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I read here some interesting posts about my performance at Aeroflot Open. Thank you, guys for your attention. I just want to share few points about this tournament.
1. It was my 7-th Aeroflot Open. First one was in 2005 and was my first rated chess tournament ever. Since 2005 I missed only one tournament.
2. This year I was only Canadian at Aeroflot Open. Among Canadians who played since 2005 I could mention M. Bluvshtein, T. Roussel-Roozmon, L. Gerzhoy, E. Hansen, A. Samsonkin, R. Sapozhnikov (twice), N. Kraiouchkine (few times), L. Yee, L. Orlova and many others.
3. I really hope to be wrong, but may be this year was the last one for Aeroflot Open. I spoke about this with organizers and they were pretty pessimistic about the future of this tournament. They have problems with the main sponsor (Aeroflot). Organizers even gave some small gifts to players who participate at all 11 tournaments.
4. Now little bit about my statistics. I played 7 times.
a. 4 times in U2200 section - each time finished with 6/9 points.
b. twice in U2300 section - 5.5 and 6 (this year) points.
c. once in 2200-2400 section - 4 points.
These numbers show very low volatility. I didn't have any really great performance, nor disasterous results.
5. I usually lose rating at this tournament. Probably Russia is not the best place in the world to gain some rating points. I played few times in USA and, believe me, it's a huge difference between, let say, 2200 FIDE from Russia and from USA. IMHO I play stronger than 2200 player from USA and worse than 2200 from Russia.
6. 6 out of 9 my opponents were kids (3 from India, Russia, China and Kazakhstan). Sometimes I felt like I play at WYCC. Really, a lot of my opponents were playing there.
At round 7 I played with world champion for U12 girls from Kazakhstan. Rating 2100 +, performance almost 2300, finished with 6 points. Probably it was my only and last opportunity to beat her.
7. Last few years I played in different tournaments in different countries and can compare Aeroflot Open with, for example, World Open or Canadian Open. May be GM can find a better deal in Canadian Open or bigger prize in World Open, but for chess amateur like me Aeroflot Open is the best one. Only here amateurs can get 60% discount for hotel price, 80% for airtickets, 35 prizes in the lowest section, free bus from and to airport...
Sure, February isn't the best time for visiting Russia. This time it was very cold (about -20 C), but personally I like -20 more than +35.
8. One suggestion for organizers and players of week-end tournaments.
Time control in my section was 90 min + 30 sec/move. Here in Canada in tournaments like Hart House or Annex we usually have 90 + 30 + 30 min after move 40. On week-end tournaments we play 2 games per day and can spend 10 hours playing chess - to much for me.
Section 2300-2550 had 90 + 30 + 30 time conrol, but it was much stronger event. How many 2300+ FIDE-rated players we have in week-end tornaments? 5-7 usually. And what about other 100+?
I don't mind to play with slower time control in strong tournaments with usually 1 game/day schedule (like Canadian Closed and may be Canadian Open), but in week-end tournaments with 2 games/day 90+30 is ehough.
9. Now Moscow is one of the most expensive cities in the world. I left Russia (USSR) in 1991 and remember some prices from that time. Currency rate was about the same - 30 RUB/USD (Russia had denomination 1000/1 in 90-es).
1 dollar lost 99 % of it's value in Russia since 1991!!
Here some examples.
Subway tickets - was 0.05 RUB, now 28 RUB (500 times)
Restourant - was about 10 RUB, now 1000 RUB (100 times)
Taxi to airport - was about 25 RUB, now 2500 RUB (100 times)
Gas - was 0.40/litre, now 30 RUB/litre (70 times)
Average salary - was about 200 RUB (7 USD/month), now about 25.000 RUB (800 USD)/month.
1. It was my 7-th Aeroflot Open. First one was in 2005 and was my first rated chess tournament ever. Since 2005 I missed only one tournament.
2. This year I was only Canadian at Aeroflot Open. Among Canadians who played since 2005 I could mention M. Bluvshtein, T. Roussel-Roozmon, L. Gerzhoy, E. Hansen, A. Samsonkin, R. Sapozhnikov (twice), N. Kraiouchkine (few times), L. Yee, L. Orlova and many others.
3. I really hope to be wrong, but may be this year was the last one for Aeroflot Open. I spoke about this with organizers and they were pretty pessimistic about the future of this tournament. They have problems with the main sponsor (Aeroflot). Organizers even gave some small gifts to players who participate at all 11 tournaments.
4. Now little bit about my statistics. I played 7 times.
a. 4 times in U2200 section - each time finished with 6/9 points.
b. twice in U2300 section - 5.5 and 6 (this year) points.
c. once in 2200-2400 section - 4 points.
These numbers show very low volatility. I didn't have any really great performance, nor disasterous results.
5. I usually lose rating at this tournament. Probably Russia is not the best place in the world to gain some rating points. I played few times in USA and, believe me, it's a huge difference between, let say, 2200 FIDE from Russia and from USA. IMHO I play stronger than 2200 player from USA and worse than 2200 from Russia.
6. 6 out of 9 my opponents were kids (3 from India, Russia, China and Kazakhstan). Sometimes I felt like I play at WYCC. Really, a lot of my opponents were playing there.
At round 7 I played with world champion for U12 girls from Kazakhstan. Rating 2100 +, performance almost 2300, finished with 6 points. Probably it was my only and last opportunity to beat her.
7. Last few years I played in different tournaments in different countries and can compare Aeroflot Open with, for example, World Open or Canadian Open. May be GM can find a better deal in Canadian Open or bigger prize in World Open, but for chess amateur like me Aeroflot Open is the best one. Only here amateurs can get 60% discount for hotel price, 80% for airtickets, 35 prizes in the lowest section, free bus from and to airport...
Sure, February isn't the best time for visiting Russia. This time it was very cold (about -20 C), but personally I like -20 more than +35.
8. One suggestion for organizers and players of week-end tournaments.
Time control in my section was 90 min + 30 sec/move. Here in Canada in tournaments like Hart House or Annex we usually have 90 + 30 + 30 min after move 40. On week-end tournaments we play 2 games per day and can spend 10 hours playing chess - to much for me.
Section 2300-2550 had 90 + 30 + 30 time conrol, but it was much stronger event. How many 2300+ FIDE-rated players we have in week-end tornaments? 5-7 usually. And what about other 100+?
I don't mind to play with slower time control in strong tournaments with usually 1 game/day schedule (like Canadian Closed and may be Canadian Open), but in week-end tournaments with 2 games/day 90+30 is ehough.
9. Now Moscow is one of the most expensive cities in the world. I left Russia (USSR) in 1991 and remember some prices from that time. Currency rate was about the same - 30 RUB/USD (Russia had denomination 1000/1 in 90-es).
1 dollar lost 99 % of it's value in Russia since 1991!!
Here some examples.
Subway tickets - was 0.05 RUB, now 28 RUB (500 times)
Restourant - was about 10 RUB, now 1000 RUB (100 times)
Taxi to airport - was about 25 RUB, now 2500 RUB (100 times)
Gas - was 0.40/litre, now 30 RUB/litre (70 times)
Average salary - was about 200 RUB (7 USD/month), now about 25.000 RUB (800 USD)/month.
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