Annex Chess Club New Beginnings Swiss (Jan. 7 - Feb. 4) - Blog

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  • #16
    Annex Chess Club New Beginnings Swiss - Blog

    Rd. 5 - 19/2/4

    Bob's Chess Blog # 4 [Part I of 3 parts]
    (See Knight Logo below)

    Club

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

    The Tournament - ACC New Beginnings Swiss (This is the 1st regular swiss tournament at ACC in 2019).

    # 1 – New Beginnings Swiss – 51 registrants: Crown: 11; U 1800: 22; U 1400: 18 (Up slightly from the 2018 average of 49).

    It is a 5-round swiss that runs from January 7 – February 4. 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.

    Section 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.

    Blog Note:

    This Blog, here on my personal Facebook page, is directly re-posted a few other places - so references here refer to this Fb platform.

    The Day of Rd. 5 (19/2/4)

    The Wee Hours of Monday Morning

    I awoke at 5:15 AM (Went to bed at 11:45 PM Sunday) – got 5 1/2 hrs. sleep (Close to my normal 6 hrs. sleep - But during weekend tournaments, I often sleep quite a bit less than normal).

    So, as usual (Victim of Routine), 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/daily routine I follow, whether I am playing chess tournaments or not (This is a template I always include, for new readers, and regular readers can skip down to the next section, to “End of Template”):

    Start of Template

    1. Check for e-mails (for myself and my wife – I alert her if there is something to deal with; she then deals with them later in the day) and Fb messages (Me only);
    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.), for the purpose of up-to-the-date news postings (See below).
    4. Update my company's Fb project – it has a “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 one of the two discussion groups formed as part of the company project, 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 My Own Fb Project - this Fb world events/politics 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. It is part of what I call my “Interlude Living”.
    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, my company's Fb Project, and my chess hobby project.
    8. I share at least one chess post per day to my Fb Chess Chat group, a chess discussion group, formed under my personal Fb account - see Fb URL above.
    9. When I find them, I share discussable religious posts to my second Fb group under my own account, my “religion/spirituality” discussion club, 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 35/25 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 "35/25 System". What this is: When I am at home, I start by spending 35 min. on “working for myself” - doing my life tasks; then I get a prize of 25 min. on my 3 retiree projects (My Facebook project, my company's Fb project & Chess)! 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

    Before I started my routine this morning, I dealt with some of my wife's business dealings, as we generally work together on them. I also had to deal with some of my own financial matters through websites and email.

    Then I started in on my normal daily routine for a short while, and had my breakfast at the computer.

    At 8:30 AM I started phoning my and my wife's family physician's office (He has the same-day appointment system, and so all patients of the family health team practitioners are all trying to get in at the same time!). Eventually I got through and got an appointment for Tuesday for my wife – she couldn't do it since the problem was build-up of wax in the ears, and so she couldn't hear over the phone at the moment! I needed to speak to our doctor as well, about my Bi-Polar Disorder, but he was not yet in......so I said I'd try again later or the next day.

    My wife and I then organized our day.....she had to prepare for our upcoming regular trip to Montreal to live for a bit with our son, daughter, and granddaughter. I got together my list of our/my things to do on a whirl wind morning and early afternoon.

    At 9:45 AM, out I headed:

    1. Bank appointment to discuss a possible business deal;
    2. Drugstore for a new batch of one of my Bi-Polar Disorder medications;
    3. Food Basics
    4. South-Asian Supermarket.

    I returned home at 12:30 PM

    Monday Afternoon

    On arriving home, I found my wife anxiously waiting for her one and only (And very good) Sous-chef to take up his role in the baking of the best muffins anyone has ever tasted!

    We finished about 2:00 PM, and I had to deal with some further business matters.

    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). And so I crashed at 2:30 PM, but this time for a bit longer than an hour.

    Heading Out for Rd. 5

    I then prepared a few things for going to ACC – I printed out the current U 1800 cross-table so I could record myself the Rd. 5 final results for this Blog.

    At about 5:30 PM I headed downtown by TTC . The club is really very quick to get to, door to door – 35 min. generally.

    I get downtown early in order to go have a coffee (Sometimes a light dinner), relax before the game, and update my “Reminder Lists” (I have a medically defective memory, in addition to old age, and so need to keep my tasks written down so they don't fall below the radar).

    So I went to my local favourite A & W on Bloor St. - yes I am an addicted “fast-food” junkie.

    Since my friend Erik Malmsten, from the club (Crown Section), reads my blogs, he came looking for me to visit a bit, after he had had a coffee elsewhere close on Bloor St.. It was delightful to have company and we chatted a bit about his Toronto highschool chess years as a junior.

    At 7:00 PM we headed east to the club.

    [See Parts II & III below]

    Bob A
    No photo description available.



    Last edited by Bob Armstrong; Friday, 8th February, 2019, 12:06 AM.

    Comment


    • #17
      Annex Chess Club New Beginnings Swiss - Blog

      Rd. 5 - 19/2/4

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

      Pre-Round 5

      I got into ACC and settled about 20 min. before the round started; so I socialized a bit.

      I first talked to Mark Patton from the U 1400 Section. I explained my 2019 start was somewhat abysmal, and I explained the system I am supposed to be following: The Candidate Move Method of Calculation. Basically it says: When the other player moves, immediately find the worst danger, and immediately intuit a decent saving (Needn't be the best) move. Then pound it into your memory: I must make no other move than this one.......unless I am satisfied that my replacement move does what the Candidate Move does, and more......if not, then only make the Candidate Move......it is unbelievable, but I forget my calculation method from time to time (sigh).

      Then Javier Dixon and Dragan Jevtic (Both in my section) and I chatted for a while. Dragan came to OTB chess from on-line chess, and has never played a weekend tournament. So I tried to talk him into making the Hart House Reading Week Open his first OTB Weekend tournament.....he said he'd investigate...I promised him it would be a "chess high"!

      Then I chatted with juniors Daniel Chen for a bit, and then junior girl, Lucy Gao, with whom I've now become good friends......we always commiserate together over our last round play.

      Round 5


      After some announcements, the round was started shortly after 7:30 PM. I was playing white against Peter Lambert – amazingly, this was our first time at the club facing each other. I lost (See below).

      After the game, I watched some of our section games still in progress, to get the results, and when I had all the results for the U 1800 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), I headed by TTC to go home.

      The Wee Hours of Tuesday Morning

      I got home about 11:45 PM and then talked to my wife for about an hour. We were supposed to go to live in Montreal for a while on Wednesday, but freezing rain was being predicted. So we, on the spur of the moment, decided we could leave by 3:00 PM on Tuesday.......we both had a number of appointments in the morning and early afternoon, and so we could not leave earlier.

      We decided we would get everything ready in the morning, early, and pack the car first, and then deal with all the appointments. Then when we both got home, we'd leave and try to beat the freezing rain!

      Then I went up to my home office and did some updating on my and my company's Fb projects. But I was then too tired to do this Blog # 4.......so I decided to leave it 'til later in the week to complete – it was clearly not going to be done on Wednesday!

      U 1800 Section Chess Report on Rd. 5 on Monday, Feb. 4, 2019.

      My Section – U 1800 Section

      I am rated 1569. I am ranked # 11 out of 22 players (In the middle third).

      Rating Spread

      1600’s – 8
      1500’s – 5 (my rating is here)
      1400’s – 6
      1300’s - 3 (Playing up)

      Total - 22

      U 1800 Standings After Rd. 5 (Final)

      There were 8 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 Winners are:

      1st – 4/5 pts. - Lorne Schwartz (1501)

      2nd/4th – 3.5/4 pts.– Junior Boy Daniel Chen (1691); Matthew Furrow (1632); Robert Wagner (1560).

      My Round 5 Game

      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. (1569) - Lambert,Peter (1471) [D47]

      Annex CC New Beginnings (U 1800) (5), 04.02.2019
      [Armstrong, Robert J.]

      1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Nbd7 4.c4 c6 5.Nc3 e6 I believe we now have a Semi-Slav Defence (I don't know my openings all that well)? 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.0–0 0–0 Seems like a totally standard position at this point 10.b3 Qb6 11.Bb2 e5 finally we start the fight for the centre 12.dxe5 Bxe5 I had expected the recapture by the N 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 14.Nd5 though this is kind of cute, I don't know if it helps me that much......but I thought having the 2 B's trained on the K-side, and the N no longer on f6, might give me attacking chances. 14...Nxd5 15.Bxe5 Rd8 16.Bxh7+ This sac was just badly calculated (I think I was a bit tired that night) - there are a couple of sound defences 16...Kxh7 Peter is up N vs P 17.Qh5+ Kg8 it was only now that I saw this was not a walk in the park; he had defences....so I had to develop quickly, see if I still could attack somehow, and use my extra P........was not optimistic. 18.e4 Ne7 19.Rfd1 Bb7 20.Rd6 threatening the tactically good Rh6! 20...Rxd6 Peter is not going to let me get away with that cute one! 21.Bxd6 Ng6 22.e5 I am going to try to use my P .... if I get to e6, Peter cannot capture, since the N falls. Then I could play with my remaining R on either of the totally open d or e files. 22...Nf4 23.Qh4 bad blunder; missed the excellent response move totally. 23...Qd4 I'm now toast 0–1

      My Score

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

      My Opponents' & My Scores

      3/4 pts. - Peter Lambert (1471) – I lost in Rd. 5.
      2/4 pts. - Me (1569)
      - Charlie Grisar (1472) – I won in Rd. 4.
      - George Supol (1422) – I lost in Rd. 3.
      - Ambarish Chandra (1310) - I drew in Rd. 2.

      [See Part III below]

      Bob A
      Last edited by Bob Armstrong; Friday, 8th February, 2019, 12:08 AM.

      Comment


      • #18
        Annex Chess Club New Beginnings Swiss - Blog

        Rd. 5 - 19/2/4

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

        [See Parts I & II above]

        The Other Less Important (!!) Sections:

        i) Crown (1800 +) - 11 players; 3 boards

        1st – 4/5 pts. – David Southam (2130 – National Master).

        ii) U 1400 - 18 players; 6 boards

        1st – 3.5/5 pts. – Jr. Boy Zichen (Roger) Zuo (1109); Woman player Rose Tuong (960).

        Full Results

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

        Some History: My Blogging & ACC Tournaments

        Blog Note:

        The next sections, down to the end of the tournament history are a template. I repeat them in each Blog.

        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 and go to “End of Template” (I will alert you immediately after the template if there are any revisions).

        Template Begins

        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. 14-16/18) - Blogged;
        2. The 2019 Hart House Reading Week Open (February 16-18 – already registered).
        3. The 2019 Quebec Open (July 21-7).
        4. The 2019 Toronto Open (Aug. 31 – Sept. 2)

        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). Note that the club moved at the end of 2018...see the website for new location details – not far from the old location.
        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

        Changing Leaves Swiss - 59 registrants (Peak registration for 2018)
        2018 Average per Tournament – 49 registrations (Down slightly from the annual record of 2015: 54 registrants).

        2019

        # 1 – New Beginnings – 51 registrants: Crown: 11; U 1800: 22; U 1400: 18 – Down slightly from the annual record since keeping stats here: 54 registrations (2015).

        End of Template

        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

        Comment


        • #19
          Hi Bob, You wrote that Lorne Schwartz won the section with 4/5. Is that the Lorne Schwartz who was my student for about a year in 1996? If so former juniors are coming back to the game!

          Comment


          • #20
            Originally posted by Hans Jung View Post
            Hi Bob, You wrote that Lorne Schwartz won the section with 4/5. Is that the Lorne Schwartz who was my student for about a year in 1996? If so former juniors are coming back to the game!
            And is it the same Lorne Schwartz that lived in (and played in) the Montreal area between 1993 and 1995?

            Comment


            • #21
              Hi Hans: I asked Lorne, but he didn't seem to remember being your student.......but a short period a long time ago.

              Comment


              • #22
                Hi Hugh:

                I finally remembered to ask Lorne!

                Yes! Lorne Schwartz of ACC did live in Montreal and played in Montreal as a junior. He is now married, and he and his wife are now expecting their first child in July, a daughter (Think it is OK for me to pass on this info).

                He has not been a member of CT, but has now asked for the link......so he may show up and you can "Perry Mason" him some more!

                Bob A

                Comment


                • #23
                  Thats ok. He probably got a better coach after me and thats who he remembers. Thanks for asking Bob. He's obviously is doing well in life and still has time for chess. Thats all that matters.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Hi Again Hans:

                    Lorne just wrote me - he says "Hi" - he does now remember you did coach him in chess for a year - at the time he was also going into math competitions. And he says Hi to Hugh.

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Thanks Bob for getting in touch with Lorne.

                      Comment

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