Weekend Warrior & the CO Challenge

[Bob Armstrong]

Hey Bob,

One minor clarification.. David has declined the position of Past President.

Hi Chris:

Regrettable, but understandable I guess.

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

What can I say about Wednesday. It is the mid-point in the tournament - Rd. 5 of nine. The time has gone quickly with the tournament's great side events, the socializing ( group lunch at the Elephant & Castle at about 2:00 PM, and Denny's at 12:00 AM in the morning after the round has become a regular stop for a number of the Toronto players ( and others ) with some post-mortems ), the lazy early morning coffee at Timmy's reading Isaac Asimov's first sci-fi book, Pebble in the Sky ( he has a full Ruy Lopez chess game in it played by the main character and a supporting character - in descriptive notation - with moves interspersed in their conversation - I'll present it in my blog tomorrow ), and some touristing.

It has been interesting that since I have become a governor, some of my friends who have been quite deliberately apolitical re the CFC, have started asking some good and tough questions about the running of the CFC - what is the relevance of CFC governors, and of the CFC itself? why doesn't CFC abolish the national rating system and go just with the FIDE ratings now that it goes down to 1200 ? should the CFC be less democratic and more run like a profit business - smaller management ( and I dejectedly tell them that the CFC Constitutional Coalition motion on reduction of governors got defeated at Monday's AGM - and they say: " This is a surprise ? " )? and generally what does the future of the CFC look like? What I find hopeful in all this for the CFC is the fact that members, when someone is willing to answer questions, are not apathetic as some claim ( though I must say I'm unsure about some governors ). I think there are many different points of view in the membership, and many good ideas that the CFC can tap, if they can figure out how and where to engage the membership in intial ground-breaking dialogue. They may not be interested in a massive influx of " political " information, but they will ask some questions when given the chance. CFC can well hope, I think, that some orientation will lead them to be willing to monitor CFC information when it comes their way. And now that the finacial situation is stable, and the restructuring complete, it may be that the CFC will be able to focus more on member service and chess promotion, which will lead to less skepticism about the role of the CFC.

Yesterday when reporting on the incoming governors AGM, I forgot to mention a very interesting point that got discussed late in the meeting. The 2009-10 budget has in it an allocation of $ 10,000 for redevelopment of the webzine. The governors actually did their job and reviewed this. The feeling generally was that the webzine requires, to be good, more money than that, and more time, effort and person power than the CFC can afford. It was suggested strongly to the executive and governors not present, that it be replace by a good electronic newsletter, with good and new Canadian content, that might go monthly directly to members. This will provide something to members, plus have CFC communicte what's happening monthly to the membership - an attempt at better communication. And when it comes to the national championships, it was felt that at the moment, CFC should not see them as a money-making opportunity. Rather the $ 10,000 for the webzine should be reallocated as a fund to promote national championships, with a plan needing to be devised as to how the money might be best spent to help develop bids for these tournaments. This is a radical departure from past practice, and I think a good one. I hope we governors at the AGM can convince our absent or proxy fellow governors to move in this direction.

But what about the chess you ask? Well, I had to promise that I would not cry a lot in today's blog about my disastrous loss yesterday. In Rd. 5, I was paired down about 300 points and ended up playing a nice guy from Saskatchewan, whom I had played in last year's Montreal Canadian Open ( I had won ) !! I did get the advantage somewhat early and pressed for a K-side sac-attack. But before I got there, he ended up trapping his rook and I went up the exchange. Then, in hunting for a crushing, amazing, impressive, mind-blowing sac-mate, things started to go downhll and I became inaccurate. First I sacked a P, not seeing that at the end of my analysis, I had missed that he had a back rank mate ! In part of the process, I did finally sac my N for a pawn to destroy his K-side pawn structure, but failed to see he could decline it. I ended up with problems that meant I had to given him back the exchange, though I had gotten my P back. But I still had the back rank mate problem - however I was still winning and was poised to go up a P. At this point I went brain-dead. I put my queen on a square where it was a forced mate for me - except for one thing - I had put my queen right in front of one of his pawns - bye, bye queen, mate and game !.

But I won't cry a lot, as I promised, and will now move on to how the Toronto gang of 8 in the U 2000 class are doing. Dalia Kagramanov defeated a master in Rd. 5, Noam Davies, and took sole possession of first place, not only in our group, but in the whole class ! - go girl !! There is at least an 8-way tie for second, a half point back, with 6 of our group of 8 in the pack. Here are our standings:

1. Dalia Kagramanov ( 1941 ) - 3.5
2. Tyler Longo ( 1992 ) - 3 ( Scarborough CC member )
3. Brendan Fan ( 1992 ) - 3
4. Alex Ferreira ( 1987 ) - 3 ( Scarborough CC member )
5. Omar Shah ( 1921 ) - 3 ( past Scarborough CC member, and winner of the U 2000 section last year in the Montreal CO ).
6. Sam Arfin ( 1916 ) - 3 ( Scarborough CC member )
7. Jonathan Farine ( 1894 ) - 3
8. Bob Armstrong ( 1831 ) - 1.5 ( Scarborough CC member & your intrepid blogger )

Wednesday also saw the Canadian Blitz Championship and there was a good turnout of about 30 players, including a couple of GM's, IM's and FM's. The winner was local Alberta hero Eric Hansen ! Alex managed to tie for first with 3 others in the U 2000 class ( $ 12.50 ! - return of entry fee and a couple of coffees ).

Well, I hope I didn't cry too much about my dismal performance so far ( though I have played 3 masters out of my 5 rounds ) - but it is a great tournament and I'm happy to have come, and nevertheless am having a good time.

Wish me luck today for Rd. 6 - I understand I'm playing on of those shark-like underrated juniors !

Bob

[Kevin Pacey]

It has been interesting that since I have become a governor, some of my friends who have been quite deliberately apolitical re the CFC, have started asking some good and tough questions about the running of the CFC... ( and I dejectedly tell them that the CFC Constitutional Coalition motion on reduction of governors got defeated at Monday's AGM - and they say: " This is a surprise ? " )

Hi Bob

Yes, I'm afraid your friends were right not to be surprised. Governors would be acting against their own interest if their province's representation was reduced by 50%. Some of the ones who voted No, among other possible reasons, might have feared they weren't going to be the ones re-elected/appointed the year following a 50% reduction of Governors.

The AGM (rather than through a GL) was the likely best chance for getting your motion through (since many inactive Govs were not rallied to send their proxies), but it still failed to pass. It may prove to be the same way with any proposed Governor inactivity rule. When the sleeping governors feel the CFC's existence or their own power is at stake, many may wake up and vote to prevent the threat, then go back to sleep.

The CFC does have a need to re-structure itself, but a much more palatable way for the Governors than any reduction of their ranks may be to simply enlarge the CFC Executive in a way that gives more representation to the provincial associations. Namely add each association's president onto the CFC Executive .

This would make the CFC a bit more of a federation than before, allowing much better provincial representation on the Executive. Yes, people may still point to all the inactive governors who only seem to vote once in a blue moon, in the face of some sort of dire threat, but the CFC may in any given year be bringing on board more people who would be active on behalf of the CFC, albeit on the Executive. Granted, the provincial associations all need to agree to this, but I imagine they could be eager to do so.

[Bob Armstrong]

Thursday was a rehabilitation day. After 2 consecutive disastrous losses, I finally won a rather straightforward game. In our gang of 8 Toronto players in the U 2000 class, Dalia Kagramanov, who had sole possession of first place, lost. But Omar Shah, who was in the pack tied for second, won and jumped up into first place for our class with 4 pts., tied only with Paul Usselman ( 1886 ). There are 11 players with 3.5 pts., and 5 others in our gang are among them. So here are the standings:

1. Omar Shah ( 1921 ) - 4 ( past Scarborough CC member, and winner of the U 2000 section last year in the Montreal CO ).
2. Tyler Longo ( 1992 ) - 3.5 ( Scarborough CC member )
3. Alex Ferreira ( 1987 ) - 3.5 ( Scarborough CC member )
4. Dalia Kagramanov ( 1941 ) - 3.5
5. Sam Arfin ( 1916 ) - 3.5 ( Scarborough CC member )
6. Jonathan Farine ( 1894 ) - 3.5
7. Brendan Fan ( 1992 ) - 3
8. Bob Armstrong ( 1831 ) - 2.5 ( Scarborough CC member & your intrepid blogger )

There is a side bet among 5 of the gang ( Bob, Omar, Jon, Alex and Tyler ) that the winner collects $ 20 from each of the others towards the entry fee for the Toronto Labour Day tournament, on condition that the winner plays up a section. Omar is now leading on this side bet as well.

The side event on Wednesday was a skittles session with IM Leon Piasetski - he took three games of the attendees, and analyzed them while everyone looked on. He was quite willing to have the group participate as well to some extent, and this helped keep up interest. He was very personable and he found some interesting lines in the games. A nice side event.

On the " magic square " prize front, the prize winning move for Rd. 4 was Na5. Jonathan of our group had played it earliest and won a one-year membership to ICC. The magic square for Rd. 5 was Rb1 - Alex made the move, but not until move 28, so he's not optimistic he'll be the earliest mover. We'll find out tomorrow night at the start of the round.

We made it to Denny's just after midnight this morning, and spent a few hours feasting and analyzing - they're getting to know us there now - and we haven't been kicked out yet !

Finally, I mentioned in yesterday's blog that I was reading Isaac Asimov's first sci-fi book, Pebble in the Sky. And that he has his main character and a supporting character, play a chess game while they dialogue with each other. The game is a great Ruy Lopez - here it is:

Arbin, Grew vs. Schwartz, Joseph

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5 a6
4. Ba4 Nf6
5. Nc3 Be7
6. 0-0 b5
7. Bb3 d6
8. d3 0-0
9. Nd5 Na5
10. Nxe7+ Qxe7
11. Ne1 Nxb3
12. axb3 Nd7
13. f4 f5
14. exf5 Rxf5
15. Nf3 Bb7
16. Bd2 exf4
17. Nd4 Rg5
18. Nf3 Rg4
19. h3 Rxg2+ !!
20. Kxg2 Qg5+
21. Kh1 Ne5
22. Qe2 Qg3
23. Qg2 Nxf3
24. Bc3 Nd4 !
25. Qxb7 Qxh3+
26. Kg1 Ne2+
27. Kf2 Qe3+
28. Kg2 Qg3+
29. Kh1 Qh6++

Does anyone know if this is some famous game that Asimov copied for his novel? Let me know.

Bob

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Arbin, Grew vs. Schwartz, Joseph

Does anyone know if this is some famous game that Asimov copied for his novel? Let me know.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1090575
"this game was played in 3rd championship of the ussr and received the first prize for beauty."

[Event "Moscow (Russia)"]
[Site "it"]
[Date "1924.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Boris Verlinsky"]
[Black "Grigory Levenfish"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "50"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Be7 6.O-O b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.d3 O-O 9.Nd5 Na5 10.Nxe7+ Qxe7 11.Ne1 Nxb3 12.axb3 Nd7 13.f4 f5 14.exf5 Rxf5 15.Nf3 Bb7 16.Bd2 exf4 17.Nd4 Rg5 18.Nf3 Rg4 19.h3 Rxg2+ 20.Kxg2 Qg5+ 21.Kh1 Ne5 22.Qe2 Qg3 23.Qg2 Nxf3 24.Bc3 Nd4 25.Qxb7 Qxh3+ 26.Kg1 Ne2+ 27.Kf2 Qe3+ 28.Ke1 Nxc3# 0-1

vs a book's (Bob's) version

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. 0-0 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. d3 0-0 9. Nd5 Na5 10. Nxe7+ Qxe7 11. Ne1 Nxb3 12. axb3 Nd7 13. f4 f5 14. exf5 Rxf5 15. Nf3 Bb7 16. Bd2 exf4 17. Nd4 Rg5 18. Nf3 Rg4 19. h3 Rxg2+ !! 20. Kxg2 Qg5+ 21. Kh1 Ne5 22. Qe2 Qg3 23. Qg2 Nxf3 24. Bc3 Nd4 ! 25. Qxb7 Qxh3+ 26. Kg1 Ne2+ 27. Kf2 Qe3+ 28. Kg2 Qg3+ 29. Kh1 Qh6++

As I see there is some discrepancy at the end. The last move Qh6 looks very faulty. Should be Qh3# likely.

[Bob Armstrong]

Friday was a somewhat lazy day - we could have slept in ( went to bed at 3:30 AM ; but with my chess tournament sleeping hours, I woke up at 7:30 AM ). There was no side event scheduled, so Mario Moran-Venegas, another Scarborough CC member in the U 1800 class, and I, decided to head out to the Royal Alberta Museum about noon. Alex, Tyler and Jon decided to go to the West Edmonton Mall, which Mario and I visited on Wednesday. The museum was quite nice. There was a special exhibit of nature photos. They were well set up with an explanatory plaque for each - the first paragraph described when, where and how the picture was taken; the second paragraph gave some scientific facts about the subject of the picture - quite enjoyable and informative. The stuffed bird collection was great as well. We spent about 3 1/2 hours there, and then headed back to the playing hall.

In Rd. 7 yesterday, I played somewhat uninspired chess against an opponent rated 200 points lower. I got an inferior opening, but managed to equalize. But then I couldn't find any way to improve my position. In the end, he had pressure on my isolated centre pawn, and when I protected it with my N, he'd attack it and I'd have to go back - no way out of the repetition - draw. Paul Usselman, who was co-leader of the U 2000 class lost. Omar Shah, the other co-leader drew, and so remained in first place, only now it was a 5-way tie. There are 12 players 1/2 point back in second. Here are the standings for our Toronto gang of 8 in the U 2000:

1. Omar Shah ( 1921 ) - 4.5 ( past Scarborough CC member, and winner of the U 2000 section last year in the Montreal CO ).
2. Brendan Fan ( 1992 ) - 4
3. Dalia Kagramanov ( 1941 ) - 4
4. Jonathan Farine ( 1894 ) - 4
5. Tyler Longo ( 1992 ) - 3.5 ( Scarborough CC member )
6. Alex Ferreira ( 1987 ) - 3.5 ( Scarborough CC member )
7. Sam Arfin ( 1916 ) - 3.5 ( Scarborough CC member )
8. Bob Armstrong ( 1831 ) - 3 ( Scarborough CC member & your intrepid blogger )

5 of our group again headed out after the round to Denny's for the traditional late dinner and analysis - Rodney is now getting used to us !

Alex didn't win the magic square Rb1 move for Rd. 5, because others played the move earlier than he did - can't win 'em all.

Today the round 8 starts a bit earlier - 4:00 PM Edmonton time.

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

Saturday started out optimistically.

At chess tournaments, I sleep very little ( although I generally don't need much sleep, chess tournaments are worse ). So far I've averaged about 4 hours or less per night. But yesterday night I slept for a whopping 6 hours ( I woke up after 4 hours, but actually managed to go back to sleep ). A good start to the day.

Secondly, when I came last Friday, I found there was a complimentary computer in the lobby lounge - unfortunately someone had logged off ( which you weren't supposed to be able to do ), and no one on staff knew the password. So the computer was down all week. But on Friday they fixed it. So I'm now able to do my computer thing without having to use the computer in Alex' ( my roomate ) bedroom, and keep him up - and when he sleeps in, I can now go to the lobby computer. So yesterday morning I was able to check a few websites and post a few replies ( actually, Alex almost slept in past the round. He woke up at around 4:00 PM, and realized the round had already started - so he got to his game about half an hour late - but still crushed his opponent ).

Thirdly, I went to Timmy's for my early morning ritual - large coffee, toasted bagel with herb and garlic cream cheese, and reading my sc-fi book. Amazingly, when I sat down at the outside table, a little sparrow came and landed on the table right beside my hand. No fear ! Obviously he's done this trick before. So I broke him off a small chunk of bagel which he grabbed in his beak from my hand, almost before I had it off the bagel. Nature is amazing.

Fourthly, I found out I had a very pleasant opponent for Rd. 8, Ken Einarsson. He is a CFC Governor from Manitoba whom I've corresponded with a bit in the past, and whom I got to know a bit better when we both attended the two CFC AGM's on Monday and Tuesday. Ken is rated just a bit below me, so I looked forward to a good, tough game.

Fifthly, my wife had left me a message shortly after I arrived last Friday, that she needed the address and phone number of our mechanic. This didn't sound good. So I had called and received the bad news that on the way to our farm, the car had started smoking under the hood, and when she stopped, oil was leaking out of the motor. Also, a couple of cabbies had looked at it for her, and said it looked bad. But yesterday I called her again for an update, and found out that, although it was fairly major, we didn't need a new motor ( back a few cars ago, when something similar had occurred, we'd had to get a new motor in our Volvo ). And the car will be ready for me to pick it up when I return to Toronto on Monday.

So I was feeling quite confident as I went into my Rd. 8 game with Ken. It started off well, when he played into my favourite KID. I got a great attack, and it looked like he was in trouble. But then my optimism faded. I saw a sac line that looked intuitively good, but I couldn't calculate the final win. I wimped out and traded the piece rather than sacking it. Mistake - the sac was a mate as we saw in a post-mortem with some of the Toronto, U 2000 players. But after the swap, I get a slightly worse game. The game went on for a while with him having the advantage. Then he got a passed pawn on my 7th rank, and I eventually lost the ending. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed playing the game, but the optimism of early in the day did not pan out.

In the Toronto U 2000 group, Omar Shah had been in a 5-way tie for first, but he lost, and so dropped back into a 12-way tie for second, a half point back. But Brendan Fan won his game, and jumped into a four-way tie for first. Here are the standings of the Toronto gang of 8 after 8 rounds:

1. Brendan Fan ( 1992 ) - 5
2. Alex Ferreira ( 1987 ) - 4.5 ( Scarborough CC member )
3. Dalia Kagramanov ( 1941 ) - 4.5
4. Omar Shah ( 1921 ) - 4.5 ( past Scarborough CC member, and winner of the U 2000 section last year in the Montreal CO ).
5. Jonathan Farine ( 1894 ) - 4
6. Tyler Longo ( 1992 ) - 3.5 ( Scarborough CC member )
7. Sam Arfin ( 1916 ) - 3.5 ( Scarborough CC member )
8. Bob Armstrong ( 1831 ) - 3 ( Scarborough CC member & your intrepid blogger )

I'm a bit disappointed that my chess has been so inconsistent, but I have to admit it is something I have had to live with over the years.

Onward into Rd. 9 later today. The round starts earlier today - at noon.

Bob

[Phil Haley]

The reason the immediate past president is a member of the executive is to provide continuity as well as general of the executive. This is a worthwhile practice and should be continued. Hal Bond filled this position during the past year and hopefully David Lavin will reconsider and fill this position. Phil Haley

[Bob Armstrong]

Well, it has been a great chess holiday here in Edmonton !

The tournament has been very efficiently run by organizer Micah Hughey, TD Vlad Rekhson, Alberta Chess Association E.D. Tony Ficzere, and their volunteer team. All digital clocks, boards and sets were provided. The side events helped fill in the days and all were informative and enjoyable. I got to play my first grandmaster after 40 years of playing chess ( thought I should do it at least once before I die ! ) - though I managed to hang a minor for a pawn on move 13 against GM Michael Adams in his simul ( with, he said, some compensation for keeping him from castling, and keeping his K in the centre, under a bit of pressure ). A big thanks to all who put on the tournament or assisted by providing side events.

And the modest amount of Edmonton touristing was enjoyable too ( West Edmonton Mall & the Royal Alberta Museum ).

The weather was totally cooperative, avoiding trypical hot mid-July temperatures, though the mornings were actually a bit chilly some days. It only rained the one night after the round, and it had stopped by the time we had to walk back to the student residence where we were staying.

The residence was quite comfortable, and worked well for Alex Ferreira and I. It was only a 15-20 minute walk from the playing site, and the price was reasonable. There were phones in the rooms and internet connection. And there was the complimentary computer in the lobby ( though it was down for the first number of days we were there ).

The socializing was very pleasant. I met some new people, and went to eat with a few new acquaintances, and with some long-standing friends. The Toronto U 2000 and Scarborough CC gang went to lunch together a number of times at the Elephant & Castle, and as well, the late night dinner and analysis at Denny's became a regular occurrence.

The tournament saw a 2-way tie for first between Canadian GM Mark Bluvshtein and Canadian IM Edward Porper ( Shirov, Ni and Adams and other GM's and IM's and FM's came further back ). Mark won the tournament on tie-break, though the cash prize was split equally.

I finished off the tournament with a nice win against a fast-improving young junior rated 300 points below me in Rd. 9. My chess over the course of the tournament was somewhat inconsistent as I said in an earlier blog. Against the new Canadian Blitz Champion, FM Eric Hansen, I had a great attack, and would have had a good advantage had I played the aggressive move first and the defensive move second ( playing them in reverse gave him time to defend ). And in another game I had an N-sac mate, though it was likely too complex for me to find. In another game however I hung my queen in a winning game ! Not the best. But nonetheless, I enjoyed the chess anyway and some of the games, or parts of them, were quite complex and challenging.

In the U 2000 class, which I was part of, the winner with 6 points was Richard Huang. There was a 2-way tie for second - one of these was Toronto player Omar Shah. Unfortunately for him, the player who tied with him got his point in the last round by forfeit from his higher rated opponent. Here are the standings for the Toronto U 2000 group of 8:

1. Omar Shah - 1921 - 5.5
2. Brendan Fan - 1992 - 5
3. Dalia Kagramanov - 1941 - 5
4. John Farine - 1894 - 5
5. Alex Ferreira - 1987 - 4.5
6. Tyler Longo - 1992 - 4.5
7. Sam Arfin - 1916 - 4.5
8. Bob Armstrong - 1831 - 4

I head back to Toronto at 8:30 AM tomorrow, and will be able to add this to my list of most enjoyable chess holidays at the Canadian Opens: Kitchener ( 2006 ), Ottawa ( 2007 ), Montreal ( 2008 ) and now Edmonton ( 2009 ) [ along with, in the mists of an earlier epoch: Kingston ( 1966 ) and Toronto ( 1968 ) ].

Bob