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2009 YULGILBAR-THINK BIG AUSTRALIAN CHESS GRAND PRIX

47 events are currently on the 2009 calendar. See them all, here.

Coming Grand Prix Events

COMPLETED EVENTS

2008 Australian Universities Rapid

from DOP Charles Zworestine

Late Notice, But Uni Students Still Play!

Late in November I happened to think of something, and I called Tomek Rej about it: was the Australian Universities Rapid event happening this year? Had Tomek done anything about organising it? No, he said, and my heart sank – I thought the event would not occur this year, and would thus die a natural death after just two years. But Tomek, having just finished his last year at uni himself, said that he guessed he could still do it; and to his infinite credit, he pulled off a miracle! Hasty emails and organisation ended up attracting 25 players, only one less than the inaugural event in 2006 and four less than last year. With half a dozen universities represented and our first visitors from Queensland, the event could thus be considered a success despite the short notice. It seems uni students will play anywhere, anytime if you give them a good event…

It was originally the brainchild of Jenni Oliver, a chess angel who sponsored it again this year; and Jason Chan, a Sydney Uni postgraduate who had just finished his PhD, was the other main initiator of the event. Jason was again present with ideas for his wonderful variants fun event; and with Tomek providing much food and consequent merriment the event was a very informal and enjoyable one. As I wrote last year, this of course was the whole point – to lure back university aged players to chess by giving them an event they would actually really want to play in, with a nice social atmosphere and the chess not too serious. Hence the spacious, luxuriously carpeted venue at Sydney University, lots of food (pizza and Lebanese for lunch – Tomek, you’re a champion!), a pleasant Thai dinner on the first night, the variants fun event (chaotic as ever) and rapid time controls to keep things in perspective (i.e. so that nobody really cared about ratings and things like that!). The format really seems to work, attracting seasoned players and beginners alike; interesting things were thus sure to happen, and everyone was sure to have fun!

As planned, the easygoing, social nature of this event was definitely helped by the rapid time controls: 20 minutes each, plus ten seconds per move from the start (Fischer). This attracted players from 6 different universities: 8 from Sydney, 9 from NSW, 3 from Griffith, 2 from Notre Dame, 2 from UWS and 1 from Macquarie. The field was not as strong as last year, but still had four players over 2000 (all from Sydney Uni): in rapid rating order, they were Jason Hu, Tomek Rej, Jason Chan and Aaron Yap (coming out of his chess retirement!). Fewer states represented than last year, but our first Queenslander; and Alex Jule was also one of four females in the event, a big improvement on the one last year! As I said then, this event really is for everyone…

These tournaments inevitably begin late (“Charles standard time”), but the scheduled 10:00 am start ballooning to 10:45 still seemed to put us in a better position than last year; then we only played one round before lunch, while this time we played two! With over half the field unrated, the results were fairly predictable in Round 1: just one upset draw, when the clock prevented Bob Liang from converting his extra pawns against Peter Hoang. Mind you, it was still very tricky to win; both sides had a queen and a rook, so king safety necessitated extreme care…

Round 2 saw our first big shocks: a variation on a two move checkmate, and John Stuart Plant in his usual cowboy hat holding Tomek Rej to a draw on Board 2! The clock helped, but Tomek felt he was worse anyway… Having blundered a piece he got an attack, then missed a chance to create black passed pawns on e3 and f2; in the end he could not break through, so he was happy with a draw. Esper Olesen also held Aaron Yap to a draw on Board 4, after Esper was sure the latter missed a chance to win a piece! A convincing win by Jason Hu against David Tran left him among only 3 players in the lead on 2/2; the others were Jason Chan, who had to work very hard before refuting Alex Jule’s rook sacrifice for an attack in her time pressure; and Bec Harris, who beat Hung Nguyen. With no other upsets and 6 players on 1½/2, the event was really up and running; but of course, the time had now come to keep the players in suspense for a while…

Lunch was the first such distraction, and we really did enjoy about half a pizza each; 14 pizzas all disappeared, but I guess we never had any doubt they would… The fun variants event followed, made even more chaotic by adding a couple of new variants, including one invented by a friend of mine where the knights and bishops move like pawns, and the pawns like knights. (Think about it; eight knights each at the start of the game…). When we were finished with this, we returned to the relative normality of the rapid tournament – but even there I decided to keep things interesting! Hence the Round 3 pairings were read out with everyone having a nickname, each one starting with the word “The”; so “The Organist” played “The Doctor” on Board 1, and I guess you will have to consult me (dear reader) if you wish to know the rest!

Board 1 turned out to be a real grind in Round 3, with Jason Hu achieving a superior rook and pawn ending as Black against his fellow Jason (Chan); but who was it who said that all rook endgames are drawn? Just when we thought the junior Jason was winning easily, the older Jason drummed up some significant counterplay despite being way behind on time; and he may have been drawing at some point, but The Doctor’s advanced passed c-pawn ended up prevailing. So the outright lead on 3/3 for Dr Hu (Who?), while wins to Tomek Rej, Aaron Yap and Bob Liang saw them just half a point behind on 2½/3. (The Bomb beat Bec Harris, who was doing really well until she “accidentally” blundered a piece; The Terrier took care of Peter Hoang; while The Sled scored a bit of an upset in defeating John Stuart Plant). Very close in rating, Esper Olesen and David Tran drew due to laziness in neither player wanting to play a queen and pawn ending (with 5 pawns each); Esper thus joined a large group of players on 2/3.

On top board in Round 4, Jason Hu again appeared to be grinding down his opponent, as he forced Aaron Yap to swap off into a king and pawn ending a pawn down. With all the pawns on one side of the board, though, this was never going to be trivial… As I am interested in these sort of things, here is the position: White (to move) pawns on h2, g3, f4 and e3, king on g1; Black pawns on h7, g7 and f7, king on c6. I think White is winning with 1. Kf2 or Kg2 followed by Kf3 and e4, even if Black plays Kd5 and f5. But Jason played 1. e4, and after 1… Kc5 and Kd4 a later mistake by White even gave Black a passed e-pawn supported by his king, and hence winning chances! Jason still managed to draw, leaving him equal first on 3½/4 going into Day 2 with Tomek after the latter beat Bob Liang. Draws between Nicholas Leung and Jason Chan (an upset, as Jason could not break through a locked position) and Alex Jule and Bec Harris ensued on the next 2 boards, before another upset win by Hung Nguyen over Esper Olesen (who hung – pardon the pun! – his queen) left Hung with Aaron on 3/4, and a bunch of 7 players on 2½/4.

After a fantastic Thai dinner concluded an excellent Wednesday, we were all rather relaxed heading into Thursday (Day 2) – albeit somewhat flabbergasted to hear Jason Hu actually say “I’m done” in the context of food… Unfortunately many players just failed to show up for Round 5; some did notify us of sad but legitimate reasons (such as illness), but many others just failed to show up without telling anybody! Poor form… Tomek Rej and Jason Hu played an interesting and fairly wide open game on top board in Round 5, with Jason doing fine but having to nurse a pretty exposed king; sadly for him he failed to do so, and ended up walking into mate in four! (See game below). So Tomek took the outright lead on 4½/5, from Aaron Yap who reached 4/5 by getting a very strong attack through to beat Hung Nguyen. Meanwhile Jason Chan won material and a long game against John Stuart Plant, while Nicholas Leung continued his good form by registering an upset draw with Bec Harris.

 Tomek Rej (2224) - Jason Hu (2228) [D44]
2008 Australian Universities Rapid, Sydney (5.1) 11/12/2008

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 Bb4 6.Qb3 Qa5 7.Bxf6 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 gxf6 9.g3 b6 10.Bg2 Nd7 11.0–0 Ba6 12.Nd2 f5 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.Rfd1 0–0 15.c4 dxc4 16.Nxc4 Bxc4 17.Qxc4 Rac8 18.Qd3 Qc3 19.Qa6 Rc7 20.d5 Nc5 21.Qb5 Qe5 22.a4 Rb8 23.a5 Rcc8 24.Rac1 Kg7 25.dxe6 fxe6 26.Rd7+ Kf6 27.Rxa7 bxa5 28.Qxa5 Qxe2 29.Qc3+ e5 30.Bf3 Ne4 31.Qc6+ 1–0

Tomek remained in the outright lead on 5½/6 after he defeated Aaron Yap in Round 6; Aaron was even and ahead on time for much of the game, but sadly blundered a rook and a knight at the end… Jason Hu and Jason Chan were still within range on 4½/6 after beating Bob Liang and Peter Hoang respectively. John Stuart Plant sacrificed a rook to win a nice game via a raging attack on the enemy king with his queen and two knights against Esper Olesen, while Jonathan Chan missed several winning chances before eventually settling into a draw against Andrew Gao on bottom board… More fun variants followed, interrupted by lots of Turkish pizza and dips for lunch; by now the laughter and merriment was flowing again, and everyone had a great time playing chameleon chess, tank chess and “king to the other side”! (For the record, Jason Hu won the variants fun event on 7½/9, followed by Jason Chan on 7 and Tomek Rej on 6½).

So to Round 7, where a balanced and tough fight on top board saw Tomek’s active king and rook eventually get to Jason Chan’s exposed king. The resultant victory left Tomek still in the outright lead on 6½/7, by a full point from Jason Hu (who beat Bec Harris). Meanwhile Alex Jule scored an upset victory over Aaron Yap, getting an attack through to win first a pawn and then eventually score against Aaron’s exposed king… All this landed Alex on top board against Tomek in Round 8; and boy, did she make The Bomb work! Having first won a pawn, she attacked viciously and forced Tomek into huge complications; she may well have been winning at some point, but in the end the clock got her and she had to settle for a draw with her queen and pawns against two rooks. As if that was not enough of an upset, John Stuart Plant also got his attack through to win many pawns and force a won rook endgame against Jason Hu; he made hard work of it, but in the end triumphed in another shock result.

The result of all this was Tomek winning the event with a round to spare on 7/8; as his nearest rival was a point and a half behind, nobody could catch him! But a log jam for second going into the last round ensured a thrilling finish for the minor places, as Jason Hu, Jason Chan and John Stuart Plant all stood on 5½ ahead of five players on 5 (Aaron Yap, Bec Harris, Bob Liang, Alex Jule and Hung Nguyen). I read out the Round 9 pairings using anagrams of all the remaining players’ names (18 in all); so “one less peer” played “hot green pa”, for example (and again, ask me if you want to know more!). Tomek duly convincingly took care of Hung Nguyen in the last round to finish on 8/9; and another upset occurred when poor Esper Olesen walked into mate in one against Peter Hoang. Alex Jule continued her good day by drawing with Jason Hu in a slightly superior ending; while Jason Chan won an unbalanced position (castled on opposite sides) in a mutual time scramble against Aaron Yap, Bob Liang defeated David Tran and Bec Harris came back from a piece down to beat John Stuart Plant after the latter blundered his piece back into a dead lost ending. So outright second for Jason Chan on 6½/9, while Jason Hu (6/9) claimed third place on countback from Bob Liang and Rebecca Harris.

Individual Prizes:
1^st Tomek Rej 8/9, 2^nd Jason Chan 6.5/9, = 3^rd Jason Hu, Bob Liang, Rebecca Harris 6/9.

Team Prizes (Top three scorers from each University only):
1^st Sydney University 20½ (Tomek Rej 8, Jason Chan 6½, Jason Hu 6), 2^nd NSW University 16½ (Bob Liang 6, Peter Hoang 5½, Nicholas Leung 5), = 3^rd Griffith University 9 (Alex Jule 5½, Edward Hibbert 3½) and University of Western Sydney 9 (Rebecca Harris 6, Dominic Lees 3).

EVENTS CALENDAR

2009 Australia Day Weekender

A Yulgilbar – Think Big Grand Prix Class 2 Event
Venue Norths (formally North Sydney Leagues Club), 12 Abbott Street, Cammeray NSW 2062.
Format 7-Round Swiss, 60 minutes + 10 seconds.
Entry fee Adult $57, Junior (U18) $52, Aged Pensioner $48 if entered by Jan. 22. $75/$68/63 if after Jan. 22. Full time students U25 can enter at the Junior rate.
Prizes Prize fund of $2,340 based on sixty entries. $500, $275, $200, $150, $125, $100. Rating divisions of U1800-1600, U1600-1400, U1400: $150, $100, $80.
Registration Saturday 10:00am – 10:45am.
Enquiries to Shane Burgess email or phone 0430 223 406.
Website here.

New Zealand Rapidplay and Lightning Championships

Venue Millennium Hotel (corner of Frankton Rd and Stanley St), Queenstown, New Zealand.
Format Rapidplay: 25-26 January, 9 round Swiss, 30 minutes per player. Lightning: 26 January, preliminary seeded groups leading to a round-robin final, 5 minutes per player.
Entry fee Rapidplay: NZ $80 (Juniors NZ $45). Lightning NZ $35 (Juniors NZ $25). Entry free to GMs and WGMs with the proviso that an amount equal to the appropriate entry fee will be deducted from any prize won.
Prizes Rapidplay: $1650, $1100, $800, $600, $320, $225, $175, $110; best junior $110; best female $110. Lightning: $450, $330, $220, $110; First reserve $110; Second reserve $80.
Enquiries to Helen Milligan, heligan@queenstownchess.com.
Website here.

Dubbo RSL Open

A Yulgilbar – Think Big Grand Prix Class 1 Event
Venue Dubbo RSL Club, corner Brisbane and Wingewarra Streets, Dubbo, NSW.
Format 6-Round Swiss, 60 minutes + 10 seconds.
Entry fee Adults $40, Concession $35, Juniors $20. Cheques payable to Dubbo RSL Chess Club.
Prizes $350 first prize guaranteed. Divisional and Junior prizes subject to number of entries
Registration Saturday 10:00am – 10:30am.
Enquiries to Alexander Aich email, phone (02) 6884 4561, or Trevor Bemrose email, phone (02) 6884 4096.

2009 Doeberl Cup

A Yulgilbar – Think Big Grand Prix Class 5 Event
Venue The Hellenic Club of Canberra, Matilda Street, Woden ACT 2606.
Format Premier (9-13 April, 9-Round Swiss, 90 minutes + 30 seconds), Major, Minor, 50+ (10-13 April, 7-round Swisses, 90+30), Under 1200 (10-11 April, 6-Round Swiss, 20+10) & Chess 960 (11 April, 5+0).
Entry fee free to GMs, IMs, WGMs and WIMs. Premier $140. Major & Minor $120, U/18 $80. 50+ $80. Under 1200 $60.
Prizes Premier $4000, $2500, $1500, $800, $500, $400, $350, $300. Major $1500, $800, $450, $250, $150, $100. Minor $750, $400, $250, $150, $100. 50+ $450, $300, $150, $100. Under 1200 trophies and gift vouchers.
Close of entries for Premier, Major, Minor, 50+ is 12.00 midday, Wednesday 8 April. Under 1200 entries close 12.00 midday, Friday, 10 April. All player sign-ins close 12.00 midday on first day of play.
Enquiries to Charles Bishop, info@doeberlcup.com.au.
Website here.

2009 Sydney International Open Chess Tournament

Venue Parramatta Town Hall, Church Street, Parramatta, NSW, 2150.
Format Open & Challengers (restricted to players rated below 2000) events. 9-Round FIDE-rated Swisses. 90 minutes + 30 seconds per move.
Entry fee free to GMs, IMs, WGMs and WIMs and players rated over 2500. Open 2400-2499 $100, 2300-2399 $125, 2200-2299 $150, 1600-2199 $175, unrated $225. Challengers $90, unrated $100.
Prizes Open $5000, $2500, $1500, $1000, $750, $500, $500, $500, $250, $250, $250, $250, $250 (Best female), $250 (Best under 18), $250 (Best under 12). Challengers $500, $400, $350, $300, $250, $200, $200, $100 (Best female), $100 (Best under 18), $100 (Best under 12).
Close of entries is on Sunday, 12 April. Player registration from 6.30 - 7.45 pm on Tuesday, 14 April.
Enquiries to Brian Jones, phone 61-2-9838-1529, fax 61-2-9838-1614, info@chessaustralia.com.au.
Website here.

Oceania Zonal Chess Tournament for Men and Women

Venue Outrigger Twin Towns Resort
Format Nine round swiss for Men and Women (or a round robin if appropriate). 40 moves in 90 minutes, 30 minutes to finish, plus 30 seconds per move from the start.
DOPs Chief Arbiter: IA Charles Zworestine. Assistant Arbiters: IA Gary Bekker & Graeme Gardiner.
Entry fee dependant on rating. See website.
Prizes Men: $1500, $1000, $750, $500, $400, $250, $150. 1^st under 2000 $300. 1^st under 1800 $300. Women: $750. $500, $300. 1^st under 1800 $300.
Registration by Friday, 6 June, 2009. The organiser may, at his discretion, accept late entries.
Enquiries to Graeme Gardiner, 11 Hardys Road, Mudgeeraba Qld 4213. Phone 5522 7221. Fax 5522 7760. Email ggardiner@gardinerchess.com.
Website here.
As an added attraction, the Gold Coast Open, a cat 5 Yulgilbar-Think Big Grand Prix event, will take place in the same playing venue, Visions Conference Room, Twin Towns Resort, on the weekend immediately after the Zonal 27/28 June 2009.

OVERSEAS EVENTS CALENDAR

Notice of the following overseas event has been received by the ACF. For more information, please consult the relevant website or contact auschessnews@gmail.com.

Gibralter Chess Congress, 27 January - 5 February 2009. www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/gib2009/index.html. Includes an Open event and several supporting tournaments and activities. Gibraltar 2009 has £100,000 prize money and is probably the richest totally open congress in the world. A player under 2250 could, for example, win £5000 there.

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