ACF Bulletin #239

Report from Peter Parr's column:
Nine hundred and eighty five players from eighty-four countries including nineteen Australians (NSW 8, ACT 7, VIC 4) are competing in the World Youth Championships in Halkidiki, Greece. Australia is represented in all ten divisions (Under 18,16,14,12,10 boys and girls). Australian Junior Champion Tomek Rej lost to the top seed Grandmaster Mamedyarov Shakhriyaz rated 2595 from Azerbaijan in the first round. Raymond Song of Sydney has won his first three games in the boys under 10 and shares the lead with 10 others in the 132 player event. Progress scores of the 19 Australians after round 3 (total score 25.5/57) U18 (B) T.Rej (NSW) 1 (G) S.Oliver (ACT) 1
U16 (B) R.Yu (NSW) 1.5 S.Chow (VIC) 1 P.Jovanovic (ACT) 1 G.Oliver (ACT) 0.5 (G) H.Huddleston (NSW) 1.5
U14 (B) J.Cronan (NSW) 1 D.Stojic (VIC) 1 M.Wei (ACT) 2 (G) M.Lee (VIC) 1
U12 (B) J.Jia (VIC) 2 J.Ikeda (ACT) 1 J.Huang (NSW) 2 (G) A.Song (NSW) 1 T.Oliver (ACT) 1 A.Soltysik (NSW) 2
U10 (B) R.Song (NSW) 3 (G) K.Smith (ACT)1 Here are some reports garnered from the ACF bulletin board:

Jenni Oliver:

The first 2 days have gone fairly well.  Yesterday was disappointing as 
so many games were lost, when they looked good for Australia.  Gareth 
Oliver, Angela Song and James Cronan all had material advantages, but 
could not convert to wins or draws (both Angela and Gareth were in time 
trouble, not sure about James).  A number of others had good positions.  
We did well in the Under 12 and Under 10 categories, with Junta Ikeda, 
Jing Jia, Justin Huang, Raymond Song and Adelaide Soltysik all winning.  
In the older categories only Shannon Oliver had any success with a very 
aggressive game and a draw against a WIM. Tomek Rej had the experience 
of playing on board 1 against the top seed. 
 
The second day went much bettter.  Raymond won a very tough game and 
was joined by Michelle Lee, Michael Wei, Dusan Stojic, James Cronan, 
Heather Huddleston, Sam Chow, Peter Jovanovic, Tomek Rej and Justin 
Huang.  Angela Song, Gareth Oliver and Ronald Yu all had draws.  Ronald 
was up a piece, but the position was not easy to win. When I went to dinner 
all the older boys and coaches were still analysing trying to find a win. 
Michael Wei played a good game where he knew theory to around move 
30, while his opponent ran out around move 22. Jing Jia felt he played too 
fast and missed a tactic – he was nervous about playing an FM and this 
probably affected his game. 
 
It is still early days - it normally takes until at least round 5 before you can 
get a feel for how things are going, but Raymond and Justin have had good 
starts with 2 out of 2. 

ChessDad:

Day 3 has been another hard day for the Aussies but I will leave it up to Jenni 
to update results. 
 
I would just like to say what a well behaved, cohesive, supportive group of kids 
the team has been so far. All players are anxious to see whether their friends 
have won and how the whole team is going. Whilst I am writing this email the 
older boys are performing their ritual circle of support on the beach for round 4 
(this worked after round 1).  
 
The Australians have staked their claim on a spot in the foyer of the hotel where 
the parents and coaches wait for each player to return one by one. If anyone else 
is in our spot they soon move on as the team accumulates at the end of the round 
before dinner. There is not much room for anyone else when you have ten people 
trying to analyse each game. 
 
Tomorrow is an important day for the team to get back to (above) 50%. 
 
The coaches are working very hard, no sleep, no lunch, receding hairline, including 
our adopted Australian (Kostas) so I would just like to thank Ian, Manuel, Bret and 
Kostas for their help so far. 
 
Hope to have internet connection through the hotel before the end of the tournament 
but at this stage I can only get out through my mobile phone. I don’t know how the 
Olympics will happen next year either whilst James and I were in Athens we had 
one night without power and the next without water and tourist buses could not 
get to our hotel because the streets were to narrow.  

Jenni Oliver:

First of all thanks for the good wishes!  I'll pass them onto Raymond and 
the others in the morning.  You appear to be getting results and pairings 
as quickly as we do, so most of this report is unneccessary, but here it 
is anyway,  
 

Round 3 started off well with a number of wins in quick succession, but 
the older juniors strruggled a little to keep the score to just under 50% 
for the day.  Wins by Tamzin Oliver and Kayleigh Smith mean that all of 
the team are now off zero.   
 

Raymond Song had a fairly easy win, keeping his perfect score, but 
Justin Huang lost to stay on 2 points.  Angela  Song is playing a little 
passively and has promised Manuel to be more aggressive tomorrow.  
Shannon Oliver had a draw with a 2150 player, but incurred Ian Rogers’ 
wrath, as he felt she had all the winning chances.  Michael Wei won 
fairly easily – his  superior theory is doing well.  Jing Jia also won very 
quickly, as did Adelaide Soltysik.  Ronald Yu and Heather Huddleston 
had very long games, with Ronald winning and Heather drawing.  Junta 
Ikeda had a draw with one of the Vietnamese players - as they have only 
brought players they felt had medal chances, due to financial 
constraints, this was a good result. 
 
The venue is quite good – 2 hotels set in a pretty garden setting, near the beach.  
The team is getting on well and children (and parents), supporting each other.  
The organisation has been pretty good so far. 
 
Round 4 was another of those disappointing days of lost opportunities.  However 
the kids are learning with every game and they take that learning away, whether 
they win or lose. 
 
The good news is that Raymond won again – tomorrow he plays the Russian top seed, 
but the general feel by the coaches is that he is not as scary as he seems.  Adelaide 
Soltysik won again, which makes her on 3 out of 4  - an excellent result.  Heather 
Huddleston’s opponent blundered badly on move 13 to give her a quick win. Michelle 
Lee, James Cronan and Sam Chow also won.  Draws came from Junta Ikeda, Michael 
Wei, Dusan Stojic, Ronald Yu and Tomek Rej.   
 
Angela and Gareth had another bad day.  Angela was winning and blundered right 
at the end.  Gareth has had 3 very good games, where he was unlucky to only get 
1/2 point out of the 3.  However he played a shocker today.  He was very keen to 
get a win tomorrow, but his opponent apparently plays a French Exchange and 
goes for a draw.  Gareth went to bed very grumpy, becasue he wants a win tomorrow.   
 
Tomorrow Ronald and Sam play each other – an unfortunate pairing from a 
morale point of view.  

[Event "WYCC 2003 - B18"]
[Site "Halkidiki"]
[Date "2003.10.23"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyaz"]
[Black "Rej, Tomek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2595"]
[BlackElo "2242"]
[ECO "D45"]
[EventDate "2003.10.23"]
[PlyCount "57"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.g4!? 
    {The latest fashion, marking a stark change of direction from normal 
    slav-style positions. If 7...Nxg4 8. Rg1 soon regains the pawn with 
    interest}

7...dxc4 8.Bxc4 Qe7 9.g5 Nd5 10.Bd2 Nxc3 11.Bxc3 b5 12.Be2 Bb7 13.d5!? 
    {White's kmeen to open up the game, and here unveils his Bc3 which 
    threatens Bxg7}
13...e5 14.dxc6 Bxc6 15.Rd1 O-O 16.Qd2 Bc5 17.b4 Bb6 18.Qd6 
    {White already has a sizeable initiative}
18...Qxd6 19.Rxd6 Rfc8 20.O-O a5 21.Rc1 Bxf3 
    {Black's pieces are uncomfortable and overloaded, but this move doesn't 
    solve the problem}
    ( 21...axb4 22.Bxb4 Rxa2 23.Bxb5 )
22.Bxf3 Ra7 23.Bg4! axb4 24.Bd2 
    ( )
24...Rxc1+ 25.Bxc1 b3 26.Rxd7 Rxa2 27.Rb7 Bc5 28.Rxb5 h5 29.Bd1 1-0

[Event "WYCC 2003 - B10"]
[Site "Halkidiki"]
[Date "2003.10.23"]
[Round "1.9"]
[White "Dobak, Daniel"]
[Black "Song, Raymond"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "1985"]
[ECO "C18"]
[EventDate "2003.10.23"]
[PlyCount "108"]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 Qc7 8.Qxg7 
Rg8 9.Qxh7 cxd4 10.Ne2 Nbc6 11.f4 Bd7 12.Qd3 dxc3 13.Nxc3 a6 14.Rb1 Na5 
15.h4 Nf5 16.Rh3 O-O-O 17.h5 Nc4 18.h6 Rg6 19.h7 Rh8 20.Qf3 Rg7 21.g4 Ne7 
22.Bd3 Nxe5! 

23.fxe5 Qxc3+ 24.Kd1 Qd4 25.Rb4 Qg1+ 26.Kd2 Ng6 27.Bb2 Rgxh7 
28.Rxh7 Rxh7 29.Bxg6 Qh2+ 30.Kd1 Qh1+ 31.Qxh1 Rxh1+ 32.Ke2 fxg6 33.Bc3 
Bb5+ 34.Ke3 Rh3+ 35.Kd2 Rh2+ 36.Ke1 Rxc2 37.Bd2 Ra2 38.Rb3 Ra1+ 39.Kf2 Rd1
40.Rb2 Kc7 41.Bc3 Kc6 42.Rd2 Rc1 43.Bd4 Bc4 44.Rb2 b5 45.Kg3 Rd1 46.Bf2 
Rd3+ 47.Kf4 Rxa3 48.Kg5 Bd3 49.Rd2 b4 50.Kf6 Kd7 51.Bc5 a5 52.Rxd3 Rxd3 
53.Kxg6 b3 54.Ba3 Rd2 0-1

[Event "WYCC 2003 - B10"]
[Site "Halkidiki"]
[Date "2003.10.25"]
[Round "3.6"]
[White "Saleh, Mirzaie"]
[Black "Song, Raymond"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "1985"]
[ECO "B01"]
[EventDate "2003.10.25"]
[PlyCount "50"]

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Bd2 c6 6.Ne4 Qc7 7.Nxf6+ exf6 8.
Qe2+ Be7 9.O-O-O O-O 10.Qd3 Be6 11.Kb1 Rd8 12.c4 Nd7 13.Qc2 Nf8 14.Nf3 a6 
15.Bd3 b5 16.c5 a5 17.Be3 a4 18.Nd2 Qd7 19.b3 axb3 20.axb3 Ra6 21.Kb2 Rda8
22.Ra1 Qa7 23.Qc1 Ra2+ 24.Rxa2 Qxa2+ 25.Kc3 b4+ 0-1