Toronto Open Chess Championship 2019 (Saturday, Aug. 31 - Monday, Sept. 2) - Blog

**Bob Armstrong** · Sunday, 1st September, 2019, 07:23 AM

Toronto Open Chess Championship 2019 - Blog

Rds. 1 & 2 – Saturday, 19/8/31

Bob's Chess Blog # 1 - Part II [See Part I above]

Pre-Rd. 1

Outside the playing hall, I met Doug Gillis, former Scarborough Chess Club member (One of the two Toronto clubs I play at regularly), and John Brown, long-time weekend warrior. We reminisced a bit and talked about some of our mutual chess friends. Undriadi Benggawan then joined us – he is a co-founding member, with me and Toy Kwan of SCC, of our lunch club, World-Wise Lunch Club. He then had to go give notice of a bye for Rd. 4. Then Victor Itkin joined us – his son David, quite a good player now, who I think I played when he was a young junior and much lower-rated, is having a very successful university career (Now working on his PhD thesis in Mathematics). Mario Moran-Venegas (with whom I am going to the Canadian International Chess Championship in Longueuil, Quebec in October) stopped briefly on his way to get a coffee, and asked if I needed one – but I had my trusty red coffee tumbler filled from earlier this morning.
The round then started right on time (Since all entries had had to be done by Friday, to be paired for round 1 – this is an excellent advance in chess tournament organizing, to stop myriads of late on site entries, that delayed Rd. 1 starting, sometimes for up to an hour!.

Rd. 1

I finished my game relatively early, and so watched many of the games in the top three sections that were still in progress, and regularly updated my own standings sheet that I keep for blogging.

Post-Rd. 1

Undriadi had won early too, and he advised he now didn't need a bye for Rd. 4 since his family commitment had changed. I advised that that meant he and I were still in the race for first place in the section!! LOL
I watched for a while the game in our section of Justin Li, an SCC member. When he finished we chatted for a bit, before he went for lunch.
Mario also finished early (U 2200 section – bottom player – playing up!) and he advised he was taking a quick trip up to his house in Angus (2 hr. Drive) to do something, and he'd be back for Rd. 2 at 4 PM.

Lunch

At 2:00 PM, I headed out to my favourite retro diner on Bathurst just south of Bloor St. W – best onion rings in town! I joined it with a fresh Greek salad.....really hit the spot for celebrating my first round win.
As my chess blog followers know, I have Bi-Polar Disorder. Lately I have been cycling rather rapidly between moderate depression, and moderate hypo-mania. At times like this, I must reduce stimulation (Chess really doesn't help!), and so at least withdraw somewhat from interactions with chess friends and acquaintances. So although I could likely have found a companion for lunch, I thought it best just for me to be alone and relax during lunch.
After lunch at George's, I then went to the Green Beanery, on the corner of Bloor/Bathurst, for a coffee ....I often to this to relax, contemplate (Similar to meditation and Mindfulness), and to update both my organizer and my “Reminder List” (I have a terrible memory; from both old age, and due to a medical intervention 25 years ago for my Bi-Polar). I was quite productive updating my reminder list with all the things I had previously forgotten to record! LOL.
I decided not to go back to the hall early for Rd. 2 in order not to socialize before the round – still reducing the stimulation. Sometimes when I have to do this, it can be observed as being reclusive a bit, but generally this is not the case......though I am fundamentally a hermit, I do also like to socialize. I got there just at the announcements before Rd. 2.

Rd. 2

I played up against Shafkat Ali, an Annex CC member, who had just defeated me recently in one of the ACC tournaments. I managed to even the score this time – see below.

Post-Rd. 2

Again, I watched games until I had the scores for all the leaders in our section.

Heading Home

When I had the leader results for the U 1800 Section, I headed home by TTC.

The Late Evening

I got home just a bit after 8:00 PM and celebrated getting two wins to start, with a big dish of ice-cream. It is seldom in the last few years that this has happened, though I did achieve it once a year or two ago, maybe even in a Toronto Open organized by Annex CC in the same location – bad memory – someone would have to research – I just remember playing on Board 1 in the last round.
I then called my wife up at her hobby farm to crow a bit, and we talked about farm and family stuff for about an hour.
Then I did a few of my routine items on my laptop.
I then entered my Rd. 1 and Rd. 2 games, and put them in the draft blog (No time to do any analysis). I then did a bit more on this Blog # 1, but I was too tired to finish this blog. So I left it to finish and post on Sunday morning before I had to go to Rd. 3.

U 1800 Section Chess Report on Rds. 1 & 2 (Saturday, August 31, 2019).

My U 1800 Section

I am rated 1519 now. I am ranked # 16 out of 40 players (In the middle third).

Rating Spread
1700's - 5
1600’s – 8
1500’s – 9 (my rating is here)
1400’s – 12
1300’s - 4 (Playing up)
1200's – 2 (Playing up)

Total - 40

U 1800 Standings After Rd. 2

There were 18 boards in Rd. 2 in the section (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, withdrawals, suspensions, etc.).
Here are the leaders:

1st/6th – 2/2 pts. (Won all games) – Trefelino Miaco (1764 - 1st seed); Victor Lefort (1743 - 2nd seed); Ferdinand Supsup (1730 - 3rd seed); Junior Boy Joey Zhou (1702 - 5th seed); Junior Boy Ronan Uthayakumar (1681 - 7th seed); Bob Armstrong (1519 - #16).

[See Part III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Sunday, 1st September, 2019, 07:24 AM

Toronto Open Chess Championship 2019 - Blog

Rds. 1 & 2 – Saturday, 19/8/31

Bob's Chess Blog # 1 - Part III [See Parts I & II above]

My Round 1 Game

Schyngera, Eli (1374) – Armstrong, Robert (Bob) J. (1519) [E61]

Toronto Open 2019 (U 1800) (1), 31.08.2019

1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bf4 0–0 6.e3 Nc6 7.a3 Re8 8.d5 Nb8 9.Bd3 e5 10.dxe6 Bxe6 11.Qb3 Qc8 12.0–0 Nbd7 13.Nd4 Nc5 14.Qc2 Nxd3 15.Qxd3 Bg4 16.h3 Bd7 17.Rfe1 Nh5 18.Bh2 Be5 19.f4 Bf6 20.Nd5 Bh4 21.Re2 c6 22.Nc3 Bg3 23.Ne4 Bf5 24.Nxf5 Qxf5 25.Rd1 Bxh2+ 26.Kxh2 Qxe4 27.Qb3 Nxf4 28.Rd4 Qe5 29.Rxf4 g5 30.Qxb7 gxf4 31.Kg1 Qe4 32.Qd7 Re6 33.Qb7 Rae8 34.Qxa7 Rg6 35.Qa6 f3 36.Rf2 Qxe3 37.Qxc6 Rxg2+ 38.Kh1 Qe1+ 0–1

My Round 2 Game

Armstrong, Robert (Bob) J. (1519) – Ali, Shafkat (1683) [D06]

Toronto Open 2019 (U 1800) (2), 31.08.2019

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Bf5 4.c4 e6 5.a3 Nbd7 6.Nc3 c5 7.dxc5 Nxc5 8.b4 Nfe4 9.Bb2 Nxc3 10.Bxc3 Ne4 11.Qa4+ Qd7 12.Qxd7+ Kxd7 13.Ne5+ Ke8 14.Bd4 f6 15.Nf3 a5 16.c5 Rc8 17.Bb5+ Kf7 18.Rc1 axb4 19.axb4 Ra8 20.0–0 h5 21.c6 bxc6 22.Bxc6 Rb8 23.b5 Bd6 24.b6 h4 25.b7 g5 26.Ba7 Rbg8 27.Bd7 g4 28.Nd4 g3 29.fxg3 hxg3 30.h3 Nf2 31.Nxf5 exf5 32.Bxf5 Ne4 33.Rc8 Nd2 34.Rfc1 Nc4 35.e4 Re8 36.Rxe8 Rxe8 37.exd5 Na5 38.Be6+ Kg6 39.Rc8 Re7 40.b8Q Bxb8 41.Bxb8 Rb7 42.Bxg3 Rb1+ 43.Kh2 f5 44.Be5 Rf1 45.Rg8+ Kh7 46.Rg5 Nc4 47.Bxf5+ Kh6 48.Rg6+ Kh7 49.Rg4+ Rxf5 50.Rxc4 Rxe5 and Shafkat resigned 1–0

My Score

2/2 pts.: Wins: 2 (Rds. 1 & 2).

My Opponents' & My Scores

2/2 pts. - Me (1519) – in a 6-way tie for first
1/ 2 pts. - Shafkat Ali (1683) – I won in Rd. 2.
.5/2 pts. - Junior Boy Eli Schyngera (1374) – I won in Rd. 1.

Full Results

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

Some History

TEMPLATE BEGINS

Bob's Blog

For a number of years now, I have been posting my chess blog:

i) on my personal Facebook Account for my almost 850 Fb friends from around the world (in English): https://www.facebook.com/bob.armstrong.9235;
ii) sometimes on the national Canadian English chess discussion board, Chess Talk [CT] (https://forum.chesstalk.com/…/chesstalk-canada-s-chess-disc…);
iii) occasionally on other chess websites, such as that of FQE (Province of Quebec's Chess Association). That time the blog was posted in both French and English.

More recently I also have been "re-posting" my Fb blog:

i) on my Fb chess discussion group, Chess Chat - A Project of Chess Companions of Caissa (https://www.facebook.com/groups/340524269771672/);
ii) my Scarborough CC tournaments Fb Blog to SCC's Fb Page (URL above)
iii) my Annex CC tournaments Fb blog to ACC's Fb Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/172335039452033/).

Henry Lam (Aka Dark Knight), the 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) - after blogging this tournament, I will have to renew my agreement with Henry to do the blogging for 2019-20.

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, 2nd September, 2019, 06:23 AM

Toronto Open Chess Championship 2019 - Blog

Rds. 3 & 4 – Sunday, 19/9/1

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

Tournament

Name: Toronto Open Chess Championship 2019

Dates: Saturday, August 31 – Monday, September 2/19 (Labour Day Holiday)

Rounds: 6

Sections – 4 /Registrations - 138: Crown - 17; U 2200 - 41; U 1800 - 40; U 1400 - 40.

Rating: Top 2 Sections are FIDE-rated. All sections are CFC-rated.

Playing Up Option: Players within 100 pts. of the floor of the section above may choose to play up. No playing up fee is being charged (A feature that is not usual by Ontario chess organizers).

Time Control: G/90 + 30 sec. (From move 1)

Prize Fund: $7000 prize fund (Includes $2000 for Crown winner; based on 150 players – there are only 138 players, lowering the fund slightly).

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 Rds. 3 & 4 (Sunday, 19/9/1)

Early Monday Morning

I woke up at 5:00 AM, before the alarm (Went to bed at 11:00 PM Saturday). Generally I am sleeping about 6 hrs. at night – but I often sleep quite a bit less when playing tournaments; I am now working towards my 75th birthday – maybe two games per day is now starting to tire me a bit?

I went to get my morning coffee downstairs and started into my normal 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).

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...ing-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 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

Back to Sunday Morning

I only followed my routine for a while, since I then started work on the draft of this Blog # 2.

Then I finished my Blog # 1 and posted it.

I had some breakfast in front of the laptop.

[See Parts II & III below]

Bob

**Bob Armstrong** · Monday, 2nd September, 2019, 06:25 AM

Toronto Open Chess Championship 2019 - Blog

Rds. 3 & 4 – Sunday, 19/9/1

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

Heading Out for Rd. 3

At 8:30 AM, I got dressed, and put together my things to bring to the playing hall (Pieces; clock; some snacks; sandwich (in case I get into a long game in Rd. 3 and have no time to go to lunch with friends; coffee and water travel tumblers; etc.)

At 9:00 AM, I headed by car to the playing hall at the Community Arts Centre, 918 Bathurst Street (2 blocks north of Bloor St. W; close to the Bathurst subway station). The site was really very quick for me to get to - on a Sunday morning: my door to my preferred parking spot, about 20 min..

But then I hit a glitch – no parking 'til 10:00 AM! So I then drove south of Bloor St. W on Bathurst, and parked on a side-street that was OK. I then went to my favourite Green Beanery at Bloor & Bathurst for a coffee. It was not yet open (And not listing of hours anywhere!). Here I met Doug Gillis (Also playing in my section). So we went to a small bar/coffee shop called Mallo on Bathurst, south of Bloor. Doug decided to go on to the playing hall. I sat 'til 9:45 AM and then went and got the car, and went back and parked near the playing hall @ 10:00 AM....I was fine being a bit late.

Rd. 3

I played the third seed, Ferdinand Supsup – see below.

Post-Rd. 3

I had made arrangements to go to lunch with my two friends, Mario Moran-Venegas (U 2200 section – bottom-rated player of 41 players) and Undriadi Benggawan (From my section).

But because I was in a hypo-manic phase of my Bi-Polar Disorder, it was very important to prohibit any rising of my energy level. For this I needed quiet and relaxation. I have to avoid stimulation. Otherwise I might have to increase my normal medication. I advised the guys going to lunch with them and chatting about life/chess was going to be much too stimulating for me, and I'd have to bail on them for lunch this time. They understood and went for lunch together, while I continued to watch games for a while, and keep pretty much to myself. It worked.

Lunch

At about 2:30 PM, I went for lunch by myself at the Green Beanery (Now open, and so busy I was lucky to get a table!).

On the way, I message texted my wife that I had won.....for me to win my first three games in a row these days, is not usual!

So when I got there, and got my coffee, I sat quietly and people-watched, updated my organizer, and updated my Reminder List – doing low level, boring, pedestrian things is what I need to do when I am fighting mania's rising momentum. I waited 'til 3:55 PM before I went back to the playing hall, and so didn't interact with anyone, and then just went to my board to play some chess.

Rd. 4

I played the number two seed, Victor Lefort – see below.

Post-Rd. 4

I won my game in less than 2 hours, so I had lots of time to watch the other top games in my section and in the other two top sections in our playing hall.

But the first thing I did was to go outside and call my wife up at our hobby farm to regale her with my amazingly developing saga.....she couldn't believe it.....she has lived for 48 years listening to my usual stories of painful losses – very supportive and long-suffering.....

Heading Home

I got the leader results before I left, for this blog, in case there was any glitch in the organizers getting the results up on Chess-Results (Though the results are almost always there when I get to doing this blog – they are pretty quick). Then I headed home.

The Late Evening

I got home just a bit after 8:30 PM. But there is a neighbourly street festival tonight on our block and so I had to park on the street a few blocks away.......as I needed to do, I didn't get into any conversations with my neighbours out on the street.....just said "“Hi"” and went to hide.

When I got in I called my brother who lives in Sarnia, Ontario. In the morning, I had been Facebook messaging my sister-in-law (We are both early risers, and often chat at 5:00 AM), explaining my better-than-average tournament, and so she agreed I could call my brother to update him as long as it was before 10:00 PM. So I explained to him the unusual couple of days, and then we talked about his stamp collecting retail business (He just retired, and the business is now going from part-time to 24/7!).

After that, I celebrated, as usual, with a big dish of ice-cream.

Then I did a few of my routine items on my laptop. At 10:35 PM, I went to get my car (Could only park there 'til 11:00 PM). When I got to the end of my street, I had to get out and move the barricade, to get my car onto the street. I then put it back, and parked on our front yard parking pad.

I then worked some more on this draft Blog # 2 that I had started this morning. But by 11:00 PM, I was too tired to finish this blog. So I left it to finish and post on Monday morning before I had to go to Rd. 5.

U 1800 Section Chess Report on Rds. 3 & 4 (Sunday, September 1, 2019).

My U 1800 Section

I am rated 1519 now. I am ranked # 16 out of 40 players (In the middle third).

Rating Spread

1700's - 5

1600’s – 8

1500’s – 9 (my rating is here)

1400’s – 12

1300’s - 4 (Playing up)

1200's – 2 (Playing up)

Total - 40

U 1800 Standings After Rd. 4

There were 19 boards in Rd. 4 in the section (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, withdrawals, suspensions, etc.).

Here are the leaders:

1st – 4/4 pts. (Won all games) – Me (1517 - # 16) – alone in first place.

2nd – 3.5/4 pts. (Undefeated) – Junior Boy Harrison Liu (1717 - 4th seed)

3rd- 8th - 3/4 pts. – Trefelino Miaco (1764 - 1st seed - Undefeated); Victor Lefort (1743 - 2nd seed); Ferdinand Supsup (1730 - 3rd seed); Aliaj Jurgen (1676); Junior Girl Lucy Gao (1658); David Bendl (1624).

[See Part III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Monday, 2nd September, 2019, 06:27 AM

Toronto Open Chess Championship 2019 - Blog

Rds. 3 & 4 – Sunday, 19/9/1

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

My Round 3 Game

I played White against the third seed, Ferdinand Supsup:

Armstrong, Robert (Bob) J. (1519) - Supsup, Ferdinand (1730) [A51]

Toronto Open 2019 (U 1800) (3), 01.09.2019

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.d5 Bc5 4.Nc3 d6 5.h3 Bf5 6.g4 Be4 7.f3 Bg6 8.h4 h6 9.e4 c6 10.Nge2 b5 11.cxb5 cxb5 12.Nxb5 Qb6 13.Qa4 Bf2+ 14.Kd1 Nbd7 15.Bd2 0–0 16.g5 Nc5 17.Qa5 Qxa5 18.Bxa5 Ne8 19.Nec3 hxg5 20.hxg5 Nb7 21.Ke2 Bd4 22.Bb4 Bb6 23.Na4 Bd8 24.Rc1 Bxg5 25.Rc6 f6 26.Bh3 Bh6 27.Nxd6 Nexd6 28.Bxd6 Nxd6 29.Rxd6 I am up a passed P. 29...Be8 30.Nc3 Rb8 31.b3 Rb7 32.Be6+ Kh7 33.Rb1 Rc7 34.Kd3 Bh5 35.Rf1 Rb8 36.Bf5+ Kg8 37.Rd7 Rxd7 38.Bxd7 Kf8 39.Bg4 Be8 40.Rd1 Ke7 41.Kc2 Kd6 42.Bh3 Be3 43.Bf1 Bd4 44.Bc4 Rc8 45.Ne2 Be3 46.Rf1 g5 47.Kd3 Bc5 48.Ng3 Bg6 49.Rh1 Be3 50.Kxe3 Kc5 51.Rh6 Rg8 52.Nf5 Bxf5 53.exf5 g4 54.Rg6 Rh8 55.fxg4 Rh3+ 56.Ke4 Rh1 57.Rxf6 Re1+ 58.Kd3 e4+ 59.Kd2 Ra1 60.a4 Kd4 61.Re6 Ra2+ 62.Kc1 e3 63.d6 Rh2 64.d7 Rh1+ 65.Kb2 Rh2+ 66.Ka3 Rh8 67.Re8 e2 68.Bxe2 1–0

My Round 4 Game

I played Black against the second seed, Victor Lefort:

Lefort,Victor (1743) - Armstrong,Robert (Bob) J. (1519) [B09]

Toronto Open 2019 (U 1800) (4), 01.09.2019

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 Nf6 5.Nf3 0–0 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0–0 e5 8.fxe5 dxe5 9.d5 Nd4 10.Nxe5 Nxe4 11.Nxf7 Nxc3 12.bxc3 Rxf7 13.Rxf7 Kxf7 14.Bc4 Nf5 I am up N vs P. 15.d6+ Be6 16.Bxe6+ Kxe6 17.Qe2+ Be5 18.d7 Qh4 19.g3 Nxg3 20.hxg3 Qxg3+ 21.Kh1 Rf8 22.Ba3 Qh4+ 23.Kg1 Rf5 24.Qg2 Rg5 25.d8N+ Kd7 26.Rd1+ Kc8 27.Ne6 Rxg2+ 28.Kxg2 Qg4+ 29.Kf2 Qxd1 0–1

My Score

4/4 pts.: Wins: 4 (Rds. 1, 2, 3 & 4).

My Opponents' & My Scores

4/4 pts. - Me (1519) – alone in first.

3/4 pts. - Victor Lefort (1743) – I won in Rd. 4.
- Ferdinand Supsup (1730) – I won in Rd. 3.

1.5/4 pts. - Junior Boy Eli Schyngera (1374) – I won in Rd. 1.

1/3 pts. - Shafkat Ali (1683) – I won in Rd. 2; withdrew after Rd. 3.

Full Results

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

Some History

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/…/chesst...-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 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. With the blogging of this tournament, my agreement with Henry expires. Henry and I may renew our agreement for another year if we both so wish.

So, under this agreement, 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** · Tuesday, 3rd September, 2019, 05:19 AM

Toronto Open Chess Championship 2019 - Blog

Rds. 5 & 6 (Final) – Monday (Labour Day Holiday), 19/9/2

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

Tournament

Name: Toronto Open Chess Championship 2019
Dates: Saturday, August 31 – Monday, September 2/19 (Labour Day Holiday)
Rounds: 6
Sections – 4 /Registrations - 138: Crown - 17; U 2200 - 41; U 1800 - 40; U 1400 - 40.
Rating: Top 2 Sections are FIDE-rated. All sections are CFC-rated.
Playing Up Option: Players within 100 pts. of the floor of the section above may choose to play up. No playing up fee is being charged (A feature that is not usual by Ontario chess organizers).
Time Control: G/90 + 30 sec. (From move 1)
Prize Fund: $7000 prize fund (Includes $2000 for Crown winner; based on 150 players – there are only 138 players, lowering the fund slightly).

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 Rds. 5 & 6 (Monday, 19/9/2)

Early Monday Morning

I woke up at 4:00 AM, before the alarm (Went to bed at 11:30 PM Sunday); 4 1/2 hrs. sleep is more what I'm used to during tournaments.
I went to get my morning coffee downstairs and started into my normal 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).

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...ing-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 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

Back to Monday Morning

I only followed my routine for a while, since I then started work finishing and posting this Blog # 2.
I had some breakfast in front of the laptop.
Then at 8:00 AM, I noticed I was getting a bit tired.....so I just went and laid down for an hour – it was sort of not fully sleeping but drifting in and out of consciousness resting...it helped.
I then dressed and started the draft of this Blog # 3.

Heading Out for Rd. 5

At 9:15 AM, I put together my things to bring to the playing hall and at 9:30 PM headed to the hall by car....it took only about 20 min., given the holiday traffic in the early morning. I got to my preferred parking area, and waited 'til 10:00 AM when the parking started (There was nothing saying it was any different for a holiday). I was OK being a few minutes late for Rd. 5.

Rd. 5

I played the fourth seed, who was only 1/2 pt. behind me, and undefeated, Junior Boy Harrison Liu – we were on Bd. 1 in our section - see below.

Post-Rd. 5

I spoke with Undriadi Benggawan (In my section), and let him know my hypo-mania from my Bi-Polar Disorder was now lessening, compared to during the two prior days, and so today I could now go to lunch with him when he finished his game. I watched the games in my section, and the other two top sections in the main playing hall, and then about 2:00 PM Undriadi and I went to a Vietnamese restaurant on Bloor St. West, just a bit west of Bathurst – the area is often referred to as “Little Korea” due to all the Korean restaurants in the area.

[See Parts II & III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 3rd September, 2019, 05:25 AM

Toronto Open Chess Championship 2019 - Blog

Rds. 5 & 6 (Final) – Monday (Labour Day Holiday), 19/9/2

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

Lunch

The food was quite nice, and I had Vietnamese ice coffee for the first time (quite nice as well). I had been trying on the way over to the restaurant to explain how I had messed up my Rd. 5 opening, but my medically defective memory makes it hard for me to recall openings; so when we got to the restaurant, I put my carbon copy of the scoresheet on the table, so Undriadi could review it accurately.

But then we got into a very heavy discussion of life, family, obligations, what we are to do with our lives, and how I manage my Bi-polar Disorder, and we forgot entirely about the chess game! LOL.

I am an unpublished amateur writer, as another hobby of mine, in the areas of philosophy and theology (I have a Masters in Philosophy, and the equivalent of a Master of Divinity in theology). Undriadi kindly agreed to be a “Reader” for me of the first article in my anthology book, called “Inspired Living (Secular)”. The first article is entitled: Life's Prime Directives. We agreed that if he survived reading it, and was still standing and wanted to read more, I would also have him be a “Reader” for the fourth article in the book: Death (& life): My Cosmology (34 pages).....I did warn him that he could bail on me as one of my “Readers” at any time, and my feelings would not be hurt........I have in my lifetime as a writer, had to deal with bailing readers! What I write is not everyone's cup of tea.

Pre-Rd. 6

At a little after 3:00 PM, we returned to the playing hall where all games had now finished.

I then went outside and called my wife up at her hobby farm, Spirits' Den, to cry on her shoulder a bit. But as luck would have it, she had no time to be supportive!!!!??? Actually, she had company – our trapper friend, Gary, and his girlfriend, and they had just got there. So I said I'd call in the evening and cry to her then! LOL
Rd. 6

I played the number 8 seed, Jurgen Aliaj, who was tied with me in the 4-way tie for third – see below.

Post-Rd. 6

When I finished, I watched all the game on the top board in our section, where Harrison was playing Ferdinand Supsup (# 3 seed; in the 4-way tie with me for third).

Heading Home

I got the winner results with the first board in our section ending as the last game in the section to finish. Then at about 8:15 PM, I headed home by car.

The Evening

I got home about 8:45 PM.

When I got in I called my wife again.......only now the Rd. 5 loss didn't need to be cried about. My last Rd. 6 was so exciting and fun (Though I lost after being up the exchange at one point) that I was ecstatic about this last game (I did play quite well, though got out-played), and my four game win streak at the start. We talked a bit about her visit with our trapper and his girlfriend, and the sleepover she had had the night before at her sister's farm (About 5 min. drive away from us).

We then got our schedules revised a bit about my coming to the farm tomorrow afternoon.

After that, I celebrated, as usual, with a big dish of ice-cream!

Then I did a few of my routine items on my laptop. At 10:15 PM, I was too tired to finish this blog....the tournament games had all been very hard ones, except Rd. 5, at 2 rounds/day, and also managing rising hypo-mania during the tournament tired me as well. So I left this Blog # 3 to finish and post on Tuesday morning.

All in all, a terrific chess weekend, and quite a “rush”!

U 1800 Section Chess Report on Rds. 5 & 6 (Monday, September 2, 2019).

My U 1800 Section

I am rated 1519 now. I am ranked # 16 out of 40 players (In the middle third).

Rating Spread

1700's - 5 1600’s – 8
1500’s – 9 (my rating is here)
1400’s – 12
1300’s - 4 (Playing up)
1200's – 2 (Playing up)

Total - 40

U 1800 Winners After Rd. 6 (Final)

There were 18 boards in Rd. 6 in the section (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, withdrawals, suspensions, etc.).

Here are the winners:

1st/2nd – 5/6 pts. – Junior Boy Harrison Liu (1717 - 4th seed); Aliaj Jurgen (1676 - # 8);

3rd- 5th - 3/4 pts. – Ferdinand Supsup (1730 - 3rd seed); Junior Girl Lucy Gao (1658 - # 9); Junior Girl Isabelle Wang (1631 - # 10).

My Round 5 Game

I played White against the forth seed, who was alone in second place behind me, by 1/2 pt.: Junior Boy Harrison Liu (1717).

Unfortunately, I left my carbon of my scoresheet on the restaurant table when my friend, Undriadi Benggawan (In my section) and I went to lunch. So I cannot reproduce it here as I had intended.

Suffice it to say that I got confused on about move 8 between two different opening lines, and just did a cursory calculation and basically relied on my memory and made the move I felt I had made on previous occasions....wrong....different position.......I lost a P, got destroyed, and virtually lost 2 additional pawns by force.....not a great effort as the sole leader playing on Bd. 1 in our section (sigh). I dropped back into a 4-way tie for 2nd, 1/2 pt. behind Harrison, now the sole leader.

My Round 6 (Final) Game

I played Black against the # 8 player, Jurgen Aliaj, one of the players tied with me for second. It is a totally off the wall game (IMHO). It was so fun, I didn't mind losing it, and ending up out of the money, in a tie for 6th place. Jurgen ended up in a 2-way tie for first, with Harrison:

Aliaj, Jurgen (1676) - Armstrong, Robert (Bob) J. (1519) [A40]

Toronto Open 2019 (U 1800) (6), 02.09.2019
[Armstrong, Robert (Bob) J.]

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.c4 c5 4.d5 Qb6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be2 Nd7 7.Qc2 Ne5 8.f4 Ng4 9.h3 N4h6 10.Nf3 e5 11.fxe5 dxe5 12.Be3 Qa5 13.0–0 Bd7 14.Nb5 Bxb5 15.cxb5 Qc7 16.Qxc5 Jurgen goes up a P 16...Qxc5 17.Bxc5 b6 18.Bd6 f6 19.Rac1 Nf7 20.Bb4 Kd7 21.Nh4 Ngh6 22.Rc6 Rhc8 23.g4 Nd8 24.g5 fxg5 Material equality 25.Rd6+ Ke8 26.Nxg6 Jurgen goes up a P again 26...Nhf7 27.Re6+ Nxe6 28.dxe6 I am up the exchange, but Jurgen has a P compensation. 28...Nd6 29.Nh8 Nxe4 I am now up the exchange 30.Bh5+ Kd8 31.Rd1+ Kc7 32.Rd7+ Kb8 33.Rxg7 Rxh8 34.e7 Nf6 35.Bf7 Ne8 36.Rxg5 again, I am up the exchange, but Jurgen has a P (Passed and on the 7th rank) compensation. 36...h6 Jurgen has 3 min. left, and I have 27 min. 37.Rxe5 Kc7 I am up the exchange, but Jurgen has 2 P's compensation. 38.Bd5 Rc8 39.Bc6 Kb8 40.Rd5 Rxc6 41.bxc6 Jurgen is up 2 P's (both passed, one on the 7th rank, and one on the 6th rank). 41...Kc7 42.Rd7+ Kxc6 43.Rxa7 Nd6 44.Ra3 Nb7 Jurgen has one min. left (30 sec. increment), and I have 9 min. 45.Rf3 Re8 46.Rf8 Kd7 47.Kf2 Nc5 48.Rxe8 Kxe8 49.Bxc5 bxc5 50.a3 1–0

My Score

4/6 pts.: Wins: 4 (Rds. 1, 2, 3 & 4); Losses: 2 (Rds. 5 & 6).

My Opponents' & My Scores

5/6 pts. - Junior Boy Harrison Liu (1717 - # 4 seed) – I lost in Rd. 5; he ended in a 2-way tie for first.
Jurgen Aliaj (1676 - # 8 seed) – I lost in Rd. 6; he ended in a 2-way tie for first.

4.5/6 pts. - Ferdinand Supsup (1730 - # 3 seed) – I won in Rd. 3; he ended in a 3-way tie for third.

4/6 pts. - Victor Lefort (1743 - # 2 seed) – I won in Rd. 4.
- Me (1519) – ending in a 3-way tie for 6th (Not an unhappy result for me!)

2.5/6 pts. - Junior Boy Eli Schyngera (1374) – I won in Rd. 1.

1/3 pts. - Shafkat Ali (1683 - # 6 seed) – I won in Rd. 2; withdrew after Rd. 3.

Difficult pairings this tournament - I played the #2, # 3, # 4, # 6, and # 8 seeds! And came away with 4 wins and 2 losses - not too shabby!

Full Results

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

[See Part III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 3rd September, 2019, 05:29 AM

Toronto Open Chess Championship 2019 - Blog

Rds. 5 & 6 (Final) – Monday (Labour Day Holiday), 19/9/2

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

Some History

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/…/chesst...-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 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. With the blogging of this tournament, my agreement with Henry expires. Henry and I may renew our agreement for another year if we both so wish.
So, under this agreement, 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

Toronto Open Chess Championship 2019 (Saturday, Aug. 31 - Monday, Sept. 2) - Blog

Toronto Open Chess Championship 2019 (Saturday, Aug. 31 - Monday, Sept. 2) - Blog

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