Rout wins ACT Championship: Ian Rout is the 2004 ACT Champion with an undefeated score of 9 points from 11 games, finishing a point clear of Peter Jovanovic, whose challenge ended with a penultimate round loss to Junta Ikeda. - Ian Rogers

2004 ACT Open
Leading final scores:
1.I.Rout 9/11;
2.P.Jovanovic 8;
=3.J.Ikeda, B.Butler 7;
=5.M.Grcic, C.Kevork, M.Ali 6.5.

Kasparov - and webmaster - blunders ... I'm afraid I led you all Australiana a couple of weeks ago with my breathless report about a little-known Kasparov brilliancy. It turns out that Kasparov missed it - and agreed to a draw! - and the fantastic combination was pointed out by others (I've heard the analysis attributed to Vaganian, Jusupov and even that noted sacrificial attacking maniac, Anatoly Karpov :). What's more, even the tournament name was wrong - it wasn't Tblisi, it was Skefeltea. As it happens I got the game off one of those "collected brilliancies" PGN files on the net, and assumed it was correct. At least the combo was nice :)

World News:

Leko leads World Championship 5.5-4.5: Kramnik had what looked to be a big edge after an innovation in the Ruy Lopez in game 10, but simplification brought about a draw. There are just four games to play. Latest scores: Kramnik 4.5 - Leko 5.5

In game 1, Kramnik sacrificed queen for bishop and rook and then surprised observers by calmly winning a position many thought better for Leko in a sensational start to the long-awaited world championship match. The win - with black, in a quiet Petroff's Defence - was a stunning start for Kramnik, and a great blow for Leko. Kramnik (white) avoided Leko's possible Marshall Defence in the Ruy Lopez in round 2, and the game was quickly drawn as Leko neutralised any white initiative. Kramnik (black) employed the Petroff Defence and drew without much trouble in game 3, leaving the scores at Kramnik 2 - Leko 1. Kramnik won a pawn and got a slight edge in round 4, but Leko tied him down effectively with some very active rooks and forced a draw in game 4. Leko won game 5 to level the scores at 2.5-2.5. Playing white, the Hungarian GM won a pawn in a queen's gambit. Kramnik swapped into an endgame but Leko relentlessly pushed home his advantage. The sixth game was an unexciting draw, leaving the match tied at 3-3. Game 7 began as a Slav, but Kramnik (black) quickly converted it to a Queen's Gambit Accepted. Leko tried the standard d5 break, but the world champion quickly neutralised any initiative and steered the game to a quick draw. Scores: 3.5-3.5. Leko (black) played the famous Marshall Gambit against Kramnik's Ruy Lopez and quickly developed a crushing attack in game 8, a theoretically significant game. "Certainly I'm disappointed, but at the same time I have to say: Peter Leko played a beautiful game", said Kramnik afterwards. Leko commented: . "I had quite a mixed feeling during the game. But now I'm very happy that I won it." Leko now leads 4.5-3.5 with 6 games to play. Game 9 was a quick, boring draw, leaving the scores Leko 5-Kramnik 4. Meanwhile, it has emerged that Kramnik was suffering from a cold in game 8, and that his own pre-game analysis of the position was faulty - Qf1 was a Kramnik innovation.

The match consists of 14 games and is being played in Brissago, Switzerland, sponsored by Centro Dannemann. Organisers have released new interviews with Leko and Kramnik. The official website features live broadcasts of moves and audio commentary by GMs Dr. Helmut Pfleger and Artur Jussupov. There's also a chat forum, auctions, online chess, SMS (mobile phone) voting and a daily chess quiz with attractive prizes, including chess boards signed by Kramnik and Leko. Besides the match, there are chess tournaments and simuls for spectators and journalists organized by Swiss Chess Federation. The championship is being sponsored by Centro Dannemann.

Official Site | View Championship games | Earlier games between Kramnik and Leko

NAO wins European Club Cup: The winning team consisted of Adams, Grischuk, Bacrot, Vallejo Pons, Lautier, Radjabov, Fressinet and Nataf. The tournament in Izmir Cesme, Turkey featured 36 male clubs and 10 female clubs from 22 countries. Kasparov played for the Max Ven Ekaterinburg team and won a good game against Shirov in round 3, but lost to Rublevski in an ending in round 2. Players include Adams, Grischuk, Radjabov, Gelfand, Khalifman, Shirov and Short. Leading final scores after 7 rounds: NAO 12/31.0; Bosna Sarajevo 11/30.0; Ladya Kazan 11/27.5; Max Ven Ekaterinburg 11/25.0; Polonia Plus 10/27.0; Tomsk 10/26.5; Beer Sheva Chess Club 9/26.5. Women: NTN Tbilisi 13 19½; Finec St. Petersburg 12 21; Ladya Kazan 10 17; SK Internet Podgorica 8 17; BAS Beograd 8 16; Herzliya Chess Club 7 14½; Chigorin St. Petersburg 5 14½; Kristallen SK Stockholm 4 10; SK Jugovice Kac 3 10½; Marmaris 0 0. Site | Teams | Scores/Statistics | View games rounds 1-5 | View games 6

Computers beat humans 8.5-3.5 in Bilbao Chess Festival: Hydra scored a great win over Ponomariov in round 1, but Karjakin hit back for the humans with a win over Junior in round 2. Round 3 and 4 were again walk-overs by the computers.

The Bilbao festival features a range of interresting events, including humans (Ponomariov, Topalov and Karjakin) vs computers (Hydra, Junior and Fritz), an open, a "problems" tournament, an blindfold event and a conference.
Site | View games

World Senior Teams: Leading scores after 4 rounds: Israel 12.5; Germany, Switzerland 11; England (2) 10.5. Players include Korchnoi and Uhlmann. There are some nice reports on the official Site | View games

Piloo Mody, India: Leading final scores, 9 rounds: Marat 7.5; Iuldachev, Praveen, Deepan 6.5; Safin, Pavel, Tahir 6.0. Site | View games

World news including games updated daily at NetChessNews.

Games: These games can be played through online with the Palview viewer - click here.

Kasparov, G (2817)    --    Adams, Mi (2738)
20th ECC  (5)   Izmir TUR
2004.10.07     1/2-1/2     E37

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 Ne4 7.Qc2 Nc6 8.e3 e5 9.cxd5 Qxd5 10.Bc4 Qa5+ 11.b4 Nxb4!?

The start of a fascinating sequence

12.Qxe4!? Nc2+ 13.Ke2 Qe1+ 14.Kf3 Nxa1 15.Bb2

A fascinating position: Black is the exchange ahead, but his knight is cornered. White's king is uncomfortable, but not in immediate danger, and developing the Ng1 and Rh1 will be a challenge. My helpful assessment: unclear!

Probably intended against Ng1-f3!?-g5, which could be very dangerous, notwithstanding the Adolph Anderssen-style double rook sacrifice.

( 16...Bd7 17.Nf3!? Qxh1 18.Ng5 g6 19.Qxe5!? Rae8 20.Qf6 and black seems powerless against d5 preparing Qg7 mate )

Qxe5 also looks reasonable

( 24...Qxf3 25.gxf3 dxe3 is also interesting )

25.Kg1 Qe1+ 26.Bf1 Qxa1

27.Rxh6+!! gxh6 28.Qf6+

with perpetual check. A great fight!

Huzman, A (2588)    --    Shirov, A (2725)
20th ECC  (5)   Izmir TUR
2004.10.07     0-1     D14

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 c6 3.c4 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bf4 Bf5 7.e3 e6 8. Bb5 Nd7 9.Qa4 Rc8 10.Bxc6 Rxc6 11.Qxa7

Taking the bait

Threatening ...Rxc3! and ...Ra6, winning the queen

Prevents castling

( 12...b6!? 13.Qa4 Rxc3! 14.bxc3 Qxc3+ 15.Ke2 Bd3+ 16.Kd1 Qxa1+ 17.Kd2 Qxh1 18.Ne5! b5 19.Qa8+ Ke7 20.Nc6+ Kf6 21.Qd8+ Kf5 22. Qg5+ Ke4 23.f3# show that black needs to be careful! )

( 15.Kxd3 Rxc3+!! 16.bxc3 Qxc3+ 17.Ke2 Qc4+! 18.Kd1 Qd3+ 19.Kc1 Ba3+ 20.Qxa3 Qxa3+ -+ )

Black prevents any back-rank mates by making an escape square, with tempo

Threatening to round up the Qa7 with ...Rf7

If the Ba6 moved, a5-a6 gives some chances

27.Nxa6 exd4 28.Nc7 dxc3 29.a6 Nc5 30.a7 Qf1+

( 30...Qf1+ 31.Kc2 Qd3# )

Shirov , Alexei (2726)    --    Rublevsky , Sergei (2649)
20th European Club Cup 2004  (6.2)   2004.08.10     1/2-1/2     B54

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 d6 7.Be3 Nf6 8. Qd2 Bd7 9.f4 b5 10.Bf3 Rc8 11.O-O-O Na5 12.b3 Qc7 13.Nb1!? e5 14.Nf5 Bxf5 15.exf5 e4 16.Be2 Nd5 17.Bd4 Nc6 18.Nc3 Ndb4 19.Kb2 d5 20.a3 Nxd4 21.Qxd4 Nc6

( 22.Qxd5 Bxa3+ 23.Kxa3 b4+ 24.Ka2 Ne7 25.Qxe4 Qxc3 )

( 23.Kxa3?? Qa5+ 24.Kb2 Nxd4 )

This ending is now very drawish

( 31.Bb7+ Kf6 32.Bxa6 Ra8 33.Bxb5 Bc3! -+ )

Grischuk, A (2705)    --    Jashar, Klisurica
20th ECC  (2)   Izmir TUR
2004.10.04     1-0     B07

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Qd2 Nc6 6.f3 e5 7.Nge2 O-O 8. d5 Ne7 9.O-O-O Ne8 10.g4 c6 11.Ng3 cxd5 12.Nxd5 Be6 13.h4 Nc6 14.c3 Nc7 15.h5 Bxd5 16.exd5 Ne7 17.Qh2! Ne8 18.hxg6 fxg6 19.Qxh7+ Kf7 20.Ne4 Rh8

Threatening Rf8+ and Ne6+

( 25.Rf8+ Kg7 26.Ne6+ Kh7 27.Rh1# )

Radjabov, T (2664)    --    Basagic, Z (2369)
20th ECC  (3)   Izmir TUR
2004.10.05     1-0     A42

1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.e4 d6 4.Nc3 e5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Bg5 f6 7.Be3 Bh6 8.Qd2 Bxe3 9.Qxe3 Bg4 10.dxe5 Bxf3 11.gxf3 fxe5 12.c5! Nd4 13.O-O-O dxc5 14.f4! exf4 15.Qxf4 Qd6 16.Bb5+! Kd8 17.e5 Qe7 18.Ne2 c6 19.Nxd4 cxd4 20.Rxd4+ Kc7 21.Rhd1! Rf8

( 21...cxb5 22.e6+ Kc8 ( 22...Kb6 23.Rd6+ Ka5 24.a3 +- ) 23.Rd8+! Qxd8 24.Rxd8+ Kxd8 25.Qf8+ Kc7 26.Qxa8 +- )

( 23...Qxe5 24.Bxc6 Qf4+ 25.Qxf4 Rxf4 26.Bxb7 Rxf2 27. R1d6+ Kb5 28.Ba6+ +- )

24.Bc4 Rf4 25.Qb3+ Ka5 26.R1d5!!

cxd5 27.Rxd5

Shariyazdanov, Andrey (2583)    --    Horvath, Tamas (2461)
20th European Club Cup 2004  (6.3)   2004.10.08     1-0     E33

Nothing too flashy in this game, but it's a nice example of harassing your opponent to death 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bd2 Qe7 8.a3 Bxc3 9.Bxc3 a5 10.e4 e5 11.d5 Nb8 12.b4 axb4 13.axb4 Rxa1+ 14.Bxa1 O-O 15.Be2 Nh7 16.g3 Na6 17.Bc3 Bh3 18.Nh4 g6 19.Bf1 Bxf1 20.Kxf1 Nf6 21.Kg2 Nh5 22. Re1 Kh7 23.Bd2 Ng7 24.Rc1 g5 25.Nf5 Nxf5 26.exf5 f6

Now it's hard to activate the Nb8

Threatening Ba7

Now ...c6 is impossible and c7 is very weak

Opening a second front

Now d6 is unstoppable

( 49...Rh6 50.Rf7+ Ka8 51.Bxc5 bxc5 52.Rc7 +- )

( 54.f6 Rb8 55.Rxe5 +- )

Rodriguez, Guerrero Enrique (2433)    --    Roiz, Michael (2560)
20th European Club Cup 2004  (6.4)   2004.10.08     0-1     C10

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6 7.c3 c5 8.Ne5 a6 9.Qa4+ Bd7 10.Nxd7 Qxd7 11.Qxd7+ Kxd7 12.dxc5 Bxc5 13.Be2 Rad8 14.Bf3 Kc8 15.Ke2 e5 16.g3 e4 17.Bg2 Ng4 18.Bh3 h5 19.Bf4 f5 20.Raf1 Rd7 21.Bg2 Rhd8 22.h3

( 23.hxg4 Rd2+ 24.Ke1 Rd1+ 25.Ke2 R8d2+ 26.Kf3 hxg4# )

( 26...g5!! 27.Re1 Rf2# )

Ponomariov, Ruslan (2710)    --    Hydra
Man vs Machine 120'/40+60'  (1)   Bilbao Esp
2004.10.06     0-1     E15

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 b6 3.d4 e6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2 c6 8. Bc3 d5 9.Ne5 Nfd7 10.Nxd7 Nxd7 11.Nd2 O-O 12.O-O b5 13.c5 e5 14.b4 e4 15. e3 Qc7 16.Re1 Bg5 17.a4!? bxa4 18.Rxa4 Bb5 19.Ra3 Nf6 20.Bf1 a6 21.Qa1 Rab8 22.Bxb5 axb5 23.Ra7 Qc8 24.Qa6 Qe6 25.Ra1 h5!

White's all dressed up with nowhere to go on the queenside, whereas black plays a skillful kingside attack

Better than ...Qh3, since Nf1 adequately guards h2. By focusing on f2 instead, Hydra hopes to entice Rf1, then switch the attack to h2 when the critical Nf1 isn't available. Very sneaky these computers!

28.Qa2 Ng4 29.Nf1 Qf3 30.h3

Otherwise ...h3 and ...Qg2

( 32.Nxe3 Qxe3+ 33.Qf2 Qxc3 34.Re1 hxg3 35.Qe3 Qxb4 -+ )

There's no answer to ...e2. A nice attack.

Hydra    --    Karjakin, Sergey (2576)
Man vs Machine 120'/40+60'  (3)   Bilbao Esp
2004.10.08     1-0     C65

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.O-O d6 6.c3 O-O 7.Nbd2 a6 8. Ba4 Ba7 9.h3 Ne7 10.Re1 Ng6 11.Nf1 Bd7 12.Bxd7 Qxd7 13.Bg5 Qd8 14.Nh4 Re8 15.Nxg6 hxg6 16.Nh2 Qd7 17.Qb3 Qb5 18.Qc2 Nh7 19.Nf3 Nxg5 20.Nxg5 Rad8 21. Rad1 d5 22.Nf3 Re6 23.c4 dxc4 24.dxc4 Qe8 25.c5! Re7 26.Rxd8 Qxd8 27.Rd1 Qe8 28.Rd3 c6?!

Now the Ba7 is very weak

29.Qd1 Qf8 30.b4 Bb8 31.Rd8 Re8 32.Rd7 Re7 33.Ng5 Bc7 34.Qg4! Qe8 35.Rxe7 Qxe7 36.Qh4 Qd8 37.Qh7+ Kf8 38.Qh8+ Ke7 39.Qxg7 Qf8 40.Qh7 a5 41. a3 axb4 42.axb4 Ke8

43.Ne6!! fxe6 44.Qxc7 Qf4 45.Qc8+ Ke7 46.Qxb7+ Kf6 47. g3!

( 47.Qxc6?? Qc1+ 48.Kh2 Qf4+ is perpetual check )

( 48...Qb1+ 49.Kh2 Qxb4? 50.Qf8+ Kg5 51.h4+ Kg4 52.Kg2 with a mating net )

Hydra    --    Ponomariov, Ruslan (2710)
Man vs Machine 120'/40+60'  (4)   Bilbao Esp
2004.10.09     1-0     B83

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.O-O Be7 8. f4 O-O 9.a4 Nc6 10.Be3 Bd7 11.Nb3 b6 12.Qd2 Qc7 13.Rf3 Ng4 14.Rd1 Nxe3 15. Rxe3 Rfd8 16.Rg3 Be8 17.f5 Bf6 18.Rf1 Qe7 19.Bd3 Ne5 20.Kh1 Rdc8 21.Nd4 Kh8 22.Rh3 Nc4 23.Qe2 Bxd4 24.Bxc4 Bxc3 25.bxc3 exf5 26.Rxf5 g6 27.Rf4 Rc5 28.Qf1 Ra7 29.Bd5 Kg7 30.c4! b5

( 31...bxa4?? 32.Rxf7+ Bxf7 33.Qh6+ Kg8 34.Qxh7+ Kf8 35. Qh8+ Bg8 36.Qxg8# )

Karjakin, Sergey (2576)    --    Fritz
Man vs Machine 120'/40+60'  (4)   Bilbao Esp
2004.10.09     0-1     B80

A fantastic tactical stoush 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e6 7.Be3 b5 8.g4 h6 9. Qd2 Nbd7 10.O-O-O Bb7 11.h4 b4 12.Na4 Qa5 13.b3 Nc5 14.a3 Rc8 15.axb4 Nxb3+! 16.Nxb3 Qxa4 17.Kb2 d5 18.c3 dxe4 19.Na5! Bd5 20.Ra1 Qd7 21.Bxa6 exf3!? 22.Bxc8 Qxc8 23.g5 Ne4 24.Qd3 Qb8

( 25...Qxf4 26.Qb5+ Ke7 27.Nc6+ gives white a mating attack )

( 36...Bxg2 37.Qe7!! Rf8 38.Rxf6 Qh5 39.Rg6+! Kh7 40.Qxf8 Qe2+ 41.Ka3 Qa6+ 42.Kb3! Bd5+ 43.c4 Bxc4+ 44.Nxc4 fxg6 +- )

37.Rxf6!?

( 37.Rgf2? Qxe5 38.Rxf6 Qe2+ 39.Kc1 Ra8 40.Rxf7+ Kg6! 41. R1f6+ Kh5 and black's counter-attack prevails )

Sensational! Amazingly, black's counterattack is stronger than white's!

( 37...Qxg2+? 38.Rf2 Qe4 39.Rxf7+ Kg8 40.Qf8# )

( 37...Kxf6 38.Rf2+! Kxe5 39.Qc7# is a picturesque checkmate! )

( 38.Rxf7+ Kg8 ends white's attack, so Karjakin tries something else )

( 38...fxg6?? 39.Qe7+ Kg8 40.Qf7+ Kh8 41.Nxg6+ Qxg6 42. Qxg6 Ra2+ 43.Kb1 Rxg2 44.Qxh6+ and white has at least perpetual and probably a win )

( 42.Qc7+ Kf8 43.Qg7+ Ke8 44.Qg8+ Ke7 45.Rg7+ Kd6 -+ )

Now the pawns are firmly blockaded

Notices

The ACF presents:
Lidums Australian Open Chess Championships
Hospitality Textiles Australian Schools Chess Championships
Hospitality Textiles Tony Colyer Pty Ltd Australian Junior Chess Championships

Where: Mt Buller, Victoria
Details: www.mtbullerchess.com
General enquires: George Howard 0414 841575; georgeshoward@hotmail.com

More ...

Support the Team! All Aussie chess lovers are asked to donate to the 2004 Olympiad Appeal - don't leave it to the last minute! Cheques/money orders should be made out to "Australian Chess Federation" and sent to: ACF Treasurer Norm Greenwood, P.O. Box 1840, Westfield Hornsby Post Office 1635. Corporations or business sponsors please call George Howard on 0414 841575 - George Howard, ACF President

The Correspondence Chess League of Australia has been chosen to organise the International Correspondence Chess Federation's next World Cup Tournament. Aussie players paying the $24 entry fee will get an annual subscription to the CCLA - normally $16 - which entitles you to a newsletter and allows you to play in CCLA events. More...

Selection panel: The ACF Council is reviewing its Selection Panel. If you're interested in joining the panel please email Kevin Bonham briefly stating why you would make a good selector. - Kevin Bonham, ACF Selections Co-Ordinator (Senior Events)

Grand Prix tournaments:

These details are provisional. For up-to-date details of these events, please visit the Grand Prix website. The new GP co-ordinator is Garvin Gray, email: ggrayggray@hotmail.com

Laurieton Open NSW; 1; October 30-31; Laurieton; Endel Lane 02-6559-9060
Gosford Open NSW; November 6-7; Central Coast Leagues Club; Allen Robinson 0412 607 207; Keith Farrell (02) 4341 7864 Keith@GosfordChess.com www.GosfordChess.com
Coffs Harbour Inaugural Open NSW; 3; 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 11-12; Fairfield; Shane Burgess 9681-2206; Minh Van Le 0418 497 104

Other tournaments

Full details - see upcoming tournaments on the website.

Liberec Open: October 23-30; Czech Republic; Website; Email
ACP Tour - 4th Amplico AIG Life Tournament: Poland, December 18-19; Website; Email: Maria Macieja
Brunei Open: January 14-19; Website; Email Leong Voon Choon.
2005 Oceania Zonal: Jan 30 - Feb 4, 2005; Auckland, NZ, Details. - Paul Spiller, Zonal organiser
ICCF World Cup correspondence, email, web; Details.
Generation Chess has announced "the richest open chess tournament in history" with a guaranteed prize fund of $US500,000. This event will be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota from May 18-22, 2005.

Australian Chess Enterprises