Over Easter and the week following, two tournaments, the O2C 45th Doeberl Cup and the Sydney International Open were held in succession. Never before have two events of that size been held in Australia in such close proximity, or perhaps at all.

IA Charles Zworestine has written a report for us on this marathon. Here is Part I. The second part will be in the next issue.

ANOTHER CHESS MARATHON A REPORT ON THE 2007 DOEBERL AND SIO

by Charles Zworestine

Yes, even for the arbiters it does feel like a long haul sometimes; although obviously not as tough as for some of the players. The Doeberl Cup is actually 4 tournaments in one, for a combined total of around 200 players; and this year’s inaugural SIO attracted 143 players.

Nine days of solid chess, at the standard Fischer time controls of 90 minutes each plus 30 seconds per move from the start. It really does feel a bit like running a marathon. But it is worth it when the events produce the sort of fun and excitement we saw at both tournaments this year, with lots of visitors to add spice to the mix; let’s see how the Aussies fared against their foreign rivals!

PART I – the O2C 45th DOEBERL CUP

Doeberl Premier

Benefiting from the SIO, this year’s Doeberl Premier had a strong entry of 72 players; you were in the bottom half in Round 1 if your FIDE rating was below 2100! The seeding list alone was impressive: 1. GM Sergei Shipov (Russia); 2. GM Victor Mikhalevski (Israel); 3. GM Georgy Timoshenko (Ukraine); 4. GM Carlos Matamoros (Ecuador); 5. GM Ian Rogers (Australia). There followed IM David Smerdon, GM Darryl Johansen, GM Dejan Antic (Serbia), IM Stephen Solomon and GM Tejas Bakre (India). Players like IM Gary Lane, Alex Kanikevich (making a bit of a comeback after a long layoff), IM Andras Toth, FM Igor Goldenberg and FM Jesse Sales could not even make the top 10. Wow!

GM Ian Rogers, outright winner

They all won in Round 1, but there were still a few upsets. James Morris defeated Dusan Stojic with a powerful passed d pawn and a strong queen and knight getting at his opponent’s king; Eugene Schon beat Dragicevic, who left his king too exposed; and Angelo Tsagarakis stunned visiting WIM Paloma Gutierrez, who walked into a knight fork in time pressure. Round 2 saw a few more shocks, as Junta Ikeda was always doing OK as he drew by repetition with Antic; and Kiwi Hilton Bennett stunned Kanikevich with a nice attack (see game below). Dragicevic lost again, this time to Derek Yu; and Moulthun Ly failed to win a marathon rook and bishop vs rook endgame and had to settle for a draw with Eugene Schon. (He kept us there until midnight…).

Bennett, H - Kanikevich, A, 45th Doeberl Cup Canberra Round 2 Board 12, 06/04/2007
1.e4 Nf6 2.d3 d5 3.Qe2 dxe4 4.dxe4 e5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Nc3 Bb4 7.Bd2 0–0 8.0–0–0 Bg4 9.Qc4 Bd6 10.Bg5 Nd4 11.Be2 Be6 12.Qd3 Nxe2+ 13.Qxe2 Qe7 14.Nh4 h6 15.Nf5 Bxf5 16.Nd5 Qe8 17.Bxf6 Be6 18.Rd3 Bxd5 19.Rg3 g6 20.exd5 Qa4 21.Rg4 Qxa2 22.Qe4 Qa1+ 23.Kd2 Bb4+ 24.Qxb4 Qxh1 25.Qe4 g5 26.Rh4 Qf1 27.Rxh6 Qxf2+ 28.Kc3 Qc5+ 29.Qc4 Qe3+ 30.Qd3 Qc5+ 31.Kb3 Qb6+ 32.Ka2 Qa5+ 33.Qa3 Qxd5+ 34.b3 1–0

In Round 3 the top seeds started meeting, with Sergei Shipov finding out that chess in Australia is harder than he might have expected: Stephen Solomon played a great game to stun the top seed and heavy favourite. Draws ensued on the next 3 boards between Mikhalevski and Lane, Bakre and Timoshenko and Goldenberg and Matamoros, although Igor looked dead when he lost his queen only to force a draw with rook and e7 pawn against queen (see game below)! Wins to Rogers over Toth, Smerdon over Tomek Rej and Sales in an upset with a mating attack over Johansen left only four players on 3/3: Rogers, Smerdon, Solomon and Sales. In Round 4 Rogers took care of Sales, winning a pawn early in a tactical melee and cashing it in to win a long ending; but the next five boards were all draws (Smerdon-Solomon, Matamoros-Mikhalevski, Timoshenko-Goldenberg, Lane-Antic and Shipov-Bakre). So Ian entered Day 2 in the outright lead on 4/4, but with Smerdon and Solomon breathing down his neck on 3.5; suddenly it looked like a tough Aussie tournament again…

Goldenberg, I - Matamoros, C, 45th Doeberl Cup Canberra Round 3 Board 4, 07/04/2007
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.d4 Bg7 4.Nc3 0–0 5.g3 d6 6.Bg2 Nbd7 7.0–0 e5 8.e4 a6 9.h3 b5 10.cxb5 axb5 11.Re1 c6 12.b4 exd4 13.Nxd4 Ne5 14.f4 Qb6 15.fxe5 dxe5 16.Be3 exd4 17.Bxd4 Qb8 18.e5 Nd7 19.e6 Ne5 20.e7 Re8 21.Bxe5 Bxe5 22.Qd8 Qa7+ 23.Kh2 Bd7 24.Qxa8 Rxa8 25.Rxe5 Qd4 26.Re4 Qxc3 27.Rd1 Be8 28.Rd8 Qa3 29.Red4 Kg7 30.Rxa8 Qxa8 31.Rd8 Qa7 32.Rxe8 Qd7 33.Bxc6 Qxc6 34.Rd8 Qc2+ 35.Kg1 Qb1+ 36.Kh2 Qxa2+ 37.Kh1 Qb1+ 38.Kh2 Qc2+ 39.Kg1 ½–½

	IM David Smerdon, equal second

Round 5 saw a thrilling draw between Rogers and Smerdon, with passed pawns all over the board! Ian let David queen to force queening himself, but could not quite get through and had to take a draw by perpetual check (see game below). Solomon was very lucky to beat Timoshenko when the latter somehow managed to lose on time in a rook and pawn ending two pawns up; so Solo and Ian were equal leaders on 4.5/5, with 7 players on 4/5. They were Smerdon, Matamoros (beat Moulthun), Mikhalevski (beat Sales), Johansen (beat Dusan Stojic), Antic (beat Jason Hu), Junta Ikeda (stunned Bakre with nice tactics winning a pawn and eventually two rooks and bishop for a queen) and Chris Wallis (upset Toth). Lane missed a chance to join them when he drew a rook and pawn endgame from a pawn up against Goldenberg.

Rogers, I – Smerdon, D, 45th Doeberl Cup Canberra Round 5 Board 1, 08/04/2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 c5 4.d5 e6 5.Nc3 exd5 6.cxd5 d6 7.e4 Bg7 8.Bg5 0–0 9.Qd2 h6 10.Bxh6 Nxe4 11.Nxe4 Qh4+ 12.g3 Qxh6 13.Qxh6 Bxh6 14.Nxd6 Na6 15.f4 Nb4 16.0–0–0 Rd8 17.Nxc8 Raxc8 18.Bh3 f5 19.Nf3 c4 20.Ne5 c3 21.bxc3 Nxa2+ 22.Kb2 Nxc3 23.Rc1 Nxd5 24.Nxg6 Bg7+ 25.Kb3 b5 26.Bxf5 Rxc1 27.Rxc1 a5 28.Rc5 a4+ 29.Ka3 Nc3 30.Rc8 Rxc8 31.Bxc8 Kf7 32.f5 Ne2 33.g4 Bh6 34.Ne5+ Kf6 35.Nf3 Bf8+ 36.Kb2 a3+ 37.Kc2 Bc5 38.g5+ Kg7 39.Ne5 a2 40.f6+ Kh8 41.g6 a1Q 42.Nf7+ Kg8 43.Nh6+ Kh8 44.g7+ Kh7 45.g8Q+ Kxh6 46.Qg7+ Kh5 47.Qg4+ ½–½

In Round 6 Rogers drew his nth game with Solo (where n is a big number); this let Mikhalevski catch them in the joint lead on 5/6 by beating Junta. We had a traffic jam on 4.5/6 after the draws Matamoros-Johansen and Smerdon-Antic; they were joined there by Lane (beat Wallis), Shipov and Rej (beat Schon). Dragicevic and Suttor did well to hold GMs Timoshenko and Bakre to draws, both from positions of strength: Dragicevic a pawn up, Vincent the exchange ahead… So to the last round, where we seemed destined for a large tie in equal first on 5.5/7 after Solo drew with Matamoros, Antic drew with Shipov (so the latter three had to settle for 5/7) and Lane beat Rej. Smerdon also reached 5.5/7 after mating Johansen; and then they all had to wait for Rogers and Mikhalevski, which seemed destined for a draw. But Ian, ever the fighter, found a way to win their seemingly drawish rook and pawn ending to win yet another Doeberl Cup outright on 6/7; and it was an Australian trifecta in second, with Solo, Smerdon and Lane all on 5.5/7.

Doeberl Major

This event, FIDE rated for the first time, attracted a smaller field of 44 players. The top seed, Dizdarevic, was upset already in Round 1 by the current Australian Under 12 Champion, Gene Nakauchi; the second and third seeds, Brendon Norman and Justin Huang, were also beaten, by Julius Caesar Marquez and David Messina respectively. This set the tone for an intriguing event, with upsets continuing in the second round as Messina shocked Shaun Ferris, Samuel Dalton beat Brendon Norman and Boards 1, 2 and 4 saw draws: Bliznyuk with Rosario, Nakauchi with Kiwi Sue Maroroa and Marquez with Tulevski. By the end of Round 3, we only had two leaders on 3/3; and after Round 4, Adrian de Noskowski had grabbed the outright lead by defeating Richard Voon. Bliznyuk and Guo-Yuthok were still up there on 3.5/4  with wins over Grcic and Nakauchi respectively; but draws on the next five boards did damage to everyone else’s chances.

IM Gary Lane, equal second

Adrian’s win over Sherab still had him outright first on 5/5 after Round 5; Voon outplayed and defeated his main danger (Bliznyuk). He made sure of it by beating Dizdarevic in Round 6; he was already guaranteed at least equal first, but Voon could still catch him after he beat Justin Huang. Sherab’s attacking style took care of Bliznyuk, and got him to second board in the last round… An early draw with Allen Setiabudi ensured Adrian’s victory on 6.5/7, but he need not have worried; Sherab played an aggressive attacking game to take care of Voon. This left Sherab second on 5.5/7;  Voon had to settle for equal third on 5/7 with Allen Setiabudi and Yi Yuan.

Doeberl Minor

Top seed Jonathan Shen was clear favourite in this 68 player field; and for once the top seed came through, with few hiccoughs albeit a long struggle or two. After the juniors wreaked their usual havoc in Round 1 (Isaac Ng 1014 beat third seed Ian Dickson 1534; Jake McCook 959 beat Tracey 1484), things settled down a bit in Round 2; although Isaac Ng did win again against Joe Marks (1377). But Miona Ikeda took care of Isaac in Round 3; by the end of this round, we only had 7 leaders on 3/3. After Miona drew with Norm Greenwood and Taiyang Zhang drew with Shirley Wu, this was down to two on 4/4 after the end of the second day. Jonathan was one of them, with few worries getting there; visiting Norwegian/Iraqi Emil-Lion Nomat was the other.

Jonathan dispatched Emil in Round 5, while Miona took care of Taiyang Zhang. Miona then gave Jonathan Shen (who had the advantage of the White bits) probably his toughest game for the event in Round 6; but despite a long struggle she could not hold on, and he ended up grinding her down to reach 6/6. Four players could still catch him on 5/6: Bisson (who beat Walkerden), Trent Parker (defeated Jey Hoole), Nomat (took care of Alana Chibnall) and Kiwi Shirley Wu (who accounted for Norm Greenwood). But Jonathan remained rock solid and comfortably held a draw with Shirley to claim outright first on 6.5/7; Trent Parker got outright second on 6/7 after receiving a forfeit from Nomat (who forgot that the round started an hour earlier on the last day!); and the others had to content themselves with equal third on 5.5/7: Shirley Wu, Miona Ikeda (beat Michael Tracey), Laurence Matheson (defeated Hoole) and Ivanov (beat Bisson).

Doeberl Seniors

A disappointing 12 players here (down from 16 last year): just enough for a little 7 round Swiss! One of our Kiwi visitors, IA Bob Gibbons, was clear favourite and did indeed emerge the victor here, scoring 6.5/7 and conceding only a draw with second seed Phil Viner. Phil also drew with Bill Egan in Round 1, and so finished outright second on 6/7. Bill had a great tournament, beating higher rated players in Peter Nijssen and Cathy Rogers to finish outright third on 4.5/7. After an early upset of David Lovejoy, Bob Meyer won the prize for top player in the bottom half on 4/7 (also beating Egan and Nijssen); while Erik Jochimsen took out second in the bottom half on 3.5/7 after he beat Nijssen and Egan and drew his last round game with Harry Kolotas.

For complete cross tables of all Doeberl Cup divisions see Ian Rout's web page here

MYER TAN AUSTRALIAN CHESS GRAND PRIX

Progress Scores

Some shape is forming in the leadership of the various Divisions of the Grand Prix now that 18 events have been processed. Visiting GM Dejan Antic has a narrow lead in the Open. Chris Wallis has a big lead in the Junior. WIMs Narelle Suveges and Laura Moylan are tied in the Women's while Alexandra Jule has a big lead in the Girls. The top 5 in each Division, as at 24 April, are:

Open
No        Name 
01        Antic, Dejan (OS 2433 4)             68.25  
02        Solomon, Stephen J (QLD 2428 4)      61.58  
03        Lane, Gary W (NSW 2442 4)            52.75   
04        Chapman, Mark (SA 2403 2)            35.00  
05        Rogers, Ian (NSW 2624 2)             31.25  

Junior
No        Name
01        Wallis, Christopher (VIC 2127 4)     82.75    
02        Ly, Moulthun (QLD 2260 3)      5      2.50  
03        Lin, Zhigen Wilson (VIC 2084 2)      40.20  
04        Stojic, Dusan (VIC 2183 3)           39.83  
05        Ikeda, Junta (ACT 2146 2)            37.83  

Women
No        Name 
01        Szuveges, Narelle S (VIC 1641 3)     62.50  
02        Moylan, Laura A (NSW 2079 3)         62.50     
03        Gutierrez Castillo, Paloma (NA 0 2)  50.00  
04        Jule, Alexandra (QLD 1740 3)         38.00  
05        Webb-Liddle, Miranda (VIC 5 2)       27.50    

Girls
No        Name
01        Jule, Alexandra (QLD 1740 3)         82.50  
02        Yu, Sally (VIC 1551 2)               57.50  
03        Antolis, Adeline (VIC 2 2)           31.00
04        Sitch, Nikki (VIC 0 1)               20.00
05        Kinder, Jessica (QLD 1527 1)         20.00

U2000
No        Name
01        Savige, Colin B (VIC 1979 2)         34.33
02        Guo-Yuthok, Sherab (ACT 1757 3)      32.33
03        de Noskowski, Adrian (ACT 1817 1)    30.00
04        Zulfic, Fedja (SA 1614 2)            25.27
05        Lovejoy, David (QLD 1886 1)          25.00

U1600
No        Name 
01        Antolis, Cedric (VIC 1371 3)         42.50
02        Parker, Trent (NSW 1492 4)           33.03
03        Wan, Dennis (NSW 1525 1)             30.00
04        Shen, Jonathan (NSW 1580 1)          30.00
05        Ambatali, Ric - Senior (QLD 1543 2)  28.00

Unrated
No        Name
01        Oswald, Franz (NONE 0 4)             55.00
02        Aisa, Mario (NT 0 2)                 33.50
03        Stimson, David (NONE 0 1)            30.00
04        Murray, Victor-David (QLD 0 2)       26.00
05        Leong, Edward (NONE 0 1)             25.00

Myer Tan Australian Chess Grand Prix 2007

Coming Events

For full Grand Prix details see the website at www.chessaustralia.com.au/grandprix/index.cfm

2007 John Kellner Memorial Weekender

The NSW Chess Association invites your participation in this Category 2 Grand Prix event with $2,220 in prizes.

Where: St. George Leagues Club
124 Princes Highway
Kogarah NSW

When: Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th May 2007

Schedule: Saturday Sunday
10am – 10:45am Registration
11am Round 1 11am Round 5
1:30pm Round 2 1:30pm Round 6
4pm Round 3 4pm Round 7
6:30pm Round 4 6:30pm Prizegiving

You need to register and pay by May 16th to be eligible for the early entry fee.

All entries received after 10:45am at registration will incur a $10 additional late fee

Players are eligible for 1 prize only.

All NSW resident players must be members of (or join) the NSWCA or the NSWJCL

For further information contact Brett Tindall by telephone on 8756 5974, email tournaments@nswca.org.au  or visit the NSWCA website: www.nswca.org.au

Entry form » 2007 John Kellner Memorial Weekender

2007 Victorian Open

Details can be found on the CV website at http://chessvictoria.netfirms.com/vic_open.htm

The 2007 Victorian Open Championship (GP Cat. 1) will be held on the Queens Birthday weekend
June 9, 10, and 11.

The 2007 Championship will be organized by the Box Hill Chess Club on behalf of Chess Victoria.

The venue is located at 3 Rochester Road Canterbury and is within 5 minutes walk from Canterbury Station. The venue is close to the famous Maling Road shops. There is ample parking nearby

Playing schedule:
June   9:  Round 1: 11.30   Round 2:  16.00  
June 10:  Round 3: 10.00   Round 4:  14.30  Round 5:   19.00
June 11:  Round 6: 10.00   Round 7: 14.30

Prize giving:  June 11 at 18.00

Rate of Play:  90 minutes per player per game plus 30 seconds per move from move one

Ratings: Nationally rated and FIDE rated

Entry Fees:
$60 less $15 early bird discount if paid by May 29.
Free entry for Grand Masters and International Masters provided their entries are received by May 29.

Entry conditions:
Open to all members from CV affiliated clubs, Interstate and international visitors and non members of affiliated clubs prepared to pay a $10 registration fee.

Closing of Entries
Entries  will close at 10.30 on Saturday morning at the venue.
All entries must be accompanied by the required entry fee    or
Entries close when the maximum field size of 120 is reached.

Prize Fund
A prize pool of $3500 minimum including a $1000 first prize will be offered.
There will be $120 ratings prizes in eight divisions and a $40 unrated prize.
Prize money is shared between eligible players on equal points 

(Information from CV News Sheet No 10 – see http://chessvictoria.netfirms.com/news_sheets.htm .)

Completed Grand prix events

2007 Gufeld Cup - 6 Rounds

Played at Legacy House, South Perth on 8 & 9 April.
Results
Open
1st Laurent Vileseca                             5.5
2nd Andrew Kuklinski                             5.0
=3rd Andrew Hardegen, Miles Haselgrove           4.5
U/1850

1st Robert Galvin                                4.0
2nd Joel Rufin                                   3.5
=3rd Ricky Bwalya, John Lee,                     3.0
     Michael Pavlovic, Paul Reynolds  
U/1550

=1st Gary Donaldson, Ryan Sam                    3.0
Junior Prize
=1st George Carolin-Unkovich,  Edwin Nie  2.0
Final Standings
1      Laurent Vilaseca                          5.5
2      Andrew Kuklinski                          5.0
3-4    Andrew Hardegen                           4.5
       Miles Haselgrove                          4.5
5-7    Michael Wilkins                           4.0
       David Ellis                               4.0
       Robert Galvin                             4.0
8-10   Tom Donaldson                             3.5
       Jay Lakner                                3.5
       Joel Rufin                                3.5
11-16  Ryan Sam                                  3.0
       Michael Pavlovic                          3.0
       Ricky Bwalya                              3.0
       Gary Donaldson                            3.0
       Paul Reynolds                             3.0
       John Lee                                  3.0
17-19  Nedeljko Tomic                            2.5
       Paul Taylor                               2.5
       Chris Cuellar                             2.5
20-23  Edwin Nie                                 2.0
       George Carolin-Unkovich                   2.0
       Anthony Filose                            2.0
       Graeme McQuilkin                          2.0
24     Darby Thurtell                            1.5
25-26  Yuta Aikawa                               0.5
       Shihe Lim                                 0.5

Anzac Day Weekender – 5 rounds
Played at the Melbourne Chess Club on 21 & 22 April 2007
Results
No Name             Loc  Total  1    2    3    4    5 
1  Chapman, Mark    2403 4.5    5:W  4:W  3:D  6:W  2:W
2  Dilla, Edsil     2142 3.5    8:W  6:D  4:W  3:W  1:L
3  Baron, Michael   2309 3.5    7:W 12:W  1:D  2:L  6:W
4  Coutts, Tama     2122 3      9:W  1:L  2:L 10:W 11:W
5  Antolis, Cedric  1760 3      1:L  9:W  7:L 12:+  8:W
6  Hogg, Dean       1915 2.5   10:W  2:D 12:W  1:L  3:L
7  Grygoryan, Oleg  1644 2      3:L 11:W  5:W  8:L  9:L
8  Kostrzewa, Jake  1481 2      2:L 10:W  9:L  7:W  5:L
9  Oswald, Franz    1306 2      4:L  5:L  8:W 11:L  7:W
10 Cheema, Mohammad 500  1.5    6:L  8:L 11:D  4:L  0:W
11 Podbury, Brendan 871  1.5   12:L  7:L 10:D  9:W  4:L
12 Pecak, Mariusz   2087 1     11:W  3:L  6:L  5:-  0:L

For full information on the Grand Prix see the website http://www.chessaustralia.com.au/grandprix/

Other Events Coming Up Soon
Oceania Zonal, Fiji

This begins on 5 May. Entries as at 27 April are

Open Event

IM Zhong Yuan Zhao (AU) , FM Puchen Wang (NZ) , CM Calvin Prasad (FIJI), IM Gary Lane (AU), FM Bob Smith (NZ), IM Vladimir Feldman (AU) , Paul Spiller (NZ), James Morris (AU), Stuart Fancy (PNG), Manoj Kumar (FIJI), Dr. Neel Arora (FIJI), Asheesh Gautam (FIJI) , FM Igor Bjelobrk (AU), Alvis Chand (FIJI) , FM Stephen Lukey (NZ), Michael Steadman (NZ), Dr. Sanmogam Goundar (FIJI), Roneel Sharma (FIJI) , Taione Sikivou (FIJI) , FM Igor Goldenberg (AU) , Ibrahim Ogada-Osir (AU) , Sterling Ong (FIJI) , Ilija Ilic (AU) , Gene Nakauchi (AU) , IM David Smerdon (AU), Sherab Guo-Yuthok (AU), Andrew Fitzpatrick (AU), Nicholas Chernih (AU)

Women's Event

WCM Sue Maroroa (NZ) , WCM Vivian Smith (NZ) , WFM Keiran Lyons (FIJI), Frentina Antrea (FIJI), Imelda Flores (PNG), WIM Nancy Lane (AU), WIM Irena Berezina (AU) , Alexandra Jule(AU) , Gloria Sukhu (FIJI), Rebecca Harris (AU), Jessica Kinder (AU), Shirley Wu (NZ), Rachna Ram (FIJI)

Other News

Worlds Seniors Selection

Expressions of interest are sought from Australian players rated over 1800 and interested in being nominated by the ACF to represent Oceania at the upcoming World Seniors Championships, 16-29 September, Austria (http://www.chess-worldseniors.austria2007.com). One male and one female representative position are available, restricted to players born before 1 Jan 1947 and 1 Jan 1957 respectively. The selected players receive free accommodation.

Applications close 14 days from the date of publication of this notice in the ACF Newsletter. It is expected that the alternative selection process (average of candidates' FIDE and ACF ratings) will be used as the Oceania Zone President has requested an Australian nomination be finalised by the end of May.

Applicants must submit the following information as per the ACF selections by-laws, by email to the ACF Selections Co-ordinator, Kevin Bonham, email k_bonham@tassie.net.au Applicants who do not use, or without access to, email may arrange for another person to submit the application on their behalf, or may apply by post to Kevin Bonham, ACF Selections Co-ordinator, 410 Macquarie St, South Hobart Tas 7004.

5.4.1 Full Name
5.4.2 Address
5.4.3 Email address
5.4.4 Fax
5.4.5 Phone number
5.4.6 Nationality
5.4.7 Date of Birth
5.4.8 FIDE Rating
5.4.9 ACF Rating
5.4.10 FIDE Titles held
5.4.11 Current ACF Titles held
5.4.12 Passport number (if held), date of issue and expiry date.

The full selection by-laws are visible here or can be supplied upon request.

Kevin Bonham
ACF Selections Co-Ordinator (Senior Events)

Australians Overseas

WFM Shannon Oliver is another who is combining overseas study with some chess. Shannon is studying in England and has taken the opportunity to play the last 4 rounds of the 4NCL teams tournament with the Slough Sharks 3 in Division 3 where she has 2/4. She will play 3 more rounds    on 5, 6 and 7 May. The Division 3 teams all have an average rating for the 8-player team of 2000 plus so the opposition is quite strong. Shannon also played in the Bunratty Challengers tournament in Ireland, a 63 player event of players all pretty much of her standard. There she scored 4/6 finishing equal 9th. I see that the Irish used Swiss Perfect for the pairings.Finally Shannon played in a much stronger tournament at Donostia in the Spanish Basque country – the XXX Open Internacional Ciudad de San Sebastian Donostia Hiria Nazioarteko XXX Xake Txapelketa (the second part of the title being in Euskara, the Basque language.) The field of 122 players included 7 GMs and 10 IMs. Shannon scored 5/9 finishing in equal 38th place. The winner on count back was IM Jakub Czakon (POL) in a bunch of three on 7/9

Other Overseas News

Grandmaster Vladislav Tkachiev aged 33 has won the European Championship in Dresden,Germany. The 11 round event attracted 403 players from 44 countries including 184 grandmasters for a prize fund of $334,000 and 29 qualifying places for the World Cup. Tkachiev was born in Moscow and at the age of 8 his family moved to Kazakhstan where he became youth champion in 1985. Tkachiev now lives in Cannes,France winning the Title of French Champion in 2006. He prefers blitz and rapid chess and has played 12 games simultaneously while blindfolded.

Eur Champ 2007 V. Tkachiev FRA 2649 v V. Potkin RUS 2580 B14 Rd 6 1. c4 c6 2. e4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nf3 Bb4 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Qc2 Nc6 9. Bd3 Ba5 10. a3 Nxc3 11. bxc3 Nxd4 12. Nxd4 Qxd4 13. Bb5+ Bd7 14. O-O Qd5 15. c4 Qf5 16. Bxd7+ Kxd7 17. Qb3 b6 18. Rd1+ Ke7 19. a4 Rhd8 20. Ba3+ Kf6 21. Bd6 g5 22. Qb2+ Kg6 23. Ra3 g4 24. h3 h5 25. Rg3 f6 26. hxg4 hxg4 27. Rd4 Kf7 28. c5 Rg8 29. Rf4 Qg6 30. Rgxg4 Qh6 31. Qb5 Rad8 32. Qc6 1-0

The 370 player,33 round Euroblitz(5 mins per player)was won by 17-year-old Ukrainian GM Sergey Karjakin. The 150 player European Womens Championship was easily won by Tatiana Kosintseva(gold) scoring 10/11 a full two points ahead of former Womens World Champion Antoeneta Stefanova BUL(silver) and her elder sister Nadezhda Kosintseva(bronze)

Z Mamedjarova WGM 2354 v T. Kosintseva IM 2459 RUS D38 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bf4 O-O 6. Qb3 c5 7. dxc5 Nc6 8. e3 Ne4 9. a3 Qa5 10. Rc1 Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 Nxc5 12. Qb2 b6 13. Nd4 Bd7 14. cxd5 Nxd4 15. exd4 Na4 16. Qb3 exd5 17. Bd6 Rfe8+ 18. Kd2 b5 19. Qxd5 Rac8 20. Bb4 Qd8 21. Qh5 Qf6 22. Qf3 Qg5+ 23. Kc2 Bc6 24. Qg3 Qd5 25. Kd2 Qa2+ 26. Rc2 Qb1 27. Rc1 Qb2+ 28. Rc2 Qa1 29. f3 a5 30. Bd6 Bd5 31. Bxb5 Qxh1 32. Rc1 Qxc1+ 33. Kxc1 Nxc3 34. Kd2 Nb1+ 35. Kd1 Bb3 mate 0-1

Grandmasters from China dominated the $50,000 Philippines Open in Manila taking the top 5 places. Leading final scores(59 players including 13 GM's,9 rounds) Wang Yue,Zhang Zhong and Ni Hua 7,Wang Hao and Zhao Jun 6.5

The above items are by courtesy of Peter Parr, whose chess column appears in the “Sydney Morning Herald” every Monday.

Tailpiece

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Denis Jessop
Editor
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