Scarborough Chess Club Jack Frost Swiss (Jan. 10 - Feb. 14) - Blog

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 18th January, 2019, 08:32 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Jack Frost Swiss - Blog Rd. 2 - 19/1/17 (Thursday)

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

[See Part I above]

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-Li...lting-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.

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

Later Thursday Morning

As my regular readers also know, my wife is an amateur potter, and belongs to a local potting cooperative of about 50 members. They have their work studio about 10 – 15 min. drive away. As a cooperative, members have different jobs to do, and this morning my wife had to unload one of the kilns and then re-load it for the next firing. So off she went in the car to do her thing.

When my wife and I are working jointly on tasks, or both have separate life tasks to do, I use a variant of the 25/35 system I described above. It is the 20/40 system - I take my own time for 20 min., and then work for 40 min. But since she was gone, I went to my standard 25/35 schedule.

So this morning during the first 20 min. shift (What I call my “"life”" time), I started this draft Blog # 1, and did some of my routine things on my Fb Project.

On my “"work”" times, I

1. cut chicken thighs into thin fillets (To be pounded thin late by my wife when they had totally thawed);
2. emptied the dish drying rack and straightened the kitchen;
3. Dealt a bit with my wife's finances (I am sort of a personal secretary, among all my other talents!);
4. dealt with our family finances;
5. Dealt with my own finances.

Afternoon

At 12:00 AM I headed downtown by TTC for my heart ultra-sound appointment at the cardiologists.

So you may wonder, what is all this about??

Well, it happens when your better half mentions a few weeks ago that “you seem more out of breath than usual”. The next step is being wood-shedded severely into agreeing to tell my personal physician of her concern at my upcoming annual physical (I am diabetic and so I do need to keep a bit closer watch on myself). Well, of course, my doctor is totally in cahoots with my wife, so I am quickly referred to a good cardiologist he knows! Now the fact that I am 74 y.o. this summer, in my view, could have something to do with this, but that is just simple old me, who never has a clue, right?

Anyway, today is the day. What I can say is that I learned that my blood is actually flowing in my body because I could hear it from time to time as the technician did his routine on me! Of course, he knows exactly what is going on. But his lips are sealed.......the doctor cardiologist will reveal all based on his report on Friday morning @ 9:00 AM.

So if there is no Blog # 2 next Thursday, you'll know that somehow the test results maybe weren't all that good!

I then went to a local coffee shop to re-group, and it just happened to be space connected to a cooperative savings “bank” (They can't use the term). Now I am very favourably disposed to the cooperative business structure (As opposed to corporations). So I decided to go in and check it out. The young woman at the advisory desk was great and we hit it off. She explained some stuff, and I found a special investment promotion was on, that was just great for me and my wife. So we arranged an appointment for me for after the cardiologist on Friday morning, to have me join! Some things in life are just serendipity positive!

Then I headed home

Later Thursday Afternoon

When I got home, my wife was back and the kitchen was a total disaster.......she was charging into doing a number of things, and had been desperate for her sous-chef to appear.....and I did......just in time. So I ended up in a long “"working for ourself”" phase, as we ploughed through all her projects.

We had lunch about 4:00 PM.

Then my “work for myself” phase re-started, as I had to prepare the financial papers for the meeting with our new savings institution on Friday morning.

Then my adult daughter, who lives in Montreal, came back from her Hamilton academy where she is going for her second year program – she lives with us here in Toronto when she is here for the on-site week of classes, and commutes......most of the course is on-line, and she can do it while in Montreal and working part-time.

At 5:00 PM I finally got to do some of my “life” time for a short while.

Heading Out for Rd. 2.

I then prepared my stuff for the SCC Display Table (I do this as a member volunteer job). I printed out the Rd. 2 standings for each of the 4 sections, so I could put them out on the table.

Then I headed out by car for SCC about 5:45 PM. My routine is that I go right to my favourite Tim's where I relax before the round, and update my "Reminder Lists" (Medically bad memory, on top of old age). I generally have a light meal, but tonight just a donut since I had eaten at home.

Happily tonight, my chess friend from the club, Warren McKelvie, was already there and I joined him. We had gotten together a few times a while ago before going to the club. But tonight he was there to meet our Vice-President, Maurice Smith, to brainstorm a bit on club improvements. Maurice came in shortly, and we all batted around a number of ideas, some for the 2019-20 annual meeting in September.

Then around 7:00 PM we each drove to SCC (About 5 min. away).

[See Part III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 18th January, 2019, 08:33 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Jack Frost Swiss - Blog Rd. 2 - 19/1/17 (Thursday)

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

[See Parts I & II above]

Pre-Round 2

I got in and set up the display table and put out all the flyers, standings sheets, etc.

I then chatted a bit with members Dinesh Dattani and Hassan Pishdad, and the father of a new junior member (I know his son's coach, IM Artiom Samsonkin). Then the pairings went up and there was the awarding of prizes for the top finishers in each section in our last tournament, the Falling Leaves Swiss.
The round started soon after 7:30 PM.

Round 2

I played John Graham.....he and I have battled between probably 5 -10 times over that last number of years. I lost (See below).

Since we finished a bit early, I watched mainly the games in our section and the top section. Tonight the top boards in all sections finished early, and I was able to head for home shortly after 10:00 PM.

The Later Evening

My wife had visited with a friend at his place tonight, and when I arrived she and my daughter were curled up on the living room couch watching a movie on my wife's tablet. So I regaled them a bit with my sad game saga, and then left them to their movie, and went upstairs to spend some time on my Fb Project, and to enter my game with John into my games database, for use in this blog.

Then I was too tired to do this Blog # 1, and so had to finish it and post it on Friday.

My U 1800 Section Report - Rd. 2 - Thursday, Jan. 17/19.

I am rated 1569. I am in the 2nd of the 4 sections. My section rating spread is effectively, from 1702 to 874. I am # 15 out of 51 players (just barely in the top 1/3 of the section).

Note: Any adults below 1400 must play in this 2nd section.

Post-Rd. 2 - U 1800 - Leaders

There are 51 players; there were 24 boards (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, suspensions, withdrawals, etc.).

The leaders are:

1st/8th – 4.5/5 pts. (Won all games) – - Bharath Ramesh (1640); Jr. Girl Lucy Gao (1601); Jr. Boy Bhavatharshan Jeyakumar (1586); Jr. Boy Sam Liu (1558); Jr. Boy Miguel LeBlanc (1539); Jr. Boy Richard Huang (1520); Jr. Boy David Liu (1519); Junior Boy Boyuan Kong (1433).

My Round 2 Game

I have provided some of my own light annotations (No engine analysis yet) to explain a bit of what I was thinking as the game went on:

Graham,John (1307) - Armstrong,Robert J. (1569) [B06]

Scarborough CC Jack Frost (U 1800) (2), 17.01.2019
[Armstrong, Robert J.]

1.e4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 Modern Defence 4.Bc4 Nc6 5.a3 d6 6.Ne2 Nf6 transposing into a Sicilian 7.d3 Bg4 8.Bb5 Bxf3 9.Bxc6+ bxc6 10.gxf3 Rb8 11.c3 Nd7 12.f4 keeping my N off of e5 12...Nf6 13.Ng3 h5 14.h3 h4 15.Ne2 c4 16.Nd4 Qb6 17.Rg1 cxd3 18.Qxd3 c5 19.Nf3 Qc6 20.Ng5 c4 21.Qe2 Bh6 22.e5 a nice move that is going to win a P (And positionally, the game) 22...Bxg5 23.fxg5 Nh5 24.exd6 Qxd6 25.Qxc4 John goes up a P 25...Ng7 I am totally blind to the move coming (sigh). [25...Rd8] 26.Bf4 1–0

My Score

.5/2 pts. - Loss: 1 (Rd. 2); Bye (1/2 pt.): 1 (Rd. 1)

My Opponents' & My Scores

1.5/2 pts. - John Graham (1307) - I lost in Rd. 2.
.5/2 pts. - Me (1569)

The Less Important (!!) Sections: Leaders

i) 1800+ - 20 players; 7 boards.

1st/2nd - 2/2 pts. (Won all games) - Jr. Boy Fengxi Mao (1980); Jr. Boy Youhe Huang (1959).

ii) U 1400 Juniors - 23 players; 9 boards.

1st/4th - 2/2 pts. (Won all games) - Ivan Huang (1237); Jett Lai (1209); Richard Zhang (1198); Daniel Odoemelan (1198).

iii) U 1000 Juniors - 25 players; 11 boards

1st/3rd – 2/2 pts. (Won all games) – Kush Kheni (900); Lazim Ullah (897); Aryan Sethi (818).

Scarborough CC Games - Top Section

The games of the top section can be played over by going to the SCC Website (URL above), and the tab for "Results". Then after the link to the 1800+ section standings, is "Round x Games". Click on that and you get a game board/score, and you can play over the game right there and then!

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 (When I am not residing in my computer/internet - free hobby farm north of Toronto).

Also, if any SCC member, 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

**Toy Chack Kwan** · Monday, 21st January, 2019, 02:13 AM

I was playing on the next board beside beside Bob A and John G... John's a real trooper and chess enthusiast: we were chatting briefly before the round and he mentioned he was due for some surgery, but am scheduling it over the summer (when our club is closed for July+August) so that he won't miss any games! As for my own 2nd round game, lady luck seemed to be with me again, (having drawn in round 1, when I was in a lost position for most of the game, except for the fact that my opponent could not work out .the complications of a Knight sacrifice for 2 Pawns and the attack...and he finally settled for a 3 fold repetition and a draw instead when we both became low on time) ...In this round, I was on the White side of a symmetrical English, and reached the following position: I did not appreciate how bad my position could to if the pawns were traded off on the f-file: Black's dark square Bishop could settle on d3 and the 2 Bishops would cut across the board, allowing penetration on the f-file and/or advance of the d pawn ... But, the pawns were not exchanged and remained on the board until I managed to somehow eventually trade the Queens and minor pieces and pushed my d pawn up the board for an undeserved win! 2 more flash cards for my files on how not to play the English...

Attached Files

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 25th January, 2019, 12:04 PM

Scarborough Chess Club Jack Frost Swiss - Blog

Rd. 3 - 19/1/24 (Thursday)

Bob's Chess Blog # 2 [Part I of 3 parts]
(See Knight Logo below)

Club

Scarborough Chess Club, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

(See logo below)
(SCC Website: http://www.scarboroughchessclub.ca/)
(SCC Fb Page: https://www.facebook.com/ScarboroughChessClub/)

Tournament

Jack Frost Swiss (# 3 of the 2018-9 Season, which runs from Sept. To June – Closed July-August)

Registration – 119 (So far) ( 1800+ 19; U 1800 - 50; U 1400 Jrs. - 24; U 1000 Jrs. - 26)

The JFS is a 6-round swiss that runs from Jan. 10 - Feb. 14. There are 4 sections: 1800+; U 1800; U 1400 - Jrs. Only; U 1000 - Jrs. Only. All sections are CFC-rated. The top section is also FIDE rated. Time control is G/70 + 15 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 ($ 30)", and some do.

Sections Notes:

1. The Club Championship has only two sections: Championship (1800+); Reserves (U 1800)
2. The regular SCC Swisses, in the past, used to have three sections 1800+; U 1800; U 1400, with playing up within 100 pts. allowed (No fee).

Blog Note:

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

The Day of Rd. 3 - The Early Thursday Morning

I woke up at 7:30 AM. I got 3 1/2 hrs. sleep! - went to sleep @ 4:00 AM (normal for me now is about 6 hrs., outside of weekend tournaments)!

But I nevertheless 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.

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 (This is a normal template reproduction from blog to blog, and regular readers have read it before, and can skip down to the "End of Template" heading):

Start of Template

1. Check for e-mails (My wife's and mine) and Fb messages (Just me);

2. Check new posts/comments on ChessTalk (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, Toronto Star, National Post, 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 one of the discussion groups 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 CLC page.

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) – https://www.facebook.com/bob.armstrong.9235. 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.
I have another retiree project besides my Facebook Project “Job”.

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 - https://www.facebook.com/groups/340524269771672/.

9. When I find them, I share discussable religious posts to my religious discussion club 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.

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 bite the bullet and I spend 35 min. on my life tasks, which I think of as “working for myself”; I even set the alarm! Then I reward myself with 25 min. on my 2 retiree projects (Facebook & Chess). 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 Thursday

So this morning I comfortably settled into my daily routine. I had no appointments for the day, until SCC. So I would be on my own, unless there were some joint household tasks my wife wanted us to work on (In that case we use the “40/20 System” - a 40 min. stretch doing what we call “"work for ourselves"”; then a 20 min. phase of “"Our own time”").

The first thing I did on my own time was to start a handwritten notes sheet for this Blog # 2 (To jot things down during the day as they happen) and to start the typed draft on the laptop.

The SCC Fb Page (URL above)

About 10:00 AM, I got a call from Steve Karpik, who is one of the administrators of our club Fb Page.

He was calling to follow up on a concern a member had raised re the club page. The club page is really only used for two things: posting round results sheets; my re-post of my SCC blogs.

One of the members was concerned that I seemed to be monopolizing our club page with my blog. And it certainly could appear that way to someone who does not know the background.

So I responded, explaining that the SCC executive had consented to my re-posting, and were happy about it since the page was used so little......it might attract a bit more traffic to the page. But I said I'd pass on the concern to the SCC Executive, and I would do whatever they wanted......I was fine if they wanted me to stop re-posting there.

But in the light of my explanation, the member then wrote that he was satisfied and things were fine. So I then passed this on to the SCC Executive.

So this was one of the items Steve was calling me about. He was pleased we worked it out together (Steve is not on the Executive).

The second thing was some advice on my blogging (We have been best friends for many years). He felt that readers wanted to get to the blogging of the day right away....but my format first forced them through many screens of background concerning my blogging and SCC tournament history. He suggested it might be more user-friendly to put that material at the end. Right away I saw his point, and agreed.....so my regular readers can see that my blog structure has now changed a bit to incorporate this suggestion.

After the call, my wife arose from the dead (She also had gone to bed at 4:00 AM). She is having minor, temporary health problems with her eyes and ears....so I did my bedside nurse routine and put in the drops for her.

Then I returned to my routine.

[See Parts II & III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 25th January, 2019, 12:07 PM

Scarborough Chess Club Jack Frost Swiss - Blog

Rd. 3 - 19/1/24 (Thursday)

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

Thursday Afternoon

About 12:30 PM my wife and I fixed and had lunch.

I then was finally feeling the effects of 3 1/2 hrs. sleep and was a bit tired (Not really falling over tired).

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). But today I crashed for 2 hrs.

Later Thursday Afternoon

When I got up, I prepared my stuff to go to SCC for Rd. 3. I prepared my materials for the SCC Display Table (I do this as a member volunteer job). I went to print out the Rd. 2 standings for each of the 4 sections, so I could put them out on the table. But only the Crown section was there on the SCC website.

What had apparently happened was that inadvertently, the results sheets after Rd. 2 were left at the club. And it seems checking the next day didn't produce them. A note was put on the club Fb page, and onto ChessTalk, for members to e-mail in their results......but it appears only the 1800 + Section responded sufficiently to reconstruct the full result sheet. I'll hear about this one tonight, as all the members in the lower 3 sections can't find their cross-tables........I did an explanatory sign to try to head off as much as I could the weeping and gnashing of teeth, and looking at me as a mortal enemy, that was going to be forthcoming.

Then I was able to return to partly preparing the typed draft of this blog.

When I had done as much as I could, I then returned to my 35/25 system.

Heading Out for Rd. 3.

At 5:30 PM I headed out by car for SCC (Takes from 35-55 min., depending on traffic, and how late I leave).

My routine is that I go right to my favourite Tim's where I relax before the round, and update my "Reminder Lists" (Medically bad memory, on top of old age). I generally have a light meal, so I don't totally fall asleep at the board as all the blood rushes to my stomach at the start of the round! I then get the needed caffeine to go into battle.

Then around 7:00 PM I drive to SCC (About 5 min. away).

Pre-Round 3

I got in and set up the display table and put out all the flyers, the one standings sheet I had, and my grovelling note to the three lower sections, etc. The new Rd. 2 results sheets were up for those to fill in who had not seen the notices, and not e-mailed in their results.

I then chatted a bit with veteran member/chess friend Jim Paterson, second oldest SCC member. We talked about my sad loss at Annex CC on Monday. I advised Jim of my memory problem since 1996 when I underwent the somewhat controversial Electro-shock therapy (I had been in a severe depressive phase of my Bi-Polar Disorder). One of the side effects is making your memory totally random, both re old and recent memories. This affects my ability to chess calculate, because I can totally forget the early part of my ongoing calculation, such as having recognized a danger........and then the memory gets locked away on me, and I “"forget"” about it........does wreak some havoc and cause blundering. But I have learned to use the “Candidate Move” technique, and this often helps.

Then chess friend Sam Sharpe joined us and we ended up talking about other games, like bridge, euchre, conasta, etc. For bridge players, I learned first the Cutherbertson system (I think that was the name) from my dad (counting 1/2 tricks if I remember). My Charles Goren partners never knew what I was talking about in bidding, and I quickly learned the Goren system! LOL.

There were some short announcements and then the round started late because of the pairings problem.

SCC has to start on time, because our occupancy permit demands that we be all closed up and everyone out of the building by 10:45 PM. This is why SCC uses a fast time control of G/70 + 15 sec. Increment (From move 1). We have found that nearly all games will generally be done by 10:30 PM, and we can get out on time. But long games are a problem.....sometimes the club arbiter stops the game and adjudicates it, if the players can't agree on a result. The odd time we use the old adjournment method with the sealed move into an envelope. Then the players must finish the game on their own time before the start of the next round the next Thursday.

But tonight our arbiter, Sean Lei, decided to just wing it, since it was practically impossible to re-set all the clocks by deducting time from each player to avoid bumping up against the permit time....in fact all games concluded on time, but board 1 in the top section was still going when I left at about 10:30 PM.

Round 3

I played the club secretary, my friend Warren McKelvie (See below)

Since we finished a bit early, I watched mainly the games in our section and the top section for a while.

I spoke with Dave Southam about the fact that he had had an odd pairing, he initially felt, getting the Director's 1 pt. bye. But it got explained to him and so he was satisfied. I also chatted briefly to Steve Laughlin....years ago I had purchased a book of his on chess puzzles. He now has done Youtubes for his puzzles, and so Dave suggested I give him a plug.......so here it is:

Galen's Chess Puzzles –- search it by “"Galen's Chess Puzzles –- Youtube”" and you get a whole list of his puzzle Youtubes to watch and marvel!

I then headed for home.

The Later Evening

My wife had visited with a friend at his place that night, and when I arrived she was curled up on the living room couch watching a movie on her tablet. It was clear she wasn't going to listen to my chess blog (! LOL), so I left her to her movie, and went upstairs to spend some time updating my Fb Project, enter my game into my games database, for use in this blog, and to try to do and finish this Blog # 2.

But I was too tired to finish it, and so left the completion and posting to Friday.

My U 1800 Section Report - Rd. 3 - Thursday, Jan. 24/19.

I am rated 1569. I am in the 2nd of the 4 sections. My section rating spread is effectively, from 1702 to 874. I am # 15 out of 50 players (just barely in the top 1/3 of the section).

Note: Any adults below 1400 must play in this 2nd section.

Post-Rd. 3 - U 1800 - Leaders

There are 50 players; there were 21 boards (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, suspensions, withdrawals, etc.).

The leaders are:

Final Standings not available at time of posting due to no rd. 2 standings being available

My Round 3 Game

I have provided some of my own light annotations (No engine analysis yet) to explain a bit of what I was thinking as the game went on:

Armstrong,Robert J. (1569) - McKelvie,Warren (1253) [D30]

Scarborough CC Jack Frost (U 1800) (3), 24.01.2019
[Armstrong, Robert J.]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.e3 Bb4+ I'm not sure if this is some type of delayed Bogo-Indian Defence 5.Bd2 Be7 The idea of this line is that Bl gets W's B onto a wrong square for future development, AFAIK. 6.Nc3 0–0 7.Bd3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Nc6 9.Rc1 b6 10.Nb5 I was not clear that this accomplished much except to introduce a bit of complication to calculation.....being higher-rated, I thought this could be in my favour. 10...Bb7 protects the N which was going to be subject to an attack when I sacked my B on e6. 11.0–0 a6 12.Na3 Ne4 13.Bd3 Nxd2 14.Nxd2 If I re-take with my Q, then at some point Warren might get to exchange his B for my f3N and I would have to re-capture by gxf3, messing up my K-side 14...Nb4 15.Bb1 Qd5 16.f3 Rac8 17.Nb3 I missed the very effective 17.Be4, winning Warren's B. 17...Rfd8 Now Warren misses the dangerous Be4 move 18.Be4 this time I saw the best move! 18...Qg5 19.f4 Qf6 20.Bxb7 I go up an N. 20...Nxa2 I am up N vs P. 21.Bxc8 When up material, the general rule is to exchange down to an ending. 21...Nxc1 22.Bxa6 I am again up a full N 22...Nxb3 23.Qxb3 Ra8 24.Bd3 Bd6 25.Nc4 trying for another exchange of pieces 25...Bf8 26.Ne5 My N gets to a sort of monster outpost. 26...Qe7 27.Qc2 g6 28.Rc1 Rc8 29.Be4 Intending to kick the c8R and then win the c7P. 29...c5 30.dxc5 Rxc5 Though down a minor, Warren plays actively, hoping I may falter, or that he'll get an ending with me just up the one minor, and be able to draw. 31.Qd2 Qc7 32.Rxc5 Bxc5 My Q is currently pinned to my e3P since if I leave it, Warren wins it with check. 33.Kf1 f6 34.Nd3 Qd6 Now my N is pinned against my Q 35.Ke2 My K now keeps everything together, so I can now play actively with my major pieces. 35...e5 a blunder........Warren misses that his B has no escape square 36.b4 1–0

[See Part III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 25th January, 2019, 12:10 PM

Scarborough Chess Club Jack Frost Swiss - Blog

Rd. 3 - 19/1/24 (Thursday)

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

[See Parts I & II above]

My Score

1.5/3 pts. - Win: 1 (Rd. 3); Loss: 1 (Rd. 2); Bye (1/2 pt.): 1 (Rd. 1)

My Opponents' & My Scores

1.5/3 pts. - Me (1569)

- John Graham (1307) - I lost in Rd. 2.

.5/3 pts. - Warren McKelvie (1253) – I won in Rd. 3.

The Less Important (!!) Sections: Leaders

i) 1800+ - 19 players; 6 boards.

Cannot post –- Bd. 1 (Jr. Boy Fengxi Mao (1980) vs Jr. Boy Youhe Huang (1959)) was still going when I left, and the results sheets are not yet posted on the club Fb page.

ii) U 1400 Juniors - 26 players; 7 boards.

Cannot post –- same problems

iii) U 1000 Juniors - 25 players; 11 boards

Cannot post -– same problems

Scarborough CC Games - Top Section

The games of the top section can be played over by going to the SCC Website (URL above), and the tab for "Results". Then after the link to the 1800+ section standings, is "Round x Games". Click on that and you get a game board/score, and you can play over the game right there and then!

How My Blog Works (Some history and details) + an SCC Tournament History.

These sections are another 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 this second template part down to where you find “Template Ends” (I will alert you if there are any revisions of the template).

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 a Chess Companion 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 – I am now registered).
3. The 2019 Quebec Open (July 10-19).
4. The 2019 Toronto Open (Aug. 31- Sept. 2).

The National Canadian French Chess Discussion Board

Henri Hughes, a member of both Canadian national chess discussion boards owned by Henry Lam (English: Chess Talk; French: Parlons Echecs), volunteers, subject to demands of his school studies, to translate my blogs into French, and post them to Parlons Echecs. 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 sometime 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 SCC

Lots of room and so SCC WELCOMES all new members. You can inquire about joining at the general SCC e-mail address: info@ScarboroughChessClub.ca. You can join a tournament in progress; you will get ½ pt. byes for all the missed rounds.

SCC Tournament Registration History

2013-4 Season

Jack Frost Swiss (3rd tournament) - 131 - peak registration for the season.

2014-5 Season

Club Championship Swiss (5th tournament of the season) - 126 - peak registration for the season

Season average registration (for the 6 tournaments) - 117

2015-6 Season

Club Championship (5th tournament of the season) - 141! (1800+: 35; U 1800 - 106) - Peak for the season & the current RECORD for recent times!

Season average registration (for the 6 tournaments) - 131

2016-7 Season

Jack Frost Swiss (3rd Tournament of the season) - 139 - 1800+: 32; U 1800: 35; U 1400: 72. - Peak Registration for the season

Season Average Registration (for 6 tournaments): 133! (Highest Seasonal Average since keeping records here).

2017-8 Season

Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (1st tournament of the season) - 130 (1800+: 27; U 1800: 46; U 1400: 57) - Peak Registration for the season.

Season Average Registration (for 6 tournaments): 122. Below the 2016-7 Season Average of 133.

2018-9 Season (Current)

# 1 - Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (1st tournament of the season) - 123 (1800+ - 20; U 1800 - 57; U 1400 Jrs. Only - 19; U 1000 Jrs. Only - 27).

# 2 - Falling Leaves Swiss (2nd tournament of the season) - 112 (1800+ - 17; U 1800 - 51; U 1400 Jrs. - 20; U 1000 Jrs. - 24)

Season Average Registration (So far): 118 (Slightly below the 2017-8 Season Average of 122).

End of Template

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 (When I am not residing in my computer/internet - free hobby farm north of Toronto).

Also, if any SCC member, 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

**Toy Chack Kwan** · Saturday, 26th January, 2019, 09:59 AM

my brief supplementary to Bob's blog...

I arrived a few minutes before Rd 3 was to start and bumped into James Mourgelas, who I had luckily drew in rd 1, and then Dinesh Dattani (from whom I was really lucky to win the point in rd 2) joined us, and we commiserated with each other, and joked about our mutual blunders in the games, and concluded that was why we were not in the 1800+ section

in rd 3, I was paired as Black against Carl Lim, I do not recall playing him with before...
I played a Queen's Indian against his Torre/Queen's Gambit setup; somehow, the game morphed into a Nimzo-like pawn structure, with White having doubled c pawns:

after a few misadventures (but no major blunders) I eventually managed to grind out a win after 44 moves;

after the game, I got a chance to chat with Sean Lei, who's been helping carry the load while Omar is away; we have in common York University in that he's currently doing (I believe) a B.Comm. there, while I graduated from York way back in 1980; he mentioned that a major difference between us (U1800) and the +U1800 section was in the relative consistency (of the amount of mistakes made) in the games (I suppose it is as simple, and difficult, as that!);

...I am still doing about 15-20 tactics problems a day (3rd iteration) from the Weteschnik 'Chess Tactics from Scratch book', so hopefully, it'll translate into fewer blunders and rating improvements down the road!!

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 1st February, 2019, 10:27 PM

Scarborough Chess Club Jack Frost Swiss

Blog Rd. 4 - 19/1/31 (Thursday)

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

Club

Scarborough Chess Club, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

See logo below
SCC Website: http://www.scarboroughchessclub.ca/
SCC Fb Page: https://www.facebook.com/ScarboroughChessClub/

Tournament

Jack Frost Swiss (# 3 of the 2018-9 Season, which runs from Sept. to June – Closed July-August)
Registration – 122 (So far) ( 1800+ 20; U 1800 - 52; U 1400 Jrs. - 24; U 1000 Jrs. - 26)
The JFS is a 6-round swiss that runs from Jan. 10 - Feb. 14. There are 4 sections: 1800+; U 1800; U 1400 - Jrs. Only; U 1000 - Jrs. Only. All sections are CFC-rated. The top section is also FIDE rated. Time control is G/70 + 15 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 ($ 30)", and some do.

Sections Notes:

1. The Club Championship has only two sections: Championship (1800+); Reserves (U 1800)
2. The regular SCC Swisses, in the past, used to have three sections 1800+; U 1800; U 1400, with playing up within 100 pts. allowed (No fee).

Blog Note:

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

The Day of Rd. 4 - Early Thursday Morning

I woke up at 7:30 AM. I got my normal 6 hrs., since I didn't go to bed 'til 1:30 AM this morning (during weekend tournaments, I usually sleep much less than normal).

I felt quite refreshed. So.... I got up, went and got my morning coffee, and went to my home office (I am retired + unemployed – except for my slave-driver company, where I must volunteer my work time for free!) and fired up my old laptop.

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 (The next part below is a normal template reproduction from blog to blog, and regular readers have read it before, and can skip down to the "End of Template" heading):

Start of Template

1. Check for e-mails (My wife's and mine) and Fb messages (Just me);
2. Check new posts/comments on ChessTalk (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, Toronto Star, National Post, NBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, France 24, China Daily, Al Jezeera (English), Japan Times, Sputnik News, The Guardian, etc.). I post the most relevant...see below.
4. My little company (Not legally registered yet) is called Canadian Life Consulting Cooperative. So I update my company's Fb page, Canadian Life Consulting (CLC) - https://www.facebook.com/Canadian-Li...lting-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 one of the discussion groups 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 CLC 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) – https://www.facebook.com/bob.armstrong.9235. 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 own Facebook Project “Job” and my company Fb Project “job”.
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 - https://www.facebook.com/groups/340524269771672/.
9. When I find them, I share discussable religious posts to my religious discussion club 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 projects 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.

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 three 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 bite the bullet and I spend 35 min. on my life tasks, which I think of as “working for myself”; I even set the alarm! Then I reward myself with 25 min. on my 3 retiree projects (Facebook [2] & Chess). 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 Thursday

So this morning I comfortably settled into my daily routine. I had 2 appointments for later in the day, before SCC. So I would be on my own for quite a while, unless there were some joint household tasks my wife wanted us to work on (In that case we use the “40/20 System” - a 40 min. stretch doing what we call “work for ourselves”; then a 20 min. phase of “Our own time”).

But today my wife planned to take her own time and work downstairs in her studio on her pottery hobby – she is an amateur, though belonging to a good 50 potter member cooperative. So likely we would not do much jointly today.

The first thing I did on my own time was to start a handwritten notes sheet for this Blog # 3 (To jot things down during the day as they happen).

I also finished analyzing my last Annex CC game and entered it into my openings/defences book. Then I worked on my and my company's Fb projects.

During my “work for myself” 35 min. phases, from the morning through to the early afternoon, I:

1. Corresponded about the trophies for our Windfall Farm Euchre Club;
2. Dealt with my wife's Montreal business deal;
3. Prepared to do our family January month-end budget reconciliation;
4. Emptied the dish-drying rack and straightened the kitchen;
5. Dealt a bit with my wife's finances;
6. Dealt with my own finances.
7. Gathered up all the recyclables and compost to put stuff out for Friday pick-up.

Later Thursday Afternoon

About 2:00 PM my wife and I fixed and had lunch.

Then I was off to do some banking – nice to deposit cheques sometimes, not just always keep writing them!

When I got back, I went back to my 35/25 game!

Heading Out for Rd. 4

I then prepared my stuff to go to SCC for Rd. 4. I prepared my materials for the SCC Display Table (I do this as a member volunteer job). I printed out the Rd. 3 standings for each of the 4 sections, so I could put them out on the table.

At 5:30 PM I headed out by car for SCC (Takes from 35-55 min., depending on traffic, and how late I leave).

My routine is that I go right to my favourite Tim's where I relax before the round, and update my "Reminder Lists" (Medically bad memory, on top of old age). I generally have a light meal, so I don't totally fall asleep at the board as all the blood rushes to my stomach at the start of the round! I then get the needed caffeine to go into battle.

Then around 7:00 PM I drive to SCC (About 5 min. away).

Pre-Round 4

I got in and set up the display table and put out the cross-tables and all the flyers.

I then chatted a bit with one of our junior members I've played recently, twice, Ronan Uthayakumar, and his father (We often chat on chess nights). His father and I were talking about the cold weather. So he told me how hard it was the first winter in Canada to adapt, since they never had weather like this in his home country......and he had a job that was outside work!! But after the first year, he was able to take a very Canadian survival approach!

Round 4

There were some short announcements and then the round started almost on time.

I played Javier Dixon, who also had 1.5/3 pts. (See below).

After the game, I watched mainly the games in our section, and the top section, for a while. I like to have the top results, for this blog, when I leave (in case the Results Sheet Photos don't get posted to the club Fb page before I do my blog).

I then headed for home.

[See Parts II & III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 1st February, 2019, 10:31 PM

Scarborough Chess Club Jack Frost Swiss - Blog

Rd. 4 - 19/1/31 (Thursday)

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

[See Part I above]

The Later Evening

I got home about 10:45 PM. My wife had visited with a friend at our place that night, and when I arrived she was curled up on the living room couch watching a movie on her tablet. Some nights she wants to talk, and other nights I don't get to regale her with my chess saga......tonight she wanted to talk. So I gave her a brief recap of the game (I taught her many years ago, though she doesn't play anymore; but she can follow, and suffer through patiently, my executive summary).

We are going to visit our two adult kids next week out of province, so we chatted for about an hour on that, and other life issues.

Early Friday Morning

About 12:30 AM, I then left her to her movie, and went upstairs to spend some time updating my Fb Project and my company's Fb project. I started entering my game into my games database, for use in this blog. But then I was too tired to try to do and finish this Blog # 3. I left the Blog # 3, and posting, to later Friday.

My U 1800 Section Report - Rd. 4 - Thursday, Jan. 31/19.

I am rated 1569. I am in the 2nd of the 4 sections. My section rating spread is effectively, from 1702 to 874. I am # 16 out of 52 players (just barely in the top 1/3 of the section).

Note: Any adults below 1400 must play in this 2nd section.

Post-Rd. 4 - U 1800 - Leaders

There are 52 players; there were 19 boards (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, suspensions, withdrawals, etc.).

The leaders are:

1st – 4/4 pts. (Won all games) – Junior Boy Bhavatharsham Jeyakumar (1586).

2nd/3rd – 3.5/4 pts. (Undefeated) – Junior Girl Mysha Gilani (1651); Junior Boy Miguel LeBlanc (1539).

My Round 4 Game

I have provided some of my own light annotations (No engine analysis yet) to explain a bit of what I was thinking as the game went on:

Dixon,Javier (1324) - Armstrong,Robert J. (1569) [B30]

Scarborough CC Jack Frost (U 1800) (4), 31.01.2019
[Armstrong, Robert J.]

1.e4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.Bc4 c5 Modern Defence 4.0–0 Nc6 5.Nc3 d6 6.d3 a6 7.a3 b5 8.Ba2 Rb8 9.Re1 e6 I thought it best to keep Javier's B or N off of d5. 10.Rb1 a5 I would like to have a space advantage on the Q-side........and if I can get my P's far enough, there are sometimes sac possibilities to allow a deadly P-push. 11.Ne2 a4 12.Bd2 b4 13.Bc4 Bd7 With some pawn pushes, there are lines where my aP will be hanging and attacked by Javier's Q.....so this solves that possible future problem. 14.axb4 cxb4 15.c3 b3 I am now in position that pushing a3 will create a passed bP. 16.d4 Javier has been cramped and it has been difficult for him to come up with any aggressive plan......but he know hopes he may be able to counter in the centre. 16...Nge7 17.Ra1 Na5 My d7B now gets to do its aP protecting job 18.Bd3 0–0 19.Bf4 Qb6 20.Be3 d5 I want to prevent Javier pushing his P to d5 and activating his dark-squared B 21.e5 Rfc8 22.Qd2 Bb5 23.Nc1 Nc4 24.Bxc4 Rxc4 leaving the b5B to protect the vulnerable aP. 25.Nd3 Rc7 26.Nc5 nice outpost; bit of a pain as it pressures the a4P. 26...Ra8 Blunder - wrong R - loses a P to a nice little pin tactic. 27.Nxb3 my aP is pinned; Javier goes up a P. My compensation is that Javier's bP is backward and attackable. 27...Bc4 28.Nc5 Rca7 29.Bh6 It is true that if I take on h6, I could then win the bP. But then Javier plays Ng5 and it is trouble. 29...Qc6 30.Bxg7 Kxg7 31.Qg5 Ng8 I must watch for a Q + N attack on either f7 or more worriesome, h7. 32.Nd2 Qb5 33.Nxc4 Qxc4 Javier now had only 5 min. left (He has had the tougher game to play) and I had 16 min. 34.Ra3 Qb5 35.Qd2 Ne7 36.Rea1 Nc8 I have to deal with the coming b3 move and protection of my a7R. 37.b3 Javier had 1 min. left, and I had 10 min.; the increment at SCC is only 15 sec. Even if Javier managed to remain ahead a P, he could never beat the clock........so he offered a draw, up a P. In club tournaments, where the game has been close throughout, I will not win on time (Though here I clearly would have)....I accepted since the position would have been equal, or perhaps I might even be losing on the board (Though winning on the clock). ½–½

My Score

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

My Opponents' & My Scores

2/4 pts. - Me (1569)
- Javier Dixon (1324) – I drew in Rd. 4.
- John Graham (1307) - I lost in Rd. 2.

.5/4 pts. - Warren McKelvie (1253) – I won in Rd. 3.

The Less Important (!!) Sections: Leaders

i) 1800+ - 20 players; 5 boards.

1st – 3.5/4 pts. (Undefeated) – Jr. Boy Fengxi Mao (1980).

2nd/5th – 3/4 pts. - Rune Pedersen (2211); Jr. Boy Nameer Issani (2162) – Given a 1 pt. placeholder for the moment, since I don't have the result of his Rd. 4 game; Steve Laughlin (1950 – former club champion) - Given a 1 pt. placeholder for the moment, since I don't have the result of his Rd. 4 game; Jr. Boy Youhe Huang (1959).

ii) U 1400 Juniors - 24 players; 9 boards.

1st/2nd – 3.5/4 pts. (Undefeated) – Richard Zhang (1198); Daniel Odoemelan (1198).

3rd – 3/4 pts. - Nathan Zian Wang (1271).

iii) U 1000 Juniors - 26 players; 10 boards

1st/2nd – 3.5/4 pts. (Undefeated) – Gabriel Li (958); Lazim Ulla (897).

3rd/6th – 3/4 pts. - Kush Keni (900); Alex Mou (815); Sunny Zhang (688); Justin Tso (415).

Scarborough CC Games - Top Section

The games of the top section can be played over by going to the SCC Website (URL above), and the tab for "Results". Then after the link to the 1800+ section standings, is "Round x Games". Click on that and you get a game board/score, and you can play over the game right there and then!

[See Part III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 1st February, 2019, 10:32 PM

Scarborough Chess Club Jack Frost Swiss - Blog

Rd. 4 - 19/1/31 (Thursday)

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

[See Parts I & II above]

How My Blog Works (Some history and details) + an SCC Tournament History.

These sections are another 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 this second template part down to where you find “Template Ends” (I will alert you if there are any revisions of the template).

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 a Chess Companion 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/18 - Dec. 14-16/18) – blogged.
2. The 2019 Hart House Reading Week Open (February 16-18 – I am now registered).
3. The 2019 Quebec Open (July 10-19).
4. The 2019 Toronto Open (Aug. 31- Sept. 2).

The National Canadian French Chess Discussion Board

Henri Hughes, a member of both Canadian national chess discussion boards owned by Henry Lam (English: Chess Talk; French: Parlons Echecs), volunteers, subject to demands of his school studies, to translate my blogs into French, and post them to Parlons Echecs. 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 sometime 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 on the day of club tournaments, and before, after 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 SCC

Lots of room and so SCC WELCOMES all new members. You can inquire about joining at the general SCC e-mail address: info@ScarboroughChessClub.ca. You can join a tournament in progress; you will get ½ pt. byes for all the missed rounds.

SCC Tournament Registration History

2013-4 Season

Jack Frost Swiss (3rd tournament) - 131 - peak registration for the season.

2014-5 Season

Club Championship Swiss (5th tournament of the season) - 126 - peak registration for the season
Season average registration (for the 6 tournaments) - 117

2015-6 Season

Club Championship (5th tournament of the season) - 141! (1800+: 35; U 1800 - 106) - Peak for the season & the current RECORD for recent times!
Season average registration (for the 6 tournaments) - 131

2016-7 Season

Jack Frost Swiss (3rd Tournament of the season) - 139 - 1800+: 32; U 1800: 35; U 1400: 72. - Peak Registration for the season
Season Average Registration (for 6 tournaments): 133! (Highest Seasonal Average since keeping records here).

2017-8 Season

Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (1st tournament of the season) - 130 (1800+: 27; U 1800: 46; U 1400: 57) - Peak Registration for the season.
Season Average Registration (for 6 tournaments): 122. Below the 2016-7 Season Average of 133.

2018-9 Season (Current)

# 1 - Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (1st tournament of the season) - 123 (1800+ - 20; U 1800 - 57; U 1400 Jrs. Only - 19; U 1000 Jrs. Only - 27).
# 2 - Falling Leaves Swiss (2nd tournament of the season) - 112 (1800+ - 17; U 1800 - 51; U 1400 Jrs. - 20; U 1000 Jrs. - 24)
Season Average Registration (So far): 118 (Slightly below the 2017-8 Season Average of 122).

End of Template

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 (When I am not residing in my computer/internet - free hobby farm north of Toronto).

Also, if any SCC member, 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

**Toy Chack Kwan** · Wednesday, 6th February, 2019, 02:06 AM

The Super Bowl and Lunar New Year makes for a busy weekend, but I finally got around to reconstructing (I can't read my own handwriting, lol) my own Rd 4 game and using lichess to analyze where I went wrong;

I am current 1604 and had White vs M Gilani (1651), and I played 1.c4 again...

after 19 moves, we reached this position:

it was here that I lost the thread,

I was concerned with the h pawn advancing to h3 and eventuaally getting mated on the h-file,
I wasn't sure if I had time to play a5 and then play Bxd4, attacking both the Q and R on the diagonal (the analysis said I did) ...I played Bh3? to defend instead and lost the game after a few more moves;

...another tactic flashcard added to my 1.c4 opening folder;

on a more encouraging note, I am making headway on the Weteschnik's tactics book, and am recognizing/solving more of the tougher problems (and perhapstranslate into higher ratings in the future),

hope still springs eternal;

..

**Bob Armstrong** · Wednesday, 6th February, 2019, 08:35 AM

Hi Toy: Old dogs are never too far-gone to be unable to learn new tricks!

I just don't know if this old dog can raise his rating now to catch up to your stratospheric rise ahead of me!! LOL

Bob

**Toy Chack Kwan** · Sunday, 10th February, 2019, 04:37 AM

Bob took a bye for round 5, so I guess it'll just be my supplemental comments today,
I'll take ths opportunity to expand somewhat my thoughts here as a 'motivated mature' player,

this round, I had Black against youngster B.Wu (1518 (he was 1652 a yr ago!)) and I played a French vs his 1.e4...

background:
I had had always played a hyper-accelerated Sicilian vs 1.e4, but decided to overhaul my repertoire over the holidays as I found myself putting too much time looking at opening variations and not enough time spent on tactics and endgame;

this was especially true where as White, I had been playing 1.e4, basing my lines on IM Sam Collin's book 'A Simple Chess Opening Repertoire' in which he chose lines vs Caro-Kann, French, Sicilian etc from which one can emerge with an IQP from the openings; however, I was only partially successful in getting an IQP to play with since Black more often than not, deviated early, and I was unable to get to such positions;
consequently, I ended up spending much more time looking at the openings than I really had time for or can memorize;

GM Nigel Davies has advocated in his writings low maintenance' openings (eg Torre & Colle systems as White (then later, QGambit), French & QGD as Black), from which one can get into playable middle game positions and well defined pawn structures (based on principles rather than specific move orders) from which one can learn to play the middle and end game phases;

over the holidays, I finally bit the bullet and switched to playing 1...e6 against both 1.e4 (French, which is new to me) and 1.d4 (I play the Nimzo-Bogo-QIndian (GM Davies recommends QGD))

and as White, I chose a 1.c4 approach

....I opened a new account on lichess and played 2 games a day (15+15 time control) using the new repertoire, and have managed to get back (after some 1 month and 70+ games later) to a 1950s rating on the site, which is at the same level as when I was using my old 1.e4 openings;

... back to my game vs B.Wu, in which I lost...

though it's what I call a 'good' loss, in that after after White's 9th move to 39th move (and my time trouble) I always held the initiative or advantage (though I missed a couple of tactical opportunities), making no blunders nor suffering a 'senior moment':

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.c3 cxd4 5.cxd4 Nc6 6.Ngf3 Bd7 7.exd5 exd5 8.Qb3

8...Nf6 9.a3 Qc7 10.Bd3 Bd6 11.O-O O-O 12.Qc2 Rfe8 13.Nb3 h6 ( 13...Bg4 14.Nfd2 ( 14.Nbd2 Rac8 ) ) 14.h3 Rac8 15.Bd2 Qb8 16.Qb1 Ne4 17.Re1 Nxd2 18.Nfxd2 Rxe1+ 19.Qxe1 Re8 20.Qf1 Be7 21.Re1 Bf6 22.Rxe8+ Qxe8 23.Nf3 b6 24.Qe2 Kf8 25.Qxe8+ Kxe8 26.Bb5 Ke7 27.Kf1 Kd6 28.Ke2 a5 29.Kd2 Bf5 30.Bxc6 Kxc6 31.Ne5+ Kb5 32.Kc3 Be6 33.Nf3 h5 34.Nbd2 g5 35.Kd3 g4 36.hxg4 hxg4 37.Ne5 Bg7 ( 37...Bf5+ 38.Kc3 Ka4 39.Nxf7 b5 40.Nf1 b4+ 41.axb4 axb4+ 42.Kd2 Bxd4 ) 38.f3 Bf5+ 39.Kc3

...I had been playing on the increment (15 secs) since about move 34, and after 39...Bxe4 40.dxe5 gxf3 41.gxf3 Kc5?? 42.Nb3+ I lost the game;

all in all, I was satisfied with the quality of my play until my time trouble overtook me,

the upside of this repertoire change lies in the increased freed time for more tactics and endgame training,

... like the ant in the old Bing Crosby song 'High Hopes',

he's got high hopes, he's got high hopes
He's got high apple pie, in the sky hopes

TC

**Bob Armstrong** · Sunday, 10th February, 2019, 11:58 AM

Fun Blog to read Toy......you are definitely a great replacement, as well as your normal supplementing!

See you and Undriadi at HHRWO on Saturday.

Bob A

Scarborough Chess Club Jack Frost Swiss (Jan. 10 - Feb. 14) - Blog

Scarborough Chess Club Jack Frost Swiss (Jan. 10 - Feb. 14) - Blog

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