Friday, June 16, 2017

We got some rain last night just before we went to bed.  Teresa usually wraps herself in a blanket but as usual I just kept the sheet.  I got up once during the night and when I came back I doubled my sheet which just barely allowed me to cover myself completely.  I was awakened at 5am by a car alarm.  After a trip to the bathroom I grabbed the blanket and undoubled the sheet and went back to bed.  I was pretty relaxed but it still seemed to take some time to fall back asleep.  I finally woke up (squeaky brakes) and got up just after 8am.

So far this morning it’s a sunny day.

Teresa expressed her concern that we’ll lose our TV service soon if I don’t pay the bill.  I told her I’d take care of it right after lunch but she or Laura will have to go with me to explain that I’m paying the bill for May.

Among new US movie releases I might want to see 47 Meters Down (6.0).  Locally, most of the theaters aren’t displaying their show times online so I guess I’ll have to wait a little longer.

On my way to the gym I picked up an adn newspaper and right away I noticed they have an article on the chess tournament.  (Later, back at the apt, I typed the article into a Word document in Spanish, added the accent marks, copied it to Google Translate and slightly massaged the English.)  Here are the results:

In Medellin is being disputed the XXII Continental of Chess 2017 and in the tournament are several of the best chess players in the world; moreover all the great masters (GMs) in the country are present for this sporting event.
The participants' mental dexterity can be seen at the Hotel Dorado on La 70, on the second floor, where the sportsmen's thinking prowess is tested in each of the rounds.

The Colombian GMs and all others who came from various parts of the world are in the capital of Antioquia looking to qualify for one of the six places to go to the World Cup of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), to be held in Batumi, Georgia, from September 1 to 25 of this year.

This factor has made the games, which are played in an 11 round Swiss system, of a high level.

One of the great talents in Medellín is the Canadian GM Anton Kovalyov. He took seventh place in the final of the 2015 version, played in Montevideo, Uruguay, and in Medellin he will look for one of those prized positions for the FIDE world event

GM Kovalyov, Ukrainian by birth, Argentine trained (where he enjoyed the company of the great masters Pablo Ricardi and Oscar Panno) and now under the Canadian flag for the past decade (the nation with which he won a silver medal in the World Olympiad), came to Medellin with great possibilities of being triumphant.

For his part, the great Peruvian master Jorge Cori has been one of the athletes who has shown the highest skill in this tournament.

The South American has already surpassed another favorite of this contest, Paraguayan GM Axel Bachmann, and is emerging as one of those who will achieve a spot for the World Cup in Georgia.

Among the Colombians, one of the highlights is the Colombian GM Sergio Barrientos who has had good performances and is expected to be one of the candidates to achieve one of those six places.

The level exhibited in this continental has been elevated and for that reason, from today until this Sunday, more of the same is expected.

When I arrived at the gym I realized I had forgotten my water bottle again.  I still have a little pain in my right hip so I decided not to do any leg exercises that might aggravate it – like the glute, leg press, hip abductor/adductor, and rotary hip.  I also skipped the lateral raise (shoulder) again today.  I didn’t get to the lat pulldown because it was being used.  I did increase the weight on one of the machines by 10# and 2 other machines by 5#.

At one point Jose, the personal trainer, gave me some tips to reduce my stomach.  He said I need to give up hot dogs, hamburgers, sodas (Coke), and, horror of all horrors, pizza.  At that last item I feigned having a heart attack and he said “mitad” (half) and pantomimed cutting a pizza in half.  I’m not sure if he meant I can eat half a pizza (sizes vary), half the slices I usually do, or half as often.  He also said that after I finish my regular exercises (a little over 2 hours remember) I should do 20 minutes on the treadmill.  Yow!

Andres asked me if I knew about the chess tournament in town.  I told him yes, in fact I was there last night.  He wants to play chess with me sometime so we’ll see if we can make that happen.

As I was leaving the guy I’m “teaching” some English words to, introduced me to a man named Fernando who speaks near perfect English.  He’s from San Andres so I’ll have to introduce him to Teresa some day.

Because I skipped some exercises I was back at the apt earlier than usual.

I received an email that my Simichrome polish is ready for pickup at MBE.  I hope to get there tomorrow morning.

I received a call from Mr. Dario.  He has finally recovered from his surgery and we agreed to continue our rivalry next Wednesday at his store at 2pm.

Tonight Samuel Sevian plays Black against the 3^rd highest rated player in the tournament – GM Emilio Cordova rated 2651 – on board 2.

Right after lunch Laura went with me to $efecty where I paid the Direct TV bill for May and this month’s Une bill (wifi).  Hopefully, I was early enough they won’t turn off our TV reception again.

It’s interesting that using Chess24.com I can watch each of the games for the upper boards but what’s most interesting is that they have a computer program called StockFish that calculates that player’s next best move.  Last night it was interesting to see how often Samuel came up with the right move.

At 3:40 it started raining.

Oh great, I’m having wifi problems again.  I restarted the router and moved my laptop to the dining room table and its back working again.

Well, I just learned that my insurance – Eps – stands for Entidades Promotoras de Salud) – or Entities Promoting Health and is the public health insurance plan.  Also, “This basic plan is offered through a variety of administrative companies and covers doctors’ visits, hospitalization, lab tests, diagnostic tests, prescriptions, and even eye exams and dental cleaning. It is similar to a PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) in the U.S., meaning that you need to use the doctors and hospitals within the approved network.”

Samuel Sevian played his opponent to a 48 move draw.  He and one other American – Sergey Erenburg - are tied for 3^rd place with 5 others.  Only the top 6 advance to the World Cup so the last 2 days should decide things.  Tomorrow’s 10^th round matches begin at 4pm.

I finally was able to check the local movie showtimes and there isn’t anything I want to see.

I did a speed test and I got 4.43 download and 2.03 upload, still not up to par since I’m paying for 10Mbps.

T-shirt of the day: I don’t have a bucket list, but my fucket list is a mile long.