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The press centre was closed when I reached it, so I am posting from the hotel. Tonite I need 7 hours of sleep! The rest day tomorrow will be a very heavy day of FIDE stuff. It is hard to believe that this marathon is almost finished...
The money office was closed by the time I reached it last night. Today I heard from several Arbiters that they were under paid due to the surcharge that applies to single rooms. For one reason or another some double room bookings did not happen and those Arbiters got a single room without asking for one. The organizers withheld the 250 euro surcharge nonetheless. The tournament hall may lose a few clocks or even DGT boards if a solution isn’t found. I stayed for 3 nights on my dime with the Canadians at the Bellevue before moving to the Ibis so they agreed to waive the premium. I was happy with that.
The Norway reception ended when I thought it was supposed to start – I still mess up sometimes with the 24 hour clock. I read 20:00h as 10pm but of course it is really 8pm. By 10 pm there were still plenty of pretzel sticks and some wine. I met David Heiser and his wife Sheila at the reception. They are gunning for the 2016 Olympiad in Chicago as part of a larger bid for the Olympic games. The Chess Olympiad will not die if the Olympic bid fails. They are quite well connected and also active chess people in Chicago.
I enjoyed a good chat with Carol Jarecki there as well. We were discussing the performance of some of our colleagues. I told her that there are many Arbiters who know the rules better than I do but they get into trouble because they can’t deal with people. “It’s good to meet someone else from the same school” she replied.
When the wine was gone I returned to the Piano Bar where Ignatious was sipping a coffee. He had some good advice about the upcoming T-K match, where we will work together again. Review the contracts for the last two matches along with this one, and read the Arbiters’ reports. Soon Morten Sands and Nigel Freeman joined us. The bar snacks weren’t doing it for me so Morten mentioned that the Norway group was holding a private party in the Presidential suite on the 8th floor. The problem is that you need a special key for the elevator to go to the 8th floor. “Good luck Mr. Bond, let’s see what you can do.” I went to the 7th floor planning to take the stairs. The person with me warned about being locked in the staircase. I used my 2 shoes to keep 2 doors open while I tested the final entry door on the 8th. It was open of course. The Norwegians are a fun bunch. They had a guitar and we butchered some Beatles tunes as time flew by. I got back to bed at 3am again. Up at 8:00 for FIDE.
The round today was fine. I had a single match in middle earth. England beat Wales 3.5 - .5 and it was the final game that had the Arbiting issues. First the English player made an illegal move. Perfect! I know what to do and how to do it! On the first day I had a similar claim but I wasn’t practiced enough with the DGT clock to add the requisite 2 minutes so a colleague showed me the way. Today I could flaunt my new found expertise. One player was facing a mate in one so she was checking the exposed king with her Queen continuously. She then asked if she could claim a draw due to lack of progress. No. Next I noticed she was writing her moves in advance – also illegal. I remember Diane Mongeau playing in Greece back in the 80’ when the practice was legal. Her opponent wrote down her move. Diane saw it and recorded it along with her reply. Her opponent saw Diane’s move and changed her mind!
The Nigerian baby announced most clearly to the entire hall that it was time for her dinner. Carol went over to instruct the player to take the baby out of the hall. This wasn’t her section so the match arbiter told her to back off because he was handling the situation(badly). The baby finally settled down for the most part but today was the most disruptive – two small outbursts and then the chorus.
Prior to the round today the Turks held a reception for the FIDE Delegates. Tonite it’s Montenegro’s turn.
The money office was closed by the time I reached it last night. Today I heard from several Arbiters that they were under paid due to the surcharge that applies to single rooms. For one reason or another some double room bookings did not happen and those Arbiters got a single room without asking for one. The organizers withheld the 250 euro surcharge nonetheless. The tournament hall may lose a few clocks or even DGT boards if a solution isn’t found. I stayed for 3 nights on my dime with the Canadians at the Bellevue before moving to the Ibis so they agreed to waive the premium. I was happy with that.
The Norway reception ended when I thought it was supposed to start – I still mess up sometimes with the 24 hour clock. I read 20:00h as 10pm but of course it is really 8pm. By 10 pm there were still plenty of pretzel sticks and some wine. I met David Heiser and his wife Sheila at the reception. They are gunning for the 2016 Olympiad in Chicago as part of a larger bid for the Olympic games. The Chess Olympiad will not die if the Olympic bid fails. They are quite well connected and also active chess people in Chicago.
I enjoyed a good chat with Carol Jarecki there as well. We were discussing the performance of some of our colleagues. I told her that there are many Arbiters who know the rules better than I do but they get into trouble because they can’t deal with people. “It’s good to meet someone else from the same school” she replied.
When the wine was gone I returned to the Piano Bar where Ignatious was sipping a coffee. He had some good advice about the upcoming T-K match, where we will work together again. Review the contracts for the last two matches along with this one, and read the Arbiters’ reports. Soon Morten Sands and Nigel Freeman joined us. The bar snacks weren’t doing it for me so Morten mentioned that the Norway group was holding a private party in the Presidential suite on the 8th floor. The problem is that you need a special key for the elevator to go to the 8th floor. “Good luck Mr. Bond, let’s see what you can do.” I went to the 7th floor planning to take the stairs. The person with me warned about being locked in the staircase. I used my 2 shoes to keep 2 doors open while I tested the final entry door on the 8th. It was open of course. The Norwegians are a fun bunch. They had a guitar and we butchered some Beatles tunes as time flew by. I got back to bed at 3am again. Up at 8:00 for FIDE.
The round today was fine. I had a single match in middle earth. England beat Wales 3.5 - .5 and it was the final game that had the Arbiting issues. First the English player made an illegal move. Perfect! I know what to do and how to do it! On the first day I had a similar claim but I wasn’t practiced enough with the DGT clock to add the requisite 2 minutes so a colleague showed me the way. Today I could flaunt my new found expertise. One player was facing a mate in one so she was checking the exposed king with her Queen continuously. She then asked if she could claim a draw due to lack of progress. No. Next I noticed she was writing her moves in advance – also illegal. I remember Diane Mongeau playing in Greece back in the 80’ when the practice was legal. Her opponent wrote down her move. Diane saw it and recorded it along with her reply. Her opponent saw Diane’s move and changed her mind!
The Nigerian baby announced most clearly to the entire hall that it was time for her dinner. Carol went over to instruct the player to take the baby out of the hall. This wasn’t her section so the match arbiter told her to back off because he was handling the situation(badly). The baby finally settled down for the most part but today was the most disruptive – two small outbursts and then the chorus.
Prior to the round today the Turks held a reception for the FIDE Delegates. Tonite it’s Montenegro’s turn.