Newsletter  17/11

30 November 2017

Editor: Frank Low

auschessnews@gmail.com

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Contributions are very much welcomed. There will be no newsletter in December. Next issue is 31 January 2018.


 

Jakovenko, Aronian win Palma de Mallorca

Photo: Mike Klein/Chess.com.

The Candidates Tournament will take place 10 to 28 March  2018 in Berlin with a prize fund of €420,000.

                      ACF NOTICES

NOTICE OF ANNUAL NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Notice is hereby given that the 2018 ACF National Conference, to be conducted as the Annual General Meeting of the Federation in compliance with the requirements of the Australian Capital Territory Associations Incorporation Act 1991, is scheduled as follows.

Date Sunday, 7 January 2018 Start Time 7:00 am – WA 9:00 am – Qld 9:30 am – SA 10:00 am – NSW, ACT, Vic, Tas

Venue Address norths Level 1 (Kamaraigal Room) 12 Abbott Street, Cammeray, Sydney NSW

Mode Attendance In Person (minimum 50% of quorum) plus on-line conference (audio only) participation. (Connection instructions distributed upon confirmation of participation)

Authorised State association representatives should confirm their availability and status with the relevant local association at earliest convenience:

All intending participants are advised to notify the Conference Convenor, Mr Rob Watson, not later than 31 December 2017 via: email: whatteaux@optusnet.com.au phone: 0408 463 759 or (02) 9481 0386


 

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

2018 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.

RECURRING NOTICE: REGISTRATION of ARBITERS for TITLE NORM EVENTS

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

RECURRING NOTICE: FIDE RATING SUBMISSIONS

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

RECURRING NOTICE: FIDE RATED EVENT REGISTRATION

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

RECURRING NOTICE: FIDE ID NUMBER REGISTRATION

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

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

An ambitious GM norm round robin event, in addition to the Open and the U1200 categories at the University of Adelaide, opens in a couple of days.

The eyes of the world will doubtless be on the sensational 12-year-old star from India Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu who on Sunday [26 November] completed the World Junior Championships in Tarvisio Italy for a tied fourth place and his first GM norm, and who on Saturday [2 December] will start in Adelaide in the 10-player all-play-all event that’s tailor-made to meet the requirements for GM norms. After that finishes on 8 December, he has to be in India on 10 December for the World Youth Olympiad 2017 at Ahmedabad.

At Gibraltar 4 January Photo: Shaun Press in Facebook

[Ed: Praggy’s schedule borders on madness let alone for one so young. He may have three months to break Karjakin’s age record for attaining the GM title, but that, in the scheme of things, cannot be of any real significance].

AUSTRALASIAN MASTERS 2017

GM and IM Norm Events

9-17 December

                                                By IM Leonid Sandler

Once again for the 5th year we will be running a GM Norm round robin tournament.

Thanks to our many sponsors including our major sponsors: the Kasparov Chess Foundation, the Australian Chess Federation, Chess Victoria, the Melbourne Chess Club and the Swanston Hotel.

This year we will see 4 grandmasters in the field.

GM Adrien Demuth at Neckar Open 2013 Wikipedia

GM Fabien Libiszewski Twitter

Can our youngest GM Anton Smirnov defend his 2016 Australasian Masters Champion title? Our French visitors, grandmasters Adrien Demuth and Fabien Libiszewski, as well as our well-known guest from Russia, Vasily Papin (visiting Australia for the fifth time), will be as competitive as ever.

I
M [as he then was] Anton Smirnov being interviewed by GM Susan Polgar at 2016  Baku Olympiad

Amongst the GM norm aspirants, we will see Australian Champion IM Bobby Cheng (one present norm), IM Kanan Izzat (one norm) and IM Temur Kuybokarov  (2 norms).

GM Vasily Papin at last year’s tournament Wikipedia

I am sure that Victorians IM Ari Dale, FM Chris Wallis and FM Karl Zelesco will have their game plans too.

The IM Norm event will feature a very colourful field. The updated list of players will be published soon.

Information about past Australasian Masters can be found at the Australasian Masters link.

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

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.

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.

Sponsored by:

AUSTRALIAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

13 January to 21 January - Melbourne

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.

Only the Under 16 and Under 18 Opens go for the 9 days – many events are much shorter.

SCHEDULE

U8 & U10 Girls 19-21 Jan

U8 & U10 Open 13-15 Jan

U12 & U14 Girls 17-21 Jan

U12 & U14 Open 17-21 Jan

U16 & U18 Girls 17-21 Jan

U16 & U18 Open 13-21 Jan

Problem Solving & Lightning 16 Jan

U8 & U10 Girls – 19-21 Jan

U8 & U10 Open 13-15 Jan

U12 & U14 Girls 17-21 Jan

QUERIES

Peter Tsai chess@t-s-a-i.com

Australia's Premier Grand Prix Chess Tournament

Since 1963

29 March - 2 April 2018

Canberra Southern Cross Club Woden

92-96 Corinna Street, Woden ACT 2606

We have a new venue! Thanks to Canberra Southern Cross Club Woden for joining the chess party - follow us on Facebook for all the latest updates!
 

2018 Registrations Open Now

Registrations for the 2018 Doeberl Cup are now open - head over to the Registration page to secure your place! REGISTER NOW

We are now using Eventbrite to process online registrations. This means that payment must be made at the time of registration, and a small processing fee is charged by Eventbrite. Payments are processed via Paypal, which accepts VISA, MasterCard and American Express (no account required - select Pay With Credit or Debit Card after submitting your registration form).

If you are unable to pay online, please contact us with your registration details.
 

Want free entry? Submit a shirt slogan! Shirt Slogan Competition open now - submissions close 15 January 2018

PROFILE

            WGM JULIA RYJANOVA

WGM Julia Ryjanova was granted a Distinguished Talent visa by the Australian Government and transferred to the Australian Chess Federation in August 2017. She lives with her family in Melbourne.

Where were you born?

I was born in Orenburg USSR [the administrative centre of Orenburg Oblast, Russia, on the Ural River, 1,500 kilometres southeast of Moscow].

My parents are medical doctors. My dad loved chess although he wasn’t a strong player. My mom doesn’t know how to play at all. I have one brother, 11 years older than me. No one else in our family has ever played chess at a professional level. My parents supposed chess to be just a hobby.

When I finished high school, I decided to become a doctor like them. I graduated from Orenburg State Medical Academy in 1997 as a medical general practitioner and worked in City Hospital N4 (Orsk, Russia) from 1997 to 2003.

I continued to play chess during these years and in 2001 participated in the World Championship in Moscow. During this World Championship, the Qatar Chess Federation was looking for a female WGM coach and offered me a position to work with its girls and I accepted.

When did you first learn chess?

My father wanted me to play chess and ski. He taught me to play chess when I was 5. He tried to teach me skiing but I wasn’t good at it and used to catch cold every time he did. So, he gave up on skiing and concentrated on chess. I couldn’t go to a chess club at that time because it was very far from my home.

Fortunately, in 1984 the club moved to another building right behind our place, I could get there by walk in just a few minutes and then I started to play and train there. I was already 11 years old when that happened. I’m very thankful to the coaches who worked with me and not only taught me to play but also encouraged and supported me. Their names are not well known but the strongest one was IM Oleg Karpeshov. My favourite chess books were about Alekhine and Botvinnik. My favourite chess puzzles book was “Last check” by Neishtadt.

Life in Qatar

I lived and worked as a chess coach in Qatar from 2003 until August 2017. They didn’t have women’s chess in 2003, I started to work with the first generation of female players, 8-14 years old girls. In 2006 the Women’s team from Qatar participated in the World Chess Olympiad (Italy) for the first time. Our team was the best in category E in the  2008 Olympiad in Germany and for this success, it was awarded as the best women’s team in Qatar by the Qatar Olympic committee.

I was captain of the women’s national team for all these years from 2008 to 2017. I have good personal relationships with all my students there and we keep in touch.

There is an interesting documentary on Qatar's national chess teams "Kings & Queens of Qatar" which premiered in Qatar in March 2014 and participated in the Abu Dhabi Film Festival (UAE) and the Ajyal Film Festival (Qatar). See a video trailer here. [Storyline: As Qatar steps out of the shadows and seeks a place on the world stage, its aspirations for its chess players are no different. It is part of nation building.]

Then Australia?

Our contract with Qatar Chess Association was due to finish in August 2017. The political and economic situation in the region became unstable. So, we decided to move on.

Our son Michael now aged 10 was born in Qatar. He attended an English speaking kindergarten and International school with a British curriculum. It was one of the main reason we chose an English speaking country where he would be more confident.

We are adventurous individuals and like change, having visited more than 30 countries as a chess player, coach or sometimes just as a tourist.

I had been to Australia twice before to participate in tournaments before we decided to make the move. I like the country and its people. I have many friends who helped us settle so we didn’t have any problems.

Outside chess

We like to travel, see different places, and especially like hiking. I like reading and If I have to pick a few favourite authors, I would probably choose Nabokov and Jorge Luis Borges. I love the music of the sixties and seventies although I am not very fond of modern music.

     "We are adventurous individuals and like change"

Future plans

I’m going to go back to active playing. I had a very long break when we worked in Qatar and I missed it a lot. It isn’t so easy but I’m going to do my best to return to better shape. I hope I’ll be able to represent Australia in the next World Chess Olympiad in 2018.

My husband IM Aleksei Khamatgaleev and I both work as chess coaches. We are happy to share our knowledge and experience with our new students.

Our son goes to a new school. I hope he will do well, make new friends and continue to play chess.

Why do you love chess?

I fell in love with chess since childhood. I like to challenge myself and of course I love to win. I admire the beauty of chess where well-played games look like a piece of art. The more your level of play grows, the more you understand it. Not only long combinations with sacrifices can be amazing but also unexpected positional manoeuvres, stubborn defence or tricky endings.

Kasparov wrote a book about chess as a model of life. I see it as a model of life too; each game is a garden of forking paths with many options to choose from.

And the life of a chess professional is far from boring. It lets me visit many countries, see different places and meet many people.

___________________________________

Subject notes:

Peak ranking
35th highest rated female in the world in October 2002 with rating 2409 and 40th highest rated in January 2003 with rating 2415.

Career Highlights:
FIDE WGM title 2000
European Club Cup for women
Russian Women's Championship 2000 (Elista) Bronze medal
Women's World Championship 2001

Recent results:
Australian Open Championship 2015 (Sydney) - Equal 4th place, best female player
Asian Chess Federation Women's Masters 2015 (Melbourne) 1st place
Australia Day Weekender 2016 (Melbourne) 2nd place

      DING LIREN MERRILY ON HIGH

                                                      by Ian Parsonage

As 2017 draws to a close, Australian chess players look forward to another action-packed year, starting with the 2018 Australian Championship and the even more exciting Australian Reserves.

Looking back, the highlight of this year must be Anton Smirnov becoming a GM at 16. This reflects great credit on him, his family and others who have helped him. Despite modern technology, it's still hard to overcome the "tyranny of distance" in Australia. After the successes of Max Illingworth in 2015, Moulthun Ly in 2016, and now Anton in 2017, it's becoming easier for Australian players to get beaten by a GM without leaving the country. It would be great to have more GMs from south of the Murray River.

An article in the February Newsletter discussed the risks of playing juniors, illustrated by a win by the Uzbekistan player Nodirbek Abdusattorov. He is now unlikely to be underestimated as he later became a GM at the ripe old age of 13 years, 1 month and 11 days.

Nodirbek and Anton, while both still IMs, became teammates in the World team against the US in the Match of the Millennials held in St Louis. Commentators in the US thought that the powerful US team would be too strong as some foreign players couldn't get visas (thanks to Donald Trump). The international players must not have read the script as they trounced the Americans  30.5 to 17.5.
 

Team camaraderie in Match of the Millennials I  Photo: Lennart Ootes, St. Louis Chess Club
 

2017 has been a stellar year for Ding Liren. As runner-up in the 2017 World Cup, he became the first Chinese player to qualify for a Candidates tournament, to be held next year. He showed great resourcefulness. It's well known that Chinese people love their own excellent food, so playing in Russia poses a challenge for Ding. For the Moscow Grand Prix tournament, he took along his mum to cook for him, and won the event.

Photo  I  Qipai

After all he achieved, Ding might have relaxed a bit during the Chinese Chess League. You'd expect solid play, not one of the most brilliant attacking games ever.

Bai, Jinshi (2585) vs. Ding, Liren (2759)
Chinese Chess League Round 18.1 4 Nov 2017 0-1

Usual is 8. Qh4 to blunt counter-attacks.

8...h6 9. Bh4

Better is 9. Bxf6 with chances for both sides.

9...d5 10. Rd1

Safer is 10. 0-0-0. Now the White king may get trapped in the centre.

10...g5 11. Bg3 Ne4 12. Nd2 Nc5 13. Qc2 d4?!

After 13...f5 both sides have chances

14. Nf3 e5 15. Nxe5 dxc3 16. Rxd8 cxb2

17. Ke2?

A strange move. After 17.Rd2, mass exchanges follow, leaving White with an advantage. From now on some of White's moves aren't perfect, but the result would be unaffected.

17... Rxd8 18. Qxb2 Na4!  

It's said that "A knight on the rim is dim", but this guy is heading to the king-side.

19. Qc2 Nc3 20. Kf3 Rd4!

Why not throw in a rook too? White would lose material after 21.exd4 Nxd4, so he tries something else.

21. h3 h5 22. Bh2 g4 23. Kg3 Rd2 24. Qb3 Ne4 25. Kh4 Be7 26. Kxh5 Kg7 27. Bf4 Bf5 28. Bh6 Kh7 29. Qxb7 Rxf2 30. Bg5 Rh8 31. Nxf7 Bg6 32. Kxg4

In the April Newsletter players were urged to keep some time handy in case of emergencies. Ding now had about a minute (plus increments) to reach move 40. He can be forgiven as this game was horribly complicated. Ding now faced one last problem: if, say, 32...Bf5 33. Kh5 Kg7 34. Bh6 is check and the bishop is protected.

32...Ne5!!

A splendid decoy move. If now 33. Nxe5 Bf5 34. Kh5 Kg7 (guarding the h6 square) 35. Bh6 Rxh6 is mate. Or if 33. Kh4 Kg8 (unpinning the bishop on e7) 34. Nxh8 Bxg5 mate 0-1

I'd like to wish all readers a Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

      WORLD SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP

                                   Acqui Terme, Italy 6-19 November 2017

                                                    By Alan Goldsmith

The World Senior (50 years +) and Veterans' (65 years +) Chess Championships are growing in prominence every year. There are not only more players entering the events - there were over 300 players in the 2017 tournaments at Acqui Terme in Italy in November - but the quality and strength of play at the top is very impressive.

Among the Seniors for example were Julio Granda Zuniga, Alexander Khalifman, Gerard Welling and Hilton Bennett from NZ, while the Veterans had players like Evgeny Sveshnikov, Eugene Torre (the hero of the last Olympiad), Anatoly Vaisser (the winner in 2016) and James Tarjan who wreaked havoc at the Isle of Man this year, Craig Pritchett and Nigel Povah. Among the Women, a much smaller representation all up were Elvira Berend from Luxembourg and Nona Gaprindashvili from Russia, as well as Helen Milligan from New Zealand.

GM Nona Gaprindashvili| Photo: Helen Milligan

The players came from everywhere but mainly Italy, Russia, Germany and Norway and there were two from Australia, myself and Siong Teo Kok from Melbourne but playing under the Singapore flag. There was a good smattering of players from the USA, Brazil and Spain.

The Seniors' Open was won by GM Julio Granda Zuniga from Peru with 9.5/11. Many Adelaide players will remember him playing in the Adsteam-Lidums tournament in 1990. Equal 2nd were GM Rogelio Antonio from the Philippines and GM Eric Prie  (France) on 8.5.

The Seniors’ Women's was won by WGM Elvira Berend with 7/9, ahead of WGM Marina Makropoulos, Greece, and WGM Galina Strutinskaia and WGM Tatiana Bogumil from Russia.

The Veterans' Open was won by by the legendary theorist and player GM Evgeny Sveshnikov of Russia with 8.5 points, ahead of in equal second place, GM Anatoly Vaisser (FRA), GM Vlastimil Jansa (CZE), GM Vladimir Okhotnik (FRA), GM Lothar Vogt (GER), GM Yuri Balashov (RUS), GM Eugene Torre (PHI), IM Alexander Lisenko (RUS) and IM Jan Rooze (BEL) all on 8.

GM Eugenio Torre | Photo: Helen Milligan

The Veterans' Women Championship was won by WGM Tamar Khmiadashvili from Georgia, ahead of the former World Women’s Champion WGM Nona Gaprindashvili (GEO) on countback, and third was WGM Natalia Titorenko from Russia.

Speaking personally, I found the tournaments exhilarating and fun. And amazingly tough. Acqui Terme is a lovely little town about two hours from Milan by bus and all the competitors were required to stay at various hotels in the area, many of which provided full board, breakfast, lunch and dinner and most importantly wifi. The games started at 2:30 pm and were played at 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and then 30 minutes to finish the game, with a 30-second increment from the start. Most games finished around 6 pm but some were still going at 7 pm.


The games were played in a big hall and the conditions were good though there was some concern about the lighting. The camaraderie was particularly nice. There were no easy games but most players were keen to go over their games and there was often much hilarity in the analysis area.

GM Evgeny Sveshnikov | Photo: Helen Milligan

The highlight of my tournament was undoubtedly playing  GM Evgeny Sveshnikov and he was very impressive. I ended up with a score of 50% which for my rating was bad but I kept underestimating my opponents - just because they were in their 70s and 80s did not mean they couldn’t come up with some amazing ideas and tactics - these Russians and Norwegians, in particular, had a lifetime’s experience and they knew how to fight.

Here are just a few of my games and notes:

Alan Goldsmith vs Evgeny Sveshnikov 2017 World Veterans Rd 3 [ECO "B20"]

1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3 bxa3 4.Bxa3 d6 5.f4 Nf6 6.Nc3 e6 7.Nf3 Be7 8.e5 dxe5 9.fxe5 Nd5 10.Ne4 O-O 11.Bc4 Nc6 12.O-O b5 13.Bxe7 Ndxe7 14.Bd3 Nxe5 15.Nxe5 Qd4+ 16.Kh1 Qxe5 17.Qf3 Bd7 18.Qh3 f5 19.Ng5 h6 20.Rae1 Qd6 21.Nf3 Ng6 22.g4 Nf4 23.Qg3 fxg4 24.Ng1 e5 25.Be4 Rac8 26.h3 Qxd2 27.Rd1 Qb4 28.c4 Qxc4 29.Rxf4 exf4 0-1

DISASTER!!

Just before the 6th game, like 2 minutes before I sat down, I spoke to Roger my first round opponent and he said to me, I see you are playing the 83? or 87? year old Russian who beat me yesterday.

So when I sat down and faced my opponent, this was not some old whimpering dribbling character, he looked quite tough. And so he played the expected 1.Nf3 and I decided I would save the planned Dutch for another day and instead, enthused by the last win, I thought I will blow him away like the guy who won the Doeberl this year and instead tried 1… d5.

But the Russian played very quickly and we went into a reversed Grunfeld - but not quite - he had played d4 a move early … so I decided to baffle him with some junk by a rapid a5 and h5. Totally unfazed. And when he retreated his Bishop to d2 on move 12 I thought this is going well … and as soon as I made my 13th move I realised just how wrong that was. Wot a simple trick to miss. I should have swapped Queens on move 16 to ease the pain somewhat but it would still be horrible. But, I reasoned, surely I can trick this 80+ out of a win - but the horror got worse - my king trek to h8 was like crossing Siberia in winter, and although he did not find the quickest win - and there were many - there was no saving it.

I was very annoyed with myself - I had let myself down, my cats, even the dogs, and could do nothing but go on a tour of Torino the next day, and talk to no-one outside of the disaster zone. The tour though was very interesting, visiting a museum dedicated to the development of the cinema although I had known comedy and tragedy from the previous days.

FM Stanislav Zhelesny vs Alan Goldsmith Rd 7 [ECO "A08"]

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb3 a5 6.a4 Be6 7.Bg2 h5 8.h4 Nc6 9.Nc3 Nb4 10.O-O Nh6 11.Bg5 f6 12.Bd2 Ng4 13.Nb5 g5 14.Bxb4 Bxb4 15.Bxd5 Bxd5 16.Qxd5 Qb6 17.Rad1 Kf8 18.Qd7 Kg8 19.Nc7 Rf8 20.hxg5 Rh7 21.Qd5+ Kh8 22.Ne6 Re8 23.Nd8 Rhe7 24.c3 Bd6 25.Nf7+ Rxf7 26.Qxf7 Re7 27.Qxh5+ Rh7 28.Qxg4 Qc6 29.Qf3 1-0

I did have a couple of nice wins though, including the following:

Alan Goldsmith vs Jamie Anguera Maestro (ESP) Rd 5 [ECO "B00"]

And so, after many years, I finally got to play the Mouse Trap! A seemingly simple mistake in the opening that disguises a gambit, but his move 5… Nf6 stopped the trap and we were on our own. He castled into an attack and the finish was pretty. A corridor of death.

My last round game kind of took the edge off the tournament for me when my next board’s opponent coughed incessantly for 3 hours. By the end of the second hour I sac’ed a rook to try to finish my game quickly and when it obviously failed and an hour later somehow I had fought back to a draw, I simply threw that away with a stupid blunder once things had become quiet!

The closing ceremony was held on the final night and there was a musical duo that sang a few classics like ‘Somewhere over a Rainbow’ with little connection to chess and then the trophies and prizes were awarded. Many smiles all-round. The organisers did a great job, I thought, but the bus departing the next morning for the airport in Milan was shambolic with many of the streets of the town being shut off for a Sunday market, making it almost impossible to reach some of the hotels and the waiting passengers. I regret to say that some of the passengers turned ugly when the bus was trapped in the town for awhile but the driver responded by removing a few roadblocks and getting to the airport pronto!

I’d recommend anyone over 50 to think about making the trip next year when the tournaments will be held in Bled, Slovenia from the 17th - 30th November 2018. More info can be found at http://wscc2018.european-chessacademy.com. If a whole group went from Australia and New Zealand, I think it may be the highlight of the year for many. I certainly loved playing people from everywhere, I think I had 2 Russians, 3 Germans, an Austrian, a Norwegian, a Spaniard, 2 Englishmen and an Italian and made many wonderful friends.

The author on a post-tournament side trip Facebook

A FIDE commission for seniors by seniors

This initiative came to the fore during the tournament when a small group of players organised a late-night meeting after one of the rounds that was attended by about 50 players and a survey at the end of the tournament. A website has been set up - www.xdep.de/seniors [to be updated] and I urge you all to visit it. This particular commission, if it does get going, could be very powerful, and the organisers have already asked Anatoly Karpov and he has accepted the role as its first honorary chairperson.  

There is a realisation that for organisers the Seniors and Veterans sector is a great group to cater for. They sometimes have that rare commodity money, and generally are very experienced in the ways of the world and chess. It is also of great interest to the media, in a world where  many consider their lives almost finished by the age of 40(!) These sorts of tournaments show that there is no need to go senile if you keep your brain and body active and that there is enormous fun to be had by playing one of the world’s great games and sports.

AUSTRALIANS AT THE WORLD JUNIORS

                                                 By IA Jamie Kenmure

[The World Junior U20 Chess Championship was held in Tarvisio Italy among the mountains which divide Italy, Slovenia and Austria on 3-25 November. It was won by 18-year-old GM Aryan Tari giving Norway its second current world crown. The  World Junior Girls Championship was won by IM Abdumalik Zhansaya of Kazakhstan. The writer was an arbiter for the event.]

This year it was pleasing to see 2 representatives from Australia play in the event, Kevin and Rowan Willathgamuwa. With Kevin being seeded 135 out of 148 and Rowan 141 out of 148, both players performed well above their rating. Kevin played a very tough field consisting mainly of IM’s and Rowan had strong master strength players in his field.

Kevin in action against IM Sergei Lobanov of Russia I Photo Jamie Kenmure

Here is Kevin’s win against the strong Cuban IM Abel Fabian Lopez Gonzalez in round 3.

IM Lopez Gonzalez, Abel Fabian - CM Willathgamuwa, Kevin

1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 Nf6 3.e3 g6 4.Bxf6 exf6 5.d4 Bg7 6.g3 0–0 7.Bg2 f5 8.Ne2 Be6 9.c4 c6 10.Qd3 Na6 11.0–0 Nc5 12.Qc2 Ne4 13.cxd5 Bxd5 14.f3 Ng5 15.Nbc3 Re8 16.h4 Ne6 17.Rad1 Nc7 18.e4 Be6 19.e5 h5 20.f4 Qe7 21.Rd3 Red8 22.Rfd1 Qb4 23.Qd2 Rd7 24.Qc1 Rad8 25.a3 Qxb3 26.Ne4 Qb6 27.Nc5 Re7 28.Qc2 Nd5 29.Rb1 Qc7 30.Rxb7 Qa5 31.Kf2 Rde8 32.Nc1 Rxb7 33.Nxb7 Qc7 34.Nd6 Rb8 35.Nb3 Bf8 36.Qc5 Rd8 37.Na5 Bxd6 38.exd6 Rxd6 39.Rb3 Nb6 40.Re3 Nd7 41.Qc3 Nf6 42.Re2 Bd5 43.Rb2 Ng4+ 44.Kg1 Bxg2 45.Rb7 Qd8 46.Kxg2 Rxd4 47.Rb8 Qxb8 48.Qxd4 Qb5 49.Nc4 Qxc4 0–1

Rowan playing against South African CM Roland Bezuidenhout I Photo: Jamie Kenmure

Rowan had a tough start to the tournament but bounced back with a win against Martin Schweighoffer in round 3. His brilliant play in Round 10 against Filip Pavic of Croatia is given below.

CM Willathgamuwa, Rowan - Pavic, Filip

1.Nf3 c5 2.g3 Nc6 3.c4 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nc3 d6 6.0–0 Bf5 7.d3 Qd7 8.Re1 h5 9.a3 Bh3 10.Bh1 h4 11.Rb1 hxg3 12.fxg3 Bg4 13.Nd5 Nf6 14.Ne3 Bh3 15.b4 Ng4 16.Nd5 Rc8 17.e3 b6 18.d4 cxb4 19.axb4 Nf6 20.Ng5 Bg4 21.Qa4 Rh5 22.h4 Ne5 23.Qxd7+ Nexd7 24.Ra1 Nxd5 25.cxd5 Rc7 26.Rf1 Bf6 27.Ne4 Bf5 28.Rf2 Bg7 29.Rfa2 Bh6 30.Kf2 a5 31.bxa5 bxa5 32.Bd2 Bg4 33.Rxa5 f5 34.Ra8+ Kf7 35.Nc3 g5 36.hxg5 Rh2+ 37.Kg1 Rxd2 38.gxh6 Kg6 39.Nb5 Rcc2 40.R8a7 Nf6 41.Rxe7 Nh7 42.Rxh7 Kxh7 43.Nxd6 Kxh6 44.Nf7+ Kg7 45.Ne5 Bh3 46.d6 Kf6 47.d7 Ke7 48.Bc6 Rxc6 49.Nxc6+ Kxd7 50.Ne5+ Kc7= 51.Ra7+ Kb8 52.Nc6+ Kc8 53.d5 Rg2+ 54.Kh1 Rxg3 55.Kh2 Rxe3 56.d6 f4 57.Rc7# 1–0

Overall, a good tournament for the Australian team and rating points are gained for both players. I hope to see more Australian players participating in World Juniors and the next World Junior is Turkey next year.

   WORLD RAPID & BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIPS

FIDE, Athens, Greece, November 25, 2017 — Magnus Carlsen (Norway), the highest-rated chess player in the world and World Champion in classical chess, will take part in the King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships that takes place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between 26th and 30th December 2017. The incumbent World Rapid and Blitz Champions — Sergey Karjakin (Russia) and Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), along with over 180 top grandmasters have confirmed their participation, making the King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships the strongest open events of the year.

Notable entries include World ranked no.2 Levon Aronian of Armenia and world no.3 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, former World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India and a record-breaking level of grandmasters from over 40 countries.

The four events offer a record total prize fund of US$2,000,000 with the Open events having individual prize funds of US$750,000 each and the women event having a prize fund of US$ 250,000 each. 30 prizes shall be offered in each event.

All players rated at least 2600 for the Open and 2300 for the Women, in any of the FIDE rating lists (Standard, Blitz or Rapid) from September 2017 to October 2017 are eligible to register to play.

FIDE has already announced that female participants will not have to wear hijab or abaya during the games, a first for any sporting event in Saudi Arabia.

[Talk of boycotting on account of the host country’s record on human rights seems not to have fazed many in the light of the magnitude of the prize fund.]

            VICTORIAN CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYOFF

Played over 9 Sundays commencing 18 June at the Box Hill Chess Club at Ashwood with 24 players, the Victorian Championships resulted in a tie on 27 August between IM Igor Goldenberg and FM Christopher Wallis on 7.5/9 followed by 4 players 2 points behind on 5.5: FM Luis Chan, Carl Gorka, CM Tony Davis and FM Domagoj Dragicevic.

The 2 game playoff was finally played over 17 November (draw) and 24 November at the same venue when Goldenberg finally prevailed with the Black pieces to become the Victorian champion for the fifth time.

Commencing the second game: FM Chris Wallis v. IM Igor Goldenberg as Black Facebook

    QUEENSLAND VETERANS CHAMPIONSHIP

          St Joseph’s Primary School, Phillips Street, Bracken Ridge, Queensland

                                                   18-19 November 2017

Queensland Veterans Championship 2017

Left to Right, Back Row: Phil Mulholland (=10th, 2.5/6) Bruce Holliday (4th,4/6) Keith Macleod (=10th, 2.5/6) Martin Carter (=10th, 2.5/6) Tony Weller (=2nd, 4.5/6) Adrian Scholtes (18th, 1/6) John Myers (=8th, 3/6) Allan Fossey (=2nd, 4.5/6) Aurel-John Buciu (=10th, 2.5/6)

Left to Right, Front Row: Sheridan Wallace (=10th, 2.5/6) Don Hamilton (=5th, 3.5/6) Mark Pendrith (17th, 1.5/6) Tony Dowden (1st, 5/6) Mark C Stokes (=10th, 2.5/6) David Lovejoy (=5th, 3.5/6) Chris Belton (=8th, 3/6) Mark Craven (=5th, 3.5/6)  

Photographer (not in the photo!) & author of the above caption: Ron Kuypers (=10th, 2.5/6). It's said to be the strongest Queensland Veterans Championship. A historic photograph for the ages.
 

Played over 6 rounds at St Joseph’s Primary School with 18 competitors, final scores were:

1st: Tony Dowden 5/6
2nd: Allan Fossey and Tony Weller 4.5/6
4th: Bruce Holliday 4/6
5th: David Lovejoy, Don Hamilton and Mark Craven 3.5/6
8th: John Myers and Chris Belton 3/6
10th: Mark C Stokes, Keith Macleod, Martin Carter, Sheridan Wallace, CM Aurel-John Buciu, Ron Kuypers and Phil Mulholland all on 2.5/6
17th: Mark Pendrith 1.5/6
18th: Adrian Scholtes 1

The outright winner Tony Dowden went through the event undefeated with 4 wins and 2 draws. He defeated Mark C Stokes, Tony Weller, John Myers, Chris Belton and drew with Bruce Holliday and Allan Fossey. Second place getter Allan Fossey was also undefeated with 3 wins and 3 draws and David Lovejoy had 5 draws and 1 win in his 6 games!

Tony Dowden being presented with the Trophy and winner's cheque by CAQ President Mark Stokes on Sunday afternoon 19 November Facebook

Dowden, Tony (2028)  vs. Myers, John (1989)
Queensland Veterans Championship 2017 Round 3, 18 Nov 2017

Notes by Tony Dowden

My game against former Champion John Myers where I sacrificed a piece for a dangerous attack.

1.Nf3 d6 2.g3 e5 3.c4 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.Bg2 Ne7

This slightly odd-looking move provides less cover to a short-castled king and provides the creative spark for White’s ensuing moves.

6.d3!? 0-0 7.h4 h6?!

Blocking with 7…h5 was necessary.

8.h5 g5 9.Nxg5! hxg5 10.Bxg5 f6 11.h6! fxg5 12.hxg7 Kxg7

Black was very reluctant to capture the pawn but alternatives are worse.

13.Qd2

White had assessed this position as offering ample compensation for the sacrificed material and this proves to be correct.

13… Ng6

13…Nf5 might have been slightly better as it defends the h6 square but Black’s defence remains very difficult.

14.Ne4 Nd7 15.0-0-0 Nf6 16.Nxg5 Bd7

White has an overwhelming attack. His next move was based on a miscalculation but it turns out well.

17.Nh7 Ng4?

With only three minutes left on the clock, Black blunders. Better is 17…Nxh7 18.Qh6+ Kf6 but as long as White avoids 19.Qxh7? Rh8! (the move White saw too late) Stockfish says he remains in the driver's seat after moves like 19.f4 or 19.Be4

18.f3!

Now Black is completely lost.

18…Rh8 19.fxg4 Rxh7 20.Rxh7+ Kxh7 21.Rh1+ Kg7 22.Qh6+ Kf6 1-0 (time)

.


 

         DOUG CAREY CHALLENGE

                                                        By Greg Wilson

For those of you reading this article, we at the Newcastle District Chess Association have a somewhat unusual chess club. The club has been and is also currently home to some renegade chess mavericks who have had a long history of playing chess variants in their chequered careers.

Doug Carey, the wise old sage and doyen of Novocastrian chess, now a nonagenarian, has been at the forefront of chess variant participation. Doug has often reminded me about his misguided youth at university when he was a young punter, studying not in the quiet confines of the university library to achieve academic excellence, but at the racetrack, billiard halls and smoke filled chess premises! Does this ring a bell with chess players? Doug is on record as NOT being a very good chess player in his early years but as a very good Kriegspieler! Yes .. Doug is a true Chess Varianteer!

It was decided in 2014 to acknowledge Doug's contribution to Novocastrian Chess by holding a tournament that was a little bit different at the club. As Doug loves his chess variants, as well as "his" English Opening (1.c4), we decided to inaugurate the Doug Carey Challenge. This competition is centred around the English Opening and Team/Tandem chess. When Doug started flirting with The English, it came under the heading of Irregular Openings! Doug eventually fell in love with the English and has played it exclusively at the board for seventy years or more.

So what exactly is Team Chess/Tandem Chess you may well ask? Teams consist of two players. Just like in normal turn-based chess, the players move alternately. Player one for White moves first, then the first player of the Black pieces moves, then player two for White, and finally player two for the Black pieces. However, this is not all beer and skittles!

The twist is that the players on each team cannot collude. In other words, you can't talk to your partner about what you want to do on the board! No tactics or strategy can be discussed. Players not only have to work out what their opponents are doing, but what their partner is thinking as well. This makes for some extremely interesting chess, especially when a team has two players with contrasting styles.

Think about this for a minute. A conservative strategist is coupled with an aggressive gambiteer. Yes, very interesting chess indeed and mistakes aplenty. Well-intentioned and thought out plans evaporate with your partner's move, let alone your opponent's' reply! Many a cry of despair resonates during the competition accompanied by the mandatory and forlorn downward tilt of the head as dreams are shattered.

This year's Challenge had 12 teams, making a total of 24 players competing. The format was a 5 Round Swiss with a 1 Hour a 10 seconds Fischer time control. The winning team was Brett Saunders and Phil Tan with a score of 4.5 from 5.

To add interest to the Doug Carey Challenge, IM Gary Lane judged a Best Game Prize worth $50 for the competition. Two games stood out. Both are given below. However, it was the team of Brett Saunders & Phil Tan that won Gary's vote as the winning entry. Doug Carey & Bela Nemeth received a Special Mention for their efforts at the board. I hope that you take the time to play through these games .. and yes there are mistakes! Team Chess invariably has a lot more indiscretions than normal chess.

IM Gary Lane comments: Brett Saunders & Phil Tan played a polished game, gaining an advantage and then driving forward. A big special mention for Doug's game with the pretty checkmate but it can be easily avoided.

Winning Team: Brett Saunders & Phil Tan
John Marsden & Dave Fitzgibbon - Brett Saunders & Phil Tan [B36]
2017 Doug Carey Challenge (5.1), 24.10.2017

1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e4 g6 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Nxd4 7.Qxd4 d6 8.Be2 Bg7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Bg5 Be6 11.Qd2 Rc8 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.Nd5 Bg7 14.Rac1 Qd7 15.b3 Rfe8 16.Nf4 Bh6 17.Qe3 Bg4 18.f3 Be6 19.g3 Bh3 20.Rfd1 e5 21.Qd3 exf4 22.g4 Red8 23.Rc2 Qc6 24.Qd5 Qc5+ 25.Qd4 Bg7 26.Qxc5 dxc5 27.Rcd2 Rxd2 28.Rxd2 Bd4+ 29.Kh1 Re8 0-1

Special Mention: Doug Carey & Bela Nemeth
Steve Kucera & Mic Cvetanovski - Doug Carey & Bela Nemeth [A22]
2017 Doug Carey Challenge (5.2), 24.10.2017

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bg2 Nb6 6.Nf3 N8d7 7.0-0 Be7 8.b3 0-0 9.Bb2 c6 10.Rb1 Re8 11.Ne4 f5 12.Nc3 Bf6 13.e4 Nc5 14.exf5 Bxf5 15.Ra1 e4 16.Ne1 Nd3 17.Nxd3 exd3 18.Rc1 Kh8 19.h4 Qd7 20.Ba3 Bh3 21.Re1 Bxg2 22.Kxg2 Rxe1 23.Qxe1 Re8 24.Qd1 Nd5 25.Nxd5 Qxd5+ 26.Qf3 Qxf3+ 27.Kxf3 Re2 28.Rd1 Bd4 29.Bd6 Rxf2+ 30.Ke4 Bf6 31.Kxd3 Kg8 32.Re1 Rf5 33.Kc4 Kf7 34.g4 Rd5 35.Bc5 a5 36.g5 b5# 0-1

JEROME PIROTAIS WINS LAUNCESTON CUP

                                               By  Denis McMahon

The 2017 Launceston Cup 18-19 November has been won by Jerome Pirotais on 6.5/7, with Tasmanian Chess Association President Denis McMahon and Niruruthi Ravichandran tied for second on 5.

Winner Jerome Pirotais holds yellow envelope obviously heavy laden. Photo: Lulubell Beeton

The tournament was once again held in the peaceful and beautiful surrounds of the Swinging Gate vineyards in Sidmouth with a field of 17 players. Jerome overcame Denis in Round 4 and second seed Ian Rout in Round 5 before drawing with Niruruthi in Round 6 to set up the win. Dennis managed a win with the black pieces against Ian Rout in the last round to share second place with Niruthi.

The Cox family were amazing hosts. The views were great, the chess was fun and the food was excellent.

My father’s house has many rooms (evidenced by the decorative doors). Photo: Lulubell Beeton

In the social blitz event on Saturday night, Ian Little managed a win over Niruruthi in the last round to allow Denis a narrow win with 8/10  with Niruruthi second on 7.5 and Aidan Cox third on 7.

                 LUWANNA BEETON
 

Photo: Lulubell Beeton

Luwanna Beeton has received the 2017 Glen Gibbs Award which honours the memory of Glen Gibbs, a Tasmanian chess stalwart and champion of junior chess. Luwanna was the top-placed female player at this year's Tasmanian schools finals and has participated in more than twelve tournaments this year as a valued junior member of the Launceston club.

She was the unanimous choice of the selection panel and will use her $220 prize to support her participation in the upcoming U10 section of the Australian Junior Championships in Melbourne. -D.McM.

   VICTORIAN JUNIORS ON THE RISE

                          By Chess Victoria President IM Leonid Sandler

There are always many chess players, parents, coaches and organisers around the country asking us:  What is the secret of the strength of Victorian juniors?

It is not easy to give one simple answer.

Perhaps the keyword which comes to mind is competition!

From an early age, our juniors have many opportunities to play chess against adults and fellow juniors.

If you are a real chess aficionado, you can even play chess seven days a week in a club environment.

And of course, the Victorian Interschool Championship events are getting bigger and bigger every year.

In 2017 about 6000 players participated in the official Chess Victoria Inter-School Championship competition.

We are very proud of the high number of girls getting involved and participating in our events. Generally, 30% of school competition players are girls. The Victorian Girl School's Final saw 236 girls (168 in the Primary division and 68 in the Secondary division)! This is an Australian record!

In a couple of days, four Victorian teams will play in the Australian Schools Teams Championships being held in Sydney.

Last year in Perth, Victorian teams won 3 national titles out of 4. Can we achieve the "Holy Grail" this year and win all 4 categories?

We certainly hope so…

CHILDREN’S TOURNAMENT IN BUNDABERG

By Allan Menham

Chess in the schools is thriving in Bundaberg. This tournament was held at the Avoca State School in Bundaberg on Tuesday 31 October. Last year over 160 children competed.

The entrance fee was $8 per student. The club makes no profit from the event as all money (less expenses) is returned to the children as prizes This year cash and medallions were presented to the children and it came to just over $1500 in total! 43 primary students won cash and 13 secondary students won cash.

Many of the children were competing in their first chess tournament.

The event was a seven round swiss played in two sections, Secondary and Primary. There is a perpetual trophy for Secondary and a perpetual trophy for Primary.

Bundaberg High School won the Secondary teams' event and Norville School won the Primary teams' event.

Secondary school winners: Andrew Olley,  Reece Buckholz,  Joshua Howard, Brenton McHale with Bundaberg Chess Club President Martin Carter

62 Secondary players and 131 Primary players competed this year, the best attendance ever.

9 schools were represented in the Secondary section and 12 schools were represented in the Primary section. Schools outside of Bundaberg represented were from Hervey Bay, Maryborough and Gladstone.
 

Primary School winners: Jaden Cordinley-Holziemer, Cooper Stevens, Jake Irvine, Charlie Batterham with Director of Play Allan Menham and  Bundaberg Club President Martin Carter

Some schools entered more than one team. One individual competitor came from as far away as Mackay to play. One homeschooled student also competed.

It is hoped to have another big children's tournament in Bundaberg on the last Tuesday in October 2018.

                       RECENT TOURNAMENTS

OVERSEAS

6-19 Nov World Senior Championship Acqui Terme, Italy

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

16-27 Nov Grand Prix 2017 Palma de Mallorca, Spain

AUSTRALIA

3-7 Nov Hjorth Open Weekender Fitzroy Vic

There were 92 starters won in an overwhelming manner by GM Max Illingworth.

1st - GM Max Illingworth (8.5/9)
=2nd - IM James Morris, Thai Ly, Ethan Goh (7/9)
=5th -IM Stephen Solomon, IM Trevor Tao, WGM Julia Ryjanova, Thu Giang Nguyen, Marcus Raine (6.5/9)

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. f4 Nf6 7. Nf3 O-O 8. O-O Nd4 9. h3 Nxf3+ 10. Qxf3 Bd7 11. e5 Bc6

12. exf6 Bxf3 13. fxg7 Kxg7 14. Bxf3 Rb8 15. b3 f6 16. Bb2 b5 17. g4 c4 18. Nd5 Kg8 19. f5 gxf5 20. gxf5 Kh8 21. Rae1 Rb7 22. Kh2 Rd7 23. Re2 Rf7 24. Rfe1 h6 25. Nxf6 exf6 26. Re8+ Qxe8 27. Rxe8+ Kg7 28. Bd5 Rfe7 29. Rg8+ Kh7 30. Bxf6 Re2+ 31. Kg3 Re3+ 32. Kf4 1-0

11-12 Nov Vikings Weekender Wanniassa ACT

Shaun Press writes: ”GM Anton Smirnov has won the 2017 Vikings Weekender with a perfect 6/6. He had to face IM Andrew Brown in the first round of the day, and then 3rd seed Fred Litchfield. Winning both those games he then beat Tim Pearce in the final round to finish the event on 100%".

"IM Andrew Brown recovered from his loss to Smirnov to win his two remaining games to finish second on 5/6. However, he was once again fortunate to survive some difficult positions, being in a lost position against Donato Mallari with seconds left on his clock, only to see Mallari overstep the time limit. Mallari at least had the consolation of finishing in equal third, along with Dillon Hathiramani and Angelito Camer."

"Amol Kiran finished first in the Minor event on 5.5/6. Kiran (who finished equal first last year) drew with Athena Hatirmani in the final round to finish a point clear of Hathiramani and Lachlan Ho”.

9, 16 & 23 Nov South Australian Seniors Championship Adelaide SA

Michael Hoff is the new South Australian Seniors Champion.

1 Michael Hoff 5/6, 2 Robert Cowley & Pavel Turcaj 4.5, 4 Tom O’Loughlin & Richard Thorne. There were 13 players.

18-19 Nov The Launceston Cup Sidmouth Tas

See separate report.

18-19 Nov Queensland Veterans Championships Bracken Ridge Qld

See separate report.

18-19 Nov Christmas Open Leeming WA

Andrew Hardegen writes: “The 2017 Christmas Open was played at the Southern Suburbs Chess Club with 23 starters... Thanks to Gordon Dunlop for running an excellent tournament. Accelerated pairings were used, resulting in several mismatches on the top boards, particularly in Rounds 3 and 4, and also in strong-performing bottom-half players facing a larger number of bottom-half opponents than usual. On the other hand, some players were happy with the outcome and claimed to have been paired with more opponents of around their own strength than they would normally in an ordinary Swiss”. [For a discussion on accelerated pairings, see here].

1st: FM Tristan Boyd (5.5/6)

2nd: FM Patrick Gong (5.0/6)

=3rd: Ihsan Ferozkohi & CM Adam Kelly (4.5/6)

21 Nov Big Board Match St George CC v. Norths CC, Cammeray NSW

This annual social encounter between the two largest chess clubs in Sydney is so designated for want of any other meaningful sobriquet by virtue of the shock and awe the utterance of its names alone elicit. Because a home and an away match are played on two separate evenings, it is said to have two legs. So we have a creature of the imagination, lacking in any other substantial physical property apart from its bipedalism. Contrast the famous annual Ballarat-Bendigo meets in Victoria which modestly eschews any epithet even vaguely adverting to magnitude.

Anyhow, the 2nd leg of the Norths vs St George Big Board team match at Norths was tense, as with 2 GMs on its top boards, it appeared momentarily that Norths might be able to overcome the 19 point deficit from the first leg, succumbing gradually to reality when a 32.5 to 17.5 victory to Norths in the 2nd leg was just not quite good enough, with St George winning the overall 2017 Big Board team match by a 4 point margin (48.5 to 44.5) thus reclaiming the John Kellner/Terrey Shaw Trophy after 3 years in the waiting.

The results of the first 10 boards in the 2nd leg are shown below (where Norths was White on even numbered boards). Admittedly, it is metaphysically anomalous that the singularly named Big Board Match should itself be subject to dissection into a plurality of boards.

1 Illingworth, Max          2586   1-0      Dwyer, Danny                2369
2Smirnov, Anton           2529   1-0      Reilly, Tim                       2348
3Clarke, Brandon G I    2358   1-0     Chen, Pengyu                 2339
4Stephens, Malcolm     2339 0.5-0.5  O'Chee, Kevin                2265
5Morris, Michael           2242 0.5-0.5  Huynh, Arthur                 2147
6Hu, Jason                   2220     1-0    Rose, Adrian P               2118
7Feldman, Vladimir       2182     1-0    Shi, Eric                         2018
8Banerjee, Niki             2161  0.5-0.5  Plaza-Quinteros, F.       1993
9Mallari, Donato           2055  0.5-0.5  Zworestine, Charles      1978
10Murray, Bruce D        2051  0.5-0.5  Yang, Steven                1953

These were the results of the first 10 boards of the first leg played on 16 May.

1 Illingworth, Max           2576 0.5-0.5    Jones, Richard S         2420
2Stephens, Malcolm      2326 0.5-0.5     Chen, Pengyu             2405
3 Charles, Gareth           2177 0.5-0.5    Reilly, Tim                    2356
4 Mallari, Donato            2120    0-1       Dwyer, Danny              2331
5Dekic, Biljana N           2075     0-1       Liu, Yi                           2329
6Banerjee, Niki              2059    1-0        O'Chee, Kevin             2254
7Murray, Bruce D           2027  0.5-0.5   King, Eli                        2116
8Wan, Kinto                   1945    0-1        Rose, Adrian P            2107
9Ball, Christopher          1905    0-1        Plant, John Stuart        2056
10 Lay, Peter D              1855    0-1        Huynh, Arthur              2049

22 Nov NSW Annual Bench & Bar v. Solicitors Match Sydney, NSW

Led by FM Malcolm Stephens a partner in the law firm of Allens and captained by Chris Dimock, the Solicitors won the match and the Terrey Shaw Memorial Shield 9.5 to 7.5 against the bench and bar led by FM Tim Reilly and captained by Ken Pryde in the 28th floor Sydney boardrooms of Allens. IA Morris Needleman served as DOP for the 25th consecutive year.

Photo: Morris Needleman

25 Nov MCC Allegro Championship Fitzroy Vic

Hoai Nam Nguyen won this large 66 player event with 8 ahead of FM Michael Baron, WGM Iulia Ryjanova and Colin Savige all on 7.

28 Nov Lidums November Allegro Adelaide SA
This was won by Punala Kiripitige on 5/5, Alistair Cameron on 4, Kyle Leaver, Eric Menzies & Dino Cinco all on 3,  21 competitors.
 

                  COMING EVENTS

OVERSEAS

23-30 Nov Asian Amateur Championship Chiang Mai, Thailand

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

1-11 Dec 9th London Chess Classic London, UK

10-20 Dec World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad Ahmedabad, India

26-30 Dec King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

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

12-28 Jan 80th Tata Chess Tournament Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands

24-28 Jan China Youth International Open Tournament Harbin, China

AUSTRALIA

2-8 Dec Young Masters 2017 Adelaide SA

3 Dec  NSW Blitz Championship West Ryde NSW

9-17 Dec Australasian Masters Fitzroy Vic

10 Dec Queensland Blitz Championships Inala Qld

16 Dec Queensland Teams Championships Helensvale Qld

16 Dec ACT Rapid Championships Civic ACT

17 Dec Christmas Lightning Leeming WA

18 Dec Victorian Blitz Championship Fitzroy Vic

26 Dec Lidums Australian Allegro Glenelg North SA

2-12 Jan Australian Championships Cammeray NSW A gathering of the tribe 

13-21 Jan Australian Junior Championships Hawthorn Vic

25-28  Jan ACF Grand Prix Class 5 FIDE Open Nerang Qld A new tournament!

30 Jan ACT Lightning Championships Belconnen ACT [subject to confirmation]

10-12 Mar Begonia Open  Ballarat Vic Early entries GM Max Illingworth, GM Anton Smirnov and GM Darryl Johansen

29 Mar-2 Apr O2C Doeberl Cup Canberra, ACT

Three Ways to Set Your Opponent Problems
               
                                              By GM Max Illingworth

1. Throw your h-pawn down the board, to create chances to attack their king.

Caruana,Fabiano (2804) - Vachier Lagrave,Maxime (2789) [A00]

Paris GCT blitz Paris (4), 11.06.2016

[https://lichess.org/@/Craze]

0–1

In this position, MVL played 7...h5!?, throwing the h-pawn down the board to start a kingside attack. This is often challenging even for the world's best players to handle, and in the game Black was soon better: 8.h3?! h4 9.g4 f5 10.d4?! exd4 11.exd4 fxg4 and Black was up a pawn, winning the game after later castling queenside.

2. Exchange pieces when you are coming under attack (particularly the queens).

Houdini 6.03 64–bit 8CPU - Stockfish 181117 64–bit 8CPU [A12]

Houdini 8CPU v Stockfish 8CPU ChessGUI2 (2.2), 24.11.2017

[NA RC]

½–½

In this case, White is trying to set up attacking chances against the Black king. We can nullify White's initiative by meeting a threat with a threat: 32...Qd8! and White could not find better than 33.Qxd8 Rfxd8, leaving Black a pawn up in the endgame (if 34.Bxf7 Bxf5).

3. Sacrifice material for a strong attack.

Benjamin,Joel (2595) - Zimmer,Ralph (2225) [B22]

USA-chT Amateur East Parsippany (2), 1998

1–0

We can't always just bring our pieces to their king and mate them - we have to either establish an attacking advantage (more attackers than defenders), attack their weaknesses, or gain a space advantage to stop their defenders coming to the king's aid. All three factors are covered by White's move: 16.Bxh6! and Black already had to accept the loss of a pawn, as 16...gxh6 17.Qxh6 Nf6 18.Re3! spells the end for Black, with Ne5 and Rg3 to follow.

Thanks for taking the time to read my article! If you liked this, you can find similar content at my Chess Learning website,
https://www.patreon.com/ChessLearning - taking the struggle out of chess improvement.

PUBLICATION

 

DISMANTLING THE SICILIAN

My first full book Dismantling the Sicilian (update of De La Villa's 2009 work) has now been published.You can purchase it and view sample pages here. I welcome all feedback on the book, particularly with regard to what you found most useful, and where I could have been clearer or more precise. - GM Max Illingworth

Opening theoretician GM Max Illingworth shares his secrets in his new book (co-authored with GM Jesus De La Villa), using the following structure:

• Complete games, to quickly understand the ideas of each variation (for players new to the variation)
• Theoretical overview, detailing what players need to remember and understand (for amateur players)
• Extra theoretical details in the complete games (for professional or correspondence players).

RETROSPECT

Australian rookie now king of the chess world

Sydney Morning Herald

Dylan Welch and Jonathan Dart

February 1, 2008

A 21-YEAR-OLD pharmacy student from Sydney has become the nation's third chess grandmaster at a record young age.

The part-time chess player Zong-Yuan Zhao - now the highest rated Australian player after the nation's first grandmaster, Ian Rogers, retired last year - completed the requirements to become a grandmaster in two months, a process that normally takes several years.

Wikipedia

Achieving the top title in international chess by 21 has never been achieved in Australia. Mr Zhao, speaking from his hotel room in Gibraltar, yesterday told the Herald of his nervous last moment as he defeated the French International master Gildas [Goldsztejn] in the Gibraltar Chess Festival.

"I felt like yesterday was such a big game," he said. "Everything that I had done in my entire life in chess in some ways hung on one moment in the game yesterday. I did believe in myself that it was going to happen because I had been through so much. I had some chances when I was even younger, but I could never quite do it and then yesterday it finally happened."

To qualify as an international grandmaster a player must, among other things, achieve a World Chess Federation rating of 2500 points.

Ian Rogers was in the crowd as Mr Zhao took his last steps towards achieving his grandmaster status.

"The game actually looked headed for a draw, which meant he would have had to win again today to secure the grandmaster title," Mr Rogers said. "The closer you get to it, the more you realise that one bad move means you don't become a grandmaster.

"At a critical moment, his opponent made a shocking error. It was quite funny because he was so nervous he couldn't pick up the piece to capture the piece his opponent had given him.

"His hand was hovering over the piece and his opponent suddenly realised what he had done and resigned immediately."

The Australian chess commentator and writer Jonathan Paxman said it was a huge achievement. "It's certainly the most impressive chess performance by an Australian in many, many years".

"We haven't seen anything like Zhao in decades," he said. "A lot of players take years to complete all of these performances [to become a grandmaster] and he's done it in two months. It's incredibly impressive."

Dr Paxman said Mr Zhao is now expected to take "first board", or team leader, of the Australian team at the Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany, this year - one of the most important tournaments in the world.

Mr Zhao first broke into the international chess scene when he became Australia's youngest international master at 14.

POLITICS

             GM SERGEY KARJAKIN

Sergey Karjakin @SergeyKaryakin 13 November on Twitter: Всегда открыто поддерживал Владимира Путина, но теперь, наконец, могу сделать это официально. Putin team. Я в команде!

“Always openly supported Vladimir Putin, but now, finally, I can do this officially. Putin team. I'm in the team! “

GM Karjakin is Ukrainian born in the Crimea but has always been proud of his Russian heritage. It is not clear what role the 27-year-old plays in the Putin team as the latter faces re-election.

Twitter 15 November

A cabin like that of Peter the Great?

GALLERY

            Sofonisba Anguissola

Born c. 1532 in Cremona and dying November 1625 in Palermo, this late Renaissance painter is known for her portraiture. Here is one of her sisters Lucia, Minerva, and Europa playing chess. The board has correctly positioned light and dark squares but I fret about the identity of the piece on h1 because of the apparent pawn on g2.

         Problem of the Month – No.21

                                           Selected by Peter Wong

Michel Caillaud

Probleemblad 2000

Position after White’s 7th move

Reconstruct the game

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

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Western Australia Travel tip

Metropolitan Nedlands Thursday nights: about 10 minutes drive west of CBD 

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                AUSTRALIAN CHESS FEDERATION

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Gary Wastell gwastell@netspace.net.au

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                          Solution to Problem of the Month – No.21

1.Nc3 Nh6 2.Nd5 Nf5 3.Nxe7 Nd4 4.Ng8 Ba3 5.bxa3 Nb3 6.Bb2 Nc1 7.Qxc1