I have played at least one USCF rated game in 25 different states, more than any other native born Georgian. The Legendary Georgia Ironman, Tim Brookshear, is catching up to me, but since he was born in the great neighboring state of Tennessee, my record will still be safe for some time. I had hoped to participate in the US Senior in Oklahoma this year, as it would give me another state and keep the Ironman at bay.
I went through Oklahoma in 2002 in my van and was pulled over by the state troopers for not wearing a seatbelt. The thing is, I WAS wearing my seatbelt! I gave them permission to search the van because the alternative was to be taken to jail while they found another pretext to search. Another trooper was called to keep watch on me, so I was, for all intents and purposes, ‘detained’. After taking everything out of the van (“You sure gotta lotta chess books, boy. Why you got so many?” After explaining I was headed to a chess torunament, I was asked, “Ain’t they got no chest toonuments in Georgia?”) they found no contraband and told me I was free to go. This as it began to rain. They laughed when I asked if they were going to help me put everything back in the van! After an experience like that, I’m sure readers can understand my trepidation about going back into the ‘belly of the beast’.
Oklahoma is in the middle of the country, so the cost just to get there will be great for everyone. Since it is not near any large metropolitan area, it cannot draw from a local ‘crowd’ of chessplayers. The prize fund is not really an inducement to travel to the tournament.
There are two rounds per day. Writing about IM Jack Peters column in the LA Times (Jack Peters (LA Times)), IM John Donaldson, in his fine Mechanic’s Institute Newsletter (Mechanics’ Institute Chess Room) says: Peters questioned seven titled players, all in their late 40s or older, how they had been affected by aging. Most of the respondents cited fatigue as a significant factor, particularly playing two games a day ( by far the norm in the US).
If two rounds a day are mandatory, and I question whether there should be two rounds a day for Seniors, then there should be at least two hours between rounds. A Senior needs that time to replinish the drained energy supplies and to rest, while having the food ingested have time to begin to digest. With two hours, at minimum, between rounds, A Senior would have time to go over the game he has just finished without constantly checking the time to ascertain how many minutes remain until the next round.
The Legendary Georgia Ironman has taken a stand; drawn a line in the sand. He refuses to play in a tournament in which the time limit is faster than what in total would be a five hour game. Many times I’ve heard him quote IM of GM strength Boris Kogan, “You must be strong in the fifth hour!”
I have decided I would not play in a tournament in which the time control is faster than G/2. I have discussed it with Tim, and others, with my point being four hours is long enough for a ‘real’ game of chess, if one has to play two games in one day. My thinking has been that if one goes to work at an eight hour job, one usually works half a day, takes a break for lunch, and works the other half of the day. Also, I will admit to a great deal of fatigue in the ‘fifth hour’, especially in the second game of the day. When players are evenly matched the game is usually decided in the endgame, which takes place, most often, in the fifth hour of play. The unfortunate thing is that my brain, like my body, is not as quick as it once was, and that means it takes me longer to work things out, putting me into time pressure and seeing me blunder away a better, if not won, position.
I have never played in the time control that will be used at this years US Senior. I believe it is the new FIDE time control of G/90 plus 30 seconds added after every move. If you figure an average game to be 40 moves, then 90+20=110, which is less than G/120, my minimum time control. I do not know who came up with this time control, but, since Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, is the head of FIDE and has come up with many other absurd ideas, it is quite likely the idea emanated from him. Is it conceivable his bodyguards came up with the idea to kill the lady journalist? The possibility exists that USCF pooh-bahs are marching in lock-step with him by using this ridiculous time control.
Seniors ‘cut their teeth’ by playing in tournaments with a secondary time control. I won the Atlanta Championship in 1976 with a time control of 40/2 1/2, followed by a secondary time control of the sort Jerry Weikel uses in Reno. Granted, there was only one game a night for five weeks…IM of GM strength Boris Kogan strongly advised getting up from the board after the time control and going to the men’s room, if necessary, to refresh one’s mind. This is not possible with this time control. Not to mention the fact that one can never be certain when the game will end, especially in a, say, Queen & Pawn ending…
I sent out an email asking Seniors, and future Seniors, if they had ever played in a tournament with this time control. Not one responded in the affimative!
After being informed the Georgia Chess Association planned on using the very same FIDE time control at their Senior tournament next month, I queried the Legendary Ga Ironman and was astonished to read he intended on playing, writing, “You at least get into the fifth hour.” His desire to play had caused him to compromise his principles. I informed my friends back home I would not play. Some time later I received an email from the President of the GCA, Mr Scott Parker, informing me they had decided to change the time control to G/100, with the 30 second increment! A game of 40 moves will now translate to a G/2, and I hope to play. It is not what I consider ideal for a Senior tournament, but then, it does conform to my stated minimum. A chessplayer who stands for nothing will fall for anything.
As the time ticks away, a Senior realizes each event could possibility be the last in which he participates. I’ve missed so many US Seniors for various reasons, and hate to miss another…I will NOT attend the US Senior this year, and the time control is the main reason.
On my way to Oklahoma, I got the “treatment” from a cop in western Arkansas. Having been delayed for hours by road construction north of Little Rock, we were still driving after midnight when I was pulled over for not dimming my headlights for oncoming traffic on I-40, just east of Fort Smith. Thing was:
- The median is hundreds of feet wide on I-40 in western Arkansas. High beams would not have caused a hazard to the oncoming lanes.
- I was dimming my lights generally for the oncoming cars there, anyway.
- How could that cop have known, unless he was traveling the other way? Then after getting turned around onto my lanes (and I didn’t see anyone cross the median behind me, so he would have to have traveled miles) how could he know that I was the evil perpetrator?
But all this was no doubt trumped by
4. I had out of state plates, which has caused me trouble more than once in Arkansas.
so I had to sit with the cop in his car while he told me that my proof of insurance (I think it was) was insufficient because the card had expired. I told him we had new cards in the mail and couldn’t he confirm that with a phone call from his car, and he refused. I tell you he was trying to get me to break so he could put me in jail. And with my pregnant wife and young child in our car, what would they have done with Dad in an Arkansas jail?
I must admit that Arkansas has improved for me, and that on a more recent run through the state I had no problems at all. That’s the first time I have not had problems!
I naver had such problems in Oklahoma, but as they say, ymmv.
I played in several tournaments in Canada with the increment time control. The increment is fine for juniors, but it tends to lead to extended periods of time pressure or perceived time pressure. This can lead to potentially disastrous consequences for senior players.
One tournament was at Game 60 + 30sec. Many of the players disliked it as there seemed to be little time to think because of the requirement of having to write out your moves. It seemed like time pressure lasted for about 45 minutes of the game and was very stressful. The tournament that was at Game 90 + 30sec was a little better, but the last half hour left some players exhausted. There was general agreement that the most fair time control with increment was Game 120 + 30sec. This would provide a 4 1/2 to 5 hour session with time for the normal number of “thinks” necessary to play a quality game. I don’t think it is healthy to stress seniors out with a fast time control. We would like to play a good game rather than one filled with time pressure blunders. FIDE’s messing around with traditional chess is insane.