ACF Bulletin

#245, December 8, 2003

** Chess Today
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** Australian Chess magazine
Keep up with the latest news and views! Subscribe here or telephone Brian Jones on 02-9838-1529

** Lidums Adelaide University Australian Chess Championships
29/12/03-10/01/04, University of Adelaide. Over $12,000 in prizes. Enter the Championships, Reserves and Seniors Tournaments before December the 1st to avoid the late entry fee. The entry is value for money as it comes with many benefits, see the website for details.
Affordable prices for accommodation have been arranged by the Championship organisers: The Stamford Hotel is offering 5 star accommodation at heavily reduced rates for entrants (as low as $130 a night for 2 including breakfast).
We are holding a chess exibition in Rundle Mall on the 27th of December, with free participation for entrants. Contact us at championships@unichess.org if you want to play in the simul with GM Ian Rogers, or in the 24 player knockout blitz tournament.
Details: http://www.unichess.org

Australian Junior Championships 2004:
Hale School, Perth (14th January – 25th January 2004)
The Chess Association of WA would like to remind players that the closing date for entries is Friday 19th December 2003. Late entries, if accepted by JCC will incur a 50% penalty increase. No entries will be accepted after Monday 5th January.
To obtain full details plus the entry form for the Australian Junior Championships and details of the Australian Schools Teams Championship (12th and 13th January 2004), please visit the following website: http://www.nscom.net.au/2004ajcc/

Tuggeranong Vikings Weekender: Report by Charles Zworestine

Chess has never been healthier in Canberra… After a bumper turnout at this year’s ANU Open, expectations were high for the Tuggeranong Vikings weekender. Convincingly topping the 55 players who played last year was good enough; but I’m sure this year’s turnout of 70 players even exceeded the organisers’ expectations! Australia’s evergreen top player, GM Ian Rogers, made the trip down, as he had done last year; but he was joined this time by 16 other NSW players (including wife Cathy!), as well as the usual quota of keen Canberrans. The young brigade were out in force to challenge the GM, so he was clearly not going to have it all his own way; but he was in convincing form, as the following round by round report shows:

Round 1: Ian Rogers felt inadequate this round: when he looked at the boards immediately below him, they were all more material ahead than him! While Ian was only a pawn up and took a bit longer to put away Jeffrey Tse, Chee Yin Thaw was a rook up against Jesse Maguire and won easily, as did Akeel Raham from a piece up against Quan Nguyen. Michael Lip had a real dogfight against Veronique Eldridge-Smith; at the finish he may have been rather lucky to win his ending after Veronique walked into a pin and lost a piece. The first major upset was scored by young Andrew Brown against Brian Fitzpatrick on Board 6; although to be fair Brian did oversleep and concede 35 minutes on his clock at the start! This is not to take anything away from Andrew, who played very well. Other upsets were scored by Justin Chow against Gogulapati Ramakrishna in a seesawing game, and Casey Baines over Khoi Hoang. In case this was not enough early excitement, Thomas Ung and Andrey Bliznyuk played a thriller! Thomas was a pawn up but finding it very hard to break through with his bad bishop; in the end he had to settle for a draw, which was still an excellent result for him…

Round 2: Alex Mendes da Costa thought he was doing all right on Board 1; but the GM’s judgement was better, and he won fairly easily as Black. Justin Tan had much more of a struggle against Shannon Oliver on Board 2: with both kings exposed it was not clear who was winning, but Shannon let Justin’s queen and knight get in and got checkmated. The other top boards all won fairly easily. Sherab Guo-Yuthok upset Raymond Song (yes, Ray is about 300 points higher rated, despite being over 3 years younger); Kayleigh Smith upset Rick Keuning; while Aaron Yap blundered a pawn against Marlon Chan, and so was happy to accept the latter’s draw offer. Andrey Bliznyuk once more played the longest game of the round, this time losing on time in a difficult ending against Brian Fitzpatrick.

Round 3: While Ian Rogers beat his student Gareth Oliver quickly and mercilessly on Board 1, Justin Tan took a little longer against Ian Rout on Board 2; but Justin eventually checkmated an opponent so worried about Black’s passed c-pawn that he overlooked the mate! (He was lost anyway). Milan Grcic fought on forever in his lost position against Chee Yin Thaw, but to no avail. Akeel Raham’s fight after he lost a pawn in the opening should have been more productive against Michael Yu: despite at one stage being two pawns down, he fought hard to win both of them back, but then unfortunately lost on time having achieved a drawn ending! Tor Lattimore drew with Michael Lip, while Peter Jovanovic was probably kicking himself after drawing an ending from two pawns up against Junta Ikeda. Upset wins were achieved by Marlon Chan against Alex Mendes da Costa (who seemed to have misplaced a rook!), Quan Nguyen against Ramakrishna, Andrew Brown against Haralds Petersons, Trent Parker against Roger McCart and Chris Flood against Luke Cutting. Miona Ikeda did well to draw an opposite coloured bishop ending against Angela Song.

Round 4: A positional crush for Ian Rogers against Ilia Zvedeniouk, as Justin Tan ground down Michael Wei in a queen and pawn ending. Michael Lip won similarly against Junta Ikeda, while Michael Yu scored a solid upset draw against Chee Yin Thaw and Peter Jovanovic drew with Akeel Raham. Very few upsets this round, although it was a bad one for the Keunings: they both blundered rooks when they were winning! Patrick was thus upset by Alexandra Humphrey, while Tony’s blunder turned his potential upset win against Andrey Bliznyuk into a draw. Not good enough for Tony – he lost on time and then blundered his other rook! – a lucky escape for Andrey…

Round 5: Obviously in fine form this weekend, Ian (with the White bits) made relatively short work of Justin Tan to take the outright lead on 5/5. Chee Yin Thaw got to 4.5 by beating Tor Lattimore, but Michael Lip and Michael Yu had to settle for a draw after a long struggle. This got them to 4/5, where they were joined by Raymond Song (lucky to upset Brian Fitzpatrick after the latter let him queen a pawn in time pressure), Michael Wei (beat Bill Egan) and Ian Rout (winner over Cathy Rogers). Peter Jovanovic drew relatively early against Milan Grcic, while Ilia Zvedeniouk and Gareth Oliver could not quite win their endings and had to settle for draws against Shannon Oliver and Jeremy Neeman respectively. Marlon Chan also scored an upset draw (against Bliznyuk), as did Kishore Sreetharan (with Aaron Yap). Fastest game of the round prize went to Jey Hoole, who beat Thomas Ung after the latter dropped his queen.

Round 6: Chee Yin Thaw was Ian Rogers’ last victim, falling as convincingly as the others in nice positional fashion. While this left Ian easy winner on 6/6, it relegated the unfortunate Chee Yin out of the places entirely. Second place on 5/6 was shared by Justin Tan (defeated Raymond Song), Ian Rout (upset Michael Lip) and Michael Yu, the latter of whom won the last game to finish when his rook and several pawns proved too much for Michael Wei’s bishop and knight. Jeremy Neeman upset Akeel Raham to take out the Under 1600 prize on the outstanding score of 4.5/6. Junior prize on the same score was shared by Ilia Zvedeniouk, Peter Jovanovic and Gareth Oliver (whose last round victim was sister Shannon), while Jey Hoole upset Roger McCart to win the Under 1400 prize on 4/6.

No Name                      Feder Rtg Loc  Total  1    2    3    4    5    6  

1  Rogers, Ian               NSW       2610 6     31:W 36:W  6:W  7:W  2:W  5:W
2  Tan, Justin               NSW       2125 5     53:W 22:W  4:W 10:W  1:L 13:W
3  Yu, Michael               NSW       1736 5     49:W 28:W 21:W  5:D 11:D 10:W
4  Rout, Ian C               ACT       1843 5     45:W 32:W  2:L 35:W 18:W 11:W
5  Thaw, Chee Yin            OS        2055 4.5   25:W 26:W 14:W  3:D 20:W  1:L
6  Oliver, Gareth            ACT       1844 4.5   39:W 16:W  1:L 19:W  9:D 22:W
7  Zvedeniouk, Ilia          NSW       1922 4.5   42:W  9:W 29:W  1:L 22:D 27:W
8  Jovanovic, Peter          ACT       1932 4.5   47:W 37:W 24:D 21:D 14:D 20:W
9  Neeman, Jeremy            ACT       1548 4.5   69:W  7:L 49:W 31:W  6:D 21:W
10 Wei, Michael              ACT       1870 4     61:W 27:W 18:W  2:L 30:W  3:L
11 Lip, Michael              NSW       1964 4     50:W 30:W 20:D 24:W  3:D  4:L
12 Yap, Aaron                NSW       1768 4     55:W 15:D 13:L 25:W 16:D 32:W
13 Song, Raymond             NSW       1790 4     43:W 29:L 12:W 38:W 23:W  2:L
14 Grcic, Milan              ACT       1783 4     59:W 68:W  5:L 28:W  8:D 23:D
15 Chan, Marlon              NSW       1437 4     57:W 12:D 36:W 20:L 17:D 30:W
16 Sreetharan, Kishore       ACT       1509 4     62:W  6:L 34:W  0:D 12:D 36:W
17 Bliznyuk, Andrey          ACT       1771 4     33:D 23:L 53:W 41:W 15:D 35:W
18 Rogers, Cathy L           NSW       1637 4     60:W 64:W 10:L 39:W  4:L 29:W
19 Hoole, Jeyaranjan         ACT       1357 4     66:W 20:L 51:W  6:L 33:W 37:W
20 Lattimore, Tor            ACT       1765 3.5   52:W 19:W 11:D 15:W  5:L  8:L
21 Raham, Akeel              NSW       2000 3.5   38:W 41:W  3:L  8:D 24:W  9:L
22 Oliver, Shannon           ACT       1580 3.5   56:W  2:L 47:W 32:W  7:D  6:L
23 Fitzpatrick, Brian        VIC       1944 3.5   28:L 17:W 50:W 29:W 13:L 14:D
24 Ikeda, Junta              ACT       1705 3.5   48:W 34:W  8:D 11:L 21:L 31:W
25 Maguire, Jesse            ACT       1321 3.5    5:L 44:W 54:W 12:L 46:W 26:D
26 Petersons, Haralds        ACT       1585 3.5   44:W  5:L 28:L 51:W 47:W 25:D
27 Song, Angela              NSW       1521 3.5   65:W 10:L 52:D 61:W 40:W  7:L
28 Brown, Andrew             ACT       1267 3     23:W  3:L 26:W 14:L 37:L 55:W
29 Guo-Yuthok, Sherab        ACT       1482 3     54:W 13:W  7:L 23:L 59:W 18:L
30 Egan, Bill                ACT       1569 3     63:W 11:L 42:W 46:W 10:L 15:L
31 Tse, Jeffrey              NSW       1337 3      1:L 60:W 67:W  9:L 43:W 24:L
32 Tran, Christopher         ACT       1516 3     46:W  4:L 64:W 22:L 39:W 12:L
33 Ung, Thomas               ACT       1136 3     17:D 40:L 45:W  0:D 19:L 50:W
34 Chow, Justin              ACT       1016 3     40:W 24:L 16:L 68:+ 38:D 41:D
35 Hoang, Khoi               ACT       1526 3     64:L 48:W 43:W  4:L 42:W 17:L
36 Mendes da Costa, Alex     NSW       1620 3     51:W  1:L 15:L 49:W 50:W 16:L
37 McCart, Roger             ACT       1565 3     70:W  8:L 39:L 52:W 28:W 19:L
38 Nguyen, Quan              ACT       1304 3     21:L 56:W 40:W 13:L 34:D 44:D
39 Parker, Trent             NSW       1181 3      6:L 65:W 37:W 18:L 32:L 54:W
40 Ramakrishna, Gogulapati   ACT       1709 3     34:L 33:W 38:L 55:W 27:L 59:W
41 Keuning, Anthony V        NSW       1565 3     58:W 21:L 61:D 17:L 52:W 34:D
42 Dunn, Paul                ACT       1234 3      7:L 69:W 30:L 65:W 35:L 49:W
43 Johnson, Harry            ACT       1153 3     13:L 62:W 35:L 54:W 31:L 58:W
44 Oliver, Anthony           ACT       933  3     26:L 25:L 66:D 56:W 61:W 38:D
45 Nater, Carl               VIC       1166 3      4:L 46:L 33:L 70:W 64:W 51:W
46 Flood, Christopher        ACT       552  2.5   32:L 45:W 68:W 30:L 25:L 47:D
47 Galli, Karl               ACT       1242 2.5    8:L 58:W 22:L 67:W 26:L 46:D
48 Oliver, Tamzin L          ACT       1007 2.5   24:L 35:L 65:L 66:D 62:W 61:W
49 Clark, David              ACT       1075 2      3:L 57:W  9:L 36:L 67:W 42:L
50 Eldridge-Smith, Veronique ACT       1297 2     11:L 63:W 23:L 60:W 36:L 33:L
51 Smith, Kayleigh           ACT       951  2     36:L 53:W 19:L 26:L 57:W 45:L
52 Ikeda, Miona              ACT       1110 2     20:L 66:W 27:D 37:L 41:L 56:D
53 Keuning, Patrick J        NSW       1328 2      2:L 51:L 17:L 58:L  0:W 66:W
54 Henderson, Jake           ACT       382  2     29:L 55:W 25:L 43:L 60:W 39:L
55 Eldridge-Smith, Leif      ACT       1125 2     12:L 54:L 58:W 40:L 65:W 28:L
56 Nicholson, Jennie         ACT       843  2     22:L 38:L 57:D 44:L 63:W 52:D
57 Dedman, John              ACT       332  2     15:L 49:L 56:D  0:D 51:L 64:W
58 Humphrey, Alexandra       ACT       809  2     41:L 47:L 55:L 53:W 66:W 43:L
59 Nguyen, Van               ACT       1151 2     14:L 67:L 63:W 64:W 29:L 40:L
60 Lloyd, Aidan              ACT       955  2     18:L 31:L 62:W 50:L 54:L 65:W
61 Mengelkamp, Brian         ACT       1215 1.5   10:L 70:W 41:D 27:L 44:L 48:L
62 Lovric, Marina            ACT       430  1.5   16:L 43:L 60:L 63:D 48:L  0:W
63 Guo, Emma                 ACT       836  1.5   30:L 50:L 59:L 62:D 56:L 67:W
64 Baines, Casey             ACT       615  1     35:W 18:L 32:L 59:L 45:L 57:L
65 Ong, Lara                 ACT       567  1     27:L 39:L 48:W 42:L 55:L 60:L
66 Yi, Yuan                  ACT            1     19:L 52:L 44:D 48:D 58:L 53:L
67 Xing, Edward              ACT       391  1     68:L 59:W 31:L 47:L 49:L 63:L
68 Cutting, Luke             ACT       1505 1     67:W 14:L 46:L 34:-  0:   0: 
69 Brennan, John             ACT       634  0      9:L 42:L  0:   0:   0:   0: 
70 Oliver, Jenni             ACT       776  0     37:L 61:L  0:L 45:L  0:   0:

NSW Lightning Championship: Ronald Scott and George Xie tied for 1st place on 9.5/11. Ronald and George played off for the title of 2003 NSW Lightning Champion. The same players played off for this title last year! A two game play off was arranged, George winning the first game. The second game was declared a no contest by the arbiter Peter Cassettari because both players used both hands to move the pieces and press the clock in a frantic time scramble (with George appearing to win on time). George won the replayed game and was declared the NSW Lightning Champion. Ronald Yu took third place with Jason Hu taking 1st under 1800. 2nd-3rd under1800 was shared by Alex Mendes da Costa and Michael Morris.

Xie and Scott contest the playoff

Place Name                  Loc  Score

 1-2  Xie, George           2214 9.5  
      Scott, Ronald         2100 9.5  
  3   Yu, Ronald            2015 9    
  4   Tan, Justin           2106 8    
 5-6  Cruz, Louie           2026 7    
      Agulto, Edgardo       2093 7    
7-11  Hu, Jason             1494 6.5  
      Seberry, Ralph B      2089 6.5  
      Bolens, Johny         2043 6.5  
      Chan, Jason           1881 6.5  
      Dekic, Biljana        2049 6.5  
12-18 Flatow, A (Fred)      2189 6    
      Cabale, Nazarito      2005 6    
      Capilitan, Romeo      1936 6    
      Jones, Brian A        2011 6    
      Mendes da Costa, Alex 1651 6    
      Morris, Michael            6    
      Ilic, Ilija           1921 6    
19-20 Yu, Colman            1630 5.5  
      Jens, Henk W          1961 5.5  
21-29 Rosario, Amiel        1641 5    
      Tulevski, Vasil G     1761 5    
      Barakat, Martin       1564 5    
      Villanueva, Anthony   1572 5    
      Lewski, Toby          1895 5    
      Arocha, Leandro       1607 5    
      Kordahi, Nicholas     1728 5    
      Stead, Kerry          1889 5    
      Greenwood, Norman     1437 5    
 30   Carballo, Rick        1558 4.5  
31-34 Wong, Ted             1551 4    
      Adams, Jonathan       1553 4    
      Kresinger, Frank      1480 4    
      Kulpa, Kazimierz      1427 4    
35-36 Parker, Trent         1140 3    
      Sweeney, Matthew      1147 3    
 37   Laugery, Bernard A    1258 2    
 38   Carratt, Stephen E    1319 0

No  Name                  Loc  Total  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10   11  

1.  Xie, George           2214 9.5   21:W 10:W  6:D 12:W  4:W  3:W  9:L  2:W 30:W  8:W 14:W
2.  Flatow, A (Fred)      2189 6     22:W 11:W  7:W  9:L 10:L  8:W 21:W  1:L 14:W  4:L 18:L
3.  Tan, Justin           2106 8     23:W 12:W 14:W  4:D  9:W  1:L  5:W 10:L 21:W 30:D 11:W
4.  Scott, Ronald         2100 9.5   24:W 13:W 20:W  3:D  1:L 18:W 10:W  9:W 11:W  2:W 30:W
5.  Agulto, Edgardo       2093 7     25:W 14:L 18:W 15:W 11:W  9:L  3:L 26:W 12:L 22:W 21:W
6.  Seberry, Ralph B      2089 6.5   26:W 15:W  1:D  7:L 18:L 13:W  8:L 27:W 23:W  9:W 10:L
7.  Dekic, Biljana        2049 6.5   27:W 17:W  2:L  6:W 14:W 10:L 23:D 30:L  8:L 26:W 19:W
8.  Bolens, Johny         2043 6.5   28:W 18:D  9:L 30:W 13:W  2:L  6:W 12:L  7:W  1:L 24:W
9.  Cruz, Louie           2026 7     29:W 19:W  8:W  2:W  3:L  5:W  1:W  4:L 10:L  6:L 12:W
10. Yu, Ronald            2015 9     30:W  1:L 22:W 16:W  2:W  7:W  4:L  3:W  9:W 12:W  6:W
11. Jones, Brian A        2011 6     31:W  2:L 24:W 19:W  5:L 23:L 18:W 38:W  4:L 25:W  3:L
12. Cabale, Nazarito      2005 6     32:W  3:L 26:W  1:L 22:W 25:W 30:L  8:W  5:W 10:L  9:L
13. Jens, Henk W          1961 5.5   33:W  4:L 27:D 17:W  8:L  6:L 29:L 36:W 18:L 35:W 25:W
14. Capilitan, Romeo      1936 6     34:W  5:W  3:L 20:W  7:L 30:L 25:W 23:W  2:L 38:W  1:L
15. Ilic, Ilija           1921 6     35:W  6:L 29:W  5:L 38:L 22:L 37:W 31:W 24:L 17:W 16:W
16. Lewski, Toby          1895 5     19:L 31:W 38:W 10:L 23:L 24:W 22:L 25:L 27:W 29:W 15:L
17. Stead, Kerry          1889 5     36:W  7:L 30:L 13:L 35:W 26:L 34:W 18:W 38:L 15:L 33:W
18. Chan, Jason           1881 6.5   37:W  8:D  5:L 27:W  6:W  4:L 11:L 17:L 13:W 23:W  2:W
19. Tulevski, Vasil G     1761 5     16:W  9:L 32:W 11:L 30:L 28:W 38:L 20:W 25:L 31:W  7:L
20. Kordahi, Nicholas     1728 5     38:W 21:W  4:L 14:L 25:L 32:W 26:L 19:L 29:L 37:W 34:W
21. Mendes da Costa, Alex 1651 6      1:L 20:L 33:W 26:W 32:W 38:W  2:L 22:W  3:L 24:W  5:L
22. Rosario, Amiel        1641 5      2:L 33:W 10:L 29:W 12:L 15:W 16:W 21:L 26:W  5:L 38:L
23. Yu, Colman            1630 5.5    3:L 30:L 34:W 28:W 16:W 11:W  7:D 14:L  6:L 18:L 27:W
24. Arocha, Leandro       1607 5      4:L 35:W 11:L 32:L 31:W 16:L 36:W 28:W 15:W 21:L  8:L
25. Villanueva, Anthony   1572 5      5:L 32:L 35:W 31:W 20:W 12:L 14:L 16:W 19:W 11:L 13:L
26. Barakat, Martin       1564 5      6:L 37:W 12:L 21:L 27:W 17:W 20:W  5:L 22:L  7:L 36:W
27. Carballo, Rick        1558 4.5    7:L 34:W 13:D 18:L 26:L 35:W 33:W  6:L 16:L 36:W 23:L
28. Adams, Jonathan       1553 4      8:L 38:L 37:W 23:L 29:W 19:L 32:W 24:L 31:L 33:L 35:W
29. Wong, Ted             1551 4      9:L 36:W 15:L 22:L 28:L 33:L 13:W 32:W 20:W 16:L 37:L
30. Hu, Jason             1494 6.5   10:L 23:W 17:W  8:L 19:W 14:W 12:W  7:W  1:L  3:D  4:L
31. Kresinger, Frank      1480 4     11:L 16:L 36:W 25:L 24:L 34:W 35:W 15:L 28:W 19:L 32:L
32. Greenwood, Norman     1437 5     12:L 25:W 19:L 24:W 21:L 20:L 28:L 29:L 37:W 34:W 31:W
33. Kulpa, Kazimierz      1427 4     13:L 22:L 21:L 38:L 36:W 29:W 27:L 37:L 34:W 28:W 17:L
34. Carratt, Stephen E    1319 0     14:L 27:L 23:L 36:L 37:L 31:L 17:L 35:L 33:L 32:L 20:L
35. Laugery, Bernard A    1258 2     15:L 24:L 25:L 37:W 17:L 27:L 31:L 34:W 36:L 13:L 28:L
36. Sweeney, Matthew      1147 3     17:L 29:L 31:L 34:W 33:L 37:W 24:L 13:L 35:W 27:L 26:L
37. Parker, Trent         1140 3     18:L 26:L 28:L 35:L 34:W 36:L 15:L 33:W 32:L 20:L 29:W
38. Morris, Michael            6     20:L 28:W 16:L 33:W 15:W 21:L 19:W 11:L 17:W 14:L 22:W

Report and pictures from NSWCA website

NSW Country Teams Championship: Held December 6-7

Central Coast Leagues Club Chess Club (Gosford) is the NSW Country Teams Champions for the third year running, followed by last years runners up Mingara. The Reserves Shield was won by Cardiff with help from stand in player Keith Farrell.

14 teams came from all over the state, some traveling up to 7 hours to reach the tournament.

Keith Farrell hands the trophy to the winning team (from left) John Nutter, Colin Rowlison and Stoimir Minkov.

No Name            Total  1      2      3      4      5      6      7    

1  Gosford A,      16.5  10:2.5  6:3.0  2:2.5  3:1.0  8:2.5  4:2.0  9:3.0
2  Mingara,        16.0   9:2.5  5:3.0  1:.5   4:1.5  3:2.5  7:3.0  8:3.0
3  Hunter,         15.5   7:2.0 11:3.0  4:2.5  1:2.0  2:.5   6:2.5 10:3.0
4  Dubbo,          12.5  13:3.0  8:2.0  3:.5   2:1.5 10:2.0  1:1.0 11:2.5
5  Newcastle,      12.0  14:3.0  2:0.0  8:1.5  7:1.5  6:1.5 10:1.5 13:3.0
6  Coffs Harbour,  11.5  11:2.0  1:0.0  7:2.0  9:2.5  5:1.5  3:.5  12:3.0
7  Cardiff,        11.5   3:1.0  9:2.0  6:1.0  5:1.5 12:3.0  2:0.0 14:3.0
8  Warriors,       10.5  12:3.0  4:1.0  5:1.5 10:1.5  1:.5  14:3.0  2:0.0
9  Maitland,       10.0   2:.5   7:1.0 11:2.0  6:.5  14:3.0 13:3.0  1:0.0
10 Gosford B,      9.5    1:.5  13:2.5 12:2.5  8:1.5  4:1.0  5:1.5  3:0.0
11 Ettalong A,     9.0    6:1.0  3:0.0  9:1.0 14:2.0 13:2.0 12:2.5  4:.5 
12 Oasis,          6.0    8:0.0 14:3.0 10:.5  13:2.0  7:0.0 11:.5   6:0.0
13 NDCA Juniors,   5.0    4:0.0 10:.5  14:2.5 12:1.0 11:1.0  9:0.0  5:0.0
14 Ettalong B,     1.5    5:0.0 12:0.0 13:.5  11:1.0  9:0.0  8:0.0  7:0.0

Report and pictures from NSWCA website

NSW Rapid Play: Tournament Report by Charles Zworestine

This year’s tournament was fairly uneventful, attracting as it did only 23 players. Reasons for the poor turnout are unknown. The time control of 20 minutes plus 10 seconds per move from the start seemed popular with the players, and certainly made life easier for me as the arbiter: there were virtually no disputes or problems, and it is very useful that this is an automatic setting on the DGTs. I can only speculate that St. George Leagues Club is not a very popular venue with the players, whether because it is hard to get to or just not very well known. Also, the new format of three consecutive Wednesday nights may have proved unpopular; perhaps players prefer to give up only one day – or at most a weekend – rather than travel on a week night for three weeks in a row…

Top seed for the event was George Xie; but he was challenged by five players with rapid ratings above 1900 (Ingela Eriksson, Ivan Zirdum, Ilija Ilic, Erdene Vandan and Johny Bolens), as well as newcomer Akeel Raham (provisionally rated at 2000). The first round was fairly predictable for these top seeds, but two upsets lower down: Nick Radev thought he had to give up his queen to prevent mate against Lee Forace, and went down in an ending with this material deficit, while James Watson beat Eddy Katnic. In Round 2 Henk Jens ground down Raham, Zirdum had a quick draw with Tulevski and Forace drew with Vandan; while Katnic’s poor start continued after he was upset by Goreta. After Round 3, things got interesting: Ingela drew with George in a seesawing struggle where she was winning, then losing, then winning but short of time and took a draw in the tournament’s longest game. Zirdum beat Jens, Ilic beat Vandan and Tulevski beat Forace to have five joint leaders after the first night on 2.5/3: Xie, Eriksson, Zirdum, Ilic and Tulevski.

Things were clearer after Round 4, where Xie beat Ilic and Eriksson beat Zirdum to share the lead on 3.5/4. Bolens (winner over Tulevski) and Mojanovski (defeated Vandan) were close behind on 3/4… When Xie beat Mojanovski quickly in Round 5, he was waiting around for a long time to see if Ingela would stay with him; she was the exchange ahead against Bolens, but the latter fought and fought, won the exchange back and drew the ending. So George was outright leader on 4.5/5, followed by Ingela on 4 and four players on 3.5: Bolens, Zirdum (beat Radev), Ilic and Tulevski (beat Jens). This was a lead George was never to relinquish, as he beat Zirdum in Round 6 to get to 5.5 at the end of Week 2; Ingela drew with Tulevski to be a full point behind on 4.5, where she was joined by Ilic (who beat Bolens).

Round 7 saw George practically wrap up the event by beating Raham to get to 6.5/7, while Eriksson and Ilic drew to share second on 5/7 with Tulevski (who beat Mojanovski). Zirdum stayed close (4.5/7) by beating Bolens, joined there by Jens (beat Katnic) and Radev (beat Goreta). Xie had a quick draw with Tulevski in Round 8, and Ilic drew with Jens; this left Ingela (who beat Radev) outright second on 6/8, behind George on 7 but ahead of three players on 5.5: Tulevski, Ilic and Zirdum. Mojanovski upset Bolens to get to 5 points. Finishing well by beating Jens, George was the champ on 8/9; Ingela drew a locked position against Mojanovski to share second on 6.5 with Zirdum (beat Ilic), while rating prizes went to Tulevski, Radev, Mojanovski and Watson.

Final scores (23 players, 9 rounds): George Xie 8; Ingela Eriksson, Ivan Zirdum 6.5; Akeel Raham 6; Vasil Tulevski, Dimitar Mojanovski, Ilija Ilic, Nikola Radev 5.5; Henk Jens, Paul Laurance 5; Johny Bolens, Erdene Vandan 4.5; Leo Soto, Mark Goreta, James Watson, Jeff Boardman, Darko Buric 4; Eddy Katnic, Norm Greenwood 3.5; Lee Forace 3; Bernard Laugery, Slavko Trkulja 2.5; Leandro Arocha 1.5.

No  Name                 Loc  Total  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9  

1.  Xie, George          2170 8     13:W  7:W  2:D  5:W 15:W  4:W  3:W 12:D 11:W
2.  Eriksson, Ingela     2100 6.5   14:W 10:W  1:D  4:W  7:D 12:D  5:D  8:W 15:D
3.  Raham, Akeel         2100 6     15:W 11:L 23:D 13:D 20:W 10:W  1:L  6:W 12:W
4.  Zirdum, Ivan         2095 6.5   16:W 12:D 11:W  2:L  8:W  1:L  7:W 10:W  5:W
5.  Ilic, Ilija          1983 5.5     :D 21:W  6:W  1:L 16:W  7:W  2:D 11:D  4:L
6.  Vandan, Erdenekhuyag 1966 4.5   17:W 20:D  5:L 15:L 23:W 11:- 21:W  3:L 13:W
7.  Bolens, Johny        1949 4.5   18:W  1:L 14:W 12:W  2:D  5:L  4:L 15:L 17:W
8.  Radev, Nikola        1884 5.5   20:L 17:D  9:W 23:W  4:L 21:W 16:W  2:L 14:W
9.  Katnic, Eddy         1821 3.5   21:L 16:L  8:L 17:W 22:W 19:W 11:L 14:L 18:D
10. Laurance, Paul       1794 5     22:W  2:L 15:L 18:+ 21:W  3:L 13:W  4:L 19:W
11. Jens, Henk W         1786 5     23:W  3:W  4:L 16:D 12:L  6:+  9:W  5:D  1:L
12. Tulevski, Vasil G    1748 5.5   19:W  4:D 20:W  7:L 11:W  2:D 15:W  1:D  3:L
13. Soto, Leopoldo       1736 4      1:L 18:W 21:D  3:D 14:W 15:L 10:L 16:W  6:L
14. Boardman, Jeffery    1701 4      2:L 19:W  7:L 22:W 13:L 16:L 23:W  9:W  8:L
15. Mojanovski, Dimitar  1693 5.5    3:L 22:W 10:W  6:W  1:L 13:W 12:L  7:W  2:D
16. Goreta, Marko        1666 4      4:L  9:W 17:W 11:D  5:L 14:W  8:L 13:L 21:D
17. Trkulja, Slavko      1616 2.5    6:L  8:D 16:L  9:L 19:L 22:L   :W 18:W  7:L
18. Arocha, Leandro      1608 1.5    7:L 13:L 19:W 10:-   :    :  22:L 17:L  9:D
19. Buric, Darko         1600 4     12:L 14:L 18:L   :W 17:W  9:L 20:W 22:W 10:L
20. Forace, Lee          1572 3      8:W  6:D 12:L 21:L  3:L 23:D 19:L   :W   : 
21. Watson, James        1565 4      9:W  5:L 13:D 20:W 10:L  8:L  6:L 23:W 16:D
22. Greenwood, Norman    1482 3.5   10:L 15:L   :W 14:L  9:L 17:W 18:W 19:L 23:D
23. Laugery, Bernard A   1303 2.5   11:L   :W  3:D  8:L  6:L 20:D 14:L 21:L 22:D

St George wins battle, but loses war: St George Leagues Club beat North Sydney Leagues 22-15 in the second leg of the big board match. But North Sydney had earlier won the first leg 26.5-14.5 so North Sydney were the overall winners 41.5-36.5

Gletsos elevated: Bill Gletsos is the new President of the NSW Chess Association after the AGM last week. Norm Greenwood was elected Treasurer and Tom Accola Secretary. The vice-presidency is vacant. Gletsos had been vice-president previously - and the presidency had been vacant - so he had been the effective leader previously and the new vote formalises this.

NECG Australian Junior Chess Squad Applications:

Applications are called for the NECG Australian Junior Chess Squad for 2004.

Applications should be sent via email to Kerry Stead kerrys@ihug.com.au by Monday December 15 2003.

See ACF Bulletin 243 for full details.

The Network Economics Consulting Group (NECG) advises corporate and government clients on all economic aspects of regulation, competition policy, trade practices, intellectual property and related issues in many industries.

Many times these issues are high-profile and influence the shape of the Australian regulatory and business environment. Some of Australia’s largest companies turn to NECG for expert advice including Telstra, Visa, Qantas, Pacific National and CSL.

NECG's commitment to excellence in its own field extends to supporting art, academic and community programs that facilitate achievement, intellectual endeavor and diversity. It is with the commitment that NECG has extended its support to the Australian Chess Federation, in particular, as major sponsor of the NECG Australian Junior Chess Squad.

Nominations for ACF medals are due now! Don't forget. For full details, see ACF Bulletin 243

Deadlines:
- Koshnitsky medal: Monday 15 December 2003
- Steiner medal: Friday 2 January 2004

World news

The 6th Annual ChessAward: Nominations are welcome for the 6th Annual ChessAwards.

On ChessAward's website all visitors can nominate candidates. Last day to nominate websites is the 31st of December 2003.

Between January 1st to 20th 2004, visitors will be given the opportunity to award points to the nominated sites. The winners will be presented on the ChessAward website on the 1st of February 2004.

Official site

Wohl third in Holland: Leading final scores in the Category V International round robin Cultural Village tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands (10 players, 9 rounds):
6.5 F.Langheinrich (Germany) 6.0 M.Van Delft (Netherlands) 5.5 A.Wohl (Australia) (performance rating 2419).

Wohl,A - Langheinrich,F 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.d3 e5 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bxf6 Bxf6 10.Rb1 a5 11.a3 Bg7 12.b4 axb4 13.axb4 f5 14.b5 Ne7 15.Qb3 Kh8 16.e3 g5 17.Nd5 f4 18.Rfc1 Bg4 19.Nd2 Nxd5 20.cxd5 b6 21.Qc4 Rc8 22.Ra1 e4 23.d4 Bf3 24.Nxf3 fxe3 25.fxe3 exf3 26.Bh3 Ra8 27.Ra6 f2+ 28.Kf1 Qf6 29.Rxa8 Rxa8 30.Qe2 Qg6 31.Kxf2 Re8 32.Be6 Rf8+ 33.Kg1 Qe4 34.Rf1 Rxf1+ 35.Qxf1 Qxe3+ 36.Kg2 h5 37.Qf7 Qe2+ 38.Kh3 g4+ 39.Kh4 Qxh2+ 40.Kg5 Qd2+ 41.Kxh5 Qh2+ 42.Kxg4 Qe2+ 43.Kh3 1-0

Youth triumphs: Fifteen year old Alejandro Ramirez (Costa Rica) scored his third and final grandmaster result (performance rating over 2600) last week by finishing equal first in the strong Dominican Republic Open. Ramirez is the first ever grandmaster in Central America and he is the second youngest grandmaster in the world.

Leading final scores after 10 rounds:
7.5 Milov, Nisipeanu, Moiseenko, Kiriakov, Delgado, Campora, Ramirez, De Vreugt, Socko

Official site | View Games and PGN

Humpy leads Indian Championship: Scores after 6 rounds:
5.0 Humpy
4.5 Ganguly, Ramesh
4.0 Barua, Chowdhary
3.5 Chanda, Thipsay, Kunte, Das, Saha

Official site View Games and PGN

Upcoming tournaments

Fairfield RSL Memorial Club Summer Cup
14 Anzac Ave Fairfield (next to Railway Station) NSW 2165
December 13-14 
9am - 6pm  Saturday and Sunday
Cat 3 Grand Prix Event (all games rated)
Entry Fees:  $50/$40 Pensioner/Student/
$30 Junior U18/$25 Junior U15 
Fairfield RSL Chess Club Members $10 Discount 
Entry fee to be paid in cash only at 9am Saturday 13th Dec 
Entries Limited to the first 80  
Round Times Saturday/Sunday 9:30am/12.00pm/14.30pm
Presentation Sunday 17:00pm   
PRIZE POOL = $2500*  1st $800    2nd $400     3rd $200 plus 
Best in Divisions A, B, C, D 
Best Fairfield Chess Club Member 
Best Junior U18 years Juniors U15 years 1st - 4th 
Lucky door prize
All Places will be determined by tie break (based on 60 entries) 
Players only eligible for a single prize (**except door prize) 
Players must be present at presentation to claim prize  
DOP: Robert Keast  (on behalf of the Fairfield RSL Chess Club)   
Enquiries/Entries:rkeast@didata.com.au  (ph:0417-497-258)

4th annual Laurieton Christmas Chess Tournament - Year 2003
Sunday, 14 December
10:00 am Start   ~   7  Rounds  ~  G/20 per Player
Venue: Laurieton Services Club  ~  Seymour Street
Games Rated ~ Cash Prizes subject to entries
The decision of Tournament Directors is final in this matter
Primary & High School Students most Welcome!
Entry Fees: $ 10 Seniors  ~  $ 4 under 18 years
Free Refreshments. Club Bistro open for Lunch
Contact: Endel  6559 9060 
This 'Day of Chess' is generously sponsored by the LUSC

X-MAS SWISS TOURNAMENT
Saturday/Sunday, 20th & 21st December 
Chess World Tournament Centre, 758 North Rd, Ormond. (Melway 68 H9)
7 Round Swiss You may elect to NOT play in any one round and receive 
a half-point bye. This must be requested prior to the start of Round 1.
Round Times: (Sat 10am, 1pm, 4pm, & 7pm, Sun 11am, 2pm, 5pm) 
60 minutes + 10 seconds per move 
Entry fees: FREE Entry for GM’s & IM’s
$70 Full $55 Concession & Juniors $44
Payment accepted by cash, cheque or credit card. 
Phone 9576-8177 to enter over the phone. 
Maximum 50 Players 
IM Sandler, FM Depasquale, Bjelobrk are confirmed entries already. 
All players will be entered into a single Swiss Tournament. 
Rating Group B prizes will only be awarded to the 20 lowest seeded players 
in the event. Rating Group A prizes will only be awarded to the next 20 
lowest seeded players. 
Prizes: $400, $200, $100; Rating Group A $150, $75; Rating Group B $150, $75
Plus Junior Prizes.
Enter to:  cordover@chessworld.com.au
Phone: (03) 9576 8177

Chess World Grand Prix

Co-ordinator:  ChessWorld/David Cordover
cordover@chessworld.com.au
0411 877 833

Fairfield Summer Cup
Category 3
December 13-14
Fairfield RSL Memorial Club - Fairfield
Contact: Robert Keast - 0417 497 258
Email: robert.keast@didata.com.au

X-Mas Swiss Tournament
Category 2-3?
December 20-21
Contact David Cordover (03) 9576177 or 0411-877-833
cordover@chessworld.com.au

Subscribing

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Best wishes till next time
- Paul Broekhuyse
broekhuysep@bigpond.com
02 4382 4525
0408 824525