COQ/Quebec Open Chess Championship 2019 (Saturday, July 20 – Sat., July 27/19) - Blog

**Bob Armstrong** · Sunday, 21st July, 2019, 09:02 PM

COQ/Quebec Open Chess Championship (Saturday, July 20 – Sat., July 27/19) - Blog

Rd. 1 – Saturday, 19/7/20 (1:00 PM)

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

The Workaround
So…….I go to the reception desk…..anyone know a place I can rent a lap-top for a week……I have my Fb projects, my e-mails, my blog, etc……NOPE!
But the nice receptionist advises: `We do have a ``business office`` for those staying at the hotel…..just one desktop……you can keep documents and photos on it for the week, and delete everything when you check out….yes you can download scid (Free database`) and Stockfish (Free engine) onto our laptop for the week. It just may be that other guests may also want to use it….but often it is unused, since everyone (Well, NORMAL guests) has THEIR OWN laptop!).
End of saga……saved……..working fine…….here I am in the nice Sandman Hotel business office……just doing my thing…….Reception: Glad you can make use of it; do whatever you need to!! Sandman just went up the rating scale a number of notches!!
Back to Today (Saturday)
So, after getting up today, where am I from 6:00 – 8:30 AM?? Yup…….in MY office (!!) converting the Sandman desktop into the Armstrong laptop – documents, photos, favourites bar, links (Facebook sites), etc. I am even hoping to do my Blog # 1 – The Day Prior (Friday, July 19) and get it out before the Rd. 1 at 1:00 PM!
At 8:30 PM, I went back upstairs and Mario was up and I reported that it was “looking good”. We went for breakfast at the McDonald`s close by (We`re both fast food addicts, though Mario goes Japanese whenever he gets a chance).
For those who know my blogs, they know I have Bi-Polar Disorder. Well, a bit unfortunately, I have been in a moderate depression phase for about a week…..kind of in and out. After breakfast, I was in…….had no motivation to try to do the `”Day Prior`” Blog. So I needed to do something really simple, that required little motivation…..so I updated my ”Reminder Lists” for a few hours before the round, and Mario worked on a new defence he wanted to try this tournament. We had lunch in since I had some chicken and buns I`d brought (There is a nice little bar fridge), and I made us sandwiches.
Pre-Rd. 1
But at 11:30 AM, I thought I`d give a try to go start a draft of the Friday Blog. But in the hotel reception area, I spotted my Toronto chess friend (Who shall remain anonymous – hint – he`s in my section & from Toronto). So I joined him and we chatted for a while until it got closer to the round…he`s at another hotel close by. Then Mario came down. So he and I then met our friends Hugh Brodie from Quebec (Just watching) and Ed Sellars from New York (U 2000 section). My Toronto friend joined us and we all chewed the rag `til the start of the round……Hugh and Mario and I made plans to go for a late lunch on Monday, and similarly with Ed for Wednesday. The result……..no Friday Blog yet started……
Round 1
After some announcements, the round was started shortly after 1:30 PM.
After the game, I watched some of our section games (And some top section games) still in progress, and went back and forth to “my office” updating my various projects.
The Evening
Mario had won his first round game, and so he entered and analyzed it. I called my wife at our hobby farm, and she had to listen to the sad saga of my loss…….unfortunately she knows how to play enough that she can follow themes as I recount the game. Then I arranged for Mario and I to go play with my granddaughter who lives in Montreal (And, oh yeah, my son) on Tuesday.
I wasn`t feeling a lot better depression-wise, but a bit…….at least I decided to force myself to go back to the office, forget the Friday Blog, and try to start with this Saturday Blog # 1. With some difficulty I did get this started, and got it about half finished before I got tired and had to go to bed….Mario, bless his little ole heart, had entered my game and spent about an hour annotating it, and we put it onto my desktop for this blog (See below). I had to leave the finishing of this Blog # 1 to Sunday morning, before our two rounds.
U 1800 Section Chess Report on Rd. 1 (Saturday, July 20, 2019).
My U 1800 Section
I am rated 1633 (FQE). I am ranked # 17 out of 32players (In the middle third).
Rating Spread
1700`s – 4 (Favourites)
1600’s – 15 (my rating is here)
1500’s – 11
1400’s – 1
1300’s – 0
1200`s - 1
Total - 32
U 1800 Standings After Rd. 1
There were 14 boards in the section (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, withdrawals, etc.).
Here are the leaders:
1st –1/1 pts. – (10 players) - Maximo Jr. Alcantra (1763); Benoit Villeneuve (1762); Abderaouf Sekki (1740) ; Guennadi Kozlov (1691) ; Kil Kay Sang (1682) ; Geffrard Morinvil (1667) ; Ming Yu Xi (1647) ; Alessio Di Matteo (1639) ; Marcel Laurin (1619) ; Anthony Navala (1522).
In my blogs, I usually will designate some `Favourites`` for us to follow initially. So I`ll be simple, and pick the 4 players in the 1700`s. You will see that, as expected, 3 of them won (See above). The one who lost is Patrice Gerard (1715) – but it is my experience that Favourites often stay near the top……we`ll watch all 4 for the next few rounds, and see if Patrice makes a come-back.

[Part III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Sunday, 21st July, 2019, 09:05 PM

COQ/Quebec Open Chess Championship (Saturday, July 20 – Sat., July 27/19) - Blog

Rd. 1 – Saturday, 19/7/20 (1:00 PM)

Bob's Chess Blog # 1 [Part III of 3 parts; Parts I & II above]

My Round 1 Game

Here is my game, with a few light annotations (Engine Analysis by Mario Moran-Venegas).

[Event "COQ 2019"]
[Site "Longueuil"]
[Date "2019.07.20"]
[Round "1"; Bd. 3/14]
[White "Armstrong, Robert (Bob) J."]
[Black "Sekki, Abderaouf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Houdini 6.02 Pro x64-pext (70m)"]
[PlyCount "67"]

1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c5 4. Nf3 {last book move} Qa5 (4... cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Nxc6 dxc6
7. Qxd8+ Kxd8 8. e4 $11) 5. e3 Nf6 6. Bd2 e6 $2 {Consolidates d5} (6... cxd4 $5
7. exd4 O-O $11) 7. Ne4 (7. Nb5 Qd8 8. Nd6+ Ke7 9. dxc5 Ne8 $18) 7... Qb6 $2 (
7... Qc7 8. Nxc5 d6 9. Na4 $16) 8. Nxc5 (8. dxc5 $142 Qc7 9. Nd6+ Ke7 10. a3
$18) 8... Qxb2 $4 {causes further problems for White} (8... O-O $142 $16) 9.
Rb1 $18 Qa3 (9... Qxa2 {a fruitless try to alter the course of the game} 10.
Ra1 Qxa1 11. Qxa1 $18) 10. Bb4 Qxa2 11. Ra1 Qb2 (11... Qxa1 {cannot change
destiny} 12. Qxa1 Nc6 13. Bc3 $18) 12. Nd3 Qxa1 13. Qxa1 Nc6 (13... Ne4 {
doesn't improve anything} 14. Nde5 f5 15. Bd3 $18) 14. Ba3 Ne4 (14... Ng8 {
is not much help} 15. Bb2 d5 16. Nfe5 $18) 15. Be2 (15. Nf4 {and White can
already relax} Ne7 16. Bd3 Nf6 $18) 15... d6 16. O-O (16. Nd2 $142 $5 {keeps
an even firmer grip} Nxd2 17. Kxd2 O-O 18. Bxd6 Rd8 $18) 16... O-O 17. Bb2 d5
18. cxd5 exd5 19. Rc1 Bg4 (19... Rd8 {does not help much} 20. Ba3 $18) 20. h3
Bxf3 (20... Bf5 {does not improve anything} 21. Nf4 Rad8 22. Ba3 $18) 21. Bxf3
Rfd8 (21... Rfe8 {hardly improves anything} 22. Qa2 $18) 22. Bxe4 dxe4 23. Nc5
Nb4 24. Nxe4 Nd3 (24... Nd5 {does not solve anything} 25. Qa2 Rd7 26. Nc5 $18)
25. Rc7 b5 26. Qa2 Rf8 27. Nd6 Nxb2 28. Qxb2 (28. Qd5 $142 {seems even better}
Rad8 29. Rxf7 $18) 28... a6 29. Qb3 Bf6 (29... h6 {cannot undo what has
already been done} 30. Nxf7 Rae8 31. Nd6+ Kh7 32. Nxe8 Rxe8 33. Qf7 Rg8 34. Ra7
b4 35. Rxa6 Rf8 36. Qb7 Rg8 37. Ra7 Kh8 38. Qxb4 Rc8 39. Qb7 Rg8 40. Qa6 Kh7
41. Qf6 g5 42. Qf7 g4 43. hxg4 Kh8 44. Qg6 h5 45. Qxh5+ Bh6 46. Qxh6#) 30. Nxf7
Kg7 (30... Ra7 {doesn't do any good} 31. Rxa7 Kg7 32. Ng5+ Be7 33. Rxe7+ Kf6
34. Rxh7 Kxg5 35. Qd5+ Rf5 36. f4+ Kf6 37. Rf7#) 31. Ng5+ Kh6 (31... Be7 {
doesn't change anything anymore} 32. Rxe7+ Kf6 33. Rxh7 Kxg5 34. Qd5+ Rf5 35.
f4+ Kf6 36. Rf7#) 32. Rxh7+ Kxg5 33. f4+ (33. Qe6 b4 34. h4#) 33... Kf5 34.
Qd5+ *

1-0

My Score

0/1 pts.: Loss: 1 (Rd.1)

My Opponents' & My Scores

1/1 pts. – Abderaouf Sekki (1740) – I lost in Rd. 2.
0/1 pts. - Me (1633)

Other Less Important Sections – Open

If I have time, I will also report very minimally on the Open Section (Though I know all class players in Canada really are most interested in the U 1800 section)
For our Favourites in this section, we`ll be simple-minded, and just follow the 5 GM`s, all of whom won: Bator Sambuev (2503); Alexandre Le Siege (2500); Thomas Roussel-Roozmon (2463); Reynaldo Vera Gonzalez-Quevedo (2424); Luis manuel Perez Rodriguez (2348).

Full Results

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

TEMPLATE BEGINS

Bob's Blog – Some History

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 – Toronto (Prior to Christmas - Dec. 14-16/18) - Blogged;
2. The 2019 Hart House Reading Week Open – Toronto (February 16-18 – Only one short blog – having manic phase).
3. The 2019 Quebec Open – Longueuil (Next to Montreal) (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.

TEMPLATE ENDS

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

**Bob Armstrong** · Monday, 22nd July, 2019, 01:35 PM

COQ/Quebec Open Chess Championship (Saturday, July 20 – Sat., July 27/19) - Blog

Rds. 2 & 3 – Sunday, 19/7/21 (10:00 AM 4:00 PM)

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

Tournament

Name: Championnat ouvert d’echecs du Quebec (COQ)/Quebec Open Chess Championship
Dates: July 20 – 27/19
Rounds: 9
Sections: 5: Open (Any level player); U 2000; U 1800; \U 1600; U 1400.
Registrations: 188 registrants: Open: 52; U 2000: 37; U 1800: 32; U 1600 - 30; U 1400: 37
Playing Up: In Quebec, all sections are truly “open” – you can play as long as you are not at or over the ceiling rating; no playing up fee.
Time Control: 40/90 + 30 (30 sec. increment from move 1)

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. 2 (Sun., 19/7/21)

The Wee Hours of Sunday Morning

Here I am at the Sandman Hotel (Tournament location) in Longueil, Quebec. We`ve been here since 4:30 PM Friday. I`m sharing a room with my friend, Mario Moran-Venegas (U 2000 section + Blog Research Assistant – unpaid!)
I had gone to bed about 1:30 AM this morning. The first part of the morning I had spent starting the draft of my Saturday, Blog # 1 in `MY` Hotel Sandman office. I have been now, for a month, in a modest depression phase of my Bi-Polar Disorder, and so have little interest in doing this blogging stuff at all. So I`m experiencing procrastination, and having to force it quite a bit….I hope the blog is not too ragged due to this. But I did get Blog # 1 out (See below).

Later Morning

I awoke at 5:30 AM, before the alarm. Often in non-club tournaments, 4 hrs. sleep is not unusual for me………though there is a day of reckoning for the first few days after the tournament finishes. The first thing I did was to head to McD`s in the Longueuil subway station to get my morning caffeine fix. On the way back, I got caught in the station and had to wait, as we had one of those tropical storm downpours for a short while. Then I made a run for the hotel across the street.
I headed for my company`s local satellite Sandman-office, worked on my Blog # 1 (It is almost painful to do it when I am depressed), and got it posted by 9:30 AM. I had left a note for Mario what I was doing with my life, and so he had gone for breakfast. I went back to the room and had a bowl of cereal (Having a small bar fridge is perfect for all us very cheap chess players).

Pre-Rd. 2
I got into the playing hall a few minutes late on my clock – Rd. started at 10:00 AM (Irrelevant since I do play ridiculously fast), to find I was playing the 3^rd seed in our U 1800 section, Maximo Alcantra Jr. (1726). In Rd. 1 on Friday, I had the good fortune to play the # 2 seed, Abderaouf Sekki (1740) (This is baptism by fire!). Although yours truly has an FQE rating of 1633, this is really a big scam…..my CFC rating is only 1517! So, for me, almost starting my 75^th year, these two opponents are TOUGH!

Early Afternoon

We both play quickly and our game was soon finished (See below). So from 1-2 PM, I watched games, and intermittently went to my office to nurse along all my Fb projects.
At 2 PM, I went back to the room to relax….I was tired enough to want to just lie down and close my eyes --- don`t need to sleep; resting revives me substantially. Mario spends his time playing on-line, researching the openings/defences he wants to play, and entering our games (He brings my game, engine analyzed a bit, to me in the office and I post it to the desktop, and then copy it into the blog). He will also generally deeply analyze his own games with his engine.
At 2:30 PM we went to the A & W in the subway station for ``Linner`` (Late lunch – neither of us likes to eat too close to the start of the round). We brought it back and had it in the hotel room.
At 3:00 PM I went back into the Sandman salt-mines, to nurse along my Fb projects, deal with e-mails and Fb messages, etc. About 3:30 PM my Toronto chess friend came in to say `Hi`` - we are both in the U 1800 section, so we`ve had to play each other a couple of previous times – we always have the great `Grandmaster Draw` ……it always ends up unresolved, and we just try to hammer each other!! LOL

Rd. 3

At 4:00 PM the round started….I played black against a young junior boy, Deren Mai (1523) - see below. After the game we went to the analysis room and looked over the game……his parents joined us and some chess friends of mine from over the years stopped by and threw in their 2 cents worth……the upshot of the analysis was that though I got to an ending, and I could make Deren`s life miserable for a while, he`d win…….and he had been winning from the middlegame!

Post Rd. 3

I watched the late games for a while. One of my Ottawa chess friends was in the middle of a business transaction (The reason he had taken a bye in Rd. 3), and so he was needing `My` office/desktop, and he needed the use of my smart phone (I went to my room and got it for him). All did end well, and he was pleased with the final result of the deal.
By the time he had finished, I was crashing… but I did a wee bit in the office, and called my wife up at our hobby farm in the Southern Georgian Bay region of Ontario (She had to listen to the sad Rd. 3 saga – she is pretty long-suffering, for 48 years, when it comes to my chess avocation). I also confirmed Monday linner with Hugh Brodie.

Evening

So I then went to the room, made myself a nice chicken sandwich (I had bought Mayonnaise and Mario had gotten lettuce – love that bar fridge), and relaxed.
I hit the sack about 10:30 PM – it has been a most thoroughly enjoyable `chess holiday` so far (Though I had had hopes of standing better than .5/3 pts.).

(Parts II & III below)

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Monday, 22nd July, 2019, 01:41 PM

COQ/Quebec Open Chess Championship (Saturday, July 20 – Sat., July 27/19) - Blog

Rds. 2 & 3 – Sunday, 19/7/21 (10:00 AM 4:00 PM)

Bob's Chess Blog # 2 (Part II of 3 parts; see Part I above)

U 1800 Section Chess Report on Rds. 2 & 3 (Sunday, July 21, 2019).

My U 1800 Section

I am rated 1633 (FQE). I am ranked # 17 out of 32 players (In the middle third).

Rating Spread

1700`s – 4 (Favourites)
1600’s – 15 (my rating is here)
1500’s – 12
1400’s – 1
1300’s – 0
1200`s - 1
Total - 33

1800 Standings After Rd. 3

Here are the leaders:

1^st – 3/3 pts. – Guennadi Kozlov (1691)

2^nd/5^th – 2.5/3 pts - Benoit Villeneuve (1762); Haruaki Omichi (1674); Geffard Morinvil ((1667); Alessio Di Matteo (1639).

Favourites

As I mentioned in the Saturday Blog # 1, in my blogs, I usually will designate some `Favourites` for us to follow initially. So I was simple – I picked the 4 players in the 1700`s. You will now see that only 1 of the 4 is still in the top 5 (Benoit)!!!

Here are the others:

2/3 pts. - # 2 seed – Abderaouf Sekki (1740) – I lost to him in Rd. 1.

1.5/3 pts. – # 3 seed – Maximo Alcantra Jr. (1726) – I drew him in Rd. 2.
# 4 seed – Patrice Gerard (1715)

Dark Horses

In my `Who should we follow` system, in addition to the `Favourites` category, there also is the `Dark Horse` category. This is someone from down in the bowels of the pool who this one time, surprises!….they show up in the leaders` list, and no one is even aware of who they are!

So I am adding the 4 dark horses now in the leaders` list, to the list of those being followed: Guennadi, Haruaki, Geffard & Alessio. Keep an eye on these `Pretenders` to the Throne`!!

My Round 2 Game

Here is my game, with a few light annotations (Engine Analysis by Mario Moran-Venegas):

Note: I am being advised that the old Windows version on the Sandman Business Office desktop is no longer supported insofar as I wish it to open a pgn score, to copy/paste it here. I`ll get the Armstrong tech support team on this right away, and post the games in a later blog (Though yesterday I had no trouble copying/pasting game 1 – go figure??)

.5-.5

My Rd. 3 Game

1-0 (I`m black)

Note: same problem

My Score

.5/3 pts.: Draw: 1 (Rd. 2); Losses: 2 (Rds. 1 & 3)

My Opponents' & My Scores

2/3 pts. - Abderaouf Sekki (1740 – Seed # 2) – I lost in Rd. 1.
- Junior Boy Deren Mai (1523) – I lost in Rd. 3.

1.5/3 pts. – Maximo Alcantra Jr., (1726 – Seed # 3) – I drew in Rd. 2

.5/3 pts. - Me (1633)

(Part III below)

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Monday, 22nd July, 2019, 01:45 PM

COQ/Quebec Open Chess Championship (Saturday, July 20 – Sat., July 27/19) - Blog

Rds. 2 & 3 – Sunday, 19/7/21 (10:00 AM 4:00 PM)

Bob's Chess Blog # 2 (Part III of 3 parts; see Parts I & II above)

Other Less Important Sections – Open

I will also attempt to report, very minimally, on the Open Section (Though I know all class players in Canada really are most interested in the U 1800 section)

The Leaders:

3/3 pts. – 1^st – GM Alexandre Le Siege (2500 – Quebec, Canada); GM Reynaldo Vera Gonzalez-Quevedo (2424 – Cuba)

The Favourites (Not among the leaders):

Our Favourites List in this section is very simple-minded (the 5 GM`s). Here is where the non-leaders stand:

2.5/3 pts. - Bator Sambuev (2503 – Quebec, Canada); Thomas Roussel-Roozmon (2463 – Quebec, Canada); Luis Manuel Perez Rodriguez (2348).

Full Results

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

TEMPLATE BEGINS

Bob's Blog – Some History

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 – Toronto (Prior to Christmas - Dec. 14-16/18) - Blogged;
2. The 2019 Hart House Reading Week Open – Toronto (February 16-18 – Only one short blog – having manic phase).
3. The 2019 Quebec Open – Longueuil (Next to Montreal) (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.

TEMPLATE ENDS

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

**Bob Armstrong** · Monday, 22nd July, 2019, 01:52 PM

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Attached Files

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 23rd July, 2019, 05:49 AM

COQ/Quebec Open Chess Championship (Saturday, July 20 – Sat., July 27/19) - Blog

Rd. 4 – Monday, 19/7/22 (6:00 PM)

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

Tournament

Name: Championnat ouvert d’echecs du Quebec (COQ)/Quebec Open Chess Championship
Dates: July 20 – 27/19
Rounds: 9
Sections: 5: Open (Any level player); U 2000; U 1800; \U 1600; U 1400.
Registrations: 188 registrants: Open: 52; U 2000: 37; U 1800: 32; U 1600 - 30; U 1400: 37
Playing Up: In Quebec, all sections are truly “open” – you can play as long as you are not at or over the ceiling rating; no playing up fee.
Time Control: 40/90 + 30 (30 sec. increment from move 1)

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. 4 (Monday, 19/7/20)

The Wee Hours of Monday Morning

I`ve been here at the Sandman Hotel (Tournament location), in Longueil, Quebec, since 4:30 PM Friday. I am sharing the room with my Toronto friend, Mario Moran-Venegas (U 2000 section – currently in 3^rd place!).

I awoke at 6:30 AM, before the alarm (had gone to bed about 12:00 AM this morning). I often sleep shorter than my normal 6 hrs. in the early morning (+ I now need, usually, a 1 hr. afternoon siesta – starting my 75^th year at the end of the month) when playing in non-club weekend/longer tournaments, such as this one. So this is a really good sleep for me.

Template Note:

There are sections of this blog that are a standard “template” which I repeat in each Blog.
The template must be here for any new readers of my Blog.
So I ask my regular readers to be tolerant. If you have read the template part previously, you can skip from “Template Begins” to “Template Ends” (I will alert you immediately after the template if there are any revisions you missed).

Charging into Monday Morning

The regular readers of my blog (I’ve been doing this since the mid-2000’s) will be familiar with my normal morning routine that I would go through. I am doing it now in `MY` office in the hotel`s business office – I`ve sort of taken it over……I`ve left the template as if I was in my office in our Toronto home.

TEMPLATE BEGINS

Victim of Routine

As usual, I then went to my home office ((I am retired + unemployed – life is fine except for my slave-driver company, Canadian Life Consulting Cooperative [Quite a mouthful, but simply put: CLCC], where I must volunteer my work time for free all day long, 24/7!); and fired up my old laptop.

My Daily Personal Project Tasks

1. Check for my e-mails and Fb messages.
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. Fb Project # 1 (My Company's) - My little company (Not legally registered yet) is called, as said above, Canadian Life Consulting Cooperative (CLCC). 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 Twitter inbox for articles to re-post onto CLC. I then also check my Fb newsfeed and some of my Fb friends timelines for posts to "share".
5. Update one of the discussion groups formed under my company page, called Canadian Life Consulting Cooperative Supporters' Group (Or CLCC Supporters) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/2042495809374373/. I update it by sharing some more discussable of the posts now on the CLC page.
6. Fb Project # 2 (My Own): Update 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) – 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 share at least one chess post per day to my Fb chess discussion club, Chess Chat, formed under my personal Fb account - https://www.facebook.com/groups/340524269771672/.
8. When I find them, I share discussable religious posts to my World Religions discussion club Fb Group, Theist Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1052227598173591/.
Sometimes these also appear in PEERS.
9. I have another retiree project besides my 2 Facebook Projects.
Chess is a passionate hobby of mine, as you know. But I have never really studied seriously.
But what I 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 the 2 Facebook projects and my chess hobby project.

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

TEMPLATE ENDS

(Parts II & III below)

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 23rd July, 2019, 05:53 AM

COQ/Quebec Open Chess Championship (Saturday, July 20 – Sat., July 27/19) - Blog

Rd. 4 – Monday, 19/7/22 (6:00 PM)

Bob's Chess Blog # 3 (Part II of 3 parts; see Part I above)

Early Monday

So today I am again just following my normal routine in my Longueuil office! I can`t thank the Sandman Hotel enough for this assist – I`m almost functioning normally, on their modified desktop.
Then I bore down to do the Sunday Blog # 2 – it is a bit of a struggle doing it this time (I explained in earlier blogs). But with some breaks, a bit of determination, and lots of forcing, I got it both done and posted! Mario knew I was struggling, and so showed up in mid-morning to suggest we go for a walk around the subway/University building since it was so pleasant outside…..helped lift my spirits and encouraged me to persevere. He had also entered, and lightly analyzed, my Rds. 2 & 3 games, and so we put them on the desktop.

Afternoon

About 2:00 PM, I went back up to the room and had a 30 min. nap. Then I went down to the hotel lobby to meet my friend Hugh Brodie, who was going to lunch with Mario and I. Mario joined us and we drove over to Place Longueuil to the St. Hubert. With the pleasant weather, the patio was lovely, and we had a delightful linner (Lunch/Dinner) together. We chatted about chess, and Hugh`s labour of love, CanBase (Database of Canadian games he has voluntarily been creating and keeping up for years now); politics got a run, as did Facebook. We returned to the hotel about 4:30 PM

Pre-Rd. 4

In the lobby we met the FQE Executive Director, Richard Bérubé. Mario and I thanked him for the great tournament, and confirmed we were pretty happy campers! Then one of the arbiters I`ve seen at a number of Montreal tournaments joined us. Mario and I went up to the room – Mario did some prep; I crashed for 45 min. Then I called my wife at our hobby farm – the weather in our area was most pleasant, just like in Longueuil. She had had our handyman in to work with her, and it was great weather for working outside.
Then I went down to the business office to get my back roll – had a bad back accident in May 2018 here in Montreal, and it helps my back muscles. But it wasn`t there (I just leave my stuff to the side there now). So I went to check with one of the arbiters to see if I`d left it in the hall……Sunday`s two games had left me a bit tired, and I thought I had just walked out without it…..but she said she`d checked the hall Sunday night and there was no back roll. So the only other place was up in the room, where I was sure it was not……..there it was on my chair behind the table Mario and I are splitting!

Round 4

It was a tough 6 ½ hr. battle…….I sat at my place almost straight through………in the end Aldo won (See Below).

Post Rd. 4

After the game, I was exhilarated (I played well, though losing) and exhausted at the same time. I went up to the room, paced for a while `til I tired a bit, and then hit the sack and went out like a light!

U 1800 Section Chess Report on Rd. 4 (Monday, July 22, 2019).

My U 1800 Section

I am rated 1633 (FQE). I am ranked # 17 out of 33 players (In the middle third).

Rating Spread

1700`s – 4 (Favourites)
1600’s – 15 (my rating is here)
1500’s – 12
1400’s – 1
1300’s – 0
1200`s - 1
Total - 33

U 1800 Standings After Rd. 4

Here are the leaders: 3:

1^st/3^rd – 3.5/4 pts. – Guennadi Kozlov (1691); Haruaki Omichi (1674); Geffrard Morinvil (1667).

The Favourites/Dark Horses List (Non-leaders): 6:

3/4 pts. – Benoit Villeneuve (1762);
- Hugo Guillemette (1503)

2.5/4 pts. – Alessio Di Matteo (1639)

2/ 4 pts. – Abderaouf Sekki (1740)

Maximo Alcantra Jr. (1726)
Patrice Gerard (1715)

It is my experience that Favourites/Dark Horses who may not start well, often end near the top…… 5 more rounds to go……a long tournament…….a lot can happen!!
We`ll watch all 6 for the next few rounds, as well as the leaders, and see who makes a come-back!

(Part III below)

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 23rd July, 2019, 05:56 AM

COQ/Quebec Open Chess Championship (Saturday, July 20 – Sat., July 27/19) - Blog

Rd. 4 – Monday, 19/7/22 (6:00 PM)

Bob's Chess Blog # 3 (Part III of 3 parts; see Parts I & II above)

My Round 4 Game

1- 0 (I was black)

I am not too techie – having problems copying into here my pgn score……..working on it……..will put all missing games into a future blog once I get the needed help.

My Score

.5/4 pts.: Draw: 1 (Rd. 2); Losses: 3 (Rds. 1, 3 & 4)

My Opponents' & My Scores

2.5/4 pts. – Junior Boy Deren Mai (1523) – I lost in Rd. 3.

2/4 pts. – Abderaouf Sekki (1740 – 2^nd seed) – I lost in Rd. 1.

Maximo Alcantra Jr. (1726 – 3^rd seed) – I drew in Rd. 2.
Aldo Lelievre (1523) – I lost in Rd. 4.

.5/4 pts. - Me (1633)

Other Less Important Sections – Open

If I have time, I also report very minimally on the Open Section (Though I know all class players in Quebec & the Rest of Canada really are most interested in the U 1800 section!)

Leaders:5:

3.5/4 pts. – GM Bator Sambuev (2503 – Quebec, Canada); GM Alexandre Le Siege (2500 – Quebec, Canada); GM Thomas Roussel-Roozmon (2463 – Quebec, Canada); GM Reynaldo Vera Gonzalez-Quevedo (2424 - Cuba); Hugues Masse (2168).

Favourites (Non-leaders):

2.5/4 pts. – GM Luis Manuel Perez Rodriguez (2348)

Full Results

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

TEMPLATE BEGINS

Bob's Blog – Some History

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 – Toronto (Prior to Christmas - Dec. 14-16/18) - Blogged;
2. The 2019 Hart House Reading Week Open – Toronto (February 16-18 – Only one short blog – having manic phase).
3. The 2019 Quebec Open – Longueuil (Next to Montreal) (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 Échecs), volunteers, subject to demands of his school studies, to translate my blogs into French, and post them to Parlons Échecs, 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.

TEMPLATE ENDS

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

**Serge Archambault** · Tuesday, 23rd July, 2019, 09:47 AM

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**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 23rd July, 2019, 04:03 PM

Thanks for the added information, Serge.....I have dealt with both the women arbiters and they have been most helpful.

I also hope other CTèrs will feel free to share their information and opinions under this blog thread.....different perspectives help make the whole project more interesting. Thanks for contributing to the blog, Serge.

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 23rd July, 2019, 04:20 PM

For those statistics minded:

The Blog is posted on two Fb sites, and here on CT.

The stats for this blog here on CT in terms of viewing has been for the initial 10-20 hrs. of the post:

Saturday Blog # 1 - 3.5 views per hour (This accords with the viewing rate when I blog my two clubs tournaments: Scarborough CC in Toronto, Ontario, and Annex CC in Toronto, Ontario).

Sunday Blog # 2 - 5.5 views per hour - it seems that with getting more known, the viewership is increasing. One assumes that those viewing the initial blog are most likely also among these viewers, plus new viewers.

Monday Blog # 3 - 7 views per hour - this certainly encourages me to try to continue to blog each remaining round...it is somewhat fun and a labour of love, but it helps to know the blog is providing some information and entertainment to the chess tournament playing public .... kind of a public service contribution. It may be that this figure is a bit inflated, because it is generated after only 10 hours of being posted, where the other two were closer to 20 hrs...... one would expect the viewership per hour to decrease as time goes on, and the initially interested group has shown up more en masse early on.

If anyone has anything more they`d like to see in the blog that is missing, let me know and I`ll see if I can accommodate.....it is a function of my time available each day for this little fun project.

Similarly, if you have constructive criticism re improving the blog experience, do post it......I promise I will not take it personally (But we`d better not meet across the chess board!! LOL)

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Wednesday, 24th July, 2019, 07:51 AM

COQ/Quebec Open Chess Championship (Saturday, July 20 – Sat., July 27/19) - Blog

Rd. 5 – Tuesday, 19/7/23 (6:00 PM)

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

Tournament

Name: Championnat ouvert d’echecs du Quebec (COQ)/Quebec Open Chess Championship
Dates: July 20 – 27/19
Rounds: 9
Sections: 5: Open (Any level player); U 2000; U 1800; \U 1600; U 1400.
Registrations: 188 registrants: Open: 52; U 2000: 37; U 1800: 32; U 1600 - 30; U 1400: 37
Playing Up: In Quebec, all sections are truly “open” – you can play as long as you are not at or over the ceiling rating; no playing up fee.
Time Control: 40/90 + 30 (30 sec. increment from move 1)

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 (Tuesday, 19/7/23)

I`ve been here at the Sandman Hotel (Tournament location), in Longueuil, Quebec, since 4:30 PM Friday. I am sharing the room with my Toronto friend, Mario Moran-Venegas (U 2000 section –in 3^rd place going into Rd. 5!).
As is not unusual in weekend and longer tournaments, I woke up at 2:00 AM (Went to bed @ 11:30 PM). I was totally refreshed and wide-awake (After 2 ½ hrs. sleep). So I dressed, and went out to find a dark roast coffee. My first attempt was the totally empty subway station…..I was advised everything there closed at midnight. So I knew where the Tim’s was in the Longueuil Mall (Open 24 hrs.); so I walked there – met almost no one…but it was cool and I had a great 15 min. walk over. There was just the service girl, 2 other guys having breakfast, and me……not a car in the parking lot. I got my coffee, and a shot of sugar (Boston Cream), and then headed back to the hotel…..just met 3 kids on bicycles. The door of the hotel was locked, but I didn’t have to ring, because the reception saw me standing outside and unlocked the door for me. I then went and exchanged my room key for my office key…..figured at this point I may as well be productive….. first of all I got into my daily routine……..

Template Note:

There are sections of this blog that are a standard “template” which I repeat in each Blog.
The template must be here for any new readers of my Blog.
So I ask my regular readers to be tolerant. If you have read the template part previously, you can skip from “Template Begins” to “Template Ends” (I will alert you immediately after the template if there are any revisions you missed).

Charging, in the Wee Hours, into Monday Morning

The regular readers of my blog (I’ve been doing this since the mid-2000’s) will be familiar with my normal morning routine that I would go through. I am doing it now in `MY` office in the hotel`s business office – I`ve sort of taken it over……I`ve left the template below as if I was in my office in our Toronto home.

TEMPLATE BEGINS

Victim of Routine

As usual, I then went to my home office ((I am retired + unemployed – life is fine except for my slave-driver company, Canadian Life Consulting Cooperative [Quite a mouthful, but simply put: CLCC], where I must volunteer my work time for free all day long, 24/7!); and fired up my old laptop.

My Daily Personal Project Tasks

1. Check for my e-mails and Fb messages.
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. Fb Project # 1 (My Company's) - My little company (Not legally registered yet) is called, as said above, Canadian Life Consulting Cooperative (CLCC). 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 Twitter inbox for articles to re-post onto CLC. I then also check my Fb newsfeed and some of my Fb friends timelines for posts to "share".
5. Update one of the discussion groups formed under my company page, called Canadian Life Consulting Cooperative Supporters' Group (Or CLCC Supporters) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/2042495809374373/. I update it by sharing some more discussable of the posts now on the CLC page.
6. Fb Project # 2 (My Own): Update 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) – 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 share at least one chess post per day to my Fb chess discussion club, Chess Chat, formed under my personal Fb account - https://www.facebook.com/groups/340524269771672/.
8. When I find them, I share discussable religious posts to my World Religions discussion club Fb Group, Theist Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1052227598173591/.
Sometimes these also appear in PEERS.
9. I have another retiree project besides my 2 Facebook Projects.
Chess is a passionate hobby of mine, as you know. But I have never really studied seriously.
But what I 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 the 2 Facebook projects and my chess hobby project.

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

TEMPLATE ENDS

The Wee Hours of Monday

So today I am again just following my normal routine in my Longueuil office – at 3:00 AM! I can`t thank the Sandman Hotel enough for this assist – I`m almost functioning normally, on their now-modified desktop.
Then I bore down to do the Monday Blog # 3 – it was a bit easier than it has been earlier in the tournament…..may be my depression is lifting a bit. I was able to do the whole thing and get it posted.
And at 6:00 AM I went back up to the room

Back to Bed

Now I was finally tiring again, and so I just hopped back into bed to await Mario’s 8:30 AM alarm…I got to sleep fairly quickly, and woke up with the alarm. I had a bowl of cereal in the room, but then did still join Mario when he went for breakfast at the near-by McDonald’s; I got a needed 2^nd coffee of the day.

Back to the Hotel

Mario did some preparation work for his R. 5 opponent this evening. I went back to the salt mines to continue updating my myriad of Facebook projects. At 9:45 AM, Mario and I headed out to go play with my granddaughter for a few hours, and visit with my son…they live in Verdun. On the way we stopped in at St-Lo Bagel, on Rue Verdun…..this has become a tradition now when I am in Verdun living with my son……I go for a walk along the river from 5:00 AM to 7:00 AM, and then stop in to St-Lo’s for an hour for a coffee, bagel and cream cheese, and to update my “Reminder Notes” (I have a terrible memory; doesn’t really help my chess either).

St.-Lo Bagel

So Mario had a second breakfast, and I had the bagel combo……at 10:15 AM, on a Tuesday, it was packed inside and out on the patio (Where we went)…….like……..who is working and paying taxes anymore?? Mario thought it was pretty good, and we picked up a dozen bagels & cream cheese (Leek & Bacon!!) to take home; we were going to split them with my son & granddaughter.

Play, Play, Play

The apartment is close; got there at 11:00 AM. Mario is experienced – has his own 3 y.o. granddaughter. Mine took to Mario immediately; he had to be right into playing with her and gampa…..no escaping to visit with my son! We danced, played doll hide-and-seek, counted, etc. We were saved by my son having made for us a lovely lunch (My wife had our kids cracking eggs in the kitchen before they could walk or talk!! LOL). Dessert was a nice yogurt popsicle for her and an applesauce one for me – they were made by my wife on our recent visit a few weeks ago for almost 3 weeks.
Then it was time for my granddaughter’s “quiet time” – she can nap if she wants, or just talk to and play with her dolls ……..which she is quite capable of doing for 2 full straight hours! So Mario and I said our goodbyes. On the way back we stopped in to get a few things (So nice having the bar fridge in the room).

(Parts II & III below)

Bob A

Attached Files

**Bob Armstrong** · Wednesday, 24th July, 2019, 07:56 AM

COQ/Quebec Open Chess Championship (Saturday, July 20 – Sat., July 27/19) - Blog

Rd. 5 – Tuesday, 19/7/23 (6:00 PM)

Bob's Chess Blog # 4 (Part II of 3 parts; see Part I above)

Back to the Hotel…Again

We got back about 2:30 PM and we both crashed for a while (I went out for an hour). Then Mario played on-line for a while, and I went to my office to nurse along my Fb Projects, and to hand-write a rough just-points draft to help do this Tuesday Blog # 4. Serge Archambault had made a nice supplementary post within the blog, and so I responded, and added a short stats blog about the number of views per hour these blogs generate within the first 10-20 hrs.

Pre-Rd. 5

Mario had by now analyzed my rd. 4 game…..bad news…..though down an N, I missed a clear win (sigh), and…. I had seen the move, and consciously chose the lesser alternative! While we were waiting outside my office, Jean-Marc Beaudry (Open Section), whom I’d met at the 2018 COQ, stopped to chat. He seemed quite pleased that, now retired, he could spend lots of time on his chess, and felt that, though a bit older, he was actually improving with some hard work and study…….good on him…..we all deserve to spend time on our passions!

Rd. 5

I am now on the bottom, with just ½ pt. There are an odd no. of players this round, so I am the one who does not get a game….I get the Director’s 1 Point Bye……..some compensation, since I’ll get to play somewhat stronger players now for the balance of the tournament.

Post-Rd. 5

So I alternated between watching friend’s games, the top board’s projections, and working on this blog # 4 in the office. I chatted a bit with my friend, Hugh Brodie, out watching again. I confirmed linner with my New York friend, Ed Selling (U 2000 section). Then my Toronto friend and I, both from the same small town, Sarnia, Ontario, chatted for a while about Sarnia/Port Huron chess history, trying to win sections (We are both struggling), and the state of the world generally. About 10:30 PM I went up to the room, and hit the sack at 11:00 PM.

My Prior Round Games

I was having technical difficulties getting my pgn games into the blogs, but that is now solved….so here they are, `such as they are`!

Rd. 2

[Event "COQ 2019"]
[Site "Longueuil, Québec"]
[Date "2019.07.21"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Armstrong, Robert (Bob) J.(1633)"]
[Black "Maximo Alcantra Jr.(1726)"]
[Result "1/2"]
[ECO "D11"]
[Annotator "Houdini 6.02 Pro x64-pext (80m)"]
[PlyCount "100"]

{D11: Slav Defence: 3 Nf3 sidelines and 3...Nf6 4 e3 Bg4} 1. d4 c6 2. c4 d5 3.e3 a6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bd3 Bg4 6. O-O e6 7. Nbd2 Bd6 8. Qc2 Nbd7 9. b3 Bh5 10. Bb2 Bg6 {last book move} 11. Rae1 O-O (11... Bxd3 12. Qxd3 O-O 13. e4 Nxe4 $11) 12.Ne5 (12. Bxg6 hxg6 13. Qd3 Re8 $11) 12... Bxd3 $11 {Black forks: c2+f1} 13.Qxd3 Bb4 14. a3 Bxd2 15. Qxd2 Nxe5 16. dxe5 Nd7 17. f4 (17. Rd1 $142 $5 $14 {is an interesting alternative}) 17... Nc5 $15 18. b4 (18. Qc2 Ne4 $15) 18...Ne4 $17 {Black threatens to win material: Ne4xd2} 19. Qe2 dxc4 (19... b5 $142 $5 20. cxd5 cxd5 $17) 20. Rd1 $11 {White threatens to win material: Rd1xd8} Qb6 21. Bd4 c5 (21... Qb5 22. Qc2 c5 23. Qxe4 cxd4 24. Rxd4 $11) 22. bxc5 $14 Qc6 23. f5 (23. Rc1 $142 $5 $14 {and White has air to breath}) 23... exf5 $15 24.Rxf5 Nxc5 25. Qxc4 Ne6 26. Qd3 (26. Qxc6 bxc6 27. Rf2 c5 $11) 26... Rad8 27.
Rdf1 Qd5 28. Rh5 (28. Rd1 b5 $17) 28... g6 29. Rh4 Qxe5 (29... Rd7 $142 $5 $17)30. Qxg6+ $11 ({Weaker is} 30. Bxe5 Rxd3 31. Rb4 Rxe3 $17) 30... fxg6 31. Rxf8+
Nxf8 32. Bxe5 Rd3 33. Rb4 Rxe3 34. Bd6 b5 35. a4 Re6 36. Bxf8 Kxf8 37. axb5 Rb6 38. Rf4+ Kg7 39. bxa6 Rxa6 40. g4 Ra2 41. Rf2 Ra3 42. Kg2 Ra4 43. Kg3 Ra1 44.h4 Rh1 45. Rh2 Rf1 46. Rf2 Rxf2 47. Kxf2 Kf6 48. Kf3 Ke5 49. Ke3 h6 50. Kf3 h5 $11 *

½

Rd. 3

[Event "COQ 2019"]
[Site "Longueuil, Québec"]
[Date "19/7/21"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Deren Mai (1523"]
[Black "Armstrong, Robert (Bob) J. (1633)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Houdini 6.02 Pro x64-pext (90m)"]
[PlyCount "81"]

{[%mdl 8192] A40: Unusual replies to 1 d4} 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. c4 c5 4. d5 {last book move. Black has a cramped position. Black's piece can't move: c8}Qa5+ (4... d6 5. Nc3 $14) 5. Qd2 {White threatens to win material: Qd2xa5} (5.Bd2 Qb6 6. Nc3 d6 $14) 5... Qb6 (5... Qxd2+ $5 6. Nxd2 d6 $11) 6. Nc3 d6 7. h3(7. Bd3 Nf6 $16) 7... Nd7 (7... e6 8. Qc2 $14) 8. f4 Ngf6 9. Bd3 Nh5 (9... e5 10. dxe6 fxe6 11. Nf3 $16) 10. Nge2 (10. g4 $142 Ng3 11. Rh2 $16) 10... Bd4 $2(10... O-O $5 $16) 11. Nxd4 (11. g4 Ng7 $18) 11... cxd4 12. Ne2 (12. Na4 Qc7 13. O-O e5 14. dxe6 fxe6 $16) 12... O-O (12... e5 13. dxe6 fxe6 14. O-O $16)13. O-O {[%cal Yf4f5] White prepares the advance f5} e5 14. f5 Nc5 15. f6 Qd8 (15... Nd7 $142 16. Qg5 Qd8 $18) 16. Qh6 $4 {Black king safety dropped. White
has let it slip away} (16. b4 $142 {the advantage is on the side of White} Nxe4 17. Bxe4 Nxf6 18. Bd3 $18) 16... Nxf6 (16... Nxd3 17. Ng3 {Deflection: g7} Kh8 18. Nxh5 $11) 17. Bg5 Ncd7 $4 (17... Ng4 $142 {the rescuing straw} 18. hxg4 f6 19. Rxf6 Rxf6 $14 (19... Nxd3 {misses a pretty mating combination} 20. Rxg6+ hxg6 21. Qxg6+ Kh8 22. Bxd8 Bxg4 23. Bf6+ Rxf6 24. Qxf6+ Kh7 25. Qh4+ Kg7 26. Qxg4+ Kh7 27. Rf1 Nf4 28. Nxf4 Rf8 29. Ne6 Rxf1+ 30. Kxf1 Kh6 31. Qg7+ Kh5 32.Qg5#)) 18. Rf3 (18. Qh4 $142 {seems even better} Qa5 19. Bxf6 Nxf6 20. Rxf6 $18) 18... Kh8 (18... Ng4 {does not improve anything} 19. hxg4 f6 $18) 19. Raf1 (19. Rxf6 Qe8 20. Raf1 $18) 19... Ng8 $16 20. Bxd8 Nxh6 21. Be7 Re8 22. Bg5 Kg7 23. Bxh6+ Kxh6 24. Rxf7 Nc5 (24... Rh8 $16) 25. Bb1 (25. Nc1 b5 26. cxb5 $18)25... d3 $2 (25... a5 26. g4 b5 27. cxb5 $11) 26. Ng3 (26. Nc3 $142 {would have given White the upper hand} a5 27. Kf2 $18) 26... a5 $14 27. a3 (27. b3 Rb8 $14) 27... a4 (27... b5 28. cxb5 a4 29. Nh1 $11) 28. Rd1 (28. Nh1 b5 29. cxb5 Rb8 $11) 28... Bd7 29. Bxd3 Rf8 30. Rxf8 Rxf8 31. Rf1 $4 {White lets it slip away} (31. Ne2 b5 $11) 31... Rf4 $4 {gives the opponent new chances} (31... Rxf1+ $142 {would have made live much easier for Black} 32. Bxf1 Kg5 $19)32. Bc2 $11 b5 33. Rxf4 exf4 34. Ne2 Kg5 35. cxb5 Bxb5 36. Nd4 {White threatens to win material: Nd4xb5} Bd7 37. b4 (37. Kf2 $5 Kf6 38. h4 $14) 37...axb3 $11 38. Nxb3 Kf6 $4 (38... Ba4 $142 {would bring relief} 39. Nxc5 Bxc2 40. Ne6+ Kf6 41. Nxf4 Bxe4 $11) 39. Nxc5 $18 dxc5 40. a4 Bxa4 (40... c4 41. Kf2 g5
$18) 41. Bxa4 *

1-0

(Rd. III below)

Bob A

COQ/Quebec Open Chess Championship 2019 (Saturday, July 20 – Sat., July 27/19) - Blog

COQ/Quebec Open Chess Championship 2019 (Saturday, July 20 – Sat., July 27/19) - Blog

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