From: "Graeme Gardiner" To: "Graeme Gardiner" Subject: ACF Bulletin # 141 - 18 November 2001 Date: Sunday, November 18, 2001 9:15 ACF Bulletin # 141 - 18 November 2001 IN THIS ISSUE Australian Championships, Australian Junior Championships, Australian Schools Teams Championships Finals, Australian problem composing, fringe chess scene, ACF medals, chess history, Chess Coaching Position available, Asian Cities Teams Championships, ACF National Conference agenda, CAQ AGM, Queensland Under 1850 Championships, Chess Today subscription, 2001 Grand Prix, 2002 Grand Prix, Correspondence. AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, MELBOURNE TOWN HALL, 28 DECEMBER 2001 TO 9 JANUARY 2002 A list of people, clubs, shops etc from whom Australian Championships entry forms may be obtained can be found at www.chessvictoria.com. The official Australian Championships website is at http://chess.weblinks.com.au/austch.htm. The current ACF Bye Laws relating to the Australian Championships can be found at http://www.auschess.org.au/newcon/. The ACF Executive is currently considering the matter of the time controls and expects to make a decision within the next seven days. AUSTRALIAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS, CRANBROOK SCHOOL, SYDNEY 12-24 JANUARY 2002 The official Australian Junior Championships website is at http://www.auschess.org.au/nswjcl/Australian_Junior/Aus_junior_main.htm. AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIPS FINALS, ANGLICAN CHURCH GRAMMAR SCHOOL, BRISBANE 15/16 DECEMBER 2001 If fianlists have not already received full details including an entry form and accommodation registration form, please email Ian Murray on chessqld@optushome.com.au. AUSTRALIAN PROBLEM COMPOSING, FRINGE CHESS SCENE, ACF MEDALS, CHESS HISTORY Good friend of the ACF Nigel Nettheim recently contacted me about the possibility of adding a problem solving medal to the existing list of Australian awards (the Steiner, Purdy and Koshnitsky medals). He is interested in sponsoring such an award. He put me on to Bob Meadley with whom I had further discussions. Bob and Nigel have tentatively suggested the award could be named the Whyatt Medal in memory of the late Bill Whyatt who won five Brian Harley Awards and could possibly be awarded once every five years or so. Bob advises that Bill was the best problem composer Australia has produced. Bob advised that he intends to provide me with a lot more information regarding the history and current state of the Australian problem composing scene. He intends to contact The Problemist's archivist, John Beasley and others including Ian Shanahan, Peter Wong, Denis Saunders, Arthur Willmott and Geoff Foster. Several of these Australians have published works. According to Bob these men are the equivalent of Ian Rogers in their field. Bob's main interest is in chess history and problem history. After speaking with Bob I spoke with the ACF Archivist, Paul Dunn and after a long and interesting discussion more ideas were generated regarding fringe areas of chess in Australia and in the presentation of Australian chess history. We are also intending to publish on the ACF webpage a list of Australian produced chess books/material. The ACF Executive are currently considering the matter of the suggested medal award. If anyone would like to make suggestions regarding other areas worthy of consideration, such as correspondence chess for example, I'd be very pleased to hear the ideas. I'd also like to receive the email addresses of people involved in these areas. Gary Wastell, who currently administers the ACF medals, points out that some years ago the ACF introduced the idea of one-off special service awards. He also points out that with regard to correspondence chess, there is no reason why a correspondence player could not win any of the existing ACF medals. On the subject of ACF medals, 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. DEATH OF ENGLAND'S FIRST GM, TONY MILES The Australian chess community is saddened to hear of the sudden death of Tony who had many friends in Australia and who lived here for several years. Tony died in his sleep at his home in Birmingham. He had been struggling with a rather severe form of diabetes. I hope to have a tribute to Tony available in next week's bulletin. CHESS COACHING POSITION AVAILABLE Chess Kids (in Melbourne) has a managerial position vacant for a chess coach/development role. Salary of approx. $40,000 per year. This person will be involved in implementation of company strategy including; coaching at schools & clubs, marketing, development, mentoring and more. An energetic, well organised person with good work background and chess coaching experience will suit this role. Applications by email ONLY to cordover@chessworld.com.au by no later than December 1st. Chess Kids also has 4 positions vacant for part-time or casual chess coaches. Anyone with a minimum rating standard of 1200, excellent communication skills and their own transport should email cordover@chessworld.com.au with an application. Pay between $30 and $50 per hour. ASIAN CITIES TEAMS CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP, ADEN, YEMEN 6-14 FEBRUARY 2002 This will be held at the five star Aden Movenpick Hotel. Entry fee is 400 Swiss Francs per team of four plus one reserve and one official. Prize money totals US$6,500. One city team per country will receive full board. Time controls will be 90 minutes a side plus 30 seconds a move. Entry forms have been mailed to me. Contact details are Email: nocyemen@y.net.ye Fax: 009671 236044 or 009671 264091. There does not appear to be a webpage for this event. ACF NATIONAL CONFERENCE AGENDA Melbourne Town Hall, cnr Collins and Swanston Streets, Melbourne, Vic. Sunday 6 January 2002, 9.00 a.m. (Anticipated finish: between 12.00 and 1.00). Approval of delegates Appointment of chairperson 1) Minutes of the previous meeting 2) Matters arising from the previous meeting 3) President's report 4) Deputy President’s report 5) Treasurer’s report 6) Report from FIDE delegate 7) Report from Ratings officer 7.1) Report on new Rating System 7.2) Review of trial addition to the rules regarding rating of games "Games using increments in the time control will be accepted for rating in the normal rating system provide they are of the form G/Xmins + Ysecs per move from move 1 where X and Y are 30 or greater or where X is 60 or greater. Time limits of G/Xmins + Ysecs where X is 15-29 will be rated in the RAPID system irrespective of the value of Y as will those where X is 30-59 and Y is less than 30". 8) Other reports 9) Restructure 9.1) Motion: "That commencing 1 Jan 2002 the ACF charge a schools' team levy of $3 per team per annum for every team competing in Australian Schools' Teams Championships or any state teams' competition which could lead to qualification to play in the Australian Schools' Teams Championships." 9.2) Motion: "That effective 1 January 2002 the ACF Administration Fee be 20 cents per player, per game sent for ratings on both the ACF main list and rapid list." 10) Approval of the budget for the year ending 30th September 2002 11) Appointment of Honorary Auditor 12) Motions of Council 12.1) Motion (endorsed at the June Council meeting): "That 11 b. of the constitution be amended to read as follows: "All cheques, drafts, bills of exchange, promissory notes and other negotiable instruments must be signed by two persons approved by the Council, one of whom must be the President, Deputy President, Secretary or Treasurer." " 12.2) Motion (endorsed at the September Council meeting): "That 8 f vi of the constitution be amended to read as follows: "Treasurer Duties. To keep a record of all receipts and expenditure and maintain proper books and records of the financial transactions of the Federation." " 12.3) Motion (endorsed at the September Council meeting): "That 11 n of the constitution be amended by to read as follows:: "Except for the financial books and records maintained by the Treasurer and subject to the Act, the Regulations, this Constitution and resolutions of Council, the Secretary shall keep in his custody or under his control all records, books, securities, and other documents relating to the Federation." " 13) ACF Code of Ethics - proposed Section 4 (Appeals) 14) Motions 14.1) Motion: (NSWJCL - see Appendix A) "That the ACF revoke its decision on time limits for the Australian Junior Championships made at its Council meeting on 17 September and instead adopt the recommendation of the NSW Junior Chess League (the organisers of the 2002 Australian Junior Championships); namely, that the Under 18 time limit for each player shall be 90 minutes for the game plus 60 seconds per move (from move 1), and the Under 12 time limit for each player shall be 60 minutes for the game plus 60 seconds per move (from move 1)." 14.2) Motion: (NSWJCL - see Appendix B) "In Oceanic Zonal tournaments, participants below eighteen years of age shall be charged fifty per cent of the standard entry fee." 15) ACF Commission Motion: "That this National Conference agrees in principle to the replacing of the ACF Council with an ACF Commission comprising the ACF President and eight Commissioners elected by the National Conference and requests that the Council supplies the necessary constitutional amendments to the next National Conference to give effect to this resolution." 16) General Business Close of meeting President's note: By way of explanation, it is intended that if motions 9.1 and 9.2 are passed, then state levies payable to the ACF will be scrapped, probably effective 1 July 2002. Methods of restructuring Australian chess have now been in a state of discussion for nearly two years. Some small progress has been made. The ACF Executive is very much hoping that further significant progress will be made at this conference. The ACF has argued that rather than having a purely administrative role, it should have a leadership role in the development of Australian chess and can hardly be expected to do this on an annual budget of a little over $12,000 per annum. I agree with Matt Sweeney when he says on the ACF Bulletin Board that Australian chess needs a full time CEO. Not an administrator, because we have excellent volunteer administrators, but a person in charge of new development initiatives. The changes envisaged in the conference motions will certainly not bring enough money to fund a full time CEO, but would bring in sufficient funds to enable various trials as agreed by the ACF Council. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE CHESS ASSOCIATION OF QUEENSLAND The 2001 AGM of CAQ will be held on Sunday 9 December at the Southern Cross Sports Club, cr Logan and Klumpp Roads, Mount Gravatt, commencing at 2.30pm. All members of Council retire at that time. Nominations are invited from members interested in filling any of the vacancies on Council. All members and other interested parties are welcome at the meeting, although voting is restricted to the delegates or proxy delegates of affiliated clubs, in terms of the CAQ constitution. (Editor's note: I'm sure that Ian Murray, who does a fantastic job in difficult circumstances, could do with more assistance on the CAQ Council. Volunteers who are willing to put a big effort into developing Queensland chess are encouraged to attend and put forward their names). QUEENSLAND UNDER 1850 CHAMPIONSHIPS 24/25 NOVEMBER Full details at: http://www.caq.org.au/htm/qu1850ad.htm CHESS TODAY SUBSCRIPTION The first daily chess newspaper on the Internet - Chess Today - is one year old this week! The paper started in November 2000 and has 3 GMs (Ruslan Scherbakov, Alexander Baburin and Mikhail Golubev) and IM Vladimir Barsky writing for it. Chess Today provides news, quality annotated games, tactical puzzles, etc. The paper is delivered to your mail box every day in convenient PDF and PGN formats. Subscription is only 17.78 euro per 4 month or 45.71 euro per year. Please visit www.chesstoday.net or e-mail editor@chesstoday.net for more information. 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: 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 now received 13 events for the 2002 Grand Prix. The ACF is seeking a national sponsor for the 2002 Grand Prix. Any assistance with this matter would be appreciated. 9/10 Feb Newcastle Open NSW Cat 2 George Lithgow 02 4943 3862 george.lithgow@bigpond.com 16/17 Feb Taree RSL Summer Open NSW Cat 1 Endel Lane 02 6559 9060 endel@fasternet.com.au 16/17 Mar Dubbo RSL Open NSW Cat 1 Alexander Aich 02 6884 4561 sjaich@tpg.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 NSW Cat 1 Endel Lane 02 6559 9060 endel@fasternet.com.au 22/23 June Taree RSL Open NSW 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 29/30 June Suncoast Open Chess Tournament Noosa QLD Cat 3 Robert Hochstadt 07 5447 5056 robhoch@ozemail.com.au 13/14 July Adelaide University Open SA Cat 2 Robin Wedding 08 8303 3029 chess@smug.adelaide.edu.au 10/11 August Coal City Open NSW 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 NSW Cat 1 Endel Lane 02 6559 9060 endel@fasternet.com.au 16/17 Nov Taree RSL Spring Open NSW 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. CORRESPONDENCE GREG CANFELL Graeme, Please add my objections to the proposed time controls for the Australian Championship. Without going into the already well-documented arguments, I would like to see the old 40/120; 20/60; 60 finish (or a similar time control with Fischer increments) used. Regards, Greg BRIAN JONES So Ian Rogers and some other leading players think that the time control used for the FIDE World Championship is not serious. For the Australian Championship they want a return to 6 hour plus time sessions. I do not agree - I like 90 minutes plus 30 seconds per move time limit. Chess is like tennis - it is a contest between two players under equal conditions. It is not about producing the perfect game. When people want to play under different conditions (at different speeds) what do we do - we compromise. Maybe we should retitle the event as the "Australian Slow Chess Championship". Brian Jones ARIE MEYDAN Hi Graeme, I agree with those who would like to see high quality tournaments played under more generous time limits than those recently adopted by FIDE(90min+ 30sec/move), however the traditional (multiple) time controls are nuisance for the players and the DOP. I suggest that the Australian Championships to be played under 90 min+ 1 min/move controls. This would give players thinking time similar to that provided by the traditional controls but without its shortcomings, the multiple control points and occasional time scrambles. Taking on board the views of those who are concerned about inexperienced juniors having difficulties in keeping score, the time limit adopted for junior tournaments should perhaps be 60 min+ 2 min/move. Regards, Arie Meydan AARON MARSHALL Mr Gardiner, I would like to mention that I believe the time limit of 90 mins + 30 sec increment per move is unsuitable for our national championship. I firmly believe that some of the Fide President's changes are detrimental to chess at the highest level, and do not consider it right that these are thrust upon us as well. A lot of travelling time and expense is going to be incurred by the participants, so I think we should aim for the highest standard of play being able to be played due to players not fretting over a new, unsuitable time control. I will be playing in the event myself, Yours Sincerely Aaron Marshall. MICHELLE WAGNER Dear Graeme, I cannot speak on time controls for the Australian Open or the older juniors. However, it was quite obvious at the Australian juniors this year that the 90-minutes a player time allowed for the Under-12s was too ambitious for the majority of the children. The only exceptions were the top couple of tables and even then, very few games went to the time allowed. Many finished in 45 minutes in total but the largest percentage finished within one to one-and-a-half hours. My immediate thoughts centred on reducing the time and including two rounds per day but after much consideration, I think 90 minutes per side allows the better Under-12s ample time should they need it. I am curious, however, as to why two games per day could not be considered for this group of children who obviously play many multiple-round tournaments during the year without too much hassle. Regards Michelle Wagner Gladstone PETER CAREY Dear Graeme, I would prefer even faster time controls and multiple games each day in the Australian Junior Championship. Long games can be stressful for many younger children. Two weeks off work for parents of such kids is expensive and not much of a holiday. An 8 yo beaten in 3 hours by a 12 yo will be grumpy and difficult to entertain for the 21 hours until the next match. Maybe kids under a certain age could play two games per day. I think there would be many other parents who feel the same but aren't involved enough to get your bulletins. P.S. My wife read the draft and she agrees?! Peter Carey. 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!