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?

=---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------==

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.
=----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------==

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

Tough tournament in Toukley - There was an Israeli, a Russian and a Blind Man....

Preview

My Great Grandparents had a home in Favrent Street, Toukley which when my great grandparents got older and could no longer care for themselves in that home my extended family used the house as a bit of a holiday house in order to take advantage of its location, close to the beach and close to the lakes. A great place for a short summer getaway to take advantage of the sun. The house has been out of the family’s hands now for well over 10 years but in recent years I have been returning to this town for the annual chess tournament. The weather certainly suited indoor pursuits as well!

On the back of last years rather poor turn-out of 20 players the 2008 edition of the Toukley open promised to be a much better affair than the 2007 affair. Vladimir Smirnov has voiced his interest in this year’s tournament as well as other first timers to this tournament. The Question remained. Would IM Gary Lane defend his Toukley Open crown in 2008?

Numbers are up compared to last year. There are 28 participants in the 2008 edition of the Toukley open with the first seed being visiting Israeli IM Igor Bitansky with Vladimir Smirnov in as second seed and Johny Bolens as the third seed.

Round 1
The tournament host Gary Losh announced the first round pairings as "incorrect" as he had to play the visiting IM Bitansky in the first round! Eventually the IM outplayed the local TD. On board two another Country organiser, Phil Bourke "wasted" (Phil's wording) a white against a very formidable opponent in Vladimir Smirnov in an interesting game where white thought he couldn't recapture a pawn on e4 but infact he could:

Bourke,P - Smirnov,V [B01]
Toukley Open 2008 (1.2), 10.02.2008
[from fritz analysis]
1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.Nc3 Qa5 5.d4 Bg4 6.Be2 0–0–0 7.Be3 Nf6 8.0–0 e5 9.a3 Bxf3 10.Bxf3 Nxd4 11.b4 Qb6 12.Kh1 Qe6 13.Bxd4 Rxd4 14.Qe2 e4 15.Qe3 Qe5 16.g3 [16.Bxe4 Nxe4 17.f4] 16...Be7 17.Rad1 Rhd8 18.Rxd4 Qxd4 19.Rd1 Qxe3 20.Rxd8+ Kxd8 0–1


Board three saw Johny Bolens play white against Benjamin Young.

Upsets started on board 4 where Peter Abbot drew with Gary Mann. On board 7 Ivan Kodzoman lost to Graeme Deacon. Graeme Cole defeated Jamie Davidson on board 9, and little trouble maker (on the board anyway) Anton Smirnov defeated Alex Mehan.

Round 2
It was Michael Tracey's turn to battle (and lose) against the Israeli IM Igor Bitansky. Vladimir Smirnov played NSWCA Treasurer Norm Greenwood. Smirnov's Trompovski eventually won an exchange for a pawn and Smirnov's better technique won the game On board three Johny Bolens played Black against Graeme Deacon. Bolens Blundered and immediately resigned.

Other upsets included Bruce Harris against Richard Eccles. The Giant Killing Anton Smirnov moved on to two points after defeating Matthew Koutnik. Garry Mann continued Ivan Kodzomons bad start by defeating him.Andrew Philips conceded a draw against John L Pascoe. Board 12 saw the tournament organiser go 0/2 by losing aginst Lou Kreidl.

Round 3 saw the International Master finally stretched. Blair Mandla was his opponent.and the Scandinavian was the opening:

Bitansky,I - Mandla,B [B01]
Toukley Open (3.1), 09.02.2008
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nxd5 4.g3 Bg4 5.Bg2 e6 6.0–0 Nc6 7.h3 Bh5 8.d3 Be7 9.Nbd2 0–0 10.a3 Qd7 11.Qe1 Rad8 12.Ne5 Nxe5 13.Qxe5 Bg6 14.Qe2 c6 15.Re1 Rfe8 16.Nc4 Bf6 17.Ne5 Qc7 18.Bd2 Qb6 19.Rab1 Qc5 20.Rbc1 Qb6 21.Rb1 Qc5 22.Rbc1 Qb6 23.b4 Qd4 24.Nxg6 hxg6 25.h4 Qb2 26.h5 gxh5 27.Qxh5 Qxa3 28.Re4 Bc3 29.Rh4 g6 30.Qh7+ Kf8 31.Qh6+ Bg7 32.Qg5 Bf6 33.Qh6+ Bg7 34.Qg5 Bf6 35.Qh6+ Ke7 36.Bg5 Rh8 37.Bxf6+ Nxf6 38.Qf4 Rxh4 39.gxh4 Nd5 40.Qg5+ f6 41.Qh6 g5 42.Rf1 Qxb4 43.hxg5 Qf4 44.Qg7+ Kd6 45.Bxd5 Rd7 46.Qf8+ Kxd5 47.c4+ Kd4 48.Re1 Qxg5+ 49.Kf1 c5 50.Rxe6 Kxd3 51.Qe8 Rd4 52.Re3+ Kxc4 53.Qa4+ Kd5 54.Qd7+ Kc4 55.Qa4+ Kd5 56.Qd7+ Kc4 57.Qxb7 Rd1+ 58.Ke2 Qh5+ 59.f3 Rh1 60.Qb3+ Kd4 61.Qd3# 1–0

Bitansky was running on increment fumes from approximately the 40 move mark onwards. Igor put it down to the fact that he had not played or studied chess for the past several months. He has been travelling around spending a couple of months in New Zealand before coming to Australia. He will be hanging around here in Australia to play in the Sydney International Open. But will be doing some travelling between now and then!

Back to the Tourney and on board two Vladimir Smirnov had the black pieces against his son! Vladimir accounted for Anton. Garry Mann and Graeme Deacon battled it out on board 3 but the result was a draw. Draws were also taken on Boards 4 (where Peter Abbot drew with Andrew Phillips), Board 8 where Phil Bourke drew with Michael Koutnik and on board 6 where I missed winning chances against Richard Eccles and eventually stuffed up into perpetual check:

Parker,T - Eccles,R [D31]
Toukley Open TOSHIBA (3), 09.02.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Ne7 6.Bf4 0–0 7.e3 Bf5 8.Bd3 Bxd3 9.Qxd3 h6 10.0–0 Bd6 11.Bxd6 Qxd6 12.Rfc1 c6 13.a3 Nd7 14.b4 a6 15.Na4 f5 16.Nc5 Rab8 17.Nxd7 Qxd7 18.Ne5 Qe6 19.a4 Rbc8 20.Rc2 Ng6 21.Nxg6 Qxg6 22.Rac1 Qe6 23.b5 axb5 24.axb5 Ra8 25.bxc6 bxc6 26.Rxc6 Rfc8 27.Rxc8+ Rxc8 28.Rxc8+ Qxc8 29.g3 Kf7 30.h4 Qe6 31.Qe2 g6 32.Qc2 Kg7 33.Qc7+ Kf6 34.Kg2 h5 35.Qd8+ Kf7 36.Qc7+ Kf6 37.Qc5 Kg7 38.Qa7+ Kf6 39.Qa3 Kf7 40.Kf1 Qb6 41.Ke1 Qb1+ 42.Kd2 Qf1 43.Qa7+ Kg8 44.Qb8+ Kg7 45.Qe5+ Kh7 46.Qe7+ Kh6 47.Qg5+ Kg7 48.Qf4 Qc4 49.f3 Qb4+ 50.Ke2 with perpetual checks to follow... ½–½

The other upset for the round was Lou Kreidl defeating John Pascoe.

Round four and it was time for the big guns to battle each other. After Igor's game in the previous round he was very tired and offered an early draw to Vladimir Smirnov which he accepted. On Board two was Graeme Deacon who lost to Jamie Davidson. Board three saw Johny Bolens Climb back onto the top boards with a win over Norman Greenwood.

The upsets for the round were as follows: Alex Mehan defeated Peter Abbot, Benjamin Whiteside defeated John Pascoe and Alex Momot played a draw against Howard Koutnik. The only other draw was between Myself and Michael Koutnik where, once again I stuffed up an advantage to end up in a drawn pawn and rook endgame. I was so disappointed.

Standings after the first day of play saw IM Igor Bitansky and Vladimir Smirnov on equal first with 3.5 points followed closely by a host of 5 people on 3 points: Johny Bolens, Blair Mandla, Jamie Davidson, Alex Mehan and Andrew Phillips.

Finally on the Sunday, after plenty of rain on the Saturday, the sun was out in full force. It was a beautiful day. But it didn’t stop the 28 devoted chess players from turning up to play the second day of the Toukley Open.

The first round of the day saw Igor Bitansky defeat Andrew Phillips on board one . On board two Johny Bolens gave Vladimir Smirnov a great run for his money. Bolens describing it as “a completely won game” but Bolens ended up losing in his time pressure. On board three Jamie Davidson played Blair Mandla in a wild Scandinavian.
From the moves 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3g3?! Davidson’s position was already inferior due to Qxd5! But he fought on to make a game of it and Mandla had to play well to put the scalp in the bag. On Board four Graeme Deacon and Alex Mehan played a hard fought game where Alex was an exchange down but he had advanced passed pawns to compensate for the exchange. He had a chance to push his pawns through to win but eventually promoted at a time where his only Idea was to get a perpetual check.

Upsets for the round included: Board 7 where Garry Mann defeated Matthew Koutnik in an endgame. Graeme Cole scored the other upset of the round by defeating Keith “Arbiter/Player” Farrell.

In round 6 Blair Mandla laughed at the fact that he and Vladimir Smirnov had taken the top board off of Igor Bitansky. The game was a trompovsky which turned into a position not dissimilar to and exchange French. Mandla had his chances but it was Smirnov who ground out a win with his two rooks against Mandla’s Queen.
On board two Igor Bitansky defeated rapidly improving Novacastrian Alex Mehan. A king’s Indian defence was the order of the day on board three as Johny Bolens broke through with the black pieces to defeat me (Trent Parker). I was analysing the crucial position and then played my Queen to the wrong square when I had analysed that square as being a losing move!

Upsets for the round included Norman Greenwood wielding his Colle System against Peter Abbot ending up in a draw:

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 Bg4 4.e3 e6 5.Nbd2 Nf6 6.Qb3 Bxf3 7.Nxf3 Na5 8.Qa4+ c6 9.Bd3 Ne4 10.Nd2 f5 11.Bxe4 fxe4 12.b4 Nc4 13.Nxc4 dxc4 14.Qd1 Qg5 15.0–0 Bd6 16.f4 Qg6 17.a4 b6 18.Qe2 b5 19.axb5 cxb5 20.Ra6 Kd7 21.Qa2 Bb8 22.f5 Qh5 23.fxe6+ Ke7 24.g3 Rf8 25.Rxf8 Kxf8 26.Qg2 Qd1+ 27.Qf1+ Qxf1+ 28.Kxf1 Ke7 29.d5 Bc7 30.Ra2 Kd6 31.Rd2 Rf8+ 32.Ke2 Rf5 33.Rd4 Bd8 34.Rxe4 Rxd5 35.Kf3 Re5 36.Rd4+ Rd5 37.Ke4 Rxd4+ 38.exd4 Kxe6 39.Bf4 a5 40.d5+ Kd7 41.bxa5 Bxa5 42.Be5 g6 43.g4 Bb6 44.h3 Bc5 45.Bf4 Bb6 46.Bg3 Bc5 ½–½
Michael Tracey Held Ivan Kodzoman to a draw on board 6, Jamie Davidson was beaten by Garry Mann on board 7, and Keith Farrell finally got an upset win against John Pascoe.
Standings going into the final round saw the top two seeds basically securing the top two prizes.as they were 1.5 points ahead of four players on 4 points: Blair Mandla, Johny Bolens, Garry Mann and Andrew Phillips.
Igor Bitansky was back on top board for the final round and defeated Johny Bolens.On second board Garry Mann played white against Vladimir Smirnov and lost. On board three Blair Mandla stunned Andrew Phillips with somewhat of an opening trap. 11.Nb5 was an excellent move:
Mandla,B - Phillips,A [A17]
Toukley Open (7), 10.03.2008
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.g3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.d4 c6 6.Bg2 Be7 7.Nf3 0–0 8.0–0 Re8 9.Bf4 b6 10.Rc1 Nbd7 11.Nb5 Ba6 12.Nc7 Bxe2 13.Qxe2 Ne4 14.Nxe8 Qxe8 15.Ne5 Nxe5 16.Bxe4 Nc4 17.Bd3 1–0

Upsets for the round included Norman Greenwood who employed a Benko Gambit against Ivan Kodzoman: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.b3 bxc4 5.bxc4 e6 6.dxe6 fxe6 7.Bb2 Be7 8.Qc2 Nc6 9.a3 Bb7 10.Nf3 d5 11.e3 d4 12.exd4 cxd4 13.Bd3 e5 14.Be4 Nxe4 15.Qxe4 Bf6 16.0–0 0–0 17.Nbd2 Qc7 18.Qe2 Na5 19.Rfe1 Rfe8 20.Rac1 Bc6 21.Ne4 Bxe4 22.Qxe4 Rab8 23.Ba1 Nb3 24.Rc2 Red8 25.Rd1 Nxa1 26.Rxa1 d3 27.Rcc1 d2 28.Rd1 Qa5 29.g4 h6 30.Ra2 Bg5 31.Nxg5 hxg5 32.Qe2 Rb3 33.Rdxd2 Rf8 34.Rd5 Qb6 35.Rxe5 Rbf3 36.c5 Qb1+ 37.Kg2 Qh7 38.Rf5 Qh3+ 39.Kg1 Qxg4+ 40.Kh1 Qxf5 41.Kg1 Qg4+ 42.Kh1 Qh4 43.c6 Rxf2 44.Qe6+ Kh8 45.Rxf2 Qxf2 46.Qh3+ Kg8 47.c7 Qf1+ 0–1

Other upsets included Alex Mehan defeating Richard Eccles, Gary Losh defeating Jamie Davidson, Graeme Deacon drawing with Michael Koutnik,

Shortly after the last games were completed the Prizegiving ceremony was held to hand out the Prizes.

Igor Bitanski and Vladimir Smirnov finished the tournament equal first on 6.5/7. Blair Mandla came third with 5/7 only losing to the top two place getters.

The division One prizes for players seeded below the 10th seed was Norm Greenwood and Alex Mehan with 4.5/. Equal third was Gary Losh, Garry Mann and Myself.

Division two prizes for players seeded below the 20th Seed was won by Graeme Deacon with Anton Smirnov, Graeme Cole and Benjamin Whiteside sharing second place

Congratulations must go to Gary Losh for putting on an excellent tournament once again. Keith Farrell done an excellent job as DOP whilst still being able to play!

There is only one more thing to be said about this tourney. It is a friendly tournament. Enjoyable to play at. I urge all Sydneysiders to try to get to Toukley Next year.

Bobby Fischer - swimming with the fishes - The Sharks are circling

With the death of Bobby Fischer last month the sharks are starting to circle for his remains - His monetary remains that is.

A filipino woman claims to have had a child with the reclusive former World Chess Champion. Marilyn Young claims that her daughter, Jinky,was a result of a relationship with Bobby Fischer in 2001, and even went to Iceland to visit Fischer.

Other people to lay claim to the Estate of Bobby Fischer include a Japanese woman who claims that she Married Bobby whilst he stayed in Japan. Two nephews are laying claim and even the United States Government wants to raid Bobby's estate for back taxes.

So where's the documentation ladies? maybe a DNA analysis will have to be done?

In more Bobby Fischer news it looks like Bobby Fischer goes to War is to become a movie.

Time for Touikley

Once again this weekend we have the toukley open happening this weekend. and then the Newcastle Open the week after.

For a reminder about last year's Toukley see this post

Expecting a much larger field this year!

Lotsa Doctors in the House!

For thie top boards in the Australia Day Weekender and a couple of times for the Australian Championships I deciphered some games to put into chess datgabases. I could not believe at the crppy writing of a lot of chessplayers. Maybe this is why the Monroi system works well. (unless you have DGT boards working of course).

For multiple games shown below I was not ablle to decipher all the moves due to messy handwriting. I gotta say that George Xie and GM Dejan antic are he worst. I find Geroge Xie's Handwriting eligible at the start of the game but deteriorates once the game starts to get interesting. as for Dejan Antic is scoresheets use the german or european? notation using Laufer and S sprenger or something like that.

Now I'm not saying that My handwriting is perfect... Far from it. But you would think by the messy writing that all thes people are Doctors! lol

Igor Bjelobrk bucks the trend. The winner of the ADW has good handwritten scoresheets!

Igor Wins Australia Day weekender. Xie Second. Antic misses out!

On a Bright and sunny Australia Day 56 chess nuts decided to be gundled inside a room to play chess. The tournament had plenty of players with large ratings including GM Dejan Antic, FM Igor Bjelobrk, IM George Xie, FM Jesse Sales. Other over 2000 players included Tomek Rej, Niel Wright, Jason Hu, Paul Broekhuyse, Barak Atzmon-Simon and Johny Bolens. All these players accounted for their weaker opponents in round one except for Johny Bolens who underestimated his opponent in Michael Tracey. " I Sacrificed too much" said Bolens. Antic's first game was against David Adler who dropped a piece nearing the endgame and promptly resigned.

Adler,D - Antic,D [E60]
Australia Day Weekender (1.1), 26.01.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nc3 h6 5.Bh4 g5 6.Bg3 Nh5 7.e3 Nxg3 8.hxg3 c5 9.Nf3 d6 10.Qd2 g4 11.Nh4 Nc6 12.dxc5 dxc5 13.Qxd8+ Kxd8 14.0–0–0+ Kc7 15.Nd5+ Kb8 16.Be2 h5 17.f3 e6 18.Nf4 Ne5 19.Rd2 Kc7 20.Rhd1 b6 21.b3 Bb7 22.Nd3 Rad8 23.fxg4 hxg4 24.Nxe5 Rxd2 25.Rxd2 Bxe5 26.Bxg4 Bxg3 27.Nf3 f5 28.Bh3 Bxf3 0–1

Bjelobrk outplayed Benjamin Cheung on board two. First losing a pawn then the exchange and then more pawns and Benjamin Resigned.

Bjelobrk,I - Cheung,B [A13]
Australia Day Weekender (1.2), 26.01.2008
1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 e6 5.0–0 Be7 6.d3 0–0 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.Bf4 Re8 9.Rc1 a6 10.cxd5 Nxd5 11.Nxd5 exd5 12.d4 cxd4 13.Nxd4 Nxd4 14.Qxd4 Bf6 15.Qxd5 Qxd5 16.Bxd5 Rxe2 17.Rfe1 Rxe1+ 18.Rxe1 g5 19.Re8+ Kg7 20.Bd6 Be6 21.Rxa8 Bxd5 22.b3 Kh6 23.Rg8 Bg7 24.Bf8 Bxf8 25.Rxf8 Kg7 26.Rd8 Bc6 27.Kf1 g4 28.Ke2 f5 29.Ke3 Kg6 30.Kf4 Be4 31.Rd6+ Kh5 32.b4 Bb1 33.a4 Bc2 34.a5 Bb1 35.Rd7 Be4 36.Rxh7+ Kg6 37.Re7 Bb1 38.Rxb7 1–0

ACT's Emma Guo lost to FM George Xie, potential Sydneysider Jesse Sales accounted for NSWCA Treasurer Norman Greenwood. Tomek Rej defeated Roy Banecefic in an attacking display. Niel Wright defeated Les Kovacs, I got smashed by Jason Hu, Paul Broekhuyse accounted for Danny Bisson, and Barak Atzmon Simon beat Michael Courtney. To get to the next upset you have to go to board 21 where Drawmeister Nick Mann drew with Jason Cohn, Lloyd Fell drew with young Kinto Wan, Wah Cheung drew with Joshua Christensen. The unrated players faired well as Baby Joseph defeated Dennis Wan and Harun Majumder defeated Pierre Guenette.

In round two the top seeds kept Mowing down the lower rated opponents. Antic defeated Blair Mandla in a Benoni, Milan Grcic lost to Igor Bjelobrk who underpromoted a pawn to inflict defeat, Gerge Xie defeated Sarwat Rewais, Sales defeated Mos Ali, Tomek Rej defeated Stephen Javor, the closet grandmaster - Amiel Rosario lost to Niel Wright. Jason Hu defeated Andrew Philips , Paul Broekhuyse defeated Herman Rachmadi and Barak Atzmon-Simon defeated Rebecca Harris. There was only one draw for the round. I drew with Patrick Beaven with opposite colour bishops. Upsets for round two included Michael Tracey over Michael Dunn, Unrated Harun Majumder defeating Lloyd Fell, Gary Losh Defeating Dennis Wan, Mark Ryan defeating David Adler, Luthien Russell defeated Roy Banicevic, and Benjamin Whiteside defeating Les Kovacs.

Round two games:

Antic,D - Mandla,B [A44]
Australia Day Weekender (2.1), 26.01.2008
1.d4 c5 2.d5 e5 3.e4 Nf6 4.Nc3 d6 5.Be2 g6 6.Nf3 Bg7 7.0–0 0–0 8.Nd2 Na6 9.Nc4 Nc7 10.a4 Nfe8 11.f4 f5 12.fxe5 Bxe5 13.Nxe5 dxe5 14.exf5 Rxf5 15.Be3 b6 16.Qd2 Nd6 17.g4 Rxf1+ 18.Rxf1 Bb7 19.Bg5 Qd7 20.Bf6 Re8 21.h3 e4 22.Qf4 Rf8 23.g5 Nxd5 24.Nxd5 Bxd5 25.Rd1 Qc6 26.Qe5 Ne8 27.Qxd5+ Qxd5 28.Rxd5 Nxf6 29.gxf6 Rxf6 30.Rd7 a5 31.Re7 Rf4 32.b3 Kf8 33.Re6 Kf7 34.Bc4 Kg7 35.Kg2 Kh6 36.Bd5 Kg5 37.Bxe4 Kh4 1–0

Grcic,M - Bjelobrk,I [A89]
Australia Day Weekender (2.2), 26.01.2008
1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.c4 Bg7 5.Nc3 0–0 6.Nf3 d6 7.0–0 Nc6 8.d5 Na5 9.Qd3 e5 10.e4 fxe4 11.Nxe4 Nxe4 12.Qxe4 Bf5 13.Qe2 Bg4 14.Qe4 Bxf3 15.Bxf3 Nxc4 16.Bg4 Nb6 17.h4 Qe8 18.Bg5 c6 19.dxc6 d5 20.Qb4 bxc6 21.Be7 Rf7 22.Be6 e4 23.Bxf7+ Kxf7 24.Bc5 Rb8 25.Bd6 Rb7 26.Rac1 Qd7 27.Qc5 Bxb2 28.Rc2 Ke6 29.Bf4 Nc4 30.Qf8 Bf6 31.Qg8+ Kf5 32.Be3 Ne5 33.Qf8 Qe6 34.Kg2 Kg4 35.Qh6 Qf5 36.Bf4 Rf7 37.Rh1 Bg7 38.Qxh7 e3 39.Rb2 Qe4+ 40.Kg1 Nf3+ 41.Kf1 Bxb2 42.Qg8 e2+ 43.Kg2 e1N+ 0–1

Round three saw some of the big names start to pair up Jason Hu come up against the Grandmaster in the tournament Dejan Antic and lost in a benoni which gave Antic (as black) two very advanced passed pawns in the endgame:

Hu,J - Antic,D [E66]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (3.1), 26.01.2008
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0–0 5.0–0 d6 6.Nc3 c5 7.d4 Nc6 8.d5 Na5 9.Qd3 e5 10.Nh4 Nh5 11.Bf3 f5 12.Bxh5 gxh5 13.e3 a6 14.Qe2 Bd7 15.Kh1 b5 16.cxb5 axb5 17.e4 b4 18.Nd1 Nb3 19.Rb1 Nd4 20.Qxh5 fxe4 21.Bg5 Qe8 22.Qxe8 Rfxe8 23.a3 Bb5 24.Re1 Bd3 25.Rc1 bxa3 26.bxa3 Rxa3 27.Nb2 Nf3 28.Nxd3 Rxd3 29.Nxf3 exf3 30.Red1 Rxd1+ 31.Rxd1 e4 32.Be3 Ra8 33.Bf4 Ra6 34.h4 Bd4 35.Re1 Bxf2 36.Rxe4 Bd4 37.Re1 h5 38.Rf1 f2 39.Kg2 Kf7 40.Rb1 Kg6 41.Kf3 Kf5 42.Rd1 Rb6 43.Rc1 c4 44.Kg2 c3 45.Rd1 Ke4 46.Bg5 c2 47.Rc1 Rb1 48.Rxc2 f1Q+ 0–1

Meanwhile on board two Igor Bjelobrk defeated Barak Atzmon-Simon's From Gambit against Igors Birds opening.

Bjelobrk,I - Atzmon-Simon,B [A02]
Australia Day Weekender (3.2), 26.01.2008
1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.d4 Ng4 6.Qd3 c5 7.Qe4+ Be6 8.Ng5 Nxh2 9.Nxe6 Bg3+ 10.Kd1 fxe6 11.Qxe6+ Qe7 12.Qc8+ Qd8 13.Qxc5 Rf8 14.Nd2 g6 15.e4 Nd7 16.Bb5 a6 17.Bxd7+ Qxd7 18.Nf3 Qg4 19.Bh6 Rf7 20.Qg5 Rxf3 21.Qxg4 Nxg4 22.gxf3 Nf2+ 23.Ke2 Nxh1 24.Rxh1 Bc7 25.f4 1-0

On board three George Xie was able to overcome Paul Broekhuyse's London system.

Broekhuyse,P - Xie,G [D02]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (3.3), 26.01.2008
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bf4 Bg4 4.e3 e6 5.Bb5 Bd6 6.Bg3 Nge7 7.Nbd2 a6 8.Be2 0–0 9.0–0 Nf5 10.Bxd6 cxd6 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Nxf3 Rc8 13.Bd3 g6 14.c3 Na5 15.Qe2 Ng7 16.e4 Nh5 17.exd5 Nf4 18.Qd1 exd5 19.Re1 Nc4 20.Rb1 b5 21.Bf1 a5 22.g3 Ne6 23.Bg2 b4 24.cxb4 axb4 25.Qa4 Qb6 26.Rxe6 Ra8 27.Qc2 fxe6 28.Ng5 Rac8 29.Qe2 Rce8 30.Nxe6 Qa5 31.Qg4 Rf5 32.Nf4 Kg7 33.Rc1 b3 34.Bxd5 Rxd5 35.Rxc4 bxa2 36.Nxd5 a1Q+ 37.Kh2 Qd8 0–1

Jesse Sales accounted for Benjamin Harris on the fouth Board whilst TomekRej conceded a draw against Brendan Norman. Other Upsets for the round included Gary Losh over Stephen JavorRoy Banecevic conceded a draw against Jonathan Ren as did Les Kovacs agaist Daniel McGowan.

The Last of the Saturday round saw the titled players play off against each other. The clash of the overseas listed players was on board one Sales Drew with Antic.:

Antic,D - Sales,J [A60]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (4.1), 26.01.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 Bd6 6.Nc3 0–0 7.g3 Bc7 8.Bg2 d6 9.0–0 a6 10.a4 Re8 11.b3 Nbd7 12.Bb2 Rb8 13.Nd2 Nf8 14.e4 Ba5 15.Qc2 b5 16.h3 Ng6 17.Rfe1 Bd7 18.axb5 axb5 19.Nd1 c4 20.bxc4 bxc4 21.Bc3 Bxc3 22.Qxc3 Qc8 23.Ne3 ½–½
George Xie did not get enough compensation for a sacrificed exchange on the second board against Igor Bjelobrk.

Xie,G - Bjelobrk,I [D18]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (4.2), 29.01.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0–0 Nbd7 9.Qe2 Bg6 10.Rd1 0–0 11.Na2 Bd6 12.b4 Qe7 13.Bd2 Bh5 14.e4 e5 15.Bg5 exd4 16.Rxd4 Bxf3 17.Qxf3 Bxh2+ 18.Kf1 Be5 19.Rxd7 Qxd7 20.Rd1 Qe7 21.b5 h6 22.Bc1 Rfd8 23.Re1 cxb5 24.axb5 Rac8 25.Ba3 Qd7 26.Qb3 Rc7 27.Nb4 Qd4 28.Bd5 Ng4 29.Qa2 Bd6 30.Rb1 Bxb4 31.Bxb4 Nxf2 32.b6 axb6 0–1

Onboard three Tomek Rej defeated Brendan Norman after Norman's wild Benoni went wron losing a piece but instead of going down a piece decided to play two pieces for a queen down. Eventually Rej's Queen infiltrated the black position and black resigned:

Rej,T - Wright,N [A56]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (4.3), 27.01.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e5 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 Nbd7 6.Bd3 Be7 7.Bd2 a6 8.Nge2 h5 9.Ng3 g6 10.Qe2 h4 11.Nf1 Nh5 12.g3 Bg5 13.Ne3 Qe7 14.0–0–0 Qf8 15.Kb1 Qh6 16.Ng4 Bxd2 17.Nxh6 Bxh6 18.Bc2 Ndf6 19.Rhg1 0–0 20.f3 Rb8 21.Qf2 b5 22.g4 Nf4 23.g5 b4 24.Ne2 Bg7 25.Nxf4 exf4 26.gxf6 Bxf6 27.e5 Bxe5 28.Qxh4 Kg7 29.Qe7 1–0

Joshua Christensen continued his unbeaten streak on board four by drawing against Neil Wright. Barak Atsmon simon drew with Jason Cohn and Jason Hu accounted for Mos Ali. Broekhuyse defeated Amiel Rosario and Johny Bolens making his way back up the pack defeated Johnathan Adams. Upsets for the round included Trent Parker over Lloyd Fell, Valsalan Karayi over Dennis Wan, Mark Ryan over Pierre Guenette, Les Kovacs was held to a draw by Nicholas Mann and on the lower boards Kunec drew with Lance chiddy.

DAY TWO
Yet another beautiful day was wasted playing chess in at Norths Club at Cammeray.While the Sun shon outside top seed Dejan Antic's tournament went from good to bad to missing out on a prize after round 7.. In round 5, the first of the Sunday rounds, Dejan Antic did not get his way on the top board. It was time for the top two seeds to meet. After an interesting Nimzo Indian Dejan Antic eventually missed a combination which allowed Igor Bjelobrk to win a piece for little or no compensation:

Bjelobrk,I - Antic ,D [E24]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (5.1), 27.01.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 b6 6.e3 0–0 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.f3 d5 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Ne2 c5 11.0–0 Re8 12.Ng3 Nc6 13.Ra2 Ne7 14.Raf2 Ng6 15.Re1 Rc8 16.Bb2 h5 17.Qb1 h4 18.Nf1 Nf8 19.e4 cxd4 20.cxd4 Nh5 21.e5 Nf4 22.Bf5 Rc6 23.g3 N4e6 24.f4 Bc8 25.Bd3 Nc7 26.f5 Nh7 27.Kh1 Ng5 28.gxh4 Ne4 29.Rf4 Rh6 30.Ng3 Bb7 31.Qc2 Rxh4 32.Rxh4 Qxh4 33.Bxe4 dxe4 34.Qxc7 Ba8 35.e6 1–0

Meanwhile on the second board Jesse Sales slayed Tomek Rej's Dragon with a Maroczy Bind:
Sales,J - Rej,T [B36]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (5.2), 27.01.2008
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 g6 6.e4 d6 7.Be2 Bg7 8.Be3 0–0 9.Qd2 Qa5 10.f3 Nd7 11.Nb3 Qa6 12.0–0 Nf6 13.Rfd1 Be6 14.Rac1 Rac8 15.Nd5 Rfe8 16.Bf1 b6 17.Bg5 Nd7 18.Be3 Nc5 19.Nd4 Bd7 20.Nxc6 Bxc6 21.Bd4 Bxd4+ 22.Qxd4 Qb7 23.Ne3 Ne6 24.Qd2 Rcd8 25.Qf2 Qc8 26.Kh1 Qd7 27.Nd5 scoreshet Inelligible 1–0

In other top results, George Xie accounted for Brendan Norman, Neil Wright drew with Blair Mandla, Jason Hu defeated Sarwat Rewais, Paul Broekhuyse finally ended Joshua Christensens unbeated run and Garry Losh, who had an excellent tourney up to now lost to Johny Bolens. Jason Cohn drew with Benjamin Harris and Barak Atzmon-Simon defeated Herman Rachmadi. Mos Ali turned up with about six minutes left on his clock after taking a wrong turn and ending up getting lost. He was in luck however. His opponent was Milan Grcic whom was in the same car! A draw was agreed to. Michael Dunn drew with Norman Greenwood, Andrew Phillips drew with Michael Tracey, David Adler drew with Harun Majunda, Lloyd Fell drew with Johnathan Ren, Nick Mann held Oscar Wang to a draw as did Wah Cheung against Patrick Beahan. Upsets for the round include Emma guo over Amiel Rosario, Valsalan Karayi against Jonathan Adams, Kinto Wan defeated Roy Banicevic, Benjamin Whiteside defeated Dennis Wan. Pierre Guenette forfeited to Luthien Russel as he was sick and withdrew with very little notice.

Round 6 and the GM recovered in this round to defeat Jason Cohn. But on board one an interesting game was brewing between Jesse Sales and Igor Bjelobrk. Sales played 1.Nf3 and Bjelobrk played to arrive at a dutch defence but the usual dutch position didn't come to fruition. Sales lost a piece for a pawn to a pawnfork. Goes to prove that even the best can have "Brain explosions" as I like to call them.

Sales,J - Bjelobrk,I [A04]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (6.1), 27.01.2008
1.Nf3 f5 2.d3 d6 3.e4 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.exf5 Bxf5 6.d4 Nf6 7.Bc4 d5 8.Bd3 Bg4 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 0–0 11.Be3 c5 12.0–0 Nc6 13.dxc5 e5 14.Bb5 d4 15.Rad1 Qa5 16.Bxc6 bxc6 17.Qxc6 dxc3 18.b4 Qxb4 19.Rb1 Qe4 20.Qe6+ Kh8 21.c6 Rae8 22.Qd6 Rd8 23.Qc5 Rc8 24.Rb7 Qxc6 25.Qe7 Rg8 26.Rxa7 Nd5 27.Qd7 Qxd7 28.Rxd7 Rgd8 29.Rxd8+ Rxd8 30.Rd1 Bf6 31.Bc5 Kg7 32.g3 Kf7 33.Rb1 Ke6 34.Kf1 Rc8 35.Rb5 Ra8 36.a3 Kd7 37.Rb3 Kc6 38.Bb4 e4 39.Ke2 Rb8 40.h4 Nxb4 41.axb4 Kb5 42.Ke3 Rd8 43.Ra3 Rd2 44.Ra2 Bd4+ 45.Kxe4 Bxf2 46.Kf3 Kxb4 47.Kg4 h5+ 48.Kf3 Bc5 49.Kf4 Bd6+ 50.Kf3 Rh2 51.Ra6 Kc5 52.Ra3 Rxc2 53.g4 Kc4 54.Ra6 hxg4+ 55.Kxg4 Bc5 56.Kf3 Rf2+ 0–1

Board two saw George Xie defeat Johny Bolens in a four knights game:
Xie,G - Bolens,J [C47]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (6.3), 27.01.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 d6 6.h3 0–0 7.0–0 a6 8.d4 exd4 9.Nxd4 Bd7 10.Nf5 h6 11.b3 Re8 12.Nxe7+ Nxe7 13.Bb2 Bc6 14.Qd4 Ng6 15.Rad1 Qe7 16.Rfe1 Qf8 17.a4 Re7 18.b4 b6 19.b5 axb5 20.axb5 Bd7 21.Ra1 Ree8 22.f4 Reb8 23.Ra6 Rc8 24.e5 Scoresheet inelligible 1–0
On board three Jason Hu defeated Paul Broekhuyse in and English Opening. Hu was able to pick up a pawn and then a second during the game. Paul fought on but to no prevail. Once Rooks were off White was clearly better and Black resigned:

Hu,J - Broekhuyse,P [A29]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (6.3), 27.01.2008
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0–0 6.0–0 d5 7.d4 exd4 8.Nxd4 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 c5 10.Qd3 d4 11.Nd5 Nxd5 12.Bxd5 Rb8 13.e4 dxe3 14.Bxe3 Be6 15.Rad1 Bxd5 16.cxd5 Bd6 17.Rd2 b5 18.b3 Qa5 19.Rc1 Rbc8 20.Rdc2 b4 21.h4 Rc7 22.h5 Rfc8 23.Qc4 a6 24.Qg4 Qb5 25.Bh6 g6 26.hxg6 hxg6 27.Kg2 Qd3 28.Rd2 Qf5 29.Qxf5 gxf5 30.Rc4 Kh7 31.Bf4 Rd8 32.Kf3 Kg6 33.Be3 Re8 34.Rdc2 Rec8 35.Rc1 Kf6 36.Rh1 Rg8 37.Rh6+ Rg6 38.Rh8 Ke5 39.Ra8 Kxd5 40.Rxa6 Be5 41.Ra5 Bc3 42.Rcxc5+ Rxc5 43.Rxc5+ Kd6 44.Rxf5 Ke6 45.Rb5 Rg8 46.Bc5 Rg5 47.Rb6+ Kd7 48.Be3 Ra5 49.Rb7+ Ke6 50.Ra7 Rf5+ 51.Ke4 Re5+ 52.Kd3 Rd5+ 53.Ke2 Rb5 54.Ra6+ Kf5 55.Kf3 f6 56.Rc6 Kg6 57.Ra6 Rb7 58.g4 Rd7 59.g5 Kf5 60.gxf6 Bxf6 61.Ra5+ Ke6 62.Ke4 Bb2 63.Ra6+ Kf7 64.Ra7 Rxa7 65.Bxa7 1–0

Tomek Rej played against Rebecca Harris on five: Rej 1 Harris 0. Meanwhile Brother Benjamin defeated Neil Wright. Barak Atzmon Simon was defeated by Blair Mandla.

Draws were agreed upon by Roy Banecevic against Whiteside.
Joshua Christensen continued an excellent tournament by defeating Steven Javor. Luthien Russel scored one for the girls against Dany Bisson and Johnathan Ren defeated Michael Courtney . Les Kovacs contined his disappointing tournament by going down to Oscar Wang.

Igor Bjelobrk was the sole person on 6/6 before round 7. Could Jason Hu make a dint in Igor's perfect score? Igor Bjelobrk and Jason Hu agreed to a draw on move 22 Thus securing Igor Bjelork outright first:
Bjelobrk,I - Hu,J [A11]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (7.1), 27.01.2008
1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.b3 Bf5 6.Bb2 e6 7.Be2 h6 8.0–0 Bd6 9.d4 0–0 10.Bd3 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 Nbd7 12.e4 dxe4 13.Nxe4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Nf6 15.Qh4 b5 16.Rfc1 Rc8 17.Ne5 Qe7 18.Rc2 Ba3 19.Bxa3 Qxa3 20.Rac1 b4 21.Qf4 Qa5 22.Rd1 ½–½

The last round saw the Grandmaster defeated by the no. 3 seed George Xie. The game was a Slav defence:
Antic,D - Xie,G [D94]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (7.2)
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.e3 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Bd3 a6 7.Qb3 0–0 8.0–0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Be2 Bf5 11.Bd2 c5 12.dxc5 Nbd7 13.Qa3 Qc8 14.b4 Ne4 15.Nxe4 Bxa1 16.Ng3 Bg7 17.Nxf5 gxf5 18.Qd3 Nf6 Scoresheet Inelligible 0–1

On Board three Jesse Sales accounted for Barak Atzmon Simon to take equal third with Rej and Hu.

Board 4 saw Tomek Rej play the black side of a nimzo indian where he sacrificed his Queen for two minor Pieces and a rook. Benjamin Harris had the Queen but eventually succumbed to Rej's pieces. Harris 0 Rej 2
Harris,B - Rej,T [E30]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (7.4), 27.01.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bg5 c5 5.d5 Nxd5 6.Bxd8 Nxc3 7.Qb3 Ne4+ 8.Kd1 Nxf2+ 9.Kc2 Kxd8 10.Nh3 Nxh1 11.e3 Nc6 12.Be2 Kc7 13.a3 Ba5 14.Rxh1 d5 15.Rf1 Rf8 16.Ng5 Bd7 17.cxd5 exd5 18.Qxd5 Rad8 19.Rxf7 Rxf7 20.Qxf7 Kb8 21.Bf3 Ne5 22.Qf4 Bc7 23.Nf7 Nxf3 24.Qxf3 Rf8 25.Qd5 Bc6 26.Qe6 Re8 27.Qh3 h6 28.Qg4 Rxe3 29.Qxg7 Ba4+ 30.Kd2 Re8 31.Qxh6 Bb3 32.Qh5 Bf4+ 0–1

Draws for the final round included Valsalan Karayi against Jonathan Ren. Upsets for the final round were Luthien Russel over Benjamin Cheung, David Adler lost to Kinto Wan, Whiteside defeated Micheal Tracey, Wan Cheng defeated Roy Banecevic and Kunkel Veikko defeated Les Kovacs.

Congratulations to Igor Bjelobrk on his win and George Xie on his second place.

Aus Champs Photos

The Photos I took from the Australian Championships are now on the net here

Keep Dejan In Australia

At the 2008 Australian championships there was a petition signed by players in order to persuade the Australian Immigration Department to allow Dejan Antic permenant residency in Australia.

I would also like to do something for Dejan.

I would like to start an online petition for Dejan Antic

What I would like people to do is to comment below on how you think Dejan would positively impact on Australian Chess and the Australian Society in general. Also provide a Full name and the name of the chess club you belong to. Lets see if this takes off!

Eg:

I believe that Ejan atic is a great chess mind and he is able to share with students his chess wisdom to players from beginners to advanced players. He works with various schools to implement chess into the schools extra curricular activities. Chess has a proven effect on school children in various ways. The more chess is promoted the more chess players we will have the more masters Australia will have in the future.

Trent Parker
Campbelltown Collegians Chess Club

All Hail King Solomon!

After 14 attempts and 28 years, Queenslander IM Stephen Solomon finally defeated all other contenders for the title of Australian Champion 2007-2008. GM Dejan Antic won the tournament but was not elligible for the title of Australian Champion.



After Round Ten we had our Brazilian visitor Mr Herman Van Reimsdijk whom had remembered Doug Hamilton from a tournament back in the early 1970's! Van Raimsdijk accounted for German visitor Felix Klein. Solomon had had yet another draw, this time with IM George Xie. Dejan Antic kept his chances alive by drawing his game with Max Illingworth on top board. Greg Canfell went down to Igor Goldenberg on board four. The only upset for round ten was Jesse Sales defeating underperforming GM Daryl Johansen in what probably was a drawn endgame. Draws included Ben Lazarus against Tristan Boyd, David Hacche against Sam Chow, Gareth Oliver against another underperforming Master in Gary Lane, Junta Ikeda drew with Barak Atzmon-Simon, Ascaro Pecori broke his losing streak by drawing against Jason Hu. And Dusan Stojic drew with Michael Wei, unfortunately giving Dusan the bye for round 11.



On top board George Xie accounted for Van Reimsdijk, board two saw Antic defeat Igor Goldenberg, Solomon was held to a draw by Tomek Rej, Young guns Max Illingworth and Moulthun Ly drew, as did Sales against Klein, Boyd against Chow, Hacche held Lane, Yu against Bjelobrk, and Malcolm "Macavity" Pyke drew against Gareth Charles. Gareth Oliver defeated NSW State Champion Greg Canfell, which was the only upset for the final round.

Congratulations to 16th seed James Watson for obtaining the chance of participating in the next Australian Championships by winning the Australian Major title. James won the title after obtaining a score of 8.5, equal with Korean Yongtae Kim. A playoff was played between the two which ended up in a blitz playoff for the trophy. James Watson eventually won the playoff and the trophy.

Congratulations to Bob Liang on winning the Minor division by defeating Tereza Grbin in the last round. Howard Duggan was unlucky to come up against me with a full head of steam having won the last four in a row. we both had our chances in the game. I ended up winning that game thus holding Howard back to second place and I defeated Anthony Villanueva in round 10 and Howard in round 11 to snatch third prize

To summarize the Parramatta Tournament: It was a fantastic tournament that would not been a success without the work of the big man - Shane Burgess. he worked his rear end off for this tournament. Even going to personal expense. The Australian Championship was won by a very worthy winner. However I was a little disappointed with the results of GM Johansen and Im Gary Lane. I think they would be disappointed too and I'm sure they will be hungry to make amends in future tournaments.

To those of you who read my blog I thank you and I appologise for the last few days of the championships. All my energy went into those games on the last few days so I did not get to blog much. And on the tenth day I rested!

Bring on Australia Day Weekender!
Bring on Toukley Open!
Bring on Newcastle Open!
Bring on Doeberl!
Bring on Sydney International!

Antic, Van Reimsdijk join Solo

We now have three players on 7 points being Stephen Solomon, Dejan Antic and Herman Van Reimsdijk. These three are followed by three players on six points being Illingworth, Xie and Klein. Max Illingworth held Stephen Solomon to a draw on the top board, Dejan Antic defeated Jesse Sales on the second board whilst on board three Sam Chow lost to Van Reimsdijk. Xie moved into contention by defeating GM Daryl Johansen, Klein defeated Mouthun Ly to move into equal fourth.
Upsets for the round included: James Morris over Dusan Stojic. Draws included Tristan Boyd against Doug Hamilton, Ikeda against Yu, Atsmon Simon against Hacche and Malik Hani against Vincent Suttor

I'm a little tired at the moment. will report on Major and minor in the morning

The Illingworth Express: Solo remains solo but field now a step closer

On top of the standings as of after round 8 we have Stephen Solomon (who drew with in an endgame where solo had R and P against BNP). Board two saw Antic play against George Xie at a later time because Antic Had his Immigration hearing on today. Antic ended up winning the game after a long battle. Herman Van Riemsdijk defeated Goldenberg to step closer to Stephen Solomon. Johansen was down a pawn and was under attack against Sam Chow but the end result was a draw. Illingworth accounted for tomek Rej on the next board. Upsets for the round included Felix Klein against Greg Canfell, Ronald Yu drew with Tristan Boy, Hamilton inflicted Gary Lanes second loss in a row, Malcolm Pyke held Ben Lazarus to a draw and Bjelobrk continued his dismal tournament by losing to Jason Hu. Andrew Bird drew with Vincent Suttor.

In the Minor division we once again have a sole leader on 6.5/8 being James Watson. Tim Hare, Sanghoon Lee, Mehmet Dizdarevic, Adrian Rose, Jason Cohn and Yoongtae Kim all tied for second. James Watson drew with Sanghoon Lee, Tim Hare drew with Dizdarevic, Adrian Rose accounted for Richard Voon, Jason Cohn defeated Phil Viner,Yongtae Kim defeated Johny Bolens to raise to equal second. Other draws for round 8 included Levi Descallar holding Benjamin Harris to a draw, Vasil Tulevski drew with Rebecca Harris, Stephen Myers drew with Chris Waterman, Brian Press drew with Milan Ninchich, and Svetozar Stojic drew with Peter Abbot. There were four upsets for the round: Sheldrick defeated Lilly, Joshua Lau defeated Garnash Viswanath, Oleg Koronevski defeated Michael Dunn, Mike canfell defeated Alkin.

In the Minor division Duggan stayed in the lead by defeating Anthony Villanueva, Bob Liang Joined Duggan by defeating Patrick Beahan, David Beveridge held David Evans to a draw, and Davies lost to Michael Courtney giving two players on 7 and two players on 6points for the final run home. Andrew pan continued his excellent run as he drew with Abel Urdanegui and Korean Kyuho Doh drew with Tony Baldwin. The other upset of the day was Mario Pleno against Vince Chiara.

Well there are three more rounds to go as players in all divisions jostle for position and hoping to get a place.

Round 7 Solo Keeps point lead, Johansen - jGoldenberg three fold repetition dispute

Today on the top board Stephen Solomon sacrificed a knight for a massive centre in the opening where his opponent ended up having to give back the material. His opponent was Herman Van Riemsdijk who had a chance to win it in the endgame. But Solomons masterful endgame knowledge was obviously better than the Brazilians and ended up being K against K. Board two saw Tristan Boyd go down against Dejan Antic in a Kings indian that lasted 92 moves. Board three saw Igor Goldenberg play white against Daryl Johansen. Goldenberg claimed a threefold repetition but Johansen claimed that the draw claim was not valid. The Arbiter's decision was that Goldenberg had intended to make the bishop move that gave the threefold repetition position and thus drawn the game. Board four saw IM George Xie defeat FM Jesse Sales. Upsets for the round included Ronals Yu being held to a draw by Paul Broekhuyse, Hu being held to a draw by Booth. Gary Lane was defeated bye Illingworth and Bjelobrk went down to Felix Klein. The country air must be helping Ascaro Pecori with his good play against Junta Ikeda. Pecori's games are always thought out and almost always go into a long game.

Finally an unfortunate event happened today as Israel Yadao did the Championship division a huge disservice by not showing for the round. Apparently two round before he wanted to withdraw from the tournament due to "urgent business matters" which reasons were turned down by the D.O.P Charles Zworestine given that Yadao was probably just withdrawing due to his bad results thus far in the tournament.

In the Major divisionWatsons excellent run continued as he defeated the higher rated Johny Bolens. Board two saw Phil Viner draw against Tim Hare as did Jason Cohn against Adrian rose. Korean Sangjoon Lee defeated Blair Mandla and Dizdarevic defeated Sheldrak. Voon dewfeated Fry. Draws were agreed between Junil Choi and Levi Descallar, Benjamin Harris drew with Hamish Selnes, Arthur Huynh drew with Shanon Oliver, Herman rachmadi held Stojic to a draw, Michael Dunn drew with Stephen Myers, Alkin drew with Vasil Tulevski and Richard Eccles drew with Brockman. There were two other upsets: Alex Jule lost to junior Joshua Lau and Luthien Russell defeated Milan Ninchich.

In the minor division Howard Duggan rose to the top with Bob liang who defeated David Evans and Tom Accola respectively. Anthony Villanueva defated Patrick Beahan.. Upsets for the round were few and far between with David Beveridge drawing with Andrew Pan when Pan was a pawn up and one of the young Korean juniors finally defeated a rated player. Mary Wilkie was the unfortunate sole to lose to Jaewon Jang.

Round 6: Solo sets pace around the turn

In round six there were some big upsets that saw Stephen Solomon increase his lead to a full point by defeating Pinoy FM Jesse Sales. On board two Antic lost a pawn without getting a decent position for it against the Brazilian IM Herman Van Riemsdijk. This gave the Brazilian the outright second place with 4.5 points ahead of 8 players on third place with four points out of 6. Daryl Johansen conceded his fourth draw of the tournament against Tomek Rej, Mouthun Ly agreed to a draw with FM Igor Goldenberg. Gary Lane drew with Tristan Boyd. In fact there were more draws this round than the last. I think everyone was looking forward to the rest day: Board 7 saw Ben Lazarus draw with Max Illingworth, Board 8 saw Greg Canfell draw with Sam Chow, Board 10 saw the outstanding performance of Ascaro Pecori draw a long game with Felix Klein, Dusan Stojic drew with Israel Yadao on board 12, Board 15 saw Stweart Booth draw with Gareth Oliver, Board 16 saw Malcolm Pyke draw with Barak Atzmon Simon, Board 17 Michael Wei drew with David Hacche, Board 18 Vincent Suttor drew with Romeo Capilitan, Board 19 saw Hani Malik draw against James Morris, There were no upset wins other than Van Riemsdijk over Antic.

In the Major division There were once again three players in first place on 5/6 This round saw Tim Hare draw with James Watson on top board with Johny Bolens defeating Sanghoon Lee on board two to join in the lead. Blair Mandla and Peter Fry drew on board three. Notable draws included David Webster against Michael Dunn, Stephen Myers against Mosaddeque Ali, Sarah Anton against Dragan Djukovic and Henk Jens against Chris Watermann. Upset losses included Jason Cohn against Benjamin Harris Bill Egan defeated the higher ratec Joshua Christensen, Joshua Lau defeated Frank Barisic, Horst Bleicher defeated Jose Escribano, Queensland Junior Luthien Russell defeated NSWCA Treasurer Norman Greenwood.

One leader became 5 in the minor division as Anthony Villanueva was defeated by David "Dozy" Evans on the top board to become joint leaders and then Howard Duggan defeated David Beveridge, Bob Liang defeated Michael Courtney and Patrick Beahan defeated Abel Urdanegui on board 4 to give us our leaders. Upset started on the fifth board as Andrew Pan inflicted Trent Parkers second smashing in a row. Tom Accola caused an upset by defeating Tony Lau, Tony Baldwin caused an upset by defeating Michael Tracey.

Round Five: Tired men agree to draw on top boards

Round five was the second game on the third day and the top boards agreed to draws: Solomon drew with Dejan Antic whilst Herman Van Riemsdijk and Darryl Johansen could not approach any closer to the Queensland IM as they also agreed on a draw. Jesse Sales moved into equal second with Dejan Antic by defeating IM Gary Lane. Draws were also the order of the day on board four (Tristan Boyd against Mouthun Ly), Board 8 (Sam Chow against FM Igor Bjelobrk), Board 12 (Jason Hu against Israel Yadao), Board 14 (Gareth Olivedr against Michael Morris), Board 15 (Andrew Bird against Stuart Booth), Board 16 (David Hacche against Vincent Suttor). Junta lost to Ben Lazarus in the only upset win of the round

In the Major division there were three leaders aftger the fifth round as Sanghoon Lee and drew with Tim Hare, and James Watson defeated Kevin Sheldrake to advance to the equal lead of the Major division. top Seed Adrian Rose drew with fellow Parramatta member Blair Mandla on board three. Johny Bolens defeated Peter Abbott on board four to join Blair Mandla and Peter Fry (who beat Anrew Furst) on Fourth Place on a score of Four points.

Inthe Minor division we finally saw a single leader in Anthony Villanueva who defeated Bob Liang on the top board. Bob Lian remained in second place however, equal with David Evans (who gave Mary Wilkie her second consecutive loss), Michael Courtney (who accounted for Tereza Grbin), Howard "Gunner" Duggan (who defeated Richard Davies) placed himself in contention by being the only undefeated person other than Anthony Villanueva. Patrick Beahan crushed Trent Parker where a blundered pawn soon turned into a piece and eventually game, David Beveridge (who defeated Kyuho Doh). Upsets were obtained by Tony Lau drawing with Valsalan Karayi, and there were no more upsets!

Round 4: Solo goes Solo

Solomon ended up out on his own on 4/4 after the first of day threes games. Lane totally missed a fork of his rooks and resigned as his position starts to crumble after the exchange is obtained. Board two saw Dejan Antic defeat Felix Klein in a Sicilian where Antic eventually obtained a passed h pawn that was going to be extremely hard to stop. Board three saw Mouthun Ly draw with our Brazilian visitor, Herman Van Riemdijk. And Johansen defeated Junta Ikeda on board four, Tomek Rej drew with Igor Goldenberg on board 5. Upsets for the round included Tristan Boyd against Greg Canfell, Israel Yadao drawing with Andrew Bird.



The Major saw only two people on a perfect score after round 4 both were not from the hosting state: Sangoon Lee accounted for Adrian Rose and Western Australian Tim Hare accounted for Victorias Mehmed Dizdarevic. Upsets for the round included: Alex Mendes Da Costa who lost to James Watson, Lloyd Fell drew with Benjamin Harris, Peter Fry defeated Svetozar Stojic, Sherab Guo Yuthok conceded a draw against Jason Cohn as did David Webster against Levi Descallar. Horst Bleicher defeated Dragan Djukovic, Sarah Anton scored a draw against Jose Escribano.

The Minor division saw four Leaders turn into two as the favorite David Evans Fell to Bob Liang, Mary Wilkie ended her 0utstanding streak against Anthony Villanueva, Howard Duggan Marched on towards the top board with a win over Vince Chiara. The upsets started on board four as Tony Lau held Alex Mehan to a draw, Parramatta Local David Beveridge accounted for Teresa Grbin in a board five upset and Patrick Beahan defeated Valsalan Karayi. Other upsets included Michael Tracey drawing with David Soul.

Round 3: Solomon, Lane only on 3/3

After round three only two remained on a perfect score: Board One saw Dejan Antic draw with Moulthun Ly, Stephen Solomon defeated NSW Champion Gregory Canfell, Benjamin Lazarus lost to Gary Lane, Board four saw Daryl Johansen obtain his second draw on the second day against Tristan Boyd. Our Brazilian visitor defeated with well performing Ascaro Pecori. Upsets for the Championship division for round three included: Giant killer Junta Ikeda continued George Xies Bad start by defeating him. Max Illingworth bounced back from his round two defeat by beating Israel Yadao, Paul Broekhuyse agreed to a draw against Doug Hamilton.

In the Major division the leasders were culled down to four as Ben Harris was accounted for by Adrian Rose, Sanghoon Lee was victorious agains the rested Frank Barisic, Victorian Nehmed Dizdarevic upset third seed Johny Bolens, Tim Hare accounted for Frank Low to lead the tournament with the previously mentioned winners. Upsets included former country NSW player come ACT player Bill Egan defeated higher rated Korean Junil Choi, Queenslander Alexandra Jule defeated higher rated victorian Richard Voon, Arthur Huynh finally showed to be felled by Lloyd. Ganesh Viswanath incurred a second upset to go down to David Webster, Vasil Tulevski was held to a draw by Herman Rachmadi. Hamish Selnes was held to a draw by Queensland Senior Oleg Koronevski, John Alkin drew with Richard Lilly, Richard Eccles continued his losing streak by going down to Ian Dickson. Jack Mejzini lost to NSWCA and ACF treasurer Norm Greenwood and on the bottom board Subhash Kadam was defeated by Victorian Sarah Anton.

In the Minnows division the all but three of the Koreans were playing each other on the bottom boards whilst on the top boards David Evans moved to a perfect sore by defeating Michael Courtney, Anthony Villanueva defeated Daniel McGowan to join David jEvans, Mary Wilkie survived from a losing position to swindle a win against yours Truly, Bob Liang was the fourth person to arrive on four points by defeating Richard Davies. Upsets for the round included: an underated Andrew Pan defeating Michael Tracey, Mick Waters was only held to a draw against David Soul.

And as the day became night everyone retired to their accomodation to rest up for the second double header day.

Round 2: The Hard Slog Starts!

Round two was the first game in the first double header day in what was to be a tiring couple of days of brain busting chess. The top board saw former Australian Champion Doug Hamiltion go down to GM Dejan Antic. On Board two GM Darryl Johansen agreed to a draw against German Felix Klein. Junta Ikeda as white lost to Stephen Solomon, and Gary Lane shot down the Bird's Opening of Ronald Yu. Herman Van Riemsdijk was held to a draw against Gareth Oliver.

Other Players to moved into the equal lead on 2/2 include Mouthun Ly, Greg Canfell, and Ben Lazarus.

Other draws for the Championship division included: Western Australian Tristan Boyd being held to a draw by Victorian Ascaro Pecori who was very happy with his performance in this tournament thus far. Igor Bjelobrk drew with Stuart Booth, James Morris drew with Sam Chow, Malcolm Pyke drew with Michael Wei, Michael Morris drew with Victorian David Hacche.

Upsets included: Tomek Rej went down to Ben Lazarus,

In the Major division the top four seeds accounted for their lower rated opponents: Adrian Rose defeated Levi Descallar, Sherab Guo Yuthok lost tod the top Korean in the tournament Sanghoon Lee, Johny Bolens accounted for Andrew Furst, Western Australian Tim Hare defeated Queenslander Hamish Selnes. Upset draws were obtained by Peter Abbot against South jAustralian Representative Kevin Sheldrake. NSW Reserves Champion Paul Glissan drew with Michael Dunn, Parramatta Club member Blair Mandla drew with ACT President Mosaddeque Ali. Rebecca Harris drew with James Watson, Roland Brockman drew with Chris Waterman. Upsets were scored by Junior Jason Cohn over Victorian Richard Voon, Frank Barisic scored a free point when Arthur Huynh forgot about the eleven o'clock starting time for the second round. Ganesh Viswanath lost to Frank Low, Bill Egan defeated Phil Viner, Dragan Djukovic lost to Brian Press, Horst Bleicher defeated Richard Eccles.

In the Minor division David Evans defeated Ryde Eastwood chess club member Vince Chiara, Fellow Parramatta members Mick Waters and Anthony Villanueva. The only Queenslander in the tournament, Howard Duggan squandered a Rook advantage to stalemate Tony Baldwin on board three, Daniel McGowan was defeated by promising Junior Alex Mehan. Others to reach a perfect score included Trent Parker who defeated Tony Lau, Bob Liang defeated David Beveridge, Patrick Beahan lost to Michael Courtney, Michael Traceylost to Unrated Richard Davies, and Mary Wilkie upset Valsalan Karayi. There were no other upsets.

Well After a Few Days of Computer Problems

My new home computer would not log onto the internet.

Today however I deceided to try my home internet on my laptop. And it worked! Aus champs update to follow!

Is your name Igor? You Lose! Your name Canfell? At least half a point...

We're off and racing in the 2008 Australian Championships.

I was the first one to post a result as my opponent overlooked a mate in one on move 9. Those young Koreans seem to be a little out of their league and need a little more coaching...... good on 'em for having a go though. Its going to be a bit of a Korean Round Robin on the lower boards I think.

As for the Championship division GM Dejan Antic accounted for Malcolm Pike after Malcolm blundered a bishop in a R v 2B endgame with Queens still on the board and another set of rooks still on the board. looked a bit dodgy for both sides but with correct play by both sides it probably would have been a draw.

Board two saw GM Darryl Johansen play against a friend in David Hacche but the game was not a friendly encounter with Hacches knights dancing all over the board in the opening and then Johansen sacrificing an exchange at a precise moment to ensure the full potential of his passed d pawn.

Stephen solomon on board three commanded the white pieces against Gareth Charles and ended up winning in a Sicilian Sheveningen!? i think its called.

Board 4 saw the biggest upset of the tournament as IM George Xie was routed by Gareth Oliver in a bit of a risky encounter in a Nimzo indian defence. Olivers Q and R ended up infiltrating with the Queen munching a couple of Q side pices while black tried counterplay with passed pawns. One passed pawn eventually Queened when it was too late and it was clear that Oliver's attack would be able to crash through.

Board 5 saw Gary Lane play a closed sicilian against Dusan Stojic who sacrificed a bishop for the attack but resigned after it was clear that the attack would not bear any fruit.

If your name was Igor you had a bad day at the office in round one: Igor Goldenburg losing to Max Illingworth, Igor Bjelobrk losing to Ben Lazarus were included in the upsets of the day as were Sales losing to Vincent Suttor, Yadao Israel losing to Paul Broekhuyse and Sam Chow going down to Ascaro Pecori.

In the Major top seed Adrian Rose built a huge centre for Dragan Djukovic to break down but blundered when he tried to establish a strong centre for himself. Board two saw visiting Korean Candidate master Sanghoon Lee defeat the human NSW history book Lloyd Fell. Lee's Maroczy bind against Fell's Dragon resulted in an attack which did not bear any fruit until the endgame. The Eccentric Mr Johny Bolens is third seed. His opponent dropped a rook out of nowhere and handed Bolens the win. Winning in not much longer time as my win. Fourth seed and Western Australian Representative in the Major - Tim Hare defeated David Webster.

It is rare that you get to see both father and son Canfells in the same room. Greg's father Mike Canfell drew with Phil Viner. Former New South Welshman Bill Egain (who is now from the capital Territory) drew with Richard Lilly. Upsets included Rebecca Harris upsetting Korean Junic Choi, Frank Barisic holding on to a pawn advantage in the endgame after a closed sicilian and Frank low defeating Vasil Tulevski.

In the minor Eddy Katnic had to withdraw late leaving David Evans to fill the top seed void. He accounted for andrew pan. David evans won the exchange in a Kings indian defence and ended up converting into a rook. Pan decided to resign when his position became untenable. Board two saw Anthony vilanueva play his london system against Accola's Kings indian system where Villanueva ended up coming through with the goods. Hey Howie where's that banana suit you been talking about? :D Duggan, the sole Queenslander, ended up winning against Far north coast New South Welsh man David Sole. Young up and coming Junior Alex Mehan defeated Parramatta local Mario Pleno. My board was next with my miniature and then a host of wins over the hapless Korean Juniors.

Hopefully happiness for all can be obtained tomorrow..... Except for my opponent.