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Newsletter  18/3
31 March 2018

Editor: Frank Low

newsletter_editor@auschess.org.au

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Contributions are most welcome. Next issue is 30 April 2018.

When you smile, the whole world smiles with you. As he pockets the 95,000 euro first prize, well might we smile with 25-year-old American Fabiano Caruana who now faces 27-year-old World Champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway in London 9-28 November after winning the Candidates Tournament on Wednesday. He did so by finishing a whole point clear of runner-up Mamedyarov Shakhriyar of Azerbaijan and having stylishly won his last 2 games when he could have eased off.

From the 6/9 points score of London to the forgettable 5/13 of Wijk Aan See, he has turned and risen to the very heights of the heavens to challenge for the title, ousting the sentimental favourite Levon Aronian ten years his senior who must now realize that his once thought rightful place in the chess firmament will never come (he finished last).

No Russian contender, no one not in his twenties, we have clearly reached a historic watershed the full implications of which are not yet revealed to us.

                  ACF NOTICES

FIDE Chess Olympiad
Batumi, Georgia
23 September to 7 October 2018

OLYMPIAD APPLICATION DEADLINES

PLAYERS

Applications for selection as playing members of the Australian open and women’s teams must be sent to be received on or before Monday 2 April.

Player applications must be emailed to:

ACF Selections Director, Mr Tom Saltmarsh: catowi@internode.on.net with cc to president@auschess.org.au

Please call 0499 996 559 if an application is not acknowledged within two days.

Player applicants may also apply for other Olympiad positions but will become ineligible if selected as a player.
 

RELATED OLYMPIAD APPOINTMENTS

Applications for appointment to the following non-playing positions must be sent to be received on or before Thursday 12 April.

Applications for each position should be emailed separately to

ACF Secretary, Mr Rob Watson: secretary@auschess.org.au with cc to president@auschess.org.au

Please phone 0409 525 963 or (03) 9787 7974 if an application is not acknowledged within two days.

Non-playing Captains – Open Team and Women’s Team

Captains receive travel subsidies from the ACF's Olympiad Appeal and are normally provided with full board by the host organisation.

Teams Coach

Applications are also invited for the position of Teams Coach, whose appointment will involve coaching assistance to members of both teams, in consultation with team captains.

Coaches are not normally provided with full board by the host organisation.

Chief of Delegation

Responsibilities include administrative supervision of the team and overseeing the registration of Australian team members and officials.

It is expected that Olympiad organisers will again provide complimentary accommodation for Chiefs of Delegations.

ALL APPLICATIONS

Applications for the above positions are generally subject to related ACF by-laws and requirements of the ACF Council. Additional information is in the ACF Newsletter distributed 28 February 2018.

FORTHCOMING AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Applications are invited from affiliated Associations, clubs and other organisations interested in presenting the following Australian Championships.

Interest in presenting one or more of these events on behalf of the Federation may be registered by contacting the State Association of the State in which the event would be held.

Decisions based on applications received on or before Thursday 12 April 2018 are likely to be made at the ACF April Council meeting.

2018 Australian Schools Teams Championships
This event comprises the following separate teams championships:
– Australian Primary Schools Teams Championship 2018
–Australian Primary Schools Girls Teams Championship 2018
– Australian Secondary Schools Teams Championship 2018
– Australian Secondary Schools Girls Teams Championships 2018
These four tournaments are normally held simultaneously on a two-day weekend in early December.
Each tournament is a round-robin contest, limited to teams that have qualified via State schools teams championships and/or have been nominated by the relevant State chess association.

2019 Australian Open Championship & Associated Events
The biennial FIDE-rated Australian Open is normally an 11-round swiss, conducted during the first half of January.

Subject to the submission of proposed arrangements acceptable to the ACF Council, a guarantee against loss of up to $5000 would be provided to the organisers through the relevant State association.

2019 Australian Junior & Girls Championships & Associated Events
In recent years, these championships have spanned nine days in mid-January, normally commencing one or two days after the Australian Open, but not necessarily at the same venue or location.

Separate swiss tournaments have awarded Australian under-age national titles to players in open and girls-only classical-rate tournaments for even-numbered age groups from under-8 to under-18. Additional events have included one-day blitz and problem-solving tournaments. The older age-group tournaments are normally FIDE-rated.

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>

STUART JAMES HENRI
3 June 1953 - 4 March 2018
 

Photo: Linkedin

Four-time Tasmanian Champion and Correspondence IM James Henri passed away after a family decision to turn off his life-support systems. He was Tasmania's strongest OTB player in the mid-late 70s but concentrated on CC from the 80’s onwards.

Educated at Taroona Primary School and The Hutchins School in Hobart, he was Professor and Chair at Web Education Foundation, Hong Kong, and formerly an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong.

He had moved to the School of Librarianship in Wagga in the early-80s and then to Hong Kong setting up teacher librarian training there and in mainland China in recent years.

Professor Henri was a giant in the teacher librarian world - see tribute by colleague Dianne MacKenzie, who said of him that he “was a gifted man in the field of not only school librarianship, but in negotiation, persuasion, future vision and for not only taking bold and calculated risks, but also encouraging others to do so. He was an outlier according to Malcolm Gladwell's definition ‘of being a truly exceptional individual who, in his or her field of expertise, is so superior that he defines his own category of success’ “.

Family, friends and colleagues in Sydney, Canberra and surrounding areas that could not attend the funeral in Hobart on 8 March will be able to attend a 1-month memorial mass of his passing on Wednesday night 4 April at 7 PM in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, 30 Proctor Parade, Sefton Sydney.

Along with his enthusiasm for helping others, he was not always the best at asking or expecting payment for his services. His daughter has set up a page to help with funeral and leftover medical expenses at Facebook.

He is survived by his wife Carmelita, brother, sister and four children.

Facebook

TREVOR HAY additional note

I was active in  Perth then Sydney chess during the 1970s. I met Trevor when I moved to Sydney in 1975. We became and stayed friends for many years. He would often come and visit me at my home at Whale Beach and I would visit him at his mother’s place at Fairlight or at various share houses he had around the inner city.

I always found him an interesting, intelligent, honest and friendly man. I would like to put that on the record as I have heard other descriptions of him that are unflattering, and in my experience, untrue. Trevor was a bohemian, even a hobo. But he was never unsociable or moody. There were periods of his life when he would live in squat environments. This despite being quite wealthy or at least with sufficient means for all or most of his life. He would be sober for long periods of time and was not a social drinker, but then would go on a binge for a period.

I remember in particular during the Australian Open in 1977 he and I and others were kindly put up by Gary Wastell in an empty house in Brunswick. Every night after we went to bed Trevor would polish off my then girlfriend’s near full bottle of whiskey. We would put him under a cold shower in the morning and somehow get him to the tournament hall. Despite this nightly regimen, he won the tournament on tiebreak. I remember his win over Woodhams as a very fine performance.

I moved from Sydney around 1980 but would always catch up with Trevor when I visited. We had a shared interest in the stock market. He was a clever and experienced trader. He did his own research and would spend a lot of time at the Stock Exchange library. Trevor never really acquired worldly goods. Except when he inherited his mother’s apartment he never owned a home. He never owned nor could drive a car and usually wore hand me down clothing.

He was not a miser but his attitude to money was a mystery to me. A number of people suggested to him better ways to arrange his finances and while he agreed and paid for the advice he never acted on it. His investing style was drifting to the penny dreadful market which can be lucrative in boom times but fatal in a bad downturn. He was pretty much wiped out in the 1986 bust.

In the late 1980s, I saw him in Sydney and he was a bit down and out living in squats in and around Kings Cross. I was concerned for his welfare and safety and managed to convince him to move to Perth where I put him up and he became, for about a year, a member of the household. Happily, his health improved. He began going swimming and kayaking in the ocean most days. He then managed to get a very nice Housing Commission apartment in a leafy street in Fremantle opposite a park.


He was very much at home there. Also, his finances improved as one of his penny stocks rose from the ashes. Within a year or so he had made back most of what he had lost. Besides being a regular around the cafe streets of Fremantle he would also frequent the Northbridge area, another area of cafes. My wife would often see him at the State Library there.

He did not play any competitive chess in Perth. He would often come to the Perth Go club meetings. He was quite a good player and we would often play and analyse together. I can only remember playing a few games of chess with him during this time.

I moved back to Sydney in 1997 and did not see him again but would occasionally get a phone call from him.

Trevor was born in Wagga. His father, Flight Sergeant Trevor Neil Hay was killed in action in New Guinea 28.01.1945. Trevor was born 17 Oct 1945. So Trevor never knew or had a father. His mother, Mary, never remarried. She was a senior nurse at Manly District Hospital. She had a very nice apartment overlooking the harbour at Fairlight. After her death in the early 1980s, Trevor inherited her estate but sold the place within a few years which he often told me he regretted.

Trevor never married. He was very much interested in the ladies but had a knack of scaring them off somehow.

I was fortunate to have Trevor as a friend. He was always good company and I was deeply saddened to hear of his death.

P.S. One thing I did forget to mention about Trevor is that he once had a real job as a public servant. I forget who told me now (it may have been Patrick Halpin) but apparently it did not work out in the long run as Trevor only rarely turned up for work.

_______________________________________
The writer was a club player getting up to the 2000 rating mark but settled instead into a business career. During his stay in Perth, he was an early organizer of the game of Go which he had learnt in Japan.

STEPHEN HAWKINGS

8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018

Stephen Hawkings died on 14 March aged 76. He was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.  

He loved music. Some of his favourite pieces were Poulenc’s Gloria, Brahms Violin Concerto in D Major, Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132, Mozart’s Requiem in  D Minor, Wagner’s Die Walküre, Puccini’s Turandot, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No. 1.

Stephen Hawking playing chess with his son in 1977 Photo: Ian Berry

               GM EVGENI VASIUKOV

Papin blog

GM Evgeni Vasiukov celebrated his 85th birthday on 5 March in Moscow with friends and wellwishers including the youthful GM Vasily Papin( recently returned from Australia)  seen here bearing gifts including a kangaroo boxer and a hat with dangling corks useful for warding off evil spirits [my Russian is not outstanding - translator]. He also conveyed the personal congratulations of Australian Chess Federation Vice-President Leonid Sandler who hosted Papin in Australia.

Vasiukov won the Championship of Moscow on six occasions (1955, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1972, and 1978) and won many international tournaments such as Belgrade Open 1961, Moscow International 1961, East Berlin 1962, and Manila 1974.

 

              GM TIMUR GAREYEV

Chess Victoria President IM Leonid Sandler hosted a 10 player simul exhibition at the Melbourne Chess Club on 27 March with GM Timur Gareyev who played blindfolded with the Black pieces on all 10 boards (makes it extra hard).

GM Timur Gareyev & IM Leonid Sandler mates together Photo: L. Sandler

Sandler facilitated by walking to each board in turn, call out the board number, then the player himself or herself would then call out his or her own move in algebraic notation. The GM would then call out his move and Sandler would play that for him and press the clock. The GM had 105 minutes + 30 seconds per move while his opponents had 60 minutes without increment.

Make sure he can’t see Photo: L. Sandler

He won 7 games and lost 3 (Nicholas Ilic, CM Regan Crowley and WCM Alanna Chew Lee) - obviously a formidable array of opponents.

GM Gareyev with Nicholas Ilic, CM Regan Crowley and WCM Alanna Chew Lee Photo:Boxhill & Canterbury Junior Chess Newsletter

The youngest player was 7-year old!

Another day, another place. The hardworking GM then moved from Melbourne to the national capital Canberra on 28 March to preface the Doeberl Cup celebrations beginning the next day with another 10-0 display.

This time Gareyev had 90 minutes with 1-minute increments, while his opponents had 55 minutes and no increment. Unlike a normal simul where players move in turn, each player could move at any time, and push the clock to start Garayev's time running.

Gareyev has now played 4 blindfold simuls in Australia and has endeared himself with his engaging personality and great gifts: Churchies (Brisbane 29 January), Kings Christian College (Gold Coast 31 January where he told the students; “To become a great chess player you need to make a lot of great moves, not just one big move to win a game”) 10-0,  Melbourne Chess Club (27 March) 7-3 and Canberra (29 March) 10-0.

He is currently jointly leading in the Doeberl Cup.

                                                  Aronian-v-Kramnik

                     Berlin Candidates Tournament 13 March 2018 Round 3

                                                Notes by Ian Parsonage

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5

Aronian rarely opens with 1.e4 but does play 4... Bc5 as Black

5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. O-O Qe7 7. h3

This move stops Bg4 but may create a target for Black's white square bishop after White castles. 7. Nbd2 would have been better.  Two years ago Kramnik had seen his next move in a correspondence game and stored it in the deep recesses of his memory.

7... Rg8!  

8. Kh1

If 8. c3 Nh5  9. d4 exd4!

8... Nh5

This is a novelty. Computers give 8...h6 with an edge.

9. c3

The lack of development of White's queenside pieces is striking. Better is 9. Nc3 but Black still has an advantage.

9... g5 10. Nxe5 g4 11. d4 Bd6 12. g3 Bxe5 13. dxe5 Qxe5 14. Qd4 Qe7!

Not 14... Nxg3? 15. fxg3 Qxg3 16. Qe3 Qh4 17. Qh6!

15. h4

15. Be3 is slightly better

15... c5 16. Qc4  

Kramnik thought 16. Qd3 was better but White's position is still poor.

16...Be6 17. Qb5+ c6 18. Qa4

Better is 18. Qd3, but Black has a solid edge.

18... f5 19. Bg5  

If 19. exf5 Nxg3 20. fxg3 Bd5 21. Kg1 Qe2 wins.

19... Rxg5! 20. hxg5 f4 21. Qd1

If 21 Nd2 Qxg5 and the Knight on d2 will soon be hanging.

21... Rd8

Not 21... Qxg5 22. Qd6!

22. Qc1 fxg3 23. Na3 Rd3 24. Rd1 Bd5!!

25. f3 gxf3 26. exd5

If 26. Rxd3 Qxe4 27. Re3 f2+ 28. Rxe4 Bxe4 mate!

26... Qe2 27. Re1 g2+

If now 28. Kg1 f2+ 29. Kh2 g1=Q+ 30. Rxg1 f1=Q+ 31. Kh1 Ng3 mate, or 28. Kh2 g1=Q+ 29. Kxg1 f2+ 30. Kh1 Rh3+ 31. Kg2 f1=Q mate

         1,500 years in 4 hours – machine learning     
                                     AlphaZero

By Brian Thomas

Overview
On 6th December 2017, chess computer AlphaZero comprehensively defeated another chess computer Stockfish, with 28 wins in a 100-game match (the other games were all draws). So what?

Well simply put, Stockfish represented the combined knowledge of humans’ learning and endeavours into the game over 1,500 years, combined with the immense number crunching of silicon. AlphaZero threw all the prior learning out the window, started from scratch, and learned by simply playing itself for a few hours.

Until then the strongest player on earth had been a chess computer assisted by humans. Now that approach cannot stand against a computer on its own.

The History of Chess and Chess Theory

The roots of chess go far back. Origins are disputed whether it originated in India, Persia or China, but historians agree it was probably before the 6th century.

The moves of some of the pieces changed over that time, like the initial double step afforded to pawns or the enhancement of the queen to be the most powerful piece on the board. Several of the pieces were afforded more power, having the effect of speeding up the game. But even moves and patterns from long ago, for instance, endgame studies with the kings, rooks, and knights were discoveries made and banked into mankind’s memory a long time ago, and remain relevant to this day.

The style of play has changed a lot over the years. In the 19th century, we had the romantic style, characterised with gambits, piece sacrifices, and hacking and slashing the way through the ultimate prize, the enemy king. This, in time, gave way to a more scientific approach, where sacrifices were accepted, and a defender would batten down the hatches and try to survive long enough to use the extra pieces to win in the endgame.

Classical approaches of attacking and occupying the centre with pieces and from there launching attacks on the flanks were challenged, and modern & hyper-modern approaches were preferred. These allowed the opponent to push forward in the centre and, provoking him to overreach, and then counter attack from the sides.

These ostensibly opposing approaches were all assimilated into the dynamic style of a contemporary master, who needs to have all aspects of aggression, defence, a multitude of approaches in his arsenal when he sits down at the board.

It has been said that more books have been written about chess than on any other subject. Many a stalwart chess player has grown grey reading them and trying to understand them and apply them in his own games, with mixed success. Estimates range to up to a billion people playing the game in a given year.

Yep, AlphaZero eclipsed that in less than a day.

Computer Chess

The machines dealt the humans a body blow in 1997, when carbon-based player Garry Kasparov was famously defeated in a match by the IBM supercomputer, Deep Blue. Unlike AlphaZero, Deep Blue stood on the shoulders of all the knowledge that mankind had on chess – encyclopedias full of opening theory, endgame tablebases, Kasparov’s own games etc – to defeat the then world champion. Interestingly Kasparov accused the Deep Blue team of cheating, by allowing a human input rather than leaving the machine to its own devices at a critical moment. Kasparov is widely held to be amongst the greatest champions, indeed arguably the greatest, to play the game before or since.

These days, the proposition that computers are better than humans at chess is not even a topic for dispute. While Deep Blue was cutting edge and built on custom designed hardware, now you can run a chess engine on any PC and the best players in the world cannot stand against it. Indeed even by the late noughties, an engine on a mobile phone beat grandmasters to convincingly win a tournament in Buenos Aires.

AlphaZero 

AlphaZero came out of a project called DeepMind, now owned by Google / Alphabet. Before embarking on its chess challenge, DeepMind first set its sights on the popular [Japanese] game of Go, and became the first computer to defeat a professional Go player in 2015.

The DeepMind team published a fairly technical paper on how they use neural networks to master chess, tabula rasa. It’s an interesting read, although I must admit the eyes glossing over a bit at the formulas, but you can get a gist of it without getting your maths on. It is interesting to me in that, while a chessboard is a universe with well understood defined rules and principles, the Alpha project is potentially adaptable to a broader range of problem sets.

With the AlphaZero set of fresh eyes applied to all sorts of problems, who knows down what avenues they can take us.

___________________________

GM Kenneth Rogoff a Professor of Public Policy and of Economics at Harvard University. comments 14 March on AlphaZero:

           ROUT AND STRATON TIE FOR
                        TASSIE TITLE

                                        Newstead, Launceston 10-12 March

                                                     By Kevin Bonham

The 2018 Tasmanian Championship was held at the R.A.O.B. G.A.B. Hall in Newstead, Launceston.  R.A.O.B. G.A.B. stands for Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes, Grand Australasian Banner. The order (unknown to me before this event) is a philanthropic fraternal society and the hall is adorned with over a century of fascinating society documents and regalia.  

Its motto Nemo Mortalium Omnibus Horis Sapit (No Man Is At All Hours Wise) would serve well to describe the play in this year’s event, and also the end result.  Indeed this was the first time since 2001 that no player in the tournament (eligible for the title or otherwise) finished it undefeated.

John Patrick, Kerry Beeton, Ian Little, Ian Rout, Denis McMahon, Aidan Cox, Kevin Bonham, Toby Straton, Albert Chin. Juniors: Bayani Beeton, Luwanna Beeton, and William Rumley Photo: Esther Nebreja Beeton

Top seeds by rating in the 18-strong field were Kevin Bonham and 2017 winner Ian Rout, but Toby Straton (whose ACF classic rating is deflated by some old games in Queensland and has been playing at around 1900s strength in Tasmania) was the obvious smokey.  So it proved in round two when Straton defeated Rout in a game strewn with reversals of fortune. After beating Straton with white in a tricky Scandinavian sideline (1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nxd5 4.Qf3 Nb4) Bonham took the outright lead in round four, but his progress was slowed by a pretty horrible draw (which should have been a pretty horrible loss) against Ian Little in round 5.

After the early loss Rout could have been eliminated from serious contention but fortune favoured him when Denis McMahon turned down a draw offer (suspecting there must be something wrong with Rout’s position for Rout to make it) and then went on to lose.  Rout was also involved in the most interesting game of the tournament when Aidan Cox sacrificed a piece for what Rout called “a 40-move attempt at perpetual”, which the defending champion eventually warded off with great care.

Into the final day and Bonham with a half-point lead had white against Rout for the 10th time in 11 games.  After misplaying the opening as usual Bonham recovered, also as usual, but then played an especially unwise move in a heavy-piece late middlegame leading to his kingside being swamped with rook-sacrifice for mate threats that eventually won a large number of pawns.  This led to a final round with Rout-Little and McMahon-Straton as the top board pairings, and both leaders won (Rout easily and Straton with a lot more difficulty.) As a result, Bonham’s failure to convert against Cox with knight and two pawns vs knight had no bearing on the final outright placings.

Following longstanding TCA rules (since the state’s dispersed population makes playoffs hard to organise) the tie for the title stands. It was the third title for Rout, who also won the title of Tasmanian Seniors Champion and the first for Straton at his first attempt.  Rating prizes were taken out by Aidan Cox and Owen Swan with Will Rumley winning another junior prize. Drinkable prizes for the top placegetters were kindly donated by Swinging Gate vineyard. Full results and some games are available on Chesschat.

Thanks to Ian Little who acted as director of play and also organised the venue at short notice after the expected venue became unavailable

                52nd BEGONIA OPEN

                                                    Ballarat 10-12 March

                                                         By Susan Ryan

The early autumn sunlight slanted through the large windows of the Sewell Pavilion at Ballarat’s Clarendon College. Summer was having its last gasp, with a predicted top of 32º, but few in the crowd gathered were concerned about the weather. The sunlight washed through the spacious hall, highlighting the evenly spaced tables, each holding two chess-sets. Patrick Cook, long-time president of the Ballarat Chess Club, stood near the podium, preparing for his welcoming speech. Near him stood Gary Wastell, president of the ACF, who had kindly agreed to open the tournament for this, the 52nd year of the Ballarat Begonia Open. It was 1.30 PM on Saturday 10th March and the tournament was about to start.
 

Amongst the turn-out of 139 participants, this year were four GM’s, four IMs and three FMs. Top seed and Australia’s newest and youngest GM Anton Smirnov moved to take his seat, already exuding an air of serious intent. Anton shared the winning prize last year, along with three others – GM Zong-Yuan Zhao, IM James Morris and IM Stephen Solomon. All four competitors were back this year, keen to try their skills once more at taking the top prize of $2,500 from the total prize pool of almost $10,000.

At 2.00 PM the first round commenced and a deep hush pervaded the hall. Even the junior competitors, who comprised a large percentage of the participants this year, played in the concentrated silence expected at such a high-level tournament.

Anton was paired for this round with Matthew Clarke from NSW whose rating of 1863 meant he faced a huge challenge from Anton, whose rating was 2543. Yet, in the biggest upset of the round, Matthew played well above his rating and was able to hold Anton to a draw. This was a wonderful outcome for Matthew to start the tournament off.

GM Anton Smirnov & M James Morris Photo: Chess Victoria

After this, however, Anton seemed to settle into his stride. He finished up winning the tournament, although he had to share the prize with one of his competitors from the previous year, IM James Morris.  It’s notable that both Anton and James were playing black in the final and deciding round. Both winning games are a testament to the playing skill of these two fine competitors.

While Anton and James earned the top prize, an interesting situation occurred regarding the distribution of the second, third and fourth prizes. Six high-level players all finished up scoring 5.5. This unexpected circumstance resulted in the necessity of combining the money allocated to the second, third and fourth place positions, and each of the six competitors went away with $300. For GM Zong-Yuan Zhao, GM Moulthun Ly, FM Christopher Wallis, FM Jack Puccini, Phillip Crocker and John Nemeth, this was undoubtedly a pleasant end to a fierce and exciting competition.

t wasn’t just the competitors at the top tables who excited interest in this year’s competition, however. It was wonderful to see GM Darryl Johansen again, a previous winner of this competition a record thirteen times. Finishing sixth was a great achievement for this veteran player. Also of note was Chess Victoria President IM Leonard Sandler. Although he was not here to play, he took an important role in assisting Anton Smirnov.  Also adding interest and variety to the tournament was GM Ian Rogers, who provided live commentary on the top games in the next door building.

There was a strong contingent, as is often the case, from the Ballarat Chess Club, which boasted 19 entries this year. The final results reflected extremely well upon the skills and talents these entrants brought to the competition. Notable in their outcomes were: Bas Van Riel, Harrison Harrison, President Patrick Cook and Heath Gooch, all of whom shared equal first in Group B with eleven other players. These winners were awarded $80 each, although I’m sure the memories of the games they play will last much longer for them than the money.

Finally, last round 7 drew to a close early on the evening of Monday 12th March. The summery temperatures had dropped to a comfortable 21º by this point, and the hall buzzed with excited conversation as the room was cleared of chairs and tables to make way for the closing ceremony.

GM Anton Smirnov had had to leave earlier to catch a plane back to Sydney, but IM James Morris was there to accept his prize and hold up the trophy for the photographers.  He also made a nice speech stating that he has been coming to the tournament since he was a child and that it’s his favourite tournament. I don’t think he’s alone there. In fact, in spite of the fact that my tournament experience is severely limited, I think it’s also my favourite tournament.

The organising committee, arbiters and DGT controller - Alana Chibnall, Rob Loveband, Bjorn Lategan, Peter Tsai, Kevin Perrin, Patrick Cook, Anna Yates  Photo: Sabrina Koetsier of Chesslife

"So, what’s your favourite tournament?’ I asked Patrick Cook as we sat and considered the results of this tournament later on. He gave me a cheeky grin.

‘Any tournament I win,’ he quipped. I laughed. ‘But seriously, I guess it would have to be the Victorian Country Championships.’

Which just goes to show, there’s always another tournament to look forward to.

Congratulations to all winners and all participants and a huge and heartfelt thanks to the Ballarat Chess Club tournament committee who have, once again, hosted a spectacularly successful event. ☺

[Further results and many games can be seen on the Begonia Open website begoniaopen.com and games from the top 5 boards are on chess24.com]

                      DUBBO OPEN

                                                          17-18 March

                                        IM Stephen Solomon wins in a canter

                                            By Chief Arbiter Shaun Press

IM Stephen Solomon was the clear winner of the 2018 Dubbo Open, scoring a perfect 6 from 6. Solomon, who had played in the Ballarat Begonia Open the weekend before, broke his return journey to Queensland to drop in on a tournament that normally does not see such an illustrious visitor.

Winner IM Stephen Solomon playing Milorad Lukic in Round 1  Photo: Shaun Press

As the top seed in a 32 player field, Solomon was the overwhelming favourite to collect first prize, and he did not disappoint.  For most of the event, he played simple, sensible chess, taking advantage of missteps by his opponents.

Solomon,Stephen J (2412) - Radisich,Matt (1613) [C41]
Dubbo Open 2018 Dubbo AUS (2), 17.03.2018

15.Nxh6+ gxh6 16.Qxf6 Bg7 17.Qxf7+ Qxf7 18.Bxf7+ Kxf7 19.Bxc5 Be6 20.Rad1 Rad8 21.Bb6 Rc8 22.Re3 1–0

He finished the first day with 3/3, along with WFM Alana Chibnall. After beating her in the morning round he completed the event by defeating local players Trevor Bemrose and Don Keast.

Solomon,Stephen J (2412) - Keast,Don A (1913) [C06]
Dubbo Open 2018 Dubbo AUS (6), 18.03.2018

Canberra players Matt Radisich and Glenn Ingham tied for second place on 4.5/6. Ingham scored an upset win in the final round over Chibnall, while Radisich beat Graham Saint to claim a share of the prize money.

Despite finishing out of the prizes Don Keast played some enterprising chess, as shown by an early win over Geert Geesink.

Geesink,Geert (1607) - Keast,Don A (1913) [A84]
Dubbo Open 2018 Dubbo AUS (2), 17.03.2018

24. … Bxh3 25.gxh3 Rf3 26.Rfc1 Raf8 27.Kf1 Qf5 28.Rc2 Qxh3+ 29.Ke1 Rxf2 0–1

The Under 1650 prize was shared by Milorad Lukic and Stephen Taylor on 4/6. Keith Farrell’s 3.5 was good enough for the Under 1400 prize, while young Eamonn Fitzgerald scored 3/6 to be the best of the Unrated players.

As is traditional at the Dubbo Open, there was a handicap Blitz event (time odds) which WFM Alana Chibnall won for the 4th time in 5 years.

The tournament was supported by the Dubbo RSL Club, which once again provided excellent facilities for the tournament. The organising team headed by Alexander Aich were a delight to work with, and all the participants once again had a fun and enjoyable tournament.

And playing Trevor Bemrose in Round 5  Photo: Shaun Press

Bill Egan playing Alana Chibnall in Round 4  Photo: Shaun Press

[Full tournament results can be seen here.]

Newcastle Chess 960 Fischer Random

                                                      By Greg Wilson

Sunday 11 March saw a small but keen field of 14 players compete in Newcastle’s second Chess 960 tournament, the previous tournament being held in November 2017.

Francesc Arlandez Mana, Angelito Camer, Dave Groenhout, Eduardo Olabe and Ricardo Atanacio all travelled from Sydney to compete in the tournament. Central Coasters Norm Greenwood and Karel Hursky also competed, with the remaining players being from the local Newcastle area.

The tournament was over 7 rounds with a time control of 15 minutes + 5 seconds Fischer. Each round had a different random generated starting position, the players having no idea which positions they would be faced with! Irrespective of the results, all the players had a great day of Chess 960.

Congratulations to Angelito Camer and Peter Bradshaw who were equal first with 5.5 from 7, followed by Ron Groenhout on 5, with Brett Saunders and Eduardo Olabe on 4.5 points. These players made up the prize winners. The rest of the field was as follows: Ricardo Atanacio and Karel Hursky 4, Steve Kucera and Francesc Arlandez Mana 3, Phil Tan and Norm Greenwood 2.5, Tetiana Lobonova and Dave Groenhout 2, Ki Antes 1

Fracesc Arlandez Mana playing Ron Groenhout, Norman Greenwood between them. Photo: Greg Wilson

Six miniature games (25 moves or less) from the tournament are given below. I have purposely provided miniatures, so that hopefully some readers may set up the positions and play through the games. White’s back rank is starting from the a1 square. Black’s bank rank is a mirror of White. So in the first game given below the pieces are as follows: B(a1)QNBNRKR(h1) for White. I would seriously encourage players to have a punt at Chess 960. Opening theory is thrown out of the window … and yes, the following games may not be Magnus-like, but these players are at least prepared to have a go!

Francesc Arlandez Mana - Steve Kucera
Newcastle 11.03.2018 Round 1 Board 6
Chess 960 – Position 001 – BQNBNRKR

1.b3 b6 2.Qb2 e6 3.Qxg7+ Nxg7 4.Ncd3 Ne7 5.c4 c5 6.Ne5 Qd6 7.Ng4 Nef5 8.Bc2 h5 9.Ne3 Qxd2 10.Nxf5 exf5 11.e3 Bc7 12.h4 Rd8 13.Rh3 0–0 14.f4 Rfe8 15.Rg3 Rxe3 16.Rxg7+ Kf8 0–1

Peter Bradshaw - Ricardo Atanacio
Newcastle11.3.2018 Round 3 Board 1
Chess 960 – Position 551 – RNBKNQRB

1.e4 g6 2.Nc3 c6 3.f4 Nc7 4.Nf3 e6 5.d4 Qe7 6.Bd2 d5 7.e5 a6 8.g4 c5 9.g5 Bd7 10.Qh3 0–0 11.Rg4 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Nc6 13.Nb3 Rfb8 14.Rh4 b5 15.Rxh7 Bg7 16.0–0–0 1–0

Eduardo Olabe - Ricardo Atanacio
Newcastle 11.3.2018 Round 4 Board 2
Chess 960 – Position 229 – NRBBQKNR

1.e4 d6 2.f4 Nf6 3.d3 c6 4.Nf3 Bb6 5.Be3 Be6 6.Nb3 Ng4 7.Bxb6 Nxb6 8.0–0 Bxb3 9.axb3 Qd7 10.Kh1 d5 11.e5 Nh6 12.Nd4 e6 13.c4 Nf5 14.Nxf5 exf5 15.Qh4 Qe7 16.Qh5 Qe6 17.g4 fxg4 18.Bxg4 1–0

Norm Greenwood - Tetiana Lobonova
Newcastle 11.3.2018 Round 6 Board 4
Chess 960 – Position - 034 – BNNQRBKR

1.e4 b6 2.d3 c5 3.Be2 d5 4.e5 Nc6 5.Bf3 e6 6.b3 N8e7 7.0–0 Ng6 8.Qd2 Qc7 9.Qg5 Be7 10.Qg3 d4 11.c3 Ngxe5 12.Bxc6 Qxc6 13.cxd4 Ng6 14.dxc5 bxc5 15.d4 Bd6 16.Qg4 h5 17.Qf3 Qxf3 18.gxf3 Bxf3 19.h3 Nh4 0–1

Ki Antes - Francesc Arlandez Mana
Newcastle 11.3.2018 Round 6 Board 7
Chess 960 – Position 034 – BNNQRBKR

1.e4 b6 2.Be2 e5 3.0–0 Bc5 4.Nb3 0–0 5.Nxc5 bxc5 6.f4 d6 7.fxe5 Rxe5 8.b4 Rxe4 9.c3 Qg5 10.Bf3 Rxe1 11.Qxe1 Bxf3 12.Rxf3 Nb6 13.c4 cxb4 14.Rg3 Qc5+ 15.Kh1 f6 16.Qe6+ Kh8 17.Bxf6 1–0

Tetiana Lobonova - Ricardo Atanacio
Newcastle 11.3.2018 Round 7 Board5
Chess 960 – Position 297 – QNRBBKRN

1.d3 0–0 2.c4 e5 3.Bc3 d6 4.Nd2 Bc6 5.e4 Bf6 6.Bg4 Rce8 7.Ng3 Ng6 8.0–0–0 Bd7 9.h3 Bh4 10.Bxd7 Nxd7 11.Rdf1 Nf4 12.Kc2 Bxg3 13.fxg3 Ne2 14.Rf3 Nxg1 15.Qxg1 c6 16.g4 b5 17.Rf1 a5 18.b3 b4 19.Bb2 a4 20.g3 d5 21.d4 dxc4 22.Nxc4 exd4 23.Qxd4 Nf6 24.Qb6 c5 25.Bxf6 Qxe4+ 0-1

                                     RECENT EVENTS

OVERSEAS

18 Jan-8 Apr PRO Chess League 2018 online

This is a rapid tournament taking place on the proprietary chess.com website. 32 city-based teams from throughout the world start in four groups. There are four players per team (including an import in their line-up) and they play each member of the opposition once for a total of four games. St. Louis, Chengdu (which outed Australia’s Kangaroos on 22 March 9-7 in its group), Armenia and Ljubljana all qualify for the final four in San Francisco 7th-8th April.

20-28 Feb Aeroflot Open Moscow Russia

GM Vladislav Kovalev surprisingly won after 2700 GMs Fedoseev, Vidit, Andreikin, Mamedov and Matlakov all failed in what some say is the world’s toughest open. The 24-year-old from Belarus took a last-round draw finishing with 7/9. Sethuraman and Dmitry Gordievsky finished in 2nd and 3rd places on 6.5/9.

10-28 Mar Candidates Tournament Berlin Germany

Fabiano Caruana qualified on the last day of the tournament to play Magnus Carlsen for the World Championship in November in London by winning the event with a point to spare from Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Sergey Karjakin - a watershed in the life of the 25-year-old from Brooklyn.

AUSTRALIA

4 Mar NSC Allegro Open Balwyn North Vic

Played at St Bridget's Primary School, leading scores were:

Open section: 1 John Nemeth 7, 2 Nikolaos Verginis 5.5, 3 Ryder Testolin 5    
U800:1 Oliver Chen 6, 2-6 Wilfred D'Souza, Egor Suprun, Vanya Suprun, Nathan D'Souza & Archit Kannan 5

Family Teams: 1 Suprun & D’Souza, 3 Wallis & Testolin

9-12 Mar ACT Championships Campbell ACT

Played at Campbell High School with 37 starters, results were:

=1st Willis Lo, IM Andrew Brown 6.5/7

=3rd+Under 2000 Sankeertan Badrinarayan, Tim Pearce 5/7

Under 1500 Lachlan Ho, Ricky Luo 4.5/7

Best FIDE unrated Thomas Lin 4/7

Best new player Liam Miller

10-11 Mar March Open Redcliffe Qld

Photo: FIDE

10-12 Mar Begonia Open  Ballarat Vic

See separate report.

10-12 Mar Tasmanian Championships Newstead Tas

See separate report.

 
Joint champions Ian Rout & Toby Straton Photo: Margaret Rout

11 Mar Newcastle Chess 960 Fischer Random Tournament Newcastle West NSW

See separate report.

11 Mar City of Sydney Blitz West Ryde NSW
 

Photo: Facebook

Another sweeping success by FM Brandon Clarke. Leading scores  from 41 starters at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club:

1  Clarke, Brandon G I       OS 2683 9
2  Liu, Yi                           QLD 2523 7 
3  Wright, Neil S              NSW 2353 6.5 
    Bajrami, Samir            NSW 2109 6.5 
5  Kargosha, Bahman        OS 2223 6 
    Rodgers, Jack             NSW 2307 6 
    Ng, Clive                     NSW 2364 6 
     Fikh, Anthony             NSW 2057 6 

17 Mar Arnold Sports Festival Melbourne Victoria

Sharath Mohanakrishnan plays Arnie in front of whirring cameras and the whole world. Photo: Mohana Krishnan

17-18 Mar Dubbo Open Dubbo NSW

See separate report.
 

18 Mar WA Allegro Championship Leeming WA

IM Temur Kuybokarov the 17-year-old master from Uzbekistan who jointly won the Australian Open Championship last year: Photo: Facebook

WA Allegro Champion: IM Temur Kuybokarov (8.5/9)

2nd: Syakir Shazmeer (7.0/9)

3rd: Ihsan Ferozkohi & Rebo Fu (6.5/9)

WA Women's Allegro Champion: WFM Kathryn Hardegen (5.5/9)

WA Seniors' Allegro Champion: Gordon Dunlop (5.5/9)

(1801-1900) Rebo Fu (6.5/9)

(1501-1800) Ben Dagza (5.5/9)

(1500 and below) Kundan Dharmapuri (5.0/9)

A page of David Ellis’ long-running column in the West Australian newspaper accompanied by (someone’s) lunch Photo: Andrew Hardegen

25 Mar March Allegro 2018 Adelaide SA

1 WCM Nguyen Mai Chi Phan 6.5, Kyle Leaver 6, Edgar Mdinaradze 5.5, 12 players at the Chess Centre of SA. A welcome appearance by the victor of the Australian Major in Sydney in January.

27 Mar Southern Suburbs CC Easter Blitz Leeming WA

News pending

27 Mar GM Timur Gareyev Blindfold Simul Fitzroy Vic
See separate report.

28 Mar GM Timur Gareyev  Blindfold Simul Woden ACT
See separate report.

 

                      COMING EVENT

OVERSEAS

31 Mar-9 Apr  GRENKE Chess Classic Baden-Baden Germany

1-10 Apr Asian Youth U8, 10, 12, 14,16, 18 Championship Chiang Mai Thailand

A large Australian contingent is led by Tony Davis:

Ooi, Jayden QLD               1607 U8
Anup Kumar, Vihaan NSW     0  U8
Retnaraja, Ethan SA                 U12
Chan, Jordan QLD           1374 U14
Au, Alexander QLD          1834 U16
Crowley, Regan VIC         1826 U18
Chan, Jacob QLD             1737 U18
Retnaraja, Athena-Malar SA  0 G10
Davis, Sophie VIC                  0 G14
Lu, Lillian VIC                   1738 G16

13-21 Apr Bangkok Open Cha-Am Beach Thailand

300 players have registered for the 18th edition of the Bangkok Chess Club international open chess tournament, including 22 grandmasters, and hailing from 47 different countries, including veterans GM Nigel Short and GM Alexander Morozevich and rising stars like GM Anton Smirnov.

21-25 Jun World Cadet U8, U10, U12 Rapid & Blitz Championships Minsk Belarus

25 Jun-4 Jul Commonwealth Championships Delhi India

“Each Commonwealth country is eligible to field one man, one woman, one Senior (Above-60), one Junior Girl (Under-20), one Junior Open (Under-20) player and one open and girl entries each in under-8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 as official entrants. Their boarding and lodging will be provided free in a star hotel on triple sharing basis.All Grandmasters will be provided free accommodation at an official hotel.”

7-15 Jul World Team Championship 50+, 65+ Radebeul (near Dresden) Germany

6-16 Aug Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival Abu Dhabi UAE

4-16 Sep World Junior and Girls U20 Championship Gebze, Kocaeli, Turkey

23 Sep-6 Oct 43rd World Chess Olympiad Batumi Georgia

1-11 Oct Millennium  NZ Chess Festival Palmerston North NZ

16-19 Oct World Youth U14, U16, U18 Rapid and Blitz Championships Halkidiki Greece
 

19 Oct-1 Nov World Youth U14, U16, U18 Championships Halkidiki Greece

2-12 Nov Asian Seniors Championship Tagaytay Philippines

3-16 Nov World Cadet U8, U10, U12 Championships Santiago de Compostela (Galicia) Spain

9-28 Nov World Championship Match London UK

17-30 Nov World Senior Championship 2018 Bled Slovenia

24 Nov-3 Dec World Youth U-16 Olympiad Manavgat-Antalya Turkey

5-13 Jan 2019 2019 Oceania Youth & U20 Championships Auckland NZ

[Heading for a potential clash with the Australian Open championships not yet announced but traditionally held over 2-12 January.]

Direct titles are available provided an applicant has achieved “at some time or other” a minimum rating.

“1.8 DIRECT TITLES Fide rules state that for a direct title to be awarded immediately an applicant has to have achieved at some time or other a minimum rating as follows: IM 2200, WIM 2000, FM 2100, WFM 1900, CM 2000, and WCM 1800.

...

"In the U20 category, the gold medal winner shall be awarded the Grandmaster (GM)/Woman Grandmaster (WGM) norm (9 games). 1st equal (up to 3 players) shall get the IM/WIM title. The silver and bronze medal winners shall be awarded the IM/WIM norm and FIDE Master (FM)/Woman FIDE Master (WFM).

"In the U18 categories, the gold medal winner shall be awarded the title of International Master (IM) / Woman International Master (WIM). 1st equal players (up to 3 players) shall get IM/WIM norm (9 games). The Silver & Bronze Medal winners shall be awarded the FIDE Master (FM) / Woman FIDE Master (WFM) title.

"In the U16 category, the gold medal winner shall be awarded IM/WIM norm (9 games). 1st equal player (up to 3 players) shall get FM/WFM title. The Silver & Bronze Medal winners shall be awarded the Candidate Master (CM) / Woman Candidate Master (WCM) title.

"In the U12 & U14 categories, the gold medal winner shall be awarded the title of FM / WFM. The Silver & Bronze Medal winners shall be awarded the CM / WCM title. Gold, Silver & Bronze Medal (after tiebreak up to 3 players) winners of the U8 & U10 categories shall be awarded the CM/WCM title.”

14-29 Jan 2019 New Zealand Chess Congress Auckland NZ

AUSTRALIA

29 Mar-2 Apr O2C Doeberl Cup Woden ACT
This major tournament of the chess calendar has just commenced in Canberra. See Bill Egan aged 81 from the ACT and author of "The Doeberl Cup: 50 years of Australian Chess History (2012) play Melody Yang aged 10 from Queensland:


Photo: Gardiner Chess Facebook

8 Apr Nicholson Cup Handicap & Odds Newcastle NSW

10 Apr South Australian Lightning Championship Adelaide SA

16-19 Apr West Australian Junior Championships Leeming WA

17 Apr April Allegro Adelaide SA

19 Apr West Australian Junior Lightning Championships Leeming WA

25 Apr ANZAC Allegro Adelaide SA

25 Apr Tony Sturges Memorial & Blitz Sandy Bay Tas

25 & 27-29 Apr MCC ANZAC Day Weekender Fitzroy Vic

30 Apr-2 Jul City of Melbourne Open Fitzroy Vic

4-7 May Churchie International East Brisbane Qld

19-20 May Peninsula Open Redcliffe Qld

8-11 Jun Victorian Open Fitzroy Vic

16-17 Jun Wendy Terry Memorial Rothwell Qld

11-12 Aug North Queensland Open TBA Qld

29 Sep-1 Oct Ryde-Eastwood Open West Ryde NSW
 

2-6 Nov MCC Greg Hjorth Open Weekender Fitzroy Vic

25 Nov NSW Blitz Championship West Ryde NSW

VirtualPieces





LETTER TO EDITOR

Life has many joys. Like finding a fragment of an ancient insect perfectly preserved through the aeons in amber. Or memories recalled of a long-lost friend.

100-Million-Year-Old Insect Trapped in Amber Defines New Order. These now-extinct creatures Aethiocarenus burmanicus  are thought to have been able to secrete a chemical repellent and rotate their heads 180 degrees (George Poinar, Jr.) New insect species are discovered on a regular basis—just this month researchers detailed a wasp that takes over another species’ mind, a moth that was named after Donald Trump.Smithsonian 31 January 2018.

“Hi Frank!

“Congrats on another interesting edition of the ACF Newsletter - your efforts are noted and appreciated by many I am sure.

“In the Feb 2018 issue Greg Wilson wrote a fine article about Doug Carey, which included his game against Victor Liuga in 1956 (at that time I was still a small toddler living in Finland).

“I first met Victor at the 1999 Doeberl Cup where he won the "Minor" with a score of 6.5. His Finnish wife Anja picked my name out of the "Major" name listing and introduced us.

“Victor was Lithuanian and reacted to the Russian invasion of Lithuania in 1945 by escaping into Germany as a teenage refugee. Subsequently, he was approved for migration to Australia.

“He initially lived in Newcastle and made a successful career as a high school maths teacher.

“Following retirement Victor and Anja moved into a retirement village in Engadine [NSW] and hence our paths crossed more often, at the St George Chess Club and the Concordia German Club (at Oktoberfest).

“Anja passed away a few years ago and Victor moved into an aged care facility and we have lost touch. He has a tremendous sense of humour and conversational skills.

I texted him the news about the ACF article.

Cheers!”

Pertti Sirkka

                CHESS MADE EASY

Photo: ABC

David Walsh is an Australian professional gambler and art collector. He is the unconventional founder and owner of the Tasmanian icon Museum of Old and New Art (MONA).

On 1 March he wrote a long blog post explaining why he had donated $250,000 to the anti-poker machine forces in an attempt to “unbias” Tasmania’s lower House of Assembly election that was to take place two days later, a major issue of which was the licensing of poker machines. 

He declared in passing that chess is “easy” because it is deterministic, in contrast to poker which involves “measuring low probability events which we learn poorly in situations that are mostly random” - we are not biologically built to assess randomness. So he was going to in some small way address the imbalance enjoyed by the poker machine industry to the extent of a quarter of million dollars.

Are you feeling lucky, punk?

                     HARMONY DAY

Harmony Day is celebrated on 21 March in Australia to coincide with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination by people coming together and participating in local activities celebrating diversity, respect and a belonging for everyone. Launceston Chess Club participated by running a chess stall surrounded by food stalls on 17 March at Inveresk Precinct, Invermay.

Martin Friebe & friends Photo: Facebook

            NORWOOD CHESS CLUB

Norwood Chess Club was formed in 1890 and apart from two missed years during WW1 has been providing a continuous chess experience for its members.

The unique feature of this club is that it is located in the same heritage listed building since 1890 and during the whole of its existence has only had 4 presidents.

It all started with a simul:

“On Saturday evening the Norwood Chess Club was formally opened in the presence of a large number of the members and visitors.This was mainly due to the fact that Mr. Charlick had consented to play any number of games simultaneously, and hearty thanks were given to Mr. Charlick. In moving the vote Mr. Sibbald hoped each player would do his best to win as he was sure that no one would take a defeat with better grace than the champion of South Australia. Mr. C.J. Shuttleworth (treasurer of the Adelaide club) in a few well chosen words thanked the Norwood club for the kind invitation extended to his club. Proceedings then commenced, the following being the players:—Messrs. Adcock. J. G. and W. L. Armitage, Bonney, Bockleberg, Derrington. Kimer, Fitzgerald. Hawkes, Henderson, Hindley, King, Lee, Macdonald, Mander, Nairn, Roach, Shuttleworth, Tilley, and Weiss. Play went on steadily until about 10 o'clock, when several resigned. Messrs. Adcock, Kimer, and Lee won their games; those of Messrs. Henderson, Hindley, and Nairn were drawn, and the rest ended in favour of Mr. Charlick. his total score being 16 games won, 3 lost, and 3 drawn. His play was marked by a calmness and decision far in advance of any of his previous efforts in this direction, and he is to be complimented on his success, having so many strong players to oppose him. The arrangements were well carried out under the direction of the secretary and director of play, and judging by the attendance there is every reason to believe that the game will be popular and take a firm hold in Norwood.”-Trove digitised newspapers 23 June 1890 The Advertiser (Adelaide SA)

Henry Charlick (1845 –1916) winner of the second Australian Championship Adelaide 1887 Photo: Wikipedia

Club Meeting Time: Mondays at 7:30 pm
Location: 1st Floor, 110 The Parade NORWOOD SA 5067
Contact:George Howard (0414841575)

                GM KAYDEN TROFF

GM Kayden Troff arrived in Brisbane in November from his home in West Jordan, Utah, on a two-year assignment from his church. He achieved the Grandmaster title at the Chicago Open in May 2014 a few weeks after he became 16. He was the youngest Grandmaster in America.

Photo: David Llada  American Chess Magazine

                       PAUL KERES

Estonian World

He won the 1938 AVRO tournament, which led to negotiations for a title match against Alekhine, but the match never took place due to World War II. After the war, Keres was a runner-up in the Candidates’ Tournament on four consecutive occasions - the strongest player never to become world champion.

Composers Timo Steiner and Sander Mölder, choreographer and director Teet Kask, librettist Andri Luup and set designer Ülar Mark have been working on the “Keres” ballet for more than a year. Dedicated to Estonia’s centennial, the production will feature the dancers of the Estonian National Ballet, the Yxus Ensemble and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir.

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY                         CHESS CLUB

Meet the new executive 20 March 2018! Secretary (Grunfeld Specialist) Louis Carlin Elo 1500, Marketing Director (Banter Queen) Laura Johnston Elo 0, President (Endgame Master) Willis Lo Elo 2000, Treasurer (Chief Tactician) Fred Litchfield Elo 2100 and Vice-President (Women's FIDE Master) WFM Megan Setiabudi Elo 1800 Photo: Facebook

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he today that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition;

And gentlemen in England now a-bed

Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

                                                                                   Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3

     Problem of the Month – No.24

                                        Selected by Peter Wong

Zivko Janevski

problem 1970

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

See the solution at the end.         





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Bundaberg

Gladstone

Gold Coast Nerang “We're on a bit of a break over the next few weeks, due to Easter and Commonwealth Games. We resume on 19 April, with a change to the venue and time. The new venue is the Nerang RSL & Memorial Club, Corporate Centre building (69 Nerang St, Nerang) on Thursday nights 6:30 pm.”

Logan City Springwood

Mackay

Redcliffe Rothwell

Suncoast Buderim

The Gap

Toowoomba

Townsville Pimlico
 

South Australia

Adelaide

Adelaide University North Terrace

Ingle Farm Library

LeFevre Queenstown

Marion Cultural Oaklands Park

Modbury Modbury North

Norwood

West Torrens North Plympton
 

Tasmania

Burnie Havenview

Devonport           

Hobart Sandy Bay

Launceston
 

Victoria

Ballarat

Bandicoot Craigieburn

Bendigo

Box Hill Ashwood

Canterbury Junior Ashwood

Croydon

Frankston

Geelong

Hobsons Bay Altona

Melbourne Fitzroy

Noble Park

Wyndham
 

Western Australia

Metropolitan Nedlands
 
Perth Woodvale

Southern Suburbs Leeming

    AUSTRALIAN CHESS FEDERATION

President

Gary Wastell president@auschess.org.au

Deputy President

Bill Gletsos bgletsos@optusnet.com.au

Vice-President

Kevin Bonham k_bonham@tassie.net.au

Vice-President

Leonid Sandler leonidsandlerchess@gmail.com

Secretary

Rob Watson secretary@auschess.org.au       

Treasurer

Bob Keast bboch@optusnet.com.au

Assistant Treasurer

Tom Saltmarsh catowi@internode.on.net

Delegates

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY CHESS ASSOCIATION

Cam Cunningham camcunningham8@gmail.com

NEW SOUTH WALES CHESS ASSOCIATION

Richard Gastineau-Hills RichardGH@nswjcl.org.au

CHESS ASSOCIATION OF QUEENSLAND

Mark Stokes markcstokes@hotmail.com

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CHESS ASSOCIATION

George Howard georgeshoward@hotmail.com

TASMANIAN CHESS ASSOCIATION

Tom Saltmarsh catowi@internode.on.net

CHESS VICTORIA

Chris Wallis chris@darkhorsechess.com

CHESS ASSOCIATION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Norbert Muller norbert.muller@iinet.net.au

VirtualPieces

         Solution to Problem of the Month – No.24

Tries: 1.Qb6? (threat: 2.Qe3), 1…Kd2 2.Qd4, but 1…Nc3!

1.Qa5? (waiting), 1…Kd4 2.Qd2, 1…Nc1/Nc3 2.Qc3, but 1…Nb4!

1.Qe7? (2.Qe3), 1…Kd2 2.Qe2, 1…Kd4 2.Qe4, but 1…Nc3!

Key: 1.Qc7! (waiting), 1…Kd2 2.Qc2, 1…Kd4 2.Qc4, 1…N~ 2.Qc3.