Chess Cruising

Hello peoples

I am writing this entry from the Pacific sun internet cafe. I wont be blogging often as the internet charges is 50cents per minute. although that is cheaper than at one backpackers i stayed at in Canberra!!!

On board the Pacific Sun there seems to be some chess players. And facilities to play chess. There is a large outdoor chess board alongside one of the pools and also provisions to play chess at the library although the pieces seem too small for my liking. Lucky i thought to take my own chess set on the cruise!

I will provide some photos when i get back from the cruise!!

Tomorrow we stop at Poum/ Emerald bay. The weather is currently beautiful with a thin layer of sun just blocking out the glaring light of the sun.

Cheers all. I'm off to have another cocktail

OMG I forgot to write a Merry Xmas peice

Hey Peoples I'll Say a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy new year to all.

Tomorrow My family and I set off on the Pacific sun on a 12 night holiday visiting 6 Ports: Poum in New Caledonia, Champagne Bay in Vanuatu, Wala in Vanuatu, Port Vila, Vanuatu's Capital, Mystery Island in Vanuatu and Isle of Pines in New Caledonia arriving back in Sydney on the 8th of January!

Although I'm not going to be around for the Australian Champs I will try to come up with a few blog entries assuming the internet on the ship is not too expensive.

Also Good luck to anyone who might be playing in the Aussie Millions Poker tournament starting in Melbourne on the 6th of January!

Now i'll leave with my favorite christmassy chessy webpages - namely those of David Evans at the Rooty Hill Chess Club.

06 Christmas story
05 Christmas story
o4 Christmas story

The Battle Continues: Matt Sweeney v NSWCA/ Bill Gletsos

This soap story contined recently when the NSWCA sent Matthew Sweeney a letter stating that if, at the end of his 17 month suspension (which is due to end 31 December 06) then "an apology for your crude, foul and vulgar language and an assurance that there will be a cessation of such language in the future" should be received with the membership form. The "foul and vulgar language" refers to the now defunct Uber Chess Jihad forum that This Uber chess Jihad is now not much other than a shell of a forum with all the incriminating items deleted a long time ago.

Now, apparently the letter states that the "foul and vulgar language" is still evident on chess related websites. AFAIK the only website that Matt Sweeney now posts on is his Australian Chess Club Forum which is very civil and does not have foul or vulgar or crude language. I would like to know what "foul and Vulgar language" the NSWCA is Referring to.

This movement has Bill Gletsos written all over it. I do not believe that there had been a vote on this and if there was I would like to know what the result was. The councils last meeting was after the NSWCA AGM as it always is. If no reply is recieved i will be requesting to see the minutes for that meeting. Further evidence; When I was on council, Bill was suggesting to the Council that Matt's membership does not have to be accepted on many occasions. I just thought that Bill was having a bit of a joke. I did not think that Bill or the NSWCA would fall that low.

In my oppinion Matt done the supposed crime, he did the time.
When a prisoner comes out of doing his full term he is then does not have to serve another sentence.

NSW Championship idea

I have had an idea for a little while for a better NSW Champs. This idea would need to have some sponsorship.

My idea came about when i was thinking about the schedule for 2007 for my home club, Campbelltown, I was thinking whether a South Western Sydney League would be worth investigating. I was thinking about inviting Liverpool chess club, and perhaps Mounties chess club. The format would be, say, 10 player round robins with participants split into divisions according to rating. As this thought was later in the year i decided to abandon this idea.

When thinking of the low turn out at the NSW State Champs I thought that the league system might work for a state champs.

Say the state is broken up into regions:
South West Sydney Region: Campbelltown, Liverpool, Mounties
Western Sydney Region: Rooty Hill, Parramatta.
Eastern Sydney Region: Manly, Nth Sydney and Hakoah
Southern Sydney Region: St George, Canterbury, Wollongong.
Central Sydney Region: Wests, Ryde Eastwood, Asquith.
Central Coast reigion: Gosford, Mingara, Toukley, Ettalong.
Newcastle Region: Newcastle, Cardiff, Maitland.
NSW Country region: all other chess clubs in country NSW.

Each region runs their own league except for the NSW Country Region. The top division of each region is the qualifying division for the state championship finals. The number of entries into the state championships depend on the percentage of players accross all the divisions in that league compared to that of other leagues.
Games are played on their club night.

The NSW Country Region representative(s) will be selected by a GP of Country weekenders comprising of Dubbo, Coffs Harbour, Laurieton and any other NSW Country region tournament that pops up.

Now there is the problem of when to play these Leagues. In sydney there is always some club based competition going on whether it be the Grade Matches or the Western Sydney Chess Premiership or Club champs etc etc. So in my opinion it would happen over an 18 week period starting in February thus allowing two weeks per league game. This would hopefully gel with the players playing in the WSCP and Grade matches. Now dont get me wrong, I support the WSCP but if it was not possible to play the games over the 18 weeks then perhaps Sydney could convert to only having one teams event in the Grade Matches and forgoing the WSCP to have some variety in the sydney chess scene!?

The State Champs Final
The state champs final will have at least 16 competitors, 9 round Swiss over 5 days. GM's, IM's, WGM's, WIM's recieve entry without having to qualify in the Regional leagues. If more than 8 positions are taken up by the titled players then every division will get one position in the State Champs final (thus potentially increasing the field). A couple of oversease IM's / GM's may be invited to play to make the event a possible norm producing tournament. These players would not be elligible for the title of State Champ.

Here is where the sponsorship needs to come in. I think for making it this far all divisional players must be rewarded with a cash prize. But with titled players now in the mix there is the chance that the qualifiers would miss out. So a cash prize for everyone in the Finals would be Ideal. Perhaps someone like Star City could be approached to hold the premium tournament there with some sponsorship and possibly some TV coverage. Maybe a weekly show covering the game of the round or something like that.

I'd like to know what others think of my Idea. Its a pipe dream, i know, but it is an idea!

Chess Nuts Unite.....or should that be untie?

I came accross this site couple of weeks ago. Seems to be a pretty good site. Pity it appears to be not updated for a while. The Email address I used to send them an email bounced. Apparently one of the sites organisers plays on FICS. Maybe i might be able to speak to them on that medium......

Anyhow this site has different types of articles on chess. Also a database of the editors games (and others) as well as a database of openings and games of that opening.

Ever heard of the Chameleon Variation in the Sicilian?

New Beginnings

I've had some waning interst in chess of late and an increased interest in Poker. However i find that i spend more money at poker overall consiering i go to poker tournaments more than one or two times a week. I wan to cut back on my poker playing and increase my chess strength. So next year i think i'll only play poker once a week and study chess the other nights a week. Hey perhaps i'll go over the 1600 mark next year........??

I also want to blog often. More often than the inconsistent blog that i have at the moment.

2006 was a bit of a tragic year for me. With the death of my brother in april. I've had massive downs and little highs. On the 27th of December my extended family and I will be cruising to New Caledonia and Vanuatu for 13 nights. Leaving 2006 on a high note and keeping spirits high into what will be a happy 2007 a new year...... a new beginning.

One major issue with me is that i dont time manage very well. I am all over the place and i cannot seem to find a routine. My new years resolution is to manage my time more effectively. I think this will help me in many facets of life: finding work, improving my chess, losing weight, consistent blogging etc etc.........

Lets see if it works this time. C y'all soon!

How to lose a winning game

Fair bloody dinkum.

I should write a book on how to lose a winning game. In my first game i was winning..... whould have won a piece..... instead i went the wrong way.... walked right into a clearly seeable tactic that lost me the exchange. Thats ok, i have N+4 pawns v R and 2 pawns..... I had an opportunity to draw but i thought i could get my pawns through. Nope i lost the knight. So I lost a game that i should have won, the game went for ages so i had about half an hour t'il the next game. I was stuffed already. Perhaps i should listen to my mother and go to bed a little bit earlier on tournament nights. In my second game i come up against someone again rated lower than me and again i stuffed up. I missed how she could win an exchange by threatening the knight and queen smother mate combination. Bugger me. What the hell is wrong with me?

I lose my first game and i feel quite down in the dumps. I lose my second game and i feel even more depressed. I've been feeling a bit more depressed lately since my brother died...... maybe i should see a counsellor or something. Anyhow thats not what we're here to talk about.

I do not know who is leading the tournaments because i was pissed off with my self and left the building. I will give everyone an update tomorrow morning before the round starts....

Grade Matches

While i'm here i'll dicuss the Grade matches.

Under 1600
In round two the North sydney Grizzly Bears had to travel the long journey to Campbelltown.... And it must have had an effect on them. Campbelltown won 4-0. Our board one had a forfeit as the North Sydney board one thought that they had to play on the Tuesday instead of the monday. 1-0 to campbelltown.

Secondly Mick Rogosic won in his usual fianchettoing, axe wielding way. 2-0.

Then a while passed until i defeated Norm Greenwood in an interesting KR+7pawns v KR+7pawns endgame. My rook had the more dominant position which enabled my king to infiltrate norms position. My pawns were also more advanced than his. I picked off a pawn, then gave up two to clear a path for promotion. 3-0

Finally Peter Brennan had an interesting engame and was eventually able to block out the black king in order to promote his rooks pawn - the only other piece on the board other than the two kings. 4-0 Campbelltown

However, where the Grizzlies failed, the Brown bears took revenge. We lost on boards 1,2 and 4, and Peter Brennan was lucky to win on board 3.

This week coming we travel to St George to play Wollongong.

The Under 2000 team are doing reasonably well. They are currently coming 2nd behind St. george but only half a point in front of Parramatta and Manly.

NSW OPEN! RU READY?

Hello all!

Sorry i haven't blogged for almost a month.

Today the NSW Open starts. I am here early so i thought i would cover the NSW in depth, round by round. There is a chess cafe right next to the venue that is slightly on the expensive side but not as expensive as the internet cafe at Victor Lodge at Canberra.

Well, IMHO it has been a pretty disappointing early entry list. I would have expected much more to enter. Perhaps it has something to do with the location. The NSW Open is being held at the Hakoah club in Bondi Beach. The rounds will finish so late that i have decided to get accomodation for a tournament in sydney. i would not be able to get home to have an adequate amount of sleep. I think this venue would be a turn off for a number of players from the west. I wonder how many rooty hill members will be playing in this tournament (Other than maybe Shane Burgess... who is really from Parramatta). I hope there is at least two. There will be at least two from Campbelltown, Myself and Jamie Boyce, who is a promising junior and generally plays above his rating. He came equal second with Johny Bolens in the 2005 Fischers Ghost tournament.

Anyhow i'm excited to be playing in this event.

Speak to y'all later.

St Lance of Tahmoor

Been such a long time since i have blogged :(

Anyhow the grade Matches started last night and Campbelltown under 1600 team had to travel to Manly for their first round encounter.

Now Let me set the situation up. The Previous Monday the campbelltown under 1600 team had arranged to get a lift with one of their original players. He had to withdraw from the team on the thursday and all of a sudden we had a problem. We were down a player and without a lift to manly. I do not drive, nor does one of the other players and another did not want to drive over to Manly. So..... we had to find a lift as well as another player. I emailed around to try to see if i could swap the round one and two draws to enable the U1600 team to travel to Manly with the U2000 team. After a day of begging and pleading Saint Lance of Tahmoor came to the rescue! He would drive and fill in Board 4. He was not really expected to win with his 1013 rating. It would have to be the other 3 boards that would have to perform.

The plan was to pick one guy up from near his home at minto at about 5.30.... the second guy near Brooks road onramp to the M5 motorway. Picked up the first player just a little earlier than schedule. Then we got to Brooks Road and..... no one was there.......

We then get a phone call.....
"where are ya"
"at Brooks Road, where you told me you were meeting us"
"s**t! i'm at Minto McDonalds" (we had originally planned on meeting there before hand but we decided to leave at about 5.30pm instead of 6.00pm, thus the first player's lift couldn't take him to the McDonalds so we picked him up from near his place.)
"ok we'll come and pick you up"
"ok i'll be near the roundabout."

We get to McDonalds..... nope he wasn't there..... Do a lap of the block...... no sight of him......
"Where are you?"
"i'm near minto station."
"Bugger, McDonalds side or other side"

"ok be there soon."

Get to Minto station....... no where to be seen!
"Where are you?"
"Just walked over the pedestrian bridge"
"well you can walk back over it! we are on the other side"

several minutes later we are all in the car heading towards Brookvale..... our half an hour earlier leaving time has now evaporated and were about ten minutes late.

As it turned out we ended up getting there about ten minutes early.

My game was an interesting Kings indian Defence which i think i might have misplayed. But was able to salvage a draw. Next thing i know our board one comes in and tells me that both our boards one and two have lost. "Damn we're looking at a 3.5-0.5 slaughter here.......and Lance is down on time. At this point i decided to go for a non alcoholic beverage. When i came back Lance was up on time! And Attacking! And the time control of 30 moves had just been played in the 75 minutes so they had 30 min each to finish the game. Lance won his opponents queen for a rook in a combination involving a pin, bishop on king. Lance had defeated his higher rated opponent!

Yes, our last minute ring in saved the day for us. We still lost 2.5-1.5 but it was now a respectable loss.... not a huge loss.

Former NSW Chess Tournament site goes up in flames

Yesterday 150 year old St Barnabas Church was destroyed by a fire. The fire also effected the church's community hall which at one point before my time held chess tournaments.

So much Chess coming up! Olympiad / Mtel

Well where do i start. The first of the Australian Olympiad team fly off today. Gary Lane is visiting the UK before going on to the Torino Olympiad. Accourding to the Torino website there is 9 days 9.5 hours until the olympiad starts.

Good luck to the Australian Team!

The Turino 2006 website looks excellent. I just hope that they will be putting all the games live over the internet so that we Aussies can follow the progress of our team. If so I'll be watching :)

On the right hand side i noticed that there are odds for the Mtel masters that start today. Topalov leads the betting, paying $2.36, closely followed by Anand, $2.5, Svidler $13, Bacrot $30, Ponomariov good value at $13, and Kamsky $50. (I think all prices are in US Dollars)

Ilyumzhinov and Bessel Kok join forces?

I don't know how accurate this is but the Ottawa Chess club message board has brought some speculation that KIrsan Ilyumzhinov and Bessel Kok have made a secret deal. Is this "the right move" for Kok?

A guy named Kevin wrote:

The rumour of a Kirsan-Kok agreement to unite before the Fide election turns out to have a sound basis. It is believed that a secret agreement has been achieved which will have the two work together on various fide projects, save Kok's reputation, and have the fide congress merely 'confirm' Kirsan's continued position as fide president. This appears to imply that there will be no actual vote taking at the upcoming congress in Italy.

There appears to be nothing on this on the FIDE website and nothing on Chessbase.com.

Also there appears to be nothing on Bassel Kok's "the right move" website. In fact Bassel Kok's website has recently released two papers entitled:
POSITION PAPER - CHESS IN SCHOOLS 28.04.2006
POSITION PAPER - FIDE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 29.04.2006

So somehow i don't think Kirsan and Bessel are planning a truce. I could be proven wrong.

Congratulations Ray, Josh!

Congratulations to Raymond Song for winning the City of Sydney on an unbeaten score of 7.5/9!!!! This stunning victory included wins over IM elect FM George Xie and Tomek Rej.

Also Congratulations to Parramatta Chess Club member Joshua Christensen on winning the U1700 division of the City of Sydney. Joshua also won the Doeberl minor recently. A safe prediction: Joshua’s rating will be going upwards.

My Doeberl Games - Comments welcome

I have decided that I’d analyse my Doeberl games and post them here. Suggestions welcome :D

Parker,T (1453) - Clark,D (1090) [D43]
Doeberl Minor 2006 Home, 30.04.2006
[Trent Parker]
1.Nf3 my favorite opening move at the moment. 1...d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Qc2 b6 IMHO if Black intends to fianchetto his Queens Bishop then b6 should be played before the c pawn is moved. I think this is a little too slow. 8.cxd5 cxd5 9.Bb5 I thought this was a better place for the bishop instead of d3 at this point in time. However i did not take advantage of it..... 9...0–0 10.0–0?! [10.Bc6 Rb8 11.Bf4±] 10...Bb7 11.Bd3 Rc8 Now i'm I didn't want Ne4 to come. I decided to eliminate one knight and play my Queen to b1. However i did not want to block my Rook in 12.Bxf6 Nxf6 13.Ne5 If Ne4 now then f3 kicks it away from centre 13...g6 14.Rac1 a6 15.Qb1 Now if Ne4.... 15...b5 [15...Ne4 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.Bxe4 Bxe4 18.Qxe4±] 16.a3 stopping black from playing b4 16...Qd6 ..... and now that black cannot play Ne4...... 17.f4 Nd7 18.Rf3 f6 To Sac or not to sac is the Question? I ended up sacking the Knight. 19.Nxg6 I should have sacked the Bishop instead: [19.Bxg6 fxe5 (19...hxg6) 20.Bxh7+ Kg7 (20...Kh8 21.Qg6 Rf6 22.Qh5 Nf8 23.Rh3) 21.Qg6+ Kh8 22.Bg8 Rf7 23.Rh3+ Rh7 24.Rxh7#] 19...Rf7 Why not take my Knight? [19...hxg6 20.Bxg6 f5µ] 20.Nxe7+ Qxe7 21.Rg3+ trying to scam another pawn..... and it works 21...Rg7 22.Bxh7+ Kh8 23.Rxg7 Qxg7 24.Bd3 Rg8 25.Qc2 f5 26.Rf1 Now that i'm two pawns up i want to exchange pieces as much as possible. 26...Nf6 27.Rf3 Nh7 28.Rg3 Qf7 29.Rxg8+ Qxg8 30.Ne2 I had plans of going via c1 and b3 to c5. More direct might have been... [30.a4 bxa4 (30...b4 31.Na2) 31.Nxa4] 30...Nf6 31.Qc7 Infiltration!!!!! :D 31...Qg7 32.Qxg7+ Kxg7 33.h3 Nd7 34.g4 fxg4 35.hxg4 Nb6 I really cannot allow Black's knight to infiltrate my position.... 36.b3 onya bike 36...Nd7 37.Kg2 time to get the king into the action! 37...Nf6 38.Kg3 Bc8 What a bad bishop. Stuck to the defence of blacks pawns 39.g5 Ne8 40.Nc3 Deciding not to go to c5 but try to push e4 making black's e pawn isolated. 40...Bb7 41.Kf3 Nd6 42.e4 dxe4+ Now.... what to take with?... I decided to take with the Bishop because i correctly thought that my knight would be better than his bishop in this endgame..... unless he wanted to exchange everything.... lol 43.Bxe4 Nxe4 44.Nxe4 Kg6 45.Ke3 Bd5 46.b4 annoying music plays in my head..... "u can't touch this" 46...Kf5 47.Nc5 Bc4 48.Nxa6 Bd5 49.Nc7 Bc6 What the hell... I'll win if i can give up two of my pawns for his two pawns..... 50.g6 Kxg6 51.Nxe6 Kf6 52.Nc7 Kf5 53.d5 Bd7 54.d6 Bc6 55.Kd4 Kxf4 56.Kc5 and black resigned 1–0

Off to a Great Start – Not

Yeah, I know I said “more on that tomorrow” and I didn’t deliver. Oh well. Something to continue on next year.

It may not happen overnight but it will happen. At least I have started a diet. I went to a Dr Higginbotham at Narellan who is a GP who specialises in Weight management.

Anzac Day

Ahhh well

Today was Anzac Day 2006.
A day to remember those who fought and lost their lives during war, and those who have died who have fought in a war.

Today is the day back in 1915 that the ANZAC's landed on Gallipoli. It makes me wonder, being a chess buff and all. whether chess was played by the ANZACS at war.

A google search found this site which uses the word "chess board" as if it was a part of the battle ground at galipoli: http://www.anzacs.org/pages/AOfaddy.html

The Navy plays chess: here.

There is a picture of a chess tournament on board the HMAS ANZAC!

More on this tomorrow. I need sleep.

Loss and Chess

Some people may already knowthat I have recently lost a brother in a car accident two weeks ago last sunday... has it really been that long? Man time flies.

We had the Funeral on Thursday.

So what effect will that have on my chess?

Initually it had a horrendous effect on my chess as evident in my Doeberl Cup Minor division result of 3.5 out of 7 Losing to players hundreds of points lower than what i am. This tournament was only one week after what i call "the event" (I still cannot say the words "My brother's Death")

But what will it mean in the grand scheme of things for my chess?

Although It is a very sad occurance I have been inspired by my Brother, Jack Wayne Parker. Jack lived life to the fullest. Always had somewhere to be or something to do. Jack used the internet rarely. mainly to talk to friends on msn and to look stuff up. I have decided that I am going to spend less time on the computer and spend more time studying chess on an actual board rather than playing lightning on FICS.
Jack was one to practice things - Hell, he learnt how to do backflips on his bicycle by doing them. He stacked it time and time again but he eventually landed the trick.
Jacks passion was his bicycle, his motorbike, and his friends. My passion is chess and now I value my friends much more than before.I'm going to start myself on the 7 circles program from the book "Rapid Chess Improvement" There is also an article online that explains this system of training.
I think if i spend less time sitting on my rear end at the compture (except to do chess tactics puzzles) i will improve my chess. Maybe once every two to three days max.

One particular story that one of Jacko's mates told me will keep in my head and forever inspire me. Jacko and his mates were talking about a stabbing that happened near Picton train station A few days before the event happened. Jack apparently said to his mates "If someone harmed my brother i would kill that person; I would go to jail for my brother; I would die for my brother" and apparently he said it so passionately that I could tell that, when this friend was telling this to me, that it had inspired him as well.

So. I will not let Jack's death go in vain. I am going to lose my weight. Jack was always tall and trim. Well at least i can make myself trim. And this is the ultimate motivation to get the weith off. I am going to live life to the fullest. I am not going to get myself involved with this Sweeney Ban rubbish, or any other (excuse the french) Bullshit bickering that occurs online or offline.

I am going to write on this blog each time i log online i've decided. I have a bad habit of not finishing things. Now i'm going to make sure i start finishing things and continuing things.

Heres to Jack, my future life and better chess.

Australian Internet Junior Interstate Championships

Are well underway!

The first event that is currently well under way is the Australian Internet Junior Interstate Chess Championships, which sees teams of 12 battle it out to see who is the best chess playing state in the country over a time control of 1hr each.

Today, To start this blog i will review the past two rounds and preview the upcoming round.

6 teams are contending this interstate round robin competition.
Round 1 Draw put chess population Giants NSW against the relatively Smaller Tasmania, The Battle of the AFL states (South Australia v Victoria), and favorites ACT play QLD

NSW 11 v TAS 1
The Tasmanian Kids were outrated on every board. However Tasmania were able to pick off an upset with Nina Horton defeating Jordan Morris as White after 44 moves of a Four Knights game.

VIC 9 v SA 3
The game to watch out for in this round was the top board clash between Christopher Wallis (Vic) and James Obst (SA). One ratings point splits these two players so i was assured to be a tight game. James' Alekine defence lasted out until the 33rd move where he played a check that lost him the exchange and, later on, the game.
South Australia were outrated on every board. Upsets in this tie were:
Feldja Zulfic defeating Eugene Shon, Anthony Khoo defeating Cedric Antolis and James Griggs defeating Udit Thakur.

ACT 11 v QLD 1
For the third tie running one state has the higher rated players on all the boards. For the small population of the ACT the amount of highly rated juniors is astonishing.For this tie they only have one player rated below 1000. So the Queensland team, lead by Alex Jule (the 2006 Australian Girls Champion), had a battle on their hands.
All boards went according to rating except for Brock McIntyre who defeated Sherab Guo-Yuthok.

Round 2
the first match of the round saw the banana benders (QLD) play the kids from the Apple Isle {TAS}. South Australia v ACT was the second tie and NSW faced of with those kids south of the border (VIC).

TAS 5.5 - QLD 6.5
In the tightest match in the tournament so far, QLD pipped the lower rated Tasmanian side at the post. Upsets: Alastair Dyer (TAS) defeated the slightly higher rated Sam Grigg (QLD).

SA 1.5 : ACT 10.5
Junta''s team of Giants Rolled on over the top of the South Australians. ACT were higher rated on all the boards except for the top board. On the top board monkey business was the order of the day; Junta Ikeda could not detain James Obst's Orang Utan that wore down Junta's position in the endgame. South Australia's other half point game from Sophie Eustace, who drew with Andrew Brown in an opposite colour bishop endgame.

NSW 9.5 : VIC 2.5
One might Consider this the match of the round. With Ronald Yu and Christopher Wallis battling it out on the top board, Vincent Suttor, Dusan Stojic playing on the Second board and both teams having a long list of rated players, the tie promised to be an interesting contest.
On the top board Ronald Yu played a type of london system which led to an interesting game. Christopher Wallis sacrificed the exchange for a pawn, however, in the end it was not enough compensation for the exchange and Christopher went into the engame an exchange down. Even still. It took Ronald Yu 93 moves to compell his opponent to resign.
Meanwhile on the second Board Vincent Suttor's Dragon breathed fire.
Victoria Out rated their Norther counterparts on 5 of the 12 boards. So there were some upsets of NSW over Vic. These include Deborah Ng over Udit Thakur, John McMahon over Rocheleh Ziffer,Jordan Morris drawing with Yi Liu.

So Now its time to preview this round.
The first matchup tonight sees the battle of the Bass Straight (Vic v Tas), the Capital versus the first state is matchup number two which leaves South Australia To battle the Sunshine state (QLD)

On paper Victoria Outrate Tas on all the boards, so it appears that the battle of the bass straight will be won by the Victorians. However the Tasmanians will be throwing all they have at the Victorians

My pick for matchup for the day is the ACT v NSW clash of the titans. NSW have a the higher rated players in the top 5 boards (also the 12th) and the ACT have the upper hand on the next 6 boards. We could well see a 6-6 scoreline. NSW is currently 1 point behind ACT so they will be looking for a 6.5-5.5 or 7-5 win in this game to keep them in the hunt. The games to watch would be: Junta Ikeda v Ronald Yu and Gareth Oliver v Vincent Suttor.

Last but not least...
SA v QLD
Queensland out rate South Australia on 9 out of the 12 boards. Also South Australia have three unrated players who could possibly build up a surprise win.

You IIIIIIIIIIDIOT!!!!!!

Yes folks I am an Idiot

On the train home from Cardiff to Sydney, coming home from the Newcastle open, I lost my camera. So all those photos i took of the ADW and Newcastle open are now lost.

Cityrails lost and found proceedures are a load of BS. I called them the day after and i was told that items from central can take up to three days to get to the lost and found office..... which is stupid considering the office is opposite platform one at Central..... then i got the call back in a week several times. I am not happy.

Naughty at Newcastle

Well so much for posting on that tuesday.......

Now a couple of comments from some of the tournaments i've played in.

Beep Beep! Beep Beep!

A chess players worst noise to hear when playing a tournament game.

At the newcastle open this year in the fifth round i forgot to turn mu mobile phone off before the start of the game..... and i received an sms from a friend of mine. I promptly resigned because i believe that the laws of chess should be strictly adhered to. The Arbiter was to far away to hear who's phone went off so had i not said anything the game whould have continued.

I would hope that if someone else breaks the rules and that their mobile phone goes off they would do the same.

Sorry

Sorry reader's

I have been busy lately

Will report on ADW and Newcastle Open tomorrow night

Australia Day Weekender Preview

This tournament is set to be a huge success with 70 Participants pre entering for this event!

I'll be taking photos. :D

Stay tuned

President Jessop On the Future of the ACF

IN the recent Australian chess Bulletin Mr Dennis Jessop had the following to say abouthe future of the Australian Chess Federation:

The Short-term option

This option would involve a more positive role for the ACF within its existing structure. I deal with it first as it is of a practical and immediate nature and could be begun this year.

The ACF now has more funds available to devote to its constitutional object of fostering chess throughout Australia and so has some capacity actively to promote chess undertakings.

Possible projects that immediately come to mind are a Player Development Fund as an expansion of the present Ergas Junior Program and chess development in less-developed areas such as the Northern Territory already set out to us by David Cordover.

Careful consideration would need to be given to what funds are available to this end, what projects would be suitable for the use of those funds and what priorities are to be allocated to those projects.

Another consideration is the possibility of cooperation with commercial chess businesses to perform functions on behalf of the ACF as a business undertaking, that is for a fee. The first steps have already been taken here in respect of a well-established ACF event - the Grand Prix.

There is no reason why this could not be extended to other projects or to other ACF events such as the Australian Championships for which the ACF should be prepared to take responsibility instead of passing it to the States. Indeed, the ACF's traditional ducking of responsibility for the financial outcome of those events may be one reason for the Mt Buller shambles.

I have to say what a greate job Brian Jones has done to get this Grand pPrix up and running. However i do have a few little things to pick on it...... I believe that the Categories should be of total Prizemoney and not just the open prizemoney. I suppose doing things this wayit attempts to get the top players playing in Australia. The second blemish is that I know for one the prizes for the under 1600 division is in fact less than the 2005 prizes. I know it could be a bit of a stretch but rather than offering a second Junior the opportunity to go to Malaysia to play chess, what about the u1600 or u2000 player who cannot realistically win the Open but is rewarded to win a divisional first prize in the GP.

I think that the ACF should steer way clear of David Cordover due to the dodgy dealings with SAJCL and also his contribution to the MT Buller Fiaco. But honestly I do not think it would be worth the ACF's money to sbsidise something that may not work considering that Chess in the NT has already been tried and failed.

The Long-term Option

I believe that there needs to be a complete reconsideration of the structure of the ACF to reflect adequately its national character. Such things as individual membership and a reassessment of the role of State Associations would need to be addressed.

Australia may be unique in that it had a national championship before it was a nation. But the ACF was not formed until 1922 when it was a loose assemblage of State bodies to oversee the running of the Australian Championship. It remained in that general condition for 65 years until its incorporation in 1987. That incorporation had an effect that seems not to have been fully appreciated. Upon incorporation, a legal entity separate from the State Associations was created with nationally-expressed objectives. Unfortunately, the old concept of the new body merely as an assemblage of State Associations was preserved by the new Constitution. Thus we have a national body unable adequately to pursue its national objectives because of a dominance of State interests in matters that largely do not concern them. While State and Territory Associations and their affiliated clubs are responsible for the running of 90% or more of chess activities in Australia, there are national matters that are properly the responsibility of the national body as such, not of the States. Such a concept was recognised upon the establishment of the Australian Federal Government in 1901 but has yet to be recognised in the chess federation.

To achieve this end a considerable amount of re-education will be needed and that is why it is long-term.

I personally agree that the ACF should have individual membership. I know that this may not be acceptable to some state associations due to having some resposibilities taken off of the states. If my memory serves me correct the NSWCA at that point in time rejected Graeme Gardiners motion which included individual membership of the ACF.

I think individual membership of the ACF would be a good idea because it may enable the Grand prix to have more of a "tour" feel rather than just a whole conglomerate of tournaments Whenever. The ACF would be able to determine when tournaments are to take place.

Am i not pretty enough

It looks like the NSWCA Logo might get a facelift!

It currently looks like this:

The arguements are that the A looks like a P. and also It should have when the NSWCA was founded rather than incorporated.

Finally i've figured it out! :D

Some of the pics of the presentation are a little dodgy.....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thechessnut

Aus Champ Photos

Having a problem with putting the pics up here so i am creating a flickr account.

They will be available soon.

Aus Champ Pics

BTW peoples I do intend to post the photos i took at the Australian Champs earlier this month..... In time.....

Wijk aan Zee Starts Today

In my chess career one day i really would like to experience the Wijk Aan Zee tournament. As well as the Grandmaster's A, B and C events they also have an amateur's event which anyone can join.

Anyhow this tournament starts today and will be an interesting tournament. Kramnik and Topalov were confirmed entrants but now it seems that Kramnik has pulled out. Very very bad!

The contenders in the Top division are:
GM Veselin Topalov BUL 2801
GM Viswanathan Anand IND 2792
GM Levon Aronian ARM 2752
GM Peter Leko HUN 2740
GM Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2729
GM Boris Gelfand ISR 2723
GM Etienne Bacrot FRA 2717
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE
GM Michael Adams ENG 2707
GM Ivan Sokolov NED 2689
GM Gata Kamsky USA 2686
GM Sergey Tiviakov NED 2669
GM Sergey Karjakin UKR 2660
GM Loek van Wely NED 2647

Topalov Has to be the favorite However I would like Anand to win.

An interesting comment

While i was away I recieved the following comment to one of my posts:

I stumbled upon your blog and it was funny as you ... I stumbled upon your blog
and it was funny as you used the same name as my blog.Well not exactly the same
but with very similiar meaning.My blog is gilachess.blogpost.comGilaChess translates literally to Chess
Nut in Malay.Anyway, keep up the good work for Australia chess. Happy New Year
from another chess nut from Malaysia !!My official website:http://gilachess.com :)

I'm glad that you have stumbled upon my blog! I will be adding a link to your site and blog.

From one chess nut to another best wishes for the new year!

Home Sweet home!

Well i'm back at home now.... back to the daily routine.

BTW i did have picks for the last round of the Championships:

Song - Rogers 0-1
Smerdon - Goldenburg 1-0
Solomon - Chandler 0-1
Wohl - Schmaltz 0-1
Ftacnik - Xie 1-0
Lane - Smirnov 1-0
Johansen - Canfell 1-0
Zhao - Pyke 1-0
Humphrey - Bjelobrk 0-1
Ly - Booth 1-0
Caoli - Guthrie 1-0
Bird - Dougherty 1-0
Frame Moylan 0-1
Wallis - Obst .5-.5

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh

Calm down now..... its only a loss..... calm down.....
I just played a crap game against Mos Ali.... Was very angry with myself.....

Anyhow My picks for round 10 of the championship....

Wohl - Smerdon 0-1
Rogers - Johansen 1-0
Chandler - Canfell 1-0
Schmaltz - Ftacnik .5-.5
Lane - Xie .5-.5
Goldenberg - Solomon 0-1
Song - Ly 1-0
Smirnov - Zhao 0-1
Pyke - Humphrey 1-0
Bjelobrk - Caoli 1-0
Obst - Bird .5-.5
Booth - Lakner 0-1
Dougherty - Wallis 1-0
Guthrie - Frame 1-0

round 9 Picks

Wohl - rogers .5-.5
Solomon - Smerdon .5-.5
Schmaltz - Chandler .5-.5
Ftacnik - Lane 1-0
Xie - Goldenberg 1-0
Ly - Smirnov 1-0 I think Ly appreciated to rest day!
Johansen - Zhao .5-.5
Canfell - Bjelobrk 0-1
Walis - Song 0-1
Humphrey - Booth 1-0
Moylan - Caoli 1-0
Lakner - Dougherty 0-1
Frame - Obst 0-1
Bird Has the Bye.

Tourney Report after round 4

Well I'm having a little bit disappointing tournament thus far.

I am on 2/4 which one loss was to the very strong junior Eliot Hoving and the other (which i should have at least drawn) was against Bender who is rated lower than what i am

Now my predictions for round 8 of the championship division:
Rogers - Schmaltz 1-0
Smerdon - Xie 1-0 (Smerdon for GM norm! Go Smerdon! But Xie is a good person I sort of also want Xie to win......)
Zhao - Chandler .5-.5
Bjelobrk - Ftacnik .5-.5
Smirnov - Johansen
Lane - Canfell 1-0
Song - Wohl .5-.5
Guthrie - Solomon 0-1
goldenberg - Humphrey .5-.5
Obst - Ly 0-1
Booth - Moylan 0-1
Lakner - Wallis 1-0
Bird - Pyke 1-0
Caoli - Frame 1-0

Round 7 picks

Chandler - Rogers 0-1
Xie - Schmaltz 0-1
Smerdon - Lane 1-0
Johansen - Ftacnik .5-.5
Bjelobrk - Zhao .5 -.5
Wohl - Smirnov 1-0
Solomon - Canfell 1-0
Humphrey - Guthrie
Obst - Song 0-1
Bird - Goldenberg 1-0
Moylan - Caoli .5-.5
Pike - Ly 0-1
Dougherty - Booth 1-0
frame - Lakner 0-1

BTW BOOOO HISSSSS at Levi's withdrawal! Off with his head! :D

A little Late but......

These (honestly) were my picks for round 6
Ftacnick - Chandler Draw
Rogers - Smerdon 1-0
Schmaltz- Lane .5-.5
Bjelobrk - Johansen 0-1
Canfell - Wohl 0-1
Xie - Solomon 1-0
Zhao - obst 1-0
Smirnov - Moylan 0-1
Caoli - Humphrey 1-0
Goldenberg - Ly 0-1
Song Lakner 0-1
Booth - Pyke 1-0

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everybody!

New years day was a rest day for all chessplayers

How did i go in round 4?
1.GM Chandler, Murray (3) .5-.5IM Lane, Gary (2.5) correct
2.GM Rogers, Ian (2.5) 1-0GM Ftacnik, Lubomir (2.5) Incorrect - Draw
3.IM Smerdon, David (2.5).5-.5 GM Johansen, Darryl (2) Incorrect Smerdon Won!
4.IM Zhao, Zong-Yuan (2) 1-0 WIM Moylan, Laura (2) Incorrect - Draw
5.IM Wohl, Alex (2) 1-0 Obst, James (2) Correct
6.IM Solomon, Stephen (2) 1-0 Ly, Moulthun (2) Correct
7.FM Goldenberg, Igor (2) .5-.5 FM Bjelobrk, Igor (2) Incorrect Bjelobrk wins.
8.Pyke, Malcolm (1.5) 0-1 GM Schmaltz, Roland (1.5) Correct!
9.FM Levi, Eddy (1) 0-1 FM Canfell, Greg (1) Correct!
10.FM Dougherty, Michael (1) 0-1 FM Xie, George (1) Correct!
11.Smirnov, Vladimir (1) .5-.5 FM Humphrey, Jonathan (1) Correct!
12.FM Guthrie, Aaron (1) 1-0 Lakner, Jay (1) Incorrect - Draw
13.WIM Caoili, Arianne (0.5) 1-0 Wallis, Christopher (0.5) Correct!
14.Frame, Nigel (0.5) .5-.5 Booth, Stewart (0.5) Incorrect Booth wins!
15.Song, Raymond (0.5) .5-.5 Bird, Andrew (0.5) Incorrect Song Wins!

A score of 8.....

Round 5 Picks:

1.GM Chandler, Murray (3.5) .5-.5 IM Smerdon, David (3.5)
2.GM Ftacnik, Lubomir (3) 1-0 IM Wohl, Alex (3)
3.IM Solomon, Stephen (3) 0-1 GM Rogers, Ian (3)
4.IM Lane, Gary (3) 1-0 FM Bjelobrk, Igor (3)
5.GM Schmaltz, Roland (2.5) 1-0 IM Zhao, Zong-Yuan (2.5)
6.WIM Moylan, Laura (2.5) 0-1 FM Xie, George (2)
7.GM Johansen, Darryl (2) 1-0FM Goldenberg, Igor (2)
8.Ly, Moulthun (2) 1-0 M Canfell, Greg (2)
9.Obst, James (2) 0-1 FM Guthrie, Aaron (1.5)
10.FM Humphrey, Jonathan (1.5) 0-1Song, Raymond (1.5)
11.Lakner, Jay (1.5) .5-.5 Smirnov, Vladimir (1.5)
12.Booth, Stewart (1.5) 0-1 WIM Caoili, Arianne (1.5)
13.FM Dougherty, Michael (1) 1-0 Pyke, Malcolm (1.5)
14.Bird, Andrew (0.5) 1-0FM Levi, Eddy (1)
15.Wallis, Christopher (0.5) 1-0 Frame, Nigel (0.5)

Don't know if i will be able to put up regular predictions for now on that i will be in brisbane playing.....But i'll give it a shot!