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Policy / Politique
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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!
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"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
... my ongoing thesis is being confirmed: taking chess seriously has the effect of blinding one to correct logic and rational thinking in the real world. ...
Since August 21, 2009 - which, I believe, was the first date when you expressed your views on Jean Hebert's views about organizing tournaments - you've posted approximately 365 times on this board. As a matter of idle curiosity, and setting aside the matter of stalking for now, I wonder how many of those 365 posts mention, or were directed at, Jean Hebert? I wonder if you feel you've made your point yet?
"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
Since August 21, 2009 - which, I believe, was the first date when you expressed your views on Jean Hebert's views about organizing tournaments - you've posted approximately 365 times on this board. As a matter of idle curiosity, and setting aside the matter of stalking for now, I wonder how many of those 365 posts mention, or were directed at, Jean Hebert? I wonder if you feel you've made your point yet?
Well, to be honest Peter, for many months no organizer(s) were speaking up and supporting my points. Even when I asked them to support Hal Bond, the result was deafening silence, although plenty of rank and file chessplayers did speak up for Hal. But no organizers.
Lately that has changed. Such people as Roger Patterson, Gordon Ritchie, Bob Gillanders (although he's all over the map right now), David Ottosen, and even today, Vlad Dobrich, have let their voices be heard, directly against posts by Jean Hebert. Even Ben Daswani, not an organizer but an outspoken critic on this forum in the past, finally spoke up against Hebert.
So yes, I believe my point has been made. I don't know if any of those people would claim that my persistence motivated them, but perhaps it played a SMALL part. I feel vindicated, regardless of what what all the "people marching in step" are saying.
I can see now that organizers are in no danger from the Hebert religion, so I can let it go now. Hebert will keep posting his propaganda, neither you nor Kerry will complain as you've done against me, but organizers won't be swayed.
I'm fine with being the whipping boy for the Hebert Anti-Thought Enforcement (HATE) Police, although when a Steve Douglas steps out from behind the bushes and launches a pre-emptive strike, he gets back what he deserves.
But my work here is done. I came, I saw, I kicked some butt. It was fun, but I've got a life outside of all this trivial nonsense. Gotta get back to my 24-processor beast and harness it's parallel power for some REAL useful stuff.
Wanna-be putz, huh. Somebody don't know me too well, do he?
Only the rushing is heard...
Onward flies the bird.
... But my work here is done. I came, I saw, I kicked some butt. It was fun, but I've got a life outside of all this trivial nonsense. Gotta get back to my 24-processor beast and harness it's parallel power for some REAL useful stuff. ...
It'll be nice to leave with a feeling of achievement, won't it?
"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
Yes, Paul has been very generous (excessively generous some might say) in providing lots of material for comic relief. Just this one post above us in this sub-thread contains a number of classics, for example:
...yes, I believe my point has been made. ...
Phew! After 300+ posts I should hope so. Um, what was his point again?
... I can see now that organizers are in no danger from the Hebert religion, so I can let it go now. ...
Stuff like like that is almost frightening. Does he really mean it? Maybe he's been putting us all on for the last nine months.
... I'm fine with being the whipping boy for the Hebert Anti-Thought Enforcement (HATE) Police ...
I'm not sure that one says what he probably intended it to say.
... although when a Steve Douglas steps out from behind the bushes and launches a pre-emptive strike, he gets back what he deserves. ...
Steve!! What the heck were you doing behind those bushes anyway?
And now, even though it's not original, my personal favourite...
... But my work here is done. ...
Hopefully now he can return to his Fortress of Solitude with a clean conscience.
... Wanna-be putz, huh. Somebody don't know me too well, do he?
Hmm. :)
"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
Dobrich: I started the Saturday blitz at the YMCA Chess Club in 1963 and it has been running ever since! I do feel a certain proprietory interest here. It is hard to compete against internet blitz, but we still draw a solid hard core of enthusiasts. If it does die out, however, I feel it will be appropriate for one of the hard core supporters to write the obituary. But the time is not yet.
No need to put quotes around "concern". I am concerned when I see tournaments anywhere down to 4 players, or even 8 or 10 on "favorable" evenings. For a city the size of Toronto it is hardly impressive. I am simply pointing out what seems obvious to me: without some minor or major improvements in the formula, it is slowly but surely going to die out, just as most blitz events have died out in Montreal.
Dobrich mentioned starting the Saturday speed chess tournaments at the YMCA on College and Yonge. Although I don’t remember how many rows of tables there were, I remember the chess club of the early 70s being completely full on Saturday afternoons. The atmosphere was electric, people hyped up on coffee and cigarettes. Masters like Geza Fuster were there every week, but he would often be in a time scramble and sometimes an Expert like Ivan Theodorovitch or junior Peter Nurmi would win it. Juniors would battle it out for class prizes with seniors like Peter Avery and Keith Kerns. Ken Field and Angela Day would use colourful markers on the large crosstables. I would sometimes go home with sore eyes and a smelly shirt from the cloud of cigarette smoke that grew larger as the afternoon went on. Not as many people came on weeknights to slow, 15 minute or Novice tournaments. The action was on Saturday. It was the place to be in the chess community. Speed chess was the heart of the YMCA Chess Club. After tournaments some players would stay and play casual speed into the night.
Several players tried to get into the Guinness Book of World Records by playing chess on a Yorkville patio continuously for a few days. Joe Smolij set up his display around the corner from Sam the Record Man, playing speed chess every day with entertaining patter, and had several articles written about him.
When the club moved to four rooms on Adelaide Street John remembers there being 47 players in the speed tournament ($1 entry fee). Then to Vaughan Road and junior Phil Morenz and Bryon Nickoloff won the most with an occasional victory by juniors John Pajak or Carl Sellars. In 1977 top-rated Lawrence Day, 2401, won the 56-player (average rating 1878) Toronto Chess Club Speed Championship. Day also won the Toronto Speed Championship at Harbourfront, 72 entrants. However in 1978 (way before Blitz on the Internet) the average weekly entrants declined to 21 (top players were Branko Ivanovic and junior Alan Brown). In 1978 junior Robert Morrison won a weaker TCC Speed Championship with 37 entrants. Roman Pelts won the Toronto Speed Championship at Harboufront, 53 entrants. In 1979 Day won the TCC Speed Championship, 24 players, Morrison the Toronto Speed Championship, 26 players. In 1980 Morrison won the TCC Speed Championship, 37 entrants. In 1981 Ilias Kourkounakis overtook Day on top of the speed rating list.
I never played when the club moved to Dundas West but did play in the Sunday evening speed tournaments at the Scarborough Chess Club and back on Saturdays when Mark Doidge ran the tournament at the new Central YMCA, neither place attracting a large turnout. In 1995 Bryon Nickoloff and junior Eduardo Teodoro tied for the Toronto Speed Championship. Later I also occasionally played in the basement of the Primrose and at the Dutton Club on Bayview where the 2001 Toronto Blitz Championship won by Igor Zugic over Eduardo Teodoro and Mark Bluvshtein in Friday evening Round Robin. 33 entrants in one of the two qualifiers the Saturday before. Entry fee for the regular Saturday Blitz was $10. In 2002 the Championship was won by Ian Findlay, and 2003 Goran Milicevic. The last big blitz event was part of a fundraiser for the last Olympiad team in the Umbra store.
I’ve played regularly at the various bars that Dobrich has tried. For years there has always been many people playing speed chess every day on the outdoor tables of The Chess Corner, in donut shops or at casual clubs like High Park. In-person blitz is hardly dead in Toronto.
I didn’t play CFC-rated chess for 17 years, being part of another community on long weekends, but I would still play in a couple of speed tournaments every year. It is easier and takes up less time.
Speed chess online may produce the same quality of chess but it is not the same social experience. Visually seeing 3-D pieces and the physical movement of the hand are more satisfying than on a bright computer. I don’t know if anyone gets better from playing blitz, slower games provide more thinking time, but like many patzers I prefer the short-term rush of blitz. I can get away with reckless play in a quest to find a brilliant combo, or try to win on time if losing. It is something to focus my mind on, but it is also about interacting with people within the controlled environment of the rules of chess. There is a feeling of community, doing something together, of chess being a valid use of our time, sharing jokes, news and opinions. I play chess to be with other people, not alone in my room or in a bar or fishing.
Blitz was similar in Montreal in the 1970's - There were always many people at the Alekhine Chess Club on a Friday night willing to take on the likes of Kevin Spraggett, Camille Coudari, and Gerry Rubin (and the winner of the ACC Speed Chess Marathon for 1974 - Chesstalk poster Neil Sullivan). And the post-tournament 25c or 50c "contra" (i.e. doubling similar to the backgammon cube) games (e.g. Kevin Spraggett vs Arthur Langlois 5-2 on the clock and Rook odds) .
A couple of times as TD I had to handle 36-player round-robins. I still have all the crosstables from 1974 onwards on my computer (and earlier ones back to 1970 on paper).
To show how Kevin dominated , here are his scores in a few consecutive weeks from May 31, 1974 (36 years ago today!):
15.0-1.0 (loss to Carlos Jauregui - Chilean emigrant who beat Fischer in 1961)
11.5-0.5 (draw with Henry Zurowski).
13.0-1.0 (loss to Neil Sullivan).
10.0-1.0 (loss to Jauregui).
(the next week he did not play - but Neil Sullivan went 19-0!)
Jump ahead to 1976:
23.0-2.0 (Kevin came 2nd behind Camille Coudari - there were very few blitzes when he didn't come at least tied for 1st. Losses to Englaicev and Bochardt).
27.5-1.5 (loss to Coudari; draw with Sullivan)
22.0-2.0 (2nd behind Rubin; loss to Dupuis; draws with Rubin and Levtchouk).
22.5-0.5 (draw with Pierre St-Onge).
22.0-0.0
23.0-1.0 (draws with Bray and Lakdawala).
17.0-2.0 (behind Coudari; loss to Coudari; draws with Bray and Kafadarow).
17.5-0.5 (draw with Zurowski).
24.0-0.0
Then there was the famous "$100 for first" blitz at the Alekhine on Dec. 5, 1976. A 10-round Swiss, Kevin dropped out after 7 rounds after losing one (Coudari), and drawing two (Leo WIlliams and Neil Sullivan). Camille Coudari won alone with 9-1. 56 players.
Blitz tournaments in Montreal have just about died out not due to lack of players - but due to lack of organizers. Larry has offered free (or close to it) space to run blitz tournaments (probably on Friday nights) - but no one wants to run them since there is no money in it. When I was running them for many years (no more!) - rarely did I make more than $5 or $10 per tournament (if anything at all).
I love this tournament because it has so many important part which should be mentioned here. this is not a important factor. i saw in the gallery there is a man who light his electronic cigarette. is it allowed?
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