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---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
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OMG, how old are you? Just kidding Bob.
This Neanderthal (me) just bought my first smartphone this week! It feels like I have now joined the 21st century. It's a phone, camera, computer, all rolled into one. You should get one, makes you feel 20 years younger!
Tough on this Neanderthal's salary, even if I am tempted by your glowing account!
Good luck with your efforts to kill that age discriminating sandbagging rule! Us old farts are cheering you on, quietly!
Hi Bob G:
Well, I'm not really trying to "Kill" any possible anti-sandbagging rule for this 2013 CO.
But what I would like to achieve is:
1. That if there is a rule to be imposed on the prizes, it be done BEFORE the tournament starts, so everyone will know for which prize they are playing, if affected by the sandbagging rule.
2. I do favour an anti-sandbagging rule, if it is fair. This means there must be a "recent" time frame within which the peak rating is to be determined. It is in my personal interest that this time period be the last two years. IF that is the case, then my peak rating is July 2011 at 1744. A 200 point deduction would give me a "sandbag rating" of 1544, and I'd be playing for the U 1600 prize. Seems appropriate since my rating has steadily fallen for the last three years, and I now have a CFC rating of 1590, and a FIDE rating of 1581.
However, a number of people I know feel this short a time period would encourage sandbagging. They feel that from 3, 4 or 5 years is needed. And it is unfortunate if us old farts (non-sandbaggers, and steadily declining in rating) get caught up in the net, and have to play in sections above our now-declined rating strength.
What does everybody think. Should the CO organizers/arbiters:
1. impose an anti-sandbagging rule for this CO?
2. if so, should there be a time-frame, and if so, how far back??
Bob A
Last edited by Bob Armstrong; Friday, 12th July, 2013, 10:45 AM.
2. if so, should there be a time-frame, and if so, how far back??
Bob A
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.
2) As far as rating prizes go, they tend to be won by underrated juniors which is in some sense is also unfair to players who are "truely" in that rating class. Why be so concerned about people whose rating is going down?
3) The economics of sandbagging don't as a rule work. Subtract out the costs of entry fees and time for the "losing tournament" and take into account that even a 100 points above a rating class is not enough to guarantee a win and unless there is a very large class prize, it's a losing proposition. So, it's unlikely to be a serious problem.
4) Putting a time period on people whose rating is going down just means waiting until you are good and sure that they are no longer a threat to win that class prize. That is not equitable behaviour.
An anti-sandbagging rule is likely to harm more people than it affects.
Re : Re: Anti-Sandbagging Rule? Terms? - 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog
I guess it depends on how much money is at stake. In Quebec, there's quite a few tournaments with large prizes. If a tournament offers a first prize of $1000 for a U1200 or a U1400 section, we can be sure that at least two or three people will be sandbagging. If they win their section, it can affect the prizes of at least 10 people. If we consider that only one or two people would have been affected by the anti-sandbagging rule, we realize it's much better this way.
This Neanderthal owns neither a camera nor a cell phone!!
Nor do I own a laptop, so I'm going to be relying on there being available at the Ottawa U residence where I'm staying, a computer common room. Otherwise it looks like I look for a cyber cafe!
Bob
OMG
Well you cannot be a sanbagger without a laptop....can't be done. I don't think.
For the pic, may I ask you to introduce yourself to Ms Ashley Tapp and ask for a photo of both of you to be taken by the Ashley Tapp publicity machine.
The photo will magically appear on her website/FB page.
Then I can make a wish and get a press release with a Canadian Open story...and a pic of you.
Re: Pre-registered List with Ratings Updated? - 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog
Bindi, the blog feature is new. I think it is the result of some changes or updates of the software this summer. Larry Bevand wrote an entry somewhere indicating that that might happen.
It's too bad Bob A. isn't willing to play with the features. You can lead a horse to water, but ...
Anyway, maybe someone else will use the blog features. They look pretty good and include some moderation aspects, making a kind of formatting template of some kind, and so on.
Dogs will bark, but the caravan of chess moves on.
When I posted my first blog entry on Thursday, I thought I had set a pretty simple task for myself for Blog # 2 in the wee hours of tomorrow morning (Sat., July 13):
- present, among other material, the top 10 U 1600 players on the pre-registration list, with updated ratings as of Wed. night, July 10.
Life is never simple! It seems now to have become an obstacle course!
The problem:
1. The Wed. night, July 10, CFC rating update got delayed, and is only supposed to be available sometime this morning.
2. So I had at least hoped it would be updated in sufficient time to give enough time to the CO Organizers, to update their pre-registered list by 11:59 PM tonight. Will this happen??
3. For I imagine a number of reasons, the July 9 update of the pre-registered list eliminated ratings (likely hoping they would have the updated rating list the next night, Wed., July 10, and then add them back in, which didn't happen).
4. Will the organizers post before 11:59 PM tonight, a newly updated list putting back the ratings?
What I expected to be a slam-dunk, is now up in the air totally. I may not even be able, at 12:01 tomorrow, Sat., July 13, to get into my blog # 2, the updated top 10 U 1600 pre-registereds!
Let's see what today brings, and whether obstacles get removed!!
Bob A
Well, things are not getting any better.
CFC had done it's delayed Wed., July 10 rating update by 7:00 AM this morning, Friday, July 12.
And so I hoped the organizers would again create the pre-registered list they had eliminated, the one with the ratings updated.
Well, the new July 12 updated pre-registered list is now up with ratings - that's the good news. The bad news is that the ratings are still the old unupdated ones that were there when I was checking the list on June 21!!??
So...............when I post my blog # 2 in the wee hours of tomorrow morning, I'll only be able to present the U 1600 top ten, using old unupdated ratings (which don't even have me in the U 1600 yet).
I'll look forward to when they update the ratings, and I can present you with a current list.
Yeah. There are a couple of recent entries in an Asian language (Chinese I think, but I'm not 100% sure) and I suspect they are just spam. Unfortunately, I can't edit them. (shhhh!) Don't tell Bob. He might get ideas.
Dogs will bark, but the caravan of chess moves on.
So...............when I post my blog # 2 in the wee hours of tomorrow morning, I'll only be able to present the U 1600 top ten, using old unupdated ratings (which don't even have me in the U 1600 yet).
I'll look forward to when they update the ratings, and I can present you with a current list.Bob A
Well, the organizers are swamped. And updating 166 players' ratings is time-consuming. So maybe understandable they couldn't deal with a 7:00 AM CFC rating update this morning.
So I decided I would do the work. So I took the organizers' list of 1500's and 1400's, and updated them myself - took a bit of time.
But, lo and behold, in Blog # 2 tomorrow early AM, I will now be able to present the updated ratings, identifying the "Favourites" and the "Dark Horses" in the U 1600 prize section, based on the July 12 pre-registration list!
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