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.