GAMMA Reykjavik Open 2019

[Kevin Thurlow]

http://chess-results.com/tnr374902.aspx ... ES&flag=30

Gawain Jones is top seed. Sadly, I'm not there, but there are a few English players, most of whom are licking their wounds tonight. Two games tomorrow.

[Chris Rice]

http://chess-results.com/tnr374902.aspx ... ES&flag=30

Gawain Jones is top seed. Sadly, I'm not there, but there are a few English players, most of whom are licking their wounds tonight. Two games tomorrow.

Yes I'm one of those Kevin but the interesting point for me was the pairing near me between two Icelandic players. I noticed after a few moves that White had a Queen on h5 and the kid playing Black had a decimated kingside, King on f8, isolated pawn on f5, pawn on h6 and the rook on h8. Obviously a total mismatch as the kid was probably a very weak player. Then I saw the cards next to the players and saw that Black was an FM rated 2293 which was 266 points higher than his opponent! Obviously something had gone terribly wrong. I can only speculate that it was perhaps a touch move error and White had insisted on the piece being move otherwise it seems difficult to explain how the opening had gone so badly.
Anyway the game continued and a while later I looked over as Black "resigned". The resignation took the form of the kid gathering up all the White pieces he had captured and chucking them across the board at his opponent who looked completely shocked. Fortunately there was an arbiter present who didn't say anything about the bad behaviour but acted quickly by telling the kid that he hadn't signed the score sheets. In a further act of great sportsmanship the kid signed both the score sheets and chucked both of them at his opponent and then marched off with no attempt to reset the pieces.
The arbiter then appeared to ask the winner if he wanted to make a complaint but as he had won the game he decided he couldn't be bothered.
Is this an example of good arbiting? Is it solely the responsibility of the victim to make a complaint? I know kids can be badly behaved and this one I think is a 16 year old and clearly upset with himself that he lost but even so in most competitive sports, games etc you would expect the referee to step in and at least give him a warning.

[Roger de Coverly]

Bizarre pairings for round 2. It's obviously accelerated but these pairings aren't consistent.

32 GM Kanarek Marcel 2505 0 0 Bejatovic Bojana 2021
33 AIM Rice Chris B 2026 0 0 GM Tang Andrew 2501
34 Andersson Lars 2012 1 0 IM Eggleston David J 2401

The pairing on board 34 looks plausible, but why are lower rated players paired with players 500 points higher but the same number of points on boards 32 and 33? They have the same score but on accelerated systems, first round losers amongst the elite usually get to play a first round winner as demonstrated by the board 34 pairing.

[Chris Rice]

Bizarre pairings for round 2. It's obviously accelerated but these pairings aren't consistent.

32 GM Kanarek Marcel 2505 0 0 Bejatovic Bojana 2021
33 AIM Rice Chris B 2026 0 0 GM Tang Andrew 2501
34 Andersson Lars 2012 1 0 IM Eggleston David J 2401

The pairing on board 34 looks plausible, but why are lower rated players paired with players 500 points higher but the same number of points on boards 32 and 33? They have the same score but on accelerated systems, first round losers amongst the elite usually get to play a first round winner as demonstrated by the board 34 pairing.

I was indeed gobsmacked Roger to find that after a Round 1 loss I was moved up 22 boards to play a GM rated 211 points higher than my first round opponent!

[Roger de Coverly]

I was indeed gobsmacked Roger to find that after a Round 1 loss I was moved up 22 boards to play a GM rated 211 points higher than my first round opponent!

I would have thought it worth throwing a strop about the pairings, as on the face of it, they've failed to award Kanarek and Tang their dummy point, or they've secretly awarded one to you and the guy on board 32.

This was FIDE's solution to acceleration. Rather than permit the continued use of manual pairings, they endorsed the idea that if you awarded dummy points, you could then use the normal computer rules for top half v bottom half pairings.

[Chris Rice]

I was indeed gobsmacked Roger to find that after a Round 1 loss I was moved up 22 boards to play a GM rated 211 points higher than my first round opponent!

I would have thought it worth throwing a strop about the pairings, as on the face of it, they've failed to award Kanarek and Tang their dummy point, or they've secretly awarded one to you and the guy on board 32.

I think you are probably right there but I don't really want to miss the chance of playing a GM so I hope they don't correct their mistake. If they do I'm not going to be able to do any prep as its a 9am start for Round 2.

[Alex McFarlane]

It's obviously accelerated but these pairings aren't consistent.

Why aren't they consistent? The top half seems to end at 2020 therefore Chris too has the 'bonus' point. Due to the first round results Chris is in the top half overall but is just in the bottom half of the 1 point score group.

[JustinHorton]

.
Anyway the game continued and a while later I looked over as Black "resigned". The resignation took the form of the kid gathering up all the White pieces he had captured and chucking them across the board at his opponent who looked completely shocked. Fortunately there was an arbiter present who didn't say anything about the bad behaviour but acted quickly by telling the kid that he hadn't signed the score sheets. In a further act of great sportsmanship the kid signed both the score sheets and chucked both of them at his opponent and then marched off with no attempt to reset the pieces.

A shame there's no video of this, it must have been absolutely fantastic. Perhaps they should allow mobiles in the playing area after all.

[Kevin Thurlow]

As Alex said, the pairings look right as 2021 is top half, so they get a dummy point. Last year they accelerated for a few rounds, so it was difficult to guess who you would play. As for the incident Chris witnessed, I got the impression last year that the many arbiters were pretty good, firm, without being obnoxious. I would think someone would have a quiet word, especially if it's a local player. The local organizers are keen to project a good image of the tournament (see their website) so they won't be happy about that. I met the Icelandic CF President last year and he seemed a nice guy, but one who perhaps wouldn't take any nonsense.

Chesswise, I see my old work colleague Brian Stuart has an 1100 rated player this morning, but aged only 9 or 10...

And I'm relying on Chris to reveal who opens the round - last time, we got the Prime Minister of Iceland one round!

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Perhaps they should allow mobiles in the playing area after all."

This possibly explains board 16 in Round 2?

[Alex Holowczak]

On the topic of pairings: you can just download the Swiss-Manager file and check for yourself that the pairings are correct. I've just done that, and it is in Baku Acceleration mode. In addition, it shows that the parameters for this are that there are dummy points for players 1-120, and not for players 121-240. This is exactly how it should be.

[Chris Rice]

On the topic of pairings: you can just download the Swiss-Manager file and check for yourself that the pairings are correct. I've just done that, and it is in Baku Acceleration mode. In addition, it shows that the parameters for this are that there are dummy points for players 1-120, and not for players 121-240. This is exactly how it should be.

When I looked at the starting list before round 1 I was seeded 126 so just assumed I wasn't in the top half. Now I see I am seeded 117. Guess I hadn't factored in last minute withdrawals, good to know it is all working how it should, even though I got the duffing up I expected in Round 2.

[Chris Rice]

And I'm relying on Chris to reveal who opens the round - last time, we got the Prime Minister of Iceland one round!

Opening Round 1 yesterday were a stream of Icelandic dignitaries followed by FIDE President, Arkady Dvorkovich welcoming players on behalf of the FIDE Presidential Board. In person he seems like a decent guy, clearly enjoying his new role and was well into the new initiative by the Icelandic Chess Federation to improve chess in schools. Photo courtsesy of Fiona Steil-Antoni

[Matt Mackenzie]

http://chess-results.com/tnr374902.aspx ... ES&flag=30

Gawain Jones is top seed. Sadly, I'm not there, but there are a few English players, most of whom are licking their wounds tonight. Two games tomorrow.

Yes I'm one of those Kevin but the interesting point for me was the pairing near me between two Icelandic players. I noticed after a few moves that White had a Queen on h5 and the kid playing Black had a decimated kingside, King on f8, isolated pawn on f5, pawn on h6 and the rook on h8. Obviously a total mismatch as the kid was probably a very weak player. Then I saw the cards next to the players and saw that Black was an FM rated 2293 which was 266 points higher than his opponent! Obviously something had gone terribly wrong. I can only speculate that it was perhaps a touch move error and White had insisted on the piece being move otherwise it seems difficult to explain how the opening had gone so badly

Maybe it was simply an instance of somebody taking a much lower rated opponent for granted and making a stupid blunder.

We've all done it......

[Chris Rice]

Before the tournament started there was the Icelandic Championship blitz tournament and in the final game between Hannes Stefansson the 12 time Icelandic Champion and Hjorvar Stein Gretarsson covered on national TV with commentary in Icelandic from Bjorn Thorfinsson and Ingvar Johansson, Hannes was definitely winning until he played an illegal move. Under the new rules the arbiter told me later you don't lose immediately but if you do it again...