The Championship will be held at the Sphinx Entertainment Centre, North Geelong, Vic from 27 December 2011 to 8 January 2012 (eleven rounds with rest days on 1 and 5 January).

If you are yet to enter, please remember the early entry cutoff date is fast approaching: 1 December 2011.

The organisers are especially encouraging those planning to stay in Geelong to book accommodation asap, as the event spans a peak demand accommodation period.

See here for the entry form and other details.

Urgent Call For Applications: International Organiser (IO) title

At the recent FIDE Congress, the deadline for applications for the title of International Organiser prior to the introduction of compulsory seminars was extended until the end of 2011. This is a great "last chance" for Australian organisers to obtain the IO title without a seminar, but they must have their applications endorsed and submitted by the end of this year.

Applicants must have served as chief organiser for five FIDE-rated tournaments or two FIDE title events. The full requirements for the title are stated at link. Note that the requirement for two different types of tournaments typically means an Australian organiser will have organised both Swiss and Round Robin tournaments.

Forms for the title are available at link. One IO1 form must be filled out for each event including a recommendation from the Chief Arbiter or other suitable administrator or arbiter. The IO2 form must be filled out leaving the Federation Official space at the bottom blank. Please fill out forms clearly in block capitals for easy scanning.

Applications must be received by Dec 15 in order for any issues to be resolved and in case I am away from home in the final days of the year. Applicants can send forms as scanned attachments to k_bonham@tassie.net.au . Or applicants may post forms to 410 Macquarie Street, South Hobart, Tas 7004, but in this case please make email contact before posting. If an application has not been acknowledged after seven days please call 0421 428 775.

Applications should be of decent standard. Supporting comments should provide some basic level of evidence (not just assertion) that the applicant is a skilled organiser who runs events in line with FIDE standards. Also, it is an advantage if at least one titled Arbiter or Organiser is among those endorsing the Norm Report forms, or else can vouch for the applicant's skills if needed.

The ACF reserves the right to decline to endorse applications that are in any way deficient or for any other reason at its discretion. Applicants who are FIDE-registered to another federation must contact and apply through that federation instead.

Kevin Bonham

ACF Vice-President and Delegate to FIDE

Australian Olympiad Selections: 20 Game Rule Deadline for Turkey Olympiad

Prospective applicants for Olympiad selection to represent Australia in either the Open or Women’s team at the 40th FIDE Olympiad are advised that the ACF Council has ruled that the deadline for each applicant to have played at least 20 games in the previous year will be March 31, 2012. An applicant must have played at least 20 standard games (not rapid or blitz) that are rated by the ACF, FIDE or a national organisation for which rating formula conversion details are known and the playing of the games can be verified. Players who have not played at least 20 such games will be ruled ineligible for selection.

The Olympiad will be held in Istanbul, Turkey and is scheduled for August 27 - Sep 10 2012. Detailed information is not yet available. A call for applications for selections will be issued by the ACF in due course.

Kevin Bonham

ACF Vice-President

2012 Myer Tan Australian Chess Grand Prix

The 2012 Australian Grand Prix will be named the 2012 Myer Tan Australian Chess Grand Prix.

It will have a total prize fund of $8,000, following a recent $5,000 support commitment from Mr Baillieu Myer and Dato’ Tan Chin Nam.

Tournament registrations are now invited (before 1 December 2011). See link for more information or link for tournament registration.

2013 Australian Open

The ACF invites expressions of interest from affiliated associations and others for authority to conduct the 2013 Australian Open Championship and associated events on behalf of the ACF.

These events would normally commence in late December 2012 or early January 2013 and end in the first or second week of January 2013.

Links to ACF by-laws governing procedures for allocating and presenting ACF Tournaments may be seen on the ACF website at http://www.auschess.org.au/constitution/index.html

Please address inquiries by email to ACF Secretary, Tom Accola, at tomaccola@optusnet.com.au with cc to gwastell@netspace.net.au.

ACF Medals and Awards 2011-2012 – Nominations Invited

Nominations are invited for potential winners of the following ACF medals and awards, to be presented during the forthcoming Australian Championships in Geelong, Victoria.

Steiner Medal – Australian Player of the Year 2011

This medal is to be awarded to the Australian 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.

Arlauskas Medal & Award – Australian Under-16 Player of the Year 2011

The Arlauskas Medal is awarded annually on the same basis as the Steiner Medal, but limited to nominees who at one time or another during the year of the award satisfied the ACF’s age-limit criteria for eligibility to participate in the Australian Under-16 Championship in the year concerned.

The winner of the Arlauskas Medal in each year is to be the recipient of a single grant by the ACF to assist the winner to meet costs related to his or her participation in a significant international or Australian chess event scheduled or likely to begin within two years of the announcement of the name of the winner of the award.

The Arlauskas Medal and Romanas Arlauskas Award may not be won by the same person more than twice.

Koshnitsky Medal

This is awarded for an outstanding contribution to Australian chess administration at a national or a state level. This is a lifetime achievement award, not limited to accomplishments or services during a particular period. It may not be won more than once by the same person.

Whyatt Medal

This medal is now awarded every four years for outstanding success as a chess problem composer, taking into account the composer's published chess problems.

The following guidelines were noted when the Whyatt medal was introduced in 2003.

In the case of a nomination for the Whyatt medal, the setting out of achievements should include a listing of published problems and of any awards received in competitions, giving full publication details and a reproduction from the publication itself. Published commentary on the problems may be attached, including the comments of competition judges and, if desired, also of editors and solvers. No limit is placed on the number of problems that may be listed.

Selectors are not asked to undertake the difficult, time-consuming and error-prone task of judging particular problems as if they were freshly submitted to them, but instead to rely on the work already done by competition judges, perhaps taking into account also the comments of editors and solvers.

The setting out of achievements should include a listing of published problems and of any awards received in competitions, giving full publication details and a reproduction from the publication itself. Published commentary on the problems may be attached, including the comments of competition judges and, if desired, also of editors and solvers. No limit is placed on the number of problems that may be listed.

The winner will be asked to prepare a short note dealing with at least one of the problems that resulted in the award. This note should be aimed at explaining to the general chess-playing public in simple language (defining technical terms when needed) some of the ideas involved in the problem(s).

Attention may be drawn to intellectual, artistic and other features. A way should be indicated by which readers can follow up any further interest they might then have in problems as a result of their having read this note.

Links to Additional Information

Previous medal winners http://www.auschess.org.au/steiner.html

Related ACF by-laws: Medals Procedures

Nominations

Nominations need not be from among a State's own members or residents.

A separate document or message containing the following should be provided in respect of each nominee:

- name in full (correctly spelt);

- contact details (phone, email, postal address);

- a citation describing relevant achievements, suitable for reading when the medal is presented and/or publication thereafter;

- anything else relevant to the nomination.

A person submitting a nomination must retain a complete copy of every document submitted as part of the nomination and must phone 0409 525 963 or (03) 9787 7974 to confirm that it has been received if delivery has not been acknowledged 24 hours after expected delivery time.

Deadlines for Printed Nominations

If a nomination comprises or is supplemented by printed documents, it must be addressed to:

ACF Medals, 22 Bruarong Crescent, Frankston South 3199,

and mailed to be received in the normal course of post on or before Thursday 1 December 2011.

Deadlines for Email Nominations

Nominations comprising email messages and/or attachments must be emailed to gwastell@netspace.net.au so as to be received on or before the following dates:

Koshnitsky medal & Whyatt medal: Thursday 8 December 2011

Steiner medal & Arlauskas medal: Monday 2 January 2012

Recipients of this notice are invited to distribute copies of it to affiliated clubs, members and others to maximise the possibility of nominations in respect of the most suitable nominees.

Gary Wastell

ACF Medals Selections Coordinator

Phone (03) 9787 7974 or 0409 525 963

Email gwastell@netspace.net.au

email cc tomaccola@optusnet.com.au

FIDE Arbiters Seminar 16-20 January 2012, Queenstown, NZ

FIDE Arbiters Seminar

Venue: Millennium Hotel, Ballroom, Queenstown

Dates: Jan 16th – 20th 9.30am – 12.30pm

Fees: $150 Cheques made payable to NZCF

Conducted By: IA Bob Gibbons, IA Shaun Press

Seminar Outline:

1. Overview of Being an Arbiter and Tournament Organiser

Objectives & skills for arbiters and organisers, tournament structures and prizes, event management, available resources.

2. The Laws of Chess and Tournament Regulations

Laws of Chess, Tournament Regulations, penalties, appeals, selected incidents, chess clocks, recent changes.

3. Round Robin and Swiss Pairing Systems

Round Robin Berger Tables, Swiss Pairing System, Byes, Forfeits, Withdrawals, Tie-breaks.

4. Tournament Software

Swiss Pairings & Internet broadcast software, Swiss Perfect, Swiss Manager, DGT electronic chess boards, TOMA broadcast software.

5. Ratings System

ELO & FIDE rating system regulations, calculations, reporting procedures, contacts.

6. International Tournaments and Titles

FIDE requirements, title regulations and reports.

7. Examination

FIDE Arbiter Examination required for FIDE Arbiter title

New Zealand Chess Federation Inc.

Member of F.I.D.E

Affiliated to NZ Olympic Committee

P.O. Box 216 Shortland St Auckland New Zealand

President: Paul Spiller spillerfamily.enterprise@xtra.co.nz

Secretary: Helen Milligan heligan@newzealandchess.co.nz

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GENERAL NEWS

Pawn’s Progress

The Editor’s attention has been drawn to another chess blog. See link for Pawn’s Progress, run by George Eraclides.

AGMs

Victoria: The Notice of Meeting, Agenda and proposed fees and charges for 2012 were sent to clubs by email on 7 November. The meeting is to be held at 4:30pm on Sunday December 4 at Melbourne Chess Club. Full details are on the Chess Victoria website.

Queensland: The AGM of the CAQ will be held in Brisbane on 3 December 2011 commencing at 12.30 pm. Watch the CAQ website for more information.

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JUNIOR CHESS

AusJCL Calendar (National and International)

See http://www.australian-junior-youth-chess.blogspot.com/ or the AusJCL page for calendars, selection details, etc. Note that events are often changed so it is advisable to check frequently for updates.

2011 Australian Schools Teams Championships

The 2011 Australian Schools Teams Championships will be conducted by the NSW Junior Chess League at Knox Grammar School, Wahroonga, about 20 km north of Sydney, on Saturday and Sunday 3-4 December. Details are now available on the NSW Junior Chess League's website, www.nswjcl.org.au (see link at top right of home page).

Included (under "Entry Details") is the entry form which participating schools should download, complete and then return to the NSW Junior Chess League as soon as possible. Details of the competing teams will be added to the website as they become available.

Richard Gastineau-Hills

NSW Junior Chess League

2012 Australian Junior Championships

This event will be run at Spensley Street Primary School in the inner Melbourne suburb of Clifton Hill between Saturday 14th January and Sunday 22nd January, organised by the Melbourne Chess Club.

See link for information and updates.

Win a $135 value prize in the tournament Facebook giveaway!!!

Players, parents & spectators eligible.

If you say you are 'attending' the 2012 Australian Junior Chess Championships of Facebook you will be eligible to win a $135 hand crafted Dungeons & Dragons Chess Set plus board from Leah's Den.

Event facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147444908680921

For more details of this giveaway see: http://www.2012ausjuniorchamps.com/facebook

Simon Dale, event committee member.

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RESULTS

Recent GP weekend results

2011 Vikings Weekender November 19-20, Tuggeranong, ACT. FM Junta Ikeda won with 6/7 from IMs Andrew Brown, George Xie and Vladimir Smirnov 5.5 (56 players).

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COMING EVENTS

Grand Prix events

November 26-21 Caloundra Open [1], Caloundra, Qld link

December 3-4 Christmas Open [1], Perth, WA link

December 3-4 Mildura Open [1], Mildura, Vic link

December 9-12 Canterbury Day-Nighter [1], Melbourne, Vic link

December 17-18 MCC Christmas Swiss [2], Melbourne, Vic link

2011 GP calendar link

2011 Canterbury Day Nighter (December 9 - 12)

VENUE: Box Hill Chess Club, 3 Rochester Road, Canterbury

PRIZES: $2,000 prize pool. 1st $600; 2nd $400; 3rd $250; 5 Rating prizes each totalling $150.

FORMAT: 6 round Swiss. FIDE rated; ACF rated; Grand Prix rated

TIME: 90 min + 30 sec from move 1. FIDE rules apply.

ARBITER: Roger Croft

ORGANISER: Peter Tsai

PAIRINGS: Swiss Perfect

ENTRY FEES: Early bird entry: $50 if paid by Tuesday 6 December. Full Fee: $60. Discount: $10 for BHCC and CJCC members.

Free: GM, IM, (FM-BHCC/CJCC member).

SCHEDULE: FRI, 9 Dec: Round 1, 7 pm. SAT, 10 Dec: Round 2, 10 am. Round 3, 3 pm.

SUN, 11 Dec: Round 4, 10 am. Round 5, 3 pm. MON, 12 Dec: Round 6, 7 pm.

CONTACT: Club Mobile 0409 259 490

MAILING ADDRESS: Box Hill Chess, 23 Chester St, Surrey Hills 3127

CLUB SITE: http://www.boxhillchess.org.au

Please notify forthcoming tournaments to auschessnews@gmail.com

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OVERSEAS TOURNAMENTS AND NEWS

Championship and major events

World Seniors: 14 November 2011, Opatija, Croatia link

Asian Amateur: 25 November 2011, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia link

London Chess Classic: 3 December 2011, London, UK link

Queenstown Chess Classic: 15 January 2012, Queenstown, NZ [incorporates NZ and Oceania Championships] link

Gibraltar Chess Festival: 24 January 2012 link

Asian Teams Championship May 2012, Hainan, China

Asian Seniors: 1 June 2012, Sydney, Australia

Olympiad: 27 August 2012, Istanbul, Turkey

(Date listed is date of commencement)

Tournament calendars

FIDE: link

allyearchess.com: link

2011 World Senior Championship

This event is in progress in Opatija, Croatia, from 14 to 27 November. Oceania’s official representative is IM Mirko Rujevic (Aus), currently on 3.5/6 and two other Australians, Lachlan Benson, also 3.5, and Slobodan Krstic, 3, are also participating. See link for information or link for scores.

Women’s World Championship

GMs Hou Yifan (Chn), the title holder, and Humpy Koneru (Ind) are playing a ten-game match from 13 to 30 November in Tirana, Albania. Hou Yifan currently leads 4-2. See link for information and updates.

European Team Championship

38 teams contested this event in Halkidiki, Greece from 3 to 11 November. The surprise winner was Germany, who won seven and tied one of their nine matches for 15 points. Azerbaijan took the silver with 14 from Hungary, third on tie-break from Armenia and Russia on 13. Russia won the Women’s event with 17 points from Poland and Georgia 14.

See link for the tournament site, or link for a discussion on chessvibes about the dress code and draw rules for the event.

2011 Sarawak Open

Dear Chess Friends,

2011 Sarawak Open Chess Championship will be held from 12-16 December 2011 at Ultimate Professional Centre, 3rd Floor, Jalan Bukit Mata Kuching, Kuching. This FIDE-rated and National rated tournament offers a Champion prize of RM2,500 and some prizes for juniors.

There are two amendments to the previous release:

a. Woman International Masters, International Masters and above are not required to pay entrance fee.

b. Players may register on line at http://pk4.my and view registered players' list.

Regards,

Lim Kian Hwa

London Chess Classic

The 2011 London Chess Classic is now just a month away - and it’s just got a little bit stronger. The latest ratings published by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, are the ones which will apply to the event. At the top of the list, for the first time in the history of chess competition, there are four players rated 2800 or more. And it just so happens that these four gentlemen are playing in London next month! Have a look at the table below...

It also means the London Chess Classic will have an average rating over 2730, making it comfortably the strongest event ever held on these shores.

In a strange way, London will actually have 4½ members of the ‘2800 Club’. Don’t believe me? Well, we have it on very good authority that Hikaru Nakamura is now being coached and assisted by Garry Kasparov, one of only two former members of the ‘2800 Club’ (Topalov being the other) not in the London line-up. Garry retired from chess several years but his gaze is still firmly fixed on events in London, as it was last year, when he paid us a two-day visit and enjoyed the play as a VIP guest.

For further information http://www.londonchessclassic.com or please contact:

Malcolm Pein, Tournament Director, London Chess Classic chesspromotions@gmail.com

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FIDE RATINGS

The November FIDE ratings were released earlier this month. The leading Australians (active players only) are shown in the next column.

Magnus Carlsen (Nor) remains in the top spot with 2826 followed by World Champion Viswanathan Anand (Ind) 2811, Levon Aronian (Arm) 2802 and Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) 2800.

A rating of 2758 is necessary to be in the top ten, and 2651 for the top hundred. Australia’s top player, GM Zong-Yuan Zhao, at 2564 is number 375.

See here for the FIDE ratings page.

Rank	Prev	Rating	Pl
1	1	2564	2	GM Zong-Yuan Zhao (NSW)
2	2	2513	0	GM David Smerdon (ACT)
3	3	2440	0	IM George Xie (NSW)
4	5	2404	8	IM Aleksandar Wohl (NSW)
5	4	2403	11	GM Darryl Johansen (Vic)
6	12	2401	18	FM Max Illingworth (NSW)
7	6	2394	0	IM Mark Chapman (SA)
8	7	2385	0	IM Igor Goldenberg (Vic)
9	8	2384	0	IM Stephen Solomon (Qld)
10	9	2376	0	IM Moulthun Ly (Qld)