Scottish Championships 2012 - Day 4 - Some arbiters make mistakes, get over it...

Mythbusters is a wonderful program.  I have watched practically episode they have made.  Superb program.

Time to do some mythbusting of my own.  There is a common misconception that arbiters don't make mistakes.  I can tell you from my own experience that this is not true in the slightest, we are just good at hiding it.

Donald and I were doing the draw this evening.  It is taking us about 20-25 minutes purely because of the size.  The draw is completed and I am over at the computer station shutting everything down when I hear the dulcet tones of Alex booming across the hall that we have a problem with the draw.  One of the pairing cards of the 116 there had not been updated with the correct score which means 80% of the draw was incorrect.

20-25 minutes later and the draw was done and we left the building sheepishly at 7:45...

For today's pictures I want to introduce to you, the cast of the Minor section.  With such a huge championship this year, the other events have been overshadowed, which is a shame as they are very closely fought

There can be only one....

There is nothing quite as entertaining as a time scramble and we had a cracker tonight.  As always I'll remove the names.  We had an incredible finish as two players sat with just under 90 seconds each.  One had a simple win and missed it.  The game ended a draw by repetition.  The reaction to being told of the missed win was hilarious and I take my hat off to the person!!!

Black has just played Qxh3??  White replies Qf6+ ????

 It is times like this I love being an arbiter! 

4 days gone, 5 to go.  WE ARE ALMOST HALF WAY THERE!

Lets see what tomorrow brings.

Scottish Championship Day 3 - The Call of the Champions

It was when I was speaking with my parents last night that I realised that quite a few non-chess players read my blog and not only that,  they learn about the people I am describing.  Well I have a stunner for you.  I made a mistake on Day 1.  Well I did and I didn't.  Jacob Aagaard won the Scottish Championships, but I didn't realise that at the time he was not Scottish so although he won the tournament, he was not crowned Scottish Champion.

Confused?  Yea I was as well.

I was a wee bit disappointed that GM John Shaw was not playing today as I would have had to pair Andrew Green against him.  His round 1 games was against IM Andrew Greet and his second against the aforementioned Jacob.  All we needed was John and we could have billed it as Andrew versus Quality Chess!

 As with last year, I will focus on things that pique my interest each day.  This lunchtime I set the question to all and sundry, as to who has won the most championships of all the players in the field this week.  As a clue, there are 6 people who are former winners, 4 of whom have won it more than once!  The answer is below.

IM Andrew Greet 2010 winner

FM Alan Tate 2008 Winner

The two gentlemen above have won it once each.  Lets move on to the double winners

GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant

IM Douglas Bryson

Dougie won it in 1996 and defended it in 1997!  Keti is the current champion and also won it in 2003.  What is really interesting is that both times Keti has won, it was played in Edinburgh!

Moving on to a 4 time winner, and predicted by most to be the person with the most wins, I give you one of the foremost chess puzzle solving experts on the planet...

GM Colin McNab

Colin won the championships in 1983, then again in 1991, 1993 and 1995.  Seems to like odd years!!

And now to the final person, the mystery will be revealed.  Who is it that has won the most titles of all the players playing this week?  This person first won in 1971, the year of my birth and if I recall correctly, at the age of 19, he followed it up with wins in 1974, 1976, 1979, 1982, 1985 and 1988.  He featured on the cover of the Scottish Chess Magazine a few months ago when he turned 60.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the one and only......

IM Roddy McKay

I was asked today if I was psychic?  Let me take you back to yesterdays comments "Watching the games today, I learnt something vital for playing against a GM.  Don't give them a piece for nothing (I'll let you look at the games tomorrow to work out which one I am talking about!)"  Of course I was referring to one of the games that had taken place in round 2 (the comment about tomorrow was about when the games would be up on the web).  I was taken by surprise when exactly that happened on one of the show boards today.  Woops!

 Finally for today, my all time hated event happened.  A phone went off.  Coming up in the rule revisions for the laws of chess is a proposal allowing for the penalty to be determined by each tournament.

I will be more than happy if this comes in and we can get back to winning at the board and giving a punitive punishment for a first offence.

Well that's all for this evening, see you all online or at the venue tomorrow!

Scottish Championships Day 2 - Of Bugs, Chess and Tennis

What a wonderful venue we have this year.  The rooms and halls are picturesque which has lead to quite a few near misses.  I would love for us to come back here but with the numbers we have, we are going to either have to offer to build an extension or play some games on George Square...

 

 Fabulous setting for a tournament!

Winner in Oban 1996

In keeping with the theme yesterday of former champs who are playing, today I managed a shot of the elusive IM Douglas Bryson.  For those who don't know, Dougie is the one person in Scottish Chess that you don't want to upset as he is in charge of the grading database!

Today we tried the release candidate for the Wireless boards.  I have spotted a few bugs it has caused but it has solved the vast majority of the issues we have had and the boards are now fairly easy to use.  Success!!

The main topic of conversation of course was the tennis and how Andy Murray was getting on.  In true Alex and Lara style, the set by set score was put in a prominent place for all to see with quite a few player popping over to watch the action on either Lara's or my laptop.

Watching the games today, I learnt something vital for playing against a GM.  Don't give them a piece for nothing (I'll let you look at the games tomorrow to work out which one I am talking about!)

So far so good.  Two days in and two fairly good days.   Here's hoping the next 7 are as good!

Finally for today, it is my son's birthday tomorrow.  As it is a work day we decided to go for a meal with Karen's dad, my parent and the 4 of us.  Quite happily sitting there when my mum tells me that she reads my blog!  I guess mum now knows that I am a complete fruit loop!!!

Scottish Championships 2012 - Day 1 - Oranges and Lemons...

Ye Gods and little fishes.  What a day today.  It is the 7th of July and day 1 of 9 for the 119th instalment of the Scottish Championships.

Defending Champion in action!

The day started very badly.  I wanted to be at the venue for 10am.  I really should have taken heed of the warning I posted on the Chess Scotland noticeboard about the Orange walks.  Travelling from the south east we hit one at high street.  On the advice of the Police we headed to the north side and hit another.  Then tried the west side....   I arrived at 11:30!

Today went really well.  We have 16 live boards available to us and we are using the beta version of the wireless board software.  It worked fairly well today.

Entries including the weekend event are up at the 200 mark!  The response to the tournament has been fantastic.

Previous Champion

The only thing we can ask for now is that some of the players get norms.  The conditions have been set up beautifully for them and it would really make this tournament. 

It is going to be a long tiring week for Donald, Alex and me (and of course Lara assisting at the weekends).  But I'll tell you what, it is going to be worth it!

Scottish Championships 2012 - Day -7 - We've done WHAT?

Well there is 1 week to go to the Scottish Championships and I am going to confess that I am dreading it.

Wee hiccup with the website has meant that Dick is unable to upload the update.  I have been able to do so using the master password.  Just been sent a  mail from Dick with 135 entries for the events, 113 in the main event.

We had planned and hoped for 80!  Of course the panic is now do we have enough room or are we going to have to put tables on George Square for games to be played??  Will the Wireless connection stretch that far...

There is a second reason I am dreading it.  This will be my first attempt to gain an IA norm.  That does scare me!   Anyone who has had Alex do an exam for them or been assessed by will know it is a daunting experience...

After the exploits of the Primary Individual, I still have not replaced my camera.  The good news is Karen is letting me use hers so there will be plenty of pics abound.

This is shaping up to be a corker!

Primary Individual 2012 - Day 1.

Night walking!

I have a question for you all.  Who in their right state of mind would swap a nice quiet weekend with the wife and kids for three days of chess and activites with 31 kids.  Nah didn't think so...  Here we are at this years Primary individual taking place at Dolphin House in Ayrshire.  29 of the competitiors arrived this evening and we started with an impromptu game of dodgeball and a wander on the beach.

Weather is awful.  The rain is bouncing a good six inches off the floor but we don't care.  We are all in good spirits and looking forward to the activities tomorrow.

This evening we watched the England v Sweden match then went for a night walk around the swan pond.  With the "batfinder" we were able to find several species of bats and had a great time.

Back to the room and then hot chocolate and off to bed.  Wonder when the first one will get up...

Prestwick Congress 2012 - Is Chess a matter of life and Death

I'll warn you now, this is not going to be one of my usual satirical postings, musing on the follies of fellow chess players.  You have been warned.

Bill Shankley is often misquoted as saying that "Some people say that football is a matter of life and death, it is far more important than that".  The reality is he said something different that has over the years been moved into human psyche as to be the truth.  Much like Auld Bills bit from Hamlet, "Alas poor Yorick, I knew him well".  Try finding that in the play.

I am going to take you back three and a bit years ago.  In the chess world that I love so much, I felt indestructible, I felt safe, I felt a place where I belonged.  Then suddenly, when I was at work, something changed.  I felt a pressure in my head and I could no longer control one side of my body, my speech was slurred and I found it hard to complete a simple sentence.  At the tender age of 38, I had my first and hopefully only stroke.

Can you imagine that?  One minute, the world is your oyster.  You are doing well both professionally and in your hobby (although I was never which was which!).  The next it has all come crashing down.  Suddenly you feel small and vulnerable.

I'll tell you the most frustrating thing about the whole experience.  I was sitting there in my hospital bed feeling a complete and utter fraud.  I felt there was nothing wrong with me (although my friends and family could tell there was).  You don't feel ill! 

I have recovered really well, mainly because of my family and friends who have been there for me, in the good times and the bad.  Giving me the kick in the arse when I have needed it and cuddles when I have suffered setbacks. I still carry my stick with me in my arbiters case, my left leg will never be normal again because of the damage in my brain, but it could have been far far worse.  I am alive.

What did I learn from this experience.  It is not football that is a matter of life and death, or in my own personal case, chess.  It is my friends and family that are "far more important than that!"

So why have I done something I have rarely done, and poured out my innermost fears and feelings about it?  Well on Friday, a friend came and sat next to me, I saw he was unwell and I told him to go home.  10 minutes later he was over at the other arbiters table looking like death warmed up.  To cut a long story short, we got him to hospital as we suspected he was having a stroke.  This was confirmed this morning.

Paul MacDonald is going through the living hell I went through 3 years ago.  He is going to need our support to get through this. 

So instead of a celebration of the Excellent Prestwick congress, I'm sure you will not mind if I keep Paul in mind at the moment.