Newsletter  17/10

31 October 2017

Editor: Frank Low

auschessnews@gmail.com

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CARLSEN WINS ISLE OF MAN

Carlsen,  £50,000 cheque & sponsor Isai Scheinberg  Photo chess.com Isle of Man International

23 Sep-1 Oct chess.com Isle of Man International World Champion Magnus Carlsen led throughout to score his first tournament victory since Bilbao 2016. Carlsen finished on 7.5/9 after he forced a quick draw against second place-getter Hikaru Nakamura who was joined on 7 points by Viswanatha

ACF AWARD NOMINATIONS
Nominations are invited for potential winners of the following ACF medals and awards, to be presented at the close of the forthcoming Australian Championships in North Sydney on 12 January 2018.

Steiner Medal – Australian Player of the Year 2017
This medal is to be awarded to the Australian player who has made the greatest impact, not necessarily the highest-rated – it is for the most notable achievement during 2017.

Arlauskas Medal & Award – Australian Under-16 Player of the Year 2017
The Arlauskas Medal is awarded on the same basis as the Steiner Medal but limited to nominees who met the ACF’s age-limit criteria for Australian Under-16 Championships in 2017.

The Arlauskas Medal and Romanas Arlauskas Award may not be won by the same person more than twice. Previous recipients are listed at http://auschess.org.au/acf/?page_id=1321

Koshnitsky Medal

This is awarded for an outstanding contribution to Australian chess administration at a national or a state level. This is a lifetime achievement award, not limited to accomplishments or services during a particular period.

It may not be won more than once by the same person. Previous recipients are listed at http://auschess.org.au/acf/?page_id=1323

Nominations
Nominations need not be from among a State's own members or residents. A separate document or message containing the following should be provided in respect of each nominee:

• name in full (correctly spelt);

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

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

• anything else relevant to the nomination.

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

Deadlines

(a) Koshnitsky medal – all nominations: 2 December 2017.

(b) Steiner & Arlauskas medals – printed nominations:

If a nomination includes printed documents, it must be mailed to:

ACF Medals, 22 Bruarong Crescent, Frankston South 3199, to be received in the normal course of post on or before 20 December 2017.

(c) Steiner & Arlauskas medals – email:

Address nominations comprising email messages and/or attachments to:

gwastell@netspace.net.au in time to be received on or before 2 January 2018.

MORE FIDE LAWS OF CHESS CHANGES

At this year’s FIDE Congress in Turkey, FIDE has made further changes to the Laws of Chess, to take effect from 1 Jan 2018.  One already mooted change involved consolidating the new types of “illegal move” (such as moving pieces with both hands or pressing the clock without moving) under a single heading to make it clear that any two such offences of whatever kind(s) would lose a normal game.

The bigger change is that from 1 Jan 2018, a single illegal move will no longer lose in rapid or blitz.  The rule of two illegal moves losing (with a two minute penalty for the first illegal move) will be applied to all time controls, and the first illegal move will need to be claimed by the player (if not seen by the arbiter) in order to be able to claim a win on the second.

See http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/10471-amendments-to-the-laws-of-chess-2017.html

Kevin Bonham
ACF FIDE Delegate and FIDE Admin Officer

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.



 

FIDE 

Olympiad 2018

14 October 2017: At the 88th FIDE Congress in Antalya, Turkey at a meeting of the Executive Board, the President of the European Chess Union Zurab Azmaiparashvili confirmed the dates of the next Olympiad, which will take place from the 23rd of September till the 6th of October 2018 in Batumi, Georgia.

Titles

The Executive Board also awarded the GM title to Anton Smirnov, and the IA title to Leonid Sandler (upon his private application) which he will add to his IM, FA. FT and IO titles!

  VALE GM WILLIAM LOMBARDY

                                       4 December 1937-13 October 2017

GM Bill Lombardy died on Friday morning 13 October in California apparently of a heart attack at age 79.

He won the World Junior Championship in Toronto Canada with a picket fence score of 11 nil that has never been matched before or since by anyone else. Just like the way Fischer later in 1963-4  won a US Championship with a clean sweep of 11 nil - by sheer dominance.

He declined the qualification to the 1961 Stockholm Interzonal, and shortly after, Lombardy entered a Catholic seminary. In 1967 he was ordained and spent several years as a practising priest in the Bronx.

GM William Lombardy at the 2016 World Championship. | Photo: Chess.com/Mike Klein

He attained fame however as Bobby Fischer’s coach and acting as his second during the momentous times of the match with Spassky for the world title in Iceland in 1972.

So Fischer’s World Championship match in Reykjavik became seen to be a working out of not only a cold war struggle between West and East, but, with a man of the cloth beside him, Fischer was seen to be on the side of the angels in a struggle between good and evil that so captured the public imagination, then and to this day, as reflected in a number of contemporary biopics (Pawn Sacrifice 2016)

He left the priesthood and married in 1984 and had a son in 1992 but from whom he was alienated. His wife left within the decade. His last years were sadly marked by poverty and mental deterioration embroiled in protracted but ultimately failed legal battles to avoid eviction in 2016 for non-payment of rent.

But he will be remembered forever as the kindly priest in whom Fischer trusted and without whose counsel and restraint during the match,  the course of chess history might well have been very different.

Some obituaries:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/william-lombardy-1937-2017

https://www.chess.com/news/view/gm-will ... -2017-2017

https://new.uschess.org/news/grandmaste ... 2017-dies/

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/14/obit ... aster.html

https://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/10452-obituary-gm-william-lombardy.html

   LIDUMS AUSTRALIAN YOUNG MASTERS

                                                 2-8 December 2017

                                                         Adelaide SA

Website http://lidumsaym.com/

The 2017 Lidums Australian Young Masters is open to players under 30 years of age and will be held at the University of Adelaide from December 2-8.  A number of world famous masters will head for the city of churhes. The fields for the GM and IM round-robin sections have been confirmed and you can now register for the Young Masters Open and Under 1200 sections.

Indonesian WGM Irene Sukandar has  just booked her ticket to Adelaide with Qantas 

The Lidums Young Masters Open runs from December 4-8 as a nine-round FIDE-rated swiss event. The tournament has over $1000 and the winner qualifies for the 2018 IM-norm round robin. The Lidums Young Masters U1200 runs from December 6-8 and is an eight-round ACF-rated swiss with over $500 in prizes.

Pin-up GM Adrien Demuth of France was born on the island of Réunion 

Thanks to the support of local chess players we are able to provide free homestay accommodation to a limited number of players from interstate. These will be provided on a first-come first-serve basis so register as soon as possible at http://lidumsaym.com/register/.

12 year old Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu of India with family and famous friend Facebook

AUSTRALIAN CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS

                                         Norths Club, Cammeray, Sydney

                                                    2-12 January 2018

The 2018 Australian Chess Championships at Norths Chess Club comprise four tournaments:

• Australian Championship

• Australian Reserves - Under 2150

• Norths Chess Club Classic - Under 1800

• Australian Blitz Championship

NSW residents must be members of the NSWCA. NSW Juniors under-18 must be NSWCA or NSW Junior Chess League Members. Other juniors must be members of the equivalent State or Territory organisation.

To enter and register, see here.
 

Location: The 2018 Australian Chess Championships will be played in the Celebrity Room at Norths, 12 Abbott Street, Cammeray. Tel: (02) 9245 3000. Norths is a licensed club. Juniors are welcome.

Dress: Smart casual in accordance with Norths club regulations. Food and drink may not be brought into the club but is available for purchase at the venue. There is also a wide variety of eating establishments within walking distance of the Club.

Chief Arbiter: IA Charles Zworestine

Byes: will be permitted only by prior arrangement with the arbiter.

Time Control: FIDE time control: 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for remaining moves, with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move 1.

Australian Reserves:

- Open to all players ACF-rated below 2150 on the December 2017 list, and who otherwise aren’t eligible for the Australian Championship.

- Open to players without an ACF rating but with a FIDE rating less than 2150.

Norths Classic: Open to players ACF-rated below 1800 or foreign players FIDE-rated below 1800

Australian Blitz Championship: Open to all players. Note: International players must have a FIDE ID.

Contact: northsydneychess@gmail.com

Sponsored by:

   Australian Junior Championships

                 13 January to 21 January - Melbourne

The Canterbury Junior Chess Club is delighted to be hosting the 2018 Australian Junior Championships at the Swinburne University of Technology.

For tournament details, eligibility and entry information go to http://ajcc.org.au, enter by 1st December and save $20!

Venue: Swinburne University of Technology, Advanced Technology Centre, 441 Burwood Road, Hawthorn 3122. The venue comprises three separate playing rooms and there will be minimal disruption where competitors are playing under different time controls.

Orders are currently taken for the 2018 (white) Australian Junior Championship Tshirt. They are available in size 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 and the price is $25@. Please send through your order via email: s0406san@gmail.com

PRESS RELEASE 27 October 2017

[This form guide to the players in the forthcoming London Chess Classic, issued by way of press release by Press Officer John Saunders on 27 October, constitutes a convenient thumbnail picture of the state of world elite chess in the year to date.]

The ninth London Chess Classic, which kicks off at the DeepMind Google HQ on 1 December 2017 and continues at the Olympia Conference Centre from 3 to11 December 2017, is the concluding leg of the 2017 Grand Chess Tour and features a prize fund of $300,000 [the GCT will provide two places in the Candidates Tournament next year]. Heading a stellar field is the world champion Magnus Carlsen. The table above shows the ten London Chess Classic competitors in order of their URS (Universal Rating System) rating.

THE PLAYERS

Magnus Carlsen (Norway)

Age: 27

FIDE Rating and Ranking: 2826, no. 1

Form in 2017: Magnus Carlsen has had an up and down year, and seen his classical chess rating subside to a level it has not been at since before becoming world champion but he is currently on an upswing as he comfortably won the recent Chess.com Isle of Man Masters ahead of a world-class field.

Carlsen started the year with a score of 8/13 at the annual Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee event, leaving him a point adrift of the winner, Wesley So.

In April he once again finished second behind one of his major rivals, Levon Aronian, at the Grenke Classic in Germany in April.

The fifth Norway Chess super-tournament in Stavanger was the nadir of his year, and arguably his career, as he could only finish on 4/9, just half a point clear of his title match rival Sergey Karjakin, who finished last of ten, and was the only player Carlsen managed to beat.

Paris hosted the opening event of the Grand Chess Tour in June which saw Carlsen back to his best with a convincing first place in the rapid section, but the blitz event that immediately followed it was less successful, as he only managed to share fourth place behind Vachier-Lagrave, Nakamura and Caruana. This meant that he shared overall first for the two disciplines with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave but, as in the 2015 London Classic, he succeeded in edging out the French player in a playoff. On to the similar rapid/blitz tournament in July in Leuven, Belgium, where he once again triumphed overall, though this time doing a great deal better in the blitz but not so well at Rapid.

In August Carlsen played in the 5th Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis, Missouri, with a field differing from the one we will be seeing in London by just the wild card (Peter Svidler instead of Mickey Adams). Carlsen’s form was good but not quite good enough for first place, as he was defeated by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the fourth round and had to be content with shared second behind the Frenchman.

In September Carlsen enrolled himself in the FIDE World Cup in Tbilisi. This was an unusual move on the part of a reigning world champion, who would normally be expected to sit out a world championship qualifier, but he probably felt his classical chess needed a thorough work-out. He looked in prime form until unseated by a tactical shot launched by Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi in round three and found himself on an unexpectedly early flight home from the knock-out event.

Still thirsting for more classical action in preparation for the final leg of the Grand Chess Tour, he became a last-minute entry in the Chess.Com Isle of Man Masters event which was just about to start. Eschewing his usual entourage, he visited the small island in the Irish Sea with his girlfriend* and proceeded to win the tournament ahead of three Grand Chess Tour rivals. This was his first triumph in a classical event for more than a year. Carlsen will be hoping that the psychological boost of this recent success will carry forward into the London Chess Classic.

*Synne Christin Larsen

Photo I  chess.com isle of man international

Hikaru Nakamura (USA)

Age: 29 (turns 30 during the tournament)

FIDE Rating and Ranking: 2774, no. 10

Form in 2017: Hikaru Nakamura’s year started with a bang, as it had in 2015 and 2016, with victory at the Tradewise Gibraltar Masters. It took a play-off to decide the winner but Nakamura’s typical self-confidence in quicker forms of the game carried him through. The Sharjah Grand Prix started only a couple of weeks later and there he was just half a point behind the winners in a tough event which did not feature many decisive results. In March he once again finished half a point behind the winners, this time at the very strong US Championship in Saint Louis. April saw him score a success at the Zurich Korchnoi event ahead of Anand, Kramnik and Gelfand. His Moscow Grand Prix experience in May was much like Sharjah – unbeaten but only one win amongst all the draws. Another plus-one score at the immensely strong Stavanger tournament put him into a creditable second equal place with Kramnik behind Aronian and ahead of the rest of the elite field. He was third in the rapid and second in the blitz at the Paris Grand Tour event, but in August only a disappointing minus two at the Sinquefield Cup, with small solace provided by good scores in the following blitz and rapid competitions. Like the world champion, he fell at the third fence in the FIDE World Cup knock-out and proceeded to the Isle of Man, where a steadily improving tournament saw him share second with Anand behind Carlsen. Also like the world champion, Nakamura will be keen to shore up his ebbing rating and win another London title.

Levon Aronian (Armenia)

Age: 35

FIDE Rating and Ranking: 2801, no. 2

Form in 2017: Levon Aronian’s 2016 ended on a downbeat, with a minus score in London, but his form has picked up in 2017 to such a degree that he is once again being talked about as the likeliest challenger to Magnus Carlsen’s world title. He started steadily but not spectacularly at Wijk aan Zee with a +2 score and 3rd= place, but then came a backward step at the Sharjah Grand Prix where a long run of draws ended with a last-round loss. But the Grenke Classic in April saw him finish a point and a half clear of Carlsen and Caruana in the space of only seven rounds of chess. This was the sort of sublime tournament result that only happens once in a blue moon ... except that it happened all over again two months later at an even stronger tournament. In Stavanger in June he finished a full point ahead of a field packed with elite names, beating Carlsen in brilliant fashion and also Kramnik and Karjakin along the way. At that point in the year his performances reverted to being steady but unremarkable, in the Grand Tour rapid and blitz events in Leuven, the Geneva Grand Prix and the Sinquefield Cup, but he once again excelled in the rapid and blitz tournaments that followed in Saint Louis. In September he completed a magnificent trio of tournament successes in 2017 by winning the FIDE World Cup in Georgia ahead of about as strong a field as has ever graced one of these gruelling knock-out events. Just to cap everything, on the weekend after his Tbilisi success, he married his long-time girlfriend Arianne Caoili in a spectacular wedding attended by Armenia’s head of state. Levon Aronian already has a strong claim to being the player of the year, and he will be seeking to cement that status in London.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)

Age: 27

FIDE Rating and Ranking: 2794, no. 3

Form in 2017: Regular Classic watchers will recall that MVL was narrowly edged out by Magnus Carlsen in a tie for first at the 2015 London Chess Classic, and his year started similarly as he lost a play-off for first to Hikaru Nakamura at the Tradewise Gibraltar Masters. It was the same story at the Sharjah Grand Prix that followed in February as he tied for first with Grischuk and Mamedyarov but was placed behind the Russian on head-to- head tie- break as Grischuk had previously defeated Mamedyarov. MVL finished in mid-table at the Grenke, Moscow Grand Prix and Stavanger tournaments that followed, but made a very fine score to finish first in the blitz component of the Paris Grand Chess Tour event, including a 2-0 wipe-out of the world champion. However, the subsequent play-off to decide the overall winner of the combined competitions saw Carlsen take his revenge. MVL did well in the Leuven leg of the tour but again Carlsen was untouchable. He was one of the favourites at Dortmund but he had to be content with shared second with Fedoseev behind the surprise winner Radoslaw Wojtaszek. Then, in August, came the high point of MVL’s year, and indeed his career so far – first place in the Sinquefield Cup, with wins against So, Nepomniachtchi and Carlsen. His win against Carlsen will have made up for previous near- misses and play-off disappointments against the champion. The year ended with another near-miss, however, when he reached the semi-final of the FIDE World Cup only to be eliminated by Levon Aronian in a play-off. Vachier-Lagrave will be hoping to rekindle some of his midsummer Sinquefield magic to ignite his winter visit to London.

Wesley So (USA)

Age: 24

FIDE Rating and Ranking: 2788, no. 7

Form in 2017: As Wesley So stood on the stage at last year’s London Classic, hoisting the trophy aloft, he was already being touted as the leading contender to Magnus Carlsen’s world title. There was further fulfilment of the promise of 2016 as he won his first tournament of 2017, Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee, finishing a full point clear of Carlsen. Another first place followed in March as he tied for first at the US Championship in Saint Louis and then won the play-off. Finishing second to Mamedyarov at the Gashimov Memorial in Azerbaijan in April was, for a player of his burgeoning form and rating, a blemish but only a slight one, while nine straight draws in Stavanger in June was more of a disappointment (hardly noticed at the time since the world champion had suffered a more serious meltdown). In the rapid/blitz competitions in Paris and Leuven Wesley So’s sole success was in the Leuven rapid, while his blitz performances were well below par for a prospective champion. By mid-year, there was still hope of So overtaking an off-form Carlsen in the rating list but a disastrous 3/9 and joint last the Sinquefield Cup must have come as a cold shower. September saw a recovery as he proceeded smoothly to the semi-finals of the FIDE World Cup only to be outplayed by Ding Liren in a blitz play-off. After what has been a year of two halves, Wesley So must be hoping that a return to the scene of his 2016 triumph will help him regain his form of a year ago.

Sergey Karjakin (Russia)

Age: 27

FIDE Rating and Ranking: 2765, no. 12

Form in 2017: The big moment of Sergey Karjakin’s career came in 2016 as he challenged Magnus Carlsen for the world title. He lost the match but he did well to push the champion all the way to a rapid tie-break. Right at the end of the 2016 Karjakin secured a measure of revenge by snatching the world blitz championship from Carlsen. Karjakin started 2017 by scoring a solid 7/13 at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee, followed by a middling 4½/9 at the Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir. In June he finished half a point behind Carlsen in Stavanger but, amazingly for both of the recent world championship opponents, at the wrong end of the score table; Carlsen was a sensational next to last and Karjakin rock bottom. His form picked up slightly in the Paris and Saint Louis Grand Chess Tour events, and he once again demonstrated his ultra-quick sight of the board in the blitz competition that concluded the Saint Louis events with a resounding first place in the event that saw the return of Garry Kasparov to active play. In the lottery of the FIDE World Cup in Tbilisi, his luck was out as he was eliminated by fellow countryman Daniil Dubov in the second round. Karjakin will be making his first appearance in formal chess in England since taking part in one of the last all-play-all Hastings Premier tournaments in 2002/3 as a 12-year- old and will be looking to regain the form that carried him through the last world championship cycle.

Fabiano Caruana (USA)

Age: 25

FIDE Rating and Ranking: 2794, no. 4

Form in 2017: After his second place in the 2016 Classic, Caruana proceeded to Gibraltar as the highest rated player in the field by some distance on 2827. He proceeded smoothly to 4/5 but was then unseated by England’s Nigel Short in the sixth round and thereafter couldn’t quite get on terms with the leaders. His performance in the US Championship in March was marred by losses to Akobian and Zherebukh, and again his rating suffered. He shared second with Carlsen at the Grenke Classic in Germany but a loss to Hou Yifan cost him dear. At Stavanger he was still in with an outside chance of overhauling Carlsen’s dwindling rating but a sixth round loss to Anand left him on a par score. Caruana seems less confident at the quicker forms of the game and he finished last in the Paris Grand Chess Tour rapid, though doing considerably better in the blitz. There was still hope of overhauling Carlsen’s rating at the Sinquefield Cup but two losses saw him subside to a minus one score. As with some of his elite rivals, round three was the round of death in the FIDE World Cup in Tbilisi when he lost to the Russian player Evgeny Najer. He arrived in the Isle of Man with his rating now dipped just below 2800. Lady luck seemed not to be on his side when Vladimir Kramnik pulled his name out of the tombola machine for what must have been the strongest pairing ever in round one of a Swiss tournament. But at least Caruana had White and he responded magnificently by beating the former world champion. In the penultimate round of the tournament, he had White against Carlsen and seemed to have Carlsen at his mercy out of the opening. But a long think ensued, signalling indecision, and a sequence of poor moves were all the encouragement the world champion needed to turn the tables. One comes away with the feeling that Caruana has been on the brink of great things in 2017 but not had the rub of the green. But the year is not over yet and his many fans will be hoping he shows his true class at the Classic.

Viswanathan Anand (India)

Age: 47 (turns 48 during the tournament)

FIDE Rating and Ranking: 2783, no. 9

Form in 2017: The former world champion’s year started somewhat late, in April, and also rather rustily, with the small Korchnoi memorial event in Zurich where he recovered to finish third after losing in rounds one and three. In Stavanger he scored a modest 4/9, and was well down the field in the Leuven Grand Chess Tour rapid and blitz tournaments. In a short knock-out event in León, Spain, Anand lost in the final to Wesley So. The Sinquefield Cup marked a return to solid form, as he finished joint second with Carlsen behind Vachier-Lagrave, including a stunning win against Caruana. In the FIDE World Cup in Tbilisi he succumbed to a shock defeat to Anton Kovalyov of Canada in the second round, so he proceeded to the Isle of Man where he scored a very good 7/9, level with Nakamura and half a point behind Carlsen, thus demonstrating that Swiss tournament chess is not necessarily a young man’s game. By his stratospheric standards Vishy has had an indifferent year but there were encouraging signs in the Isle of Man that he is near to his best form.

Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia)

Age: 27

FIDE Rating and Ranking: 2733, no. 25

Form in 2017: Ian Nepomniachtchi will be making his debut at the London Chess Classic; he has not played chess in the UK previously. His year did not get off to a propitious start as he finished 12th out of 14 at the Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee tournament. This was followed by the Sharjah Grand Prix, which was something of a draw-fest, but he at least made a plus score there. At the Korchnoi Memorial in Zurich he finished first equal on 5/7, beating Anand but losing to co-winner Nakamura. At the Moscow Grand Prix in May he did poorly, scoring 3½/9. He rescued some rating points in some team events before having a middling performance in the Leuven rapid and blitz competitions, and then scored an above-par 5½/9 in the Geneva Grand Prix in July. The Sinquefield Cup proved too tough as he shared last place with Wesley So, scoring a consolatory win against Nakamura. As for so many of his elite rivals, round three of the FIDE World Cup knock-out competition proved to be the end of the line in Tbilisi as he blundered and lost to local favourite Baadur Jobava. With his rating having migrated south to the tune of about 30 points over the year, he would have been glad of the opportunity of the Euro Club Cup in October to top it back up. Nepomniachtchi is an entertaining and creative player, and the London spectators can also look forward to his ready wit and repartee in the commentary room.

Mickey Adams (England) – Grand Chess Tour wildcard

Age: 46

FIDE Rating and Ranking: 2727, no. 31

Form in 2017: After his steady performance at the 2016 London Classic, England number one Mickey Adams made a great start at the Tradewise Gibraltar Masters in January, scoring 5½/6 before running into the buffers against Vachier-Lagrave. He finished on 7½/10, just half a point behind the three players on the top score. In February he scored a solid 5/9 in the Sharjah Grand Prix. In March he found himself under the cosh in a very strong six- player double-cycle tournament in Shenzhen, China, finishing last on 3½/10. In April he scored 4½/9 in the Gashimov Memorial in Azerbaijan. Then, at the Moscow Grand Prix in May, he struggled once more, scoring only 3½/9, losing to Nepomniachtchi, Mamedyarov and Harikrishna (who had scored 2-0 against him in China) in consecutive rounds. At the next Grand Prix event in July, in Geneva, he scored a much better 5/9. He was knocked out in round two of the FIDE World Cup in Tbilisi by Maxim Rodshtein of Israel. Returning to the UK, he put in a much steadier performance at the Chess.com Isle of Man Masters in September, scoring an unbeaten 6½/9. Adams remains the epitome of calm, controlled chess and he will in no way be overawed by the stellar field at the 2017 London Chess Classic.

                WGM ZHANG JILIN

At the conclusion of the NSW Chess Association’s Ryde-Eastwood Weekender on 2 October, I managed to have a few words with WGM Zhang Jilin. Although she must have been dog tired coming back to tournament play after a year’s layoff, she proved to be gracious and charming with the fluent English of a seasoned traveller and writer on the game. She was obviously multi-skilled at mollifying 3 hungry toddlers while at the same time  diplomatically answering abrupt and personal questions from a zealous editor intent on filling up his tabula rasa.

Jilin was granted a Distinguished Talent visa by the Australian Government in 2015 and moved to Sydney with her husband Kenny in April 2016, after coming equal fourth with WGM Julia Ryjanova of Russia in the Australian Women’s Masters in Melbourne earlier in January of that year, which also gave her an opportunity to check out Australia. The latter has since also migrated and has settled in Melbourne.

Arriving with Daniel now 6 and Caleb 4, both her husband and herself came from one-child families so that under Chinese law, they were permitted to have two children - now joined by a third - Esther aged 4 months born in Australia to complete their commitment to a new country. She does some chess coaching while Kenny is a translator.

What made them migrate? Well, it is not so easy to give an all-embracing answer. They both like travelling and Beijing where they lived is becoming more polluted. For now, their focus is on their growing family, so Jilin has so far had little time for intensive chess. But with the loyal support of good friends like Australian GM Ian Rogers and his wife Cathy, such accomplished and attractive individuals cannot help but carve out a future of unbounded potential for themselves and their children to the ultimate benefit of their adopted homeland.

Admittedly, the first year has not been easy, especially for Jilin who had worked as a professional chess player since she was 15 or 16 years of age. In China, she was well paid as a chess player, and when her peak playing years in a country rich in chess talent had just passed, she was then able to give valuable service to her national federation as an arbiter (as she did together with GM Hou Yifan - “she likes to try new things” - at a recent China-Russia meet).

       “I was lucky to be paid well by simply playing chess”

I asked how the Chinese Chess League worked.

“The CCL started in 2005. The format has changed from time to time. Currently, there are two divisions. There are 12 teams in the top division, and in each team, there are 3 male players and 2 female players playing in each round.  And there are also reserves and foreign aides as well. Many top players in the world have participated in the China Chess League.

“These 12 teams play a double round robin throughout the year. So they play 22 rounds separated into 6 parts from April to December. Sometimes there are hosting teams and visiting teams. The prize money is very good,  paid not only by the main sponsors, but each club also got sponsor support as well. We were paid a basic salary, and an appearance fee for each game (especially winning games). I've beaten World Champions like Xie Jun and Zhao Xue as well as some 2500+ top female players in the League. I was lucky to be paid well by simply playing chess.

“I used to play for the Shandong Chess Club in Shandong province (an eastern coastal region) from 2006-2012 (before 2005, I represented Heilongjiang province in northeastern China). Our team members were GM Bu Xiangzhi, GM Zhao Jun, GM Wen Yang, GM Hou Yifan and myself. We won the League twice and were also twice runners-up. Those were my best years in chess!”

Zhang Jilin first represented China in the World Under 10 Championships in Menorca in 1996 and then at the World Junior (U/20) Girls Championships in 2004, 2005 and 2006, finishing in the top ten on each occasion.

In June 2007, she qualified for the WGM title. In 2008 Zhang qualified with third place from the Chinese Zonal 3.3 tournament to reach the final stages of the Women's World Championship in Nalchik, Russia, where she was knocked out in the first round by WGM Irina Gaponenko of the Ukraine. She was awarded the International Arbiter title in 2010.

In August 2017, she switched her national federation from China to Australia with the support of the Australian Chess Federation.

F.L.

A firmament of stars at the 2014 Tromsø  Olympiad with China’s first gold medal-winning team of GM Wang Yue (born 1994) on Board 1, GM Ni Hua (1983), the runaway victor of the Australian Open Championship at Castle Hill 2015, WGM Jilin herself, GM Ding Liren (1992) finalist at the World Cup in September, Wei Yi (1999) the youngest person [at age 15] ever to exceed 2700 in Elo rating & Yu Yangi (1994) gold medallist on Board 3 with a performance rating of 2912!   Photo  I  Facebook

                    GM DING LIREN

SS: Ding Liren, can you tell us when and where were you born?
DL: I was born on October 24th, 1992 in Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province.

SS: And you still live there?

DL: My parents still live in Wenzhou. Nowadays I am normally in Beijing because I am studying in the Peking University. I still have one class left at the university. Once I finish that, I will be able to spend more time in my hometown.

SS: What are you studying at the university?

DL: I study law. I would have graduated from the university by July. However, I still have one class that has to be completed. So, I think I will go back to the university in October and finish my pending class. My main aim is to just pass in every subject, not to get good or great results.

SS: So would you like to be a lawyer or a professional chess player?

DL: Professional chess player, of course.

SS: What is the profession of your parents?

DL: My father is an electrical engineer and my mother is a nurse in a hospi


SS: And you have reached nearly 2800. What do you think is the reason for your meteoric rise, that no other Chinese player has been able to achieve?

DL: I work hard and I love chess. And I don't like to play video games! [Laughs]

SS: You definitely broke many records at this World Cup 2017.

DL: Yes, I did. But in the finals I did not perform well. If I would have won the World Cup, it would have been a convincing result.

SS: What does a normal day in the life of Ding Liren look like when he is not going to the university?

DL: I don't like to make a plan for myself. I study chess when I feel like doing it. Usually I wake up at 9 or 10 a.m. I cannot really go to sleep early at night. 1 a.m. is the normal time to go to bed for me. After waking up and having my breakfast I go through the games that have been played yesterday. I use 2700chess.com or The Week in Chess to find games. If I get some interesting games I go through them and try to analyze deeper. Once I am done seeing the latest games, it's usually time for lunch. I like to take some rest after lunch. I do some physical exercise in the evening or play basketball with my friends. After that I play chess games online and often also follow the live league games that are being played. I also like football, so if there is some match that is being played I watch them. And before going to sleep I like to read a book or listen to some music. I think this is a normal day for me.

SS: What are some of the other sports that you like?

DL: I like football and basketball. My favourite teams in Football are Bayern Munich and Juventus.

SS: Ding, do you have a girlfriend?

DL: [Smiles] Yes. She is a chess player, but not so strong. We do sometimes practice chess in Beijing. I do not wish to reveal her name.

Photo: Amruta Mokal

SS: So 64,000 USD, that's what you earned after finishing as the runner-up at this World Cup. What are you going to do with this money?

SS: So you won't keep any of the money with you?

DL: No, I don't need it. I don't like to buy things that are expensive and luxurious. I like to live a simple life.

   ASIAN SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

                                  Auckland New Zealand 9-15 October 2017

                                       By Nigel Cooper -  A veteran’s view

The 8th Asian Senior Chess Championships, organised by the New Zealand Chess Federation under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation, were held in the beautiful Waipuna Hotel and Conference Centre, Mt. Wellington, Auckland.

IO Paul Spiller, President of Oceania Zone 3.6 and an NZCF Council member, organised the two separate tournaments, with IA Brian Jones (Australia) as chief arbiter. Tournament Director was GM Murray Chandler (NZL). Arbiters were IA Bruce Pollard (NZL), FA Ying Wang (NZL) and FA Herakaji Maharjan (NEP). Wang and Maharjan gained IA norms.

GM Eugenio Torre victor of the Veterans tournament with a perfect 9-0 score at age 65, and WFM Helen Milligan who won the Asian Senior Women’s championship title [even as she did in 2015 at Larestan, Iran and in 2016 at Mandalay, Myanmar]

GM Eugenio Torre, top seed in the Veterans, with organiser (and player) IO Paul Spiller.

ASIAN VETERANS 65+

Full results on Vega (including pgn downloads and play-through)

Fifteen players from six countries (Australia, Brunei, Guam, New Zealand, Philippines and Thailand) aged 65 and over made up the Veterans section, with GM Eugenio Torre (2453) top seed. His more than 40 years experience as a grandmaster shone through, with a picket fence score. There were three mini competitions going on around him: who would be the nine lucky players who had the privilege of playing him? Secondly, who would gain the 2 or 3 IM norms at stake? Thirdly, who would manage to avoid the bye, there being an odd number of players.  

There were no “rabbits” amongst the 15 players, as shown by the bottom score of 3.5, achieved by 5 players. There were some unexpectedly good showings, especially from Malcolm McFarland of Guam (1750) who did not lose a game until round 7, and 80-year old Pricha Srivatanakul of Thailand (1445), who learnt the game at age 64. He earned a performance rating of 1855. Australian David Lovejoy (1838) also performed well (1960) and earned himself fifth place overall.

IM norms were won by NZ’s FM Ewen Green (2213) and Filipino FM Edmundo Legaspi (2087).

So let’s look at a few games. Round 1 saw two upsets when Tony Booth (1730) beat Grant Kerr (1940), and Nigel Cooper (1670) beat Richard Taylor (1845). I last played Richard in the NZ Schoolboys Champs in 1961. We play each other regularly, once every 56 years!

White CM Richard Taylor Black Nigel Cooper

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 Bg4 The Portuguese gambit. 4.f3 Hits the bishop but weakens the kingside. Bf5 5.Bb5+ Nbd7 6.Ne2 Forgetting to hold on to the d5 pawn? Nxd5 7.Ng3 Bg6 8.O-O e6 9.a3 Be7 10.Ba4 O-O 11.c4 N5f6 12.Nc3 Nb6 13.Bb3 c5

Now the weakness of white’s f3 move becomes apparent. The king knight is misplaced on g3. f3 was its natural square. 14.dxc5 Bxc5+ 15.Kh1 Bd3 16.Re1 Bf2 17.Bg5 Bxe1 18.Qxe1 h6! The best chance. 19.Bxh6!? gxh6 20.Rd1 Qd4 21.Qd2? Bc2 was better. Nxc4 22.Bxc4 Qxc4 23.Qxh6 Bg6 24.h4 Rad8 25.Rc1 Qd4 26.Nce2 Qd2 27.Nf4 Desperation. Qxc1+ 28.Kh2 Rd4 29.Nge2 Qe3 0-1

Round 2 saw James Benson (1800) beating Grant Kerr (1940) and in Round 3 David Ansell (1635) produced a 15-move win over Peter Goffin (1976). Round 4 saw the only two undefeated players, Torre and Legaspi duelling for 59 moves before Torre prevailed. The computer gave him a +0.78 score after only two moves (1.d4 g6, 2.e4 Bg7), and he never gave up that advantage. Round 4 also saw William Lynn snatching a draw from Peter Goffin after the latter had a +7 point advantage on the computer!

In that round, I almost had a draw with Legaspi but blundered in time pressure. Ewen Green lost by turning up in the afternoon for a morning game. Time to get a new hearing aid, Ewen!
 

Round 5 saw the two players destined to win IM norms meet and battle out a tight draw.

White Edmundo Legaspi Black FM Ewen M Green

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.f4 e5 7.Nf3 Nge7 8.O-O O-O 9.Be3 Nd4 10.fxe5 dxe5 11.Nd5 Nxd5 12.exd5 Bg4 13.c3 Nxf3+ 14.Bxf3 Bxf3 15.Qxf3 Qd6 16.c4 f5 17.Qf2 b6 18.Qd2 Rf7 19.Rf2 b5 20.Raf1 a5 21.Rf3 bxc4 22.dxc4 e4 23.R3f2 Rb7 24.Rb1 Rb4 25.b3 Rab8 26.Bf4 Be5 27.Rd1 a4 28.Bxe5 Qxe5

Instead of defending the b pawn, White chooses to give it up to maintain attacking chances. 29.d6 axb3 30.axb3 Rxb3 31.Qd5+ Qxd5 32.Rxd5 Rd8 33.Rfd2 e3 34.Re2 Kf7 35.Kg2 Ke6 36.Kf3 Rxd6 37.Rxc5 Rd2 38.h4 Rxe2 39.Kxe2 Rc3 40.Rc7 Ke5 41.Rxh7 Rxc4 42.Re7+ Kf6 43.Rxe3 f4 44.gxf4 Rxf4 45.Rf3 Kf5 46.Ke3 Rxf3+ 47.Kxf3 g5 1/2-1/2

Round 6 saw William Lynn exhibit exceptional endgame skills.

White Grant Kerr Black William Lynn

1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.e3 d5 4.Bb5 Bd6 5.f4 Qe7 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.fxe5 Bxe5 9.Bxe5 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 Qxe5 11.Nc3 Nf6 12.O-O O-O 13.Qf5 Qe7 14.Rae1 Rad8 15.e4 d4 16.Na4 Nd7 17.h3 Ne5 18.d3 Rd6 19.Qf2 Rd7 20.Qg3 f6 21.Nb2 Qa3 22.Nc4 Nxc4 23.bxc4 Qxa2 24.e5 Qa3 25.exf6 Qd6 26.Qxd6 cxd6 27.fxg7 Rxf1+ 28.Kxf1 Kxg7 29.Re4 c5 30.Ke2 a5 31.Kd2 a4 32.Kc1

32...Rb7! When I saw William play this, I thought he’d made a mistake. Surely Ra7 was better? 33.Re8 Kf6 34.Ra8 Ke5 35.Rxa4 Rg7 Black doesn’t defend the a pawn, but instead goes after White’s kingside pawns. 36.Ra8 Rxg2 37.Ra7 h6 38.Re7+ Kf6 39.Re4 Kf5 40.Re8 Rg6 41.Re2 Kf4 42.Re4+ Kg3 43.h4 h5 44.Kd2 Rg4 45.Re6 Kxh4 Black’s strategy works! 46.Rxd6 Kg3 47.Rd5 h4 48.Rxc5 h3 49.Rh5 h2 50.c3 dxc3+ 51.Kxc3 Rh4 0-1

Round 6 also saw the top two seeds have their long-awaited battle which was Torre’s toughest.

White GM Eugenio Torre Black FM Ewen M Green

1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.e3 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nd2 Qb6 6.Qb3 c4 7.Qc2 Bg4 8.Be2 Bxe2 9.Nxe2 e6 10.O-O Be7 11.Ng3 O-O 12.e4 Rfe8 13.Bg5 Qb5 14.e5 Nd7 15.Bxe7 Nxe7 16.Nf3 a5 17.Ng5 Nf8 18.f4 h6 19.Nh3 Ra6 20.f5 Nxf5 21.Nxf5 exf5 22.Rxf5 Rb6 23.Rf2 Ng6 24.Raf1 Re7 25.g3 Qd7 26.Nf4 Nxf4 27.gxf4 White’s advantage according to the computer is less than 0.5. It is instructive to see how White converts that into a win. Rg6+ 28.Kh1 f5 29.Rg2 Rxg2 30.Qxg2 Qe6 31.Rg1 Kh7 32.h4 h5 33.a4 Rd7 34.Qc2 g6 35.Kh2 Qc6 36.Rb1 Rc7 37.b4 cxb3 38.Qxb3 b6 39.Kg2 Kg7 40.Kf2 Qd7 41.Ke2 Rc6 42.Kd2 Qd8 43.Qb5 Qd7 44.Rc1

44...g5? Black blunders. 44... Qe6 holds the position, and if White opens up the position with 45.c4, Black gets chances on the kingside. 45.hxg5 1-0

This round also saw the 80-year old Thai win against me, when I thought I was leading most of the way.

White Pricha Srivatanakul Black Nigel Cooper

1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 e6 3.c3 Nf6 4.e3 Bd6 5.Bg3 Ne4 6.Nd2 Nxg3 7.hxg3 Nd7 8.Bd3 h6 9.g4 e5 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Be2 Be6 12.Nb3 Qd7 13.f3 Nc4 14.Bxc4 dxc4 15.Nd4 Bg3+ 16.Ke2 O-O-O 17.Qc2 c5 18.Nxe6 A critical moment. I overlooked the possibility of Qd3+ forcing the queens off, and giving me a passed pawn.18... Qxe6 19.Qf5 Qxf5 20.gxf5 Rhe8 21.Nh3 Rd5 22.f6 g6 23.Rad1

Should Black keep the Rooks on, or not? Rxd1 24.Rxd1 Re6 25.f4 Bh4 26.Kf3 Bxf6 27.Nf2 Kc7? I should have stopped White’s knight reaching g4 by playing h5. 28.e4 Be7 29.Ng4 g5 30.f5 Rd6 31.Rxd6 Bxd6 32.Nxh6 f6 33.Ng4 Be7 34.a4 a6 35.a5 Kc6 36.Ne3 Kb5 37.Kg4 Kxa5 38.Nxc4+ Ka4 I try to push the queenside pawns through, but would have been safer to have played Kb4 and return to the centre to support the bishop. The three queenside pawns against two will ensure the Knight is tied up defending, and the game might be drawn. 39.Nd2 b5 40.Kh5 b4 41.c4 b3? My last hope was to play Bd6. 42.Kg6 Kb4 43.Kf7 Bd8 44.Ke6 a5 45.Kd7 a4 46.Kxd8 a3 47.bxa3+ Kc3 48.Nxb3 1-0

On the home straight now. Round 7 saw another miniature by David Ansell with mate in 16 over James Benson, while the main contenders for the IM norms, Green and Legaspi won all their last three games. The lower rated players were vying for the honour of playing the GM, and Malcolm McFarland, Peter Goffin and Grant Kerr won that. I was in contention with a draw against Kerr, when I was a pawn up, but missed my chance to push it forward and press for a win. Kerr’s higher rating won him the honour. However, my equal score meant I managed to avoid the bye, which was my other main aim.

Asian Veterans 65+ Results:

1st (with 9/9) GM Eugenio Torre (Philippines)

2nd=(with 6.5/9) with Silver Medal on tiebreak and an IM norm: FM Ewen M. Green (New Zealand)

2nd= (with 6.5/9) with Bronze Medal on tiebreak, FM title and IM norm: Edmundo Legaspi (Philippines)

4th Pg Abd Rahman Yussof (Brunei)

5th David Lovejoy (Australia)

ASIAN SENIORS 50+

Full results  on Vega (including pgn downloads and play-through)

The opening round saw all top half beating bottom half of the 30 participants (from eight countries - Australia, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines and Singapore) except FM Michael Steadman (2196), who was confronted by a well-prepared CM Hilton Bennett (1996) using the Portuguese gambit, and earning a draw, and CM Paul Spiller (1933) earning a half point against the ultimate winner IM Mahmood Lodhi (2344).

White IM Mahmood Lodhi Black CM Paul Spiller

1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 f5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.O-O O-O 6.c4 d6 7.Nc3 Qe8 8.Qc2 Qh5 9.e4 fxe4 10.Nxe4 e5 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.Nxf6+ Bxf6 13.Be3 Nc6 14.Nd2 Nd4 15.Bxd4 exd4 16.Ne4 Bh3 17.Qd1 Qxd1 18.Raxd1 Bxg2 19.Kxg2 Rad8 20.Nc5
 

White chooses not to swap the knight off for the bishop, probably because the resulting endgame looked to be drawish. Rfe8 21.Nd3 Re2 22.Kf3 Re6 23.Rfe1 Rde8 24.Rxe6 Rxe6 25.Re1 Rxe1 26.Nxe1 Kf7 27.Nd3 Ke6 28.Ke4 Kd6 29.b4 b6 30.b5 c6 31.bxc6 Kxc6 32.a4 g6 33.f4 Bg7 34.g4 a6 35.f5 gxf5+ 36.gxf5 b5 37.cxb5+ axb5 38.a5 Bf6 39.Nb4+ Kb7 40.Nd5 Bg7 41.f6 Bf8 42.f7 b4 43.Kxd4 Ka6 44.Kc4 Kxa5 45.Kb3 Kb5 46.Nf6 h6 47.Nd7 Be7 48.f8=Q Bxf8 White loses his bishop, but knows he has a draw in the bag. 49.Nxf8 Kc5 50.Ng6 Kd5 51.Kxb4 Ke4 52.Kc4 Kf5 53.Ne7+ Kg4 54.Kd3 Kh3 55.Ke2 Kxh2 56.Kf2 Kh3 57.Kf3 Kh4 58.Kf4 Kh5 59.Kf5 Kh4 60.Kf4 Kh5 1/2-1/2
 

Round 2 saw WFM Helen Milligan (1996) fighting strongly against FM Bruce Watson (2275), reducing him to a standstill, and earning a draw. Another draw was gained by Ngiam Yee Wong (1957) against FM Robert Smith (2223), while CM Benjamin Lim (1972) knocked over IM Peng Kong Chan (2170).

White IM Peng Kong Chan Black CM Benjamin Lim

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 b6 3.Nf3 e6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.e3 Bb7 6.Bd3 Ne4 7.Qc2 f5 8.O-O Bxc3 9.bxc3 O-O 10.c5 Rf6 11.Rb1

White fails to spot the apparent sacrifice. 11... Nxc3! 12.Qxc3 Bxf3 13.g3 The Point. White cannot take the bishop because the rook check followed by Qg5 gives a winning attack. Rg6 14.Re1 Qh4 15.Bf1 Nc6 16.Bg2 Qe4 17.Bxf3 Qxf3 18.Qc4 Qe4 19.Qb5? White again fails to spot the danger. He needed to move his bishop to link the rooks together for self-preservation. However after 19.Bd2 Ne5 20.Qe2 Nf3+ wins the exchange, at least. 19... Nxd4 20.exd4 Qxe1+ 21.Kg2 Qe4+ 22.Kg1 f4 0-1. I bet Benny enjoyed that game!
 

Round 3 saw FM Michael Steadman having a tournament to forget when he was beaten by FM Sujendra P Shresta (1900) of Nepal. Meanwhile, CM Don Eade (1794) was having a good tournament, beating Nathan Goodhue (1976), IM Peng Kong Chan rebounded from his loss in the second round with a fine win over CM Leon Kempen (1892), and FM Ismail Ahmad produced a lovely mate on CM Paul Spiller in 22 moves.

White CM Leon Kempen Black IM Peng Kong Chan

z[Notes by courtesy of IM Peng Kong Chan]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2 c6 8.Nc3 d5 9.cxd5 cxd5! Technically speaking, position is equal but it's easier to play as Black especially facing it for the first time. 10.0-0 [>=10.Ne5 0-0 (10...Nfd7? 11.Nxd5! exd5 12.Nxf7 Kxf7 13.Bxd5+ Ke8 14.Bxa8+/-) 11.Rc1 Nfd7 12.Nxd5 exd5 13.Nxf7 Rxf7 14.Bxd5 Ne5 15.Bxa8 Nbc6 16.Bxc6 Nxc6 17.Bc3 (17.Rxc6 Qd5-/+) 17...Bf6-/+] 10...Nc6 11.Be3? [11.Rc1 Ba3 (11...Rc8!=) 12.Nxd5!? Bxc1 13.Nxf6+ gxf6 14.Bxc1 0-0 (14...Rc8 15.Ba3) 15.Re1~~; 11.b4! Bxb4 (11...Nxb4 12.Ne5+/-) 12.Qa4 Bb7 13.Ne5 Bxc3 14.Bxc3 0-0 15.Nxc6 Bxc6 16.Qxc6 Rc8 17.Qa4 Rxc3 18.Qxa7 Qd6=] 11...Rc8 12.a3 Na5 13.b4 [13.Na2 0-0 14.Ne5 Ne4 15.f3 (15.Bxe4 dxe4 16.b4 Nc4 17.Nxc4 Bxc4-/+) 15...Nd6=/+] 13...Rxc3 14.bxa5 0-0 15.Ne5 [15.Bd2 Rxa3 16.Rxa3 Bxa3 17.Qa4 Bd6 18.axb6 Qxb6 19.Ra1 Bxe2 20.Qxa7 Qb2 21.Qa2 Qxa2 22.Rxa2 Bc4 23.Ra7 Rb8-/+; 15.axb6 axb6 16.Ne5 Qc7=/+ (16...Ne4=/+) ] 15...Qc7 [15...bxa5 16.Bd2 Rc8 17.Qa4 Bxe2 18.Bxa5 Qe8 19.Qxe8 Rfxe8 20.Rfe1 Rc2-/+] 16.axb6 axb6 17.Bd2 Rc2 18.Re1 Rc8 19.Bb4 Bxb4 20.axb4 Bb5 21.e3 Qc3?

I almost threw away the win [21...g6-/+] 22.Rb1? [22.Ra7? Rc1 23.Qxc1 Qxc1 24.Rxc1 Rxc1+ 25.Bf1 Rxf1+ 26.Kg2 Rb1-+; 22.Bf1! Bxf1 23.Rxf1 Qxb4 24.Qxc2 Rxc2 25.Ra8+ Qf8 26.Rxf8+ Kxf8 27.Rb1 Ne4 28.Rxb6 Rxf2 29.Rb8+ Ke7 30.Rb7+=] 22...Rd2 23.Qc1 [23.Qf3 h6 24.h4 Be8-/+] 23...Qc2 24.Qxc2 Rcxc2 25.Bf1 [25.Ra1 Rxf2 26.Bf1 (26.Ra8+ Be8 27.Bf1 g6-/+) 26...g6 27.Ra8+ Kg7 28.Ra7 Be8 29.Rc1 Rg2+! 30.Bxg2 Rxc1+ 31.Bf1 Rb1 32.b5 Ne4 33.Kg2 Nd6-+] 25...Rxf2 26.Bxb5 [26.Ra1 g5 27.Ra8+ Kg7 28.Ra7 Be8 29.Rc1 Rg2+ 30.Bxg2 Rxc1+ 31.Bf1 Rb1 32.b5 Ne4 33.Kg2 Nd6-+] 26...Rg2+ 27.Kh1 Rxh2+ 28.Kg1 Rcg2+ 29.Kf1 Rf2+ 30.Kg1 Rhg2+ 31.Kh1 Ne4 32.Bf1 Nxg3# 0-1

White FM Ahmad Ismail Black CM Paul Spiller

1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 f5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.O-O O-O 6.c4 d6 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Qc2 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Nd7 10.e4 fxe4 11.Qxe4 Nf6 12.Qe2 Re8 13.Rb1 h6 14.Nh4 c6 15.Ng6  White’s advantage is +0.7, but it didn’t take him long to throttle the life out of Black 15...Qa5

16.Rxb7 Bxb7 17.Qxe6+ Kh7 18.Nxe7 Rad8 19.Qf7 Rd7 20.Be4+ Kh8 21.Bxh6 Rdxe7 22.Bxg7# 1-0

The tournament was coming to life, as FM Leonard Mclaren (2221) made IM Mahmood Lodhi (2344) fight for survival also in round 3.

White IM Mahmood Lodhi Black FM Leonard McLaren

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 b5 4.e3 a6 5.Bg2 Bb7 6.O-O c5 7.b3 d5 8.Bb2 Nbd7 9.Nbd2 c4 10.Ne5 Qc7 11.Nxd7 Qxd7 12.Nf3 Bd6 13.Ne5 Qc7 14.Qe1 O-O 15.Bc3 a5 16.bxc4 bxc4 17.Rb1 Rfb8 18.Rb5 a4 19.Ba5 Qc8 20.Qc3 Ba6 21.Rbb1 Ne4 22.Bxe4 dxe4 23.f4 exf3 24.Nxf3 Bb7 25.Nd2 Qc6 26.e4 e5 27.Rb6 Qd7 28.Rfb1 Be7 29.Nxc4 exd4 30.Ne5  

zBlack had a winning move in 30... Qd6, but sadly he missed it. 30... dxc3 31.Nxd7 Rxa5 32.Rxb7 Rxb7 33.Rxb7 Black is still ahead and would keep the initiative with 33... f5, but is too cautious. 33... g6 34.Rc7 Rb5 35.Rxc3 Rb2 Missing his last chance to hold the position. Both 35... Rb1+ or Rb7 are given a small positive score by Stockfish.  36.a3 Kg7 37.Kg2 Ra2 38.Nb6 Bxa3 39.Rc4 Be7 40.Nxa4 Ra3 41.Nc3 Bf6 42.Ne2 h5 43.Nf4 Bd8 44.Nd3 g5 45.e5 Kg6 46.h3 Kf5 47.g4+ hxg4 48.hxg4+ Ke6 49.Kf3 Ra1 50.Ke4 Rg1 51.Nc5+ Ke7 52.Kd5 Rd1+ 53.Nd3 Rd2 54.Ke4 f6 55.exf6+ Kxf6 56.Rc6+ Kg7 57.Kf5 Rd1 58.Ne5 Rf1+ 59.Ke6 Rf6+ 60.Kd7 Ba5 61.Rxf6 Kxf6 62.Nf3 Bc3 63.Kd6 Bb4+ 64.Kd5 Bc3 65.Ng1 Bd2 66.c4 Be3 67.Nf3 Bf4 68.c5 Ke7 69.Nd4 Kd7 70.c6+ Kc8 71.Ne6 Bd2 72.Kd6 Bb4+ 73.Ke5 Bd2 74.Kf5 Bc1 75.Kf6 Bd2 76.Ke5 Bc1 77.Kd6 Ba3+ 78.Kd5 Bc1 79.Kc5 Bd2 80.c7 Be1 81.Kc6 Bg3 82.Nxg5 Bxc7 83.Ne6 Be5 84.g5 Bb2 85.g6 Bf6 86.Kd6 Bc3 87.Ke7 Be5 88.Nf4 Bg7 89.Nh5 Bh6 90.Kf7 Kd8 91.Nf6 Kc7 92.Ng4 1-0 Oh for the skills of a GM-elect in an endgame!

Round 4 saw Lodhi showing his powers with a victory over FM Bruce Watson, and CM Bill Forster accounting for CM Don Eade, while GM Darryl Johansen started a run of 3 draws (to FM Bob Smith, IM Mahmood Lodhi and FM Bruce Watson), and a loss to Filipino Efren Bagamasbad (2082) to lose Johansen’s accustomed position of playing on board 1 most rounds. CM Don Eade (1794), in the best tournament of his life, was to take that position against Lodhi in round 7! Finally, Nathan Goodhue (1976) and CM Leon Kempen (1892) fought themselves to an honourable standstill.

White FM Bruce Watson Black IM Mahmood Lodhi

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nf3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bb5 Nxc3 7.bxc3 Bd6 8.d4 exd4 9.cxd4 O-O 10.O-O Bg4 11.Be2 Ne7 12.Qb3 Rb8 13.Ba3 b5 14.Bxd6 cxd6 15.Rfd1 Ng6 16.h3 Bd7 17.d5 a5 18.a3 Qf6 19.Nd4 b4 20.axb4 axb4 21.Ra7 Bc8 22.Nc6 Rb6 23.Rd4 Qg5 24.Kh2 Qf6 25.Kg1 Qg5

Wanting a draw by repetition? 26.Kf1 No, thanks. Nh4 27.Bg4? White needed to play g4 to retain the initiative. Now, 27... f5 is approximately even, but Black plays 27... Ba6+ 28.Kg1 h5 29.f4 Qh6 30.Ne7+ Kh8 31.Rxb4 Rxb4 32.Qxb4 hxg4 33.Rxa6 gxh3 34.Qxd6 Qh5 35.Ra2 hxg2 36.Rxg2 Nxg2 37.Ng6+ Qxg6 38.Qxf8+ Kh7 39.Kf2 Nh4 0-1

Round 5 saw the top two seeds battling each other. Lodhi (White) held the lead by about 0.5 points throughout the game, but Johansen was strong enough to prevent him from turning this into a win.

White IM Mahmood Lodhi Black GM Darryl K Johansen

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 b6 5.e3 Bb7 6.Bd3 O-O 7.O-O d5 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Ne5 Bd6 10.b3 c5 11.Bb2 Nc6 12.Ndf3 Nb4 13.Be2 a5 14.a3 Na6 15.a4 Ne4 16.Nd2 Nxd2 17.Qxd2 Qe7 18.Bb5 Nb4 Now pieces begin to fly everywhere. 19.Nd7 Rfd8 20.Nxb6

20...Bxh2+ 21.Kxh2 Qd6+ 22.f4 Qxb6 23.dxc5 Qxc5 24.Bd4 Qc2 25.Rf2 Qxb3 26.Bxg7 White shows far-sighted vision. Kxg7 27.Qd4+ f6 28.Rb2 Nc2 29.Rxb3 Nxd4 30.exd4 Ra7 31.Rc1 Bc8 32.Bd3 Bd7 33.Rc5 Bxa4 34.Ra3 Be8 35.Raxa5 Rxa5 36.Rxa5 Bf7 37.Ra7 h6 38.Bf5 Rd6 39.Kg3 Rb6 40.Kh4 Kf8 41.Ra4 Rb2 42.g4 Rh2+ 43.Kg3 Rb2 44.Ra6 Ke7 45.Ra7+ Kf8 46.Ra8+ Kg7 47.Ra4 Ra7 might have retained the initiative. After the move played, Black easily draws. Rb3+ 48.Kf2 Rb2+ 49.Ke3 Rb3+ 1/2-1/2

Round 7 saw CM Don Eade playing IM Mahmood Lodhi on board 1! FM Bruce Watson was 0.8 down against FM Leonard McLaren after 21 moves but managed to claw back the initiative and turn it into a win, while Efren Bagamasbad from the Philippines in rounds 7 and 8 raced up the leaderboard with stunning wins over the top two seeds. He finished 2=, but missed an IM norm on tie-break.

White Efren Bagamasbad Black  GM Darryl K Johansen

1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 c5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.a3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.g3 Nxc3 7.bxc3 b6 8.Bg2 Bb7 9.O-O Be7 10.Qc2 O-O? Seems a ‘natural’ move, but overlooks the reply, winning the exchange. 11.Ng5 Bxg5 12.Bxb7 Nd7 13.Bxa8 Qxa8 14.d4 Bf6 15.Be3 Qc6 16.Rac1 Rc8 17.Qb3 h5 18.Rfd1 c4 19.Qc2 Be7 20.a4 g6 21.Rb1 Bf8 22.Bg5 Bg7 23.e4 Qb7 24.Re1 Nb8 25.h4 Nc6 26.Qe2 e5 27.d5 Na5 28.g4 hxg4 29.Qxg4 f5 30.exf5 Qd7 31.Qg2 Qxf5 32.d6 Qd7 33.Rbd1 Rf8 34.Re3 Kh7 35.Rg3 Rf7 36.h5 gxh5 37.Qe4+ Kh8 38.Qg6 Nc6 39.Qxh5+ Kg8 40.Qg4 Kf8 41.Qxc4 Ke8 42.Qe4 Bf8 43.Qg6 Nd8 44.Rd5

Black is completely tied up in knots. 1-0

In Round 8, Efren Bagamasbad (2082) outplayed Lodhi (2344), the GM-to-be, in the longest game of the tournament, while Don Eade and Leon Kempen fought an interesting draw out. GM Darryl Johansen beat ultimate joint runner-up FM Bruce Watson.

White Efren Bagamasbad Black IM Mahmood Lodhi

1.c4 e5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 Ne7 5.e4 O-O 6.Nge2 Nbc6 7.d3 d6 8.Rb1 Be6 9.Nd5 Qd7 10.O-O f5 11.Be3 fxe4 12.dxe4 Rf7 13.Qd2 Raf8 14.f3 b6 15.b3 Kh8 16.Rbd1 Ng8 17.Rf2 Nd8 18.Rdf1 c6 19.Ndc3 Nf6 20.Rd1 Nb7 21.g4 Qc8 22.h3 Nd7 23.Rff1 Qe8 24.Ng3 Ndc5 25.h4 Bc8 26.h5 Ne6 27.hxg6 hxg6 28.Nge2 Nf4 29.Nxf4 exf4 30.Bd4 Be5 31.Ne2 Qe7 32.Bh3 Rh7 33.Kg2 g5 34.Rh1 Kg7 35.Kf2 Rfh8 36.Bg2 Rxh1 37.Rxh1 Rxh1 38.Bxh1 Qf6 39.Bg2 Nc5 40.Bf1 Ne6 41.Bc3 Kf7 42.Ke1 Ke7 43.Kd1 Qh8 44.Bxe5 dxe5 Stockfish gives Black a +1 score here, after White had been leading throughout the game up to a few moves ago. 45.Ng1 Nd4 46.Qf2 Qd8 47.Kc1 Qd6 48.Qh2 Qb4 49.Qd2 a5 50.Qxb4+ axb4 51.Kd2 Kd6 52.Be2 Bd7 53.Nh3 Ne6 54.c5+ bxc5 55.Bc4 Nd4 56.Nxg5 White achieves an outside passed pawn–even so, the computer is giving Black more than a +1 score. Ke7 57.Be2 Kf6 58.Nh3 Be6 59.Nf2 c4 60.bxc4 Nxe2? The move giving Black a likely win is c5. The exchange  61.Kxe2 Bxc4+ 62.Nd3 Bxa2? This move leads to a loss. c5 would have led to a draw. 63.Nxb4 Bc4+ 64.Nd3 Ke6 65.Kd2 Kd6

zBlack can’t afford to exchange the Bishop for the Knight, as White’s passed g-pawn will win the game. 66.Kc3 Bb5 67.Kd2 Bc4 68.Nf2 Bf1 69.Nd3 c5 70.Nc1 Bc4 71.Nd3 Bb3 72.Nf2 Bc4 73.g5 Be6 74.g6 Ke7 75.Nd3 Kf6 76.Nxc5 Bh3 77.Nd3 Kxg6 78.Nxe5+ Kf6 79.Nd3 Bg2 80.Ke2 Kg5 81.Ne1 Bh3 82.Kd3 Kf6 83.Kd4 Bf1 84.e5+ Kf5 85.Kd5 Bb5 86.Nc2 Ba4 87.Nd4+ Kg5 88.Ke4 Bd7 89.e6 Be8 90.Ke5 Kg6 91.Ne2 Ba4 92.Nxf4+ Kg7 93.Nd5 Kf8 94.f4 1-0

White FM Bruce Watson Black GM Darryl Johansen

Notes by courtesy of GM Darryl Johansen]

1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 e6 4.g3 b6 5.Bg2 Bb7 6.O-O Be7 7.b3 O-O 8.Bb2 d6 9.e3 Nbd7 10.Qe2 a6 11.Rfd1 Qc7 12.Rac1 Rac8 13.d4 Qb8?!

( 13...Rfe8 better prepares for d4-d5. )

( 13...cxd4!? 14.exd4 Qb8 )

14.d5 exd5

A novelty in this position.Two games have featured 15.....e5 which I had no intention of playing!

15.Nxd5 Nxd5

( 15...Bxd5 was possible. 16.cxd5 b5 17.b4 Rfe8 18.bxc5 dxc5 19.a4!? )

16.cxd5 Bf6!

The point of taking with the knight.Of course, in a Benoni-like structure, trading off the second pair of minor pieces is important, from a space point of view.

17.a3

( 17.Bh3 Rcd8 18.Bxd7 Bxb2 19.Qxb2 Rxd7 20.b4 Seemed simple enough. 20...Re8 21.bxc5 bxc5 22.Nh4 =, quiet )

17...Bxb2 18.Qxb2 Nf6

( 18...Rfe8! =, quiet )

19.Nh4!?

( 19.Nd2 Bxd5 20.Bxd5 Nxd5 21.Nc4 Ne7 22.Nxd6 Rcd8 =, quiet )

19...Rce8

( 19...b5 Was strategically desirable,but.... 20.Nf5 Rce8 21.g4 concerned me..Komodo is unfazed. 21...Qd8 22.Nxg7 Kxg7 23.g5 h6 24.gxf6+ Qxf6 Which I had seen,is equal.I thought the text gave me more. )

20.b4! Qc7 21.bxc5 bxc5 22.Rb1

( 22.Nf5!? Bc8 23.Nd4 )

22...Bc8 23.Qb6 Qe7 24.Qc6?

Ponderous.

24...g6?!

( 24...g5! 25.Nf3 Ne4 26.Rf1

( 26.Rb6? Nxf2 )

26...Bg4 With threats. 27.Rbd1 Bd7 28.Qxa6 Nc3 -/+ )

25.Rb6 Nd7 26.Qxd6

He goes for it,and why not? Bruce had missed ...Nd7,but,as I sat at the board I thought, " He 's not likely to move backwards!"

( 26.Rbb1 Ne5 27.Qa4 Bg4 -/+ )

26...Nxb6 27.Qxb6 Bg4 28.Rc1 Rb8 29.Qxa6 Rb2! 30.h3 Be2

My judgement was right; Komodo warms to my position.

31.Qc6!?

( 31.Qa5 Qf6 32.Qc3 Qxc3 33.Rxc3 c4 -/+ )

31...c4 32.Nf3?!

( 32.d6! Qf6 33.d7 Qxc6 34.Bxc6 Rb6 35.Bd5 Rd8 36.Bxc4 -/+ Rc6? 37.Bxf7+! )

32...Qxa3 33.Nd4 Bd3 34.d6 Qb4

( 34...Rxf2! 35.Kxf2 Qxc1 36.d7 Qd2+ 37.Kf3 and now the simple 37....Qa5. 37...Qa5 )

( 34...Rd8 35.Bd5

( 35.d7! Qe7 36.Bd5 Qxd7 37.Bxc4 Qxc6 38.Nxc6 )

35...Rxf2! )

35.Ra1?

Losing.

( 35.Rd1! Rd8 36.Bd5 Qxd6 37.Bxc4 Bxc4 38.Qxc4 Ra8 39.Qc3

( 39.Rf1 Raa2 40.Qc8+ Kg7 41.Qg4 Qf6 42.Qf3 Holds.)

39...Raa2 40.Rf1? Qxg3+! )

35...Qd2 36.Qf3 c3! 37.Ra8 Rbb8 38.Rxb8 Rxb8 39.Qd5 c2 40.Nxc2 Qd1+

( 40...Rb1+! 41.Kh2 Qxf2 42.g4 Bxc2 43.d7 Qg1+ 44.Kg3 Qxe3+ -+ )

41.Kh2 Bxc2 42.Qc6 Ba4 43.Qc4 Bb5 44.Qc7 Rf8 45.Qe7 Qc2

A rook down and not much happening,white resigned.

0-1

In the final round, FM Bruce Watson used his knight and two pawns vs a rook with great skill to outfox FM Michael Steadman, to come away with a win. Watson didn’t realise he was a possibility for the IM norm, but this win secured it. GM Darryl Johansen cruised to a final win to take second place.

White  FM Michael Steadman Black FM Bruce R Watson

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.a3 dxc4 9.Bxc4 a6 10.Qc2 b5 11.Bd3 Nbd7 12.Ne4 Qb6 13.Rc1 Be7 14.Bc7 Qa7 15.Bd6 Bxd6 16.Nxd6 Bb7 17.O-O Bxf3 18.gxf3 Ne5 19.Be4 Rad8 20.Rfd1 Qb8 21.Qc5 Nd5 22.f4 Nd7 23.Qc6 N7f6 24.Nb7 Nxe4 25.Nxd8 Qxd8 26.f3 Qh4 27.fxe4

Black has given up the exchange for an attacking position using his Queen and Knight. Nxe3 28.Rd2 Qg4+ 29.Kh1 Qxf4 30.Re1 h5 31.Rde2 Ng4 32.Qc5 g6 33.Kg1 Rd8 34.Rf1 Qb8 35.Qe7 Rf8 36.Qg5 Qb6+ 37.Kg2 Qd4 38.h3 Ne5 39.Qf6 Qc4 40.Re3 Qd4 41.Re2 Qd3 42.Rff2 Qd4 43.Rf1 Qc4 44.Re3 Qc5 45.Re2 Rc8 46.Rd1 Qc4 47.Kf2 Nd3+ 48.Ke3 Nc5 49.Kf3 Qb3+ 0-1

White GM Darryl Johansen Black IM Chan Peng Kong

[Notes courtesy of  GM Darryl Johansen]

1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.e4 Bg7 6.Nc2 Nf6 7.Nc3 d6 8.Be2 O-O 9.O-O Bd7 10.Be3 Qa5 11.f3 Rfc8 12.Rc1

( 12.Qd2 I've played before, but the the ending after... 12...Ne5 13.Na3 Be6 14.Nd5 Qxd2 15.Bxd2 Is tough to win.)

12...Be6 13.Qd2 Nd7 14.b4

( 14.Na3 Nc5 =, quiet )

14...Qd8 15.Nd5 Nf6?

( 15...a5! Is what concerned me; it has been played with good equalising prospects.( 6 draws 1 loss on Chessbase!) 16.b5

( 16.a3 axb4 17.axb4 Nce5 18.Nd4 Bxd5 19.cxd5 Nb6 )

16...Nce5 17.Nd4 Bxd5 18.cxd5 Nc5 =, quiet )

16.Rfd1

Now I'm cruising,finally.

16...Ne5 17.Nd4 Bxd5 18.exd5! a5 19.a3 h5?!

( 19...axb4 20.axb4 Ra3 Creates an annoying rook! )

20.Nb5

Stopping the annoying rook!

20...b6?! 21.h3 Ned7

Black sends his army back to barracks.

22.Nd4 Nb8 23.f4!?

( 23.Qd3 )

( 23.Bd3 )

( 23.Re1 )

23...Ne4

PK takes a chance.

24.Qd3 Bxd4?!

( 24...Ng3! 25.Bf3 Bxd4 26.Bxd4 h4 A better version of the game. )

25.Bxd4! f5

( 25...Nf6 26.f5 +- )

26.Bf3 Nf6 27.g4!? axb4 28.axb4 Qd7

( 28...Na6 then I'll play... 29.g5 Ne8 30.Qd2 )

29.gxh5 Na6 30.Qd2 Kh8 31.Kh1 Rg8 32.Rg1 Rg7

( 32...gxh5 33.Rg5 Kh7 34.Rcg1 Rxg5 35.fxg5 Ne4 36.g6+ Kg8 37.Qh6 )

33.Rg5 Rag8 34.Rcg1 Qc8

( 34...gxh5 35.Qg2 Rxg5 36.fxg5 Kh7 37.Qe2 +- )

35.hxg6 Rf8

36.Qf2!

The attack will crash through.

36...Nxb4

( 36...Qxc4 37.Bxf6 Rxf6 38.Qh4+ Kg8 39.Rh5 Rfxg6 40.Rxg6 Qc1+

( 40...Rxg6 41.Rh8+ Kf7 42.Qh7+ Rg7 43.Qxf5# )

41.Kh2 Qb2+ 42.Rg2 )

37.Qh4+ Kg8 38.Bxf6 1-0

Asian Seniors 50+

1st (and gaining his 3rd and final GM norm) IM Mahmood Lodhi (Pakistan) with 7/9.

2nd= with Silver Medal on tiebreak: GM Darryl Johansen (Australia) on 6.5/9

2nd= with Bronze Medal on tiebreak and an IM norm: FM Bruce Watson (New Zealand) 6.5/9

2nd= Efren Bagamasbad (Philippines) 6.5/9.

5th FM Leonard McLaren (NZL) 6/9

6th= FM Ahmad Ismail (MAS), FM Robert Smith (NZL), Wong Ngiam Lee (SGP) and CM Leon Kempen (AUS) 5.5/9

IM Mahmood Lodhi (right) from Pakistan won the Asian Seniors 50+, collecting his 3rd and final GM norm. He has already made the required 2500 rating, so he will become Pakistan's first grandmaster. He is pictured with New Zealand's first (and only) GM, Murray Chandler.

For New Zealand, FM Bruce Watson picked up a medal and an IM norm in the Seniors and FM Ewen M. Green did the same in the Veterans.

WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP

By Max Mikkelsen

Montevideo, Uruguay 16-26 September 2017

[The Australian team was WCM Cassandra Lim 1759 (U18 Girls), Tony (Junhao) Zhong 1993 (U16 Open), CM Tom Slater-Jones 1982 (U18 Open), Max Mikkelsen 1873 (U16 Open), CM Henry Slater-Jones 1760 (U16 Open), and Christopher Lim 1689 (U14 Open). They  returned home having gained gained 70 rating points overall. The website can be seen here and full results can be seen here.]

From the 16th to the 26th of September, myself and 5 others were lucky enough to represent Australia at the World Youth Chess Championship in Montevideo, Uruguay. The incredible adventure started with a 3 hour flight to Auckland, followed by an 11 hour trip to Santiago, Chile, where I met up with fellow team member Tony Zhong.

After a brief layover, we both boarded the flight to Montevideo, which featured some amazing scenery of the Andes mountain range and Argentina. Landing at sunset, we made our way to the Sheraton Hotel, the tournament venue and where we were both staying for the next fortnight.

Having arrived 2 days before the tournament began, I had ample time to acclimatise myself to Uruguay, an amazing country filled with incredibly friendly locals. With the rest of team Australia arriving intermittently, we were first united as a team for the opening ceremony, held at the Legislative Palace of Uruguay. A beautiful building dating to the 1920s, the ceremony was a great start to the tournament, featuring speeches from Uruguayan politicians and FIDE delegates, as well as a Spanish guitar performance.

The next day, everyone was frantically preparing for the first round, where all the Australians were matched against higher rated opponents. Unfortunately every Aussie went down except for Cassandra Lim, who scored an excellent upset draw against a 2100 rated opponent.

Especially unlucky was her brother Christopher, who had a much better position than FM Dambasuren Batsuren of Mongolia for most of the game. Having lost the advantage, Chris missed a drawing variation only to lose in heartbreaking fashion. Even worse, Batsuren would end up winning the U14 division with a crushing 10/11! Still, it was an exceptional attempt by Chris who just slipped after hours of play.

The next few rounds up until the rest day went more or less according to rating for Team Australia, except for a very strong 1.5/2 performance against 2000 rated opposition by Henry Slater-Jones.

The rest day was much-needed relief for all the competitors, who had all been putting in tremendous amounts of effort both over and off the board. While the weather that day was less than perfect with a lot of rain and wind (leading to the cancellation of the open-air tourist bus), I was happy to relax within the hotel and attached shopping mall, just taking it easy.

Cassandra Lim, CM Henry Slater-Jones, CM Tom Slater-Jones, Max Mikkelsen, Tony (Junhao) Zhong, Christopher Lim

A blitz event for all ages was held on the night of the rest day, and I was the only Australian participant, scoring 4.5/7 against some strong opposition. Team Australia must have made the most of the rest day, with some of our best results coming after the break.

Tom Slater-Jones went undefeated from round 5, drawing against three 2200+ players (including 2 FMs), and both Henry and Cassandra continued their streaks of upsets.

Tony and I were unlucky enough to be paired against each other in the 9th round, which ended in a fighting draw after several hours. At this point in the tournament, we had all made friends with other players, and we started to have mini competitions against the other federations, including a blitz and social session with the English delegation, as well as some Bughouse/Transfer chess with some of the Americans.

After the 10th round, where Tony and I both had five and a half hour games, Team Australia had a communal dinner at a nearby restaurant, which was a great bonding experience and (near) end to the tournament.

After the 11th and final round, we were all extremely exhausted but content, having all had an amazing experience which I’m sure we would all repeat in a heartbeat. After the closing ceremony, we said our goodbyes to the friends we had made from across the world and each other, and went to the airport, marking the end of an amazing journey.

I’d like to say special thanks to my parents for allowing me to go on the trip of a lifetime, and Gary McNamara of Sydney, who was my coach during the event. He went above and beyond duty in his role, providing excellent insight and advice, and even staying up to the late hours of the morning due to timezone differences before the rounds to make sure I was well prepared.

          RECENT TOURNAMENTS

OVERSEAS

21-31 Aug World Cadets Championship Poços de Caldas Brazil

CORRECTION: In last month’s issue, we incorrectly stated that Byron Morris scored 3 points in the Under 12 section. He scored 4.5 points, giving him a performance increase of 58 points on his FIDE rating.

9-15 Oct 8th Asian Seniors Chess Championships Auckland NZ

See separate report.

11-14 Oct South Island Championship Dunedin NZ

The joint winners were WCM Vyanla Punsala and South Island Champion FM Stephen Lukey 6/8 ahead of Riley Jellyman on 6.

AUSTRALIA

28 Sep-2 Oct Queensland Championships Qld

GM Max Illingworth from NSW won the tournament with 7.5/9 and FM Yi Liu was awarded the Queensland Championship title on 7. The rating group (U1900) was won jointly by Tim Harris and Michael Van Pelt.

FM Yi Liu, CAQ President Mark Stokes, GM Max Illingworth  I Photo: Facebook

 Final scores after 9 rounds:

 1  7.5     GM Illingworth,Max           

 2  7.0     FM Liu,Yi                    

 3  6.5     IM Solomon,Stephen J        

     6.5     WIM Richards,Heather         

 5  6.0     IM Sandler,Leonid           

 6  5.5     GM Smerdon,David C          

     5.5     IM Garbett,Paul             

 8  5.0     FM Stojic,Dusan             

     5.0     FM Nakauchi,Gene           

     5.0    Maguire,Tom              

     5.0    Harris,Timothy           

     5.0    Van Pelt,Michael        

     5.0    Parle,Hughston            

     5.0    CM Lam,Ross                

     5.0    Dowden,Tony               

30 Sep-1 Oct Labour Day Weekender Adelaide SA

Played at the SA Chess Centre with 20 participants over 6 rounds, the event was won by FM Bill Jordan and IM Trevor Tao jointly on 5/6 followed by author CM Junior Tay from Singapore on 4.5 (you can read his blog named Junior Tay’s Blog).

30 Sep-2 Oct Ryde-Eastwood Open West Ryde NSW
FM Brandon Clarke  and Bahman Kargosha shared first place among a record 87 starters (last year 51) with 6/7 from IM Junta Ikeda, Raymond Song, Dmitri Silver and Arthur Huynh all on 5.5

FM Brandon Clarke and  Bahman Kargosha  I  Photo: Nicholas Kordahi

Prizes:

=1st FM Brandon Clarke, Bahman Kargosha

=3rd IM Junta Ikeda, Raymond Song, Dmitri Silver, Arthur Huynh 5.5/7

=7th FM Kevin O'Chee, Neil Wright, Dillon Hathiramani, Angelito Camer 5/7

1600-1799

=1st Michael Gong, Robert Watson, Gordon Yang, Kevin Shen 4.5/7

1400-1599

=1st Kamal Jain, David Groenhout, Udit Talpade 4/7

U1400

1st Ryan Hii 4/7

=2nd Ruofan Xu, Sulia Van Sebille, Simon Li 3.5/7

Best Unrated: Johnson Li 4.5/7

2 Oct Labour Day Allegro Adelaide SA

Played at the Chess Centre of SA, another first place tie, to IM Mark Chapman and FM Bill Jordan on 6/7 followed by CM Junior Tay (the Third Man) on 5.5, 28 players.

7-8 Oct Queensland Women’s & Girls’ Championship East Brisbane Qld

Bridgette Watkins, Abbey Grice, Sophie Watkins and Rachel Watkins of Brisbane Girls Grammar School.
Photo I  Facebook

Final scores:

1. Sophie Watkins 5.5

2. Rachel Watkins 5

3. Bridgette Watkins 4

=4 Naomi Bloxham, Jade Perina and Yuehan Xu, all on 3.5

=7 Cynthia Li, Tiffany Tran and Eowyn Mercado, all on 3

=10 Sophie Congreve and Gail Young, both on 2.5

12 Emily Kua 2

13 Erin Dullaway 1

1st Sophie Watkins
2nd Bridgette Watkins
3rd Naomi Bloxham

Girls Results:
1st Rachel Watkins
=2nd Jade Perina, Yuehan Xu

Best senior under 1200:    Gail Young
Best Junior: Sophie Watkins
Best Cadet: =Naomi Bloxham, Jade Perina, Yuehan Xu

State Titles:
u16: Sophie Watkins
u14: Bridgette Watkins
u12: =Naomi Bloxham, Jade Perina
u10: Yuehan Xu
u8: Tiffany Tran

Youngest player: Tiffany Tran

Back: Rachel Watkins, Bridgette Watkins, Gail Young, Yuehan Xu, Eowyn Mercado, Sophie Watkins, Sophie Congreve and Naomi Bloxham. Front: Emily Kua, Tiffany Tran, Erin Dullaway, Jade Perina and Cynthia Li.      Photo  I  Scott Dullaway

14-15 Oct Victorian Country Championship Geelong Vic

This tournament was open to Victorian players whose main place of residence is outside a 50 km radius from the Melbourne GPO. Played at the St Mary’s Terrace Community Hub with 35 entries, Geoff Gill of Geelong & James Watson of Ballarat came equal first and Kingsley Chung of Geelong & Chris Bradley of Bendigo shared first place for the Reserves.

“A personal perspective: it was a good, well-run tournament as usual, although the Vega pairing system had an annoying habit of pairing relatively inexperienced players (like myself) with very highly rated players from the same club like Patrick [Cook] and Kevin [Perrin] which made it difficult to aim for a win. I finally managed to play someone with a similar rating from a different club for my last game and am happy to report that I won convincingly :D... Still, chess is always a worthwhile way to spend a weekend, don't you agree? Cheers, Sue”

Leading Scores:

1-2  Geoffrey Gill       1855 5    
     James Watson      1766 5    
3-4  Zoran Babic        1710 4.5  
     Reza Daneshvar   1831 4.5  
5-9  Russell Murray    1828 4    
     Heath Gooch         1794 4    
     Michael Sugrue      1910 4    
     Shumsheer Ghumman 1811 4    
     Alistair Anderson   1815 4    

20 & 27 Oct Marcus Porter Memorial Ashgrove Qld

Played at the Marist College, Ashgrove with 34 players, Jacob Edwards took first place with 6.5/8, followed by CM Tom Slater-Jones and Marc Balague both on 6. Sharing 4th place on 5.5 were CM Henry Slater-Jones, IM Paul Garbett, CM Tyson Walker and FM Charles Tsai.

The Porter family donated a beautiful clock trophy for the winner. Jayden Ooi won the best placed under 1000 prize.

On utilizing the Grob opening, Tom Slater-Jones led the field with 6 Grob points from 8 attempts. Equal second was Charles Tsai and Hughston Parle who both scored 5 Grob points. A number of players embraced the Grob theme and either played the Grob or the reverse Grob for a total of 65 attempts.

21-22 Oct Kingsley Open Woodvale WA

Held at the North Woodvale Primary School with 22 players (youngest - 7 years of age, and oldest -  82) and all levels (beginners up to WA's leading players).

Open:

1st: Andrew Hardegen (5.0/6)

=2nd: FM Patrick Gong & FM Tristan Boyd (4.5/6)

Rating Group A (1601-1900 ACF):

=1st: Nedeljko Tomic, Saminda De Vas & Sri Dharmapuri (4.0/6)

Rating Group B (901-1600 ACF):

1st: David Barry (3.5/6)

Rating Group C (Unrated):

=1st: Nick Ley & Oscar Gao (2.5/6)

28-29 Oct Gosford Open & NSW Country Championship Gosford NSW

There were 34 starters at the Central Coast Leagues Club over the weekend. The Open was won by IM Richard Jones on 5.5 points out of 6. The new NSW Country Champion is 14-year old Matthew Clarke on 4.5 point

The Mal Murrell Shield for the best Central Coast player was awarded to Ian Bull and Gary Losh both of whom had won in past years.

- Keith Farrell

29 Oct chess.com

This chess.com event is an online lightning 3+2, 15 rounds event including many of the world’s top players. Teams were divided into two groups to broadly reflect different continental times.

The results of Australia’s (smaller) group, after 3 hours of exciting, brilliant and at times hilarious play with pithy comment from 7AM on Sunday morning 29 October AEST (with Daylight Saving), were:

Chengdu Pandas 36.5

Seattle Sluggers 35

Australia Kangaroos 34.5

New York Knights       34

Minnesota Blizzard 32.5

SF Mechanics            31.1

Atlanta Kings            31

Boston Blitz            28.5

Australia Blitzkrieg 28

Michigan Mittens 27.5

The Australia Kangaroos team (GMs Zong-Yuan Zhao, Max Illingworth and Moulthun Ly, and IM James Morris) finished in third place to secure the last automatic qualification spot to the PRO Chess League. The Australia Blitzkrieg team (GM’s David Smerdon & Anton Smirnov, and FM’s Brandon Clarke & Yi Liu) finished second last, but can still make the cut if it captures sufficient popular votes.

COMING EVENTS

OVERSEAS

6-19 Nov World Senior Championship Acqui Terme, Italy

10-20 World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad Ahmedabad, India

12-26 Nov FIDE World Junior and Girls Under 20 Championship Tarvisio, Italy

23-30 Nov Asian Amateur Championship Chiang Mai, Thailand

25 Nov-3 Dec 18th ASEAN Age Group Open Championship Kuantan, Malaysia

1-12 Jan New Zealand Open Championship  & 125th New Zealand Chess Congress Palmerston North, NZ

AUSTRALIA

        Problem of the Month – No.20

                                               Selected by Peter Wong

Jeremy Morse

(after J. C. J. Wainwright)

London Evening News 1960

        White mates in 2

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

ELOPEMENT REVEALED

“Two weeks ago we said our vows at a magical waterfall and had a wonderful adventure-day in the Icelandic highlands. We are looking forward to celebrating with friends and family when we are next in Australia”. Katherine Law  & FA David Webster

Photo I Ann Peters (Iceland Wedding Planner)

                              Married on 3 October 2017  in Stjórnarfoss, Iceland

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AUSTRALIAN CHESS FEDERATION

President

Gary Wastell

gwastell@netspace.net.au

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Bill Gletsos

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Kevin Bonham

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Leonid Sandler

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Rob Watson

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AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY CHESS ASSOCIATION

Cam Cunningham

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Richard Gastineau-Hills  

RichardGH@nswjcl.org.au

CHESS ASSOCIATION OF QUEENSLAND

Mark Stokes  

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George Howard

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Tom Saltmarsh  

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CHESS VICTORIA

Chris Wallis

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CHESS ASSOCIATION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Norbert Muller

norbert.muller@iinet.net.au

Solution to Problem of the Month – No.20

Key: 1.Rd1! (waiting move).

1…Nxd1 2.Qf1, 1…Nd3 2.Qxd3, 1…c2 2.Qxc2, 1…a5 2.Qb5, 1…b5 2.Qc5, 1…Be7/Bf6/Bg5 2.Qc8, 1…Bf7 2.Qxf7, 1…Be6 2.Qxe6, 1…Bd5 2.Qxd5, 1…Rg4 2.Qxg4, 1…Rf4 2.Qxg4, 1…Re4 2.Qxe4, 1…Rd4/Rxh5 2.Rd4, 1…Bc7 2.Rxh4.

The problem shows a record of 12 white queen mates.