ACF NEWS

APPLICATIONS OPEN: Commonwealth Chess Championships, 28 Sept. - 6 Oct.

from N Y Wong, ACF Selections Co-Ordinator

The FIDE Commonwealth Chess Championships will be held by the All India Chess Federation in Nagpur, Maharashtra, India from 28th September to 6th October, 2008. A PDF brochure containing further details is available on request.

Australia is eligible to field one male and one female representative in the open sections. A separate selection process is being held for junior representatives. Official representatives receive free boarding and lodging.

Any player wishing to apply to represent Australia in either open section must email nyandjaclyn@iprimus.com.au by the closing date for applications of 15 July 2008. Please phone (03) 9752 7903 if your application has not been acknowledged within seven days of sending it.

Applications must include all the information listed in Section 5.4 of the ACF Selections By-Laws which may be found at href="http://www.auschess.org.au/constitution/Selection%20Procedures%20after%2012%20Feb%202008.pdf. Since ACF only received the notification recently, there will not be sufficient time to use the normal selection process. Hence, the alternative selection process (average of players' ACF and FIDE ratings) will be used, so there is no need to submit any results or a supporting statement.

All applicants are encouraged to retain a copy of their application. Applications that are late because of claimed email transmission problems will not be considered unless accompanied by a copy of the original application email and a letter from the applicant's Internet Service Provider confirming that the application was sent in time.

JUNIOR APPLICATIONS OPEN: Commonwealth Chess Championships, 28 Sept. - 6 Oct.

from Shannon Oliver, Junior Selections Co-Ordinator

Applications are now open for the 2008 Commonwealth Championships to be held in Nagpur India from the 27th September till 6th October 2008.

Positions to apply for are : Boys and Girls U8, U10, U12, U14, U16, U18 and U20.

Please email me your name, address, nationality, contact number, FIDE rating and title, ACF rating, any ACF titles held, which division(s) you wish to apply for and any supporting information (up to 400 words) by 11th July 2008. In the case of more than one applicant for a division, the alternative selection process (average of ACF and Fide ratings) will be used.

OLYMPIAD CAPTAINCIES

from Kevin Bonham, ACF Selections Director

Expressions of interest are now open for the following positions:

    * Non-playing Captain, Australian Open Team

    * Non-playing Captain, Australian Women's Team

for the 38th Chess Olympiads to be held in Dresden, Germany from 12 - 25 November 2008. (Event website: www.dresden2008.org/)

The deadline for applications is 18 July 2008, which is three days after the intended date for announcement of the selected players. It is expected that the selected captains will be announced by the end of July 2008.

Applicants for playing positions may also apply for captaincies, on the understanding that they will be ineligible for a captaincy if they accept selection to a playing position, and vice versa.

Applicants may submit any supporting comments they wish to be passed on to either the selected players or the members of ACF Council, explaining why they think they should be selected as captains. The positions are filled by Council after taking into account the players' stated preferences (if any). Council has recently tended to follow the players' preferences in most cases, but is not obliged to do so. Applicants are also free to contact the applicants for playing positions and/or the Council regarding their applications as and whenever they wish. For more detail see item 13 of the ACF Selections procedures by-law at www.auschess.org.au/constitution/Selection%20Procedures%20after%2012%20Feb%202008.pdf.

Expressions of interest can be sent by email to k_bonham@tassie.net.au , or call 0421 428 775 if it is necessary to arrange another method, or if an email application has not been acknowledged within seven days.

This message has been sent to the ACF Selections Info email list, the ACF Newsletter and the bulletin board chesschat.org. Please feel free to distribute it to anyone who may be interested.

RESEARCH STUDY ON CHESS SKILL

Do you have a FIDE rating?

Dr. Robert Howard of the University of New South Wales in Australia is carrying out a study of chess skill in internationally rated players. The study looks at effects of amount of practice, coaching and age of starting chess on chess skill and at chess players' views about chess skill. The study involves a short online survey. The survey is for anyone who has, or who ever has had, a FIDE rating.

The survey takes only about 5-10 minutes to complete. All responses are completely confidential. The survey is available in English, Spanish, Russian, and German.

To take part, you must know your exact FIDE ID number, which will be something like "14200887". ID numbers are posted on the FIDE website at www.fide.com.

A summary and analysis of the study findings will be posted here when it is complete and will be emailed to any participant who requests it.

If you would like to participate, please go to this website:

For any queries, please contact Dr Robert Howard, University of New South Wales, on rwh@unsw.edu.au.

MYER TAN AUSTRALIAN CHESS GRAND PRIX

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

Coming Grand Prix Events

EVENTS CALENDAR

Geelong Open

Venue Court House Building (upstairs). Corner Little Malop St & Gheringhap St.
Format 5 Round Swiss.
Entry fee $60 ($50 J/P & Geelong CC members); $10 discount for entries paid by 5/7/08; GMs & IMs free (if notified by 5/7/08).
Prizes $1000, $600, $40; Rating groups: $200.
Registration by 9.30 a.m., Saturday, 19 June.
Enquiries Mario Zoppi 03 5248 7335 or 0421 104 648.
Accommodation For help with accommodation and visitor information contact the Geelong Visitor Information Centre on 1800 620 888.

Malaysian Chess Festival 2008

ChessBase article

ASTRO Merdeka Rapid Team Event, August 15-17.
IGB-5^th Dato' Arthur Tan Malaysia Open Chess Championship 2008, August 18-24.
ASTRO Merdeka Rapid Team Event, August 30 - September 1.
Flyer here.
Enquiries Some financial assistance may be available for interested players. Contact Brian Jones for more information.

IGB-5^th Dato' Arthur Tan Malaysia Open Chess Championship 2008

Venue Ballroom, 5th Floor, CitiTel Mid Valley Hotel, Mid Valley Megamall, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 KL.
Format 11 Round Swiss.
Entry fee Unrated US $200, 1600-1999 $150, 2000-2199 $125, 2200-2299 $100, 2300-2399 $75, 2400-2499 $50.
Prizes See flyer.
Registration 7.30 to 8.30 a.m., Monday, 18 August.
Enquiries aham@pc.jaring.my
Flyer here.

Surfers Paradise Open

Venue Quality Hotels, Mermaid Waters, cnr Markeri Street and Sunshine Boulevard, Mermaid Waters, Gold Coast, QLD, 4218.
Format Three 6 Round Swisses. 'Paradise' August 30 - September 1. 'Surfing' August 30-31. 'Fun' August 30.
Entry fee 'Paradise' $90 (GMs free), 'Surfing' $60, 'Fun' $30.
Prizes 'Paradise' $2000, $1000, $500, $200, $100. 'Surfing' $500, $200, $100 (& rating group prizes). 'Fun' $100 (& runnerup medal).
Registration Entries and payments closing on Monday, 25 August 2008. Player registration 8.30 to 9.15 a.m., Saturday, 30 August.
Enquiries info@kingsofchess.biz or (0061) 07 5578 5872
Flyer here.

COMPLETED EVENTS

Tasmanian Open 2008

from Kevin Bonham

Historic Horton Ties for Tas Open

The 2008 Tasmanian Open attracted 25 players and was the strongest all-Tasmanian event of at least the last two decades, with five players rated over 1900 and another five in the 1700s, and six past or present state champions playing. Yet what could have been a showcase of the strength at the pointy end ended up saying more about the depth of the state's current chess scene, with one of the winners even coming from outside the top ten seeds.

This depth was evident from round one, in which the underdogs (most outrated by >400 points) managed four draws. First to draw was Mason Carter, after one weakness was not enough for Julian Steward (1992 state champion, recently returned to tournament chess) to win a pawn ending. Fellow junior Vincent Horton was held to a draw by Tony Sturges (whose rating has crashed to 1166 mostly through draws and losses to much weaker juniors than Vincent!) - Tony forced a draw by perpetual check in a feisty late middlegame. Carey Kuzmic missed some wins before drawing a same-coloured bishop ending against Nigel Frame, and Kevin Hendrey defended very doggedly as he held off Glen Gibbs' maneuvering.

Surprisingly, Dowden and Bonham (the top two in many other Tas tournaments) met in round two. A game that could have gone either way swung Dowden's way with a devastating queen sac offer; Bonham declined it to avoid mate but resigned a few moves later to stop Dowden doing it again! Top seed David Small defeated Alastair Dyer in a tough fight, and Neil Markovitz weathered a very prolonged attack from Andrew Kruup. Charles Chadwick held a rook ending a pawn down against Peter Knight, while Frame and Glen Gibbs conceded draws to Sturges and Mason Carter respectively.

Round three began on Sunday morning without Andrew Kruup who withdrew (without notice, alas) after having his credit card and mobile phone stolen on Saturday night. Small and Dowden drew after seventeen tense and deeply considered moves, but those who expected the same in Markovitz-Knight were wrong as the HICC champion downed the twice state champion decisively. Bonham was equally destructive, wiping out Ivkovic with a temporary queen-sac combo, while Gibbs' junior problems just got worse with a loss to Vincent Horton, despite having a couple of very ominous-looking knights early on. Dylan Kuzmic drew with Dyer and the battle of the Nigels was a hard-fought draw and a good result for Lewis (playing his first weekender in Hobart for decades). The last game going, Chadwick-Steward, had a dramatic conclusion as Chadwick played a good knight - bad bishop ending superbly until, with the crucial win of a pawn just two moves away, he blundered the knight ... and then resigned an apparently drawn position.

Markovitz now led but a draw with Dowden brought him back as Small defeated Mason Carter and Vincent Horton accounted for Steward. What looked like a 1000+ point mismatch between Bonham and bottom seed Adam Carter was actually a tough game as Bonham knew nothing about Carter's Grob and struggled into the middlegame a pawn down with a silly position before finding a decisive tactic. Peter Knight conceded a draw to Russell Horton after Russell saw his own crucial move, and it was draw number four for Nigel Frame, this time to Dylan Kuzmic. Gibbs could have been 1/4 against juniors this round but Andrew Fifield missed his chances, so all the 1700s players were now out of major contention - but one sub-1700, Vincent Horton, was now co-leader.

Small and Markovitz played the third straight board 1 draw, and Bonham won a pawn early against Steward and duly converted despite prolonged resistance. Chadwick atoned for the morning's disaster by impressively outplaying Dyer with the two bishops against bishop and knight in an endgame with mutual time trouble. The big action was on board 2, where Dowden made a huge mistake against Vincent Horton on move 6 (!) and was lost on the board for dozens of moves, even going a piece and a pawn down (with compensation) in a messy endgame. In his young opponent's critical time trouble, Dowden surged back to such an extent that he himself had an overwhelmingly won position (!) before overlooking a simplifying resource, which Horton found to scramble to a drawn KP vs K ending.

Going into the last round, Small, Markovitz, Vincent Horton and Bonham all lead, with Tony Dowden half a point behind. Charles Chadwick was also half a point back but had to miss the last round because of work commitments. Dowden needed to beat Nigel Frame for a shot at a five-way tie for first, but didn't do so. Markovitz got tangled up and dropped a pawn against Horton, but a draw was agreed with Horton short of time but with a winnable endgame. Now if anyone could win in Bonham-Small they would take the title outright, but Small's winning chances in a messy queen ending disappeared when he allowed a more or less forced perpetual check. Dylan Kuzmic beat Ivkovic to win a well-deserved ratings prize after an excellent tournament, while Mason Carter again made his presence felt with the better side of a draw with Dyer (Carter's third draw against a 1700+ player from four attempts in the event), his underrated dad defeated Janice Martin in a 500+ point upset, and David Hughes was delighted with his win against Steward. All up, in fifty games where the rating difference exceeded 200 points (often greatly so) the underdogs had racked up five wins and seventeen draws.

It was history all round for the winners, with Small and Markovitz winning the Open at their first attempt and Bonham extending his record collection of Open wins to six (three of them ties). But the most historic result was Vincent Horton's first win of a rated adult tournament, and at age 12 he appears to be the youngest Tasmanian player to ever win one. Vincent did seem ready to move up a notch with a strong performance in the March state championship, but few would have expected this success so soon. Is it the first of many? We shall see ...

Tony Dowden - Kevin Bonham
Hobart 2008

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.Qg4 Ne7 6.dxc5 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 Ng6 8.Bd3 Nd7 9.Nf3 Qa5 10.Bd2 Nxc5 11.0-0 Nxd3 12.cxd3 Qc7?! 13.Rfe1 Bd7 14.Rab1! a6 15.h4 h5 16.Qb4 Bb5! 17.Qd4 Ne7! 18.c4?! dxc4 19.Rec1 Rd8 20.Qe4 Qd7 21.Bb4 Nf5? 22.dxc4 Bc6 23.Qf4 Bxf3? 24.Qxf3! Nxh4 25.Qe4 Nf5 26.Ba5 Rb8 27.Rd1 Qe7?? 28.Qc6+!! Kf8 29.Rd7 Qg5 30.Rdxb7 1-0

Neil Markovitz - Peter Knight
Hobart 2008

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 b6 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.0-0 c5 6.Nc3 Be7 7.d4 cxd4 8.Qxd4 Nc6 9.Qf4 a6 10.Rd1 d6 11.Be3 Qc7?! 12.Rac1 Rb8? 13.Nd5! exd5 14.cxd5 Qd7 15.dxc6 Bxc6 16.Rxc6 Qxc6 17.Nd4 Qc8 18.Nc6 Rb7 19.Nxe7 Rxe7 20.Qxd6 Qc7 21.Bc6+ Kf8 22.Bf4! Qxd6 23.Bxd6 g6 24.Ba3 Ng8 25.Rd7 h5 26.h4 Rh7 27.Rb7 f5 28.Rxb6 Kg7 29.Bxe7 Nxe7 30.Rxa6 and Black resigned a few moves later 1-0

More games and discussion at http://chesschat.org/showthread.php?t=8077 and two Vincent Horton games at http://members.dodo.com.au/phild707/TasOpen2008/vh_td.htm and http://members.dodo.com.au/phild707/TasOpen2008/nm_vh.htm.

Tasmanian Lightning Championship

from Kevin Bonham

The 2008 Tasmanian Lightning attracted a field of 15 players. After four rounds defending champion Tony Dowden was tied for the lead with Alastair Dyer (the two having drawn in round 2) and after round five, these two had cleared out to lead by a point and a half. The title was decided when Dyer lost to Milutin Ivkovic (an occupational hazard for leaders of Tassie blitz tournaments!) in round eight, and in the final round Dowden only needed a draw for outright first with Dyer second. Julian Steward was a clear third. A close fight for the junior prize was decided in Vincent Horton's favour with Kevin Hendrey and Andrew Fifield very close behind; unfortunately the other junior in the field, Bradley Vince, was not yet up to this level. Second seed Kevin Bonham had an absolute shocker and was lucky to avoid a Cheparinov-style "Audi" with an upset victory against the bye in round 5.

TAILPIECE