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Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
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I think people are overly concerned with anti-sandbagging rules.
1) People's ratings move around a fair bit, up and down and some people are more erratic than others. That should not be penalized.
In general, chess prizes tend to reward erratic players. If Player X has a rating that is relatively stable between 1900 and 2000, while Player Y has a rating that bounces around between 1750 and 2000, you can be pretty sure Y is going to win more prize money in his lifetime. Same with making norms. Since you need only three norms, a person with big variance in their play is going to have a better chance than an equally-skilled low-variance player at making those norms.
I think it is a reasonable strategy for players to embrace variance, at least if they are willing to accept the relatively wide swings in their results. I am not, however, suggesting they sandbag to do that.
"Tom is a well known racist, and like most of them he won't admit it, possibly even to himself." - Ed Seedhouse, October 4, 2020.
The “Day Prior” – Friday, July 12 (Blog # 2) - Pt. I: 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog.
The “Day Prior” – Friday, July 12 (Blog # 2)- Pt. I
Introduction
Well, the biggest annual Canadian chess tournament, the Canadian Open, snuck up on me pretty fast this year. At my Scarborough Chess Club in Toronto, our last tournament went right down to June 27 (my club closes for July & August) – and presto, it’s back into the fray!
The CO starts today, July 13, the day I am posting this Blog # 2 in the wee hours of Sat. AM. It is in Ottawa, with Rd. 1 at 4:30 PM. As many of you know, I have again decided to do a “Canadian Open U 1600 Blog”. I did my first Introductory Blog (# 1) on Thursday, July 11.
A Problem on the Day Prior to the Tournament
But here I am, on the day immediately prior to the tournament, faced with an immediate problem - for the last 3 years, my rating has been in a slow and steady slide July 2012 -1800; July 2011 – 1744; July 2012 – 1649; July 2013 – 1590 ( old age? Already? I’m only 68 this month). So currently I stand at 1590 (FIDE – 1581). Now normally, then, I would this year be playing for the U 1600 prize. And it is on this basis that I have named this blog: “The Canadian Open U 1600 Blog”.
But at this point, I have not yet been able to clarify this.
The reason is given on the CO website. On the prizes page, this notice appears:
Issues to settle about Prizes:
Anti-sandbagging policy from the 2009 CO, which was also contested in one Open section:
*Each participant can claim only one prize.
If you are more than 200 points below your highest rating, then you will only be eligible for the class prize 200 points below your highest rating. For example, if your highest rating ever was 2250, but you are now rated 1990, you are eligible for the Top <2200 prize, but NOT the Top <2000 prize.
"Highest rating" includes CFC and FIDE ratings. For Americans, "highest rating" includes your USCF, CFC and FIDE ratings.
This is clear, but not necessarily fair to those whose ratings have dropped for natural, non-sandbagging, reasons. – JK Upper (my editing).
This affects me.
I have a number of years ago now, had a peak rating of 1911 (in 2001 – 12 years ago!). So, using the 200 point formula above, my prize section is determined by my new sandbagging formula rating of 1711. Thus I would be playing for the U 1800 prize, not the U 1600 prize which would be according to my current 1590 rating.
However, if there is some recent time frame within which the peak rating is to be determined, then I may or may not be in one section or the other. I posted on this CMA Chesstalk in the week prior to the tournament:
“If it was the peak rating in the last two years that was to be used to determine "sandbagging", mine would be 1740 [should have been 1744](giving a formula rating of 1540) and I'd be able to play in the U 1600 prize section, where, unfortunately, I believe I now belong.
However, if it was a peak rating in the last three years, mine would be 1800, and so this time the formula would put me at 1600! I'd be unable to play in the U 1600 prize section. I'd have become a "sand-bagger"! (ouch).
So the decision by the 2 CO TD's will affect my section, depending on what they decide.”
I had been in communication with the CO Website Administrator, John Upper, on this issue, since I wasn’t sure to whom I should be addressing it. He said he wasn’t dealing with it, but expected it would be the two TD’s, Danny Goldenberg and Halldor Palsson. He said he would direct my concern to them. I asked for their e-mails so I could follow up myself with them, but John didn’t provide them. But I already had Halldor’s e-mail, and on receiving notice of an interim one currently, I did send off my concerns directly to him on Friday afternoon, late.
John did opine however that any anti-sandbagging rule should not capture someone like me! He even noted that some of the members of the CO Organizing Committee were in the same situation as me!
Later in the week I posted here as follows:
“My real concern, though it is admittedly … minor, is that I soon start my annual Canadian Open U 1xxx Blog here on Chesstalk. I blog about the prize group I'm in, who are the favourites, who is leading each round, etc.. It is coverage of a lower section that never gets any notice.
But is my first Blog:
The Canadian Open U 1600 Blog (if there is no rule, or the time frame is 2 years)?
or
The Canadian Open U 1800 Blog (if there is a rule with a 3 or more year time frame)?
Obviously this is a critical issue to my fan base (if any??).
(I'm not really so concerned about which prize I'm playing for, in fact. It's one big swiss, and I'll just go all out in every game, whether the opponent is higher or lower rated - and let the prize chips fall where they may).”
But as of the publishing of this blog # 2 shortly after midnight on Sat., July 13, I have not yet received a definitive reply from any TD nor organizer. And the tournament starts in 16 hours. Seems like it is getting a bit late for this important matter to still be up in the air!
The Blog for the Time Being
So, for the moment, I’ll assume the reasonable scenario, and assume I’m in the U 1600 Prize Section.
Now this may not be so good. As we all know, lurking in the sub-waters of the U 1600 Prize Section, are those junior sharks, rated below 1500, and playing well above that (their ratings increase has not kept up with their strength increase). So the U 1600 may have high 1500’s favourites, like me (amazingly enough I’m second rated in this prize section), but the likelihood of a dark horse junior winner looms large.
My Prior CO’s/TIO
I have to say, that I have thoroughly enjoyed my “ chess holiday “ my recent prior six consecutive CO outings (unfortunately I had to miss the 2012 CO in BC, but I did play in the Toronto International that summer) – lots of chess, good socializing, doing some touristy things, and getting some R&R between rounds.
Speaking about “ chess “, how did I do in this prior seven years. Well, I did a little digging, and this is what I’ve been able to come up with - here is my prior 6 CO’s/ 1 TIO history:
1. 2006 – Kitchener – Sections - Played in the U 2000 Section ( 1999 to 1600 ) – rated 1711 – finished with 5/9 ( slightly over 50 % ), tied # 21 - # 30 out of 81 players; performance rating of 1832.
2. 2007 – Ottawa – One Section Swiss ( with hyper-accelerated pairings ) - Was in the U 1800 Class Prize group ( 1999 to 1800 ) – rated 1746 – finished with 5.5/9 ( over 50 % ), tied # 73 - # 113 out of 280 players. Shared a Class Prize – tied for # 3 - # 15 ( the split meant a very modest payoff ! ) – performance rating of 1928.
3. 2008 – Montreal – Sections - Played up a section in the U 2000 Section ( 1999 to 1800 ) – rated 1783 – finished with 6.5/9 ( 72 % ), tied # 4 - # 8 out of 77 players. Shared some prize money ( again, rather modest due to split ) – performance rating of 1940.
4. 2009 – Edmonton – One Section Swiss ( no acceleration ) - Was in the U 2000 Class Prize Group ( 1999 to 1800 ) – rated 1831 – finished with 4/9 ( slightly under 50 % ), tied # 110 - # 139, out of 203 players; in my class I finished tied # 30 – # 40 out of 48 players – performance rating of 1797.
5. 2010 – Toronto – One Section Swiss ( hyper-accelerated pairings ) - Was in the U 2000 Class Prize Group ( 1999 to 1800 ) – rated 1800 ( ranked last of 56 ! ) – finished with 4.5/9 ( 50 % ), tied # 111 - # 150, out of 265 players; in my class, I finished tied # 25 - # 44 out of 56 players – performance rating of 1829.
6. 2011 – Toronto – Sections – Played in U 2000 section ( to 1600) – rated 1744 - 76 players & I was ranked # 27 – finished # 20/31, with 5/9 pts. – had a TPR of 1690, and lost 19 rating points.
7. 2012 – Toronto International – Sections – Played in the U 1900 section (to 1600) – rated 1645 – 34 players and I was ranked second-last – finished # 23/26, with 2.5/7 pts. – TPR of 1629 – lost 3 rating points.
Expectations for the 2013 CO
- I am shooting for a tournament performance rating in the 1700’s (which I haven’t achieved since May 2012!)
- I am shooting to bring my rating back up into the 1600’s
(rather modest, but I hope achievable, goals.)
The Blog Plan
- hope to report on the playing day, in the wee hours of the next morning
The U 1600 Final Pre-Registered List : Favourites/Dark Horses
I will designate the 1500’s as the “favourites” (though I know there will be some sharp-shooting lower rated juniors that will also come to the top soon enough). There are 9 of us.
“Favourites” (1500’s)
1. Macneil, Conrad – 1598 – NS
2. Armstrong, Robert J. – 1590 – ON
3. Ding, Jill – 1585 – BC
4. Nguyen Quoc, Phap – 1577 – VIE
5. Thomson, Bruce W. – 1575 – ON
6. Nguyen Quoc, Ky – 1571 – VIE
7. Eyre, Keven – 1536 - ON
8. Lee, Melissa – 1534 – ON
9. Zhang, Jeff – 1500 – ON
I will designate the 1400’s the “dark horses” – there are 6 of them.
Dark Horses (1400’s)
10. Smith, Maurice – 1494 – ON
11. Low, Kevin – 1484 – BC
12. Tapp, Ashley – 1481 – BC
13. Lee, Frank – 1471 – ON
14. Dhaliwal, Jatinder – 1461 – ON
15. Murray, Brian – 1459 - ON
Amazingly, I stand second in the U 1600 prize group, subject to any last minute on-site entries into our prize section.
Re: The “Day Prior” – Friday, July 12 (Blog # 2) - Pt. I: 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 B
The “Day Prior” – Friday, July 12 (Blog # 2)- Pt. II (continued from Pt. I above)
Day Prior – Friday, July 12
( Rd. 1 Today, Sat. July 13 @ 4:30 PM )
Friday was kind of a lazy day.
It is my track record that I sleep very little during Canadian Opens (I do sleep somewhat less normally – 5 hours – but the CO’s are really less – like 3 ½ per night!). So I was interested to see how I’d fare sleep-wise in the wee hours of Friday AM. Well, got only 3 ½ hrs. sleep – up at 5:45 AM - all dressed and nowhere to go! We’ll see what Saturday AM brings – I went to bed shortly after midnight.
My chess friend, also a Scarborough Chess Club member (club is in Toronto), Mario Moran-Venegas, was driving to Ottawa, and coming to pick me up early Sat. AM for us to drive from Toronto to Ottawa. IM Bindi Cheng and NM Geordie Derraugh are joining us. Mario has, from time to time, figured rather prominently in some of my prior blogs.
So I was sort of throwing things into the suitcase as they occurred to me. Also, since I edit/publish an independent chess e-newsletter, Toronto Chess News (TCN), there was a rush to finish the July 15 Issue, since I had to send it out tonight, Friday night, a bit early. So I was spending some time doing last minute website searches for materials, analyzing some of the games this Issue, and trying to basically finalize it to go out before I had to leave for the CO. However, I am not a great chess studier, and even though I did have time, I failed to carve out any study time to look at a few of the main lines of some of my favourite openings and defences.
I did have to do some searching on the websites, to see if the CFC had yet done their delayed July 10 rating update. This was required by the CO organizers, to produce their pre-registered list in a format that included ratings (the July 9 update was just alphabetical, and the ratings from the May 22 update had been eliminated). I was hoping CFC would get its act together in time to give the CO organizers time to produce the new updated list with ratings before 11:59 PM tonight. I initially felt I needed this to be able to include here the top U 1600 players on the pre-registered list.
At 7:30 AM EDT, I was able to post:
Joy, Joy! - step one has occurred. When I checked the CFC website at 7:19 AM EDT, the delayed update from July 10 had been done!
So now on to step two - can, or will, the CO organizers, now change the alphabetical format of the pre-registered list, without ratings, and make one with updated ratings in order of rating (or add such a second one on the website)? If so, will they get it done by 11:59 PM tonight? This would certainly accommodate my blog (despite its great importance, I am sure this reason is rather low on the organizers priority list - so I hope they have other better reasons they think they should do this! LOL).
Let's see what twists and turns occur later today.
But, life is not going to be simple for this blogger – it didn’t happen. Yes the CO organizers did post a July 12 updated pre-registration list, with ratings. But…the bad news – the ratings were still the old ones from when I first checked back on June 21 !!??
And so, I was concerned that I was not going to be able to present to you the updated U 1600 “Favourites” – sigh!! But I then realized that I could do the updating for the 15 or so relevant U 1600’s, though it might take a bit of time. So I did. And that is why you were able to see above, the updated “Favourites” and “Dark Horses”.
Technological Challenges
Unfortunately, this blogger Neanderthal does not own a laptop. So for future blogs, I am hoping that the Ottawa U residence where I am staying, has a computer common room to which I can have access. I did stay at one of these residences for the 2007 CO in Ottawa, but I can’t quite remember if that is what I did (sigh – the over 65 phenomena). If not, then I may have to find a convenient cyber café, if I am serious about still continuing this project!
Invitation
I hope you enjoy my musings and fact reporting over the course of this Canadian Open. It will help to make this blog even more interesting if viewers post their responses, facts they may know, their own stories, in response to my daily material. I hope to hear from many of you as the week passes! I will try to respond whenever it seems appropriate.
Day 1/Rd. 1 – July 13, 2013: 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog.
2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog
Day 1/Rd. 1 – July 13, 2013
(Rd. 1 @ 4:30 PM)
Starting the Day Off Right – The Wee Hours of the Morning
About 1:00 AM, I posted my Blog # 2 – “The Day Prior” – how I spent Friday. That went well. But then things went downhill a bit. I edit and publish a chess e-newsletter, Toronto Chess News (TCN). The July 15 Issue was to go out early this morning, since I was leaving for the Canadian Open in Ottawa at 8:00 AM. I had been holding the Issue back and not finalizing it because I wanted to report on the CYCC which had just finished late Fri. night. And the results didn’t get posted ‘til some time after midnight this morning. So I created the article, and after the blog, went about preparing to send it out. Glitch!! I prepare it in Word, and then convert it at the end to pdf. Well, for some reason, in the conversion, the last number of pages shifted, and a chess board got split, and some pictures ended up on the wrong page. So I deleted and tried again – same thing. So I just had to send it out with an explanation. The result of all this was my getting to bed at 3:00 AM. So I dutifully set the alarm for 7:00 AM, since I still hadn’t packed, washed dishes, put out garbage, etc. (my wife was away last night ). But at 6:30 AM, there I was, wide-awake. I was into my tournament non-sleep mode.
So I got ready and my friend, Mario Moran-Venegas arrived sharp at 8:00 AM – he was driving. Coming with us were IM Bindi Cheng, and NM Geordie Derraugh.
To Ottawa
The weather was great, and with a few stops, we got to Ottawa about 1:00 PM. We dropped Bindi and Geordie off where they were staying, and then we went to U of Ottawa, where we had booked a residence room for the 7 nights (dirt cheap – if you took it for a week - $ 25/night). We got ourselves settled. We had both stayed there in 2007, the last time the Can. Open was in Ottawa. Then we headed out to the famous Byward Market, since we had some time, and wanted to get lunch. We found a nice traditional burger joint, and then headed for the hotel on Queen Street – the round was to start at 4:30 PM.
Rd. 1
We checked in at registration, and then chatted with a lot of players we knew – Doug Gillis, from Scarborough CC, my club; Paul Leblanc from BC, CFC’s rating auditor; GM, Gordon Ritchie, organizer in 2007, who introduced me to his friend who was playing GM Nigel Short, of England; Jaime Solis, former SCC’er, and a number of other Toronto players.
The round started pretty close to schedule and we were off – one big swiss, with no accelerated pairings. I think the final total came out to 172 players – a bit shy of the 200 the organizers had hoped for.
The U 1600 Prize Section after Rd. 1
I have called the 1500’s the “Favourites”, and the 1400’s the “Dark Horses”. I will focus on them. But as the tournament progresses, if lower-rated players become leaders, I will then put them into the “Dark Horses” group too.
The leader at this point, with an upset point (we were all paired up substantially), is Ashley Tapp, of BC, rated 1481, one of the dark horses! Tied for 2nd/3rd are Kevin Low (1484) with ½ pt, with a draw, and Maurice Smith (1494) with a bye. Both are in the “Dark Horses” group and from Ontario.
Here are the list of “Favourites”, all of whom lost:
1. Macneil, Conrad (1598) – NS
2. Armstrong, Robert J. (1590) – ON
3. Ding, Jill (1585) – BC
4. Selling, Edward (1579) – (not sure)
5. Eyre, Keven (1536) – ON
6. Lee, Melissa (1534) – ON
7. Thomson, Bruce (1528) - ON
8. Zhang, Jeff (1500) – ON
Here are the “Dark Horses” who all lost:
9. Lee, Frank (1471) – ON
10. Dhaliwal, Jatinder (1461) – ON
11. Murray, Brian (1459) – ON
So, in all, I am following 14 players. As I said, I do not know if any of the lower-rated players won or drew or took byes - but I will get them in later if they float to the top.
My Game in Rd. 1
White was expert David Itkin (2173). I (1590) played a Pirc Defence. I was satisfied with my game, though I pretty much was defending. He went up a P, on a nice R-sac attack, where he got back his R + won a P. But the attack was severe, and I had to give a second P. I eventually just lost the ending, once the Q’s had to come off.
I would normally now post the pairings for the three leaders. But I’m going to have to pass (see below).
Technological Neanderthal
But I am afraid that I have run into a technological glitch. There are no computers any longer in the common area as in 2007, when I also did a blog. And I have no laptop. Mario has kindly lent me the use of his laptop to do this. But I am unused to a laptop, and it is simply taking too much time to do it. The last three years were tournaments in Toronto, and so I was able to type quickly then on my desktop. Mario has offered to let me use it, but it is simply too hard, with lots of little things going wrong, and I will have to have it much too long, when Mario could be using it. Maybe in future, I will invest in a laptop, and then once used to it, I’ll be able to do it at a reasonable speed.
Thanks
Thanks to all those who complimented me on my blog effort, and encouraged me. It is always fun to do, and it seems people felt it was worth the effort. So I’ll just bid adieu, until I may resurface at some future date.
Bob Armstrong, ex-blogger
Last edited by Bob Armstrong; Saturday, 13th July, 2013, 11:57 PM.
Day 2/Rds. 2 & 3 – July 14, 2013: 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog.
Day 2/Rds. 2 & 3 – July 14, 2013
(Rd. 1 @ 10:30 AM; Rd. 2 @6:30 PM)
Starting the Day Off Right – The Wee Hours of the Morning
Well, I can’t say the day started off OK. You may wonder what I’m dong back! Early this morning, shortly after midnight, I posted my Day 1 blog, and then “quit”. My problem was using Mario’s laptop – I have almost never used one, and I found my adaptation quite slow, and there were a few little glitches happening because I kept dragging the palm of my hand over the pointer pad when typing. And we weren't sure how to disable it. I also may have been a bit tired this morning, since I had only 3 hours sleep that morning, and I just got too frustrated to continue. Anyway, I got the blog posted just before midnight, and went to bed about 1:00 AM. Mario stayed up using his laptop after I left ‘til about 1:30 AM.
So why am I back?? Read on.
The Morning
I had made plans with Mario to call me at 8:00 AM to wake me since I hadn’t brought an alarm clock. But since I am into tournament sleeping/non-sleeping mode, I found myself awake at 5:30 AM ( 4 ½ hrs. sleep). So I got dressed, etc. and at 6:30 AM headed out to the Second Cup in the neighbourhood. They didn’t open ‘til 7:00 AM. But I got my coffee, and then came back to the air-conditioned residence reception area to wait ‘til 8:00 AM to go to my room. In the meantime saw an elderly Japanese group head out on a bus tour, and talked to a guy organizing about 50 kids to go white-water rafting. Told him I was doing something MORE exciting….a chess tournament!! LOL He got a charge out of that one – asked that I not tell his group, so he didn’t lose too many of them. Then went to my room and Mario called and we agreed to meet in the lobby @ 8:30 AM.
Breakfast
We then headed west on Laurier toward the playing hall, and found a Timmy’s on the way for breakfast. When we were finished, another club member, also staying at the residence, came by, saw us, and joined us – Doug Gillis. Just so happens that Mario and Doug were playing in the 2nd round. Then on the way to the hall, another Torontonian, Mike Dougherty, joined us.
The Favourites and the Dark Horses
I am going to refer to the 1500’s as the Favourites, and the 1400’s as the Dark Horses (if lower-rated’s float up, I will add them to the Dark Horses).
Favourites (1500’s):
1.Macneil, Conrad (1598) – NS
2.Armstrong, Robert J. (1590) – ON
3.Ding, Jill (1585) - BC
4.Selling, Edward (1579) – (not sure)
5.Nguyen Quoc, Phap (1577) – VIE
6.Nguyen Quoc, Ky (1571) - VIE
7.Eyre, Keven (1536) – ON
8.Lee, Melissa (1534) – ON
9.Thomson, Bruce (1528) - ON
10.Zhang, Jeff (1500) – ON
“Dark Horses” (1400’s):
11.Maurice Smith (1494) – ON
12.Kevin Low (1484) – BC
13.Ashley Tapp (1481) – BC
14.Lee, Frank (1471) – ON
15.Dhaliwal, Jatinder (1461) – ON
16.Murray, Brian (1459) – ON
The U 1600 Leaders & Rd. 2
After Rd. 1, the U 1600’s had two players with a point. Ashley Tapp (1481) of BC, one of my dark horses and Rinna Yu (1301), who I’ll now add to the Dark Horses. One Dark Horse get a draw, Kevin. Two favourites, Phap and Ky, and one Dark Horse, Maurice got ½ pt. byes. All the rest lost.
Rd. 2 Punishment
For being the upstarts they were, our leaders faced some tough opposition:
Ashley (1) – James Fu (2257)
Rinna (1) – Jason Cao (2239)
Kevin (1/2) – Mike Sun (2080)
Phap, Ky and Maurice (1/2) – all took another bye.
My Rd. 2 Game
I played a line of the Benko Opening as White, that I have been experimenting with, against Brendon Lee (1870). But I made an intemperate early f4 and ended up with holes all over and a messy position. I pretty much got killed.
Standings after 2 Rounds
Ashley – 1
Rinna – 1
Phap – 1
Ky – 1
Maurice - 1
Kevin – ½
Edward – ½
Jatinder – ½
Zhang, Clark (994) – ½
With 0 Points
Favourites:
10. Macneil, Conrad (1598) – ON
11.Armstrong, Robert J. (1590) – ON
12.Ding, Jill (1585) – BC
13.Eyre, Keven (1536) – ON
14.Lee, Melissa (1534) – ON
15.Thomson, Bruce (1528) – ON
16.Zhang, Jeff (1500) – ON
“Dark Horses”
17.Lee, Frank (1471) – ON
18.Murray, Brian (1459) – ON
Lunch
Mario and I finished about 12:30 PM. For a while, I analyzed our game with my opponent, Brendon Lee – very pleasant young guy, attending university – and somewhat ahead of me on his calculations! Then Mario and I went to a local Shwarma place for lunch. It was here that Mario tried to encourage me to keep doing my blog. Though he said he did like to use his computer after the round late at night, and get his games analyzed over night, he said it would be no problem to give it to me in the morning, and I could do the day-before blog then and post it. He also suggested that I try to see if the residence reception had an extra normal keyboard I could use with the laptop, to cut down the frustration. And I could go back to the residence for the afternoon and do the first half of today’s blog, to get part done today. He would just go back and watch the remaining Rd. 2 games.
So for those of you who thought you were rid of me, you can blame Mario. I returned to the residence, but no extra keyboard at reception. So, I decided to try the laptop again, and see if I could handle it better, when a bit less tired. It wasn’t quite as bad, though still very slow. But I persisted and did get this first half done.
Rd. 3 Pairings for the Leaders
Dydak Mateusz (1975) vs Ashley
Amos Kuttner (1946) vs Rinna
Edward vs Jacob Krolczyk (1909)
Jeffrey Xu (1862) vs Jatinder
Kevin vs Guy Piche (1745)
Clark vs Konstantin Vlasenko (1660)
Phap, Ky and Maurice took their third byes.
Back to the Hall
When I finished the first part of this blog in the afternoon, I then went for a little walk in a near-by park, and then headed for the hall for Rd. 3. I was playing up for the third time (which is fine with me!) – Saeid Sadeghi (1978).
Leaders After 3 Rounds
1 ½ /3
Nguyen Quoc, Phat (1577) – 3 byes - Favourite
Nguyen Quoc, Ky (1571) - 3 byes - Favourite
Smith, Maurice (1494) – 3 byes – Dark Horse
Here are the other Favourites (1500's):
1. Macneil, Conrad (1598) – NS – 0/2
2. Armstrong, Robert J. (1590) – ON -0/2
3. Ding, Jill (1585) – BC - 0/2
4. Selling, Edward (1579) – (not sure of Prov.) - ½ /2
5. Eyre, Keven (1536) – ON - 0/2
6. Lee, Melissa (1534) – ON - 0/2
7. Thomson, Bruce (1528) – ON – 0/2
8. Zhang, Jeff (1500) – ON – 0/2
Here are the other Dark Horses (1400's):
9. . Low, Kevin – 1484 – BC - ½ /2
10. Tapp, Ashley – 1481 – BC - 1/2
11. Lee, Frank – 1471 – ON - 0/2
13. Dhaliwal, Jatinder – 1461 – ON - ½ /2
14. Murray, Brian – 1459 – ON – May have withdrawn – not sure yet.- 0/1
15. Yu, Rhinna (1301) – (not sure of Prov.) - Dark Horse – 1 /2.
16. Zhang, Clark (1105) – (not sure of Prov.) – Dark Horse - ½ /2
Miscalculation
Mario and I had both finished Rd. 2 around 11:00 PM or a bit earlier, and were chatting in the foyer to the second playing hall (the top boards were in another room). I said I needed to go check something on the wall chart outside. When I came back, Mario was not there! I looked in the playing hall – one game going still, but no Mario. Checked the hotel lobby – not there. Even checked the bathroom – nope. I had seen someone go into the top board's playing hall, and then come out, so I assumed no games still going on there. And since I couldn't find him, I decided he had maybe gone out with someone, or had headed back to the residence thinking I had left.
Nope – wrong about the top boards playing hall – one game left – and in it was NM Geordie Derraugh, who had driven up to Ottawa from Toronto with us. He was playing a GM, and down K + R vs K + N. Mario was watching it! Geordie drew – congrads! Mario, after, looked for me, and decided I had gone home, which I had. So he returned to the residence about midnight.
Rd. 3 Pairings for 3 Leaders
All 3 were taking a third bye.
Conclusion
A very efficient and enjoyable second day of the 2013 Canadian Open. Though using the laptop is still slow, if Mario can put up with me, I'll try it again tomorrow.
Invitation
I hope you enjoy my musings and fact reporting over the course of this Canadian Open. It will help to make this blog even more interesting if viewers post their responses, facts they may know, their own stories, in response to my daily material. I hope to hear from many of you as the week passes! I will try to respond whenever it seems appropriate.
Re: Day 2/Rds. 2 & 3 – July 14, 2013: 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog.
Hi Bob,
Nice to see you resuming your blog! I enjoy reading these 'slice of tournament life' posts from you. I have used a laptop for a couple of years now, but with both mouse and keyboard attached via USB. The mouse because like you I hate using the laptop's touch pad. The keyboard for ergonomic reasons (prevent sore neck/back). By the way, what happened with Mario's game vs Doug?
Re : Re: Day 2/Rds. 2 & 3 – July 14, 2013: 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog.
Thanks for your blog, Bob, it's really nice. It would be great if there was also such a thing for the FIDE titled players. There is quite a few upsets :)
Re: Day 2/Rds. 2 & 3 – July 14, 2013: 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog.
Hi Bob Ken is right...buy a usb keyboard and mouse ....shouldn't be more than $30 tops. If your friends laptop is reasonably recent (3 years old) it will automatically recognize the hardware and away you go... Yes those touchpad mice are hateful.
Re: Day 2/Rds. 2 & 3 – July 14, 2013: 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog.
Yes, a keyboard/mouse combo (even the very cheapest) will come in handy in many ways. Even IF you have an external keyboard, you or Mario at least should find out how to disable/enable the touch pad... usually there is a tray icon (bottom right near the time if you are using windows < win8) that lets you fiddle with the touchpad settings.
Trouble is, if you disable the touchpad, many times the (brilliant) software then stops displaying the icon, so you may find it hard to reactivate the touchpad later!
Depending on the manufacturer, the process may be different: you might try googling for " xxxx touchpad enable" where xxxx is Dell/HP/Compaq/Asus or whatever manufacturer made the laptop.
Good luck in the Open! I enjoy reading about your adventures...
Nice to see you resuming your blog! I enjoy reading these 'slice of tournament life' posts from you. I have used a laptop for a couple of years now, but with both mouse and keyboard attached via USB. The mouse because like you I hate using the laptop's touch pad. The keyboard for ergonomic reasons (prevent sore neck/back). By the way, what happened with Mario's game vs Doug?
The other thing noteworthy is that we all sometimes have "accidents" with our computers. Spilled coffee on a $30 keyboard is a maximum expense of $30. Just get a new keyboard, no big deal. Not so with laptops. Spill coffee on a laptop keyboard, or touch pad, and you are looking at a much more substantial expense. As in, $100, $200, ...
Dogs will bark, but the caravan of chess moves on.
Re: Day 2/Rds. 2 & 3 – July 14, 2013: 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog.
Do you also carry a keyboard with you everywhere?
While a mouse is useful (my wife would disagree as a trackpoint is better for her), the keyboard is a redundant for the laptop. For a tablet it may be another story.
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