I spent yesterday afternoon watching Otley play London Welsh in a Second Division match. The games was played at Otley's home ground, which I guess is a typical representation of small rugby grounds in England. Although I was shivering in the stands from the cold, I was assured by others that it was "a wonderful day for watching the rugby". I guess any day in England where the rain isn't coming in at you sideways is a "wonderful day", weather-wise.
Sadly for Otley they lost again and sit second last on the table with a 0 from 11 win record. But what cheered me up was the fact that some English rugby traditions are as strong as ever. The final score was 9-6, with all the points coming from penalty kicks.
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Saturday, 8 November 2008
2008 Vikings Weekender
Pencil in the 29th and 30th of November for the 2008 Vikings Weekender. This is the third of Canberra's weekend events (O2C Doeberl Cup and ANU Open being the other 2), and while it is the smallest of the 3 it is also the most 'local' of the 3. In that I mean that the majority of the field are locals, but that shouldn't dissuade interstate visitors from playing.
It is a 6 round event (3 rounds Saturday, 3 rounds Sunday) with a time limit of G/60m + 10 sec added per move. There is a $500 guaranteed first prize, and entry fees are $50/$35/$20 (Standard/Concession/Junior).
You can get more details from the tournament flyer.
It is a 6 round event (3 rounds Saturday, 3 rounds Sunday) with a time limit of G/60m + 10 sec added per move. There is a $500 guaranteed first prize, and entry fees are $50/$35/$20 (Standard/Concession/Junior).
You can get more details from the tournament flyer.
Friday, 7 November 2008
How many games do you need?
A while ago I took part in a survey by Robert Howard of the University of New South Wales concerning chess strength and factors such as age, study etc
The survey has been completed and early results can be found here. For those disinclined to click the link there were a couple of interesting results.
The survey sample consisted of 581 players of which 103 were titled (mainly FM's btw). In terms of age the group average learned chess at 8 ( masters at 6) and began to play rated chess at 14 (masters at 12). Possibly the most interesting number in the survey is 390. This is the average number of FIDE rated games played by players reaching the GM title (ie from the first FIDE rated game until earning the GM title). The survey noted that most players never even reach that number in their entire careers.
At this stage I fall into that category (I've played less than 100) but it does give me renewed hope. If my quality does not improve, there is always quantity to fall back on!
The survey has been completed and early results can be found here. For those disinclined to click the link there were a couple of interesting results.
The survey sample consisted of 581 players of which 103 were titled (mainly FM's btw). In terms of age the group average learned chess at 8 ( masters at 6) and began to play rated chess at 14 (masters at 12). Possibly the most interesting number in the survey is 390. This is the average number of FIDE rated games played by players reaching the GM title (ie from the first FIDE rated game until earning the GM title). The survey noted that most players never even reach that number in their entire careers.
At this stage I fall into that category (I've played less than 100) but it does give me renewed hope. If my quality does not improve, there is always quantity to fall back on!
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
A Team in Training
The Papua New Guinea is beginning its preparation for the assault on the 2008 Olympiad. Three team members (Stuart Fancy, Craig Skehan and myself) have gathered in a secret location in England to prepare for what will be a strenuous 2 weeks of chess related activities. First task, heading for the local for lunch. After that, well we'll see!
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
Guildford Chess Club
Due to the unraveling of my travel plans, I got to spend another night in Guildford, so I spent the evening at the Guildford Chess Club. The chess club meets in the Guildford Institute, which it has done for over 100 years. There is even a brass plaque at the door commemorating this fact.
Last night the club was mainly involved in matches, so I did a lot of spectating, although I did get about half a dozen games in. The top match was between Guildford and Surbiton, where Guildford top board, IM Nigel Povah, was held to a draw by his opponent.
Further down I watched an interesting ending, which ended in an agreed draw at the diagrammed position. The big question immediately after the game was who was actually winning. Some cursory analysis lead to the conclusion that White is better, but Black can just hold on. I then tried some deeper analysis at about 5am (UK time), where I think that White is better, but if Black plays exactly, then it is still a draw. The lines I looked at go something like ....
Endgame
Guildford CC 11.2008
1.Kb6 Bc7+ 2.Ka6 Bd8 [ 2...Bf4 3.Kxa5 Kd6 ( 3...Kc7 4.Ka6 Be3 ( 4...Kb8 5.b6 Bd6 6.Kb5+-) 5.a5 Bd4 6.b6+ Kc6 7.Ka7 Bc5 8.Ka8 Bxb6 9.axb6 Kxb6 10.Kb8 Kc5 11.Kc7 Kxc4 12.Kd6+-; 4.Kb6 Be3+ 5.Ka6 Kc5 6.b6 Kxc4 7.b7 Bf4 8.Ka7 Kb4 9.b8Q+ Bxb8+ 10.Kxb8 Kxa4 11.Kc7+-] 3.c5 Be7 4.c6+ [ 4.Kb6 Bf8 5.c6+ Kc8 6.Kxa5 Kc7 7.b6+ Kxc6 8.Ka6 Bc5 9.a5=] 4...Kc7 5.Kxa5 Bd6 6.Ka6 Be5 [ 6...Bc5 7.a5 Bd4 8.b6+ Kxc6 9.Ka7 Be3 10.Ka8 Bxb6 11.axb6 Kxb6 12.Kb8+-] 7.b6+ Kxc6 8.a5 Bb8 9.h4 By getting White to play this move, Black no longer loses the 'pawn chases' as he can capture on g4, rather than losing time by going to g3. 9...Bd6 10.Ka7 Bc5 11.Ka8 Bxb6 12.axb6 Kxb6 13.Kb8 Kc6 14.Kc8 Kd6 15.Kd8 Ke5 16.Ke7 h5 17.gxh5 Kxf5 18.Kf7 Kg4 19.Kxg7 Kxh5 20.Kxf6 Kxh4 =
After the games were finished the club members then all headed of to the local, for a pint of lager and a happy post mortem. All very civilized.
Last night the club was mainly involved in matches, so I did a lot of spectating, although I did get about half a dozen games in. The top match was between Guildford and Surbiton, where Guildford top board, IM Nigel Povah, was held to a draw by his opponent.
Further down I watched an interesting ending, which ended in an agreed draw at the diagrammed position. The big question immediately after the game was who was actually winning. Some cursory analysis lead to the conclusion that White is better, but Black can just hold on. I then tried some deeper analysis at about 5am (UK time), where I think that White is better, but if Black plays exactly, then it is still a draw. The lines I looked at go something like ....
Endgame
Guildford CC 11.2008
1.Kb6 Bc7+ 2.Ka6 Bd8 [ 2...Bf4 3.Kxa5 Kd6 ( 3...Kc7 4.Ka6 Be3 ( 4...Kb8 5.b6 Bd6 6.Kb5+-) 5.a5 Bd4 6.b6+ Kc6 7.Ka7 Bc5 8.Ka8 Bxb6 9.axb6 Kxb6 10.Kb8 Kc5 11.Kc7 Kxc4 12.Kd6+-; 4.Kb6 Be3+ 5.Ka6 Kc5 6.b6 Kxc4 7.b7 Bf4 8.Ka7 Kb4 9.b8Q+ Bxb8+ 10.Kxb8 Kxa4 11.Kc7+-] 3.c5 Be7 4.c6+ [ 4.Kb6 Bf8 5.c6+ Kc8 6.Kxa5 Kc7 7.b6+ Kxc6 8.Ka6 Bc5 9.a5=] 4...Kc7 5.Kxa5 Bd6 6.Ka6 Be5 [ 6...Bc5 7.a5 Bd4 8.b6+ Kxc6 9.Ka7 Be3 10.Ka8 Bxb6 11.axb6 Kxb6 12.Kb8+-] 7.b6+ Kxc6 8.a5 Bb8 9.h4 By getting White to play this move, Black no longer loses the 'pawn chases' as he can capture on g4, rather than losing time by going to g3. 9...Bd6 10.Ka7 Bc5 11.Ka8 Bxb6 12.axb6 Kxb6 13.Kb8 Kc6 14.Kc8 Kd6 15.Kd8 Ke5 16.Ke7 h5 17.gxh5 Kxf5 18.Kf7 Kg4 19.Kxg7 Kxh5 20.Kxf6 Kxh4 =
After the games were finished the club members then all headed of to the local, for a pint of lager and a happy post mortem. All very civilized.
Monday, 3 November 2008
In Guildford
I'm currently visiting Guildford (just south of London). In chess terms it is the home of the very succesful Guildford-ADC chess team, which is currently leading the UK's 4 Nations Chess League. If I'm here for another night I might try and drop into the club for a game or 2.
As for the actual flight, one thing I cannot report upon is the strength of the in-flight chess program. Normally I carry out a ritual slaughter of the airlines chess program (assuming the program doesn't crash instead), but British Airways avoided this by not have a chess program available. Instead I had to make do with watching movies, although 2 of them did have some chess content. One was '2001: A Space Odessy' which has a very famous chess scene in it. The other was 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' which showed some inventive uses for giant chess pieces, although not in the traditional sense.
As for the actual flight, one thing I cannot report upon is the strength of the in-flight chess program. Normally I carry out a ritual slaughter of the airlines chess program (assuming the program doesn't crash instead), but British Airways avoided this by not have a chess program available. Instead I had to make do with watching movies, although 2 of them did have some chess content. One was '2001: A Space Odessy' which has a very famous chess scene in it. The other was 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' which showed some inventive uses for giant chess pieces, although not in the traditional sense.
Sunday, 2 November 2008
In transit
Due to the magic of bloggers "write now, post later" feature, while you are reading this I'm probably somewhere above Azerbaijan (hi Garry), looking at the lights of the oil platforms in the Caspian Sea. I'll reach London sometime in the evening (Canberra time) and should be blogging from downtown Guilford tomorrow.
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