Monday, November 2, 2009

Why I Might actually play in a Tournament

I haven't posted much lately because there has been nothing new going on in my life regarding chess but that might change. It looks like I might be able to play in the Southern Alberta Open this month. I guess I need to dust off the old chess board and study an opening or two. To any future opponent wondering which openings I am studying, let me just say it's the Hammerslong as black and white - I swear.

The only reason I am contemplating playing is because I can combine it with a business trip. If not I would not consider it.


In other current chess events (concerning people who might actually read this blog):

Keith MacKinnon won the Edm International Qualifier last weekend and will be playing GM's and IM's in Dec. It will be tough but should be a good learning experience for him.

Eric Hansen and Kevin Me are going to the World Youth Championship. Good Luck!

Aaron Sequillion. It's hard to understand Aaron's results. When I played him a couple of years ago he was under 1800 and I was able to beat him. After that he went on a tear and climbed over 2100 and looked like he was on his was to becoming a master but since then he's plummeted to back under 2000.???? I hear the best way to improve your rating is to play alot and I guess the easiest way to lose points is to play too much.

Rick Pederson has been going the other way. He was under 1854 and in less than a year has climbed to an all time high at 2126. I played him at the Sask Open when he was 1908. I could have won that game if I saw a simple tactic but missed it and went on to lose in the final round so he came second instead of me.

Robert Sasata. Hasn't played much lately. I thought he might play in the Canadian Open this year but he didn't. The Edm International still has one spot open. I'm sure he could give them some tough opposition.

Looks like Jamin Gluckie hasn't played much lately either and has even let his CFC membership expire.

5 comments:

Jamin said...

You're right, I haven't played much recently and I did let my CFC membership expire because I don't expect to play in another CFC event for quite some time.

I never blogged about it, but I was in Calgary for a business trip a couple of weeks ago and I dropped by the club on a Tuesday night when an active tournament was taking place. When I arrived Martin Robichaud challenged me to a few blitz games at 5/0, and I won all three without many problems. In the first round of the tournament Martin and I were paired again and I again achieved a winning position out of the opening. I then got careless and started grabbing pawns, allowing Martin to create a situation where I had to give up a piece to avoid mate. I was then in a lost ending but managed to draw by pressurizing my opponent in time trouble.

I won my next game against Art Milne in 18 moves, and then played Alex Yam in several 5/0 blitz games. Alex Yam and I have some history - in the 2005 Canadian Open we were paired in the final round. I was on the black side of a QID, an opening I was not familiar with at the time, and Alex played very creatively and eventually won when I blundered in a difficult position. I treated our blitz games as a form of personal redemption, and although I didn't sweep Alex like I did to Martin, I did play reasonably well and won a few nice games.

Jamin said...

I forgot to mention that in my 2005 game with Alex I fell asleep at the board several times because I didn't get any sleep the night before our game. Every time it looked like I was taking a deep think I was actually nodding off :-)

TerryC said...

Hey Jamin, Were you going to play in the WBX team tournament in Dec?

I've been very tired or bored sometimes during games but I never actually dozed off. I think a good night sleep before a tournament is almost a prerequisite to a good result, but sometimes for a variety of good reasons, that doesn't happen.

Glad to hear you're still in good form.

TerryC said...

Jamin, Another question. Do you think the CFC is improving or still deteriorating. I'm assuming you think the later if you are giving up your membership.

I'm hoping they are starting to turn the corner but all I know for sure is that the CFC is a poor shadow of what it used to be when I first was a member years ago.

Jamin said...

I'm not sure if I will play in the WBX this year...it will all depend on if Robert is on my team. Robert, myself, and a third member have won the tournament two years in a row, and it just wouldn't be the same if Robert decided to play in the International instead. So, I imagine that if Robert is cleared to play chess this year he will choose to play in the International, which will mean that I won't play in the WBX, but stranger things have happened...

I'm not sure where the CFC is at. Frankly, I lost interest in it a while back and I didn't renew my membership simply because I didn't see the point in it if I wasn't planning to play in a CFC tournament in the near future. I believe the CFC also has a policy that if you let your membership lapse and then renew within 4 months, they will treat your renewal as an extension of your original membership. For example, let's say your membership expired in July and you renewed in November, your new membership would expire in July of the following year, not in November of the following year. Personally, I think this is a rip off, and I'm willing to let my membership expire for several months in order to avoid this.

Off topic, but I used to play in chess tournaments hung over all the time. Back when I was in my early to mid twenties, I was constantly sleep deprived prior to chess tournaments and I consistently posted results above what my rating would suggest. Perhaps I was just underrated at the time...or maybe my drunken master moniker was deserved? Either way, I can no longer pull those stunts and expect the same consequences.