MightyMax Vs The Russians

The week leading up to the City of Sydney Rapidplay was perfect chess playing weather: Wet and Cloudy.  But on the sunday - the sun did shine!  The previous week's weather must have still been on chessplayers mind as a bumper crowd of 58 players turned up to contest the title.  There were 7 players with a rating of over 2000.

The tournament started with the fill in Arbiter Shane "Bergil" Burgess jokingly stating that if he had to get up to rule on something he'd forfeit the player! :D

The top seeds all started without a hitch with the exception of Paul Broekhuyse (2044) falling to the much lower rated Peter Yang (1440) on board 5. Board 1 say NSWCA Treasurer Norm Greenwood battle it out against top seed Vladimir Smirnov, sitting next to him was was his son Anton Smirnov who lost to second seed Max Illingworth, on board three Ed Agulto defeated Parramatta Chess club junior Andrew Pan, Blair Mandla defeated Peter Hannigan on board 4, Ivan Zirdum defeated Michael Tracey and the eccentric Johny Bolen defeated Nicholas Deen-Cowell.  Other upsets for the round: Duncan Peters (1904) losing to Valsalan Karayi (1332), Kamal Jain defeated Trent Parker, and stephen stipic went down to an unrated Shan Siddiqi.

Round two saw Vladimir Smirnov account for Parramatta club stalwart Joshua Christensen on board one, Illingworth defeated Cary Cowling on board 2, Ed agulto defeated Frank Barisic on three, Blair Mandla (2116) conceded a draw on board 4 against Adrian Chau (1616), Ivan Zirdum defeated Stevan Jovanovic on 5, and Bolens defeated the young rising star in Sean Gu. The unrated Shan Siddiqi continued in good form by defeating Rob Hvistendahl. Other upsets includedunrated Gerges Fady defeating Stephen Stipic, Samuel Talisayan (1192) once again defeated Trent Parker (1553) after defeating him in the Parramatta club rapidplay the previous Thursday.  Michael Tracey drew with unrated Egon Cardenas and unrated Shaun Morgan defeated David Beveridge.

Round three saw Vladimir Smirnov (2324) upset by Joseph Nguyen (1832) on top board, Max illingworth defeated Angelito Camer, Ed Agulto accounted for Dr Vasil Tulevski, Ivan Zirdum defeated Francisco Plaza and Johny Bolens defeated John Redgrave.  Upsets for the round included: Frank Barisic (1615) drawing with Valsalan Karayi (1332), Nicholas Deen Cowell defeating Stevan Jovanovic, Trent Parker getting a lucky draw against Michael Tracey (1418) (hooray i'm on the board!).  Jasper Hong drew (655) with drew with Shan-Shan Qiao(1207). 

Round 4, and the big guns start to play each other.  Shane Burgess, in his cheeky teasing way gave Max a new nickname..... Pepsi Max.  Bolens was the victim of Max's bubbling form in this round.  The game was one of the first games finished due to Bolens' miscalculation.  Ed Agulto (2174) drew with Kimberly Jane Cunanan (1961) for both to bail out of the joint lead, and Joseph Nguyen couldn't continue his giant killing ways losing to Ivan Zirdum, who joined Max in the lead of the tournament.  Both Vladimir Smirnov and Blair Mandla were in the chasing pack trying to keep in contact with the leaders, unfortunately Mandla floated down to Vladimir Smirnov and the Russian was victorious.  The person Blair drew with earlier, Adrian Chau, caused another upset draw against Duncan Peters. Other upsets included: Andrew Pan over John Redgrave, Nicholas Deen-Cowell overCary Cowling, Bernard Chau (1249) over Frank Barisic, Anton Smirnov being defeated by Shan Siddiqi, Henry Rara (1538) going down to Tony Wong (1204), Michael Tracey conceded his third draw in a row against unrated Mitchell Barker, and Unrated players robert beeman, Kamal Jain and Shaun Morgan had their way against the likes of David Beveridge, Bob Sewell and Vincent Chen. (and I finally got a win on the board....albeit against a 655 rating) 

Just Past Half way mark and the placings were: 1-2 Illingworth, Zirdum 4/4, 3-4 Aguilto, Cunanan 3.5/4, 5-16 V. Smirnov, Broekhuyse, Bolens, Camer, Plaza, Nguyen, Tulevski, Kanostrevac, Babic, A. Chau, Pan, Deen-Cowell 3/4.

The front runners played each other in round 5 to see who would take the outright lead and shorten their odds of winning the City of Sydney Rapidplay Championship.  Illingworth Defeated Zirdum.  Board two saw Ed Agulto defeat Bolens, Angelito Camer kept up within a point of the leaders by defeating Kimberly Jane Cunanan, Vladimir Smirnov accounted for Zeljko Kanostrevac to keep his chances alive and Paul Broekhuyse kept bubbling to the top after his first round loss by defeating Adrian Chau.  Upsets for the round includedJoseeph Nguyen (1832) sharing the point with Michael Babic (1699), Shan Siddiqi continued his stellar run by beating Bernard Chan, John Redgrave (1719) defeated the Campbelltown Collegians Chess Club treasurer Duncan Peters (1904), Anthony Villanueva (1573) drew with Peter Yang (1440).

It was Ed Agulto's turn to succumb to the wrath of Max Illingworth in round 6 ended Ed's chances of winning the City of Sydney Rapid and secured Max a share of the title.  Vladimir Smirnov Kept his chances alive by defeating Angelito Camer, Paul Broekhuyse (2044) knocked his chances out by drawing with Francisco Plaza (1844) as did Ivan Zirdum (2040) by drawing with Vasil Tulevski (1793). All others could not catch Max.  Upsets for the roundincluded: Shan Siddiqi over Zeljko Kanostrevac, Herman Rachmadi over John Redgrave, Sean Gu over Cary Cowling, Nicholas Deen-Cowell over Frank Barisic, Bernard Chan over Trent Parker, Gerges Fady over Rooty Hill's Henry Rara, Tony Wong over Peter Hannagan, Unrated Haun Morgan defeating Vince Chiara, Kamal Jain defeating David Beveridge and  Valsalan Karayi defeating Stephen Stipic.

It all starts with Russian and it all ends with a Russian..... well it did for Max Illingworth.  Max started the tournament playing Anton Smirnov and in the final round he played Vladimir Smirnov. Max played out an endgame being an exchange up but with Smirnov with a pawn on the 7th rank. Max gave up a Rook to push one of his pawns home whilst stopping Smirnov's pawn from promoting.  Max Illingworth is the City Of Sydney Rapidplay Champion!

This was an excellent tournament and i think fun was had by all!

Photos and maybe a chess position will be added to the Chess.com version of my Blog.

Greedy Guts

After a long while away from blogging I've decided to start blogging regularly once again.  I will be posting the blog both on here and on Blogger (as there apparently is some readers of my blog who couldn't find my material here (such as the Parramatta Chess Club president! lol)

My first blog back is about a game I played today at the Campbelltown Collegians chess club Autumn Championships.  I played one of my best friends, Lance Chiddy.  Now I'm rated ACF 1553 and Lance is rated about 900-1000.  But to my astonishment Lance lost a pawn then an exchange to force three fold repetition.... by the 18th move!

The game can be found here

The moral of the story is...... analyse carefully before you leap and do not underestimate your opponent

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?

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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.
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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!