ACF Bulletin No. 84 - 23 September 2000 OLYMPIAD TEAM LEONID SANDLER has accepted his place on the Olympiad team. May I once again appeal to everyone to get behind our team with financial support. No donation is too small. Please act now and send your donation to the ACF Treasurer NORM GREENWOOD, Unit 15, Horizon Towers, 208 Pacific Highway, Hornsby NSW 2077. ********** WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS The Oceania representatives for the World Championships which commence in New Delhi on 27 November are ALEX WOHL and GERALDINE JOHNS-PUTRA. ********** 2001 GRAND PRIX The ACF urgently require a 2001 Grand Prix organiser/promoter. This Grand Prix has made substantial progress over the last two years and it is essential that we maintain the momentum. May I also suggest that all organisers should already be planning their 2001 chess calendars. Please email me with details of your 2001 events so that I can start publishing a draft calendar. I'll kick the calendar of events off with a couple from the Gold Coast; the Gold Coast Open 23/24 June and the Gold Coast Classic 22/23 September. ********** 2000 GRAND PRIX Upcoming events: September 30- October 1 Lidums Cup, South Australian Chess Centre, 10 Ranelagh Street, Adelaide, Cat 1, CHESS CENTRE 08 8211 7189 October 7-8 Redcliffe Challenge, Clontarf High School, Cat 1, NORM BRAYBROOKE 0418 716374 October 14-15 Geelong Open, Venue to be advised, Cat to be advised, STEPHEN MCKENZIE 03 5222 4524 October 21-22 Coal City Open, Cardiff Workers Club, Cat 2, GEORGE LITHGOW 02 4943 3862 October 21-22 Ctrl Coast Weekender, Central Coast Leagues Club, Cat 1, KEITH FARRELL 02 4341 7864 October 28-29 Tweed Heads Open, Tweed Heads Civic Centre, Cat 3, AUDIE PENNEFATHER 07 5536 9185 SYDNEY FUNCTION FEATURING WGM NONA GRAPINDASHVILI NORM GREENWOOD: Please note that the Auditorium at North Sydney Leagues Club has been booked by North Sydney Leagues Club Chess Club on behalf of the NSWCA next Thursday afternoon from 2.30pm to 6.00pm for a function at which WGM NONA GRAPINDASHVILI will be the invited guest. MICHAEL WALSH, President of the NSWCA, is finalising arrangements for the occasion with a simul, lecture or talk under consideration. COAL CITY OPEN 21/22 OCTOBER This event will be held at the Cardiff Workers Club. It will be a Class 2 Grand Prix event with a first prize of $500. Entry Fees will be Adults $50 and Juniors $35. There is a $5 discount for payment before 14 October. There will be free entry for any juniors who have never played in an adult tournament before. Contact: COLIN PARSONS cparsons@networksmm.com.au phone 02 4943 9267 GEORGE LITHGOW george.lithgow@bigpond.com phone 02 4943 3862 or phone GREG WILSON on 0419 120265. 108TH NEW ZEALAND CHESS CONGRESS BOB SMITH: Feel like a change of scene? A visit to foreign shores? How about playing in the 108th New Zealand Chess Championships from 28 December 2000 to 11 January 2001? The Championship proper is an 11 round swiss restricted to players with a FIDE rating of 2100+ or a New Zealand rating of 2000+ (or Australian equivalent). There is also a subsidiary 11 round swiss, restricted to players rated under 2000 NZCF, offering at least $600 first prize. These tournaments are followed (10 and 11 January) by the NZ Rapid Championship, which will be an open swiss over 9 rounds (minimum first prize $400). There will also be a NZ Lightning Championship on 6 January (the second rest day). All tournaments will offer good prize-money, with at this stage a guaranteed minimum in the Championship of 1st $1500 2nd $1000 3rd $600 4th $400 5th $300 6th $200 We can offer everyone : · Good prize-money · Excellent playing conditions · Quality accommodation at the venue for a very reasonable price On top of this we may be able to offer selected Masters additional incentives. One incentive for everyone : the opinion has been expressed in Australia lately that New Zealand players are now substantially below the level of our Australian counterparts. So why not come on over and enjoy the easy pickings! If you are interested, please contact FM Bob Smith by e-mail bobviv@actrix.gen.nz , by phone (09) 8172664 or by snail mail 54 Daffodil St Titirangi Auckland 1007 New Zealand. 2000 26TH GEELONG OPEN This is a Category 1 Grand Prix event. Dates: Saturday 14 October and Sunday 15 October 2000 Venue: Geelong Historical Records Centre, 51 Little Malop Street, Geelong. Next to Geelong Regional Library. Melways Map 228 B2. Schedule: Five round Swiss with controls of 40/90, 20/20, 20/10 repeating. Round 1 Staurday 10:00 am Round 2 Saturday 2:30 pm Round 3 Saturday 7:00 pm Round 4 Sunday 10:00 am Round 5 Sunday 2:30 pm Entries: $60 full; $50 concession; $35 Under 16 (includes VCA registration) Entries will be taken up to 9:30 am on 14 October. Prizes (Subject to amendment depending on the number of entries) First $500 Second $300 Third $200 Ratings Prize Group A and B 1st $200, 2nd $100 each General: Cheques to be made payable to Geelong Chess Club and sent to: 5/11 Elcho St, Newtown 3220. VCA registration (or interstate equivalent) is required (the registration fee is included in the entry fee). The event will be rated. All enquiries to IAN BOASMAN on 03 5224 1293. ********** AUSTRALIAN EMAIL CHAMPIONSHIP Don't Forget, Australian Email Championship Entries close end of September Play starts beginning of November Entry fee: $10 - Correspondence Chess League (CCLA) Members $15 - Others (includes CCLA membership for one year) Send cheque to: CCLA, GPO Box 2360, Sydney, NSW 1043 Further Information: BobMather@bigpond.com.au. ********** $10,000,000 PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE FOR YOUR CLUB OR STATE? States $303 each Clubs with 100 or more members $242 per club Clubs with 50 to less than 100 members $182 per club Clubs with less than 50 members $121 per club I think that you will find these quotes hard to beat. Compare them with what you are paying now. To take advantage of this special offer, all you need to do is email NORM GREENWOOD with the following details: Name of club, number of current members, main meeting venue (if any), incorporated or unincorporated, any previous liability incidents, contact name/address/phone/fax/email, interested parties to be noted on policy (if any). You will then be contacted directly by the insurer, CHRIS ZUCCALA, who will advise you of the pro rata premium to pay to the common renewal date (31 August). If you wish to contact Chris Zuccala direct please do so on email vicwide@hotmail.com or phone 03 9569 1569 or fax 03 9569 1515. ********** CORRESPONDENCE KEVIN BONHAM: I am writing in a personal capacity (ie not on behalf of the TCA) to make some comments about the Men's Olympiad selection process, following a recent well-known expression of dissatisfaction by an omitted player. I certainly do not call on the ACF to revisit the selections. Indeed, after looking at the evidence in quite some detail I consider the outcome of the selections to be correct and the six people currently included in the team to be those for whom the strongest and most reliable evidence of likely high playing strength exists. Some were unlucky to miss out, but there's always next time. I would, however, like to suggest improvements to the publicity surrounding the process. In particular, at some times (eg Bulletin 52) material released could be read as suggesting that "recent form" would be the sole indicator of merit, without any definition of what would constitute "recent". I suggest that in future, the material released should either: (a) not imply that "recent form" would be the sole criterion used, or (b) define "recent" (either in terms of a specific time frame or a number of most recent games or events per player). I hope that these steps would reduce the amount of debate about whether the selections were or were not correctly made on the stated basis. My own preference tends to (a), because the existence of "form" in chess is easily overstated, especially where players perform at very similar levels. For a player to perform at 100 points above or below their playing strength over a few events, or to do slightly better than another in a given event, is generally statistically meaningless. It is only if a player is performing massively (typically hundreds of points, eg Zhao) above or below their rating, or if their rating is inaccurate for some special reason (like coming from an over- or under- rated region) that a player's rating is a much less reliable indicator of their likely performance in their next event than their most recent "form" based on a few events. Who can't think of examples of supposedly out-of-form players suddenly winning events? I don't blame the selectors for the amount of argument which has occurred - it's a difficult job which I don't envy them at all, and it's impossible to predict in advance what aspect of the process or publicity for it some player or other might object to. ********** I will be in Sydney all this coming week so will not be responding to emails until Monday 2 October. I hope to get the next bulletin out around that date. Best wishes to all Graeme Gardiner ------------------------------------------- Graeme Gardiner President, Australian Chess Federation C/- Somerset College, Somerset Drive, Mudgeeraba Q 4213 Phone 07 5530 3777 (w) 07 5530 5794 (h) Fax 07 5525 2676 (w) Email: ggardiner@somerset.qld.edu.au http://www.auschess.org.au Chess - the clever sport! PS - If you do not wish to receive this bulletin in future, please email wgardiner@somerset.qld.edu.au