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I don't believe this particular topic has been discussed previously on this site!
What I mean is the unscrambling of chess game scores, which can be problematic, for a variety of reasons!
Organizers and TDs know, from experience, that the filing and preservation of chess games played in their events are important.
And Hugh Brodie, of Montreal, has for several years now taken on the vast task of creating and updating a national database of Canadian games -- Canbase -- which he updates every three months. That is a superlative effort by Hugh. It is an extraordinary resource, to which I, and many others, have contributed extensively. It is an absolutely vital aspect of our chess heritage!!
But, with game scoresheets -- due to: illegible and messy writing, missing moves, incorrect recording, incompletion, foreign languages, faint carbons, and any one of a number of other strange reasons -- obtaining the truth about what actually happened in the game is sometimes very difficult!!
It is virtually a detective science, on its own!
I have been working in this area, as an experienced TD and organizer, for several decades.
During the pandemic, I began a systematic examination of my chess archives, going back into the 1970s. They contained about 7,000 pieces of paper: pairing cards, cross-tables, tournament rating reports, scoresheets (both mine and from events I was involved with), chess lesson plans, drafts of published articles, letters, minutes of meetings, and so forth. I came across a number of games which had not been fully and successfully transcribed, for the reasons described above. I have since unscrambled a number of these games!
Here is a successful detective effort from me, which is still lacking a bit of essential data. It is quite an interesting game, between class players rated in the 1600s, taking a far from usual course from a familiar opening, with significant errors on both sides, which went back and forth, eventually ending in a hard-fought draw.
I know the game was played in a Kingston rated event in the mid-1990s; both players were resident in Kingston at the time; I was involved in the event's organization; the result is NOT included in the cross-tables found at chess.ca.
The situation here: only one scoresheet available, some missing moves, and several errors, of different kinds. But I had the final position, and knew the number of moves played to that juncture and the result; these facts allowed me, using several chess boards simultaneously, to eventually work it all out!! Solution time: about four hours!! Labor of love, indeed!
And I note that my friend Ron, now living in New Brunswick, has recently returned to organized chess, after a break of more than 20 years! Welcome back, Ron!!
Enjoy the game!
Arthur Kraus -- Ronald Belczewski
Kingston, mid-1990s
Sicilian, Najdorf
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.O-O Be7 8.b4 b5 9.Bf3 Ra7 10.a4 Qc7 11.Qd3 d5 12.Ncxb5 axb5 13.Nxb5 Qe5 14.Nxa7 O-O 15.Qa3 Ba6 16.Re1 dxe4 17.Bb2 Qf4
18.Bxf6 Bxf6 19.Rxe4 Qc7 20.Rc1 Qxa7 21.b5 Bxb5 22.Rb1 Ba6 23.Qb3 Nc6 24.c3 Bd3 25.Re3 Rb8 26.Rxd3 Rxb3 27.Rxb3 Ne5 28.Re3 Nxf3+ 29.Rxf3 g5 30.Rxf6 Qxa4 31.Rb1 Qe4 32.Rc1 g4 33.g3 Qd3 34.Rf4 f5 35.Rd4 Qf3 36.c4 e5 37.R4d1 f4 38.c5 Qc6 39.gxf4 exf4 40.Rd6 Qf3 41.c6 g3 42.hxg3 fxg3 43.Rd2 Kh8 44.c7 gxf2+ 45.Rxf2 Qg3+ 46.Kf1 Qd3+ 47.Kg2 Qe4+ 48.Kg1 Qg4+ 49.Rg2 Qd4+ 50.Kh1 Qh4+, 1/2 -- 1/2.
I greatly encourage other Canadian organizers and TDs to contribute to this thread!!!
What I mean is the unscrambling of chess game scores, which can be problematic, for a variety of reasons!
Organizers and TDs know, from experience, that the filing and preservation of chess games played in their events are important.
And Hugh Brodie, of Montreal, has for several years now taken on the vast task of creating and updating a national database of Canadian games -- Canbase -- which he updates every three months. That is a superlative effort by Hugh. It is an extraordinary resource, to which I, and many others, have contributed extensively. It is an absolutely vital aspect of our chess heritage!!
But, with game scoresheets -- due to: illegible and messy writing, missing moves, incorrect recording, incompletion, foreign languages, faint carbons, and any one of a number of other strange reasons -- obtaining the truth about what actually happened in the game is sometimes very difficult!!
It is virtually a detective science, on its own!
I have been working in this area, as an experienced TD and organizer, for several decades.
During the pandemic, I began a systematic examination of my chess archives, going back into the 1970s. They contained about 7,000 pieces of paper: pairing cards, cross-tables, tournament rating reports, scoresheets (both mine and from events I was involved with), chess lesson plans, drafts of published articles, letters, minutes of meetings, and so forth. I came across a number of games which had not been fully and successfully transcribed, for the reasons described above. I have since unscrambled a number of these games!
Here is a successful detective effort from me, which is still lacking a bit of essential data. It is quite an interesting game, between class players rated in the 1600s, taking a far from usual course from a familiar opening, with significant errors on both sides, which went back and forth, eventually ending in a hard-fought draw.
I know the game was played in a Kingston rated event in the mid-1990s; both players were resident in Kingston at the time; I was involved in the event's organization; the result is NOT included in the cross-tables found at chess.ca.
The situation here: only one scoresheet available, some missing moves, and several errors, of different kinds. But I had the final position, and knew the number of moves played to that juncture and the result; these facts allowed me, using several chess boards simultaneously, to eventually work it all out!! Solution time: about four hours!! Labor of love, indeed!
And I note that my friend Ron, now living in New Brunswick, has recently returned to organized chess, after a break of more than 20 years! Welcome back, Ron!!
Enjoy the game!
Arthur Kraus -- Ronald Belczewski
Kingston, mid-1990s
Sicilian, Najdorf
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.O-O Be7 8.b4 b5 9.Bf3 Ra7 10.a4 Qc7 11.Qd3 d5 12.Ncxb5 axb5 13.Nxb5 Qe5 14.Nxa7 O-O 15.Qa3 Ba6 16.Re1 dxe4 17.Bb2 Qf4
18.Bxf6 Bxf6 19.Rxe4 Qc7 20.Rc1 Qxa7 21.b5 Bxb5 22.Rb1 Ba6 23.Qb3 Nc6 24.c3 Bd3 25.Re3 Rb8 26.Rxd3 Rxb3 27.Rxb3 Ne5 28.Re3 Nxf3+ 29.Rxf3 g5 30.Rxf6 Qxa4 31.Rb1 Qe4 32.Rc1 g4 33.g3 Qd3 34.Rf4 f5 35.Rd4 Qf3 36.c4 e5 37.R4d1 f4 38.c5 Qc6 39.gxf4 exf4 40.Rd6 Qf3 41.c6 g3 42.hxg3 fxg3 43.Rd2 Kh8 44.c7 gxf2+ 45.Rxf2 Qg3+ 46.Kf1 Qd3+ 47.Kg2 Qe4+ 48.Kg1 Qg4+ 49.Rg2 Qd4+ 50.Kh1 Qh4+, 1/2 -- 1/2.
I greatly encourage other Canadian organizers and TDs to contribute to this thread!!!
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