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Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
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---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
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I mentioned to both Mario and you at previous Canadian Opens
how much I've enjoyed your blog! It has a wonderfully ambient
charm, and if anything, I regret that Mario and you are not foodies!
A coupla hot-dogs here, cereal or a Molson there, bah!....Ah, you guys
should be feasting over morning analysis on a chess-buffet of Caissa's
finest brekkie offerings - fragrant juices, blueberries 'n cereal, bangers n
mash, hash browns, the sizzle of rashers and yolks swirling in the air!
As for dinner.....:-) Seriously though your blog is delightfully atmospheric
and if you could colour the action with sexy sacs, rampant rooks, kamikaze
queens (okay, I borrowed that from Murray Chandler:-), it would so zing!
Thanks again Bob, for making the time to keep us enthralled!
Francis
Would it help if I started mentioning the bakeries, restaurants with fresh bread, fresh seafood, Greek salads, feta cheese, fish soup, fried zuccini, gyros, souvlaki, lamb ribs, mousaka etc etc etc in Paleochora?
Re: TIO -U 1900 - Day 2, Monday, July 16 – Rd. 3 - Part II
Hi Eric:
Thx for the positive feedback!
As I've said previously, some think you shouldn't encourage me! I'll become insufferable LOL.
On a more serious note, I am providing sort of extensive details in hopes of making it more interesting. A second reason, is that I am reposting this on our CCC Facebook discussion page, where we have 525 " Likes " ( our peak membership so far ) from all over the world. I'm hoping that it is interesting to them, somewhat, how we Canadians go about our normal lives, worked into an interesting chess setting.
If you have any comments yourself on any of my thoughts, please feel free to post in the thread! Love to get feedback - good, bad, indifferent. It will make the blog even more interesting to readers.
Lastly, a huge " Congratulations " for your stellar win at the Canadian Open - I've got a nice picture of you on the first page of our Scarborough Chess Club Newsletter, with your game againt Leon, annotated, as my lead article. Keep up the good chess!
Re: TIO -U 1900 - Day 2, Monday, July 16 – Rd. 3 - Part II
Hi Daniel:
Welcome to " the blog "!!
I thoroughly enjoyed playing our game, despite the loss. And it was a real treat doing our analysis post-mortem. I agree the game is interesting against that guy, whoever he is, and I hope to finish my analysis today, and post it on Chess5, for those interested in what Canadian GM Bator Sambuev found so interesting, along with us.
What can Mario and I say - some chess players are just " lowbrows " !! Maybe we will raise the bar a notch one late afternoon by heading out to Swiss Chalet - how does that work for you???
Wish I could play " sexy sacs, rampant rooks, kamikaze queens "!! I'll see what I can do in Rd. 4 to entertain you!
Thanks for helping make " the blog " more entertaining.
Could you send a " care package " to Mario and I with some of that delicious-sounding stuff?? It seems Mario and I need to vary our diet more, according to some sources, who shall remain nameless!
One of the advantages of the tournament site at the Annex Club is the proximity of many culturally-diverse eating establishments in the Bloor-Bathurst area. Before round 3 I had a delicious vegetable plate at a small Middle-Eastern take out place (followed by a more conventional coffee & chocolate brownie at Starbucks across the street).
Could you send a " care package " to Mario and I with some of that delicious-sounding stuff?? It seems Mario and I need to vary our diet more, according to some sources, who shall remain nameless!
Bob
In this weather I don't think it will make it and they make you throw everything out at the airport in Toronto on fear of a big fine. I don't get back until January 10th. I'll tell you what I can do though is have a gyro in your name.
Or you could just bust a move and get yourself to the Danforth :)
I rememer in Pierre Berton's excellent book 1967 about Canada's centennial a woman was divorcing her husband under the very different divorce laws back then. The moment she realized they were incompatible was apparently when they went to one of those new things called a Chinese restaurant in Toronto and he ordered a ham sandwich only.
One of the advantages of the tournament site at the Annex Club is the proximity of many culturally-diverse eating establishments in the Bloor-Bathurst area. Before round 3 I had a delicious vegetable plate at a small Middle-Eastern take out place (followed by a more conventional coffee & chocolate brownie at Starbucks across the street).
I walked for lunch today, headed east along Bloor from Bathurst. I thought my bald head was roasting, then stumbled across free samples of what seems to be a new Starbucks drink. It is cold clear "green coffee", flavoured, and apparently jacked with caffeine! It was very refreshing, and I recommend it for anyone before their game!
Over the last few days, we're learning more about how to run a full Great Hall, and the temperature in there right now is already 1.5 degrees cooler than even later yesterday evening. We have all lights off, and the exhaust system on max, and will leave it like that until just a few moments before the round starts. Please do not adjust any table positions, as they have been placed to benefit from the lights that will only be turned on at the last minute. I hope that we are all physically more comfortable tonight! :)
TIO – U 1900 Blog – Day 3, Tuesday, July 17 – Rd. 4 - Part I
TIO – U 1900 Blog – Day 3, Tuesday, July 17 – Rd. 4. - Part I
Wee Hours of the Morning
From 12:00 AM, I did some chess volunteer work, and finished my Day 2 Blog, and posted it on ChessTalk, and the Cooperative Chess Coalition ( CCC ) Facebook chess discussion board, “ CCC – Chess Posts of Interest “. Then I set up the template for this Day 3 draft blog, and pasted in some of the historical information. I finished that about 2:30 AM. I had intended to finish the analysis of my Rd. 1 game ( it’s almost done ), and post it on Chess5, but found I was a bit tired by then – must be getting old!!. So I just up and went to bed.
The U 1900 Favourites – How the 9 1800’s Are Faring After 3 Rounds
Chen, Richard 1880 – 1 ½ Romero Alfonso, Carlos 1864 – 2 ½ Finlay, Ian 1859 - 2 Zhong, Joey 1847 - 2 Preotu, Rene 1838 - 1 Xu, Jeffrey 1832 - 2 Oganesyan, Hayk 1829 - 2 Chidley-Hill, John 1827 - 2 Coren, Daniel 1821 – 1 ½
The Current Leaders After 3 Rounds
1/3 – 3 pts. Zotkin, Daniel 1784 - junior ( member of my Scarborough Chess Club ) Yu, Patrick1781 - junior Oliveira, Rodrigo 1748
4 – 2 ½ pts. Romero Alfonso, Carlos 1864
Rd. 4 Leaders’ Pairings
Zotkin, Daniel 1784 ( 3 ) – Oliveira, Rodrigo 1748 ( 3 ) Zhong, Joey 1847 ( 2 ) – Romero Alfonso, Carlos 1864 ( 2 ½ )
Note: Co-leader, Patrick Yu ( 1781 ) took a bye in Rd. 4 .
My Games from Prior Rounds
( Because new readers come to the blog from time to time, I want them to have the following information, and so I am repeating the template of it each day – I’d ask the daily readers of the blog to tolerate the repetition )
As I’ve said in prior blogs, I like to think “ class “ games have some interest. I believe in some ways they are more educational to class players than GM games, if properly annotated. They are understandable, because we all think similarly – GM moves are many times incomprehensible to us class players. For years now, I’ve used a chess website, Chess5 ( http://www.chess5.com ), as my own personal chess games blog – I have gotten to know the owner/administrator Eydun, quite well over the years. I introduced Canada to his website, after I first saw it. Canada is now one of the main posters to this on-line databank. I post all my games, using what I call my “ Comprehensive Game Annotation System ( CGAS ) “, hoping that this makes them even more helpful to viewers. Click on the heading link “ public games “. and you get a list of games posted this month so far, including mine from this Open.
So this afternoon on the website. I posted my Rd. 1 round loss to Steve Nickoloff It is interesting in that I have a one-move mate at the end…But he mates first! The game is not dramatic, but is worth a look. I’ve already been getting some feedback on the game on the Facebook board.
Later in the Morning of Day 3, July 17
True to my “ tournament sleeping schedule “, I just woke up at 7:30 AM! A healthy and long 5 hrs. sleep – but I seem to survive. So I got my morning Java and went to see if Robo was awake. So together we caught up on some of my chess stuff, and responded to some positive and entertaining blog responses from new Canadian Open Champion, IM Eric Hansen, Toronto Strategy Games ( Chess ‘n Math Association ) Manager, Francis Rodrigues, and Jerry Kitich, off studying in France, and currently on a “ professional “ chess playing outing in Greece, and maybe some other, European countries.
At 8:30 AM I heard Mario down getting his morning wake-up coffee and went down to say “ Hi “. Mario had put Fritz on “ full analysis “ overnight, to see what it had to say about his Rd. 3 game with junior Kevin Yie, before he fell into a nice little tactical trap Kevin had set for him. Mario’s game up to then looked pretty good to my “ patzer “ eyes. So Mario went down to see what he could “ learn “. I then got dressed, had some cold cereal ( Francis??? ), and prepared to go get an oil change in my wife’s car ( we were 2,000 km over the due date, since we’ve been scurrying back and forth to our Meaford farm so much in the last month – just too busy when we were here in Toronto for such short periods ), and to go see my lawyer to get some papers. I was about to leave when Mario surfaced, and said Fritz had found a fascinating exchange sac for him that it said was best ( it also said Mario had had a slight advantage off and on during the game, ‘til his blunder ) in his Rd. 2 game with Kevin. . So we sat down ( we just leave the chess board on the dining room table and eat around it ) and reviewed it for a while. I left at about 9:45 AM – don’t want to be too late getting out and back: " Another blast of furnace-like heat is set to envelop the Greater Toronto Area on Tuesday — with the high expected to reach a blistering 37 C. " This would be a new record for 2012! – no air conditioning in the car ( sigh ) – don’t want to fix it, because we’re hoping to get a newer one imminently. In fact, my mechanic, who always takes a once over look at my car whenever I bring it in for whatever, found that I had a broken front left suspension coil. But when I told him I was getting rid of the car soon, he said it was safe to drive for the next while – I might notice bumps a bit, but otherwise it should be fine.
I got back at 1:00 PM. Mario had left about 11:00 AM to go to a doctor’s appointment, and so we were going to meet up at the playing hall before Rd. 4 tonight. I noticed that Mario had kindly adopted the kitchen role of dishwasher!
The Afternoon
I then went to check on some of my non-tournament chess stuff, and then added some material to today’s blog. Then I posted on Chess5 my Rd. 1 game as mentioned above ( I’d finally finished analyzing it ). Then I started entering/analyzing my Rd. 2 win against Peter McNelly. At 4:00 PM, I decided I was a bit hungry, and so went down to make a couple of hot dogs for dinner ( skipping the beer this time – I can’t risk lowering my skill level before Rd. 4! ). I called my wife, hiding out from my chess at our family farm, but her sister, who lives in Meaford as well, and a mutual friend from Pickering, were visiting, so we said we’d try and talk tomorrow. Of course, by then, I’m going to be able to crow about being at 50% ( maybe ). I continued to do the McNelly game ‘til 5:00 PM.
Off to Battle!
At 5:00 PM, I headed out for our fabulous TTC to get me to Bathurst Subway Station. Got there in time to go get my now traditional large coffee at the Green Beanery on the corner of Bloor/Bathurst.
Pre-Rd. 4
I got to the playing hall about 15 min. before the round, and chatted briefly with a few friends: Bill Evans and I canvassed again how we had analyzed the critical position in my Rd. 3 game with Daniel Coren; Jack Maguire and I reminisced about better times when my rating was briefly in the 1900’s ( I’m now 1645, having fallen from 1819 in January 2011 ); Ken Kurkowski and Doug Gillis ( both Scarborough CC’ers ) and I reviewed how they had been doing in the U 1600 section. Mario and I ended up playing side by side for Rd. 4..
Rd. 4 Results in U 1900 ( Top Boards )
Zotkin, Daniel 1784 ( 3 ) 0 – 1Oliveira, Rodrigo 1748 ( 3 ) Zhong, Joey 1847 ( 2 ) 0 – 1Romero Alfonso, Carlos 1864 ( 2 ½ )
My Rd. 4 Game/Result
In Rd. 4, I played black against Scarborough CC ( my club ) junior, Eric Wang ( 1724 ), who defeated me in our last club encounter.. I lost, leaving me with 1/4 pts. ( 25 % - well below my pre-tournament goal to exceed 40% ). This game was a strange one for me – I generally work very hard at my games ( though I often get the wrong answers ) – but in this one, I consciously decided to take an easy play, and not worry about analyzing his possible counter-play – “ laziness “ is not something that grabs me very often in chess, but it did tonight. And I paid the price, as Eric took full advantage of my sloppiness.
Standings in U 1900 After 4 Rounds
1st – 4 pts. ( won all games ) - Oliveira, Rodrigo 1748
2/3 – 3 ½ pts. Romero Alfonso, Carlos – 1864 Yu, Patrick – 1781 ( junior )
Note that finally, one of the 1800’s ( the “ favourites “ ) has now climbed back up into the top three.
Post Rd. 4
Mario won his game, shortly after I had finished, and we walked around and looked at numbers of games that were still continuing in all four sections. The last game concluded at about 10:15 PM.
Re: TIO – U 1900 Blog – Day 3, Tuesday, July 17 – Rd. 4 - Part II
Continued from Part I above:
Heading Home
TTC got us home about 11:00 PM.
Late Hours of the Day 3
Though we usually fix a midnight light meal when we get home, tonight I was not too hungry – though I did grab a beer, and a couple of brownies ( my wife had kindly made up a batch for Mario and I prior to the tournament – I asked Mario what his secret was, ‘cause I don’t get this kind of treatment normally! LOL ). Mario had taken Francis Rodrigues’ advice on ChessTalk ( he posted in the blog ) to heart, and ventured for late lunch into a Korean Falafel restaurant in the Dufferin /St. Clair area, after his doctor’s appointment. This did not work out as Francis had advised! – Mario had a bad stomach after the lunch, and was still feeling it when we got home, and didn’t want any solid food ( though he did partake of some liquid refreshment with me – not good to drink alone! ). We then analyzed my round 4 game with Eric, to see if there was any chance of my preventing being blown off the board, had I been willing to do a bit of work. The answer – unclear. We’ll wait for Fritz to help us. Eric’s position is quite strong, it seems. So we packed it in at 11:30 PM.
I went upstairs and caught up on some of my chess stuff ‘til about 1:00 AM, and then proceeded to finish this Day 3 blog, and post it ( ChessTalk; CCC – Chess Post of Interest – on Facebook ). Then, since I really wasn’t feeling too tired ( why would I with the way I worked last night ? ), I continued analyzing my Rd. 2 game with Peter McNelly. I intended to go to bed around 2:30 AM.
Some Random Thoughts After Day 3
1. How Time Flies!: We all know the saying: “ Time flies when you are having fun! “. Well it is very hard to believe that we are already at the half way point – finished 3 of 6 days. I have thoroughly enjoyed playing, despite some losses, and have been busy all of each and every day. And the blog helps hurry time along, as I post to my draft throughout the day, so it is partially done by the time I complete it late in the evening. I fully expect that the second half will go even quicker, and I’ll be saying: Finished Already??
2. Value of GM’s/IM’s – Though Ted Winick has said he was not trying to achieve a major Canadian tournament, but maybe an “ enhanced local one “, he has done well on the elite side: 3 GM’s, one of whom is in the mid-2600’s FIDE, and one who is current Canadian Champion, and 4 IM’s, one of whom is a former Canadian Champion. It is great to have these elite players come out – it does add some interest at the top, and they do, to some extent, help in drawing lower-rated players to the tournament, as the top players do give it “ prestige “. Good luck to all the elite participants in the Crown Section.
The Leaders Rd. 5 Pairings
Oliveira, Rodrigo 1748 ( 4 ) - Yu, Patrick 1781 ( 3 ½ ) Romero Alfonso, Carlos 1864 – second seed! ( 3 ½ ) - Xu, Jeffrey 1832 ( 3 )
Invitation
Finally, I'd like again to invite everyone to join into the discussion - any comments, suggestions, questions, criticisms of the blog are welcome - and of anything to do with the Toronto International Open. I will try to respond where it seems appropriate. Again, I’d also like to thank all those chess players I know, who have encouraged me to keep doing this “ class “ blog this year, and given me such wonderful, positive feedback – a number of people spoke to me about it in the hall Tuesday night. It is fun to do, and this makes it even more worthwhile to do – if people find it interesting, and somewhat entertaining. I’d note that on ChessTalk, the thread views have now doubled from Monday night, to over 1,000 views, before I even posted this Day 3 Blog! Thanks again everyone.
My comment would be whether it's a good idea to analyze your games during a tournament or not. I do some brief analysis and usually input the game into Fritz but don't do too much more than that. I think there might be something to be said about conserving your energy during the tournament and analyzing later.
Good point - there can be too much of a good thing. Maybe doing heavy analysis of your games between rounds makes you go a bit stale? How do others feel about this? Do you analyze your games and go over them before the next round?
Good point - there can be too much of a good thing. Maybe doing heavy analysis of your games between rounds makes you go a bit stale? How do others feel about this? Do you analyze your games and go over them before the next round?
Just go through the game with your opponent after the game. At home check theoretical lines and put on hold it.
Prepare for the next opponent.
I'm with Zeljko on this- after a game I don't mind a post mortem with my opponent if the game was a good, interesting battle. And I'll wander around the tournament hall checking out some of the endgames before leaving for home. But once I get there, I usually like to 'decompress', chat with my wife, and do non-chess things. The next day, after my usual 8 or so hrs of sleep (interesting article in today's paper on the importance of sleep to athletes and how some of our Olympians don't always get enough - applies to mind sports too, I would assume), I might go over a few opening lines (not in great depth though), especially if I know who I'm paired with and what they like to play.
Good point - there can be too much of a good thing. Maybe doing heavy analysis of your games between rounds makes you go a bit stale? How do others feel about this? Do you analyze your games and go over them before the next round?
Bob
I will usually have a look with my opponent after the game if we mutually feel it would be beneficial, but sometimes that doesnt even happen. I go home, check the game for mistakes and improvements with the computer, and then forget about it until after the tournament. I don't think there is anything you can harness that would be more valuable than things like sleep, preparing for your next opponent, and watching every single Suits episode on repeat.
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