44th Olympiad, Chennai 28 July to 10 August 2022

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JustinHorton
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Re: 44th Olympiad, Chennai 28 July to 10 August 2022

Post by JustinHorton » Wed Aug 10, 2022 8:25 am

Meanwhile here is Leonsrd's report. I've no particular interest in David's grinding course, with or without Magnus Carlsen, but I would shell out good money to learn how he conquered time trouble
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Nick Ivell
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Re: 44th Olympiad, Chennai 28 July to 10 August 2022

Post by Nick Ivell » Wed Aug 10, 2022 8:37 am

So perhaps Nigel - if indeed he raised the issue with David - had a valid point in saying that addiction to Zeitnot is a problem.

MartinCarpenter
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Re: 44th Olympiad, Chennai 28 July to 10 August 2022

Post by MartinCarpenter » Wed Aug 10, 2022 8:52 am

If he did say that, then I'm sure it was a valid point :)

From what I've read I've got the impression that almost no one actually knows why they're getting into regular, bad, time trouble. Would definitely be fascinating to see what, if anything!, Howell has consciously changed to fix it.

Roger de Coverly
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Re: 44th Olympiad, Chennai 28 July to 10 August 2022

Post by Roger de Coverly » Wed Aug 10, 2022 9:03 am

MartinCarpenter wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 8:52 am
. Would definitely be fascinating to see what, if anything!, Howell has consciously changed to fix it.

I believe he's on record of saying that his experience as a commentator gives him a fresh perspective. In other words he asks himself what he would say about his game if he were commentating on it in real time. Maybe that helps him make swifter decisions. Perhaps also he's widened his opening knowledge so as to have something to say. That too could speed his play if he wasn't trying to work out complex lines over the board, because he already knew them.

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JustinHorton
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Re: 44th Olympiad, Chennai 28 July to 10 August 2022

Post by JustinHorton » Wed Aug 10, 2022 9:28 am

Nick Ivell wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 8:37 am
So perhaps Nigel - if indeed he raised the issue with David - had a valid point in saying that addiction to Zeitnot is a problem.
I am not sure that the observation was the problem so much as the frequency and manner of its making
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

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David Sedgwick
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Re: 44th Olympiad, Chennai 28 July to 10 August 2022

Post by David Sedgwick » Wed Aug 10, 2022 9:43 am

JustinHorton wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 9:28 am
Nick Ivell wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 8:37 am
So perhaps Nigel - if indeed he raised the issue with David - had a valid point in saying that addiction to Zeitnot is a problem.
I am not sure that the observation was the problem so much as the frequency and manner of its making
Also the timing of its making.

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Re: 44th Olympiad, Chennai 28 July to 10 August 2022

Post by David Sedgwick » Wed Aug 10, 2022 9:52 am

On topic, I finished watching the recording of the Olympiad Closing Ceremony last night.

After the Gold medal winning Ukrainian Women's team received their trophy and awards, the Ukrainian national anthem was played.

It was incredibly poignant to see the players singing their anthem with obvious pride but with tears in their eyes.

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: 44th Olympiad, Chennai 28 July to 10 August 2022

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Wed Aug 10, 2022 1:44 pm

Nick Burrows wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 8:00 am
JustinHorton wrote:
Tue Aug 09, 2022 11:37 pm
Well, your various comments on the subject don't make that protestation ring true, but if you're sensitive about people criticising Nigel then I confess I think you could have chosen a less insensitive guy to be protective of.
I'm sure in your mind you see yourself as performing some kind of valuable 'journalistic' role - asking the difficult questions. To most people you come accross simply as bitter and obsessed. The subject of Nigel Short is one of the topics that it is impossible for you display a semblance of balance.

Now, we have a double hobby horse topic of Nigel & Social Justice I will confidently predict 20 plus pages of the unregulated Justin Horton inquiry into the matter. Perhaps the ECF could make you a Tsar.
This post says more about you than Mr Horton, quite frankly.
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JustinHorton
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Re: 44th Olympiad, Chennai 28 July to 10 August 2022

Post by JustinHorton » Wed Aug 10, 2022 2:16 pm

Incidentally, when I was blogging I never thought of it as journalism, because it rarely involved much by way of finding things out. Mostly it just involved drawing people's attention to things they knew about anyway, but were often trying not to see.
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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: 44th Olympiad, Chennai 28 July to 10 August 2022

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Wed Aug 10, 2022 4:09 pm

JustinHorton wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 8:25 am
Meanwhile here is Leonsrd's report. I've no particular interest in David's grinding course, with or without Magnus Carlsen, but I would shell out good money to learn how he conquered time trouble
Nice report by Leonard. Geoff will be pleased to see that the problem given by Leonard is the 'Unsung Melody' that he (Geoff) pointed out earlier in this thread.

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Re: 44th Olympiad, Chennai 28 July to 10 August 2022

Post by Paul Cooksey » Wed Aug 10, 2022 6:28 pm

David Sedgwick wrote:
Tue Aug 09, 2022 10:48 am
Paul Cooksey wrote:
Tue Aug 09, 2022 8:26 am
I'm going to judge the decision to rest David entirely on the outcome :)
I await your final judgment with a degree of trepidation.
David playing would not have necessarily given us 6th. But assuming he wasn't sick, he was the man in form, so it might have done.

Honestly, I'd rather England had finished a very memorable 6th and David had won a Bronze than 14th and Gold. Not that he doesn't deserve the prize, but it is a team event first and foremost.

Speculating wildly, his time trouble addiction was of the "trying too hard" type. So no longer regarding himself as primarily a professional player might have helped.

In passing, another good guy with a much enhanced reputation is Ivan Sokolov, the captain for Uzbekistan

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Re: 44th Olympiad, Chennai 28 July to 10 August 2022

Post by J T Melsom » Wed Aug 10, 2022 6:45 pm

'Honestly, I'd rather England had finished a very memorable 6th and David had won a Bronze than 14th and Gold. Not that he doesn't deserve the prize, but it is a team event first and foremost.'

I agree with Paul on this. I don't know enough about the TPR calculations, but isn't it fair to say David was rested from a position in the standings that would have made the prospect of failing to get a medal fairly unlikely, being ahead of the pack at that stage? It seems a little bit to me like an England cricketer topping the batting averages in a lost Ashes series.

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Re: 44th Olympiad, Chennai 28 July to 10 August 2022

Post by NickFaulks » Wed Aug 10, 2022 6:46 pm

David Sedgwick wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 9:43 am
Also the timing of its making.
Should anyone present know of any reason to believe that this comment was made with any intention other than to stick a bit of needle into a teammate who might have been presumed already to be less than entirely happy. speak now or forever hold your peace.
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Re: 44th Olympiad, Chennai 28 July to 10 August 2022

Post by NickFaulks » Wed Aug 10, 2022 7:16 pm

J T Melsom wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 6:45 pm
It seems a little bit to me like an England cricketer topping the batting averages in a lost Ashes series.
I agree, except that the full analogy would be with a series that was already lost. I expect that Geoffrey Boycott would have been entirely content in either case.
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Re: 44th Olympiad, Chennai 28 July to 10 August 2022

Post by Geoff Chandler » Wed Aug 10, 2022 8:05 pm

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 4:09 pm
Geoff will be pleased to see that the problem given by Leonard is the 'Unsung Melody'
Hi Chris,

I'm pretty sure Leonard does not get his copy for his articles
from anything I've written. I'm crazy enough to have made it up.
That position popped up everywhere, it was hard to avoid it.

But there is a doubler. After I posted my skit on Carlsen reaching 2900

https://www.redhotpawn.com/chess-blog/t ... o-2900.525

I surfed about my usual haunts (Chessgames, Edward Winter, here and the Ray Keene Articles.)
I noticed Ray had closed his piece 'Beyond Carlsen: the devaluation of the World Chess Championship.'
with the same Carlsen game I have (not too difficult to guess which one, both of us are getting too old to dig deeper.)

But just in case I have picked up two new fans (Leonard and Ray) I am going to mention Carlsen's World Champion
Tattoo with a picture on the next blog. If it appears in the Guardian or the RDK Articles then I'll know for sure.

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