Newsletter 17/1

31 January 2017

Editor: Frank Low

auschessnews@gmail.com

To subscribe: Go to http://auschess.org.au/acf/news/

Submissions are always welcome. Next issue 28 February.

                     HOUSE OF LORDS
 

Players, politicians and officials posing for a souvenir shot (Photo: Lennart Ootes) during the rest day at the London Chess Classic on 14 December 2016: GM Erwin l’Ami, Toby Manning (British Go) Lotis Key, GM Wesley So, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, GM Anish Giri, GM Maurice Ashley, GM Michael Adams. Front row: Dominic Lawson ECF President, Yasmin Qureshi MP, Lord Lyndon Harrison, Chris Fegan and IM Malcolm Pein

The  River Room at the House of Lords was a splendid venue for the re-establishment of an old tradition: a House of Lords vs House of Commons chess match the last of which took place in 1999. The visiting grandmasters teamed up for some consultation games resulting in a win for the House of Commons.



Photo: Tata Steel Chess 2017

The London Chess Classic was won by American GM Wesley So ahead of three former World Champions thereby also winning the 2016 Grand Chess Tour of five elite tournaments. A few hours ago at Wijk aan Zee, a small Dutch town on the windswept shores of the North Sea, GM So  won back-to -back the super strong Tata Steel Masters tournament with the remarkable score (in that company) of 9 out of 13. By doing so a full point ahead of World Champion Magnus Carlsen, a new barbarian knocking at the door has emphatically arrived to state his demands.

                 IN MEMORIAM HANS BERLINER

                                    27 January 1929- 13 January 2017

US Chess Hall of Fame

Hans Berliner passed away in Florida on the 13 January. A professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, he won the fifth World Correspondence Chess Championship  which took three years to play (1965-68), and is best known for his game in that tournament against the seventh Champion to come, Russian Grandmaster Yakov Estrin, using the Two Knights Defence (on which Berliner was an authority) in what remains one of the most celebrated correspondence games in history (see a light presentation by CM Tryfon Gavriel on Youtube). His passing inevitably reminds us of Australia’s C.J.S. Purdy who won the inaugural World Correspondence Championship (1950-53).

IN MEMORIAM MALCOLM PYKE

Long time popular committee member and tournament organizer of the Melbourne Chess Club Malcolm Pyke has died suddenly on 13 January. A letter from his parents has been posted on the Melbourne Chess Club’s Facebook page. Elliott Renzies’ interview with him on 23 April 2008 preserves the memory of a much-loved chess player.

                               ACF NOTICES

ACF NATIONAL CONFERENCE

The ACF National Conference was attended by 14 delegates carrying 17 votes in person, plus another six carrying one vote each online via phone hookup.  The new ACF Executive was elected as follows:

Gary Wastell (President)
Bill Gletsos (Deputy President)
Rob Watson (Secretary)
John Adams (Treasurer)
Kevin Bonham (Vice-President)
Leonid Sandler (Vice-President)

All were elected unopposed.  Thanks were given to Retiring Executive members Kerry Stead (Secretary for the past four years) and Norm Greenwood (Treasurer for 20 years). In this time Norm has built the ACF’s finances up from a technically insolvent position to a very healthy one, while Kerry deserves all our thanks for holding the fort in one of the ACF’s busiest and most important roles.

Especially in order to fund the purchase of uniforms for future Olympiad funding, the Conference amended the budget to increase the expected ACF contribution to Olympiad costs, and the Council later passed various motions to implement this.  The ACF will now match Olympiad appeal donations $1 for $1, with uniform costs to be then taken out of the total amount raised.

In all the Conference was wrapped up in 90 minutes.

Following the Conference the ACF Council met.  At the Council meeting, it was unanimously agreed to change the time limit for future Australian Blitz Championships from 5/0 ( five minutes without increment) to 3/2 (three minutes with two seconds increment per move).  The ACF also aims to update the Bylaws on the website by mid-2017.

Kevin Bonham

ACF Vice-President

ACF MEDALS 2016/2017

2016 Steiner Medal: IM Anton Smirnov (Australian Player of the Year 2016)

2017 Koshnitsky Medal: Neville Ledger (outstanding contribution to Australian chess administration)

2017 Purdy Medal: Richard Gastineau-Hills (outstanding contribution to Australian chess as a journalist)

2016 Arlauskas Medal: Kris Chan (Australian Under-16 Player of the Year 2016)

RECURRING NOTICE: REGISTRATION of ARBITERS for TITLE NORM EVENTS

When an arbiter is seeking a norm for the titles of FIDE Arbiter or International Arbiter for an event, it is vital that they be registered as an arbiter for that tournament as part of the tournament registration process. This applies even if they are not the Chief Arbiter. It is the joint responsibility of the arbiter seeking the norm and the event organiser to ensure that this is done.

RECURRING NOTICE: FIDE RATING SUBMISSIONS

Note that events for FIDE ratings that are completed in the last seven days of the month need to be submitted to ACF FIDE Ratings Officer Bill Gletsos for ratings immediately so that any issues with them can be resolved in time for events to be rated in that month. Also note that intended changes of names or dates of FIDE-rated events need to be notified immediately as they may affect the event's rating status. Note also that all FIDE rated events must be submitted for ACF ratings – no exceptions.

RECURRING NOTICE: FIDE RATED EVENT REGISTRATION

Australian tournaments to be FIDE rated must be advised to the ACF FIDE Ratings Officer at least 40 days prior to the start of the tournament for tournaments where norms are available and at least 14 days prior to the start of the tournament for all other tournaments. Where these conditions are not met, the decision whether to register it or not is solely at the discretion of the ACF FIDE Ratings Officer.

RECURRING NOTICE: FIDE ID NUMBER REGISTRATION

FIDE have issued a warning that they will not accept tournaments for FIDE rating where those tournaments contain players who do not have FIDE ID numbers. Although new Australian players can be registered by the ACF national ratings officer, this does not apply to new players from overseas. Therefore, organisers should not immediately accept the entries of overseas players who lack FIDE ID numbers to FIDE rated tournaments; instead, those players should be required to first obtain a FIDE ID from their own national federation.

Tournaments submitted that include foreign players who do not have ID numbers may be rejected. Players without ID numbers should only be submitted as Australian if they are citizens or long-term residents; if a player is registered under the wrong country they may incur transfer costs later. For further information/clarification contact the ACF FIDE Ratings Officer Bill Gletsos <bgletsos@optusnet.com.au>.

                            ACF GRAND PRIX

The ACF GP for 2017 will be open for registrations effective immediately. All classical time control tournaments that commence on or after the 1st of January 2017, and conclude on or before the 31st of December 2017 are eligible to register. Registration fees are payable at the time of registration and are dependent on the GP class. Tournament organisers must register their events 60 days prior to the start date to avoid a late fee of $50. Tournaments commencing on or before April 1 are exempt from late fees.

Tournament Registration

The online registration form can be found here.

Registration Fee Payment

Prizes

Prize Winners 2016

Open

1st Brodie McClymont from QLD on 115 points ($850)

2nd James Morris from VIC on 95.25 points ($600)

3rd Anton Smirnov from NSW on 65.33 points ($300)

4th Moulthun Ly from QLD on 65.22 points ($150)

5th Max Illingworth from NSW on 64.17 points ($100)

U2000

1st Tony (Junhao) Zhong from QLD on 64.33 points ($250)

2nd Tom Maguire from QLD on 61.66 points ($150)

3rd Ross Lam from QLD on 53.4 points ($100)

U1600

1st Hamish Jones from VIC on 73.33 points ($250)

2nd Mark C Stokes from QLD on 49.22 points ($150)

3rd Jason Wang from QLD on 46.17 points ($100)

Junior

1st Jack Puccini from VIC on 70 points* ($250)

2nd Henry Slater-Jones from QLD on 58.75 points ($150)

3rd Ray Yang from VIC on 55.42 points ($100)

Women's

1st  Gail Young from QLD on 85.17 points ($250)

2nd Alexandra Jule fro QLD on 67.5 points

       Giang Nguyen from SA on 67.5 points ($125 ea)

* Anton Smirnov has already been awarded a higher valued prize, therefore the Junior prizes have been cascaded down as appropriate.

ACF CONFERENCE

By Elliott Renzies

Saturday 7 January at 10:00 AM on a very hot, sweltering Brisbane day and the ACF Conference is on. The agenda is rolled out, the standing orders are meticulously observed, the financial statements and reports proceed without hitches and the election of members of the new executive held no surprises. However, this conference included a couple of highlights.

Re-elected: President Gary Wastell, Deputy President Bill Gletsos, Vice President Kevin Bonham

After 20 years of service as treasurer, Norm Greenwood had indicated that, subject to the availability of a suitable replacement, it would not be his intention to renominate for the position. John Adams had indicated his intention to nominate and the two began cooperating throughout the year prior so he could ascertain the finer points of the job.

Norm Greenwood accepting farewell gift

Thanking the audience for the ovation he received, Norm stated that whoever undertakes the responsibility of being treasurer, both present and future, should stay out of politics and concentrate on his or her duties.

The other special occasion was the presence of Phil Viner, a former NSW champion, twice an  Olympian who had been extensively involved in chess administration, having held the roles of ACF president and secretary in the past.

Phil Viner holding the Seniors trophy which will bear his name

Phil attended the conference as part of the SA delegation as well as being present for the official announcement of the Seniors Trophy, named after himself. “In my time there weren't so many juniors playing in chess tournaments”, he said. “Nowadays, it makes me happy to see so many youngsters participating. That's very good for chess”.

        AUSTRALIAN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017

                                                     By Patrick Gong

More than 150 players shared the same roof in the Morris Hall of the Anglican Church (Churchie) Grammar School for the 2017 Australian Open in Brisbane between 2-12 January. The Open event attracted 5 grandmasters, 9 international masters and a total of 103 players from 15 federations. The competition was headed by GM Ahmed Adly from Egypt, GM Adrien Demuth from France, GM Sergey Kasparov from Belarus and leading Australian chess figures IM Anton Smirnov, GM Max Illingworth and GM Moulthun Ly.

 All ready at Churchie Andrew Fitzpatrick

Early rounds saw many unexpected results, with many top players dropping points on the double round day. For example, Anton lost to WIM Tatiana Kasparova in Round 2 while Moulthun lost to IM Andrew Brown in Round 3. By Round 4 only 3 players maintained a perfect score: GM Max Illingworth, IM Temur Kuybokarov from Uzbekistan and FM Gene Nakauchi, with most of the top seeds trailing by half point behind.

Max grabbed the sole lead in Round 6 with a comfortable win against Kuybokarov. However, Max’ lead diminished as he failed to beat FM Yi Liu in Round 8 and suffered a loss against Adly in Round 9, so Adly and Kuybokarov shared the lead with 7.5/9 while Max and IM Kanan Izzat of Azerbaijan trailed by half a point.

Round 10 saw the clash between the leaders, and the victor would almost be ensured as the winner of the Australian Open. Ultimately it was Kuybokarov who won granting him a well-deserved GM norm and a guaranteed equal first place as Izzat and Max drew their individual encounter.

With Kuybokarov guaranteed of first place, the tournament was far from over. In the last round, he was paired against FM Yi Liu who had enjoyed a tremendous tournament with an IM norm already secured. A draw by Kuybokarov would crown him as the sole winner while a win by Yi Liu would lead to a possible 5-way tie for first place. Yi stepped up to the pressure, winning a technical rook endgame to clinch his tie for first place. Victories from IM Izzat and GM Illingworth saw a 4-way tie for first with 8.5/11.

The official title and trophy of Australian Open Champion was originally conferred on IM Kuybokarov on tiebreak, a wonderful performance by the Uzbekistani who is currently only 16 years of age. There was, however, a misapplication of the relevant tie-break rules, and GM Max Illingworth was subsequently declared Australian Open Champion by the ACF.

Max Illingworth Facebook

Score tables can be seen here.

AUSTRALIAN JUNIOR CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS       2017

                    
These Championships were held in Brisbane immediately following the Australian Open Championships and in the same venue Churchie's on 14-22 January.

The new Australian Junior Champions are Ray Yang and Yifan Eva Wang.

Yifan Eva Wang secured the U18 Girls with a round to spare (aged 10, she is believed to be the youngest Champion ever).

Under 8 Open:

1st  - Nikhil Reddy (play-off)
2nd - James Gao
3rd - James Arthur

Under 8 Girls:

1st  - Aurora Lannon
2nd - Aleegra Moraitis

Under 10 Open:

1st  - Marco Le Lun Zheng
2nd - Sayum Rupasinghe
3rd - Gavyn Sanusi-Goh

Under 10 Girls:

1st  - Chloe Fan
2nd - Katherine Pan
3rd  - Sophie Chang

Under 12 Open:

1st  - Oliver Li (play-off)
2nd - Oliver Yang
3rd  - Byron Morris

Under 12 Girls:

1st  - Myiesha Maunders
2nd - Sulia Van Sebille
3rd - Eowyn Mercado

Under 14 Open:

1st  - Brendan Zou
2nd - Matthew Clarke
3rd - Kayson Wang

Under 14 Girls:

1st  - Athena Hathiramani
2nd - Bridgette Watkins
3rd - Elena Jule

Under 16 Open:

1st  - Gordon Yang
2nd - Dillon Hathiramani
3rd - Michael Ostapenko

Under 16 Girls:

1st  - Jody Middleton
2nd - Daria Koruikina
3rd - Nina Tchitaev

Under 18 Open:

1st  - Ray Yang
2nd - Tim Harris
3rd  - Tom Slater-Jones

Under 18 Girls:

1st -  Yifan Eva Wang
2nd - Theresa Gu
3rd -  Susanne Wells

NEW ZEALAND CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017

By Tim Reilly

The 2017 New Zealand championship was held in Wellington from 1-9 January.  The deserved winner was Australian IM Ari Dale, who beat several of the leading NZ players (FMs Scott Wastney, Bob Smith and Nick Croad) and should have beaten IM Anthony Ker too.  Ari was I think only in trouble once (against me) but I overlooked a stalemate trick.

Ari confirmed his abilities in the Oceanic Zonal held soon afterwards, coming equal second.

Both Wastney and IM Russell Dive suffered early unexpected losses to lower rated players.  This turned out to be an excellent Swiss gambit for Wastney, who ended up playing only Ari of the leading players.  After somehow winning an utterly drawn ending in Round 8 against Chinese junior CM Shunkai Peng and winning Round 9 against CM Bill Forster, Wastney ended up NZ Champion by coming second overall.

New Zealand Champion FM Scott Wastney at Baku

And as a result of Dive’s Swiss gambit he didn’t end up playing Ari, which would have been nice to see.

Third was jointly Smith (an early leader), me (after a ridiculous last round blunder against Smith), CM Daniel Gong (who got a FM title in the Zonal shortly afterwards) and Dive (courtesy of a last round blunder by Croad - yes it was a slightly blundersome affair all round).

The tournaments were, as usual in NZ, well organised with excellent playing conditions (spacious, well lit, quiet), and one game a day with every round starting at the same time including the last round.  This is how most tournaments should be but so few are.  And for me at least, January is always a fine time to be in NZ rather than Oz!

Leading final scores: IM Ari Dale (Australia) 7.5; FM Scott Wastney 7; FM Bob Smith, FM Tim Reilly (Australia), CM Daniel Gong, IM Russell Dive 6.5.

[Run concurrently with the NZ Championship is the NZ Major Open (under 2100) won by CM Bill Forster and Yogesh Kulkarni with 5.5 points, and the NZ Junior Open Championship won by CM Shunkai Peng (China) with 5.5, a point ahead of Allen Fan]

OCEANIC ZONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017                                                                                          
By Clive Ng                                                                                                    

Held in the spacious and well-furnished but slightly remote location of the Waipuna Conference Centre in Auckland, New Zealand, the World Championship qualifier or “Zonal” attracted a record 140 players from the Oceania region in both the Open  and the Women’s divisions (a 20% increase from the previous number of 117 held in North Sydney in 2015).

Arbiters (from left) Brian Jones, Bob Gibbons, Ying Wang, Keong Ang and Craig Hall, and Organiser Paul Spiller on the right. http://www.newzealandchess.co.nz/ Photo courtesy Helen Milligan & New Zealand Chess Federation

Perhaps part of the reason for the spike in numbers was the knowledge that FIDE was planning on introducing more stringent requirements for titles in 2019. Whereas previously, simply a good performance (4.5/9 for CM and 6/9 for FM) was sufficient, in the future one needed a minimum rating of at least 200 points below the traditional requirement (2200 for CM and 2300 for FM). For many, this was the last opportunity to come back home with a title and if not then at least a good story to tell- “This is the [insert] (name/move/opening) that cost me a master title!”

Moving onto the venue itself, what was most striking was that it overlooked a giant lake, a scenic wonder that seemed to make the loss of a 7-hour battle bearable. An analysis room, as well as signs outlining the rules on electronic devices, emphasized the serious nature of this event. Water was provided as well as a seemingly endless supply of pens and it was clear this tournament, understaffed as it was, would maintain a reasonable standard. Of course, the inclusion of free tea, juices and sandwiches would have lifted the prestige of the tournament greatly.

Round 1

It was clear that the field would be full of underrated juniors out for blood. The first round did not disappoint, with Kerry Lin playing an unorthodox English attack against Nic Croad’s Rauzer and winning a nice tactical attacking skirmish against the NZ FM. For the most part, games went according to rating with the exception of Taylor’s perpetual check draw with FM Ben Hague.

Round 2

The second round also went according to rating but it also signalled the emergence of 13- year old NSW prodigy Kevin Willathgamuwa who pressed IM Russell Dive for a draw in a classical Caro-Kann after playing the entire game almost flawlessly. For the rest of the lower rated players, however, it proved to be a round which most would rather forget, where the higher rated players handed out free 4-hour lessons. IM Gary Lane outlined the intricacies of the Spanish game to NSW resident Pasan Perera, while NZ champion FM Scott Wastney completely traumatised your reporter in a rather quiet line of the Sveshnikov, highlighting all the drawbacks of playing a singularly sharp opening.  

Round 3

Round three saw the top seeds going strong despite the double round day, with Anton grinding down FM Smith in a hard fought Najdorf where Anton converted a good Knight vs bad Bishop ending while Illingworth steamrolled McClaren on the black side of a c3 Sicilian. However, Lane blundered a piece against the ultra-solid IM Paul Garbett in a Scheveningen and Wastney drew in a complex knight ending with Max Chew Lee. This round was full of fighting chess, with players irrespective of rating engaged in mortal combat.

Round 4

The fourth round was a time to recoup and re-establish mental equilibrium especially after the double round slugfest of the previous day. Unfortunately, it seemed that the majority of players started to get sick. Thankfully the quality of the games was still as exciting as ever with Illingworth and Kerr playing a gripping game with Kerr’s Queen and Knight chasing Illingworth’s King all the way from c1 to c7. Illingworth, however, had enough pieces to weather the storm and at the end of the day forced Kerr’s resignation.

Round 5

Round 5 saw the clash of the top seeds with Anton squaring off against Ari in a rather solid line of the Gruenfeld. Anton would later say that this was the game where he objectively may have been in trouble, with Ari equalising quite easily with a double fianchetto against Anton’s fianchetto, c3+d4 set up.  However, the most interesting game of the round was the unorthodox Bird’s opening that Zelesco played against Illingworth. With an original fighting position, Karl sacrificed the exchange in return for the bishop pair, and a strong knight on c5 but Illingworth diffused the initiative and very soon made his extra exchange felt.  

Round 6

Round 6 saw the top seeds battling it out with Anton adopting a solid Slav against Max. Max obtained some pressure before it was successfully neutralised and he maintained his half point lead. On the lower boards, I was closely following Kevin Willathgamuwa’s progress who had a tough draw facing no less than 5 2100-2300 level opposition and scored 5 draws! Though he faded towards the end, I can assuredly say that Kevin’s future in Australian chess looks really promising as he confidently played all stages of the game in a solid and mature manner, very similar to a young Anton! The most interesting game of the round was Jack James’ stunning miniature against veteran Leonard McLaren. From a closed Sicilian, James's attacking skills were quite sharp!

Round 7

Without a doubt, this round was one full of fighting chess. With newly minted FIDE Master Patrick Gong taking on Illingworth in a Scotch Four Knights, both players engaged in a theoretical duel where the momentum shifted several times. Meanwhile, it seemed as if Anthony Kerr was getting squeezed by Smirnov until he sacrificed two pawns to fuel a pawn storm. Ari Dale’s game, however, went much more smoothly when he completely decimated Karl Zelesco in what was an extremely instructive game on the value of the initiative in opposite side castling.  

Round 8

The penultimate round started off quite literally with a bang, thunderstorms and rain making it difficult for those who did not book accommodation near the venue. Thankfully there were some accommodating NZ players who didn’t mind lending a helping hand, ensuring the players arrived on time.

On the top boards, a highly interesting game in the c3 Sicilian occurred with Anton immediately going for a material imbalance sacrificing a queen in return for 3 pieces in what seemed to be a novelty(?!).

This round was quite important with players gunning for the FM title having their last White of the tournament. While some players used it as their last chance to comfortably press, others like Alphaeus Ang overstepped the mark having it backfire for example against talented Queenslander Charles Tsai. This round was also chance to reveal any gaps in knowledge no matter how obscure, with Pasan Perera losing a heartbreaking but hard fought rook and king vs king rook and bishop ending against Leonard Mclaren.  

Round 9

Perhaps the game of the tournament in terms of quality and importance was the final round game between Smirnov and Zelesco in what turned out to be a game worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster or a Federer-Nadal final! Anton opened with his tried and tested e4 and faced Zelesco’s ultra-solid Breyer. While Anton tried to maintain a grip in the centre Zelesco launched an inspired attack that included a double rook sacrifice to fuel his imitative. Anton remained icy cold under pressure and found resourceful defensive ideas to stay in the game.

The last round was also especially important for the lower boards with FM chances. With Sydney players Jason Hu and Donato Mallari needing wins against CM Edward Rains and 5 time NZ champion IM Paul Garbett this last round promised to be tense and adrenaline filled. While Jason smoothly ground down Rains in what seemed to be a balanced middle game while Rains held the 2 bishops. Pandemonium erupted in Donato’s game where Donato outplayed Garbett in a rook and Knight vs Rook and Bishop ending with passed pawns on both sides after being significantly worse through the first half of the game. A truly remarkable fight!

Remarks

Gameswise it was clear that Anton, Ari and Max had a very solid tournament with all three not conceding a single loss. Special mention must be made of FM Karl Zelesco who displayed uncompromising fighting chess that was really entertaining to watch.

Most prominent was the trouble the arbiters took to ensure maximum comfort to the players. Several times services in the venue broke down and whether it was a problem in plumbing or noisy ventilation, the arbiters took it upon themselves to ensure events ran smoothly. (The directors had some ingenious methods to ensure minimal irritation with varying degrees of success).

After the main games were over I briefly talked with Max who had some invaluable advice for Anton: work hard and prepare well. It’s very important to have someone go with you, as it is quite easy to feel lonely away from home and support is important.

Congratulations especially to WIM Layla Timergazi for winning the Women’s event and to the newly crowned WFM Alana Chibnall and WFM  Kathryn Hardegen.

Photo courtesy New Zealand Chess Federation

A brief interview with the winner IM Anton Smirnov:

C: Anton, congratulations! Would you say that this tournament victory going through to the world cup matches your brilliant performance in the Olympiad?
A: I would say my performance in Baku was 10 times better.

C: Did you have a favourite game?
A: ...

C: Did you like the venue?
A: Venue was OK, but there wasn’t enough space at the top boards.

C: This tournament must’ve been really stressful for you. What did you do to relax?
A: Lie on my bed’.  

C: (Laughing) OK Anton see you in Sydney!

[In the Open, New Zealand IM Anthony Ker, GM Max Illingworth and IM Ari Dale tied for second place, while in the Women's, Kathryn Hardegen and Alana Chibnall shared second place.

Direct titles earned were 56 in all: 8 FMs, 4 WFMs, 35 CMs and 9 WCMs.

FM titles were earned by Yita Choong, Daniel Gong, Jason Hu, Ryan Louie, Luis Chan, Donato Mallari, Charles Tsai, Leonard McLaren, Michael Kethro, Max Chew Lee, and Eliot oo-Burrowes and WFM by Hardegen, Chibnall, Guo Zhi Lin and Jasmine Zhang.

CM titles were earned by Albert Winkleman, Kris Chan, Pasan Perera, Leo Zhang, Allen Fan, Bruce Wheeler, Don Eade, David Notley, Jack James, Alex Huang, Bobby Yu, Tong Wang, Kirill Polishchuk, William Zhang, Regan Crowley, Gyula Plaganyi, William Maligin, Leighton Nicholls, Oleg Korenevski, Anthony Fikh, Oliver Picken, Jared Louie, Tom Crossman, Paul Russell, Aurel-John Buciu, Benjamin Lim, John Duneas, Isaac Zhao, Vishal Bhat, Richard Taylor, Stanley Yee, Vladislav Dragachuk, Timothy Rains, Cameron Yung and Alex Nagorski and Woman Candidate Master title earned by Nicole Qin, Vyanla Punsalan, Jy Qin, Nadia Braganza, Eva Lorenco, Ranae Ghadiali, Cassandra Lim and Alanna Chew Lee.]

Full details at:

Open

Womens

WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

 

FIDE has announced the first round pairings for the forthcoming Women’s World Championship to be held in Tehran, Iran. The 64 player knockout tournament was initially scheduled for October 2016 but postponed due to a lack of an organizer. The tournament now will be played in Teheran, Iran, from 10 to 28 February 2017. Australia’s WIM Nancy Lane seeded 64 will face the top seed GM Ju Wenjun of China in the first round.

GM MURRAY CHANDLER

In recognition of services to chess the Queen has appointed Murray Chandler a Member of the NZ Order of Merit in the 2017 New Year Honours list.

-Wikipedia

The citation reads:

Mr Murray Chandler is New Zealand’s only chess grandmaster and has played internationally for New Zealand and England.

Mr Chandler first appeared for New Zealand in 1974 in the first Asian Team Chess Championship in Malaysia. He won the first New Zealand Chess Championship in 1975/1976 and qualified as an International Master in 1977 by winning the first Asian Junior Chess Championship in Baguio.

He has won three New Zealand Chess Championship titles and was Commonwealth Champion in 1984 and 1987. He qualified for the Grandmaster title in 1983. He was editor of British Chess Magazine from 1991 to 1999 and in the late 1990s he set up Gambit Publications, a publisher of high-quality chess books.

In the 2000s he shifted his focus from playing to promoting chess in New Zealand and became an active member of the New Zealand Chess Federation Council. In 2005 he developed a plan to sponsor and host a series of major chess tournaments in Queenstown, which were held in 2006, 2009 and 2012 and attracted hundreds of overseas players and their families.

Mr Chandler is currently President of the New Zealand Chess Federation.

NEVILLE LEDGER
 

Neville Ledger with four other sometime Tasmanian champions (from left): Nigel Frame, Neil Markovitz, Tony Dowden and Kevin Bonham

Neville Ledger was awarded the ACF  Koshnitsky Medal for outstanding contribution to Australian chess administration. The citation reads:

Neville Ledger has been involved in Tasmanian chess administration for over sixty years. He has successfully helped ensure the survival of organised chess in northwestern Tasmania throughout this time in spite of a low population base. As a result, and through his active involvement the small city of Burnie has staged at least thirty runnings of the state's major tournaments (Championship and Open) in the last 45 years. Neville served on the TCA Executive for sixteen consecutive years, for most of this time in the roles of both Secretary and Treasurer.

Neville has also contributed to Tasmanian chess administration through his publication of books of historical and annual records and a state magazine, as a tournament sponsor and as a friendly source of sage advice to other organisers.

THE BLACK KNIGHT’S TANGO

 By Ian Little

                             “I never knew you were that interesting, Ian.”
 

I truly didn’t know whether to be insulted or not. My wife assures me I should’ve been flattered, so we’ll go with that. It’s late October 2015 and we’re currently staying in a farmhouse in the Burnie countryside just before the annual Burnie Shines Tournament. I’m explaining how I’m taking a bye in Round 4 so Lindsey and I can go to a social dance in Scottsdale 200 kilometres away.

This wasn’t the only thing that made me interesting in this particular conversation. We were also talking about how I work full time, do a number of chess admin tasks, help my wife write fiction for kids, have 3 acres that we’re planning on turning into a working hobby farm, and oh yes, we’re buying a dancing business.

For the record, I don’t recommend attending a social dance in the middle of a two-day chess tournament when the venue is roughly two and a half hours drive away. This was my first lesson on how to integrate my competitive chess life with my professional dancing life.

Now, also for the record, I’m not a “professional ballroom dancer”. That phrase conjures up images of tall lean men in tuxedos gliding around a massive floor with an equally tall lean lady in his arms doing everything with effortless grace and precision. It is for this reason that I prefer the term “ballroom dance professional”. A subtle difference, I know, but neither Lindsey nor I am particularly tall, or lean, and we’ve never danced competitively in our lives.

Despite our lack of stereotypical traits, we purchased
Long-Steps Ballroom Dancing in July 2016.

At the time I was accused of being interesting, we hadn’t actually purchased the business and I could still call myself a dancing chess player. Now, after 6 months of teaching classes and running socials, I’ve definitely crossed over to being a chess playing dancer.

As we all know, the more interests we acquire, the more sacrifices we have to make to ensure we have enough resources available to invest in them. Whether it’s time, money, the blood of your first born child or, in my case, sanity, finding the balance between what you put into your different hobbies and what you get out of them is rarely easy, and unlike the crushing over-the-board sacs, you don’t get your bits back for the next game. Nevertheless, when you do get the balance right, the returns are nearly always worth it.

So, have I got the balance right? Time will tell, I guess. I have gone from dancing two nights a week to dancing four nights a week, from playing or practising chess 2 nights a week to one night most weeks, and from driving to tournaments the night before to the morning of. There is the added stress of actually running a business and all the juicy things that go with that like deciding on roll-out strategies, web designs, tackling licenses and insurance, and finding the middle ground between me and my wife. However, despite all this, my chess ratings are the highest they have ever been.

I guess the big question now is, has dancing made me a better chess player? Well, I think I’d be doing a great disservice to my coach, all the puzzles I’ve done, and all the stronger players I’ve played over the recent years if I said yes; but in its own way, it has made a contribution. While the similarities between chess and dancing are thin at best, there is anecdotal evidence to suggest they both aid similar areas of mental development. They both help stave off Alzheimer’s.

I actually tried to explain the similarities between chess and ballroom dancing to my accuser once. It started something like:

“They both use moves, manoeuvres, and combinations…”

At this point, the glassy-eyed stare looking back at me was enough to make us agree that you have to be a dancer to see the similarities. At the risk of inducing more glassy eyes, I’m going to have another stab at that explanation.

I think anyone reading this knows that chess has moves, you can then make multiple moves with a piece and call it a manoeuvre, and if you put these in a specific order we call it a combination. Well, dancing is loosely the same in that regard. We have individual moves, when putting them together you form a combination, and when using them to dodge all the slow pokes on the floor you are, in a very Top Gun sense, manoeuvring.

Of course, apart from this tenuous semantic similarity dancing and chess are completely different, but I will just add that in both cases when a combo goes wrong you generally end up with pain, tears, and a bruised ego.

Flipping the perspective for just a moment, I think that chess has actually made me a better dance instructor. While I’m naturally a little anal anyway, the analytical nature of chess has led me to be very particular about how I learn different dance moves. This infuriates my dance coaches as it then takes forever to dance the moves, and not just step through them with stoic precision.


However, this very detailed approach to learning has translated into a clear and concise method of teaching. As all the chess coaches out there would know, one of the hardest parts of being a coach is finding ways to effectively convey complex ideas; dancing is no different.

So in their own ways, chess has helped my dancing, and dancing has helped my chess. Do I recommend going out and learning ballroom dancing as a replacement for chess puzzles? No. Do I recommend taking time out during a chess tournament to drive for hours to a dance? No. Can I recommend buying a physically demanding business as a way of getting more time to practice chess? No.

But I wouldn’t have it any other way. Chess ratings up, check. Ballroom dancing business ticking over, check. Dancing medals in the bank, check. Three acres developed and hobby farm on the go..perhaps we’ll leave that for another 6 to 12 month.

____________________________________

AUTHOR NOTES: Ian and Lindsey first learned to dance in England in 2009 while Lindsey studied for her Master's degree in Medieval Studies. Their first coach was a fellow student and former competition dancer who was teaching dance while studying for his PhD.

After returning to Australia, Ian and Lindsey continued their dance journey at Long-Steps studio when preparing for their wedding. Their bridal dance was choreographed by former two-time Australian champions and Long-Steps owners, Carla & Ian Long. On 1 July,  2016 Ian and Lindsey took over the business.

Ian is involved in chess administration for the Hobart Chess Club, the Tasmanian Chess Association, and the Australian Chess Federation. Lindsey is the author of a book for children “James Munkers: Super Freak”.

JOHNS-PUTRA AUSTRALIAN JUNIOR
ELITE TRAINING SQUAD (JETS)

Applications are open for the Australian Junior Chess League’s 2017 JETS Training Squad sponsored by Geraldine Johns-Putra.

The Australian Junior Chess League is pleased to invite applications from talented Australian juniors (U/18) for the national junior training squad.

The JETS Squad is Australia's premier development squad, aimed at encouraging and challenging the next generation of Australian champions. (Past JETS members have gone on to become Grandmasters and International Masters).

Applicants are judged by enthusiasm, commitment and recent improvement as well as rating, with a loading for applicants aged 14 and under.

A maximum of 30 players will be selected, with at least a third of squad members being of each gender. Two places will be reserved for a male and female player from New Zealand and a minimum of six places for the host State or Territory.

The selected members of the 2017 JETS Squad should commit to attending the national junior training camp, to be held in Canberra from July 3-7. The first three days will involve free intensive coaching in small groups by Grandmasters and International Masters, including a Rules and Ethics Hypothetical.

The final two days of the camp will include competing in a training tournament, with post-game analysis by JETS coaches, plus a Grandmaster Simultaneous Exhibition. In the first half of the year, JETS Squad members may occasionally be set homework.

Apply via http://australianjuniorchess.org.au by February 20.

The 2016 Australasian Masters Tournaments were held at the Melbourne Chess Club from 10-18 December. IM Anton Smirnov became the first Australian to win this GM Norm event.  Organized by IM Leonid Sandler, this was the fourth consecutive annual event.Needing 1.5 points in the last two rounds for the GM norm, Smirnov overpressed and lost in Round 8 to the top seed French GM Adrien Demuth.

-Leonid Sandler

GM Norm Tournament:1 IM Anton Smirnov 6, 2 GM Sergey Kasparov (Belarus) 5.5, 3-4 IM Junta Ikeda, IM Bobby Cheng 5, 5-6 IM Kanan Izzat (Azerbaijan), GM Adrien Demuth (France) 4.5, 7-8 IM Stephen Solomon, GM Vasily Papin (Russia) 4, 9 FM Christopher Wallis 3.5, 10 Karl Zelesco 3.

Two 16-year-old boys from Asia, FM Li Tian Yeoh and FM Xiangyi Liu won the IM Norm event to attain IM norms as well.

IM Norm Tournament:1-2 FM Li Tian Yeoh (Malaysia), FM Xiangyi Liu (Singapore) 7, 3 GM Darryl Johansen 6, 4-6 FM Dusan Stojic, CM Alphaeus Wei Ern Ang (New Zealand), IM Andrew Brown 5, 7  WFM Camille De Seroux (Switzerland) 3, 8-9 FM Eddy Levi, IM Mirko Rujevic 2, 10 Kris Chan 1.

2016 LIDUMS AUSTRALIAN YOUNG MASTERS  

Held at Adelaide University from 3 to 9 December 2016, the 2016 Lidums Australian Young Masters was won by Singaporean FM Xiangyi Liu (pictured left) on count-back from Malaysian FM Li Tian Yeoh, both happily attaining IM norms. Sharing third place were French GM Adrien Demuth, IM Kanan Izzat from Azerbaijan, and IM Bobby Cheng.

Held at the same time, the Junior Masters event was won by Queensland's Hughston Parle (right) the outright winner with 7.5/9 followed by fellow Queenslander Charles Tsai on 7/9.

The Under 1600 Junior Masters (held 5 to 9 December) was won by Victorian Gavyn Sanusi-Goh aged 8 at the time  (centre) with an almost perfect score of 8.5/9.

The Tournament Organisers were Sabrina and David Koetsier of Chesslife, and Fedja Zulfic  Through the generosity of Aivar Lidums, this event was brought to Adelaide once again. Photos below are by courtesy of Sabrina Koetsier

Patron Aivar Lidums presenting prizes to FM Li Tian Yeoh and FM Xiangyi Liu  with Tournament Director Fedja Zulfic

From Patrick Gong a personal perspective:

However, playing as the last seed I was paranoid about the strong field with some of the biggest names in Australian chess. Furthermore, with 4 FIDE Masters, 4 International Masters and a Grandmaster in the competition, I was the only untitled player in the field. Compared to their achievements at the national and international levels, my victory at the 2016 Australian Reserves Championship seemed more like a joke. The thought of losing to everybody constantly flash through my mind.

IM Andrew Brown

My fear was realised in Round 1 when I was paired with IM Andrew Brown. In a complex position, I sacrificed the knight for no less than 4 pawns! With time trouble creeping in for both sides, I was pushing for the win with a pawn on the 7th rank. Queening would have meant an instant draw, but ambition persuaded me to pursue the win. To my horror, my pawns were taken off the board one by one. Eventually, in a two bishop and rook vs bishop and rook ending, I was ground down after 127 moves and 5 hours of play. Losing after over pressing, it almost shattered my confidence for the tournament.

GM Adrien Demuth

The Round 2 game was a turning point for me. I was playing against the Number 1 seed GM Adrien Demuth from France and I managed to hold the game to a draw after 50 moves. It was my first ever draw against a grandmaster in a standard game. This boosted my confidence and I managed to defeat FM Yi Liu and held FM Zachary Loh to a draw on the double round day. I regained my confidence following a win against IM James Morris and a draw against the eventual winner FM Liu Xiangyi.

IM Kanan Izzat

I played well against most of my opponents in this tournament. My best game in the tournament must be against IM Kanan Izzat. It was a complicated Benoni game where both sides had chances. With time pressure on both sides, the f6-f5 break led to wild fireworks from which I managed to emerge as the winner. It feels good to come out of complications winning and even better when your opponent is an IM!

Patrick Gong

Overall, I managed to finish 5/9 with 3 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses. I was slightly disappointed to be half a point short of the IM norm, but still achieved a massive 118 rating jump which resulted in my live rating surpassing 2300 and becoming an FM-elect. It was a very enjoyable tournament for me, and I would definitely look forward to playing again next year.

Scores:

1   FM Yeoh, Li Tian  (Malaysia)       
    FM Liu, Xiangyi   (Singapore)    6.0    
3   IM Izzat, Kanan   (Azerbaijan)     
    GM Demuth, Adrien (France)     
    IM  Cheng, Bobby                      5.5  
6   IM Morris, James                        
    Gong, Patrick                             5.0   
8   IM  Brown, Andrew                   4.5  
9   FM Loh, Zachary                      1.5  
10 FM Liu, Yi                                 0.5

AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2016

That Elusive Clean Sweep
By IA Charles Zworestine Photos Courtesy of Yita Choong

There is no doubt about it. Victoria is once more the hub of Australian junior chess strength. While NSW can still compete with Victoria (perhaps even surpass them) in terms of numbers (still over 10000 in schools chess in NSW), the strongest juniors have resided in Victoria for some time (Anton Smirnov being the only significant exception).

This is no better illustrated than by the Victorian domination of the Australian Schools Teams Championships (ASTC) in recent years (for example, convincing winners of the Secondary Open division for 9 of the past 10 years). In 2015 they won 3 of 4 divisions in the ASTC, missing out on winning the Secondary Girls division by just half a point. Could they go one better and win all four divisions in 2016?

In Perth for the first time since 2010, the 2016 event was superbly organised by the Chess Association of WA, most notably by Yita Choong and Norbert Muller. A superb playing venue at Wesley College in South Perth (many thanks to the school for providing such a great venue, replete with coaching/analysis rooms) helped produced a fantastic event, which ran very smoothly and dispute-free, thanks largely to the superb efforts of my co-arbiter Tristan Boyd.

It was good to see the home state able to field teams in two divisions: Secondary Open and Primary Open, with the Secondary Open team (from the host school) especially taking their time and proving very competitive.

All four divisions were played at the usual time control of 60 minutes for the whole game, plus 10 seconds per move from the start (Fischer). As usual, many children did not use all of their allotted time – but never mind, let’s see how they all went!

From left, Norbert Muller, Wolfgang Leonhardt and David Ellis (CAWA Councillors), Yota Choong, Arbiter Charles Zworestine, Assistant Arbiter Tristan Boyd

Secondary Open Division:

Melbourne High Keeps Aiming Higher

Round 1: Defending champ Melbourne High (VIC) were aiming to win this event for the fourth year in a row, and they began well with a maximum 4-0 win against Prince Alfred (SA). Ari Dale scored a neat tactical victory over Qi Le Kong-Lim (see game below); Anurag Sannidhanam checkmated Oscar Herrmann; while David Cannon and Kris Chan both won rook endings. James Ruse (NSW) had to fight before triumphing 3.5-0.5 over Wesley College (WA), Ruse’s Rowan Willathgamuwa drawing a pure opposite coloured bishop ending with Matthew Ashworth on Board 2. Brisbane Grammar (QLD) also started well, beating Lyneham (ACT) 3.5-0.5, but only after the Board 1 game between Brisbane’s Tom Slater-Jones and Dillon Hathiramani gave us all heart flutters, Dillon’s bishop and four pawns eventually drawing with Tom’s rook and bishop!

Kong-Lim, Q (1912) - Dale, A (2379) 2016 ASTC Sec Open Round 1 Board 1, 03/12/16 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.h3 0–0 6.Be3 e5 7.d5 Na6 8.Nf3 Nh5 9.g3 f5 10.exf5 gxf5 11.Ng5 Nxg3 12.fxg3 f4 13.Qh5 h6 14.Ne6 Bxe6 15.dxe6 fxe3 16.Nd5 c6 17.e7 Qa5+ 18.b4 Nxb4 19.exf8Q+ Rxf8 20.Ne7+ Kh7 21.0–0–0 Qa3+ 0–1

Round 2: Melbourne High played their reserve, who dropped their first half point: Douglas Dias swapping all the way down to a rook each to draw with Wallace Tan (ACT) on Board 4. Still, no real problems for Melbourne after they won the other three boards to defeat Lyneham 3.5-0.5. Wesley battled hard on all 4 boards but ended up going down 4-0 to Brisbane, who thus shared the lead on 7.5/8 with Melbourne. James Ruse also showed their competitiveness, reaching 6/8 after beating Prince Alfred 2.5-1.5. Oscar Herrmann beat Ruse’s reserve Raphael Chang with extra pawns, and Peter Gregoric drew a rook ending with Rowan Willathgamuwa, but Raymond Li attacked and checkmated Denny Han on Board 3, while Kevin Willathgamuwa scored the decisive victory on Board 1 with rook, bishop and knight against Qi Le Kong-Lim’s queen.

Round 3: Ruse really put the cat among the pigeons this round, giving Melbourne a huge scare before their match eventually settled into a 2-2 draw. Not wanting a draw, David Cannon sacrificed a piece and lost to Rowan, while Kris Chan also spurned a draw and lost bishop vs knight against Raymond. Melbourne were saved by Anurag, whose extra pawns beat Brendan Xu, and Ari, who survived massive time pressure and the fright of his life to finally beat Kevin Willathgamuwa via knight forks. After all this, Brisbane Grammar’s 2.5-1.5 win against Prince Alfred to take the outright lead on 10/12 going into Day 2 was rather uneventful, despite Board 4’s James Franco losing positionally to Oscar Herrmann, but Tom Slater-Jones drew with Qi Le, while Tony Zhong and Thomas Yang used extra pawns to beat Peter Gregoric and Denny Han respectively. Meanwhile Wesley lost 2.5-1.5 to Lyneham, but still scored their first win when Clifford Lee checkmated Dillon on Board 1, after Matthew Ashworth drew with Ziqi Yuan on Board 2.

Round 4: Melbourne were back in business after beating Wesley 4-0, but Brisbane suffered their first loss, losing 2.5-1.5 to James Ruse in a high-class battle. Tom Slater-Jones won the exchange to beat Kevin Willathgamuwa, and Thomas Yang held Raymond to a draw in a rook and minor piece ending. But Rowan refuted Tony Zhong’s unnecessary piece sacrifice in a drawn rook and bishop ending, and Brendan Xu exploited weak pawns to win his ending against James Franco. Lyneham upset Prince Alfred 3-1, with rating upsets on 3 boards despite Saffron Archer losing a long game to Denny. But Dillon won a piece to beat Qi Le, Ziqi’s vicious attack won queen and game against Peter Gregoric. and Oscar Herrmann walked into mate against Wallace Tan.

Round 5: Another resounding victory wrapped it up for Melbourne, beating Brisbane 4-0 by playing strong attacking chess. Ruse was thus able to ascend to second place after they recorded a 3-1 win against Lyneham. Kevin and Raymond drew with Dillon and Saffron respectively, but Rowan eventually got to Ziqi’s king for a decisive mating attack, while Brendan won a piece to take care of Wallace Tan. Rowan and Raymond thus won board prizes on Boards 2 and 3 – a fine effort! Prince Alfred was able to pull up to level with Lyneham by defeating Wesley 3.5-0.5, Nirmit Agramal drawing a major piece ending with Denny on Board 3 via a perpetual check.

Final Standings: 1st Melbourne High (VIC) 17.5/20, 2nd James Ruse (NSW) 13.5, 3rd Brisbane Grammar (QLD) 11.5, = 4 th Lyneham (ACT) 7.5 & Prince Alfred College (SA) 7.5, 6th Wesley College (WA) 2.5.

Board Prizes: 1. Ari Dale (Melbourne High) 5/5, 2. Rowan Willathgamuwa (James Ruse) 4/5, 3. Raymond Li (James Ruse) ⅘, 4. Anurag Sannidhanam (Melbourne High) 5/5

Secondary Girls Division:

PLC’s Peak?

Round 1: Having come so close before, would it finally be the turn of Presbyterian Ladies’ College (VIC) to win this event? PLC certainly began well, convincing 4-0 winners against Adelaide High (SA). Cassandra Lim had to fight on Board 1, eventually getting rook, bishop and knight for her queen to beat Susanne Wells, but the others won fairly convincingly. Defending champs Abbotsleigh (NSW) (minus their top 2 boards Kristine Quek and Alysha Chin) also began well, defeating the second Victorian school Penleigh and Essendon Grammar 4-0. Somerset College scored a third decisive win by defeating Caroline Chisholm (ACT) 3.5-0.5.  Board 1’s Elizabeth Kay was lucky to draw with Brooke Harder, but the others won quite well.

Round 2: A rarity this round – all four results were 4-0! First, Somerset made short work of Penleigh, winning material and all four games convincingly. Then Abbotsleigh did a similar job on Adelaide, only Amy Wang on Board 1 having to toil hard before prevailing against Susanne Wells. Finally, PLC joined Abbotsleigh in the outright lead on 8/8 (with Somerset on 7.5!) after their own 4-0 win over Caroline Chisholm. Again, most of these wins were very straightforward. Cassandra Lim had to work a bit harder, but eventually won pawns to defeat Brooke Harder.

Round 3: A 4-0 win against Caroline Chisholm saw Abbotsleigh take the outright lead on 12/12 going into Day 2, Katie Ord having to work hardest before her two minor pieces beat Niobe Harris’ rook. Adelaide defeated Penleigh 3-1, dropping only Board 2. But the key match-up was between Somerset and PLC, and it was PLC who prevailed convincingly 3.5-0.5. Elizabeth Kay did well to hold Cassandra Lim to a draw, forcing a perpetual check when she doubled her rooks on the seventh rank. Jody Middleton pinned Annaliese McConnell’s queen, May-Yi Foo won a piece early, and Shanaya Mendis used two connected passed pawns to defeat Talia Varcoe.

Round 4: This time the key battle was between Abbotsleigh and PLC: all games were hard fought, but PLC prevailed 4-0 in the end. Cassandra Lim won the exchange to a knight fork to beat Amy Wang, May-Yi won a piece early to defeat Alisa Wu, and Shanaya Mendis looked to be in a bit of trouble two pawns down against Anousheh Moonen, but prevailed after an unsound piece sacrifice. The best game was on Board 2, where Katie Ord missed a chance to beat Jody Middleton in a super-charged tactical battle (see game below). Somerset remained in contention for second by beating Adelaide 4-0, Elizabeth Kay using a discovered check to win Susanne Wells’ queen. Meanwhile, Penleigh relegated Caroline Chisholm to last place with a 3.5-0.5 win.

Ord, K (771) - Middleton, J (1413)  2016 ASTC Secondary Girls Round 4, Board 2 04/12/16 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.Qb3 a5 9.0–0 Nbd7 10.Nh4 Bg6 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.f3 Bd6 13.f4 Ng4 14.Bxe6 Rxh2 15.Bxf7+ Kf8 16.g3 Ndf6 17.Bxg6 Qd7 18.e4 Bxf4 19.d5 Qd6 20.Qa3 Qxa3 21.Rxa3 Bd6 22.Rb3 Bc5+ 23.Rf2 Rxf2 24.Rxb7 Rxb2+ 25.Kf1 Rxb7 26.e5 Nxe5 27.dxc6 Nxc6 28.Nb5 Rd7 29.Bf4 Rad8 30.Ke2 Nd4+ 31.Nxd4 Rxd4 32.Bc2 Re8+ 33.Kf3 Nd5 34.Bc1 Rc4 35.Bb3 Rc3+ 36.Kg4 Rxb3 37.Kh3 Nf4+ 38.Bxf4 Re4 39.Kg4 Rxa4 40.Kf5 Rxf4+ 41.gxf4 a4 42.Ke6 a3 43.f5 a2 44.f6 gxf6 45.Kd7 a1Q 46.Kc7 Qa6 47.Kd7 Rb7+ 48.Kc8 Qa8# 0–1

Round 5: PLC beat Penleigh 4-0 to reach 19.5/20 – an outstanding score! Despite Susanne Wells dropping the exchange to lose to Brooke Harder, Adelaide’s 3-1 defeat of Caroline Chisholm moved them into fourth place. But the battle was for second between Somerset and Abbotsleigh, and a battle royale it was! The only 2-2 draw of the event saw Abbotsleigh prevail on Boards 1 and 3, with Somerset winning Boards 2 and 4. The result of this was that Abbotsleigh took the second place trophy on countback, while Somerset had to content themselves with third.

Final Standings: 1st Presbyterian Ladies College (VIC) 19.5/20,  = 2 nd Abbotsleigh (NSW) 14 & Somerset College (QLD) 14, 4th Adelaide High (SA) 6, 5th Penleigh and Essendon Grammar (VIC) 4.5, 6th Caroline Chisholm (ACT) 2.

Board Prizes: 1. Cassandra Lim (PLC) 4.5/5, 2. Jody Middleton (PLC) 5/5, 3. May-Yi Foo (PLC) 5/5, 4. Shanaya Mendis (PLC) 5/5

Primary Girls Division:

Mighty Mounties!

Round 1: It was a Victorian school, St Andrews, who won this event in 2015. This time another Victorian school, Mount View, began extremely well with a 4-0 win over Caroline Chisholm (ACT), with extra pieces and extra rooks being the order of the day! Was a Victorian clean sweep on the cards? But the other Victorian school, Glendal, did not fare so well, going down 3-1 to Somerset College (QLD). Despite winning Board 2, the others lost more rooks and minor pieces! Meanwhile, Tuner (ACT) also won 3-1 against Lindfield (NSW), with only Lindfield’s Board 1 Jannah Mallari being able to win to prevent a clean sweep.

Round 2: Somerset College proved that they were going to be a real threat, winning 4-0 against Turner. Only Board 1 was a lengthy battle, with Lyanna Chan prevailing in the end via an extra piece. Despite this excellent victory, Somerset’s 7/8 was only good enough to see them placed second at this point, with Mount View winning 3.5-0.5 against Lindfield to reach 7.5/8. Again Jannah Mallari carried the Lindfield team with her draw against Emily Lin, the others all lost rather convincingly. Completing a very decisive round, Glendal defeated Caroline Chisholm 4-0, tactics (e.g. rook forks) being the order of the day here.

Round 3: A much tighter round, with the ACT schools both securing 2-2 draws. Turner drew 2-2 with Glendal, while Lindfield for once did not rely solely on Jannah Mallari in their 2-2 draw with Caroline Chisholm. Jannah did win, but so too did Ameya Reddy on Board 3 via a shock mate when a piece and several pawns down. But the critical match-up was between Mount View and Somerset, with Mount View going a very long way to securing overall victory with their 3.5-0.5 win. Jennifer Yeung was able to draw with Shalana Powell on Board 2; but the rest lost for Somerset, Emily Lin winning a piece and many pawns to defeat Lyanna Chan.

Round 4: Entering Day 2 on 11/12 and leading from Somerset by 3.5 points, Mount View all but wrapped it up with a 3.5-0.5 win over Glendal. They drew only Board 2, Shalana Powell failing to convert a material advantage and reaching king and rook pawn vs king; they won the rest. Somerset fell a further half point back when they defeated Lindfield 3-1, Lyanna Chan losing a long and tough ending a piece down to Jannah Mallari. Meanwhile, which ACT school was Number 1? Turner proved it was them, doing the business 4-0 on Caroline Chisholm.

Round 5: Mount View made sure of it with a 4-0 win over Tuner, relegating the ACT school to fourth place in the process. The second Victorian school, Glendal, were able to make it into third place, defeating Lindfield 3-1. Yes, you guessed it, Jannah Mallari scored the point for Lindfield in a long ending with two pieces for a rook. Somerset was able to wrap up outright second place with a 3-1 win over Caroline Chisholm. In the process, Lyanna Chan played a good game, winning material then finishing with a nice mate against Kathleen Laidlaw.

Final Standings: 1st Mount View (VIC) 18.5/20, 2nd Somerset College (QLD) 13.5, 3rd Glendal (VIC) 10.5, 4th Turner (ACT) 9, 5th Lindfield (NSW) 5.5, 6th Caroline Chisholm (ACT) 3

Board Prizes: 1. Emily Lin (Mount View) and Jannah Mallari (Lindfield) 4.5/5, 2. Chao Xin Cheng (Glendal) 4.5/5, 3. Zoe Jones (Mount View) 5/5, 4. Levinia Duong (Mount View) 4/4

Primary Open Division:

Victorian Victory, or Somerset’s Spoil?

Round 1: So, a Victorian school has won three of the three divisions reported on so far; could they achieve that elusive clean sweep? Defending champs Mount View were certainly going to give it a red hot go, but they ran into a huge stumbling block in the very first round! Somerset College (QLD) defeated them 3-1, losing only Board 3 when Jason Li got his queen trapped, but Oliver Yang won piece and game against Jimmy Deng, while the other two boards also won via an extra piece/rook. Emanuel (NSW) also began well, beating Regent College (WA) 4-0. Meanwhile Kaleen (ACT) were the other threat: they beat Prince Alfred College (SA) 4-0.

Round 2: Mount View’s title defence was looking extremely rocky, drawing 2-2 with Emanuel. Daniel Melamed won an ending with extra pawns against Jimmy Deng on Board 1, while Jesse Herdan also prevailed with an extra piece in a lengthy endgame; but Mount View rescued the match with wins on the bottom two boards. Kaleen continued on their merry way, defeating Regent 4-0. Somerset College also won 4-0, this time against Prince Alfred. Amazingly, their score of 7/8 only placed them second to Kaleen on 8/8 - a two horse race?

Round 3: It certainly looked that way after Kaleen beat Emanuel 3-1, losing only on Board 4 when Jesse Gothelf won the exchange to beat Andy Tran. Daniel Melamed eventually lost pawns and a tense battle to Ruofan Xu; while the other Kaleen players won material and their games to tactics. So Kaleen entered Day 2 sharing the lead on 11/12 with Somerset, who defeated Regent College 4-0. Mount View finally came good, defeating Prince Alfred 3.5-0.5. Only their Board 2 Rahul Mangalaganesh allowed a perpetual check draw, the rest won convincingly.

Round 4: Did Mount View wake up on the wrong side of the bed on Day 1? If so, Day 2 was far better, as they stunned Kaleen 3.5-0.5 to race back into contention. The top two board games looked drawish, but they fought their way through to win them. Only their Board 3 Yuxiang Peng drew a heavy piece ending a pawn down. But it was still going to be hard to catch Somerset, who beat Emanuel 3.5-0.5 by drawing Board 2 and winning the rest. This was after Daniel Melamed misplayed a complicated position a piece up, not castling long but dropping the exchange and the game to Oliver Yang. Poor Regent was still pointless after Prince Alfred beat them 4-0.

Round 5: The final round saw Mount View forge into second place, beating Regent 4-0. Poor Regent had a chance to draw one pure opposite coloured bishop ending, but instead walked into a discovered check to lose and finish on 0. Somerset wrapped it up with a 2-2 draw with Kaleen, who missed opportunities and hence slumped into third place by just half a point. So once again, no clean sweep for Victoria. Emanuel finished well, their 2.5-1.5 victory over Prince Alfred settling them into fourth place with 50%.

Final Standings: 1st Somerset College (QLD) 16.5/20, 2nd Mount View (VIC) 14, 3rd Kaleen (ACT) 13.5, 4th Emanuel (NSW) 10, 5th Prince Alfred College (SA) 6, 6th Regent College (WA) 0

Board Prizes: 1. Ruofan Xu (Kaleen) 4/5, 2. Athena Hathiramani (Kaleen) 4/5, 3. Yuxiang Peng (Mount View) 4.5/5, 4. Charlie Liu (Somerset) 5/5

                                TOURNAMENTS

OVERSEAS

11-30 Nov World Championship New York USA

Magnus Carlsen retained his World Chess Championship title winning the rapid tie-break 3-1 with a spectacular final  49 Rc8+ Kh7 50 Qh6+ sacrificing his queen for forced mate.

18 Nov-2 Dec FIDE Womens Grand Prix Khanty-Mansysk Russia

GM Ju Wenjun won with 7.5/11 thereby winning the 5th leg and the whole series of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix to qualify for the FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship Match to come.

9-18 Dec London Chess Classic London UK

GM Wesley So wins the 2016 edition of the London Chess Classic. By drawing his last round, GM So also wins the Grand Chess Tour of which this tournament is the last leg after Paris (France), Leuven (Belgium) and St. Louis (USA).

29 Dec-5 Jan Hastings Masters Hastings UK

GM Deep Sengupta of India won with  7/9 half a point clear of five players tied on 6.5. IM Justin Tan  shared a tie with 5 grandmasters on 6 points for 7th place, while IM Bobby Cheng shared 13th place with 12 other players on 5.5

1-11 Jan 124th New Zealand Congress Wellington NZ

See separate report by Tim Reilly.

14-20Jan   Oceania Zonal Championships 2017 Auckland NZ

See separate report by Clive Ng.

14-29 Jan Tata Steel Masters Wijk aan Zee Netherlands
GM Wesley So wins with a bang.

24 Jan-2 Feb Tradewise Gibraltar Open Caleta Gibraltar

[Australians Bobby Cheng, Zachary Loh, Shaun Press and Harry Press are playing]

AUSTRALIA
 

Played at the Melbourne CC, GM Vasily Papin of Russia and WIM Heather Richards from Queensland drew with 5/6 followed by FM Greg Canfell on 4.5

3 Dec NSW Blitz Championship West Ryde NSW

Held at the Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club, this was a triumph for IM Anton Smirnov who won the 11 round tournament by 2 clear points. Leading scores:

1  GM Smirnov, Anton    11    
2  Wright, Neil S              9     
3  CM Mandla, Blair        8.5    
4  Chan, Jason                8     
5  Berezovski, Stanislav          
   Silver, Dmitri                7.5

3-9 Dec Lidums Young Masters Adelaide SA

See separate report.

5-6 Dec Christmas Open South Perth WA

Held at Wesley College, the tournament attracted 42 players including visitors from interstate, here for the National Schools' Teams Finals.

Equal 1st Open: Tristan Boyd WA & Ari Dale VIC, 3rd: David Cannon VIC Equal 1st U/1900: Anurag Sannidhanam VIC & George Carolin-Unkovich WA

Equal 1st U/1750: James Kay QLD & Andrey Lugovskoy WA

1st U/1000 & unrated: Eason Wang QLD, Equal 2nd U/1000 and unrated: Victor Sun WA & Melody Yang QLD

10 Dec Queensland Blitz Championships Camp Hill Qld

A play-off match of four games was drawn but the Armageddon game which followed was won by IM Brodie McCymont who became Queensland Blitz Champion for 2017. Leading scores:

1  IM McClymont, Brodie           
    Maguire, Tom               9.5    
3  FM Liu, Yi                     9     
4  FM Nakauchi, Gene     8.5   
5  Parle, Hughston           7

10-18 Dec 2016 Australasian Masters Fitzroy Vic

See separate report.

11 Dec Christmas Teams Lightning Leeming WA

Held at the Leeming Primary School in 3 divisions, 16 players participated in the 9 round event. The overall winner was Patrick Gong with a perfect score of 9.0. As done in previous years, three rounds were played with Fisher time control, three with Bronstein time control and three with guillotine.

17 Dec ACT Rapid Championship Garema Place ACT

From a field of 33, Michael Kethro won on 6.5/7 points from Victor Braguine on 6 and Frederick Litchfield on 5.5

17 Dec Queensland Teams Championship Bracken Ridge Qld

A fun day at St Joseph's Primary School, 12 teams of 6 each entered. Winning teams:

Division A:1st Bullwinkle’s Team Gidney 35

Moulthun Ly 7/7, Tom Slater-Jones 5.5/7, Jacob Edwards 6/7, Nik Stawski 5/7, Michael D’Arcy 4.5/7 and Andrew Mather 7/7.

Division B:1st Bullwinkle’s Team Cloyd 20.5

Kevin Casey 3.5/7, Stuart Holt 1.5/7, Derek Zhang 5/7, Jason Chan 2.5/7, Halim Nataprawira 4/7 and Jasper Moss 4/7.

19 Dec Victorian Blitz Championship Fitzroy Vic

Held at the Melbourne Chess Club, results were (13 rounds):

1 GM Vasily Papin 11.5, 2 IM Anton Smirnov 11, 3 IM James Morris 10, 4 GM Sergey Kasparov 9.5

This tournament with a star line-up was marred by a number of disputes. Reports Shaun Press: “The main issue was the announcement of a new rule that prevented players from starting their move (by touching a piece) before their opponent had pressed the clock. The punishment for this was loss of game. As a result a number of games were decided in this manner, including games between the top seeds. It is not clear why the arbiters thought such a rule was either valid or necessary. There is no such rule in the FIDE Laws of Chess that prevents a player from moving immediately after their opponent has made a move”.

26 Dec Lidums Australian Allegro Chess Championship Adelaide SA

The annual Boxing Day Championship was shared by four players on 6/7: South Australians  IM Mark Chapman and Aaron Lee, visiting Chess Victoria President IM Leonid Sandler and also visiting Belarusian GM Sergey Kasparov.


Arbiters with the four winners: Leonid Sandler, Justin Thai, Will Wedding and Aaron Lee
-Photo: Alan Goldsmith

2-12 Jan Australian Open Championships 2017 East Brisbane Qld

See separate report by Patrick Gong.

14-22 Jan Australian Junior Championships 2017 East Brisbane Qld

See separate report.

15 Jan MCC Blitz Marathon Fitzroy Vic

FM Michael Baron won the top event. These were round robin events of 3-minute plus 2-second games with 6 opponents per round. The top group had 10 players and Group B had 12. The tournament started at 10 am and lasted until 6 pm (in the case of Group A) and as late as 8pm (in the case of Group B). Nuts.

Group A:

1 FM Michael Baron 45
2 FM Jack Puccini 40.5
3 Sylvester Urban 32.5

Group B:

1 David O'Dea: 54
2 Goran Ilic: 42
3 Daniel Gusain: 39

16 Jan ACT Lightning Championship Erindale ACT

Hosted by the Tuggeranong CC at the Vikings Erindale, this 9 round swiss of five minutes per games was won by Fred Litchfield, undefeated on 8 points, a clear point ahead of Tor Lattimore and Matthew Bennett on 7 points.

26 Jan Australia Day Allegro Adelaide SA

Held at the Chess Centre of South Australia, this event was won by FM Bill Jordan and IM Trevor Tao on 6/7, both dropping a game, followed by Punala Kiripitige on 5.

26-29 Jan MCC Australia Day Weekender Fitzroy Vic
The brilliancy prize game:

Tom Narenthran - Daniel Gusain 2017.01.29, Round 7
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7 8.Qf3 Qc7
9. O-O-O Nc6 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. e5 Nd5 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Ne4 dxe5 14. fxe5
O-O 15. c4 Nb6 16. Bd3 Rb8 17. Nf6+! Kh8 (17... gxf6 18. exf6 or 18. Bxh7+)
18. Qe4 g6 19. Qh4 h5 20. Qg5 1-0
 

28-29 Jan NSW Australia Day Weekender Cammeray NSW
The new Australian Open Champion's second big win for the month.

1    GM Max Illingworth  6.5/7
2-3 IM Igor Bjelobrk
       Pengyu Chen            6

                             COMING EVENTS

11-12 Feb Newcastle Open Hamilton NSW

18-19 Feb Perth Open Perth WA Details not yet available

25-26 Feb Hosworth Foundation Weekend Tournament Adelaide SA

25-26 Feb City of Sydney Rapid West Ryde NSW

10-12 Mar ACT Championship Campbell ACT

11-13 Mar Ballarat Begonia Open Ballarat Vic

12 Mar City of Sydney Blitz West Ryde NSW

18-20 Mar Queensland Open Brisbane Qld Details not yet available

26 Mar Victor Harbour Allegro Victor Harbour SA Details not yet available

13-17 April O2C Doeberl Cup Acton ACT

CHESS ARTISTS OPEN 2016

A great success at the Herzl Chess Club 6 November -18 December 2016

By Elliott Renzies

It was great news for chess players in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. The Herlz Chess Club re-started its activities initially with a seven round weekly tournament but with promises of more to come during 2017.

Sponsored by Dr Asher Freilch, organised by Tom Kalisch who was also the chief arbiter, assisted by Malcolm Pyke, the Open offered $1000 in prize money and a jovial, family friendly and hospitable atmosphere for the young and not so young participants.

Just a stone’s throw from the famous Caulfield Park, the Herzl Chess Club provided an ideal venue for relaxation and fun!

Playing relaxing and friendly chess on seven consecutive Sunday afternoons in the leafy Caulfield was indeed a pleasure to all, particularly to those who remembered the Herzl Chess Club from its glory days in the early nineties when a team of newly arrived ex-Soviet young players reshaped the face of the Melbourne chess elite.

It was then that the Sandlers, the Kagans, the Gluzmans and the Goldenbergs (just to name a few) turned their own golden page in Australian chess history. But a thorough story of the Herzl Chess Club and Theodore Herzl, the great man who inspired its name, must come in some future issue.

Theodore Herzl inspired the creation of the Herzl Chess Club

Prize winners:

1st - $350 IM Igor Goldenberg
2nd - $250 IM James Morris
Equal 3rd & 1st Group A - $50 each: Abdulwahab Rashid, Brendan Zou, Justin Penrose, Colin Savige

Equal 1st Group B- $33.33 each: Alex Kaplan, Richard Voon, Kayson Wang

Participants, officials and visitors were treated to refreshments throughout the tournament

IM Igor Goldenberg receives the winner's prize from organizer & chief arbiter Tom Kalisch

IM James Morris got 2nd prize

Abdulwahab Rashid shared 3rd prize

ColinSavige shared 3rd prize

Alex Kaplan shared Group B 1st prize

Evergreen and popular Richard Voon shared Group B 1st prize

Promising youngster Kayson Wang shared Group B 1st  prize

Tom Kalisch said the Open will be held again in 2017 with the addition of four Sundays of Allegro tournaments. See details of coming Club Championship.

Excellent, spacious, well lit and aired venue with individual tables for each pair of players.

FIRST SATURDAY 

[Run in Budapest since 1992, this famous event is the brainchild of former Hungarian army chemist Laszlo Nagy. It is held on the first Saturday of every month except December. Divided into different groups, the Grandmaster section offers the opportunity to gain GM & IM titles. GM Max Illingworth won GM norms in this event, in September 2011 and September 2014 (attaining his final norm in Melbourne December 2015)].

Lazslo Nagy-Chess Base News

First Saturday Chess tournament series for GM, IM norms and for Standard and Rapid ELO-rating points.

Budapest, Hungary

Venue: HOTEL BERLIN *** 1117, Hunyadi János út 2. Budapest, Hungary

See more

Programme every first Saturday:
Registration (in person) : 13.00 - 14.00
Drawing of lots: 14.00 - 14.30 (All groups)
Start: 14.30 (All groups)

LAIMONS MANGALIS

Peter Wong has announced on his website the publication of a new work entitled Laimons Mangalis: Lover of Chess by the indefatigable and painstaking Bob Meadley documenting Mangalis’ life and work. It begins with a biographical article on the upheaval in his life caused by the World War II, his exodus with other Latvians (Endzelins, Arlauskas, Karlis Lidums, Berzzarins, among others) to Australia seeking refuge in the new world, 162 original problems by him, then letters, games, researches and press clippings to tell the story of one of Australia’s great problemists. Alan Goldsmith wrote: “he always gave me the impression that he was composing a problem while playing his games – an artist using the chessboard as his easel”.

This free 201-page ebook can be downloaded by using the link above.

MERNDA CHESS CLUB

New club in Melbourne’s north

I would like to announce the Mernda Chess Club, a new chess club in the growing northern fringe of Melbourne! We have been running for 6 months now, and have just added a second session each week. For now, the club is informal, and we do not yet have any membership fees and do not run any tournaments. Our sessions are:

Thursdays 7pm to 9pm: Beginners session

Saturdays 1pm to 4pm: Experienced players

Anyone is welcome to attend both sessions, but each session is catered toward a particular type of player. 

The location is the Mernda Village Community Activity Centre, located at 70 Mernda Village Dr, Mernda VIC 3754.

                                 WORLD XI

From ThinkingSquares a blog by WIM Silvia Raluca Sgircea and IM Renier Castellanos

              PROBLEM OF THE MONTH - No. 11

                                           Selected by Peter Wong

Arnoldo Ellerman

American Chess Bulletin 1921

White mates in 2

Visit OzProblems.com for an introduction to chess composition and more problem examples

See solution at end of Newsletter.

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AUSTRALIAN CHESS FEDERATION

President

Gary Wastell

gwastell@netspace.net.au

Deputy President

Bill Gletsos

bgletsos@optusnet.com.au

Vice-President

Kevin Bonham

k_bonham@tassie.net.au

Vice-President

Leonid Sandler

leonidsandlerchess@gmail.com

Secretary

Rob Watson

whatteaux@gmail.com

Treasurer

John Adams

jadams1796@gmail.com

DELEGATES
 

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY CHESS ASSOCIATION

Cam Cunningham

camcunningham8@gmail.com

NEW SOUTH WALES CHESS ASSOCIATION

Richard Gastineau-Hills  

RichardGH@nswjcl.org.au

CHESS ASSOCIATION OF QUEENSLAND

Mark Stokes  

markcstokes@hotmail.com

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CHESS ASSOCIATION

Tristrom Cooke  

acfdelegate@sachess.asn.au

TASMANIAN CHESS ASSOCIATION

Tom Saltmarsh  

catowi@internode.on.net

CHESS VICTORIA

Peter Tsai  

peter.tsai@rmit.edu.au

CHESS ASSOCIATION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Norbert Muller

norbert.muller@iinet.net.au

Solution to Problem of the Month – No.11

Key: 1.Qd7! (threat: 2.Qa4), 1…Rxd5 2.Re3, 1…Re5 2.R5d4, 1…Rf3 2.R3d4, 1…Rf4 2.Nc3, 1…Rg5 2.Nxf6, 1…Bxd6 2.Nxd6.