Annex Chess Club End of Summer Swiss (Aug. 19 - Sept. 23) - Blog

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 10th September, 2019, 09:38 AM

Annex Chess Club End of Summer Swiss - Blog

Rd. 3 – Monday, 19/9/9

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

The Bul**hit Coffee Club (BCC)

I dressed and got my stuff ready for going to two of my local banks (At one I have a deposit mistake proving hard to correct) after coffee club. At 7:30 AM headed out to my favourite morning coffee club, The Bul**it Coffee Club. When I am living in Toronto, I do like to go.

I also brought an old cell phone I was going to buy from John # 1; it was to be exchanged for a slightly newer model cell phone (No computer stuff) he will sell me instead.

6 of us were there today (the core group): Helen; John # 1; Darryl; Joe, Linda, & me.

Some of the stuff (among others) we canvassed were:

- Politics – upcoming Canadian federal election & the doldrums the New Democratic Party are finding themselves in......and a number of Canadians may strategically vote for the Liberals (Holding their nose) to keep the Conservatives from forming even a minority government.

- Real Estate – residential redevelopment in East York

- Human Health – how stupid little accidents can sometimes give rise to major health problems

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BCC Historical Note

The BCC is held in one of my favourite local coffee shops, La Patisserie de Cignogne (Danforth Ave. & Monarch Park). I stop in for a little over an hour. If I walk very briskly, I can make it door to door in 10 min.! And I recently saw an exercise article that said a number of short bursts of exercise are more beneficial, and less hard on you, than a longer gruelling session. So the club has become my very, very modest morning exercise program. In late Spring to early Fall, we often meet on the patio.

There are a group of regulars on the 7:30 – 9:00 AM shift (It opens at 7:30 AM). It is an informal coffee club (going for a few years now; we actually formed up in another coffee shop nearby that closed; so we just moved en mass). Helen is usually the first member to arrive as soon as they open. I like to get there about 7:40 AM to give the staff a few more minutes to get open and set up. Darryl is often there with Helen when I arrive. In good weather, we meet on the patio. Most others arrive closer to 8:00 AM.

If no one is there when I get there, then I like to work updating my “Reminder Notes” (I have a medically defective memory, on top of old age!; no notes.....it falls off the radar!).

We are at the moment 8 regulars: Helen, Linda, John # 1, Joe, Darryl, Ed (Rarely), John # 2 (Once per week), and me. We are open to having new members join. I try to be very careful about privacy of other people in my Blog (Not so concerned about my own, to the extent that I pretty much let it all hang out in my blogs). I have canvassed the members about use of first names and all were fine to become infamous!! They felt it could only help the BCC to grow!! And, of course, this is seen as good from our coffee shop host's point of view. Generally, I won't use people's names in my Blog unless I've gotten a “blanket permission” to use them.....easier to remember that way, who is in, and who is out. And most people think it is kind of a hoot to end up having their names broadcast to the world on Fb!

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Back to Monday Morning

I left the club about 9:00 AM to deal with two of my financial institutions. At one, the shortfall deposit of a week ago is proving hard to correct in their computerized national system......but they said they would now take the next step of getting authorities to make a short-fall make-up deposit to my account. This is supposed to happen by the end of the week.......we'll see......this has not been going well with this big institution!

I got home at about 10:00 AM, and had a number of e-mails to deal with. Then I went back to partially advance writing this Blog # 1. I also dealt with my routine stuff.

Monday Afternoon

At 12:30 PM, I went out for some groceries, and to get some information for my daughter in university on coloured ink-jet printers. My little company had finally bought a lazer printer, and I had given my ink jet to my son. So I offered also to get one for my daughter. She is busy at school with no time to shop, so I said I'd get her some options to consider, and then I'd get what she chose. So I went to both Best Buy and Staples........each had a sale on that might end mid-week. So I banged out an e-mail to my daughter with her options, and asked that she decide right away, and I'd go get the one she wanted tomorrow morning. But her life at the moment is too hectic to deal with this right away – later in the year when she has some time.

I then went back to working on this draft Blog # 3.

Siesta

Given that I usually sleep short compared to many in the morning night, and that my partner and I are both over 70 y.o., we have found that the European/Latin American practice of a siesta time in mid-afternoon works really well (We usually set the alarm and do not sleep more than 1 hour). And so I crashed at 3:00 PM. I couldn't sleep, but did rest – I find, for me, this often helps substantially with my tired spell. I got up at 4:00 PM .

Late Afternoon

I contemplated for a while, since I believe in daily reviewing where you are headed, and what should be your next step.

Then I followed my routine until it was time to go to ACC.

Heading Out for Rd. 3

I had printed out the standings for my section yesterday.... to record my section results for hopefully getting this blog out early Tuesday morning before I go to bed....depends how tired I may be.

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

I went to the Annex Food Hall across from the club for a nice Mango Salad...light dinner before the round.

Then I went to Tim's for my coffee to get me through the coming battle.

Pre-Round 3

I got back to ACC about 7:30 PM .

Round 3

I was black and played Justin Tanasijczuk (1350).

After the game, I watched our section games (And some top section games) still in progress, right through to conclusion. I learned something about endings. I like to get the leader results before I leave, for this blog, in case there is any glitch getting the results up on Chess-Results after the round. 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 midnight. I started to get some things together to go live at our hobby farm today (Tuesday). Then I did a few routine items on my laptop. But I was too tired to finish this blog. So I left it to finish and post later in the morning.

U 1800 Section Chess Report on Rd. 3 (Monday, Sept. 9, 2019).

My U 1800 Section

I am rated 1645 now. I am ranked # 4 out of 17 players (In the top third).

Rating Spread

1700's - 1

1600’s – 3 (my rating is here)

1500’s – 5

1400’s – 4

1300’s - 4 (Playing up)

U 1300 – 1 (Brought up originally, maybe, to give an even number of players at the start)

Total - 17

[See Part III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 10th September, 2019, 09:44 AM

Annex Chess Club End of Summer Swiss - Blog

Rd. 3 – Monday, 19/9/9

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

U 1800 Standings After Rd. 3

There were 8 boards in the section (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, withdrawals, suspensions, etc.).

Here are the leaders:

1st – 3/3 pts. - Ambarish Chandra (1419)

2nd – 2.5/3 pts. - Junior Girl Lucy Gao (1655)

3rd/5th – 2/3 pts. - Vinorth Vigneswaramoorthy (1676); Arkadiy Ugodnikov (1577); George Supol (1395).

My Round 3 Game

Here is my game to show some of what I was thinking as I played (No analysis engine yet, and no time for my own light annotations).

Tanasijczuic, Justin (1360) – Armstrong, Robert (Bob) J. (1645) [A40]

Annex CC End of Summer (U 1800) (3), 09.09.2019
[Armstrong, Robert (Bob) J.]

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.c4 c5 4.Nf3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Qb6 6.Nb3 Nc6 7.Nc3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 Nf6 9.Be3 Qc7 10.f3 0–0 11.Be2 d6 12.Bd4 Be6 13.Nd2 b6 14.0–0 Rac8 15.Qa4 Na5 16.Rfd1 Nd7 17.Rab1 Ne5 18.Bxe5 dxe5 19.Qa3 Qc5+ 20.Qxc5 Rxc5 21.Nb3 Rc7 22.Nxa5 bxa5 23.Rb5 a4 24.Rxe5 Ambarish is up a P 24...Rfc8 25.Ra5 Bxc4 Material equality 26.Bxc4 Rxc4 27.Rxa7 Ambarish is up a P again 27...R8c7 28.Rxc7 Rxc7 29.Rc1 a3 30.c4 Kf8 31.c5 Ke8 32.c6 e6 33.Rc3 h5 34.e5 Kd8 35.Rxa3 Rxc6 36.Ra7 Ke8 37.Kf2 Rc2+ 38.Ke3 Kf8 39.a4 Kg7 40.h4 Rc5 41.f4 Rc3+ 42.Kf2 Rc2+ 43.Kg1 Rc1+ 44.Kh2 Ra1 45.a5 Ra2 46.a6 Ra3 47.Ra8 Ra2 48.a7 Ra3 49.Kg1 Ra2 50.Kf1 Ra1+ 51.Ke2 Ra2+ 52.Kd3 Ra3+ 53.Kc4 Ra4+ 54.Kc5 Ra2 55.Kd6 Ra6+ 56.Kc7 Ra2 57.Kc6 Rc2+ 58.Kd7 Rd2+ 59.Ke8 Ra2 60.Rd8 Rxa7 Material Equality 61.Rd7 Rxd7 62.Kxd7 Kf8 63.Kd8 Kg7 64.Ke7 Kg8 65.Kf6 Kf8 66.Kg5 Kg7 67.g4 hxg4 68.Kxg4 f6 69.h5 gxh5+ 70.Kxh5 fxe5 71.fxe5 Ambarish offered a draw; I accepted.

½–½

My Score

1.5/3 pts.: Draws: 2 (Rds. 1 & 3); Bye (1/2 pt.): 1 (Rd. 2).

My Opponents' & My Scores

2/3 pts. - Vinorth Vigneswaramoorthy (1676) – I drew in Rd. 1.

1.5/3 pts. - Me (1645)
- Justin Tanasijczuic (1350) – I drew in Rd. 3.

Full Results

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

Some History

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Bob's Blog

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

i) on my personal Facebook Account for my over 900 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, under my own personal account - 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 now to renew our 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 2019 and Summer 2020. Henry and I to always consider an annual renewal.
So, under this new agreement, when reached, I would re-posting my blogs of my current Scarborough CC and Annex CC tournaments. My future non-club weekend blogs to and including Summer 2020 are proposed to 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, or fail to play one that is intended):

1. The 2019 Hart House Holidays Open – Toronto (Prior to Christmas – Dec.).
2. The 2020 Hart House Reading Week Open – Toronto (February).
3. The 2020 Quebec Open – if in Montreal or near-by (July).
4. The 2020 Toronto Open (Sept.)

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.

Tournaments Registration History

2015
2015 Average per tournament: 54 registrations (Based on the last three tournaments of 2015 – highest yearly average since we started keeping records).

2016
Back to the Grind Swiss – 48 registrations (Peak registration for 2016)
2016 Average per tournament: 43 registrations (Down significantly from the prior year - 54).

2017
Peak registrations for 2017:
Club Championship – 60! registrants: Championship (1800+): 20; Reserves (U 1800): 40.
Summer in the City Swiss – 60! registrants: Masters 8; U 2200 – 7; U 1800 – 10; U 1400 – 12.
2017 Average per Tournament – 53 registrants (2nd highest since keeping records here)

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

2019 (Current)

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

# 2 – Club Championship - 50 registrants: Crown: 12; Reserve (U 1800): 38

# 3 – April Fool's - 51 registrants: Crown: 10; U 1800: 26; U 1400: 15

# 4 – Come What May – 51 registrants: Crown: 13; U 1800: 22; U 1400: 16

# 5 – Summer Heat – 42 registrants: Crown: 13; U 1800: 17; U 1400: 12

Average per Tournament (So far) – 49 (Equal to 2018's 49)

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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, 17th September, 2019, 08:10 AM

Annex Chess Club End of Summer Swiss - Blog

Rd. 4 – Monday, 19/9/16

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

Club

Annex Chess Club, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
See logo below

ACC Website: http://annexchessclub.com/
ACC Fb Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/172335039452033/

Tournament # 6/19

Name: ACC End of Summer Swiss (6th regular swiss tournament in 2019).
Dates: August 19 – Sept. 23 (Closed Labour Day Holiday, September 2)
Rounds: 5
Sections: 3: Crown; U 1800; U 1400.
Section Notes:

1. The summer format is often (Depending on Registrations): Crown (1700 +); U 1700 - where there are usually fewer players; right to play up.
2. The Club Championship has only 2 sections (so lower two sections' players get to play some different opponents): Championship (1800+); Reserves (U 1800); 1700’s have option to play up and usually do.
3. For a short time in 2017, Swisses had 4 sections: Master (2200 +); U 2200; U 1800; U 1400. Players within 100 pts. had the option to play up, and most did. It was temporarily shelved because the top two sections each had too few players; it will be reconsidered if the membership grows, and gets stronger.

Registrations: 47 registrants (So far): Crown: 9; U 1800: 25; U 1400: 13 [Close to the 2019 average (So far) of 49]. ACC tournaments do often accrue players as the tournament progresses.
Rating: All sections are CFC-rated.
Playing Up Option: Players within 100 pts. of the floor of the section above may choose to play up, and most do. No playing up fee.
Time Control: G/90 + 30 sec. (From move 1)
Joining Annex CC: Lots of room and so ACC WELCOMES all new members. You can inquire about joining at the general ACC e-mail address: info@annexchessclub.com. You can join a tournament in progress….you will get ½ pt. byes for the missed rounds (Only two).

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

The Day of Rd. 4 (19/9/16)

Early Monday Morning
Today I am currently living in Toronto and so am able to play. When I am living in my two other locations, I take byes/withdraw.
I awoke at 5:00 AM before the alarm (Went to bed Sun. night at 11:30 PM; often during weekend tournaments I get much less than my usual night 6 hrs.).
I got my morning coffee downstairs today as usual and my cold cereal breakfast, and had both in my comfortable home office. Then I just 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).

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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

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[Parts II & III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 17th September, 2019, 08:13 AM

Annex Chess Club End of Summer Swiss - Blog

Rd. 4 – Monday, 19/9/16

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

Monday Morning

Early this morning, before starting my routine, I Facebook Messaged with my sister-in-law – she also is an early riser, and we often chat soon after 5:00 AM in the morning. She is a cello professional, and early in her fall season, she will be playing the premier of a new piece for cello. So she is already madly practicing.

At 7:30 AM, I drove my wife to get her anti-sting shot – she is in a long program of getting them since she is allergic and has bad reactions. Then she had to go for a heart stress test.

I then came home and continued my routine 'til my wife came home at 11:00 AM.

I then went to the bank (They had finally solved a deposit error for me), the drug store (to return my wife's expired epipens for environmental disposal) and the local home hardware. I found on returning from our hobby farm on Sunday night, that I had a wasps' nest high up in the brick just under the second story siding, and a yellow-jacket nest somewhere above my back deck on the house. I had brought back wasp foam spray from the farm, where we are used to getting rid of nests, given my wife's condition. So I got another can of spray, and got some expanding contractor's foam to fill the cavity after the nest is poisoned. I'm not sure if I am going to be able to deal with this myself, given they are so high up – I may need to call in a professional pest control company (sigh).

I got home at about 12:00 PM, and made myself a lunch to have in front of the computer.

Monday Afternoon

Since I only live, on average over the year, 1/4 of the time in Toronto, it is often quite brutally busy, working things into just a couple of days. So I had lots to catch up on.

Siesta

Given that I usually sleep short compared to many in the morning night, and that my partner and I are both over 70 y.o., we have found that the European/Latin American practice of a siesta time in mid-afternoon works really well (We usually set the alarm and do not sleep more than 1 hour). And so I crashed at 3:00 PM. I woke up with my alarm at 4:00 PM, but then decided to lie there quietly and “contemplate” for a while (Like meditation, but different – my own variant). I got up at 4:45 PM and went back to the laptop.

Late Afternoon

I then did a substantial draft of this Blog # 2.

Then I returned to my routine until it was time to go to ACC.

Heading Out for Rd. 4

I printed out the standings for my section .... to record my section results for hopefully getting this blog out early Tuesday morning before I go to bed....depends how tired I may be.

At about 5:45 PM I headed downtown by TTC . The club is really very quick to get to, door to door – 35 min. generally.

I had had a good lunch and wasn't really hungry for my usual mango salad at the Annex Food Hall across from the club. So I continued on to the Bathurst Subway station and then went to the Green Beanery for coffee, to relax for a while, and to update my “Reminder Book” (I have a medically defective memory, in addition to old age setting in).

Pre-Round 4

I got back to ACC about 7:20 PM . Mark Patton (My section, plus we played each other tonight) and I discussed the feature in club and weekend tournaments of playing up. Alex Niestrawski (Our section) confirmed he was playing up with a low rating, since he did well in the last tournament in the U 1400 section, and the organizers felt he was strong enough to be in the U 1800 section, despite his low rating from the first tournament he'd ever played in. In some other clubs, this exception is not made, since often Junior Parents will then want exception for their junior who would not normally be eligible to play up. At Annex CC, this is not a problem for the organizers, because the no. of juniors is very low, due to the time control.

Round 4

I was white and played Mark – see below.

We both played the opening and early middlegame fairly quickly, and I won on move 22 after only 1 1/2 hrs. (The last game in our section went a full 4 hrs.)

After the game, I watched our section games (And some top section games) still in progress, right through to conclusion. A number of the games tonight were very fascinating positions. I like to get the leader results before I leave, for this blog, in case there is any glitch getting the results up on Chess-Results after the round. 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 midnight. I dealt with the day's snail mail, and did a few routine items on my laptop. But I was too tired to finish this blog. So I left it to finish and post later on Tuesday morning.

U 1800 Section Chess Report on Rd. 4 (Monday, Sept. 16, 2019).

My U 1800 Section

I am rated 1645 now. I am ranked # 4 out of 25 players (In the top third).

Rating Spread

1700's - 1

1600’s – 6 (my rating is here)

1500’s – 6

1400’s – 4

1300’s - 7 (Playing up)

U 1300 – 1 (Brought up originally, maybe, to give an even number of players at the start)

Total - 25

U 1800 Standings After Rd. 4

There were 7 boards in the section (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, withdrawals, suspensions, etc.).

Here are the leaders:

1st – 3.5/4 pts. - Junior Girl Lucy Gao (1655)

2nd /3rd – 3/4 pts. - Arkadiy Ugodnikov (1577); Ambarish Chandra (1419)

My Round 4 Game

Here is my game to show some of what I was thinking as I played (No analysis engine yet, and no time for my own light annotations).

Armstrong, Robert (Bob) J. (1645) – Patton, Mark (1355) [E14]

Annex End of Summer (U 1800) (4), 16.09.2019

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.e3 Bb7 5.Bd3 c5 6.0–0 g6 7.b3 Bg7 8.Bb2 0–0 9.Nbd2 d5 10.dxc5 bxc5 11.cxd5 exd5 12.Rc1 Nbd7 13.Qe2 Qb6 14.Bb1 Rfe8 15.Rfe1 Rac8 16.Qd1 Nf8 17.Ba1 Qd6 18.Nc4 Qe6 19.Ng5 Qg4 20.Qxg4 Nxg4 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.Nd6

1–-0

[Part III below]

Bob

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 17th September, 2019, 08:15 AM

Annex Chess Club End of Summer Swiss - Blog

Rd. 4 – Monday, 19/9/16

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

My Score

2.5/4 pts.: Win: 1 (Rd. 4); Draws: 2 (Rds. 1 & 3); Bye (1/2 pt.): 1 (Rd. 2).

My Opponents' & My Scores

2.5/4 pts. - Me (1645) - 3-way tie for 4th/6th.

2/4 pts. - Vinorth Vigneswaramoorthy (1676) – I drew in Rd. 1.
- Justin Tanasijczuic (1350) – I drew in Rd. 3.

1.5/4 pts. - Mark Patton (1355) – I won in Rd. 4.

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 over 900 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, under my own personal account - 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 now to renew our 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 2019 and Summer 2020. Henry and I to always consider an annual renewal.

So, under this new agreement, when reached, I would re-posting my blogs of my current Scarborough CC and Annex CC tournaments. My future non-club weekend blogs to and including Summer 2020 are proposed to 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, or fail to play one that is intended):

1. The 2019 Hart House Holidays Open – Toronto (Prior to Christmas -– Dec.).
2. The 2020 Hart House Reading Week Open – Toronto (February).
3. The 2020 Quebec Open – if in Montreal or near-by (July).
4. The 2020 Toronto Open (Sept.)

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.

Tournaments Registration History

2015
2015 Average per tournament: 54 registrations (Based on the last three tournaments of 2015 – highest yearly average since we started keeping records).

2016
Back to the Grind Swiss – 48 registrations (Peak registration for 2016)
2016 Average per tournament: 43 registrations (Down significantly from the prior year - 54).

2017
Peak registrations for 2017:
Club Championship – 60! registrants: Championship (1800+): 20; Reserves (U 1800): 40.
Summer in the City Swiss – 60! registrants: Masters 8; U 2200 – 7; U 1800 – 10; U 1400 – 12.
2017 Average per Tournament:– 53 registrants (2nd highest since keeping records here)

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

2019 (Current)

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

# 2 – Club Championship - 50 registrants: Crown: 12; Reserve (U 1800): 38

# 3 – April Fool's - 51 registrants: Crown: 10; U 1800: 26; U 1400: 15

# 4 – Come What May – 51 registrants: Crown: 13; U 1800: 22; U 1400: 16

# 5 – Summer Heat – 42 registrants: Crown: 13; U 1800: 17; U 1400: 12

Average per Tournament (So far) – 49 (Equal to 2018's 49)

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, 24th September, 2019, 09:46 AM

Annex Chess Club End of Summer Swiss - Blog

Rd. 5 – Monday, 19/9/23

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

Club

Annex Chess Club, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

See logo below
ACC Website: http://annexchessclub.com/
ACC Fb Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/172335039452033/

Tournament # 6

Name: ACC End of Summer Swiss (6th regular swiss tournament in 2019).

Dates: August 19 – Sept. 23 (Closed Labour Day Holiday, September 2)

Rounds: 5

Sections/Registrations: 51 registrants: Crown: 10; U 1800: 24; U 1400: 14 [A bit above the 2019 average (So far) of 49 – chess players return with the start of Fall today].

Section Notes:

1. The summer format is often (Depending on Registrations): Crown (1700 +); U 1700 - where there are usually fewer players; right to play up.
2. The Club Championship has only 2 sections (so lower two sections' players get to play some different opponents): Championship (1800+); Reserves (U 1800); 1700’s have option to play up and usually do.
3. For a short time in 2017, Swisses had 4 sections: Master (2200 +); U 2200; U 1800; U 1400. Players within 100 pts. had the option to play up, and most did. It was temporarily shelved because the top two sections each had too few players; it will be reconsidered if the membership grows, and gets stronger.

Rating: All sections are CFC-rated.

Playing Up Option: Players within 100 pts. of the floor of the section above may choose to play up, and most do. No playing up fee.

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

Joining Annex CC: Lots of room and so ACC WELCOMES all new members. You can inquire about joining at the general ACC e-mail address: info@annexchessclub.com. You can join a tournament in progress….you will get ½ pt. byes for the missed rounds (Only two).

Blog Note:

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

The Day of Rd. 5 (19/9/23)

Early Monday Morning

Today I am currently living in Toronto and so am able to play. When I am living in my two other locations, I take byes/withdraw.
I awoke at 6:00 AM before the alarm – 5 hours sleep is not too bad for me (Went to bed at 1:00 AM; often during weekend tournaments I sleep much shorter, and get substantially less than my usual night 6 hrs.).
I got my morning coffee downstairs today as usual and my cold cereal breakfast, and had both in my comfortable home office in front of my laptop. Then I just started into my normal daily routine.
At 6:45 AM I called our hobby farm (Spirits' Den – Southern Georgian Bay Region in Ontario) part-time property manager, to confirm that he could come in and work with us for the day this coming Friday – lots to do to get the place ready for winter. He was available that day.

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

I am retired + unemployed – life is quite 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! My mornings tend to be pretty scripted – who isn't a victim of routine? So I settled in 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-Life-Consulting-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".

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.

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.

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

[See Parts II & III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 24th September, 2019, 09:48 AM

Annex Chess Club End of Summer Swiss - Blog

Rd. 5 – Monday, 19/9/23

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

Monday Morning

This morning, just before starting my routine, I began a draft of this Blog # 3 – I sort of add to it during the day, and then try to finalize it and post it Tuesday morning sometime.

Then, as I said, I started into my normal stuff.

The Bul**hit Coffee Club (BCC)

At 7:00 AM I dressed and got my stuff ready for going to one of my local banks after coffee club. At 7:30 AM headed out to my favourite morning coffee club, The Bul**it Coffee Club. When I am living in Toronto, I do like to go.

6 of us were there today (the core group): Helen; John # 1; Darryl; Joe, Linda, & me.

Some of the stuff (among others) we canvassed were:

Politics – upcoming Canadian federal election
what constitutes a racist or discriminatory act? Black-face?
The pluses and minuses of a bird feeding station – some wildlife: yes (Birds); some wildlife: No (Rats)
How quick first-responders are in East York

TEMPLATE BEGINS

BCC Historical Note

The BCC is held in one of my favourite local coffee shops, La Patisserie de Cignogne (Danforth Ave. & Monarch Park). I stop in for a little over an hour. If I walk very briskly, I can make it door to door in 10 min.! And I recently saw an exercise article that said a number of short bursts of exercise are more beneficial, and less hard on you, than a longer gruelling session. So the club has become my very, very modest morning exercise program. In late Spring to early Fall, we often meet on the patio.

There are a group of regulars on the 7:30 – 9:00 AM shift (It opens at 7:30 AM). It is an informal coffee club (going for a few years now; we actually formed up in another coffee shop nearby that closed; so we just moved en mass). Helen is usually the first member to arrive as soon as they open. I like to get there about 7:40 AM to give the staff a few more minutes to get open and set up. Darryl is often there with Helen when I arrive. In good weather, we meet on the patio. Most others arrive closer to 8:00 AM.

If no one is there when I get there, then I like to work updating my “Reminder Notes” (I have a medically defective memory, on top of old age!; no notes.....it falls off the radar!).

We are at the moment 8 regulars: Helen, Linda, John # 1, Joe, Darryl, Ed (Rarely), John # 2 (Once per week), and me. We are open to having new members join. I try to be very careful about privacy of other people in my Blog (Not so concerned about my own, to the extent that I pretty much let it all hang out in my blogs). I have canvassed the members about use of first names and all were fine to become infamous!! They felt it could only help the BCC to grow!! And, of course, this is seen as good from our coffee shop host's point of view. Generally, I won't use people's names in my Blog unless I've gotten a “blanket permission” to use them.....easier to remember that way, who is in, and who is out. And most people think it is kind of a hoot to end up having their names broadcast to the world on Fb!

TEMPLATE ENDS

Later Monday Morning

I went to my bank as planned, and spoke to one advisor about a property purchase I am thinking of doing. Then I came home. For a while I got back into my routine stuff., and added to the draft of this Blog # 3.

My wife got back from her doctor appointment/blood test at 11:00 AM. So we visited for an hour.

Monday Afternoon

My wife then took a nap – her heart problem tires her out physically.

Then I went back to my routine stuff again.

At 1:00 PM we made and had lunch, and then took a half hour break to let our food settle a bit.

At 2:00 P.M. I helped my wife with making some foam stamps to use in the glazing of her pottery (She is an amateur potter).

Then I tried to do some grounds maintenance – our front garden is right outside our living-room window. It has a number of tall, thin-trunked bushes. Two are dead. They were too big for me to get with the large pruning sheers I once brought back from the farm. I have in my tool kit a small handsaw, so I decided to see if I could get them out with it. But......the trunk is still a bit too thick for such a small saw – too much work.......will take ages. So I've decided to just bring back from the farm next time my small chain saw, which is the very easy route.

Lastly, I typed up a succession plan for our hobby farm that I've been developing for a few months now. Next step is to run it all by the better half!

Siesta

Given that I usually sleep short compared to many in the early morning (night), and that I am working on year number 75, I have found that the European/Latin American practice of a siesta time in mid-afternoon works really well (I usually set the alarm and do not sleep more than 1 hour).

So I crashed at 4:00 PM. I woke up with my alarm at 5:00 PM.

I got up and went back to the laptop for just a short time until it was time to go to ACC.

Heading Out for Rd. 5

I printed out the standings for my section .... to record my section results for hopefully getting this blog out early Tuesday morning before I go to bed....depends how tired I may be.

At about 5:20 PM I headed downtown by TTC . The club is really very quick to get to, door to door – 35 min. generally.

I had my usual mango salad at the Annex Food Hall across from the club. After I relaxed for a while, and updated my “Reminder Book” (I have a medically defective memory, in addition to old age setting in).

Pre-Round 5

I got back to ACC about 7:20 PM .

Round 5

I was black and played one of the two players tied for 2^nd/3^rd , Ambarish Chandra (Who had defeated me the last time we played – see below.

We both played the game fairly quickly, and after the game, I watched our section games (And some top section games) still in progress, right through to conclusion. A number of the games tonight were very fascinating positions. I like to get the leader results before I leave, for this blog, in case there is any glitch getting the results up on Chess-Results after the round. When I had all the results for the U 1800 Section, I headed home by TTC.

The Late Evening

I got home just a bit before midnight. I heated up a doggie container my daughter had brought me last night, after going out for Japanese with her adopted aunt. I took it to the laptop, and continued some work on the draft of this Blog # 3. I then did a few routine items on my laptop. But I was too tired to finish this blog. So I left it to finish and post later on Tuesday morning.

U 1800 Section Chess Report on Rd. 5 (Monday, Sept. 23, 2019).

My U 1800 Section

I am rated 1645 now. I am ranked # 4 out of 24 players (In the top third).

Rating Spread

1700's - 1

1600’s – 6 (my rating is here)
1500’s – 6
1400’s – 4
1300’s – 6 (Playing up)

U 1300 – 1 (Brought up originally, maybe, to give an even number of players at the start)

Total - 24

[See Part III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 24th September, 2019, 09:49 AM

Annex Chess Club End of Summer Swiss - Blog

Rd. 5 – Monday, 19/9/23

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

U 1800 Standings After Rd. 5

There were 9 boards in the section (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, withdrawals, suspensions, etc.), and I was on board 2.

Here are the winner/top finishers:

1^st –- 4/5 pts. - Ambarish Chandra (1419)

2^nd/3^rd– - 3.5/5 pts. - Arkadiy Ugodnikov (1577); George Supol (1395).

4^th -– 3.5/4 pts. - Junior Girl Lucy Guo (1655) – withdrew after Rd. 4 (To play up in the top section in Rd. 5).

My Round 5 Game

Here is my game (No time for my own light annotations or engine analysis):

Chandra, Ambarish (1419) – Armstrong, Robert (Bob) J. (1645) [B27]

Annex CC End of Summer (U 1800) (5), 23.09.2019
[Armstrong, Robert (Bob) J.]

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 c5 4.c3 Qb6 5.Bc4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Nc6 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.0–0 Bb7 9.b4 Rd8 10.Be3 Qc7 11.Bxa7 Ambarish goes up a P 11...d5 12.exd5 Ambarish goes up 2 P's 12...Ba8 13.Qa4 Nf6 14.Bd4 0–0 15.dxc6 Bxc6 16.Qb3 Ng4 17.g3 Qb7 18.Nd2 Bh1 19.f3 Rxd4 20.cxd4 Bxd4+ 21.Kxh1 Bxa1 Ambarish is now only up 1 P; but I have 2 pieces hanging, and am toast. 22.Bd5

1–-0

My Score

2.5/5 pts.: Win: 1 (Rd. 4); Draws: 2 (Rds. 1 & 3); Loss: 1 (Rd. 5); Bye (1/2 pt.): 1 (Rd. 2).

My Opponents' & My Scores

4/5 pts. - Ambarish Chandra (1419) – I lost in Rd. 5 – Ambarish came clear 1^st.

2.5/5 pts. - Me (1645)

Justin Tanasijczuic (1350) – I drew in Rd. 3.

2/5 pts. - Vinorth Vigneswaramoorthy (1676) – I drew in Rd. 1.

1.5/5 pts. - Mark Patton (1355) – I won in Rd. 4.

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 over 900 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, under my own personal account - 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 now to renew our 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 2019 and Summer 2020. Henry and I to always consider an annual renewal.

So, under this new agreement, when reached, I would re-posting my blogs of my current Scarborough CC and Annex CC tournaments. My future non-club weekend blogs to and including Summer 2020 are proposed to 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, or fail to play one that is intended):

1. The 2019 Hart House Holidays Open – Toronto (Prior to Christmas – Dec.).
2. The 2020 Hart House Reading Week Open – Toronto (February).
3. The 2020 Quebec Open – if in Montreal or near-by (July).
4. The 2020 Toronto Open (Sept.)

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.

Tournaments Registration History

2015

2015 Average per tournament: 54 registrations (Based on the last three tournaments of 2015 – highest yearly average since we started keeping records).

2016

Back to the Grind Swiss – 48 registrations (Peak registration for 2016)

2016 Average per tournament: 43 registrations (Down significantly from the prior year - 54).

2017

Peak registrations for 2017:

Club Championship – 60! registrants: Championship (1800+): 20; Reserves (U 1800): 40.

Summer in the City Swiss – 60! registrants: Masters 8; U 2200 – 7; U 1800 – 10; U 1400 – 12.

2017 Average per Tournament – 53 registrants (2nd highest since keeping records here)

2018

Changing Leaves Swiss - 59 registrants (Peak registration for 2018)

2018 Average per Tournament – 49 registrations (Down slightly from the annual record of 2015: 54 registrants).

2019 (Current)

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

# 2 – Club Championship - 50 registrants: Crown: 12; Reserve (U 1800): 38

# 3 – April Fool's - 51 registrants: Crown: 10; U 1800: 26; U 1400: 15

# 4 – Come What May – 51 registrants: Crown: 13; U 1800: 22; U 1400: 16

# 5 – Summer Heat – 42 registrants: Crown: 13; U 1800: 17; U 1400: 12

Average per Tournament (So far) – 49 (Equal to 2018's 49)

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

Annex Chess Club End of Summer Swiss (Aug. 19 - Sept. 23) - Blog

Annex Chess Club End of Summer Swiss (Aug. 19 - Sept. 23) - Blog

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