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IN THIS ISSUE
Oceanic Zonal, Chess Columnists, Interstate Teams match, World Junior
selections, Koshnitsky Medal presentation to Richard Gastineau-Hills,
Grand Prix, British Championships, Correspondence.
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OCEANIC ZONAL
The event got away smoothly with 21 men in the Open section and 7
females in the Women's section. In round one there was just one upset
with Brett Tindall defeating number one seed, Michael Gluzman. In round
two John Paul Wallace lost to Andrew Allen.
Full details and (almost) live games at http://www.auschess.org.au/oceania/zonal.htm Rounds are at 10am and 5pm
on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and 10am on Friday. It looks as
though most games will last for three to four hours.
Arbiters are IA Gary Bekker and Charles Zworestine who is going for his
final IA norm.
We are fortunate to have Allan Richards operating the computer and
Scott Hoens assisting with the recording of games to enable coverage on
the internet, without the benefit of the use of Fritz boards.
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CHESS COLUMNISTS
When advertising your upcoming tournament, please remember to email the
following list of chess journalists:
Please advise if you are aware of any additions, deletions or
amendments to this list.
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INTERSTATE TEAMS MATCH
ACF Webmaster Paul Broekhuyse is organising an interstate teams match
with voting similar to that used in the Kasparov v Rest of the World
match. It is due to commence this Tuesday 24 April. You may register
for your state via the ACF webpage http://www.auschess.org.au/. I
understand that there may be teams from the North and South Islands of
New Zealand. We need just a few more players from the Northern
Territory.
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WORLD JUNIOR SELECTIONS
Chairman of Selectors, Brett Tindall, advises that the following
selections have been made for the World Junior Championships and World
Youth Festival later this year. It is emphasised that those selected
must accept by Sunday 6 May by emailing Brett Tindall at sydneyacademy@iprimus.com.au. The selectors have also ranked reserves
in order that replacements can quickly be found if any players are
unable to accept.
Under 20 Boys (Athens, Greece 14-28 August) Zong Yuan Zhao
Under 20 Girls Laura Moylan
Under 18 Boys (Oropesa Del Mar, Spain 20 October to 3 November) Justin
Tan
Under 18 Girls Laura Moylan
Under 16 Boys Zong Yuan Zhao
Under 16 Girls Catherine Lip
Under 14 Boys Peter Jovanovic
Under 14 Girls Katerina Moshnenko
Under 12 Boys Dusan Stojic
Under 12 Girls Michelle Lee
Under 10 Boys Khoi Hoang
Under 10 Girls Rocheleh Ziffer
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KOSHNITSKY MEDAL PRESENTATION TO RICHARD GASTINEAU-HILLS
With Richard not able to go to Canberra earlier this year for the Medal
Presentation, Charles Zworestine organised a special and SURPRISE
presentation to Richard last Thursday afternoon at a NSWJCL Allegro
Tournament during the School Holidays at the Auburn venue.
Richard was the Director of this tournament and, unbeknownst to him,
Charles Zworestine had arranged for Evelyn Koshnitsky to call in during
the afternoon to present the Medal to Richard. As well as the entire
Koshnitsky family being there (including the latest Koshnitsky
granddaughter) on the way to the Zonal, other members of the Sydney
chess fraternity present included Bob Keast, Michael Walsh, Fred
Flatow. Abraham Sztern, Peter Dauvergne, Margaret Cookson, Charles
Zworestine and Norm Greenwood.
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GRAND PRIX
One new event has been added this week. The Coal City Open will be held
on Sat/Sun 14/15 July. The organiser is George Lithgow george.lithgow@bigpond.com. The Grand Prix category has not yet been
finalized.
Please support the following three events in the Grand Prix which are
being held on the weekend of 5/6 May:
Wallace, John-Paul NSW 2399 24
Johansen , Darryl VIC 2528 20
Stead, Kerry NSW 1970 20
Duric, Stefan O'Seas 2461 18
Duncan, Keven QLD 1999 16
Rej, Tomek NSW 2000 14
Bonham , Kevin TAS 1875 12
Boyd , Tristan WA 2031 12
Lane , Gary O'Seas 2440 12
Rujevic , Mirko Vic 2326 12
Tindall , Brett NSW 2177 12
Stephson, David QLD 2240 10.5
Walker, John QLD 1917 10.5
Under 2000
Stead, Kerry NSW 1970 38
Bonham , Kevin TAS 1875 28
Duncan, Keven QLD 1999 16
Marshall, Brett NSW 1846 14
Chow , Sam Vic 1893 12.4
Harp , Joel 1909 12.4
Ilic , Ilija NSW 1954 12.4
Rout , Ian ACT 1896 12.4
Walker, John QLD 1917 12
Lakner , Jay WA 1865 10.5
Maris , Robert WA 1939 10.5
Under 1600
Hellman , Oscar 1592 20
Tan, Philip NSW 1585 19.5
Weltner, Michael NSW 1507 18.17
Norman, Brendon NSW 1599 12.5
Dewis, Andrew QLD 1381 12.33
Kimura, Toshi QLD 1449 12.33
Stewart, CRAIG QLD 1558 12.33
Parsons, Colin J NSW 1491 12.25
Dolezal, Arthur TAS UNR 12
Webber, John WA 1524 12
Forace, Lee ACT 1342 10.5
Lacey, David 1483 10.5
Laugery, David 1442 10.5
LeRoy, Andrew 1514 10.5
Varela, Peter NSW 1371 10.5
Wei, Michael 1489 10.5
Junior
Rej, Tomek NSW 2000 28
Davidovici, Michael QLD 1759 16
Boyd , Tristan WA 2031 12
Shaw , Billy TAS UNR 12
Kimura, Toshi QLD 1449 12
Lip, Michael NSW 1984 10.5
Xie, George NSW 2007 10.5
Women
Lip, Catherine NSW 1801 16
Mills, Natalie QLD 1909 16
Huddleston, Heather NSW 1132 12
Martin, Janice TAS 1466 12
Taylor, Natalie WA 1571 12
Ross, Mary QLD UNR 12
Unrated
Mitchell, K NSW 28
Soltysik, Adelaide 20
Repinac, Steven QLD 16
Nguyen, Andrew 15
Dolezal, Arthur TAS 12
Kershaw, Max NSW 12
Murie, John WA 12
Eldridge-Smith, Leif 10.5
Eldridge-Smith, Ver 10.5
Whibley, Darren NSW 10.5
Williams, Ben NSW 10.5
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BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS - STEWART REUBEN
The Smith & Williamson British Chess Championships take place in
Scarborough, 29 July to 11 August 2001. All Australian citizens and
people resident there 5 years or more are entitled to play in the
Championships, if otherwise qualified.
The British Championship itself has a first prize of £10,000. There are
also Championships for players U-8, U-9, U-10, U-11, U-12, U-13, U-14,
U-16, U-18 and over 60. In addition there are open events lasting from
1 to 12 days. Scarborough is a very pleasant resort in North-East
England. Further details: BCF robinson@stanion.ndo.co.uk
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CORRESPONDENCE
JOHN RICHES:
Please see below my comments on the proposed constitutional changes.
4. The Commissioners are to be elected based on their experience,
expertise and long-term commitment to chess rather than as
representatives of any organisation or interest.
This sort of system does not work satisfactorily. The commissioners are
no longer directly responsible to anyone. They are no longer bound to
represent the wishes of a majority of people whom they represent, and
tend to make decisions according to their own wishes. Australian Chess
should be run according to the wishes of the majority of players, not
just a small group of people who represent no-one.
5. No more than three Commissioners shall reside in the same state or
territory at the time of their election.
In any case, this seems to contradict the reason given for the change.
10. The Commission shall appoint the ACF Secretary and ACF Treasurer
and such other office-bearers as it sees fit.
Office bearers should be elected by the members, not appointed by a
small committee. Then, if things go wrong, the members have no-one to
blame but themselves.
11.3 Any period of appointment covering their position expires.
Appointment for an indefinite period of time is very bad. Everyone
should come up for re-election regularly. Otherwise any attempt to
replace the incumbent by someone who could do the job better is seen as
a personal attack on the incumbent and the way he has been doing the
job, which may have been reasonably satisfactory but not as good as the
replacement could do.
19. Subject to time constraints or confidentiality issues, the ACF
Commission shall endeavour to canvas the views of State Associations
and individual chess players by means of the ACF Web page, the ACF
Internet Newsletter or any other suitable means, on all significant
matters to be decided by the Commission.
There should be no "constraints or confidentiality issues". The
commissioners are elected to act on behalf of the members, who have the
right to know everything that is being done on their behalf. This sort
of secrecy can be deadly in an organisation like the ACF. The running
of the organisation should be completely open, with no opportunity for
officials to keep things secret from the members.
14. A simple majority vote shall decide any issue.
21. A Commissioner may be removed from office by a vote of the State
Associations with at least five States voting for removal.
These two seem to contradict each other. Number 21 is bad anyway, as no-
one should hold office if even a simple majority of members do not want
him to be acting for them. In fact, unless he has majority support he
should not want to continue.
The main advantages of the proposed restructure are:-
1. The body that runs Australian Chess can be made up of the nine most
qualified persons in the country without reference to state affiliation
or any other limitation.
This sound OK until you realise that "without reference ... " includes
without reference to the wishes of the majority of players who will no
doubt be expected to provide much of the necessary financial support.
2. Having a Commission instead of a Council means that there will be a
body which has been appointed to run Australian Chess and whose
decisions can be based on "what is best for Australian Chess" rather
than on the wishes or interests of the body that each Councillor
represents.
This seems to be based on the idea that what is good for the member
states may not be good for Australian Chess. And it allows decisions to
be based on personal interest without any effective control.
3. The Commission will be a continuing body with only minor changes in
personnel thereby giving the ACF more continuity than at present.
Continuity may or may not be a good thing. In many cases it is not.
4. State officials will have more time to administer their state
association without having to be involved in the day-to-day running of
the ACF.
State officials would also take less interest in, and have less
knowledge about, what is happening at a national level.
Whilst the states will forego some of their powers under the proposal,
it should be noted that:
2. Commissioners can be sacked by the states.
In practice, this will not be possible unless a commissioner has been
found guilty of a serious crime or dereliction of duty.
4. States can propose motions for the commission to vote on.
But they cannot themselves vote on them, and do not have an official
representative on the commission whom they can require to argue their
case effectively.
5. It is envisaged that all major issues will be subject to rigorous
debate in the ACF Bulletin before a decision is made.
I have not seen any debate of any type yet. In fact, when I wrote
a "letter to the editor" expressing a view about the recent legal
action it was not printed, possibly due to censorship because someone
did not approve of what I wrote. "Rigorous debate" requires that ALL
views be made available to all, but is unlikely to happen in such
circumstances.
For example, are the views I am expressing in this email going to be
made available to others?