Last chance for Olympiad selections - applications close this Friday: 36th Chess Olympiad, Calvia, Majorca, Spain, October 14th-31st.

Applications are now open for the Australian Open and Women's 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.

Meanwhile, planning is well under way for the 2004 World Youth Chess Championships to be held in Iraklion, Crete, in November. Apart from the 10 selected children the opportunity exists for other Australian Juniors to play in the tournament (all entries have to be ratified by the Australian Chess Federation). It is a fantastic opportunity to mix with 1000 children from other countries, play 11 really strong games and get daily coaching and analysis. Can any interested parents please contact Jenni Oliver at jenni@stratagemcc.com.au for more information. The team has to be finalised and all coaching arrangements in place by early August 2004.

Entries are also being invited for the prestigious 2004 Australian Masters. Email Nick Speck at masters@swiftdsl.com.au if you're interested in playing.

Dates & Times: Tuesday 3rd August to Saturday 14th August 2004
Rounds start at 3pm
Format: 12 player round robin and we are aiming for a category 4 event
Games will be FIDE rated, anticipating a category 4 event
Time Control: 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment for the entire game
Venue: Melbourne Chess Club 66 Leicester St. Fitzroy
Prizes: 1st Place $1000; 2nd Place $750; 3rd Place $500.
Entry Fees: Entry fees are only applicable for non-IM players: 2350-2399 $100; 2250-2349 $150; 2150-2249 $250. Appearance Fees: International Masters $200.

Adelaide Queen's Birthday Weekender:

Place Name              Loc  Score

 1-2  Freytag, Justin B 2084 5.5  
      Zaric, Srboljub   2243 5.5  
 3-4  Lutley, Philip    1594 4    
      Hester, David     1693 4    
 5-6  Short, Andrew     1643 3.5  
      Moore, James           3.5  
7-10  Anonymous by request   3    
      Turcaj, Pavel     1472 3    
      Eustace, Sophie   682  3    
      Zulfic, Fedja     1020 3    
 11   Low, Brandon           2    
 12   Sadras, Francisco      1.5  
13-14 Mitra, Druva      872  0.5  
      Harrison, Richard      0.5  

Tasmanian Open and Lightning Championship, 12-14 June: The 2004 Tasmanian Open attracted a strong field of 24 entries. Lim Yee Weng and FM Lee Jones were the favourites on paper, and finished up tied for first on 5/6, but neither dominated the locals as much as expected. Hobart player Peter Billam, seeded sixth, was their chief stumbling block, with Lim in trouble against him before drawing and Jones about to resign when three passed pawns down in the ending before deciding to play on and somehow getting them all back. In between these credible efforts, Billam beat John Slidziunas with the black pieces in a mere twelve moves! Billam, Kevin Bonham, Lim and Jones entered the final round tied for first place but Glen Gibbs beat Billam in a messy ending marred by time trouble to claim third place, while in the Jones-Bonham game on board 1, Black's game fell apart suddenly as time trouble approached. Gibbs also had some luck along the way, avoiding a losing touchtake blunder by millimetres before beating Hendry in round 5.

The U1700 and junior prizes offered no surprises with Phil Donnelly and Thomas Hendry clearly the strongest players in those divisions. In the U1500s, Nick Chapman found himself on 3/4 after Nigel Frame blundered his queen in the biggest upset of the event, but this proved to be peaking too early and Chapman was overtaken by Graham Richards, whose upset round 2 loss to Leo Minol didn't stop him storming home to 3.5/6 with the better side of an aggressive last-round draw with Donnelly. The five young juniors playing all seemed to have improved but were unable to take any points off the adults.

In-depth report and games coming to the TCA website in about a week's time, and some games will be posted to the ChessKit BB.

5/6 Lim Yee Weng (Malaysia, 2344), FM Lee Jones (NSW, 2035)
4.5 Glen Gibbs (1796)
4.0 Kevin Bonham (1961), Peter Knight (1993), John Slidziunas (1772), Peter Billam (UNR)
3.5 Nigel Frame (1832), Phil Donnelly (1662), Graham Richards (1446)
3.0 Charles Chadwick (1862), Nick Chapman (1496), Milutin Ivkovic (1577), Thomas Hendry (j,1433), John O'Mara (1303), Aaron Hooper (j,769)
2.5 Tony Sturges (1352), Janice Martin (f, 1519)
2.0 David Christian (1422), Leo Minol (1208), Erin Frame (fj, 700)
1.0 Catherine Shaw (fj,734), Duncan Berry (j, UNR)
0.0 Alex Shaw (j, 981)

The 2004 Tasmanian Lightning Championship attracted eight entrants. The winner, FM Lee Jones (12/14), was ineligible for the title so it was shared between Nigel Frame (who has now won the title six times) and Kevin Bonham (who has never won it before) on 11/14. The remaining players were Milutin Ivkovic (8), Thomas Hendry (7), Alex Shaw (3), Catherine Shaw and Zachary Frame (2)

- Kevin Bonham

OPEN: Top seed GM Ian Rogers won this one convincingly, scoring the same perfect (7/7) score he got last year! (Who wants to take out a book on when Ian will concede his first point, or even half point, in the NSW Open?). Most of his games he won fairly handily, but he was pushed on the second day, first by second placegetter Armen Ayvazyan (5.5/7), then by the rapidly improving George Xie (= 3rd on 5/7). After a long and tough struggle, Armen eventually allowed a 4 move combination ending in a knight fork winning his queen. George had a good position at one stage, but was very short of time and allowed Ian to sacrifice his queen for rook and knight very beneficially, then win with his passed e3 pawn as Black.

Apart from this game George was not quite in his best form this weekend, conceding draws with Camer and Bolens. Camer claimed he missed a win in the knight and bishop ending; while George's attempts to avoid a draw nearly ended up with him losing to Bolens, but he rescued himself in the end with a perpetual check. He then ended up sharing 3rd place with juniors Raymond Song and Michael Wei. The latter won his Round 6 game against Ed Agulto after Ed had resigned a drawn position when he thought he would end up a piece down as a result of Michael's combination, but missed that if Michael had recaptured his queen he would have had his rook trapped (and so he would have had to take a perpetual check instead!). Alex Mendes da Costa won a very exciting last game to finish against Vincent Suttor to claim the Under 1800 prize.

Prizes: 1st Ian Rogers 7/7; 2nd Armen Ayvazyan 5.5; 3rd = Raymond Song, Michael Wei, George Xie 5; 1800-1999 =1st Junta Ikeda, Bruce Murray 4.5; Under 1800 1st Alex Mendes da Costa 4.5, =2nd Mos Ali, Milan Grcic, Max Illingworth 4.

No Name                     Feder Rtg  Loc  Total  1    2    3    4    5    6    7 
 
1  Rogers, Ian              NSW   2582 2646 7     22:W 18:W 27:W  2:W  3:W 10:W  8:W
2  Ayvazyan, Armen          NSW   2219 2121 5.5   29:W 20:W 19:W  1:L 13:W  6:W  4:D
3  Xie, George              NSW   2281 2319 5     13:W  5:W  6:D 11:W  1:L  7:D 20:W
4  Wei, Michael             ACT   2111 1953 5     24:W 35:L 23:W 31:W 15:D  9:W  2:D
5  Song, Raymond            NSW   1944 1903 5     44:W  3:L 37:W 25:L 22:W 31:W 15:W
6  Camer, Angelito          NSW   2084 2077 4.5   37:W 12:W  3:D 10:D 25:W  2:L 14:D
7  Bolens, Johny            NSW   2211 2061 4.5   33:D 40:W  8:W 15:D  9:D  3:D 10:D
8  Kabir, Ruhul             NSW   2228 2244 4.5   38:D 25:W  7:L 16:W 19:W 17:W  1:L
9  Agulto, Edgardo          NSW   2180 2113 4.5   28:W 27:L 21:W 12:W  7:D  4:L 23:W
10 Goris, Robert            NSW   2191 2190 4.5   16:D 33:W 35:W  6:D 24:W  1:L  7:D
11 Compton, Alistair        OS    2112 2112 4.5   40:D 16:W 26:W  3:L 23:D 13:D 24:W
12 Ikeda, Junta             ACT        1819 4.5   46:W  6:L 30:W  9:L 28:W 19:W 17:D
13 Mendes da Costa, Alex    NSW        1782 4.5    3:L 44:W 46:W 18:W  2:L 11:D 26:W
14 Murray, Bruce D          NSW        1877 4.5   49:W 48:L 32:D 47:W 18:W 15:D  6:D
15 Schultz-Pedersen, Jesper OS    2220 2180 4     21:D 38:W 17:W  7:D  4:D 14:D  5:L
16 Illingworth, Max         NSW        1761 4     10:D 11:L 38:W  8:L 32:W 27:W 29:D
17 Capilitan, Romeo         NSW   2179 2005 4     39:W 23:D 15:L 42:W 26:W  8:L 12:D
18 Peters, Duncan           NSW        1911 4     42:W  1:L 39:W 13:L 14:L 37:W 30:W
19 Chan, Jason              NSW   2183 1978 4     45:W 31:W  2:L 35:W  8:L 12:L 33:W
20 Hu, Jason                NSW        1885 4     41:W  2:L 45:L 39:W 21:W 34:W  3:L
21 Ali, Mosaddeque          ACT   2042 1746 4     15:D 51:D  9:L 44:W 20:L 36:W 31:W
22 Grcic, Milan             ACT        1798 4      1:L 41:L 40:W 30:W  5:L 45:W 34:W
23 Rout, Ian C              ACT        1885 3.5   32:W 17:D  4:L 45:W 11:D 24:D  9:L
24 Dick, David W            NSW        1982 3.5    4:L 47:W 28:W 27:W 10:L 23:D 11:L
25 Tse, Jeffrey             NSW        1500 3.5   43:W  8:L 51:W  5:W  6:L 26:L 28:D
26 Suttor, Vincent          NSW   2022 1884 3.5   34:W  0:D 11:L 32:W 17:L 25:W 13:L
27 Lovejoy, David           QLD        1853 3.5   36:W  9:W  1:L 24:L 29:D 16:L 40:W
28 Descallar, Levi          NSW        1724 3.5    9:L 34:W 24:L 41:W 12:L 47:W 25:D
29 Huang, Justin            NSW   2106 1727 3.5    2:L 32:L 49:W 36:W 27:D 33:D 16:D
30 Dickson, Ian C           NSW        1649 3     48:L 52:W 12:L 22:L 49:W 35:W 18:L
31 Barisic, Frank           NSW        1818 3     52:W 19:L 41:W  4:L 45:W  5:L 21:L
32 Keuning, Anthony V       NSW        1610 3     23:L 29:W 14:D 26:L 16:L 41:W 38:D
33 Redgrave, John           NSW        1811 3      7:D 10:L 42:L 50:W 37:W 29:D 19:L
34 Nicholson, Scott         NSW        1603 3     26:L 28:L 52:+ 43:W 35:W 20:L 22:L
35 Lau, Eddie               ACT        1799 3     50:W  4:W 10:L 19:L 34:L 30:L 42:W
36 Sewell, Robert           NSW        1524 3     27:L 37:L  0:W 29:L 39:W 21:L 45:W
37 Savelieff, Geoffrey      NSW        1698 3      6:L 36:W  5:L 46:W 33:L 18:L 47:W
38 Tomas, Tom               NSW        1774 3      8:D 15:L 16:L 40:D 44:W 42:D 32:D
39 Buza, Muhamed            NSW        1672 3     17:L 49:W 18:L 20:L 36:L 50:W 46:W
40 Yum, Brenton             NSW        1723 2.5   11:D  7:L 22:L 38:D 41:D 43:W 27:L
41 Grbin, Tereza            NSW        1612 2.5   20:L 22:W 31:L 28:L 40:D 32:L  0:W
42 Escribano, Jose          NSW        1640 2.5   18:L 43:D 33:W 17:L 47:D 38:D 35:L
43 Rachmadi, Herman         NSW        1824 2.5   25:L 42:D 47:L 34:L 46:W 40:L 44:W
44 Urdanegui, Abel          NSW        1622 2      5:L 13:L 50:W 21:L 38:L 51:+ 43:L
45 Trkulja, Slavko          NSW        1644 2     19:L 50:W 20:W 23:L 31:L 22:L 36:L
46 Miranda, Adrian          NSW        1458 2     12:L  0:W 13:L 37:L 43:L 49:W 39:L
47 Xu, William              NSW        1410 2     51:D 24:L 43:W 14:L 42:D 28:L 37:L
48 Ilic, Ilija              NSW   2120 1980 2     30:W 14:W  0:   0:   0:   0:   0:
49 Korbe, Heinrich          NSW        1546 1.5   14:L 39:L 29:L  0:W 30:L 46:L 50:D
50 McDonald, David          NSW             1.5   35:L 45:L 44:L 33:L  0:W 39:L 49:D
51 Tomac, Jack              NSW        1819 1     47:D 21:D 25:L  0:L  0:L 44:-  0:
52 Cameron, Jole            NSW             0     31:L 30:L 34:-  0:   0:   0:   0:

Under 1600:

The top seeds struggled in this one, with second seed Carl Art and fourth seed Sherab Guo-Yuthok losing in Round 1, third seed Eddy Katnic in Round 2 and top seed Gojko Trzin in Round 3. Of these, Sherab perpetrated the Swiss gambit best, as he then won his next six games to win the tournament outright on 6/7! But it was not only juniors doing well, as both Danny Bisson and veteran Norm Greenwood were on the top boards for the whole event, and came equal second on 5.5. Norm in particular did well, not losing a game (but drawing three). The field of 30 players was a little disappointing given the $600 first prize; perhaps more will play next year, when the aim is to make the first prize the biggest Under 1600 one in the country (bigger even than Doeberl)...

Prizes: 1st Sherab Guo-Yuthok 6/7; 2nd = Danny Bisson, Norm Greenwood 5.5; 1st 1350-1500 Adam Guzel 4.5; 1st = Under 1350 Matthew Beltrami, Andrew Brown, Lloyd R Fell 4.

No Name                Feder Loc  Total  1    2    3    4    5    6    7 
 
1  Guo-Yuthok, Sherab  ACT   1560 6     20:L 25:W 24:W 13:W  2:W  5:W  6:W
2  Bisson, Danny Wayne NSW   1510 5.5   28:W  4:W  7:W  3:D  1:L 10:W  5:W
3  Greenwood, Norman   NSW   1513 5.5   19:W 20:W  9:W  2:D  5:D  8:D 11:W
4  Cannings, Stephen   NSW        5     22:W  2:L 14:W  6:L 15:W  9:W  8:W
5  Guzel, Adam         NSW   1457 4.5   27:W 18:W 11:W 12:W  3:D  1:L  2:L
6  Kresinger, Frank    NSW   1547 4.5   17:W  8:D 12:L  4:W 18:W 16:W  1:L
7  Nikolaou, Chris     NSW   1540 4.5   21:W 24:W  2:L  8:D  9:L 17:W 16:W
8  Boyce, Jamie        NSW   1395 4     16:W  6:D 18:D  7:D 12:W  3:D  4:L
9  Trzin, Gojko        NSW   1595 4     10:W 13:W  3:L 16:L  7:W  4:L 22:W
10 Beltrami, Matthew   ACT   1300 4      9:L 28:W 19:W 11:W 16:D  2:L 12:D
11 Dick, Graham        NSW   1537 4     29:W 14:W  5:L 10:L 25:W 13:W  3:L
12 Pickering, Anthony  NSW   1537 4     25:D 23:W  6:W  5:L  8:L 24:W 10:D
13 Evans, David A      NSW   1510 4     30:W  9:L 20:W  1:L 26:W 11:L 18:W
14 Brown, Andrew       ACT   1325 4     26:W 11:L  4:L 18:L 30:W 19:W 23:W
15 Fell, Lloyd R       NSW   1253 4     18:L 19:L 21:W 30:W  4:L 26:W 24:W
16 Tracey, Michael J   NSW   1401 3.5    8:L 29:W 30:W  9:W 10:D  6:L  7:L
17 Davies, Duncan      NSW   1165 3.5    6:L 26:W 25:L 19:D 20:W  7:L 27:W
18 Katnic, Eddy        NSW   1580 3     15:W  5:L  8:D 14:W  6:L 22:D 13:L
19 Jenkins, Michael    NSW        3      3:L 15:W 10:L 17:D 28:D 14:L 25:W
20 Wilkie, Mary E      NSW   1252 3      1:W  3:L 13:L 26:L 17:L 30:W 28:W
21 Gray, Garvin        QLD   1133 3      7:L 22:D 15:L  0:D  0:D 28:D 26:W
22 Jeffreys, Roger W   NSW   1490 3      4:L 21:D 27:W 25:D 24:D 18:D  9:L
23 Art, Carl           NSW   1581 3     24:L 12:L 28:L 27:W 29:W 25:W 14:L
24 Sweeney, Matthew    NSW   1257 2.5   23:W  7:L  1:L 28:W 22:D 12:L 15:L
25 Oliver, Anthony     ACT   998  2     12:D  1:L 17:W 22:D 11:L 23:L 19:L
26 Tsui, Byron         NSW        2     14:L 17:L 29:W 20:W 13:L 15:L 21:L
27 Hoang, Cimaine      NSW        2      5:L  0:D 22:L 23:L  0:D 29:W 17:L
28 Guo, Emma           ACT   808  2      2:L 10:L 23:W 24:L 19:D 21:D 20:L
29 Beltrami, Michael   ACT   1077 2     11:L 16:L 26:L  0:W 23:L 27:L 30:W
30 Tsui, Edison        NSW   377  1     13:L  0:W 16:L 15:L 14:L 20:L 29:L

No Name             Feder Rtg  Loc  Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
 
1  Sarai, Slavica   NSW   2106 2126 6     * 1 1 1 1 1 1 0
2  Song, Angela     NSW   1806 1673 5.5   0 * ½ 1 1 1 1 1
3  Oliver, Shannon  ACT   2025 1657 4.5   0 ½ * ½ 1 ½ 1 1
4  Lane, Nancy L    NSW   1985 1812 4     0 0 ½ * 1 1 ½ 1
5  Oliver, Tamzin L ACT        1133 2.5   0 0 0 0 * 1 ½ 1
6  Reid, Vaness     NSW        1637 2.5   0 0 ½ 0 0 * 1 1
7  Evans, Carrie    NSW        1349 1.5   0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 * ½
8  Ng, Deborah      NSW        1068 1.5   1 0 0 0 0 0 ½ *

The June 2004 Swiss Perfect files are now available on the ACF Ratings page

Kiwi capers: There have been some interesting developments across the pond, according to the New Zealand Chess Association's excellent newsletter.

• The selections for October's Olympiad in Mallorca, Spain have been confirmed. The Men's Team in board order is 1 IM Anthony Ker 2 FM Roger Nokes 3 IM Russell Dive 4 FM Bob Smith 5 Puchen Wang 6 FM Peter Green Non-travelling reserve - Nic Croad. The Women's Team is Viv Smith, Evginia Charomova, Edith Otene, Sue Maroroa. Non-travelling reserves - 1 Helen Courtney, 2 Shirley Wu. Edith and Sue have been confirmed as boards 3 and 4. The placement of Viv and Evginia on boards 1 and 2 is still under consideration. The Men's Team Captain is Hilton Bennett, who is also the overall Manager for the teams. The Women's Team Captain is Mark Van Der Hoorn.
• Less happily, one of the institutions of Kiwi chess, Merv Morrison, has passed away at the age of 96. He was regarded as a pleasant man but fierce fighter across the board, and held in such regard that both the current President and immediate Past President of NZCF, along with many chessplayers, attended his funeral. Merv once held the Over 80's world title and had the distinction of playing the most locally rated games of anyone in New Zealand.
• The Kiwis are planning a major event for 2006 - the Queenstown Chess Classic - which will incorporate the 113th NZ Championship. Chief promoter is Grandmaster Murray Chandler and the minimum prize-fund for the Queenstown Chess Classic will be $30,000, with a first prize of $7000. This will be a fantastic chess event; the biggest ever held in New Zealand. You can read all about it on a webpage Murray has set up - www.queenstownchess.com.
• Finally, I read that NZ has an interesting national scheme to promote junior chess - a range of junior chess badges based in different pieces which certify that young players have reached a certain level. The scheme involves various tests and certificates. The organiser writes: "If you are coaching or running junior chess, the NZCF Badge Scheme is ideal for giving children a target to work towards. They get something concrete - and attractive - as their knowledge improves. The Rook Badge test is intended as the the final school level test, though the queen and king levels will be completed in due course for advanced and older juniors. The rook test deals extensively with pawn structures, tactics, openings, basic endings."

  Sounds like it could be something that should be considered on this side of the Pacific pond.

Thanks to NZCF President Bob Smith for this info.

Olympiad Appeal: All Aussie Chess Lovers are asked to donate to the 2004 Olympiad Appeal. The monies raised go to providing funds to send the Women’s and Open team to Spain to play in the Olympiad 2004. The Olympiad starts in October but if you are able to donate money please don’t leave it to the last minute. It is essential that our top Australian Players can concentrate on their chess and not financial hassles - so please donate what you can to:

Australian Chess Federation Olympiad Appeal
cheques/money orders should be made out to "Australian Chess Federation" and sent to the
ACF Treasurer Norm Greenwood
P.O. Box 1840
Westfield Hornsby Post Office 1635

All donations will be publicly acknowledged unless you wish otherwise.

I am trying to arrange corporate and government sponsorship but your donations would be both much appreciated and most welcome. Any corporations or businesses wishing to be sponsors please call me on 0414 841575 and I can explain what we can do for you in consideration of Corporate Sponsorships.

Could all States and Territories please launch their own drives for funding to assist in this most deserving of causes.

Lets support the teams!

George Howard
President ACF

Official Olympiad website: www.36chessolympiad.com

Letters:

Hi,

My name is Austin Lockwood, I'm the webmaster of a turn based 'correspondence chess' web site.

The site is called 'SchemingMind.com Online Correspondence Chess Club', the URL is http://www.schemingmind.com

Although the site is still quite small in comparison with similar sites, it does have several features of the larger sites, for example:

- a browser based interface,
- a javascript analysis board,
- a conditional move interface,
- player ratings, using the Glicko system,
- active user forums,
- organised site tournaments and user initiated 'mini' tournaments,
- several chess variants, for example Fischer Random Chess (chess960) and CrazyHouse.

Many thanks,
Austin Lockwood
austin@schemingmind.com

Hi Paul, How are you doing? My name is Lim Yee Weng studying in Hobart, Tasmania and I am a Malaysian. There will be 2 interesting event going on in Malaysia from the 21st August, Malaysian Open which is a FIDE Rated event followed by the Merdeka rapid tournament right after that. I do hope you could just put up a short note notifying the Australia chess community on these 2 events. I am sure they would have a fun time if they were to come over and play in this tournament. By the way, full details are available at this website: http://tcn.sourceforge.net/

Go under Malaysian Open Chess Championship & Merdeka Team Championship.

I am not part of the organizing committee but i would be glad to assist anyone on any enquiries they would like to make. Therefore do let them know they could mail me at redskeet@yahoo.com but I may only be really free to attend to it from July onwards as i will be very busy for the rest of the month. Thanks very much Paul.

yours sincerely,
Lim Yee Weng

World News:

Two big stories this week: The top brass - Kasparov, Leko, Anand and Adams - have come out to play, and young Viktor Korchnoi, a mere spring chicken at 70-something, has just has just scored one of the greatest triumphs of his incredible career.

Armenia vs the World - Petrosian memorial tournament: This event commemorated the 75th anniversary of the birth of Tigran Petrosian, the famous Armenian defensive player who was world champion from 1963-66 (beat Botvinnik in 63, beat Spassky in 66 but lost to Spassky in 69). Players included Kasparov, Leko, Anand and Adams.
The teams were:
Armenia: Vladimir Akopian, Smbat Lputian, Rafael Vaganian, Garry Kasparov (his mother is Armenian), Peter Leko (wife Armenian), Boris Gelfand (Israeli - but studied under Tigran Petrosian).
Rest of the World: Viswanathan Anand, Michael Adams, Peter Svidler, Loek Van Wely, Etienne Bacrot and Francisco Vallejo Pons.

Round 1 saw Kasparov trounce Van wely with a sacrificial attack, while Gelfand's exchange sac backfired against Svidler and Anand eventually triumphed over Lputian's Winawer. Svidler and Adams beat Lputian and Akopian in good games in round 2. Anand beat Akopian while Vallejo upset Gelfand and Leko beat Van Wely in round 3. The world led 14-10 against Armenia after round 4, with wins by Bacrot over Lputian and Akopian over Van Wely. Leko beat Anand and Lputian beat Vallejo in round 5, helping Armenia claw back some ground - but the Rest of the World team still led 16-14 with one round to go. The final score ended up World 18.5 - Armenia 17.5 as Vaganian upset Adams in the only decisive game of round 6. Gelfand almost tied the match but could not beat Bacrot with an extra piece in the ending. All in all, a sensational performance by the mighty Armenian team.
Site | View games

Korchnoi 7/9! in György Marx Chess Memorial: 73-year-old Viktor Korchnoi has scored one of his greatest triumphs with a 2780 performance. Korchnoi lost only one game and led comfortably throughout. This small tourney featured some veterans (Korchnoi, Portisch) and some young stars (Acs, Berkes). Final Scores after 10 rounds: 1. Korchnoi, Viktor g SUI 2579 7.5; 2. Berkes, Ferenc g HUN 2613 6.5; 3. Beliavsky, Alexander G g SLO 2667 6.0; 4. Nevednichy, Vladislav g ROM 2544 4.0; 5. Portisch, Lajos g HUN 2573 3.0; 6. Acs, Peter g HUN 2548 3.0 Site | View games

Belgian Championship: Leading final scores: Mher (IM) 5.5; Claesen (IM) 5.0; Grecuccio 4.5; Barbier, Van De Wynkele, Van Herck 4.0.

World news including games updated daily at NetChessNews.

Games:

Kasparov, G (2817)    --    Van Wely, L (2651)
ARM-ROW Match  (1)   Moscow RUS
2004.06.10     1-0     A33

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4

The English is not usual for Kasparov

Black is slightly uncomfortable

Aiming indirectly at c4 and f4

This seems to give white a free hand on the kingside

Trying to slow things down a bit

( 26.b3?! Qc5! solves black's problems )

26...Qxc4 27.Nxd6 Qc7 28.Qxh4 Bc6 29.g4 Ba4 30.g5!?

Bxd1 31.gxf6!! Rxd6?!

( 31...Bxf3 32.Qg5 g6 33.Qh6 +- )

( 31...gxf6! is recommended as a drawing line in one analysis, with 32.Qf6 leading only to perpetual check. )

( 32...Bxf3 33.Rxg7+ Kf8 34.Qh8# )

( 33.fxg6 Bxf3 34.Qh7+ Kf8 35.Qh8# )

Adams, Mi (2731)    --    Akopian, Vl (2689)
ARM-ROW Match  (2)   Moscow RUS
2004.06.11     1-0     C10

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6 7.c3 c5 8.Ne5 a6 9.Bg5 Be7 10.dxc5 Qxd1+ 11.Rxd1 Bxc5 12.Be2 h6 13.Bh4 g5 14. Bg3 Ne4 15.Bf3 Nxg3 16.hxg3 Ke7

Now white gets to recover his piece because Rxf7 mate is threatened

( 25.Rh5 Rxg2? 26.Ng4+!! Kxc4 27.Nxe3+ +- )

In the other major event this week, Korchnoi inflicted a humiliating defeat on top-seed Beliavky, trapping his knight in the middle of the board:

Beliavsky took spectacular revenge on Korchnoi in their second encounter in the double-round-robin event:

Korchnoi, V (2579)    --    Beliavsky, A (2667)
II Gyorgy Marx Mem  (8)   Paks HUN
2004.06.13     0-1     E46

The game that ended Korchnoi's fantastic run 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.Ne2 d5 6.a3 Be7 7.Ng3 a5 8.Qc2 c5 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10.cxd5 exd5 11.Be2 Nc6 12.O-O d4 13.Nb5!?

White doesn't mind an isolani if he has an open f-file

13...Qb6 14.e4 Ne5 15.a4 Nfg4 16.Nh1 Rd8 17.Bd3

Ne3!! 18.fxe3 Nxd3 ! 19.exd4

( 19.Qxd3 dxe3 20.Qe2 Bg4!! )

( 27.Rxb6 Rd1# )

Grand Prix tournaments:

These details are provisional. For up-to-date details of these events, please visit the Grand Prix website

Mid North Coast June Open NSW; 3; June 19-20 ; Laurieton; Endel Lane 02-6559-9060
Gold Coast Open QLD; 3; June 26-27; Robina Town Centre; Graeme Gardiner 07-5522-7221 Email
Caloundra Open QLD; July 3-4; Caloundra Powerboat Club; Bob Goodwin
Fairfield Winter Cup NSW; July 10-11; Fairfield; Rolando Atenzia
University Open SA; 3; July 10-11; Adelaide University; Andrew Saint 08-83323752 Website Email
Queensland Open QLD; 2; July 17-18; Gardiner Chess Centre; Graeme Gardiner 07 5522 7221 Email
ANU Open ACT; 3; July 24-25; Canberra; Shun Ikeda 02-61254030; Website; Email
Coal City Open NSW; 3; Aug 7-8; Newcastle; George Lithgow 02-4943-3862
August Weekender NSW; July 31-August 1; Rose Bay; Website
Gold Coast Classic QLD; 3; September 18-19; Somerset College; Graeme Gardiner 07-5522-7221 Email
Ryde Eastwood Open NSW; 3; October 2-4; Ryde Eastwood; Website
Redcliffe Challenge QLD; October 2-3; Rothwell Grace Lutheran College? Website
Tweed Heads Open NSW; October 16-17; Tweed Heads Civic Centre;
Laurieton Open NSW; 1; October 30-31; Laurieton; Endel Lane 02-6559-9060
Coffs Harbour Inaugural Open NSW; 2; November 13-14; Coffs Harbour Catholic Club; Bill Ross 02-6651-8855 Email
November Weekender NSW; November 20-21; North Sydney Leagues Club; Website
Fairfield Summer Cup NSW; 3; December 10-11; Fairfield; Rolando Atenzia

Other tournaments

Full details - see upcoming tournaments on the website.

Laurieton Rapidplay: 27 June; including 7th annual Mid North Coast Rapidplay Championship and under 18 Championship; Laurieton Services Club; 10:30am start. Contact: Endel - 6559 9060 email
ASEAN Masters Chess Congress: Several tournaments. Thomas Hoe Tel : (65) 96934049 Fax : (65) 63581483 Email
World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad, India. July 1-9. 10 Round Swiss. 4-player teams. Contact: P.T. Ummer Koya, Phone : (91) 495 – 2420327, 2420727 Fax : (91) 495 – 2422033, 2421005. Email Website
NZ North Island chess championship & rapid: July 12-17. Auckland. Contact: Bob Smith.
Festival Schneider Bohemia - Pilsen 2004; August 14-22; Czech Republic; website.

Cesenatico (Italy) Open International September 4-12; Fax +3954786331 Phone +39335.6615956. Website Email Back to Top