A report of the trials and tribulations of a Ballarat chess player at the Australian Open 2003 in Penrith.

Introduction.

Being only a fairly modestly strong chess player, I obviously did not enter the Australian Open  with great expectations. After all, my rating was about 1800 and I was seeded 52th in a field of about 106 participants. So what drove me and many others to Penrith, devoting time, holidays and money to this fascinating hobby? Even considering my disastrous result (4/11), I had a wonderful time and I returned home nearly a happy person.

Deliberately, I have left the the (technical) reporting of the tournament itself to other people, more capable than me.

Having read the various short and long reports, mostly about the exploits of the favourites at the top and the analyses of their games, I felt the need to tell the experience from the viewpoint of a mere 'chess mortal', like myself. My slight disappointment with the format of the official bulletin may have stimulated me to carry the idea further. The bulletin, covering the scores of many games, some of which with expert comments by Zong Zao, however was lacking any background information, jokes, gossip or simply atmosphere reporting.

On the other hand, the organisation of the tournament was near- perfect. I am not aware of any hiccups or problems. Brian Jones and his team (with Shaun Press as the leader at the coalface) has done a great job in organising and managing the tournament. Interestingly, Brian, in his closing remarks, mentioned in one breath that for the first time a paid manager (he himself) was appointed, instead of volunteers. On the other hand, he said that they had been unable to offer financial incentives to strong or overseas players. In general, it was felt that the prize pool was a bit weak, which may explain why so many of Australian top players were absent or opted to play elsewhere. These remarks, combined with the rumour that the tournament made a healthy profit seems to indicate that the financial priorities would need to be fine-tuned when planning the next Open in the same format. 

However, I do realise that you cannot have it both ways: if one decide to involve professionals, one will have to pay more.

As a fellow organiser of the annual Ballarat Begonia tournament, I was most impressed by the website, which included extensive background information and various payment options. Very well done and a benchmark for future tournaments.

My idea of a good manager is someone who pulls the strings but generally remains at the background. Brian certainly was the ideal manager in my view, as exemplified by the fact that he began his speech at the end of the tournament by  introducing himself..!

After a fairly sober New Year's Eve I left for the airport carrying a large backpack, a tent, sleeping bag, a matrass two chess books, a pocket chess set and very little else. The idea was to do it cheaply and camp for 10 days, after I had found that nearby Emu Plains had a caravan ground. Not having planned the details beforehand I decided I decided to take the train from Sydney airport to Penrith station. After staggering out of the train with all my heavy luggage I had hoped to leave it with the station master while I would find out the camping ground and the distance to the venue in particular. However, the station master had gone with the modern times, as he must have received instruction not to accept suspicious parcels from strangers. The threats of terrorism are serious as I found out. So I hailed a taxi to drive me around Penrith. The friendly female taxi driver offered to set up my tent in her backyard in case I would find that the camping was too far walking from Panthers.

As it happened, I found a quiet spot along the river, only 20 minutes walking distance from the tournament.

                  My camping spot near Penrith                                Jean Paul Wallace (the winner) and David Smerdon

                                                                                                        (runner-up and the Steiner medal winner)

                                  The playing hall                                                               Lightning play-off

A social bonus was the discovery that Bill Egan (Canberra) and Ascaro Pecori stayed at the same place, although in some more comfort than myself. Bill very quickly found the nearest Irish pub and introduced Ascaro and me to this relatively unknown but very enjoyable phenomenon (I mean the atmosphere, not so much the Irish beer!). During long talks and analytical sessions, Ascaro gradually opened my eyes showing chess to me in a new light.   

Some other business.

Interesting was my attendance at the annual ACF meeting, where I was one of five representatives of Victora. Good to see from close up how these top administrators work. The current constitution is based on the representation by the states. Who all are fighting hard (for years it seems!) to keep their independance and influence in the ACF. It is ironic that the ACF committee (pushed hard by outgoing president Graeme Gardiner and Vice President Robert Jamieson) has tried for years to change the constitution which was to be based on administrative skills, rather than depending on state representatives. The proposed system was to be more nationally orientated rather than state orientated. After listening for hours to the debates in favour and against, the proposed system made the most sense to me. Especially so, when I realised that the sitting committee members apparently were all (but one) in favour and had spent enormous amounts of time and energy to work it out. They surely must have done it for good reasons, I believed. I was amazed to find that, when it finally came to a vote, NSW turned against the proposal supported by two Victorians. As a result, the motion was rejected in the blink of a eye. Unfortunately, other business turned out to be fairly uninteresting and of little practical relevance, I found.

I met some interesting and friendly people during the tournament and  made a lovely day-trip to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains on the day-off. Compared to Victoria, the NSW trains were very cheap and fantastic value for money. Although I had planned to forget chess for that day, even in Katoomba, I met quite a numbers of chess players, enjoying the scenery, and the coffee and second hand shops.   

My own chess efforts.

A description of my chess exploits during this tournament is more like an exercise in masochism. Why should I expose my terrible shortcomings in chess to anyone but myself? Perhaps just to show other chess bums like myself that they are not alone in playing occasional(?) bad chess. I am sure that others will identify theirs my reaction after discovering my mistakes and blunders that I always believe that I would not repeat these types of blunders never ever again. And only I know that I have made so many in my life by now, that there will be very little to blunder anymore for me! I must have made them all! From now on, I am convinced that I only can improve as a chess player.... That knowledge must be worthwhile sharing with other likeminded strugglers... 

My first round was an easy win against Wendy Smith from Melbourne. Even though I won material very quickly, I decided to make an effort and look for the best moves as an exercise. Although the game was not remarkable by any standard, afterwards we had a most enjoyable chat about Wendy's trip to Europe where she travelled extensively for 6 months on sabbatical leave, even playing in the Linares tournament. We even discussed the world problems, sadly agreeing that George Bush and his American interests are a menace to the world. One doesn't need to have the logic of a chessplayer to realise that their tactics and given reasons don't make sense, and are most 'unfair'. 

      G.Charles-B.van Riel     M. Chambers-B.van Riel    B.van Riel-D.Stojic            A.Safarian-B.van Riel    B.van Riel- M.Dizdarevic

        Diagram 1.         Diagram 2.           Diagram 3.       Diagram 4.            Diagram 5.

     G.Savelieff-B.van Riel                   G.Savelieff-B.van Riel               G.Savelieff-B.van Riel              G.Savelieff-B.van Riel

           Diagram 6.               Diagram 7.             Diagram 8.                  Diagram 9.

In my (second) game against Gareth Charles (white) I was reasonably happy with the Dragon Sicilian, until Gareth unleashed a direct pawn attack, which terrified me so much, that I made mistake after mistake, ruining the position on no time for no real reason. In the position of diagram 1, I had the correct idea of 1...Bf5+ 2.Ka1,.. and I had planned to play gxh5 and Bf5 with a complicated position and chances for both sides. However, I changed my plan suddenly and went under in a few moves: 2....g5 (?!)3.h6, Bh8?? 4.h7+, Kk8 5.Bc5 and black resigned, very ashamed of myself.

My game in round 3 against Sunny Yoon was the only game in the whole tournament which I had played reasonably well. Therefore, I will include the score in full without comments:

Bas van Riel (1810) - Sunny Yoon (1458)
Austr Open Penrith 2003 round 3.
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.N1c3 Nf6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 Be7 9.Bxf6 Bxf6 10.Nc4 Nd4 11.Nd5 Be6 12.Nxf6+ gxf6 13.Ne3 b5 14.c3 Nc6 15.Qd2 Qc7 16.a4 bxa4 17.Rxa4 a5 18.Bb5 Ke7 19.0-0 Qb7 20.Nd5+ Bxd5 21.Qxd5 Rhc8 22.Rd1 Ke8 23.Rc4 Ra6 24.Bxa6 Qxa6 25.Qxd6 Qxc4 26.Qd7+ Kf8 27.Qxc8+ Kg7 28.Qg4+ Kf8 29.Rd6 Qa4 30.h4 1-0

The story repeated itself when another strong player (M.Chambers) was drawn in round 4. I managed to get a reasonable position after the opening, when I overlooked (mind you, after a very long think!) a very simple sequence. In diagram 2, we played 1...d4?,2.axb6, a6 3.e5!, Ne8 4.Bf2, dxc3 4. bxc3, f6 and black had long-term problems with the black squares. Instead, the simple 1...dxe4 (overlooked!) would have created a more balanced position.

When I was 'due' for a win in round 7 (I had 3/6 at that stage), I overlooked a silly pawn grab in the (Benoni) opening. When I got over the shock of this oversight, I noticed  the a tactical possibility (in diagram 3) using threats along the e-file. Why I didn't work it out properly remains a mystery: I should have played 1.Rxe4, Qxe4 2. Ra3! and black is in serious trouble. However, I played 1.Ra3? first and after 1..Rxe12.Nxe1, Bf5 black was able to develop his pieces and capitalised easily on his extra pawn.

After this loss, my game fell apart even more. In diagrams 4 & 5, oddly similar positions occurred, me playing on different sides of the board, though. In diagram 4, I went for the wrong plan via 1...Nc8? (1...Rc8) 2.Be2, Bb5? not only offering a good bishop versus a bad bishop swap, but also loosing a pawn at the end: 3.Nxb5, axb5 4.Qb4 etc.

Also in diagram 5, I chased a phantom believing to win a pawn, but actually wasting a few moves instead: 1. Bxc5?, Qxc5 2. Qe2, Qb4 and only now discovering that black has everything covered.  

In the last round, I tried to have a relaxed and enjoyable game. By then, I had decided that the tournament for me was a write-off. More or less cruising after the opening and a pawn up, I got myself involved in a comedy of errors, all demonstrating a grave lack of judgement. In diagram 6, my position would remain rosy, if I had played 1... Bd6. however, I did play 1..Bb4, whereafter white more or less equalised with 2.Nxb5, Rxb5.

In diagram 7, I played the waste-of-a-move 1...Rf8 and I wrongly thought that I had landed in deep trouble after 2.Bh6, Rd8 3.Qf6, Bf8 4.Bf4, Bg7 5.Bxf6, Qxf6 6.Qxf7, Kh8 7.Bd3, dxe4 8.Rfe1 (diagram 8). I didn't find the easy solution 8....Qf5, but went for 8....Rf8(?) 9.Qd7, e3 10. Qxc6 (diagram 9)...Rc8? instead of 10....Rf2 with possible still decisive advantage for black. Now, I landed in a hole after the logical queen swap with 11. Qe4 etc, and I even managed to loose the game at the end.

Bas van Riel