No. 348, December 21, 2005
Aust Champs
Australian Championships and Australian Junior Championships start very soon!
Carlton Crest Hotel, 28 Dec 2005 to 9 Jan 2006
Brisbane is ready, and we hope to put on a very good show for you. To make for a smoother start on Wednesday 28th, you may register in the foyer of the Grand Windsor Ballroom, level 2 from 6-8pm on Tuesday 27th. If you plan to register on the day of the event, please try and ensure that you register at least half an hour before the advertised starting time. That way we can get away on time. Your registration kits contain a lot of useful information.
If you haven't yet entered, please check the entry form carefully so that you don't get caught out by entering late. Full details at www.ozchess2006.com.
The five star Carlton Crest still has rooms at the ridiculously low price of $129 per night. This can include a family of two adults and two kids, or 3 adults sharing.
Check the lists of participants at the webpage. In particular, the list for the Australian Championship event has been finalised at 30.
And just a reminder that we intend to entertain you at the closing ceremony. In addition, there will be 10 random draw prizes of Chessbase 9 Starter Packs, but you have to be present to win. After the closing ceremony, there will be a free disco for the kids, and rooftop drinks and nibbles for the adults. So please delay your departure until 10 January.
Organising Committee: Graeme Gardiner, John Humphrey, Ian Murray and Lionel Smerdon
Email ggardiner@gardinerchess.com
The 2005 Grand Prix points allocation for all 26 events in this year's Grand
Prix can be seen in this spreadsheet.
The ACF plans to issue cheques to the prize winners during the 2006
Australian Championship in Brisbane.
If you have any queries regarding the points allocation in the spreadsheet
please contact ACF Vice-President Bill Gletsos via email at
76702.3153@compuserve.com by 31st December 2005.
Bela Berger R.I.P.
One of Australia's greatest players, Bela Berger, has passed away.
Berger was born in Hungary on August 12, 1931. In Australia, he won the NSW State title in 1957 and 1961. Berger played in the Australian Championship in Sydney in 1958-9, finishing second
with 11.5 points behind Steiner on 12.5.
He was one of Australia's two representatives at the 1963 Pacific Zone 10
Championship in Jakarta.
John Purdy, as the Australian champion, was the first to be selected for
Jakarta. There was a quadrangular selection tournament in Melbourne for the
second spot. Bela Berger and Karlis Ozols tied for first, and the selectors voted in
favour of Berger 3-0.
In Jakarta, Berger tied for first with Indonesia's Arovah Bachtiar on
5.5/8, and won the playoff 2-1 after 3 games. A fourth game was won by
Bachtiar, but it had no bearing on the outcome as the tiebreak system used
favoured Berger. As zonal champion, he
became an international master.
He went on to play in the 1964 Interzonal tournament in Amsterdam, with 18
grandmasters and 6 international masters, finishing 23rd out of 24. The
joint winners were Larsen, Smyslov, Spassky and Tal.
I gather from John Purdy that he was seriously ill for some time before his
death, and was not receiving visitors. I was not told the cause of death.
- Phil Viner
Popular chess coach David Lavercombe has been killed in a tragic accident on the family property at Maleny in Queensland. David coached for Gardiner Chess in several Brisbane schools this year.
Graeme Gardiner writes: "I have only known David since Nik Stawski introduced me to him at Easter this year, and in that time he has proved to be a wonderful chess coach who has been loved by all the students he has taught, and a friend to many of those involved at Gardiner Chess. It was only three days ago that he gave a presentation at our coaches' seminar. David was recently elected President of Club Bullwinkle, and had just been recruited by Ian Murray as Assistant Secretary of the Chess Association of Queensland."
The ACF extends its condolences to the family and friends of Mr Berger and Mr Lavercombe.
CDs - Australian Open and Junior Championships, Mt Buller 2004/2005
The ACF Council has decided not to proceed with the production of the CD
that was to have included material relating to these events. Moneys paid for
the CD will be refunded as indicated below.
First I wish to apologise to those people who subscribed for the CD and to
explain the background to, and the reasons for, the ACF¹s decision.
The Mt Buller events were organised by a team led by George Howard who was
then the ACF President though he did not run the events in that capacity and
he assured the ACF that it would not suffer any loss as a result of the
holding of the events.
Towards the conclusion of the Australian Open Championship, George announced
the proposal to produce a CD of the Mt Buller events that would include, so
I understand, copies of all Bulletins and games plus some photographs. He
received subscriptions from a number of people at $12 each.
No CD was forthcoming for some time after the events finished though 2 CDs
were said to have been prepared. Eventually, after my consulting some
Councillors and speaking to George about the matter, it was agreed that the
ACF would take over the production and distribution of the CD so as to
resolve the outstanding problem . George sent his copies to us but, on
inspection, it appeared that most of the file were unreadable either because
they were corrupted or because necessary ChessBase supporting files were
missing.
We obtained a fresh CD from another source on which were the Bulletins, some
of them in multiple versions, and games from the Open and Minor events.
There were no games or other information from the Junior Championahips. I
believe that few of the Junior games had been entered in the database and,
from a conversation I had with George that most of the score sheets are now
lost. The information that we have would not be appropriate to send to
anyone as a record of the events.
Consequently, it was felt that the best thing to do would be to abandon the
project. The games we have will appear in due course on the ACF archives -
the Ozbase link on our website at which games from a vast number of
Australian events appear. We shall try to get the Bulletins on to the
website also when they have been sorted out.
I was very reluctant to have to recommend this course to the Council as I
was keen to give subscribers value for their money and a fitting memento of
the event.
The matter is further complicated by our not having a complete list of
subscribers though we are assured by George that we have all the names that
he has after the events. I am certain that the list is incomplete because I
wrote my name on one at Mt Buller and paid for the CD but my name is not on
the lists I now have.
The names that I have (in alphabetical order) are: Mosaddeque Ali, Casey Baines, Kevin Bonham, Yita Choong, Louis Chu, Samuel Dalton, Devrim van Dijk, Peter Eldridge-Smith, Graeme Gardiner, Adel Ghobrial, Emma Guo, Sherab Guo-Yuthok, Hans-Joachim Hecht, Justin Huang,
Junta Ikeda, Max Illingworth, Brian Jones, Craig Jones, Moulthun Ly, Margaret Noris, James Nour, James Obst, Jenni Oliver, Malcolm Pyke, Nick Smith, Tony Truscott, Fedja Zulfic.
I have addresses for them all.
Should anyone not on that list who claims to have paid for a CD wish to
receive a refund could they please e-mail me their name and address.
I mention that, should anyone not wish to receive a cheque from the ACF for
the refund, they consider authorising the ACF (by e-mail to me) to transfer
the money to the Olympiad Fund.
- Denis Jessop
The four-game playoff match for the NSW State Championship between FIDE Master Max Fuller and Andrew Bird is under way at the Sydney Academy of Chess in Strathfield. Bird leads 2-1. Fuller first won the title 40 years ago.
M.Fuller v A.Bird Game 1
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. f4 e6 7. Nf3 Nge7 8. O-O O-O 9. Be3 b6 10. d4 Ba6 11. Rf2 Qc7 12. Rd2 Rad8 13. d5 exd5 14. Nxd5 Nxd5 15. exd5 Na5 16. b3 Rfe8 17. Bf2 Bxa1 18. Qxa1 f6 19. g4 Qg7 20. c4 Bc8 21. h3 Re7 22. Qc1 Nb7 23. Be1 Rde8 24. Rf2 h5 25. g5 f5 26. Bc3 Qf7 27. Bf1 Kh7 28. Bf6 Rc7 29. a4 Na5 30. Qc3 Re4 31. Nd2 Re1 32. Re2 Rxe2 33. Bxe2 Bd7 34. Bd3 Rc8 35. Bc2 Re8 36. Kf2 Bc8 37. h4 Qc7 38. Nf1 a6 39. Ng3 Qf7 40. Bd3 Nb7 41. Qc2 Na5 42. Qc3 Bd7 43. Qc2 Ra8 44. Bc3 Nb7 45. Bf6 Qe8 46. Nxf5 Bxf5 47. Bxf5 gxf5 48. Qxf5+ Qg6 49. Qd7+ Kg8 50. Qxb7 Re8 51. Qd7 Qc2+ 52. Kf1 Qd1+ 0-1
A.Bird v M.Fuller Game 2
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. Be3 exd4 8. Nxd4 Re8 9. f3 c6 10. Bf2 Nbd7 11. O-O Ne5 12. Nc2 Be6 13. Ne3 h5 14. Qd2 Bh6 15. b3 Qa5 16. Rfd1 Kh8 17. Qb2 Rad8 18. Rac1 Qc7 19. Rc2 Qe7 20. Bf1 h4 21. Re2 h3 22. Bh4 hxg2 23. Bxg2 Bf4 24. Ree1 g5 25. Bf2 g4 26. fxg4 Nfxg4 27. Nxg4 Bxg4 28. Ne2 Qf6 29. Nxf4 Bxd1 30. Rxd1 Qxf4 31. Kh1 Rg8 32. Rd3 Rxg2 33. Rh3+ Kg8 34. Kxg2 Qxe4+ 35. Kf1 Qf5 36. Kg2 f6 37. Qd4 Kf7 38. Qxa7 Rg8+ 39. Rg3 Qf3+ 40. Kg1 Rxg3+ 41. Bxg3 Qd1+ 42. Kg2 Qf3+ 43. Kg1 Ng4 44. Qxb7+ Kg6 45. Qc8 Ne3 46. Qg8+ Kf5 47. Qc8+ Ke4 48. Qxc6+ d5 49. Qe6+ Kd3 50. Qh3 d4 51. c5 Ke2 52. c6 d3 0-1
Melbourne Chess Club Christmas Swiss Weekender: December 17-18. 60 min + 30s/move.
1 Jordan, Bill VIC 2206 open 5
2-5 Tabatt, Hendrik OS 2219 open 4
6-11 Goldenberg, Igor VIC 2315 open 3.5
12-22 Jager, Jesse VIC 1898 open 3
23-29 Schon, Eugene VIC 1611 B 2.5
30-39 Simtanyi, Kozo VIC D 2
40-42 Kaplan, Alex VIC 1640 B 1.5
43-48 Noonan, Tom VIC D 1
49-50 Gregory-Allen, Alexander VIC D 0
The Melbourne Chess Club Christmas Swiss 2005 attracted a pleasing field of 50 players, which is more substantial than it sounds, but when it is taken into consideration that there were no guaranteed prizes, perhaps quite a good sized field, as many players will not turn up for any event where there is no guaranteed prize money.
It seemed that the event was always going to be taken out by one of the top ten as below that the field was quite a long way at a remove.
There were upsets from the start as we saw action prior to the first move; I had already in my mind performed a number of herculean efforts, first getting there on time, secondly, singlehandedly manageing to take all entries, write all receipts, and process the players into a SP file, only to discover that I needed more tables in the main room!! A hastily made decision to move some of the tables from the front room and the analysis/computer room led to some amusing incidents later.
The tournament finally began at about 11.40am, which was 40 minutes after the scheduled start of play, but still of not too great a moment as the first round games are known to often finish quickly in weekenders.
I was not prepared for Domagoj Dragicevic to walk out after about 10 (!!) minutes though. His opponent had dropped a rook and was in no mood to play on...quite understandable!
There was also some confusion in the draw between Derek Yu and Rukman Vijayakumar, when Derek played the thrid repetition on the board and then, when I was called to the board by Rukman, who asked to play on in the instance of his opponent failing to claim the draw correctly, and then proceeded with virtually no time on the clock ( nor a move made, may I add!)
To offer a draw which was accepted. I wonder why the song and dance, when the draw was immediately offered anyway??
I must admit that of the remaining first round upsets, I do not remember a lot, though seem to recall that Tom Noonan in his win against Oleg Grygoryan managed to get an extra pawn and a very nice looking pawn chain running from the h to the ( I think ) c-file, which is certainly not a common occurence. The surprise packet of the event Jusuf Omeragic produced his first upset downing Ken Holt, and Jason Tang won against Leon Bowen, who if I overheard him correctly was mumbling something about colour weakness to Andrew Fletcher after he had finished. I think this coment was pertaining to the squares on the board. Alexander Buda also had a good result in a draw against Zeljko Podvorac, rated 1695 ( although he thought that his rating was about 1200 before the event!!).
A very unfortunate incident for Tom Noonan occurred in his second round game against Reubban Muthusamy, but hopefully the painful lesson will have its own benefits. In a Caro-Kann-esque position, Tom went to pick up his Bishop on d6, to move it to f4, in order to swap off these bishops and leave his knight on d5 to recapture on f4, with a gain of tempo on the white queen on d3. His hand had other ideas though, picking up the Nd5 instead. He immediately released it ( I happened to be walking past the board at this point) and picked up the bishop and moved it to f4. Reubban protested that he must move the knight, as is correct. The problem of the Bd6 being under attack and not defended ( Black had not played Qc7, which I understand is common in these positions, but had played Nb8-d7 ) was made worse by the move Nd5-f4??, when after Ne4xd6+ ( Black was uncastled ), King Moves, Bd2xf4 left white with not one but two extra pieces, effectively ending the game. I spoke to Tom prior to the start of round 3 and expressed my sympathies, and he was ok about it, but did swear that he was "never going to do that again!!" For his sake, I do hope so.
On Board 11, Jusuf Omeragic continued with his good results, drawing from a poor opening position against Barboros Kara, when the position became simplified, there was too little play for Barboros to make headway, and the game ended as a draw, though there were quite a few moves played.
Zeljko Podvorac also had another set back, this time at the hands of Kozo Simtanyi, a junior player from the Nick Speck Chess Education sessions held at Melbourne Chess Club on Saturday mornings. Kozo is one of the most striking players that I have seen, with one of the largest afro's this side of the 70's. He is a nice young man and seemed to play with great composure in every round.
Eugene Schon also finished this round quite quickly, playing a thematic Bxh7+ sacrifice in the French which won on the spot against Devraj Bhattacharya.
Gary Bekker was also heard to mention something about the underratedness of Jamie Kenmure who seemed to comfortably draw on the white side of a Scotch game. I think Gary's comment was something to the effect that Jamie had been in a slightly better position from very early on, and things didn't change much from that throughout the rest of the game.
Round 3 saw the first withdrawal. Brad Ashlock had a major ATM incident prior to the event, and was unable to continue playing needing to go and sort out the situation. This in turn created a bye for this round.
On the top boards, Reubban Muthusamy held Domagoj Dragicevic to a draw, although it seemed that there was a chance that Reubban might have won at one point, but Domagoj swapped into an opposite coloured Bishops' ending which he was always going to hold, as his king could easily blockade the white connected pair on the queen side, whilst his bishop defended his isolated pawn on h2, which would exchange itself for the white pawn should it ever reach or attempt to reach g3. Kozo's dream run ended at the hands of Chris Wallis, though it seemed that Kozo stood quite well early on, having a lot of compensation for his missing c-pawn in a q-pawn gambit position of sorts.
A couple of boards down Jusuf Omeragic drew with Doug Lindberg, to move to 2 points and with again what seemed a quick transition to the endgame, this time with rooks and equal pawns. Jusuf seemed to prefer to head straight to the endgame, and may have found them to be an area where his longer experience was of benefit to him, rather than an intense theoretical discussion in a sharp opening.
Two other players in this round, Gary Bekker and Jamie Kenmure took half point byes as pre arranged for the start of the tournament, Gary for a work function, and Jamie so that he could get home on public transport to an outlying area.
This round not only saw the creation of the bye, with Brad Ashlock's withdrawal, but also the end of the same bye after the round. Reubban Muthusamy was only able to play the first day, owing to a committment on the Sunday, but still wished to get some practice prior to going to Brisbane for the Australian Juniors; if 2.5/3 is any indication, he should do quite well!!
One further note about this bye which briefly existed; the player who received it was Tony Tam, a junior in his first event who owing to the field being sorted by sirname as the second criteria in Swiss Perfect after local rating received the bye and as such faced a stronger field for the next round than he might have otherwise. It is always unfortunate when there is a bye in a weekender, or any event for that matter, and particularly unfortunate in this instance of it being the player's first event. I often wonder about the allocation of the bye and how it is experienced by the player receiving it; I doubt that many are overjoyed even given the full point recieved.
Round Four on the Sunday saw; firstly, a number of players waiting outside who had raced me to the venue, and the excitement of the pairings on Board one and two of the four players still with 3/3.
On Board one, Igor Goldenberg and Bill Jordan played a very tactical game where at one stage Bill is a rook down. He had calculated that he would get some material back but it was a very nice game to me in the way that the position was what determined the result, not the material, as Bill first recovered a piece, then the exchange, and reamined with two extra pawns in a minor piece ending featuring two knights for Bill, and a knight and a bishop for Igor. In the end, Bill's passed pawns were too much to be held, and he was going to queen, but Igor resigned first.
On Board Two, Chris Wallis had the white side of a Lopez, against Hendrik Tabatt, a German player who has recently made a splash on the Melbourne scene with an equal first in the two other weekenders he had played, The Elwood Bendigo Bank weekender, and the Best in the West at Hobosn's Bay. Chris was under a lot of pressure on the kingside, but managed to hold on to his extra piece and the game.
In other results, Ken Holt continued to have a tournament he would rather forget, with a loss to Jason Tang, whilst Gary Bekker arrived late and left early, as after picking up his King and his Rh1, had realised that ...Ne2+ followed winning an exchange on c1.
The real marathon of the round was between Jusuf Omeragic and Alex Kaplan.
Being mindful that Round 4 started at 11 am, and this game ended about 2.45pm, there were many moves in a contest that seemed first in one player's favour then the others.
Alex seemed to be a piece up for two pawns shortly after the opening, which was from the looks of it owing to a kingside pawn push that netted a bishop.
Jusuf played on with his remaining pieces, and eventually seemed to not only simplify the position, but to pick up a third pawn on the way. Alex' extra piece then seemed to disappear for only one pawn, and it was Jusuf that was the one with two extra pawns and a Queen and a Knight each remaining on the board. then the queens disappeared, and we arrived at knight and two (Alex) against knight and three ( Jusuf).
The next time I looked, this had turned into a battle between Jusuf's far advanced pawns and Alex's knight and one pawn. Alas, for Alex, he failed to play a move which would have seemed to hold the draw, and gave a different knight check, leading to one of Jusuf's pawns going through, leaving Alex with knight and pawn, and Jusuf with a lone queen.
Jusuf then eventually forced the win of the knight or the pawn, and Alex resigned rather than play on with only Q v N. Both players then had little time before the last round to eat.
In the final round, Bill played the Worrall attack against the Ruy Lopez against Chris Wallis. As the game would eventually decide the winner of the event, both players put in maximum effort, but in the end, Bill's superior understanding of the position led to him creating a lot of play against Chris's King which was having it's home on the kingside undermined quite badly. there followed a crisp combination which netted the black queen for three minor pieces and left the black King indefensible, handing the victory in the tournament to Bill with an unbeaten 5/5.
The game between Domagoj Dragicevic (3.5) and Igor Goldenberg (3) on board two ended in a draw, which meant that the score needed for a share of second place was only 4, and it remained to be seen how many others would join them.
Hendrik made amends for his loss in Round four to beat Rukman Vijayakumar, who had not lost to that point with two wins and two draws in the rounds prior. The game simplified to a 3 minor piece ending with Hendrik having 2B+N vs Rukman's 2N+B. Rukman felt obliged to later take the remaining Knight leaving 2B v 2N. Hendrik's two bishops were like a pair of scissors after that and they soon sliced open the position, and eventually placed Black in a horrible Zugwang, collecting a pawn upon the way. The position finally reached B v N and the extra pawn made the position indefensible. Full credit must go to Rukman for a very good game. His result also bodes well for his trip to Queensland.
On Board 4, Barboros and Thai Ly played into an interesting side line in the Sicilian that I had not seen before and agreed on a draw in a position with quite a lot of play left, but fairly equal chances.
On Board 5, Polish international student Mariusz Pecak and Leon Bowen played a game which was full of tactical surprises at the start, and simplified into a 2R + same colour bishop ending, and although I did not see how it happened, Mariusz managed to swap all the rooks and then sacrifice his bishop to create a second passed pawn on the kingside which was unstoppable.
On Board 6, Jusuf Omeragic concluded the wonderful tournament he was having, by making a lucky escape against Jesse Jager. Jesse had a large advantage early, but missed something in an exchanging sequence, leading to a difficult double rook ending for him! Nevertheless, Jesse held tight and a drawn Rook+2 vs Rook+1, with the pawns all on the same side arose and the players soon split the point. This left Jusuf on 3.5 and undefeated for the event; had he won this game, Jusuf would have been equal second.
In other results, Jason Tang won his last round game against Grant Bultman which secured him the best under 12 prize and a final score of 3/5.
Alexander Buda concluded a great tournament for him with a last round win over Alex Kaplan ( not such a great tournament). Alex Kaplan was no doubt still tired from his marathon struggle in round 4, and the game appeared very interesting to me in the number of times that it seemed that pieces were hanging each time I looked. I did not see how it concluded exactly. Perhaps someone else will be able to tell us the full story sometime...?
So in the wash up at the end of the day
1st Bill Jordan 5/5 $400
Rating A was a three way tie between Barboros Kara, Andrew Fletcher, and Russell Murray, who each scored 3.5/5 and received $25 each ( the rating group prizes were $75 per group.
Rating B was also a three way tie between Oleg Grygoryan (Current Geelong Club Champion for 2005 - Well done Oleg!!), Douglas Stones, and Peter Braham. They each scored 3/5 and received $25
Rating C was won outright by Jusuf Omeragic with 3.5/5. A great effort and a prize of $75
Rating D was also taken outright by Alexander Buda, who scored 2.5/5 and was also a very solid performance for a young player.
The best Under 18 prize was $100, and was something for which Chris Wallis was eligible but for his receiving a share of 2nd, which was of equivalent value.
The prize was split between Jesse Jager, Rukman Vijayakumar and Shaun Ferris and they each received about $33.50 and scored 3/5.
The Under 18 prize was won outright by Jason Tang, who scored 3/5 and received $100.
Another interesting moment in the tournament arose when IA Gary Bekker asked me to move some kids along from the boards in the front room so he could analyse his game. I instead procured him a set and board, and he and his opponent for that round Bill Jordan sat on the wooden floor of the analysis room and analyzed the game there!!
In any case, I was pleased with the conduct of the players throughout, and look forward to the event being bigger and better in 2006.
- Malcolm Pyke
Some games from this event can be seen here
Bessel Kok interview: The Dutch businessman is challenging Kirsan Iljumzhinov for the FIDE presidency. Read his views here.
Swiss Perfect files are now available on the the ACF website
The Commonwealth Chess Association has issued its first newsletter.
Coaching at Australian Championships: IM Leonid Sandler has created a new company called Chess Australia Pty Ltd based in Melbourne. The idea is to provide quality chess coaching at different levels from school to the best players in the country. Leonid has 25 years experience in coaching and is a certified FIDE trainer. He will be in Brisbane for the duration of Australian Championships and offering chess coaching for juniors.
If you're interested email Leonid lsandler2004@yahoo.com.au or ring (home) 03 9528 3887 or mobile 0412 201891.
Nominations for ACF medals:
State Associations are reminded of the opportunity to nominate persons for ACF medals as detailed in the ACF Medals Procedures by-law contained
in the ACF Constitution/Administrative Manual, which may be viewed at the ACF web site at http://www.auschess.org.au/constitution/ (link: ACF Medals Procedures).
The by-law includes the following guidelines for medals to be presented in January 2006.
Steiner Medal for Australian 'Player of the Year 2005'
Koshnitsky Medal
Nominations need not be from among a State's own members.
A separate document containing the following should be provided in respect of each nominee:
A person submitting a nomination should retain at least one complete copy and must phone (03) 9525 9631 or 0409 525 963 to confirm that it has been received if delivery has not been acknowledged 36 hours after expected delivery time.
Deadlines:
- Garry Wastell
Aronian wins FIDE World Cup Final:
Armenian GM Levon Aronian beat the Ukrainian Ponomariov in the final, which went to a speed playoff after they drew their first two games. Also in round 7, Rublevsky beat Gurevich,
and Malakhov beat Vallejo Pons, but the other matches went into play-offs. Kamsky-Carlsen was a humdinger. In general, Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen's performance in the event was outstanding, beating players of the calibre of Lautier and winning some great individual games against luminaries such as Kamsky.
In round 6, Aronian beat Bacrot but Ponomariov and Grischuk required a playoff, which Pono won. In round 5 Ponomariov beat Bareev, Bacrot downed Rublevsky, Gurevich fell to Aronian, and Grischuk downed Gelfand 3-1 in a playoff. In the minor placings, prodigy Magnus Carlsen continued his dream run by beating Lautier, Kamsky beat Sakaev and Malakhov beat Dreev. Carlsen lost to Bareev in round 4. Tournament favourite Vasily Ivanchuk was beaten 0.5-1.5 by Topalov's second, young Bulgarian GM Cheparinov in round 2 - the biggest upset so far. The tournament - a preliminary event in the FIDE world championship cycle - is under way in Siberia. Features a huge assortment of great players. Ten of the 132 players will qualify for FIDE's "candidates" matches in the run up to the 2007 world championship.
According to Peter Parr's SMH column:
"Aronian was born and raised in Armenia. His father is a laser research physicist and his mother is an explosives expert. Aronian won the World Under 12 title in 1994, moved to Germany at the age of 18 and won the World Junior (Under 20 title) in 2002. He has had several trainers and has studied the games of the old masters (Alekhine, etc). He is brilliant at solving studies and combinations without using a chessboard and is excellent at rapid-play and blitz. He says he lacks opening preparation, but likes complicated and unbalanced positions and has great confidence. Aronian is a rare example of a player rated above 2700 who has not competed in very high category tournaments."
Round 7
Site :
Live games :
Finished games
Russian Championship Superfinal: Moscow. players include Kramnik, Svidler, Morozevich, Dreev, Bareev, Zvjaginsev, Khalifman, Rublevsky, Jakovenko, Motylev, Volkov and Tomashevsky. Grischuk and Najer withdrew.
Site : View games
Carlos Torre Memorial: Quarter Finals:
Bruzon - Akobian; Vera Reynaldo - Mitkov; Krasenkow - Nogueiras; De la Paz - Gonzalez.
Site :
View games
First, some highlights from the World Cup:
Lautier, J (2680) -- Carlsen, M (2570) 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.O-O dxc4 8.
Bxc4 Nbd7 9.Qe2 b6 10.Rd1 cxd4 11.exd4 Bxc3 12.bxc3 Qc7 13.Bb2 Bb7 14.Bd3
Nd5 15.Qe4 N7f6 16.Qe5 Rac8 17.c4 Nf4 18.Bf1 Bxf3 19.gxf3 Rfd8 20.Qxc7
Rxc7 21.a4 h6 22.a5 Nh7 23.axb6 axb6 24.Ra3 Nf8 25.Rda1 Rcc8 26.Rb3 N8g6
27.Rxb6 Nh4 28.Ra3 Nf5 29.c5 e5 30.Ba6?? 
2005 Grand Prix points
Bela Berger R.I.P.
Vale David Lavercombe
Mt Buller CDs
NSW playoff
Melbourne CC Christmas Swiss Weekender
Bessel Kok interview
Swiss Perfect files
Commonwealth Chess Association newsletter
Nominations for ACF medals
World News
Games
Grand Prix
Other Events
International
ACF President
denis.jessop@netspeed.com.au
Dragicevic, Domagoj VIC 2129 open 4
Pecak, Mariusz OS 1857 open 4
Wallis, Christopher VIC 2055 open 4
Ly, Thai VIC 1866 open 3.5
Kara, Barbaros VIC 1759 A 3.5
Fletcher, Andrew VIC 1722 A 3.5
Murray, Russell VIC 1752 A 3.5
Omeragic, Jusuf VIC 1492 C 3.5
Vijayakumar, Rukman VIC 1851 open 3
Tang, Jason VIC 1465 C 3
Ferris, Shaun VIC 1703 A 3
Frost, Peter VIC 1743 A 3
Bowen, Leon QLD 1787 A 3
Podvorac, Zeljko VIC 1695 A 3
Grygoryan, Oleg VIC 1635 B 3
Stones, Douglas VIC 1675 B 3
Braham, Peter VIC 1542 B 3
Reid, Bill VIC 1518 C 3
Lindberg, Douglas VIC 1774 A 2.5
Yu, Derek VIC 1505 C 2.5
Jago, Stephen VIC 1617 B 2.5
Buda, Alexander VIC D 2.5
Nelson, Stuart SCO 1512 C 2.5
Muthusamy, Reubban VIC 1771 A 2.5
Wildes, John VIC 1720 A 2
Bultman, Grant VIC 1613 B 2
Yu, Sally VIC 1164 D 2
Bhattacharya, Devraj VIC 1112 D 2
Holt, Kenneth P VIC 1810 open 2
Hopkins, Rhys VIC 1356 C 2
Bekker, Gary D VIC 1601 B 2
Faust, Siegfried VIC 1438 C 2
Wertheim, Stephen VIC 1523 C 2
Antolis, Cedric VIC 1550 B 1.5
Kenmure, Jamie VIC 1144 D 1.5
Tam, Tony D 1
Hogan, Steven VIC 1281 C 1
Trott, Timothy VIC 987 D 1
Congiu, Paul VIC D 1
Balnionis, Alexander VIC 799 D 1
Ashlock, Brad VIC 1618 B 0
=2nd Hendrik Tabatt
Domagoj Dragicevic
Mariusz Pecak
Chris Wallis all with 4/5 and $100 each
This is awarded to the "Player of the Year". It is to be the player who has made
the greatest impact, not necessarily the highest-rated - it is for the most notable
achievement of the year and may be awarded to the same person more than once.
This is awarded annually for an outstanding contribution to Australian chess administration
at a national or a state level. The Koshnitsky medal is not awarded more than once to the same person. (Previous winners listed at www.auschess.org.au/acfrec.htm)
- name (correctly spelt);
- contact details (phone, email, postal address);
- description or list of relevant achievements;
- anything else relevant to the nomination.
Nominations may be forwarded as follows:
- email: gwastell@netspace.net.au
- post: 20 Sycamore Grove, East St Kilda 3183
- fax: (03) 9525 9632
- Koshnitsky medal: Friday 16 December 2005
- Steiner medal: Monday 2 January 2006
1st Levon Aronian
2nd Ruslan Ponomariov
3rd Etienne Bacrot
4th Alexander Grischuk
5th Evgeny Bareev
6th Boris Gelfand
7th Sergei Rublevsky
8th Mikhail Gurevich
9th Gata Kamsky
10th Magnus Carlsen
11th Vladimir Malakhov
12th Francisco Vallejo Pons
13th Alexey Dreev
14th Loek Van Wely
15th Joel Lautier
16th Konstantin Sakaev
Aronian-Ponomariov
Grischuk-Bacrot
Bareev-Gelfand
Gurevich-Rublevsky
Kamsky-Carlsen
Vallejo Pons-Malakhov
Dreev-Van Wely
Lautier-Sakaev
WCC Places 9-16 (5.2) Khanty Mansyisk RUS
2005.12.10 0-1 E55
Nxd4!! 31.Rd6
31...Rxd6 32.cxd6 Rd8 33.Kf1 Rxd6 34.Bd3 g5 35.Be4 Kg7 36.Ra1 Rb6 37.Ba3
f5 38.Ba8 Kf6 39.Bc5 Rb5 40.Bd6 Ke6 41.Bf8 Rb8 42.Bc5 Rb2 43.Re1 Kf6 44.
Rd1 h5 45.Ke1 Re2+ 46.Kf1 Rb2 47.Ke1 Re2+ 48.Kf1 Rc2 49.Bb6 Kg6 50.Bb7 Rb2
51.Bxd4 exd4 52.Ba6 Kf6 53.Bc4 Ke5 54.Re1+ Kd6 55.Rd1 Kc5 56.Ba6 Kd5 57.
Ke1 Ra2 58.Bb5 Kc5 59.Bd7 d3 60.Bxf5 Kd4 61.Rb1 Re2+ 62.Kf1 d2 63.Bc2 Re5
64.Rd1 Kc3 65.Be4 Rxe4 66.fxe4 Kc2 0-1
Vallejo Pons, F (2674) -- Kamsky, G (2690)
WCC Places 9-12 (6.6) Khanty Mansyisk RUS
2005.12.14 0-1 B42
1.e4
- A nice positional crush from Kamsky
28.Bh4+ f6 29.Bf2 h5! 30.Bxe3 dxe3 31.Rdd1 h4 32.Rh3 Rad8 33.Rxd8 Rxd8! 34.Rxh4 Rd2 35.Rh2 Bb8! 36.Rg2 Bxf4 37.c3 a5 38.Kb1 Kd6 39.a4 Bg5 40.Rh2 Ke5 41.Rg2 Kf4 42.Kc1 b6 43.b4 Ke5 44.bxa5 bxa5 45.Kb1 Kd6 46.Kc1 Bf4 47. Kb1 Be5 48.c4 Kc5 49.Kc1 Bb2+ 50.Kb1 Bc3 51.Kc1 Kb4 52.Rh2 Bb2+ 53.Kb1 Be5 54.Rg2 Kxa4 55.c5 Kb4 56.c6 Kc5 57.Kc1 Kxc6 58.Bf1 Bb2+ 59.Kb1 Rxg2 60. Bxg2 0-1
Carlsen, M (2570) -- Kamsky, G (2690)
WCC Places 9-10 (7.1) Khanty Mansyisk RUS
2005.12.15 1-0 B43
A magnificent game by the Norwegian prodigy
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Bd3 b5 7.O-O Bb7 8.Qe2
Ne7 9.Re1 Nbc6 10.Nxc6 Nxc6
11.Nd5!?
- Fortune favours the brave!
- A remarkable follow-up. No big threats, just opening lines and relying on intuition, a la Tal.
- Another sacrifice
O-O-O
- ( 17...Rg8 18.d6 Qd8 19.Rxe7+!! Bxe7 20.Re1 would be just too beautiful )
- Threatening c5!
- ( 20...Rc8?! 21.c5! because the Bf8 will be loose )
- The knight is removed as soon as it gets active
- White completely dominates the position
- ( 30...Rxc4!? 31.Re8+ Rc8 32.Rxc8+ Kxc8 33.Rc1+ Kb8 34. Qd8+ Ka7 35.Rc7 Qxd5 36.Qxf8 Qg2# )
- Forking the bishops
Malakhov, V (2670) -- Vallejo Pons, F (2674)
WCC Places 11-12 (7.1) Khanty Mansyisk RUS
2005.12.15 1-0 B91
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.g3 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8. Bg2 Nbd7 9.a4 b6 10.O-O Qc7 11.Re1 O-O 12.Nd2 Bb7 13.Nf1 Nc5 14.Bg5 Ne6 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Ne3 Qc5 17.Ncd5 Bd8 18.c3 g6 19.Qb3 Rb8 20.Red1 Kh8 21.Qa3 Qc6 22.h4 Nc5 23.Nc4 Qxa4!? 24.b4!?
- ( 24.Qxa4 Nxa4 25.Rxa4 b5 )
- Otherwise white will play 28. b5!
- The ensuing piece play is like ballet
- ( 34.c7 Be7 35.c8=Q Bxc8 36.Nxc8 Rxc8 37.Rxc8 Bxb4 )
- ( 50.Qd8 Ra2+ 51.Kc1 Ra1+ 52.Kc2 Ra2+ 53.Kb3 Rxg2 54.Ne8+ Kf8 55.Nef6+ Kg7 56.Qg8+ Kh6 57.Qf8# )
Kamsky, G (2690) -- Carlsen, M (2570)
WCC Places 9-10 (7.2) Khanty Mansyisk RUS
2005.12.16 1-0 B33
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3 Bg5 12.Nc2 Ne7 13.Ncb4!?
- Building up pressure on the queenside
- White has a strong grip on the position, and the b-pawn is ready to march
- Now if ...Qxb6 32. Qxe7 wins. Or ...Rxf7 32. bxa7 and the pawn queens. A nice positional game.
Dreev, A (2694) -- Van Wely, L (2648)
WCC Places 13-14 (7.2) Khanty Mansyisk RUS
2005.12.16 1-0 D23
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Nbd7 6.e4 a6 7.Bxc4 Rb8
8.Qc2 b5 9.Bd3 Bb7 10.Bf4 Rc8 11.d5 Nc5 12.O-O-O exd5 13.Nxd5 Nxd5 14.exd5
Nxd3+ 15.Qxd3 Be7 16.h4 Qd7 17.Ne5 Qd6 18.Qf5 O-O 19.Nd7 g6 20.Bxd6 cxd6+
21.Qc2 Rxc2+ 22.Kxc2 Rc8+ 23.Kb1 Rc7 24.Nb8! Rc5 25.Rde1 Bf8 26.Nd7 Rc8
27.Rc1 Rxc1+ 28.Rxc1 Be7 29.Re1 Bxh4 30.g3 Bg5 31.f4 Bh6 32.Re7 g5 33.f5
Kg7 34.Nb6 g4 35.Kc2 Kf6 36.Rxb7 Bf4
37.gxf4!! g3 38.Nd7+ Kxf5
- ( 38...Kg7 39.f6+ Kh6 40.Rb8 g2 41.Rg8 )
- A nice finish
- ( 39.Nf8 g2 40.Rxf7+ Ke4 41.Rg7 )
Aronian, L (2724) -- Ponomariov, R (2704)
WCC (7.3) Khanty Mansyisk RUS
2005.12.17 1-0 D60
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 O-O 7.e3 b6 8.Bd3
Nbd7 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Nxd5 exd5 11.Bg3 Bb4+ 12.Ke2 c5 13.a3 Ba5
14.b4! cxb4
15.Qb3! Nc5!?
- ( 15...bxa3 16.Qxd5 is also hopeless )
- The beginning of a remarkable odyssey
Sakaev, K (2668) -- Lautier, J (2680)
WCC Places 15-16 (7.3) Khanty Mansyisk RUS
2005.12.17 1-0 E15
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Nc3 O-O 8.
Rc1 Bb7 9.Bg2 Ne4 10.O-O f5 11.d5 Bf6 12.Qc2 Bxc3 13.Bxc3 exd5 14.cxd5
Bxd5 15.Rfd1 Bb7 16.Bb2 c5 17.Nh4 Qg5 18.b4!? cxb4 19.Qc7 Bc6
20.Rxc6!!
dxc6 21.f4! Na6
- ( 21...Qh6 22.Qb7 wins a piece )
The super-strong Russian Championship superfinal has just begun. It features players such as Kramnik, Morozevich and Bareev.
Rublevsky, S (2652) -- Bareev, E (2675)
ch-RUS Superfinal (1) Moscow RUS
2005.12.19 1-0 C08
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.exd5 exd5 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.Bxd7+ Nbxd7 8.O-O Be7 9.Re1 O-O 10.dxc5 Nxc5 11.Nf1 Re8 12.Be3 b5 13.c3 Qd7 14. Bd4 Rad8 15.Ne3 Nce4 16.Qb3 a6 17.Ne5 Qb7 18.Nd3 Qc6 19.a4 Nd2 20.Qc2 Nc4 21.axb5 axb5 22.Nf5 Bf8 23.b3 Nb6 24.Ne5 Qe6 25.f3!
- Multi-purpose move, preventing ...Ne4 and allowing Qc2-f2-h4
30. Nfh6+!! Kh8 31.Nxf7+ Kg8 32.Nfh6+ Kh8 33.Nxf6 gxf6 34.Qf5 Bg7 35.Nf7+
- ( 35.Nf7+ Kg8 36.Qe6 )
Tomashevsky, E (2564) -- Morozevich, A (2707)
ch-RUS Superfinal (1) Moscow RUS
2005.12.19 1/2-1/2 A31
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.g3 Qb6 6.Nc2 h5!? 7.h3 Ne4 8.e3 Qa5+ 9.Nd2 Qf5 10.Nf3
- ( 10.Nxe4 Qxe4 11.f3 Qg6 -/+ )
- ( 24.a3 Nd5 )
35.Rxd5!! exd5 36.b6! Rgd3 37.Ke2
- ( 37.b7?! Rxd2+!! 38.Rxd2 Rb3 )
42.Qf8!?
- Now white gets a draw by perpetual check.
- ( 42.Rb7 a2 43.Kf2 axb1=Q 44.Rxb1 Rxb1 45.Qxb1 Re4 )
GMSvidler (2740) -- GMKramnik (2739)
unrated standard match freechess.org
2005.12.20 * C42
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3
- The latest trend
- This inhibits the development of the Bf1. And if white exchanges, black gets a useful kingside majority
- Wagering that the open file is worth more than the terrible long-term pawn weaknesses
41.Rc7!!
- Sensational! Now if 41...Nxc7 42. h7! wins
- Threatening Ne8 or Re8
- The ending is hopeless for Black
Kramnik, V (2739) -- Volkov, S1 (2614)
ch-RUS Superfinal (2) Moscow RUS
2005.12.20 1-0 A50
1.c4 Nf6 2.d4 c6 3.Bf4 Qb6 4.Qd2 d5 5.Nc3 Bf5 6.f3 e6 7.g4 Bg6 8.h4
- Kramnik seems to be ijn an unusually aggressive mood after his round 1 debacle against Svidler.
- ( 18...Bxg3 19.Nxf8 Rxf8 20.f4 and the Bg3 is trapped behind enemy lines )
-
White has a tight grip on the position
Zvjaginsev, V (2659) -- Khalifman, A (2653)
ch-RUS Superfinal (2) Moscow RUS
2005.12.20 1-0 B20
1.e4 c5 2.Na3!?
- Not as silly as it looks. The knight will soon move to a good square, and meanwhile, it isn't blocking c2-c3.
- Offering e4 in the interests of quick development
- ( 11...Nxe4?? 12.Qa4+ )
- ...b4?! gives the Na3 a nice post on c4
30.Nxf7!! Rxe3 31.Rxe3 Kxf7 32. Re7+ Kf8 33.Qe4 Rd1+ 34.Kh2 Qd6+ 35.f4 Bf6 36.Bh6+ Kg8 37.Qa8+
- ( 37.Qa8+ Qd8 38.Re8+ )
Jankovic, Alojzije (2446) -- Kovacevic,
Blazimir (2493)
13rd Salona (2.3) Solin CRO
2005.12.10 1-0 D38
1.d4 e6 2.c4 d5 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3 O-O 7.Bd2 dxc4
8.Bxc4 Bd6 9.O-O e5 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Nxe5 Bxe5 12.Qc2 Qe7 13.f4 Bxc3 14.
Bxc3 Rd8 15.f5!? b6 16.Rf3 Bb7 17.Rg3 Kh8 18.Qf2 Bd5 19.Bxd5 Rxd5
20.e4!
Qxe4 21.Rxg7!? Rxf5
- ( 21...Kxg7 22.Qg3+ Kf8 23.Bxf6 followed by Re1 and Qg7+ )
Full details at the 2006 Grand Prix site
Australia Day Weekender; Melbourne; January 21-22; http://home.vicnet.net.au/~chessmel/
Aussie Weekender; Launceston; Jan 28-29;
Australia Day Weekender; Sydney; Jan 28-29; http://www.nswca.org.au/
Mind Sports www.mindsports.com.au
Mind Sports is a festival of thinking games. Including; chess, scrabble, bridge, poker, sudoku, diplomacy, chinese chess, backgammon....
Dates: January 2 - 8, 2006
Times: 9am - 5pm daily
Cost: $15 full, $10 concession ($40 family) full-day pass
Venue: The Peninsula School, Mt Eliza (Victoria)
Weekender on January 7 & 8 during this festival - 7 round swiss.
Entry fee (2-day pass) $30 adult, $20 child (u18) also gives you access to other games.
January 2 Blitz Championships (14 rounds)
January 3 Allegro Championships (7 rounds)
January 4-6 Mind Sports Classic Chess (5 rounds)
January 7 & 8 Mind Sports Weekender (7 rounds)
Over 500 prizes to be won and plenty of FREE activities it will be a fun, friendly, inclusive opportunity to use your mind and get to meet some other game enthusiasts.
Suitable for any age and any ability player. Come and play for a few hours or the whole week!
- David Cordover
Queenstown Chess Classic: Jan 15-24, 2006 with Rapid and Lightning events on Jan 25-26. Total prize fund over $NZ35,000. www.queenstownchess.com Confirmed entries from GMs Rogers and Chandler. NZ's largest ever chess event anticipated.
The International Chess Festival "M. Sadoveanu" 20th Edition, Jassy 20 - 26.08.2005; home.dntis.ro ; Manole Vasile: phone nr. 0040740/277850 ; Fax: 0040232/204454. e-mail: iasitel@yahoo.com . Ungureanu Vlad: phone nr. 0040741/665384 e-mail: iasitel@yahoo.com
Penang International Open: Website
Czech Tour - International Chess Festivals Series - http://www.czechtour.net
6th Bangkok Chess Club Open: April 11-16; Century Park Hotel; www.bangkokchess.com; Email: Kai Tuorila
Singapore Masters: For more details, click here.
4th Parsvnath International Open: New Delhi, 14-23 January 2006; Enter by 1 January. Email: delhichess64@yahoo.com, Web site: www.delhichess.com
Best wishes till next time
- Paul Broekhuyse
broekhuysep@bigpond.com
19 Gill Avenue, Avoca Beach, NSW 2251
02 4382 4525
0408 824525
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