ACF Bulletin # 138 - 28 October 2001 IN THIS ISSUE ACF National Conference, Australian Junior Championships, Australian Championships, Coaching Accreditation/Coaching Association, World Youth Festival, ACF Deputy President, Steiner and Koshnitsky Medals, GM Heikki Kallio, 2002 Calendars, 2001 Grand Prix, 2002 Grand Prix, Asian Junior Boys and Girls Under 18 Champs, Bids for Jan 2003 Aust Open and Aust Juniors, Free Swiss Perfect Computer Pairings Programme, Insurance Policy for States and Clubs, Gold Coast Classic Report, Correspondence. ACF NATIONAL CONFERENCE Joe Tanti (Secretary) jtanti@adelaide.dialix.oz.au. The Australian Chess Federation's 2002 National Conference will be held at the Melbourne Town Hall, cnr Collins and Swanston Streets, on Monday 6 January 2002. I am required to circulate an Agenda for this Conference not less than 56 days before that date. If Associations or individuals have items for the Conference, especially any Motion on Notice, for which the exact wording must be included on the Agenda, I require details by Friday 9 November 2001. AUSTRALIAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS CRANBROOK SCHOOL, SYDNEY 12 TO 24 JANUARY 2002 The NSWJCL (courtesy Manuel Weeks and Richard Gastineau-Hills) have produced an excellent webpage for this important event. Go to the site for all the details you could possibly need plus a downloadable entry form. http://www.auschess.org.au/nswjcl/Australian_Junior/Aus_junior_main.htm AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 28 DECEMBER TO 9 JANUARY Venue: Melbourne Town Hall, cnr Collins and Swanston Streets. 11-round swiss. One game per day except Tues 1 Jan and Sun 6 Jan. Games begin 1pm (possible early start on 9 Jan). FIDE recommended rate: all moves in 90 minutes plus 30 secs per move. Presentation of Prizes on Jan 9. More information was given in last week's bulletin http://www.auschess.org.au/bulletins/acfb137.txt and more is expected next week. COACHING ACCREDITATION/COACHING ASSOCIATION In my opinion one of the most important operations which is likely to sustain and expand Australian chess into the future is paid coaching in the schools. Whilst voluntary coaching is commendable, there will always be far too few voluntary coaches to make a big difference. We have already seen in various parts of the country a significant portion of state and private schools employing professional chess coaches and I see no reason why this expansion should not continue. David Cordover has kindly agreed to take on the onerous task of developing an accreditation scheme for Australian chess to parallel the National Coaching Accreditation Scheme. David tells me that he was going to undertake a similar project for his business, but this gives him the chance to 'kill two birds with one stone'. As part of the project he also hopes to get a national coaches association off the ground with the aim of improving professional standards and to provide a good mentoring/networking system. WORLD YOUTH FESTIVAL OROPESA DEL MAR, SPAIN Scores after six rounds: Justin Tan 3 54/83 Zong Yuan Zhao 4 16/102 Gareth Oliver 2 90/102 Dusan Stojic 2 89/117 Khoi Hoang 3 47/87 Shannon Oliver 1 74/76 Sally Anne Richter 2 64/79 Heather Huddlestone 3.5 29/78 Amy Evans 2 61/78 Rocheleh Ziffer 3.5 29/70 Natasha Lauder 1.5 61/70 Tamzin Oliver 1 65/70 Full details at: http://www.worldyouthfestival2001.com/menu.htm ACF DEPUTY PRESIDENT Robert Jamieson, the ACF Deputy President who is also the Senior Selection Coordinator, has changed his email address which is now auschess@netlink.com.au. 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 http://www.auschess.org.au/acfrec.htm#ausmed. 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. GM HEIKKI KALLIO Heikki from Finland, a 21 year old with a FIDE rating of 2517 who recently received his GM title, expects to come to Australia around April or June next year. He is interested in playing in a GM tournament or match. He would also be interested in an open tournament. Please let me know if you would like to contact Heikke. 2002 CALENDARS I would respectfully suggest that now is a very good time to be finalising 2002 events for your state or club. Please consider including a Grand Prix event. The NSWCA have already prepared their draft. Peter Cassettari pcass@zeta.org.au has asked that members check for errors and plan to avoid clashes. 12-24 Jan Australian Junior Cranbrook School Richard Gastineau-Hills 26-27 Jan Australia Day Weekender Rockdale NSWCA 3 Feb City of Sydney Lightning Rockdale NSWCA 9-10 Feb Newcastle Open Newcastle George Lithgow 16-17 Feb Taree RSL Summer Open Taree Endel Lane 24 Feb-28 Apr City of Sydney Champs Rockdale NSWCA 2-3 Mar Toukley U2000 Toukley Barry Mann 4Mar-26 Apr Western Suburbs CP Sydney Brian Jones 29 Mar-1 Apr Sydney Easter Cup Parramatta Robert Keast 29 Mar-1 Apr Doeberl Cup Canberra ACTCA Shaun Press 20-21 April Dubbo RSL Open Dubbo Alexander Aich 4-5 May Laurieton Open Laurieton Endel Lane 12 May City of Sydney Rapid Rockdale NSWCA 18-19 May May Weekender Rockdale NSWCA 27 May-Aug Grade Matches Local Club NSWCA 8-10 June Queen's Birthday Weekender Ryde-Eastwood NSWCA 22-23 June Taree RSL Open Taree Endel Lane 13-14 July Fairfield Winter Cup Fairfield Rolando Atienza 14-19 Jul NSW Junior Championships (Under 18)Lidcombe Margaret Cuckson 27-28 July ANU Open Canberra ACTCA Shaun Press 3-4 Aug August Weekender Rockdale NSWCA 10-11 Aug Coal City Open Newcastle George Lithgow 12th August Metropolitan Leagues Rapid TBA 19 Aug-30 Sep Rooty Hill Open Rooty Hill Peter Cassettari 25 Aug-27 Oct NSW Championships Parramatta NSWCA 2nd Sept-21stOct Interleagues TBA 3rd Sept Ford Memorial North Sydney 18th Sept Grade Match Presentation Ryde-Eastwood NSWCA 28-29 Sept Koala Masters (Invitational)Riverstone Brian Jones Oct Fishers Ghost Campbelltown Kerry Lee 9-11 Oct City of Sydney Junior Championships Lidcombe Margaret Cuckson 21-22 Oct Wollongong Collegians Open Wollongong John Mazzieri 28th Oct Canterbury Open (7 weeks) Canterbury LC 30th Oct Ryde Eastwood Classic Ryde-Eastwood 2-3 Nov Laurieton Open Laurieton Endel Lane 10 Nov NSW Rapid Sydney NSWCA 16-17 Nov Taree RSL Spring Open Taree Endel Lane 23-24 Nov November Weekender North Sydney NSWCA 1 Dec NSW Lightning & NSWCA AGM Ryde-Eastwood NSWCA 7-8 Dec Tuggeranong Vikings Weekender Canberra Lee Forace 10th Dec St George Summer Open St George 14-15 Dec Fairfield Summer Cup Fairfield Rolando Atienza Juniors: 7 Jan NSWJCL Summer One-Day Tournament Lidcombe Margaret Cuckson 8-9 Jan NSWJCL Summer Two-Day Tournament Lidcombe Margaret Cuckson 12-24 Jan Australian Junior Championships Cranbrook School Richard Gastineau-Hills 17 Apr NSWJCL Holiday Coaching Clinic Lidcombe Margaret Cuckson 18 Apr NSWJCL Easter One-Day Tournament Lidcombe Margaret Cuckson 24-25 Apr NSWJCL Easter Two-Day Tournament Lidcombe Margaret Cuckson 8 Jul NSWJCL Holiday Coaching Clinic Lidcombe Margaret Cuckson 10 Jul NSWJCL Winter One-Day Tournament Lidcombe Margaret Cuckson 11-12 Jul NSWJCL Winter Two-Day Tournament Lidcombe Margaret Cuckson 14-19 Jul NSW Junior Championships (Under 18) Lidcombe Margaret Cuckson 17-19 Jul NSW Junior Championships (Under 12) Lidcombe Margaret Cuckson 30 Sep NSWJCL Holiday Coaching Clinic Lidcombe Margaret Cuckson 2 Oct NSWJCL Spring One-Day Tournament Lidcombe Margaret Cuckson 3-4 Oct NSWJCL Spring Two-Day Tournament Lidcombe Margaret Cuckson 3-4 Oct NSW Girls Championships Lidcombe Margaret Cuckson 9-11 Oct City of Sydney Junior Championships Lidcombe Margaret Cuckson 2001 GRAND PRIX - NORM BRAYBROOKE (Norm's email address is chessnut@windsor.net.au and webpage http://crcchess.topcities.com/GP2001.htm) Just a reminder that we welcome more details of Grand Prix events for publication in this bulletin. The remaining events for 2001 are: 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 Rolando Atienza 0421379940 atienzarolando@hotmail.com.au 2002 GRAND PRIX http://crcchess.topcities.com/GP2002.html We have already received ten events for the 2002 Grand Prix. May I encourage clubs and states to start planning their 2002 calendars now and let's see if we can come up with a record number of events for 2002. If WA can come up with (say) five events and Victoria (say) an extra three or four, we could reach 50 GP tournaments next year and players in all member states and territories will have a reasonable opportunity to win prizes. 9/10 Feb Newcastle Open Cat 2 George Lithgow 02 4943 3862 george.lithgow@bigpond.com 16/17 Feb Taree RSL Summer Open Cat 1 Endel Lane 02 6559 9060 endel@fasternet.com.au 29 Mar to 1 Apl Doeberl Cup ACT Cat 3 Roger McCart 02 6251 6190 roger.mccart@anu.edu.au 4/5 May Laurieton May Open Cat 1 Endel Lane 02 6559 9060 endel@fasternet.com.au 22/23 June Taree RSL Open Cat 1 Endel Lane 02 6559 9060 endel@fasternet.com.au 22/23 June Gold Coast Open QLD Cat 3 Graeme Gardiner 07 5530 5794 ggardiner@auschess.org.au 10/11 August Coal City Open Cat 2 George Lithgow 02 4943 3862 george.lithgow@bigpond.com 21/22 Sept Gold Coast Classic QLD Cat 3 Graeme Gardiner 07 5530 5794 ggardiner@auschess.org.au 2/3 Nov Laurieton Open Cat 1 Endel Lane 02 6559 9060 endel@fasternet.com.au 16/17 Nov Taree RSL Spring Open Cat 1 Endel Lane 02 6559 9060 endel@fasternet.com.au It would be appreciated if states avoided two Grand Prix events being run on the same weekend in the same state. ASIAN JUNIOR BOYS AND GIRLS UNDER 18 CHAMPIONSHIPS This is a great opportunity for a junior who may have fallen just short of representing Australia in the World Juniors to represent their country at an international event. The All India Chess Federation cordially invite your Federation to participate in the Asian Junior Boys & Girls (Under-18 years as at 1 January 2001) Chess championships to be held at Bikaner, Rajasthan, India from 27th December 2001 to 4th January 2002 (Arrival 26th December 2001) The Championship will be played at Laxminivas Palace (Lall Garh Palace Campus), Bikaner, India. Tel : (91) 151 - 202777. The championships shall be played in 11 (eleven) rounds according to FIDE rules. The playing schedule is 40 moves in 75 minutes, 15 minutes for the remainder of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move 1. Those interested in representing Australia in this event should contact myself Graeme Gardiner ggardiner@auschess.org.au or Brett Tindall sydneyacademy@iprimus.com.au. BIDS FOR JANUARY 2003 AUSTRALIAN OPEN AND JANUARY 2003 AUSTRALIAN JUNIORS The ACF would be pleased to receive bids for both of the above events. We are very keen to see these important tournaments secured as soon as possible. Please contact the ACF Tournament Director, Michael Baron michael_baron@hotmail.com if you are interested in making a bid. FREE SWISS PERFECT COMPUTER PAIRINGS PROGRAMME The ACF is still offering free licences for the Swiss Perfect pairings computer programme. This programme is ideal for all club organisers for tournaments of all standards. It is particularly useful for the efficient running of events with large numbers of competitors where rounds need to follow on quickly, one after the other. It is also very useful for quickly producing all necessary records. Swiss Perfect has also helped the ratings officers in their task of efficiently producing ratings lists. There is a reduction in the admin fee for tournaments submitted using Swiss Perfect. To date, 82 licences have been issued to states and clubs right around Australia. I estimate that there are around another 100 clubs in Australia that have not taken advantage of this offer. Even though some of these may be quite small, the Swiss Perfect programme would give clubs an important tool to enable them to increase their numbers. A reminder that the owner of Swiss Perfect, Robert Rozycki, has approved free use of relevant state licences by all schools in Australia. Australia: ACF. Tasmania: TCA, Sandy Bay, Burnie, Launceston, Hobart International. NSW: NSWCA, Rooty Hill, Central Coast, Ettalong Beach, Hakoah Club, Ford Memorial, Woolongong Collegians, Mingara, Newcastle, Canterbury Bankstown, St George, Illawarra Southern, Port Macquarie, Ballina, North Sydney, Koala Club, South Sydney Junior Rugby League Club, Dubbo, Manly Warringah, Fairfield, Univ of NSW. Victoria: VCA, Elwood, Chess Kids, Hobsons Bay, Geelong, Bendigo, Box Hill, Ballarat, Dandenong, Chess Ideas, Albury, Frankston, Latrobe Valley, Melbourne University. Queensland: CAQ, Qld Juniors, The Gap, Redcliffe, Toowoomba Grammar, Coomera Juniors, Gold Coast, Townsville, Hervey Bay, Northside Juniors, Kin Kora (Gladstone), Suncoast, Coomera Juniors, Queensland Women's Chess League, Northside Juniors, Toowoomba, Bullwinkle, Mackay. Northern Territory: Darwin, Alice Springs. South Australia: SACA, Modbury, Norwood, Adelaide, Adelaide University, Southern Cross. Western Australia: CAWA, WA Juniors, Metro, Perth, Fremantle, Midland, Bunbury. ACT: ACTCA, ACT High Schools, ACTJCL, Tuggeranong, ANU, Canberra, Belconnen, Southside. In the interests of international cooperation the ACF has also organised licences for Fiji, Qatar and New Zealand. If your club or school would like a free licence, please contact Graeme Gardiner . Robert Rozycki's Swiss Perfect website is at www.swissperfect.com 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 GOLD COAST CLASSIC - Report by Tournament Arbiter Charles Zworestine Tournaments on the Gold Coast are always interesting and most enjoyable affairs, not least because of Graeme Gardiner and his ever present squad of Gold Coast juniors! This year's event was no exception, although Graeme's were not the only juniors present. You also had a pair of Lips from NSW and a pair of Lindbergs from Victoria, all adding to the friendly carnival atmosphere in this 82 player event. Top this with an overseas visitor of the calibre of the editor of the New in Chess yearbook - Dutchman Rene Olthof - and you can see why the tournament was so much fun. And of course, it provided the usual exciting moments, and its fair share of upsets... It all began tamely enough, with the biggest early round upset being young Nathan Anderson holding FM Nik Stawski to a draw in Round 2. Anderson should have won, but Stawski fought well to hold the draw in the end... By Round 3 the top seeds were already playing each other, with Stephen Solomon winning a tough game against David Lovejoy on top board. It was a typical Solomon game - only Solo could have played on and won the dead drawn position that was eventually obtained... Meanwhile John- Paul Wallace ground down Catherine Lip, while David Smerdon beat Matthew Sonter. Young Michael Davidovici began a sensational tournament for him by drawing with Olthof, while Michael Lip convincingly won the battle of the juniors against Gordon Lindberg. Come Round 4, and Stephen Solomon handled Michael Lip quite easily, while Wallace showed no hospitality by beating Andrew Allen (his Gold Coast host!). Jacob Edwards held David Smerdon to a draw in another upset result. Graeme and I thought we might almost get to the theatre on time, but Bruce Harris had other ideas. In the end, he played his ending very well to upset John Alkin. We were only half an hour late for the theatre, and the production of My Fair Lady was very good - we had a great evening... Round 5 was probably the critical round, with Wallace playing the following outstanding game to defeat Solomon: Wallace - Solomon [D46] Gold Coast Classic (5), 23.09.2001 [Annotations by John-Paul Wallace] 1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 c6 3.c4 e6 4.e3 Nf6 [4...f5 5.g4] 5.Nc3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.e4! [7.0-0 0-0 8.e4 dxc4 9.Bxc4 e5] 7...dxe4 8.Nxe4 Nxe4 9.Bxe4 0-0 10.0-0 c5 11.Bc2 Qc7 12.Qd3 [12.Re1 could be best. 12...cxd4 13.Qxd4 e5 14.Qh4 f5] 12...f5 13.Re1 Novelty. 13...cxd4 14.Nxd4 Ne5?! [14...Bxh2+! 15.Kf1 (15.Kh1 Ne5 16.Qe2 Ng4 17.g3 b6 Black is better.)] 15.Qc3 [15.Qe2] 15...Ng4? [15...Nxc4?! 16.Bb3 Na5 17.Qxc7 Bxc7 18.Bxe6+ Bxe6 19.Nxe6; 15...Qxc4! 16.Qxc4 Nxc4 17.Bb3 Bb4 (17...Na5 18.Bxe6+ Bxe6 19.Nxe6²) 18.Re2 Na5 19.Bxe6+ Bxe6 20.Nxe6 Rfe8 21.Bf4²] 16.h3 Nxf2 17.Kxf2 [17.Nb5!? Nxh3+™ 18.gxh3] 17...Qb6 18.Kf1 [18.Be3? f4-+] 18...Bb4 19.Qb3! Bxe1 20.Qxb6 axb6 21.Kxe1+- Bd7 22.Be3 e5 23.Nf3?! [23.Nb5!] 23...b5 24.Kf2!? e4 25.Ne5 Be6 26.cxb5 f4 27.Bd4 Rfd8?! 28.Bc3 Bd5 29.g3!+- Rf8 30.gxf4 Rxf4+ 31.Ke3! Rh4 32.Rg1 Rxh3+ 33.Kd4 Rd8 34.Kc5! Bxa2?! 35.Bxe4 Rc8+ 36.Kb6 Rh6+ [36...Rcxc3 I missed this way, only looking at the other sac. 37.bxc3 Re3 38.Ng4+-; 36...Rhxc3 37.bxc3 Re8 38.Re1!?+-] 37.Kxb7 Rc5 38.Bc6 Re6 39.Nd7 Re7 40.Bxg7! [40.Bb4] 40...Kf7 41.Bc3 Bd5? 42.Rg7+ Ke6 43.Rxe7+ Kxe7 44.Nxc5 1-0 Smerdon beat Stawski, while Olthof defeated Jacob Edwards. Michael Davidovici had another outstanding draw - this time with Andrew Allen - and another Queensland junior, Sean Karita, joined the leading bunch with a superb upset win over John Myers. All of this left John-Paul safely in the lead by half a point, and he wrapped up the event with a round to spare by defeating Smerdon, after Solomon had put Olthof out of the picture with a typical Solo win. Michael Davidovici continued his brilliant tournament by beating Michael Lip, and Sean Karita and Sam Constantin continued the upsets with wins over Tony Weller and Jacob Edwards respectively. Constantin could not quite handle Solo in the last round, but Wallace was happy to shake hands with Michael Davidovici; and Karita finished his event with a fine win over Olthof. Many thanks must go to Graeme Gardiner and the Gold Coast Chess Club for organising such a fantastic event. As in previous years, Graeme added to the fun by incorporating a teams event into the tournament. Only trouble is, your intrepid arbiter forgot who won it; perhaps Graeme can help me... (Editor's note: the team comprising Nathan Anderson, Michael Davidovici, Sean Karita and Dion Sampson). CORRESPONDENCE TIM REILLY Hi Graeme I'm writing to protest against the planned time limits for the Australian Championship mentioned in today's ACF Bulletin. Use of the "FIDE approved" time limit of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds a move makes NO SENSE AT ALL given the tournament is one game a day (with two rest days as well!). Given we start at 1pm games will be over by 4pm or 5pm at the maximum - too early for dinner - and most long before. What is the need to have such a fast time limit? It simply means more games decided by time scrambles and blunders. While those organising the event may not appreciate this, most chess players care about the quality of their games and would prefer to be able to play to a time limit that assists this goal. Many of the world's top players, from Kasparov and Kramnik down, have protested about the new FIDE time limit for precisely this reason. And while an accelerated time limit may be unavoidable when more than one game a day is played - as at the recent zonal - this is not the case for the Australian Championship. (I have heard some suggestion that the tournament is being held at this time limit because the same is being used at the next Olympiad, but so what? And given FIDE, they'll probably change their mind about the Olympiad time limit anyway). Australian chess players have very few opportunities to play proper one game a day events. The Australian Championship is for many the only opportunity each year, and is now being trivialised by an over-fast time limit. I hope the time limits planned can be changed, if necessary at a players meeting before round 1 (no doubt the organisers have not bothered to ask many - or any - of the likely players in the event what time limit they'd prefer). I would suggest using the same time limit as has been used before ie 2 hours +1+30 minutes, for a seven hour session maximum. Regards Tim GUY WEST Dear Graeme, I'm not sure you are the appropriate person to be directing this to, but I would like to record my endorsement of Tim Reilly's comments about the proposed time limit for the Australian Championship. As Tim pointed out out, there are many players who care about the artistic aspect of chess and not just the sportive element. Faster time limits lower the quality of play and for many participants this detracts from the satisfaction they get from their games. Unless there is some extremely compelling reason such as the games being unrateable or the ACF being barred from FIDE, I see no reason for unnecessarily lowering the standard of play at our most elite level. Guy West Australian Champion 1995/96 DR JAN MAZUCH Dear chessfriends, We take the liberty of sending you regulations of I. International Chess Tournament OPEN MARIANSKE LAZNE 2002 which will take place 25.1.-1.2. 2002 in the spa Marianske Lazne (the Czech Republic). This tournament is a part of series CZECH TOUR 2001 / 2002. Dr. Jan Mazuch - j.mazuch@avekont.cz CZECH TOUR - International Chess Tournaments Series - http://www.proclient.cz/czechtour CZECH OPEN - International Chess Festival - http://www.proclient.cz/czechopen International Chess Calender - http://www.avekont.cz/calender.htm 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!