In this issue:
Newsletter arrangements: I'm heading off to China for a month's holiday on Saturday. While I'm away, ACT Chess Association President Denis Jessop will be handling the newsletter. For the next four weeks, please email any news or information to Denis at denis.jessop@netspeed.com.au
- Paul Broekhuyse, newsletter editor
Olympiad Appeal - donations needed urgently! The ACF Council encourages and urges chess players in Australia
to donate to the Olympiad Appeal. Cheques/money orders should be made out to "Australian Chess Federation" and sent to: ACF Treasurer Norm Greenwood,
P.O. Box 1840,
Westfield Hornsby Post Office 1635. Corporations or business sponsors please call ACF President George Howard on 0414 841575.
Ukraine, China win Olympiad:
The Ukraine completed an astounding performance at the Majorca Olympiad with a 3-1 demolition of France in round 14, while China did the same in the women's event, beating Slovakia 2-1. The two teams led their respective events from the start and amply deserved their victories.
Leading men's final scores after 14 rounds: Ukraine 39.5; Russia, Armenia 36.5; US 35.0; Israel 34.5; India 34.0; Cuba 33.5; Netherlands 33.0; Bulgaria, Spain A, Greece 32.5 ... Australia 31.0 (35th).
The Ukrainian men's team recorded some very strong personal performances: Ivanchuk 9½ /13 (2819), Ponomariov
4/8 (2626), Volokitin 8½/12 (2771),
Moiseenko 5/8 (2665), Eljanov 6/8
(2766), and most amazing of all - Karjakin 6½/7 (2929). The best performances of those playing 9 or more games were: Jobava (GEO Board 4) 2842 8½/10,
Anand (IND Board 1) 2824 8/11,
Ivanchuk (UKR Board 1) 2819 9½/13, Vaganian (ARM Board 3) 2818 8½/11,
Svidler (RUS Board 2) 2811 6½/9,
Adams (ENG Board 1) 2773 10/13,
Volokitin (UKR Board 3) 2771 8½/12 ,
Bruzon (CUB Board 2) 2771 8/11,
Kaidanov (USA Board 4) 2763 8/10,
Dominguez (CUB Board 1) 2749
7½/11.
Australia had a great result in round 13, drawing 2-2 with
England (seed 6th), with Australian Champion Gary Lane beating Former World Title Challenger
Nigel Short , while Rogers drew with Adams. GM Luke McShane beat
Zhao and Smerdon drew with GM Speelman.
Australia beat Spain B in the final round 2.5-1.5. Australian players results in board order(rating performance in
brackets) - I.Rogers GM 2593 (2590) 6.5/11,D.Johansen GM 2483 (2408)
4/10, G.Lane IM 2442 (2415) 4/8, S.Solomon IM 2435 (2421) 4.5/8, Z.Zhao IM
2410 (2545) 6.5/10, D.Smerdon IM 2425 (2510) 5.5/9.
In the women's event, Australia drew 1.5-1.5 with Norway
in round 13 but lost 0.5-2.5 to
Switzerland in the final round. Australian players results
in board order I.Berezina IM 2281 5.5/11, A.Caoili WIM 2250 2/9 (plus a
win on forfeit), A.Sorokina WIM 2199 6.5/11, I Eriksson 2098 5.5/10.
Womens leading final scores(87 countries,42 games) China 31, USA 28,
Russia,Georgia 27.5,France 25.5. Australia(originally seeded 35th) was
ranked 47th scoring 20.5
Postcard from Majorca: A final report on the Olympiad in Majorca by our intrepid roving reporter, ACF Special Projects Officer Ralph Jackson:
Well it´s all over. Almost. The Calvia band played, the local soprano fell over a raised black square, later, septuagenarian local legend GM Arturo Pomar shuffled uncertainly about the stage, merging with the pawns in a giant screen backdrop of him playing in his heyday as he was feted in an episode not unlike 'This is Your Life' but looking a little lonelier as their were no old friends to appear. The obligatory littlest girl and oldest veteran, in this case 73 y.o. Korchnoi, were encouraged to the stage and eventually physically steered to join Arturo for the classic photo opportunity. Exchanging no handshakes or acknowledgements, Victor and Arturo looked like they might still be adversaries. In a pause after the main prizegivings, half the audience left the hall, before the ceremonies awkwardly continued with speeches from Spanish chess officials, Calvia Mayor, Baeleric Islands Governor and FIDE Supremo Kirsan. However, some awards had been forgotten, a point Vice President of FIDE, GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili of Georgia tried to make from the stalls before he scuffled with security forces, was handcuffed and led away. Finally, the fireworks were spectacular.
Here´s how the organisers web site starts their report on the end: "The XXXVI Chess Olympiad Calvià 2004 was closed with a brilliant ceremony".
While over on the FIDE web site: "FIDE Vice President and European Chess Champion 2003, Grand Master Zurab Azmaiparashvili is being held in custody by the Spanish police at a federal police station in Palmanova, Mallorca, without charges after a serious incident where he was severely beaten up by security guards towards the end of the Closing Ceremony of the 36th Chess Olympiad in Calvia on October 30th 2004.
Australia achieves fab results: The last round was another solid and positive performance by Australia, wresting 2.5 from an evenly matched Spain B, ensuring the team finished in a position comensurate with their consistently good deeds, particularly through the latter half of the event. Australia level-pegged with 6th seeded England through the final 3 rounds to join them (with Hungary among others) on 31 points in =29th position. It is believed that our Gazza´s victim, Nigel Short, was being paid more per game than the entire amount raised by the Australian Olympiad Appeal!
Our ladies had the misfortune to finish with a half point against Switzerland, also an evenly rated set of opponents, that could have easily finished the other way around. Their performance through the event was typically higher than their final placing.
We can still support them! Our team members, players and captains alike, have all given up 3 weeks of earnings, paid over $2000 each for fares and expenses, prepared hard - and fought like Tassie devils for Australia. They´ve done us proud and definitely Australia´s respect and standing in the Chess World has leaped ahead over these last 16 days. There´s something about the Australian cheeky 'can-do' attitude that despite no government support, minimal contributions from our chess community and being a half a world away from the action, our self-funded amateur team of 'diggers' can get a world-class result against all these slick professionals. Not only did Gary Lane scalp Nigel Short, Australia stumped the recent FIDE World Championship finalists, runner-up Micky Adams and Champ Rustam Kasimdzhanov, who could not win against our venerable GM duo of Rogers and Johansen. Only Solo didn´t shine as much as usual but still made a solid 2400+ result. Then there are the 2500 plus performances of Smerdon and Zhao, both running close to GM norms in the final rounds. It is only a matter of time, opportunity and support before this pair become Australia´s next GMs. I can report both are not easily fazed by opponent names and reputations. True Aussies indeed! Everyone behaved admirably, NOT waking up in beach deck chairs or being arrested like members of some other teams. In Australia we´ve got the talent and spirit to succeed. Imagine what we could achieve if geography and funding were kinder!
Show 'em your appreciation! The ACF Olympiad Appeal is still open for contributions!
Another final round match that attracted curiosity was Armenia-Georgia. An amazing 3 wins and a draw catapulted Armenia into 3rd place behind Ukraine and Russia. Luckily, Georgia´s GM Jobava Baadur managed the draw to still achieve the Gold Medal on Board 4 with 8.5/10. More may be yet heard about this match...
Meanwhile Sean Press playing for PNG faced a FIDE drug committee over his refusal to provide a sample for drug testing. Because a report of the committee´s decision had already appeared in the Spanish press that morning, Sean had little chance of making any points with the committee who had split 3-2 in favour of abolishing all of Sean´s 7.5 points, almost halving PNG´s final score. I guess this is an example of 'zero tolerance'.
Last word on Majorca: Don't worry about Aussie house prices - you should see the monster price tags here. Double and triple as much. Yet the beaches, cafes and general town scene of the overdeveloped resorts here just wouldn't rate in Australia. A holiday in Noosa definitely beats a package holiday in Majorca for beach, surf, sun and style! However, there´s still plenty to find beyond the island´s late 20th Century quest for the 3 star pound. My best tips are to stay in the Old Quarter of Palma in one of the elegant historic inns (don't worry if they only qualify for 1 or 2 stars, because history and hotel gradings don't go together well - these places are grand) - and make sure you take the historic train 30 kms to the classic mountain valley town of Soller (Euro 11 rtn) and rambling tram onto nearby spectacular Port Soller. Like Adelaide's 1930 Glenelg trams, the 1912 railway has kept running long enough without replacement to eventually become an historic tourist icon. Another idea is to ride the busses and stop for some cross-country walks between villages, there´s lots of bike trails - and it´s easy to rent a car and drive well away from the resort strips.
Turin 2006 and Dresden 2008 look they will be very well run and two great cities for the chess tourist. I´ve had a great 10 days and I´ll be back!
Cheers, Ralph
Aussie results:
Round 1 - men: Australia-Japan 4-0 ; women: Australia-Sri Lanka 3-0
Men's final scores after 14 rounds Ukraine 39.5; Russia, Armenia 36.5; US 35.0; Israel 34.5; India 34.0; Cuba 33.5; Netherlands 33.0; Bulgaria, Spain A, Greece 32.5 ... Australia 31.0 (35th).
Women's final scores after 14 rounds: Leading scores, women: China 31.0; US 28.0; Russia, Georgia 27.5; France 25.5; Hungary, Slovakia, England 25.0; India, Poland, Armenia, Netherlands 24.5 ... Australia 20.5 (47th).
Full details and games available from NetChessNews
Official Site |
Results |
Scores
First up, some interesting early games we missed:
Bu Xiangzhi (2615) -- Smerdon, D (2425) 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.d4 Bg7 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Na4 Nf6 7.Bf4 O-O
8.e3 c6 9.a3 Bg4 10.Be2 Nh5 11.Bxb8 Rxb8 12.O-O e5 13.dxe5 Bxf3 14.Bxf3
Qxd1 15.Raxd1 Bxe5 16.Bxh5 gxh5 17.Nc5 Rfe8 18.b4 Bb2 19.Rb1 Bg7
Ukraine, China win Olympiad
Ralph Jackson's report from Majorca
Hobart Weekender
Notices
Grand Prix 2004
Leading final scores, women: China 31.0; US 28.0; Russia, Georgia 27.5; France 25.5; Hungary, Slovakia, England 25.0; India, Poland, Armenia, Netherlands 24.5 ... Australia 20.5 (47th).
Round 2 - men: Australia-Israel 0.5-3.5; women: Australia-Germany 0-3
Round 3 - men: Australia-Paraguay 3.5-0.5; women: Australia-Lebanon 2-1
Round 4 - men: Australia-China 1.5-2.5; women: Australia-Moldova 1-2
Round 5 - men: Australia-Mexico 1-3; women: Australia-Finland 2-1
Round 6 - men: Australia-Tajikistan 2.5-1.5; women: Bosnia Herzegovina-Australia 1-2
Round 7 - men: Australia-Belgium 2-2; women: Australia-Argentina 2-1
Round 8 - men: Turkey-Australia 1.5-2.5; women: Australia-Latvia 1-2
Round 9 - men: Kyrgystan-Australia 1.5-2.5; women: Romania-Australia 2-1
Round 10 - men: Australia-Romania 2.5-1.5; women: Australia-South Africa 2.5-0.5
Round 11 - men: Denmark-Australia 1.5-2.5; women: Cuba-Australia 2-1
Round 12 - men: Australia-Uzbekistan 1.5-2.5; women: Australia-Netherlands 1-2
Round 13 - men: England-Australia 2-2; women: Australia-Norway 1.5-1.5
Round 14 - men: Spain B-Australia 1.5-2.5; women: Switzerland-Australia 2.5-0.5.
Men's Round 1-3 games |
4-6 |
7-9 |
10-12 |
13-14 |
Round 14 |
Women 1-5 |
Women's Round 6-10 |
Women's Round 11-14
| Annotated Aussie games 1 |
2 |
3 |
4
36th Olympiad (4) Calvia ESP
2004.10.18 1-0 D90
20.h4 b6 21.Nd3 Rbd8 22.Rfd1 Be5 23.Kf1 Bc7 24.Ke2 Rd6 25.Rbc1 Kf8 26.Rc3
Ke7 27.Ne5 c5 28.Nd3 Rg6 29.g3 Bd6 30.bxc5 bxc5 31.Nxc5 Rc8 32.Rd5 Re6 33.
a4 Re5 34.Ne4! Rxc3 35.Nxc3 Ke6 36.Rxe5+ Bxe5 37.Kd3 Kf5 38.Nb5 a6 39.Nd4+
Kg4 40.Ke4 Bg7 41.Nf5 Bf8 42.f3+ Kh3 43.Ke5 Kg2 44.f4 Bc5 45.Kf6 Kf3 46.
Kxf7 Ke4 47.Ke6 Bf8 48.Kf6 Bb4 49.Ke6 Bf8 50.a5 Bb4 51.Nd6+ Kxe3 52.f5 Kf3
53.f6 Bc3 54.f7 Bg7 55.Nf5 Bf8 56.Kd7 1-0
Rogers, I (2593) -- Winants, L (2519)
36th Olympiad (7) Calvia ESP
2004.10.22 1/2-1/2 C74
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.c3 f5 6.exf5 Bxf5 7.O-O Bd3 8.
Re1 Be7 9.Bc2 Bxc2 10.Qxc2 Nf6 11.d4 e4 12.Ng5 d5 13.f3 h6 14.Nh3 O-O 15.
Nd2 exf3 16.Nxf3 Rf7 17.Nf4 Bd6 18.Ne6 Qd7
19.Bxh6!? Ne4!?
- ( 19...gxh6 20.Qg6+ Kh8 21.Qxh6+ Nh7 22.Nfg5 Re7 23.Nxh7 Rxh7 24.Qf6+ Kg8 25.Qg6+ is at least a draw for white )
Zhao Zong Yuan (2410) -- Gareev, T (2525)
36th Olympiad (12) Calvia ESP
2004.10.27 1-0 E94
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 O-O 5.e4 d6 6.Be2 e5 7.O-O Nbd7 8. Be3 Qe7 9.d5 Ng4 10.Bg5 f6 11.Bh4 Nh6 12.Nd2 Nf7 13.b4 h5 14.f3 Bh6 15.Bf2 f5 16.Nb5 Nf6 17.Nxa7 Bd7 18.Nb5 g5 19.exf5
- ( 19.Nxc7?? Ba4 )
Rfe8 28.Bd3 Nd8 29.Nxd8 Rexd8 30.Be3 g4 31. Bxh7+ Kxh7 32.Bxh6 Qxh6 33.Qe2 Qf4 34.Rac1 b5 35.fxg4 Qd4+ 36.Kh1 bxc4 37. Rf7+ Kg8 38.Qf3 Qxg4 39.Qf6 Rf8 40.Rf1 Rxf7 41.Qxf7+ Kh8 42.h3 Qg7 43. Qxh5+ Qh7 44.Qg4 Qg8 45.Qh4+ Qh7 46.Qf6+ Qg7 47.Qxd6 Rg8 48.Qf6! c3 49. Qxg7+ Kxg7 50.Rc1 Rc8 51.d6 Kf6 52.d7 Rd8 53.Rxc3 Rxd7 54.b5 e4 55.b6 Rd1+ 56.Kh2 1-0
Johansen, D (2483) -- Kasimdzhanov, R (2650)
36th Olympiad (12) Calvia ESP
2004.10.27 1/2-1/2 E61
1.Nf3 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nc3 O-O 5.Bf4 d6 6.h3 Nbd7 7.e3 b6 8.
Be2 Bb7 9.O-O Ne4 10.Nxe4 Bxe4 11.Bh2 c5 12.Qd2 Nf6 13.Rfd1 Qd7 14.Rac1
Qb7 15.Ne1 cxd4 16.exd4 Rac8 17.Bf1 Rfd8 18.Bf4 d5 19.c5 bxc5 20.dxc5 d4
21.Qa5!?
Nd5!?
- ( 21...Qxb2 22.Ba6 Ra8 23.c6 and the c-pawn is dangerous )
- A change of tack
- Johansen is better here, but time was short
Filippov, An (2475) -- Smerdon, D (2425)
36th Olympiad (12) Calvia ESP
2004.10.27 1-0 A16
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bg2 Nb6 6.d3 Bg7 7.Be3 c6 8.
Qc1 h5 9.Nf3 Bf5 10.O-O Qd7 11.Ne4 Na6 12.Bd2 Nd5 13.Neg5!
f6 14.e4 fxg5
15.Bxg5 Bh3 16.Bxh3 Qxh3 17.exd5 Nb4!?
- ( 17...cxd5 18.Re1 )
Iuldachev, S (2550) -- Solomon, SJ (2435)
36th Olympiad (12) Calvia ESP
2004.10.27 1-0 B23
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4 4.Bc4 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Nxd4 cxd4 7.Qf3! e6 8.Nb5! Qb6
- ( 8...d6 9.Qa3!? Be5 10.d3 a6 11.f4 axb5 12.Qxa8 bxc4 13. fxe5 is one possibility )
- ( 11...Rb8 12.Ba3+ Kf7 13.Nxe6! +- )
- A disaster for Solo!
- ( 21.Nxd7 Rxd7 22.Qc5+ +- )
- ( 21.Nxd7 Bxb3 22.Nc5+ Kf8 23.Nxb3 +- )
Smerdon, D (2425) -- Speelman, J (2555)
36th Olympiad (13) Calvia ESP
2004.10.28 1/2-1/2 B17
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Ng5 Ngf6 6.Bd3 e6 7.N1f3 Bd6
8.Qe2 h6 9.Ne4 Nxe4 10.Qxe4 Qc7 11.O-O b6 12.Qg4 Kf8 13.b3 Bb7 14.Bb2 Nf6
15.Qh4 c5!? 16.dxc5 Qxc5 17.Bd4 Qa5 18.Bxf6 Bxf3 19.Bb2 Bc6 20.Qd4 Ke7 21.
Rfd1 Qh5
22.Qxd6+!? Kxd6 23.Be2+ Qd5 24.Bf3!! f6
- ( 24...Qxd1+ 25.Rxd1+ Kc7 26.Be5+ Kb7 27.Rd7+ Ka6 28.Bxc6 is the fantastic point to Smerdon's play )
Lane, G (2442) -- Short, N (2687)
36th Olympiad (13) Calvia ESP
2004.10.28 1-0 C03
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 h6!?
- What the heck?
- Black seems to have a reasonable position
- Capturing on g7 just hands black a kingside attack
- ( 17...Qc6!? 18.Be4 )
24. Bxd5 Bxd5
- ( Not 24...Qxd5?? 25.Bf4+ )
- Otherwise the Be7 will be snapped up by the Re1 anyway, after Rxd5 exd5
- White has a big edge, especially since the black rooks are so awkwardly placed
Zhao Zong Yuan (2410) -- Alcazar Jimenez, V
(2412)
36th Olympiad (14) Calvia ESP
2004.10.29 1-0 A43
1.d4 c5 2.d5 Nf6 3.Bg5 Ne4 4.Bf4 d6 5.f3 Nf6 6.e4 g6 7.c4 Bg7 8.Nc3 O-O 9.Qd2 Na6 10.Nge2 Nc7 11.Ng3 b5 12.Bh6 bxc4 13.Bxc4 e6 14.O-O exd5 15. exd5 Bb7 16.Rad1 Bxh6 17.Qxh6 Re8 18.Nge4 Re5 19.Qf4 Nh5 20.Qd2 Nf6 21. Nxf6+ Qxf6 22.f4 Ree8 23.f5! +/- Qe7 24.Rf3
- f6!?
- ( 29...Rxe4 30.Qh6 )
Finally, a couple of nice wins from the Indian team. The second game is the nicest game I've seen from this Olympiad.
Macieja, B (2613) -- Anand, V (2781)
36th Olympiad (13) Calvia ESP
2004.10.28 0-1 A46
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 h6 4.Bxf6 Qxf6 5.e4 d5 6.Nbd2 g6 7.c3 Bg7 8.
Bd3 O-O 9.O-O Nd7 10.e5 Qe7 11.h4 c5 12.Qe2 cxd4 13.cxd4 Rd8 14.a3 Nf8 15.
h5 Bd7 16.hxg6 Nxg6!? 17.g3 f5 18.exf6 Qxf6 19.Rae1 Rf8 20.Kg2 Rf7 21.Qd1
Raf8 22.Qc2
Nf4+!! 23.gxf4 Qxf4
- Black threatens a quick mate with Q-g4-h5+ and R-f4-g4, and white's pieces do not have many active moves. Also, the central pawns will soon start rolling
- A very nice game by Anand
Sasikiran, K (2668) -- Krasenkow, M (2676)
36th Olympiad (13) Calvia ESP
2004.10.28 1-0 D31
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e3 Bd6 5.Qc2 f5 6.Bd3 Nf6 7.Nge2 O-O 8.f3
Nbd7 9.Bd2 dxc4 10.Bxc4 Nb6 11.Bb3 Kh8 12.a3 e5 13.O-O-O Qe7 14.h3 Bd7 15.
Kb1 a5 16.g4 Nfd5 17.e4 Nxc3+ 18.Bxc3 fxe4 19.Qxe4 Be8
20.dxe5!! Bg6 21.exd6 Bxe4+ 22.Ka1!! Qe8 23.fxe4 a4 24.Ba2
Rf3
- ( 24...Qxe4 25.Ng3 Qe8 26.Nh5 Rf7 27.Rhe1 Qf8 28.Bxf7 Qxf7 29.Bxg7+ Kg8 30.Re7 Qg6 31.Nf6+ Illustrates what Black's up against )
- ( 31.Rde1 Qf3 32.e7 Rxd7 33.e8=Q+ Qf8 34.Qxd7 +- A magnificent game! )
Hobart Weekender: A spectacular round 6 tactical blow-up against Glen Gibbs was not enough to stop top seed Kevin Bonham from winning the 2004 Hobart Weekender (7xG60) by a full point. Gibbs and Bonham entered the last round tied for first but Bonham defeated Nigel Frame, while Gibbs lost a minor piece ending in a frantic time scramble with Peter Billam. Billam had several good wins but also a couple of big losses, missing a tactic against NSW visitor Amiel Rosario and then getting his queen trapped in a nest of pawns in the middle of the board on move 16 against Phil Donnelly. Joining Gibbs and Billam on 5/7 was Ross George, who only took a first-round upset loss to Leo Minol to shake off eighteen months of rust before charging home to win the U1700 prize with a relentless attack followed by a king-hunt against Charles Chadwick in the final round. Another rusty returnee was equal 1993 state champion Bradley Stansfield, whose 4.5/7 was a respectable effort after seven years off.
Joe Basic was paired with over-1500s in every single round, and defeated four of them (including Gibbs in a first-round upset), well and truly earning the U1500 ratings prize. Thomas Hendrey was rather luckier in winning the best junior prize. After losing to an excellent John O'Mara piece sacrifice, Hendrey's further adventures included an ignominous bye and the tournament's most exciting time scramble, against Noel O'Mara. Hendrey had finally converted a very messy queen and rook ending to a clearly won rook ending, and O'Mara, with almost no time remaining, resigned. Had O'Mara realised that Hendrey only had two seconds left himself, perhaps he would have played on! Suraj Dutt, recently moved from NSW, would have won the prize had he beaten Tony Sturges in the final round. Dutt will be a strong player if he can greatly improve his ability to finish off opponents from winning positions. In round 2, he was queen for a few pawns up against Gibbs but needlessly gave up queen for rook because he was afraid of a pawn threatening to queen. Gibbs then won with four pawns against Dutt's rook, an incredible escape from what could have been a totally ruined weekend after his round 1 loss to Basic.
The tournament was played in excellent spirit by the 27 entrants with no significant incidents except for a territorial dispute with another Migrant Resource Centre user group that falsely claimed to have an overriding Saturday evening booking for the tournament room.
6/7 Kevin Bonham (1943)
5 Peter Billam (UNR), Glen Gibbs (1835), Ross George (1689) (U1700 prize)
4.5 Nigel Frame (1800), Phil Donnelly (1709), Amiel Rosario (NSW,1640),
Bradley Stansfield (1725)
4 Charles Chadwick (1819), Milutin Ivkovic (1577), Michael Schmidt (1527),
Joseph Basic (1437)(U1500 prize)
3.5 Scott Cohen (UNR), Tony Sturges (1344), Thomas Hendrey* (1478,j) (junior
prize)
3 Nick Chapman (1532), Noel O'Mara (1517), David Christian (1420), Dallas
Fry* (1370), John O'Mara* (1292), Leo Minol (1219), Tony Salter* (1119),
William Shaw (1147,j)
2.5 Suraj Dutt (1057,j)
2 Alex Shaw* (831,j)
1.5 Tim Hooks# (UNR, j), Cath Shaw* (683, fj)
* = 1 point bye
# = half point bye on request
Gibbs - Bonham
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Qc7 7.Qg4
f5 8.Qg3 cxd4 9.cxd4 Ne7 10.Bd2 g6?! {10...0-0 is normal here.} 11.h4 Qxc2
12.Bd3 Qb2 13.Rb1 Qxd4 14.Ne2 Qc5 15.Rc1 Qb6 16.h5 Nbc6 17.hxg6 Nxg6 18.Rb1
Qc7?? {18...Qc5! 19.Bb5 Qf8 unclear.}
19.Qxg6+!! hxg6 20.Rxh8+ Kd7 21.Rh7+
Kd8 {When playing 18...Qc7 Black had not realised that 21...Ne7 loses to
22.Bb5+} 22.Bg5+! Ne7 23.Rh8+ 1-0
- Kevin Bonham
The ACF presents:
Lidums Australian Open Chess Championships
Hospitality Textiles Australian Schools Chess Championships
Hospitality Textiles Tony Colyer Pty Ltd Australian Junior Chess Championships
Where: Mt Buller, Victoria
Details: www.mtbullerchess.com
General enquires: George Howard 0414 841575; georgeshoward@hotmail.com
The latest news is that two Italian IMs will provide free coaching during the Junior for all players staying at the chalet. The money for this $5000 is coming from the tournament budget (in the $10,000 from Lidums) in what is a complex arrangement of funding.
Letters:
Dear Paul,
Each time I get your newsletter and read the despairing pleas for support for the Australian Olympiad teams it saddens me. In my opinion this Appeal has been mismanaged and the poor response just reflects this.
Leaving aside the whole issue of whether a fund raising appeal is appropriate for national sporting teams in this age, if we are going to rely on this method then we must at least do it properly to have any hope of success.
First and foremost all donations should be acknowledged in every issue of the ACF newsletter and preferably also our leading magazine, Australian Chess. Not only should individual donors be encouraged by having their generosity recognised, it is essential in order to attract corporate donors that contributing businesses be given exposure. Two years ago my company donated to the Olympiad appeal and it was a sensible investment because it gained exposure for our website amongst the chess community, (though even then some forward thinking individual complained that the chess community shouldn't have accepted the money because we are involved in sports betting!)
By publishing an ever growing list of donors it becomes possible to generate some sort of excitement and feeling of community as the total amount rises from issue to issue of the newsletter and readers get enjoyment from perusing the list of donors. I remember also how as an Olympiad player I used to read the donors list in Chess In Australia and how much the support meant. Sometimes an unheralded player would donate $50 or $100 and years later I still remember their names and respect them for their love of the sport.
Of course there are other things that can be done such as offering the substantial donors souvenirs signed by the players as in past years, but if we are not even going to publish the donors names in every copy of the ACF newsletter then all other creative ideas can probably be dispensed with as there is there is no realistic chance of the Appeal being successful.
At the moment there is often just a mention of the depressing total raised so far and a plea to donate, but nothing to make that option attractive. We are all bombarded with requests for donations and charity is a highly competitive industry. Why should someone donate to the Olympiad Appeal rather than Amnesty or The Salvos or Open Family? They're all good causes and people have limited discretionary income. Obviously we have to make our Olympiad Appeal attractive... and currently it isn't.
This year's Appeal has been a disaster and the players and captains will have to fund most of their considerable expenses themselves and perhaps wonder about the level of interest and support from home. Of course we are all supporting them, but people don't like to feel that they are the only ones making an effort. When an Appeal total starts to rise and the list of published donors grows it develops its own momentum.
It may be too late at this stage to reach a respectable total, but we should at least give it our best shot. I think that even this late, people would come out of the woodwork to donate if it was run properly and some excitement and sense of community was generated.
After first trying to fix this year's mess up, we should turn our attention to better ways of funding Olympiad particpation in the future. The ACF needs to have $20,000 in the bank to cover it and this means $10,000 per year set aside. Assuming (only) 3,000 registered players in Australia, that means we need to find $3.33c per registered player annually for this purpose, a sacrifice of about one glass of beer each.
Regards,
Guy West.
I think it's a good idea to put a growing list of Olympiad Appeal contributors in the newsletter. It was done that way in the previous Olympiad Appeal which I believe had a better response. And I agree that the appeal itself should have been more prominently pushed in the newsletter. We live and learn. - Ed.
Grand Prix tournaments:
These details are provisional. For up-to-date details of these events, please visit the Grand Prix website. The new GP co-ordinator is Garvin Gray, email: ggrayggray@hotmail.com
Gosford Open NSW; November 6-7; Central Coast Leagues Club; Allen Robinson 0412 607 207; Keith Farrell (02) 4341 7864 Keith@GosfordChess.com www.GosfordChess.com
Best wishes till next time
Coffs Harbour Inaugural Open NSW; 3; November 13-14; Coffs Harbour Catholic Club; Bill Ross 02-6651-8855 Email
Ralph Seberry Memorial Weekender NSW; 2; November 20-21; North Sydney Leagues Club; Website
Fairfield Summer Cup NSW; 3; December 11-12; Fairfield; Shane Burgess 9681-2206; Minh Van Le 0418 497 104
- Paul Broekhuyse
broekhuysep@bigpond.com
19 Gill Avenue, Avoca Beach, NSW 2251
02 4382 4525
0408 824525
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