London Chess Classic 2012 - Day 1. The Piano

"There is a silence where hath been no sound. There is a silence where no sound may be in the cold grave under the deep deep sea."

Today is the day.  Round 1 is upon us.  The plan is Mini concert, pull piano offstage, move tables into position, pray cabling I ran last night holds and play starts.  Simples...

Malcolm thought it was hilarious that a senior Director of Chess Scotland is providing the muscle to move a piano.  Just shows you  :D

That's my pen!

Aronian arrived today without a pen, I gave him mine. Nice bit of product placement, it has a Dell Logo on it.  Wonder what marketing would make of that one...

We have a real touch of glamor this year.  Judit Polgar is playing in the tournament.  I am rooting for her as it is brilliant to see the best female ever playing here.

Behind the scenes we are having our usual day one dramas. The focus has been on providing a link to the guys in the analysis rooms to use for their shows and to keep the servers alive.  There are three severs being used and by all accounts they are currently sitting in a corner whimpering for their lives...

I have come to hate that piano, I am glad it is sitting backstage.  All I need is a chainsaw and I will feel better.  Much much better :D

Some late testing after the end of play tonight to resolve a clock issue and all will hopefully be well in the morning.

London Chess Classic 2012 - Day 0 - GOOOOD MORNING LONDON...

"Excuse me, sir. Seeing as how the V.P. is such a V.I.P., shouldn't we keep the P.C. on the Q.T.? 'Cause if it leaks to the V.C. he could end up M.I.A., and then we'd all be put out in K.P." 


Quote of the day has to be Nigel Short who in the middle of a bounce game with Aronian, came out with the classic, "Oh no, what a boring move", four moves prior to being checkmated!

Honestly, exciting chess wins...

Yep it is that crazy time where I spend a week in London doing about a million hours work and chewing the ends of my fingers in nerves!

Another Arbiter gets into the "McFarlane" Admonishing routine...

 The start up was delayed this year by a PC, not a computer but a Press Conference.  It was 30 mins late due to Judit and Magnus having a trip up the London Eye for a press shoot.  Traffic was a problem...

 The rest of the world took on the combined grandmasters in a "Come and have a go if you think you are hard enough" match.  Predictably the rest of the world lost horribly giving up a piece within 20 moves and the king not long after.

It was a long day yesterday and I was grateful to pour myself into my bed.  Tomorrow has its challenges, the first being and "Andy v Piano" challenge as I have to move a piano off stage so we can get play started

Is this for when the players get bored???

Scottish Championship 2012 - And the Winners are...

The 2012 Scottish Champion

GM Jacob Aagaard

2012 Player of the Year

Calum MacQueen

Winners of the Scottish Open

GM Nikolov Momchil, GM Vitaly Teterev, GM Jacob Aagaard, IM Jonathan Hawkins, IM Bragi Thorfinsson

Top Girl (Open)

Ali Roy

U1750 /  Seniors Winners

 

 

William Clinton and George Murphy

U1450 Winner

 

 

David Potts

Weekend Open Winner

Alex Gillies

 Weekend Major Winner

John Smith

Weekend Minor Winner

Stuart Wynne

Well done everyone

Scottish Championships 2012 - Day 9 - Are we nearly there yet?

Get Well soon!

Today can best be described as a strange day.  This year has been pretty awful for things happening at congresses, firstly we had Paul at Prestwick now we have Donald Holmes taken ill during the tournament and today we are given the shocking news that Alex had a heart attack in the street last night just after leaving the venue!

Thankfully the news we have been given is good and he was well enough to send his apologies to his opponents for letting them down!  Alex is a true gent and I think I can safely say we all wish him a speedy recovery!

Interesting game today, WFM Dr Elaine Bamber v up and coming Ali Roy.  Ali is representing Scotland at the Olympiad, and Elaine has represented us in the past.   Really hopeful that Ali and Alice can become our next titled players!

Was caught out by Jonathan today, normally he wears a back and white top.  Today he had a suit and tie!  Snappy dressing indeed!

Remeber the juniors I warned you about?  Well Round 5 in the minor featured a battle royal between two of them

Stuart and Liam agreed a draw, there was nothing GM about it either.  Stuart came first and Liam 2nd.  Liam has had an incredible season and I don't think it will be long before he is terrorising the Majors...

Top games were interesting today.  Quite a few draws which meant a 5 way split for 1st.  Who was the Scottish winner I hear you ask?

Scottish Championships 2012 - Day 8 - There can be only one

Graeme Nolan to the Rescue!

Early this morning we received the worrying news that FM Donald Holmes had been taken to hospital late last night.  I am happy to say that the news we have is good and he is at home recuperating!  It is a shame as he was quite likely to get an IM norm for his performance and was the leading Scot!  I'd also like to thank Graeme Nolan for stepping in and playing to make sure that board 2 was not a dead rubber.  One of the quirky FIDE rules is when a pairing has been published you are not allowed to change it!!!

Sometimes it can be frustrating to be an arbiter.  Take today, we are at the time scrambles and I am notating one of the games as both players close to running out of time.  When I have been observing, both players are writing, one has 32 moves on their scoresheet, one 34.  I can't stop the game at that point to find out who is right, so I have to notate until the flag falls, pause the game and reconstruct.  I have 39 moves, the players have 39 and 42!  Just before that point is reached, one of the players asks me if they have reached 40 moves yet.  Frustratingly under the laws of chess I am not allowed to say. 

Iain hoping for some divine inspiration

The law in question is :-  8.5

8.5

a.

If neither player is required to keep score under Article 8.4, the arbiter or an assistant should try to be present and keep score. In this case, immediately after one flag has fallen,the arbiter shall stop the clocks. Then both players shall update their scoresheets, using the arbiter’s or the opponent’s scoresheet.

It looks here like we can until you look further down

13.6
The arbiter must not intervene in a game except in cases described by the Laws of Chess. He shall not indicate the number of moves made, except in applying Article 8.5, when at least one flag has fallen. The arbiter shall refrain from informing a player that his opponent has completed a move or that the player has not pressed his clock.

Could it be his year?

I suspected the greater moves would be correct, but it is often better to err on the side of caution.  

The battle for the championships is really hotting up.  For the overall championship we have 3 sitting on 6.5 with a further 5 ready to pounce if there are any quick draws!

For the Scottish Championship, Jacob is leading on 6 with Keti, Andrew Greet and Dougie Bryson just 1/2 point behind.  I'd love to see Dougie win again this year, his games have been really interesting.

Leaving the venue tonight was an interesting experience.  I was wearing my favourite pink shirt, blissfully unaware that there was a gay pride march on when we left!  Talk about comic timings!!

It's just been too much for some!

Scottish Championships 2012 - Day 7 - The Longest Day

Apologies for the blog only getting published today, it was a bit manic yesterday.

Today is the longest day.  We start here at 11am setting up and with a little bit of fortune we get out at 11pm :D  Factoring in travel etc and it is easily 14 hours.  Forgive me for my ramblings today

The tournament has gone really well and I am hoping that our mystery benefactor is also as impressed with the event as we are.  The field has been no trouble at all which has made Donalds, Alex's and my job really simple

The first of the events are over and we have our first winners!

 Starting with the U1750 / Seniors

The winners were ....

William Clinton & George Murphy

Despite my best efforts I could not get a picture of the winner of the U1750 Boys trophy, here he is in a group shot

Back right, Carl Milton, Boys U1750 winner

 In the U1500, no-one seemed to want to win as the leaders either drew or lost!  The overall winner was...

David Potts

And finally we have the U1500 Girls Trophy winner, making it a family double for the second year running...

Anna Milton

 Well done everyone.

The main tournament is hotting up with GM Nonchil Bikolov and IM Bragi Thorfinnsson both leading on 6/7.  Top Scot is FM Donald Holmes who is having a superb tournament and is on track for an IM norm!  Donald is sitting on 5.5 / 6 and has been playing some fabulous chess.

The weekenders have started and if the results tonight are anything to go by, I pity everyone tomorrow.  Watch out for Kai, Liam, Craig and Kirsty, they have no fear of adults nor grade as the four of them showed tonight.  You have been warned!

I will finish todays blog with a funny.  On the way home from the event tonight, I was stopped by the police just after I had got off the bus.  The reason for it, I was drinking out of a 500ml bottle of Barrs Cherryade.

The police officer demanded to know what I was drinking and was embarrassed when I showed him the bottle.  Wasn't too impressed when I suggested he went and found some real crimes to solve...  Fair to say he left with his tail between his legs!

Its a funny old world!

Scottish Championships 2012 - Day 6 - Cometh the hour, cometh the man

We had a visitor to the championship today.  A very welcome visitor. Today, July 12th was the first time that Paul was allowed out of hospital for a day out.  For those of us who know him, it was, in the words of Meatloaf, "not a dry eye in the house!".

It was phenomenal to see the "not so" big man out and about.  He is looking really good and is losing weight hand over fist.  Every time I see him come back into the room and wander between the boards to take a look, I have a smile on my face as wide as the moon.  There is still a long way to go for Paul, God do I know that one, but seeing the look of delight on his face every time a player comes up to him, shakes his hand because we are all delighted to see him beating this really strikes home what a really close knit group we really are.

We may argue and see things a different way, but we are all more than happy to rally round when someone needs it the most.  It is really humbling to see.

Paul told me earlier that he has about another 3 weeks left in hospital then he is allowed out.  That is one of the best pieces of news I have heard since it happened.

Today has been a good day!

In the main tournament, we finally have a leader!  Here are the top 4 boards today

I'm still getting used to Karens Camera.  Can't wait to get mine replaced!!!

It finally happened, it took 6 rounds but on day 6 we finally had our first draw claim!!!!

What can I say about tomorrow, I am really dreading it.  Out at 10;00 back at about midnight. 12:30 - 23:00 chess.  It is going to be a long long day. Hope the Wags are there tomorrow to cheer me up!

"Heute zieh ich meine runden, Seh die welt in trümmern liegen. Haben luftballon gefunden, denk an dich und lass ihn fliegen"

Scottish Championships 2012 - Day 5 - I'm So Tired

"I haven't slept a wink I'm so tired, my mind is on the blink I wonder, should I get up and fix myself a drink?"

Such prophetic words from a certain Mr Lennon and Mr McCartney.  Today has been a struggle for us all.  It started off badly when we discovered that I had posted the wrong file.  This meant we had 2 versions of the draw in 2 different places....

Just when we thought it could not get worse, We seemed to forget how to do a draw!  Yep welcome to the middle of the tournament.  I don't know what it is but this day is always the hardest and certainly looking at the games today, I think the players have felt it as well.

Add to that that a couple of boards decided to play up and well I need a stiff drink!

On the bright side, we are now counting days down not up :D

Just a short blog today, I am helping Alex put the games in and it is getting close to midnight as it is!

Today I wish to present the cast of the U1750 / Seniors.  There are two people missing  but I'll get them tomorrow.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow, Paul McDonald is coming to the champs, his first trip out of the hospital since his stroke.  I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a really good day.