There will be no chess club at 91 Albert on Saturday October 31.
Instead we will be hosting a tournament at the The Neon Factory, at 594 Main Street. This tournament will be a FUN rapid tournament. The plan is to have 5 rounds with a time control of 25 minutes. The entry fee will be $5.00! All of the money raised from the entry fee will make up 100% of the prizes. Lunch will be included!
Doors open at noon. Registration ends at 12:30
The Millionaire Open starts today.
One very cool feature of this tournament is that they use DGT boards to broadcast the moves from the top board of each under section. I’m going to grab some of the under 1600 games that will be played and make analyzing them my theme of the day this Saturday (October 10). I’ll also have a laptop out so we can watch some of the games in progress.
Also of note, Winnipeg’s own John Remillard is playing in the under 1800 section, if he’s fortunate enough to find himself on top board, we’ll definitely be looking at that.
At 3pm I’m going to put on the video broadcast of the tournament.
Here are last years under 1400 and under 1600 games
The CFC has a formal system for being recognized as a class player or title holder that includes being able to achieve classes and titles with three performances norms and a base rating. These make for interesting incremental goals and opportunities to recognize good performances.
As Silman says, you can’t just shoot for master, it’s good to set goals for levels in between.
Along those lines, here are the norms achieved in the September Tuesday Night Tournament (Arsen Aban Memorial):
I’ll be coming back and seeking my first class C norm in the November/December TNT — in a previous post I claimed to have already done this, but the relevant tournaments didn’t include the required 5 games which is part of the rules for CFC title/class norms.
A five round rapid swiss tournament with half of entry fees ($15) supporting the club and the other half forming the prize fund
Where: 3rd floor, 91 Albert St.
Date: Saturday October 17, 2015
Time: doors open at noon, registration closes and round 1 pairings announced at 12:30
Parking: See this parking guide . The two hour street meters (first two hours free) are not advised as we’ll have tight starts between rounds. Save the hassle and park in a lot.
Entry fee: $15
Prizes: 75% of prize fund will go towards overall prizes, 25% will be used as under prizes for the bottom 1/3 of the field, unless there are few low rated players, in which case adjustments will be made.
Time control: 10+5
Other rules to be announced.
Sponsors welcome, please contact us
See Pawn Sacrifice (drama film about Bobby Fischer) with other chess players, and get some chess in beforehand.
Gather for chess at the mall tables between 4:30 and 6:30 on Wednesday September 30, then grab threatre seats for 6:55pm show time. (or keep playing chess until 7:05, skip the ads and crane your neck with a front row seat, see if I care!)
Suggestion, before joining the mall tables for chess buy your ticket first! (you can buy them online right now at or in person day of)
In addition to the 6:55pm showtmie, this film also shows at this location at 12:35, 3:35, and 9:55pm every day between now and Thursday Oct 1. There are also show times at Cineplex McGillvary with the same date span.
Tickets at Landmark Cinemas Grant Park are $10.50 general admission, $8.50 for children 3-13, $8.99 if you’re 65+, that price includes all taxes.
Most of the mall tables are at centre court just west of the doors between McNally Robinson and the mall corridor.
There are not a lot of tables and I’m not sure how vigorously mall security tries to keep them open. Our film tickets alone may not be enough (the theatre has it’s own lobby with limited seating), it may help if many of us have food and beverage items from the mall.
The Manitoba Film Classification board has rated this film PG, which means everyone is admitted, parental guidance is advised, most suitable for viewers over 12. Has a “Not recommended for young children” (8 and under warning) and “language may offend” warnings. The MPAA also points out there is a little bit of implied sex (Toby McGuire goes topless!) and plenty of “historical smoking” as was common in the years 1951-1972.
My honest opinion, your sensitive 10 year old chess kid will be fine and probably not come home worried they’re on track to be the next Paul Morphy or likely to have mom and dad move out on them them at age 16! Do we even have any 10 year olds in Winnipeg who are so chess obsessed that they’re already playing at the expert or higher level?
Pawn Sacrifice is a really good movie.
As a chess fan I could write a quibbling review on historical inaccuracies, but that’s not a fair way to judge a drama “based on a true story”. The good news is that many of the really dramatic things that actually happened in the lead-up to and during the 1972 world championship made it into the film and played a significant role in moving the plot forward. In particular, I applaud the film makers for depicting 29… Bxh2? (* see note) from game one and 11…Nh5!? from game three. They pulled these off without any substantial technical explanation as to why these moves caused a such stir. But, no such explanation was required, the reactions these particular moves created in observers was powerful enough.
I had only one near “what the hell” moment near the end. There was pre-round 6 hyperbole that such a round could pretty much decide the whole thing. You don’t have to be a chess player to understand that a score of 4 1/2 vs 3 1/2 after six rounds in an up to 24 round match isn’t insurmountable. At least this kind of hype was said by media talking heads and not by the player characters and/or their entourages.
But, after seeing it through, making round 6 the climax of the film was actually good story telling. To have dragged us through most of the subsequent rounds in some kind of silly fast-forward montage would have killed the dramatic tension every good climax requires. Towards this end, there is actually one historical cheat that I want to single out and praise. I won’t spoil this with specifics but an incredible turn of events that actually happened in a much later round was placed into round 5 and had the audience laughing out loud as it helped us chug forward to the dramatic ending.
Every good drama delivers an emotional roller coaster, and Pawn Sacrifice pulls it off even if you know the plot outcome. At the moment of triumph, I actually had to take a deep breath to avoid bursting into joy-tears. Only a few other film titles have done that, and the only one I’ll admit to here in public is one of my other geek favorites, Apollo 13.
I’m not sure how much credit the middle of the film deserves for building us to such a dramatic ending. Something about them middle felt a little slow. Were there too many scenes consisting of searches for listening bugs or freak outs over a door being knocked? It’s okay to have a thematic device that is repeated, but perhaps a few less repetitions were required. (or perhaps I shouldn’t have watched the trailer so many times!)
Remarkably these kinds of scenes were pulled off empathetically and we’re able to avoid the outcome of having pity for our protagonist freak show at a safe distance. I think as much credit is due to the cinematography and sound design as the acting for pulling this off.
Early parts of the film covering Fischer’s youth could have been a little longer and less rushed if some of the things repeated in the middle took up less of the runtime. We are simply told by the Paul Marshall character that he’s a “poor kid from Brooklyn”. We could have been shown a little bit more of this deprivation and how in such an environment a kid could become obsessed with chess. The first scene of him as a bored and neglected child at a party of his mother’s communist friends was a good try in this direction, but ultimately a party, even one lacking opulence doesn’t scream “poverty!”. But, all credit due, this opening was a major success in establishing an origin story for his paranoia.
Another mind blowing Fischer youth fact that I hoped the audience absorbed was his mother moving out and leaving the apartment to him to live in on his own in his late teens. We are told this by another character, an empty (or emptying) apartment isn’t actually shown. I felt there was some risk that this significant life event didn’t sink in with being told vs shown.
Pardon the chess analogy, but these imperfections of the opening and mid-game are were not fatal. Overall they were quite well played. And I must end with additional emphasis that the end-game was sharp and decisive. Two thumbs up.
(* I won’t be crying in my cola tonight that the film truncated history by having Fischer resign game one immediately after 30 g3. See Yasser Seirawan’s recent lecture for some in-depth on the reality that Fischer played on through the adjournment and even still had drawing chances for awhile after this fateful and famous move.)
Manitoba champion FM Kevin Gentes will offer a simultaneous exhibition on September 12, 2015 12:30pm.
Admission: $10, discount to $5 for K-12 juniors,
Location: third floor, 91 Albert Street
Day: September 12, 2015
Time: 12:30
Yussupov-Gentes 1986
A two round tournament prioritized for social players / beginners — limit 4 players.
Date: August 29, 2015
Time: 1:15pm
Entry fee: free
Location: third floor, 91 Albert Street
Prize: photo opportunity with a trophy (then we’ll need it back!). (Sponsors for additional prizes welcome)
Time control: no clocks on regular games unless deemed necessary by tournament director, tiebreaks if required will be 5 minute blitz
Format: four players only, winners of round 1 will play in round 2 for first and second place, remaining two players will play for third and forth place. Round 1 pairings and colours will be random. Round 2 colours will be reversed from round 1 if possible or else random.
Room conditions: This event will be held alongside our regular casual chess club day, as such, do not expect a quiet room. Players competing in the tournament are permitted to talk to each other during their games as long as they are not doing so in a manner disturbing to their opponent.
To have a clear winner, and to ensure there are only two rounds, this event will be limited to four players only. Admission to the limited tournament slots will be prioritized as follows:
1) Adults who have never played in a tournament before
2) Children who have never played in a tournament before
3) Adults who have played in a tournament before but are believed to be below 1500 CFC strength on the basis of ratings and/or results, to be prioritized by lowest rating
4) Children who have played in a tournament before but are believed to be below 1500 CFC strength on the basis of ratings and/or results, to be prioritized by lowest rating
5) Players (children and adults) above 1500 CFC strength, to be prioritized by lowest rating
All other things being the same, players will be selected based on arrival time. The club opens at noon.
Do not worry that you will show up and not get to play chess! Because this tournament is being played alongside a normal casual day for the club, you will find there are also casual players present not in the tournament to play with.
In addition, if a overwhelming number of social players without tournament experience show up, we will guarantee spots in future micro-tournaments or possibly even hold tournaments for two 4 player groups in parallel.
The tournament director may also place additional limitations on the field to avoid a lopsided event, for example if there are only two social players and two 1800 players showing up, the two groups would compete in their own two game matches for the photo op prize.
The priority here is fun.
May-June, 2015 financial report
Total income: $137.48
Total expenses: $220
Net income: $-82.52
Total assets: $562.69
Year 1 retained earnings: $645.21
Year to date retained earnings: $-82.52
Total equity (net worth): $562.69
Net worth less equipment: $415.69
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