1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.h4 Nf6 7.Nh3 Bg4 8.f3 Bd7 9.g4 N

( 9.Be3 )

( 9.Nf4 )

( 9.Nf2 )

( 14...O-O 15.c3 )

( 23.c4? Nf7 )

( 30.bxc3 $142 )

( 40...Qxe5 41.Bf4 Qh8 -+ )

( 41.Nxg6 Qxg3 42.Nxe7+ Kf8 43.Ng6+ hxg6 44.Rxg3 -/+ )

( 41...Qxe5 42.Bf4 Qh8 -+ )

( 44...Qa5! 45.Kxf1 d3 -+ )

( 45...Rxf3+ 46.Qxf3 Qb1+ 47.Kg2 Qxc2+ 48.Kh3 Qxc5 )

( 46...Rb1+ 47.Kg2 Rg1+! 48.Kxg1 Qb1+ )

( 50...Re1 51.Qd6 Re2+ 52.Kh3 +/- )

51.Rd8?!

( 51.Qd6! Qf7 ( 51...Qxa8?? 52.Qxe6# ) 52.Bg7! )

( 53.Kh2 )

Levi, Eddy (2249)    --    Rujevic, Mirko (2240)
Victorian Championship   2005.09.29     1/2-1/2     C25

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Bc5 3.Bc4 d6 4.d3 Nc6 5.Nge2 Nf6 6.O-O Bg4 7.Kh1 h6 8. Na4 Nd4 9.f3 Be6 10.Nxd4 Bxd4 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.c3 Bb6 13.f4 exf4 14.Bxf4 e5 15.Nxb6 axb6 16.Be3 Qd7 17.Rf5

( 17.Qb3! O-O-O 18.a4 $40 )

( 20...O-O 21.Bxf6 dxe4 -/+ )

( 24.Qxg7?? Rhg8 25.Qh7 Nf6! 26.Qc2 Rxd4 -+ )

( 37.Ke4! c5 38.Be3 +- h5 )

( 42.Bxc7! Rxc7 ( 42...Nxg4 43.Bg3! +- ) 43.Rxe3 Rc4 44.Rg3 Rc6 45.Kh6 Kc7 46.g5 +/- )

( 54.Ke4! )

( 61...Ne6! 62.Kg6 Nxg7 = )

62.Bd6 Ne3 63.Kg6 Nd5 64.Bc5 Nxb4!

Goldenberg, Igor (2335)    --    Smerdon, David (2418)
Victorian Championship   2005.09.29     0-1     A72

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.Nc3 exd5 6.cxd5 g6 7.e4 a6 8.Bg5 Bg7 9.Nd2

It seems surprisingly cheeky to simply dispense with 9.a4 but it is quite playable

( 12.Na4 )

Stronger than 12...h6 which has been played in this position before

13.Bd3?

( 13.Qc2 defends all the soft spots (e4 and b2) )

( 15.Nxb2 Qe5 16.f4? ( 16.g3 Qxg5 with a clear pawn up ) 16...Qxb2 is the point; now 17.Nd2 falls foul of 17...Qd4+ )

( 15...Bxa1 16.Qxa1 f6 17.Bf4 Ne5 18.Nxd6 Qe7 should be good enough )

( I don't like this - surely the dark square bishop was the cornerstone of White's compensation for the pawn. Just 19.Bf4 )

(=)

( 24.e5!? )

Too late!

( 26.fxg5 hxg5 27.Qc1 was a tougher defence )

( 29.Qxg4+?? Rg7 is the problem. )

( Good enough, but surprisingly missing the more aesthetically pleasing 31...Qxe5!! 32.fxe5 Bxd3+ 33.Ke3 ( 33.Ke1 Rg1# ) 33...Rg3# )

Johansen, Darryl (2464)    --    Hislop, Jamie (2089)
Victorian Championship   2005.09.29     1-0     D02

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 c6 5.c4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Bxd2+ 7.Nbxd2 O-O 8.O-O Nbd7 9.Qc2 b6 10.e4 dxe4 11.Nxe4 Nxe4 12.Qxe4 Qc7? N

( 12...Bb7 is usually played here. It has the advantage of not losing a pawn. )

13.Ng5! Nf6 14.Qxc6 Qxc6 15.Bxc6

Now White sets about converting his extra pawn in typically unhurried fashion. Although Black fights hard the game is already over.

( 28...Ne4+ 29.Kb2 )

( 41.Rxg5 Nxd4 )

White: James Morris
Black: Artem Nikolayevsky

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 Bb4 4.Bg2 O-O 5.e3 Re8 6.Nge2 c6 7.a3 Ba5 8.b4 Bc7 9.Qb3 e4 10.O-O d5 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.Bb2 Be6 13.Nd4 Bc8 14.Rfd1 Nc6 15.Nce2 Qe7 16.Nxc6 bxc6 17.Rac1 Ba6 18.Nd4 Bc4 19.Rxc4 dxc4 20.Qxc4 Qd7 21.Nxc6 Bb6 22.Bxf6 Qg4 23.f3 Qh5 24.g4 Qh6 25.Bd4 Bc7 26.f4 a6 27.Ne5 Bxe5 28. Bxe5 Qg6 29.h3 Kh8 30.Bxe4 Qh6 31.Bxa8 Qxh3 32.Bg2 Qxg4 33.Rc1 h5 34.Qxf7 Ra8 35.Rc6 Kh7 36.Qe6 Qg3 37.Qf5+ g6 38.Rc7+ Kh6 39.Qg5+ 1-0

White: James Morris
Black: Peter Frost

1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 c5 4.e4 d6 5.Ne2 Be7 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 O-O 8.Nc3 a6 9.O-O Qc7 10.Qe2 Nc6 11.Be3 Bd7 12.h3 Rac8 13.b3 Rfe8 14.f4 Nxd4 15.Bxd4 b5 16.e5 bxc4 17.exf6 Bxf6 18.Bxf6 gxf6 19.Ne4 Kf8 20.Nxf6 cxb3 21.Nxe8 Qb6+ 22.Qf2 1-0

There were some important decisions made at the last ACF Council meeting on October 10:

1. ACF Vice-President George Howard resigned; NSWCA President Bill Gletsos was unanimously elected to replace him in that role.
2. Further consultations will be undertaken before filling the ACF Olympiad Appeals Co-ordinator, and ACF Junior Selection Co-ordinator positions.
3. A decision on a development proposal for the Northern Territory was deferred.
4. A package of materials to encourage more schools to participate in chess will be produced - as recommended by the ACF Junior Chess Subcommittee.

Congratulations to ACF Secretary Jey Hoole, who is getting married this week, before honeymooning in India.

George Xie scored a very respectable 5/9 in the Asian Championships in India. Leading final scores after 9 rounds: Zhang Zhong 7.5; Li Shilong 7.0; Sadvakasov, Kotsur, Kazhgaleyev, Wang Yue 6.5; Zhao Jun, Ni Hua, Dao Thien Hai, Xu Jun, Megaranto, Al-Modiahki, Ganguly, Wu Wenjin, Kunte 6.0 ... George Xie (Australia) 5.0.

Site : View games

CAWA office bearers: There have been some changes to the list of Chess Association of WA officials unveiled last week.

Tom lockwood has resigned as Membership Officer and been replaced by Norbert Muller. Rob Maris has taken over as Ratings Officer.

Contact details here.

2005 Asian Schools Chess Festival: Singapore, December 17-25. Details

Ballarat Chess Club has a new website at www.ballaratchess.com. The webmaster is James Eldridge and email address is ballaratchess@hotmail.com.

Tiebreaks: Australian Major, Senior and Minor Championships The ACF Council has decided as follows:

(1) ties in the 2006 Australian Major Championship, 2006 Australian Senior Championship and 2006 Australian Minor Championship be resolved by countback; and
(2) that the countback sytem applied shall be Sum of Progressive Scores (SPS); and
(3) if ties remain unbroken by SPS, then the Buchholz System be applied (sum of opponents scores); and
(4) if ties still remain unbroken, then the Median Buchholz System be applied (sum of opponents scores discounting highest-rated and lowest-rated opponents).

Entries for the Australian Championship itself close on 15 December. Early bird entries for other events in the Australian Championships and Australian Junior Championships close on 1 December 2005.

For a current list of entrants for all events please go to www.ozchess2006.com (participants). You will notice that in the championship event there are 5 GMs and 5 IMs already entered. So GM and IM norms will be possible. Of course, it is an Olympiad year coming up, so this is an excellent opportunity for players to demonstrate their current form.

If anyone is able to help with Australian Championship or Australian Junior Championship memorabilia, please contact Graeme Gardiner at ggardiner@gardinerchess.com There will be a display at the event. Please go to www.ozchess2006.com (history) for more information and an audio interview between IM Robert Jamieson and the late Garry Koshnitsky, recorded just before Garry's 90th birthday.

For a hard copy entry form, please contact Graeme Gardiner at ggardiner@gardinerchess.com or simply print one out from the webpage www.ozchess2006.com (entry form/tournament details). There is also a credit card online entry form.

Graeme Gardiner
Email ggardiner@gardinerchess.com
Webpage www.gardinerchess.com

Carlton Crest Early Bird Discount: The early bird discount of $119 for a room sleeping 2 adults and 2 kids, or 3 adults, expired on 30 September. However, the price is still only $124 for a room in central Brisbane at a five star hotel. The price will be going up again of course.

Bids invited for 2007 Australian Open/Juniors/Girls Championships and 2006 Australian Schools Teams Championships:

The Australian Chess Federation (ACF) is calling for bids for the above Championships, in accordance with the ACF's procedures for allocating ACF tournaments. These rules are viewable at http://www.auschess.org.au/constitution/Proc_for_Allocatg_ACF_Tourns.txt. Potential bidders are advised to refer to these rules and the general by-law for Australian championship events at http://www.auschess.org.au/constitution/By-laws_for_ACF_Tournaments.txt, which also applies to the events concerned.

In addition, there are by-laws that apply to specific events. These are listed (bracketed) on the list of events below, for which bids are now invited.

Australian Open Championships (http://www.auschess.org.au/constitution/By-laws_for_ACF_Tournaments.txt ref clause 7) comprising: Australian Open Championship, Australian Open Rapid-play Championship, Australian Open Lightning Championship, and incorporating the Australian Women’s Open Championships (http://www.auschess.org.au/constitution/By-law2.txt)

Australian Junior and Girls Championships (http://www.auschess.org.au/constitution/By-law3.txt) comprising: Australian Junior Championship (Under-18), Australian Under-16, Under-14, Under-12 and Under-10 Championships, Australian Girls Championship (Under-18), Australian Girls Under-16, Under-14, Under-12 and Under-10 Championships, Australian Junior Rapid-play Championship, Australian Girls Rapid-play Championship, Australian Junior Lightning Championship and Australian Girls Lightning Championship

Australian Schools Teams Championships (http://www.auschess.org.au/constitution/By-law4.txt) comprising: Australian Primary Schools Open Championship, Australian Primary Schools Girls Championship, Australian Secondary Schools Open Championship and Australian Secondary Schools Girls Championship

The deadline for submission of the bids is cob 30 November 2005.

Bids from persons other than State Associations should be made through, and with the consent of, the relevant State Association. Your State Association representative will have a copy of the application form that will need to be used when submitting a bid

The ACF Council will consider all bids during it's January meeting, and it is envisaged that the decision on the venue of the next Australian championship will be announced at the conclusion of the 2006 Championship in Brisbane.

If you have any queries, please contact the ACF President, Denis Jessop on (02) 6288 1935 or mobile 0418 278324

- Jey Hoole
ACF Secretary

Letters:

Dear Chess Friends,

The 6th BCC Open will be held during the 'Songkran Festival', also know as Thai New Year, between 11-16 of April 2006. The tournament will be this time in Bangkok at the excellent 'Century Park Hotel' (www.centuryparkhotel.com) near Bangkok's Victory Monument.

As requested by many players earlier, we have now one rest day in the middle of the tournament. Also this time under 2000 or unrated players can decide if they play in 9-rounds Open, or 7-rounds 'challenger' group. All details are in our website www.bangkokchess.com The online registration form will appear in our website little later.

Looking forward to see you all in Bangkok! Do not hesitate to contact if you have any questions.

Best Regards,

Kai Tuorila / Bangkok Chess Club
FIDE International Organizer
thailandchess@hotmail.com
www.bangkokchess.com

Asian Schools, Arbiters & Trainers Seminar and Singapore Masters

Dear Colleagues,

These events have already been posted on www.fide.com and www.singaporechess.org.sg and the deadline for registration is 15 November.

If you have not received or unable to access the information, please write to me directly.

With Best Regards,
Ignatius Leong

Dear Paul
I have played chess when I was younger back in the Ukraine (professionally) from the age of 7 until I was 12 (I am now 26y/o). I now want to get back into it. Could you please tell me which chess club is a member of the Aus Chess Federation and is located near me as well as what the usual membership fees are. I live in Murrumbeena Vic 3163.

Kind regards
Jane Garber

Jane: Chess Clubs are generally affiliated with the State Association, which in turn is associated with the ACF. Can anyone help with suggesting a club?

World News:

Asian Championship: Lots of strong GMs, including teenage sensation Wang Hao. Leading final scores after 9 rounds: Zhang Zhong 7.5; Li Shilong 7.0; Sadvakasov, Kotsur, Kazhgaleyev, Wang Yue 6.5; Zhao Jun, Ni Hua, Dao Thien Hai, Xu Jun, Megaranto, Al-Modiahki, Ganguly, Wu Wenjin, Kunte 6.0 ... George Xie (Australia) 5.0. Site : View games

Samba Cup: Skanderborg, Denmark. Round 5 Standings: Timofeev 3.5; Miton, Bruzon 3.0; Carlsen, Zhang Pengxiang, Curt Hansen, Jobava 2.5; Ivanchuk, Lars Bo Hansen 2.0; Nisipeanu 1.5. Site : View games

Topalov wins FIDE World Championship: Bulgaria's Veselin Topalov is the new FIDE world champion. Only Leko won against Kasimdzhanov in the final round - other games were drawn. All round 13 games were drawn, leaving Topalov with an unbeatable 1.5 point lead going into the final round. Topalov scored a sensational 6.5/7 in the first half of the double round robin. In the second half, he displayed ingenuity to save some difficult games, and missed some wins, but he was clearly the best player in the event, and his victory is emphatic.

Congratulations to the new world champion.

Final Round 14 Standings: 1. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2788 10.0; 2. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2788 8.5; 3. Svidler, Peter g RUS 2738 8.5; 4. Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2707 7.0; 5. Leko, Peter g HUN 2763 6.5; 6. Kasimdzhanov, Rustam g UZB 2670 5.5; 7. Adams, Michael g ENG 2719 5.5; 8. Polgar, Judit g HUN 2735 4.5.
Site : View games

Games:

Schmidtgall, B (2093)    --    Shchekachev, A (2564)
Open A  (1)   Hamburg GER
2005.10.01     0-1     B80

An instructive game revealing black's resources in this line of the Sicilian 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 b5 6.Bd3 d6 7.O-O Nf6 8.Be3 Bb7 9.a3 Nbd7 10.f4 g6 11.f5 gxf5 12.exf5 Rg8 13.g3 e5 14.Ne6

( 14...fxe6?! leads to a pretty disaster: 15.fxe6 Nc5? ...Nb8!? ( 15...Nb8 16.Rxf6 Qxf6 17.Qh5+ Kd8 18.Bb6+ Kc8 19.Qe8+ ) 16.Bxc5! dxc5 17.Rxf6!! Qxf6 18.Bg6+ Rxg6 19.Qd7# )

Ni Hua (2603)    --    Zhao Jun (2500)
Asian Individual Chess 2005 Hyderabad  (5)   2005.10.10     1-0     B33

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 f5 11.g3!?

Trendy, but it makes some sense

11...fxe4 12.Bg2 Be6 13.Bxe4 Bg7 14.Qh5 Rc8 15.Rd1 Ne7 16.c3 Rc5 17.Nb4 Qb6 18.Qg5 Kf8 19.Qe3 f5 20.Bg2 e4 21.Nac2 a5 22.Nd4! Bf7 23.Nbc2 b4 24.cxb4 axb4 25.O-O d5 26.Nb3 Rc6 27.Ncd4 Bh6 28.f4 Bg7 29.Bh3 Bg6 30. g4 fxg4 31.Bxg4 Bf7 32.Kh1 h5 33.Bd7 Rd6 34.f5! Bh6 35.Qh3 Rxd7 36.f6 Qd6

37.Nc5!! Ke8

( 37...Qxc5 38.Qxd7 Ng6 39.Qd8+ Be8 40.Ne6+ )

Kidambi, Sundararajan (2497)    --    Sasikiran, Krishnan (2663)
Asian Chess Championship 2005 Hyderabad  (5)   2005.10.10     1-0     D47

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 Bb7 9.e4 b4 10.Na4 c5 11.e5 Nd5 12.O-O cxd4 13.Nxd4 g6 14.Qg4 Qa5 15. Bb5 Ba6 16.Bxd7+ Kxd7

Sadvakasov, Darmen (2612)    --    Dzhumaev, Marat (2507)
Asian