Drouin Open:

No Name                    Rtg  Total  1    2    3    4    5    6    7  

1  Depasquale, Chris       2321 6     28:W 16:W  4:D  8:W  3:W  2:D  6:W
2  Lojanica, Milenko       1992 5.5   46:W 19:W 11:D  5:W  7:W  1:D  3:D
3  Le, Tuan                1965 5.5   39:W 44:W 17:W  7:W  1:L 14:W  2:D
4  Roach, Walter           1807 5.5   40:W 29:W  1:D  6:D 10:D 16:W 14:W
5  Sandler, Leonid         2339 5     31:W  9:W  6:D  2:L 20:W 10:W  8:D
6  Dizdarevic, Mehmedalija 1917 5     47:W 18:W  5:D  4:D 16:W  9:W  1:L
7  Abdulwahab, Rasheed     2311 5     23:W 13:W 14:W  3:L  2:L 30:W 19:W
8  Voon, Richard           1846 5     48:W 10:D 15:W  1:L 25:W 11:W  5:D
9  Lugo, Ruperto           1697 5     41:W  5:L 31:W 30:W 12:W  6:L 15:W
10 Lin, Zhigen             1479 4.5   36:W  8:D 12:D 26:W  4:D  5:L 25:W
11 Frost, Peter            1743 4.5   32:W 38:W  2:D 14:L 17:W  8:L 21:W
12 Kerksal, David               4.5   15:D 25:W 10:D 44:W  9:L 17:D 29:W
13 Power, Paul             1579 4.5   21:W  7:L 28:L 15:D 45:W 26:W 24:W
14 Holt, Kenneth           1835 4     42:W 20:W  7:L 11:W 19:W  3:L  4:L
15 Mollard, Max            1542 4     12:D 27:W  8:L 13:D 18:W 28:W  9:L
16 Ferris, Shaun           1641 4     49:W  1:L 23:W 29:W  6:L  4:L 28:W
17 Bradley, Chris          1762 4     45:W 30:W  3:L 18:D 11:L 12:D 31:W
18 Potter, Matthew         1398 4     33:W  6:L 32:W 17:D 15:L 20:D 30:W
19 Bekker, Gary            1563 4     35:W  2:L 39:W 28:W 14:L 31:W  7:L
20 Hickman, Casey          1255 4     34:W 14:L 33:W  0:D  5:L 18:D 32:W
21 Jackson, Ross                4     13:L 23:L 48:W 22:W 46:W 29:W 11:L
22 Bekker, Josh            1173 4     38:L 41:W 26:L 21:L 27:W 33:W 37:W
23 Lugo, Jerome            828  3.5    7:L 21:W 16:L 37:W 26:D 24:L 40:W
24 Potter, Chris           1384 3.5    0:L  0:L  0:L  0:L 34:W 23:W 13:L
25 Eustace, Sophie         263  3.5    0:D 12:L 47:W 27:W  8:L 39:W 10:L
26 Qian, Dennish                3.5   29:L 40:W 22:W 10:L 23:D 13:L 38:W
27 Schon, Eugene                3.5    0:  15:L 38:W 25:L 22:L 45:W 35:W
28 Morris, James           881  3      1:L 35:W 13:W 19:L 36:W 15:L 16:L
29 Hamilton, Ian           1353 3     26:W  4:L 36:W 16:L 38:W 21:L 12:L
30 Kostrzewa, Jake         1041 3     43:W 17:L 34:W  9:L 33:W  7:L 18:L
31 Bell, David             959  3      5:L 49:W  9:L 35:W 43:W 19:L 17:L
32 Fraser, Reuben               3     11:L 46:W 18:L 38:L 42:W 36:W 20:L
33 Potter, Michael              3     18:L 47:W 20:L 46:W 30:L 22:L 43:W
34 Toper, David                 3     20:L 42:W 30:L 41:W 24:L 35:L 39:W
35 Jackson, Ian                 3     19:L 28:L 42:W 31:L 47:W 34:W 27:L
36 Potter, Daniel               3     10:L 48:W 29:L 39:W 28:L 32:L 41:W
37 Martin, Joshua               3     44:L 39:L 40:W 23:L 49:W 43:W 22:L
38 Vanyai, Tristan              2.5   22:W 11:L 27:L 32:W 29:L  0:D 26:L
39 Beasley, Clay                2      3:L 37:W 19:L 36:L 41:W 25:L 34:L
40 Clinch, Matthew              2      4:L 26:L 37:L 47:L 48:W 42:W 23:L
41 Hall, Russ                   2      9:L 22:L 46:W 34:L 39:L 47:W 36:L
42 Bond, Nathan                 2     14:L 34:L 35:L 49:W 32:L 40:L 45:W
43 Woodcock-Smith, Matthew      2     30:L 45:L 49:W 48:W 31:L 37:L 33:L
44 Taylor, Stephan         1520 2     37:W  3:L 45:W 12:L  0:L  0:   0: 
45 Fernandez, Philippe          1.5   17:L 43:W 44:L  0:D 13:L 27:L 42:L
46 Smith, Tom                   1.5    2:L 32:L 41:L 33:L 21:L  0:W 49:D
47 Bell, Nathan                 1.5    6:L 33:L 25:L 40:W 35:L 41:L  0:D
48 Bell, Laura                  1.5    8:L 36:L 21:L 43:L 40:L 49:W  0:D
49 Hatfield, Brayden            .5    16:L 31:L 43:L 42:L 37:L 48:L 46:D

Toukley U/2000: The Toukley U2000 tournament took place 21/22 Feb at the Toukley RSL on the NSW Central Coast. The tournament was limited to players with an ACF rating under 2000. There were 38 entries. The time limit was FIDE Rapid 1 hour with a 10 second increment thereafter.

The first round saw a few upsets with local Gary Losh drawing with top seed Brian Jones. In fact, Gary had a winning rook ending but Brian managed to hang in to scrape a draw during the 10 second increment period. Alex Mendes da Costa played an excellent game in round 2 to beat David Castor. David's day was not due to get better finishing the day with 1/4. Justin Huang was also very sick so had to withdraw after round 2.

Blind player Alex Momot, under-rated at 901, had an excellent start to the tournament beating locals Barry Mann and Gary Losh in round 1 and 3. His 4th game also featured an attacking game against Norm Greenwood but Norm rebuffed the attack to win. However, Alex's second day was less successful with 0/3. Peter Hannagan beat Duncan Peters in round 3 although Duncan had lost on time for around 10 minutes prior to the finish. After day 1 the sole leader was Newcastle player Neil Wright with 4/4.

However, Round 5 saw Neil become unstuck playing White against junior Junta Ikeda from the ACT. Neil left a rook en prise in a tense position and lost. The round 6 clash between leader Junta Ikeda and Jason Chan from Sydney saw Jason overpower Junta on the queenside eventually winning a queen in the time scramble. This proved to be a deciding game. The round 6 game between Kerry Stead (White) and Neil Wright saw the position below.

Here, Neil Wright took the draw with 1.Qa1+ 2.Kd2 Qa5+ 3.Kc1 Qa1 and so forth. The line 1.Qa1 2.Kd2 Qd4+ 3. Kc1 Qe3+ 4.Qxe3 fxe4 5.Rd5 a5 was interesting with Black having 2 dangerous passed pawns.

Onto the last game or the 'business end of the tournament'. The final round saw Jason Chan with 5/6 playing Michael Yu with 4.5/6 on board 1. A win by Michael would have resulted in a 3 way tie. It was looking the most likely result until the following position occurred.

Here Jason had just 10 seconds on the clock whereas Michael had 30 seconds with both players in the 10 second increment period. It's a little unfair looking at a position where the players have only seconds to analyse but anyway. Here Michael played

1...Qh1 2.Be2 Rh2+ 3.Ke3 Qc1+ 3.Qg1+ is better forcing the King back into the firing line on d2. (4.Ke4 Qd4+ 5.Kf5 e4 and Black wins with multiple threats) After 3.Qg1 4.Kd2 Qf1 proves winning).

4.Kf3 g4+

Fritz suggests 4.f5! with the subtle threat 5.g4 mate.

5.Ke4 Rxe2+ 6.Kf5 Rf2+?

Where Black unfortunately lost on time handing Jason the tournament. After 7.Ke6 the position now favours White having escaped the mating net! So, the final results were 1st Jason Chan with 6/7 with Junta Ikeda and Michael Lip 2nd= with 5.5/7.

- FM Lee Jones
Arbiter

No Name                  Loc  Total  1    2    3    4    5    6    7  

1  Chan, Jason           1883 6     22:W 17:W 18:D  3:D 19:W  2:W  6:W
2  Ikeda, Junta          1705 5.5   26:W  3:D 16:W  4:W  5:W  1:L 10:W
3  Lip, Michael          1964 5.5   29:W  2:D  9:W  1:D 13:W  6:D  5:W
4  Murray, Bruce D       1845 5     30:W 12:W  7:D  2:L  9:D 23:W 13:W
5  Wright, Neil S        1931 4.5   14:W 19:W  6:W 13:W  2:L  7:D  3:L
6  Yu, Michael           1736 4.5   28:W  8:W  5:L 23:W 18:W  3:D  1:L
7  Stead, Kerry          1935 4.5   23:W 15:W  4:D 18:L  8:W  5:D  9:D
8  Illingworth, Max      1495 4.5   11:W  6:L 20:D 21:W  7:L 30:W 12:W
9  Jones, Brian A        1997 4.5   32:D 25:W  3:L 20:W  4:D 19:W  7:D
10 Peters, Duncan        1887 4.5   21:W 37:W 13:L 29:D 12:W 18:W  2:L
11 Pinfold, R                 4.5    8:L 36:W 12:L 22:W 14:D 29:W 18:W
12 Jurd, Sebastian       1564 4     27:W  4:L 11:W 34:W 10:L 15:W  8:L
13 Hannagan, Peter K     1710 4     36:W 34:W 10:W  5:L  3:L 25:W  4:L
14 Rajendran, Karthick   1429 4      5:L 31:W 15:W 19:L 11:D 17:D 25:W
15 Dickson, Ian C        1667 4     33:W  7:L 14:L 28:W 29:W 12:L 24:W
16 Castor, David         1916 4     24:W 18:L  2:L 30:L 33:W 20:W 23:W
17 Keuning, Anthony V    1565 4     35:W  1:L 21:L 38:W 30:D 14:D 28:W
18 Mendes da Costa, Alex 1620 3.5   20:W 16:W  1:D  7:W  6:L 10:L 11:L
19 Kodzoman, Ivan        1635 3.5   31:W  5:L 24:W 14:W  1:L  9:L 21:D
20 McGuirk, Michael      1256 3.5   18:L 22:W  8:D  9:L 24:W 16:L 29:W
21 Nemeth, Bela L        1383 3.5   10:L 38:W 17:W  8:L 25:L 27:W 19:D
22 Hendry, Ian L         1369 3.5    1:L 20:L 26:W 11:L 31:D 33:W 30:W
23 Greenwood, Norman     1443 3      7:L 26:W 35:W  6:L 34:W  4:L 16:L
24 Bisson, Danny Wayne   1413 3     16:L 33:W 19:L 27:W 20:L 35:W 15:L
25 Mann, Barry R         1521 3     34:L  9:L 36:W 35:W 21:W 13:L 14:L
26 Baldwin, A(Tony) C    1331 3      2:L 23:L 22:L 33:L  0:W 31:W 35:W
27 Ikeda, Miona          1110 3     12:L 30:W 29:L 24:L 32:W 21:L 36:W
28 Farrell, Keith R      1352 3      6:L 35:L 33:W 15:L 38:W 34:W 17:L
29 Wolf, Ludwig          1454 2.5    3:L 32:W 27:W 10:D 15:L 11:L 20:L
30 Deacon, Graeme        1365 2.5    4:L 27:L 31:W 16:W 17:D  8:L 22:L
31 Wright, Allan         1272 2.5   19:L 14:L 30:L  0:W 22:D 26:L 34:W
32 Losh, Gary            1481 2.5    9:D 29:L 34:L 36:L 27:L  0:W 38:W
33 Keuning, Patrick J    1328 2     15:L 24:L 28:L 26:W 16:L 22:L  0:W
34 Momot, Alex           901  2     25:W 13:L 32:W 12:L 23:L 28:L 31:L
35 Parker, Trent         1181 2     17:L 28:W 23:L 25:L 36:W 24:L 26:L
36 Velyvis, Vladis       1340 2     13:L 11:L 25:L 32:W 35:L 38:W 27:L
37 Huang, Justin         1596 1     38:W 10:L  0:L  0:L  0:L  0:L  0:L
38 Fell, Lloyd R         1242 1     37:L 21:L  0:W 17:L 28:L 36:L 32:L

Letters: Capablanca's demise

For what it is worth, Harold C Schonberg, in the article on Capablanca in his book "Grandmasters of Chess" (Lippincott, Philadephia and New York, 1973) says:

"On 7 March 1942, while watching a game at the Manhattan Chess Club, he had a stroke and died the following morning." (at p.179)

There are other references to his death in books I have but none of them mentions the venue, though the date and cause of death are the same.

- Denis Jessop

World News:

Leko leads Linares - rest day today: February 24 is a rest day in Linares. Rounds 4 and 5 were all draws, leaving Leko in the lead with 2/4 and a game in hand. The much-awaited round 5 clash between Kasparov and Kramnik ended in a draw after Kramnik sacrificed a piece for several pawns and open diagonals on white's king. Topalov fought hard with black but could not prevail against Leko's solid defence. And youngsters Radjabov and Vallejo fought out an interesting game with three minors facing two rooks and some fascinating complications.

Still more draws in round 3, but some good fights nevertheless. Kasparov tried an exchange sac as black in a Sicilian against Leko, but the wily Hungarian returned the material and gained a bit of an edge. And two of the greatest fighters in the game, Shirov and Topalov, went toe-to-toe for about 70 moves before drawing in a game that looked like it could go either way. In contrast, Radjabov-Kramnik was a quick draw.

Not much excitement in round 2. Radjabov had little trouble holding a draw against Kasparov, and the other games were also drawn.
Shirov and Kasparov had a humdinger of a fight in round 1, with Shirov hanging on for a draw after Kasparov sacrificed a piece and missed some chances. Vallejo Pons-Kramnik was a quick draw, and in the only decisive game, Leko as black harvested a few pawns and won the ending against Radjabov.

The world's top-rated player, the recently reclusive Gary Kasparov, is making a rare appearance in this year's edition of the Spanish supertournament, which runs February 19-March 5. The 7-player double round robin also includes Kramnik, Shirov, Topalov, Leko, Paco Vallejo and Radjabov.

Scores after 5 rounds:
2.5 Leko*, Kramnik
2.0 Kasparov*, Vallejo Pons*, Shirov*, Topalov*, Radjabov (* = game in hand)

Official Site | View games
Shirov-Kasparov annotated

Aeroflot - Filippov leads: The 3rd Aeroflot Festival is one of the year's most important tournaments with an incredible array of strong GMs. Players include Akopian, Dreev, Aleksandrov, Bologan, Lautier, Khalifman, Smirin, Bacrot, Sakaev and Rublevsky. The official site features live games, but not much PGN available yet.
Leading scores after 7 rounds:
6.0 Filippov
5.5 Dreev, Tregubov, Lautier, Van Wely, Sasikiran, Berkes, Motylev
5.0 Fedorov, Malakhov, Bacrot, Volokitin, Rublevsky, Asrian, Rustemov, Mamedyarov, Minasian, Graf, Vaganian, Petrosian, Jakovenko, Khenkin, Sadvakasov, Korobov

Aeroflot Site | View games | Carlsen-Dolmatov annotated

Internationale Fränkische Großmeistertage 2004: A strong tournament in Germany, featuring Bischoff, Naiditsch, Hector.
Scores after 6 rounds:
4.5 Gustafsson
3.5 Conquest
3.0 Bezold*, Baramidze*, Skripchenko, Bischoff
2.5 Prusikin*, Hector*, Doettling
1.5 Naiditsch*
1.0 Stellwagen* (*= score out of 5)
Site | View games

Jakarta: An interesting tournament featuring strong women and Asian stars, with some big prize money.
Scores after 7 rounds:
4.5 Adianto, Stefanova
4.0 Zhu Chen, Juswanto
2.5 Hoang Thanh Trang
1.5 Megaranto
Site | View games

International Paderborn Computer Chess Tournament: Hydra - derived from Brutus - was the surprise winner, beating Fritz and drawing Shredder in this respected computer comp.
Final scores, 7 rounds: 6.5 Hydra; 5.5 Fritz; 5.0 Shredder; 4.5 Ikarus; 4.0 Gandalf; 3.5 Diep, Isichess, Patzer, Quark; 3.0 YACE 2600, Anaconda, SOS, The Baron; 2.0 Comet; 1.5 Matador; 1.0 BlackBishop
Site | View games

2nd Breizh Masters: A French tourney featuring a couple of 2600s and some local masters.
Final Scores, 10 rounds:
7.5 Baklan
5.5 Istratescu
5.0 Bagheri
4.5 Wirig, Le Roux
3.0 Gozzoli
Site | View games

Games:

Shirov, A (2736)    --    Kasparov, G (2831)
XXI  (1)   Linares ESP
2004.02.19     1/2-1/2     B90

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Nbd7 9.Qd2 b5 10.a4 b4

An uncompromising line where white becomes very strong on the queenside - almost certainly winning a few pawns - while black gets kingside chances ... as Kasparov demonstrates!

Protecting b4 by counterattacking d5

White's pieces end up clumped on the queenside

Preferring not to repeat moves with Qd3 and a probably draw

( 21.Qxb4 Qc7!? 22.Qc3 seems to give black compensation )

Commencing the kingside assault

Vintage Kasparov.

( 28.Qxg4 Nxg4 and black can win an exchange with ...Be3+ and ...Nf2+, eg 29.Rb4 Be3+ 30.Kh1 Nf2+ 31.Rxf2?? Rb1+ 32.Rf1 Rxf1# )

Preparing ...Qe3+ and ...Ng4

Typical Shirov - active defence. The move brings the Ra4 into play and clears a path for the d-pawn

29...dxe5 30.Rh4 e4 31.Qd4 Ng4!?

( 31...Qe3+!? 32.Qxe3 Bxe3+ 33.Kh1 Kg7 34.Rxh3 Ng4 35.Kg2 Bc5 36.Re1 f5 looks very good for black, as the Rh3 is hopelessly out of play and the d-pawn is held up )

Eliminating a key piece

( 34.Kh1?? Qe2! 35.Rg1 Qf3+ -+ )

( 34...Ng4 35.Qd4 is good for white )

Drawn by perpetual check

Carlsen, Magnus (2484)    --    Dolmatov, Sergey (2591)
Aeroflot Open  (3)   2004     1-0     A04

1.Nf3 f5 2.d3!?

Taking the game out of normal Dutch lines and aiming for a quick e4

White already has a big edge as black can't castle yet and is vulnerable down the central files

12...Qd7 13.Rhe1 Kd8

14.Rxe7!! Qxe7

( 14...Kxe7 15.Re1+ +- )

Even more lovely than the last move, this powerful follow-up allows white to pile up on both d6 and f6

( 16...Rf8 17.Rxd6 Kc8 18.Nxf6 ( 18.Nc5!? ) ( 18.Bxf6 gxf6 19.Nc5!? Rd8 20.Be6! +- Bxe6 21.Rxc6+ Qc7 22.Qxc7# ) 18...gxf6 19.Bxf6 Qe1+ 20.Rd1 Qe8 leaves white in control )

White wins

( 19.Qd4 gxh4 20.Nxd5!! Qf8 21.Nf6 +- A nice attack )