Australian Championships – Where are we now?

Head Honcho of the ACF Gary Wastell convened a meeting of parties interested in the holding of the Australian Championships on the Friday night during the Sydney International Open. The people at the meeting were: NSWCA Prez Bill Gletsos, NSWCA Clubs man and Parramatta CC Treasurer Shane Burgess, Parramatta CC President Bob Sewell, Sydney International Open Organisers Brian Jones and Vasil Tulevski, as well as Peter Parr and one or two other people.

As people probably already know, there was an email from Peter Parr to the ACF early this year (late last year?) stating that the UTS could be available for free or a minimal cost. Alternatively, the email said, Hakoah Club or the Bridge Centre of NSW could be used. For me the UTS would be the best option, as Hakoah just didn’t give me a good impression when the NSWCA held its NSW Open there last year. As for the Bridge Centre I’m not sure. I have heard however that it is not very junior friendly. How would UTS go with this issue?

After reading about Peter Parr’s “proposal” I decided to drop the idea of holding the Championships at Campbelltown. But nothing happened. After the meeting I decided that I’d try again at holding the Championships at Campbelltown. However I have since found out that the Championships could be held at the Parramatta RSL. Dr Vasil Tulevski and the Parramatta chess club could be giving it a go.

Further more to Peter Parrs “proposal” a meeting of Peter Parr, Bill Gletsos and UTS officials had been agreed upon at the meeting. I wonder what will come out of that meeting? Has it happened yet?

There was also some talk on Noble Park Chess club in Melbourne holding something there but no representatives were at the meeting.

The NSW Junior Chess League have already put in a bid for the juniors.

As a side note, one comment at the meeting indicated that there is a possibility that there could be another Queenstown-like tournament in 2009!

IM Norm chances for Oliver, Rej and Chow

Tomek Rej needs to obtain at least half a point from Gary Lane in the final round of the Sydney international Open in order to obtain an International Masters norm. Tomek will have the white pieces. Gareth Oliver only needs a draw against Moulthun Ly in order to obtain an International Master norm.

It was originally thought that Sam Chow would be inelligible for the chance to obtain an IM norm but nope some people forgot that The WIM title of Laura Moylan counted as part of the required titled players. Sam Chow will play Tejas Bakre and will need to win to obtain the norm.

Draws in round 8 included:

GM Rogers against IM Zhao, Zong-Yuan (5.5), GM Murray Chandler against IM George Xie Sam Chow against Moulthun Ly, Wallis v IM Ansell, Gutierrez Castillo against FM Smirnov, Repplinger drew against Ilia Zvedeniouk, Ikeda against Mendes da costa, Andrew Brown against Domagoj dragicevic, Selnes against Cvetkoski, Harris against Mike Canfell, Guo Yutok against Aisa, Maroroa against Setiabudi, Ren against Mario Pleno.

Upsets were scored by:

Results to follow after this round.

Leading scores:Timoshenko 7, Rogers, Antic, Mikhalevski 6.5,
9 players on 6

SHIPOV Loses!!!! XIE Draws

Early Results before I left the venue saw George Xie draw against Murray Chandler. The other Shock loss was Shipov being defeated by Pinoy Almario Marlon Bernardino, who apparently started crying tears of Joy upon realising the victory.

A bit of Trivia

Did you know? That IM Guy West has Played Gary Kasparov!

I'm late for a very important date

Hello peoples! sorry i havent updated the blog. I was too tired Thursday night and ended up going to bed relatively early. And then Friday afternoon i was in an internet cafe typing up my Blog entry when the Internet explorer decided to die on me. I was not happy so they didn't charge me for using the internet.

The chess playing public not playing (or had finished their games) in the SIO were treated to a commentary by Smerdon on his draw against George Xie. There is a lot of things for chessplayers who are not in the tournament to participate in. Simuls, Large outdoor chess set, game commentary. or just watch from the sidelines.

Now to the chess:
Round four saw Antic and Timoshenko draw on top board, Bakre and Carlos Matamoros Franco draw on the third board and no less than ten other boards: IM Smerdon drew with IM Xie, Vincent Suttor drew with IM Guy West. Tredinnik against Voon, Max Illingworth had a "grandmaster draw" with Zhigen Lin, Paloma Gutierrez Castillo against Fedja Zufric, Contreras Nelson Munoz against Edwin Wu, Benjamin Harris against Jason Chan, Alexander Stanke against Kumar Uttam, Norm Greenwood against Ian Dickson and down on board 37 two Australian WIMs drew against each other: Narelle Szuveges and Laura Moylan

There were no less than 12 upsets. Biggest of all Manthan Chokshi defeating GM Sergei Shipov. Other Upsets: Gareth Oliver over Vladimir Smirnov, Lazarus defeated Bucher, Angelo Tsagarakis defeated "Dancing with the Stars" Stunner Ariane Caoili, Gene Nacauchi defeated Karenlampi, Rob Hvistendahl defeated Ilija Ilic, Johnathan Yuen defeated Tony Davis, Dennis Wan defeated Anthony Pickering, Jason Cohn defeated Sue Marora, Shirley Wu defeated Vaness Reid and Krishna Kumar defeated Ely tacorda.

Rogers took the lead in round five with a win over GM Murray Chandler.

There were thirteen draws and thirteen upsets in round five:
Draws: IM Garbett against GM Matamoros Franco, GM Bakre against IM Zhao, Sam Chow drew with englands Simon Ansell, Chris Wallis drew with Igor Goldenberg, Hilton Bennet confirmed that Shipov was having a bad tournament, Young ACT up and comer Andrew Brown drew against strong Victorian Dusan Stojic, Shon drew with Castillo Gutierrez, Hvistendahl drew with Moylan, I (Trent Parker) snatched a draw from the clutches of defeat when I was able to push my passed pawns up the board and in time pressure Ian offered a draw due to the threats of my pawns. Carla Wettstein drew with Anthony Pickering and Dhirendra Kumar drew with Korenevski.

Upsets were scored by Marc Rupplinger over IM Gary lane. Barak Atzmon Simons over Pinoy Jesse Sales, Greth Oliver steamed ahad by beating Steadman, Sydney Academy of chess Student Max Illingworth defeated Sydney Academy of Chess Coach Neil Wright, Tredinnik defeated Bernardino, Gregs father Mike Canfell defeated Tony Dowden, Leonardo Tenorio defeated Robert Gibbons, Gene Nakauchi defeated Vilestri, Antheny Lo defeated Dennis Holland Sue Maroroa lost to Carrie Evans, Sarah Anton defeated Sally Yu,Ido Tullic defated Gor Neegam.

So after five rounds we had Rogers on 5/5 as sole leader followed by Antic, Timoshenko and Smerdon on 4.5, Chandler, Toth Bakre, Matamoros Franco, Solomon, Zhao, Garbett, Chokshi, Oliver, Mikhalevski, Repplinger, Rej, Bjelobrk, Ly and Atzmon Simon all on 4/5. Further back in the pack are GM Johanson on 3.5 and top Seed Shipov on 3.


Now to Thursdays Rounds.

I missed my regular train on this day so i was rushing to the venue and arrived 3 minutes before forfeiture time! I always play too quickly when i arrive late. I hate arriving late I had an alright opening but i missed a combo that won a pawn. Oh well......

After my game I was lucky enough to get a seat to play against local player Adrian Rose in a Simul. I was the only one to beat him!

In round 6 the top board clash ended in a draw between Ian Rogers and GM Antic. Timoshenko defeated Smerdon and Mikhalevski defeated Moulthun Ly. FM Igor Bjelobrk kicked off the upsets by defeating GM Carlos Matamoros Franco, and Tomek Rej defeated IM Stephen Solomon.

Gareth Oliver continued his excellent run by drawing against IM Andras Toth. Other Draws for the round included Vincent Suttor against FM Igor Goldenberg, Ilia Zvedeniouk against GM Sergei Shipov, Eugene Shon against Angelito Camer, Julius Caesar Marquez against Anthony Pickering, Dhirendra Kumar against Michael Gearing, Mario Aisa against Milan Ninchich, Matthew Sweeney against David Evans.

Christopher Wallis had a huge win against Victorian IM Guy West. Other upsets include Ivan Zirdum over Jesse Sales, Svetosar Stojic over Michael Wei, Andrew Brown over Malcolm Tredinnik, Blair Mandla over Ilija Ilic and Alexandra Jule downed Alan Tankel.

Round 7 saw draws on 6 of the top 8 boards and upsets on the other two. GM Timoshenko drew with GM Rogers, GM Antic played against Mikhalevski's Grunfeld for a draw, Bakre - Chandler ended in a draw, Zhao Bjelobrk ended in a draw, IM Simon Ansell was defeated by Tomek Rej
Gareth Oliver was playing strong enough to defeat David Smerdon. GM Johansen drew with Chow, FM Smith drew with Andras Toth and Vladimir Smirnov was held to a draw by Vincent Suttor

On Lower boards draws were agreed upon by: Paul Broekhuyse against Marc Repplinger,WIM Moylan against Zhigen Lin, WIM Arianne Caoili drawing with Blair Mandla, Ian Dickson drawing with Tony Dowden, Eugene Shon drawing with Contreras Nelson Munoz, Edwin Wu drawing with WFM Helen Milligan, Joshua Christensen drawing with Oleg Korenevski, Dennis Wan against Sue Maroroa, Michael Gearing and Alexander Stanke drew, and Jean Watson and Justin Tan Drew.

Top Seed Sergei Shipov finally got a win against Svetozar Stojic.

After holing Shipov to a draw Ilia Zvedeniouk defeated IM Guy West. Other Upsets included:
Max Illingworth over Dusan Stojic, Fedja Zulfic over Jason Chan, Gordon Dunlop against Pirkka Karenlampi, David Lovejoy was defeated by johnathan Yuen, Gene Nakauchi defated Tony Davis, Vivian Smith defeated the doctor of the house Vasil Tulevski, Anthony Lo defeated Willian Forster, I defeated Vaness Reid's Bird like Dutch, Matt Sweeney defeated Ido Tulic and Karishma Kumar defeated Gor Neegam.

Will update round by round today.

So at the moment we have three equal first: Rogers Timoshenko and Rej all on 6 points, followed by Antic, Chandler, Bakre, Zhao, Xie, Mikhalevski, Oliver, Bjelobrk all on 5.5/6!

Top Board Graveyard

The top board has not been a happy hunting ground for our visiting GM's this tournament. In round two Samuel Chow was able to hold GM Shipov to a draw on the top board and in round three IM Simon Ansell defeated second seed GM Victor Mikhalevski.

One player who is performing outstandingly well is my mate Josh Christensen. I hope to post his third round win against Domagoj Dragicevic. Josh is now on 2.5/3 A excellent effort for a playerwith a rating of 1605.

Round two Upsets included:

Draws:
Manthon Chokshi against Z-Y Zhao
IM Paul Garbett could only draw against Jason Hu
Angelito Camer drew with FM Robert smith.
Milan Ninchich and Hamish Selnes
Dennis Holland drew against lower rated Jason Cohn
I (trent parker) drew a good game against Gary Bekker. at one stage i could have won.
Angelo Tsagarakis was only able to score a draw against Allen Setiabudi.
Alexander Stanke drew with the highly rated junior Edwin Wu

Defeats
Gareth oliver defeating FM Igor Bjelobrk
Robert Gibbons defeating Moulthoun ly
Marc Vietstra defeated Dusan Stojic
Alex Mendes da Costa defeated Armen Ayvazyan
Max Illinworth Defeated Malcom "Macavity" Pyke
Joshua Christensen over Uttam, Kumar Saha.
Leonardo Tenorio lost to Dhirendra Kumar

In round 3
draws were played by
Narelle Szuveges against Almario Marion Bernardino
Jason Cohn against Hamish Selnes
Ian Dickson v Yuen
Leong v Bekker

Wins were had by
Alexander Stanke againstMarquez
Korenski was defeated by Norm Greenwood
Gene Nakauchi defeating Lorenzo.

Another notable game for the round was Max Illingworth against Sergey Shipov. Will hopefully bring that game to the blog as well.

Laterz people!!! Day three is coming up!

You aint seen nothing yet!!

Doeberl is Over SIO Started!

Congratulations to the Home grown talent that took out the major placings in the Doeberl this year! Congratulations to Rogers on winning another Doeberl Crown. There was some very interesting chess played by the grandmaster. Especially his game against IM Solomon (who came equal second with Smerdon and Lane). The Closet GM and Shaun Press cover the tournament well so i won't say much more other than that I was lucky to get second.

The first round of the SIO started today. I rocked up just before the opening ceremony started as I had other things to do earlier in the day. The Parramatta Town hall seems to be a cozy set up with plenty of room between the aisles of seats which is good for those overly swolen people.
LOL.

Anyhow The first round went much to ratings except for New Zealands Vivian Smith (1742) defeating Malcolm Tredinnik (2205). Upset draws occured between Joshua Christensen against Ariane Caoili in an interesting Queens Gambit Declined, Blair Mandla against Neil Wright, Fedja Zulfic against Domagoj Dragicevic, Anthony Lo against Paloma Gutierrez-Castillo, Carla Wettstein against Contreras Nelson Munoz, Johnathan Ren against Jens Boe Hornsgaard, and Northern Territory's Mario Aisa drew against Indian Kumar Saha Attum.

Now I'm going to be a little cheeky here and subtitle this:
Hu's been a naughty boy then?
Apparently someone has been knocking people about. First Arthur Huynh using a walking frame thing due to some sort of foot injury and then apparently today someone had been kicking assistant to the arbiters Nick Chernih in the somewhere but Nick fought off Huever the person was. I wonder Hu it was??? ROTFL be nice!!!

OK i'll blog tomorrow. bye!!!

Black Jacket Required - Bluff Australia's profile on Gary Benson

As we all know, Poker has taken off in Australia. I play it, my mates play it, everyone's playing it.It is possibly even hurting chess a bit. But could chess gain some players from the Poker playing arena? I know that Parramatta Chess Club have gained at least one member from the poker ranks when Shane Burgess and a few other Parramatta Chess Club members took to their local Poker competition with a chess board or two and at Campbelltown Collegians chess club we have had one enquiry from a poker player willing to give up a nights poker for chess.

Chess got some good publicity in the recent issue of Bluff Australasia with a profile on Gary Benson.

In 1970, aged just 13, Benson started plaing competitive chess and joined the
Correspondence chess league of Australia. In 2003, he became the australian
champion and 12 months later, he was awarded the International Master title for
Correspondence chess in 2004, and later earned the Senior International Master
title.

As for his Poker milestones: Played in First Australian Poker Championship played in Adelaide in 1987 and has played in every major tournament in Australasia since then. Gary Benson took out the 7 card Championships in 1989. Benson became the first Australian born player to win a WSOP Bracelet, less than 12 months after quitting his partnership in an accounting firm. The gold bracelet was won in the seven card Stud title in 1996. Benson became Australian Champion in 1997 and again in 2001.

A full profile on Bensons Poker career can be found in the March/April 2007 edition of Australasian Bluff Magazine.

Anyhow back to Chess. What Conclusions can we draw from this article. Perhaps that because Poker players are so fixated about their game over the table they do not have time to go to a chess club. Perhaps the Correspondence Chess League of Australia should attempt to get more members by chucking in an ad every now and again in the Bluff Magazine? Other peoples comments are welcome!

Too Low Key Toukley

Once again i trek off on the 4.53 train from Picton, heading from toukley. And i'll first say that Toukley is a beautiful place for a tournament but a bitch to get to by public transport. From Wyong train station one must catch a bus from Wyong to Lake Haven shops and another bus to Toukley. But, hey, Busways was the bus operaters and I know Busways Campbelltown/ Camden do a reasonably good job at providing public transport.... so i thought. Getting to Toukley on the Saturday was the easy bit.

With a disappointing field of 20 starters there were two clear cut contenders for the top two prizes. IM Gary Lane and former ACF Webmaster and Newsletter editor were the only two players rated over 2000. Andrew Phillips was the Third seed with a rating of 1717 and an astonishing 9 players rated in the 1400-1500 bracket.

In round One I was lucky enough to play Gary Lane who smashed me in the Ruy Lopez. The upsets had already started when Paul Broekhuyse could only muster a draw against Radislav Ivanovic. I reckon there must be a curse or something at Toukley. Players who have good results against much higher rated opponents early in the tournament seem to get low scores. This year it was Ivanovic's turn. He only ended up on 2/7 for the tournament. Last year I defeated Johny Bolens in the first round and I only ended on 1.5/7! However the Radislav - Broekhuyse result could have been different though because Radislav's phone went off during the first round but apparently the Director of Play Kieth Farrell was out of the room and his opponent did not claim the win. Lets just say that i have already learnt my lesson.....
Other upsets includedGary Losh (1438) over Victor Liuga (1676), Graeme Deacon (1403) drew with Bill Egan (1530), and on the 10th board father Aurel-John Buciu (1485) travelled all the way from Queensland to be defeated by his son Alex Buciu (833).

Round Two saw Lane Defeat Joe Frias while Paul Broekhuyse started climbing his way to the top by defeating Bill Egan. Meanwhile Andrew Phillips (1717) was knocked off the top of the leaderboard by drawing to Luka Tubic (1486). Meanwhile in other upsets Radislav Ivanovic (1449) started his slide down the boards by drawing with Graeme Deacon (1403). and tournament organiser Gary Losh (1438) drew with Stephen Barnes (1653).

So by Round three there were only two players on two points: Gary Land and Richard Eccles. After round three Garry Lane was the sole leader through to the end of the tournament. He started in round three by dispatching Richard Eccles. Meanwhile on board two Paul Broekhuyse defeated Stephen Barnesand on Board three it was a battle of the locals. Andrew Phillips of Warnervale against Gary Losh of Budgewoi. Andrew Philips won on this occasion. There were no real upsets except for Graeme Deacon (1403) defeating George Smit (1429) and Michael Weltner (1530) drawing with Bill Egan (1530).

On the top board a long battle from a Saemich Kings Indian Defence occured with Gary Lane on the black side with a knight up giving two pawns as compensation for Andrew Phillips. Both in time trouble, Gary lane was able to find a way to swap off the Queens which brought the resignation. On board two Broekhuyse defeated Luca Tubic. Board three and board four both had minor upsets with Richard Eccles (1611) drawing with Ben Ryan (1448) and Joe Frias (1507) drawing with the undefeated 17th seed Graeme Deacon (1403). Gary Losh (1438) also caused an upset by defeating Bill Egan (1530). Young Alex Mehan (1390) defeated the out of practice Victor Liugia (1676).

And at the conclusion of round 4 it was time to get to my accomodation; a friend of the family at Wyee. Discovering earlier in the day that the last Busways bus from Toukley to Lake Haven was at about 7-7.30 I had to find a lift to a station or otherwise i had to pay for a taxi. I ended up getting a lift from Andrew Phillips to Wyong station where I was able to catch a train two stops (or one stop express) to Wyee..... With fun to come in the morning....

I caught the 8.18 train from Wyee to Wyong to catch a bus to Lake haven to discover that the next bus to Toukley was at 10.12 arriving at the RSL 10.20 - 20 minutes past the scheduled start time for round 5! And i was at Lake Haven at 9.30. So I decided to pay the $15 taxi fare to get from Lake haven shops to Toukley so that i wouldn't be late. And it paid off!

In round 5 It was the battle of the big guns on board one. Lane won to extend his lead from half a point to one and a half points. Whilst Broekhuyse was joined in equal second by Andrew Phillips, Richard Eccles, Ben Ryan and Luca Tubic who were all on 2.5 and won their games. Out of those games Ben Ryan (1448) defeated Joe Frias (1507) and Richard Eccles (1611) defeated Stephen Barnes (1653) to clam minor upsets. Other upsets included an improving Alex Mehan (1390) defeating Michael Weltner (1422) and Alex Buciu (833) drawing with Victor Liuga (1676).

In round 6 Gary lane secured the top prize by defeating Luka Tubic, Paul Broekhuyse defeated the well performing junior Ben Ryan and Richard Eccles drew with third seed Andrew Phillips. I racked up a minor upset when i (1483) defeated Joe Frias (1507) in a Nimzowitch come Scandinavian come Kings indian Attack where Joe at one stage missed mate in two. Other upsets included Alex Mehan drawing with Gary losh, Graeme deacon drawing with Stephen Barnes and Victor Liuga losing to Aurel-John Buciu.
After 6 rounds Gary Lane had it all wrapped up on 6/6 followed in second by Paul Broekhuyse on 4.5/6. Equal third was shared between Andrew Phillips, Myself and Richard Eccles. In contention for podium honours: Ben Ryan, Alex Mehan and Luca Tubic on 3.5/7

Round 7 saw the Top seed play the number 18 seed. Gary land defeated Alex Mehan to take out the Toukley Open with a Picket fence score of 7/7. Paul Broekhuyse defeated Andrew Phillips to bump him out of podium contention. I offered a draw to Richard Eccles quite early in the game where i had a bit of a spacial advantage after an Anti Grunfeld. He declined but later offered the draw once again. Ben Ryan Defeated Luca Tbic on Board 4 to claim equal 3rd. Other upsets included Stephen barnes drawing with Bill Egan, Gay Losh defeating Joe Frias, Victor Liuga drawing a very long game with Michael weltner, Radislav Ivanovic losing to George Smit. But the unluckiest person on the sunday was Alex Momot. Alex Momot is the blind person who plays at a lot of country tournaments and he is a very nice fellow. But he left his mobile phone on going into the 7th round. And it rang....And the arbiter was in the room to forfeit him. Just when he had a player close to his rating of 848, Alex Buciu rated 833. They played out the game anyway and Alex Momot won the game. Due to this forfeiture he ended up on 0/7.

With all proceedings over and done with, it was time to go home..... and i had no lift to the railway station.... The time is 5.40. Oh Well there's a bus from Toukley at 6.14. Caught this bus to Lake Haven to find out that the next connecting bus to Wyong was at.......7.22!!!! And the one previously was at 6.12. Talk about connectivity......So I get to Wyong at about 8.00pm......The next train to Sydney isn't until 8.45!!! Streuth this is beyond a Joke. I finally arrive at campbelltown just after midnight. I am lucky that i have a great mother otherwise i would have had to wait on Campbelltown Station for hours to get a train to Picton....Thanks Mum!

So - To next years Toukley. I think improvements can be made in several areas. Circluation of flyers to clubs rather than just relying on everyone to view the tournament details on the internet, perhaps the RSL club could be convinced to use their courtesy bus to pick up participants from the local railway station and back for a fee. This would drastically reduce the burden on people who have to rely on public transport. For me, I have decided that i will not play this excellent tournament this year unless the Public Transport problem is ironed out.

Boom Crash Opera

Hello folks!

I really appologise for the anticlimax that was my coverage of the City of sydney. I had intended to do a post earlier in the week but we have had lots of thunderstorms and electrical storms in the area and Telstra have had to do some works to the telephone lines in the area so every time i went to post on my blog I had no dial tone.

Anyhow in the Open section Ronald Yu drew with Johny Bolens and Swiercz defeated Jason Hu to be joint City of Sydney Champions. Congratulations to them both.

In the under 1700 Division I lost my game against Dennis Wan, David evans drew and Herman rachmadi won. Evans and rachmadi took out equal first whilst I and Dennis Wan equaled for third

Who turned out the lights?? Was it Yu?

Round 5 started late today as the DOP couldn't figure out how to open the combination lock to access the pieces!! Finally Amiel Rosario (The Closet Grandmaster) finally figured it out. so we got under way a bit late today.

I appologise but i dont have the results of Round 5 for the Open. Some person decided to make the results disappear from the table. Will get them tomorrow hopefully.

In the Under 1700 division saw the David Evans match up with Myself on board one, Rachmadi against Horst Bleicher on two and Mary Wilkie against young Kinto Wan on board three. Rachmadi defeated Bleicher and Kinto Wan won a rook and eventually the game agains Wilkie. On the top board I blundered away a knight however on the next move David Evans allowed me to exchange knights to get a passed pawn which i used in an elaborate combination that allowed me to come out with a queen and a pawn for three minor pieces. We eventually agreed on a draw after I attempted some tactical tricks that were easily parried by David.
Upsets for the round include Phil Willis drawing with Thai Pham, Dennis Wan (1525) defeating Mark Baterowicz (1625).
Leaderboard: Rachmadi 4.5, Parker, Evans, Kinto Wan 4

Round 6 started a bit late as there were some late running games. Half way through round 6 the Norths Club had a blackout! some players stopped their clocks and some one was bright enough to pull up the blinds to let some sunshine in but the lighting was still poor in the u1700 division area which was further away from the windows that the Open division. After a while lighting was restored.
In the Open division Ronald Yu and Dariusz Swiercz occupied top board where at one point Dariusz had an extra pawn on the queenside but ronald had good kingside pressure in what looked to be a Grunfeld. Yu was the victor in this game. On board two Zirdum and Bolens played out a draw whilst sebastian Herman had his kingside pawns smashed to smitherines against Greg Canfell. Herman's Queenside pawn majority was not compensation enough. Canfell won. So with one round to play Ronald Yu leads on 5 points, Swiercz holds second with 4.5 points and Canfell, Rej, Bolens and Zirdum all have 4 points. Upsets in the open division included Emil-Lion Nomat defeating Amiel Rosario and Ilija Ilic losing to Anthony Lo.

In the under 1700 division: Evans had to play Rachmadi on board one. Rachmadi lost a rook and could not get enough counterplay to avoid his first loss of the tournament. On board two I played Kinto Wan. It was a very tough game! It took a possibly dubious move to allow me to fork two unprotected pawns in a knight and pawns endgame to gain the edge. I had to slowly grind his counterplay down. He had chances but he just didnt take them. I had ended Kinto's unbeaten run. I have to say Well Done to Kinto for lasting so long without loss for his rating. Meanwhile on Board three Father Dennis Wan dispached of Horst Bleicher.
Standings: Evans, Parker 5, Rachmadi 4.5, K Wan, D Wan, Greenwood 4

So can Yu become a multiple City of Sydney Winner? Can I win my first tournament? All these questions and more will be answered tomorrow

PS the lightning will be on tomorrow as well.

I'm sure i published the second installment: City of Sydney half way point

Open division round three saw no players on a perfect score after Canfell and Bolens drew as well as Yu and Rej. Swiercz defeated chan to be equal to the leaders on 2.5/3. Upsets for the round included Hamish Selnes (1770) draw against Ivan Zirdum and Joseph Nguyen defeating Ilija Ilic.

In the under 1700division Rachmadi defeated Thai Pham in a Kings indian where black left his king too open on the light squares; Trent Parker defeated Mary Wilkie in an interesting battle where TCN was able to go a pawn up due to Mary's poor Queenside pawns. So only two people remained on the top score of 3/3: Trent Parker and Herman Rachmadi.
Upsets included Michael Tracey (1486) losing to Kinto Wan (847). Also Phil Willis (1323) defeated Terence Wall (1488).

In round 4 the top two seeds played out a draw in the Open division. Swiercz defeated the eccentric Johny Bolens who put on an act for the youngster and German Sebastian Herman drew with Yu; Whilst Hu defeated Illingworth to join Canfell, Rej and Hu in second place on 3/4. The sole leader was Dariusz Swiercz on 3.5/4.

In the under 1700 division Parker drew with Rachmadi and David Evans recovered from being a piece down to defeat Norm Greenwood. Kinto Wan (847) drew with Phil Willis (1323). On the lower boards Charmaine Zhang (777) upset Nicholas Mann (1186). So leaders in the U1700 Division are: 3.5, Herman Rachmadi, David Evans, Trent Parker
3, Kinto Wan, Mary Wilkie and Horst Bleicher.

In Profile: Dariusz Swiercz

Dariusz Swiercz is currently leading the City of Sydney on 3.5/4 (which everyone would know the results if i had published my blog correctly on Monday night. Will try to repost it today).

Dariusz in a young FM from Poland. Dozy from Rooty Hill RSL gives the following information:

It's not surprising if you know his background. He's the top player in Poland
for his age group, finished level with Raymond Song in the U12 World Youth
Championship last year (just two points behind the winner), has a FIDE rating of
2235, and has already earned his FM title.

Dariusz has been a busy little boy - In the last lot of fide ratings he played 21 Fide rated games consisting of the European Youth Championships where he scored 4/5 fide rated games of which he was the higher rated of all his opponents. He also played in the world Youth Championships, and played in the Polish Mens Championship (maybe second division?)

Earlier in the year Dariusz played in the 14th international E Lasker memorial "A" tournament scoring 4.5/6 Fide rated games of which only one player had a rating close to his fide rating. He also has played in tournaments in Poland and greece in thi past year.

So My question now is..... What is Dariusz doing in Australia??? Just on Holiday or here for longer??? For such an active young player it would seem a shame to take him away from the abundant availability of FIDE rated tournaments thet could broaden his chess.

Canfells on Board 1, Hu's on board 2?

The City of Sydney Championships started yesterday (24 February) and continues today and next weekend in it's new weekender format of 2 rounds per day over the first weekend and second saturday and one round on the second Sunday with the City of Sydney Lightning to follow afterwards. The time control is 90 minutes + 30 seconds a move

This years turnout was once again disappointing with approximately 21 players in the open section and 22 in the under 17 section. The Open section is extremely strong with 11 players rated over 2000.

Round 1 almost had a false start when the pairings had to be changed for both the Open and u1700. Play got under way a little bit late. On board one of the Open division Greg Canfell, being top seed, defeated Max illingworth where Max's shattered queenside pawns could not all be defended. Meanwhile on board two, second seed Tomek Rej disposed of The Closet Grandmaster : Amiel Rosario. Upsets of the round were: Dariusz Swiercz (2231) drawing with Hamish Selnes (1770) and Michael Dunn (1878) Defeating Ilia Ilic(2150).

In the Under 1700 division the first round brought about a number of upsets. Phil Willis (1323) defeated Mark Baterowicz (1623), Supergranny Mary Wilkie (1281) defeated Dennis Wan (1525), Horst Bleicher (1489) lost to Kinto Wan (847), Michael Tracey (1486) drew with C Zhang (777).

In round 2 Zirdum could not hold Canfells King from infiltrating the position in a 5 pawns + Bishop each with the bishops being of the same colour. Meanwhile on board two Jason Hu did not get enough compensation, getting only a Rook and Bishop for the loss of his Queen. When asked how he lost it he said: "i just lost it" Did we leave a queen en prise Jason? lol Just kidding mate.Upsets included Hamish selnes draw against Ilia Ilic.
Leaders on 2/2:Canfell, Rej, Bolens Yu.

In the u1700 Division, top seed Herman Rachmadi defeated Terence Wall. On board two Kinto Wan had an upset draw with David Evans and on board three another upset: Parramatta chess club member Thai Pham defeated Norm Greenwood. No other upsets occured except for the possibility that Michael Tracey defeated Mark Baterowicz which that game was the only game going when i left (at that time it was already a marathon....)
Leaders on 2/2: Herman Rachmadi, Trent Parker, Mary Wilkie and Thai Pham.

I'm going to take my camera tomorrow. Expect photos either tomorrow night or Monday.

Broekhuyse, Hu not quite up to speed for the fast Lane version 2

I woke up at 3.15 on saturday morning to get ready for the journey up North to a tournament that i thoroughly enjoy participating in year after year (although i might have missed one year). The 2001 Newcastle Open was my very first tournament. The people i played in my very first Newcastle Open were: Mal Murrell, Arthur Huynh (1480), Goran stankovic, Bruce Parr (1066), David Behne Smith (789) , Andrew Robinson, Fergus Ly (1093). In that tournament I scored a grand total of 0 points. disappointingly out of these players only one played this year (David Behne Smith) and one (Bruce Parr) assisted with the organisation. [EDIT: David Behne Smith did not particpate this year. His Brother and sisters did however.]

Anyhow back to this year...I left home at 3.45 for the hour walk to Picton station to catch the 4.53 train from Picton to Campbelltown, then had to change at campbelltown for a city service then had to change at Central for a Newcastle train (exquisite views between Cowan and Gosford) to finally arrive at Civic Station at 10.00, the train was a couple of minutes late, but to my surprise (not) when i arrived at Newcastle Panthers the tournament had not started yet, but i dont think anyone really cared much for the lateness..... Its a fairly laid back tournament.

The tournament attracted 37 players from as wide as Melbourne, Canberra, Armidale, Laurieton and of course Sydney. There were 5 players rated over 2000: International Master Gary Lane, Former Newcastle Open winner R0n Scott, Johny Bolens, Jason Hu and Paul Broekhuyse. There was also last years Coal City Open winner James Morris. I was on the top half of the draw! A strange occurance. Even the blind were attraceted to this tournament (visually blind, not drunk!)

Round One saw no upsets according to rating however apparently unrated player Emil Nomat defeated Michael Weltner (1394).
On Board one it was the battle of the Lanes. Laurieton's Endel Lane had the task of playing against Gary Lane (no relation).

Round two saw Richard Eccles (1589) defeat Johny Bolens (2106). I nearly caused an upset against Paul Broekhuyse when my knight sac evenually won me a pawn and my piece back and stopped him from castling. There was one draw for the round; Unfortunately the O'rourkes had to play each other and agreed to a draw. Johnathan Behne Smith (1211) defeated former Newcastle (now Orange?) resident Colin Parsons (1371).

Round 3 saw what could have been an attempt at a swiss gambit by some of the over 2000 rated players when James Morris drew with Ronald Scott, Ben Harris drew with Jason Hu and Paul Broekhuyse drew with Robert Hvistendahl, leaving Gary Lane as the sole leader after 3 rounds.
Upsets for round 3 included Ryan O'Rourke (938) defeating Colin Parsons (1375) and Emil Nomat hammered Me! Mary Wilkie (1281) drew against Ian Dickson (1575).

Round 4 saw Gary Lane and Ron Scott battle it out well into their time allocation for the International master to break through and rack up his 4th win to complete the day. On other top boards: Jason Hu drew with Paul Broekhuyse, and Robert Hvistendahl defeated James Morris after apparently being a piece down. Whilst Ben Harris defeated Alex Mendes Da Costa to join Hvistendahl on equal second. Upsets for round 4 included Ryan O'Rourke (938) defeating Michael Weltner (1394), Ben Ryan (1460) holding Vaness Reid (1629) to a draw and Mary Wilkie (1281) using her granny gambit against Gary Losh (1462).

So at the end of the first days play we have the following leaderboard:
1st Lane 4/4 \
2nd Hvistendahl, Harris 3.5/4
4th Bolens, Hu, Broekhuyse, Guo-Yuthok, Nomat on 3/4

Round 5 saw Hvistendahl lose to Lane, Bolens Lose to Ben Harris
Sherab Guo-Yuthok lose to Jason Hu, Broekhuyse defeat Nomat. The only game that resembles an upset on the lower boards was Michael Weltner drawing with Rebecca Harris.

It was a battle of Master and apprentice on the top board in round 6. Gary Lane defeated his student Ben Harris to clinch the 2006 Newcastle Open outright. Paul Broekhuyse defeated Scott to take equal second with Jason Hu . Broekhuyse and Hu did not have the opportunity to play Lane. Upsets for round 6 include: Weltner defeating losh and Luthien Russell drawing with Ben Ryan.

After a short presentation it was time to head off back to Picton. I look forward to the 2007 Newcastle Open.

Fide Presidential Board Meeting

On the 29th of January Fide released a press statement outlining what had been discussed over the past three days.

There had been many Items outlined:

1. The goals and tasks of FIDE in the year 2007.
Apart from the change in the management style of FIDE introduced last year in the Elista Board meeting and the fruitful results of which can be already seen, President Kirsan N. Ilyumzhinov gave a positive summary of the work of FIDE of the last year. He emphasized that the President and the Board members should be more active in connection with the national federations. Since his re-election, he has visited more than 20 chess events and 12 national federations and in the year of 2007, he will visit and consult around 25 national federations, particularly in Latin America and Africa for exchanging views and collecting suggestions....

Good on him! But what is in it for Australia? Sure he has lots on his plate but..... I would like to see Fide push chess to be recognised as a sport in countries which chess is not currently recognised as such. Below i believe is an excellent step in the right direction.

Among the important practical tasks for FIDE, he mentioned the amendment of the Statutes, the revision of the membership, the increased activity of the work of the Commissions and Committees, more intense consulting with the professional players on playing conditions etc., and a more efficient communication of FIDE toward and with the chess players, international sport organizations, global chess audience and IOC. In the last respect, he emphasized the importance of the forthcoming meeting with Mr. J. Rogge, President of IOC. A special part of his speech was devoted to the most important chess events of the year, the World Chess Championship process, which will culminate in Mexico City in September-October this year.

Will Chess become an olympic sport in the future??? Oviously the possibility would have been talked about with Mr Rogge. It will be interesting whether he believes that chess deserves a place in the Olympic games or not. I would like to see chess recognised as a sport in this country; Getting chess in the olympic games would really help this.

2. World Championship Match proposal (separate announcement)

I believe this is the proposal that Topalov and Danilov suggested which was rejected by FIDE

3. World Chess Championship Tournament in Mexico City
The Presidential Board listened to and approved the report of the Organizer regarding the preparation for the World Chess Championship tournament to be held on September 11 – October 1st, 2007 in Mexico City. All the key conditions in the contract have been fulfilled, the website of the event is: http://www.chessmexico.com/.The Presidential Board gladly took note of the announcement that current World Chess Champion, Mr. Vladimir Kramnik will play in the Mexico City tournament. A special committee has been established for reviewing the processes of the world chess championship system. The committee will forward its report on the options of improving and stabilizing the system as well as its recommendation to the President for decision after gaining the views of about 160 top chess players and the national federations. The decision will come in due course that all the players be prepared for the next WCCh cycle.

Chess Championships in Mexico City. Good.. A change of scenery (although Argentina did hold them not long ago....). It would be nice to see this event somewhere in Asia.... just to spread it around...... (and have similar time frames to watch the games....)

4. World Cup 2007

The final contract between FIDE and the Organizer of the World Cup 2007 to be held in Khanty-Mansiysk region has been signed. The preparation for the 2007 event has been made in the proper manner and the Cup will take place at November 23-December 14th, 2007 in Ugra, Siberia, Russia. The website of the 2007 World Cup is: www.ugra-chess.ru

Ha!! well i hope the participants have fun in this cold region.... lol

5. Candidate Matches
The Candidate Matches will be held on May 26-June 14th, 2007 in Elista and sponsored jointly by the President and FIDE. The Presidential Board reviewed the Rules and Regulations of the Matches, the process of the preparation and the media plan for the event. The Internet communication channel can be found on the FIDE official website: www.fide.com

Elista, Elista FiretrUCKing Elista. Why Elista??? What a stingy place to play the candidates. doesnt Elista get enoughtournaments as it is? How about sharing the tournaments around.... give Asia or Africa the Candidates matches...

6. Other tournaments and bids for tournaments
The Presidential Board reviewed preparations and decided on bids regarding the following chess tournaments: - Women`s World Team Chess Championship 2007 will be held on May 19-30th, 2007 in Yekaterinburg, Russia- Women`s World Chess Championship 2008 will be held on March 8-25th, 2008 in Prague, Czech Republic- World Junior Chess Championship 2008 will be held on August 2-16th, 2008 in Ankara, Turkey- World Youth U-16 Chess Championship 2008 will be held on August 15-24th, 2008 in Ankara, Turkey- World Amateur Chess Championship 2007 will be held on August 10-19th, 2007 in Predeal, Romania- the Presidential Board set-up a committee to conduct on-site inspection regarding the offers of the 8 bidders for the World Youth Chess Championship 2009 and will present its recommendation to the next Executive Board/General Assembly meeting for final decision- established a June 30th, 2007 deadline for submitting bids for the World Amateur Chess Championship 2008,- established a December 31st, 2007 deadline for submitting bids for the World Junior Chess Championship 2009

ZZZZZ

Yekaterinberg, Russia

Prague, Czech Rep

Ankara, Turkey

Predeal, Romania

Why are all these tournaments in basically the same area of the world. Fide needs practice to branch out a bit. If Chess wants to Be a popular sport it needs to be played in popular destinations. IMHO

7. Review of the 2006 Turin Chess Olympiad and the preparations for the 2010 Chess Olympiad
The Presidential Board reviewed the Turin 2006 Olympiad and drew conclusions regarding the quality of the organization, accommodation, the participation level, etc. The Board took note of the report that the preparations for the 2010 Chess Olympiad are in line with the time schedule and the contract was signed between FIDE and the organizer.

8. Development of FIDE Chess Academy
The Presidential Board reviewed the development of the Chess Academy and found it satisfactory, emphasizing the excellent work done in Singapore and further encouraged the people involved to extend the activities of the Chess Academy.

It will be Interesting to see how far this chess academy will go.

9. Title Applications
The approved title applications can be seen of the official website: www.fide.com

Wont be long until George Xie is on that list :D

10. Procedure for the Ethics Commission
In order to make the work of the Commission more effective, its chairman Mr. Rivello presented several modifications in the working procedure of the Commission. The Board decided for additional consultations before the changes can be introduced.

11. FIDE 2007 budget and administrative issues
The Board approved the budget for the year 2007 with the request to some Commissions and the PR and Marketing Directorate to modify their needs within the accepted limit.The Presidential Board decided to open a branch FIDE office under the guidance of the General Secretary in Singapore.

So the ACF won't have to go through Elista I presume. A step in the right direction!

12. Tournament regulations
The Presidential Board finalized the changes of the Tournament Regulations and Rules initiated at the Turin General Assembly meeting. The Rules will be in effect after July 1st, 2007 and can be soon downloaded from the FIDE website.

13. Global Chess company
The Presidential Board expressed its satisfaction that the initial meeting and discussion between FIDE and Global Chess company about the marketing and organization of world chess events were successful and that the company has been registered and the share-capital paid. The negotiations will continue between the representatives of FIDE and the company.

14. Greeting Honorary President Florencio Campomanes on his 80th birthday
The Presidential Board warmly greeted Mr. Florencio Campomanes, Honorary President on the occasion of his forthcoming 80th birthday and wished him good health, energy to be able to work for the interest of chess for a long time. A blitz tournament among the Board members has been organized to honor Mr. Campomanes.

As readers of the Closet Grandmaster will know, Florencio Campomanes was involved in a car accident not long after the Presidential board meeting. Recently chessbase.com showed a photo of Campomanes in traction with a head, neck and back brace. We all wish you well Florencio!

Newcastle Open - 17th-18th February.

The next tournament in New South Wales will be the Newcastle Open which will be held at the Newcastle Workers club. This generally is an excellent tournament run by the locals. Director of Play for this tournament will be local George Lithgow.

It is a little bit disappointing though that the Newcastle open will be a six round tournament when it has traditionally been a 7 round tournament. This is due to the room not being available for the sunday afternoon. The format will be 4 games on the sunday and 2 games on the sunday. Oh well looks like i'll get home earlier than usual!

I expect an excellent roll up for this event. I urge all sydney chess players to go!

Details of this tournament can be found here

No Short Draws at Sydney International Open!

In a meeting yesterday it was decided that there would be no short draws without the approval of the arbiter. 30 is the minimum of moves that must be made in the Sydney International Open. Excellent Idea guys!!! Bring the good chess on.

I also like their ruling that no electronic devices are to be brought into the playing hall including mobile phones.

The Sydney International Open currently has 9 Grandmasters, 8 international masters, 4 Fide Masters, 1 Women's Grandmaster, 1 Womens international Master and one Women's Fide Masters currently entered into the tournament. Three months out there are currently 39 players.

Upping the Anti(c)

Norths Club was the venue of the NSWCA Australia Day weekender, which attracted a rather disappointing crowd of 62 (down from over 70 last year). However the quality of the chess was excellent on the top boards with 16 players rated over 2000.

The first round went according to rating except for Joshua Christensen (1605) winning a lost endgame against visiting Frenchman Guillermo Campitelli (FIDE: 2173) who apparently blundered into mate. Other Upsets included Ex Campbelltown player Robin Mayo (1147) defeating Elliot Hoving (1820) and E Tamsot (unr) defeating Irvis Venclovas (1713).

The Second Round upsets saw Christopher Skulte (1605) defeating Max Illingworth (2096) and Michael Ngo defeating Mark Ryan. All other games went according to rating.

Something amazing happened in round 3.

Ex Australian Chess Federation Webmaster and Newsletter editor Paul Broekhuyse (pictured Left) defeated International Master elect George Xie (pictured right)! This was by far the upset of the round. Other upsets included Anthony Lo (1625) defeating Allan Mcgregor (1872), Shane "Bergil" Burgess(1498) drawing with Francisco Plaza (1825), Terence Wall (1488) defeated Andrew Furst (1773), Robin Mayo continued to perform above his rating by beating Carla Wettstein (1773), Balsalan Karayi (1311) defeated Mark Ryan (1557). Unrated Thai Pham defeated Benjamin Whiteside (1350).

On top boards in round 4 Dejan Antic defeated Vincent Suttor and Igor Bjelobrk defeated Paul Broekhuyse to be the only two leading the tournament on a picket fence score: 4/4. Upsets on the lower boards included: Michael Morris (2030) defeating Neil Wright (2138). John redgrave defeated Michael Dunn, Balsalan Karayi defeated Jose Escribano (1687) E Tamsot defeated Ian Dickson (1575) and My mate Lance Chiddy (955) drew with George Smit (1464)

On Sunday, round Five, it was time for the Titans to Clash:









In the 5th round it was time for GM Dejan Antic (Top, Please excuse the Blur) to play Igor Bjelobrk (bottom). This game ended in a long draw.

Further down the boards more trouble for George Xie was brewing. After a while away from weekend chess Romeo Capilitan defeated the FM - IM elect. George whats happening? 'spose people just have a bad tournament (puts had up!) Other upsets included John Redgraves draw against T Hisler, Herman rachmadi defeating Rob Hvistendahl, Anthony Lo drawing with Ahmed Farris, Tarek Elgindy drawing with Danny Wayne Bisson and Lindsay Went (1278) drawing with Mark Ryan.



I wasn't able to get much for rounds six and seven but the major results were Igor Bjelobrk drawing to Jason Hu in the final round to fall short of first by half a point. Oh and an upset win in the last round by Luthien Russell Over The Chess Nut :D



1st was GM Dejan Antic on 6.5 points (only losing the half point to Bjelobrk),

2nd was FM Igor Bjelobrk 6 (having drawn with GM Antic and Hu)

3rd was Johny Bolens with a score of 5.5 (Taking a half point bye in fourth round and losing to Antic in the sixth round)



My appologies for the lateness of this report. I will try to get one more promptly in future.



Other photos I took at the Australia Day Weekender:

Shane Burgess and Nick Chernih have a laugh over the life of brian series of movies! :D

Below: Robin May L and Lance Chiddy R

Wei, Lin Ahead

Michael Wei and Zhigen Wilson Lin currently lead the Australian Juniors currently being held in Canberra. They are on a score of 7/8 with Three rounds to go. 6 players have 6/8 to be equal third, including Christopher Wallis and Junta Ikeda

In the other events:
U18 Girls: Emma Guo is the sole leader in this event on 7/8 a full point in front of Jessica Kinder, Alana Chignall and Sally Yu.

U12 Boys: In this division many players are in contention. Currently coming first on 6.5/8 are: Vincent Horton, James Li, Oscar Wang and Gene Nakauchi. I hope Oscar Wang wins this event although he is not the top seed. Oscar defeated me twice last year, both when is rating was below 1000. He is a rapidly improving junior!

U12 Girls: Currently first on 6.5 points is ACT Junior Megan Setiabudi, closely followed by Clarise Koh on 6 points, Abbie Kanagarajah, Alannah Byrn and Natasha Bortsova on 5.5 points.

Time management

My new years resolution is to manage my time more efficiently so that i get things done on time and without any rush. I started on Sunday night by typing myself out a daily schedule for this week. I believe that allocating my time to various tasks will improve the chances of me getting work, playing better chess, improving my management of administration activities and more...... Including regular blogging.

I've started studying chess by reading a book that i have started several times but never got past the first few chapters - My System by Aaron Nimzowitch. I will also start studying endgames using Dvoretsky's endgame manual. And soon I intend on starting on the " Seven circles" method which i have previously commented on a while back. No more online blitz for me :D

I have had to adjust my schedules though. I didnt leave any time to Blog! lol