The U 2000 Canadian Open Blog

[Michael Byrne]

Re: The U 2000 Canadian Open Blog

If Bob wins all of his games he will be Canadian Open Champion. 100% guaranteed.

I think the pairings stop being accelerated after round 4. At that time he would be on the top boards....

I don't think this is strictly correct. With 9 rounds of 'normal' pairings you can (without draws) guarantee a winner in a field up to 512 (ie 2 to the power of 9). However with acelerated pairings and upsets you can get a situation where more than one player ends with 9 points so it could be down to tie-break for Bob. With 512 in round 1 you get 256 winning for round 2, but after round 2 (with the upsets) you can get 160 on 2 real points in round 3. 7 more rounds only copes with deciding amongst 128 (with no draws) so a full-points tie for first is possible. At least Bob will get to split the money.

[Larry Bevand]

Look out for Yves Ber!

The U 2000 Canadian Open Blog

So it worked out that I am paired up for Rd. 2 – I play Black against a member of my group, Yves Ber (1914 )

Hi Bob,

I don't want to get you worried or anything :) but Yves Ber spends most of his time in Guadeloupe these days where he owns property. Plenty of time to enjoy the sun, water and...study chess :) His son Alexandre, works for the CMA in Montreal and over the years has developed into one of our better chess teachers and arbiters... lots of chess blood in that family :).

As Yves said to me yesterday, his son Alexandre is getting to do what he would have liked to do.

Enjoy your game!

Larry

[Francis Rodriguez]

Re: The U 2000 Canadian Open Blog

Fascinating, Bob.....
Look forward to more!

Francis

[Lynn Stringer]

Re: The U 2000 Canadian Open Blog

A very interesting first day, I hope you will have enough time to keep this up.
Good luck, just surprise everyone. It looks like a good tournament.
Lynn Stringer

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: Day 1 - July 10: The U 2000 Can. Open Blog - Pt. II

Day 1/Rd. 1- Saturday, July 10 [ Continued ]

Some Random Thoughts on Playing in a Canadian Open

Though the 9 GM’s are all off in a top group, there is something awe-inspiring at playing in the same hall as these guys. They are so good ( and yet still not the best ). I sometimes try to explain to my non-chess friends, where I stand in the echelons of tournament chess. I fall back on rating points. I explain that a young junior who is just starting to play, but does know something, may be rated 800. I explain that I am in the middle of tournament players, and I am rated 1,000 rating points higher, at 1800. I try to explain that this is a long distance. The junior has a lot to learn about the game to jump up 1000 rating points. Then I advise that the top three players in the world are rated 2800 and over ( Carlsen, Topalov and Anand ). I note that this happens to be 1,000 rating points higher than me ! But there is a difference in the two 1,000 point differences. It is quite likely that with a passion for the game, the junior will reach 1800 ! But , despite my passion for the game, and playing it for 45 years ( always at the high B Class/low A Class level ), I will never make it to 2800. In fact I will struggle to get over 1900 ! What is the difference, I am asked. It is my opinion that the difference is something called “ talent “. For some reason, some people see the patterns, remember the positions, have a deadly intuition, that the rest of us don’t ( and constant hard study magnifies these abilities ). And that is despite perhaps a great deal of study on our parts ( not on mine , however, because I have always had difficulty putting my nose to the grindstone when it comes to chess ). So when I see a player over 2600, I am impressed – not necessarily with them as a person ( chess players run the gamut from heroes to villains ), but with their talent. And so playing in the same room with the 9 foreign GM’s, and going and taking a casual glance at their game every once in a while, adds something to the chess experience for me. I like to be surprised at the depth of their insight, from my rather beleaguered perspective.

Also, it is nice to look around, and see so many people who share the love of the game, that I love so much. We all have something in common. And it is something often not understood in the non-chess world. We appear sometimes to have lost our sanity; what are we doing with our time? How does this improve the state of the world? All I can say is that everyone in the hall is struggling towards something – a personal best ! Be it a move in a particular situation, be it a result in competition with peers, be it prize money, or be it those ever-valuable rating points. We understand each other on some levels, and this is part of the chess culture that is good, and satisfying ( we won’t go into the downsides of the chess culture at this point ! ).

Finally, it is just pure fun ! It is a game, though a challenging and wonderful one. But hopefully its prime characteristic is, and remains, that it is fun to play. It is fun to socialize with others who enjoy our passion, and to meet other chess players who come from all walks of life. Chess does have its social side as well, and this is fun. We do try to play well and hard. And losing is disappointing, especially if a win at some point was in sight. But the disappointment, I think, must be balanced off against a good dose of the game just being fun. I am sensitive to the fact that this opinion is being generated by a middle of the pack player, with no great ambitions ( I’ve been trying to go over 1900 since 2001 ! ). Is it different for those more talented players, who are playing for prize money? I’d love to hear their contribution on this topic.

I’m looking forward to Rd. 2 ! But before then, I’m going to play in one of the side events this morning, at 11:00 AM – the Mark Bluvshtein simul, to raise funds for the Olympiad teams. I’m treading far out of my league, but it will be fun !

I hope everyone will jump in with their comments/questions/criticisms - this is an open blog. I'd love to get some feedback from other members of our U 2000 group. So join in the fun !

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

Day 1 - July 10: The U 2000 Can. Open Blog - Pt. I

The U 2000 Canadian Open Blog

Day 1/Rd. 1- Saturday, July 10

Tournament Opens Well

I got to the registration check in desk about 4:45 PM. There were already quite a few players around, and I said “ Hi “ to some friends and acquaintances, some I hadn’t seen for a while. I got my players’ package, and the souvenir golf shirt embossed with the Canadian Open logo. It will look nice hanging next to my World Chess Network ( now amalgamated with another playing site ) T-shirt, my 2007 Ottawa CO T-shirt, and my 2009 PwC Toronto Open golf shirt. I met a friend who is from my old hometown of Sarnia, Ontario, and so we went for a walk before the round, down on the harbour boardwalk – nice way to relax before a round.

The opening ceremony got started pretty close to 6:00 PM. One of the Toronto City Councilors, Joe Mihevic, gave a well researched welcome to the players, and touted the benefits of playing chess. The Organizing Committee gave a big welcome and thank-you to all attending. We broke the minimum goal the organizers had had for this tournament – 250 players. The registered total is 262 . It would have been nice to break 300, but Toronto chess players have been picky the last number of years about when they come out. And I did hear some complaints about the entry fee. Myself, I don’t agree the $ 175/ $ 195 is too high. We are trying to hold a credible national championship for our sport, with an up-scale atmosphere. We have invited a number of foreign GM’s, and their conditions/perks cost the organizers something. We are having it at an upscale downtown /harbour front hotel, the Westin Harbour Castle – 10 days of rental for a number of rooms does not come cheap in Toronto. The entry fee includes a welcoming T-shirt, and a closing banquet. It seems to me that if we do want an upscale championship, in the style of the Canadian nationals for golf, tennis, etc., then part of the costs have got to be borne by the entry fees. It is my view that chess is one of the cheapest and most enjoyable hobbies around. And for Toronto players, I can only say that it doesn’t get any cheaper – what were the total costs of playing in Edmonton in 2009, when you add up hotel room, meals, air fare, cabs etc.? Having it in Toronto was a big plus – it looks like you’ve shot yourself in the foot, if you didn’t enter because of the registration fee.

Rd. 1 Results

Since MonRoi was so quick on posting the results early this morning, I could finalize the number of players in our U 2000 Class – it is 56. 51/56 players in our A Class group played in Rd. 1 ( 5 byes ).

Because of the hyper-accelerated pairings system, 24 of our top players got paired up against experts ( they had been given 2 ghost points for rating purposes, like the bottom part of the expert class ). There were only 3 winners in this group:

Sean Rachar (1951 )
Simon Gladstone (1946 )
Laurent Allard (1934 )

10 players of our group got paired with another member of our group ( 9 of them
had been given 2 ghost points ). In this part, the 3 getting a full point were:

John W Chidley-Hill (1897 )
Ben Olden-Cooligan (1888 )
Paul Stephens (1882 )

That left 17 of us, including me, paired down against B class players ( we had 1 ghost point, as did the top part of the B class ). As might be expected, of that part, 16/17 got 1 pt.:

Oleg Tseluiko (1874 )
David Miller (1871 )
Ralph Deline (1869 )
Michael Song (1866 )
Lali Agbabishvili (1860 )
David Poirier (1855 )
Dmitry Chernik (1855 )
Ferdinand Supsup (1851 )
Stephen Lipic (1845 )
Arjun Bharat (1841 )
Ed Zator (1835 )
Jaime Solis (1825 )
Michael Zaghi (1817 )
Ferdinand Cale (1806 )
Pino Verde (1800 )
Jackie Peng (1800 )
Robert J. Armstrong (1800 )

So, out of 56 players in our group, after one round, only 22 have a full point.

But this does not mean all 22 winners will end up in the same pairing group now. This is because of the ghost points of the hyper-accelerated pairings system. Over 1/2 of our group had 2 ghost points. And the rest had 1 ghost point. Every member of our group will now lose 1 ghost point. So 6 of our winners will have 2 pts. for pairing purposes, but 16 of our winners have 1 point for pairing purposes. Thus our winners are still split into two different rating groups for Rd. 2.

The 8 Scarborough Chess Club U 2000 Results:

1 point – Michael Song; Ferdinand Cale; Pino Verde; Bob Armstrong
½ point – Robert Bzikot; Jim Paterson; Alex Rapoport
0 points – Pepin Manalo;

My Struggle.

As you saw above, I was fortunate to be one of the Rd. 1 winners in our A class. But it was not an easy win by any stretch. The opening was relatively equal. But I was positioning my pieces for an attack, and Ali missed a nice little tactic that had arisen, whereby I won a P. Ali then got a bit desperate, and tried for a counter-attack. The problem was that he opened up his K-side too much, and I got checks, and got one of his B’s pinned, and threatened by a P. He was unable to extract himself, and after an exchange of heavy artillery, I was just up a B and some P’s, and Ali resigned with less than one minute on his clock.

Projection for Rd. 2

Because I won, but have now lost my ghost point, I am in the 1-point pairing group. And joining me are the members of our group who lost to experts, because they still have 1 ghost point for pairing purposes. Along with them will come all the experts who lost, who had been given 2 ghost points. At the same time, all the lower-rated winners will also enter the 1-point group. So my rating group suddenly got stronger at the top, and weaker at the bottom ( but they are all winners !! ). So it worked out that I am paired up for Rd. 2 – I play Black against a member of my group, Yves Ber (1914 )

[ Continued in Part II below ]

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: The U 2000 Canadian Open Blog - SCC Members

So there are 8 active Scarborough Chess Club members in the U 2000 Class Prize group:

1. Robert Bzikot 1984
2. Pepin Manalo 1932
3. Jim Paterson 1889
4. Michael Song 1866 ( junior )
5. Alex Rapoport 1838
6. Ferdinand Cale 1806
7. Pino Verde 1800
8. Bob Armstrong 1800

I will in my blog be paying special attention to keeping everyone informed on how these 8 are doing.

Also, for those not aware, I am the editor of the SCC Newsletter ( longest-running current twice monthly/bimonthly chess newsletter in Canada - now completing its 11th year), Scarborough Community of Toronto Chess News & Views. We have an open, free subscribers' list - if anyone would like to receive it, just e-mail me : bobarm@sympatico.ca . So this is notice to the U 2000 SCC members that I will be expecting you all to pick out your most interesting game this tournament, and to provide it to me for an upcoming article on the U 2000 CO group. You could give it to me after the round, and then I'll return it to you the next day, or you could e-mail it to me. Looking forward to receiving some interesting games.

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: The U 2000 Canadian Open Blog

Hi Ken:

Thanks. I shouldn't have missed Ferdinand - don't know how that happened. I'll go back and edit my post.

As for Daniel, he didn't play in the Club Championship, nor our last Lazy, Hazy Summer Swiss - so I assumed his membership had expired, until he returned again. But it's nice to see him out playing. There are a number of former SCC'ers in our group as well, though I haven't bothered to identify them.

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: The U 2000 Canadian Open Blog

Hi Ken:

Would be great to hear the experience of playing in our sister group, the U 1800's. Will be interesting to see how it corresponds or differs from our U 2000 experience.

We're going to have to fundraise to build a gigantic blog fan clubhouse !!

Bob

[Ken Kurkowski]

Re: The U 2000 Canadian Open Blog

Bob,
I forgot to mention, in your list of U2000 players from SCC you should include Ferdinand Cale and Daniel Wiebe.
Ken

[Ken Kurkowski]

Re: The U 2000 Canadian Open Blog

Hi Bob,
Look forward to reading your U2000 blog! I may add some comments re my U1800 experience at what will be my first CO since the last one held in Toronto (or Scarborough [pre Megacity!]).
Ken

[Dave Broughton]

Re: The U 2000 Canadian Open Blog

Hi Bob - I will be in Toronto for the Monday and Tuesday rounds - I will supress my cheers for your good moves!!! Hope to see you make a few good ones though.

Looking forward to seeing you and any other SCC old-timers.

Goooo Bobby!!!!!!!!!!

Dave

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: The U 2000 Canadian Open Blog

Hi David:

I hope you won't be toooo lonely !!

Bob

[David Cohen]

Re: The U 2000 Canadian Open Blog

Because of the demand of my fan club ( ?! )...

Count me in!

David :-)

[Gary Ruben]

Re: The U 2000 Canadian Open Blog

Hi Gary:

You send my spirit soaring !!

Please don't put any money on it.

Since there are not tie-breaks as far as I know, and prizes are combined and split among those tied, I guess I could possibly tie for first with another 9 game winner ( speaking just theoretically of course ).

Good luck, Bob.

I won't bet on it. Broke this weekend. I took the dogs to the groomer today. Beware is too big for me to try to bath. The problem is when I book the appointment the groomer asks the dogs name. I don't figure anyone wants to groom a dog named "Beware". So I used the CKC registered name, "Mardi Gras". What a dumb name for a dog.

The other one is a Bichon Frise which needed a haircut and bath. The Bichon is lap dog size. I call that one a mouse hound.