Wanted: Olympiad Appeal Co-ordinator: The Co-ordinator must fulfil or arrange to have fulfilled the ACF Olympiad By-Laws, specifically para 2. Resources will be allocated to assist the occupant. The ACF Treasurer will assist with accounting tasks if required. Persons interested should not hesitate to send applications to email ACF President George Howard or call me on 0414841575 for a confidential discussion.

Grand Prix 2003 Prizes: All Grand Prix 2003 prizewinners should email ACF President George Howard with their name and address so that he can send them their cheques.

ACF Administrative Workshop: The ACF will be holding a special event on the day before the Doeberl Cup to brainstorm some ideas. The Workshop starts at 10.00am on April 8 and finishes at 5.00pm. It will be followed by the ACF Council Meeting held at 6.30pm Canberra Time. The Italo-Australian Club has kindly given the ACF the use of a room for the Workshop and Council Meeting.

ACF President George Howard writes: "All members of ACF Council are asked to attend as we haven't had an opportunity like this before and we need to make the most out of it. If states'/territories' Council Representatives cannot attend but they have someone else from their team available to make a contribution, that would be much appreciated. Could all states/territories please give me names and numbers of attendees now - it is actually the third time I have asked as we need to cater for lunch, coffees etc."

City of Sydney lightning: A strong field (mid-point 1800) of 32 players took part in the City of Sydney Lightning Championship.

George Xie was in a class of his own and blitzed the field to finish on 9.5 from 11 only giving away 3 (strategic) draws and finishing 1.5 points ahead of his nearest rivals Ed Agulto and Johnny Bolens (on 8.0).

The 11 rounds gave all players an opportunity to make up for the odd mistake or two (Bolens lost his first two games).

It was again a pleasure to be part of a good quick blitz event and I would like to congratulate all players for the way they conducted themselves throughout the event. All games were decided on the board as there were no disputes. Players reset the pieces on the boards each round to allow us to achieve 4 rounds and a 5 minute break in each hour of the event.

Place Name                  Loc  Club   Score

  1   Xie, George           2297        9.5  
 2-3  Agulto, Edgardo       2113        8    
      Bolens, Johny         2029        8    
 4-5  Yu, Ronald            2151 Junior 7.5  
      Song, Raymond         1843 Junior 7.5  
 6-9  Hu, Jason             1700 Junior 7    
      Chan, Jason           1957        7    
      Capilitan, Romeo      2024        7    
      Suttor, Vincent       1913 Junior 7    
10-11 Rosario, Amiel        1702        6.5  
      Huang, Justin         1710 Junior 6.5  
12-17 Flatow, A (Fred)      2245        6    
      Ilic, Ilija           1998        6    
      Kordahi, Nicholas     1717        6    
      Camer, Angelito       2111        6    
      Huddleston, Heather   1700 Junior 6    
      Dick, David W         1961        6    
 18   Rachmadi, Herman      1826        5.5  
19-25 Muller, Henning       1906        5    
      Jens, Henk W          1971        5    
      Ghenzer, Charles      2126        5    
      Redgrave, John        1811        5    
      Mendes da Costa, Alex 1717        5    
      Escribano, Jose       1654        5    
      Nguyen, Joseph        1423 Junior 5    
 26   Fell, Lloyd S         1793        4.5  
 27   Greenwood, Norman     1540        4    
 28   Yu, Colman            1700        3    
 29   Parker, Trent         1265        2.5  
 30   Sewell, R             1572        2    
31-32 Kresinger, Frank      1538        1    
      Miranda, Adrian       1351 Junior 1    

The April 2004 FIDE rating list is about to be published. Those interested might want to visit the FIDE web site.

NSW news: IM Alex Wohl of Sydney was in the joint lead with one round to play in the 218 player (including 14 grandmasters) Open in Bad Worishofen, Germany. Wohl lost to Russian GM Vladimir Burmakin rated 2596 in the last round. Wohl, seeded 21st, finished one point behind first place and equal with former World Title Challenger Viktor Korchnoi (Swi) with 6.5/9.

Former NSW Champion George Xie has conceded only two draws against his closest rivals Greg Canfell and David Dick after 8 rounds of the City of Sydney Championship (all players in one division) and only needs to draw his last round game to win the title.

Progress scores (44 players, 9 rounds) G.Xie 7/8, D.Dick, J.Hu (aged 16), G.Canfell 6 R.Capilitan, J.Schultz-Pedersen 5.5

77 players in 7 divisions are competing in the North Sydney Leagues Club Championship. Leading scores in the World Rated Title event - R.Seberry (NSW Champion) 5.5/6, R.Goris 5/5, G.Charles 4/6.

There are 48 players in 5 divisions in the St George Leagues Club Championship. Progress scores in the World Rated Title event G.Xie 5.5/6, S.Quick 4.5/5. Johny Bolens leads the Henry Greenfield Cup at Hakoah Club, Bondi with 7.5/8 followed by IM I.Berezina-Feldman 6 and A.Mendes da Costa 5.5

The NSW Chess Association NSW Teams Challenge rapid play (11am-7.30pm) will be held on April 4th at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club. - Peter Parr, SMH Column

Website: The ACF website now has a few extra features. There's an chess program called Little ChessPartner that you can play online. A live game display page has been set up to provide a "backup" for times when live game display using more sophisticated methods goes awry. And chat and search facilities have been added to the site.

Juniors

World Youth Championship - entries: Initial expressions of interest are sought for the World Youth Championship 2004, to be held in Heraklion, Crete, Greece in November. The event has 10 tournaments, Open and Girls sections in the following divisions: U10, U12, U14, U16, U18. Australia can send one selected player in each age division who receives free accommodation, and others may also go, subject to ACF approval, who need to meet their own costs. Formal applications will be called for when more details are known about the event. These applications should be in accordance with paragraph 8 of the ACF Selection Procedures By-law, which can be found at http://www.auschess.org.au/constitution

Please send expressions of interest to Kerry Stead via email kerrys@ihug.com.au

Kerry Stead
ACF Vice President

World News:

Asian Cities Teams Championship: Tagaytay of the Philippines won the tournament, edging out Guangzhou of China which also finishing on 25 points. 19 teams (including Sydney) from 15 countries playied in this event in The Philippines. Some games from this event feature in the games section below. Final scores, 9 rounds: Tagaytay, Guangzhou 25.0; Mandaluyong, Pasay, Pavlodar 22.5; Jakarta 21.5; Tehran (Iran), Tanauan, Kuala Lumpur 19.5; Samarinda 18.5; Kanchipuram 17.5; Dubai 17.0; Sydney, Ho Chi Minh, Doha 16.5; Sanaá 16.0; Hong Kong 9.0; Macau, Bandar Seri Begawan 8.5. Site | View games (large file!)

Euro Women's Champs: Leading scores after 8 rounds: 7.0 Peng Zhaoqin; 6.5 Danielian, Slavina; 6.0 Stefanova, Arakhamia-Grant, Peptan, Kosteniuk, Zhukova. Site | View games (large file!)

Kramnik extends lead at Amber: Kramnik collected a pair of points from Van Wely to move a point ahead of the rest as main rivals Anand and Leko drew against each other in round 8. Morozevich stayed in touch with two wins over Vallejo.

Round 7 was exciting with plenty of wins. Moro beat Anand 2-0 in a humdinger of a match, while Ivanchuk Beat Bareev, Gelfand recovered form enough to beat Tipalov, and Leko and Kramnik prevailed over Van Wely and Vallejo. The day's results have handed the lead back to Kramnik and Leko.

Round 6 saw Visy Anand and Evgeny Bareev take over the lead. Anand beat Kramnik in the rapid, while Bareev beat Shirov 2-0. Topalov and Ivanchuk won a game each, and Van Wely toppled Morozevich 1.5-0.5.

In round 5 Ivanchuk surprisingly beat Leko 2-0, and tail-ender Gelfand took a point off Morozevich, while Anand moved up to join Kramnik in the lead.

In round 4 Kramnik and Morozevich drew their match, allowing Leko and Anand to move into joint first place. A pair of draws in round 3 against Leko cut into Kramnik's lead in the event, and allowed Bareev to catch him in first spot. Gelfand's disastrous form continued.

Kramnik beat Ivanchuk 1.5-0.5 to retain his lead in round 2 as Morozevich stumbled against Leko and Bareev lost to Svidler. Topalov took a game off Anand to tie their second-round match 1-1. Kramnik, Morozevich and Bareev began well with 2.0/2.0 on day one of this blindfold/rapid event.

Blindfold standings (8 rounds): 1. Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2732 6.0; 2. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2716 5.5; 3. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2777 5.5; 4. Leko, Peter g HUN 2722 5.0; 5. Bareev, Evgeny g RUS 2714 5.0; 6. Svidler, Peter g RUS 2747 4.5; 7. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2736 3.5; 8. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2766 3.5; 9. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2735 3.5; 10. Van Wely, Loek g NED 2617 3.0; 11. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2709 1.5; 12. Vallejo Pons, Francisco g ESP 2663 1.5;
Rapid standings (8 rounds): 1. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2766 5.5; 2. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2777 5.5; 3. Leko, Peter g HUN 2722 5.0; 4. Svidler, Peter g RUS 2747 4.5; 5. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2735 4.5; 6. Bareev, Evgeny g RUS 2714 4.5; 7. Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2732 4.0; 8. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2716 4.0; 9. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2709 3.0; 10. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2736 3.0; 11. Van Wely, Loek g NED 2617 3.0; 12. Vallejo Pons, Francisco g ESP 2663 1.5.
Combined standings (8 rounds): 1. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2777 11.0; 2. Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2732 10.0; 3. Leko, Peter g HUN 2722 10.0; 4. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2716 9.5; 5. Bareev, Evgeny g RUS 2714 9.5; 6. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2766 9.0; 7. Svidler, Peter g RUS 2747 9.0; 8. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2735 8.0; 9. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2736 6.5; 10. Van Wely, Loek g NED 2617 6.0; 11. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2709 4.5; 12. Vallejo Pons, Francisco g ESP 2663 3.0.

The 13th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament in Monaco is one of the year's most interesting tournaments. The world's best rapid player (Anand) and the best blindfold (Kramnik) head a stellar line-up: Bareev, Gelfand, Ivanchuk, Leko, Morozevich, Shirov, Svidler, Topalov, Vallejo and Van Wely. Kasparov is missing as usual - he has not played this event for many years. The event is sponsored by Dutch millionaire J.J. van Oosterom, and offers 193,250 euros in prizes. Each day features two rounds - one rapid, one blindfold. For the latter, the players will make a move on a blank computer screen.

Official Site | Games

Grischuk wins Poikovsky "Karpov" tourney: The category XVIII 5th Karpov Tournament in Poikovsky, Siberia features Grischuk, Sokolov, Malakhov, Bologan, Aleksandrov, Lautier, Rublevsky, Zvjagintsev, Onischuk and Zhang Zhong. Final scores, 9 rounds: 1. Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2719 6.0; 2. Rublevsky, Sergei g RUS 2655 6.0; 3. Bologan, Viktor g MDA 2679 5.5; 4. Sokolov, Ivan g NED 2706 5.5; 5. Zvjaginsev, Vadim g RUS 2654 5.0; 6. Onischuk, Alexander g USA 2652 4.5; 7. Lautier, Joel g FRA 2676 4.0; 8. Aleksandrov, Aleksej g BLR 2679 3.5; 9. Zhang Zhong g CHN 2639 3.5; 10. Malakhov, Vladimir g RUS 2700 1.5.

Site | Games | View annotated game: Grischuk-Zvjaginsev

Games:

Malakhov, V (2700) - Zvjaginsev, V (2654)
5th Karpov  (6)   Poikovsky RUS
2004.03.23     0-1     E97

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 O-O 6.O-O e5 7.d4 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Nd2 a5 10.a3 Bd7 11.b3 c6 12.Bb2 Qb6 13.dxc6 bxc6 14.Na4 Qc7 15.c5!? d5 16. Nb6 Rad8 17.Bc3 Nxe4 18.Nxe4 dxe4 19.Bxa5 Nf5!?

20.Nc4 Qb8 21.Bxd8 Rxd8 22.b4 Be6 23.Qe1 Nd4 24.Na5 Qc8 25.Rd1 Bh6 26.Kh1 Bf4 27.a4 Bd5 28.Bc4

Nf3!? 29.Qe2!

( 29.gxf3?? Qh3 -+ )

Otherwise black has ...Nf3!! and ...Qg4 which is very dangerous

Threatening ...e2 mate

A beautiful finish!! There's no defence against queening

Amber Blindfold
Anand-Vallejo Pons 1-0
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. f3 Be6 9. Qd2 O-O 10. O-O-O a5 11. Qe1 Qc8 12. a4 Nc6 13. g4 Nb4 14. g5 Nh5 15. Kb1 Qc7 16. Qf2 Nf4 17. Nb5 Qb8 18. Bxf4 exf4 19. N3d4 Bd7 20. Rg1 g6 21. Bc4 Qc8 22. Bb3 Qc5 23. Qd2 Qe5 24. h4 Rac8 25. h5 Kg7 26. Qh2 Bxg5 27. Nxd6 Bf6 28. hxg6 fxg6 29. N6f5+ Kh8

30. Qxh7+!! Kxh7 31. Rh1+ 1-0

Amber Blindfold
Anand-Morozevich 0-1
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 a6 8. Qd2 b5 9. h4 b4 10. Ne2 Be7 11. dxc5 Nxc5 12. Ng3 h5 13. Be2 g6 14. O-O Na4 15. c3 bxc3 16. bxc3 Qa5 17. Rac1 Bd7 18. Rc2 Na7 19. Ng5 Nb5 20. f5 gxf5

21. Nxf7!? d4!? 22. Nxf5!? exf5 23. Nxh8 dxe3 24. Qd5 O-O-O 25. c4 Kb8 26. e6 Nac3 27. Rxc3 Bc8 28. Qxf5 Qxc3 29. cxb5 Rxh8 30. bxa6 Rf8 31. Rb1+ Ka7 32. Qe4 Qc7 33. Qd4+ Qc5 34. Qe4 Qc7 35. Qd4+ Bc5 36. Rc1 Rf5 37. Qc4 Re5 38. Qb3 Rxe6 39. a4 Re5 40. Qb5 Qb6 41. Rb1 Qxb5 42. axb5 Bg4 43. Kf1 Rf5+ 44. Bf3 Bxf3 45. gxf3 Rxf3+ 46. Ke2 Rf2+ 0-1

Amber Blindfold
Leko-Anand 1/2-1/2
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Qd2 Nf6 8. O-O-O Bb4 9. f3 Na5 10. Nb3 d5 11. Kb1 Nxb3 12. axb3 dxe4

13. Nb5!? Qe7 14. c3 O-O 15. cxb4 axb5 16. Bc5

Qe8 17. Bxf8 Qxf8 18. Bxb5 e5 19. fxe4 Nxe4 20. Qe1 Bf5 21. Bd3 Rd8 22. Rf1

Tindall-Kotsur (2569)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bc4 Qb6 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8. O-O g6 9.e5 dxe5 10.Qe2 Qd4 11.Be3 Qh4 12.f4 e4 13.Bd4 Bg7 14.g3 Qh5 15. Qxh5 gxh5 16.f5 Rg8 17.Rae1 h4 18.Nxe4 Nxe4 19.Bxg7 Nd2!? 20.f6!?

The Rd2 was useful in restraining the Kc7, so I think a better plan was simply charging the Kg1 up the board

28...Rd8 29.Bh6

Here Rg5!? is interesting

29...Rd4 30.Bg5 a6 31.c3 Re4 32.Rd2 c5 33.Kf2 a5 34.h3 a4 1/2-1/2

Flashy, but a mistake! Or is it!?

18...Nxc7 19.Bb6 Qe8!

Breaking the pin and winning a piece

20.Qa5 Nb5 21.Bxb5 Qxb5 22.Qxb5 axb5 23.Rc7 Ra6 23...Re8 24.fxe5 also looks OK for white

24.fxe5!? Rxb6 25.Rxf7+ Bg7 26.Rfxe7 Rg8 27.e6

Now white has great compensation

27...Kh6 28.Rxg7 Rxg7 29.Rxc8 +- Black's rooks are hopeless

29...Kg5 30.Rf8 b4 31.Rf7 Rg8 32.e7 Re8 33.Nd4 Kh6 34.Ne6 Ra6 35.h4 Raa8 36.Ng5 1-0

After ..Rh8, e5 and d6-7-8 will win easily

Tindall-Wong 1-0 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Be7 8.Qf3 Qc7 9.O-O-O h6 10.Bh4 Nbd7 11.Bd3 b5 12.Rhe1 Bb7 13.Qh3 g5 14.Bxg5 b4 15.e5 dxe5 16.Nxe6!?

Qb6 17.Ng7+ Kf8 18.Na4 Qa5 19.Bxh6 Qxa4 20.fxe5 Nd5 21.Nf5+ Ke8 22.Nd6+ Kd8 23.Nxf7+ Kc7 24.Bc4 N7b6 25.Bb3 Qc6 26.e6 Rhg8 27.Re5 Rac8 28.Bxd5 Nxd5 29.Rexd5 Qxd5 30.Rxd5 Bxd5 31.Qd3 Bc6 32.Qxa6 Rg4 33.Ne5 1-0

Lee Jones-Halay 1-0
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.a4 bxc4 5.Nc3 d6 6.e4 Ba6 7.f4 g6 8.Nf3 Bg7 9. Be2 Nfd7 10.O-O O-O 11.Be3 Bc8 12.Bxc4 Na6 13.Qe2 Qb6 14.a5 Qb7 15.h3 Rb8 16.Bc1 Nc7 17.e5 a6 18.Ra3 Qa8 19.Re1 Bb7 20.Rd1 dxe5 21.fxe5 e6 22.dxe6 Bxf3 23.exf7+ Kh8 24.gxf3 Nxe5 25.Nd5 Nb5 26.Bxb5 axb5 27.Bf4 Nc4 28.Nb6 Rxb6 29.axb6 Nxa3

30.Qe7!! h6 31.b7 Qa4 32.Rd8 Bd4+ 33.Rxd4 Qxd4+ 34.Kg2 Qd8 35.Be5+ Kh7 36.Qxd8 Rxd8 37.bxa3 c4 38.f4 g5 39.f5 h5 40.Kf3 1-0

Serik-Rippis 1-0
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.f3 Bg7 8.Bg5 O-O 9.Qd2 a6 10.a4 Re8 11.Nge2 Nbd7 12.Ng3 Qa5 13.Be2 Qb4 14.O-O Rb8 15.Kh1 c4 16.Ra2 Nc5 17.Bh6 Bh8 18.Rd1 Nb3 19.Qf4 Qc5 20.Qe3 Qc7 21.Bf1 Bd7 22.Bf4 b5 23.axb5 axb5 24.Ra6 Qb7 25.Rxd6 b4 26.Nb1 Bb5 27.e5 Bg7 28.Bh6 Bh8 29. Qf4 Nd7 30.e6 Ne5

31.Bxc4!! Bxc4 32.Rd7!! f6 33.Rxb7 Rxb7 34.Ne4 Nd3 35.Rxd3 Bxd3 36.Nd6 Reb8 37.Nxb7 Rxb7 38.Qd6 1-0

Games annotated by PaulB ... comments are meant to be suggestive, not authorative! :)

Upcoming tournaments

The Italo-Australian Club 42nd Doeberl Cup A Class 3 ACF Grand Prix Event 9-12 April 2004. Location: The Italo-Australian Club, 78 Franklin Street, Forrest, Canberra, ACT. Total Prizes: $10,000. Premier Division (FIDE-rated; Rated over 1600 only): First $2200 Full details

University Open: 10th & 11th of July 4th Floor Union Building, Adelaide University $4000 Prizes, $1000 first A Category Three Grand Prix event Entry Fees: $40 Adult, $30 concession GM Ian Rogers is a confirmed entrant Details

World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad Calicut (Kozhikode), Kerala, India July 1-9 10 Round Swiss. 4-player teams 90 minutes/30 seconds increment Free board and lodging to a team of 4 players and the official, for nine days from 1st July to 9th July. For further details, please contact: P.T. Ummer Koya, Organising Secretary and Secretary General, AICF and Vice President FIDE, Chessindia Complex, Meenchanda, Post Nallalam, Calicut – 673 027, INDIA Phone : (91) 495 – 2420327, 2420727 Fax : (91) 495 – 2422033, 2421005 Email Website

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