The Ballarat Summer Tournament 2003

A good field of 19 Ballarat players is participating in this,  the 2003 Ballarat Summer, competition. Most of the usual suspects have entered with the notable exceptions of Jing Jia, who currently plays in the Junior World Championships in Greece and Kevin Perrin, due to work commitments.

The event is a 7 rounds Swiss Open with 40/90 time controls, followed by 20/30  No Name Result Name
 

 Round 7 (last) Results- December 3rd 2003:

1 Rutherford, Simon  [5.5]    :     Davis, Geoff        [4]    1-0
 2 Brotheridge, Jamie [4.5]  :     Van Riel, Bas      [4]    0-1
 3 Lavery, John       [3.5]       :     Cook, Patrick       [4]    1-0 
 4 Stewart, Scott     [3]          :     Madden, Judd      [3]    0-1 
 5 Young, Darren      [3]        :     Andrews, Charlie  [3]    0-1 
 6 Abson, John        [2.5]      :     Lumsdon, Peter    [3]     0-1 
 7 Bailey, Robert     [2]         :     Lenne, Patrick     [2.5]    0-1
 8 O'Brien, Marc       [1.5]     :     Bailey, Mitchel     [2.5]   1-0
 9 Frangakis, John    [1.5]    :     Schreenen, Michael [1] 1-0 
10 Stewart, Clint     [2]      1:0    BYE                 

The last (7th) round saw pairings which few would have predicted before the tournament started. Topboard was played in advance. Simon 'duly' won his game finishing the tournament 1.5 points clear of the no.2, Bas van Riel. The latter won a far from perfect game with (unsound) sacrifices on both sides against Jamie Brotheridge who can look back at a very successful debut at the Ballarat Chess Club. In the other important game for 2-3 place, John Lavery had a small advantage from the opening, which he very gradually increased in a very interesting game. Patrick Cook came up with all the correct answers until he lost in a well played (by John) rook ending. An exciting game was played between Scott Stewart and Judd Madden, in which Judd held on grimly to a  dangerous position, but with the exchange up. I was told that Marc O'Brien won via a nice piece sacrifice against the rapidly improving Mitchel Bailey.

The tournament was very competently and diligently (for lack of a better term) run by Scott Stewart. 

Ballarat 2003

 Summer

                                      

Total

 Stand
  Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19   (final)
1.S.Rutherford 2291FM   1 1 1   ½   1 1   1                 6½ 1
2.B.van Riel 1764 0 ½   ½   1   1 1     1               5 2
3.P.Cook 1707 0     0 ½   1   ½     1     1         4 5-9
4.J.Lavery 1653 0 ½ 1 ½½   ½ 1                 1       4½ 3-4
5.P.Lumsdon 1642     ½         0 0 1       1   1     ½ 4 5-9
6.S.Stewart 1648 ½ 0   ½       0   1   0 1             3 11-13
7.C.Andrews 1577     0 0     0               1   1 1 1 4 5-9
8.G.Davis 1539 0 0     1 1       ½     1     ½       4 5-9
9.Brotheridge, J unr 0 0 ½   1         1         1   1     4½ 3-4
10.P.Lenne 1431         0 0   ½ 0       1         1 1 3½ 10
11 M.O'Brien 1354 0                   0   0 ½ 0   1   1 2½ 14-17
12.J.Madden 1292   0 0     1           0       1 1   1 4 5-9
13.R.Bailey 1283           0   0   0 1   1 0   0       2 18
14.J.Frangakis 1244         0           ½   1 0       1 0 2½ 14-17
15.C.Stewart 1222     0       0   0   1       1   0 1   3 11-13
16.J.Abson 992       0 0     ½       0 1       0 1   2½ 14-17
17.D.Young 864             0   0   0 0     1 1   1   3 11-13
18.M.Schreenen 839             0     0       0 0 0 0 1   1 19
19.M.Bailey 606         ½   0     0 0 0   1         1 2½ 13-16

 

 
 







Sicilian B86

S.Stewart
S.Rutherford

B'rat Summer 2003 rnd 3
 


1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Be3 Be7 8. f3 Nc6 9. Qd2 Bd7 10. O-O-O Qc7 11. Bb3 b5 12. g4 Nxd4 13. Qxd4 a5 14. a4 b4 15. Ne2 Rc8 16. Ng3 e5 17. Qd2 Be6 18. Kb1 g6 19. h4 h5 20. gxh5 Nxh5 21. Bxe6 fxe6 22. Nxh5 Rxh5 23. Bg5? Rdg1Bf8 24. Rhf1 Qc6 25. f4 exf4 26. Rxf4 e5 27. Rf6 Rh7 28. Qf2 Be7 29. Rxg6 Qxe4 30. Bxe7? white is better and black could have been in big trouble afterr: 30.Rf8, Kd7;31.Bxe7, Rxg8;32.Rxd6, Ke8;33.Rd8,Kxe7;34.Rxg8 etc. Qxg6 31. Bxd6 Rf7 32. Qe2 1/2-1/2


Round 1 (23 Oct 2003)

O'Brien, M (11) - Rutherford, S (1) 0-1
Stewart, S (5) - Bailey, R (13) 1-0
Frangakis, J (14 - Lumsdon, P (6) 0-1
Andrews, C (7) - Stewart, C (15) 1-0
Abson, J (16) - Davis, G (8) ½-½
Brotheridge, J (9) - Young, D (17) 1-0
Schreenen, M (18) - Lenne, P (10) 0-1
Madden, J (12) - Cook, P (3) 0-1
Van Riel, B (2) 1/2 : BYE
Lavery, J (4) 1/2 : BYE
Bailey, M (19) 1.0 : BYE


The first round saw a strange draw as B.van Riel and J.Lavery, who were not available, were both given a half point bye each, and P.Cook being seeded 16th for some reason.

The only surprising result of round 1 was the draw by John Abson against Geoff Davis, but a major upset was in the air when Peter Lumsdon was a piece down and about to resign, but John Frangakis returned the favor and blundered horribly. 

Round 2 (30 Oct 2003)

Rutherford, S (1) - Brotheridge, J (9) 1-0
Lenne, P (10) - Stewart, S (5) 0-1
Lumsdon, P (6) - Bailey, M (19) ½-½
Cook, P (3) - Andrews, C (7) 1-0
Davis, G (8) - Van Riel, B (2) 0-1
Lavery, J (4) - Abson, J (16) 1-0
Stewart, C (15) - O'Brien, M (11) 1-0
Young, D (17) - Madden, J (12) 0-1
Bailey, R (13) - Frangakis, J (14) 0-1
Schreenen, M (18) 1:0 BYE
 

In round 2 things became slightly more serious, with a grudge match between John Frangakis against Rob Bailey (John was lucky this time!), a hard-fought win by Bas van Riel against Geoff Davis and a (minor) surprise win by Clint Stewart against Marc O'Brien.

It looks like the third round will mark the start of the process of separating the 'men from the boys'....
 

Round 3 (6th Nov 2003)

Stewart, S (2) - Rutherford, S (2)  ½-½
 P.Lumsdon (1½)- Cook, P (2)     ½-½ 
Van Riel, B (1½) - Lavery, J (1½)  ½-½ 
Andrews, C (1) - Schreenen, M (1) 1-0
Brotheridge, J (1) - Stewart, C (1) 1-0
Bailey, M (1½) - Lenne, P (1) 0-1
 Bailey, R (0)  - Davis, G (0.5) 0-1
Abson, J (0.5) - Young, D (0) 0-1
Frangakis, J (1)  BYE
Madden, J (1)   BYE

O'Brien, M (0)   BYE

 

The postponed game of the previous round between Peter Lumsdon and Mitchell Bailey finished in a draw after an excellent fight by Mitchell.

Remarkably the three games at the top boards all ended up in draws. By far the best result was Scott Stewarts (white) effort against Simon Rutherford (see game below). The latter has scored 100% in all his (20 odd) games which he has played sofar since joining the Ballarat Chess Club. Scott played a very nice, controlled game, having a (light)  advantage most of the time and keeping Simon on his toes as white's attack was very dangerous. They agreed to a draw in a very unbalanced and unclear position, when no-one dared to take the risks anymore.

The games between Patrick Cook and Peter Lumsdon follow a familiar pattern: Peter wants to win and Patrick is happy with a drawn outcome. The latter attitude often infuriates Peter who then takes greater risks. Those are the best opportunities for Patrick to pounce when he is in the right mood.

In this game nothing really happened and it quickly 'petered' out into a draw. The new club member, John Brotheridge, has adjusted very quickly, scoring his (2) points fairly convincingly.    
 


Round 4 Results - November 13th 2003

 1 Rutherford, S (2½)    :     Cook, P (2½)    1-0  
 2 Van Riel, B (2)       :     Stewart, S (2½) 1-0  
 3 Lavery, J (2)         :     Andrews, C (2)  1-0 
 4 Brotheridge, J (2)    :     Lumsdon, P (2)  1-0  
 5 Lenne, P (2)          :     Davis, G (1½)   ½-½  
 6 Madden, J (1)         :     Bailey, M (1½)  1-0  
 7 Stewart, C (1)        :     Schreenen, M (1)1-0
 8 Young, D (1)          :     O'Brien, M (0)  0-1   
 9 Abson, J (½)          :     Bailey, R (0)   1-0  
10 Frangakis, J (1)      :     BYE              
Quite a few wins by 'white' players. The only exception occurred between Darren Young and Marc O'Brien,
where the white player went through his flag at move 39, in a position where he was the exchange up.
	The surprise of the evening was the good win by James Brotheridge against Peter Lumsdon, who seems
to have handled the game too much in a cavalier way. 
	Simon Rutherford won a nice game against Patrick Cook using his extra space, in combination
 with an active bishop-pair to maximum effect. The game between Bas van Riel 
and Scot Stewart became a non-event, when Scot lost the plot completely after the Staunton gambit at move 12.
Robert Bailey continues to lose good games, this time after blundering a full rook against John Abson.
 
Sicilian B33

Simon Rutherford
Bas van Riel

Summer Ballarat 03 rnd 5
 


 

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 O-O 12. Nc2 Rb8 13. Be2 Ne7 14. Nxf6+ gxf6 15. O-O f5 16. exf5 Bxf5 17. Bg4 Bg6 18. f4? a mistake. Should have lost white a pawn. 18... Qb6+? I did see Nd5 (after Bxc2) but some now unknown reason wanted to have a check in first, automatically expecting Kh1. However, ... 19. Rf2 Bxc2 20. Qxc2 Nd5? Is now a big mistake. I didn/t like the obvious 20...f5 21.Be2, fearing my centre to become weak and the king too much exposed. I should have though 21. fxe5 dxe5 21...Ne3 22.Qe2, f5!? would have been interesting, according to Simon, but is bad after 23.exf6, Rxf6 24.Bf3! 22. Qf5 Ne3? Overlooked the loss of a pawn. But also after 22...Qe3 23.Rd1, Ne7 24.Qf6 white looks stronger 23. Qg5+ Qg6 Again,Fritz recommends 23...Kh8 24.Qxe5,f6 25.Qf4,Rd8 24. Qxe3 Qxg4 25. Qxe5 Rbe8 I was now hoping to keep the heavy pieces on the board making it hard for white to win 26. Qd5 Rd8 27. Qb3 Rd7 28. Raf1 Qg6 29. Qa3 Qb6 30. Qb4 Rd2 31. c4 Rxf2 32. Rxf2 Qd4 33. Qc3!? A hard decision to make. A very subtle endgame will result. 33... Qxc3 34. bxc3 bxc4 35. Rf4 Rb8 36. a4! Rc8 37. Kf2 Rc6 38. Ke3 Kf8? 38..Rc5 39. Kd4 Ke7 40. Kd5 Rd6+ 41. Kxc4 Rd2 42. Re4+ Kf6 43. Rg4 Rb2 44. Kc5 a5 45. Rg8 h5 46. h4 Rb3 47. Kc4 Ra3 48. Kb5 Rxc3 49. Kxa5 Rc4 50. g3 Ke6 51. Kb5 Rc1 52. Rg5 Rb1+ 53. Kc6 Rc1+ 54. Rc5 Rg1 55. a5 Rxg3 56. a6 Ra3 57. Kb6 Kd6 58. Rb5 Rc3 1-0

Round 5 Results - November 20th 2003

 1 Rutherford, Simon  [3.5]    1:0     Van Riel, Bas         [3] 
 2 Stewart, Scott     [2.5]        ½.½:   Lavery, John          [3] 
 3 Lenne, Patrick     [2.5]        0:1     Brotheridge, Jamie [3] 
 4 Cook, Patrick      [2.5]        1:0     Stewart, Clint        [2] 
 5 Davis, Geoff       [2]             1:0     Lumsdon, Peter    [2] 
 6 Madden, Judd       [2]          1:0    Abson, John         [1.5]
 7 Bailey, Mitchel    [1.5]         1:0     Frangakis, John     [1] 
 8 Schreenen, Michael [1]      0:1     Young, Darren      [1] 
 9 O'Brien, Marc       [1]           0:1     Bailey, Robert       [0] 
10 Andrews, Charlie   [2]         :        Bye    

Simon Rutherford won on topboard against Bas van Riel (see game near the bottom of the page).  Bas missed a favorable continuation in the early middlegame, allowing Simon to show his rook-ending technique. Meanwhile newcomer Jamie Brotheridge continues to baffle his opponents, now standing in sole second position on the ladder. John Lavery received a pleasant surprise when Scott Stewart offered him a draw in a lost position, which he gladly accepted. Other notable results were the complicated win by Geoff Davis over Peter Lumsdon, young Mitchell Baileys win over B-grade champion John Frangakis, and Rob Bailey's first win of this tournament. 

Round 6 Results - November 27th 2003

 1 Lavery, John       [3.5]     :     Rutherford, Simon  [4.5]  0-1
 2 Cook, Patrick      [3.5]    :     Brotheridge, Jamie [4]   ½-½ 
 3 Van Riel, Bas      [3]       :     Madden, Judd       [3]       1-0
 4 Davis, Geoff       [3]        :     Stewart, Scott     [3]          1-0 
 5 Lumsdon, Peter     [2]    :     Lenne, Patrick     [2.5]      1-0    
 6 Andrews, Charlie   [2]    :     Bailey, Mitchel    [2.5]       1-0
 7 Stewart, Clint     [2]         :     Young, Darren      [2]         0-1 
 8 Schreenen, Michael [1]  :     Abson, John        [1.5]       0-1
 9 Frangakis, John    [1]     :     O'Brien, Marc       [1]         ½-½ 
10 Bailey, Robert     [1]      1:0    BYE  

        Jamie Brotheridge (black)

     Patrick Cook (white to move)         

                      Round 6

 

With only one round to go, Simon Rutherford has won the tournament already after winning his game against John Lavery employing his trusted Caro Kann defence once more. Even John's thorough preparation beforehand (intending to follow a Botwinnik-Tal  game) didn't help him.The surprise packet of the event, Jamie Brotheridge, had Patrick Cook on the ropes. He reached the completely winning position in the above diagram  in no time (1...g4 winning a bishop), but he must have fallen asleep from here on to allow the game to peter out in a draw! Other games developed more or less as expected, although I know (?) that Bas van Riel had to survive some anxious moments completing 15 moves in 6 minutes albeit in a better position (i.e.a triple pawn advantage).