Monday, January 26, 2009

UW-Winter Open, Madison WI,
Feb. 7, 8


Tex De Wit 2243 is an exchange student from Holland studying in Iowa City
Click here for his blog. His USCF history is here.



The "Cool Shades" section

History
2009 54 (FM Tex De Wit)
2008 53 (J ROMICH)
2007 58 (FM A BETANELI)
2006 58 (A VAJA, B LUO)
2005 57 (FM A BETANELI, E SANTARIUS , J RICHARDS)
2004 51 (IM S SMIATANKIN,  R JOYNT)

45 comments:

  1. Does anyone know what parking lot is the best one to park in for the Memorial Union, where one does not have to pay? Thanks.

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  2. I am interested in carpooling from Milwaukee

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  3. No free parking close by on Saturday. Maybe on Sunday.

    Free lots:
    Lot 20 University/Randall

    There are many lots that free on w-ends. Read the signs. They will say Monday - Friday 7:30 - 4:00

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  4. Lot 20 is by Union South. Memorial Union has a lot next to the building with meters. There are a couple ramps near the site, but the UW charges on Saturdays.

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  5. U.W. Parking map:
    http://www.map.wisc.edu/?keyword=public%20parking

    Here is a link to the city of Madison ramp a couple blocks away:
    http://www.cityofmadison.com/parking/stateStCampus.html
    Sunday is not free.

    Here is a link to the lot under the Helen C. White library direcly west of Memorial Union (across Park St.), and is free on Sunday:
    http://www.fpm.wisc.edu/smomap/lot.aspx?lot=6

    This lot is the one directly east of the union:
    http://www.fpm.wisc.edu/smomap/lot.aspx?lot=1

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  6. It's kind of misleading to put NM next to Erik's name when he was not one. :-)
    Alex

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  7. Are last round byes allowed?

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  8. Alex 1/27/2009 9:51 PM

    I agree. Did you get your FM title in Aug 2008?

    Ivan

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  9. Last round 1/2 point byes are allowed as long as they are requested before round 2

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  10. Ivan, indeed I did get the title in August. Thus I have not won any WI tournaments while having the title. :-)

    Good to all at the Winter Open! This is a great warm up for the team event.

    My event starts today. www.moscowchessopen.com The top section has 100+ GMs. My section has 500 participants! Overall, there should be close to 2000 players.

    Thanks,
    Alex

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  11. Sorry, www.moscowchessopen.ru is the site.
    AB

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  12. Alex,

    I thougth you were signed up for the "A" section?

    G.C.

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  13. My coach suggested switching to B, so here I am. :-)
    Alex

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  14. So far I am 2/2. If someone is dying to see games, fi diablomaster on ICC, games 3+4 in my library are first two rounds.
    Alex

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  15. Good games Alex. It must be an awesome experience to be able play there...very exciting! Update with more of your games on ICC if you have time. Thanks :)

    Jim

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  16. Alex,

    Who is your coach?

    What do you have to score o get an IM norm?

    G.C.

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  17. In order to achieve an IM norm in a 9 round tournament, you have to:

    1) Play at least three IMs and five titleholders, no more than two players may be without a FIDE-ELO rating (including yourself)
    2) Play against players from at least three federations, and no more than six from the same federation (including yourself)
    3) Score at least 7/9 against an ELO-average of at least 2231, 6.5/9 against at least 2285, 6/9 against at least 2326, 5.5/9 against at least 2371, 5/9 against at least 2407, 4.5/9 against at least 2451 or 4/9 against at least 2494. Eventually opponents without FIDE-ELO are counted as 2100 (previously 2000).

    Players can also obtain norms of more than 9 rounds, provided that they achieve a 2451 performance rating.

    Alex is gonna have to start playing the title holders in his section...

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  18. Do we have a list of advance entries for this tournament?

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  19. I asked Guy, but he usually does not send them to me.

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  20. **TEAM TOURNAMENT UPDATE**

    Some of you tried to get rooms last week and were told that all the rooms in the block were taken. I have spoken to the hotel and they have increased the number of rooms in the block, everyone should get the $85/night rate. Please email me at Ashish@VajaChess.com if you have any trouble. Sorry for the inconevnience.

    Ashish Vaja

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  21. ** TEAM TOURNAMENT UPDATE **

    10 entries in the open section so far, please email me at Ashish@VajaChess.com if have no team or if you need one more person to complete your team.

    Ashish Vaja

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  22. There are quite a few more entries in the mail already. Looks like we will have a successful turnout!
    Alex

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  23. Alex,
    I have been following your progress since the start of the Moscow Open and I was wondering if they were ever going to get a picture of you on their site....since you have been at the top of the pairings throughout the whole tournament....and they finally did! :) It only took em 8 rounds :(
    Alex's picture is in the 6th group of pictures...and if people have time they should check out Alex's games that he has posted on ICC.

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  24. So far, two masters have entered, but Santarius isn't one of them. No masers or lasers have entered.

    Guy

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  25. Jim,

    They shoot pictures at random, without any particular emphasis on the leaders. And my tournament is 500 people, so the mere fact that my photo is out there is pretty amazing. :-)

    Alex

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  26. If your goal is to get an IM norm, why are you playing in the "B" section?

    J.L.

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  27. Whos is maser and who is a laser?

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  28. J.L.
    Please refer to the IM guidelines that I posted earlier...Alex could have achieved an IM norm in the B section....the Open section seem crazy tough...he would have had to beat the GMs that he was paired against and if he would have lost he would be too low to get paired vs title holders. Thats how I saw it anyhow.

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  29. Any updates on the tournament leaders Ivan?

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  30. Jim,

    I am not so sure about how hard it would be to get an IM norm in the A group. Alex has a lot of experience playing strong players and his record is not bad at all vs. GM's drawing people like Fridman and beating other GM's. When I played in Florida in the Continental I dropped out after losing 3 straight games, really upset and thinking I had no chance for a norm with two rounds to go. I had 2.5 out of 7 when I dropped out, when it was rated I found out my performance was around 2340 and 1 point out of 2 would probably give me a IM norm and maybe even .5/2 depending on who my opponents were. All I needed was one more titled player and one more non-USA player.

    I am sure Alex played in the B group for a reason, and if he played in the A group he would have received a norm since it would not be so hard to get to play titled players.

    Ashish Vaja

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  31. Thanks for the info Ashish :).

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  32. Well, I appreciate that someone can be sure about my norm chances. :-) My performance in B section was just a shade below 2400 FIDE and I probably underscored by 1/2 point (got 6.5/9). There was absolutely no reason to lose in round 8, but then again winning the last round would have been tougher as well.

    Either way, the reasons for playing in B sections were many, ranging from trying out 1.e4 (2 very brutal wins!) to managing time while avoiding time trouble. I also hoped not to lose, but that didn't pan out!

    Thanks for all the support!

    Jim, are you going to have a team this year???
    Alex

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  33. Alex           Who is your teacher?

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  34. You being a teacher should have known that there is not much you can learn from playing in a section where you are ranked 25 out of 500.

    You had a wonderful opportunity to play in world class event with tons of GMs and you blew it.

    G.C.

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  35. LOL! ROFL!
    Sorry, I really am a teacher and know PRECISELY how much I can learn from any particular tournament. I know it so well that it is hardly worth wasting time elaborating. That's the last time I would respond to some random anonymous comment.
    AB

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  36. Congratualtions, Alex! Particularly impressed with your playing 1 e4 like Karpov did in his early years.
    Richard Reich, MD

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  37. Alex

    Are you purposely avoiding the question.

    Who is your Coach?

    BRUZ

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  38. So Alex did you collect any money while scoring pretty well? BTW a Russian 2275 FIDE is much better than a lot other countries so playing in the B had probably a lot of 2400 caliber players in it, so I agree with Alex's decision.

    IAN

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  39. Thanks Richard and Ian. Richard, e4 might be a good fit for me as it turns out. Interestingly, Iljumzhinov was present at the opening ceremony, while KAPROV stopped by and spoke at the closing ceremony!

    And I mentioned before, no response will be give to anonymous folk.

    Alex

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  40. Hi Ivan,

    I posted some of my games on my weblog.
    Have fun in Milwaukee and nice meeting you.

    Tex

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