Hart House Holidays Open Chess Championship (Dec. 14 - 16/18) - Blog

**Bob Armstrong** · Saturday, 15th December, 2018, 09:03 AM

Hart House Holidays Open Chess Championship - Blog

Rd. 1 - 18/12/14 (Friday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 1 [ Part II of 3 parts]

[For Part I see above]

Start of Template

1. Check for e-mails and Fb messages;

2. Check new posts/comments on CT;

3. 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. So today, I did that.

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

Some Early Morning Work

Besides starting on my routine, this morning I first checked my wife's e-mails – she is not always the greatest on this, so we agreed I'd do this when I remembered in the morning.

I had played at Scarborough Chess Club on Thursday night, and had done the Blog for it, except that my Rd. 7 (Final) game had to be added. So I entered it and annotated it lightly. Then I added it. The last step in this process was that I then copied/pasted it into ChessTalk.

This morning my wife had a pysiotherapist appointment early, and so we dressed and headed out about 7:30 AM. After dropping her off, I then went to my favourite local coffee shop (A number of us show up on the same shift, and we have sort of formed a coffee club discussion group). So today the regulars John and Joe were there – we discussed pets mainly this morning, and the difficulty when dogs start getting old and have to be put down.....and how they become part of the family.

At 9:00 AM I then went back and picked up my wife, and we headed home.

Later Friday Morning

This morning I was to take up my general role as sous-chef in the kitchen. My wife is an excellent cook and we often work together around meals and her cooking/baking. So I started off mixing the meat mixture for some tortieres. Then I dried and put away the dishes in the dish drainer.
At 10:00 AM my friend Ken Kurkowski came over for us to go for coffee. I drove over since it was raining. We went to the same coffee shop I had been at earlier in the day. We talked chess, politics, family, etc. About noon he headed home.

Afternoon

Then my wife and I went food shopping, since my wife needed some things for her holiday's cooking. We then put everything away on our return. Then we both prepared and had lunch.

After lunch, it was already a bit late.

As my regulars know, my wife and I have found, now that we are both in our 70's, that the European/Latin American practice of a siesta time in mid-afternoon works really well (We usually set the alarm and do not sleep more than 1 hour). So today we crashed from 2:45 - 3:45 PM (We take the land line off the hook - infuriates some family and friends! LOL).

After our siesta, it was back to my sous-chef role. I made cutlets out of boneless chicken breasts, and flattened them with the meat hammer, and then got them away into the fridge, while my wife cooked her almond cookies.

[For Part III see below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Saturday, 15th December, 2018, 09:04 AM

Hart House Holidays Open Chess Championship - Blog

Rd. 1 - 18/12/14 (Friday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 1 [ Part III of 3 parts]

[For Parts I & II see above]

Heading Out for Rd. 1.

I then prepared my stuff for the tournament (Bring your own sets & clock). I also printed out the pre-registered players' list for our section – for me to record leaders as the tournament progresses, for this Blog.

Then I headed out by car for University of Toronto Hart House about 5:20 PM. I found parking right away and then went in.

Pre-Round 1

I met one of my friends I hadn't seen for a few months, since both of us are busy, and he travels a lot. We discussed what we had done for the Summer and Fall, and grandchildren! We are in the same section.

Then I met a friend who used to play at Scarborough Chess Club, but had stopped about a year ago – Pino Verde. He is a professional in ceramic sculpting. My wife is an amateur potter. So we discussed how their last two sales had gone. We also chatted about how Pino was keeping up his chess, since he was not playing OTB any more......he is a top Canadian correspondence chess player. We were in the same section.

Due to last minute on-site entries, and a couple of admin. glitches, the round was delayed a bit after the posted 6:00 PM starting time. While sitting at my board waiting for my opponent to arrive and for the round to start, another veteran weekend warrior came over to say “Hi” - Richard Wing (Playing in the U 1600 Section). We reminisced about some of our games in the past – over numbers of years, we have played a lot of times.

I then chatted a bit with the player next to me while we waited. He saw my name on my pieces box, and let me know he had read my blog from time to time, though had never personally responded. He said he enjoyed it, and I thanked him for the feedback, and said I got encouragement to continue from his comment, and that it is fun to do (Though does take a few hours from start to finish).

Round 5

I was paired with my friend, Undriadi Benggawan – we had just played each other in a recent tournament earlier in the year. But when the round started he was nowhere to be seen.....and he didn't come within 1/2 hr., and so I won by forfeit. Undriadi is a most responsible player, so I felt some emergency must have intervened for him not to have contacted the organizer/arbiter, Alex Ferreira. And when I mentioned it to Alex later, he said it was not like Undriadi, and he'd look into it to make sure he wasn't paired wrongly, if he had requested a bye for Rd. 1. If that had happened, then I'd get the Director's 1-pt. Bye, and Undriadi would be given a 1/2 pt. bye, and the non-game would not be rated.

So I had the evening to watch lots of games in progress, and chat with some people. Out in the hallway where the pairings are, I chatted for a while with my friend Jeff Panzer (Not playing this time). Then my chess friend John Brown joined us for a while. He also had gotten a forfeit win, I think, and was heading home.

I then decided to sit and watch my Toronto friend's game, who I had met on entering the hall. He was in a tough game, down material, to a high seed in our section. Amazingly he kept holding on and holding on and even one back one of the P's he was down in a Rook/Pawns ending. He valiantly tried to prevent his opponent from queening, but eventually he got it down and my friend resigne – the game went about 70 moves I think.

Heading Home

I was able to head for home about 10:30 PM. But I got to Parliament and Bloor St. East, and Bloor was a parking lot from Sherbourne all the way to Broadview – I knew what it was immediately – the police RIDE program – down to one lane both ways – took me 3/4 hr. to get past the stopping station.

The Later Evening

On arriving home, my wife and I chatted about her evening and mine for about 1/2 hour.

Then I went to work to finish and post this Blog # 1 before I got too tired.

My U 1900 Section Report - Rd. 1 - Friday, Dec. 14/18.

I am rated 1574. I am in the 3^rd of the 6 sections (I had paid to play up). I am in the bottom 1/3 of the section (47 players).

Post-Rd. 1 - U 1900 – No. Of First Round Draws: Only 2 out of 14 games at the time I had left.

This is not unusual in the first round, since this is when there is the greatest disparity in the ratings of the opponents.

My Round 1 Game

As I mentioned, I won on Forfeit (Unless there was a mistake pairing Undriadi for Rd. 1.

My Score

1/1 pts. - Win: 1 (Rd. 1 – forfeit).

My Opponents' & My Scores

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

1/1 pts. - Me (1574)

0/1 pts. - Undriadi Benggawan (1652) – I won by forfeit in Rd. 1 (Maybe)

Full Results

ChessResults Website: http://chess-results.com/fed.aspx?lan=1&fed=CAN

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.

Also, if any player, 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

**Bob Armstrong** · Saturday, 15th December, 2018, 10:38 PM

Hart House Holidays Open Chess Championship - Blog

Rds. 2 & 3 - 18/12/15 (Saturday)

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, usually, are a template. I repeat them in each Blog. Since my Blog # 1 is just down the scroll a bit, I would ask new readers to my Blog to go there and read the first template giving a Blog Explanation, and then return here. My regular readers can just skip the template since they have seen it often.

Tournament – Hart House Holidays Open

It is a 5-round swiss that runs from Dec. 14 - Dec. 16. There are 206 players in 6 sections: Crown (2200+): 19; U 2200: 35; U 1900: 47; U 1600: 42; U 1300: 40; U 1000: 23. All sections are CFC-rated. The top 3 sections are also FIDE 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, on paying a "playing up fee ($ 20)", and some do. I am one of them.

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.

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

[For Parts II & III see below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Saturday, 15th December, 2018, 10:40 PM

Hart House Holidays Open Chess Championship - Blog

Rds. 2 & 3 - 18/12/15 (Saturday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 2 [ Part II of 3 Parts]

[See Part I above]

The Day of Rds. 2 & 3 - The Early Morning

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

I, and my wife, woke up at 6:00 AM, before the alarm. I got 4 1/4 hrs. sleep (6 hrs. is now normal for me). But during weekend (And longer) tournaments, however, I often sleep much less than normal, as I have started doing this early morning.

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. I got my breakfast and ate it at the computer; my wife was already at her holiday's cooking!

Some Early Morning Work

Besides starting on my routine, this morning I first checked my wife's e-mails – she is not always the greatest on this, so we agreed I'd do this when I remembered in the morning. This morning I responded on her behalf to one of the e-mails about a current business project she is pursuing.

Then I checked my own e-mails, and started in on the routine I follow during most days, as set out in my template at the start of this Blog.

I then had to do some family financial work, and so updated our bank account chequing records (Need to know what holiday spending is!! Don't want NSF cheques! LOL)

Then I finished the process for my Blog # 1, when I copied/pasted it into ChessTalk (https://forum.chesstalk.com/forum/chesstalk-canada-s-chess-discussion-board-go-to-www-strategygames-ca-for-your-chess-needs?2-ChessTalk-CANADA-S-CHESS-DISCUSSION-BOARD-go-to-www-strategygames-ca-for-your-chess-needs!=). This is Canada's national chess discussion board, as I have referred to above.

Heading Out for Rd. 2

At 9:15 AM I again got my set and clock, and organized my bag (Brought a fruit and nut mixture just in case I get caught with a long Rd. 2 game, and don't get time to go out for lunch before Rd. 3 today @ 4:00 PM). Again I drove to the University of Toronto Hart House.

Pre-Round 2

When I got into the hall, I looked for Pino Verde, a friend who is a former Scarborough CC member. I had decided to form a 4-player team for the tournament. Pino was interested. So then I asked Brian Fiedler of the U 2200 section. After a bit of soft arm-twisting, he also agreed. So I went to fill in the team registration – but I needed a 4^th player, and so I conscripted my friend Richard Wing (U 1600 section) without checking with him, since I could not see him yet.

Then I went and chatted with my friend Mario Moran-Venegas. He was chatting with Ronan Uthayakumar, a former chess student of his, and Ronan's father. We chatted a bit about different sports, and chess in general. Then someone said Richard was out in the hall at the pairings sheets. So I went out, explained my offer he just couldn't refuse, and he agreed. So from Rd. 1, we had 3/4 possible points.....very good (Though 2 were from Director's 1 pt. byes LOL). Could we keep up this torrid pace today??

I then spoke with Undriadi Benggawan, with whom I had been mistakenly paired for Rd. 1. So I explained to him what had happened, because he was totally unaware of the problem that had happened.

Round 2

I was paired with Greg Rusonik, who I had only played once a while ago.....and I had played his son Max, when he was much lower rated than now. We both played fast and I attacked all game, including two sacs, but eventually I found myself one move short to get a draw, and I had to resign (Game below)

So I had the morning to watch lots of games in progress, and chat with some people. Out in the hallway where the pairings are, I chatted for quite a while with Daniel Abrams (Not playing). He is studying/teaching in Scotland, doing a PhD. I found his topic fascinating, and we chatted a lot about the thoughts Daniel generated in me as he explained generally his area of expertise. Then I chatted briefly with Shafkat Ali (My Section) about my morning game, and he said he'd check it out in the Blog # 2, and he went off to lunch with a couple of players.

I then watched games 'til my SCC friend/chess player/lawyer (In my section) was finished.

Lunch

At about 2:00 PM we went for lunch at a pub down on College Street. We chatted about his semi-retirement, and some new business opportunities he was evaluating – it was a compliment that they were coming to him, trying to get him on board. We also chatted about chess, family, etc.. The time went by quickly and then we headed back to the hall.

[See Part III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Saturday, 15th December, 2018, 10:43 PM

Hart House Holidays Open Chess Championship - Blog

Rds. 2 & 3 - 18/12/15 (Saturday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 2 [ Part III of 3 Parts]

[For Parts I & II see above]

Rd. 3

It started at about 4:00 PM, after a nice presentation inducting a woman player, recently deceased, into the Canadian Chess Hall of Fame – Smilja Vujosevic – many time Canadian women's champion. Her husband, Vojin accepted the award – for a bit before that I chatted with David Cohen, founder of the Hall of Fame, and Vojin, and John Marsh, about chess in our earlier years.

I blundered a minor in the late middle game, and tried to see what I could do, but then blundered into losing the exchange, and I was toast (Game below).

Post Rd. 3

I watched games 'til I had the leaders' point totals. At the same time I chatted out in the hallway with Alex Ferreira, Hart House Organizing Committee chairperson, and tournament arbiter. We discussed tournament turnout back in the 60's and 70's. John Brown joined us for a while, and we tried to get our facts organized.

Later I chatted with Jonathan (James?) Fu who had finished his U of T engineering program. He told me of some of his volunteer activities recently in Africa – sounded like he and his friends made a nice contribution to the people they worked with.

Heading Home

I was able to head for home about 8:30 PM.

The Later Evening

On arriving home, my wife and I chatted about her evening and mine for about 1/2 hour.

Then I went to work to finish and post this Blog # 2 before I got too tired. She had prepared some dinner for me, and so I took it up to my office to eat while I finished and posted this Blog.

My U 1900 Section Report - Rds. 2 & 3 - Saturday, Dec. 15/18.

I am rated 1574. I am in the 3^rd of the 6 sections (I had paid to play up). I am in the bottom 1/3 of the section (47 players).

Post-Rd. 1 - U 1900 – The Leaders

1^st/2^nd – 3/3 pts. (Won all games) – Greg Rusonik (1796 - I had lost to him in the morning); Dennis Tran (1542).

3^rd/9^th – 2.5/3 pts. (Undefeated) – Mahip Singh (1816); Junior Boy Austin Xie (1696); Arkadiy Ugodnikov (1690); Undriadi Benggawan (1652); Junior Boy Christopher Xiang (1646); Ayo Ogunlana (1591); Junior Girl Hazel Guo (1518).

My Round 2 Game

I do some light annotations (No engine analysis yet) just to let readers know some of the things I considered during the game:

Armstrong,Robert J. (1574) - Rusonik,Greg (1796) [A85]

Hart House Holidays Open (U 1900) (2), 15.12.2018

[Armstrong, Robert J.]

1.d4 f5 Dutch Defence 2.c4 g6 Leningrad Line 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 My idea here is to throw up P's in the middle quickly 4...Bg7 5.Bxf6 Bxf6 6.e4 I am trying to play into a more open game 6...d6 7.Bd3 fxe4 8.Bxe4 0–0 9.Nf3 c6 10.Qd3 This pressure (And potential sac) on g6 lasts the whole game. 10...Qe8 Greg defends against possible sacs that might draw 11.h4 More pressure is needed on g6 - It will be a matter of timing as to when to push h5 - and I cannot allow the response g5 or my attack will sputter. 11...Qf7 12.0–0–0 Bg4 13.Kb1 I want to play Ng5, but I can't have the capture of the N By the B with a check. 13...Na6 14.a3 Nc7 15.Ng5 the point of this line is to drive the g4B away so I can maybe push h5 without the B capturing it. 15...Bxg5 16.f3 Bxf3 I deliberately sacked the fP to half open up the g-file. Greg is up a P. 17.gxf3 Bf6 Greg correctly saves the very important dark-squared defensive B. 18.Rdg1 I am wanting to sac on g6, and I felt my position gives compensation for the sacked P. My e4B would otherwise have no escape. 18...d5 19.cxd5 cxd5 20.Rxg6+ I could not calculate the consequence of this critical sac - I just looked at the number of threats and tactics and felt it had to lead somewhere.......that is good enough for this throw-back romantic! LOL 20...hxg6 21.Bxg6 Greg is up R vs P 21...Qg7 22.Rg1 this is the final piece in the sac puzzle - I thought the threat of a B check exposing the Bl Q to attack by my R was winning. What I failed to understand was that I was totally weak on the black squares, and this would allow him to defend. 22...Kh8 All 4 of Greg's K-side defensive pieces are on dark-squares, and I am at a loss how to break things open. 23.Qf5 Qh6 24.Qd7 I need now to try to win back some material, since my attack is currently stalled - there are no sacs that can lead to success. 24...Rac8 25.Bf7 The f8R is pinned on the back rank, to protect the other R. 25...Bxd4 Greg is up a full R 26.Rg6 Qh7 I walked into this, and didn't realize 'til after that I had forced Greg into a wonderful pin of my R (sigh). 27.Qg4 The R cannnot take the B. But the Q can. So I cannot yet break the pin by Ka2. 27...Bg7 Greg is just building a little fortress to protect his K, before he starts making full use of his extra R. 28.Bxd5 Greg is up R vs P (Passed, but isolated) 28...Nxd5 29.Nxd5 the N's goal is to get to f5, to add pressure on the g7B. 29...Rc4 If my R gets exchanged, I am finished. And Greg is not giving me any free move to get my R out from under the pin. 30.Qg3 e6 31.Ne7 a terrible blunder - it is trapped. 31...Re8 0–1

My Round 3 Game

Li,Adam (1636) - Armstrong,Robert J. (1574) [B27]

Hart House Holidays Op (U 1900) (3), 15.12.2018

[Armstrong, Robert J.]

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 c5 Modern Defence 4.c3 Qb6 5.Be2 cxd4 6.cxd4 Nc6 7.d5 Nd4 8.Nc3 Nxe2 9.Qxe2 Nf6 now transposing into a Pirc Defence type set-up 10.0–0 0–0 11.Be3 Qa5 12.Rfd1 d6 13.Rac1 Bg4 14.h3 Bxf3 15.Qxf3 Rac8 16.Qe2 a6 17.a3 b5 18.f3 Nd7 19.Na2 I was worried by this move ..... but I was unsure how I could stop this N from getting to the c6 outpost, which would be a real pain for me 19...Ne5 20.Nb4 Rxc1 21.Bxc1 although recapturing with the R seems the natural response, it is problematic since I would follow up with Nc4 attacking the B to exchange it and then winning the bP, or having a double minor attack on the bP. 21...Rc8 22.f4 Nc4 this is a mistake .... I missed that my Q in a few moves would be kicked when my N moved. 23.Nc6 Qb6+ not the right square - will lose my N. I had to go to c7. 24.Kh1 Rc7 the final error; I cut off my Q from retreating to c7. I was sort of blind to the whole problem of my Q on b6. 25.b3 Na5 26.Be3 the move I had been missing......since my N now no longer controlled d3 26...Qb7 27.Nxa5 Adam goes up an N. 27...Qc8 28.Bb6 Rc2 29.Qe1 Bc3 30.Qg1 Bb2 31.Nc6 Kf8 32.a4 bxa4 33.bxa4 a5 I felt I had to gamble and sac my aP or I would have no activity for my Q, and I would just play defence 'til I lost. 34.Bxa5 Adam is up N + P 34...Qa6 oops.....missed something......I was playing pretty quickly the last while, since I was down and going to lose, so I was just seeing if I could find anything beneficial. 35.Nb4 1–0

My Score

1/3 pts. - Losses: 2 (Rds. 2 & 3); Director's Bye (1 pt.): 1 (Rd. 1 – due to pairings mistake).

My Opponents' & My Scores

3/3 pts. - Greg Rusonik (1796) – I lost in Rd. 2.

2/3 pts. - Junior Boy Adam Li (1636) – I lost in Rd. 3.

1/3 pts. - Me (1574)

Full Results

ChessResults Website: http://chess-results.com/fed.aspx?lan=1&fed=CAN

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.

Also, if any player, 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

**Bob Armstrong** · Monday, 17th December, 2018, 12:38 AM

Hart House Holidays Open Playing Puzzles Championship - Blog

Rds. 4 & 5 - 18/12/16 (Sunday)

Bob's Playing Puzzles 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, usually, are a template. I repeat them in each Blog. Since my Blog # 1 is just down the scroll a bit, I would ask new readers to my Blog to go there and read the first template giving a Blog Explanation, and then return here. My regular readers can just skip the template since they have seen it often.

Tournament – Hart House Holidays Open

It is a 5-round swiss that runs from Dec. 14 - Dec. 16. There are 206 players in 6 sections: Crown (2200+): 19; U 2200: 35; U 1900: 47; U 1600: 42; U 1300: 40; U 1000: 23. All sections are CFC-rated. The top 3 sections are also FIDE 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, on paying a "playing up fee ($ 20)", and some do. I am one of them.

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.

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

The Day of Rds. 4 & 5 - The Early Morning

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

I woke up at 6:30 AM, before the alarm. I got 6 hrs. sleep (Now normal for me); but more than I often get during weekend (And longer) tournaments.

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. I got my breakfast and ate it at the computer; my wife was still hugging the pillow.

Some Early Morning Work

Besides starting on my routine, this morning I checked my wife's e-mails, as I usually do when I remember, to see if there was anything urgent for her to deal with today.

Then I checked my own e-mails, and started in on the routine I follow during most days, as set out in my template at the start of this Blog.

Then I finished the process for my Blog # 2 – I had posted everything in the wee hours of this morning, but I had been too tired to enter/annotate my Rd. 3 game. So I did that and then updated the Blog # 2.

Then I started this Blog # 3 draft.

[For Parts II & III see below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Monday, 17th December, 2018, 12:40 AM

Hart House Holidays Open Playing Puzzles Championship - Blog

Rds. 4 & 5 - 18/12/16 (Sunday)

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

[For Part I see above]

The Early Morning Phone Call

Surprisingly, the phone rang about 8:45 AM. I answered, and it was my 2 3/4 y.o. granddaughter from Montreal, Quebec, calling her Nonni (Italian for Grandmother) and Gampa. Now which ever of my wife and I answers, the first question is where is the other one;– doesn't want to talk to the one answering......it's the other one that is of prime importance. This had happened last Thursday when I had gone to Scarborough Chess Club. She called just after I left, and Nonni answered. Well it was all “where is Gampa??”

My son came up with this brilliancy to explain it to her:

“"Gampa has gone out to “play puzzles” with his friends!!"”

How is that for a quick fast definition of chess??? Thus the title of this blog! LOL

So I explained to her, between her asking for Nonni, that Gampa again had to go out to play puzzles with his friends (She knows puzzles and is quite into them). I'm not sure if she got it, but I then had to pass the phone to Nonni for two reasons:

1. The Granddaughter was insistent;
2. I had to get going to Hart House to play puzzles.......

Heading Out for Rd. 4

At 9:15 AM I again organized my chess tournament bag (My set and clock; a fruit and nut mixture just in case I get caught with a long Rd. 4 game, and don't get time to go out for lunch before Rd. 5 today @ 4:00 PM; an extra pen; & my coffee travel tumbler). Again I drove to the University of Toronto Hart House.

Pre-Round 4

When I got into the hall, I met Alex Ferreira, Chair of the Organizing Committee, starting to get the day set up. Even when he is busy, Alex seems to have a way to spend a few minutes with people he is meeting. So we chatted about the last Aurora Fall Open, played in the renovated Old Market building in downtown Newmarket. I think it is an amazing building/space. Alex said he'd try to get up there the next time they ran a tournament there.

Then I met one of my “Old Geezers” chess team competition members, Pino Verde. We chatted about how the tournament was going, and he told me his sad saga about one of his losses.

I then saw my friend Undriadi Benggawan (In my section) and went to talk to him about his Rd. 3 game ending, which had appeared deadlocked, but really wasn't. His opponent Ted Hsu was sitting at the next table and I chatted with him as well a bit, that I had enjoyed watching their ending game from time to time on Saturday night.

I then saw junior Ronan Uthayakumar who I know from the Scarborough CC. He had drawn his Rd. 3 game, but after it, I showed them both how Ronan could have won material, since declining the material led to mate. But Ronan had not quite followed me then.....so we just talked about it and we both knew the position well enough I could explain where he needed to sac first, and then win a P due to a pin, followed by mate. I think his dad who was there (We often chat) had some difficulty figuring out what in the world Ronan and I were saying to each other. But this time Ronan understood and agreed.

Next I saw Dinesh Dattani of SCC. I had said I'd Facebook message him about something, and I did. But he said he didn't get it.......then we realized he was not looking in the right spot on Facebook. So he said he'd check it out and get back to me.

Round 4

I was paired with Junior Boy Brett Yang. When I was walking around one time waiting for him to move, I met Undriadi out in the hall, and we confirmed our arrangement yesterday to go to lunch together today. So we agreed that if I had not finished my game (He was finished) by 1:00 PM, then he would just leave.

Lunch

Undriadi came into the hall about 12:55 PM, and amazingly I was just executing a mate, and I finished by 1:00 PM.

Pino Verde joined us and we all headed out to a pub I sometimes go to on College Street (I had gone their yesterday with a chess friend). Pino is a sculptor and makes somewhat whimsical figurines, with the utmost detail. He told us about coming to Canada from Sicily, Italy, and how his art career flourished her in Canada, and he has nearly always been solely a professional artist. He just had a very good sale of his pieces at a recent Christmas craft show. We also chatted some politics, chess and other weighty stuff.

Pino surprised the two of us by then giving us our lunches as a Christmas present – much appreciated! We got back to the hall about 3:00 PM.

Pre-Rd. 5

The round 4 games were all finished. When I had hung up my coat and come back, Pino was talking with another member of our “Old Geezers” team, Brian Fiedler. We chatted a bit about some chess organizing Brian has done, how the junior scene has changed so much from when we were young, and how we all admitted that age seems to have taken some toll on our ratings ......... tough to admit, but it seemed we were all suffering from it. Then Pino showed Brian one of his games from Saturday.

Then I chatted a bit with Henry Hughes (In our section). Henry has volunteered when he has time to translate my blog into French and post it on the national French chess discussion board (I made reference to this earlier in this blog). We chatted a bit about how the tournament was going for both of us.

Rd. 5

It started at about 4:00 PM. I can only warn that in describing this loss to young Daniel Chen, the words “getting crushed” don't really do it justice. Later in the evening when at home, my wife cheerily said the word I was looking for was “"decimated”"! Thanks sweetie!

Post Rd. 5

My miniature having finished so early, I watched games 'til I had the leaders' point totals for this blog.

At one point I chatted with former SCC player Armand Jesse Mendoza (In the U 2200 section). He inquired how the club was doing, and what was happening as well at Annex CC. He advised he was now intending to return to the SCC for the new tournament starting Thursday, Jan. 10/19.

Later I chatted with new SCC member, Ryan Tuchow. He had posted a comment on this Fb discussion club under the Blog # 2 that he enjoyed the Blog, and encouraged me to keep going. We had not formally met at SCC since he had just joined. But I recognized him from his Fb photo, so I went up and introduced myself. As an adult, he is in the U 1800 section at SCC, but is one of the lower rated players. But he said he has been playing not too badly, and that he expected his rating would be somewhat higher in the new year from the SCC tournament, and this HHHO.

Heading Home

I was able to head for home about 8:00 PM.

[For Part III see below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Monday, 17th December, 2018, 12:42 AM

Hart House Holidays Open Playing Puzzles Championship - Blog

Rds. 4 & 5 - 18/12/16 (Sunday)

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

[For Parts I & II see above]

The Later Evening

On arriving home, my wife had some dinner for me and we chatted while I ate.

I think she was a bit desperate for attention – I have been out for chess Thursday night, Friday night, all day Saturday, and now all day Sunday (And she is most supportive of my hobby!). But she advised that even if the best I could do was to pretend to be interested, that would be good enough, as long as she could talk!! So we talked about the tournament, her day, and getting ready for our Christmas trip to Montreal to see our two adult kids and granddaughter. We chatted for about 1 1/2 hours, and she showed me various small gifts she had been amassing for Christmas.

Eventually she tired of talking, and said I was free to go do this Blog!

So I went upstairs to work to finish and post this Blog # 3.

My U 1900 Section Report - Rds. 4 & 5 - Sunday, Dec. 16/18.

I am rated 1548 (I had not realized the last ACC tournament had now been rated – lost 26 pts). I am in the 3^rd of the 6 sections (I had paid to play up). I am in the bottom 1/3 of the section (47 players).

U 1900 – The Winners

1^st– /2^nd – 4.5/5 pts. (Undefeated) – Greg Rusonik (1796 - I had lost to him in Rd. 2); Junior Boy Austin Xie (1696).

3^rd/5^th – 4/5 pts. – Kole Robertson (1866); Mahip Singh (1816 - Undefeated); Junior Boy Dennis Tran (1542).

My Round 4 Game

I do some light annotations (No engine analysis yet) just to let readers know some of the things I considered during the game:

Armstrong,Robert J. (1548) - Yang,Brett (1635) [D30]
Hart House Holidays Open (U 1900) (4), 16.12.2018

[Armstrong, Robert J.]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d5 3.e3 e6 4.Nf3 g6 5.Bd3 Bg7 6.0–0 0–0 7.Nc3 a6 8.e4 I decided to play aggressively and half-open some files 8...dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Bd3 Not Bb3 - then comes 10...b4, kicking my protector of the e4P I just pushed. 10...Nc6 I am always having to look after my poor little dP. 11.e5 Nd5 12.a3 let's prevent the kicking of the c3N 12...Bb7 13.Ne4 Nb6 14.Nc5 Bc8 I'm sure Brett was not happy with his choices on this move 15.Be4 now to try and pile up on the undefended c6N, now that the protecting B has been driven back. 15...Nd5 16.Bd2 don't want the pesky c6N getting to c4 via a5 16...f6 Brett is desperate to find a way to get counter-play 17.Rc1 more pressure on c6, but I may be sacking a P to follow my game plan of Q-side pressure. 17...fxe5 18.Nxe6 Bxe6 19.Rxc6 I've now gotten a R down on the half-opened c-file, but it is going to cost me a P. 19...Qd7 20.Qc2 doubling up on the half-opened c-file 20...exd4 Brett goes up a P. But I am hopeful of somehow winning it back by winning Brett's backward cP 21.Ng5 Bf5 22.Rc5 Bxe4 23.Qxe4 Rf5 24.Qh4 bit of a threat 24...Bf6 This pin is a bit bothersome 25.Qg4 getting out of the pin + pinning Brett's gP 25...Qe7 double attack 26.Ne4 lucky me - I can protect both pieces! 26...Re8 27.Ng3 offering to exchange R's. 27...Rxf2 this was not the solution. Brett is up 2 P's. 28.Rxd5 Rxd2 29.Rdf5 Bg7 30.Rf7 Q cannot exchange for the two R's. I would have a check on f4, picking up the hanging d2R 30...Qe5 31.Qd7 Quite pretty - I control the fully opened f-file, and now I control Brett's 7th rank. 31...Rxb2 32.Rxg7+ 32...Qxg7 fails. I win the e8 R and mate as well. 32...Kh8 33.Rxh7+ Kg8 34.Qf7# 1–0

My Round 5 Game

Chen,Sihao (Daniel) (1700) - Armstrong,Robert J. (1548) [B27]

Hart House Holidays Open (U 1900) (5), 16.12.2018

[Armstrong, Robert J.]

1.e4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.Bc4 c5 4.0–0 d6 5.d4 Qb6 People have been trying to entice me off this move for years........how bad is it??......but I am afraid I am addicted! 6.Ng5 e6 7.Qf3 Very quickly this defence is getting very difficult. 7...Qc7 8.dxc5 dxc5 9.Bf4 Qe7 10.Nc3 h6 Given my inability to analyze with any soundness, I was quite satisfied with my position as black after 10 moves.......think my evaluation is off?? 11.Qg3 hxg5 12.Bxb8 g4 13.Bd6 Qg5 14.Nb5 This move is a bit of a tricky problem. It took me 17 min. to pretty much determine I was already dead in the water. 14...e5 15.Nc7+ Kd7 My K has to run and try to find a place to hide somewhere........but there is no heaven! 16.Rad1 Setting up a discovered check 16...Kc6 17.Bb5+ When I decided on a K-run, I had thought Shihao could not play this. I didn't realize the B was going to be protected by the N!?? (sigh - but the game is lost some time ago anyway) 17...Kb6 18.Qc3 As a friend of mine said afterwards, who had watched this blood-bath from time to time said: At the very least, if you are going with your K into the enemy camp, make sure the Q's are off the board! I have described this game as inadequately categorized as a "crush". My wife cheerily advised me that the word I was searching for was: "decimated"! Good game Sihao! 1–0

My Score

2/5 pts. - Win: 1 (Rd. 4); Losses: 3 (Rds. 2,3 and 5); Director's Bye (1 pt.): 1 (Rd. 1 – due to pairings mistake).

My Opponents' & My Scores

4.5/5 pts. - Greg Rusonik (1796) – I lost in Rd. 2. He finished 1^st/2^nd.

3/5 pts. - Junior Boy Sihao Chen (1700) – I lost in Rd. 5.

2/5 pts. - Junior Boy Adam Li (1636) – I lost in Rd. 3.

Me (1574)

1/4 pts. - Brett Yang (1635 – withdrew after Rd. 4)

Full Results

ChessResults Website: http://chess-results.com/fed.aspx?lan=1&fed=CAN

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.

Also, if any player, 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 for a great chess & social weekend to Alex Ferreira, Organizing Cttee. Chair and Arbiter, and all the HHCC volunteers.

The Hart House Reading Week Open (Feb. 16-18) will be the next weekend tournament I blog. I love playing in the Great Hall (Despite all of us wishing it were a bit brighter), and HHCC runs a great tournament – the 206 registered players are well-deserved.

Bob A

**Henri Hughes** · Monday, 17th December, 2018, 08:50 AM

(1631)Michael d Sharpe VS Henry hughes (1612)

1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 e5 3. Bg2 c6 4. Nc3 d5 5. d3 dxc4 6. dxc4 Qxd1+ 7. Nxd1 Bb4+ 8. Bd2 Bxd2+ 9. Kxd2 Be6 10. b3 Nbd7 11. Ne3 Nc5 12. f3 Ke7 13. Nh3 Rhd8+ 14. Kc2 h6 15. Rad1 g6 16. Rxd8 Rxd8 17. Rd1 Rxd1 18. Kxd1 Ncd7 19. Kc2 Kd6 20. Nf2 a6 21. Nd3 Nc5 22. Kc3 Nxd3 23. exd3 Nd7 24. d4 exd4+ 25. Kxd4 c5+ 26. Kc3 a5 27. f4 b6 28. g4 Nf6 29. Bf3 Bd7 30. h3 Bc6 31. Bxc6 Kxc6 32. Kd3 h5 33. g5 Nd7 34. Ke4 Kd6 35. f5 Ne5 36. a4 Nc6 37. Nd5 Nd4 38. f6 Nxb3 39. Nf4 Nd2+ 40. Kd3 Nf3 41. h4 Nxh4 42. Ke4 Kc6 43. Nd3 Kd6 44. Ne5 Ke6 45. Nc6 Kd7 46. Ne5+ Ke8

( 46... Ke6 47. Nc6 Kd7 48. Ne5+ Ke8 )

47. Kd5 Nf5 48. Kc6 h4 49. Kxb6 h3 50. Ng4 Ne3 51. Nh2 Nxc4+ 52. Kxc5 Ne5 53. Kb5 Kd7 54. Kxa5 Kc6 55. Kb4 Nd3+ 56. Kc3 Nc5 57. Kd4 Nxa4 58. Ke4 Kd6 59. Kf4 Nc5 60. Kg4 Ne6 61. Nf3 Kd5

( 61... Nd4 62. Nh2 Ke5 63. Nf1 Ke4 64. Kxh3 Kf4 )

62. Kxh3 Ke4 63. Kg4 Nd4 64. Nh4 Ke5 65. Ng2 Nf5 66. Ne1 Ne3+ 67. Kh4 Kf5 68. Nf3 Ng2+ 69. Kg3 Nf4 70. Kf2 Nh3+ 71. Kg3 Nxg5 0-1

hey bob I heres the entire game (except for the last few moves not much to see at the end) that I played with your friend Micheal if you are interested
I know you were watching
(moves in brackets are analyzed variations)

**Bob Armstrong** · Monday, 17th December, 2018, 09:23 AM

Thanks Henri - it was an interesting K + N + P's ending - I enjoyed watching you two guys go at it.

Michael, you have my sincere condolences!! (Michael beat me at the last Quebec Open in Montreal! - no grudge here! LOL)

**Henri Hughes** · Monday, 17th December, 2018, 11:53 AM

when I played ke8 I was so nervous, I had to calculate so many lines, I was giving up my entire queen side for the counter play if I go back to e6 its just a repetition and its a draw but but after he played Ng4 I knew I would probably be able to pull off the win

Hart House Holidays Open Chess Championship (Dec. 14 - 16/18) - Blog

Hart House Holidays Open Chess Championship (Dec. 14 - 16/18) - Blog

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