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Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
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---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
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As you may know, during the Canadian Open, Stephen Boyd and Hal Bond gave a seminar for those interested in becoming International Arbiters. 14 people paid for this course. It was followed by a 4-hour exam. Passing grade was 80%. About 50% did not pass. I spoke with a number of the participants and they really were impressed with the seminar. (Stephen and Hal did a great job giving examples from personal experience)
I guess the last international event I did was Mazatlan in 1989 (thanks to you!). I spoke with Eric Malmsten (who was the one who put this together)and he mentioned that today what is most important in pairings is colour distribution. I must admit that I never subscribed to that way of doing things...for me...it was more important that the top players play..regardless of colour...but Eric explained to me...that today top half versus bottom half no longer applies...
As a side note...I think with computer pairings...people tend to contest pairings less...afterall the neutral computer decided who one plays :)
I chuckle :)
Larry
Vlad was rueing the lack of time to pair 80 players. If somebody thinks that old-fashioned pairings are not as good as FIDE pairings, that's another matter. FIDE pairing rules are written to be algorithm-friendly, they are not written to be executed or well understood by humans. If Vlad was trying to pair Blitz with FIDE pairings by hand, my sympathy goes out to him.
I've done FIDE pairings (2006 Morelia, 2007 CYCC) and so far the only advantage I've been able to detect is that at least one computer program exists that will do FIDE pairings exactly. But that can be a big advantage! In terms of results ... more research is indicated.
Thanks, I started these awards for the reasons you and Jonathan mention: recognize our own (Zvonko); publicity and fundraising (stars - the Player of the Year award); and recognize our special volunteers. For "Canadian Chess Volunteer of the Year" award, Hugh Brodie was the first recipient, in Montreal in 2008. With Lavin as President, I let it slide - he didn't seem the sort of President to motivate volunteers. But this year Hugh was whining at the AGM that he was the only one :-)
About Zvonko's photo - When I picked up the display from the printer, the guy asks me, "Don't you think he'll be upset that you're using a photo from 40 years ago?" It hit me that I hadn't even thought about it, because the last time I saw him, visiting the 2004 Canadian Closed, he looked the same as the photo from 1969!
I managed to thank the TD and arbiters afterward before I headed home but couldn't find Brian Fiedler and Michael Barron at the end though I did express my sentiments to Brian at least once or twice during the tournament.
Brian and Michael were busy writing checks. Michael didn't make it to the dinner until 7 pm.
I suggest that the dinner should be separated from the awards ceremony in the future. Maybe have it before the Saturday night speed chess event. Faced with the choice of driving home in the light or waiting around until 5:30 and having a presumably delicious dinner I opted for the safer daylight drive.
The gourmet dinner was delicious.
The closing dinner was in a great room overlooking the ferries coming and going to the island. Ted Winick played the piano. There were around 10 round tables of guests. One guest sponsored a table of Olympiad team members. Larry Bevand was at a table with mostly women.
Winner Luke McShane praised the tournament conditions as being of the highest quality he has ever played in. When he was a child, he defeated a street player for $10, but his parents gave the money back.
Special awards were given out to volunteers Erik Malmsten and Maurice Smith, the latter for 22 years of service. Maurice just wants to play chess now.
Vranesic spoke of his computer engineering students’ frustration in making early chess programs. He had made a GM norm, but thinks the days of amateurs like him sniping points from GMs is over. Today’s game is more complex and requires preparation.
Three other members of the Hall of Fame were present: Phil Haley, Lawrence Day and Larry Bevand.
Brian Fiedler presented the awards to the winners, often sharing stories about playing them. Sponsors from Deloitte and Marks also presented awards.
A.8 Transpositions and exchanges
…In a homogeneous score bracket it may be necessary to exchange players from S1 and S2. rules for exchanges are found under D2. After each exchange both S1 and S2 are to be ordered according to A2.
B.2
No player's colour difference will become >+2 or <-2.
B.4
As many players as possible receive their colour preference
And in the next section it states that pairings have to be constantly revised to minimize the colour difference:
C.11 As long as x is less than p: increase x by 1. When pairing a remainder group undo all pairings of players moved down also. Restart at C3.
D.2 When applying an exchange between S1 and S2 …
E. Colour Allocation Rules
For each pairing apply (with descending priority):
E.1 Grant both colour preferences.
E.2 Grant the stronger colour preference.
E.3 Alternate the colours to the most recent round in which they played with different colours.
E.4 Grant the colour preference of the higher ranked player.
Congratulations to the organizers for such a spectacular event. As the players return to their chess clubs this week, I know the feedback will be excellent. I bet a lot of them will be sporting their Canadian Open shirts! :)
I want to echo the positive comments regarding the Canadian Open. I've played in the past 4 and I don't think this year was in any way lagging behind the others. Toronto this year was right up there with Edmonton.
Thank you all the organizers, especially Brian Fiedler, for making this possible! As well as Michael Barron, Ted Winnick, Michael Sutton & Erik Malmsten to name a few.
Apart from the pairings issue early on in the tournament, I can't really think of any flaws with the tournament. Totally worth it! Would I play in it again? I'll be pretty upset if I can't in the future, due to other commitments.
Credit to Hal Bond, Bryan Lamb, Aris Marghetis and Michael von Keitz for working day and night, probably doing more than what they were there to do.
MonRoi coverage was awesome, prompt pictures, reports and a screen to follow the top games behind the rope. Having the ability to replay the games so easily is pretty neat, and I even got to play with one of the monroi devices in a couple of games and had the opportunity to blunder live to the world. Kuddos to Zeljka who seemed to be everywhere in the tournament, not sure if / when she slept.
The dinner & awards ceremony was pretty high class, a perfect closing to a sensational Canadian Open!
Unfortunately I was only able to participate in two side events this year.
The arbiters' seminar was fantastic. While I've had the privilege to work with Bryan Lamb on several occasions, and have watched Hal Bond and Aris Marghetis run/organize tournaments, this by far surpassed what I believed was out there. I used to think I knew some stuff about rules, situations that may arise, procedures, pairings, norm tournaments, at least in comparison with several other players. The seminar was a good reality check, made me feel incredibly ignorant. If I was to compare it to any class I've taken, this was loaded with interesting and new information, to me. The exam at the end was rough, so I've got a long way to go still :) Special thanks to Stephen Boyd for running the seminar, and Hal for assisting with it, but perhaps most importantly, Erik Malmsten for making it possible. In addition to the rules and material discussed, the group was overall quite interesting. It included a few newcomers to chess organizing, and several who have been doing it for a while, each participant providing great anecdotes that proved or challenged what we were learning. Definitely worth it!
Saturday night, the blitz tournament was a party. Couldn't possibly imagine we'd have some 80 players in it. Players who were in the tournament, players who haven't played tournament chess in a while, speed aficionados who only show up for these occasions, as well as guys who gamble at the park. Terrific mix, I ended up socializing more than playing. Vlad Dobrich had his hands full and handled the challenges quite well taking into account the avalanche of players. Contrary to some participants, I actually didn't mind at all the extra few minutes in between rounds, the atmosphere was great.
An exhausting week for me overall, some moments I will definitely remember, in no particular order, and I will surely forget to mention some:
- bughouse in the skittles room
- "Alexandros", the Greek place to eat closest to the tournament site, on the peer leaning onto Lake Ontario
- running into a young chess player from the tournament, on the way home at 3am, who could only be described as a conservative innocent character, flirting with the street squeegee girl
- average of 4 hours sleep a day (no complaints, since I might have missed some of the good stuff otherwise)
- shooting the breeze (chess gossip) with the crowd, in the basement lobby couches
- late dinners, exploiting Toronto's variety foods and cultures, different restaurant almost every time. Admittedly, we got the "sorry the kitchen is closed" or "we're closing in 15 minutes" a couple of times, but when you're in Toronto, all you need is to walk a further 2 minutes to find a very plausible alternative
- alongside Zeljka, listening to youngster Jiaxin Liu singing to us a song in 4 different languages (half of the ones she knew) : Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Russian. A real treat :)
- watching live skittle analyzes of the game Rosentalis vs Pechenkin (the Vladiator), both apparently play the Alekhine's on occasion and so was their game
- the weather! Did it ever rain? It was a bit hot but nothing unbearable, and it allowed us to experience the city, alive in all its splendor
- philosophical debates with the universities crowd, of what topics are "inappropriate" in certain places
- en-route to Round 2, passing by the St. Lawrence Market and watching the world cup final at the Jersey Giant Pub
- during the speed tournament, while playing some games in between rounds with friends from Hart House, us having to contain ourselves not to behave the same way we sometimes do at Hart House Chess Club: "Where the Kibitzer is King"
- walking at least 3 or more hours a day (home to tournament, tournament to dinner, then home), the only way not to blow up with the absurd unhealthy eating habits that take place every chess / social tournament
- hosting a couple of masters from out of town for a few days. After arriving home at 2 or 3am, there would be analyzes, blitz match to see who'd sleep on which couch, checking the pairings online and "preparing" for the opponent, and at least once watching the sunrise (I live on the 21st floor facing East)
- passing by the chess park at Queen & Church streets on a couple of occasions, after the round and dinner at around 1am, only to find some of the same guys gambling, who had been at the CO spectating GM games
- Jack Astor's at some point mid-week, with the gang: Rob, Kit, Stuart, Kyle, Bindi, Mike & Mike, Josh, Andy, Vlad, the crayons, the Freddie Mercury lookalike waiter (not an exaggeration, awesome character) -- a late dinner to remember, or attempt to
I arrived late for the last Round so I probably missed the announcement about filling in a survey.
I would rate it top notch. Well lit and would most likely play again as long as Brian Fiedler is involved.
Two things I missed was carbon score sheets and a small bulletin with some of the games from all sections. To let us lower players know how others were doing.
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