LOOKING FOR A BENEFACTOR

The ACF would like to purchase ten DGT sets/clocks at a total cost of $8,000. This would enable live internet transmissions of various tournaments and events, and we'd like to start with the Oceanic Zonal later this month. The ACF already owns one set/clock and would prefer to purchase ten immediately, rather than one set per year for the next ten years. The ACF's total annual budget is around $12,000. Should these sets/clocks be purchased now, it is proposed to distribute them around the states to facilitate live coverage of local events for Australian Chess Online. The sets/clocks would then be brought together again for major events such as the Australian Championships and Australian Open.

If you are willing to provide sponsorship for the purchase of these sets/clocks, please contact me at gardiner@somerset.qld.edu.au.

OCEANIC ZONAL

Confirmed entries to date:

Open: Johansen 2520 (Aust seed), Gluzman 2432 (Aust seed), Feldman 2399, Zhao 2396, Wallace 2366, Chapman 2338, Rujevic 2314, Allen 2255,  Wastney (NZ seed) 2241, Lukey (NZ) 2234, Tindall 2226, Jones (Brian) 2196, Stead 2183, Ilic 2021, Dunn (NZ) Unrated, Jones (Lee) Unrated.

Women: Berezina 2295 (Aust seed), Koshnitsky 2156 (Aust seed), Moylan 2121, Mills Unrated, Smith (NZ seed) Unrated, Lip Unrated.

Probables/Possibles:

Open: Sandler 2402, Levi 2245, Reilly 2229, PNG seed, Kumar (Fiji seed) Unrated, Sonter Unrated.

Women: Szuveges 2046.

The deadline for entries has been extended. Entry form with full details at http://www.auschess.org.au/zBrochure.doc. The PNG seed will be decided at the PNG Open being run by Gary Bekker over Easter.

Enquiries to Graeme Gardiner ggardiner@somerset.qld.edu.au.

ACF TOURNAMENT COORDINATOR REQUIRED

The only ACF position which is vacant at present is that of Tournament Coordinator. This role broadly involves taking bids for official ACF events, making sure that the bids comply with the ACF Handbook and making sure that a post event report is received also in accordance with the ACF Handbook. The position is an important one as it requires the incumbent to be pro-active in encouraging bids for events well ahead of time. For example, the ACF currently urgently requires bids for the upcoming Australian Championships and Australian Rapid Play events.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who feels that they would like to undertake this ongoing task and play a significant role in Australian chess.

KARLIS OZOLS DIES IN MELBOURNE ON 25 MARCH 2001 AGED 88

PAUL DUNN:
Karlis Ozols was a very strong chess player from Melbourne. He was the strongest player in Victoria from 1949 until the mid 1960's when Doug Hamilton took that place. He was second only to Steiner in the 1950's and five times placed in the top 3 of the Australian Championship. He was equal Australian Champion with Lazare in the Melbourne Olympic Championship in 1956-57 (Sarapu was the highest scorer but was from NZ). This result earned him a place representing Australia in the Zone 10 Championship in 1958 where he came 2nd. He also represented Australia on many occasions in Correspondence play.

He was born in Riga, Latvia on 9 August 1912. He represented Latvia at the Munich Olympiad in 1936 and at Stockholm in 1937. He played in Kemeri in 1937 and although he came last, he was up against the likes of Alekhine, Keres, Fine, Flohr and Reshevsky. He migrated to Australia in 1948 and settled in Melbourne.

During the war, he was in the Latvian Army when Latvia was overrun by the Germans. He continued to serve and was allegedly an officer at a Concentration Camp at Minsk where many Jews were killed. He was investigated (with a number of other people including Konrad Kalejs who is currently the subject of an Extradition hearing to be returned to Latvia to stand trial for war crimes) by a Special Investigation Unit of the Australian Director of Public Prosecutions, but Ozols was never charged.

UPCOMING GRAND PRIX EVENTS

Please support the following tournaments and earn yourself a swag of Grand Prix points:

13-16 Apl Doeberl Cup ACT Cat 3 Roger Mccart 02 6251 6190 <roger.mccart@anu.edu.au>
13-16 Apl Sydney Easter Cup NSW Cat 1 Paul Sike 02 9533 1759 or Peter Hanna <rational@mpx.com.au>
13-15 Apl Darling Downs Open QLD Cat 2 Keven Duncan 07 4635 1255 <kevenduncan@telstra.com>
20-22 Apl Univ of Qld QLD Cat 3 David Cowland-Cooper 0414 498556 <uqchess@hotmail.com>

The Grand Prix Supervisor is Norm Braybrooke <chessnut@windsor.net.au> http://crcchess.topcities.com/GP2001.htm

 

The Gap Open has been withdrawn from the Grand Prix as we have been advised that it is a repechage event for the Queensland Championships and not a true 'open' tournament.

ARIANNE CAOILI

Arianne, aged 14, whose family still maintain a home on the Gold Coast, has just competed in the Bled Open where she scored her third WIM norm just missing out on her first WGM norm.

$10,000,000 PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE FOR YOUR CLUB OR STATE?

Did you know that if your club has less then 50 members, you can join the ACF policy for just $121 per annum? This is ridiculously inexpensive. Any club that does not have insurance is crazy and any club that is paying more than $121 is crazy! Any club that only has (say) $2,000,000 public liability insurance is probably under insured!

To take advantage of this special offer, all you need to do is email NORM GREENWOOD <normg@bigpond.com.au> 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

PETER PARR
Stefan Djuric (International Grandmaster and Australian Open Champion) was in my shop today. He is very interested in giving chess exhibitions in any club and would like assistance as he does not know many people here. Djuric intends to stay in Sydney with his wife and is seeking permanent residency. Any assistance for Djuric would be greatly appreciated including assistance for his residency.

Djuric also suggested to me that it maybe possible to find a sponsor for him. Any ideas?

It is of course very good if we have an international grandmaster in Sydney.

NEXT ISSUE

I will be at the Darling Downs Open with some students over the Easter weekend. I expect to send a short bulletin on Monday evening.