is re-moistened to be able to be used again) had developed a crack. So we had to take it apart, put it in the garbage, and get out of storage her back-up board. It took a bit of time, but the task got done, so she could continue on.

But before that, we had to go do some life organizing – we effectively live in three different places throughout the year, going back and forth, and so we do need to make sure we both have all the same schedule, each other's appointments, etc. We had decided to move going to our hobby farm in the Southern Georgian Bay region back a few days from this weekend to the middle of next week – so we had some appointments that had to be re-scheduled.

By the time we finished that it was time to have our early dinner, and so we prepared it and had some very nice pork chops!

Heading Out for Rd. 3

At about 5:15 PM, I went upstairs to prepare to go to Annex CC. And about 25 min. later, I headed downtown by car; I got there quickly tonight - about 6:05 PM. One of the 4 of my local favourite parking spots was still available! Then I went to my favourite local coffee shop, the Green Beanery, for a coffee and dessert (corner of Bloor St. and Bathurst St). At this time, I relax a bit before the game, and update my "Reminder Lists" - I have a medically defective memory, that requires me to keep notes about what I am having to do, otherwise it all just falls below the radar, and some things I will remember, and many I will not.

Around 7:00 PM I walked up to ACC.

[See Part III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 27th November, 2018, 02:48 AM

Annex Chess Club Winter Is Coming Swiss - Blog

Rd. 1 - 18/11/5

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

[See Parts I & II above]

Pre-Round 3

I usually get to ACC about 20 min. before the round starts to give me some time to socialize a bit. I met Dave Southam (National Master & plays in the Crown section) and we chatted about the current Carlsen/Caruana championship match, and one of the old ones between Karpov and Kasparov (Think it went about 48 games (??) before the FIDE President ended the match, for it to be re-played later). Arkadiy Ugodnikov, also in the Crown Section joined us. Then the topic changed to the fact that both of them were quit smokers, and what caused them to quit. Sergey Malakhovets from the Crown section also joined in the conversation for a short while.

Round 3

After some announcements about the club moving on Saturday (Close by on 459 Bloor St. W), the round was started.

After my game, Charlie Grisar and I analyzed it for a while, with him entering the game on his phone, and his chess analysis engine gave us some insights into some of the positions. I like to get my section results before going home, for this blog, though the club gets the results up on ChessResults quite quickly after the round ends. So after our post-mortem, I got the final scores and then I headed home.

The Late Evening

I got home about a half hour before midnight, and got settled, and then set about completing and posting this Blog # 2.

U 1800 Section Chess Report on Rd. 3 on Monday, Nov. 26, 2018.

My Section – U 1800 Section

I am rated 1574. I am ranked # 9 out of 20 players (In the middle third).

Rating Spread

1600’s – 6
1500’s – 5 (my rating is here)
1400’s – 3
1300’s - 5 (Playing up)
1200’s – 1 (Special Playing up - for even number of players in Rd. 1)

Total - 20

U 1800 Standings After Rd. 3

There were 9 boards in the section (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, withdrawals, suspensions, etc.).

The leaders are:

1st – 3/3 pts. (Won all games) – Michael Saltat (1582)

2nd/3rd – 2.5/3 pts. (Undefeated) – Jr. Boy Chen (Daniel) Sihao (1630); Bharath Ramesh (1608).

My Round 3 Game

Here is my game, with a few light annotations, to show some of what I was thinking as I played:

Grisar,Charlie (1440) - Armstrong,Robert J. (1574) [B27]
Annex CC Winter is Coming (U 1800) (3), 26.11.2018
[Armstrong, Robert J.]

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 c5 Modern Defence 4.Bc4 Qb6 5.c3 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Taking with 6. cxd4 is not possible. I have a b4 check with the Q and will win Charlies c4B. 6...Nc6 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.0–0 e6 9.Qd6 c5 I had not realized that I had made such a hole........I felt it was worth exchange Q's to force Charlie to abandon the square and for me to be able to play d4 to free up my position. 10.Rd1 Qxd6 11.Rxd6 Ke7 12.Rd1 Bb7 Charlie has some develping to do on the Q-side. 13.f3 Nf6 14.Bf4 d5 When I went into this line, I was aware that my cP could become a target by Charlie's dark-squared B, and I'd have to defend with a R. But at this time I thought that would be OK. That judgment comes back to haunt me later. 15.exd5 Nxd5 I probably am making matters worse by now isolating my cP. But taking back with the eP has problems when Charlie could pin my f6N. 16.Bb5 Rhd8 17.Bg5+ f6 18.Bc1 Rac8 I was pretty happy with my position at this point, and felt, as Black, I likely was pretty close to equal (The engine may say I am wrong on this - we'll see). 19.Na3 Charlie knew he had to develop quickly now and join his R's. 19...a6 20.Bc4 Nb6 21.Be3 Now Charlie starts pressuring the weakness 21...Nxc4 22.Nxc4 Bd5 a blunder 23.Nb6 I was unhappy just giving up the cP. So I decided to attack the N. 23...Rc6 I failed to notice a number of things before doing this: 1. I can't capture the N, because of the B x c5+; 2. My B now has no escape square. 24.c4 the deadly move that shows all my weaknesses. 24...Rxb6 25.Bxc5+ Rbd6 26.cxd5 Ke8 27.Bxd6 Rxd6 28.dxe6 Rxe6 I am down the exchange + a P. I felt that it would be almost impossible to draw this ..... but I might as well give it a shot, and see how Charlie plays endings (Which he did pretty well). 29.Re1 Ke7 30.Rxe6+ Kxe6 31.Rd1 f5 32.b3 a5 33.g4 fxg4 34.fxg4 h5 35.g5 Bc3 36.Kf2 Kf5 37.Rd3 Bb4 38.h4 Kg4 39.Rd4+ Kf5 40.Kf3 Ke5 41.Rc4 Kd5 42.Ke3 Be1 43.a3 Bg3 44.Kd3 Be1 45.b4 axb4 46.axb4 Bf2 47.b5 Ke5 48.Rc6 Bxh4 49.b6 Kf5 50.b7 Bg3 This P on the 7th rank is a huge problem - I cannot win it, and eventually the R is going to force a promotion and I'll have to sac the B for the new Q. 51.Rc5+ Ke6 52.Rb5 Bb8 53.Ke4 h4 54.Rb6+ Kf7 55.Rf6+ Kg7 56.Rf3 My hP is lost - if I protect it with the B, Charlie just sacs the exchange and Queen's right away so my lead gP would not get to Queen. I resigned. 1–0

My Score

1/3 pts. (33%): Draw: 1 (Rd. 1); Loss: 1 (Rd. 3); Bye (1/2 pt.): 1 (Rd. 2).

My Opponents' & My Scores

2/3 pts. - Charlie Grisar (1440) – I lost in Rd. 3.
1/3 pts. - Me (1574)
- Mark Patton (1204) - I drew in Rd. 1.

The Other Less Important (!!) Sections:

i) Crown (1800 +) - 12 players; 3 boards

1st/2nd – 2.5/3 pts. (Undefeated) – Michael Humphreys (2329); Josh Guo (2234).

3rd/4th – 2/3 pts. - Jr. Boy Sergey Noritsyn (2301); Sergey Malakhovets (2120).

ii) U 1400 - 18 players; 7 boards

1st – 3/3 pts. (Won all games) – Female player Margarita Lillico (1275)

2nd/3rd – 2.5/3 pts. (Undefeated) – Bill Randle (1222); Zichen (Roger) Zuo (1104).

Full Results

See ChessResults website (Canada): http://chess-results.com/fed.aspx?lan=1&fed=CAN

Invitation

I am most happy to interact with readers re anything about which I have posted.....so react, comment, reply, post, etc. - both favourable comments and constructive criticism....I will do my best to respond to everyone, so long as I am where I have access to the internet.

And if some of the players, or non-players, wish to post something to supplement the blog, you are encouraged to do so.

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

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 4th December, 2018, 02:01 PM

Annex Chess Club Winter Is Coming Swiss - Blog

Rd. 4 - 18/12/3

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 immediately after the template if there are any revisions).

Template Begins

Club

Annex Chess Club, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

(See logo below)
(ACC Website: http://annexchessclub.com/)
(ACC Fb Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/172335039452033/)
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 the national English and French chess discussion boards (Chess Talk; Parlons Echecs), volunteers, subject to demands of his school studies, to translate my blogs into French, and post them to Parlons Echecs, 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 sometimes 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.

Joining Annex CC

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

The Tournament - ACC Winter Is Coming Swiss

This is the 7th regular swiss tournament at ACC in 2018.

It is a 5-round swiss that runs from Nov. 5 - Dec. 10 (ACC closed for Mon., Nov. 12). There are three sections: Crown; U 1800; U 1400. All sections are CFC-rated. Time control is G/90 + 30 sec. (From move 1). Players within 100 pts. of the floor of the section above have the option to play up, and most do.

Notes:

1. The summer format: Crown (1700 +); U 1700 - where there are usually fewer players; right to play up.
2. The Club Championship has only 2 sections (so lower two sections' players get to play some different opponents): Championship (1800+); Reserves (U 1800); 1700’s have option to play up and usually do.
3. For a short time in 2017, Swisses had 4 sections: Master (2200 +); U 2200; U 1800; U 1400. Players within 100 pts. had the option to play up, and most did. It was temporarily shelved because the top two sections each had too few players; it will be reconsidered if the membership grows, and gets stronger.

Tournaments Registration History

2015

2015 Average per tournament: 54 registrations (Based on the last three tournaments of 2015 – highest yearly average since we started keeping records).

2016

Back to the Grind Swiss – 48 registrations (Peak registration for 2016)

2016 Average per tournament: 43 registrations (Down significantly from the prior year - 54).

2017

Peak registrations for 2017:

Club Championship – 60! registrants: Championship (1800+): 20; Reserves (U 1800): 40.

Summer in the City Swiss – 60! registrants: Masters 8; U 2200 – 7; U 1800 – 10; U 1400 – 12.

2017 Average per Tournament – 53 registrants (2nd highest since keeping records here)

2018 (Current)

# 1 – Get the Skates On Swiss – 52 registrants: Crown: 13; U 1800: 19; U 1400: 20.

# 2 – ACC Club Championships – 51 registrants: Championship (1800+): 14; Reserve (Under 1800): 37.

# 3 – Spring Thaw Swiss – 45 registrants: Top: 25; U 1400: 20.

# 4 – Smash Crash Swiss – 42 registrants: Top: 27; U 1400: 15

# 5 – Strawberry Festival Swiss – 45 registrants: Crown: 9; U 1800: 21; U 1400: 15.

# 6 - Changing Leaves Swiss - 59 registrants: Crown: 14; U 1800: 24; U 1400: 21. This is well above the tournament average for the year so far.

2018 Average per Tournament (6 tournaments): 49 registrants (Slightly below the 2017 Average of 53)

End of Template

# 7 – Winter is Coming Swiss – 50 registrants (So far): Crown: 12; U 1800: 20; U 1400: 18.

[See Parts II & III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 4th December, 2018, 02:03 PM

Annex Chess Club Winter Is Coming Swiss - Blog

Rd. 4 - 18/12/3

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

The Day of Rd. 4

The Wee Hours of Monday Morning

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

I awoke at 1:30 AM! ( only 3 hrs. Sleep). Fortunately after 1/2 hr. I got back to sleep. But unfortunately, I then re-awoke after 2 more hrs. Sleep (4:00 AM). This time I knew I was up - 6 hours is now about how long I normally sleep, so 5 hrs. is a bit short (But during weekend tournaments, I often sleep this or even less).

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

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

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...lting-16406543…/. I do this by checking some of my Fb friends timelines for posts to "share", my Fb newsfeed, 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.

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

Charging into Monday Morning

This morning, for some reason, my wife had awakened before 4:00 AM and was up. She was already baking some cookies for her lunch visit with a friend who was coming over today. We both looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and just went on with doing our own thing........at 4:00 AM!

So initially I followed my normal routine. In addition, since I now have a generic writing program (I am in a war with Microsoft about my use of my Office Suite of programs, and am frozen out at the moment), I started the draft for this Blog # 3 on a document (I had been having to wait and do all blogs at night, right on my Fb account).

Later Monday Morning

My wife belongs to an exercise studio about 35 min. walk from our place, so often I walk her there. But it was raining this morning, and so I drove her there today.

I used to then head for my favourite local coffee shop, The Last Drop, where I stopped in for a while on the exercise studio mornings, before going home. But last Thursday, one of the regulars e-mailed me to advise that it had just closed its doors. He was not sure why – whether they were not making enough money, or it was a matter personal to the 4 owners.

There are a set of regulars in the morning who used to go to Last Drop. My friend advised that they had talked on Thursday, and they all decided to move to a bakery cafe on Danforth Ave. now, Patisserie la Cigogne (In English: Stork Pastry). I had checked it out on Sunday – it seemed quite nice, and was very busy on Sunday afternoon. So after dropping my wife off, I headed there.

One of the 7:00 AM Last Drop regulars was there and we chatted about the closing of Last Drop and whether the regulars would all eventually re-appear at the new spot.

I then went and picked up my wife. Then it was off to our South-Asian supermarket for a very quick shop. Then we went to the Potter's Studio near-by, where my wife had to do a bit of work on a few pots that are in process. As my regular readers know, my wife is an amateur potter and belongs to this potters' cooperative (Includes a few professional potters, a lot of semi-professionals [It is just a second income for them], and a few amateurs, like my wife). There are about 50 members.

This tour de force took us over 2 hrs. from the time we first left the house!

At 9:30 AM, I had to take some clean Potter's Studio laundry back to the studio – my wife had washed it all as part of her coop jobs, and had forgotten it earlier. Then I went to the bank, and then sat in the mall for a bit, to update my reminder lists (Didn't get to do it at the pastry shop this morning, since Helen and I spent the whole time talking.

I got home about 11:00 AM and decided to take some time to myself, after helping my wife a bit to prepare for her friend, coming at noon. Part of what I did was to again continue this draft Blog # 3.

[See Part III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 4th December, 2018, 02:04 PM

Annex Chess Club Winter Is Coming Swiss - Blog

Rd. 4 - 18/12/3

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

[See Parts I & II above]

The Afternoon

At 12:00 PM my wife's friend arrived and we all chatted a bit before they began lunch. Then I returned to my routine, with my lunch, though this time on my 25/35 schedule.

During my “work” time I:

called the tenant farmer who uses our barn and fields at our hobby farm in Southern Georgian Bay region to blow out our long laneway through our swamp, so we can get in later this week;
updated our banking records;
paid a few bills;
Dried the dishes in the dish drainer and then washed the lunch dishes
Filed some financial papers

Given that I often sleep short compared to many in the morning night (Like I did today), and that my wife and I are both over 70 y.o., we have found 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, given my sleeping this morning, I tried to crash at 3:00 PM for an hour. But I couldn't fall alseep – but I did just rest, and that did help quite a bit.

When I got up I did some of my own stuff, and then my wife and I chatted for about an hour.

Then she got ready to go to a Christmas Party of one of the groups she belongs to, and I got ready to go to Annex CC.

Heading Out for Rd. 4

At about 5:20 PM I gave her a lift to her party near-by, and then headed downtown by car; I got there quickly tonight - about 6:00 PM. One of the 4 of my local favourite parking spots was still available!

First I went to get a light dinner at a retro kind of restaurant I frequent on Bathurst, south of Bloor.

Then I went to my favourite local coffee shop, the Green Beanery, for a coffee (corner of Bloor St. and Bathurst St). At this time, I relax a bit before the game, and update my "Reminder Lists" - I have a medically defective memory, that requires me to keep notes about what I am having to do, otherwise it all just falls below the radar, and some things I will remember, and many I will not.

Around 7:00 PM I walked over to ACC's new location at 459 Bloor Street West, in the basement (ACC moved on Saturday from the cultural/education center on Bathurst Ave). On the way I met ACC member Ulli Deimer, so we went to the club together.

The next time I play at ACC, which will likely not be until Jan. 14, 2019, I will see if I can find a parking spot closer to the new location – parking around Bloor St. West at Walmer Road is not all that easy.

Pre-Round 4

I usually get to ACC about 20 min. before the round starts to give me some time to socialize a bit.

I met Dave Southam (National Master & plays in the Crown section) and former Scarborough CC member, Bill Evans. We chatted about the tournament in Belgrade, Serbia, that Bill was going to soon.

Then I watched a casual game between Michael Salter (In the lead in our section) and Vinorth Vigneswaramoorthy – there were a number of kibitzers around the table, and we all had a ball criticizing every move!

Round 4

After some announcements, and welcoming members to our new digs in the basement of 459 Bloor St. West, the round was started shortly after 7:30 PM.

After my game, which was among the last ones to finish, I watched the games in my section and the top section that were now into time scrambles.

I like to get my section results before going home, for this blog, though the club gets the results up on ChessResults quite quickly after the round ends. So I usually watch the games that are finishing, until I get our section leaders. When I get the final scores, I head home.

The Wee Hours of Tuesday Morning

I got home about midnight, and got a surprise – a mutual friend who had been at the same party as my wife, had sent me a wonderful piece of carrot cake as a midnight snack. I took it to my office and started updating my Fb Project. It was delicious! But then I was too tired, given my sleep today (Or lack thereof), and had to put off completing and posting this Blog # 3 until later in the day.

U 1800 Section Chess Report on Rd. 4 on Monday, Dec. 3, 2018.

My Section – U 1800 Section

I am rated 1574. I am ranked # 9 out of 20 players (In the middle third).

Rating Spread

1600’s – 6
1500’s – 5 (my rating is here)
1400’s – 3
1300’s - 5 (Playing up)
1200’s – 1 (Special Playing up - for even number of players in Rd. 1)

Total - 20

U 1800 Standings After Rd. 4

There were 6 boards in the section (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, withdrawals, suspensions, etc.).

The leaders are:

1^st – 3.5/4 pts. (Undefeated) – Jr. Boy Chen (Daniel) Sihao (1630).

2^nd/4^th – 3/4 pts. – Bharath Ramesh (1608); Michael Saltat (1582); Charlie Grisar (1440).

My Round 4 Game

My lower-rated opponent, Evgeny Kalmanson, played a very solid, classical game against me, and likely may have been able to draw the K & P ending had he not been in such severe time trouble.

Here is my game, with a few light annotations, to show some of what I was thinking as I played (No analysis engine yet):

Armstrong,Robert J. (1574) - Kalmanson,Evgeny (1365) [D06]

Annex CC Winter is Coming (U 1800) (4), 03.12.2018

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Bf5 4.c4 e6 5.Bd3 Bxd3 6.Qxd3 Nc6 7.a3 I thought it best to prohibit either the N or the B from coming to b4. 7...dxc4 8.Qxc4 Qd5 Evgeny is trying to simplify, given he is lower-rated - maybe not a bad strategy to try to get me to trade off my strongest piece. 9.Qe2 I want to have my Q to play with, since I am supposed to be stronger. 9...Ne4 10.0–0 Bd6 11.Nbd2 a6 12.Nxe4 Qxe4 13.b4 Trying for a space advantage on the Q-side 13...0–0 14.Bb2 e5 15.Rad1 exd4 16.Bxd4 Nxd4 17.Rxd4 Qe7 18.Rfd1 Classically doubling my R's on the open d-file 18...a5 19.bxa5 Rxa5 20.a4 Rfa8 21.Qc2 h6 22.Rb1 b6 23.Rb5 Rxb5 24.axb5 I felt my bP was less vulnerable to a successful attack on this square 24...Ra1+ 25.Rd1 Rxd1+ 26.Qxd1 Qf6 27.g3 time to avoid any back-rank mate problems 27...Qf5 28.Nd4 My N is quite well situated now in the centre of the board, and protecting my bP. 28...Qc5 29.Qg4 Qg5 30.Qd7 Qe7 31.Qc8+ Qf8 32.Qg4 Qd8 33.Nf5 Threatening mate 33...Qf6 34.Nxd6 I could never win with Evgeny's B protecting his backward cP. 34...Qxd6 35.Qc8+ Kh7 36.Qe8 Qe6 I felt this was an inaccuracy.....I thought I would win the ending - he had a backward cP and I had a 2 to 1 majority in the centre. 37.Qxe6 fxe6 38.f4 g5 39.Kf2 g4 40.e4 Kg6 41.Ke3 Kf6 42.Kd4 h5 43.Kc4 At this point, I was no longer sure whether Evgeny could draw or not. But he had 1 min. left, and I had 40 min. Pretty severe time pressure on Evgeny for a K & P ending, which can be complicated. 43...Ke7 44.Kd3 Kd7 45.e5 Ke7 46.Ke4 Kd7 47.f5 finally the break-through with my 2 against 1 centre 47...exf5+ 48.Kxf5 c5 49.bxc6+ Kxc6 50.Kf6 Evgeny cannot stop my queening, and his passed P is too slow. Evgeny resigned. 1–0

My Score

2/4 pts. (50%): Win: 1 (Rd. 4); Draw: 1 (Rd. 1); Loss: 1 (Rd. 3); Bye (1/2 pt.): 1 (Rd. 2).

My Opponents' & My Scores

3/4 pts. - Charlie Grisar (1440) – I lost in Rd. 3.

2/4 pts. - Me (1574)
- Mark Patton (1204) - I drew in Rd. 1.

0/4 pts. - Evgeny Kalmanson (1365) – I won in Rd. 4.

The Other Less Important (!!) Sections:

i) Crown (1800 +) - 14 players; 5 boards

1^st – 3.5/4 pts. (Undefeated) – Michael Humphreys (2329).

2^nd – 3/4 pts. (Undefeated) - Josh Guo (2234).

ii) U 1400 - 18 players; 5 boards

1^st – 3.5/4 pts. (Undefeated) – Bill Randle (1222);

2^nd/3^rd – 3/4 pts. – Female player Margarita Lillico (1275); Zichen (Roger) Zuo (1104).

Full Results

See ChessResults website (Canada): http://chess-results.com/fed.aspx?lan=1&fed=CAN

Invitation

I am most happy to interact with readers re anything about which I have posted.....so react, comment, reply, post, etc. - both favourable comments and constructive criticism....I will do my best to respond to everyone, so long as I am where I have access to the internet.

And if some of the players, or non-players, wish to post something to supplement the blog, you are encouraged to do so.

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

Bob A

Annex Chess Club Winter Is Coming Swiss (Nov. 5 - Dec. 10/18) - Blog

Annex Chess Club Winter Is Coming Swiss (Nov. 5 - Dec. 10/18) - Blog

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