ACF Bulletin No. 123 - 1 July
2001
IN THIS ISSUE
Volunteer required, Suncoast Noosa Open, 2002 Australian
Championships, Asian Women's
Championships, Asian Championships, Letters to
the Sports Minister, Gold
Coast Open time controls, 2001 Grand Prix, 2001
Global Institutes Tertiary
Youth Chess Challenge, Correspondence.
VOLUNTEER REQUIRED
A volunteer is required to compile a complete directory of all
states,
clubs, leagues, key individuals etc in Australia. It is proposed that
this
then be maintained as a sub-section of the ACF webpage. If anyone has
the
time and inclination to carry out this task which will be a very
useful
resource to all involved in Australian chess, please contact me
at
graemeg@bigpond.net.au.
SUNCOAST NOOSA OPEN
1. Stephen Solomon 6.6/7
2-4. Bob Smith, Ronald Scott, Phachara Wongwichit
5.5
5-12. David Smerdon, Ian Rout, Tony Weller, Vivian Smith, Paul
Summers, Hamish Selnes, Matthew Sonter, Toshi Kimura 5
71 players
2002 AUSTRALIAN
CHAMPIONSHIPS
At the ACF Council meeting held by phone hook up last Monday evening,
I'm
pleased to advise, the council accepted the VCA/Melbourne Chess
Club
submission to host the 2002 Australian Championships at the Melbourne
Town Hall
from 28 December 2001 to 11 January 2002. The Australian Juniors have
already been
awarded to the NSWCA who plan to hold the event from 12 January 2002 to 24
January 2002.
ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS FOR WOMEN INCORPORATING
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT 2 TO 12
SEPTEMBER
This will be held at Channai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India from 2 to
12
September. I have been advised that Australia is entitled to two
seeds.
Entry fee 200 Swiss Francs. Free board and lodging for seeds. Extra
players
and accompanying persons twin US$60 per day, single US$100 per day.
11
rounds. New FIDE time controls to be used. Prize fund to be
announced
shortly. Nominations for seeds to be in to
Robert
Jamiesonauschess@iaccess.com.au by Monday 16
July latest please.
WORLD CHESS QUALIFYING CHAMPIONSHIP
INCORPORATING 3RD ASIAN
INDIVIDUAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 9-18
AUGUST
There were three nominations for seeds namely Alex Wohl, John Paul
Wallace
and Tim Reilly. We have just been advised that Australia is entitled
to two
seeds for this event. Alex Wohl has already accepted and the second is
yet
to be confirmed.
LETTERS TO THE SPORTS MINISTER/SHADOW
SPORTS MINISTER
Once again I ask all those who care about this matter to consider
writing to
both the Minister for Sport, Jackie Kelly and
Shadow Minister, Kate Lundy.
Now is the best possible time to write. Letters can be sent to Jackie Kelly
and/or
Kate Lundy at Parliament House, Canberra, ACT 2601 or by email Jackie Kelly
Jackie.Kelly.MP@aph.gov.au
and Kate Lundy
senator.lundy@aph.gov.au. If you
think it appropriate, I would appreciate
copies of your letters or their
replies. Incidentally, if we have a
professional lobbyist living in Canberra
who is prepared to work on behalf
of the ACF, please let me know.
GOLD COAST OPEN TIME
CONTROLS
Last weekend we experimented with a new time control for the Gold
Coast
Open - 30 minutes a side plus 30 seconds a move from the start. This is
a
new time control which the ACF has approved for rating as a trial until
the
next national conference.
As a tournament organiser I can say that in the first six rounds
games
generally finished a little earlier than the previous 60 mins a side.
In the
last round several games finished later than the previous 60 mins a
side.
The feeling I got was that 40 mins plus 30 secs a move from the start
would
be more acceptable, but this might lead to weekend tournaments running
over
time.
So far I've received a little feedback from players like Andrew
Allen, David
Lovejoy and Ian Rogers with varying
views. Certainly there were some
concerns but also I think it is fair to say
that there were absolutely no
problems at the end of games because there were
simply no old fashioned time
scrambles. No games were lost because of the
need to keep score throughout.
Hopefully I'll get some written feedback from
players and arbiters for
publication.
May I encourage a few other clubs to trial this time control.
2001 GRAND PRIX
The Coal City Open on 14/15 July is a category 2 event.
Just a reminder that we welcome more details of Grand Prix events
for
publication in this bulletin.
There are now 39 events for 2001.
20-21/October Box Hill Whitehorse Festival Week-Ender VIC Cat 2
Trevor
Stanning trevors@bluep.com
NSW 15, Qld 9, Tas 4, SA 4, ACT 3, Vic 3, WA 1.
ADELAIDE AND FLINDERS UNIVERSITY EVENT 7/8
JULY - ROBIN WEDDING
Adelaide & Flinders University are hosting a Category 2 tournament
on the
weekend of the 7th and 8th of July. The total prize pool exceeds
$1500
and there is a $500 first prize. As an interesting novelty, there
will be
a free meal as well as a transfer tournament on the Saturday
night. The
tournament will be a 7 round Swiss draw with 1 hour
each. Please see our
website
http://www.smug.adelaide.edu.au/chess
where you can get more
details, and download an entry form in Word 2000 or
rich text format.
2001 GLOBAL YOUTH TERTIARY INSTITUTES CHESS
CHALLENGE
The ANU team arrived in Singapore on Wednesday night for the 2001
Global
Youth Tertiary Institutes Chess Challenge. We spent the next two
days
settling in and looking around the city.
The competition began yesterday (Saturday). The format is two
5-team
groups who play a 5-round Round-Robin with a bye. The final two
rounds
will be match ups between the top finishers 1&2 in each group,
3&4 with
5th playing each other twice with alternating colours.
There are 10
teams participating. The strongest teams in each group
come from China
and Iceland, each with a GM respectively. There are
also teams from
Singapore and Malaysian universities with one team from
Cambridge
University.
Yesterday we had the tough match up against Nankai University,
China.
Their team was made up of GM Zhang Zhong (2632), FM
Du Shan (~2350), WIM
Ning Chun Hong (~2250) and Chi
Feng Tong (~2280).
Nye Griffiths took a half-point from his opponent on board
4, which was a
great result. Here is his game:
Nye Griffiths - Chi Feng Tong
1. e4 c6 2. f4 d5 3. Nc3
dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nf2 e6 7. g3 b6
8. Bg2 Bb7 9. 0-0 Be7 10. b3
c5 11. c4 Ne4 12. Nxe4 Bxe4 13. d3 Bb7 14.
Bb2 Bf6 15. Qe2 Bxb2 16. Qxb2 Qf6
17. Qxf6 gxf6 18. d4 0-0-0 19. Rad1
Bxf3 20. Bxf3 cxd4 21. Rxd4 Nc5 22. Rfd1
Rxd4 23. Rxd4 Rd8 24. Rxd8+ Kxd8
25. Kf1 f5 26. Ke2 a5 27. Ke3 Ke7 28. Kd4
Kd6 29. Bd1 f6 30. Bc2 e5+ 31.
Ke3 Ke6 32. a3 h6 33. b4 axb4 34. axb4 Na6 35.
Bb3 Kd6 36. Bc2 Ke6 37.
Bb3 Kd6 38. Bc2 e4 39. c5+ bxc5 40. bxc5+ Nxc5 41. h3
½-½
I managed to hold a reasonable position in my game until move 35, where
I
took a pawn which could not be captured safely.
Zhang Zhong - Andrew Greenwood
1. e4 c6 2. c4 d5 3.
exd5 cxd5 4. cxd5 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nxd5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Bb5
a6 8. Ba4 (he suggested
after the game he should have played Bxc6 for
better chances) 8b5 9. Bb3 e6
10. 0-0 Be7 11. d4 0-0 12. Re1 Ncb4 13. Ne4
Nf6 14. Neg5 Nbd5 15. Ne5 Bb7 16.
Qd3 h6 17. Nh3 Rc8 18. a3 Qb6 19. Bd2
Rfd8 20. Rad1 Ba8 21. Qg3 Nh5 22. Qg4
Nhf6 23. Qh4 Nd7 24. Qg3 Nxe5 25.
dxe5 Kh8 26. Bxd5 Bxd5 27. Nf4 (here he
thought Nxg7 might have been
better) 27Be4 (bishop cannot be captured because
of Rxd2 and back rank
mate threats) 28. h4 Bf5 29. Nh5 Bg6 30. Be3 Bc5 31.
Nf4 Bf5 32. Kh2 Bxe3
33. fxe3 Rc2 34. Rd6 Rxd6 35. exd6 Rxb2? (should have
played 35Rd2 here
according to him and after 36. e4 e5. However, later
that night the
Icelandic GM Throstur Thorhallson said white might be able to
win with
37. exf5 exf4 38. Re8+ Kh7 39. Qc3 Qxd6 40. Qc8 f3+ 41. Kh3! where
checks
are hard to find except for sacrificing the rook) 36. Rd1 Qa5 37. d7
Qd8
38. Nh5 Bg6 39. Nxg7 Kxg7 40. Qe5+ 1-0
Today we have a bye, and tomorrow we play two rounds against
Nanyang
Technological University, Singapore and a Malaysian team. While
we are
only on 0.5/4, we think we have a good chance if we can get some
good
results tomorrow. NTU has two FIDE-rated players, including 1 FM,
so we
will have to play well to get a good qualifying position for the
final
two rounds. We have been treated to very good hospitality from
the
organisers, who are ensuring that the event is a great success for
all.
CORRESPONDENCE
DAVID LOVEJOY
Just to clarify my feedback on the new GC Open. I think the venue
is
splendid, and the whole tournament exceeded the high standards your club
has
already set in the past. Although I am still unsure of the experimental
time
control, I can see that a small initial allotment together with a 30
second
increment does make the end of the game less stressful and less
blunderful.
But I think most players were hurrying in the earlier stages and
playing
more superficially than they would in say 40/60. This may be just a
matter
of orientation and I would be prepared to give it another go. However,
I
still don't like being forced to record the moves in situations which
I
regard as time pressure. The only reason for it would seem to be checking
a
draw claim based on three-fold repetition, but if you are not keeping
score
you won't make that claim.
Once again, congratulations on a great weekend.
Every good wish in chess
Graeme Gardiner
Chess - the clever sport!