Canadian Junior Chess Championship- live broadcast

[Vlad Rekhson]

More pictures

I posted more pictures from the tournament: https://picasaweb.google.com/vrekhso...dianJunior2012

[Jean Hébert]

Re: Canadian Junior Chess Championship- live broadcast

he doesn't play anymore lol, in chess you pretty much have to make it big or not go at all. It's very time consuming and psychologically taxing on the mind

Thank God, we are not counting on you to promote chess.;)

[Jack Qian]

Re: Canadian Junior Chess Championship- live broadcast

It is lucky if i have a brother as you.

[Bindi Cheng]

Re: Canadian Junior Chess Championship- live broadcast

he doesn't play anymore lol, in chess you pretty much have to make it big or not go at all. It's very time consuming and psychologically taxing on the mind

[Terry Chaisson]

Re: Canadian Junior Chess Championship- live broadcast

It's a shame Eric himself didn't play. When I heard that it would be in Calgary this year I expected Eric would play and win, but I guess he must of had other commitments.

David is a surprise winner but his last few tournaments have been quite impressive. Winning the CYCC U16 and winning the Alberta Junior, and doing well at the WYCC. He has certainly improved rapidly over the last year. Maybe he has been training under Eric.

[Jack Qian]

Re: Canadian Junior Chess Championship- live broadcast

Experience? LMFAO... It doesn't matter who has the most experience. It matters if Richard beats Shiyam and Keith and seeing as he's 2300 CFC, he's definitely good enough to do so. Before the tournament I woulda wagered that Loren had the best chance of winning but yes it does look very weak. Nonetheless, it's pretty much a 3-way race.

I hope I didn't sound too condescending, but experience only matters in heads-up matches with the very best players in the world. Everything else hinges heavily on how well they play during the tournament and how lucky they are. Luck is a gigantic factor. Just look at Nakamura's past couple losses. His game today was nothing like his first 6 games where he went 5/6 with a 3000+ performance. He got easily outplayed today with white in a petrov and now it's a close race again.

how about your young brother?

[Normand Arsenault]

Re: Canadian Junior Chess Championship- live broadcast

Congratulations to Mr.David. It seems as though he is following in Mr.Eric's footsteps.

Mr.David's play is very sharp and aggressive; might he be Mr.Eric's prodigy?

[Eric Hansen]

Re: Canadian Junior Chess Championship- live broadcast

The others are "lucky" that he decided not to play in the Canadian Junior.

jejejeje ;)

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: Canadian Junior Chess Championship- live broadcast

The others are "lucky" that he decided not to play in the Canadian Junior.

I have read that he plan to do some missionary work. Is he still away?

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Canadian Junior games file

To view all the tournament games you can visit: http://albertachess.org/12CanJr.html

I had a look. In Mr. Zhang's game I'd have preferred 29. Nxe5.

[Paul Leblanc]

Re: Canadian Junior Chess Championship- live broadcast

I became aware of Loren Laceste when, as a 1900 player he captured clear second in the 2011 Grand Pacific Open, ahead of a GM, IM and several FMs. Then he won the CYCC U18 a few months later and last fall at the Portland, Oregon Centennial Open he tied for first with IMs Georgi Orlov and Bindi Cheng. The others are "lucky" that he decided not to play in the Canadian Junior.

[Jean Hébert]

Re: Canadian Junior Chess Championship- live broadcast

Even though at the end of the day, the luck would even out and be distributed among the players with a significant sample size, when we're talking about 1 tournament, there's significant room for any one player to have a fantastic tournament and another to have a terrible tournament.

Having a "fantastic tournament" or a "terrible tournament" still doesn't sound like "luck" to my ears. What you call "luck" relates to people having good and bad days (or games or tournaments). On that topic of games based on luck or skills, I suggest reading this magnificent book from David Shenk : The Immortal Game, A History of Chess or, How 32 Carved Pieces on a Board Illuminated Our understanding of War, Science and the Human Brain. Got it from Amazon at 15.88, postage included.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Canadian Junior Chess Championship- live broadcast

Chuck's mistakes are skills, yeah? Even the best players made mistakes - some call them blunders some call them luck.

Sometimes players make a habit of choking in important games. I remember such a player from many years ago. He doesn't play anymore.

I suppose choking happens in most sports. Personally, I like watching "Tin Cup" when it's on TV. It deals with the topic in a humourous manner but still comes down to a good player losing to a lessor player in a critical situation.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: Canadian Junior Chess Championship- live broadcast

It has nothing to do with luck and everything to with skill. Playing consistently over the course of a game is a skill, maybe one of the most important ones in chess.

Chuck's mistakes are skills, yeah? Even the best players made mistakes - some call them blunders some call them luck.

[Nicolas Haynes]

Re: Canadian Junior Chess Championship- live broadcast

Bindi,
I don't quite get it. Is that supposed to explain or prove how "luck is a gigantic factor" ? To me, "experience" is certainly a significant part of general chess strenght, even though it is only one component among several others. And generally speaking, experience comes with at least one downside : advancing age. "Luck" on the other hand, the way I understand it regarding chess, is unrelated to chess strenght and more or less evenly spread among equally deserving players. When we say that good players are "lucky", don't we actually say that there is no such thing as "luck" in chess ?

"luck" is a useless word when it comes to chess. People use it to discount their own shortcomings. Another common use is when players don't understand why someone blundered. For example, they might say that they got unlucky when they blundered or their opponent was lucky that they blundered.

That's not really the case though, luck has nothing to do with mistakes in chess. Absolutely nothing. People seem to forget that consistency is part of the game, at every level, and sometimes players who otherwise play well, make bad moves. It has nothing to do with luck and everything to with skill. Playing consistently over the course of a game is a skill, maybe one of the most important ones in chess.

It makes no sense to talk to attribute blunders to luck, that is a completely destructive attitude, why bother learning if you can't control luck? On the other hand if you take the approach that consistency is part of the game, and work to improve it, then you will improve you play. Or you can talk about luck all you want, and see how much that will improve your chess.