2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog.

[Bob Armstrong]

Anti-Sandbagging Rule?? - Still Unknown! :2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog

Hi Gilles:

I agree that is unfortunate - but there was some advance notice, so a player who is unhappy with the change, can withdraw.

A more serious problem, in my view, it that the organizers, before the tournament, and even to this day, as far as I know, never clarified:

1. whether there was any anti-sandbagging rule:
2. If there is, what the time frame was, being used to determine one's peak rating.

Now I have felt the tournament has been effectively run, and I decided to no longer harrass the organizers on this. This is not meant to diminish all that has been good about this tournament.

But I am in a 3-way tie for second in the U 1600 prize group, 1/2 pt. behind the leader. All four of us leaders are playing up. So I do have a possibility of taking clear first (hope this isn't the kiss of death! LOL)

But what do I find - if I win, I still don't know if I'm in the U 1600 prize group, which has been my assumption since the tournament did start. But....IF there is an anti-sandbagging rule, I may innocently be caught by it, due to my prior peak rating, depending on time frame, and be told, AFTER the tournament is over, that I never was playing for the U 1600 prize!! (even if I have the current rating (1590), and maybe score, to win it.

I guess the universe will unfold as it should, however.

Bob A

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Anti-Sandbagging Rule?? - Still Unknown! :2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog

Bob, if they try to hit you with an anti-sandbaging rule, take them to the human rights. You'd be amazed at how well those kind of organizations work for us seniors. :)

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Re: Anti-Sandbagging Rule?? - Still Unknown! :2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog

Joking, right? It would be a frivolous use of HR law.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Anti-Sandbagging Rule?? - Still Unknown! :2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog

I'm having fun. Bob and I see politics differently.

While you may well be right about the frivolity, the real question is if the case can be won under the laws as written. I think it can.

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Re: Anti-Sandbagging Rule?? - Still Unknown! :2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog

HR cases take years to process. Provincial cases are around 5 years I think; CHRC cases are more like 10 or 15 years. Not a good use of the time and energy of any of those likely to be involved. And for what? A microscopic prize fund that would be swallowed up in the first month of photocopying costs. (Yea, I know, it's the principle, right?)

Anyway, such a case wouldn't get to first base. Before anything can even go the Human Rights route, generally speaking all other avenues of redress would have to be exhausted. Here, an appeal would have to be made to the administration of the event and the sponsoring organization, for starters. Anyone who hadn't bothered with such appeals would be treated by HR authorities with indifference or richly deserved derision.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Anti-Sandbagging Rule?? - Still Unknown! :2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog

Nigel, no point in getting yourself worked up because it hasn't happened, I don't think. It's hypothetical.

These things would likely be done for principle and for the next person who comes along. It's a simple case of recognizing some skills deteriorate with age and there might well be other cases on which to base a complaint or decision. A precident.

While I'm sure you must know the ins and outs you're probably a youngster. ;) I wouldn't try to predict a decision from such a body. What I've read amazes me.

[Bob Armstrong]

Day 8/Rd. 9 – Saturday, July 20 (Blog # 10): : 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog.

Day 8/Rd. 9 – Saturday, July 20 (Blog # 10): U 1600 Can. Open Blog

In the Wee Hours of the Morning

After midnight, the final round pairings were a bit later being put up, so I just went to my room, wrote a few blog notes, and went to bed at 1:00 AM. Mario had agreed to call me at 7:30 AM, in case I was still asleep (that was unlikely to happen). We intended to check out at 8:30 AM.

Later Morning

Happily, I awoke at 6:00 AM, and 5 hrs. sleep is great. So I packed up and went to the Second Cup for 7:00AM - coffee for me; croissant for my sparrow friends. I was back in the room when Mario called. We checked out at 8:30 AM, packed our stuff into Mario's car, and headed down to the hotel. We parked underneath and then went to the Timmy's close by for breakfast. The round didn't start 'til 10:30 AM, and so I sat in Timmy's doing my Friday Blog with Mario's laptop, and he read the paper and did crossword puzzles. Doug Gillis, another Scarborough CC member noticed us in there and came in to chat a while. Then we all went to the playing hall.

Final Round 9 Pairings/Results

Tournament

Bruzon 1/2 - 1/2 Short
Hambleton 1/2 - 1/2 Hansen
Sokolov 1/2 - 1/2 Porper
Cheng 0 - 1 Calugar
Perez 1/2 - 1/2 Sapozhnikov
Chirilia 1 - 0 Victor Plotkin

U 1600 Leaders after 8 Rounds

4 Pts.

Jill Ding (1585) 0 - 1 Gordon Giacomin (1951)

3 1/2 Pts.

Bob Armstrong (1590) 0 - 1 David Forget (1921)
Patrick Scantland (1838) 1/2 - 1/2 Edward Selling (1579)
Ashley Tapp (1481) 0 - 1 Alex Y. Yin (1809)


My Rd. 9 Game

A game that is hard to put into words. A win would give me clear first in the U 1600 prize group. First, I moved too quickly on a tactical sac, which was unsound, and left me down B vs P at move 12. Then I played very well developing a K-side attack, but he defended and exchanged pieces into a simplified late middlegame. He hung an N on move 29 - I would be up a P. But....noooooo....I am cocky and move instantaneously to get a positional advantage on the Q-side - didn't at all see the N was hanging (how is this possible?). Then I again played well - threatened to queen a P on the Q-side, but had to exchange it off, to give me two connected, passed P's on the K-side! Then the critical point - I'm checked by his R, and I have to decide which side of the board to go to. I did consider this move carefully, and then came to the losing decision. If I make what appears to be the correct move (none of this has yet been put through an engine), we had great difficulty in the post-mortem, finding a win for Black, despite still being up N vs P. So as I said to some friends, I got two strikes and was still alive; 3 strikes and I'm out. My coming first was not in the cards it seems, though the universe gave me chances, even after making mistakes. Such is chess!!

U 1600 Winners

4/8 Pts.

Jill Ding (1585)
Edward Selling (1579)
Rinna Yu (1301)

Here is how the other Favourites and Dark Horses fared:

Favourites (1500’s):

1. Macneil, Conrad (1598) – NS – 2 ½
2. Bob Armstrong (1590) - ON - 3 1/2
3. Eyre, Keven (1536) – ON – 1 1/2
4. Melissa Lee (1534) – ON - 3 1/2
5. Thomson, Bruce (1528) – ON - 2
6. Zhang, Jeff (1500) – ON – 2

“Dark Horses” (1400’s & Under):

7. Maurice Smith (1494) – ON – 3
8. Kevin Low (1484) – BC - 3
9. Ashley Tapp (1481) - BC - 3 1/2
10. Lee, Frank (1471) – ON – 2
11. Jatinder Dhaliwal (1461) – ON – 1 ½
12. Brian Murray (1459) – ON – 2 ½
13. Miles Duggal (1231) – (Prov.?) - 2 1/2
14. Daniel Du (1038) – (Prov.?) - 2 ½
15. Clark Zhang (994) – (Prov.?) - 3 1/2

My CO Opponents Final Scores

Saeid Sadeghi (1978) – 5 ½
David Itkin (2173) – 5
David Cohen (1866) – 5
David Forget (1921) - 4 1/2
Brendon Lee (1870) – 4 ½
Francois Poitras (1687 ) – 3
Aiden Zhou (1136) - 3
Annika Zhou (1045) – 2 ½
Ken Douglas (unr) – 2 ½

Closing Ceremony

This took place about 4:00 PM. The international GM's were thanked for contributing stature to our Canadian Open. The prize winners' names were read out. And the appropriate people were thanked. Nice little ceremony - simple and short, but nice.
Mario and I said goodbye to numbers of our friends and acquaintances, and then we headed back to Toronto. He dropped me off about 9:30 PM. All in all, a lovely week, and I am quite satisfied that the quality of my chess was pretty good, barring some glaring blunders. In the course of the next few weeks, I'll be posting my games on the chess website, Chess5 (www.chess5.com), for those who want to see how I failed to win!!

Invitation

I hope you enjoyed my musings and fact reporting over the course of this Canadian Open. If you have any thoughts, questions, responses, etc., to the material in any of my blogs, please post. I will be monitoring the thread for a while, and will try to respond, where appropriate. I have enjoyed doing the blog, hope viewers have found it of some interest, and thank all who encouraged me on in this little project, and who came to view what was happening in the all-important U 1600 prize section. So its adieu 'til the next Can. Open!

[Dave Southam]

Re: Day 8/Rd. 9 – Saturday, July 20 (Blog # 10): : 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog.

Welcome back to the big smoke, Bob! Sounds like you had a good chess vacation! Sorry about your last round result, but it sounds like quite a topsy-turvy struggle! Thanks again for writing your blog...now GET SOME SLEEP!!!!!

[Michael Yip]

Re: Day 8/Rd. 9 – Saturday, July 20 (Blog # 10): : 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog.

Oh Bob

If only you had a camera....I loved this blog.

[Felix Dumont]

Re : Day 8/Rd. 9 – Saturday, July 20 (Blog # 10): : 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog.

Invitation

I hope you enjoyed my musings and fact reporting over the course of this Canadian Open. If you have any thoughts, questions, responses, etc., to the material in any of my blogs, please post. I will be monitoring the thread for a while, and will try to respond, where appropriate. I have enjoyed doing the blog, hope viewers have found it of some interest, and thank all who encouraged me on in this little project, and who came to view what was happening in the all-important U 1600 prize section. So its adieu 'til the next Can. Open!

Hi Bob. Would you be ready to have a similar blog next year? I must admit that a few people at the FQE really enjoyed your blog this week. It gives another (very interesting!) perspective to the tournament. We could give you free entry if you are willing to do something similar for Montreal :) I will try to find the time to post the details of the tournament later today (the official announcement will be done this morning at the Quebec Open).

[Gilles G. Jobin]

Re : Re: Day 6/Rd. 7 – Thurs., July 18 (Blog # 8): 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog.

Day 6/Rd. 7 – Thurs., July 18 Pt. II (Blog # 8)


b) if swiss, normal, accelerated, or double accelerated pairings?

About that, a recent post from Gawain Jones is worth reading : http://www.chessvibes.com/scottish-championships

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: Day 8/Rd. 9 – Saturday, July 20 (Blog # 10): : 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog.

Hi Dave:

Glad you enjoyed the blog - last game was a bit disappointing, even though between blunders, I played really well, making a good game of it, with many threats and traps (which he did see). Would have been nice to come clear first, and I had a chance at it, even after my first blunder sac, when he hung a piece. I would have been up a P! But...I was blind and didn't see the offering.

As to sleep - got a full 7 hours last night!! 2 hours more than my usual sleep.

And the vacation was another good one. I've now recently been to 7 Canadian Opens, and have thoroughly enjoyed each one.

Have a good summer. See you at Scarborough CC on Sept. 12.

Bob A

[Michael Barron]

Re: Re : Re: Day 6/Rd. 7 – Thurs., July 18 (Blog # 8): 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog

About that, a recent post from Gawain Jones is worth reading : http://www.chessvibes.com/scottish-championships

The key sentence is:

Acceleration may be necessary in a tournament with a huge number of players and relatively few rounds but with 55 players and 9 rounds I think it’s ridiculous.

I hope, everybody understands that numbers matter - there is a big difference between 55 players and 180 players... ;)

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: Day 8/Rd. 9 – Saturday, July 20 (Blog # 10): : 2013 Canadian Open U 1600 Blog.

Hi Mike:

Maybe one day I'll get into the 21st century with a smart phone! In fact, my wife has a small camera, but I never use it.

Glad you enjoyed the blog - has gotten almost 4,700 views, and it seems it was worth the effort. I enjoy doing it - a nice little side-line to my Canadian Open participation.

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

2014 Montreal Canadian Open - Inflicting Another Blog on Can. Chess Players?

Hi Bob. Would you be ready to have a similar blog next year? I must admit that a few people at the FQE really enjoyed your blog this week. It gives another (very interesting!) perspective to the tournament. We could give you free entry if you are willing to do something similar for Montreal :) I will try to find the time to post the details of the tournament later today (the official announcement will be done this morning at the Quebec Open).

Hi Felix:

Free entry sounds really good!

Mario and I already have planned to play in Montreal in 2014, and getting paid for doing something that is fun, is as good as it gets.

But my French is really laboured and not good! So it will have to be in English! Even I wouldn't be able to understand what I've written - my two adult kids, who are fluent in French (Ontario French Immersion), and now both live in Montreal, claim I am somewhat understandable! LOL

Thanks for the offer!

Bob A