Blog indefinitely suspended

Sorry peoples but I've been very busy recently so I will not blog for the time being.

Got so much on At the moment. Might start blogging in another month I suspect. Everything i'm doing seems to end in a month or two.......

American Express - Don't leave Canberra without it! The doeberl cup that is!

In round 5 the American GM Varuzhan Akobian played on top board against sole leader GM Darryl Johansen andwon. GM Gawain Jones and Zhang Zhong played out a draw on board two, GM Surya Ganguly accounted for GM Dejan Antic on board three, GM Vadim Malakhatko conceded a draw IM Hafizulhelmi Mas on board four and Merab Gagunashvili defeated Endre Ambrus. Notable upsets for the round included Tomek Rej defeating IM Igor Bitansky and IM David Smerdon drew with Jesse Sales as did IM Antanas Kizov against Velomir Kresovic



Round 6 saw Akobian's French defence defeat Ganguly in 67 moves. Zhang Zhong defeated Daryl Johansens Sicilian Defence on boarde two. Board three saw Gawain Jones and IM Stephen Solomon play out a draw from a Spanish four Knights opening. Merab Gagunashvili defeated IM Andras Toth from a Pirc defence. Dejan Antic accounted for Tomek Rej on board 5 in a Bogo-Indian. And WGM Zozulia lost to Malakhatko on board 6. Notable Upsets include Victorian Domagoj Dragicevic accounting for IM Gary Lane in a sicilian, Endre Ambrus went down to Gareth oliver and Paul Broekhuyse was held to a draw by Ian Rout. Derek Yu scored a draw against Ascaro Pecori.

Round 7 saw GM Akobian play top seed GM Zhong Zhang. The game ended in a draw by threefold repitition ending on move 15. This game was determined to be a fair draw as the players may black may not have had any better play than to repeat the position three times. However Akobian was warned not to take any more draws of this nature. Board two saw GM Merab Gagunashvili draw with GM Surya Gangulyin thirty two moves from a Slav defence. Boad three saw GM Malakhatko lose to GM Gawain Jones. IM Solomon lost to Dejan Antic in a French Tarrasch. GM DarrylJohansen scored a draw against WGM Roufan Li from a sicilian defence.

It was Gawain Jone's Turn in round 8 to draw with GM Akobian on top board, Zhong Zhang drew with Merab Gagunashvili. Dejan Antic accounted for IM David Smerdon, FM Igor Goldenberg lost to Surya Ganguly. WGM Roufan Li lost to IM Kizov. FM Igor Goldenberg drew with Puchen Wang and Tomek Rej scored an excellent result by drawing with GM Vadim Malakhatko. WGM Anna Zozulia upset Daryl Johansen to wrap up the which wraps up the round 8 report.

Varuzhan Akobian performed a threefold repetition against Dejan Antic. However the Arbiters decided that this draw was unacceptable and that the players should play on. Akobian played a different move and went on to win the game and the tournament. A draw would have meant that Antic would have shared first prize with Akobian but it was not to be.

Board two saw Ganguly and Zhong Zhang play out a draw from a Ruy Lopez. The draw was agreed to after 36 nives, Board three saw GM Gagunashvili draw with Gawain Jones after 38 moves. Igor Bitanski and Antanas Kizov played out a draw on board 4, IM Stephen Solomon and Igor Bjelobrk battled each other in a Scandinavian where Solomon eventually won. Puchen Wang and WGM Zozulia Played out a draw.Malakhatko outplayed Raul Samar in a 104 move marathon on board 7.

So GM Akobian won the Doeber cup. A full point from Ahong Zhang, Surya Ganguly, Gawain Jones, Merab Gaguashvili, Dejan Antic, Stephen Solomon, and Atanas Kizov.

I have volunteered to enter games to be kept in a database so If I come accross any interesting games (such as Ascaro Pecori's game in the last round where he won with two rooks against tow queens )

A minor and Major Report will be coming. Probably after SIO

No Short Draws Allowed!

In the third round there were 5 draws on the top six boards with most of them being genuine draws. There was one exception however, The draw between Antanas Kizov and Dejan Antic ended up in a line where threefold repetition often occurs. The Arbiter apparently gave them an earfull but no action was taken as the "Gibraltar Rule" of having no draws shorter than 30 moves or less without the approval of the Arbiter had not been announced before the start of the tournament. The Organisers were very quick to change this and an announcement was made before round 4. On top board IM David Smerdon claimed an excellent result by drawing with Zhang Zhong. board two saw GM Malakhatko defeat WGM Roufin Li, board three saw GM SS Ganguly draw with Israeli IM Igor Bitansky (who told me that he was out of form - really?) GM Gawain Jones drew with Gary lane on board four, GM Merab Gagunashvili drew with Igor Goldenberg on board 5. Akobian kept climbing up the ranks after his first round draw against Max Illingworth by defeating Pinoy FM Jesse Sales. IM Puchen Wang accounted for Australian champion IM Stephen Solomon.

On one of the lower boards it was the battle of the Stojics with Dusan defeating Svetozar. After his first round draw with Akobian, Max Illingworth fell to 0.5/3 by going down to Tony Davis.

On to round four and after the announcement of the Gibraltar rule there were a grand total of 9 draws in the Premier division with only 3 of the top 15 boards resulting without a win. Board one saw Aussie GM Darryl Johansen fly the flag high by defeating the second seed GM Vadim Malakhatko. Board two saw Zhang Zhong account for NZ rising star Puchen Wang. After drawing against Zhang Zhong IM David Smerdon put his rook in an awkward spot where it was out of play and Akobian dodged some tactical tricks to eventually win the game.IM Gary Lane lost to GM SS Ganguly on board four. Gawain Jones defeated FM Igor Goldenberg on board five. Igor Bitansky continued his excellent tourney by drawing with GM Merab Gagunashvili on board six and Dejan Antic accounted for FM Igor Goldenberg to complete the GM Wrap up.

Results of note for the fourth round of the Premier include Ben Lazarus scoring a draw against WGM Anna Zozulia.

Tomorrow Mornings round will be crunch time as the top three boards are occupied wholly with GM's. How many draws will we see amongst this lot?

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The upsets started on the top board in the first round of the U2000 first round. Peter Fraemohs lost to Queensland Senior Oleg Korenevski on the top board. Kerry Stead accounted for Laurence Matheson on board two and Toby Lewski got a draw out of Alex Mendes Da Costa.

Other Upsets include Victorian Sally Yu accounting for ACT local Sherab Guo Yuthok, Michael Courtney drew with Tony Weller and James Satrapa held Joshua Christensen to a draw as did Justin Tan against David Lovejoy.

Round two saw Kerry Stead Lose to Michael Dunn on the top board, Blair Mandla continued to 2 points by defeating John Marsden and Mehmedalija dizdarevic accounted for Nicolas Kordahi on board three. The Closet Grandmaster, Amiel Rosario defeated Aina Musaeva on board four. Further down the field Andrey Bliznyuk and Mos Ali agreed on a draw, as did Oleg Korenevski against Richard Voon. Meanwhile Efrain Toinko defeated Jamie Roberts. Phil Viner and Toby Lewsky agreed on a draw as did tony weller against Justin Tan and Sebatian Jule against Laurence Matheson.

Will the string of top board upsets contue tomorrow? We'll soon find out. Time to sleep.
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The minor will be updated later on

Off To Doeberl!

The premier division of the Doeberl Cup started today. The first leg of a chess marathon for some including the Sydney International Open and the Bankok Open. My event, the minor does not start until tomorrow. I was a passenger in a cool car being the convertible of Matthew Sweeney. We cruised from Picton to Canberra in two hours talking about everything from chess to how Neurologists explain what happens to the brain with deja vu to how full we've seen Lake George.

I checked in at my accomodation and then headed to the Helenic club. One of the first things I heard over the phone from talking to my mate joshua Christensen was that Max Illingworth drew with american GM Akobian

The other GM's of the tournament largely had their own way in the first round. Dusan Stojic lost to Zhang Zong, Vadim Malakhatko defeated Edsil dilla, Indian GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly won his game, Gawain Jones defeated WIM Laura Moylan, GM Merab Gagurashvili defeated WIM Arianne Caoili, Leon Dempen lost to GM Dejan Antic, and GM Darryl Johansen defeated Vincent Suttor. Upset draws for the first round included Igor Bjelobrk could only manage a draw against Svetozar Stojic. Velimir Kresovic drew with Hamish Selnes.

Now on to round two. Early results for the round two. include Gawain Jones defeated Guy West and Puchen Wang racked up a win for the Kiwi's. Max Illingworth went into a double rook endgame a pawn up but Igor created play and eventually was able to capitalise on a passed pawn.

Board one saw Zhong Zhang defeat Malaysian player Mas. Board two saw Vadim Malakhatko defeat Endre Ambrus. Board three saw GM Ganguly defeat IM Anna Zozulia. Gawain Jones scored a walk over as IM Guy West forgot that there was an extra round on the thursday. Dejan Antic accounted for Hartmut Metz. Irina Berezina and Vladimir Feldman were paired against each other and agreed to a friendly draw. Upsets included Edsil Dilla going down to Derek Yu, Leon Kempen lost to local canberran Ian Rout. Tony Davis drew with Dotsenko, Yi Yuan defeated WIM Laura Moylan, Adrian Flitney defeated Robert Mitchell and Sanmorgan Goudar defeated Jonas Muller.

Bit Slow but rush is coming

Its been a little slow for me in terms of chess tournaments of late. Hence I have not blogged much. However with Doeberl and SIO coming up I want to blog more.... at least a bit every day.

Lets see what happens.

As for one Parramatta club player who says I have so many spelling mistakes in my blog.... I apologies Bobert!

Western Sydney Rapidpay Grand Prix

The first leg of the Western Sydney Rapidplay Grand Prix was held at the Rooty Hill RSL Hotel yesterday and was won by Jason Hu and George Xie on 6/6 each. Hu and Mandla had a shorter than grandmaster draw in the last round to help Hu to the first place whilst Mandla won scond place.

Its Now under a month until the Doeberl cup and the Sydney International Open. I hope to do some interviews and profiles on some of the players playing in these events.

All Tied Up! Scott, Smirnov and Bolens tie for first.

My Newcastle Open adventure this year started on the friday as I decided to not risk missing the first round of the tournmaent due to being bussed around the cityrail Network. I still got bussed around! A chemical spill on the southern highlands line meant I had to catch a bus to Campbelltown and catch a train from campbelltown. And then I had to get bussed from Gosford and Wyong.
What Is it with cabs? do they have a magnetic attraction to other cars? On my way from Adamstown to the Accomodation at Charlestown the taxi i was in had a prang withing eyeshot of my accomodation. (The Cabbie didnt know where the Motel was.... hence why he was going slow).
Anyway I'm here and healthy and ready for some good chess!
Round 1
Top Seed Vladimir Smirnov defeated Victorian Sarah Anton. Board two saw second seed Ronald Scott defeat George Lithgow where Lithgow was an exchange up for a pawn but Scott's central pawn roller was to strong for Lithgow to take advantage of the exchange. Board three saw Johny Bolen got out of "trouble" against Graeme Deacon.
Round one upsets started on board 4 where Luthien Russell drew with Bernard O'Riordan. The other upset of the round was unrated Adam Lenskyj defeating Benjamin Young in a game where both kings were out in the open. The Game of the round must be David Behne Smith's game agains Colin Parsons in an Attacking display.
Round 2
I was unable to take many notes for this round as my game with Ronald Scott went for quite a long time. There were only two games left running. Dion Sampson (1778) drew with Gary Losh (1462) in an endgame where Sampson had 4pNQR v Losh's 6pQR. In the other game Sarah Anton drew with George Lithgow where they had opposite coloured bishops with an equal number of pawns which liquidated to a draw. The top boards saw Alex Mehan become Vladimir Smirnov's second victim. and on board three Norm Greenwood lost to Johny Bolens. Other upsets included Helen Aylwin (1007) drawing with Greg Wilson (1221), and Graeme Deacon (1361) fell fictim to that little junior..... Anton Smirnov (1043).
Round 3
Once again I had a game which I ended up defeating Col Parsons in a time scramble and didnt take many notes. Top board saw Vladimir Smirnov take care of business against Johny Bolens. Ronald Scott defeated David Behne-Smith and Gary Losh lost to O'riordan. the only upset for the round was Anton Smirnov defeating Ben Young.
Round 4
Finally the top two seeds fought it out on the top board. And it was not a Grandmaster draw like in Toukley. Ronald Scott's minor pieces and passed pawns were too strong for Smirnov's Rook and bishop. O'riordan defeated Dion Sampson on board two. Johny Bolens accounted for Anton Smirnov. Greg Wilson played a fire and brimstone type of game against Gary Losh. With accurate play Gary should have won the game but made an error and ended up having his king going back and forth with perpetual check:
Wilson,G - Losh,G [A45]
Newcastle Open 2008 (4.1), 16.02.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 e6 3.e3 Be7 4.Nf3 0–0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nbd2 Nbd7 7.c3 a6 8.Qc2 h6 9.a4 b6 10.0–0–0 Bb7 11.Ne5 c5 12.Nxf7 Rxf7 13.Bg6 Rf8 14.Nf3 Ng4 15.Bh7+ Kh8 16.Qg6 Bf6 17.Qc2 Nxf2 18.Bxh6 gxh6 19.Ng5 Nxd1 20.Qg6 Qe7 21.Qxh6 Qg7 22.Qh5 Rae8 23.Bg6+ Kg8 24.Bh7+ Kh8 25.Bg6+ Kg8 26.Bh7+ ½–½
In the battle of the young ladies Sarah Anton (1414) misplayed an attack and Luthien Russell (1316) was able to counterattack where Anton blundered in the defence of that attack. This was the only upset for the round other than the top board.
Round 5 saw
Bernard O'Riordan lost to Ronald Scott on the top board, Vladimir Smirnov defeated David Behne-smith and after a really tough tussle Johny bolens defeated me. I had an excellent position in the middlegame but Bolens was able to wriggle out of the restraints to either force mate or win my queen.
Upsets for the round included Anton Smirnov drawing with Michael Weltner, Luthien Russell defeated Norm Greenwood in a miniature. .e4 c5 2.Nf3 b6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Bb7 5.Nc3 e6 6.Bf4 a6 7.Be2 Bb4 8.Qd3 d5 9.0–0 Bxc3 10.Qxc3 b5 11.Nxb5 axb5 12.Qxg7 Qf6 13.Bxb5+ Ke7 14.Bg5 1–0
It was a game of youth v Experience in yet another battle of the ladies. Mary Wilkie (1223) defeated Sarah Anton (1414). Gary Losh lost to the careful colin Parsons. and Adam Lenskyj drew with Greg wilson.
Round 6 saw Johny Bolens and Ronald Scott duel and Bolens caused the upset to defeat Scott and thus creating a three way tie for first place after six rounds after Vladimir Smirnov Accounted for Bernard O'Riordan. I defeated David Behne smith in a mutual attacking position. The other upset for the round saw Michael Weltner drawint with George Lithgow. And Alex Momot racked up another win against Helen Aylwin.
Round 7
The top three seeds made easy work of their lower rated opponents Vladimir Smirnov defeated Luthien Russell, Alex Mehan lost to Johny Bolens and Ronald Scott defeated Dion Sampson. Colin Parsons was up in his game against Sarah Anton but blundered in time pressure to turn the game into a drawn endgame. A draw was agreed. In the battle of the Wise and Experienced ladies from Armidale it was Mary Wilkie who defeated Helen Aylwin. Alex Momot drew with Adam Lenskyj.
So the Three top seeds won the tournament with 6/7 a piece with the pack following with Bernard O'riordan and Luthien Russell coming equal fourth with 4/5/7.
An enjoyable tournament all round! I'll be back in newcastle in August for the Hunter Valley Open