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some news from the rest day
Well, my rest day didn't really work out that way, LOL! It started with an increase in the urgency of entering the games from Rounds 5 & 6. It seems that by midnight last night, that there was already 2000 online requests for the games from Round 5?! So, we started after midnight, and I passed on the disco run at 1am! When my first roommate returned, sometime after 3am, he laughed at how slowly I was moving the mouse, LOL! But I had a plan, which was to set up the computer such that when that key moment arrived, I literally only partially stood up, and took one and a half steps before falling into the bed where I had preset the pillows and sheets! Then when the alarm went off in the morning for the appeal re-match for me to co-arbiter, I kind of just rolled back up in front of the computer, while that first roommate showered first. Don't even ask about my second roommate, who explained later he had to sleep until 5pm!
Between breakfast time and lunch time, I completed my game entries for both Rounds 5 & 6. The appeal re-match had only very minor arbiting stuff to do, which left me free to attend the single most important session at the FA seminar, regarding all of the latest information about FIDE Swiss System pairings.
I pretty well already knew everything that was presented, but I must say that it was an incredible presentation. The lead presenter was Takis, the Chief Arbiter for this tournament, and the head of FIDE Arbiters, and he was assisted by Michalis, who is actually the man who originally transcribed the latest FIDE algorithms. I cannot recall the last time I was so interested in a teaching environment, LOL! These guys provided an absolutely phenomenal lesson!
We finished up around 9pm, and went for yet another comforting Greek buffet! I found out that it rained for half the rest day today, so it kind of worked out! The rain here can be funny, in that it rains rarely, but when it does, it seems more disruptive. I should have free days and early afternoons as of a couple of days from now, so I hope that today's rain will leave me with awesome days to finish the trip. From the chess viewpoint, the games are getting spectacular!
Finally, no report of mine would be complete without some local animal stories! The first one could be thought of sad, but it seems very normal here. While making my way back from the last buffet last night, to pick up my games to enter, a few of us came across some very young kittens, apparently from one of the wild cats. There was not much we could do, and the locals said that's just the way it is, that the strongest ones will indeed make it, even though they might appear abandoned. In fact, a couple of hours later, one of them had made it over a half a mile away, to scratch at my window. The local guys in the next condo took it in for the night, and my goodness, it was the cutest little jet black ball of fur you will ever see. Also cool how universally liked they were.
Remember some email ago, I pointed out that I was good with the wild dogs, except that one looked quite capable? He seems like a mix between a Boxer and a killer dog, like a Rhodesian Ridgeback! Anyway, I also noticed that some of the dogs did not seem to gobble up any food that people dropped for them. After the appeal re-match this morning, I was pointing this out to the other arbiter, who is a local guy around my age. His explanation really surprised me, and is quite interesting. First, he asked me if I noticed any difference in the dogs' health, and I said oh yeah, some of them are scrawny and limping, and some look like they could be police dogs. So he says precisely, the hard luck dogs are wild dogs, but the impressive dogs are guard dogs for the yachts! They are trained to live wild around the marina area, and they are incredibly nice to anyone who walks by, stops to pet them, etc. However, they will not eat just anything, and word has it that if you try to borrow one of the yachts, well you could be in for a hell of a surprise! I just love this adaptation! :)
I secured access today to a much better semi-secret wireless network that runs in the playing hall, and am writing this from there. There are less than half-a-dozen "staff" in here now, and the beautiful quiet of this wonderful playing hall is something to behold. Around 500 mental battlefields, all perfectly set up! No games to enter tonight, so as long as I don't get pulled out of here for the nightly party run, I should finally completely beat the 7 hour jet lag! ;)
P.S. here's a link to some photos (I'm in there once, tired! :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/karpidi...7625181852780/
Between breakfast time and lunch time, I completed my game entries for both Rounds 5 & 6. The appeal re-match had only very minor arbiting stuff to do, which left me free to attend the single most important session at the FA seminar, regarding all of the latest information about FIDE Swiss System pairings.
I pretty well already knew everything that was presented, but I must say that it was an incredible presentation. The lead presenter was Takis, the Chief Arbiter for this tournament, and the head of FIDE Arbiters, and he was assisted by Michalis, who is actually the man who originally transcribed the latest FIDE algorithms. I cannot recall the last time I was so interested in a teaching environment, LOL! These guys provided an absolutely phenomenal lesson!
We finished up around 9pm, and went for yet another comforting Greek buffet! I found out that it rained for half the rest day today, so it kind of worked out! The rain here can be funny, in that it rains rarely, but when it does, it seems more disruptive. I should have free days and early afternoons as of a couple of days from now, so I hope that today's rain will leave me with awesome days to finish the trip. From the chess viewpoint, the games are getting spectacular!
Finally, no report of mine would be complete without some local animal stories! The first one could be thought of sad, but it seems very normal here. While making my way back from the last buffet last night, to pick up my games to enter, a few of us came across some very young kittens, apparently from one of the wild cats. There was not much we could do, and the locals said that's just the way it is, that the strongest ones will indeed make it, even though they might appear abandoned. In fact, a couple of hours later, one of them had made it over a half a mile away, to scratch at my window. The local guys in the next condo took it in for the night, and my goodness, it was the cutest little jet black ball of fur you will ever see. Also cool how universally liked they were.
Remember some email ago, I pointed out that I was good with the wild dogs, except that one looked quite capable? He seems like a mix between a Boxer and a killer dog, like a Rhodesian Ridgeback! Anyway, I also noticed that some of the dogs did not seem to gobble up any food that people dropped for them. After the appeal re-match this morning, I was pointing this out to the other arbiter, who is a local guy around my age. His explanation really surprised me, and is quite interesting. First, he asked me if I noticed any difference in the dogs' health, and I said oh yeah, some of them are scrawny and limping, and some look like they could be police dogs. So he says precisely, the hard luck dogs are wild dogs, but the impressive dogs are guard dogs for the yachts! They are trained to live wild around the marina area, and they are incredibly nice to anyone who walks by, stops to pet them, etc. However, they will not eat just anything, and word has it that if you try to borrow one of the yachts, well you could be in for a hell of a surprise! I just love this adaptation! :)
I secured access today to a much better semi-secret wireless network that runs in the playing hall, and am writing this from there. There are less than half-a-dozen "staff" in here now, and the beautiful quiet of this wonderful playing hall is something to behold. Around 500 mental battlefields, all perfectly set up! No games to enter tonight, so as long as I don't get pulled out of here for the nightly party run, I should finally completely beat the 7 hour jet lag! ;)
P.S. here's a link to some photos (I'm in there once, tired! :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/karpidi...7625181852780/
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