ACF Bulletin No. 133 - 9 September 2001 IN THIS ISSUE Graeme and Wendy's email, Europe v Asia, Morozevich visit to Australia, Launceston weekender, Bekker family in serious car accident, Insurance policy for states and clubs, Steiner and Koshnitsky medals, Merdeka Cup, Grand Prix progressive scores and remaining 2001 events, Gold Coast Classic, World Seniors Championship. GRAEME AND WENDY'S EMAIL OK It looks as though all of our communication problems have been sorted out and we can now be contacted on ggardiner@auschess.org.au or wgardiner@auschess.org.au. Graeme's reserve email is graemeg@isage.aunz.net. We are always looking to receive interesting chess news including details of upcoming tournaments and those which have just finished. EUROPE V ASIA Ian Rogers will now be representing Asia v Europe in Georgia and leaves on 13 September. With any luck he should get two games against Gary Kasparov. The following information is sourced from TWIC. The Europe versus Asia rapidplay match takes place in Batumi Opera House September 16th-20th 2001. This is a Double round Scheveningen system rapidplay event with play on three days: 17th, 18th and 19th September. The European team: Men: Gary Kasparov (RUS), Emil Sutovsky (ISR), Zurab Azmaiparashvili (GEO), Leok van Wely (NED), Mikhail Gurevich (BEL), Etienne Bacrot (FRA) and Christopher Lutz (GER). Women: Maia Chiburdanidze (GEO), Nana Ioseliani (GEO), Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (RUS), Almira Skripchenko-Lautier and Natalia Zhukova (UKR). The Asian team: Men: Rustam Kasimdschanov (UZB), Ye Jiangchuan (CHN), Krishnan Sasikiran (IND), Dao Thien Hai (VIE), Ian Rogers (AUS), Utut Adianto (IND), Evgeny Vladimirov (KAZ), Women: Xie Jun (CHN), Hoang Than Trang (VIE), Xu Yuhua (CHN), Zhu Chen (CHN) The Captains are for Europe Alexander von Gleich of Germany and for Asia Ignatius Leong of Singapore. Links: http://www.eurochess.org/ and http://www.chessbase.de/Veranstaltungen/181/europa_asien.htm MOROZEVICH VISIT TO AUSTRALIA Paul Dunn advises that there is a strong chance that Alex Morozevich will visit Australia in November. I understand that his requirements for simul, lecture or training appearances will be quite modest for a player of his standing. If anyone around the nation is interested in hosting Alex for a period during his visit, please register your interest by contacting either myself on ggardiner@auschess.org.au or Paul Dunn on pjdunn@compuserve.com. LAUNCESTON WEEKENDER KEVIN BONHAM The first Launceston Weekender held for 15 years attracted a small but select field including Victorian visitor Tony Davis and a small delegation from the Hobart's new Serbian Chess Club. Michael Hornung was the favourite on paper but was unwell and badly out of form. In the first round Djekanovic, who had played no rated games since January 1998, showed no signs of rustiness and impressively posed Hornung such severe strategic problems that Hornung lost on time. Davis (with wins over Berzins and Djekanovic) and Bonham (with a dodgy win against Stubbs but a much better miniature against Gibbs) moved to the lead and drew an interesting game in round 4. This left Bonham to play Djekanovic (who had exhausted himself in winning an extremely lost position against Stubbs) while Gibbs played Davis. Djekanovic gave the state champion a cheap point by handing his own rook a death sentence within the first ten moves. Davis was disheartened by this development and was eventually out-manoeuvered by Gibbs. Meanwhile Harvey's sacrifices improved as the event went on, losing to Davis in round 1, beating Hornung and finally demolishing Berzins in blazing style to record an excellent result. The short number of rounds and the bye made the ratings prizes something of a lottery but they were won by Radovanovic and Fry. Leo Minol did a great job as organiser and the whole event was played in excellent and friendly spirit with zero incidents. 4.5/5 Kevin Bonham (1892) 4/5 Reg Harvey (1647) 3.5/5 Tony Davis (Vic 1838), Glen Gibbs (1795) 3/5 Michael Hornung (2021), Pantelija Djekanovic (Unr) 2.5/5 Paul Berzins (1710), Novica Radovanovic (1571), Milutin Ivkovic (Unr) 2/5 Mike Stubbs (1715), Dallas Fry (1351) 1/5 Leo Minol (1269), Peter Brooker (Unr) BEKKER FAMILY IN SERIOUS CAR ACCIDENT Gary Bekker and his wife Janine and son Joshua were fortunate to escape serious injury during a horrendous car accident in the Tyrolean Alps. Gary writes: "We were driving on the highway from Innsbruck to Lichtenstein and had planned to go on to Lake Constance. Shortly past Landeck we came across some road works. It was drizzling below the snow-capped alp peaks. The road curved and narrowed, and we slowed down. A semi-trailer coming towards us was travelling too fast. It swerved and lost control while trying to brake. The trailer swung wide onto our side of the road at around 70 kph. The car in front of us was totally crushed by the impact. The trailer then continued and tipped. As it crashed on top of our car the noise and force of the impact was horrendoues. Our car, and the car behind, were also severely crushed. We couldn't open any doors and quickly scrambled out of the windows. We were lucky to have only suffered minor cuts and bruising. I rushed to the car in front to help the driver of the pancake left in front of us. I thought he would surely be dead. He was somewhat crushed but had suffered only broken bones, cuts and bruising. I told him not to move and quickly helped his wife escape from the passenger side before returning to help the man until the emergency services arrived. He was later airlifted to hospital." INSURANCE POLICY FOR STATES AND CLUBS - CHRIS ZUCCALA I am pleased to confirm the following insurance premiums for the period 31/8/01 to 31/8/02 for clubs wishing to take out public liability insurance under the ACF policy: The annual premiums are as follows: State/Territory Associations: $344 Clubs with 100 or more members: $277 Clubs with 50 to less than 100 members: $211 Clubs with less than 50 members: $150 The public liability limit of indemity is $10,000,000. Any clubs wishing to take out public liability insurance are welcome to contact me on (03) 9569 1569 or via e-mail on vicbrok@bigpond.com EARLY WARNING RE STEINER AND KOSHNITSKY MEDALS - GARY WASTELL State Associations are reminded of the opportunity to nominate persons for the following medals, which the ACF will present in January 2002: (a) The Koshnitsky Medal, for services as an administrator (b) The Steiner Medal, for Australian 'Player of the Year 2001'. More information concerning the medals can be found at the ACF web site. Nominations can be forwarded by email to gwastell@netspace.net.au or mailed to 20 Sycamore Grove, East St Kilda 3183. Please follow-up if, after 48 hours, you have not been notified that your nomination has been received. MERDEKA CUP - TIM REILLY A team of Chris Depasquale, myself, Riley Yates-Doerr (USA) and Christie Hon (Malaysia) played in the above teams event in Kuala Lumpur from 31 August to 2 September. Our team ("Allies") eventually came second in the Open event with 21/28. Coup de Grace, a Malaysian team, won with 22. Third was a Singapore team from Cairnhill Chess Club (with GM Tu Hoang Thong (VIE) on board 1!) on 21.5. There were more than 100 teams overall. We all had a good time and the free accommodation was (as always in Malaysia) excellent. We also won some prizemoney. Board scores: 1. Depasquale 5/7, 2. Reilly 5/7, 3. Yates-Doerr 4/7, 4. Hon 7/7 (gold medal for board 4). A fantastic result for ex-Malaysian champion Christie Hon, making a brief come back after several years away from chess. My thanks to the organisers and especially Hamid Majid for assisting with our participation in general - and in particular for finding Christie when we needed a fourth board! GRAND PRIX PROGRESS SCORES With many thanks to Norm Braybrooke. OPEN 1 Solomon, Stephen QLD 2418 67.90 2 Johansen, Darryl VIC 2528 60.00 3 Stead, Kerry NSW 1970 54.50 4 Wallace, John-Paul NSW 2399 46.50 5 Chapman, Mark SA 2335 44.00 6 Xie, George NSW 2007 29.33 7 Jones, Brian NSW 2102 26.50 8 Agulto, Edgardo NSW 2251 26.00 9 Lane, Gary NSW 2440 26.00 10 Bonham, Kevin TAS 1875 23.00 11 Rej, Tomek NSW 2000 23.00 12 Rujevic, Mirko VIC 2326 22.50 13 Stephson, David QLD 2240 22.50 14 Scott, Ronald NSW 2187 22.00 15 Zaric, Srboljub SA 2174 21.50 16 Smerdon, David QLD 2104 20.75 UNDER 2000 1 Stead, Kerry NSW 1970 74.00 2 Rout, Ian ACT 1896 51.90 3 Chow, Sam VIC 1893 32.90 4 Harp, Joel NSW 1909 28.40 5 Davidovici, Michael QLD 1759 26.50 6 Dozsa, Paul ACT 1998 23.33 7 Yang, Song SA 1826 23.16 8 Bonham, Kevin TAS 1875 23.00 9 Sonter, Matthew QLD 1689 21.16 10 Wongwichit, Pachara QLD 1498 20.00 UNDER 1600 1 Forace, Lee ACT 1342 38.58 2 Norman, Brendon NSW 1599 33.50 3 Hellman, Oscar NSW 1592 32.00 4 Chan, Jason NSW UNR 29.66 5 Wongwichit, Phachara QLD 1498 29.00 6 Capilitan, Romeo NSW UNR 28.50 7 Stewart, Craig QLD 1558 28.13 8 Kimura, Toshi QLD 1449 27.33 9 Keuning, Tony NSW 1565 26.50 10 Lutley, Philip SA 1416 26.33 11 Thiyagarajah, Anand SA 1325 26.00 12 Lindberg, Douglas VIC 1459 24.40 13 Weltner, Michael NSW 1507 21.50 14 Chadwick, Charles TAS UNR 21.00 15 Steer, Ian NSW 1579 20.42 16 Kaplan, Raf VIC 1340 20.00 FEMALE 1 Huddleston, Heather NSW 1132 64.00 2 Lip, Catherine NSW 1801 45.50 3 Mills, Natalie QLD 1909 43.00 4 Smith, Vivian QLD 1600 40.00 5 Szuveges, Narelle VIC 1758 26.00 6 Evans, Amy QLD 990 25.50 7 Jovanovic, Marija ACT 1563 25.50 8 Martin, Janice TAS 1466 24.00 9 Oliver, Shannon ACT 1390 24.00 10 Distledorf, Jessica QLD 1391 20.00 11 Moylan, Laura ACT 1867 20.00 JUNIOR 1 Xie, George NSW 2007 59.50 2 Rej, Tomek NSW 2000 54.83 3 Smerdon, David QLD 2104 51.00 4 Davidovici, Michael QLD 1759 38.50 5 Yang, Song SA 1826 38.00 6 Zhao, Zong-Yuan NSW 2317 37.50 7 Norman, Brendon NSW 1599 37.00 8 Chow, Sam ACT 1893 35.66 9 Huddleston, Heather NSW 1132 31.83 10 Wongwichit, Phachara QLD 1498 27.50 11 Lindberg, Douglas VIC 1459 26.50 12 Kimura, Toshi QLD 1449 25.50 13 Olesen, Esper NSW 1376 25.50 14 Varela, Peter NSW 1371 25.50 15 Lutley, Philip SA 1416 21.50 UNRATED 1 Chan, Jason NSW 42.00 2 Yu, Chris QLD 37.50 3 Stewart, Torin QLD 30.50 4 Capilitan, Romeo NSW 28.50 5 Mitchell, K NSW 28.00 6 Eldridge-Smith, Veronique ACT 24.00 7 Chadwick, Charles TAS 21.00 8 Wells, Leslie NSW 21.00 9 Bajrami, Selvir NSW 20.00 10 Hoang, Khoi ACT 20.00 11 Soltysik, Adelaide ACT 20.00 12 Suderson, Sunilson VIC 20.00 2001 GRAND PRIX The Grand Prix Supervisor is Norm Braybrooke chessnut@windsor.net.au http://crcchess.topcities.com/GP2001.htm Just a reminder that we welcome more details of Grand Prix events for publication in this bulletin. There are now 41 events for 2001. 22/23 Sep Gold Coast Classic QLD Cat 3 Graeme Gardiner 07 5530 5794 ggardiner@auschess.org.au 29/30 Sep Lidum's Cup SA Cat 2 Roland Eime 08 8268 1374 eimes@senet.com.au 29/30 Sep Redcliffe Challenge QLD Cat 1 Mark Stokes 07 3205 6042 mstokes@bne.catholic.edu.au 13/14 Oct Tweed Heads Open QLD Cat 3 Audie Pennefather 07 5536 9185 pennefather@iprimus.com 20/21 Oct Box Hill Whitehorse Festival Week-Ender VIC Cat 2 Trevor Stanning trevors@bluep.com 3/4 Nov Laurieton Open NSW Cat 1 Endel Lane 02 6559 9060 endel@fasternet.com.au 3-5 Nov Tasmanian Open TAS Cat 1 Neville Ledger 03 6431 1280 nlchess@tassie.net.au 17/18 Nov Taree RSL Spring Open NSW Cat 1 Endel Lane 02 6559 9060 endel@fasternet.com.au 24/25 Nov NSWCA Cat 1 Robert Keast 02 9649 8614 rkeast@comtech.com.au 8/9 Dec Tuggeranong Vikings Weekender ACT Cat 1 Lee Forace 02 9556 3960 ljforace@hotmail.com 15/16 Dec Melbourne Chess Club Christmas Swiss VIC Cat 2 Malcolm Pyke dexter@labyrinth.net.au 15/16 Dec Fairfield RSL Pre Christmas Cup NSW Cat 2 Elpidio Bautista 02 9723 5537 bautista@smartchat.net.au NSW 15, Qld 9, Vic 5, Tas 4, SA 4, ACT 3, WA 1. GOLD COAST CLASSIC 22/23 SEPTEMBER Due to his paticipation in the Asia v Europe match, GM Ian Rogers will not now be participating. However, I understand from Andrew Allen that IM John Paul Wallace will be coming. Another interesting starter will be the editor of the New In Chess (NIC) Year Book, Rene Olthof. We are also hoping that IMs Solomon and Smerdon, who have been supporting the event for many years, will also be entering. The Gold Coast Classic, a Grand Prix category 3 event, is Queensland's favourite combined individual and teams chess tournament. Individuals enter the tournament and form themselves into teams of four. Team points are scored solely by adding ratings points gained and subtracting ratings points lost for all team members as calculated by the Swiss Perfect pairings programme. Unrated players are given deemed ratings. The main advantage of the tournament is that players are not only interested in their own performance, but that of their team also. In the past this has seemed to promote a greater social interaction between all participants. Venue: Somerset College Sports Pavilion, Mudgeeraba, Gold Coast. Time Controls: 40 mins a side plus 30 secs a move from the start. Arbiter: Charles Zworestine. Prizes: Open 1st $700 2nd $300 3rd $100 Five ratings divisions $100 each. 1st Female $100. 1st Primary student $100. Teams 1st $400 ($100 each) 2nd $200 ($50 each) 3rd $100 ($25 each). Total $2,500. Enquiries: Graeme Gardiner Ph 07 5530 5794 Fax 07 5530 6959 Email ggardiner@auschess.org.au WORLD SENIORS CHAMPIONSHIP The 2001 World Seniors Championship will be held in Arco, Italy, from October 16 (arrival) to October 29 (departure). The organiser of the event is Cristina Rigo, who has given the following addresses: Vicolo Stretto 4, 38062 Arco (TN) Italy; Tel/Fax 0039.0464.531732; e-mail info@arcoworldchess.com The relevant website is www.arcoworldchess.com Phil Viner has nominated as the Oceania representative. If anyone else would like to nominate as the Oceania rep please advise me graemeg@isage.aunz.net by next Friday 14 September latest. ***** With very best wishes to all Graeme Gardiner President Australian Chess Federation 11 Hardys Road Mudgeeraba Queensland 4213 Phone +61 7 5530 5794 Mobile 0438 305797 Fax +61 7 5530 6959 Email ggardiner@auschess.org.au Chess - the Clever Sport! If you do wish to receive these bulletins in future, please email Wendy on wgardiner@auschess.org.au.