The Philadelphia Open is in full swing (March 31st-April 4th) and the open section is norm eligible. Quite a few of US's top players are playing, Ray Robson, Jaan Ehlvest, Alexander Shabalov, Joshua Friedel, Varuzhan Akobian, and the biggest one of all, Gata Kamsky. Norms are available in the 123-player open section. Lower sections have only seven rounds.
Philadelphia now has four major tournaments, three of them norm events. The Liberty Bell (January), Philadelphia Open (April), Philadelphia International (June), World Open (July). All of that chess in one location is taking a toll on attendence, only 413 entries and re-entries (the tournament was based on 650), so it looks like CCA will be paying out the minimum 70% they advertised. In past years, the tournament had been at Foxwoods in Conneticutt, but excessive hotel prices ($179/night) forced the tournament elsewhere.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
April Fools!
It seems there is something of an April Fool's Tradition on chess news sites. Chessbase has come up with a false chess-related story for the last six or seven years or now. Eventually, as people were getting wise (and eagerly anticipating what the next ruse would be) they changed the format somewhat and now list three bizarre stories every April 1st, one of which is a complete fabrication. Since only one of the stories is false, it keeps readers guessing until the next report a couple days later. This year's three are:
1) LHC (Large Hadron Collider) goes online, chess grandmasters worried
2) Fischer's remains to be exhumed
3) Magnus Carlsen's cousin in America (Matt Damon)
I'm actually not sure if the joke is story #1 or #3, I have heard of the ongoing court battles between Fischer's Japanese widow and (alleged) Phillipino daughter, so I'm not even surprised by that news story. If I had to guess, I'd pick the proton collider, since it seems very strange that top grandmasters would sit around the banquet discussing minature black holes with physicists.
US Chess has also gotten into the April Fool's Act (I think), by announcing that one of the four wildcard spots in the 2010 US Championship will be going to the famous shock-jock Howard Stern. Stern is reportedly about 1800 or 1900 strength and would be severely overmatched in a high caliber tournament such as the US Championship, so this is almost assuredly a joke.
On Susan Polgar's Website, it is reported that Lady Gaga and her biggest fan, GM Benjamin Finegold, will sing a duet on her new album debuting in 2011. This has to be the most bizarre one of them all!
1) LHC (Large Hadron Collider) goes online, chess grandmasters worried
2) Fischer's remains to be exhumed
3) Magnus Carlsen's cousin in America (Matt Damon)
I'm actually not sure if the joke is story #1 or #3, I have heard of the ongoing court battles between Fischer's Japanese widow and (alleged) Phillipino daughter, so I'm not even surprised by that news story. If I had to guess, I'd pick the proton collider, since it seems very strange that top grandmasters would sit around the banquet discussing minature black holes with physicists.
US Chess has also gotten into the April Fool's Act (I think), by announcing that one of the four wildcard spots in the 2010 US Championship will be going to the famous shock-jock Howard Stern. Stern is reportedly about 1800 or 1900 strength and would be severely overmatched in a high caliber tournament such as the US Championship, so this is almost assuredly a joke.
On Susan Polgar's Website, it is reported that Lady Gaga and her biggest fan, GM Benjamin Finegold, will sing a duet on her new album debuting in 2011. This has to be the most bizarre one of them all!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Carlsen and Ivanchuk win Melody Amber.
I wonder, when was the last time a player lost six games but still managed to at least share the lead for the tournament?
Magnus Carlsen won thirteen games, lost six, and drew only three (!) in the 2010 Melody Amber tournament. He tied with Vassily Ivancuk for 1st with 14.5/22. In Bilbao points (three points for win, one point for draw), he scored 42 to Ivanchuk's 36.
Looking at the extended standings makes the feat less impressive. Against the bottom six in the standings, Carlsen scored 11.5/12, but against the top five, he only scored 3.0/10. By contrast, Ivanchuk did not lose a single game and finished 7.0/10 against the top 5.
Vladimir Kramnik finished in 3rd place with 13.0/22. Usually regarded as a careful and pragmatic player, like Carlsen, Kramnik finished with just a few draws, only five.
Magnus Carlsen won thirteen games, lost six, and drew only three (!) in the 2010 Melody Amber tournament. He tied with Vassily Ivancuk for 1st with 14.5/22. In Bilbao points (three points for win, one point for draw), he scored 42 to Ivanchuk's 36.
Looking at the extended standings makes the feat less impressive. Against the bottom six in the standings, Carlsen scored 11.5/12, but against the top five, he only scored 3.0/10. By contrast, Ivanchuk did not lose a single game and finished 7.0/10 against the top 5.
Vladimir Kramnik finished in 3rd place with 13.0/22. Usually regarded as a careful and pragmatic player, like Carlsen, Kramnik finished with just a few draws, only five.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Class Norms and Titles
This is a cool thing I learned about a couple weeks ago. USCF is implimenting new lifetime titles for players both masters and amateurs. The highest title is Senior Master, followed by National Master, Candidate Master, and then 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th category.
Players can earn norms by playing well in tournaments with at least four games.
A norm is achieved if a player scores more than one point more than what the performance is suggested (National Master level is 2200, 1st category is 1800, 4th category is 1200). If a player earns five norms at that level, they earn the life-time title. Here's the formula.
Norm is achieved if S > X + 1
Where S is the score of the player in the tournament and X is the expected score of all games at norm level N.
X = X1 + X2 + ... Xa where a is the number of games in the tournament. a > 3
If Rz > (N + 400), Xz = 0.0
If N < Rz < (N + 400), Xz = 0.5-(Rz-N)/800
If N = Rz, Xz = 0.5
If (N - 200) < Rz < N, Xz = 0.5+(N-Rz)/400
If Rz < (N - 200), Xz = 1.0
Where Xz is the expected score of a game with opponent z at norm level N and Rz is the rating of said opponent.
As can be seen by the formula, players are punished for playing players below the norm level. A player trying to get a 1800-norm who plays a 1600 player, the expected score is 1.0, even though his true expected score is really only about 0.75. If the same player played a 2000 player, the expected score for that game is 0.25. So a player who played two games, one against a 1600, one against an 2000 (an average of 1800), his expected score for an 1800 norm is 1.25.
It is somewhat easier to score norms in longer tournaments, as the one point barrier that a player must exceed the norm by becomes less and less important. A player playing in a 4 round A section (1800-1999) basically needs to score 4.0/4 (100%) to earn a Candidate Master Norm. However, a player in a 9 round A section could earn said norm with a more modest 7.5/9 (83%)
To date I've earned the 2nd category (1600) title with one 1st category (1800) norm.
Players can earn norms by playing well in tournaments with at least four games.
A norm is achieved if a player scores more than one point more than what the performance is suggested (National Master level is 2200, 1st category is 1800, 4th category is 1200). If a player earns five norms at that level, they earn the life-time title. Here's the formula.
Norm is achieved if S > X + 1
Where S is the score of the player in the tournament and X is the expected score of all games at norm level N.
X = X1 + X2 + ... Xa where a is the number of games in the tournament. a > 3
If Rz > (N + 400), Xz = 0.0
If N < Rz < (N + 400), Xz = 0.5-(Rz-N)/800
If N = Rz, Xz = 0.5
If (N - 200) < Rz < N, Xz = 0.5+(N-Rz)/400
If Rz < (N - 200), Xz = 1.0
Where Xz is the expected score of a game with opponent z at norm level N and Rz is the rating of said opponent.
As can be seen by the formula, players are punished for playing players below the norm level. A player trying to get a 1800-norm who plays a 1600 player, the expected score is 1.0, even though his true expected score is really only about 0.75. If the same player played a 2000 player, the expected score for that game is 0.25. So a player who played two games, one against a 1600, one against an 2000 (an average of 1800), his expected score for an 1800 norm is 1.25.
It is somewhat easier to score norms in longer tournaments, as the one point barrier that a player must exceed the norm by becomes less and less important. A player playing in a 4 round A section (1800-1999) basically needs to score 4.0/4 (100%) to earn a Candidate Master Norm. However, a player in a 9 round A section could earn said norm with a more modest 7.5/9 (83%)
To date I've earned the 2nd category (1600) title with one 1st category (1800) norm.
Monday, March 22, 2010
25th North American Masters
The World Amateur has been a disapointment, but the accompaning master tournament is fairly strong and may result in a norm or too.
The 9-round swiss has twenty players participating, including five grandmasters and four international masters. Untitled player Mackenzie Molner (although he has met the requirements for FIDE Master), is well on his way to a 3rd IM norm and perhaps his first GM norm. He's scored 5.0/6, including two defeats of GMs. His FIDE rating is already over 2400 so barring a complete collapse he should earn the IM title at the end of this tournament.
There's not too many swiss tournaments in the US that have norm possibilities (Philadelphia Open, Chicago Open (this year), Philadelphia International, and the World Open), so it's good to see there's another chance for norm-hunters.
25th North American Masters
The 9-round swiss has twenty players participating, including five grandmasters and four international masters. Untitled player Mackenzie Molner (although he has met the requirements for FIDE Master), is well on his way to a 3rd IM norm and perhaps his first GM norm. He's scored 5.0/6, including two defeats of GMs. His FIDE rating is already over 2400 so barring a complete collapse he should earn the IM title at the end of this tournament.
There's not too many swiss tournaments in the US that have norm possibilities (Philadelphia Open, Chicago Open (this year), Philadelphia International, and the World Open), so it's good to see there's another chance for norm-hunters.
25th North American Masters
Sunday, March 21, 2010
World Amateur Championship
World Amateur Championship began this week, and ouch! Somebody's taking a bath.
The $20,000 guaranteed prizes were based on hopefully an attendance of 400, with an extra $10,000 in prizes for each additional 200 players.
However, only 124 players showed up to play, and not all of those paid their entire ($120) entries, as each country was allowed one male and one female entry free of charge.
Shouldn't be too surprised that not many players are playing, the tournament is seven days long (longer than the normal three day and four day tournaments that CCA runs, and even longer than the 6-day and 5-day schedules that both the US and World Opens run), top prize is only $3,000, and top class prize is $1,000. With the hotel fees and travel costs, it's just too darn expensive for a mediocre tournament.
The $20,000 guaranteed prizes were based on hopefully an attendance of 400, with an extra $10,000 in prizes for each additional 200 players.
However, only 124 players showed up to play, and not all of those paid their entire ($120) entries, as each country was allowed one male and one female entry free of charge.
Shouldn't be too surprised that not many players are playing, the tournament is seven days long (longer than the normal three day and four day tournaments that CCA runs, and even longer than the 6-day and 5-day schedules that both the US and World Opens run), top prize is only $3,000, and top class prize is $1,000. With the hotel fees and travel costs, it's just too darn expensive for a mediocre tournament.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
CC Update
I finished my USCF-CC tourney in last place with 1.0/6 (=2, -4). My rating declined from 1655 to 1632 during this period, despite a win from another tournament.
I now have twelve games active, 6 in USCF, 6 in ICCF, none of which are past 20 moves yet.
The semi-finals of the Colorado Championship are taking longer than I expected. I thought webserver was faster than email, but no games have finished yet. The 2009 Final had the exact same number of games as the semi-finals this year (36) but two games had already finished by this time last year. Still, it's only been 40 days since the start of the tournament. Even if nobody had used any vacation, players could still be on the first time control.
I now have twelve games active, 6 in USCF, 6 in ICCF, none of which are past 20 moves yet.
The semi-finals of the Colorado Championship are taking longer than I expected. I thought webserver was faster than email, but no games have finished yet. The 2009 Final had the exact same number of games as the semi-finals this year (36) but two games had already finished by this time last year. Still, it's only been 40 days since the start of the tournament. Even if nobody had used any vacation, players could still be on the first time control.
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