More on the ACF Newsletter

Apart from the problem I have already alluded to in the post the other day Dennis Jessop has done an excellent job of the ACF Newsletter. Sure there have been a couple of hiccups but Dennis took the bull by the horns after the resignation of Paul Broekhuyse.

Dennis apparently no longer wishes to be the Editor of the Newsletter and the position will be vacant. Other vacant positions include:
Publicity Director
Olympiad Appeal Coordinator
Ergas Training Squad Coordinator
Selections Coordinator (Juniors)

Rogers to give simul and Blindfold simul

Following my spray of the ACF the other day i noticed that Shaun Press over at chessexpress has stated that GM Ian Rogers will give a Blindfold simul and then a regular simul afterwards on the Friday before the ANU Open! Rogers will not be playing in the ANU Open but will be there for the prize giving ceremony after the victor has been decided.

I'm going to try to get down there on the friday assuming i'm not working on the friday.....

Rogers Retired, Or is he?

The ACF needs to get their newsletter right. Do they read it before sending it?

In the most recent ACF Newsletter the first item is the news of Ian Rogers' retirement from competitive chess. Then further down it gives that Ian Rogers will be playing in the ANU. Surely they could have checked the details before the send button was pushed.

Time to Mince and grind

Imagine chess where the battles are fought by the chessmen, slicing the opponent to shreds when a piece is taken. Sounds like something out of a Harry Potter Movie .

But years before the Harry Potter phenomenon was a game called Battle Chess. This game had everything from armed combat to magical weapons to defeat the enemy. If i remember correctly depending on which piece is checkmating the king there was even a beheading in the old game.

Now IGFun - a mobile phone entertainment company - is releasing the game for the mobile phone. It currently appears that it is only available in the UK currently.

But Battlechess was a favorite of mine when i was a kid, but i thought any type of computerised chess was cool.....

Down Under Knight....... Another Interesting Blog

There are several chess blogs i very regularly visit: The Closet Grandmaster, Chess Express and another interesting australian blog i now like to read the blog of Phil Willis; Down Under Knight.

Particularly interesting reading is his blog entry for Monday July 9. It talks about a simultaneous exhibition by Jenifer Shahade, author of the book "Chess Bitch". Phil Won his game against jenifer. But the last comment of his blog entry made me laugh hard! Well worth the read.

A link to this blog will eventually be put into my sidebar

A Few Tournaments Coming Up

This weekend will be a weekend of poker and maybe some chess preparation in order to get ready for the tournaments for the coming weeks.

The NSWCA July Weekender will take place at the Parramatta RSL Club on the 21st and 22nd of July. I almost always play in the NSWCA tournaments, however I won't be playing in this one as I have to work on the saturday. I might pop in on the saturday afternoon or sunday though.

The week after that tournament, the 28-29th July will be the ANU Open, A category 4 GP Event in Canberra. I've only played in this tournament once before and it was at the School of Arts building at the ANU. Now, apparently the recent storms have given that building some decent damage so the tournament has been moved to Fenner Hall on Northbourne Avenue Canberra

The Week after that is a new tournament, The Hunter Valley Open. I'm not sure if i'll play this one. It just seems too far away. This tournament replaces the "Coal City Open" which i have played several times in the past. The Coal City Open was always played at either Newcastle Workers Club or Cardiff Workers club. I'd prefer the tournament at one of these venues because it is easy for me to get to from a family friend's place on the Central Coast railway line.

Then the Week after that there is the NSW Teams Challeng no.2

The Week after that the Integra NSW Championships start. Hoorah!! The NSWCA finally got a sponsor for one of their tournaments!!! Good Work!

GM ROGERS PULLS UP THE STUMPS ON AN OUTSTANDING INNINGS

Yesterday I learnt that Ian Rogers has decided to call it a day. Ian Rogers is going out whilst still at the top of Australian Chess; Where he has been for the past 25 years

Congratulations on a marvellous chess career Ian! May all your future endeavors be fruitful.

As a 12 year old Ian participated in the 1973 Australian Championships where he scored 3/9 to be equal 72-79 out of 82 players. In his 7th round game was against Ken Henrick and in the book of that tournament stated: "Trying to console Ken Henrick for his 6 losses, the DOP told him he had paired him with a 12 year old, and that if he couldn't win this time he should give up chess"! How harsh! Ken Henrick went on to lose a piece to the old poisoned d4 pawn trick.

(224924) Rogers,I (2200) - Henrick,K (2200) [B03]Australia op Australia (7), 1973
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.exd6 exd6 5.c4 Nb6 6.Nf3 Be7 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 Nc6 9.b3 h6 10.Bb2 Bg4 11.h3 Bh5 12.Nbd2 Bf6 13.g4 Bg6 14.Ne4 Bxe4 15.Bxe4 d5 16.Bd3 dxc4 17.bxc4 Nxd4 18.Nxd4 Bxd4 19.Bxd4 Nd7 .. 1-0

Ian wrote a book on the 1980 championships called "Australian Chess into the Eighties". Which that championships was a very strong championships that Ian won. In that book Guy West gives a profile of Ian Rogers (as well as three other players).

"Ians success formula for chess is ingrained in his very character, He is
energetic, Hard-working and self-disciplined. Yet despite the gravity of
these qualities Ian has a tremendously buoyant personality and an ever present
sense of humour"

"Ian is a master of the power of positive thinking and is living evidence of the self-fulfilling prophesy"

"Ian always rates himself a chance ("you know Karpov has to lose sometimes!")and as a result, in my opinion he always is"

This view seems acurate given his results in tournament play both in Australia and over seas. His chess Career has taken him from Australia to USA, Argentina, Many European visits including playing in the British 4NCL championships and the German Bundesliga. And of course Asia.

Ian's Chess Career has included games against Gary Kasparov, An upcoming Sergei Karjakin, Francisco Vallejo Pons, Mikhail Gurevich, Vassily Ivanchuk, Loek Van Wely, Artur Yusupov, Alexander Baburin, Evgeny Bareev, Alexander Beliavski, Alexander Morozevich, A win over Judit Polgar in a rapidplay game, Anatoly Karpov, Alexei Shirov, Vladimir Akopian, Victor Korchnoi, John Emms, Alexander Khalifmann, Viktor Bologan, Boris Gelfand, Nigel Short, Mikhail Tal, Vassily Smyslov, Eugenio Torre, Susan and Sofia Polgar, Vishy Anand, Boris Spassky, Jan Timman, John Nunn, Just to name a few of his famous opponents over the years.

I for one will miss observing his games at chess tournaments. I have played GM opponents in rated play twice, both being GM Dejan Antic, however I wish I could have had the opportunity to play Australia's no.1 GM. I suppose that is what a lot of Rogers fans are thinking at the moment.

Once again Congratulations on a marvellous career and I hope that we will be seeing you around the chessboards in some other capacity.

Diamonds are a chessplayers best friend

Hi peoples.

I thought now that a couple of my blog posts have been put into the Australian Chess Magazine maybe I should start blogging more often. I've been a little busy with my new job starting up but still. Not much excuse not to blog.

Anyhow I have come accross this little beauty.


"The Royal Diamond Chess" entirely hand-made in 14-carat white gold, set with approximately 9900 black and white diamonds is an extraordinary luxurious version of the classic chess-set. Designed by the renowned French artist, designer and maser of jewelry, Bernard Maquin, and as part of the Charles Hollander Collection, "the Royal Diamond Chess" is a rare and precious work of fine art jewelry. This entirely hand-made creation is an expression of meticulous artisanship, with a harmonic combination of aesthetics, functionalism and beauty. 30 artisans spent more than 4500 hours, using 1168.75 grams 14-carat white gold and approximately 9900 black and white diamonds, weighing a total of 186.09 carat, in order to bring this incredible masterpiece to completion."

Whoa Immagine how much this thing would cost!!!! It makes the Marble and metal, chess set that my parents bought back from Greece look cheap. Hmm maybe i'll win lotto some day! :D