Saturday ramblings…
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
So this writer made it to Andorra safely Friday afternoon, but not without a few minor detours. As the tournament progresses I will fill in the details. As for now, the 28th edition of the Andorra International Open Chess Tournament promises to be one of the best, with 17 grandmasters. I am ranked 6th in a field of some 175 players from all over the world. The Cuban GM Bruzon is ranked number one.
Lazaro is recovering from a Spassky-like slump that saw him go from being one of the elite world-class players 5 years ago into oblivion as his 2680 plus rating nose-dived into the mid 2500s. He was quickly overtaken by his countryman Dominguez. Bruzon is a great natural talent and one of the hardest workers amongst the younger generation. I have no doubt that he will quickly become the number one Cuban again…
No doubt this year’s tournament will be remembered for the disasterous pairings in the first half of the event. The Canadian chess-message boards have spoken of very little else! Strikingly similar to the disaster 3 years ago when Jon Berry crashed and burned trying to use a pairing system that he also was unfamiliar with, one would have thought that we had learned our lesson.
I have said it before, and I will say it again: Canadian chess does not lack technically skilled individuals capable of using the latest and most sophisticated pairing systems. But what it lacks is common sense: instead of giving the job to competent people such as Serge Archambault (who has more european-experience than all the other Canadian arbiters combined), less skilled individuals (Bond and Berry) find themselves put into positions where they don’t know what they are doing. The result is predictable: they embarrass themselves and they ruin the tournament for everybody.
Would you drive a 30 year car? Bond and Berry are trained with ancient and out-dated skills. They have been around forever and it should be obvious to anyone with a bit of intelligence that the world has changed a lot since the dinosaurs were around. It time for new blood in Canadian organized-chess. While Bond may be a respectable IA, and has even been invited to several high-profile international tournaments, he should know better than anyone that his skills at pairing large international tournaments are less than sufficient. One can only ask Bond what he tried to prove by accepting a job that he was not qualified for…(and note that I am not referring to the disaster at last year’s Canadian Zonal)
One of my readers wrote: ”This years Canadian Open is what I call the Mistake by the Lake. The pairing system I call Bond’s Abortion. I like the way Bond uses inflated Canadian ratings for players whose FIDE rating barely justifies their title. How the fuck do people who can’t pair a smooth Swiss Open become International Arbiters?”
Ofcourse, dozens of similar-thinking messages appeared on the message boards and it is not worth sticking the dagger deeper into the cadaver’s heart: he is already dead. If there is a lesson to be learnt here, it is that the Canadian chess community will not learn it. Any sponsor connected with this year’s Canadian Open has been burned…
What more is there to say? This election is becoming embarrassing! Officially Ilyumzhinov has now 75 committed votes (to Karpov’s 20-something). Even the conservative Kirsan website is giving notice that it expects in excess of 105 votes before long…
Fortunately, it won’t last much longer. A rumour that is beginning to circulate is that Karpov has already told his closest supporters that he will withdraw in the next two weeks.
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
Spassky experienced a number of bitter set-backs in his career, and if it was not for his extra-ordinarily strong character he would have never recoverd. As it was, Spassky eventually became the strongest player of his generation and went on to win the world championship in 1969.
The readers will be able to follow the tournament on the links given above (below the tournament logo). It ends next Sunday.
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The Canadian Open winds down this weekend in Toronto. I took a quick look at the latest results and it seems that today’s games are not yet over. I will give more information tomorrow. It appears that anybody can still win the tournament.
Hal Bond
No doubt this year’s tournament will be remembered for the disasterous pairings in the first half of the event. The Canadian chess-message boards have spoken of very little else! Strikingly similar to the disaster 3 years ago when Jon Berry crashed and burned trying to use a pairing system that he also was unfamiliar with, one would have thought that we had learned our lesson.
I have said it before, and I will say it again: Canadian chess does not lack technically skilled individuals capable of using the latest and most sophisticated pairing systems. But what it lacks is common sense: instead of giving the job to competent people such as Serge Archambault (who has more european-experience than all the other Canadian arbiters combined), less skilled individuals (Bond and Berry) find themselves put into positions where they don’t know what they are doing. The result is predictable: they embarrass themselves and they ruin the tournament for everybody.
Would you drive a 30 year car? Bond and Berry are trained with ancient and out-dated skills. They have been around forever and it should be obvious to anyone with a bit of intelligence that the world has changed a lot since the dinosaurs were around. It time for new blood in Canadian organized-chess. While Bond may be a respectable IA, and has even been invited to several high-profile international tournaments, he should know better than anyone that his skills at pairing large international tournaments are less than sufficient. One can only ask Bond what he tried to prove by accepting a job that he was not qualified for…(and note that I am not referring to the disaster at last year’s Canadian Zonal)
One of my readers wrote: ”This years Canadian Open is what I call the Mistake by the Lake. The pairing system I call Bond’s Abortion. I like the way Bond uses inflated Canadian ratings for players whose FIDE rating barely justifies their title. How the fuck do people who can’t pair a smooth Swiss Open become International Arbiters?”
Ofcourse, dozens of similar-thinking messages appeared on the message boards and it is not worth sticking the dagger deeper into the cadaver’s heart: he is already dead. If there is a lesson to be learnt here, it is that the Canadian chess community will not learn it. Any sponsor connected with this year’s Canadian Open has been burned…
_________________________________________________________________
What more is there to say? This election is becoming embarrassing! Officially Ilyumzhinov has now 75 committed votes (to Karpov’s 20-something). Even the conservative Kirsan website is giving notice that it expects in excess of 105 votes before long…
Fortunately, it won’t last much longer. A rumour that is beginning to circulate is that Karpov has already told his closest supporters that he will withdraw in the next two weeks.
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS