Just a short bulletin this week as I'm at the Australian Juniors in

1 GM Stefan Djuric (YUG) 2461 9

2 GM Ian Rogers (N) 2590 8.5

3 GM Abhijit Kunte (IND) 2538 8

4 IM Gary Lane (ENG) 2440 8

5 IM Zong-Yuan Zhao (N) 2297 8

6 IM David Smerdon (Q) 2304 8

7 IM Petr Pisk (CZE) 2400 8

8 GM Alexander Volzhin (RUS) 2547 8

9 GM Darryl Johansen (V) 2528 7.5

10 IM Mohamed Ezat (EGY) 2346 7.5

11 FM Tim Reilly (N) 2290 7.5

12 Kamal El-Amary (EGY) 2113 7.5

13 Justin Tan (N) 1980 7.5

14 IM Mark Heidenfeld (IRL) 2375 7

15 Igor Bjelobrk (NZL) 1938 7

16 IM Walaa Sarwat (EGY) 2357 7

17 Tristan Boyd (W) 2031 7

18 Stephen Bartlett (A) 1875 7

19 Andrey Bliznyuk (A) 2043 7

20 IM Guy West (V) 2415 7

21 Neil Wright (N) 2036 7

22 Ruhul Kabir (BAN) 2244 7

23 FM Daniel Dwyer (W) 2110 7

David Smerdon and Zong Yuan Zhao continued to demonstrate that they are

worthy holders of the IM title.

Full details at:

http://www.lexicon.net/ianandjan/Ian/Chess/AustralianOpen/Default.htm

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Latest results and games:

http://www.lexicon.net/ianandjan/Ian/Chess/AustralianJunior/Default.htm

Leading scores after three rounds:

1 Catherine Lip (N) 1801 3

2 Kuan-Kuan Tian (N) 2054 3

3 IM David Smerdon (Q) 2304 3

4 Sebastien Dunne (A) 1311 2.5

5 Leon Taylor (W) 1809 2.5

6 Denis Bourmistrov (V) 1881 2.5

7 IM Zhao Zong-Yuan (N) 2297 2.5

8 Peter Jovanovic (A) 1842 2.5

9 Vincent Lau (V) 1452 2.5

10 Shervin Rafizadeh (A) 1879 2.5

11 George Xie (N) 2007 2.5

12 Gareth Charles (N) 1952 2.5

65 players swiss

For an interesting drawing trick, see Shervin Rafizadeh's game against Zong

Yuan Zhao in round three.

1 Eugenia Sharomova (N) 1378 3

2 Michael Wei (A) 1478 7 3

3 Casey Barnard (Q) 1508 3

4 Yuhan Goh (W) 1293 3

5 Dusan Stojic (A) 1487 3

39 players swiss

1 Michelle Lee (V) 1652 3

2 Shannon Oliver (A) 1390 3

3 Kateryna Moshnenko (Q) 1493 3

4 Sally-Anne Richter (V) 1167 2.5

5 Jade Lauer-Smith (S) 1093 2.5

13 player round robin

1 Rebecca Harris (N) 967 3

2 Heather Huddleston (N) 1127 2.5

3 Alexandra Jule (Q) 934 2.5

4 Amy Evans (Q) 985 2

5 Vaness Reid (N) 938 2

6 Sophie Brown (A) 524 2

7 Rocheleh Ziffer (V) 1170 2

8 Diana Davidovic (S) 598 2

9 Casey Hickman (V) 869 2

20 players swiss

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Final scores after 11 rounds:

Chris Depasquale (AUS) 8.5;

Scott Wastney 8 (NZ Champion);

L. Sandler (AUS), P.Garbett, L. McLaren 7.5;

R. Dive 7;

A. Ker, N. Croad 6;

Wang Rong, P. Green, R.Hart, G. Spain 5.5;

D. Guthrie, B. Wheeler, D. Elliot, J. Robinson, M.Van der Hoorn 5;

M. Barlow, M. McNabb 4.5;

N. Metge 4;

A. Krstev 3;

T. Hare 0 (withdrawn after 2 rounds)

An excellent result for Chris Depasquale. Unfortunately for him the event

was not quite strong enough for an IM norm.

Full details at: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/nzchess/

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Entries for the 2001 Grand Prix have been coming in quite well. I will be

vigorously pursuing entries as soon as I return to the Gold Coast on 24

January. In the meantime may I encourage affiliated clubs to register their

tournaments as a matter of urgency.

The ACF Council agreed at their meeting on 7 January that only clubs

affiliated with their state association may enter the Grand Prix. The

Council also decided that for the 2001 Grand Prix the prizes would be cut by

30% until a sponsor is found.

Former ACF President, Peter Wallman, will be working to develop sponsorship

arrangements during 2001. Australian chess now has a marketable package of

products which include the Grand Prix, the national schools competition, the

Australian Open, the Australian Championships, the Australian Juniors, the

Olympiad team, the Australian team for the World Juniors etc. I'm hopeful

that an Australian universities competition will be commenced this year and

this could be added to the package.

**********

The strongest chess tournament in history commenced 13 January 2001.

Full details at: http://www.chesscenter.com/wijk2001/

**********

Best wishes to all.

-------------------------------------------

C/- Somerset College, Somerset Drive, Mudgeeraba Q 4213

Phone 07 5530 3777 (w) 07 5530 5794 (h) Fax 07 5525 2676 (w)

Email: ggardiner@somerset.qld.edu.au http://www.auschess.org.au

Chess - the clever sport!

PS - If you do not wish to receive this bulletin in future, please email

wgardiner@somerset.qld.edu.au