Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Mate in Mingara

Bleary eyed and tired I once again got myself up out of bed at quarter past 3 in the morning in order to walk to the station to catch the 4.53 train out of Picton headed for the Central Coast and the Mingara Recreational Club. Hey its ok. I got to catch up with some sleep on the train. Making sure that I set my alarm for the views of the rising sunshine glistening over the Hawkesbury River between Cowan and Gosford. Visitors to the City should take this train ride and maybe alight at Hawkesbury River Railway Station and have a look around Brooklyn. I would say that that stretch of Railway would have to be one of the most beautiful stretches of train track in the world…. Well at least for the most beautiful for a suburban train service.

The Mingara Recreation Club is set in amongst the hills of Tumbi Umbi.
The Tournament room was excellent. Spacious, Well lit. And coffee and Tea was supplied for nothing.

In previous years this event had been an under 2000 or under 2100 event but this year it decided to become part of the Grand Prix, and thus changed to an Open event. There were 4 players with ratings in excess of 2000: IM Gary Lane, FM Igor Bjelobrk, Paul Broekhuyse and Johny Bolens.

Round 1 saw all the higher rated opponents win with the exception of Mike Canfell who could only draw against Alex Mehan in a very long game that slightly delayed the game for round two. And although he eventually went down Gary Losh fought very hard against Johny Bolens. At one point Johny didn’t realise that he was in check. Strange thing to happen coming from the king of blitz….

Round 2 saw local PHD student Andrew Philips come up against Gary Lane on board one, with the International Master winning that encounter. Board two saw Igor Bjelobrk defeat Johnathan Adams, Paul Broekhuyse accounted for Nick Kordahi, Johny Bolens defeated Emma Guo and Sartaj Hans defeated Heath Bonnefin to be the only 5 players on 2/2
Mike Canfell (1746) certainly started the tournament badly; In the second round he was defeated by John Pascoe (1487), which left him on .5/2. The other upsets for the round were Norm Greenwood (1515) going down to Alex Mehan (1390), and Graeme Deacon (1403) defeated the rusty Tony Eves (1566). Meanwhile Tony Baldwin and Myself finished almost simultaneously with 10-11 move miniatures against our rather embarrassed opponents. Its Just not chess.

In round 3 the big boppers started to play each other with Lane playing (and beating) Bolens on board 1, Bjelobrk defeating Broekhuyse on two and Sartaj Hans joined the leaders on 3/3 by defeating Alex Mehan who was the only person on 1.5 at that point in time. Draws occurred on a couple of the lower boards: Emma Guo drew with Graeme Deacon and Norm Greenwood drew with Anthony Eves. As for the break Tony and I had. I (Trent Parker) went on to cause an upset on board 6 to defeat Jonathan Adams. Whilst Tony hit a brick wall coming up against the resurgent Mike Canfell.

First night came to a close and time to go and get some good nights rest.

At the half way mark there were 3 leaders on 3/3: Lane, Bjelobrk and Hans closely followed by Broekhuyse, Bolens, Phillips, Bonnefin, Kordahi, an Parker all on 2/3

At this time I’d like to Say thank you very much to Hugh Windsor? Who offered to bring me from Tuggerah Station to Mingara on the Sunday, when I had thought that the first bus to Mingara arrived at 10.20 – 20 minutes past the starting time of the round. This would have been a long way around for him considering that he lives at Long Jetty! I later found out that there was an earlier bus that got me to the bus stop down across the intersection.

Bzzzzzzt there goes my alarm! Its 6.15 gotta get up and catch the 7.20 train from Wyee…..Oh I’ll just lay down for another moment.

45 minutes later I was up and racing around trying to get everything ready in five minutes so I could take the fifteen minute walk to the station. What fun! Not quite at the station I see the train coming. I have to start running……. I was lucky that the guard or driver saw that I was struggling to get to the train so they waited a minute longer for me! Thank the lord!

I arrived at the Mingara club at about 9.15 with plenty of time to spare. Round 4 was to start at 10.00 sharp. On board One Igor Bjelobrk was drawn to play Sartaj Hans, On board two Lane battled it out with Nick Kordahi, Bonnefin played Broekhuyse, and Bolens played Andrew Phillips. Meanwhile I floated down to play Emma Guo. Bjelobrk was handed the win by forfeit as Sartaj Hans did not show up and did not give any warning. All the other games mentioned above went according to rating (except for mine). In my game against Emma Guo I lost a piece early as I was concentrating too much on my attack. Later on I retrieved the piece and a few moves later I offered a draw…..I was a pawn up but I thought it was the fairest result at that moment. There were no upsets for the round.

It was time for the top two seeds to battle it out in the fifth round. Lane v Bjelobrk. A battle of the Kings Indian type ensued. Bjelobrk, after receiving the forfeit round 4, defeated Lane. Broekhuyse and Bolens played out a draw. There was no other upset other than the top board , however there was one draw for the round: Emma Guo and Andrew Phillips Drew.

Round 6 saw Bjelobrk and Bolens play on board 1 which ended in a short draw. Thus securing the Mingara Open title for Igor. Board two saw Gary Lane defeat Paul Broekuyse. Upsets for the round included Parker defeating Tony Eves (1566), there was no other real upsets Canfell and Kordahi played out a draw.

All in all an excellent tournament. Thanks to Keith Farrell for Arbiting/ DOPing another excellent tournament.

Congratulations Igor Bjelobrk on winning the tournament and Congratulations to Gary Lane on his second place
Congratulations to Johny Bolens, Jonathan Adams and Mike Canfell on their third place. See more people there next year

Monday, May 21, 2007

Antic Wins the John Kellner Memorial Tournament

GM Dejan Antic won the 2007 John Kellner Memorial Tournament at the St George Leagues club Last Weekend, dropping only a half point to Johny Bolens in the Fourth round. Meanwhile the third seed took a half point bye



Upsets for the round were Michael Ngo (1151) over Pierre Guenette (1690), Michael Weltner (1422) over Anthony Villanueva (1648), Alan Mascarenhas over Mark Baterowicz(1620), Gary Losh (1438) over Joshua Christensen (1605), and Youngster Sean Gu (608) defeating Michael Lo (1451).



So after four rounds Antic and Bolens are on 3.5/4 followed by David Evans, Arthur Huynh, Richard Eccles and Michael Ngo, playing chess way above his rating, all on 3 points.



Round 5 Saw Top seed Dejan Antic defeat David Evans, Michael Ngo going down to Johny Bolens and Huynh was too strong for Eccles.

Draws were had by Blair Mandla (1763) against Retallick (1969) and Michael Lo (1422) drawing with Shurapey (1200) John Fearson defeated Mark Baterowicz, Norm greenwood defeated Anthony Villanueva, and Pierre Guenette was defeated by Michael Weltner.



Round 6 saw Bolens (who was on 4.5 points) was the victor over Huynh (ho was on 4 points), Moylan who finally rose to the top of the standings again with 3.5/5 was defeated by Antic. Michael Dunn defeated Michael Weltner who were both on 3.5/5. Michael Ngo continued his excellent tournament by drawing with Eccles, Shurapey drew with Villanueva. The only upset in the round was Mascarenhas who defeated Fearson.



Round 7
Antic disposed of Retallick on board one whilst Johny Bolens, a bishop pawns down settled for a draw against Michael Dunn when Dunn had to Sacrifice the bishop for the two pawns. Blair Mandla defeated Arthur Huynh to join Dunn on 5 points and third place. Other Upsets included Mascarenhas (1423) over Josh Christensen (1605), Michael Weltner (1422) over Richard Eccles (1611), Oscar Wang defeating Fearson, and the very promising youngster Sean Gu (608) over Iyengar (1200).

Sunday, May 20, 2007

John Kellner Memorial Weekender Day One

There was a disappointing turnout of 30 players in the inaugrual John Kellner Memorial Tournament (perhaps i had something to do with that?! I appologise) The top seeds are 1. GM Dejan Antic, 2. Johny Bolens and 3. WIM Laura Moylan.

In Round One I was the lucky recipient of the first round thumping to Dejan Anitc. It was an enjoyable game though.... Michael Lo lost to Johny Bolens and Laura Moylan Disposed of Gary Losh. Upsets for Round One were an unrated Aiswerya Shankar, over John Fearson and Michael Ngo defeating Mark Baterowicz. Arthur Huynh (1879) decided to play a swiss gambit and drew with Michael welter (1422). In other Draws, Blair Mandla (1765) Drew against th Improving Junior Oscar Wang (1329), Dmitriy Shurapey and Pierre Guenette also drew.

Round two saw Antic defeat Richard Eccles, Bolens Defeat Emma Guo however Laura Moylan might have taken David Evans somewhat lightly and eventually lost. Michael Ngo (1151) joined the pacesetters by defeating Anthony Villanueva (1648). Other usets included unrated Aiswerya Shankar defeating Steven Retallick (1969), Michael Weltner (1422) defeating Blair Mandla (1765), and Gary Losh (1439) going down to unrated Leuki Lyengar

The top three seeds were back onto their winning ways in round 3; Antic Defeated Michael Dunn, David Evans "should have drawn" according to Johny Bolens but eventually lost, and Laura Moylan ended Michael Weltners good run. In terms of Upsets I defeated my mate Josh Christensen when he let a piece drop in the late stages of the opening, The only other upset for the round was Laki Lyengar (unr) defeating Tom Accola (1175). Emma Guo (1543) drew with Steven Retallick (1969), Norm Greenwood (1515) drew with Mark Baterowicz (1620), and Anthony Villanueva ()1648 could only manage a draw from John Fearson (1488)

In Round 4 It was time for Antic and Bolens to face off.

Stay tuned for tomorrows installment to find out what happened!

Saturday, May 19, 2007

John Kellner Memorial On today

The John Kellner Memorial Weekender starts today.

I will be blogging on this event

Poker players will be very happy as the St George Shootout poker tournament is also taking place with lots of sit and go's available!

Friday, May 18, 2007

Blitz Ruling: Mate with K+N

What an eccentric fellow Mr Johny Bolens is......

In the Lightning tournament at the Parramatta RSL club Johny wanted to claim a win on time as his opponent had two pawns on the side of the board (eg h and g files) with the K in front of the pawns. Bolens had just a King and Knight. Bolens argued that he had mating material as there could be the possibility that his opponent could give up the g pawn and end up mated with K and N with his opponents pawn blocking the escape square.

So What is deemed to Be mating Material? If there is the possibility that the opponent will make made a blunder should just the sole knight be deemed as mating material?

I'd like to hear the arguements.

For the Record the Arbiter determined the result as a draw. Of course Bolens Complained......

Western Suburbs Chess Premiership Comes to an end

The 2007 Edition of the WSCP has come to a close culminating in a Lightning tournament at the Parramatta RSL Club yesterday.

The Open division of the WSCP was won by Brian Jones' Koala Team on 10 points closely followed by Parramatta B on 9.5 points and coming last in the three horse race was Parramatta A on 8.5 points

The Under 1900 and 1700 Division (Division B) was won By Rooty Hill on 11.5 followed by Parramatta u1900 on 8.5 points and Mounties u1700 on 8 points

The Under 1600 Division was won by Ryde Eastwood on 15 points followed by Liverpool on 14.5 points then Parramatta on 13 points then rooty Hill on 7.5 and Mounties on 6 points.

Division D consisted of the u1500, u1400 and u1300 teams. The tournament was won by Parramatta u1400 on a score of 17.5 followed by Rooty Hill u 1500 on 16 then Rootyhill under 1400 team on 13.5. Bringing up the rear end of the tournament was Parramatta u1300 and Wests Tigers u1400 with 10 and 7 points respectively.

The lightning on the night was won by new Parramatta Chess club member Dejan Antic followed by Johny Bolens in second place. Jason Hu and Jason Chan shared third place. the u1600 prize was shared between Shane Burgess and George Smit.

I will update this post with Performance prizes when they come to hand.