Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (Sept. 12 - Oct. 24) – Blog

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 4th October, 2019, 03:44 PM

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss – Blog

Rd. 4 - 19/10/3 (Thursday)

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

Back to Thursday Morning

I had already begun a draft of this Blog # 1 days ago – I sort of add to it during the day, and then try to finalize it and post it late Thursday night or in the wee hours of Friday morning. We often go to our hobby farm early on Friday morning, so I usually have to get the blog posted before I go to sleep (Our farm is an almost internet/computer-free zone).

I did some Blog updating while continuing my normal stuff.

Coffee Visit

I then dressed and left about 9:00 AM for a coffee visit with my oldest cousin on my mother's side. We get together a number of times per year to say “Hi” and catch each other up on our families. She is a retired Ontario Judge. We had a lovely 3-hr gabfest!

Back Home

At 1:30 PM, when I got home, I got some lunch to take up to my office. I then did some more on this Blog # 1, and continued with my routine retiree projects.

My wife came home from her heart exercise class, and we visited for 1/2 hr., and I caught her up on the family info I'd gotten from my cousin.

Legal Matter

At 2:45 PM we headed out to our lawyer's office to deal with a legal issue – we have to arrange our affairs financially around the problem of my having psychotic-manic episodes, due to my Bi-Polar Disorder, and this can involve legal agreements. We got back at 5:30 PM.

I then met on the street, the father of the two teens who recently started to watch over our house when we live elsewhere. We had only barely gotten to know each other at this point.....and we had a great chat and established a very nice neighbour connection.

Heading Out for Rd. 4

I then went inside and prepared my stuff to go to SCC for Rd. 4. I printed out the cross-tables – I use them to record myself the top results in my section, for this Blog # 1. I also prepared my materials for the SCC Display Table (I do this as a member volunteer job).

At 6:20 PM I finally headed out by car for SCC (I have now solved the potential problem of being Bi-polar and driving, and so am now back driving again). I went to a new Timmies tonight on Midland, just south of Ellesmere. I really didn't have time for my usual light dinner, so had a couple of doughnuts and got the needed caffeine to go into battle. At 7:50 PM I drove back to the club (about 5 min. drive away).

Pre-Round 4

I got in and didn't have time to set up the whole display table, but did put out the cross-tables.

Round 4

After a few announcements, the round started almost on time. The game is below.

After the game, I watched the rest of the games, particularly an interesting game on 1^st board in the 1800+ section. I chatted with Sam Sharpe of the top section. He advised about his retirement schooling, and deciding to go back to work in a related field. We also discussed retirement budgeting, and trying to achieve a comfortably paced quality of life. I also then chatted briefly with Greg Beal, who is currently alone in first place in our section.

Then when I had the leaders for all sections, I packed up my cross-tables and headed for home.

The Later Evening

I got home about 11:15 PM. First I took a bit of time to clean up the kitchen and dining room – my wife had had her best friend over for dinner. Then I dealt with the day's mail. Finally I changed and went to my home office to again follow my routine for my own projects and finish this draft Blog # 1, except for entering and lightly annotating my game. I was too tired to finish, and had to leave the blog for finishing/posting on Friday morning. I hit the sack just before midnight Friday.

My U 1800 Section Report - Rd. 4 - Thursday, October 3/19.

I am rated 1619. I am in the 2nd of the 4 sections. My section rating spread is effectively, from the 1600's to about 1000. I am in the top third of the section.

Post-Rd. 4 – U 1800 Leaders

There are 50 players in our section; there were 24 boards (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, suspensions, withdrawals, etc.); here are the leaders:

1^st – 4/4 pts. - Greg Beal (1614 – just out of his most recent period of chess retirement!)

2^nd/4^th– 3.5/4 pts. - Junior Boy Umang Dwivedi (1659); Junior Boy Aaron Liu (1637); Junior Boy Bo Kong (1610).

My Round 4 Game

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

Yuan, Daniel (1442) – Armstrong, Robert (Bob) J. (1619) [B27]

Scarborough CC Howard Ridout (U 1800) (4), 03.10.2019
[Armstrong, Robert (Bob) J.]

1.e4 g6 Modern Defence - easily transposable 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 c5 4.Be3 Qa5+ 5.Nbd2 Nc6 6.c3 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Nxd4 8.Bxd4 Bxd4 9.cxd4 Qb4 10.Qc2 Qxd4 I go up a P from the opening 11.Rc1 Kf8 avoiding the Q-sac mate-threat 12.Qc7 Kg7 13.Qd8 e6 Blunder - failed to see the threat to the B, I was so busy protecting my eP (sigh) 14.Rxc8 Daniel is up B vs P 14...Rxc8 15.Qxc8 Qxb2 16.Qxd7 Nf6 17.Qc7 Qa1+ I need to flush the K out, stop castling, and try to delay his K-side piece development 18.Ke2 Qxa2 Daniel is up B vs 2 P's (Passed & connected). 19.g3 Daniel is desperate to develop, and so declines the win of my bP. 19...Nxe4 I now have 3 P's vs B, plus an attack on a loose K 20.Qe5+ Nf6 21.Bg2 Qa6+ Not to protect my bP; to force the K to the back rank to block development of Daniel's R. 22.Ke1 Rc8 Threatening mate 23.f4 making an escape square 23...Rc1+ 24.Kf2 I now can't see any clear win, and am nervous about my ending chances. Maybe best to get a draw by perpetual. 24...Qb6+ 25.Ke2 Daniel offered a draw; I accepted.

½–½

My Score

2/4 pts. - Draw: 1 (Rd. 4); 1/2 Pt. Byes: 3 (Rds. 1-3)

My Opponents' & My Scores

2/4 pts. - Me (1619)

- Junior Boy Daniel Yuan (1442) – I drew in Rd. 4.

[See Part III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 4th October, 2019, 03:45 PM

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss – Blog

Rd. 4 - 19/10/3 (Thursday)

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

Other Section Leaders

These are not nearly as interesting as all the myriad details about the very impressive U 1800 Section! LOL

1800 + Section

1^st – 3.5/4 pts. - National Master Dave Southam (2164 – former club champion)

2^nd/3^rd – 3/4 pts. - Junior Boy Jeffrey R. Zhao (2149); Junior Boy Fengxi Mao (2146).

U 1400 (Juniors Only)

1^st/4^th – 3/4 pts. - Daniel Odoemelam (1273); Andrew Li (1122); Ryan Zhong (1111); Kaison Wang (1040).

U 1000 (Juniors Only)

1^st – 4/4 pts. - Chung He

2^nd/3^rd – 3.5/4 pts. - Justin Tso (906); Zheyi (Joey) Zhang (634).

Scarborough CC Games - Top Section

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

Some History

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

These next 2 sections are another template.

TEMPLATE BEGINS

SCC Tournament Registration History

2013-4 Season

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

2014-5 Season

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

Season average registration (for the 6 tournaments) - 117

2015-6 Season

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

Season average registration (for the 6 tournaments) - 131

2016-7 Season

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

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

2017-8 Season

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

Season Average Registration (for 6 tournaments): 122. Below the 2016-7 Season Average of 133. 8

2018-9 Season

Club Championship (5^th tournament of the season) – 137 (Championship - 31; Reserves - 106) – Peak registration of the season.

Season Average Registration (For 6 tournaments): 120 (Almost at the prior 2017-8 Season Average of 121; our historical high from a few years ago (2016-7) is 133).

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…), now owned by Henry Lam;
iii) occasionally on other chess websites, such as that of FQE (Province of Quebec's Chess Association). On the one occasion this was done, 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 (http://www.scarboroughchessclub.ca/).
iii) my Annex CC tournaments Fb blog to ACC's Fb Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/172335039452033/).

Henry Lam (Aka Dark Knight on CT), the owner of CT, and I have now done a first renewal of our “Henry/Bob Blog Agreement” (Original agreement - summer of 2018). Under it I agreed to re-post my Fb Chess Blogs on CT for both my chess club official tournaments, subject to the condition that interest did not wane to such an extent that it was no longer worth making the effort to do the blog. This has now happened re the Annex CC blog, and I am therefore no longer blogging those club tournaments. I also agreed to blog my non-club weekend (Sometimes longer; sometimes shorter) tournaments, in which I play between Summer 2019 and Summer 2020. Henry and I have a clause for consideration of annual renewal.

So, under this new agreement, I am now re-posting my blogs of my current Scarborough CC tournaments. My future non-club weekend blogs, to and including Summer 2020, 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, 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, U 1800 or U 1700). 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 (Players 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 sometimes cover (Bare Bones) the top section standings; but I have to have been able to get the results before the Blog goes to press. For this section, of course, including 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 during the day of club tournaments, and before and between rounds for weekend tournaments (A bit of a reality show - bits of my personal, though generally pretty ordinary, life).

I know many other chess players approach tournaments quite differently than I do (E.g. - study, research opponents to prepare for them, etc.!). So one cannot generalize from what I do, to what other chess tournament players do.

Blog Feedback

I have had generally positive feedback on my blogging (I have done it for many, many years now, as some long-suffering viewers know), 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 all these years (I'm now working on year 75 (Not of blogging! LOL) – I do hope, as long as there is interest, to keep doing my blogs for many years yet).

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!

TEMPLATE ENDS

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 18th October, 2019, 04:44 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss – Blog

Rd. 6 - 19/10/17 (Thursday)

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

Club

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

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

Tournament

Name: Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (# 1 of the 2019-20 Season)

When: Sept. 12 to October 24

Format: 7- round swiss

Sections: 4: The regular SCC Swisses have 4 sections 1800+; U 1800; U 1400 – Jrs. Only; U 1000 – Juniors Only [playing up within 100 pts. allowed – free].

Notes re sections:

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

Registration: 121 (So far) ( 1800+ - 20; U 1800 – 52; U 1400 (Jrs. Only) – 19; U 1000 (Jrs. Only) - 30) – above last season's average per tournament: 118.

Time Control: Bottom 3 sections: G/70 + 15 sec. (From move 1).

Rating: a. All sections are CFC-rated.

b. The top section is also FIDE rated.

Playing Up: Players within 100 pts. of the floor of the section above have the option to play in their section, or, in the next section up – no fee.

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

Blog Note:

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

The Day of Rd. 6 (Oct. 17)

Thursday 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. My schedule has been such that I could play at SCC only once since the start of September.

I awoke at 6:00 AM with the alarm – 7 hours sleep for me is much more than usual (Went to bed at 11:00 PM Wednesday night; 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, to take upstairs to my home office.

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 before the template if there are any revisions you won't have read previously).

TEMPLATE BEGINS

Victim of Routine

I am retired + unemployed – life is quite fine overall - 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! I have created a monster!

My mornings tend to be pretty scripted – who isn't a victim of routine?

So I settled in to my comfy home office and fired up my old laptop to follow my general daily routine tasks.

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 re-post the most relevant...see below.

4. Fb Project # 1 (My Company's) - My little company (In the process of being legally incorporated, after some years of operation as an unregistered sole proprietorship) 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".

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 second Fb discussion club, Chess Chat (also formed under my personal Fb account) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/340524269771672/.

8. Fb Project # 3 (On behalf of a religious community I am forming) - When I find them, I share religious (All Religions) posts to my religious community's Fb Page, Theist Community (https://www.facebook.com/Theist-Comm...dmin_todo_tour). Sometimes these re-posts also appear in PEERS.

9.Update the discussion group formed under my community's page. It is called Spiritual/Religions Discussion Club (Or SRDC) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/2042495809374373/. I update it by sharing some more discussable of the posts now on the Theist Community page.

10. Fb Project # 4 (On behalf of a political party I would like formed) – Democratic Marxist – Global – https://www.facebook.com/Democratic-...dmin_todo_tour.

11.Update the discussion group formed under the political party page. It is called Democratic Marxist Global Forum – https://www.facebook.com/groups/2045...=nf&__tn__=C-R.

12.I have another retiree project besides my 3 Facebook Projects.

Chess is a passionate hobby of mine, as you know. It is part of what I call my “Interlude Living”. But I have never really studied seriously.

But what I do do, is I enter all my games, and annotate them, to try to learn something - GrandMasters do recommend this often. In addition, I integrate the opening (the first 10 moves) into an opening/defence tree I have for the opening/defence played. The value of this is pretty uncertain, given my inability to remember lines - but I do develop general impressions of how the opening can go.

So on my own time, I go back and forth between the 3 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** · Friday, 18th October, 2019, 04:49 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss – Blog

Rd. 6 - 19/10/17 (Thursday)

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

Back to Thursday Morning

I barely began a draft of this Blog # 2 - I sort of add to it during the day, and then try to finalize it and post it late Thursday night or in the wee hours of Friday morning. We often go to our hobby farm early on Friday morning, so I usually have to get the blog posted before I go to sleep (Our farm is an almost internet/computer-free zone, so I cannot finish and post it there).

I then continued my normal stuff.

The Bul**hit Coffee Club (BCC)

At 7:00 AM I dressed and got some stuff for my day ready. At 7:30 AM I 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, and at 9:00 AM John # 2 showed (on Thursdays, John # 2 shows up to go bowling with Linda and John # 1).

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

Politics – upcoming Canadian federal election
- - the political chaos south of us in the USA
redevelopment in old East York
the house sale market in East York over the last 10 years

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

Back Home

I got home at 9:30 AM, and my wife was just getting ready to go out.......but she'd used the morning to get a “household tasks” list together for me for the day! Whoa – 18 family tasks!!

So I started out on my 35/25 life system – first I continued my own stuff for a 25 min. shift, setting the alarm. Then at the alarm, I reset it for 35 min. of house/family tasks.

We have company coming to the Toronto house this weekend to use our place for two days while we are at our hobby farm in the Southern Georgian Bay region......and the place has become a total disaster this summer, with us being at the farm more than half-time from April 1 to September 30.

We have already been beavering away on the place since our return from a week in Montreal with our grandaughters. And we are both busy tonight, and leave very early Friday morning......so this morning and afternoon are our last hooray! My wife: “You've got your list! I have to go out for the morning and early afternoon, so I hope you can get everything done.........I'm needing to go get my hair done.”

Whoa!! She's really busy today!

Want to see my list???

Collect garbage and to outside container
Compost out to outside container
Garbage and Compost containers to street (Pick-up is Friday)
Do few dishes in sink.
Put away some food stuff on the counters
Finances – update wife's chequing account transaction record.
Sweep main floor.
Sweep 2^nd floor & stairs.
Vacuum second floor office and bedroom
Wipe Kitchen cupboards
Clean stove top – use special cleaner.
Wipe out microwave.
Clean sheets are in guest room; make bed.
Some clean clothes on the bed – put away.
Electrical Extension Cord in Dining Room – to electrical stuff box in storage.
Our bedroom – finish the polishing of the pieces.
Family Finances – Make donation re friend's recently deceased mother.
Pack for hobby farm

So I faithfully followed my 35/25 system and slowly ate away at the list of family tasks, and slowly updated this Blog # 2 and ate away at “My Own Project Tasks”.

Lunch

At 2:00 PM, I had some veggies, my wife's home-made hummus and some steak we cooked up yesterday – veggies are big in my wife's new “Heart Diet”.

I then did some more on this Blog # 2, and continued with my routine retiree projects on my own time; worked away on the family tasks list during “family work” phases.

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 3:00 PM.

But my wife arrived back home at 3:30 PM and was famished, so she made herself a “linner” while we visited for a while.

I then went back to try for a siesta again. I woke up with my alarm at 5:00 PM.

I then went back to the laptop for just a short time until it was time to go to SCC.

Heading Out for Rd. 6

I then prepared my stuff to go to SCC. I had already printed out the cross-tables earlier in the morning – I use them to record myself the top results in my section, for this Blog # 2. I also prepared my materials for the SCC Display Table (I do this as a member volunteer job).

At 5:35 PM I headed out by car for SCC. I went to my Timmies at Ellesmere and Brimley. I had my usual light dinner, got the needed caffeine to go into battle and worked on updating my “Reminder Book” (Bad memory). At 7:05 PM I drove back to the club (about 5 min. drive away).

Pre-Round 6

I got in and set up the whole display table, and put out the cross-tables. I chatted briefly with current club champion (And former as well), Dave Southam, and veteran Jim Paterson. I also chatted a bit with returning member, Doug Beal, now in a 2-way tie for first in our section.

Round 6

After a few announcements, the round started almost on time. The game is below.

After the game, I watched the rest of the games. I chatted a bit with my friend Toy Kwan (Our section) about healthy diets – we are both losing weight currently.

Then when I had the leaders for all sections, I packed up my stuff and headed for home.

The Later Evening

I got home about 10:35 PM. My wife had had a friend over and they had cooked up some Won Ton soup, and left me a bowl.......I downed it immediately!Finally I changed and went to my home office to again follow my routine for my own projects and finish this draft of Blog # 2.

I finished the Blog # 2, but was too tired to enter/annotate my game, and had to leave it and posting the blog for Friday morning. I hit the sack just before midnight Friday.

My U 1800 Section Report - Rd. 6- Thursday, October 17/19.

I am rated 1618. I am in the 2nd of the 4 sections. My section rating spread is effectively, from the 1600's to about 1000. I am in the top third of the section.

Post-Rd. 6 – U 1800 Leaders

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

1^st/3^rd– 5/6 pts. - Umang Dwivedi (1659); Greg Beal (1614 – just out of his most recent period of chess retirement!); Junior Boy Bo Kong (1610).

[See Part III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 18th October, 2019, 04:51 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss – Blog

Rd. 6 - 19/10/17 (Thursday)

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

My Round 6 Game

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

Armstrong,Robert (Bob) J. (1618) - Zhang,Richard (1427) [E82]

Howard Ridout Memorial (U1800) (6), 17.10.2019
[Armstrong, Robert (Bob) J.]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 King's Indian Defence 4...d6 5.f3 Samisch Variation 5...0–0 6.Be3 b6 7.Nge2 Bb7 8.g4 I like this more aggressive line 8...Nbd7 9.Ng3 e5 10.d5 Ne8 11.h4 h6 Black wants to close it up in front of his K-side, no matter which pawn I try to push. 12.Qd2 Kh7 a not uncommon early middlegame 13.0–0–0 Nc5 14.g5 I will let Richard close it up, since I have a sac-attack in mind. 14...h5 15.Bh3 Bc8 16.Kc2 to stop the Nd3+ once the Q moves away, and then Nf4 (A good defensive position) 16...Bxh3 17.Rxh3 Qd7 18.Qg2 Rh8 Richard may be seeing the possible Nxh5 sac, and wants to recapture with the R, not the gP. 19.Nxh5 If I am going for a sac-attack, I must do it before the K goes to g8, opening up his defensive h8R. 19...gxh5 20.g6+ to half-open lines, I now must also sac my gP 20...fxg6 I am now down an N - do I have a viable attack, and if not, the possibility of a repetition draw? 21.Rg1 Qf7 22.Rg3 My goal has been to win back the gP and control the then open g-file..........but will it be enough compensation for being down P vs N? 22...Bh6 23.Rxg6 A terrible blunder - unbelievably I did see the e8 N and didn't click over that it controlled g7, my target. [The simple mate/winning back material I had set up is now 23.Bxh6 Rg8 (23...Kxh6 24.Rxg6+ Kh7 25.Qg5 Qxf3 (25...Qxg6 26.Qxg6#) 26.Rh6#) 24.Be3 material equality] 23...Bxe3 24.Rg7+ called "chess blindness"; Qxg7 and Qxg7 mate, right?? Not really.......... 24...Qxg7 I finally see that the e8N holds everything together.....(sigh)

0–1

My Score

2.5/6 pts. - Draw: 1 (Rd. 4); Loss: 1 (Rd. 6); 1/2 Pt. Byes: 4 (Rds. 1-3 & 5)

My Opponents' & My Scores

3.5/6 pts. - Richard Zhang (1427) – I lost in Rd. 6.

2.5/6 pts. - Me (1618)

? - Junior Boy Daniel Yuan (1442) – I drew in Rd. 4. His game was still in play when I left.

Other Section Leaders

These are not nearly as interesting as all the myriad details about the very impressive U 1800 Section! LOL

1800 + Section

1^st – 5/6 pts. - Junior Boy Fengxi Mao (2146).

2^nd/3^rd – 4.5/6 pts. - National Master Dave Southam (2164 – current & former club champion); Junior Boy Jeffrey R. Zhao (2149).

U 1400 (Juniors Only)

1^st/2^nd – 4.5/6 pts. - Daniel Odoemelam (1273); Kaison Wang (1040).

3^rd/4^th– 4/6 pts. - Junior Girl Jewel Li (1227); Junior Girl Sophia Wang (1142).

U 1000 (Juniors Only)

1^st – 6/6 pts. - Chung He (905).

2^nd – 5/6 pts. - Ethan Wu (Unr).

3^rd/5^th- 4.5/6 pts. - Aidan Liang (813); Bravin Pavanantharajah (790); Zheyi (Joey) Zhang (634).

Scarborough CC Games - Top Section

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

Some History

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

These next 2 sections are another template.

TEMPLATE BEGINS

SCC Tournament Registration History

2013-4 Season

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

2014-5 Season

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

Season average registration (for the 6 tournaments) - 117

2015-6 Season

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

Season average registration (for the 6 tournaments) - 131

2016-7 Season

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

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

2017-8 Season

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

Season Average Registration (for 6 tournaments): 122. Below the 2016-7 Season Average of 133. 8

2018-9 Season

Club Championship (5^th tournament of the season) – 137 (Championship - 31; Reserves - 106) – Peak registration of the season.

Season Average Registration (For 6 tournaments): 120 (Almost at the prior 2017-8 Season Average of 121; our historical high from a few years ago (2016-7) is 133).

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…), now owned by Henry Lam;
iii) occasionally on other chess websites, such as that of FQE (Province of Quebec's Chess Association). On the one occasion this was done, 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 (http://www.scarboroughchessclub.ca/).
iii) my Annex CC tournaments Fb blog to ACC's Fb Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/172335039452033/).

Henry Lam (Aka Dark Knight on CT), the owner of CT, and I have now done a first renewal of our “Henry/Bob Blog Agreement” (Original agreement - summer of 2018). Under it I agreed to re-post my Fb Chess Blogs on CT for both my chess club official tournaments, subject to the condition that interest did not wane to such an extent that it was no longer worth making the effort to do the blog. This has now happened re the Annex CC blog, and I am therefore no longer blogging those club tournaments. I also agreed to blog my non-club weekend (Sometimes longer; sometimes shorter) tournaments, in which I play between Summer 2019 and Summer 2020. Henry and I have a clause for consideration of annual renewal.

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

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.)

This year so far, I have managed to insert a game into the Fall – The Canadian International Open – Longueuil, Quebec (Oct. 11-13, 2019).

The Blog Focus

I mainly focus on the section I am playing in (Has been U 2000, U 1900, U 1800 or U 1700). 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 (Players 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 sometimes cover (Bare Bones) the top section standings; but I have to have been able to get the results before the Blog goes to press. For this section, of course, including 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 during the day of club tournaments, and before and between rounds for weekend tournaments (A bit of a reality show - bits of my personal, though generally pretty ordinary, life).

I know many other chess players approach tournaments quite differently than I do (E.g. - study, research opponents to prepare for them, etc.!). So one cannot generalize from what I do, to what other chess tournament players do.

Blog Feedback

I have had generally positive feedback on my blogging (I have done it for many, many years now, as some long-suffering viewers know), 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 all these years (I'm now working on year 75 (Not of blogging! LOL) – I do hope, as long as there is interest, to keep doing my blogs for many years yet).

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!

TEMPLATE ENDS

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 25th October, 2019, 06:24 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss – Blog

Rd. 7 - 19/10/24 (Thursday)

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

Club

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

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

Tournament

Name: Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (# 1 of the 2019-20 Season)

When: Sept. 12 to October 24

Format: 7- round swiss

Sections: 4: The regular SCC Swisses have 4 sections 1800+; U 1800; U 1400 – Jrs. Only; U 1000 – Juniors Only [playing up within 100 pts. allowed – free].

Notes re sections:

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

Registration: 122 ( 1800+ - 20; U 1800 – 52; U 1400 (Jrs. Only) – 19; U 1000 (Jrs. Only) - 31) – above last season's average per tournament: 118.

Time Control: Top Section: G/60 + 30 sec. (From move 1)

- Bottom 3 sections: G/70 + 15 sec. (From move 1).

Rating: a. All sections are CFC-rated.

b. The top section is also FIDE rated.

Playing Up: Players within 100 pts. of the floor of the section above have the option to play in their section, or, in the next section up – no fee.

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

Blog Note:

This Blog on my personal Facebook page is re-posted a few other places - so references here refer to this Fb platform.
The Day of Rd. 7 (Oct. 24) – Final Round

Thursday Morning

Today I am currently living in Toronto, Ontario, and so am able to play. When I am living in my two other locations (Ontario hobby farm; Montreal, Quebec), I take byes/withdraw. My schedule had been such that I could not play at SCC until October.

I awoke at 5:00 AM before the alarm – 6 hours sleep for me is usual (Went to bed at 11:00 PM Wednesday night; 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, to take upstairs to my home office.

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 before the template if there are any revisions you won't have read previously).

TEMPLATE BEGINS

Victim of Routine

I am retired + unemployed – life is quite fine overall - 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! I have created a monster!

My mornings tend to be pretty scripted – who isn't a victim of routine?

So I settled in to my comfy home office and fired up my old laptop to follow my general daily routine tasks.

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 re-post the most relevant...see below.

4. Fb Project # 1 (My Company's) - My little company (In the process of being legally incorporated, after some years of operation as an unregistered sole proprietorship) 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".

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 second Fb discussion club, Chess Chat (also formed under my personal Fb account) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/340524269771672/.

8. Fb Project # 3 (On behalf of a religious community I am forming) - When I find them, I share religious (All Religions) posts to my religious community's Fb Page, Theist Community (https://www.facebook.com/Theist-Comm...dmin_todo_tour). Sometimes these re-posts also appear in PEERS.

9. Update the discussion group formed under my community's page. It is called Spiritual/Religions Discussion Club (Or SRDC) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/2042495809374373/. I update it by sharing some more discussable of the posts now on the Theist Community page.

10.Fb Project # 4 (On behalf of a political party I would like formed) – Democratic Marxist – Global – https://www.facebook.com/Democratic-...dmin_todo_tour.

11. Update the discussion group formed under the political party page. It is called Democratic Marxist Global Forum – https://www.facebook.com/groups/2045...=nf&__tn__=C-R.

12. I have another retiree project besides my 3 Facebook Projects.

Chess is a passionate hobby of mine, as you know. It is part of what I call my “Interlude Living”. But I have never really studied seriously.

But what I do do, is I enter all my games, and annotate them, to try to learn something - GrandMasters do recommend this often. In addition, I integrate the opening (the first 10 moves) into an opening/defence tree I have for the opening/defence played. The value of this is pretty uncertain, given my inability to remember lines - but I do develop general impressions of how the opening can go.

So on my own time, I go back and forth between the 3 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 Thursday Morning

First off, I had to deal with a few family financial matters.

I began to draft this Blog # 3 a few days ago - I sort of add to it as I go through the day, and then try to finalize it and post it late Thursday night or in the wee hours of Friday morning. We often go to our hobby farm early on Friday morning, so I usually have to get the blog posted before I go to sleep (Our farm is an almost internet/computer-free zone, so I cannot finish and post it there).

So I started to update this draft.

I then continued my normal stuff.

[See Parts II & III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 25th October, 2019, 06:27 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss – Blog

Rd. 7 - 19/10/24 (Thursday)

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

The Bul**hit Coffee Club (BCC)

At 7:00 AM I dressed and got some stuff for my day ready. At 7:30 AM I 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, and at 9:00 AM John # 2 showed (on Thursdays, John # 2 shows up to go bowling with Linda and John # 1).

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

Politics – is the country more “fractured” after Monday's election results?
Shopping – the old Sunday Closing By-law – how some got around it.
Women's rights – abortion: who decides and what are the factors involved?
Adoption – in Canada a somewhat difficult process
TEMPLATE BEGINS

BCC Historical Note

The BCC is held in one of my favourite local coffee shops, La Patisserie de Cigogne (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

Back Home

I got home at 9:30 AM. My wife had left at 8:00 AM to go to her heart course at the hospital.

So I started out on my 35/25 life system – first I continued my own stuff for a 25 min. shift, setting the alarm. Then at the alarm, I reset it for 35 min. of house/family tasks.

My main family task for today was to ready stuff to go to our hobby farm early Friday morning.........there is still a lot of Pre-Snow prep to do there; we've been working on it the last two weekends. Also we had a friend coming for the weekend, and so a bit more prep here in Toronto was necessary.

So I got a couple of my farm bags ready. I also called my car service garage up in the Georgian Bay region, and arranged to get my snow tires on, not this weekend but next.....snow comes earlier up there, and this year's Farmers' Almanac apparently has warned that winter weather will come early in the Fall.

I then moved on to do some family finance stuff. Then I got the compost and garbage out to the bins, and put the bins out on the street for tomorrow. I also e-mailed the two teenage neighbour kids that take care of our house when we are away, to let them know we were going to the farm tomorrow.

Then I again took my own time.

I then found I had missed a “Fb time video call” from my son in Montreal. So I wrote him that his Mom was out all day, and as to what I was up to today. I suggested that likely a Skype call, with his daughter, on the weekend was going to be better. This was true, but also my mood had changed.

When it was time to do family tasks again, I had a problem. I have been fighting a very, very mild depression phase of my Bi-Polar Disorder for a week now. It has slowly been gaining strength, and has made my normal functioning this week continuously more difficult.

This morning it had become quite strong......By now I was having trouble mustering motivation to do either my own or family stuff. I have become much better at “managing through” these times. But sometimes it is necessary to start to just kind of cave temporarily, and see if resting/sleeping can help you to regroup. So at 11:00 AM, I went and lay down in the bed for an hour.

I didn't sleep, but did just rest. I got up at noon, but was not significantly better. But I know that activity, and particularly routine structured “activity” is often helpful to help me “re-engage with life”. So I started with just doing my routine chess engine opening analysis, which is easy, has few obstacles, and is repetitive – always done the same way each time.....this helps one go on a kind of “automatic pilot” which can kind of replace the driver of “motivation”. And you know that often it helps, so you try very hard to stick with it. I managed to stay with it for a while, but this time there was not much let up in the hold the Depression had on me.

Lunch

At 12:15 PM, I decided to have something to eat. I had some veggies and my wife's home-made hummus – easy to prepare and I could do it even though I had almost no interest in eating.

Then, fortunately, at 1:00 PM I had a bank appointment for a couple of pedestrian things, and this I was able to motivate myself to do without too much difficulty. I then decided on another “simple task with few obstacles” and that was “easy” - go to shop for a new sweater (I had had a notice about a sale on at Hudson's Bay close by).

When I got home, I found that I was somewhat better, though far from out of the woods.

I did some more on this Blog # 3, and continued with my routine retiree projects on my own time; I tried to put a bit of effort into one outstanding family task and managed to get through it....every little success can help loosen Depression's death grip.

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). And today I had the added depression desire to just crash.

So I again went back to bed and went for my siesta at 3:00 PM.

My wife arrived back home at 3:30 PM and she was exhausted and also took a siesta.

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

I then went back to the laptop for a short time until it was time to go to SCC. When my wife awoke, we visited for a while, and discussed what more needed to be done to be ready to go to the hobby farm. I alerted her to my moving into a somewhat depressed phase, so that we could both compromise a bit on expectations for me, since I needed longer time frames to do things, etc.

Heading Out for Rd. 7

I then prepared my stuff to go to SCC. I had already printed out the cross-tables earlier in the week – I use them to record myself the top results in my section, for this Blog # 3. I also prepared my materials for the SCC Display Table (I do this as a member volunteer job).

At 5:35 PM I headed out by car for SCC. I went to my Timmies at Ellesmere and Brimley. I had my usual light dinner, got the needed caffeine to go into battle and worked on updating my “Reminder Book” (Bad memory). At 7:00 PM I drove back to the club (about 5 min. drive away).

Pre-Round 7

I got in and set up the whole display table, and put out the cross-tables. I chatted briefly with member Alex Mates – he recently had a leg injury, and he said he is faithfully doing the physiotherapy exercises, and the leg has been improving.

After that, since I was not in great shape, I decided to limit my socializing and went and paced at the end of the hall, waiting for the pairings to be posted. My friend Sam Sharpe (From the top section), saw me and came down to say “Hi”. He knows of my Bi-Polar and suspected I was hiding a bit – he just wanted to check I wasn't going under. I let him know I wasn't great, but I was managing OK, so he was a bit relieved and we chatted a bit until we went in when the pairings were posted.

Round 7

The round started almost on time. The game is below.

After the game, I watched the rest of the games. I chatted a bit with Maurice Smith, VP, who had been on the board beside me, and seen my somewhat risky play. Then I talked to Greg Beal, who had come clear first in our section.

Then when I had the winners for all sections, I packed up my stuff and headed for home.

The Later Evening

I got home about 10:35 PM, and went to get some gas to get to the farm tomorrow. My wife had had a friend over and after that she had gone to bed early. I changed and went to my home office to again follow my routine for my own projects and finish this draft of Blog # 3.

I finished the Blog # 3, but was too tired to enter and lightly annotated my game. I left that and the posting of the blog 'til Friday morning, since we were leaving later than usual.......going to pick up our friend who was joining us for the weekend; we'd arranged to pick her up at her house at 9:30 AM. I hit the sack just a bit after Friday midnight.

[See Part III below]

Bob A

**Bob Armstrong** · Friday, 25th October, 2019, 06:30 AM

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss – Blog

Rd. 7 - 19/10/24 (Thursday)

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

My U 1800 Section Report - Rd. 7 (Final) - Thursday, October 24/19.

I am rated 1618. I am in the 2nd of the 4 sections. My section rating spread is effectively, from the high1600's to about 1000. I am in the top third of the section.

Post-Rd. 7 – U 1800 Leaders

There are 52 players in our section; there were 21 boards (The actual number of boards may have playing fewer than the total no. of players, due to byes, suspensions, withdrawals, etc.); here are the winners:

1^st – 6/7 pts. - Greg Beal (1614).

2^nd/3^rd– 5.5/7 pts. - Junior Boy Ricky Zhu (1472); Junior Boy Ben Smolkin (1334).

My Round 7 Game

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

Armstrong,Robert (Bob) J. (1618) - Lim,Carl (1504) [E85]

Scarborough CC Howard Ridout Mem(U1800) (7), 24.10.2019
[Armstrong, Robert (Bob) J.]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 King's Indian Defence 5.f3 Samisch Variation 5...0–0 6.Be3 Nbd7 7.Nge2 e5 8.d5 Ne8 9.g4 c6 10.h4 cxd5 11.cxd5 Nb6 12.Ng3 f5 Carl plays an active defence 13.exf5 gxf5 14.Bg5 Bf6 15.Qd2 I decide to sac a P to open lines to Carl's K 15...fxg4 Carl goes up a P 16.Nce4 Be7 Taking a second P may have been best 17.fxg4 Bxg4 18.Be2 Bxe2 19.Kxe2 Qd7 20.Bxe7 I do not want the Q out checking my K 20...Qxe7 21.Raf1 I finally get my 2nd R into the attack 21...Ng7 Carl joins his R's 22.Qh6 Aggressive, but I was still not clear how exactly I could bring home the full attack - he had defensive measures available 22...Nd7 Likely Nxd5 may have been better 23.Rhg1 I finally set up a discovered attack pin on Carl's N, which I've been wanting to do for a while, but always had to do something else first 23...Rxf1 24.Kxf1 I don't want to move the R from its lovely position 24...Rf8+ 25.Ke2 Rf4 26.Nh5 finally the g1R gets to play its role; I need to get the R off the f-file, so I offer bait - I offer to sac my N (with cheque)! 26...Rxe4+ A fatal blunder; the N is poisoned. Carl is up N + P and is totally lost. 27.Kd2 Rd4+ 28.Kc3 Rd3+ Desperation - does not help 29.Kxd3 I am now up the exchange and Carl has a P compensation..........but he is lost.

1–0

My Score

3.5/7 pts. - Win: 1 (Rd. 7); Draw: 1 (Rd. 4); Loss: 1 (Rd. 6); 1/2 Pt. Byes: 4 (Rds. 1-3 & 5)

My Opponents' & My Scores

4.5/7 pts. ? - Junior Boy Daniel Yuan (1442) – I drew in Rd. 4. His game was still in play when I left.

3.5/7 pts. - Me (1618)

- Richard Zhang (1427) – I lost in Rd. 6.

3/7 pts. - Junior Boy Carl Lim (1504) – I won in Rd. 7.

Other Section Leaders

These are not nearly as interesting as all the myriad details about the very impressive U 1800 Section! LOL

1800 + Section

1^st/2^nd– 5.5/7 pts. - National Master Dave Southam (2164 – current & former club champion); Junior Boy Fengxi Mao (2146).

3^rd/4^th– 5/7 pts. - Junior Boy Jeffrey R. Zhao (2149); Junior Boy Youhe Huang (2033).

U 1400 (Juniors Only)

1^st – 5/7 pts. - Daniel Odoemelam (1273).

2^nd/5^th– 4.5/7 pts. - Girl Jewel Li (1227); Andrew Li (1122); Ryan Zhong (1111); Kaison Wang (1040).

U 1000 (Juniors Only)

1^st – 7/7pts. - Chung He (905).

2^nd – 5.5/7 pts. - Aidan Liang (813);

3^rd/5^th- 5/7 pts. - Alex Mou (818); Percy Xing (751); Ethan Wu (Unr.).

Top Section Games

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

Some History

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

These next 2 sections are another template.

TEMPLATE BEGINS

SCC Tournament Registration History

2013-4 Season

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

2014-5 Season

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

Season average registration (for the 6 tournaments) - 117

2015-6 Season

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

Season average registration (for the 6 tournaments) - 131

2016-7 Season

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

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

2017-8 Season

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

Season Average Registration (for 6 tournaments): 122. Below the 2016-7 Season Average of 133. 9

2018-9 Season

Club Championship (5^th tournament of the season) – 137 (Championship - 31; Reserves - 106) – Peak registration of the season.

Season Average Registration (For 6 tournaments): 120 (Almost at the prior 2017-8 Season Average of 121; our historical high from a few years ago (2016-7) is 133).

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…), now owned by Henry Lam;
iii) occasionally on other chess websites, such as that of FQE (Province of Quebec's Chess Association). On the one occasion this was done, 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 (http://www.scarboroughchessclub.ca/).
iii) my Annex CC tournaments Fb blog to ACC's Fb Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/172335039452033/).

Henry Lam (Aka Dark Knight on CT), the owner of CT, and I have now done a first renewal of our “Henry/Bob Blog Agreement” (Original agreement - summer of 2018). Under it I agreed to re-post my Fb Chess Blogs on CT for both my chess club official tournaments, subject to the condition that interest did not wane to such an extent that it was no longer worth making the effort to do the blog. This has now happened re the Annex CC blog, and I am therefore no longer blogging those club tournaments. I also agreed to blog my non-club weekend (Sometimes longer; sometimes shorter) tournaments, in which I play between Summer 2019 and Summer 2020. Henry and I have a clause for consideration of annual renewal.

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

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.)

This year so far, I have managed to insert a game into the Fall – The Canadian International Open – Longueuil, Quebec (Oct. 11-3, 2019).

The Blog Focus

I mainly focus on the section I am playing in (Has been U 2000, U 1900, U 1800 or U 1700). 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 (Players 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 sometimes cover (Bare Bones) the top section standings; but I have to have been able to get the results before the Blog goes to press. For this section, of course, including 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 during the day of club tournaments, and before and between rounds for weekend tournaments (A bit of a reality show - bits of my personal, though generally pretty ordinary, life).

I know many other chess players approach tournaments quite differently than I do (E.g. - study, research opponents to prepare for them, etc.!). So one cannot generalize from what I do, to what other chess tournament players do.

Blog Feedback

I have had generally positive feedback on my blogging (I have done it for many, many years now, as some long-suffering viewers know), 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 all these years (I'm now working on year 75 (Not of blogging! LOL) – I do hope, as long as there is interest, to keep doing my blogs for many years yet).

Invitation

I am 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.

TEMPLATE ENDS

Bob A

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (Sept. 12 - Oct. 24) – Blog

Scarborough Chess Club Howard Ridout Memorial Swiss (Sept. 12 - Oct. 24) – Blog

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