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AUSTRALIAN CHESS FEDERATION |
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People
may notice that the State News is a little sparse this week. I have
been extracting State information from various sources including State web
sites but this is not especially efficient. Now that we have fallen into a
pattern State associations or other bodies are encouraged to submit reports
for inclusion. This can be regular or just when someone thinks there is
enough to report. Ian
Rout Editor Note:
Links in light blue are to sections within the newsletter, those in grey are
external and orange links are to the archive of previous issues. |
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Nominations for ACF Medals (This notice first
posted in 09/10A) All ACF affiliates
are reminded of the opportunity to nominate potential winners of the
following ACF medals, to be awarded in January 2010 in accordance with the
ACF Medals Procedures by www.auschess.org.au/constitution/ACF_Medals_Procedures.txt
Medals – Steiner
Medal – Australian ‘Player of the Year’ 2009 To be awarded to the
player who has made the greatest impact – not necessarily
the highest – Koshnitsky Medal – Chess Administration This is a lifetime
achievement award, not limited to accomplishments or services during a
particular period, and cannot be awarded more than once to the same person.
It is awarded for an outstanding contribution to Australian chess
administration at national or state level. A link [Chess Medals]
to lists of previous ACF medal winners is at www.auschess.org.au/acfrec.htm Nominations Separate
documents containing the following should be provided in respect of each
nominee: ·
name (correctly spelt); ·
contact details (phone, email, postal address); ·
a citation describing relevant achievements, suitable for reading
and/or publication when the medal is presented; ·
anything else relevant to the nomination. A person submitting a nomination must retain at least
one complete copy of each document submitted in connection with the
nomination and must phone (03) 9787 7974 or 0409 525 963 to confirm that it
has been received if delivery has not been acknowledged 24 hours after
expected delivery time. Nominations for the Koshnitsky medal must be sent to one of the following addresses so as to be
received on or before Friday 18
December 2009:
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Nominations for the Steiner
medal must be sent to one of the above addresses as follows:
Presentations The announcement of winners and presentation of medals
will take place at 5pm Wednesday 13 January 2010 in the Norths
Celebrity Room, Distribution of This Notice Recipients of this notice are asked to ensure that it is
distributed as extensively as possible to maximize nominations in respect of
the most suitable nominees. Gary Wastell ACF Medals Selections Coordinator Commonwealth Championship The
provisional selections notified in 09/10A
are now confirmed. Previous Notices The following notices from prior issues remain in
force 2010 Olympiad:
Activity Requirement and Application Deadline - previously reported 09/09A 11th - previously reported 09/10A Position Vacant – ACF Advertising
Manager The
ACF invites expressions of interest from any reader who might be willing to
oversee the appearance of suitable advertising material in ACF publications,
principally this Newsletter, and on the ACF website. For
additional information please email gwastell@netspace.net.au
with cc to secretary@nswca.org.au |
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2010 Australian Chess
Championship Venue: norths, 2nd
to 13th January 2010 plus various supporting events: a Major
Tournament, a Minor tournament, a shorter seven-round event and the
Australian Lightning Championship. More
information at the official site The organisers
have advised that entries for the Championship have
been received from GM Darryl Johansen, IM Alex Wohl
(the current Australian Open Champion), IM Stephen Solomon, IM Gary Lane, IM
George Xie, IM James Morris, FM Vladimir Smirnov,
FM Brian Jones and Eugene Schon. The
organisers have also announced that there will be three prizes, drawn at the
tournament from entries submitted
on-line through the above web site. The prizes are listed as a top of the
range DGT-XL clock donated by tournament sponsor Chess Discount Sales; 2nd
$100 cash courtesy of PayPal; 3rd Fritz 12, rrp ~$95,
courtesy of ChessBase. |
2010 Australian Junior
Chess Championships The
Tasmanian Chess Association will be hosting the Australian Junior 2010 in In
addition to the age group events there will be national rapid and lightning
championships and a problem solving competition. Details
were previously reported in newsletter 09/09A More information at the official site Australian
Primary and Secondary Schools The Australian Primary and Secondary Schools
Chess Team Finals 2009 will be held at More information at the official site http://chess.geniusprophecy.com/astc/ |
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CC-GM Romanas
Arlauskas Peter
Parr’s column
in the Sydney Morning Herald announced this month that Romanas Arlauskas, at his peak
one of the world’s leading correspondence players, has died at 92.
Peter reports: Romanas Arlauskas has died in Glenelg, New chess club – Gladstone,
Qld A new
chess club has been started in Gladstone, Qld. More information in this article
from the local media. |
IM Igor Goldenberg? The FIDE Executive Board meeting (see Overseas
Tournaments and News) approved a number of titles this month
including the IM title to Igor Goldenberg. This is listed as Conditional at this stage; ACF is attempting
to determine what it is conditional on. Beauty and the Geek Chess
player and occasional balloon sculptor and clown Jeremy Reading has survived
the first two eliminations on Beauty
and the Geek. The show pairs archetypical smart “geeks” with
“beauties” who typically believe, for instance, that the first
human on the moon was nobody, because the moon landings never happened, or
Lance Armstrong. Jeremy has avoided making enemies thus far and has not been
required to face the sudden-death elimination chamber. The
program continues at 8:30pm on Channel 7 for another five Thursdays. |
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Following is a corrected version
of the report in the previous issue (winners are unchanged). Australian Young Masters The Australian
Young Masters was organised by Vladimir Smirnov and Charles Zworestine from 7th to 11th
October. Andrew
Brown won the main event with 7.5/9 from Blair Mandla
6, Gene Nakauchi 5.5, Allen Setiabudi
and Oscar Wang 4.5. Sally
Yu ran away with the Junior Masters, scoring 7.5/10 ahead of Alister Cameron, Nicholas Deen-Cowell and Kevin Tan 5.5. The
Girls’ Masters was won by Alana Chibnall
7.5/10 with Sophie Eustace and Megan Setiabudi on
6.5. An
extensive report on the Young Masters and related events by Chief Arbiter
Arthur Huynh appears in Tournament
Reports below. |
Another chess blog Following
the publication of a list of Australian media sites (bulletin boards, blogs.
newspaper columns) in 09/10A
another site has been pointed out: Scores
in this event should have read: Shaun Press (PNG) 7.5/9;
FM Brian Jones (AUS) 7; Fernando
Aguilar (SOL), FM Lee Jones (AUS) and Kerry Stead
(AUS) 6. Also a report on the tournament has since appeared on the |
TOURNAMENT NEWS AND
RESULTS
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2010 Grand Prix Brian
Jones has announced that the 2010 Yulgilbar-Think
Big Australian Grand Prix is confirmed with a total prize fund of $16,000. The registration form,
to be returned by 31 December to avoid a late fee, can be downloaded by tournament
organisers. New GP tournament – Ranges Scott
Humphrey of Ranges Chess Club (Upwey, Vic) has advised that Ranges plans to
stage a GP weekender, the Ranges Summer Sizzler, on Feb 6-7 2010 (see Coming Events). 2010 Doeberl
Cup Charles
Bishop has announced that entries for the Doeberl
Cup will go live on 1 November, and those interested can now subscribe to the
e-mail newsletter – see link |
NSW Junior Masters Vladimir
Smirnov is seeking expressions of interest in holding a NSW Junior Masters
(ACT juniors may also be considered) in February – March 2010. The
intended format is a ten-player round robin over two consecutive weekends at
the Parramatta Leagues Club; for more information and updates see link. Recent GP weekend results Burnie Shines, Tas (Oct
24-25) Alastair
Dyer and Tony Dowden tied on 5/6 with Mason Carter 4.5. (20 players). |
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Grand prix events Oct 30–Nov 3 Melbourne Cup Weekender, Melbourne Vic link Oct 31–Nov 1 Gosford Open, Gosford, NSW link Nov 7-8 Fisher’s Ghost Open, Campbelltown, NSW link Nov 28-29 Vikings Weekender, Tuggeranong, ACT Dec 5-6 Christmas Open, Dec 19-20 MCC Christmas Weekender, Melbourne, Vic link Dec 27-29 Canterbury Christmas Swiss, Melbourne, Vic link Feb 6-7 2010 Ranges
Summer Sizzler Upwey,
Vic link Full 2009 GP
calendar: link Register for 2010: link SA Lightning
Championship SA
Chess Centre; 3 November link
Ranges Rookies
Shield (rapid
G15) Upwey; 15 November 2009 link
Bunnings Sausage Sizzle MCC; 20 November 2009 link contact Victorian Blitz Ch Box Hill CC; from 21 November
2009 link contact Please
notify forthcoming tournaments to auschessnews@gmail.com |
Bundaberg Individual Age Championships 27 October. Contact Allan Menham 4151 7469 Maryborough One Day Event 14 November. Contact Allan Menham 4151 7469. FNQ
Individual Age Championships The Bishop Centre, Gold Coast Lightning
and Transfer
GCC, Mudgeeraba. 22 November link Darling |
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IM Alex Wohl IM Alex Wohl won the 2009 2010 World Championship FIDE has announced that the Anand v Topalov match will be played in Sofia, Bulgaria, after
the government guaranteed three million eoros ($A4.9m
at this week’s exchange rate) for prizes and costs. The match is
scheduled for April 2010 which at this stage is unchanged. 2009 World Junior Championship This event currently is being played in Australians participating are Sherab
Guo-Yuthok in the open section, which features
eighteen GMs, and Emma Guo and Sarah Anton in the Girls’. See link
for
updates. This event (U/20) is not to be confused with the World Youth
Championships (other age groups) to be held in November in US Women’s Championship This event was convincingly won by Anna Zatonskih
with 8.5/9, two points clear of the closest challenger Camilla Baginskaite. This contrasts with the controversial blitz
play-off which produced the same winner in 2008. Univé Hoogoveen This four-player double round robin in the ECF Book of the Year Kasparov vs Karpov 1975-85 (Everyman), the
second in a series by Garry Kasparov on chess since the 1970s, has been named
as the English Chess Federation’s Book of the Year. |
European Teams Championship The European Teams Championship is in progress in FIDE The Executive Board meeting met in The 2010 or 2011 Candidates series will be split between The dates of the 2010 Olympiad in The decision to publish ratings every two months was confirmed
and the deadline for submission of results was set as seven days prior to the
publication of the list. Various sources, though not the FIDE site that I can see, report
that the meeting considered a proposal to augment the zero default time rule with a 500-euro fine for late arrivals (more for
repeat offences) but this was not supported. Dead horses will feel the pain of President Kirsan
Ilyumzhinov’s announcement that FIDE is persisting
with attempts to get chess into the Olympics, assuming this is the English
translation of “further steps toward IOC”. Presumably as part of
this process it is intended that new drug rules will be published in January. On a
more sensible note Ilyumzhinov announced that
FIDE’s goals also continue to include popularizing chess all over the
world. |
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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. Asian Indoor Games: 30 Oct 2009, World Youth
Championships: 11 Nov 2009, FIDE World Cup: 19 Nov 2009, Benidorm Chess
Festival: 27 Nov 2009, Asian Schools
Festival: 16 Dec 2009, Asian Teams
Championship: 20 Dec 2009, Schachfestival: 1 Jan 2010, Bela Perenyi Memorial: 8 Jan 2010, Marienbad Open: 16 Jan 2010, 2nd
Chennai International Open: 25 Jan 2010, Gibtelecom
International Chess Festival: 26 Jan 2010, Bermuda
International Open: 5 Feb 2010, Southampton, Cappelle-la-Grande: 13 Feb 2010, 26th
Budapest Spring Festival Open: 19 Mar 2010, |
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The 2009 WA Lightning Championship
on
20 September was won by Tristan Boyd 10.5/11 from Stephanus Kurniawan
9.5 and Bozidar
Mandic 8 in a field of 26. More information
at link State associations are invited to
submit regular round-ups for inclusion, as are clubs and other bodies. |
State pages (links) |
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2009 Australian Young Masters, by
Arthur Huynh In the first week of the NSW school holidays, the
Australian Young, Junior and Girls Masters tournaments took place at The first session saw the Junior Masters play
their first round, with Kevin Tan to play Peter Yang and Sally Yu playing
Jerry Xu. (Nicholas Deen-Cowell postponed both his
games). Two games were played early from the Young Masters: Emma Guo against Oscar
Wang, and Blair Mandla vs
Anton Smirnov. It was the last mentioned game that finished first, Anton
playing a Nimzovich-come-Scandinavian opening.
Blair successfully attacked Anton's weak g7 square, and eventually checkmated
the young star. Kevin Tan demolished Peter Wang in a tactical Vienna Opening.
Kevin allowed a king and rook fork in exchange for massive counterplay against the black king; this ended up in the
concession of the Black queen! Meanwhile Sicilians were the order of the day
in Yu-Xu and Wang-Guo. Sally's rook, bishop and
queen eventually spun a mating web to checkmate the opposing king, whereas
Oscar and Emma's game ended up being a long and hard fought draw. There was
also a little post match light-hearted banter: “You're the only person
to not win with the White pieces”, “I'm lower rated than you! You
should be ashamed!” etc. The second session of the day saw Peter Yang and
Jerry Xu start and finish their game early. A
relatively docile variation in the Queen’s Gambit Declined, Slav variation
resulted in a same coloured bishops endgame, which
in turn resulted in a three-fold repetition and a draw. Sally Yu overlooked a
queen and rook fork that resulted in Alistair Cameron winning an exchange and
converting to a win with a passed h pawn... In the Young Masters Division,
Blair Mandla played his game against Andrew Brown.
Andrew was easily able to infiltrate Blair's Benoni
through an exchange sacrifice. Eventually Andrew’s three passed pawns
proved unstoppable. The second day saw the start of the Young
Masters, a single round robin event with Blair Mandla,
Oscar Wang, Peng Yu Chen and Anton Smirnov
representing NSW, Gene Nakauchi, Yi Liu and
Alexander Stahnke representing QLD, and Andrew
Brown, Emma Guo and Allen Setiabudi representing
the ACT. Andrew Brown defeated Allen Setiabudi in a
King’s Indian four pawns attack where Allen had to sacrifice a knight
for two pawns and then later gave up two rooks for his opponent’s
queen. Andrew’s quick counter-assault on the black king was decisive. Emma Guo smashed up Anton Smirnov's
kingside to secure a positional and material advantage, which she eventually
converted into a win. Gene Nakauchi and Oscar Wang
played out a draw from a Queen’s Gambit Declined Orthodox Defence where
Gene had the outside passed pawn, but Oscar's rook was in a good position to
stop its movement. Young local Peng Yu
Chen defeated Alex Stahnke when he went into an
endgame with a bishop up from a King’s Indian attack vs a Sicilian Defence. Meanwhile Blair Mandla played 12 year old Yi Liu. The lower rated Liu
held Mandla (actually it should be that Mandla held Liu!) to a draw. The opening was a Colle-Zukertort which ended up giving Liu a queen for
rook advantage. But with Mandla's fighting spirit
and active pieces, he fought back and plucked Liu's kingside pawns, after
which Mandla's own pawns then became dangerous. But
in the end, after 93 moves, the only piece that was left on the board except
for the two kings was a lonely White knight... The Junior Masters played their third round on
Wednesday morning; and Nicholas Deen-Cowell started his campaign with a draw
against Peter Yang in a closed Sicilian with plenty of pieces still on the
board. Sally Yu accounted for Kevin Tan; with both players wielding two
bishops in the endgame, it was Sally who was able to pinch two extra pawns
and convert the material advantage into a win. The third game was a third
Sicilian, where in an endgame Alistair Cameron's two passed pawns were too
strong for Jerry Xu's lone king. The Girls Masters began on the same morning: a
double round robin with Shan-Shan Qiao representing
NSW, Alana Chibnall, Megan Setiabudi
and Joanne Mason representing the ACT, Sophie Eustace representing SA and Leteisha Simmonds representing QLD. Top seed Sophie
Eustace started her campaign slowly with a draw against Shan Shan Qiao. The game, yet
another Sicilian, fizzled out into a drawn endgame with both players having
the same amount of pawns. Megan Setiabudi defeated Joanne Mason in a Queen’s Pawn
Opening which transposed into a Pirc. Alana Chibnall, as Black, defeated Leteisha
Simmonds in a wild Two Knights Defence that left White ending up a piece
down. The fourth session saw the Australian Young
Masters play their second round games. Allen Setiabudi
scored an upset win against Blair Mandla, who
played the Portugese variation of the Scandinavian
Defence. Blair's position was untenable after an attack on a bishop also
discovered an attack on a rook. Yi Liu accounted for Alex Stahnke
in a Queen’s Gambit Declined, where Yi's passed a-pawn was allowed to
queen. Oscar Wang as White slayed the Dragon of
fellow Sydneysider Peng Yu Chen, with his
hyperactive pieces resulting in coming into the endgame a few pawns up. Anton
Smirnov missed a win in a pawn and bishop endgame against Gene Nakauchi, and agreed to a draw from a Hedgehog Sicilian.
Andrew Brown racked up another win for the tournament by defeating Emma Guo
when the position after Emma's Benko Gambit was
eventually cracked by Andrew's attack. Round 4 of the Junior Masters saw Sally Yu's
queen cunningly elude capture whilst attacking her opponent’s queen,
which ended up being the difference in Sally's win over Peter Yang. Nicholas
Deen-Cowell's Sicilian assault was ruthless against Jerry Xu's
queenside castled position, eventually collecting material and hence the full
point. Alistair Cameron's Four Pawns Attack against the Benoni
of Kevin Tan saw a somewhat wild game taper into a drawn endgame, so that
point was shared. The second round of the Girls Masters saw only
one result, with Alana Chibnall defeating Megan Setiabudi. Megan's Ruy Lopez
originally resulted in a material and positional advantage; but then Megan
walked into a mating trap that Alana had set! An early draw was agreed in the
French Exchange game Qiao-Simmonds; and a long draw
resulted from a Colle-Zukertort in Mason-Eustace,
where Joanne Mason (a pawn up) played it all the way out before drawing. It was a good day for Black on the second day of
the Australian Young Masters, with Black scoring an astonishing 8-2 record!
Allen Setiabudi agreed to a draw after the
Queen’s Gambit of Emma Guo resulted in an offer of a poisoned pawn or
perpetual check to the enemy queen. Gene Nakauchi's
three passed pawns were not enough compensation to tame Andrew Brown’s
active rook, which resulted from a King’s Indian Defence. Peng Yu Chen lost to Anton Smirnov in an opening similar
to Guo-Smirnov; but instead this time the young Russian was able to use the
open files to his advantage. Yi Liu as White lost to Oscar Wang, who played
well to crack Yi's Colle and ended up with two very
strong queenside pawns in the endgame. Blair Mandla
defeated Alex Stahnke in a Nimzo-Indian
where White's pieces were more actively placed, which resulted in the gain of
material and eventually mate. This was the only win for White for this entire
Young Masters session! Round 5 for the Junior Masters saw bottom seed
Peter Yang as White defeat top seed Alistair Cameron in a 4.f3 Gruenfeld Defence which resulted in a knight and pawns vs bishop and pawns endgame. One queenside pawn ended up
being too strong for the bishop... Jerry Xu as
Black finally racked up a win at the expense of Kevin Tan. From a Sicilian
Opening, Jerry proved that a bishops of opposite
colours endgame is not always drawn! Sally Yu scored a hat trick of wins when
she defeated Nicholas Deen-Cowell as Black. Nicholas was down on material but
attacking Sally when Nick failed to notice that Sally was defending the
important g7 square with her Queen on the long diagonal, and hence his rook
sacrifice did not work. Standings in the Junior Masters at the half way point
were thus Sally Yu 4/5, Cameron Alistair 2.5/4, Peter Yang 2/5, Nicholas
Deen-Cowell 1.5/3, Kevin Tan 1.5/4 and Jerry Xu
1.5/5. In the Girls Masters Sophie Eustace scored her third
draw in a row, this time against Megan Setiabudi. A
draw was agreed when bishops were going to be forced off, leaving only queens
and equal pawns on the board. Leteisha Simmonds
accounted for Joanne Mason after a Scandinavian Defence resulted in a rook
and pawn endgame where both parties were able to break through; but it ended
up being Leteisha who was able to stop Joanne's
pawn from promoting before promoting her own pawn. Alana Chibnall
racked up her third win in a row against Shan-Shan Qiao
after Qiao released the pressure by blundering her advanced passed pawns. Round 4 in the Young Masters saw Allen Setiabudi draw with Alex Stahnke
to give White the only form of points in this round. A long played out rook
and pawn endgame with the point shared was the result of a closed Sicilian
Defence. Oscar Wang came up with a weird answer to Mandla's
Scandinavian Defence; and when Wang missed that his a1 rook was under attack,
with this material advantage Mandla went on to win.
Anton Smirnov lost to Yi Liu in an exchange French which resulted in a knight
and pawn endgame. From equal material, Yi's knight was able to eat two of
Anton’s kingside pawns to create a winning advantage. Andrew Brown
conceded his first loss, to Peng Yu Chen. Peng Yu played a Bogo-Indian,
and eventually ended up in a bishop and pawn endgame where Black was two
pawns up! Emma Guo lost to Gene Nakauchi when she
lost her rook heading towards the endgame. Round 6 for the Junior Masters saw all three
Black sets of pieces win. Kevin Tan defeated Peter Yang from a closed
Sicilian resulting in a won king and pawn endgame; Alistair Cameron lost to
Nicholas Deen-Cowell in a tactical Gruenfeld; and
Jerry Xu lost to Sally Yu in a reverse Gruenfeld type position, which eventually gave Sally a
decisive two pawn advantage going into a king and pawn endgame... Meanwhile
Round 4 for the Girls Masters saw all the ACT girls get at least half a
point! Megan Setiabudi as Black beat Leteisha Simmonds by going a pawn up after a c3 Sicilian
opening. Sophie Eustace was smashed by Alana Chibnall
after a move order inaccuracy gave extra drive to Alana's sharp Grand Prix
attack. Shan-Shan Qiao drew with Joanne Mason, who
played a Scandinavian Defence. Both players had strong pieces, and so a draw
was agreed in the middle game. After Day 4 all tournaments were past their half
way point, and the leaders were beginning to take shape! Round 5 saw Gene Nakauchi and Allen Setiabudi
draw in a Pirc Defence, where only rooks and
knights were still on the board. Peng Yu Chen
defeated Emma Guo in a King’s Indian Attack against a Sicilian, where Peng Yu's attack resulted in either mate or the loss of a
rook. Yi Liu lost to Andrew Brown in a Pirc/King’s
Indian Defence where Black's attack ended up crashing through. Alex Stahnke defeated Oscar Wang when Oscar played a dodgy
defence against Alex's Queen’s Gambit, and so ended up getting
checkmated in just 21 moves! So just past the half way point of the
tournament, Andrew Brown led the tournament with 5/6, followed by Blair Mandla on 3.5/6, Peng Yu Chen
3, Gene Nakauchi, Yi Liu, Oscar Wang and Allen Setiabudi 2.5/5, and Alex Stahnke
and Anton Smirnov 1.5/5. |
The Junior Masters were now playing their Round 7
games, with Jerry Xu losing a piece in the middlegame after a symmetrical English opening against
Peter Yang. Sally Yu drew with Alistair Cameron in a Sicilian where both
rooks and pawns left perhaps an interesting endgame, which both sides thought
it was too risky to try and win...
Nicholas Deen-Cowell lost a closed Sicilian where Kevin Tan's two
passed pawns were too much for his rook and king to stop. This was revenge
for Kevin, after Nick’s postponed game had resulted in a win against
Kevin. Nick had earlier drawn his other postponed game with Alistair Cameron. It was Round 5 for the Girls Masters; and Megan Setiabudi drew with Shan-Shan Qiao
by threatening a threefold repetition after a French advance variation.
Joanne Mason lost to Alana Chibnall in a tactical
Scotch Opening where Black's superior pawns and king position proved to be
the difference. Sophie Eustace conceded a draw to Leteisha
Simmonds after a French advance led to relative equality despite Black's
knights dominating over White's bishops.The Young
Masters played their Round 6 games on the same afternoon. Oscar Wang defeated
the Grand Prix attack of Allen Setiabudi in an
interesting endgame where Oscar was a knight and rook pawn up with a pair of
rooks still on the board. Anton Smirnov and Alex Stahnke
agreed on a draw when Anton's queen and king could not see a way through the
fortress-like position of Alex's bishop and rook. Emma Guo and Yi Liu also
agreed to a draw when Emma's Milner-Barry Gambit against Liu's French
resulted in a rook for knight and pawn advantage (not quite enough to win)
for Emma. The final game of this round was also a draw between Gene Nakauchi and Peng Yu Chen. From
a Nimzo-Indian opening, they agreed to a draw on
move 45 when neither king was able to infiltrate their opponent’s
position in a king and pawn endgame. The Junior Masters were now up to their 8th game
of the event. Peter Yang's Trompovsky held Nicholas
Deen-Cowell to a draw, although there were still pieces on the board and
Nicholas was a pawn up. Fatigue perhaps? Kevin Tan inflicted a loss on Sally
Yu with a Scotch Gambit where, despite being a pawn down, his pawn was able
to advance quickly to queen, halting Black's own prospects for a queen.
Alistair Cameron accounted for the hapless Jerry Xu
in a docile Slav Defence; a close encounter, but an extra exchange and passed
pawns proved to be too much. Like the Young Masters, the Girls Masters were up
to Round 6 as well. Megan Setiabudi beat Joanne
Mason in a Scandinavian miniature where Joanne was checkmated by
Megan’s two knights. Shan-Shan Qiao could not
stop the rumbling rolling central pawn storm which was the result of Sophie
Eustace's Sicilian Defence. Alana Chibnall employed
the Steinitz Variation against the French of Leteisha
Simmonds. The game was quite wild, and resulted in a draw. By now the weekend had arrived; and by the end of
the day the Young Masters would have completed all but one of their rounds,
the Junior Masters would be complete and the Girls Masters would only have
two games left... Andrew Brown could not convert his bishop for pawn
advantage in the endgame against Alex Stahnke. The
bishop ended up being trapped; and both players were left with a king and a
promoted queen on the board when a draw was agreed. Peng
Yu Chen continued with his trademark King’s Indian Attack against the
Sicilian of Allen Setiabudi, but eventually
resigned as he was going to lose a rook in the late middlegame.
Gene Nakauchi defeated fellow cane toad Yi Liu in a
Benoni where material was even, but Gene was able
to take advantage of his passed b pawn. Oscar Wang and Anton Smirnov agreed
to a draw after a clogged up Nimzovich Defence
resulted in an endgame with lots of pawns still on the board and Black's
knight and White’s bishop finding it hard to infiltrate the
opponent’s position. Blair Mandla made a knight sacrifice that was either brilliant
or unsound (was it unintentional? unclear?) to beat Emma Guo. Eventually
Blair was able to march his queenside pawns and make a cunning pawn move to
finish the game. Sally Yu continued her dominance of the
Australian Junior Masters by defeating Peter Yang for a second time in the
event. Peter played a Scotch Gambit; and when heading into the endgame, the
Black queen was able to trap the White knight to win the game. Nicholas
Deen-Cowell played a closed Sicilian well, eventually netting the king in a
mating net to take the clean sweep against Jerry Xu.
Alistair Cameron was able to wield his Sicilian Defence to get the whole
point this time from Kevin Tan, after in the middle game the win of an
exchange became a whole rook... Meanwhile Girls Masters leader Alana Chibnall had her momentum slowed by Megan Setiabudi, who defeated Alana's Grand Prix Attack when
Megan found a queen fork of king and rook. Leteisha
Simmonds drew with Shan-Shan Qiao in a c3 Sicilian
with equal pawns and a pair of rooks on the board. Sophie Eustace's tactics
from a Scotch Opening were too much for Joanne Mason, who was eventually
checkmated. Congratulations to Andrew Brown, who in Round 8
defeated Oscar Wang to secure the Australian Young Masters title with a round
to spare! In a Queen’s Gambit Andrew sacrificed his queen for a rook,
bishop and pawn, and then utilised some tactics to enable one of his passed
pawns to be unstoppable without loss of more material. The outright win of
the tournament was confirmed when Blair Mandla
could only manage a draw against Gene Nakauchi.
This Exchange Slav resulted in a mass exchange of pieces; and all that was
left was a knight each and pawns. Allen Setiabudi
lost to Anton Smirnov when Allen attacked Anton's Nimzovich-come-French
Defence, investing two rooks for two pawns in the attack; but when the attack
started to fade, it was Allen who got checkmated via a counterattack! Emma
Guo played her last game of the tournament against Alex Stahnke,
whom she tied in knots and netted a queen from a Lundin
System. I feel like a broken record when it comes to Peng
Yu Chen... yet another King’s Indian Attack against the Sicilian! This
time Yi Liu was able to convert after winning the exchange. Congratulations to Sally Yu, who finished off her
tournament with yet another win against Nicholas Deen-Cowell. Sally was able
to win the exchange after a Sicilian Najdorf. Jerry
Xu's English resulted in a two pawn advantage; but
with rooks and queens still on the board, Kevin Tan was able to checkmate
Jerry's king. Alistair Cameron then faltered against Peter Yang to create a
three way tie for second place. The game was a Slav Defence; and in the
middle game Peter was able to pick up a piece for a pawn. It was then the
winning of a second piece that prompted Alistair's resignation. Final
Standings: 1st
Sally Yu 7.5 2nd =
Nicholas Deen-Cowell, Alistair Cameron, Kevin Tan 5.5 5th
Peter Yang 4.5 6th
Jerry Xu 1.5 Round 8 of the Girls Masters saw Alana Chibnall defeat Shan-Shan Qiao
in a miniature. The game was a Two Knights Defence, where Alana went on the
attack; and on the 20th move Alana sacrificed her queen to clear an attack on
the g3 square so that a knight could jump in and checkmate the White king!
Instead Shan-Shan resigned... Alana waited for other results to determine how
many points she would be ahead going into the final day. The next result to
come in was Leteisha Simmonds defeating Joanne
Mason in a rook and multiple pawns endgame which resulted from a French
Exchange Variation. The final game to finish was a long one; and it was a
heartbreaker for Sophie Eustace, who went a piece up in the opening. But
Megan Setiabudi, like a resilient thief in the
night, created a position in the endgame where, despite being a bishop for a
pawn up, neither Sophie or Megan could make any
ground. Draw agreed. So Alana would take a one point lead into the final
day... The last round for Andrew Brown was academic; but
he finished the tournament by defeating Anton Smirnov in a Scotch Opening.
Anton went down a piece; and when Andrew put his major pieces on the seventh
rank, the end was nigh! But the chase was still on for second prize... Blair Mandla secured that spot by defeating Peng
Yu Chen, where a king and pawn endgame resulted from an English Opening that
transposed into a Nimzo-Indian Defence. If Peng Yu was able to stop one side, it would enable Blair
to penetrate the other; so Peng Yu was lost... Gene
Nakauchi defeated Alex Stahnke
in a rook and pawn endgame where Gene's c-pawn eventually queened. Meanwhile Allen
Setiabudi's King’s Indian Defence came
through to defeat Yi Liu by going up the exchange. The exchange was then
sacrificed back in order to run a passed pawn to queen. Final
Standings: 1st
Andrew Brown 7.5 2nd
Blair Mandla 6 3rd
Gene Nakauchi 5.5 4th =
Oscar Wang, Allen Setiabudi 4.5 6th
Yi Liu 4 7th =
Emma Guo, Anton Smirnov, Peng Yu Chen 3.5 10th
Alexander Stahnke 2.5 Sophie Eustace kept Megan Setiabudi’s
hopes alive by beating Alana Chibnall in the
morning round (the penultimate round) of the Girls Masters. Their Portuguese
Scandinavian resulted in Sophie trapping Alana's queen. Meanwhile Megan Setiabudi came up against the French Defence of Leteisha Simmonds. Leteisha
trapped Megan’s queen, but once again Megan had a sneaky tactic: to
sacrifice the queen to play a double check and then a perpetual check! So
Megan came half a point closer to Alana. The third game of the round was a
Sicilian between Shan-Shan Qiao and Joanne Mason,
which resulted in a draw with bishop for knight and pawns still on the board. In the tenth and final round, Alana Chibnall was able to stay above her challengers for the
Girls Masters title by defeating Joanne Mason's Scandinavian Defence. The
exchange was won, and then later sacrificed back to ensure a pawn would queen...
A c3 Sicilian was the final opening for the tournament in the game
Simmonds-Eustace. Sophie was able to obtain the exchange and some pawns
towards the endgame to secure the win and a possible share of second place.
And the second place prize was indeed shared, as Megan Setiabudi
had earlier agreed to a quick draw with Shan-Shan Qiao
from a Kan Sicilian. Final
Standings: 1st
Alana Chibnall 7.5 2nd =
Sophie Eustace, Megan Setiabudi 6.5 4th Leteisha Simmonds 4.5 5th
Shan-Shan Qiao 3.5 6th
Joanne Mason 1.5 Congratulations to Andrew Brown, 2009 Australian
Young Masters Champion; Sally Yu, 2009 Australian Junior Masters Champion;
and Alana Chibnall, 2009 Australian Girls Masters
Champion! Special thanks to Ronald Scott and Nick Chernih
for help entering games during the tournament. Even more special thanks to
Trent Parker for his help with this tournament report. The players should
also be thanked, as the event was dispute-free, and played in a good spirit.
Hopefully even more of them will participate and make it an even better event
next year! Games mentioned in this report, and others from
the events, can be downloaded here. |
|
Arlauskas,R - Lundqvist,A
[B47] CC World Ch Final, 1962 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6
3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.g3 a6 7.Bg2 Nf6 8.Nb3 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Bf4
d6 11.Qe2 Rd8 12.Rad1 Rb8 13.a4 Ne5 14.Bc1 Bd7 15.f4 Nc4 16.g4 b5 17.axb5
axb5 18.g5 Ne8 19.Qf2 b4 20.Ne2 Bf8 21.Nbd4 Bc8 22.b3 Na5 23.Be3 g6 24.f5 e5
25.Ne6 fxe6 [25...Bxe6
26.fxe6 Rb7 27.e7 Qxe7 28.Bb6 Ra8 29.Ra1]
26.fxg6 Ng7
27.Qxf8+ Rxf8
28.Rxf8+ Kxf8 29.gxh7 Ne8 30.h8Q+ Ke7 31.g6 1-0 Brown,A (1974) - Wang,O
(1790) [D30] Young Masters Rockdale (8), 10.10.2009 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6
3.c4 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Nbd2 0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.a3 c5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Bxe7 Qxe7
10.dxc5 Nxc5 11.b4 Nd7 12.Bc4 N7b6 13.Bd3 Bd7 14.Ne4 a6 15.0-0 Rac8 16.Nc5
Bc6 17.Nd4 h6 18.Rc1 Be8 19.Qb3 Rc7 20.Rfd1 Nd7 21.Nf5 exf5 22.Qxd5 Nxc5
23.bxc5 g6 24.Be2 Bc6 25.Qd6 Qg5 26.g3 Rd7 27.Qxd7 Bxd7 28.Rxd7 Rb8 29.Bc4
Rf8 30.Rxb7 Qf6 31.c6 Kg7 32.Bxf7 1-0 Diagrams by http://www.chessvideos.tv/ |
Cameron,A (1722) - Tan,K
(1639) [A68] Junior Masters Rockdale (4), 07.10.2009 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6
3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0-0 6.Nf3 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Bd3 exd5 9.cxd5 a6 10.a4 Re8
11.0-0 Qc7 12.e5 Ng4 13.e6 fxe6 14.Ng5 e5 15.Ne6 Bxe6 16.dxe6 Nf6 17.fxe5
dxe5 18.Bg5 c4 19.Bxf6 cxd3 20.Qxd3 Qb6+ 21.Kh1 Qxe6 22.Ne4 Nc6
23.Ng5 e4 [23...Qc8 24.Qd5+ Kh8 25.Nf7+
Kg8 26.Nh6+ Kh8 27.Qg8+ Rxg8 28.Nf7#] 24.Nxe6
exd3 25.Nxg7 Re2 26.Rae1 Rf8 27.Bc3 d2 28.Rxf8+ Kxf8 29.Rf1+ Kg8 30.Ne6 Rxe6
31.Bxd2 Re7 32.Bc3 Rf7 33.Rd1 Kf8 34.g3 Ke8 35.Kg2 Rd7 36.Rf1 Rf7 37.Rxf7
Kxf7 38.Kf3 Ke6 39.Ke4 Kd6 40.h4 Ke6 41.g4 Kd6 42.h5 Ke6 43.hxg6 hxg6 44.Kf4
Ne7 45.Kg5 Kf7 46.Kf4 Ke6 47.Kg5 Kf7 ½-½ Chibnall,A (1411) - Simmonds,L
(1366) [C11] Girls Masters Rockdale (6), 09.10.2009 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5
3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Nce2 c5 6.c3 Qb6 7.f4 Nc6 8.Nf3 g6 9.g4 h5 10.gxh5 Rxh5
11.Ng3 Rh8 12.h4 cxd4 13.cxd4 Bb4+ 14.Kf2 Be7 15.b3 a6 16.Bb2 Qc7 17.Qc2 b5
18.Bd3 Qb6 19.a3 b4 20.a4 a5 21.Rac1 Bb7 22.Bxg6 fxg6 23.Qxg6+ Kd8 24.Qxe6
Na7 25.Qg4 Rc8 26.Nf5 Qe6 27.Rxc8+ Bxc8 28.Ne3 Nb6 29.f5 Qf7 30.e6 Qe8 31.Ne5
Rg8 32.Qf4 Rf8 33.Rc1 Bxe6 34.Nf3 Nc6 35.Ne5 Na7 36.N5g4 Qd7 37.Ne5 Qe8
½-½ |
Hamilton,D (2196) - Lee,Wang-Sheng
(2245) [B07] Victorian ch 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bb4+ 5.c3 Bc5 6.Be3 Bb6 7.Bc4 Nge7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Qh5 d6 10.Nd2
Ne5 11.Bb3 Kh8 12.Kh1 Bg4 13.Qh4 Bd7 14.f4 N5g6 15.Qh5 Ng8 16.Rae1 c5 17.Nf5
Nf6 18.Qg5 Ne8 19.Qg3 Qf6 20.Bc2 d5 21.e5 Qd8 22.Nf3 Qc8 23.Qg5 f6 24.Qh5 Kg8
25.Ne7+ [25...Nxe7 26.Bxh7+ Kh8 27.Bg6+] 1-0 Johansen,D (2477) - Dragicevic,D
(2215) [B07] Victorian ch 1.d4 d6 2.e4 Nf6
3.Nc3 Nbd7 4.f4 e5 5.Nf3 exd4 6.Qxd4 c6 7.e5 dxe5 8.fxe5 Bc5 9.Qh4 Qe7 10.Bf4
Bb4 11.0-0-0 Bxc3 12.exf6 Bxf6 13.Qg3 0-0 14.Bd6 Qe3+ 15.Kb1 Qb6 16.b3 Re8
17.Bc4 Nc5 18.Ng5 Bxg5 19.Qxg5 Ne4
20.Bxf7+ Kxf7
21.Qh5+ g6 22.Qxh7+ Kf6 23.Rhf1+ Nf2 24.Rd2 Bf5 25.Rdxf2 Qd4 26.Rxf5+ gxf5
27.Qh6+ Kf7 28.Rxf5+ 1-0 |
|
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contact: auschessnews@gmail.com ACF web
site: http://www.auschess.org.au/ Newsletter
Archive: http://www.auschess.org.au/bulletins/acfbt.htm Thanks
to our contributors to this issue including Arthur Huynh, Peter Parr, Milan Ninchich, anyone else I overlooked and those whose
information I purloined from other sources. |