If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
Policy / Politique
The fee for tournament organizers advertising on ChessTalk is $20/event or $100/yearly unlimited for the year.
Les frais d'inscription des organisateurs de tournoi sur ChessTalk sont de 20 $/événement ou de 100 $/année illimitée.
You can etransfer to Henry Lam at chesstalkforum at gmail dot com
Transfér à Henry Lam à chesstalkforum@gmail.com
Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
General Guidelines
---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
Some Basics
1. Under Board "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQs) there are 3 sections dealing with General Forum Usage, User Profile Features, and Reading and Posting Messages. These deal with everything from Avatars to Your Notifications. Most general technical questions are covered there. Here is a link to the FAQs. https://forum.chesstalk.com/help
2. Consider using the SEARCH button if you are looking for information. You may find your question has already been answered in a previous thread.
3. If you've looked for an answer to a question, and not found one, then you should consider asking your question in a new thread. For example, there have already been questions and discussion regarding: how to do chess diagrams (FENs); crosstables that line up properly; and the numerous little “glitches” that every new site will have.
4. Read pinned or sticky threads, like this one, if they look important. This applies especially to newcomers.
5. Read the thread you're posting in before you post. There are a variety of ways to look at a thread. These are covered under “Display Modes”.
6. Thread titles: please provide some details in your thread title. This is useful for a number of reasons. It helps ChessTalk members to quickly skim the threads. It prevents duplication of threads. And so on.
7. Unnecessary thread proliferation (e.g., deliberately creating a new thread that duplicates existing discussion) is discouraged. Look to see if a thread on your topic may have already been started and, if so, consider adding your contribution to the pre-existing thread. However, starting new threads to explore side-issues that are not relevant to the original subject is strongly encouraged. A single thread on the Canadian Open, with hundreds of posts on multiple sub-topics, is no better than a dozen threads on the Open covering only a few topics. Use your good judgment when starting a new thread.
8. If and/or when sub-forums are created, please make sure to create threads in the proper place.
Debate
9. Give an opinion and back it up with a reason. Throwaway comments such as "Game X pwnz because my friend and I think so!" could be considered pointless at best, and inflammatory at worst.
10. Try to give your own opinions, not simply those copied and pasted from reviews or opinions of your friends.
Unacceptable behavior and warnings
11. In registering here at ChessTalk please note that the same or similar rules apply here as applied at the previous Boardhost message board. In particular, the following content is not permitted to appear in any messages:
* Racism
* Hatred
* Harassment
* Adult content
* Obscene material
* Nudity or pornography
* Material that infringes intellectual property or other proprietary rights of any party
* Material the posting of which is tortious or violates a contractual or fiduciary obligation you or we owe to another party
* Piracy, hacking, viruses, worms, or warez
* Spam
* Any illegal content
* unapproved Commercial banner advertisements or revenue-generating links
* Any link to or any images from a site containing any material outlined in these restrictions
* Any material deemed offensive or inappropriate by the Board staff
12. Users are welcome to challenge other points of view and opinions, but should do so respectfully. Personal attacks on others will not be tolerated. Posts and threads with unacceptable content can be closed or deleted altogether. Furthermore, a range of sanctions are possible - from a simple warning to a temporary or even a permanent banning from ChessTalk.
Helping to Moderate
13. 'Report' links (an exclamation mark inside a triangle) can be found in many places throughout the board. These links allow users to alert the board staff to anything which is offensive, objectionable or illegal. Please consider using this feature if the need arises.
Advice for free
14. You should exercise the same caution with Private Messages as you would with any public posting.
The truly skilled players like McDavid have some nice scoring stats, but nothing like they would have had in Gretzky's day. I actually can't watch today's hockey. Even the announcers sound bored.
Gretzky amassed his point totals in a league that was very watered down compared to today. The NHL and the WHA had just merged, and there was nowhere near the influx of Europeans or Russians in those days. If Gretzky were playing today he would still win the scoring race (unless Bobby Orr was also playing), but his totals would come back to the pack. I agree that if McDavid had played in that league he would have scored far more points than the does now, as would Matthews and others. But not because of the style of play, because the league was watered down.
I prefer today's game because they have cleaned it up, there is far less fighting, far less "cluthcing and grabbing", far less slashing, boarding, interference and so forth- because in the old days they let all of this go and the game was slowed down and made less about hockey and more about violence and cheating. The most grotesque example of this was the Broad Street Bullies, a team that never should have been allowed to violate and cheat the way they did. I cut down on watching professional hockey (prefering first the OHL and then the QMJHL) for about 30 years, though I never completely stopped, and only got back into it on a steady basis within the last six or eight years wherein the game has become faster, cleaner and more skill oriented. The goons are gone.
This thread is reminding me of that Rodney Dangerfield joke: I went to the fights the other night and a hockey game broke out in the corner.
"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." - Aesop
"Only the dead have seen the end of war." - Plato
"If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination." - Thomas De Quincey
Wayne Gretzky, during his Oilers years, was surrounded by more ultra-talented teammates than any comparable player. I just finished reading 'The Battle Of Alberta' by Mark Spector, which gets into great detail about the 1980s rivalry between the Oilers and the Flames, and I was living in Calgary during that era, seeing Wayne and his super team play live in Calgary on many occasions. You could make a similar point about Bobby Orr and his very strong Boston Bruins teammates in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but not to the same extent. And the Oilers had a brutal travel schedule; they still dominated the league, with Wayne posting numbers which will never be surpassed.
Also, responding to John Upper's point, quoting my post, about GM Kevin Spraggett: Has GM Spraggett ever faced a formal investigation or proceeding in Canadian chess, concerning anything he said or did? Don't recall anything like that. GM Spraggett has certainly been critical on occasion, but from what I have seen, it was usually justified. As an organizer, I certainly never had any issues with his conduct where he played in events I was involved with.
I wasn't born and raised in Canada, but since coming here a few decades ago, I did discover hockey and considered it the most exciting sport in the world. So I have watched many Youtube videos of hockey greats from the past, and even the many Canada-Russia matches and Canada-USA matches.
But I wanted to post about something I decided to create at a workplace many years ago, which is a hockey pool. But mine was different: for all skaters (i.e. not goalies), it included of course goals and assists and plus / minus. But... it also included, believe it or not, penalty minutes. A player earned a point in the pool for every 5 penalty minutes (rounded up, so if they had 12 penalty minutes, that is 2 points, 13 penalty minutes was worth 3 points).
The people in my pool told me my idea was the greatest innovation in hockey pools they had ever seen. Because players like Gretzky and Lemieux scored very high of course, but so did players like Glenn Anderson (underappreciated), Bryan Trottier (underappreciated), and even some players with huge penalty minutes like defenceman Chris Chelios. So if you drafted a fantasy roster, you included some tough players as well as the skilled ones. And in those days of hockey, tough players counted. They contributed a lot to a team's success. That's why Gretzky insisted Marty McSorley be traded to Los Angeles with him.
In today's hockey, it's all pretty much robotic. One player is much like another, they are all like robots, playing the same checking style. The truly skilled players like McDavid have some nice scoring stats, but nothing like they would have had in Gretzky's day. I actually can't watch today's hockey. Even the announcers sound bored.
And to be on topic, I think also that chess itself at the high levels has undergone the same process, so that it is really robotic now. There is very little originality. This Nepo guy that will play Carlsen may be the biggest break from the current mold so that could make their match interesting.
I like that idea of factoring in time spent in the box. Not only did Bobby Orr lead the league in points he also lead the league in penalty minutes too.
Big bad Bruins!
.
Last edited by Neil Frarey; Tuesday, 4th May, 2021, 08:53 PM.
I was wondering if we could extend Canada's Greatest Chess Player of All Time to include Juniors?
I don't know anything about the Junior scene past or present nor how to measure the accomplishments. Would it be something like coming up through the various Youth age brackets ... winning and perhaps even defending the titles?
.
Last edited by Neil Frarey; Tuesday, 4th May, 2021, 08:52 PM.
I was wondering if we could extend Canada's Greatest Chess Player of All Time to include Juniors?
I don't know anything about the Junior scene past or present nor how to measure the accomplishments. Would it be something like coming up through the various Youth age brackets ... winning and perhaps even defending the titles?
.
It would be tough to beat Tanraj Sohal, who (IIRC) won the Canadian Chess Challenge every year and every grade he played.
Razvan Preotu earned his GM title before going to University, and coauthored a book with Michael Song.
If you look outside OTB events, then the Doknjas brothers have published books (3?) with Everyman.
For girls, Qiyu Zhou won the WYCC (U14g), and the Canadian Women's Championship and was Canada's first WGM, all before the age of 18.
Keep in mind that a large percenage of these "penalty minutes" are five for fighting when you take the other guy to the box with you. There were plenty of ten minute misconducts in those days too, but your team was still able to ice the full compliment of players while you took a rest. Nobody is proud of all of their two minute minors that left their team shorthanded.
After Orr and Gretzky, Bobby Hull is next on my list.
Not a bad choice. For me it would have to be Mark Messier. I am an American ex-pat and didn't know anything about hockey untill a friend turned me on to it in 1974. We watched the Stanley Cup Final between the Flyers and Sabres and I got hooked. I'll never forget the "Fog" game and also the play of Bernie Parent, the French Connection, Bobby Clarke etc. I became a life long Leaf fan the next season. I never saw any games from the Original Six so my picks tend to overlook those players even though I know their history and appreciate their greatness. My top 3 Leafs in an order that could change on any given day are...Gilmour, Sittler and Salming.
My top 3 Leafs in an order that could change on any given day are...Gilmour, Sittler and Salming.
Gilmore was great but did not start with the Leafs. Salming was the best defenseman in the league for several years but they never gave him the Norris Trophy, which was ridiculous. Sittler once had two hat tricks in the same game, and threw in four assists for good measure. Neil, do you recall which team that was against?
Gilmore was great but did not start with the Leafs. Salming was the best defenseman in the league for several years but they never gave him the Norris Trophy, which was ridiculous. Sittler once had two hat tricks in the same game, and threw in four assists for good measure. Neil, do you recall which team that was against?
LOL Was it Don Cherry's Big Bad Bruins ? Rumour has it that Dave Reece the Boston goaltender that night was so despondant after the game that he went down to College station and jumped in front of the subway. Lucky for him it went between his legs!!!!
Tweet
Comment