AUSTRALIAN CHESS FEDERATION
newsletter

Number 09/09A      .....      8 September 2009

President’s Message

After a worryingly long interval, the ACF Council is very pleased to report the resumption of our email newsletter service, thanks to the commitment of well-known ACT player, webmaster, ratings officer and now Newsletter Editor, Ian Rout.

Ian’s primary role is to ensure the impartial presentation and dissemination of information essential for the promotion of significant chess events in Australia.

However, to be fully successful, Ian needs the cooperation of all involved with the organisation of these events. So, any reader who might be involved in the planning of upcoming club, State or other chess happenings of note is urged to ensure that suitable information reaches Ian in time for inclusion in future issues – a schedule for which is published elsewhere in these pages.

The ACF Council would also like to record its gratitude for the work of our previous Editor, Joseph Tanti, whose career path has taken a turn that has made it difficult for him to continue to work for chess in that capacity. On behalf of all who enjoyed and/or benefited from Joe’s efforts, many thanks and very best wishes for the future.

Gary Wastell

President, Australian Chess Federation

Editor’s notes

This is the first issue of the latest incarnation of the ACF Newsletter.

First, on behalf of all readers, thanks to Joe Tanti, the previous Editor.

The primary goal of the newsletter will be to be quick and useful rather than artistic or award-winning. Expect some experimentation in format in the early stages.

The newsletter will be heavily reliant on contributions from readers. Please consider spending a few minutes writing up a report of completed weekenders, or a notice of coming events. Considering the amount of time spent on organising and running tournaments a little extra to promote the event should be well worth the investment. State associations or other bodies may wish to submit regular or occasional round-ups of events in their jurisdiction.

Table of Contents

Notices

Major Events
Tournaments

Overseas Tournaments and News

Ratings

Membership Scheme Proposal (Peter Parr)

Letters to the Editor

State News

Tournament Reports

Games

Sundries / Late News

Issues will be scheduled for delivery on the second Tuesday of the month and, if material permits, the fourth. (However there will be no second issue in September 2009 as I will be away.) One-off issues may be produced as required.

The deadline for each issue will be the Friday prior to publication. Submissions should be in a form that can be copied and pasted, to save time and prevent errors in re-keying. The address for all correspondence is auschessnews@gmail.com

To subscribe to the newsletter follow the instructions at the ACF page

You may notice that there is no advertising in this issue. ACF wishes to appoint an Advertising Manager to earn some revenue for chess without distracting the Editor from the core business of the newsletter. Anyone interested in helping out with this should contact their favourite ACF Councillor.

Note that in this newsletter external links are in grey and links to elsewhere in the newsletter, including back to the Table of Contents, are in blue.

Although there has been some testing on various mail systems and computers these are necessarily a small segment of the range. I expect that the newsletter will be at least readable, even if not quite appearing as intended, to most people, but please advise if there are major problems.

Ian Rout

Editor

2009 Commonwealth Championships Open-Age Selections

The 2009 Commonwealth Open Championships will be held from 9-15 December in Singapore.  A PDF giving event details is available on request. 

The event is conducted in a Commonwealth Open section and also in U20, U16 and U12 sections.  Junior selections have been conducted separately.

Australia is entitled to nominate one entrant (of any age) in the open section who shall receive a twin-share room and breakfast. 

Australia is also allowed to nominate one entrant with a FIDE rating under 2200 to enter the Commonwealth Open, which is otherwise limited to players over 2200 FIDE.  Being nominated as this entrant does not entail any other benefits.

Applications for these two positions are now open, and close on Monday, 21 September.  It is expected that the selected players will be advised and announced not later than 9 October.

Applicants for selection as Australian representatives must email the Selections Director, Kevin Bonham, at k_bonham@tassie.net.au by 21 September, advising that they wish to apply.  Players who have not applied to represent Australia in an adult event before must supply all applicable details in section 5.4 of the ACF selection by-laws link

Players who have applied before do not need to supply these details but must ensure that they advise of any recent change of details, especially of address, email address and phone number.

Players may supply a list or summary of their tournament results over the previous two years (noting that the selection panel will be supplied with results of ACF-rated events in this period), and may also supply up to 400 words of comment in support of their application.  As the timeframe for selections is somewhat tight, it is possible the quick selection method (average of FIDE/ACF ratings) will be used instead of the panel method, but at this stage it is expected that the latter will be used. 

If an application is not acknowledged within seven days, please call 0421 428 775.  Applicants are required to retain a copy of their email applying for selection.  Claims for late application on the grounds of email delivery problems will not be accepted unless accompanied by a copy of the original email and a letter from the applicant's ISP confirming that the email was sent before the deadline.

Kevin Bonham

ACF Selections Director

2010 Olympiad: Activity Requirement and Application Deadline

The 2010 FIDE Olympiad will be held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from 19 Sep to 1 Oct 2010.

I am writing to advise strong players intending to apply for the Olympiad teams for Australia for 2010 of the expected date on which applications for selection will close. This will have a bearing on any intending applicants who are short of game practice and need to get rated games played by that deadline to meet the 20 games rule. 

The intended selection deadline is Wednesday 28 April. If any change to this is expected I will notify it to all sources where this notice has been published, but I do not expect it to change.

The 20 games rule requires each applicant for the Olympiad to have played 20 rated games in the previous year by the selection deadline (ie 28 April 2009 - 28 April 2010). The definition of a rated game includes any game rated by the ACF and/or FIDE that is not a rapid play game. A game rated by another federation (eg BCF) will also count where requested, provided that an adequate formula for converting that federation's ratings to either ACF or FIDE ratings exists. Of course, any game can only be counted once.

Prospective applicants are advised that some selectors believe applicants should play substantially more than 20 games in a year, and some selectors may rank applicants conservatively if they consider that the player has not played enough games to adequately demonstrate their current playing strength.

I expect to declare applications open around the start of February.

Kevin Bonham

ACF Selections Director

11th World University Championships -
Seeking Informal Expressions Of Interest 

The 11th World University Championships will be held in Zurich, Switzerland from 5-12 September 2010, just prior to the Olympiad. (See http://www.wucc2010.ch/)  It is an individual tournament for which a team ranking is computed. 

Australia is entitled to be represented by between three and eight players, which must include at least one and not more than five players of each gender.  Participants must be born between January 1st, 1982 and December 31st, 1992.  It appears that it is not required that all participants be from the same university.

A preliminary expression of interest in representing Australia has been received from Australian National University (ANU) including four male and one female players. 

Preliminary informal expressions of interest are now sought from others who expect to be enrolled at an Australian university in 2010 and are potentially interested in competing.  Expressions of interest may be submitted by groups from a particular university, or by individuals. On this basis, the ACF may decide to conduct a selections process if it appears likely that one will be required.

Informal expressions of interest are sought with a deadline of 1 October to permit the ACF to make a decision on this matter, and should be emailed to k_bonham@tassie.net.au.  No information other than the names, universities and email addresses of potentially interested players is required.

Kevin Bonham

ACF Selections Director

2010 Australian Chess Championship

Venue: Norths, 12 Abbott Street, Cammeray, NSW.

2^nd to 13^th January 2010 plus various supporting events. More information at the official site
http://www.australianchesschampionship.com/

2010 Australian Junior Chess Championships

(the following extracted from various sources)

The Tasmanian Chess Association will be hosting the Australian Junior 2010 in Hobart on behalf of the Australian Junior Chess League. This will be the first time the full Australian Junior has been held in the state for 35 years!

Dates: January 14^th to 25^th 2010.

Venue: The Hutchins School, Sandy Bay, Hobart. One of Tasmania's leading private schools.

Organisers: The main organisers are Russell Horton (TCA Junior Chess Officer), Mellissa Harvey (Hobart International Junior Chess Club) and Kevin Bonham (TCA Secretary/ACF Vice-President). Russell and Mellissa are very hardworking people who have done a great deal for Tasmanian junior chess in recent years.

Arbiters: I am pleased to announce that very experienced and highly respected arbiters of several past Australian Juniors, IA Charles Zworestine and IA Roland Eime, have agreed to act as arbiters for this event.

Social events: We will be aiming to provide various social events for players and parents to make the event as friendly and enjoyable as possible and give parents more options for things to do while the tournament is on.

More information at the official site
http://www.chesstasmania.org.au/AJCC/index.html

Australian Primary and Secondary Schools
Chess Teams Finals 2009

Australian Primary and Secondary Schools Chess Finals 2009

The Australian Junior Chess League (AJCL) is delighted to announce that the Australian Primary and Secondary Schools Chess Team Finals 2009 will be held at Scotch College, Hawthorn, Victoria on December 5 and 6, 2009. The venue will be the Cardinal Pavilion.

The AJCL would like to thank Scotch College for kindly agreeing to hosting this prestigious event, which will have the best primary girls and open, and secondary girls and open teams from each Australian state competing for the national titles.

A website is currently under construction. The website will include information on:

.  accommodation suggestions
.  map of Scotch and how to get to the Cardinal Pavilion
.  allergy policy
.  forms (that need to be completed)
.  how to get to Scotch by public transport
.  participants' names
.  results (which will be populated once they are known)
.  sponsorship
.  taxi telephone numbers
.  things not to bring to the competition (such as nuts)
.  timetable

Kerry Lyall
Junior Development Officer
and organiser of the
2009 Australian Primary and Secondary Schools Chess Finals

For more information see link

2010 Sydney International Open

The 2010 edition of this tournament is in doubt due to the expiry of sponsorship from the Pratt Foundation. In addition to the search for new sponsors a number of individuals have donated $100 to the tournament fund.

Prospective sponsors should contact Brian Jones of ACE, or donations can be made here. A decision will be made on 1 October whether to go ahead with the tournament. 

Alexei Shirov at Surfers Paradise

Alexei Shirov (world number 18 on the latest list and recent winner of the MTel tournament in Bulgaria) will be attending the Bendigo Surfers Paradise Open (Sep 26-27) organised by the Kings of Chess. GM Shirov will play a 25-board simul on the Saturday evening.

Recent weekend results

Hobart Weekender (Aug 15-16) Tony Dowden and Kevin Bonham tied on 5.5/6, drawing with each other in Round 5. (25 players)

North Queensland Open, Townsville (Aug 15-16) Nizami Ouswand 6/7 won from Bero Sculac 5. (11 players)

Bundaberg Open (Aug 1-2) IM Stephen Solomon made 6/6 with John Harris 4.5. (16 players) 

ANU Open, Canberra (Jul 26-27) GM David Smerdon 6/7 won by half a point from Junta Ikeda, with Max Illingworth, Zachary Searle, Yi Yuan and FM Endre Ambrus equal third. (34 players)

ANU Minor Ethan Derwent, Josh Bishop and Joe Marks tied for first on 6/7. (45 players)

Geelong Open (18-19 Jul) IM Leonid Sandler and Bobby Cheng tied on 5/6, drawing with each other, with Laurence Matheson and Milenko Lojanica 4.5. (36 players) report

Coffs Harbour Open (18-19 Jul) GM Zong-Yuan Zhao scored 7/7 with David Lovejoy, who wins the title of NSW Country Champion, and Mike Duffin on 5.

Freytag Checkmate, Adelaide (4-5 Jul) GM David Smerdon won on 6/7 from IM James Morris 5.5, with Trevor Tao, Yi Yuan and GM Darryl Johansen equal third. (39 players)

Freytag U1600 Howard Duggan won on 6/7 from Pavel Turcaj and Malcolm Borg 6. (45 players)

Coming Grand prix events

Sep 12-13 Blayney Open, Blayney, NSW link

Sep 19-20 Nell Van De Graaff Classic, Gold Coast, Qld link

Sep 26-27 Bendigo Surfers Paradise Open, Gold Coast, Qld link

Oct 3-5 Ryde-Eastwood Open, Sydney, NSW link

Oct 3-4 The Croydon Anand, Melbourne, Vic link

Oct 3-4 Labour Day Weekender, Adelaide, SA link

Oct 10-11 Willetton Open, Perth, WA link

Oct 10-11 Wendy Terry Memorial, Brisbane, Qld link

Oct 24-25 Burnie Shines Weekender, Burnie, Tas link

Oct 30–Nov 3 Melbourne Cup Weekender, Melbourne Vic link

Oct 31–Nov 1 Gosford Open, Gosford, NSW link

Full GP calendar: link

Other tournaments

Vladimir Smirnov is seeking expression of interest in an Australian Young Masters probably from 7 to 11 October - see link

The Elwood Open has been cancelled but chess will still be running on the Melbourne Cup long long weekend with Melbourne Chess Club hosting the MCC Cup Weekender at its Fitzroy premises. Note that due to space limitations there will be a maximum of 100 entries. The club has also revamped its web site – see link

Box Hill Open Box Hill CC; from 11 September link contact

Lexus of Blackburn Victorian Championship and Reserves
     Elwood, Box Hill and MCC; from 10 October link contact

Melbourne CC Allegro Ch MCC; from 21 November 2009 link contact

Phoenix Invitational MCC; dates tba link contact

More tournament information in State News

Malaysian Open (21-28 Aug) A number of Australians participated in the 6th Dato' Arthur Tan Malaysian Open. Best of the Australian scores was was 5/9 by  FM Igor Goldenberg and Domagoj Dragicevic, with Steven Reilly. Phachara Wongwichit, FM Brian Jones, Sam Grigg and Justin Tan 3½, and Emma Guo 3. GM Parimarjan Negi (Ind) was the winner on tie-break from IM Ronald Dableo (Phi).

South African Open (3-11 Jul) GM Gawain Jones (Eng), IM Puchen Wang (NZ) and IM Mirko Rujevic (Aus) participated in this 200-player event, won by IM A. Simutowe (Zim), via the Internet from Melbourne, supervised by IA Gary Bekker. Despite the handicap of playing in the early hours of the morning they scored 9/11 (2^nd), 8.5 (=3^rd) and 7.5 (=16th) respectively.

Chess Enterprises NZ sponsored what they billed as the Australasian Match of the Decade  (1 - 6 Aug) between GM David Smerdon and IM Puchen Wang. The Australian won the first and last games with four draws in between for an overall 4-2 victory.

British Championship (27 Jul-7 Aug) IM Gary Lane and recent Australian visitor GM Gawain Jones participated in this event. Jones challenged for the lead most of the way before slipping to =7^th, on the same score (7/11) as Lane who drew with tournament winner GM David Howell on top board in the last round.

Jermuk, Armenia (9-23 Aug) The fifth leg of the FIDE Grand Prix was won by Vasilly Ivanchuk (Ukr) from Lev Aronian (Arm) and Boris Gelfand (Isr).

Peter Parr reports in his SMH column that IM Alex Wohl has been playing in the Arctic Chess Challenge (Tromso, Norway) and in Dieren, Holland, narrowly missing a GM norm in the latter.

Russia v China (August) Russia scored a 130.5-119.5 in a match featuring teams of five men and five women covering long, rapid and blitz time limits.

Staunton Memorial (August) This tournament was staged as a Scheveningen match between England and Holland, the former represented by Adams, Short, McShane, Howell and Jones winning 26.3-23.5 mainly due to Nigel Short’s 8/10.

GM Vladimir Tkachiev, who was forfeited when he arrived late to a crucial last-round game for France at the Dresden Olympiad, created headlines around the world when he turned up drunk for a game at the Kolkota Open last week. He was unable to stay awake and the game was ultimately awarded to his opponent, presumably on time. Tkachiev was permitted to continue in the tournament which at this time is still in progress.

For chess tourists

The ACF receives information about a wide variety of chess happenings in other parts of the world, and it is sometimes difficult to rank the likely levels of interest among Australian players. The following is a summary of events about which information has been received in recent times. In some cases, additional information may be obtained by contacting the Editor or ACF Councillor for your State Association.

The date listed is the start date, see the link for the full schedule.

Malbork Castle International: 25 Sep 2009, Malbork, Poland http://skoraf.republika.pl/index.html

Mundial International Online Advanced: 5 Oct 2009, Internet on-line very long link

World Junior Chamionships: 21 Oct 2009, Buenos Aires, Argentina very long link

Asian Indoor Games: 30 Oct 2009, Quang Ninh, Vietnam http://www.ocasia.org/Game/GameParticular.aspx?GPCode=34

World Youth Championships: 11 Nov 2009, Kemer-Antalya, Turkey http://wycc2009.tsf.org.tr/

World University Chess Ch 2010: 4 Sep 2010, Universitätsstrasse, Zurich, Switzerland http://wycc2009.tsf.org.tr/

ACF September ratings

The ACF rating list was issued on 1 September.

GM Zong-Yuan Zhao heads the list. Top ten “reliable” ratings:

Top rated woman is WIM Ariane Caoili (Qld) 2186 from Giang Nguyen (SA) 2101 and IM Berezina-Feldman (NSW) 2095. Junta Ikeda (ACT) 2310 is the top junior (U/18) and Emma Guo (ACT) 1800 the top girl.

The biggest improvers were Glen Qi (ACT) up 291 to 780, Adam Hayman (Vic) up 249 to 1327 and Daniel Lapitan (Qld) up 188 to 1475.

For more information see the ACF ratings page.

FIDE September ratings

FIDE ratings have now changed to being issued every two months (previously quarterly). Leading players on the September list are Topalov (Bulgaria) 2813, Anand (India) 2788 and Aronian (Armenia) 2773.

For the FIDE ratings site see link

Leading Australians on the active list:

For more on regional ratings see the Oceania chess page.

A.C.T.

The ACT Championship commenced at Tuggeranong Vikings on Friday 4^th September. The event runs for nine rounds.

Latest club tournament winners:

ANU Winter Swiss: Jeremy Reading

Brindabella Snows (Tuggeranong): Allen Setiabudi

Cold Comfort Cup (Canberra): Stephen Bartlett

Murphy Memorial (Belconnen): Milan Grcic and Mosaddeque Ali

Age group Championships have been concluded with the following winners:

U/14  Jake McCook

U/12  Yijun Zhang

U/10  Ethan Derwent

U/8    Glen Qi

The 2009 AGM re-elected Stephen Mugford as President and also re-elected all other office-bearers. The meeting resolved to increase membership fees to $25 (concessions $15) from 2010.

State associations are invited to submit regular round-ups for inclusion, as are clubs and other bodies.

State pages (links)

New South Wales

Victoria

Queensland

Western Australia

South Australia

Tasmania

Australian Capital Territory

Other state news (various sources)

Integra NSW State Championship and Reserves organised by Greg Canfell will run from 23 September – 25 November at the Sydney Academy of Chess in Burwood. More information at link

2009 Lexus of Blackburn Victorian Championship and Reserves is being played at various venues from 10^th October to 15^th November. More information at link

2009 Queensland Championship is in progress at Inala (concludes 8^th November). More information at link

2009 WA Closed Championship is in progress at South Perth (concludes 6^th September). More information at link

Discussion paper on a proposed ACF and State basic membership and rating fees.

Aim: The aim of this discussion paper is to

a) introduce the basic calendar year state and ACF membership fee of $10 (this already applies to every NSW player who plays any classical rated game).

b) distribute the ACF rating fees two thirds to state association and one third to ACF. The result would be that all seven state associations will be financially better off and have more members.

The ACF will have a large basic membership structure but will receive less from rating fees. This system would I believe be very beneficial to the entire Australian Chess community.

From September 1 2009 the FIDE rating list went down to 1200 and will later go down to 1000. Australian chess players will want more and more events FIDE rated as the list has dropped from a low of 2200 to 1200.

ACF - The ACF members are currently 7 States plus hon life members. No individual can join the ACF. Australian chess history shows the difficulty the ACF has had in the past to have an ACF individual membership scheme.

Firstly it is highly desirable for many reasons. I attended the ACF
Presidents meetings over a long weekend in Sydney in the early 1970's. Each President had differing views but a $1 per year ACF membership scheme was established and a $40 life membership. It was not successful – especially after the box of index cards with the life members was lost forever many years later. The ACF struggled with little funds over many years. The 40 page ACF Financial Statement passed from Sydney (Wallman, Jones, DeBoer) to Jamieson in Melbourne revealed an ACF  balance of $ 0.  Steady progress over a number of years followed. The seven state associations and every person who has played a tournament game (thousands) have all generously supported the Australian Chess Federation. In recent years the ACF has I understand now accumulated a bank balance of about $80,000. 

This is of course a very unofficial figure and is based only on a number of unofficial but informed sources. The ACF is an administrative body and does not itself pay rent or organize events (-delegated to State Associations) so has little overheads apart from some FIDE fees. The ACF income is 60 cents
per game for every classical game of chess played in every state ($14456.40 for the last 12 months). The State Associations process the results. ACF sends the invoices to every state and receives 100% of the rating fees. The state associations receive $0  provided they are paid by every single club for their rating fees. Any toxic debt(unpaid rating fees) is  paid by the state or if a state treasurer is not 100% efficient the state association will lose money on the ratings. All state auditors should advise treasurers of toxic debt. Suppose your local senior bank manager and well trusted chess champion Madoff ran a very successful Ponzi Open tournament and had 200 players x 11 rounds. The state processes the results, ACF receives from the State 1100 x 60c= $660. State invoices Madoff who has gone broke. State left with toxic debt of $660.

While the ACF income is very steady and all players topping up the bank balance with every game the state associations are less well off. The annual membership fee charged by states varies from about $ 50 to $ 0 per year. Koshnitsky and C.Purdy both told me how bad it was that one year a state would have a membership of say $30 a year, then an AGM with only a handful of votes changed it to $10 amended to $5 resulting in few office-bearers,no money and no structure. 

A few years ago the NSWCA AGM introduced an associate member (as well as a full member). I considered it of the utmost importance that every person playing chess and getting their games rated must be a member of some description. Why should any state process a rapid tournament (no charge by ACF or State) and give rating services for free for non-members. The AGM was well attended by a good cross-section of the community and an associate membership started (later down-graded in description- same $10 fee to rating services only).  NSW has a full membership fee structure for all events and a basic $10 fee for all others. Every player in every club in NSW who has a rated game pays $10 minimum. The scheme works very well. 2009 membership is very good.

My proposal would extend this to all players in all states. WA, QLD, ACT all have membership schemes. Some states may not have membership schemes.

Victoria is a very active state. If it receives 40c (ACF 20c instead of ACF 60c) per game for every game rated in Victoria and pays ACF $5 per person membership Victoria would be better off financially.

In NSW if the Sydney Championship or NSW Championship is held all players must be full NSWCA members. In NSW when a major club has over 80 players in a FIDE rated event (cheaper to rate than many 10 player round robins! - ask Greg Canfell FIDE ratings officer) full NSWCA membership is not required only the rated player fee.

If NSWCA runs a FIDE rated June weekender all NSW players must be full NSW members, all interstate must be endorsed by their state association. This is another problem. If a player is from a state with no membership fee they can play - unfair on NSW members but more importantly member of nothing. Players should also be members of the State Association in which they reside. A player may sometimes play in another state and pay a lesser fee to enter a tournament or many times I see players tick the member box when they are not
a member.

ACF Membership Scheme Proposal by Peter Parr (OAM). ACF Hon Life Member. 

In the interests of the entire chess community in Australia I ask all
players, State Officials and ACF Officials to co-operate to make the
proposed ACF membership scheme work for everyone.

1 The Australian Chess Federation and State Associations will only rate classical games if both players of the game are basic or full members of the State Association in which they reside.

2 The basic membership fee in all states is $10 ($5 for juniors under 18 if not a member of their junior league). The player will be a basic member of the Australian Chess Federation and a basic member of their State Association for rating purposes only for the calendar year. Enquire with your state for full membership which may be required for major events.3 The ACF and States will regularly update their websites with members lists.

4 All organizers to ensure all players are at least basic members and send the fees to their state association. 

5 The State Association pays to the ACF 50% of the basic member fee.

6 The ACF rating fee remains at 30c per player per game. The ACF keeps 10c per player per game and gives 20c per player per game to the State Associations.

7 All events that are FIDE and ACF rated to pay the full FIDE rating fees but will receive a 50% discount on ACF rating fees.

The effect it will have:

The ACF has no extra work. The ACF income increases $5 (membership)for every player who plays a rated game in the whole of Australia.  ACF income $5 x about 1400-probably quite a lot more = $7000

The ACF income decreases to 20c per player per game.(24094 games last year - ACF income at 60c a game $14456, at 20c a game $4814 income) I estimate these two factors will lead to a decrease in income for the ACF of about $3000 in the first year.  ACF income is also boosted by interest on a large credit balance (about $80,000) with higher interest rates. After one year the total ACF balance including interest would remain at about $80,000 (if
this figure is correct).

The bottom line is the ACF has been doing very well financially in recent years with few overheads and 100% of rating fees. It is in my opinion very good that the ACF has a very healthy bank balance (States should know the ACF overall financial position). I would be very much against spending these funds. The ACF needs to build up its structure which in turn builds up the number of players etc.
  
NSWCA has about 460 members (including upgrade rating title to basic member). NSWCA pays under the new proposal ACF 460 x $5 for memberships and receives 40c per player per game.

The same structure applies for all states. All States will be better off
financially as the income from ratings(currently $0 in all states) will be higher than memberships paid to ACF.  States without membership fees who may be struggling will find players agree to pay only $10 per year for basic membership of ACF and State - it is such a small amount for 12 months – and the state keeps $5 and you get back 40c per player from every game in every rated event in your state.

Currently if a state rates 1000, 5000 or 20,000 games the ACF receives 60c for every game from the state - the more work the state does the more the ACF gains. The state only breaks even only if it recovers 60c from every single game state wide. Clearly rating games is a financial liability for states. In the new system the state receives 40c (ACF 20c) for every game rated by the state. The more games played the more work for the state and the more income for the state.

The similar basic membership fee for the English Chess Federation from 1 September 2009 is 11 pounds ($25).

I find it disturbing that 75% of the NSWCA executive are also on the ACF executive. A NSWCA block vote on any matter concerning the ACF is a very high overall percentage. When the highest/second highest ranking executive is the same person on ACF and NSWCA with a very strong personality his/her opinion seriously undermines the principles of our democracy.  

Finally - Regular Federal Government Funding again will be possible. The first question ACF is asked is how many members do you have?

Peter Parr (OAM) 
Hon Life Member ACF , Hon Life Member NSWCA

From: Matt Sweeney

Dear Editor,

With any luck, the whole ACF executive will give each other HIV/AIDS. Unfortunately they are all too Aspergers to develop a relationship with something more animate than a sticky keyboard. Let us hope that the manifestly luckless Australian chess community can at least recognise the ACF executive for the

cadavers swinging in the breeze they are, and cremates them with a large pyre and a small box of matches.

Matt Sweeney

Ed: Views expressed in letters to the Editor are not necessarily those of the Australian Chess Federation.

Geelong Open (by Gary Bekker)

The Geelong Open attracted 36 entrants, including 2 IMs and several recent strong arrivals from overseas.

Most of the top seeds won their round one games except for Milenko Lojanica who was lucky to escape with a draw against Roland Brockman.

In round two Dusan Stojic settled for a quick draw with his brother Svetozar, Bobby Cheng missed some chances in time trouble and had a lengthy draw with Richard Voon, and junior star Laurence Matheson drew with former Iraqi Olympiad team member FM Abdulwahab Rashid.

In round three, top seed IM Leonid Sandler allowed his king to become exposed to checks and was unable to convert his advantage against David Hacche. Newly crowned IM James Morris steadily applied pressure to defeat Mehmedalija Dizdarevic.

This set up a highly-anticipated encounter between the two IMs on top board in round four. Without knowing it, IM James Morris transposed into a position reached by GM Utut Adianto against Sandler at the Asian Zonal Championships in 1995, and later by Tim Reilly against Sandler at the Black Opal Masters in 2002. In both those games, Sandler played 11...Be6 and after Nxe6 fxe6 Bh3, Black had problems defending the e6 pawn. Sandler improved with 11...Re8 and a few moves later Morris blundered a piece by capturing a hot pawn with 14.Nxd5?? After exchanges on d5, Morris

later realised that his expected continuation 16.Qxe8 loses to 16...Bh3 threatening mate and winning his queen. He instead struggled on a piece down before resigning a few moves later. Bobby Cheng and David Hacche both won their games, against Milenko Lojanica and Geoffrey Gill (NZL), to join Sandler in the lead.

In round five, IM Leonid Sandler was comfortably held to a draw Bobby Cheng, and IM James Morris quickly destroyed David Hacche's Sicilian with the fashionable Grand Prix Attack. Svetozar Stojic beat Dizdarevic to join the leaders.

In the final round, IM Leonid Sandler beat Svetozar Stojic and Bobby Cheng played a good game to defeat IM James Morris, and finish joint winners of the event. Laurence Matheson defeated Hamish Glen (SCO) and Milenko Lojanica won quickly against Geelong Champion Michael Sugrue  to finish equal second.

Many thanks to Mario Zoppi and the Geelong Chess Club for hosting the event and those who helped enter games into ChessBase for publication

Leading scores :

5  Sandler, Leonid; Cheng, Bobby

4.5  Matheson, Laurence; Lojanica, Milenko          

4  Morris, James; Stojic, Svetozar; Rashid, Abdulwahab;
Hacche, David; Stojic, Dusan   

3.5  Dizdarevic, Mehmedalija; Babic, Zoran; Sugrue, Michael;
Tan, Justin; Gill, Geoffrey; Glen, Hamish; Chua, Manny

Ninchich,M (1622) – Reading,J (1762) [D34]

ANU Open (2), 25.07.2009

1.e4 g6 2.d4 c6 3.c3 Bg7 4.Nf3 d6 5.Bc4 Nf6 6.Nbd2 O-O 7.Bb3 Nbd7 8.O-O e5 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.Re1 Qc7 11.Nf1 Nc5 12.Bc2 Be6 13.b3 Rad8 14.Qe2 Rfe8 15.Bb2 Nh5 16.Red1 Nf4 17.Qe3 b6 18.b4 Bh6 19.Kh1 Ncd3 20.Bxd3 Nxd3 21. Qe2 Bc4 22.Qc2 Rd7 23.Ne3 Bxe3 24.fxe3 Red8 25.Rd2 f6 26.Kg1 Rd6 27.Ba3 b5 28.Rad1 Qd7 29.h3 Qb7 30.Bc1 Qb6 31.Kh2 Qc7 32.Kg1 g5 33.g3 Qf7 34. Ne1 Nxe1 35.Rxe1 Rxd2 36.Bxd2 Bd3 37.Qb3 Bc4 38.Qb2 Qd7 39.Bc1 Qxh3 40. Qf2 Qe6 41.Bd2 Bd3 42.a4 Bxe4 43.axb5 cxb5 44.Ra1 a6 45.Be1 g4 46.Ra2 f5 47.Rd2 Bd5 48.Qh2 Rf8 49.Qh4 Be4 50.Rh2 Qg6 51.Qe7 Re8 52.Qd7 h5 53.Rd2 Qe6 54.Qc7 Bd5 55.Qc5 Rd8 56.e4 fxe4 57.Bf2 Qd6 58.Qe3 Qe7 59.Qh6 Bf7 60. Bc5

60...e3 61.Bxe7 [White draws with 61.Rd5 (or d3 or d4 are OK) Rxd5 62.Bxe7 Rd1+ (but not 62...e2 63.Qf8+ Kh7 64.Qxf7+ and White mates eventually) 63.Kh2 Rd2+ 64.Kg1 Rd1+] 61...exd2 62.Qg5+ Kh7 63.Bxd8 d1=Q+ 64.Kf2 Qf3+ 65.Ke1 Qxc3+ 66.Qd2 Qxd2+ 67.Kxd2 Kg6 68.Kd3 Kf5 69.Ke3 Bg6 70.Kd3 Ke6+ 71.Ke3 Kd5 72.Be7 h4 73.gxh4 Bh5 74.Bc5 Ke6 75.Kf2 Kf5 76.Ke2 g3+ 77.Ke1 Kg4 78.Ke2 Kxh4+ 79.Ke3 Kg5 80.Kd3 Kf4 81.Bg1 Bf7 82.Ke2 Bd5 83.Ke1 g2 84.Ke2 Kg3 85.Ke3 Kh3 86.Kd2 Bf3 87.Ke3 e4 88.Kf4 Kh4 89.Ke3 Kg3 90.Kd2 Kf4 91.Kc3 Ke5 92. Kd2 Kd5 93.Kc3 Kc6 94.Be3 a5 95.bxa5 Kb7 96.Kb4 Ka6 97.Kc3 Kxa5 98.Kb2 Kb4 99.Kc1 Kc4 100.Kb2 Kd3 0-1

Morris,J (2089) - Sandler,L (2228) [D34]

Geelong Open (4), 19.07.2009

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.d4 c5 4.Nc3 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.g3 Nc6 7.Bg2 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Bg5 cxd4 10.Nxd4 h6 11.Be3 Re8 12.Rc1 Bf8 13.Qa4 Na5

14.Nxd5 Nxd5 15.Bxd5 Qxd5 16.Rfd1 [16.Qxe8 Bh3] 16...Bd7 17.Nf3 Bxa4 18.Rxd5 b6 19.b4 Nc6 20.b5 Nb4 21.Rd2 Bxb5 22.Rb1 Ba6 0-1

Cheng,B (2130) - Morris,J (2089) [E10]

Geelong Open (6), 19.07.2009

 1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 b5 5.Bg5 bxc4 6.e4 Qb6 7.Qc2 exd5 8.exd5 Be7 9.Bxc4 0-0 10.0-0 Na6 11.Re1 Bd8 12.d6 Bb7 13.Ne5 Qxd6 14.Nc3 Nb4 15.Qb3 Ng4 16.Nxg4 Bxg5 17.Ne5 Bf4 18.Nxf7 Qf6 19.g3 Bd2 20.Red1 Bxc3

21.Rd6 Qe7 22.Rxd7 Qf6 23.bxc3 Ba6 24.Bxa6 Nxa6 25.Qd5 Rab8 26.Ne5+ Kh8 27.f4 h6 28.Rd6 Nc7 29.Rxf6 Nxd5 30.Rxf8+ Rxf8 31.Ng6+ Kg8 32.Nxf8 Kxf8 33.c4 Nb6 34.Rc1 Ke7 35.Kf2 Ke6 36.Kf3 Nc8 37.Re1+ Kd6 38.Ke4 Ne7 39.Rd1+ Ke6 40.g4 1-0

Stojic,S (1908) - Sandler,L (2228) [B85]

Geelong Open (6), 19.07.2009

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be2 Nf6 7.Be3 a6 8.0-0 Be7 9.Kh1 0-0 10.f4 d6 11.Bf3 Re8 12.g4 Bf8 13.g5 Nd7 14.Bg2 Nxd4 15.Bxd4 b5 16.f5 Ne5 17.Qe1 Bb7 18.Qg3 b4 19.Na4 Bc6 20.Nb6 Rab8 21.Qf2 exf5 22.exf5 Bxg2+ 23.Kxg2 Ng4 24.Qd2 Rxb6 25.Bxb6 Qxb6 26.Rf4 Qc6+ 27.Kg3 Ne5 28.Raf1 a5 29.h4 Nc4 30.Qd4 d5 31.R4f3 Bc5 32.Qg4 Ne3 33.Qh5 Nxf1+ 34.Rxf1 Bd6+ 35.Kg2 Qxc2+ 36.Rf2 Qe4+ 37.Kg1 Bc5 0-1

Sandler,L (2228) - Cheng,B (2130) [D38]

Geelong Open (5), 19.07.2009

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.cxd5 exd5 7.e3 c5 8.Bxf6 Nxf6 9.Bb5+ Bd7 10.Bxd7+ Qxd7 11.0-0 Bxc3 12.bxc3 0-0 13.Rb1 b6 14.Qe2 Qc7 15.Rfc1 Rac8 16.dxc5 Qxc5 17.h3 Ne4 18.Rb3 b5 19.Nd2 Nd6 20.Ra1 Rfe8 21.Qd3 Qc6 22.Nf3 a6 23.Rd1 Ne4 24.Qxd5 Qxd5 25.Rxd5 Rxc3 26.Rxc3 Nxc3 27.Rd2 g6 28.Nd4 Rc8 29.Rc2 b4 30.Kf1 Rc5 31.Nb3 Rd5 32.f3 a5 33.Nd4 a4 34.a3 Nb5 35.axb4 Nxd4 36.exd4 Rxd4 37.b5

½-½

Diagrams by http://www.chessvideos.tv/

Morris,J (2089) - Hacche,D (2043) [B23]

Geelong Open (5), 19.07.2009

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.f4 e6 4.Bc4 Be7 5.Nf3 a6 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 b4 8.Ne2 Nf6 9.0-0 Bb7 10.Qe1 a5 11.a4 bxa3 12.bxa3 d5 13.e5 Nfd7 14.Qg3 g6 15.Rb1 Qc7 16.f5 a4

17.fxe6 fxe6 18.Ba2 0-0 19.Nf4 Rxf4 20.Bxf4 Nf8 21.Bh6 Nc6 22.Ng5 Nd4 23.Rf7 Nf5 24.Qh3 Nxh6 [24...Qd8 25.Qxf5 gxf5 26.Rg7+ Kh8 27.Nf7#] 25.Qxh6 Bxg5 26.Qg7# 1-0

Voon,R (1861) - Cheng,B (2130) [D32]

Geelong Open (2), 18.07.2009

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.d4 Nc6 6.e3 Nf6 7.Be2 Be6 8.0–0 a6 9.a4 Bd6 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Nd4 0–0 12.Bf3 Ne5 13.Be2 Rc8 14.h3 Re8 15.Bd2 Nc6 16.Bc1 Qb6 17.Nb3 Bd6 18.Nd4 Bb8 19.Nxe6 fxe6 20.Ra3 Rcd8 21.Bd3 e5 22.Bc2 e4 23.Bb3 Qc7 24.g3 Re5 25.Kg2 Kh8 26.Ne2 Nh5 27.Nf4 Nxf4+ 28.exf4 Re7 29.Qh5 d4 30.Ba2 Ba7 31.Bd2 Qb6 32.Rb3 Qc5 33.Qxc5 Bxc5 34.Rc1 e3 35.Rxc5 exd2 36.Rd3 Nb4 37.Rxd2 Nxa2 38.b3 b6 39.Rc6 Nb4 40.Rxb6 a5 41.Rxd4 Ra8 42.Rbd6 Kg8 43.Rd8+ Rxd8 44.Rxd8+ Kf7 45.Ra8 Nc6 46.Ra6 Rc7 47.g4 Ke6 48.Rb6 Kd5 49.Rb5+ Kd6 50.h4 Re7 51.h5 h6 52.Kg3 Re4 53.Rb7 Re7 54.Rb5 Kc7 55.g5 Re4 56.Rf5 Kd6 57.Kg4 hxg5 58.Kxg5 Rb4 59.Rf7 Nd8 60.Ra7 Ne6+ 61.Kg6 Rxf4 62.Rxa5 Rf6+ 63.Kh7 Rxf2

64.Rb5 Ke7 65.a5 Ra2 66.b4 Kf6 67.Rb6 Rd2 68.a6 Rd7 69.Rb8 Kf7 70.b5 Nc7 71.Rb7 Kf8 72.a7 Rd6 73.a8Q+ Nxa8 74.Rb8+ Kf7 75.Rb7+ Kf6 76.Rxg7 Rd5 77.Rg6+ Kf7 78.Rg7+ ½–½

Bonham,K (1878) – Dowden,T (1963) [A10]

Hobart Weekender (5), 16.08.2009

1.Nf3 e6 2.g3 f5 3.c4 Nf6 4.d3 d6 5.Nc3 Be7 6.Bg2 0–0 7.0–0 c6 8.Re1 Na6 9.a3 Nc7 10.Qc2 Qe8 11.e4 fxe4 12.Nxe4 Qh5 13.Nxf6+ Bxf6 14.d4 Be7 15.Qe4 Bd7 16.Nd2 Rae8 17.Qe2 Qf7 18.f4 Bf6 19.Nf3 b6 20.Bd2 Qh5 21.Bc3 c5 22.Qe3 Bc6 23.Nd2 Bxg2 24.Kxg2 b5 25.b3 a6 ½-½

Late news

The following press release just in may be of interest to our overseas readers.

The TV Game BingoLotto will be returning to our screens on 13^th September. Gamecards go on sale in Tesco stores on 7^th September.

As a member of the CCPR, the English Chess Federation will again be a beneficiary.

Peter Wilson, ECF Director of Marketing, comments:

“We are extremely pleased that chess and other mind sports can benefit on the same basis as the physical sports. There are many potential uses of the funds we hope to receive. Ideas which have been suggested include helping the establishment of new clubs, providing support for talented players in their early 20s and training arbiters to meet new international standards. At this stage these are only possibilities, but we anticipate that the full potential benefits of BingoLotto will become evident during 2010.

For more information about the ECF’s involvement with Bingolotto, please contact the ECF Office on 01424 775222 or office@englishchess.org.uk

Next issues

Tuesday 13 October (deadline Friday 9 October)

Tuesday 27 October (deadline Friday 23 October)

Tuesday 10 November (deadline Friday 6 November)

Useful addresses

Newsletter contact:  auschessnews@gmail.com

ACF web site:  http://www.auschess.org.au/

Thanks to our contributors to this issue including Gary Wastell, Gary Bekker, Kevin Bonham, Peter Parr, Brian Jones, Matt Sweeney, anyone else I overlooked and those whose information I purloined from other sources.