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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
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
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