Hello from Beijing

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  • Hello from Beijing

    We have completed the first day of Rapid play at the Sport Accord World Mind Games here in Beijing. The Opening Ceremonies took place last night so our first day was only 2 rounds for the men and 2 for the women. The rapid event is a 7 round swiss, held over 3 days. We then move on to a blitz round robin followed by a 7 round blindfold swiss.

    The schedule is extremely tight. I have not even stepped outside since I arrived on the 7th. The atmosphere is pleasant enough so far - everyone seems happy. We hit a few speed bumps yesterday but kept the car on the road.

    We are here with Go, Bridge, Draughts and Chinese Chess. Enjoyed a chat with some Go folks this morning. They have 6 "countries" here, including Europe, playing 5 board matches.

  • #2
    Re: Hello from Beijing

    Wow Hal, congratulations on the very international assignment of all the way to China!

    Just curious, what software are you using? And any other arbiters there I might know?

    All the best !!!

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    • #3
      Re: Hello from Beijing

      Thanks Aris!
      We are using Swiss Manager. Germany's Klaus Deventer is my Deputy. He also worked the European Teams with you. Bob Gibbons of New Zealand and KK Chan of Hong Kong are joined by 5 local IA's who are also excellent.

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      • #4
        Rapid Results

        The Rapid tournament finished last night and provided some interesting results. In the Men's competition, top seeded Ivanchuk finished last with only 2/7. On the Women's side, the lowest seed Alexandra Kosteniuk finished first with 6/7! The medals went like this:

        Men
        1st Hao Wang 5.5; Gold plus $12,000
        2nd Vugar Gashimov 5.0; Silver plus $10,000
        3rd Gata Kamsky 4.5; Bronze plus $9,000

        Women:
        1st Alexandra Kosteniuk 6.0; Gold plus $9,000
        2nd Kateryna Lahno 4.5 (tie break - more victories); Silver plus $7,000
        3rd Nana Dzagnidze 4.5; Bronze plus $7,000 - cash shared within point groups

        Klaus Deventer and I took advantage of the reduced Sunday traffic to visit the Forbidden City yesterday morning. It's a massive visual spectacle. The taxi dropped us off at the north gate, which is strictly an exit. We had to walk around the perimiter to the south entrance. Plenty of walking - no problem getting to sleep last night!

        The Blitz round robin starts today.

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        • #5
          Blitz Results

          If you are following this compeitition online then you will know this already, but I thought the results were pretty cool.

          1. Vachier - Lagrave 12
          2. Grischuk 10.5
          3. Mamedyarov 10

          The Grischuk Mamedyarov game was a hair raiser. The final pawn capture by Black on move 127 in a Q+p ending left Mamedyarov trying to win with his Q and 7th rank rook pawn. On Move 177 Grischuk was in check and his Q en pris, so a trade of Q's would lose quickly. He claimed a 50 move draw. Claim awarded. Mamedyarov was not happy.

          The Women's World Champion took her side of the blitz:

          1. Hou 11.5
          2. Stefanova 9.5 (more victories)
          3. Muzychuk 9.5

          Blindfold started today, with a Beta version of the blindfold software(revised several times during our testing on site, as soon as 30 minutes before the start of the first round) which crashed in round 2 for the Women. We restarted and got thru the first 2 rounds for men and women. Ivanchuk is favoured and leads with 2 points. He has struggled here in the other events, and wept audibly after a late round blitz loss. Go Chukie!

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          • #6
            Re: Blitz Results

            Originally posted by Hal Bond View Post
            If you are following this compeitition online then you will know this already, but I thought the results were pretty cool.

            1. Vachier - Lagrave 12
            2. Grischuk 10.5
            3. Mamedyarov 10

            The Grischuk Mamedyarov game was a hair raiser. The final pawn capture by Black on move 127 in a Q+p ending left Mamedyarov trying to win with his Q and 7th rank rook pawn. On Move 177 Grischuk was in check and his Q en pris, so a trade of Q's would lose quickly. He claimed a 50 move draw. Claim awarded. Mamedyarov was not happy.

            The Women's World Champion took her side of the blitz:

            1. Hou 11.5
            2. Stefanova 9.5 (more victories)
            3. Muzychuk 9.5

            Blindfold started today, with a Beta version of the blindfold software(revised several times during our testing on site, as soon as 30 minutes before the start of the first round) which crashed in round 2 for the Women. We restarted and got thru the first 2 rounds for men and women. Ivanchuk is favoured and leads with 2 points. He has struggled here in the other events, and wept audibly after a late round blitz loss. Go Chukie!
            Interesting report Hal - thanks!

            "wept audibly"??? Wow.

            I'll check when I have a moment, but I wonder if the pgn files are available - I'd especially like to look at the Grischuk-Mamedyarov game...

            [edited later to add: URL for pgn is http://sportaccord2011.fide.com/tourview/show-102.html
            but as of Dec 15 morning, it says 'check back later' under the Men's Blitz games category]
            Last edited by Kerry Liles; Thursday, 15th December, 2011, 12:50 PM. Reason: added URL
            ...Mike Pence: the Lord of the fly.

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            • #7
              Blindfold Results

              Zoltan Almasi topped two other 5 pointers on tie break for Gold in the Men's Blindfold. Vachier-Lagrave took the Silver and Gashimov the Bronze.

              Yifan Hou scored 5.5 to win the Women's event, a full point ahead of Viktorja Cmilyte and Alexandra Kosteniuk.

              So ends this 58 round, 3 event competition. Whew! This was my first Chief Arbitership for FIDE and it kept me awake many a night beforehand, wondering how to deal with situation X or Y. In the end nobody died, no appeals, and the mood afterward was quite festive. I had to forfeit Vallejo -Pons and Ivanchuk for being late on two separate occasions, but they both accepted their fate. Mamedyarov, who was on the receiving end of the most crucial decision I have ever rendered was also the most appreciative afterwards. Some lessons were learned by all parties as we manouvered through this hybrid competiton but overall it was extremely positive. Most of the players wanted to take their name placards as souvenirs. Sport Accord stated at the Closing Banquet that they are most pleased with the World Mind Games Competition and that Beijing will host the 2012 rendition at the same time next year.

              Time to come home!

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              • #8
                Re: Blindfold Results

                Hal, congratulations man! It seems this this was an intense concentrated marathon, and from all accounts, you rocked it as Chief Arbiter! Awesome representing of Canada! Have a safe trip home. I can just imagine you will then sleep halfway through to Christmas! ;)

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