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Thanks, Stephen. A lot of names there that I haven't heard or thought about in years. Did you play in Toronto tournaments in the 70s? Your name sounds familiar and I'm wondering if we might have met in a tournament in the Harbourfront area in the late 70s?
"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
I agree, Jean. Allowing play-a-GM-for-cash in the first round must be partly based on the assumption that tinkering with first round games in large swisses will not impact final standings - but this is not guaranteed.
If there is a demand for this type of thing, and no doubt there is, then why not do something similar to what the PGA does? Have a GM (or 2 or 3, depending on demand) arrive a day or two early and play games for cash at active time controls?
"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
I agree, Jean. Allowing play-a-GM-for-cash in the first round must be partly based on the assumption that tinkering with first round games in large swisses will not impact final standings - but this is not guaranteed.
If there is a demand for this type of thing, and no doubt there is, then why not do something similar to what the PGA does? Have a GM (or 2 or 3, depending on demand) arrive a day or two early and play games for cash at active time controls?
Yes there are legitimate ways to accomodate amateurs eager for a GM game and GMs eager for a living. This without affecting what we would like to call "competition" and other participants. First round pairings may not have a big impact on final standings, but they are nonetheless part of the process and should not be tinkered with for no good reason.
Yes there are legitimate ways to accomodate amateurs eager for a GM game and GMs eager for a living.
IF I were to pay a GM a large amount of money for a pairing, I'd want the GM to understand exactly what I was paying him to do. All in the interest of the GM making a living.
1978 Canadian Open in Hamilton. Spelling corrections: Player 49 is Zurowski, not Zurowsky (my typo from 1978). Player 60 is Arvaj, not Arjav. Already corrected was my typo for player 13 and likely others....
It might also be noted from 30-6 (yellow section) that in addition there were four sections A (14 players), B (25), C (36), and D (49) which added to the 71 in the top section, makes 195 entries for Hamilton 1978. Among those sections, two people who post regularly to chesstalk, and several who went on to become champions.
It will be remembered that the 1978 Canadian Open in Hamilton donated $1,000 to the 1978 Canadian Closed and Zonal in Toronto. In those days it was not customary to have an Open and a Closed in the same year, though it did happen in Calgary 1975 (the fact that the same people organized both had something to do with it). So the CFC suggested the donation. In later years the CFC offered concessions or even lucre to Canadian Opens, but before 1985 or so, it was considered that Canadian Opens could thrive on entry fees and local sponsorship.
Has anybody noticed that Canadian chess players of Hungarian origin, when they have surnames that refer to a location (for example, if your English surname was Manchester or Lancashire, that would refer to a location in England), there is a tendency for the locations to no longer be a part of Hungary (since 1920)? For example, Sarosy, Arvaj, Fegyverneki all refer to locations no longer part of Hungary. But for Hungarian GM Tolnai (for example), "Tolna" is still very much on the map of the country.
For the 2007 Canadian Open, in response to an idea put forward by a committee member, I suggested (or was it sug-jested ?) this: In round 1 (only), GMs be allowed to give a simul. So you might have ten GMs giving clock simuls against 120 comers, or 12 boards each. The comers would not include those interested in norms (because simul games are not eligible for norms). The non-comers would play each other, which can also be useful for norms, if applied judiciously. Most of the comers would be "simul fodder" (when an opponent is 350 points lower rated, he is considered "out of range"; when a player gives a simul of, say, 30 boards, he usually plays about 400 points weaker than his rating. Simul fodder is a difference of 400 + 350 = 750 points, where it doesn't make much difference to the result of the game whether it is played in a simul or one-on-one). They would be distributed 123443211234 etc, though I suppose specific GMs could be requested. Ka-ching! The simul GMs would receive a full-point bye in the tournament crosstable. The comers would receive whatever they score in the game. To incentivate the GMs to play well, one might give them 80% of the simul fee for each win, 40% for each draw. Or WHY. Most of the comers would have zero points after one round, which could also be good for norm chances for the non-comers. The setup would be entirely voluntary, for both GMs and their potential simul opponents.
Largely missing from Canadian Opens with norm chances is a tender underbelly of players rated, say, between 2200 and 2399. Oh yeah, they exist, but not in the numbers predicted by the bell(y) curve. An IM norm hopeful who is say 2400 strength is going to have to play well, which means winning most of the games against the tender underbelly. As expected. But organizers like to pay to bring in 2500-2700 GMs, so the task becomes more tricky, to score well enough against those super players that you continue to get paired against them!
According to my database we've never played; my first rated event was the Ontario Open in Hamilton, 1980. I was pretty active in SW Ontario for the rest of the decade, based mainly in Kitchener-Waterloo. I did play in Toronto periodically, but not at Harbourfront that I remember.
Thanks, Stephen, your database is correct. I checked through my old score sheets: it was a "K" Wright and the game was played during the 1977 Labour Day Open at the Harbourfront Ice House. Why they called it the Ice House I don't know. It was a medium-sized warehouse with a high ceiling which echoed the sound of every chair leg scraping the floor, every whisper, etc. Fortunately for me, I played chess weekly at a very noisy club and was used to a lot of noise.
Seeing the score sheet brought to the surface memories of the game with K. Wright. I was staying at a friend's apartment in Toronto that weekend. The night prior, I had parked in the wrong spot and the City of Toronto towed my car away. I awoke the next morning to find the car missing. In a panic I caught a bus but was convinced I would forfeit. I made it to the Ice House with about 5 minutes left. My poor opponent, who had probably been busy practicing making a "1" for the pairings list, was so upset by my arrival that he made a mistake a few moves into the game and eventually lost. He had no kind words for me when the game finished. :)
The parking ticket and tow cost me $180, quite a chunk of money in 1977.
"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
The 1978 CO was one of two I travelled away to (from Toronto). According to my old souvenir booklet, in addition to GMs Sax and Ivanovic, GM Sofrevski, IM Antunac, IM Barle, NM Karadzic (all Yugoslavia) and GM Shamkovich (USA, but lived briefly in Toronto) all participated. Interestingly, I can't find any articles on the results in my old EnPassants.
I also played in that 1978 Open in Hamilton. The probable reason for no report (or a very brief one) in the CFC mag was that the organizers (the previously mentioned Gabric and Szarka) ran the competing "Canadian Chess Chat".
If I recall, it was held in a poorly-ventilated arena (or similar structure) - a good long bus ride from the YMCA in which I was staying in downtown Hamilton. 11 rounds scheduled over 12 days (nitpick - July 3-14 - not July 3-15). I don't remember whether there were any chess-related activities on the rest day, but a group of us went to see a movie ("Superman"?) downtown.
Possibly the first Canadian tournament for Roman Pelts (he's listed as from Hamilton - I know he was in Montreal in late 1978).
Got a lift there with Henry Zurowski (from Montreal - not Quebec) who insisted on smoking all the way there. I took the train back to Montreal with Graham Glen (last played in 1987 - life CFC member).
Last edited by Hugh Brodie; Friday, 28th October, 2011, 04:48 PM.
I recently spoke to a high rated GM about the system of selling first round games against titled players. His response: Great Idea! But why not do that in all the rounds? Let the free market decide:-)
Seriously though, I think that this idea is interesting, but I wonder if the attraction would be lessened if this was done before round 1? So a day before the start of the tournament, there could have been a special round where those matches could be played. I am sure that the games could have been rated as well, to keep it serious.
I recently spoke to a high rated GM about the system of selling first round games against titled players. His response: Great Idea! But why not do that in all the rounds? Let the free market decide:-)
Seriously though, I think that this idea is interesting, but I wonder if the attraction would be lessened if this was done before round 1? So a day before the start of the tournament, there could have been a special round where those matches could be played. I am sure that the games could have been rated as well, to keep it serious.
Just goes to show you - some GMs are not as smart as they think they are or do they think the rest of us are just stupid?
Although I agree that a first round auction of GMs is ok, doing so in later rounds would be insane. What's to prevent a GM from buying a point in the final round by sponsoring some patzer?
Was this GM from eastern Europe by the way?
The list of side events has been added to as well: Welcome BBQ, whale watching, Midnight Blitz, Simul, etc. even a lecture /workshop on find Chess Sponsorship by Brian Fiedler!
Just goes to show you - some GMs are not as smart as they think they are or do they think the rest of us are just stupid?
Although I agree that a first round auction of GMs is ok, doing so in later rounds would be insane. What's to prevent a GM from buying a point in the final round by sponsoring some patzer?
Was this GM from eastern Europe by the way?
LoL, he was from Eastern Europe, but I am pretty sure that he was being sarcastic about "all the rounds."
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