ACF NEWS

OLYMPIAD SELECTIONS: 38th FIDE Chess Olympiad, Dresden, Germany

from Kevin Bonham, ACF Selections Director

Applications are now open for the Australian Open and Womens Olympiad Teams for the 38^th Chess Olympiad to be held in Dresden, Germany from 12 - 25 November 2008. (Event website: www.dresden2008.org)

An Open team and a Womens team, each consisting of five players and a non-playing captain, will be selected to represent Australia at this event. Players and captains are entitled to full board from the host organisation (two double and two single rooms per team) and travel subsidies from the ACF's Olympiad Appeal fundraising efforts (see www.caq.org.au/olympiad/index.htm for current progress.)

APPLYING FOR SELECTION

Those wishing to be considered for selection as players must apply, by email or in writing (email strongly preferred) by 20 June 2008. Please refer to item 5 of the ACF Selection By-Laws before applying, and for details of material required in an application (item 5.4). The full Selection By-Laws are available online in PDF form at www.auschess.org.au/constitution/Selection%20Procedures%20after%2012%20Feb%202008.pdf. A text copy will be emailed on request.

Please send all applications by email, and any queries about the selections process, to Kevin Bonham (k_bonham@tassie.net.au). If an emailed application has not been acknowledged as received within seven days, please phone (03) 6224 8487 or 0421 428 775. Written applications signed by the applicant may be posted to 410 Macquarie St, South Hobart, Tas 7004.

The names of known applicants will be released progressively on the Olympiad Appeal website as applications are received. Applicants' supporting statements and results summaries, and ratings and results information to be made available to the selectors, will be published online at an address to be announced, and available for public scrutiny, after applications close. Any corrections or additions to this material must then be made by 1 July 2008. Provisional selection results will be advised to all applicants and made public shortly after selections are finalised, on or about 15 July 2008.

IMPORTANT NOTES FOR APPLICANTS

1. Please, if possible, provide an email address that you will check regularly (preferably at least weekly) from the time of your application until the end of July. If at all possible, please send your application from this address.

2. All applicants should keep a copy of their application. Any claims for late application on the grounds of email transmission problems will not be accepted unless accompanied by a copy of the application and a letter from the sender's ISP confirming that the application was sent.

3. Activity Rule: All applicants must have completed 20 games that have been, or will be, rated by the ACF, FIDE or another approved organisation, in the time period 20 June 2007 - 20 June 2008 and at a normal (non-rapid) time limit. However, it is not required that all 20 games have been rated or even submitted for rating by 20 June, so long as they will be rated at some stage. If you have not yet reached your 20 games when you submit your application, please say so, and advise which events you intend to play in to reach 20 games by the deadline.

CAPTAINCIES

Applications for captaincies will be called for in June with a closing date a few days after selections are made public. Unsuccessful applicants for the teams are entitled to apply for a captaincy. Team captains will then be selected by the ACF Council, taking into account (but not necessarily bound by) the preferences and comments of team members. Exact dates and processes for captaincy applications will be announced closer to this stage.

SUMMARY OF DATES

14 April Applications Open
20 June Applications Close
1 July Deadline for Corrections / Material to Selectors
15 July Deadline for Selectors' Votes - provisional selection results advised ASAP to all applicants and published.

This notice also appears online at chesschat.org/showthread.php?p=170639 and has also been sent to the ACF Selections Email List. Please feel free to pass this information on to anyone who may be interested.

AUSTRALIAN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2008-2009

from Gary Wastell, ACF President

ACF by-laws and resolutions governing the conduct of Australian Championship tournaments, including the Australian Open Championship, may be seen on the ACF web site at www.auschess.org.au by following the link to Constitution and By-laws.

As most readers will be aware, the ACF has not yet received a satisfactory bid for the 2008-2009 Australian Open Championship to be held at the normal time, which is a starting date in late December or very early January and a finishing date towards the middle of January. There is no date or organiser yet appointed for the event. Some negotiations have taken place with interested parties. but they have to date not been fruitful. However, there has been an expression of interest in having the title decided by results in a tournament that is currently scheduled to be held in NSW in a later month.

The ACF wishes to ensure that the Championship, which under current by-laws will incorporate the 2008-2009 Australian Women's Championship, is held.

Consequently the ACF Council, on 14 April, resolved to call for bids for the 2008-2009 Australian Open on the following basis:
- Deadline for bids is 15 May 2008;
- Organiser must endeavour to conduct the tournament in compliance with all ACF Council resolutions and by-laws not suspended for the purpose;
- ACF will provide the organiser with a guarantee against loss of an amount not exceeding $2000, receipt of which would be conditional upon presentation of a financial statement acceptable to the Council;
- Bids should contain the information required by the By-laws for ACF Tournaments, which are at www.auschess.org.au/constitution/index.html;
- Bids should be submitted to the ACF Secretary Jey Hoole at Jey.Hoole@affa.gov.au with a copy to ACF President Gary Wastell at gwastell@netspace.net.au.

A prepared form covering the matters in those by-laws may be obtained by contacting either of the above.

JUNIOR SELECTIONS

from Shannon Oliver, Junior Selections Coordinator

These are the selections for the 2008 International Junior Events. The players are listed in order of selection, the * indicates that this player is the primary selected player in that category.

ASEAN YOUTH
BU8
  Anton Smirnov*
  Jamie-Lee Guo
BU10
  Sannidhanam,Anurag*
  Koh,Cedric
BU12
  Lau,Joshua*
  Tan,Justin
BU14
  Tan,Justin*
  Bishop,Joshua
  Soo-Burrowes,Eliot
BU16
  Tan,Justin*
BU18
  Tan,Justin*
GU8
  Christian,Kashish*
GU12
  Simmonds,Leteisha*
  Mithran,Mirakla
  Koh,Clarise
  Byrne,Alannah
GU14
  Yu,sally*
  Guo,Emma
GU16
  Yu,Sally*
GU18
  Yu,Sally*

ASIAN YOUTH/JUNIORS
BU8
  Smirnov,Anton*
  Wallmueller,Peter
  Guo,Jamie-Lee
BU10
  Sannidhanam,Anurag*
  Koh,Cedric
BU12
  Matheson,Laurence*
  Lau,Joshua
  Tan,Justin
BU14
  Tan,Justin*
  Bishop,Joshua
  Soo-Burrowes,Eliot
BU16
  Tan,Justin*
BU18
  Lazarus,Ben*
BU20
  Oliver,Gareth*
  Lazarus,Ben
  Suttor,Vincent
GU8
  Christian,Kashish*
GU12
  Simmonds,Leteisha*
  Mithran,Mirakla
  Koh,Clarise
  Byrne,Alannah
GU14
  Yu,Sally*
  Guo,Emma
GU16
  Yu,Sally*
GU18
  Yu,Sally*
GU20
  Yu,Sally*
  Guo,Emma
  Anton,Sarah

WORLD YOUTH/JUNIORS
BU8
  Smirnov,Anton*
  Wallmueller,Peter
BU10
  Sannidhanam,Anurag*
  Ruan,Harry
  Koh,Cedric
  Mason,Stuart
  Derwent,Ethan
BU12
  Matheson,Laurence*
  Liu,Yi
  Lau,Joshua
  Tan,Justin
  Ruan,Jack
  Ng,Isaac
BU14
  Nakauchi,Gene*
  Morris,James
  Schon,Eugene
  Tan,Justin
  Feng,Thomas
BU16
  Morris,James*
  Brown,Andrew
  Schon,Eugene
  Grigg,Samuel
  Muller,Jonas
  Setiabudi,Allen
  Tan,Justin
BU18
  Schon,Eugene*
  Grigg,Samuel
  Muller,Jonas
  Setiabudi,Allen
  Tan,Justin
BU20
  Oliver,Gareth*
  Suttor,Vincent
GU8
  Christian,Kashish*
GU12
  Setiabudi,Megan*
  Simmonds,Leteisha
  Mithran,Mirakla
  Kanagarajah,Abbie
  Koh,Clarise
  Byrne,Alannah
  Mason,Joanne
GU14
  Yu,Sally*
  Guo,Emma
  Setiabudi,Megan
  Kinder,Danielle
GU16
  Yu,Sally*
GU18
  Yu,Sally*
GU20
  Jule,Alexandra*
  Anton,Sarah

WORLD YOUTH OLYMPIAD (players not listed in any particular order)
  Feng,Thomas
  Ng,Isaac
  Simmonds,Leteisha
  Soo-Burrowes,Eliot
  Tan,Justin

All players have the right to appeal ( www.auschess.org.au/constitution/Selection%20Procedures%20after%2012%20Feb%202008.pdf, Sections 9 and 10). Appeals will close on Monday 21 April 2008.

PLAYERS SELECTED FOR WORLD YOUTH AND JUNIOR EVENT!!
If you have a * next to your name, let me know by Monday 28 April 2008 whether or not you are accepting your selection (sooner is better, as I can then pass the selection down to the next person on the list). If you do NOT have a * next to your name, let me know by Monday 5 May whether or not you will be going regardless of whether or not you have the primary selection.

ALL OTHER PLAYERS
I will be giving you the email addresses of all people wishing to attend the events you are playing, as well as sending you the information (when it is put up by FIDE) and you can organise it amongst yourself - if there is free food/accom for a player in an age group, then it is the individual with the * next to their name who will get it. You may contact me for advice if needed.

EVERYONE!!!
Check your email daily, as I will be emailing you if there are any appeals regarding your selection, or if you are a person without a * and you become someone with a * (due to the fact the person(s) above you turned down their selection) to let you know this has happened.

PLEASE NOTE
U8-U18 divisions are held AT THE SAME TIME therefore you CANNOT player in multiple divisions in the one tournament. If you have a * next to your name in more then one division of the World Youths, let me know which of these divisions you wish to play in.

2008 ERGAS CHESS SQUAD

from Kerry Lyall, 2008 Ergas Coordinator

The following players have been selected for the 2008 Ergas Chess Squad: Andrew Brown, Michael Chan, Emma Guo, Vincent Horton, Abbie Kanagarajah, Joshua Lau, Lawrence Matheson, Mirakla Mithran, Luthien Russell, Annurag Sannidhanam, Eugene Schon, Caroline Shan, Leteisha Simmonds, Justin Tan, Sally Yu, Fedja Zulfic, Cedric Antolis, Yita Choong, Sam Dalton, Samuel Grigg, Charmain Zhang, Alannah Byrne, Ben Harris, Katrina Knapp, Ben Lazarus, Alana Chibnall, Alistair Dyer, Anton Smirnov, Christopher Wallis & Derek Yu.

The Ergas Training Camp will be in Melbourne from 7 July to 13 July 2008 in the Emulation Hall, Rochester Road, Canterbury.

CHESS AS SPORT PETITION

SACA President George Howard will be organising a signature campaign to petition that chess be recognised as a sport in Australia.

These petitions will be used by George in his meeting with the Federal Government Minister of Sport, as evidence of the support for the ACF campaign to have chess recognised as a sport.

BRISBANE CHESS CLUB HISTORY

from Howard Duggan, VP Brisbane Chess Club

The Brisbane Chess Club continues to document as much of its history as possible on its web site at http://www.scenemagazine.com.au/bcc/.

It is looking for the names of club champions of yesteryear, office bearers and any club history pertinent to its numerous changes of locale.

Please visit their site, have a look at the holes in their records and if you feel you can assist with even the smallest morsel of information, contact Howard Duggan (details on the site).

NOMINATIONS INVITED FOR WHYATT MEDAL

from Gary Wastell, ACF Medals Coordinator

The ACF invites nominations for possible recipients of the second Whyatt medal for achievement in the field of chess problem composition. The medal is to be awarded in keeping with the following extracts from related ACF rules and resolutions.

The Whyatt medal, first presented in 2003, is to be awarded every five years for outstanding success as a chess problem composer, taking into account the composer's published problems. It may not be won more than once by the same person.

Selectors will not be asked to undertake the difficult, time-consuming and error-prone task of judging particular problems as if they were freshly submitted to them, but instead to rely on the work already done by competition judges, perhaps taking into account also the comments of editors and solvers.

The setting out of achievements should include a listing of published problems and of any awards received in competitions, giving full publication details and a reproduction from the publication itself. Published commentary on the problems may be attached, including the comments of competition judges and, if desired, also of editors and solvers. No limit is placed on the number of problems that may be listed.

The winner will be asked to prepare a short note dealing with at least one of the problems that resulted in the award. This note should be aimed at explaining to the general chess-playing public in simple language (defining technical terms when needed) some of the ideas involved in the problem(s). Attention may be drawn to intellectual, artistic and other features. A way should be indicated by which readers can follow up any further interest they might then have in problems as a result of their having read this note.

Joint winners of the first Whyatt medal were Denis Saunders and Peter Wong.

A separate document or message containing the following should be provided in respect of each nominee:

• name in full (correctly spelt);
• contact details (phone, email, postal address);
• description or list of relevant achievements suitable for reading at the time of presentation;
• anything else relevant to the nomination.

Nominations may be forwarded as follows:
    email: gwastell@netspace.net.au
    post: 22 Bruarong Crescent, Frankston South, Vic 3199
    fax: (03) 9525 9632

A person submitting a nomination should retain a complete copy of every document submitted as part of the nomination and must phone 0409 525 963 to confirm that it has been received if delivery has not been acknowledged 24 hours after expected delivery time.

The deadline for nominations is 30 June 2008.

Gary Wastell
ACF Medals Coordinator

JUNIOR EMAIL LIST

from Jenni Oliver

An e-mail list is planned for 2008. It is for juniors, coaches, parents and interested people. It is envisaged that it will be used for distributing information on events such as overseas selections, Ergas selections, etc. Initially it will also be used as a discussion mechanism for concepts such as the need for a national body to deal with junior affairs (AusJCL). Can interested people please send their e-mail address to jenni@stratagemcc.com.au

MYER TAN AUSTRALIAN CHESS GRAND PRIX

http://www.chessaustralia.com.au/index.cfm?site=grandprix

Coming Grand Prix Events

EVENTS CALENDAR

1^st Mumbai International Open

Venue Goregaon Sports Club, New Link Road, Malad, Mumbai.
Format 11 Round FIDE Swiss.
Entry fee Free to GMs, IMs, WGMs and WIMs. Entry fees depending of rating.
Prizes for 1^st to 30^th, Rs. 2,75,000/-, Rs. 1,70,000, Rs. 100,000, etc. and rating prizes. Total cash prizes 11,00,000/-.
Registration by 25/3/08. Late fee of Rs. 500/- by 2/5/08 or Rs. 1000/- by 20:00 8/5/08.
Enquiries venuschessacademy@gmail.com or venuschess@gmail.com
Flyer PDF

Gardiner Chess Gold Coast Open

Venue Carrara Community Centre, Nielsens Road, Carrara.
Format Three 7 Round Swisses.
Entry fee Open $90 ($60 J/P/S); U/1600 $60; U/1000 $50. $10 discount for entries paid by 26/6/08.
Prizes Open: $1500, $1000, $750, $300, $250, $200 (U/2000 $100). U/1600: $400, $200, $100 (Rating groups $100, $60). U/1000: Trophies & Medals.
Registration 8.30 to 9.00 a.m., Saturday, 28 June.
Enquiries outreachchess@bigpond.com or Peter Bender 07 5556 0434
Flyer here.

TAILPIECE