That night, I got a good sleep. I woke up this morning, gassed up the car, went to the store to get some food supplies for the games today and then came to the hotel.
Round 6 was the most unusual game I've ever played in these tournaments. I played w/ the white pieces.
He showed up a couple of minutes late. When the game started, he gave a bit of a half-hearted handshake. I moved a bit quickly. His first two or three moves were average length in think time, but then after that, I would make my move, hit the clock and then he just seemed to mentally check-out. He was looking off in space, sucking on the tag of his jacket, coughing, sniffling, rubbing his nose ... anything but looking at the board.
After I pinned his queen, I started getting up and walking around while waiting for him to move.
Not much to see here ... other than I had a mate earlier ... would have ended the game 7 moves quicker.
I should have played Bc7+ instead of taking the rook w/ my queen.
It is about 12:45pm now ... the next round is at 3:15pm. Ivan won his game and is sitting here at the same table in the skittles room going over his win.
A few other thoughts
Maybe a few gentle readers can explain something to me. Why am I not paired with more 1500-1600 rated players? I am either paired against a 1800 or a 1300-1400 player at these Swiss tournaments.
This has been the noisiest tournament I've played in. The playing hall is smaller than most places I've played in. I swear, half the people are either sick or have allergies ... there is a sneeze or cough every 15 seconds. People were constantly going in and out of the playing hall. They finally tweaked the doors to make it a bit quieter. LOTS of parents are hovering over their kids. They finally started making them watch from the sides of the room in round 6. I may have to start using headphones.
This is the first tournament I've played 30/90 SD1 w/ a 5 second delay. Getting to 30 moves in 90 minutes was a bit stressful for me. Especially when around moves 26-29, the positions are somewhat critical and I've got just 10 minutes on the clock. Then after move 30, that extra hour is a relief. But it doesn't help much if you've messed up on move 28 or 29!
Anyway - 1 more game to go. I'll post that game when I can.
After I pinned his queen, I started getting up and walking around while waiting for him to move.
Not much to see here ... other than I had a mate earlier ... would have ended the game 7 moves quicker.
I should have played Bc7+ instead of taking the rook w/ my queen.
It is about 12:45pm now ... the next round is at 3:15pm. Ivan won his game and is sitting here at the same table in the skittles room going over his win.
A few other thoughts
Maybe a few gentle readers can explain something to me. Why am I not paired with more 1500-1600 rated players? I am either paired against a 1800 or a 1300-1400 player at these Swiss tournaments.
This has been the noisiest tournament I've played in. The playing hall is smaller than most places I've played in. I swear, half the people are either sick or have allergies ... there is a sneeze or cough every 15 seconds. People were constantly going in and out of the playing hall. They finally tweaked the doors to make it a bit quieter. LOTS of parents are hovering over their kids. They finally started making them watch from the sides of the room in round 6. I may have to start using headphones.
This is the first tournament I've played 30/90 SD1 w/ a 5 second delay. Getting to 30 moves in 90 minutes was a bit stressful for me. Especially when around moves 26-29, the positions are somewhat critical and I've got just 10 minutes on the clock. Then after move 30, that extra hour is a relief. But it doesn't help much if you've messed up on move 28 or 29!
Anyway - 1 more game to go. I'll post that game when I can.
Hello Rocky. About the pairings question, if I remember right you mentioned that you're around 1600? Which means if you're in a section with a relatively large rating range, you're going to keep getting either paired up or down by a significant number, if you're scoring around 50%. When you're paired up (against the 1800 players), you happen to be towards the bottom rating end of the score, when paired down (the 1400 players) towards the top end of it. There's normally a big rating spread in the middle scores in the first few rounds, as some higher-rated players get upset.
ReplyDeleteOf course, it all depends on the particular ratings mix at the tournament, but your experience is pretty normal for being in a section with a 400+ rating point spread and your rating is in the middle somewhere.
thanks chessadmin for explaining that.
ReplyDelete