Sun, Sand, Surf, chess what else do you want?

4:20 pm; The Sydney-Brisbane overnight XPt slinks out of Sydney Central station and powers North through the suburbs of Sydney, Central Coast and Newcastle. My Desination: Surfer's Paridise, Queensland. The train will take me as far as the town called Casino where i will change over to a coach at the ungodly hour of 3:30. And Its time for me to sleep.



Iremember when I was a kid of about 15-16 My family and I came to the Gold Coast for a family holiday. We did the usual touristy things like Sea World and Movie World. We stayed at Conrad hotel Jupiter's Casino. I remember going walkabouts; catching the Monorail accross to the Oasis shopping Centre. Heading towards the beach and walking north is the BroadBeach Surf Life Saving Club. The Venue for this Surfer's Paridise Chess tournament.



The Train arrived in Casino half an hour late but the Surfer's Paridise bus made up time as it's first stop was not until Palm beach. The bus arrived in Surfer's Paridise at just before seven. Muddle headed and not sure which way to go I picked up some brochures and maps of the local area. My intended accomodation, the YHA, i discovered was on the other side of Surfer's paridise. so i decided to seek alternate accomodation. Walking south towards Broadbeach I came accross the Surfer's Paradise backpackers which had a vacancy. Then to the venue: a 10-15 min walk away.



The Broadbeach SLSC overlooks the beach (how else whould they save lives in the surf?). It is a bright venue without air conditioning although surprisingly the fans do make conditions bearable on a day without a cloud in the sky and muggy as.



Now to the chess:

Round one went to plan for the vast majority of higher rated players in both the Open and the U1600:

Francisco Chung lost to GM Roland Schmaltz, Antic defeated Narelle Szuveges in a Catalan Opening, Oleg Korenevski lost to IM Steven Solomon, IM Gary Land defeated Jonas Muller, Sam Griggs lost to IM Peter Froelich; Pinoy IM Jesse Sales defeated Mark Stokes, and Michal Van Pelt lost to Mouthun Ly. Unrated Joe Delmastro defeated Tony Weller in the only upset for the round.

The Under 1600 top seed Daniel Ford defeated Henry McLennan, board two saw Mike duffin defeate Peter Horan, board three saw John Ringrose lose to Aurel-John buciu, Peter radonovan defeated John Surridge. David Soul lost to Me in a french gone wrong for white. Upsets started on board 9 where Kyle Ringrose (909) defeated John Radovan (1423)



Round two saw Roland Schmaltz defeate Dusan Stojic, Edsil Dilla started a devastating run of losses against GM Dejan Antic, Steven Solomon was an exchange down against Lee Jones but Solo was able to put the squeeze on Jones' cramped position to come away with a win. Domagoj Dragicevic (2139) defeated Gary Lane (2405) in a board 4 upset. Froelich defeated Bruce Thomas, Ben Lazarus lost to Jesse Sales, Mouthun Ly defeated David Lovejoy, Gene Nakkauchi lost to Felix Klein. Upsets in the Open division include Tony Weller (1788) losing to John Alkin (1616), Alex Stanke (1613) defeating Francisco Chung (1761), Yi Liu (1510) defeating Oleg Korenevski (1695), Jonas Muller (1677) drew with Jessica Kinder (1588) Mark Stokes (1668) lost to Kieran Lyons (1439).

In the U1600 division Daniel ford defeated Alex "Arrogant One" Toolsie, Regina Edwards lost to Mike Duffin. Aurel-John Buciu defeated Peter Booy, Keiton Beilby (1354) defeated Peter Radovan (1530), Shayne Hunter defeated Kyle Ringrose and Jim Laky drew with Craig Stewart. I accounted for Anicha Bay in an interesting game where Anicha's Hyper Modern style opening against my huge centre ensured an interesting battle. I went down a pawn and then gained a piece for a pawn. Then I was able to make a Bishop sacrifice to gain the advantage.
Upsets in the U1600 included Vasile Buciu (1408) lost to Hans Peter Muller (1267), John Radovan (1425) lost to Anthony Solomon (1046) and DUnrated David Andrew defeated Jonathan Ringrose (1172).

Round 3 saw FM Jesse Sales lose to GM Schmaltz, Antic defeated Mouthun Ly, Felix Klein (2212) drawing with Stephen Solomon (2442), Domagoj Dragicevic (2139) drew with Froelich (2365), Sam Grigg (1676) defeated Edsil Dilla (2176), Lee Jones (2086) lost to Nenad Chelebichanin (1642), David Lovejoy (1865) drew with Yi Liu (1510). Other upsets in the Open division included Jessica Kinder (1588) over Tony Weller (1788), Oleg Koronevski (1695) losing to David Cigelj (1210), and Roy Christutad(1337) drew with Mark Stokes (1660).
In the U1600 division Shayne Hunter (1517) defeated Daniel Ford (1592), Mike Duffin smashed me in the Catalan, with me having almost the worst bishop in the world. Aurel John Buciu defeated Kieton Beilby. Craig Stewart accounted for Sebastian Jule, Hans-Peter Muller defeated Jim Laky. Upsets included Kyle Ringrose (909) drawing with Petrer Haron (1194). Lachlan Van Der Bergh (1137) defeated Eegina Edwards (1409). and Anicha Bay defeated Vasile Buciu (1408).

Round four ended up being delayed by half an hour as late finishes in the previous three rounds built up. In the open division it was the clash of the Grandmasters on board one...... obviously they wanted an early night and a grandmaster draw was agreed to. The game IM Stephen Solomon against Dragicevic ended up in a win to the International Master, Peter Froehlich (2365) lost to Felix Klein (2212). Gary Lane defeaterd Ben Lazarus. Local Queensland Junior Gene Nakauchi (1870) rolled Pinoy FM Jesse Sales (2312) who apparently tried too hard in a drawn position. Mouthun Ly derfeated Brian Tomas, and Nenad Chelebichanin lost to Dusan Stojic. Upsets for the round included Jonas Muller (1677) drawing with David Lovejoy (1868), Edsil Dilla (2176) continued his slide down the tables by losing to Jessica Kinder (1588), Mark stokes (1668) and John Alkin (1616) drew, and Tony Weller (1788) lost to Oleg Korenevski(1695).

So at the major break we have 1st Schmaltz, Antic, Solomon, Klein 3.5, 5th Lane, Ly, Stojic, Nakauchi, Grigg 3, Froehlich, Dragicevic, Kinder 2.5 as our leading scores

In the U1600 division Mike Duffin became the sole leader by defeating Aurel John Buciu, Craig Stewart locked in outright second by defeating Shayne Hunter, Daniel Ford accounted for Hans Peter Muller, Keiton Beilby missed some opportunities against myself but eventually blundered into a KQ fork. Board 5 was the battle of the Alex's. O'Flynn (1351) defeated Toolsie (1488). Haron defeated Anicha Bay and Sebastiean Jule (1351) drew with Lachlan Vander Bergh (1137). Other Upsets included Jim Laky (1348) defeating Henry MacLennan (1278). Brent Winston (920) defeated Regina Edwards (1409)

Leading scores for the homeward stretch: 1st Duffin 4, 2nd Steward 3.5, 3rd Ford, Buciu, Hunter, Parker, O'Flynn 3, 8th Toolsie, Booy, McLennan, Muller, Heron, Van Der Bergh, Winstan 2.5.

All woork and not much play

Been a bit busy to blog recently. My mind has not been on blogging. its been elsewhere.

Congratulations to Paul Glissan on winning the Major and congratulations to Heinrich korbe on winning the minor division of the Integra state champs.

Congratulations once again to Gregory canfel who has once again won the Integra NSW State championship division, only dropping a game to Gareth Charles

As for more blogging. I will be blogging from the inaugral Surfers Paridise Open this weekend.

6th round of Integra NSW Championships

With the top division already decided, the Minor and Major have the potential to be decided as well today.

In the minor Heinrich Korbe will play Michael Courtney. Whilst on board two I will play Valsalan Karayi. Karayi needs to win to stay in contention for a podium finish whilst i need to win or draw to stay in contact with Korbe.

In the Major Paul Glissan can secure first place if he wins and Christensen draws. Sewell and Javor on equal third place cannot catch Glissan.

7 circles attempt.

I'm going to try to start the 7 circles tomorrow. Phil willis has had some success with it (although he lost a pawn early against me..). I worked most of the category one puzzles out pretty quickly tonight but will start tomorrow.

Ikeda wins Ryde Eastwood Open. Illingworth, Bjelobrk, Toth, Antic equal second

Round 6 saw Max Illingworth (2097) take the lead on 5.5/6 with a win over Igor Bjelobrk (2423). On board two Toth overcame Canfell and Junta Ikeda defeated Giang Nguyen on board three. The Grandmaster of the tournament crept up the standings after saturday night's/ Sunday morning's performances by beating Paul Broekhuyse. Armen Ayvazyan kept into contact with the leaders by beating Joseph Nguyen as did Bolens by defeating Rachmadi.
Upsets for the round included a draw to Thierry Olivain (1840) over Adrian Miranda (1838).
Andrew Furst (1770) defeated Brendan Norman (1907), David Lam (1659) defeated Sartaj Hans (1929), Michael Tracey won on forfeit against Yuen. Jonathan Ren (1552) defeated Ben Cheung (1524).

Time for the Final Round!
The young I's battled it out on top board which resulted in a win for Ikeda over Illingworth. Ikeda was a pawn up at the stage I had a look and Illingworth was about to get it back, however a strong attack by Ikeda saw him snatch the game from Illingworth. So Ikeda was sitting on six with board two's result to come The tense wait was short lived Bjelobrk could not convert his pawn majority and eventually ended up drawing with Toth. Thus handing Ikeda the outright lead. On board three Antic used his material advantage to defeat Ayvazyan. Antic was up the exchange plus pawns and Ayvazyan could not weather Antics attack. Antic joined Illingworth, Toth and Bjelobrk on 5.5/7 to be equal second. Bolens Blundered against Canfell who converted to a win.
Upsets for the final round included Sherab Guo Yuthok (2163) over Giang Nguyen (1642). Adrian Miranda (1838) ended a disappointing tournament by losing to Kong (1293)., Hans (1929) lost to Tamsin Oliver (1480), NSWCA Treasurer Norm Greenwood (1510)defeated Paul Reynolds (1893). Mary Wilkie (1251) lost to Phil Willis (1165). And finally I (1488) blundered away a clear advantage against Cedric Koh (1354)

At the end of the tournament Junta Ikeda took first prize with 6/7 followed by Bjelobrk, Antic, Toth, and Illingworth. Sharing 6th prize was Greg Canfell, Andrew Brown and Benjamin Harris.

Divisional Prizes were as follows: U1400 1st Adrian Kong, 2nd: Phil Willis, Andrew Jung, Cedric Koh, Johnathan Ren.
U1600 =1st Tamsin Oliver, Norm Greenwood and Michael Tracey.
1600-1800 =1st Joseph Nguyen, Herman Rachmadi. =3rdNick Kordahi, John Alkin, Andrew Furst, Allan Tankel and David Lam.

Next weekend the State Championships resume

Three I's become two!

IN round 4 my game went for long while so i didnt get to get some details of the top bards. The results for round 4 were: Bjelobrk defeating Junta Ikeda on board one, Andras Toth (2426) and Max Illingworth (2097) drew on board two,Tony Davis Lost to Armen Ayvazyan, Greg Canfell started his fightback by defeating Blair Mandla, Johny Bolens defeated Adrian Miranda in a wild French Tarrasch. Adrew broawn defeated Cedric Koh, Ben Harris defeated Valsalan Karayi and Brendan Norman defeated Alan Tankel.
The only draw for the rownd was Phil Willis (1163) scoring a draw against Joshua Ng (788).
upset wins for round 5 included Tamzin Oliver (1480) over Nick Kordahi (1792), Mark Baterowicz (1554) losing to Adrian Kong (1293)
The standout result was little Sean Gu (1172) defeating Paul Reynolds (1893).

Leading scores after 4 rounds: 1st Bjelobrk 4, 2nd-4th Illingworth, Ayvazyan, Giang Nguyen 3.5, 7th -10th Antic, Canfell, Bolens, Brown, Ben Harris, Norman.

In Round 5 we saw a blitz finish on two of the top three boards. Bjelobrk overcame Ayvazyan to secure outright lead in a blitz finish. Whilst on board three Antic was down on time against Bolens and ended up having to blitz it. The position was a drawn position but Antic still wanted to play on for the win after a draw offer from Bolens. The draw was agreed when both players ended up blitzing it out. Board two saw Max Illingworth defeat Giang Nguyen (2163). Max told me he blundered early but Giang did not notice and did not let Giang back in the game. Board 4 saw Andrew Brown losing to Andras Toth. Ben Harris lost to Greg Canfell, Brendan Normal lost to Junta Ikeda. Paul Broekhuyse and Tony Davis were the second last to finish with Broekhuyse emerging with the spoils.
Upsets started on Board ten with Herman Rachmadi (1642) defeating ACT's Sherab Guo Yuthok (1847). The only other upset win was Andrew Jung (1389) over Adrian Miranda (1838)
Astonishingly Sean Gu (1172) obtained a draw against Johnathan Yuen (1686).

So the Leading scores after 5 rounds are as follows:
1st Bjelobrk 5, 2nd Illingworth 4.5, 3rd-5th Toth, Canfell, Ikeda 4, 6th-11th Ayvazyan, Nguyen, Antic Bolens, Broekhuyse, Joseph Nguyen 3.5, 12th-21st Brown, Ben Harris, Norman, Mandla, Abbott, Jung, Furst, Tankel, Lam 3.