Correction: The Doeberl Cup report last week incorrectly said that Bourmistrov had beaten Depasquale; in fact, Depasquale won that game. Also, apologies for the lateness of the newsletter lately; I've had the flu.

Victorian Masters: IM Stephen Solomon has scored a tremendous victory in this prestigious event, two points clear of a strong field. The tournament was conducted by ChessWorld and sponsored by Comedy Power and Chess Victoria. Leonid Sandler was the arbiter.

Final Standings
7.5 Solomon $1000
5.5 Canfell, Froehlich $400
5.0 Weng, West, Lukey
4.0 Wang
3.5 Levi
3.0 Tindall
1.0 Krstic

 1: Solomon, Stephen   7.5 /  9   X = 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1
 2: Canfell, Greg      5.5 /  9   = X = 1 1 0 0 1 = 1
 3: Froehlich, Peter   5.5 /  9   0 = X = = 1 = = 1 1
 4: Lukey, Stephen     5.0 /  9   1 0 = X 0 1 = 1 0 1
 5: West, Guy          5.0 /  9   0 0 = 1 X 1 = = = 1
 6: Weng, Lim Yee      5.0 /  9   0 1 0 0 0 X 1 1 1 1
 7: Wang, Puchen       4.0 /  9   0 1 = = = 0 X 0 = 1
 8: Levi, Eddy         3.5 /  9   0 0 = 0 = 0 1 X 1 =
 9: Tindall, Brett     3.0 /  9   0 = 0 1 = 0 = 0 X =
10: Krstic, Slobodan   1.0 /  9   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = = X

Second-placegetter Greg Canfell has written an interesting account of the tournament, including annotated games, on the ChessKit bulletin board.

Solomon's commanding victory was remarkable, given that he suffered a rare loss in the first round:

Solomon has just played ...Bb5, and Lukey won the exchange with Nb6!

Greg Canfell had a good result overall but some bad luck along the way. After beating West with black in round 1, he resigned after just 15 moves in round 2 - in this position ...

...because Nd2! will win his queen.

Meanwhile, Solo unleashed some fireworks against Lim Yee Weng:

15.Bg5!! Bxg5 16.Nxf7! Kxf7 17.Rxe6.

The round 4 clash between Tindall and Levy produced some extraordinary tactics:

16...fxe5!? 17. cxb6 exf4 18. Qxe7 Rxe7 19. bxc7!? Bxa1 20. Bxd6!? Bd4+ 21. Kh1 f3!? 22. Bxf3 Rxf3!? 23. Rxf3 Re8 24. Nd2 c5 25. Kg2 Bxf3+ 26. Nxf3 Kf7 27. Ng5+ Kf6 28. Nxh7+ Ke6 29. Bf4 Be5 30. Ng5+ Kd7 31. Ne4 Kxc7 32. Nxc5 Bxf4 33. gxf4 Re2+ 34. Kg3 Rxa2 35. Ne6+ Kd6 36. Nf8 Ra3 37. Nxg6 Rxb3+ 38. Kg4 a5 39. Kg5 a4 40. Ne5 Rc3 41. Nf7+ Ke7 42. Kg6 a3 43. f5 Rc6+ 0-1

Solomon saw off one of his major rivals, Froehlich, in round 6. After winning the exchange, he finished with a nice combination:

29. f6+! Nxf6 30. Rxf6!! Kxf6 31. Qxh6+ Kf7 32. Rf1+ Kg8 33. Qg6+ 1-0

Also in round 6, attacking maestro Levy got some of his own medicine from Lim Yee Weng:

18. Rxh4! Bxe4 {else Ng5! will win} 19. Rxe4 and white was a piece ahead.

Some consolation for Levy in round 7, when he entombed Puchen Wang:

West beat Weng in a rich tactical encounter in round 7:

1. d4 f5 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bg5 g6 4. e4 dxe4 5. Qd2 h6 6. Be3 g5 7. f4 Bg7 8. O-O-O e6 9. g4 Nc6 10. gxf5 gxf4 11. Bxf4 e5 12. Qg2 exf4 13. Qxg7 Qf6 14. Qxc7 Bxf5 15. Qxf4 Qg5 16. Nge2 Nf6 17. Bg2 Qxf4+ 18. Nxf4 O-O-O 19. Nce2 Rhg8 20. c3 Rdf8 21. Ng3 Ng4 22. Rdf1 Ne3

23. Nxf5! Nxf1 24. Rxf1 Kb8 25. Bxe4 Rg4 26. h3 Rgg8 27. Nxh6 Rg5 28. h4 Ra5 29. Nf5 Raxf5 30. Bxf5 Rxf5 31. Kd2 Ne7 32. Ke2 Kc8 33. Kf3 Rf8 34. Ke4 Nf5 35. Rf2 Nxh4 36. Nd3 Re8+ 37. Kd5 Ng6 38. a4 Ne7+ 39. Kc4 Nc6 40. Rf7 Re4 41. Rf8+ Kc7 42. Rf7+ Kc8 43. b4 a6 44. a5 Rh4 45. Rg7 Rh6 46. Rg8+ Kc7 47. Nf4 Rd6 48. Rg7+ Kb8 49. Nd5 Rd8 50. Nb6 Ka7 51. Rc7 Kb8 52. Rh7 Ka7 53. Nd7 Rc8 54. Nc5 Nd8 55. d5 Ka8 56. Kd4 Ka7 57. Kd3 Kb8 58. Nd7+ Ka7 59. Rh8 Ra8 60. Rf8 Rc8 61. c4 Ra8 62. Nb6 Rb8 63. Ke3 Nc6 64. Rxb8 1-0

Solomon beat Krstic with an amazing combination:

12...f6!! 13. e6 {If 13. gxh5, presumably fxe5 14.Bxe5 Rxf3! and 15...Qxe5 with a crushing attack} Qxe6! 14. Nd4 Bxd4 15. cxd4 Ng5! 16. Qd3 Bxg4 17. hxg4 Qxg4+ 18. Qg3 Qxf4! 0-1

Top

NECG Junior Masters: Following the Doeberl one of the long-awaited NECG events was held at Canberra's Campbell High School, involving training and tournament practice for promising juniors. IM David Smerdon outclassed the field in the top event. Charles Zworestine was DOP for the top two events, with ACTCA President Denis Jessop doing the job for the bottom two events. NECG - the Network Economics Consulting Group - has generously donated $7000 per annum to support junior development.

Australian Young Masters, 9 rounds:
8.0 David Smerdon; 5.5 Denis Bourmistrov, Peter Jovanovic; 4.5 Raymond Song; 4.0 Michael Wei, Kostia Lubarsky; 3.5 Giang Nguyen, Gareth Oliver, Dusan Stojic; 3.0 James Obst.

Australian Junior Masters: Jason Hu won the lightning play-off for this event.
Jason Hu, Moulthun Ly 7.0; Jeremy Neeman, Justin Huang 6.0; James Cronan, Junta Ikeda 4.0; Shannon Oliver 3.5; Heather Huddleston 3.0; Chris Tran 2.5; Khoi Hoang 2.0.

NECG Junior Masters Training Group 1
Cambell, ACT
Final scores:
1.R.Harris(N) 5.5/7;
=2.Illingworth(N), Lugo(V) 5;
4.A.Song(N) 4;
5.Guo-Yuthok(ACT) 3.5;
6.Stevens(SA) 3;
=7.M.Ikeda(ACT), Zhigen Lin(V) 1.

NECG Junior Masters Training Group 2
Final scores:
1.Brown(ACT) 6;
2.B.Harris(N) 5.5;
3.Evans(Q) 5;
=4.Morris(V), Hickman(V) 4;
6.T.Oliver(ACT) 2.5;
7.Soltysik(N) 1;
8.Guo(ACT) 0.

FIDE Knockout: GM Darryl Johansen has been confirmed for the next FIDE world championship knockout event. Full list here.

And IM Berezina-Feldman is heading to Georgia for the World Women's Championships next month. However, there has been strong speculation that the unsettled political situation in the country may force a change of plans. Qualifiers' list.

Meanwhile, recent FIDE news can be found at the FIDE site, and on the organisations bulletins.

George Xie won the 20 player City of Sydney Rapid-play scoring 6.5/7 one point ahead of Romeo Capilitan.

Top

Olympiad selections: 36th Chess Olympiad, Calvia, Majorca, Spain, October 14th-31st.

Applications are now open for the Australian Open and Womens Olympiad Teams for the 36th Chess Olympiad to be held in Calvia, Majorca, Spain from October 14th-31st 2004. (Event website: http://www.36chessolympiad.com/uk/index.php).

Those wishing to be considered for selection as official playing representatives must apply, in writing or by email, as per the ACF Selection Procedures By-Laws, by Friday 18th June 2004. Please refer to item 5 of the ACF Selection By-Laws before applying and for details of material required in an application (see below). The full Selection By-Laws are available at http://www.auschess.org.au/constitution/con7.htm .

Full details on the upcoming tournaments page

- Kevin Bonham
ACF Olympiad Selections Co-Ordinator.

Mind Games Festival at Surfers Paradise: Fri to Sun 26-30 May

The Surfers Paradise Management Association in Association with the Queensland Events Corporation are running the inaugural Mind Games Festival from 26 to 30 May. The events include Chess, Bridge, Euchre, 500 and Scrabble.

Gardiner Chess has been asked to run the chess part of the festival. Whilst the other four events will be held indoors in five star hotels, we are delighted that chess will be given a very high profile in, and around, Cavill Avenue.

Full details: upcoming tournaments page

Juniors

World Youth Festival - Heraklion, Crete, Greece: Applications are now open for the World Youth Championship 2004, to be held in Heraklion, Crete, Greece in November. The dates are November 3-14. 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.

All applications should be in accordance with the ACF Selection Procedures By-law, which can be found at http://www.auschess.org.au/constitution

The timetable of when matters regarding selections are to be done is as follows:

5 April - ask for applications
26 April - applications close
3 May - all material including rating files to selectors
24 May - Selections announced
14 June – final date for accepting selection
28 June - allow for any reserves to accept selections

Applications close on Monday April 26.
Please send all application to Kerry Stead via email kerrys@ihug.com.au

Kerry Stead
ACF Vice President

World News:

A number of important events are under way, including the Polish and Bulgarian Championships, and the strong Dubai Open - Details and games online at NetChessNews - but most attention is being focused on the mighty Russian Teams event:

[Event "TCh-RUS"]
[Site "Dagomys RUS"]
[Date "2004.04.21"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Morozevich, A"]
[Black "Bologan, V"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2732"]
[BlackElo "2665"]
[ECO "B12"]
[EventDate "2004.04.20"]
[JsCom "startply=55"]
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 e6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bf4 Ne7 
6.Qd3 b6 7.Ne2 Ba6 8.Qe3 O-O 9.
O-O-O c5 10.a3 Bxc3 11.Qxc3 Bxe2 12.Bxe2 c4 
13.h4 b5 14.Qe1 Nbc6 15.h5 Qd7 16.
g4 f6 17.Bf1 Rad8 18.Bh3 dxe4 19.fxe4 Nxd4 
20.g5 f5 21.Kb1 Qc6 22.h6 fxe4 23.
Qc3 e3 
    {Now comes a series of hammer blows: 
an amazing combination!!}





24.Rxd4!! Qxh1+ 25.Ka2 Qxh3 26.Rxd8! 
    {threatening Qxg7#}
26...gxh6 27.gxh6 Qg4 28.Qh8+!! 
    ( 28.Qh8+ Kxh8 29.Rxf8+ Ng8 
   30.Be5+ Qg7 31.Bxg7# {Wonderful!} )
1-0

[Event "TCh-RUS"]
[Site "Dagomys RUS"]
[Date "2004.04.23"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Morozevich,A"]
[Black "Alekseev,Evgeny"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2732"]
[BlackElo "2616"]
[EventDate "2004.04.20"]
[ECO "B56"]
[JsCom "startply=45"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 
5. Nc3 Nc6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8.
Be3 Be6 9. Qe2 O-O 10. O-O-O Na5 11. Nc5 Bc4 
12. Qe1 Qc7 13. Nb3 Nxb3+ 14.
axb3 Be6 15. g4 Rfc8 16. g5 Nd7 17. Kb1 a6 
18. h4 Qc6 19. Rh2 b5 20. h5 Bd8
21. g6 Ba5 22. Qh4 Bxc3 





23. h6!? 
{Recapture? Too slow! You gotta 
like this Moro guy ...} 
fxg6 24. hxg7 h5 25. Qg5 Kxg7 26. bxc3 Bf7
27. Qh6+ Kg8 28. Rxh5!! gxh5 29. Bxb5!! axb5 
30. Rg1+ Bg6 31. Qxg6+ Kf8 32.
Qg8+ {Wow!} 1-0


[Event "TCh-RUS"]
[Site "Dagomys RUS"]
[Date "2004.04.25"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Akopian, Vl"]
[Black "Lugovoi, A"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2689"]
[BlackElo "2550"]
[ECO "B67"]
[EventDate "2004.04.20"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 
6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.O-O-O Bd7 
9.f4 h6 10.Bh4 g5!? 
    {A standard break which tends to  
   activate the h8 rook at the 
   expense of vulnerabilities 
    on the kingside}
11.fxg5 Ng4 12.Nxc6 Bxc6 13.Be2 Ne5 14.Kb1 Be7 
15.Bg3 hxg5 16.Rhf1 Qc7 17.Qe3 
b5 18.a3 Qa7 19.Rd4 Qb6 20.Qd2 Bb7 21.Bxe5!? 
    {The start of a fascinating attacking plan}
21...dxe5 22.Rd7! 
    {Threatening to wreak havoc 
    with Rxe7+ and Qxg5+}
22...f6 23.Bg4! Bc8 





24.Bxe6!! 
    {Just beautiful!}
24...Qxe6 
    ( 24...Bxd7? 25.Qxd7+ Kf8 
    26.Rxf6+!! +- Bxf6 27.Qf7# )
25.Rxe7+!! Qxe7 
    ( 25...Kxe7 26.Nd5+ {doesn't look  
    any more promising} )
26.Nd5 Qg7 27.Nxf6+ Ke7 28.Qd5 
    {White has a whopping attack 
    for the rook, and 
    black can't  do much because
    he's completely undeveloped}
28...Ra7 29.Qc5+ Kd8 30.Qb6+! Rc7 
    ( 30...Qc7?? 31.Rd1+ Ke7 32.Nd5+ +- )
31.Rd1+ Bd7 32.Nxd7 +- 
    {A beautiful and surprising attack!}
1-0