Hello Chris,
Sorry to hear about this.
It occured to me to reccomend earplugs. At first I thought wearing earplugs at
night in hotels was a sensible idea. However, I've been in enough hotels which
have had a fire alarm during the night to realise this could be a bad idea,
particularly for VH people. British subscribers to the list will be familiar
with the RNIB Cliffden Hotel in Teignmouth. That was where one of the alarms
occured. Another was at Sunningdale when one of party was VI and disabled, and
couldn't leave his room when the alarm went off. At least he could hear what
was going on. Chris will probably remember this.
Upon further wool-gathering I recall an incident from the 1983 BBC TV series
'The Master Game'. This was held in Bath Guildhall during October & November. I
was frequently in the audience. One evening there was only one game left,
Murray Chandler v the one and only Walter Browne, several times US Champion.
Suddenly there were several loud bangs and explosive noises from outside.
Browne looked alarmed, Chandler unperturbed. The noises continued and Walter
looked on the verge of panic until Murray leaned over and murmured something.
Most likely "Fireworks. November 5th is Guy Fawkes night over here." For those
unaware of Guy Fawkes Night, just imagine playing chess in the US on the
evening of July 4th. In the UK we organise chess events on November 5th with a
certain degree of risk!
Possibly me droning on about past events may have sent the UK party in Calgiari
back to sleep!?
Good luck folks!
Tyson
On 11 April 2019 at 03:35 Chris Ross <c.ross@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Thanks Tyson.
I find myself yet again, shortly after 4AM, once again awake and disturbed by
external noises.
Annoyingly though, as we are confined to the hotel, there is very little to
do about it. The weather isn't helping either, and as I write, it is
currently pouring down very heavily, rain and wind lashing against the
windows and thunder rumbling away in the background. Why the stupid cats and
dogs are yowling, god only knows. But the constant banging of doors, the
flushing of toilets and water draining away down pipes and the such like is
just a cacophony that makes it impossible to remain rested.
Cheers,
Chris
-----Original Message-----
From: usbca_chess-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:usbca_chess-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of mordue andrew ;
(Redacted sender "tyson.mordue" for DMARC)
Sent: 10 April 2019 23:06
To: usbca_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [usbca_chess] Re: Thoughts after round 5 - 14th IBCA Individual
World Chess Championship 2019
All,
A shame that Chris has suffered another loss. However, he is right to put
some blame on the environment. Like myself, Chris has extremely good hearing
and night-time in a hotel is not necessarily as quiet as one might expect.
However, if the playing venue includes your overnight stay there's not much
one can do about it.
That begs the question if one could change hotels during an event then is it
worth it?
Well, I've switched hotels twice during my playing career. The first was at
the British Championship, Eastbourne 1990. I'd lost the first three games and
the fact that my bedroom was adjacent to a general bathroom may have had a
lot to do with it! I moved to a different hotel, upgraded to an en suite room
and scored 4.5 out of my next 7 games.
At Hereford in 2008 I was in a ground floor room. During the night some idiot
in a house across the street decided to start playing very loud music at 3 in
the morning. It stopped at 3.20 after I got out of bed, dressed and walked
over and banged on his front door. That may have had a lot to do with the
poor opening the next morning, and I had to scramble to save a draw a piece
down against someone graded well below me. At lunch time I changed hotels to
one recommended by a fellow competitor. It was worth it for the peace of
mind. Three wins followed and I won the tournament outright.
I appreciate that for a VH player changing accommodation may not be easy but
sometimes I find it is the only thing to do. Changing rooms is probably
easier and I've done that a couple of times too. Seen other people do it too
and once lost track of a team captain!
This advice may not help Chris in Calgiari, but it may help someone else in
the future if they wish to follow it.
Regards,
Tyson
On 10 April 2019 at 22:23 Chris Ross <c.ross@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
All,
Sadly, another loss for me today has pretty much taken me out of medal
contention. Very frustrating. Two losses with white now and it's been nearly
3 years since I last lost with white.
The answer lies both in the environment of the tournament and simply, that
I'm pushing too much. In every single game so far, I have been offered draws
at differing stages and I keep turning them down, pushing the limits and
taking too many risks to win the games. Just like today. Forced draw by
perpetual, which I declined and tried to complicate and just got myself
tangled up and eventually lost.
Then, comes the hotel conditions. The food is good, but takes so long
between courses. The evening meals is taking over 2 hours to arrive. The
portions are very small and the delay makes it a boring, unsatisfying
experience.
The seats are uncomfortable and the noise generated through the small hotel
is pretty incredible. For the vast majority of the time since we have been
here, it has rained constantly, making it almost impossible to get out and
walk around.
Sleeping conditions are also very challenging. There's a tremendous amount
of noise, with dogs and cats yowling through the night and there is no
insulation between rooms and floors, with no carpets, making noise travel.
You can hear people in their bathrooms, running water, washing, moving
furniture and even talking amongst each other. None of us are getting any
kind of decent sleep. It is certainly not a 4-star hotel and is, at best, a
2-star.
Sorry, this sounds like excuses, but as it is, this doesn't make for a
pleasant, relaxing condition to play chess.
Bill won today, bringing him up to 2/5. I'm on 2.5/5, which is OK, but
nothing spectacular. I need 4 straight wins on a row to give me 6.5/9 which
would redeem the tournament somewhat, but is not enough for any kind of
placing. A top ten finish is the best I can do now.
Cheers,
Chris
