ACF Council

The Council met on Monday last. It has been said that the ACF operates in secret but the truth is that most of what is discussed at Council meetings is so routine that most people would not find it at all interesting. Only rarely do major policy issues fall for consideration.

The following Council decisions, taken last Monday, may be of interest.

The claims of the two applicants for the ACF web master vacancy were considered, and with interviews with them scheduled to be over shortly, a decision on the appointment of the successful candidate will soon be made.

It was decided to seek clarification from FIDE in relation to the FIDE requirement that players must be a members of their National Federation to be included in the FIDE rating lists. Council feels that the relevant FIDE regulations are ambiguous and their intent uncertain.

The ACF Rating Officers were authorised to implement any changes they see fit to better handle improving players. It may be that the current ACF Ratings By-law is wide enough to allow this but the resolution makes that clear.

The Council noted the revised budget for the 2007 Australian Open events now that there is a clearer view of the amount of sponsorship that is likely to be received.

Australian Open Championships 2006/2007

GM's Ian Rogers (AUS) and Dejan Antic (Serbia) are confirmed entries.

The organisers are negotiating with another 6 GM's (1 from Australia, 1 from Canada, 1 from India, 1 from Philippines and 2 from Georgia) and hope to have confirmation of their entries soon.

Due to extra sponsorship the prize fund has been increased by $1000, with the Womens Prize now $750 and an additional Womens prize added.

The Open has budgeted for a field of 150 players and with 21 prizes on offer you have a 1 in 7 chance (minimum) of winning a prize.

So with all the extra players from overseas, extra prize money, and the attraction of extra sponsorship we hope that you can support the efforts of the organisers by entering the tournament as soon as possible. It would be fabulous to have an entry of 150+ for the Open, as well as big fields for the supporting events, so we can go back to our sponsors and say "Support Australian Chess and Australian chess players will support you"..

http://www.actjcl.org.au/ausopen2006

Shaun Press

[Note: the highest placed woman in the Open will be the Australian Women's Champion until the next Open, subject to there being sufficient qualifying entries. There need to be at least 6 entries from 3 different States and Territories. DJ]

Australian Junior Championships 2007

Key dates -

1 December - enter before this date for discounted entry fee of $80 (late entry 1/12-22/12 $95)

22 December - all entries CLOSE.

Copies of the entry form can be downloaded from http://www.actjcl.org.au/ausjuniors2007/downloads/entry_form.pdf 

Entries appear on the website once payment is confirmed. 

If any players are encountering problems with their entry or are worried about confirmation of their entry they can contact Jenny Wilkinson ausjuniors@internode.net  Please note that sizes 6-16 are children's sizing (narrower fit) and S-XXL are adult (longer, generous sizing) when ordering the t-shirts. 

Libby Smith

Tournament Director

2007 Oceania Zonal Chess Championships

Venue: Sofitel Fiji Resort & SPA

Grand Ballroom

Denarau, Fiji Islands

Dates:7th May to 12th May 2007

Format:Open Tournament; 9 round Swiss

Women’s Tournament - 9 round Swiss or round robin (depending on the no. of entries)

Time Control: 40moves in 90 minutes plus 30 minutes to finish game plus 30 second per move from start

Accommodation: Contact Dr Virgilio de Asa to make a reservation at phones (679) 331-4450 (w)/ (679) 331-2682 (a/h) or fax (679) 330-3655. Email: virgilio_de_asa@hotmail.com. A special room rate of F$199 per room per night (includes full breakfast for two) for Ocean King Room (king bed and fold out sofa bed) or Ocean Queen Room (one queen bed and one double bed) is available on a limited period. A small family or two players can share a room (F$99.50 each with full breakfast). Normal resort rate is F$337 ++ Booking is essential through Fiji Chess Federation. See: www.sofitelfiji.com.fj or www.accorhotels.com.fj for details on the resort.

Entry Fees:

FIDE Rating Open: Women:

2400+ Free Free

2300+ F$150 Free

2200+ F$200 F$100

2100+ F$225 F$125

2000+ F$250 F$150

1800+ F$275 F$175

Unrated F$300 F$200

NB: Entries will not be considered confirmed until all fees have been paid. Entry fees not paid by 30th April 2007 will incur an additional 20% surcharge.

Payment of Fees

Payment can be made either by bankdraft made out to Fiji Chess Federation and sent to Dr Virgilio de Asa, G.P.O. Box 12408, Suva, Fiji or by direct debit into Colonial National Bank, Dominion House Branch, Suva, Fiji ( A/C No. 3104155).

Prize Fund Open: Women:

1st $1500 $750

2nd $1000 $500

3rd $500 $250

4th $300

5th $200

Best local player: $200 $100

NB: All prize fund is in Fiji dollars

Tournament Directors:

Mr. Jashint Maharaj (Fiji) Chief Arbiter

Mr Gary Bekker (Aust) Deputy Arbiter

International Titles

International titles will be awarded in both the Open & Women’s sections. These include an International Master (IM), two FIDE Master (FM) titles and Candidate Master (CM) titles in the Open section and Women’s International Master (WIM) and Women’s FIDE Master (WFM) titles.

FIDE Rated/World Championship Qualifier

Both events will be FIDE rated and will serve as the final qualifying cycles for both Open and Women’s Individual World Championships.

The schedule of rounds is being revised in light of the need to adopt the new FIDE time controls introduced at the 77^th FIDE Congress in Turin. The new schedule will be notified as soon as it has been confirmed.

World Youth Chess Championships, Batumi, 18 to 29 October

This event is now over with the participants moving off in various directions on their way home. As reported earlier, the trip to Batumi and the stay there was not free of incident and this history was repeated on the way out with more long border delays at the Turkish border. Still, from the reports I have received the team generally enjoyed the experience. Both the team and the organisers were relatively inexperienced so it was a trial for all of them. Our best performed players were Raymond Song (Boys u12) with 7/11 and Sally Yu (Girls u12) and Cedric Koh (Boys u8 with 6.5.

The complete team final scores were:

Lin Zhigen Wilson 4,5 Boys U18

Obst James 5,0 Boys U16

Brown Andrew 5,5 Boys U14

Song Raymond 7,0 Boys U12

Grossmann Alex 4,5 Boys U10

Lau Joshua 4,5 Boys U10

Matheson Laurence 4,5 Boys U1

Wang Oscar 3,5 Boys U10

Koh Cedric 6,5 Boys U8

Jule Alexandra 4,5 Girls U18

Kinder Jessica 4,0 Girls U16

WFMSong Angela 4,5 Girls U14

Yu Sally 6,5 Girls U12

Byrne Alannah S. 4,0 Girls U10

Koh Clarise 4,0 Girls U10

Setiabudi Megan 5,0 Girls U10

Other Australians Overseas

Essent Open, Holland

As reported last week, four Australians were playing in the Essent Open in Holland – GM Ian Rogers, IM David Smerdon, FM Manuel weeks and Moulthun Ly. The big news from that event is that Moulthun Ly scored an IM Norm finishing with 5/9 in a tie for 23 to 38. IM David Smerdon was also in that group. GM Ian Rogers was in a tie for 7 to 12 with 6/9 while Manuel Weeks scored 3.5.

International Chess Open, Arco, Italy

This tournament was played from 21 to 20 october and IM Alex Wohl was among the participants. He finished 10^th on 6/9. The winner on tie break was FM Roland Salvador of the Philippines on 7. Also on 7 were IM Jacob Aagaard and IM Michael Schaefer. My thanks to Amiel Rosario (aka The Closet Grandmaster) for drawing this tournament to my notice. By the way, I wonder if his title has now been lost to GM Vladimir Kramnik.

2006 World Seniors Championships, Arvier, Italy

A 126-player Open Championship and a 14-player Women's Championship took place in Arvier, in the Aosta Valley, a village nestled in the Italian Alps which time almost seems to have passed by.

Twice world championship challenger Viktor Korchnoi participated in the Open for the first time, taking the seniors title with seven wins and four draws (9/11). He was put to the test in his game with last year's winner, Liuben Spassov of Bulgaria, successfully defending a difficult ending.

Australia had a contingent of five, a record: Australian Senior Champion Bob Krstic, former Australian senior titleholders Srbo Zaric and Phil Viner, Frank Hutchings and Glen Gibbs.

The final round always has a big effect on the placings in large Swiss tournaments. Bob obtained a better position but faltered and lost. Srbo, who had not always been his consistent self in this tournament, drew early. I tried hard to win with an extra pawn - this game was the last to finish - but it ended as a draw. Frank also drew. Glen lost, ending a run of three successive victories.

Final scores, placings and seedings: Viner 6, 44, 57; Zaric 6, 45, 29; Krstic 5.5, 65, 73; Hutchings 5, 83, 76; Gibbs 4.5, 100, 114.

The Women's championship was won by Ludmila Saunina of Russia with 8.5/11. Biljana Dekic competed in the previous event, but was unavailable to play this year.

The time controls were leisurely by today's standards: 40 moves in 100 minutes, plus 40 minutes to finish, plus 30 seconds for each move from the start.

Phil Viner

Notes from England

Hastings 28 December to 5 January http://www.hastingschess.org.uk/ . No Australian representative so far, but John Paul Wallace may play as he resides in England.

Gibraltar 23 January to 1 February http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/ . So far three Australians are involved, Ian Rogers as a player and Cathy Rogers and Manuel Weeks as arbiters.

Both Hastings and Gibraltar include master Swisses. The latter event has very big prize money and, for example, a player rated under 2200 could go home with £6000. That is because there are subsidiary events in the morning and it is scheduled so that a player could play both then and in the Masters in the afternoon.

Stewart Reuben

Thanks to Stewart Reuben for that information, I mention that Nick Speck scored an IM Norm in the Gibraltar event this year to qualify for the title subject to reaching a 2400 rating. Could that be an incentive for some other Australians to give it a try.

Elwood Bendigo Bank Championship 4 – 7 November 2006

If you are in Melbourne on the first Tuesday in November (and the weekend before) and are not going to Flemington, why not enter this event.

This is a Cat.1 Myer Tan Chess Grand Prix event and should be a very good one. It already has an impressive entry list. The tournament web site is http://www.global1t.com/chess for more information.

Myer Tan Australian Chess Grand Prix 2007

Entry forms for the 2007 Myer Tan Australian Grand Prix are now available at http://www.chessaustralia.com.au/grandprix2007/index.cfm.

Please enter by the end of November so that programs can be printed before Xmas.

Brian Jones

Australian Chess Enterprises

www.chessaustralia.com.au

Sydney International Open 2007

SIO Fund Raising Dinner

Parramatta Chess Club is pleased to invite you to a Fund Raising Dinner.

Date: Friday 24 November 2006

Time: 7.00pm for 7.30pm

Venue: Parramatta RSL Club, Macquarie & O'Connell Sts, Parramatta

Tickets: $50 per person, includes 3 course dinner

Bar: available for drinks (pay as you go)

Dress: Smart Casual or lounge suit

Parking: Free carpark opposite the club (Macquarie St)

Silent auction: One week skiing holiday at Jindabyne (value $3,500)

Public auction: One week summer holiday at Nelson Bay (value $2,500)

Raffle prizes: Various

RSVP by 17 November 2006

Vasil Tulevski, 2 Wentworth Ave, North Rocks NSW 2151

Or phone Brian Jones on 02-9838-1529

Book online at www.chessaustralia.com.au

All proceeds will go towards the 2007 Sydney International Open and Parramatta Chess Festival 10-14 April 2007.

More information on the Sydney International Open is available at http://www.chessaustralia.com.au/open/index.cfm

There is also an article on the Open on the ChessBase website at http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3451.

Much of it tells everyone what a great city Sydney is but there are several million Sydney-siders who won't worry about that!

The 2006 Myer Tan Australian Chess Grand Prix is still far from over. There are very close contests in the Open where FM George Xie leads GM Ian Rogers by just 3.75 points and in the Girls where Alex Jule has a 10 point lead over Jessica Kinder. The Junior and Women's categories are pretty well sewn up by Dusan Stojic and Laura Moylan respectively.

Here are the events yet to be contested. More information about them can be found on the Grand Prix web page www.chessaustralia.com.au/grandprix/index.cfm.

Elwood Championship VIC Melbourne 04/11/06 07/11/06 Cat.1

Gosford Open NSW Gosford 04/11/06 05/11/06 Cat.1

Burnie Open TAS Burnie 04/11/06 05/11/06 Cat.1

Coffs Harbour Open NSW Coffs Harbour 11/11/06 12/11/06 Cat.3

Ralph Seberry MemorialNSW Sydney 18/11/06 19/11/06 Cat.2

November Weekender QLD Brisbane 18/11/06 19/11/06 Cat.2

Best in the West VIC Melbourne 25/11/06 26/11/06 Cat.1

Tuggeranong Vikings ACT Canberra 02/12/06 03/12/06 Cat.1

Xmas Open WA Perth 02/12/06 03/12/06 Cat.1

Christmas Swiss WeekenderVIC Melbourne 16/12/06 17/12/06 Cat.1

ACT Championship 2006

The 2006 Australian Capital Territory Champion is veteran Milan Grcic who finished 1.5 points ahead of the field on 9.5/11. Sharing places 2 and 3 were Ian Rout and Junta Ikeda on 8. The Championship had a rather small entry this year and several strong ACT players were absent. Also Junta had to miss several rounds with half-point byes. Congratulations to Milan who has been playing chess in Canberra for many years with continuing success.

Tailpiece

I continue to welcome reports of local events , especially Myer Tan Grand Prix events, or Australian players overseas. I can sometimes find the results but that is not as good as a report from someone who was there.

And now I'll say goodbye until next time.

Denis Jessop

E-mail; denis.jessop@netspeed.com.au

Post: 33 Cargelligo Street, Duffy, ACT 2611

02 6288 1935

0418 278 324