Sunday, April 22, 2007

Australian Championships – Where are we now?

Head Honcho of the ACF Gary Wastell convened a meeting of parties interested in the holding of the Australian Championships on the Friday night during the Sydney International Open. The people at the meeting were: NSWCA Prez Bill Gletsos, NSWCA Clubs man and Parramatta CC Treasurer Shane Burgess, Parramatta CC President Bob Sewell, Sydney International Open Organisers Brian Jones and Vasil Tulevski, as well as Peter Parr and one or two other people.

As people probably already know, there was an email from Peter Parr to the ACF early this year (late last year?) stating that the UTS could be available for free or a minimal cost. Alternatively, the email said, Hakoah Club or the Bridge Centre of NSW could be used. For me the UTS would be the best option, as Hakoah just didn’t give me a good impression when the NSWCA held its NSW Open there last year. As for the Bridge Centre I’m not sure. I have heard however that it is not very junior friendly. How would UTS go with this issue?

After reading about Peter Parr’s “proposal” I decided to drop the idea of holding the Championships at Campbelltown. But nothing happened. After the meeting I decided that I’d try again at holding the Championships at Campbelltown. However I have since found out that the Championships could be held at the Parramatta RSL. Dr Vasil Tulevski and the Parramatta chess club could be giving it a go.

Further more to Peter Parrs “proposal” a meeting of Peter Parr, Bill Gletsos and UTS officials had been agreed upon at the meeting. I wonder what will come out of that meeting? Has it happened yet?

There was also some talk on Noble Park Chess club in Melbourne holding something there but no representatives were at the meeting.

The NSW Junior Chess League have already put in a bid for the juniors.

As a side note, one comment at the meeting indicated that there is a possibility that there could be another Queenstown-like tournament in 2009!

Saturday, April 14, 2007

IM Norm chances for Oliver, Rej and Chow

Tomek Rej needs to obtain at least half a point from Gary Lane in the final round of the Sydney international Open in order to obtain an International Masters norm. Tomek will have the white pieces. Gareth Oliver only needs a draw against Moulthun Ly in order to obtain an International Master norm.

It was originally thought that Sam Chow would be inelligible for the chance to obtain an IM norm but nope some people forgot that The WIM title of Laura Moylan counted as part of the required titled players. Sam Chow will play Tejas Bakre and will need to win to obtain the norm.

Draws in round 8 included:

GM Rogers against IM Zhao, Zong-Yuan (5.5), GM Murray Chandler against IM George Xie Sam Chow against Moulthun Ly, Wallis v IM Ansell, Gutierrez Castillo against FM Smirnov, Repplinger drew against Ilia Zvedeniouk, Ikeda against Mendes da costa, Andrew Brown against Domagoj dragicevic, Selnes against Cvetkoski, Harris against Mike Canfell, Guo Yutok against Aisa, Maroroa against Setiabudi, Ren against Mario Pleno.

Upsets were scored by:

Results to follow after this round.

Leading scores:Timoshenko 7, Rogers, Antic, Mikhalevski 6.5,
9 players on 6

SHIPOV Loses!!!! XIE Draws

Early Results before I left the venue saw George Xie draw against Murray Chandler. The other Shock loss was Shipov being defeated by Pinoy Almario Marlon Bernardino, who apparently started crying tears of Joy upon realising the victory.

A bit of Trivia

Did you know? That IM Guy West has Played Gary Kasparov!

I'm late for a very important date

Hello peoples! sorry i havent updated the blog. I was too tired Thursday night and ended up going to bed relatively early. And then Friday afternoon i was in an internet cafe typing up my Blog entry when the Internet explorer decided to die on me. I was not happy so they didn't charge me for using the internet.

The chess playing public not playing (or had finished their games) in the SIO were treated to a commentary by Smerdon on his draw against George Xie. There is a lot of things for chessplayers who are not in the tournament to participate in. Simuls, Large outdoor chess set, game commentary. or just watch from the sidelines.

Now to the chess:
Round four saw Antic and Timoshenko draw on top board, Bakre and Carlos Matamoros Franco draw on the third board and no less than ten other boards: IM Smerdon drew with IM Xie, Vincent Suttor drew with IM Guy West. Tredinnik against Voon, Max Illingworth had a "grandmaster draw" with Zhigen Lin, Paloma Gutierrez Castillo against Fedja Zufric, Contreras Nelson Munoz against Edwin Wu, Benjamin Harris against Jason Chan, Alexander Stanke against Kumar Uttam, Norm Greenwood against Ian Dickson and down on board 37 two Australian WIMs drew against each other: Narelle Szuveges and Laura Moylan

There were no less than 12 upsets. Biggest of all Manthan Chokshi defeating GM Sergei Shipov. Other Upsets: Gareth Oliver over Vladimir Smirnov, Lazarus defeated Bucher, Angelo Tsagarakis defeated "Dancing with the Stars" Stunner Ariane Caoili, Gene Nacauchi defeated Karenlampi, Rob Hvistendahl defeated Ilija Ilic, Johnathan Yuen defeated Tony Davis, Dennis Wan defeated Anthony Pickering, Jason Cohn defeated Sue Marora, Shirley Wu defeated Vaness Reid and Krishna Kumar defeated Ely tacorda.

Rogers took the lead in round five with a win over GM Murray Chandler.

There were thirteen draws and thirteen upsets in round five:
Draws: IM Garbett against GM Matamoros Franco, GM Bakre against IM Zhao, Sam Chow drew with englands Simon Ansell, Chris Wallis drew with Igor Goldenberg, Hilton Bennet confirmed that Shipov was having a bad tournament, Young ACT up and comer Andrew Brown drew against strong Victorian Dusan Stojic, Shon drew with Castillo Gutierrez, Hvistendahl drew with Moylan, I (Trent Parker) snatched a draw from the clutches of defeat when I was able to push my passed pawns up the board and in time pressure Ian offered a draw due to the threats of my pawns. Carla Wettstein drew with Anthony Pickering and Dhirendra Kumar drew with Korenevski.

Upsets were scored by Marc Rupplinger over IM Gary lane. Barak Atzmon Simons over Pinoy Jesse Sales, Greth Oliver steamed ahad by beating Steadman, Sydney Academy of chess Student Max Illingworth defeated Sydney Academy of Chess Coach Neil Wright, Tredinnik defeated Bernardino, Gregs father Mike Canfell defeated Tony Dowden, Leonardo Tenorio defeated Robert Gibbons, Gene Nakauchi defeated Vilestri, Antheny Lo defeated Dennis Holland Sue Maroroa lost to Carrie Evans, Sarah Anton defeated Sally Yu,Ido Tullic defated Gor Neegam.

So after five rounds we had Rogers on 5/5 as sole leader followed by Antic, Timoshenko and Smerdon on 4.5, Chandler, Toth Bakre, Matamoros Franco, Solomon, Zhao, Garbett, Chokshi, Oliver, Mikhalevski, Repplinger, Rej, Bjelobrk, Ly and Atzmon Simon all on 4/5. Further back in the pack are GM Johanson on 3.5 and top Seed Shipov on 3.


Now to Thursdays Rounds.

I missed my regular train on this day so i was rushing to the venue and arrived 3 minutes before forfeiture time! I always play too quickly when i arrive late. I hate arriving late I had an alright opening but i missed a combo that won a pawn. Oh well......

After my game I was lucky enough to get a seat to play against local player Adrian Rose in a Simul. I was the only one to beat him!

In round 6 the top board clash ended in a draw between Ian Rogers and GM Antic. Timoshenko defeated Smerdon and Mikhalevski defeated Moulthun Ly. FM Igor Bjelobrk kicked off the upsets by defeating GM Carlos Matamoros Franco, and Tomek Rej defeated IM Stephen Solomon.

Gareth Oliver continued his excellent run by drawing against IM Andras Toth. Other Draws for the round included Vincent Suttor against FM Igor Goldenberg, Ilia Zvedeniouk against GM Sergei Shipov, Eugene Shon against Angelito Camer, Julius Caesar Marquez against Anthony Pickering, Dhirendra Kumar against Michael Gearing, Mario Aisa against Milan Ninchich, Matthew Sweeney against David Evans.

Christopher Wallis had a huge win against Victorian IM Guy West. Other upsets include Ivan Zirdum over Jesse Sales, Svetosar Stojic over Michael Wei, Andrew Brown over Malcolm Tredinnik, Blair Mandla over Ilija Ilic and Alexandra Jule downed Alan Tankel.

Round 7 saw draws on 6 of the top 8 boards and upsets on the other two. GM Timoshenko drew with GM Rogers, GM Antic played against Mikhalevski's Grunfeld for a draw, Bakre - Chandler ended in a draw, Zhao Bjelobrk ended in a draw, IM Simon Ansell was defeated by Tomek Rej
Gareth Oliver was playing strong enough to defeat David Smerdon. GM Johansen drew with Chow, FM Smith drew with Andras Toth and Vladimir Smirnov was held to a draw by Vincent Suttor

On Lower boards draws were agreed upon by: Paul Broekhuyse against Marc Repplinger,WIM Moylan against Zhigen Lin, WIM Arianne Caoili drawing with Blair Mandla, Ian Dickson drawing with Tony Dowden, Eugene Shon drawing with Contreras Nelson Munoz, Edwin Wu drawing with WFM Helen Milligan, Joshua Christensen drawing with Oleg Korenevski, Dennis Wan against Sue Maroroa, Michael Gearing and Alexander Stanke drew, and Jean Watson and Justin Tan Drew.

Top Seed Sergei Shipov finally got a win against Svetozar Stojic.

After holing Shipov to a draw Ilia Zvedeniouk defeated IM Guy West. Other Upsets included:
Max Illingworth over Dusan Stojic, Fedja Zulfic over Jason Chan, Gordon Dunlop against Pirkka Karenlampi, David Lovejoy was defeated by johnathan Yuen, Gene Nakauchi defated Tony Davis, Vivian Smith defeated the doctor of the house Vasil Tulevski, Anthony Lo defeated Willian Forster, I defeated Vaness Reid's Bird like Dutch, Matt Sweeney defeated Ido Tulic and Karishma Kumar defeated Gor Neegam.

Will update round by round today.

So at the moment we have three equal first: Rogers Timoshenko and Rej all on 6 points, followed by Antic, Chandler, Bakre, Zhao, Xie, Mikhalevski, Oliver, Bjelobrk all on 5.5/6!

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Top Board Graveyard

The top board has not been a happy hunting ground for our visiting GM's this tournament. In round two Samuel Chow was able to hold GM Shipov to a draw on the top board and in round three IM Simon Ansell defeated second seed GM Victor Mikhalevski.

One player who is performing outstandingly well is my mate Josh Christensen. I hope to post his third round win against Domagoj Dragicevic. Josh is now on 2.5/3 A excellent effort for a playerwith a rating of 1605.

Round two Upsets included:

Draws:
Manthon Chokshi against Z-Y Zhao
IM Paul Garbett could only draw against Jason Hu
Angelito Camer drew with FM Robert smith.
Milan Ninchich and Hamish Selnes
Dennis Holland drew against lower rated Jason Cohn
I (trent parker) drew a good game against Gary Bekker. at one stage i could have won.
Angelo Tsagarakis was only able to score a draw against Allen Setiabudi.
Alexander Stanke drew with the highly rated junior Edwin Wu

Defeats
Gareth oliver defeating FM Igor Bjelobrk
Robert Gibbons defeating Moulthoun ly
Marc Vietstra defeated Dusan Stojic
Alex Mendes da Costa defeated Armen Ayvazyan
Max Illinworth Defeated Malcom "Macavity" Pyke
Joshua Christensen over Uttam, Kumar Saha.
Leonardo Tenorio lost to Dhirendra Kumar

In round 3
draws were played by
Narelle Szuveges against Almario Marion Bernardino
Jason Cohn against Hamish Selnes
Ian Dickson v Yuen
Leong v Bekker

Wins were had by
Alexander Stanke againstMarquez
Korenski was defeated by Norm Greenwood
Gene Nakauchi defeating Lorenzo.

Another notable game for the round was Max Illingworth against Sergey Shipov. Will hopefully bring that game to the blog as well.

Laterz people!!! Day three is coming up!

You aint seen nothing yet!!

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Doeberl is Over SIO Started!

Congratulations to the Home grown talent that took out the major placings in the Doeberl this year! Congratulations to Rogers on winning another Doeberl Crown. There was some very interesting chess played by the grandmaster. Especially his game against IM Solomon (who came equal second with Smerdon and Lane). The Closet GM and Shaun Press cover the tournament well so i won't say much more other than that I was lucky to get second.

The first round of the SIO started today. I rocked up just before the opening ceremony started as I had other things to do earlier in the day. The Parramatta Town hall seems to be a cozy set up with plenty of room between the aisles of seats which is good for those overly swolen people.
LOL.

Anyhow The first round went much to ratings except for New Zealands Vivian Smith (1742) defeating Malcolm Tredinnik (2205). Upset draws occured between Joshua Christensen against Ariane Caoili in an interesting Queens Gambit Declined, Blair Mandla against Neil Wright, Fedja Zulfic against Domagoj Dragicevic, Anthony Lo against Paloma Gutierrez-Castillo, Carla Wettstein against Contreras Nelson Munoz, Johnathan Ren against Jens Boe Hornsgaard, and Northern Territory's Mario Aisa drew against Indian Kumar Saha Attum.

Now I'm going to be a little cheeky here and subtitle this:
Hu's been a naughty boy then?
Apparently someone has been knocking people about. First Arthur Huynh using a walking frame thing due to some sort of foot injury and then apparently today someone had been kicking assistant to the arbiters Nick Chernih in the somewhere but Nick fought off Huever the person was. I wonder Hu it was??? ROTFL be nice!!!

OK i'll blog tomorrow. bye!!!