AUSTRALIAN CHESS FEDERATION
newsletter


Number 10/01A      .....      26 January 2010

 

 

 

Editor’s notes

 

A fair bit has happened since the last newsletter in late December – some of it is in this newsletter.

 

Following a suggestion from Guy West the format has changed with most items in a single-column arrangement; responses to this proposal were not unanimous but there was a general trend in favour of this arrangement.

 

Remember that tournament notices and other news do not place themselves in the newsletter, if you have anything that people should know about it send it to auschessnews@gmail.com

 

 

 

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.

Table of Contents

 

ACF Medals

Australian Championship

Australian Junior Championships

2009 Grand Prix

Notices

Tournament News and Results

Coming Events

Chess in Fiji, by FA Dr Jashint Maharaj

FIDE Ratings

Overseas Tournaments and News

State News

ChessClub.com.au, by David Cordover

Games

Sundries


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Table of Contents

 

 

ACF MEDALS

Winners of ACF medals, announced during the presentation of prizes following the 2010 Australian Championship at Norths Rugby League Club, in Cammeray, Sydney, on 13 January.  

 

Steiner Medal – Australian Player of the Year for 2009 
David Smerdon

 

Selectors:  Greg Canfell, David Ellis, Bill Gletsos, Denis Jessop, Amiel Rosario.

 

Nomination by ACT Chess Association: 

 

David has had an outstanding chess year, winning numerous tournaments and achieving the GM title. Relevant details are

 

1st: Oceania Zonal

1st: Queenstown Chess Classic (9 GMs, etc)

1st: Australasian Match of the Decade (against Puchen Wang; score: 4-2).

1st: NSW Open

1st: Adelaide Freytag Open

1st: ANU Open

1st =: Surfers Paradise Open

1st =: Melbourne Chess Club Anzac Day Weekender

1st: Australian Chess Grand Prix.

 

David received the Grandmaster title in June 2009.

 

He represented Oceania in the 2009 World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Siberia. Knocked out in tie-breaks in the first round. Other factors relevant to the nomination:

 

David is both an excellent role model and mentor for younger players in the ACT. Since moving to Canberra, he has given generously of his time to work with and encourage several of the promising junior players.

 

He has also willingly given time to play in various simultaneous exhibitions and local championships, in so doing supporting the development and status of chess in the nation’s capital.

 

Nomination by NSW Chess Association:

 

David won the Integra NSW Open in June 2009 and in so doing achieved the required number of points to be awarded the Grandmaster title, he being Australia’s fourth GM. His current ratings are FIDE 2525 and ACF 2510.

 

David was the 2009 Oceania Champion and won the 2009 ANU Open. He competes in tournaments within Australia and overseas, having participated recently in the FIDE World Cup. David is currently leading the Grand Prix.

 

We consider David Smerdon to be a worthy recipient of the Steiner Medal for “Player of the Year” 2009.

 


Arlauskas Medal – Australian Junior Player of the Year 2009 (incorporating the 2010 Romanas Arlauskas Award)

Bobby Cheng

 

Selectors:  Haydn Barber, Roland Eime, Garvin Gray, Evelyn Koshnitsky, Charles Zworestine.

 

Nomination by Chess Victoria:

 

12-years old Balwyn High School Bobby Cheng is our first World Champion under 12 !

 

Fantastic performance!

 

Bobby increased his ELO rating by impressive 158 points(from 2098 to 2256) in one year.

 

Amongst his other notable results in 2009 we can mention:

equal second in Oceania Zonal and FIDE Master title

equal third in Australasian Masters 2009

equal first in Geelong Open 2009.

 


Koshnitsky Medal – Chess Administration

Allan Wright

 

Selectors:  Peter Cassettari, Graeme Gardiner, Alan Goldsmith, Norm Greenwood, Jenni Oliver.

 

Nomination by NSW Chess Association: 

 

Allan Wright has been Ratings Officer for the NSW Junior Chess League since he was elected to its Council in 1990.

He has developed a rating system suited to the particular characteristics of junior competitions (one challenge being to meaningfully rate the many players who play only a few games). The current ratings list contains over 7,000 junior players, of which nearly 3,000 are included in the list published in the NSWJCL’s quarterly magazine. Allan processes all the ratings himself and has to cope with thousands of inter-school match result cards, many of which are incomplete, inconsistent or have players’ names misspelt, and require considerable detective work to decipher.

 

Allan’s other main role for the NSWJCL is running the league’s inter-schools competitions in the Hunter Region. He and his wife Dorothy have built up the main Primary Schools Competition in this region to over 100 teams from nearly 50 schools. The league’s Primary Schools One-Day tournaments have also been growing in popularity – the two Hunter Region tournaments in this series now attract about 70 teams.

 

In addition Allan runs the Newcastle Junior Chess Club, which meets weekly. In the 1990s he used to travel to Sydney to help arbit at the NSWJCL’s school holiday tournaments, but now concentrates on running holiday tournaments in Newcastle and helping with tournaments on the Central Coast.

 

All in all, we consider Allan Wright to be a worthy recipient of the Koshnitsky Medal for services to chess administration.

 

 

Gary Wastell

ACF Medals Selections Coordinator

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AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIP

As reported in the special bulletin earlier this month, GM Zong-Yuan Zhao is the new Australian Champion, scoring 10/11 and equalling the record score for the modern era, in the Championship held at Norths, Cammeray, NSW from 2nd to 13th January 2010.

 

IM George Xie came second with 9 (not 10 as mistyped in the last bulletin) followed by regular visitor GM Gawain Jones of England and multiple past winner GM Darryl Johansen.

 

The two leaders cleared out from the pack with three rounds remaining and raced neck-and-neck until the last round when Xie lost to defending Champion IM Stephen Solomon. Despite this setback Xie has the consolation of scoring his second GM norm. He now needs one more norm plus taking his rating to 2500 to become Australia’s next grandmaster.

 

The other norm from the event was an IM norm for FM Vladimir Smirnov, achieved with his tenth-round win against Gary Lane. As this also is calculated to have pushed his rating past 2400 he needs just one more norm for the IM title.

 

See the tournament site for full results, bulletins, games in PGN and photographs. The full list of prizewinners is as follows.

 

Championship

1st GM Zong Yuan ZHAO GM (NSW) 10

2nd IM George XIE (NSW) 9

3rd GM Gawain JONES (Eng) 7.5

4th GM Darryl JOHANSEN (Vic) 7

5th Equal IM Stephen SOLOMON (Qld) 6.5

FM Vladimir SMIRNOV (NSW) 6.5

CM Max ILLINGWORTH (NSW) 6.5

8th Equal IM Alex WOHL (NSW) 6

Junta IKEDA (ACT) 6

IM Gary LANE (NSW) 6

FM Douglas HAMILTON (Vic) 6

 

Major

1st Equal David GARNER (Eng) 9

Jason HU (NSW) 9

3rd Equal Johnny BOLENS (NSW) 8

Kevin SHELDRICK (SA) 8

Paul BROEKHUYSE (NSW) 8

(also 1st U1800) Alexander STAHNKE  (Qld) 8

 

Senior

1st Brian JONES FM (NSW) 7.5

 

Women

1st Equal WIM Sue MAROROA (NZ) 6

WCM Vineetha WIJESURIYA 1654 (Vic) 6

 

Rating Prize

Under 1600

1st Dawen SHI (NSW) 6.5

 

Minor

1st Mark STOKES (Qld) 9

2nd Equal Tim LI (NSW) 8

Axel STAHNKE (Qld) 8

4th Valsalan KARAYI (NSW) 7.5

 

Rating Prizes

Under 1400

1st Equal Laurie DALTON (Vic) 7

Patrick BEAHAN (NSW) 7

 

Under 1200

1st Equal Kenji NAUKAUCHI (Qld) 6.5

Stephen ROCHE (NSW) 6.5

Jamie-Lee GUO (ACT) 6.5

 

Junior

1st Daniel ZHANG (NSW) 6.5

 

Norths Classic

1st Joshua DALTON (Vic) 5.5

2nd Equal Peter YANG (NSW) 5

Clive LANE (NSW) 5

Elliott RENZIES (Vic) 5

 

There are photographs from the event at the tournament site, and other taken by Steve Javor here.

 

The following table showing the performances of the top players (over 50%) against each other was compiled by Peter Parr, sponsor of the event and SMH columnist (see SMH link for Peter’s regular reports during the event).

 

 

Winners of the lucky draw prizes (for on-line entries) were:

1st a top of the range DGT-XL clock - donated by Chess Discount Sales - winner Laurence Matheson;
2nd $100 cash courtesy of PayPal - winner Hamish Selnes;
3rd a copy of Fritz 12, RRP c. $95, courtesy of
Chessbase - winner Shan Shan Qiao.
4th, 5th and 6th prizes are all a recent copy of ChessBase magazine, also donated by
Chessbase - winners Jasper Hong, Michael Dunn and Aran Sandrasegaran.

Table of Contents

 

 

AUSTRALIAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Junior Championships have just concluded in Hobart, Tas with World Under 12 Champion FM Bobby Cheng (Vic) taking out the main section on 10/11 from Andrew Brown (ACT) 9 and IM James Morris (Vic), Yi Yuan (ACT) and Yilun Ding (Vic) 7. More details will follow in the next newsletter. Section winners are

 

U18: FM Bobby Cheng (Vic) (youngest ever Australian Junior Champion)

U18 Girls: Leteisha Simmonds (Qld)

 

U16: IM James Morris (Vic)

U16 Girls: Abbie Kanagarajah (Qld)

 

U14: Alex Stahnke (Qld)

U14 Girls: Megan Setiabudi (ACT)

 

U12: Andrew Pan (NSW) (with a Fischeresque 11/11).

U12 Girls: Savithri Narenthran (Vic)

 

U10: Peter Wallmueller (Vic)

U10 Girls: Kashish Christian (NSW)

 

U8: Ethan Lim (Vic)

U8 Girls: Yuvini Perera (Tas)

 

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

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2009 GRAND PRIX

Section winners of the Yulgilbar-Think Big Australian Grand Prix 2009 were as follows

 

Open: GM David Smerdon (ACT)

U2000: Eugene Schon (Vic)

U1600: Andrew Pan (NSW)

Women: WFM Emma Guo (ACT)

Junior: CM Max Illingworth (NSW)

Girls: Sally Yu (Vic)

 

See here for full GP scores or here for all the prize winners.

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NOTICES

The following is a repeat of a notice which was previously reported in Newsletter 09/09A

 

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

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TOURNAMENT NEWS AND RESULTS

Recent 2009 GP weekend results

 

Canterbury Summer Swiss, Box Hill CC, Vic (Dec 27-29) CM Max Illingworth won with 6/7 from Igor Dyment, Domagoj Dragicevic and Leon Kempen 5.5. (60 players).

 

Recent 2010 GP weekend results

 

MCC Australia Day Weekender, Melbourne, Vic (Jan 23-24) Jesse Jager with 6.5/7 won from Jack Shanks 5. (14 players).

 

Australia Day Weekender, Sydney, NSW (Jan 23-24) IM George Xie dominated this event with 7/7 ahead of CM Max Illingworth, Jason Chan and Gareth Charles 5.5. (73 players).

 

 

2010 Newcastle Open (13-14 February)

 

Venue is PANTHERS NEWCASTLE (Corner of King & Union Streets, the old Newcastle Workers Club). Train Travellers please note that your nearest station is CIVIC. 10 minute walk to venue.

Six Round Class 1 Grand Prix Event with a 1 hour + 10 secs Fischer time control. Prize money is dependent on the number of entries.

Entry fee is $50 for adults & $35 for concession card holders such as Juniors / Uni Students / Pensioners. Concession Cards to be shown.

Registration Time: 9.15 am to 10 am on Saturday 13 February. A late entry fee of $10 will apply if you register after 10 am.

Three rounds on Saturday. Round 1 - 10.30 to 12.30. Lunch break from 12.30 to 1.30. Round 2 - 1.30 to 3.30. Round 3 - 4 to 6.
A Casual Dinner followed by a Lightning Tournament will be held on the Saturday evening.
Three Rounds on Sunday. Round 4 - 10 to 12 noon. Lunch break from 12 noon to 1. Round 5 - 1 to 3. Round 6 - 3.30 to 5.30 then prize giving

All players competing must be a current member of the NSW Chess Association or affiliated FIDE organisations such as the NSW Junior Chess League or Queensland Chess Association etc. Players may join the NSW Chess Association on the day if they are not already members.

Grand Masters, Womens Grand Masters, International Masters & Womens International Masters only have free entry provided they register by 1 February 2010, else they will pay the normal entry fee like all other players. Players may pre-register and are encouraged to do so by sending a simple Email stating that they wish to enter. Just pay your entry fee on the Saturday when you arrive. This lets us know that you're coming and helps our preparation in doing the draw.


A Casual Dinner and social night of chess will be held on the Saturday evening after Round 3 has been completed that includes a Lightning Tournament starting at approximately 7.15pm. The Saturday evening has been purposely left free so players can relax and unwind, especially if they have travelled long distances to compete. Have some fun in the Lightning, or just kick back and relax and catch up with some old sparring partners!

The link is http://cust.idl.com.au/cavalierchess/

 

 

2010 Dubbo Open (20-21 March)

 

When:          20 & 21 March 2010

Where:         Dubbo RSL Club

Entry fees:    Adult $50, Concession $35, Junior $25

Prizes:          First  $750; Pool exceeds $3000

Time control: 1 hour + 10 sec

Contact:        Alexander Aich 0408 200 564 alexander.aich@gmail.com

Link to Flyer on website: http://home.exetel.com.au/dubbochessclub/

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COMING EVENTS

Grand Prix events

 

Feb 6-7  Ranges Summer Sizzler [1], Upwey Vic  link

Feb 13-14  Launceston Cup [1], Launceston Tas  link

Feb 13-14 Newcastle Open [1], Newcastle, NSW  link

Feb 20-21 Kingsley Open [1], Perth, WA  link

Mar 6-8 Begonia Open [3], Ballarat, Vic  link

Mar 6-8 Tasmanian Championship[1], Hobart, Tas  link

Mar 20-21 10th Anniversary Dubbo RSL Open [3], Dubbo, NSW  link

Apr 1-5 Doeberl Cup [5], Canberra, ACT  link

Apr 2-5 Queensland Open [3], Toowoomba, Qld  link

Apr 4-5 Gufeld Cup [1], Perth, WA  link

Apr 7-11 Sydney International Open [5], Parramatta, NSW  link

Apr 24-26 Anzac Day Weekender [1], Melbourne, Vic  link

 

2010 GP calendar link

 


Victoria

 

Phoenix Invitational MCC, Feb 11 to Apr 15 (FIDE-rated round robins) link

 


Australian Capital Territory

 

ACT Lightning Championship ANUCC, Level 4 Asian Studies Building; ~7:30pm, 3 February.

 


 Queensland

 

Gold Coast Tin Cup Gardiner Chess Centre, Mudgeeraba; 13-14 February. Max 1750 ACF or QJ. link  link

Queensland Interschools various venues; February - March. link

 

 


Please notify forthcoming tournaments to auschessnews@gmail.com

Table of Contents

 

 

CHESS IN FIJI

30 YEARS ON ...   by FA Dr Jashint Maharaj

 

The Fiji Chess Federation (FCF) celebrated its 30th year since inception this year and this article reflects on the journey from humble beginnings to minor sport to international fame.

 

In 1979 a group of frustrated yet highly motivated chess enthusiasts formed a social network to promote the sport of chess under the auspices of the Fiji Chess Federation. Competition was strong and tournament champions were awarded with meagre prizes but still the sport flourished and rapidly expanded into business houses and schools.

 

After several slow years, the sport was on the brink of collapse when a second revival with its past secretary Dr. Virgilio De Asa at the helm saw the sport affiliate to both FASANOC and FIDE (the world governing body of chess). This led to the national teams attendance in the 1990, 1992 and 1994 World Chess Olympiad with moderate results.

 

Experiencing an exodus of talented players in the late ‘90s the Federation embarked on a drive to rejuvenate itself by targeting schools to identify the chess-masters of the future.

 

Considered by many to be a minor sport the search was duly answered when the Federation managed to host the 2002 Oceania Zonal Chess Championships in Sigatoka as a prelude for the region to the World Chess Championships. This put chess in the forefront locally and saw the emergence on many of today’s talent field. Dr. Virgilio De Asa receiving the 2002 FASANOC Administrator of the Year award then also highlighted the fact that this sport was slowly taking flight.

 

In a bid to increase its international presence the Federation then hosted its first international tournament in December 2003 where the icing on the cake was a win by local lad Manoj Kumar ahead of an amazing field of international participants.

 

Now a revamped Fiji Chess Federation saw an increase in its local tournament participations thus deciding then to send its first female team along with the open delegation to the 2004 Chess Olympiad in Spain. Here, Keiran Prasad-Lyons proved to be the toast of the side when she secured her Womens FIDE Master (WFM) title, a first for the Federation.

 

The world of chess its oyster, the Federation then tackled the Internet to establish its own website and strengthen relations with other chess federations in the Asia-Pacific regions.

 

2006 was an exceptional year where Calvin Prasad attained his Candidate Master (CM) title at the World Chess Olympiad in Italy and was awarded the 2006 Fiji Sports Council National Male Athlete of the Year honours. Not to be outdone on the technical side, Dr. Jashint Maharaj attained his FIDE Arbiters (FA) title and was awarded the 2006 FASANOC Technical Official of the Year honours.

 

The next tier was the successful hosting of the 2007 Oceania Zonal Chess Championships in Nadi, making the event the largest international chess tournament hosted locally to date. Persistent Manoj Kumar dominated the local chess arena and he managed to scoop the 2007 Fiji Sports Council National Male Athlete of the Year award.

 

With so much development in the last few years it seemed difficult to further the sport but Kumar continued to shock chess critics by claiming his Candidate Master (CM) title at the 2008 World Chess Olympiad in Germany and then reclaim the 2008 Fiji Sports Council National Male Athlete of the Year award. The year was capped off nicely with Dr. Virgilio De Asa Jr receiving his Candidate Master (CM) title.

 

And so this year began where the preceding had left, with the awarding of a Candidate Master (CM) title to Damien Norris. In June, Dr. Sanmogam Goundar led a contingent to the pre World Championship Zonal meet held in Australia and was successful in gaining a Candidate Master (CM) title for himself and a fifth for the Federation. Also at the event Krishneel Nair forged ahead in the technical side to attain his FIDE Arbiter (FA) title.

 

There were seventeen chess events held this year culminating in one of the strongest national championships seen in a long while. Chess events are held in several categories including primary schools, secondary schools, female, open, blitz, allegro and closed events, all successful through the tireless work of the voluntary committee members that continually strive to bring chess into the forefront of local sports and the media.

 

Sources from the committee are already talking about plans to participate in more regional (ASEAN Chess Championships in Philippines) and international events (World Chess Olympiad in Russia) in 2010. With regular school clinics and a junior development squad in place, the Fiji Chess Federation is in search of the next generation of chess stars to take it into the professional era of sports.

 

Finally, having had such success at the local, regional and international levels over the last three decades, it is a wonder when chess will be deemed a major sport, perhaps when it eventually receives major sponsorship or major awards.

 

The next decade in Fiji Chess is just beginning….

Table of Contents

 

 

FIDE RATINGS

FIDE January ratings

 

FIDE ratings are now issued every two months (up to mid-2009 lists came out quarterly). Leading players on the January list are Carlsen (Nor) 2810, Topalov (Bul) 2805, and Anand (India) 2790.

 

A rating of 2643 is now required to make the top 100, and 2744 for the top ten.

 

For the FIDE ratings site see link

 

For more on regional ratings see the Oceania chess page.

Leading Australian players

 

2572

GM Zong-Yuan Zhao

2530

GM David Smerdon

2458

IM Aleksandar Wohl

2453

GM Darryl Johansen

2448

IM George Xie

2428

IM Stephen Solomon

2401

IM Mark Chapman

2386

IM Igor Goldenberg

2377

IM Gary Lane

2364

FM Tomek Rej

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OVERSEAS TOURNAMENTS AND NEWS

Corus

 

The 2010 tournament is approximately half-way through at Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. See link for the official site. Top seeds in the fourteen-player Group A are Carlsen, Anand, Kramnik and Ivanchuk.

 

 

New Zealand Chess Congress

 

The 117th NZ Chess Congress was held in Greenland, Auckland from January 2 to 14. Defending champion IM Anthony Ker took out the event with 8.5/11, his eleventh national title. A couple of non-NZ players were admitted and Chris Depasquale (Aus) scored 6/9 (= 10th). See here for the tournament site.

 

 

Hastings Chess Congress

 

The 2009/10 edition of this historic event was held from 28th December 2009 to 5th January 2010 in Hastings, England. Home players David Howell and Mark Hebden tied with Romain Edouard (Fra) and Andre Istratescu (Rou) on 7/9 to head the 108-player field. Australia was represented by Alek Safarian who scored 3.5. The tournament page is here though a part of it seems to have had a problem with hackers.

 

 

Russian Championship

 

The superfinal of the Russian Championship (December 19 to 30 in Moscow) was won by Alexander Grischuk with 6.5/9 from top seed Peter Svidler 6. See here for the tournament site (in Russian).

 

Alisa Galliamova 7.5/9 won the Women’s Championship from Nadezhda Kosintseva 7.

 

 

Spassky v Korchnoi

 

Former World Champion Boris Spassky and former Challenger Viktor Korchnoi played an eight-game match in Elista, Russia from 18 to 27 December. Korchnoi, still active in tournament play at the age of 78, was considered to be the favourite but the match resulted in a 4-4 tie.

 

 

2009 World Teams Championship

 

This event, contested by a mix of top Olympiad finishers, Continental Champions and invitees, was won by Russia with 15 match points from nine rounds, while USA took the silver on tie-break from India (both 13). Russia got off to a slow start losing to Greece in Round 2, but thereafter dropped only a draw to Armenia. Top individual performer was Hikaru Nakamura (USA) with 6/8 at a performance of 2851.

 

The composition of the event in Bursa, Turkey from 3 to 10 January was as reported in Newsletter 09/12B except that China was replaced by India.

 

 

Magnus Carlsen news

 

Magnus Carlsen, world number one in the January 2010 FIDE ratings, was featured in Time magazine in December and then again in January. Meanwhile his father Henrik reports on Chessbase that Carlsen has closed his old blog and runs a new blog on the site of his sponsor, Arctic Securities.

 

 

Dodgy tournaments

 

FIDE has unrated some questionable tournaments “played” in Laos in which Australian and English participants unknown to officials and players in their home countries supposedly earned titles and high ratings. The previously unknown players drew attention to themselves in part by one of them being so good as to be Australia’s number 15 player and by apparently not having English as his first language, judging by his correspondence enquiring about claiming his title. Had the tournaments stood then less chimeric players could have in turn gained ratings and titles by “playing” them.

 

 

World Blitz Championship

 

Preliminary stages are in progress for this event, the final of which will be held in Moscow in November following the Tal Memorial. An Internet qualifier commenced on 19 January and apparently concludes in mid-February. As competitors play under colourful “handles” the Editor is unaware if any Australians are participating, anyone with any information or inside stories is invited to contact the usual address.

 

At the time of the 2009 World Blitz it was not obvious whether the event was official but this one is definitely promoted on the FIDE site. See here for the tournament site.

 

For chess tourists

 

The date listed is the start date, see the link for the full schedule. (This list will be expanded in future issues when the Editor is less busy).

 

Bermuda International Open: 5 Feb 2010, Southampton, Bermuda  contact

Cappelle-la-Grande: 13 Feb 2010, Cappelle-la-Grande, France  link contact

1st Novy Bor Open: 13 Feb 2010, Novy Bor, Czech Republic  link contact

26th Budapest Spring Festival Open: 19 Mar 2010, Budapest, Hungary  link contact

World University Chess Ch 2010: 4 Sep 2010, Universitätsstrasse, Zurich, Switzerland link

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STATE NEWS

Queensland

 

The Redlands Summer Cup allegro tournament (Redlands RSL Cleveland, 17 January) was won by Brian Thomas 6.5/7 from FM Gene Nakauchi 6 with George Lester and Tony Weller 5.5 (40 players). See link for full scores.

 

 

Australian Capital Territory

 

The 2010 ACT Lightning Championship will be held at the ANU Chess Club, Level 4, Asian Studies Building at about 7:30pm (be early) on Wednesday 3 February.

 

2010 calendars have been announced for ANU CC, Tuggeranong CC and Canberra CC and for ACTCA events.

 

 

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

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ChessClub.com.au

Back from the dead @ ChessClub.com.au (by David Cordover)

The Victorian chess magazine, On The Move, is shortly to make a comeback thanks to the efforts of webmasters at www.chessclub.com.au. You are invited check out back issues or to subscribe from ChessClub.com.au.

This new website is at present only displaying Victorian clubs and club news but if all goes well will be extended for clubs Australia wide.

Features include:

Functional calendar of every club and event in Victoria
Searchable Ratings (Standard, Rapid and FIDE)
Games to play through
Pictures, news, results and more...
Multiple users can easily contribute to pages, pictures, content and games (no technical knowledge required)
Help videos, webinar training and email & phone support

The site is sponsored by Chess World and provides opportunities for users to purchase chess books, software and other chess products online. There is no advertising and no cost to anyone (clubs or visitors) for using the site.

Free websites for all clubs in Australia


All chess clubs (Australia wide) are invited to have a free, fully-hosted website a
t clubname.chessclub.com.au using the same software as used for ChessClub.com.au and designed by ChessClub. If your club doesn't have a website (or it's a bit tatty and old) this is a great opportunity. We'll have our first clubs using this service in a couple of weeks and I'll let you know as soon as they are running.

Feedback about any of our sites is very welcome - particularly with ideas for new and improved features you'd like to see, so check it out now!

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GAMES

Solomon,Stephen (2428) -

Jones,Gawain (2561) [B75]

Australian ch, Cammeray (7), 09.01.2010

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 a6 7.f3 Nbd7 8.Qd2 Bg7 9.g4 b5 10.g5 Nh5 11.a4 bxa4 12.Rxa4 Bb7 13.Kf2 0–0 14.Be2 Nc5 15.Ra3 Qc8 16.Nd5 Qh3 17.b4 Ne6 18.Nf5 gxf5 19.Nxe7+ Kh8 20.Nxf5 Nf6 21.gxf6 Bxf6 22.Bf1 Qh5 23.Nxd6 Rad8 24.Rd3 Bh4+ 25.Ke2 Rxd6 26.Rxd6 Bxe4 27.Qc3+ f6 28.Kd2 Bxf3 29.Rg1 Bg5 30.Rxe6 Qxh2+ 31.Rg2 Bxg2 32.Bxg5 Bxf1+ 33.Kc1 Kg8 34.Bxf6 a5

35.Kb2 Qf4 [35...axb4 36.Qb3] 36.bxa5 h5 37.Be5 Qg4 38.Re7 Rf7 39.Qb3 Bc4 40.Qb8+ Rf8 41.Qb7 Bf7 42.a6 Qa4 43.Qg2+ Qg4 44.Qxg4+ hxg4 45.a7 g3 46.Rxf7 Kxf7 47.Bxg3 Ra8 48.Bb8 Ke6 49.Kc3 Kd5 50.Kb4 Kc6 51.Kc4 Kb6 52.Kd5 Kb5 53.c4+ Kb6 54.Kd6 Kb7 55.c5 Kc8 56.Kc6 1–0

(This was the winner of the Best Game prize in the Championship)

 

Smirnov,Vladimir (2392) –

Lane,Gary (2377) [E73]

Australian ch, Cammeray (10), 12.01.2010

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0–0 6.Bg5 Na6 7.Qd2 e5 8.d5 c6 9.f3 cxd5 10.cxd5 Bd7 11.g4 Qa5 12.Nh3 Rab8 13.Be3 h5 14.Nf2 b5 15.Bxa7 Rb7 16.Be3 b4 17.Ncd1 hxg4 18.fxg4 Nc5 19.Bxc5 Qxc5 20.g5 Nh7 21.Rc1 Qa7 22.Ne3 Nxg5 23.h4 Nh7 24.Nc4 Rc8 25.h5 Qxa2 26.Nxd6 Rxc1+ 27.Qxc1 Ra7 28.hxg6 fxg6 29.0–0 Qa5 30.Qe3 Rc7 31.Nc4 Qa7 32.Qg3 Nf8 33.Kg2 Bb5 34.b3 Qa2 35.Qd3 Rf7 36.Bg4 Rf4 37.Be6+ Nxe6 38.dxe6 Qa8 39.e7 Bf6 40.Rh1 Bc6 41.Nxe5 Be8 42.Neg4 Qc6 43.Kg3 g5

44.Rh6 Kg7 45.e5 Rxg4+ 46.Nxg4 Bxe5+ 47.Kf2 Qc5+ 48.Kg2 Bc6+ 49.Kh3 1–0

 

Morris,James (2305) –

Atzmon-Simon,Barak (2182) [B09]

Australian ch, Cammeray (7) 09.01.2010

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 0–0 6.e5 Nfd7 7.h4 c5 8.h5 cxd4 9.hxg6 hxg6 10.Qxd4 Qb6 11.Nd5 Nc6 12.Qa4 Qd8 13.f5 e6 14.Bg5 f6

15.Qh4 gxf5 16.Qh7+ Kf7 17.exf6 Qa5+ 18.Bd2 Nxf6 19.Ng5+ Ke8 20.Qg6+ 1–0

Ingram,Ben (1944) –

Stahnke,Alexander (1701) [E71]

Australian Major, Cammeray (10), 12.01.2010

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 0–0 5.Bg5 h6 6.Be3 d6 7.h3 Nbd7 8.Bd3 c5 9.d5 Ne5 10.Be2 Qa5 11.Bd2 g5 12.h4 g4 13.f4 Ng6 14.h5 Nxf4 15.Nb5

15...Nxe4 16.Bxa5 Nxg2+ 17.Kf1 Ne3+ 18.Ke1

18...Be5 19.Bd3 Bg3+ 20.Ke2 Nxd1 21.Bxe4 Nf2 22.Bg2 f5 23.Nc7 Rb8 24.Bc3 f4 25.Ne6 Bxe6 26.dxe6 f3+ 27.Nxf3 gxf3+ 28.Bxf3 Nxh1 29.Rg1 Rf5 30.Bxh1 Rg5 31.Bd2 Bf4 32.Rxg5+ Bxg5 33.Bxg5 hxg5 34.Kf3 Kg7 0–1

(This was the winner of the Best Game prize in the Major)

 

Garner,David (2178) –

Tang,Jason (1996) [C11]

Australian Major, Cammeray (7), 09.01.2010

 1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.Qd2 b5 9.Ne2 Bb7 10.g3 Rc8 11.Bh3 g6 12.0–0 cxd4 13.Nexd4 Nc5 14.Qe2 Ne4 15.Rad1 Na5 16.f5 gxf5 17.Nxf5 Nc4 18.Bd4 Rg8 19.b3 Na3 20.Ne3 b4 21.Nd2 Ng5 22.Qh5 Rg6 23.Nf3 Nxh3+ 24.Qxh3 Nxc2 25.Nxc2 Rxc2 26.Qxh7 Qc7 27.Ne1 Rxa2 28.Rc1 Qd7 29.Nc2 Rh6 30.Qd3 Bc6 31.Rf2 Bb5 32.Qf3 Rh7 33.Ne3 Rxf2 34.Qxf2 Rg7 35.Qf3 Be7 36.Ng4 Rg6 37.h4 a5 38.h5 Rg8 39.h6 Rh8 40.Nf6+ Bxf6 41.Qxf6 Rh7

42.Qg7 1–0

 

Hu,Jason (2113) –

Chong,Chor Yuen (2055) [A21]

Australian Major, Cammeray (8), 10.01.2010

 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 d6 3.Nf3 f5 4.d4 e4 5.Ng5 Be7 6.Nh3 Nf6 7.e3 0–0 8.Be2 c6 9.Nf4 Na6 10.h4 Nc7 11.d5 Nd7 12.g4 Ne5 13.g5 c5 14.Qb3 Rb8 15.Bd2 a6 16.a4 b6 17.a5 b5 18.Na4 Bd7 19.cxb5 Bxb5 20.Nb6 Bxg5 21.hxg5 Qxg5 22.0–0–0 Bxe2 23.Nxe2 Nd3+ 24.Kb1 Nxf2 25.Rdg1 Qd8 26.Bc3 Rf7 27.Rh2 Ng4 28.Rhg2 Na8 29.Nf4 Nxb6 30.axb6 Rxb6 31.Qd1 Rbb7 32.Rxg4 fxg4 33.Qxg4 Qd7 34.Ne6 Rb3 35.Bxg7 Rxg7 36.Qxg7+ Qxg7 37.Rxg7+ Kh8 38.Rg3 Rb8 39.Ng5 Re8 40.Nf7# 1–0


See here for comments by the players on Morris v Atzmon-Simon.

Laurie,Robert (1335) –

Guo,Jamie Lee (943) [A05]

Australian Minor, Cammeray (9), 11.01.2010

1.Nf3 d6 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.d4 Bg7 5.c3 0–0 6.Nbd2 c6 7.e4 Be6 8.0–0 Nbd7 9.Ng5 Nb6 10.Nxe6 fxe6 11.Qe2 Ne8 12.Nf3 Nc7 13.Bg5 h6 14.Bf4 g5 15.Be3 Qe8 16.e5 Qg6 17.Rae1 Rae8 18.Bc1 Nd7 19.h4 g4 20.Nh2 h5 21.Be4 Qf7

22.Nxg4 d5 23.Bc2 hxg4 24.Qxg4 Qf3 25.Qg6 Rf5 26.Bh6 Rf7 27.Qh7+ Kf8 28.Qh8# 1–0

(This was the winner of the Best Game prize in the Minor)

 

Parker,Trent (1537) –

Stokes,Mark (1538) [E94]

Australian Minor, Cammeray (8), 10.01.2010

 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 d6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.e4 0–0 6.Be2 Nbd7 7.0–0 e5 8.d5 h6 9.Ne1 Ne8 10.Be3 f5 11.f3 f4 12.Bf2 Kh7 13.Nd3 Qe7 14.b4 g5 15.c5 Ndf6 16.cxd6 cxd6 17.Rc1 h5 18.Qc2 g4 19.Nb5 Bd7 20.Nxa7 gxf3 21.Bxf3 Ng4 22.b5 Nxf2 23.Qxf2 Bf6 24.b6 Bh4 25.Qc2 Nf6 26.Qb1 Rg8 27.Nxf4 Bg5 28.Nxh5 Nxh5 29.Bxh5 Be3+ 30.Kh1 Qg5 31.Bf3 Bxc1 32.Rxc1 Raf8 33.Rc7 Rg7 34.Qg1 Rxf3 35.Rxd7 Rc3 36.Rxg7+ Kxg7 37.Nb5 Rc1 38.Nxd6 Rxg1+ 39.Kxg1 Qd2 40.h3 Qe3+ 41.Kh2 Qxb6 42.Nf5+ Kf6 43.h4 Qb4 44.Ng3 b5 45.h5 Kg5 46.h6 Kxh6 47.d6 Qd2 48.Kh3 Kg5 49.Nf5 Qd3+ 50.g3 Qxe4 51.Ng7 Qh1# 0–1

 

Johansen,Darryl (2443) –

Zhao,Zong Yuan (2572) [A70]

Australian ch, Cammeray (4), 06.01.2010

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.d4 c5 4.d5 d6 5.Nc3 exd5 6.cxd5 g6 7.e4 a6 8.h3 b5 9.Bd3 Bg7 10.0–0 0–0 11.a3 Re8 12.Re1 Bb7 13.Bf4 Qb6 14.b4 Nbd7 15.Qd2 Rac8 16.Rac1 Nh5 17.Bg5 Ne5 18.Nxe5 Bxe5 19.Be3 Nf6 20.Ne2 Nd7 21.f4 Bg7 22.Ng3 Qd8 23.Qf2 Qh4 24.Kh2 h5 25.Re2 c4 26.Bb1 a5 27.bxa5 Qd8 28.Bd4 Bxd4 29.Qxd4 Nc5 30.Rc3 h4 31.Nf1 Nb3 32.Qf2 Qf6 33.Rce3 c3 34.Rc2 Rc5 35.Ba2 Nd4 36.Rcxc3 Rxc3 37.Rxc3 Rxe4 38.Rd3 Rxf4 39.Qe3 b4! 40.Nd2 Ba6 41.Ne4 [41.Bc4 Bxc4 42.Nxc4 Nf3+ (42...Nc2) 43.gxf3 Rxc4]

41...Rxe4 [41...Qe5 42.Qxd4 Bxd3 43.Qxe5 dxe5] 42.Qxe4 Bxd3 43.Qxd3 Qe5+ 44.Kg1 Qe1+ 45.Kh2 Nf5 [45...Ne2 46.Qe3] 46.axb4 [46.Qb1 Qg3+ 47.Kg1 Qxa3] 46...Ne3 (comments by Ian Rogers) 0–1


For detailed comments on some of these and many other games see bulletins by Ian Rogers at Ian's Bulletins


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

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Thanks to our contributors to this issue including Gary Wastell, FA Dr Jashint Maharaj, David Cordover, Peter Parr, Alexander Aich, Keith Farrell, Gregory Wilson, anyone else I overlooked and those whose information I purloined from other sources. 

 

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