Pictures from the 2012 Superfest

[Larry Bevand]

Thanks to Véronique Le Gallo for providing these pictures which she took at Le Chantecler at the event:

https://picasaweb.google.com/108351379317666866445/SuperfestAEM?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmcpMjGnZuGeA#slideshow/5777751030722456530

Larry

[Aman Hambleton]

Re: Pictures from the 2012 Superfest

Thanks to Véronique Le Gallo for providing these pictures which she took at Le Chantecler at the event:

https://picasaweb.google.com/108351379317666866445/SuperfestAEM?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmcpMjGnZuGeA#slideshow/5777751030722456530

Larry

Some high quality pictures, and a nice looking event Larry! I wish it did not overlap with this year's WJCC or I could have participated :)

[Aris Marghetis]

Re: Pictures from the 2012 Superfest

Thanks for the memories Larry, I think these pictures do at least some justice to just how nice the playing room was! I hope you are planning 2013! Was my prize mailed?!

[Larry Bevand]

Re: Pictures from the 2012 Superfest

Thanks for the memories Larry, I think these pictures do at least some justice to just how nice the playing room was! I hope you are planning 2013! Was my prize mailed?!

Hi Aris,

Thanks for taking part!

I will be meeting with my executive on Sept. 4 and that is one of the topics to be discussed. I would certainly like to but we have to make the finances work better.

Yes your cheque was mailed but I will only deposit funds in our account to cover it when you get back from Turkey LOL....no need lending money to the bank for nothing :)

I hope you are having fun and that you actually take time afterwards to visit that incredible country!

Larry

[Aris Marghetis]

Re: Pictures from the 2012 Superfest

Hi Aris,

Thanks for taking part!

I will be meeting with my executive on Sept. 4 and that is one of the topics to be discussed. I would certainly like to but we have to make the finances work better.

Yes your cheque was mailed but I will only deposit funds in our account to cover it when you get back from Turkey LOL....no need lending money to the bank for nothing :)

I hope you are having fun and that you actually take time afterwards to visit that incredible country!

Larry

LOL about the banking! :) No problem, feel free to even email me some time after September 10th when it is OK to cash it. As for Turkey, today was the first day where I felt really good! I finally got over the jet lag fully, to the point that I could make it down to breakfast, and spent most of the rest of the morning on an open-roof terrasse-bar! Some of the people here from warmer climes found it a bit cool today, but being a Canadian, I found it magically perfect, tissue-warming sunny with a light refreshing breeze! Even the food tasted better today! :) Also walked around the area of the hotel a bit, and this is a wonderful part of Istanbul. I guess there must be less attractive areas in a mega-city of 17 million(?!) but all I have seen so far is heavily-flowered great-sightlines old-world-modern melding, a beautiful place!

My fledgling Turkish also improved a lot today, as I started grasping some of the root words within compound expressions like good morning-afternoon-evening-night, etc. I find speed-learning a completely unfamiliar language to be a lot of fun, and all the Turkish people I have met so far are tremendously friendly, and very supportive in helping me improve pronunciations, etc. I originally thought that I would have to write everything down, as I seem to remember written things better than aural things, but something is clicking today, I guess with the language immersion! ;)

I also really enjoyed tonight's round. I was back to Match 5, which was England vs. Cuba. I speak a little (OK, very little, lol) Spanish, but it was enough to break the ice with the Cuban team when I introduced myself. I also spent some time chatting with England's 3rd board GM Nigel Short. Even though I have met him many times before, it never ceases to impress me just how classy and gracious he is. Like, there were so many people who would approach him for a photo op, and even though you could tell he was thinking about his upcoming game against a fellow GM, he took the time, and dignity, to accommodate every single request. I took some of the pics, and he put a big smile on everyone's face! The games themselves were very tense, which as a Match Arbiter, you get a great feeling for. We are sitting literally against Board 4, and we can follow at least Boards 3 & 4 without getting up. All of the games in this match were interesting, and in different ways. For his part, I thought that Nigel did a splendid job being patient, and slowly but surely take advantage of structural weaknesses that he had previously induced. I was also impressed with how he seemed quite ready to change plans as it best suited how the game was changing. If you go over this game, it is kind of neat how his King castles kingside, even hides on h1, then zigzags across the board to a1, then comes all the way back to the kingside again, to support his ruthless knight vs. an impotent bishop. For someone at my level, I found this game instructive in many ways, a free lesson for me, lol! ;)

The only potential hitch for me tonight could have been a potential lack of caffeine! Given the grandeur of the stage, and only having 4 games to arbiter, and the snack bar being several minutes away on foot, I cannot bring myself to ever leave my post! I was mentioning this before games started to women's team member Alexandra Botez, and this was so nice of her, she told Henry Peng, father of team member Jackie, and this was so nice of him, just when I thought I would collapse, he brought me a deliciously cold Turkish Pepsi! Thanks to both of you, I finished strong, lol! :)

After the next two rounds, we have a free day, and I cannot wait to squeeze in as much of the tourist thing as possible! I hear Hal is planning something for us?! ;)

P.S. Larry : Please check out email I sent you before 5pm Tuesday, re B's email, thx!

[Larry Bevand]

Re: Pictures from the 2012 Superfest

Thanks for this awesome report Aris!

When I stayed in Istanbul, I was living near the Blue Mosque...we had a roof-top terrace to enjoy an incredible view of (I think LOL) the Sea of Marmara.

I found the folks in Turkey to be incredibly friendly. I learned (or at least I was told this...and it may not be true but it sounded incredible :) some interesting things :)

Don't leave Turkey before you see the "Land of the Horses". If you do...you missed a golden opportunity!

I will check back on my e-mails.

Larry

[Aris Marghetis]

Re: Pictures from the 2012 Superfest

Thanks for this awesome report Aris!

When I stayed in Istanbul, I was living near the Blue Mosque...we had a roof-top terrace to enjoy an incredible view of (I think LOL) the Sea of Marmara.

I found the folks in Turkey to be incredibly friendly. I learned (or at least I was told this...and it may not be true but it sounded incredible :) some interesting things :)

Don't leave Turkey before you see the "Land of the Horses". If you do...you missed a golden opportunity!

I will check back on my e-mails.

Larry

Larry, I sent the email to the UN-secret account, lol. Please send me your regular email.

Thanks and regards, arismarghetis at rogers dot com

[Christopher Mallon]

Re: Pictures from the 2012 Superfest

I will be meeting with my executive on Sept. 4 and that is one of the topics to be discussed. I would certainly like to but we have to make the finances work better.

Larry,

I might have some suggestions but I guess the key question is do you want to maintain it as a "Weekender+" event (5-6 rounds) or head into the NBIO territory with 9 rounds?

[Larry Bevand]

Re: Pictures from the 2012 Superfest

Larry,

I might have some suggestions but I guess the key question is do you want to maintain it as a "Weekender+" event (5-6 rounds) or head into the NBIO territory with 9 rounds?

Hi Chris,

We would like to make it into a "chess-family vacation" event that's why we were offering 1 round a day so that folks could enjoy the pleace. That said I have no problem combining formats to get both the families and the hard core chessplayer.

Would love to hear your suggestions!

Larry

[Aris Marghetis]

Re: Pictures from the 2012 Superfest

Hi Larry, could you send me Bertrand's email address? The only way to get me in Turkey is
arismarghetis at rogers dot com

Thanks again, and best regards, Aris.

[Christopher Mallon]

Re: Pictures from the 2012 Superfest

Hi Chris,

We would like to make it into a "chess-family vacation" event that's why we were offering 1 round a day so that folks could enjoy the pleace. That said I have no problem combining formats to get both the families and the hard core chessplayer.

Would love to hear your suggestions!

Larry

Well, in that case could you run two side by side events?

You could have a 5-day 1 round per day "Open" (probably single-section although depends on entries), and a .. hmm... 6-day? 1/2 round per day 9-rounder "International" section (Perhaps Over/Under 2200 sections, for norms). 5 of the rounds would end up happening at the same time as the Open, and some of the extra rounds would end up being just one more event for the 5-round players to go to and watch.