ACF Bulletin No. 126 - 22 July
2001
IN THIS ISSUE
British Young Masters, Australian Universities Teams
Championships,
Victorian Inter Varsity comp, Australian National University
Open,
Australian Rapid Play Championships, 109th NZ National Chess Congress,
Asian
Individual Chess Championship, 2001 Grand Prix, Geelong Open
Championship,
NSW Grade Chess, Asia v Europe match, Chess is a Sport - letter
to the
Sports Minister, Fairfield RSL Winter Cup, Correspondence.
BRITISH YOUNG MASTERS
AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIPS
24-27 SEPTEMBER
More from
Allan Richards on this soon. But for now he
advises that he has
been in touch with people all around Australia and is
confident of teams at
least from all the Eastern states. Allan has been
working hard on this
important event and fully deserves your support in
encouraging
participation. Allan's contact details are Mobile: 0407 713
684
Email:
inter_uni_comp@hotmail.com
VICTORIAN INTER VARSITY - ELISE
HIGGINBOTHAM
When? Saturday 8th September 9-4ish
Where? Trinity College Melbourne Uni
What? Probably 30mins a side, still to be decided. Number of rounds a
bit
dependant on how many people come...
Who? As many victorian unis as we can get hold of. My contacts are
limited,
so if you know anyone who is at university that plays chess, or know
someone
that might know someone, please let me know.
Usual rules, 4 people per team, spares are optional. Spares sometimes get
to
merge with other spares and create another team.
Price is currently $10 per person, but this is still open to
negotiation :)
Prompt expressions of interest would be REALLY appreciated...
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OPEN - SHAUN
PRESS
Saturday/Sunday 28-29 July, Burton and Garran Hall, Daley Road,
ANU,
Canberra.
Confirmed Entries: GM Darryl Johansen
Prize List (guaranteed): 1st...$1000, 2nd...$500, 3rd...$250,
Under
2000...$250, 2nd Under 2000...$150, Under 1600...$200, 2nd Under
1600...
$100, Under 1200...$150, 2nd Under 1200...$50, 1st Junior..$100, 2nd
Junior
$50, Best ACT Player...$100, Best ANU Player...$100.
Late entries close 9:45am on Saturday, 28th of July. Adults $50,
Concession
$40, Juniors $30. Entry free for IMs/GMs. There is a late fee for
paid
entries taken after 20th July 2001.
Entries to: ANU Chess Festival, Public Affairs Division, I Block (Bldg
#31),
McDonald Pl, ANU ACT 0200
Credit card entry payments can be made by phoning ANU Public Affairs
on
02-6125-2229. Ask for Eliza Waterford. Visa, Mastercard
and Bankcard
accepted.
Extension: The $10 late fee will be waived for all credit card bookings
and
also for paid entries received by the ANU Public Affairs Division
through
the post this week.
Time controls: 30 minutes + 30 sec/move from beginning. DGTs will be
used
courtesy of Australian Chess Enterprises. Games are rated.
Simultaneous Exhibition: GM Darryl Johansen will be
giving a simultaneous
exhibition on Friday 27 July starting at 12noon in
Garema Place, Civic,
Canberra City. All welcome and free to enter. Book
voucher prizes for
successful winners.
AUSTRALIAN RAPID PLAY CHAMPIONSHIPS 4/5
AUGUST - DAVID CORDOVER
Deakin University will again be hosting the Australian
Rapid-Play
Championships over the weekend of 4/5 August.
$8000 in prize-money!!! Plenty of ratings prizes and special junior
prizes.
3 divisions, U/1600, U/2000 and Open. Prize money as follows
Open 1st
$1,300.00 2nd $900.00 3rd $500.00 4th $250.00
Under 2150 $250.00
Under 2000 1st $600.00 2nd $400.00 3rd $200.00
Group A 1st $200.00 2nd $100.00
Group B 1st $200.00 2nd $100.00
Top Female $100.00
Under 1600 1st $500.00 2nd $350.00 3rd $200.00
Group A
1st $200.00 2nd $100.00
Group B $200.00
2nd $100.00
Junior Prizes
Best Junior $100.00 2nd $50.00 3rd $25.00
Best U16 $50.00 2nd $25.00
Best U14 $50.00 2nd $25.00
Best U12 $50.00 2nd $25.00
Best U10 $50.00 3rd $25.00
U8 $25.00
Deakin Student Prizes 1st $100.00 2nd $50.00
Unrated Prize $100.00
109TH NZ NATIONAL CHESS
CONGRESS
WORLD CHESS QUALIFYING CHAMPIONSHIP
INCORPORATING 3RD ASIAN INDIVIDUAL CHESS
CHAMPIONSHIP 9-18
AUGUST
Australia's two seeds for this event are
Alex Wohl and
Tim Reilly. Tim has
advised me that due to work commitments
he may not now be able to go to
Calcutta. If anyone else is interested at
this short notice, please let
Robert Jamieson know at
auschess@iaccess.com.au
2001 GRAND PRIX
Just a reminder that we welcome more details of Grand Prix events
for
publication in this bulletin.
There are now 40 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 4, WA 1.
CENTENARY OF FEDERATION GEELONG OPEN
CHAMPIONSHIP 1/2 SEPTEMBER
A Category 2 Grand Prix Event
Prize Pool 1st $700 2nd $450 3rd $200 3 Rating prizes of $200 Top
Junior
$125 Top Lady $75
Players are eligible to receive only one of the above prizes, which
are
guaranteed by our sponsor… 'Daniels Band'
Entry fee $50 Juniors and concession $40 Late entry $60
Arbiter John Frew
Entries will be received until Friday 31/8/2001 6pm. Entries may be sent
by
mail to reach the G.C.C. Treasurer 83 Peter Street Grovedale Vic.
Cheques
made payable to Geelong Chess Club.
Playing Schedule 8:30am entries close, subject to numbers 9am start
Some accommodation available Saturday night pre-book please.
All enquiries to: Bill Stokie 03 5250 1786
Venue: Lara Town Hall, Flinders Avenue Lara, Melways Ref 422 K5
NSW GRADE CHESS OPEN
DIVISION
Scores after 8 rounds:
1 ST GEORGE 21
2
KOALA 19.5
3
WESTS 19
4
CANTERBURY 14
5 FAIRFIELD
11.5
6 NORTH SYDNEY 7
ASIA VERSUS EUROPE MATCH
(Letter to Asian President from Eurpoean President)
17 July 2001
Mr. Khalifa Mohammed Al Hitmi
FIDE Continental
President (Asia)
By fax 00974-351740
Match Asia Versus Europe
Dear Mr. Al Hitmi,
Referring to your talks in Dubai with our president Boris
Kutin, We would
like to inform you about further details concerning
the match between Asia
and Europe.
This match will be held in Batumi (Georgia) from 14 September
(arrival)
until 20 September 2001 (Departure). Each team consists of 6 men
and 4 women
as well as one coach and the chief of the delegation (altogether
12 people).
The local organizer offers full board and accommodation for all. The
players
will receive an honorarium of US$3,000(men) and US$2,000(women)
including
the travel expenses. The travel expenses of the coach and the chief
of
delegation will be reimbursed.
The men will play a double scheveningen system (12 games per player),
the
women three times the scheveningen system (12 games as well), all
rapid
chess games.
We hope that this match will contribute a lot to the success of chess
in
Asia and Europe.
Kind regards,
Signed by
Horst Metzing
Secretary General
CC: Boris Kutin
Asian President Mr Al Hitmi comments as follows to national
presidents:
I would like to get your valuable comments about who is going to
represent
the Asian team.
It is necessary to get a strong team and also widest possible
representation
of the Asian federations.
with my warm regards,
Khalifa Mohamad
Al-Hitmi
FIDE Continental President (ASIA)
CHESS IS A SPORT - LETTER TO THE MINISTER
OF SPORT - DR JOHN JAMES
Ms.Kelly, Parliament House Canberra 9th July
2001
Dear Ms.Kelly,
I've read with interest the Australian Sports Commission's
continuing
defined policy to view sport as requiring the following
elements:
physical exertion and/or physical skill
competitive by nature
generally be accepted as being a sport
I remember the 2000 Olympic Women's Sport Pistol over 25 metres
:--
....precision and rapid fire, 30 shot strings, specific time limits,
decimal
point scoring and ties decided by "Shoot-Off".
---- all the excitement of a precise "clock" game of chess, perhaps
decided
in a time scramble end game with 2 moves a second played and
chess pieces
literally flying as exampled in the lightning "play-off " at the
recent
Gold Coast Open" between International Masters Stephen Solomon and
Zong Yuan
Zhao where 107 players competed.
----- the similarity differing only in that the pistol event is
conducted
with the least possible movement !??! --- sounds like the first
element is
not really a requirement ?.
---- chess is a very physically demanding sport as
evidenced by that
enigmatic past world champion Bobby Fischer, who used to
train for hours
daily on a rowing machine to endure the rigours of the
international
circuit. Boris Spassky and Vassily Smyslov played tennis to
maintain the
physical capacity to endure Grand Master level demands.
No doubt both sports satisfy the "competitive" requirement.
Now,....."Generally be accepted as being a sport " .... What survey did
the
A.S.C. conduct to determine the
"acceptability" ? Certainly the chess
enthusiasts of Australia weren't
polled.
I remember the proposed $34 million dollars for the Cecil Park New
Olympic
Shooting Venue designed as a venue "for training and local and
international
competition where its design would reflect an understanding"(
?) "of the
sport and the Olympic movement, quality, innovation, environmental
concern
and financial responsibility"(?).
Upon "reflection", I'm sure the local clay target club appreciated the
offer
of a continuance of access to the site after the Olympics and that
the
Sydney International Shooting Centre's attractive design would support
the
recreational shooting market.
I'm pleased at the shooting lobby success and only wish the chess
community
had an equally effective voice .......I wonder how many of
the shooting
fraternity we have in Australia and how were they
surveyed? Perhaps the
international voice was considered ?
As has been stated already by others more competently than I, Chess
is
the clever sport. It is played by millions around the world at a
serious
level. Veteran Grand Master David Bronstein, past World champion
contender,
acknowledged to me that there were as many publications produced
on chess
every year as there are publications on all the other indoor and
outdoor
sporting activities combined.
I feel there is a semantic ambivalence between "sports" and "games"
that
confuses the issue. "Game" tends to pejoratively lessen and
trivialise
chess's obvious impact upon the psyche in an intellectual and even
cultural
way.
If we are to be the "Knowledge Nation" [Party politics aside] , I feel
we
could do worse than embrace chess as it is embraced in many
teaching
establishments and military academies around the world where its
benefits
are acknowledged. We need a reality check and begin to address the
Aussi
"catch up " propensity.
It can be noted that "sport"is a shortening of the archaic word
"disport",
which as a verb meant "enjoy oneself , frolic" and as a noun
"diversion,
amusement" and "a pastime, game, or sport". In the Middle Ages
"sport" meant
"entertainment, amusement" and did not take on the notion of
athletic
competition until the 16th century. Until the mid 20th century,
a
"sportsman" was primarily someone devoted to hunting, shooting and
fishing
rather than athletics or "games". As a verb "sport" meant "amuse
oneself, be
at leisure" and "take part in sports"; the main modern
sense "wear or
display ostentatiously ", arose in the 18th century,
originally as a
colloquial use. Through "disport" and its Latin source ,
"portare" to
carry, "Sport" is connected to such English words as deport,
export, import,
portable, report, support and transport.
-------------------- so, what's in
a word etc., etc?
It seems as though the rest of the world has got it right !
Chess organization abroad has been manifestly funded but not without
the
usual pecuniary difficulties which have not been insurmountable.
Currently
the FIDE (international chess governing body) President, H.H.
Kirshan
Ilyumzhinov is negotiating with H.H.Sheik Nahayan Bin Mubarak AL
Nahayan of
Abu Dhabi , Minister of Higher Education of the United Arab
Emirates on
behalf of the Presidential Board of FIDE, the venue for the next
World
Championship, possibly in that region, where the 1986 Chess Olympiad
was
held in Dubai.
In effect from the 1st of July 2001, the Presidential Board has
fully
adopted the IOC Medical Code as the only basis for the FIDE
ANTI-Doping
Code.
Finally, I hope you will consider this submission to fund Chess as a
sport
from this not disinterested party.
Thanking you for your attention,
Faithfully Dr John James.
THE FAIRFIELD RSL WINTER CUP HELD 14/15 JULY -
AMIEL ROSARIO
For the first time in some twenty years, tournament chess returned
to
Fairfield. The last time an event took place here was way back in the
1970’s
when the United Permanent Building Society sponsored a tournament. The
last
winner was Max Fuller. That event was organised by
Eddy Katnic. Eddy informs
us that in those days, they even
provided a smorgasbord for the players
including drinks!
This new tournament, dubbed The Winter Cup, was hosted by the Fairfield
RSL
and organised by the affiliated chess club. In just a few months of
its
existence, the club has already assembled one of the strongest Open teams
in
the Sydney inter-club competition. It will also host another weekender
in
December, The Pre-Christmas Cup.
The attendance of only forty-two players was, perhaps, a
little
disappointing considering the wide publicity. There was a full-page ad
in
the ACF magazine was well as numerous handouts during previous
tournaments
and grade matches. This was also a category 2 event with a low
entry fee of
only $30.00. Fortunately, a number of strong weekend warriors
did make it.
The top seed was FM Tim Reilly (2323) followed
by Edgardo Agulto (2251),
Paul Dozsa
(2115), George Xie (2031) and Karel Hursky
(1907). Another
strong player all the way from Ukraine was
Victor Berezin, rated 2219.
He is WIM Irina
Feldman’s brother. This is his second trip to Sydney. Just
below
this group of players were a whole bunch of 1700 to 1800 rated
players, the
most notable of whom was none other than Lloyd Fell.
The first round
As can be expected, the first round went without a hitch for the
top
players. However, on board 10, the unthinkable happened. Rolando
Atienza,
unrated and secretary of Fairfield RSL CC defeated Mr. Fell
in an endgame!
Perhaps taken aback by his winning position, Mr. Atienza
didn’t seem to know
what to do as soon as a second of his pawns reached the
8th rank. He
actually stood up from the board and asked! It was only natural,
of course,
that after the game Lloyd was at his acerbic best! Aaahh…what is
a
tournament without Mr. Fell?
In this round’s featured encounter we see the top seed in crushing
form.
White Reilly, T.
Black Zbiljic,
N.
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 Nbd7 7. Nh3 Re8
8.
Qd2 e5 9. d5 Kh8 10. O-O-O a6 11. g4 b6 12. Ng5 Qe7 13. h4 Ng8 14. h5
Nf8
15. Bd3 f6 16. Nxh7! Kxh7 17. hxg6+ Kxg6 18. Qh2 Kf7 19. Qh5+ Ng6 20.
f4
Bxg4? 21. Qxg4 Bh6 22. Rdg1 Nxf4 23. Rxh6 Nxd3+ 24. Kd2 1-0
The second round
The second round saw the tournament’s first major upset. And what a big
one!
Cameron Wright (1799) bangs out the Austrian Attack
against Mr. Reilly’s
work horse Pirc Defence. This time around, it was Reilly
who found himself
on the worse side of a piece sac. Aided by Reilly’s severe
time trouble,
Wright tried 32. Qf4 to enter into some complications. It was a
risky plan,
maybe even incorrect, but it worked! Here is that game.
White Wright, C.
Black Reilly,
T.
1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. f4 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Bd3 Na6 7. O-O c5 8.
d5
Bg4 9. h3 Bxf3 10. Rxf3 Rc8 11. Qe2 Qa5 12. Nb5 Nb4 13. Bd2 Qb6 14. c4
a6
15. Nc3 Nxd3 16. Qxd3 Nd7 17. b3 Qa7 18. a4 b6 19. Raf1 Rb8 20. h4 h5
21.
Qe2 Qc7 22. Rg3 Bd4+ 23. Kh1 Kh7 24. Qf3 Bxc3 25. Bxc3 b5 26. Re1 bxc4
27.
bxc4 Rb3 28. e5 dxe5 29. fxe5 Nb6 30. Rg5 f6 31. Rg3 Nxa4 32. Qf4? Rxc3
33.
d6 exd6? 34. exd6 Qf7 35. Re7 Rxg3 36. Qxg3 Nb6 37. Rxf7+ Rxf7 At
this
point, both players have stopped recording. Eventually, white
actually
captures black’s a-pawn to make way for his b-pawn. With his two
remaining
pieces completely stuck on the 7th, Tim Reilly resigned. 1-0
The third round
Nothing spectacular happened here. Most of the fancied players beat
their
lower rated opponents. On board 1, Agulto downed newcomer
Ederne Huyag
Vandan. Ederne is from Mongolia and is a
regular at Hyde Park. Just call him
Elton. On board 2, Joel
Harp sportingly thanked Paul Dozsa for the
lesson,
while way down on board 7, Tim Reilly defeated
another newcomer, Selvir
Bajrami. I said ‘most’ above
because this writer caused a little bit of an
upset on board 6 a
swindle! In a completely lost position, with mate
imminent in about 3 moves,
I tried one last trick. My opponent, Mariusz
Jarek, just
walks straight into it and loses the exchange. Frustrated by his
first error,
he commits another and will now lose the other rook. He
resigned.
The fourth round
Board 1, Agulto Xie, and board 2, Dozsa
Hursky, end in draws. While on
board 3, I was up against
Victor Berezin. Just 3 weeks earlier he’d beaten
me in a
rapid game. This time, I was determined to win. Feeling a little
nervous I
decide to seek some words of wisdom from my good friend,
Bradley
Loh, I sent him an SMS message asking for advice. He
replied the following:
“He’s very solid. Beat me in a bishop ending. Play
tactically and
aggressively. He plays Pirc and 1. e4.” Very well, the problem
was I was
White and I always play 1. d4. I asked around and found out that
Victor
plays the KID. So on the morning of the round, during breakfast and
with NCO
in the other hand, I brushed up on the 7…Nbd7 variation. Here is the
game.
White Rosario, A.
Black Berezin,
V.
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 O-O 5. Be2 d6 6. Nf3 e5 7. O-O Nbd7
8.
Qc2 c6 9. Bg5 Qb6 10. d5 cxd5 11. cxd5 Nc5 12. h3 Played so that I
could
reposition the bishop to e3 without having to worry about Ng4 12…Bd7
13. Nd2
Rfc8 14. Be3 Qd8 15. Nc4 Be8 16. b4 Na6 17. Qb3 Bf8 18. Rac1 Nb8 Just
take a
look at Black’s pieces. Surely I can win this! 19. f4 exf4 20. Bxf4
Nbd7 21.
e5? A bad move. I probably should have just continued my Q-side
expansion
with 21. a4 21…dxe5 22. Nxe5 Nxe5 23. Bxe5 Qb6+ This is what I
missed. Now I
’m just losing a pawn. 24. Kh1 Nd7 25. Na4 Qxb4 26. Qxb4 Bxb4
27. Bc3 Bd6
28. Bd4 Nb6 29. Nxb6 axb6 30. Bxb6 Rxc1 31. Rxc1 Rxa2 32. Bf3 Ra8
33. Kg1
Bd7 34. Kf1 f5 35. Kf2 g5 36. g4 Kg7 37. Bd4+ Kg6 What’s this? Hope
for me?
The move puts the bishop on d6 in an awkward position. With time
trouble now
approaching, I actually thought that a draw may be possible. 38.
Rb1 Ra2+
The best for a win. 39. Kf1?? Dang! 39. Kg1 was best. I had to avoid
all
checks along the f1 h3 and f1 a6 diagonals. b5 40.
gxf5+ Bxf5 When I
played my 38th I planned to capture the pawn on b5, but
now, there would
follow, 41…Bd3+, so 41. Rc1 Bxh3+ 42. Kg1 Bd7 43. Be4+ Kh6
44. Bb1 Rd2 45.
Be3 Rxd5 46. Kf2 Kg7 47. Rh1?? After the game, Elton pointed
out 47. Be4,
followed by 47…Re5 48. Bd4 h5 49. Bc6 Bf5. With less than 5
minutes, I just
had to make him think. h6 48. Ba2 Rf5+ 49. Ke2 Bc5 50.
Rd1 Bc6 51. Bc1??
Bf3+ 0-1
The fifth round
The penultimate round saw Agulto edge ever closer to another
tournament
victory. Here, he defeats Hursky on the black side of an English.
On board
2, Berezin beat Dozsa. In a one-sided encounter, Tim Reilly scored
another
victory, this time against Milosav Markovic. And
fast improving Jason Chan
reels out his favourite Benko
Gambit and defeats Bernard Saavedra.
This was not Lloyd Fell’s tournament for he was way down
on board 16. By the
5th round he was still on 1 point! I, on the other hand,
felt more
determined after that disastrous loss in the last round. How could
I lose
that game, I thought. Putting the disappointment behind me, I sat down
to
face Elpidio Bautista a player whose rating is
about 200 points higher
than mine.
White Bautista, E.
Black Rosario,
A.
About a month earlier, Bautista and I played each other in the
Queen’s
Birthday Weekender. In that game I came off second best, so I had
extra
incentive to do better. 1. e4 c5 2. c3 I was happy to see this since
it’s
the same opening we played in the last one. The variations were now
flooding
back into my head. d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Be2 What is this? I
couldn’t
help smiling to myself. In the second round, I was in exactly the
same
opening and in this same position! What worried me was that my opponent
in
the second round, Selvir Bajrami, and Mr Bautista are actually
team-mates
for Fairfield’s U1800 grade team! In fact, we all are! So I
thought, did
these two concoct something for me? Well, let’s see. 5…e5 I
think this is
the best. Correct me if I am wrong, but I just don’t understand
why d2-d4 is
delayed or omitted. What’s the point of 2. c3 then? 6. d3 Nc6 7.
h3 Be7 8.
O-O O-O 9. Be3 b6 10. d4? Premature. Later, we decided that the
maneuver
Nbd2-Nb3 was better in order to bolster d3-d4. 10…e4 11. c4 Qd8 12.
Ne5 Nxd4
13. Bxd4 Qxd4 14. Nc6 Qd6 (14…Qxd1?? loses a piece to 15.
Nxe7+ Kh8 16.
Rxd1) 15. Qa4 Bb7 16. Nxe7+ Qxe7 17. Nc3 Rad8 18. Rad1 a6 19.
Qb3 Qe6 20.
g4?! This is totally unnecessary. Now the king-side is weak. He
should have
opted for the humble 20. Nb1 or even 20. Na4. The important thing
was to
prevent the pawn push to e3. 20…h6 21. Rde1 e3! 22. f3 (22.fe3?? leads
to
mate in 4) 22…Rd2 23. Nd1 I was expecting 23. Nb1 to which I would
have
replied 23…Rfd8! and the rook on d2 is still quite safe. 23…h5?! Oops!
For
some reason, I totally ignored the threat on the e-pawn. 24. Nxe3 hxg4
25.
hxg4 Re8 26. Bd1 Qe5! Black is totally dominating. For a moment my
attention
turned towards capturing all those Q-side pawns. Then some little
voice
shouted, ‘No stupid! Go for mate!’ 27. Ng2 Qd4+ (27…Qg3! leads to a
quicker
win, but I spotted something for more pretty) 28. Kh1 Rxe1 29. Rxe1
Qf2 30.
Rg1 Nxg4!! The ‘!!’ is pure emotions, but I am sure you will forgive
me. Any
move now will lose! 31. Qxb6 My opponent sees the obvious catastrophe
if 31.
fg4, but then 31…Qh4+ Yeah baby! 0-1
Over on the next board was the game Bajrami Carballo. In the
following
position,
White: Kc7, Pb7 / Black: Ke6, Qc5 Carballo is obviously
winning. His only
problem was his dwindling time of only 3 minutes!
Bajrami still had 10
minutes left. In a desperate tactic to swindle a
win (or a draw), Bajrami
then gets up and walks away from the board, only
returning when his clock
was down to less than 5. Both players then play
their last moves in blitz
mode and, after a few desperate shuffles, Bajrami
finally resigned.
The sixth round
The money round. On board 1 was Agulto Berezin,
while board 2 paired
Reilly Xie. Reilly (on 4 points)
only had the second prize to aim for,
while the other 3 players (4.5 points
each) were in the running for first.
After some positional maneuverings, straight out of Berezin’s Pirc
Defence,
Agulto, at last, prevailed. Board 2 was interesting. With his flag
on the
precipice (while Reilly had minutes!), and in a worse position, Xie
stops
the clock and claims a draw. The DOP says play on. So he does. Guess
what?
Xie wins and joins Agulto to share first place.
CORRESPONDENCE
GLEN GIBBS RE SWISS PERFECT
I read with much interest Charles Zworestine's
comments about a bug in Swiss
Perfect. I think we would all agree with
Charles' view that Robert Rozycki's
program is a fantastic
creation and no praise could be too high. To
understand the Swiss rules, so
complex and interactive, seemingly
contradictory and so often changing, to
reduce them to electronic form in a
program that operates at blinding speed
and to make the program so freely
available to the multitudes require
abilities not normally found in mortal
men. I can speak with some conviction
having spent most of my spare time
over the past 13 years writing Swissaid, a
similar program. It does not hold
a candle to Swiss Perfect but it does allow
for some operator control. Each
scoregroup is colour-coded and the 5 most
ideal opponents for a player are
shown with his score, last 2 floats and due
colour. As an example, the
operator has the following options:
fl<O>at rules
no<T>es select <B>ye player
<S>elect player
<E>dit con<F>irm Charlie v Frank
pairings: a<U>to <G>roup <M>anual
confi<R>m Harry v David comb<I>ine top
2 groups
s<W>ap S1 and S2 cance<L> Kevin v
Hubert
This example assumes that Charlie is to float from the top group to
Frank,
that Harry v David is the most likely way to pair the last group and
that
Kevin v Hubert is the last pairing made.
Then, mainly for a giggle, the pairings are shown with performance
ratings
and odds for the next round's results.
Swissaid is designed as an nitwit's guide to the Swiss Rules; the
operator
is in charge and can see what is going on under the bonnet. With
Swiss
Perfect everything is automatic -- and almost perfectly so too. I
wonder if
we could lean on Robert Rozycki to produce a nitwit's version of
Swiss
Perfect along the same lines. I am sure that it would be easy for
him,
though a tad time-consuming, to allow for operator input between
each
module.
Incidentally, we found in a recent Hobart tournament the same bug
that
Charles refers to. Swiss Perfect gave the tournament leader a
double
downfloat in the last round apparently to balance colours although
there was
a compatible opponent in the higher score group. This led to some
spirited
debate.
Personally, I think the old rules were more logical in that exchanges
within
the lower half of a scoregroup to balance colours were permitted only
within
a range of 100 rating points. One could quibble about the 100
points;
presumably this figure should be some function of the average ratings
in a
scoregroup or perhaps the average of all the players' ratings. Do we
want to
see in round 2 a grandmaster who goofed in round 1 while jet-lagged
paired
with a nitwit who had a bye in round 1?
Incidentally I am happy to make Swissaid, which runs on GWbasic or
Qbasic,
available to all who have the time to play with
it
glen13@mail.com
Is there anyone out there who can compile it?
With compliments from freezing Hobart.
GARY BEKKER
I congratulate the ACF for encouraging the use of digital clocks and
Fischer
time controls, by introducing new ACF approved rates of play. I enjoy
playing
in tournaments which offer the use of a Fischer time control and allow
competitors to have at least 60 minutes thinking time each.
I would be reluctant, however, to play in any event which offers less
than a
total of 60 minutes per side thinking time. I therefore urge
tournament
organisers not to use the very fastest time control
available,
G/30+30s/move, unless it is absolutely necessary.
Proponents of the new minimum ACF time control of G/30+30s/move
have
suggested that an average game lasts 60 moves and therefore most
players
will get around 60 minutes total thinking time. I disagree with
this.
Most games finish much closer to move 40, and those that do last until
move
60 have usually already been practically decided much earlier. A sample
of
all games included on the ChessBase "Big Database 2001", played
during
1999/2000, proves this. From a total of just over 240000 games the
average
game length was only 38 moves, with only 10% of all games lasting
more than
60 moves. This means that with a time control of G/30+30s/move, the
average
player will get only around 50 minutes total thinking time -
something more
akin to Rapidplay chess.
Since I prefer to play chess at a more leisurely rate which does not
include
gross blunders induced by extreme time trouble, I am unlikely to play
in
events which use such a fast time control.
I urge organisers to consider using a more generous time control such
as
G/40+30s/move, or even G/45+30s/move, in future weekend events.
TEH OOI KOCK
Dear Graeme Gardiner,
Warm greetings from the organising committee of The Grand Asian
Chess
Challenge VI!
I am pleased to inform you that Second Residential College, University
of
Malaya is organzing sixth edition of The Grand Asian Chess Challenge
from
19th Ocotber ~ 26 October, 2001 in the main campus of University of
Malaya,
50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
On behalf of the organising committee, I have the honour to deliver
my
warmest invitation to Australian Chess Federation to participate in
this
meaningful event. This chess tournament is open to all the bona fide
full
time undergraduates from Asia region and conducted as a 9-round Swiss
event.
I would like to ask a favour from Australian Chess Federation to
inform all
the members club of Australian Universities regarding this chess
event.
For your information, we have participants from United Arab
Emirates,
Lebanon, Philippines, Mongolia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand,
Singapore and
etc. Since Australia have not participate in this chess event
before, I hope
that Australian Chess Federation can send a frontier team to
make this chess
event a merit one.
The official invitation will be sent out within these few weeks. Thank
you
in advance for your kind consideration and precious time.
Hope to hear form you soon.
Truly,
Teh Ooi Kock
Delegation Director
The Grand Asian Chess Challenge
VI
JAKUB KUKSIK
We are looking for last several players rated 2150+ without IM title to
our
three IM round-robin tournaments (FIDE category 4) which will take place
at
1.-9.8.2001 in Olomouc (Czech Republic).
We are preferably looking for players with international title like FM,
WFM,
WIM, WGM, HM, FIDE Candidate Player.
If you (or some your friends and clubmates) are interested in start let
me
contact by e-mail as soon as possible.
With very best wishes to all
Graeme Gardiner
Chess - the clever sport!