2020 Canadian Open

[Bob Armstrong]

I prefer one-section Canadian Opens IF, when entry is over 250, double accelerated pairings are used (Hugh Brodie has raised elsewhere his preference for this over section Canadian Opens). The 2019 Can. Open in Regina, Saskatchewan is in sections.

Where registration is between 150 - 249 - single accelerated pairings should be used.

There seem to be to fairly strong sentiments in Canada about accelerated pairings for large tournaments - some for; some against.

What do CT members think about my proposal - fire away if it upsets you!!

Questions

1 Can anyone advise how low a playing field is required, for double accelerated pairings to work well? Is 150 players in a 9 round tournament OK for "double accelerated pairings", or do they distort the pairings more than required? I think the double-accelerated generally is very helpful to force the top players to play each other in determining the final winner.

2. 2020 Bidder - Does anyone know if a bid has yet been submitted for the 2020 Can. Open (Or submitted and accepted)?

3. The problem, of course, is convincing the organizer/bidders for the 2020 Can. Open to adopt this position in their bid. Will the eventual 2020 bidder, when they come out of the bush, ask we plebs for some input into their draft bid??

Bob A

Addition from below:

Re Q 2 above - from Egis Zeromskis of Aurora CC in Region of York - arbiter - "There was a bid from Mississauga (see the annual meeting at the CFC forum)."

[Bob Armstrong]

Gary Hua Comment in another thread on this issue (18/11/25)

"I think it is a good idea to have a ONE section to starve off sand baggers

Announce the class prizes based on the actual entries received when the tournament begins. That way, nobody can try to sand bag to win their class prizes or the sections.

Double accelerated pairings is a very good idea."

[Bob Armstrong]

Roger Patterson Comment in another thread on this issue (18/11/25):

"Having one section does nothing about sandbaggers if there are class prizes. You may want to rethink your logic.

Personally, I much prefer sections to avoid excessive rating differences between my opponents."

[Roger Patterson]

I prefer one-section Canadian Opens IF, when entry is over 250, double accelerated pairings are used (Hugh Brodie has raised elsewhere his preference for this over section Canadian Opens). The 2019 Can. Open in Regina, Saskatchewan is in sections.

Where registration is between 150 - 249 - single accelerated pairings should be used.

There seem to be to fairly strong sentiments in Canada about accelerated pairings for large tournaments - some for; some against.


Bob A

The strong sentiments arise from past events where accelerated pairing were incorrectly implemented resulted in bizarre pairings.

An example of incorrectly implemented accelerated pairings would be "single accelerated pairings" by which I take it you mean one round of accelerated pairings. THIS DOES NOT WORK. You must have at least two rounds of accelerated pairings to achieve anything logical.

[Hugh Brodie]

If I recall correctly - the 2009 Canadain Open (Edmonton - 203 players - one section) used accelerated parings for the first four rounds.

[Bob Armstrong]

Hugh: I think you are right on the 2009 Can. Op (Edmonton) - I played in it.

As I recollect, it ran quite smoothly.

If someone can provide the link to the CFC cross-table, we could figure out how many of the top players had to face each other on the top boards in the closing rounds - this is the advantage of acceleration in a big field - the top player does not just beat up on lower ranked players for 8 rounds, and then play one other top player for all the marbles in the last round.

Bob A

[Hugh Brodie]

Hugh: I think you are right on the 2009 Can. Op (Edmonton) - I played in it.

As I recollect, it ran quite smoothly.

If someone can provide the link to the CFC cross-table, we could figure out how many of the top players had to face each other on the top boards in the closing rounds - this is the advantage of acceleration in a big field - the top player does not just beat up on lower ranked players for 8 rounds, and then play one other top player for all the marbles in the last round.

Bob A

http://www.chess.ca/crosstable?tourn...037baca5de6e26

[Bob Armstrong]

2009 Can. Open (Edmonton) - 1 section

- it is believed accelerated pairings were used for the first four rounds (??). Vlad Rekhson was the organizer, and he is a member of CT - could he confirm that Hugh Brodie's recollection on this is correct? Or can someone else involved with this Can. Op.?

Here is the analysis of opponents of the top 8 finishers:

Tied 1st/2nd - 7.5/9 pts.

GM Mark Bluvshtein - played 5 of the 15 top finishers.
IM Edward Porper - played 4 of the top 15

Tied 3rd/8th - 7/9 pts.

GM Alexei Shirov - played 6 of the top 15 finishers
GM Michael Adams - played 4 of the top 15
GM Eugene Perelshteyn - played 3 of the top 15
IM Jonathan Tayar - played 3 of the top 15
WGM Irina Krush - played 2 of the top 15
FM John (Jack) Yoos - played none of the top 15.

The number of strong players played by the top 4 finishers would seem to indicate to me that accelerated pairings were indeed used - ordinary swiss pairings, even in a 9 round tournament, would not see so many strong player clashes at the top in a field of 203. But I have not done pairings in tournaments, and so could someone who has advise if my observation is sound?

Question: Would looking at the score ranking of the opponents of the top 8 players in the first four rounds provide evidence of multiple accelerated pairings use - that the first four opponents finished much higher than would be expected of early opponents in normal pairings?

Bob A

P.S. Thanks for the link, Hugh.

[Victor Plotkin]

I played in Edmonton in 2009 and, as far as I remember, they did not use accelerated pairings. Accelerated pairings were used in Canadian Open-2007 in Ottawa.

Generally, I am against one section big event and usually try to avoid it, unless it's a very strong event with the average rating above 2300 FIDE, like Gibraltar.

[Bob Armstrong]

Hi Victor:

I played in the 2007 Can. Open (Ottawa). Was Jonathan Berry the arbiter using the accelerated pairings (I recollect you are right about accelerated pairings being used there)?

I remember that there were great problems with Jonathan using accelerated. At the time, I could not figure out whether it was the accelerated system that was difficult to use, or whether it was just that Jonathan was not familiar enough with them, and got into trouble. I think I remember some rounds starting very late due to whatever the pairings problems were.

I believe Gord Ritchie may remember what happened there.

Bob A

[Victor Plotkin]

Yes, Berry was the arbiter and at the end, he was forced to do the pairings manually, which was not easy with a huge field, about 300 players. He tried to use "double-acceleration", with 3 groups of players for first 5 or 6 rounds.

Canadian Open-2007 was probably the strongest and the best CO I have ever played.

[Steve Douglas]

I played in Edmonton in 2009 and, as far as I remember, they did not use accelerated pairings.

A quick glance at the cross-table for the 2009 Canadian Open indicates they did not use acceleration. There were 203 players with Alexei Shirov ranked the highest. In the first round he played a player ranked around 101st, and in the second round a player initially ranked around 50th.

Steve

[Bob Armstrong]

It seems we now have agreement on the use of accelerated (In fact, double accelerated) pairings in the 2007 Can. Open (Ottawa), but no acceleration in the 2009 Can. Open (Winnipeg).

So far:

- single accelerated pairings/double accelerated for somewhat large one-section swisses: Yes - Bob Armstrong
- in favour of double acceleration (No comment on single): Gary Hua
- has not expressed an opinion for or against accelerated pairings of any kind: Roger Patterson [edited later]
- Not in favour of one-section Can. Opens & thus no opinion expressed re acceleration: Victor Plotkin

Have any other CT members opinions on this that we might send to the potential organizers of the 2020 Can. Open, if we find out in time before the bid is finalized??

Bob A

[Roger Patterson]

It seems we now have agreement on the use of accelerated (In fact, double accelerated) pairings in the 2007 Can. Open (Ottawa), but no acceleration in the 2009 Can. Open (Winnipeg).


- In favour of only double accelerated pairings (single acceleration does NOT work): Roger Patterson


Bob A

In fact, I have not expressed an opinion for or against accelerated pairings of any kind. Just some skepticism that you know what you mean when you say "single" or "double" accelerated pairings.

[Bob Armstrong]

Hi Roger - sorry for the misunderstanding of your position - I'll edit the correction into my original post. Thanks for the clarification.

Bob A