2005

Over 300 players in Brisbane
Peter Parr (SMH 30/12/05)

The Australian Championship and supporting tournaments commenced on Wednesday in the Grand Windsor Ballroom,Carlton Crest Hotel,Brisbane. The Main event is the strongest ever with five International Grandmasters among the twenty Internationally titled players competing in a field of 30.

Grandmaster Lubomir Ftacnik(Slovakia 2612),the top seed playing white,had a tough fight in his first round game against FM Aaron Guthrie(SA 2251) 1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 c4 dxc4 4 Nc3 a6 5 a4 Nc6 6 Bg5 h6 7 Bh4 g5 8 Bg3 g4 9 Ne5 Qxd4 10 Nxc6 Qxd1+ 11 Rxd1 bxc6 (black has tripled isolated pawns but is two pawns up)12 e4 Be6 13 f4 gxf3 14 gxf3 h5 15 Bxc7 Rg8 16 Ne2 Nd7 17 Nf4 Nc5 18 a5 Bg7 19 Bb6 Nd3+ 20 Nxd3 cxd3 21 Bxd3 Bxb2 22 Bxa6 Rg2(both sides have mating threats) 23 Rd3 f6 24 Bb7 Bc4 25 Rg1 Rxh2 26 Re3 Bc1 27 Bxa8 Bxe3 28 Bxc6+ Kf7 29 Bxe3 Re2+ 30 Kf1 Rh2+ 31 Ke1 Re2+ 32 Kd1 Rxe3 33 Rh1 Rxf3 34 Rxh5 Rf2 (material is equal but the white outside pawn is very strong)35 Rc5 Bd3 36 Rc3 Ba6 37 Bd5+ Kg6 38 Rc7 e5 39 Ra7 Bb5 40 Rb7 Bd3 41 Rb3 Ba6 42 Rb6 Bd3 43 a6 Bxa6 44 Rxa6 (white is winning - the rest is a matter of technique)Kg5 45 Be6 Kf4 46 Bf5 Kg5 47 Rd6 Rg2 48 Rd8 Rg1+ 49 Ke2 Ra1 50 Rg8+ Kh5 51 Kd3 Ra4 52 Rg6 Rd4+ 53 Kc3 Rd6 54 Kc4 Rc6+ 55 Kd5 Rb6 56 Rg2 Ra6 57 Rg1 Rb6 58 Rc1 Kg5 59 Rc6 Rb7 60 Ke6 Ra7 61 Rd6 Rb7 62 Rd7 Rb6+ 63 Kf7 Ra6 64 Kg7 Rb6 65 Kh7(the point of white's play for the last 20 moves taking the king from d1 to h7) Kh5 66 Rg7 Ra6 67 Rg6 Ra7+ 68 Kg8 Ra6 69 Kg7 Ra7+ 70 Kxf6 Ra5 71 Rg3 1-0

Levi seemed to have a solid position after 25 moves against GM Rogers but the strong central"e"pawn proved decisive and Levi resigned at move 37. GM Roland Schmaltz (Germany) had a slight advantage when Vladimir Smirnov sacrificed a piece which proved unsound. GM Murray Chandler(England)was struggling and short of time against FM Michael Dougherty(Canada)but Chandler struck back at the critical moment with a series of tactical blows winning a knight and pawn endgame. GM Darryl Johansen,five times Australian Champion,gained an advantage in space against WIM Arianne Caoili who fought back tactically outplaying Johansen who eventually drew a pawn down in the endgame. So the five grandmasters scored 4.5/5.

The five International Masters scored 4/5. J.Lakner WA 2207 0 IM Z.Zhao NSW 2461 1,the defending champion IM G.Lane NSW 2445 1 Dr S. Booth VIC 2179 0,M.Ly Qld 2162 1 IM A.Wohl NSW 2439 0,IM D.Smerdon QLD 2421 1 A.Bird NSW Champion 2146 0,M.Pyke VIC 2126 0 IM S.Solomon Qld 2415 1. Moulthun Ly,the current Australian Junior Champion,defeated IM Aleks Wohl who has had excellent recent overseas results. Ly is defending his junior title in the mornings and playing in the main event in the afternoons. In other games WIM Laura Moylan NSW 2112 beat FIDE Master Greg Canfell NSW 2354 and FM George Xie NSW 2340 drew with eleven year old Raymond Song NSW 2051.

There are 62 players in the Major(under 2150)and 48 in the Minor(under 1800)rated events.
There were no upsets in the first round of the Australian Junior under eighteen championship with the top 39 seeds scoring 39-0 in the 79 player event. The Australian Girls (U 18) has nineteen players,The Australian Under twelve has 58 and the under 12 girls 15 entrants.
 

Bird wins NSW Championship
Peter Parr

Andrew Bird defeated FM Max Fuller(3 times Australian Open Champion) 2.5 -1.5 in the play-off match for the NSW State Championship last week. Bird is well prepared in the openings he plays and is very determined in each game.
Fuller lost the first game,won the second,lost the third on time when he was winning a simple ending two pawns ahead(he thought he had 4 minutes left when he only had 4 sconds)and game four was drawn.

International Master Bela Berger of Sydney died last week at the age of 74.
Berger was fifth in the powerful 1953 Hungarian Championship above Gereben, Szily and Florian. Berger migrated to Sydney at the age of 26 in 1957 and won the NSW Championship in 1957 and 1961. He was second in the 1958/9 Australian Championship behind IM L.Steiner.
Berger became an International Master by winning the South East Asian Zonal Tournament in Jakarta in 1963. The 1964 Interzonal in Amsterdam had 18 of the leading Grandmasters in the World and 6 International Masters including Berger.
Berger had a sharp style of play and crushed former World Title Candidate Pal Benko(Grandmaster) in the following brevity.

B.Berger v P.Benko (Voros Lobogo 1955) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. O-O-O Bd7 9. f4 h6 10. Bh4 Nxe4 11. Qe1 Nf6 12. Nf5 Qa5 13. Nxd6+ Bxd6 14. Rxd6 Qc7 (15...0-0-0!?) 15. Rd2 Qxf4 16. Bxf6 Qxf6 17. Ne4 Qe5 18. Nd6+ Ke7 19. Qf2 f6 20. Bc4 Qa5 21. Qg3! 1-0


The leading players from each of three preliminary divisions - Northern, Western and Southern - met in Sydney for the Finals of the NSW Country Junior Championships. Sebastian Jurd of Wentworth Falls and Michal Tokarz of Wollongong tied for first place in the Under 18 section and then drew a one-game play-off match. They will now share the title. Michael McGuirk of Maitland finished in third place. Sebastian Jurd previously won the title in 2002 and 2004 and also shared the NSW Country (adult) title in 2002. The Under 12 title has been won by John McMahon of Wagga Wagga, ahead of Jordan Morris of Bulli and Ramon Aich of Dubbo.

The Australian Championship and supporting tournaments in the Carlton Crest Hotel,Brisbane(Dec 28th 2005-Jan 9th 2006) has attracted over 300 players(140 adults and 160 juniors). The top ten seeds in the 30 player championship are GM L.Ftacnik(SVK 2612),3 time winner GM I.Rogers(NSW 2556),GM R.Schmaltz(GER 2544),GM M.Chandler(ENG 2537),5 time winner GM D.Johansen(VIC 2462),IM Z.Zhao(NSW 2461),the defending champion IM G.Lane(NSW 2445),former champion IM A.Wohl(NSW)2439,IM D.Smerdon(QLD 2421),IM S.Solomon(QLD 2415). Moulthun Ly(QLD) is defending his Under 18 Australian Junior Title(74 players). I will be covering the championships with extra columns in the SMH.

Leading scores after round 6 in the Russian Champioship Super-Final in Moscow(12 players,average 2664,11 rounds)S.Rublevsky(2652)4.5,D.Jakovenko(2644),P.Svidler(2740),V.Zvjaginsev(2659),4,E.Bareev(2675),A.Morozevich(2707)3.5,V.Kramnik(2739)3

Final scores of Australian juniors at the Asian Schools Festival in Singapore(9 games) U-9 C.Koh(NSW) 3,U-13 W.Xu(NSW)4.5,U-15 J.Tse(NSW) 4, U-9 Girls C.Koh(NSW) 4
 

Aronian wins World Cup

Peter Parr
 
Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian(rated 2724 and aged 23),who lives in Berlin,has won the 128 player World Cup Knockout Match Tournament in Khanty-Manslysk,Siberia. Aronian defeated former World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov(UKR 2704) 3-1 in the final and Etienne Bacrot(FRA 2725) 1.5-0.5 in his semi-final match(overall score 10 wins,8 draws in 18 games,7 matches). Ponomariov defeated Alexander Grischuk(RUS 2720) in the other semi-final match.
 
Aronian was born and raised in Armenia . His father is a laser research physicist and his mother is an explosives expert. Aronian won the World Under 12 title in 1994 and moved to Germany at the age of eighteen and won the World Junior(Under 20 title) in 2002. He has had several trainers and has studied the games of the old masters(Alekhine etc). He is brilliant at solving studies and combinations without using a chessboard and is excellent at rapid-play and blitz. He says he lacks opening preparation,but likes complicated and unbalanced positions and has great confidence. Aronian is a rare example of a player rated above 2700 who has not competed in very high category tournaments. 
 
Fifteen- year- old Magnus Carlsen who performed above 2700 rating won the following brilliant game against former World Title Challenger Gata Kamsky. Kamsky recovered to beat Carlsen 3-1
M.Carlsen(NOR 2570) - G.Kamsky(USA 2690) Rd 7.1  B43  1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 a6 5 Nc3 Qc7 6 Bd3 b5 7 0-0 Bb7 8 Qe2 Ne7 9 Re1 Nbc6 10 Nxc6 Nxc6 11 Nd5 exd5 12 exd5+ Ne7 13 c4 b4 14 Bg5 f6 15 Qh5+ g6 16 Qf3 fxg5 17 Qf6 0-0-0 18 Qxh8 Qd6 19 Be4 Kb8 20 Rac1 Qf4 21 g3 Qf7 22 Qd4 d6 23 Qb6 Rd7 24 Qxb4 Nf5 25 Bxf5 gxf5 26 Re6 f4 27 Rce1 Rd8 28 Qb6 Rc8 29 b4 fxg3 30 hxg3 h5 31 b5 Qc7 32 Qxc7+ Kxc7 33 a4 axb5 34 axb5 Kb6 35 Re8 Bg7 36 R8e6 Rd8 37 c5+ Kxc5 38 Re7 Bd4 39 Rxb7 Rf8 40 Rc7+ Kxd5 41 Rd1 Rb8 42 Rg7 g4 43 Rg5+ Kc4 44 Rxh5 Bc5 45 Rg5 Rxb5 46 Rxg4+ Kc3 47 Kg2 Ba3 48 Rgd4 1-0
 
The 12 player Russian Championship Super-Final starts tonight in Moscow. Top seeds are Svidler 2740,Kramnik 2739,Grischuk 2720,Morozevich 2707,Dreev 2694 and Bareev 2675.
 
The four game play-off match for the NSW State Championship between FIDE Master Max Fuller and Andrew Bird will be held this week at the Sydney  Academy of Chess,Strathfield. Fuller,who first won the title forty years ago, has the white pieces in the first game this evening. 

 In the Australian Schools Teams Championships, held in Sydney last weekend, the four titles went to schools from four different states. The Secondary Open division was won by St Peter's College of Adelaide, led by SA state (adult) champion James Obst. North Sydney Girls High School convincingly won the Secondary Girls division. There was a close finish in the Primary Open division, with Somerset College (Qld) edging ahead of Essex Heights Primary School (Vic) and Sydney Grammar School St Ives Preparatory. The Primary Girls division was won by Curtin Primary School (ACT).

 The NSW Junior Chess League has scheduled three tournaments over the summer holidays, a one-day tournament on 12 January, a two-day tournament on 18-19 January and a three-day tournament on 25-27 January. For details see www.nswjcl.org.au or contact Margaret Cuckson, phone 9388 7940

 

World Cup
Peter Parr

The World Chess Cup organised by the World Chess Federation with a prize fund of over two million AUS Dollars is being held in Khanty-Manslysk,Siberia. After three rounds the 128 players is reduced to 16 contenders with an average rating of 2679. Magnus Carlsen(2570) the fifteen year-old Norwegian prodigy defeated GM Cheparinov(BUL 2618) in round 3 and is by far the lowest rated player left at this stage.
Carlsen drew both games with Bareev(2675) in round 4 and outplayed his opponent in the first rapid play game but on move 43 in a winning position he made a terrible mistake and lost and was knocked out 1.5-2.5. Bacrot beat his French countryman Lautier and Grischuk defeated former World Title Challenger Gata Kamsky(USA no 1 player)who recently returned to chess after a nine year absence.

R.Ponomariov(UKR 2704)-L.Van Wely(NED 2648) 4.2(7 DEC) 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 c3 (white only needs to draw to qualify for the next round so plays safely)Nf6 4 e5 Nd5 5 Bc4 Nb6 6 Bb3 d6 7 exd6 Bxd6 0-0 Nc6 9 d4 cxd4 10 cxd4 Nd5 11 Bg5 Be7 12 Bxd5 Qxd5?! 13 Nc3 Qf5 14 Bxe7 Nxe7 15 Qa4+! Bd7 16 Qa3 (white stands better as black is unable to castle)Nd5 17 Ne5 Nxc3 18 bxc3 Qg5 19 Rab1! Bc8 20 Rfe1 Qe7 21 Qa4+ Kf8 22 d5 h5 23 Rbd1 exd5 24 Ng6+ fxg6 25 Rxe7 Kxe7 26 Qd4 Kf7 27 Qxd5+ Kf6 28 Qd4+ Kf7 29 Qc4+ Be6 30 Rd7+ 1-0

Quarter-final match results R.Ponomariov(UKR)1.5-E.Bareev(RUS)0.5, E.Bacrot(FRA)1.5 S.Rublevsky (RUS)0.5,L.Aronian(ARM) 1.5 M.Gurevich(BEL) 0.5, B.Gelfand(ISR)1 A.Grischuk(RUS) 1-(Gelfand won the first game but lost the second).

E.Bacrot(FRA 2725)-S.Rublevsky(RUS 2652) 5.2(10 DEC) 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Nxc6 bxc6 7 Bd3 d5 8 0-0 Nf6 9 Re1 Be7 10 e5 Nd7 11 Qg4 g6 12 Na4 Qa5 13 Bh6 Qb4 14 Qxb4 Bxb4 15 c3 Ba5 16 b4 Bc7 17 f4 a5 18 b5 Nb6 19 Nxb6 Bxb6+ 20 Kf1 cxb5 21 Bxb5+ Bd7 22 Rab1 Rb8 23 c4 Ba7 24 Ba6 Bc6 25 cxd5 exd5 26 f5 Rxb1 27 Rxb1 Kd7 28 Rc1 gxf5 29 Bd3 Re8 30 Bf4 Bd4 31 Bxf5+ Kc7 32 e6+ Kb6 33 Rb1+ Kc5 34 exf7 Rf8 35 Rc1+ Kb6 36 Be6 Bc5 37 Bh6 Bb5+ 38 Ke1 Bb4+ 39 Kf2 Rd8 40 Rc8 1-0

The semi-final matches start tonight with all players rated above 2700. The qualifiers are Former World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov(UKR 2704 seeded 9th),Etienne Bacrot(FRA 2725 seeded 2nd),Levon Aronian(ARM 2724 seeded 3rd),and the winner of the match Alexander Grischuk(RUS 2720 seeded 4th) and Boris Gelfand(ISR 2717 seeded 5th).

The World Cup is a qualifying event for the World Championship Candidates Matches in 2006. Topalov,Anand,Svidler and Morozevich will be joined by 4 players from the Candidates in an eight player double round robin World Championship Title tournament in 2007.

The NSW Country Teams(Dec 3-4) was held at Mingara Recreation Club with players travelling from Newcastle,Coffs Harbour,Gosford,Tumbi Umbi,Dubbo and Katoomba. FM John Curtis scored 4/4 on board one for Gosford. Colin Rowlison(Gosford) was the best individual scorer on 6.5/7. Leading final scores (50 players,14 teams,7 rounds,21 games) Gosford 17,Newcastle 12.5,Katoomba,Coffs Harbour,Fright Knights,Cardiff,Mingara Mates 12.
 

Thousands of Teams in NSW Schools
Peter Parr

The NSW inter-schools competitions have come to an end for the year with three primary finals being held over three consecutive days. The Primary Schools Competition (1150 teams of 4-players) culminated in a grand final in which Metropolitan Champions Sydney Grammar St Ives Prep defeated Country Champions Wollongong P S. The following day the Country Districts finals of the Primary One-Day series (for 3-player teams) took place and was won by The Junction P S of Newcastle. The top country teams joined the metropolitan finalists in the Metropolitan/State finals – this was convincingly won by Sydney Grammar School St Ives Prep. In the One-Day series a total of 1147 teams participated in the 34 district tournaments which led up to the two finals.

The Country Secondary Schools Competition (147 teams of 4-players) concluded with the six regional winners meeting for the grand finals in Sydney – the winning team was Karabar High from Queanbeyan. The Metropolitan Secondary Competition (285 teams of 4-players) had finished earlier with Knox Grammar winning the Open Grade, Trinity Grammar winning the Senior and Intermediate Grades and Baulkham Hills High winning the Junior Grade.

The 4-player Primary and Secondary Competitions have determined the teams to represent NSW in the Australian Schools Teams Championships to be held in Sydney on 10-11 December. The NSW teams in the four divisions are as follows: Primary Open – Sydney Grammar School St Ives Prep; Primary Girls – Summer Hill Public ; Secondary Open – Knox Grammar; Secondary Girls – North Sydney Girls High.

NSW Lightning championship leading final scores(48 players,11 rounds) - IM Z.Zhao 11,R.Yu 9,I.Bjelobrk 8 NSWCA AGM - W.Gletsos(President),A.Bird(Vice-President),T.Accola(Secretary),N.Greenwood(Treasurer)- W.Gletsos and R.Gastineau-Hills were appointed life members.
The popular St George Leagues Club Summer Open tournament-7 round swiss,starts tomorrow evening.Details Chris Nikolaou 0403 324 548.

The ACF has rated 140 tournaments(11211 games) in the last 3 months. Leading players Dec 2005(30 of the top 60 are from NSW) GM I.Rogers NSW 2631,IM A Wohl NSW 2538,IM G.Lane NSW 2484,IM Z.Zhao(NSW) 2475,GM D.Johansen(VIC) 2453,T.Tao(SA) 2418,I.Bjelobrk(VIC) 2408,IM D.Smerdon (VIC) 2405

IM Aleks Wohl Last week missed a tie for 2nd place by losing to IM Levon Altounian(2457)in the final round of the 88 player American Open in Los Angeles.

GM Thomas Luther(2569),Olympic Silver Medallist 2000,and WGM Eva Moser(AUT 2361)have been on holiday in NSW and will return to Europe for Christmas.
Former World Title Challenger Nigel Short made his second visit to Sydney last week after giving simultaneous exhibitions In five New Zealand Cities scoring 132 wins,12 draws,2 losses(94.5%)

There are 32 players left in the World Cup knock-out match tournament in Khanty-Manslysk,Siberia.Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen (2570) who turned 15 yrs old last week beat GM Azmaiparishvili(GEO 2658) and GM Ammonatov(TJK 2572)in his first two matches and leads 1-0 in Rd 3 against GM Cheparinov(BUL 2618) who beat the top Seed V.Ivanchuk(UKR 2748) in rd 2.
Australian Champion IM Gary Lane(2445)won his first match on forfeit but was knocked out in his second match 0.5-1.5 against GM B.Jobava(GEO 2601)
 

Mamedyarov wins World Junior
Peter Parr

Grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan,easily won the World Junior Championship in Istanbul Turkey. Mamedyarov,the top seed rated 2674(and winner in 2003),started with 8.5/9 and coasted to victory drawing the last 4 rounds for an overall tournament performance rating of 2783.

FM George Xie(NSW Champion 2002 and 2004)achieved his final International Master norm scoring 5.5 after 9 rounds and will be awarded the IM Title when his rating reaches 2400. Xie scored only half a point in his last four games.

FM G.Xie(AUS 2340) v B.Tulay(TUR 2179) Round 3 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. Be3 b6 7. Qd2 e5 8. Nge2 Qe7 9. f4 exf4 10. Bxf4 h6 11. h3 Nf6 12. O-O Nd7 13. a4 a5 14. Rae1 Ne5 15. b3 Ba6 16. Nd1 Rd8 17. Qc1 Bc8 18. Kh1 g5 19. Bg3 g4 20. h4 h5 21. Ne3 Bf6 22. Rxf6 Qxf6 23. Qa1 Nd7 24. e5 Nxe5 25. Bxe5 Qxh4+ 26. Kg1 Rh6 27. Ng3 Qg5 28. Bf4 1-0

FM G. Xie(AUS 2340) v L.Babujian(ARM 2429) Round 9 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bg5 Nbd7 4. Qd3 h6 5. Bxf6 Nxf6 6. e4 dxe4 7. Nxe4 Nxe4 8. Qxe4 e6 9. Bc4 Bd6 10. Nf3 Rb8 11. O-O O-O 12. Ne5 Bxe5 13. dxe5 b6 14. Bd3 g6 15. Qf4 Qg5 16. Qxg5 hxg5 17. Rae1 Bb7 18. Re3 c5 19. Rg3 Rfd8 20. Rxg5 Rd4 21. b3 Be4 22. Bxe4 Rxe4 23. Rd1 Re2 24. h4 Kg7 25. h5 Kh6 26. f4 gxh5 27. Rd3 Re1+ 28. Kh2 1-0

Leading final scores (92 players, 13 rounds): GM S.Mamedyarov (AZE 2674) 10.5, GM F.Berkes (Hun 2596) 9.5, GM E.Alekseev (RUS 2596), GM V.Gashimov (AZE 2608) 9. FIDE Master George Xie (Australia 2340) scored 6 points (rating performance 2387).

World Girls leading final scores (67 players, 13 rounds): IM E.Paehtz (GER 2408) 10/13 WGM X.Gu (CHN 2330) 9.5

Three former World Champions Alexander Khalifman(RUS 1999),Ruslan Ponomariov(UKR 2002) and Rustam Kasimdzhanov(UZB 2004) lost 4-8 to three computer programs in Bilbao,Spain last week.

The first round of the 128 player World Cup knockout match tournament was played early this morning(Sydney time) in the town of Khanty-Manslysk,Yugra,Western Siberia. The top seeds are Ivanchuk,Bacrot,Aronian,Grischuk,Gelfand,Shirov and Akopian. Australian Champion IM Gary Lane(2445) plays GM Vladimir Akopian(ARM 2707)in a two game match in round 1.


The Rooty Hill Club Championship attracted 42 players in 5 divisions. Tony Bouchaaya who represented Lebanon in four chess Olympiads(scoring 50%-22.5/45) in the 1980's won the title event scoring 4.5 out of 6 half a point ahead of Robert Ambalong on 4 points.

The 25th Fishers's Ghost Open tournament at Campbelltown Catholic Club was won by Ilija Ilic scoring 6/7.

Igor Bjelobrk won the 56 player Ralph Seberry Memorial tournament at North Sydney Leagues Club scoring 5.5/6 half a point ahead of Kevin O'Chee 5.

The NSW Country Teams Championship will be held at Mingara Recreation Club,Tumbi Umbi on 3rd and 4th December.

 

Final IM Norm for George W.Xie
Peter Parr

George W.Xie,NSW Champion in 2002 and 2004,achieved his final International Master norm after nine rounds of the World Junior Championship in Istanbul,Turkey. His score of 5.5/9(rating performance 2495)was half a point above the norm(2450).Xie(2340)aged 20, may now apply for the IM Title which will be awarded when his rating level reaches 2400(probably in January 2006).

Xie was unable to achieve a Grandmaster result(2600 performance)when he lost his tenth round game to IM E.Romanov(RUS 2479). Xie has now 5.5/10 and plays IM A.Zhigalko(BLR 2537)in round 11.
The defending champion Grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov(AZE 2674) leads with 9/10(perf 2889)a lead of 2 points with 3 rounds to play in the 92 player event.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov(GM AZE 2674) v Bartlomiej Heberla(IM POL 2465)Rd 3 A43 1. d4 c5 2. dxc5 Na6 3. e4 Nxc5 4. Nc3 d6 5. Be3 e6 6. Nf3 a6 7. Qd4 Ne7 8. Rd1 Nc6 9. Qd2 b5 10. a3 Be7 11. Bf4 e5 12. Be3 Be6 13. Be2 O-O 14. O-O Rc8 15. h3 Qc7 16. Rfe1 Rfd8 17. Ng5 Bxg5 18. Bxg5 f6 19. Be3 Ne7 20. Bg4 Bxg4 21. hxg4 Qc6 22. Bxc5 Qxc5 23. g5 f5 24. Qd3 fxe4 25. Nxe4 Qc4 26. Qh3 Rc6 27. g6 Nxg6 28. b3 Qf7 29. Ng5 Qf6 30. Qxh7+ Kf8 31. Ne4 Qe6 32. Rd3 d5 33. Rf3+ Ke8 34. Ng5 Qe7 35. Rf5 Rf6 36. Qg8+ Kd7 37. Qxd5+ Kc7 38. Qf3 Rdf8 39. Rxf6 gxf6 40. Ne4 f5 41. Qc3+ Kb8 42. Qc6 1-0

IM Irina Vasilevich(RUS 2389) leads the 67 player World Girls Championship with 8/10.

The 128 player World Cup knockout tournament will be held in the town of Khanty-Manslysk in the autonomous Region of Yugra,Western Siberia(temp - 15),Russia from 27th Nov to 18th Dec with a total prize fund of over AUS $ 2 million.

Australian Champion and Oceania Representative Gary Lane(IM 2445,aged 41,world no 1259 and seeded 122/128) will play GM Vladimir Akopian(ARM 2707,aged 33,world no 15 and seeded 7/128 in a first round match(2 games). Akopian was World Junior Champion in 1991 and qualified for the final in the 1999 World Championship knockout in Las Vegas. Akopian lost the 6 game World Title Match 2.5-3.5 against Alexander Khalifman(RUS). Lane beat former World Title Challenger Nigel Short of England(currently touring New Zealand giving exhibitions in Wellington,Hamilton,Auckland,Christchurch and Dunedin later this month))in the last Olympiad.


IM Gary Lane(Australian Champion) won the 56 player(8 rated above 1800)Coffs Harbour second annual weekender.Lane won his first six games and drew with top seed IM Zong Zhao in the last round.Lane's father-in-law FM Brian Jones was second on 6 points beating Zong-Zhao but losing to Lane. Zong Zhao and Johny Bolens tied for third place with 5.5 points.Fritz van der Wal and Alan Tankel both finished on 5/7 as the leading NSW Country players. The title of NSW Country Champion for 2005 is yet to be decided.

Leading final scores in the Ford Memorial at North Sydney Leagues Club(69 players,9 rounds) A.Ayvazyan 8.5,R.Cook 7.5,R.Song(aged 11),J.Cronan,A.Chek,V.Tulevski 6.5

The NSW State Lightning Championship will be held at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club on Sunday 27th November starting at 11am and will be followed by the NSWCA Annual General Meeting at 2:30pm.
 

Russia Gold - China Silver
Peter Parr (SMH 21/11/05)

Russia snatched the gold medals from China in a dramatic final round match in the World Team Championship in Beer Sheva,Israel. China and Russia had each won their first six matches but China had 19.5 points a full 4 points ahead of Russia with only two matches(8 games) to play. The following game secured China's win 2.5-1.5 over Olympic Gold Medallists Ukraine.
Ni Hua(age 22 started with 5/6 -2863 p.r.) defends well against white's kingside attack.
Moiseenko,A (UKR 2663) - Ni Hua (CHN 2603) [D15] World Team Ch Beer Sheva ISR (6), 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 a6 5.Nf3 b5 6.c5 g6 7.Ne5 Bg7 8.Be2 0-0 9.0-0 Nfd7 10.f4 f5 11.Nd3 a5 12.Bd2 Nf6 13.Be1 Nbd7 14.Bh4 Kh8 15.Kh1 Ne4 16.h3 h6 17.g4 b4 18.Nxe4 dxe4 19.Nf2 Nf6 20.Bxf6 Bxf6 21.gxf5 Bxf5 22.Bc4 e6 23.Kh2 g5 24.Qh5 Ra7 25.Ng4 gxf4 26.Nxf6 Qxf6 27.Rxf4 Rg7 28.Rg1 Rfg8 29.Rff1 Rg5 30.Qe2?(better was Qd1) Qg6 31.Rxg5 Qxg5 32.Qf2 Qh5 33.h4 Rg4 34.Be2 Rxh4+ 35.Kg1 Rh1+ 0-1 forcing mate next move. China widened its lead beating the USA 3.5-0.5.

China lost 2.5-1.5 to Armenia in the second last round while Russia dropped a vital point when GM Sergei Rublevsky lost to the 16 year old Chinese girl Shen Yang who tactically outplayed the strong Russian Grandmaster. China needed to score one point against Russia from the four games in the final round to win the gold medals. Bu(CHN 2637) drew with Svidler(RUS 2740)in 21 moves on board 1 leaving only half a point to score in the final 3 games.China so far had lost only two games in the entire event. Soon after the time control the three Russian Super-Grandmasters Grischuk(2720),Morozevich(2707) and Bareev(2675) all won their critical games against Zhang(2613),Ni Hua(2603)and Zhong(2608). Russia won all 8 matches scoring 2.5 or 3 in every match except 3.5 in the last round.

Final scores(9 teams,32 games) Russia 22,China 21.5,Armenia 18.5,Ukraine 17.5,USA 16.5,Israel 14.5,Georgia 13.5,Cuba 13,China(women) 7. The Asian Team Championship will be held in Esfahan,Iran 20-28 December 2005.

160 players from 52 countries are competing in the World Junior and World Girls Championships in Istanbul,Turkey. Australia's sole representative FM George Xie(2340)was NSW State Champion in 2002 and 2004. Xie's first four round results (performance rating so far 2369)are GM Wang Yue(CHN 2585) 0.5,GM I.Kurnosov(RUS 2523) 0,B.Tulay(TUR 2179)1,IM I.Khairullin(RUS 2537) 0. Xie will become an International Master if he scores his final IM norm(2450+result)in this event. GM S.Mamedyarov(AZE 2674) leads with 4/4. WGM X.Gu(CHN 2330)leads the girls with 4/4.


Leading final scores in the Gosford Open ACF Grand Prix Weekender (27 players, 7 rounds) J.Bolens 6.5: P.Broekhuyse 5.5: B.Ingram 5. Johny Bolens also won the 35 player St George Leagues Club Spring Open scoring 8/9 ahead of St George stalwart and International Arbiter Dr Charles Zworestine 7 and N.Radev 6.5

The Ralph Seberry Memorial ACF Grand Prix weekender (7 rounds) will be held at North Sydney Leagues Club on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th November. Details - Trent Parker Tel 0419 469 764.
The Ralph Seberry Memorial Chess Club was opened last week in Gandra, Sri Lanka. Seberry was NSW Champion in 2003.
 

Olympiad Team Selected
Peter Parr

The Correspondence Chess League of Australia has selected the team for the XVII Correspondence Chess Olympiad to be held on the Webserver commencing on 30th November. The team in board order is SIM S.Kerr(2609),SIM T.Runting(2515),SIM G.Benson 2512,IM B.Oates(2496),C.Fenwick(2496) and C.Murden(2374). Team Captain is N.Cooper.
Australia's best result was 5th place in the VI Correspondence Olympiad 40 years ago. IM Cecil Purdy of Sydney was the First World Correspondence Champion in 1953.

The young Chinese team has won its first 4 matches dropping only 2.5 points in 16 games in the World Teams Championship in Beer-Sheva,Israel. The top seeds Russia have won their first 5 matches dropping 7 points.
Akopian,V (ARM 2707) - Jobava,B (GEO 2601) [B63] Rd 2 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 Be7 8.0-0-0 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 0-0 10.e5 dxe5 11.Qxe5 Bd7 12.Be2 Rc8 13.Be3 a6 14.g4 b5 15.g5 Ne8 16.Ne4 Qc7 17.Qxc7 Rxc7 18.Rhg1 Bc6 19.Nc5 Bf3 20.Bxf3 Bxc5 21.Rge1 Bxe3+ 22.Rxe3 Rc5 23.h4 Nc7 24.Rd7 f6 25.Be4 fxg5 26.hxg5 Rxf2 27.b4 Rc4 28.Bd3 Rc6 29.Rh3 h5 30.Rxh5 e5 31.Rh8+ 1-0

Progress scores(9 teams,32 games) China(Bu,Zhang,Ni,Zhong,Zhou,Liang)13.5/16:Russia(Svidler,Dreev,Grischuk,Morozevich,Bareev,Rublevsky) 13/20,Armenia 9.5/16,Ukraine 9/16,Israel 10/20,USA 7.5/16,Cuba 6/16,Georgia 6.5/20,China Women 5/20

IM Aleks Wohl(AUS 2439)declined a draw offer from top seed Grandmaster Simen Agdestein(2582)in the final round in Arco, Italy. Wohl needed to win to finish outright first but lost. Leading final scores(116 players,9 rounds) S.Agdestein(NOR 2582) 8,GM S.Zagrebelny(UZB 2513) 7,IM A.Wohl(AUS 2439),GM G.Luther(GER 2569),IM J.Aagaard(DEN 2452),IM E.Moser(AUT 2361) 6.5

11 year old Raymond Song gained the advantage against 60 year old Max Fuller in the last round of the NSW Championship but Fuller played accurately to draw. Fuller and Andrew Bird(age 26,a professional chess coach) will play a 4 game match for the title(shared if 2-2)in mid-December.
Fuller scored 1 win and 4 draws in his 5 games with the white pieces and won his only 2 games with black and won 1 game on forfeit. Bird,who entered his first competition 8 years ago,started with 5.5/6 but scored only 0.5 in his last two games(3/4 with white and 3/4 with black). Fuller won the event in 1965 - 40 years ago when Andrew Bird's mother (then Daphne Hewson)was receiving regular coaching from IM C.Purdy.Fuller was NSW Champion again in 1986 and joint champion(no play-off)in 1988. C.Purdy's record was 7 NSW titles between 1929 and 1962(aged 56 the oldest champion to date). The last time a tie and play-off match for the title was held was in 1968 when C.Purdy (aged 62)lost to Peter Parr(aged 22).

Final scores (9 players, 8 games): FM M.Fuller and A.Bird 6: FM G.Canfell 5.5: R.Song 5: B.Atzmon-Simon 4.5: A.Mendes da Costa 4: R.Capilitan 2.5: Q.Reitmans 1.5: J.Cabilin 1. WFM Angela Song(aged 13)dominated the main supporting event(10 players) scoring 8.5/9. Sim Navarro was second on 8 followed by Michael Dunn 6.Under 1600(25 players) 1st E.Hoving 8/9,2nd A.Miranda 7.5,3rd E.Katnic 7 Johny Bolens won the 31 player Laurieton Spring Open weekender with 6.5/7. David Castor was second on 6.
The next ACF Grand Prix event incorporating the NSW Country Championship will be held over 7 rounds next weekend 12th - 13th November at Coffs Harbour Catholic Club.
 

NSW Champion Fuller or Bird
Peter Parr

The top two seeds in the NSW Championship Greg Canfell and Max Fuller, both multiple former title-holders, met in the eighth round. FM Canfell,Greg - FM Fuller,Max [B00] 1.e4 b6 2.d4 Bb7 3.Bd3 Nf6 4.Nd2 e6 5.Ngf3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.a3 Be7 8.0-0 d6 9.Qe2 Qc7 10.b4 a5 11.bxc5 bxc5 12.Rb1 0-0 13.e5 Nd7 14.Qe4 g6 15.exd6 Bxd6 16.Ng5 Nf6 17.Qh4 h5 18.Nc4 Ba6 19.Rd1 Bxc4 20.Bxc4 cxd4 21.cxd4 Ne7 22.Bd3 Nf5 23.Bxf5 exf5 24.d5 Rab8 25.Bb2 Ng4 26.Nf3 Qc2 27.Nd4 Bxh2+ 28.Qxh2 Qxd1+? 29.Rxd1 Nxh2 30.Bc3 Ng4 31.Bxa5 Rb2 32.d6 Nf6 33.Bc3 Rb6 34.Nxf5 Ne4 35.Ne7+ Kh7 36.Ba5? Serious time trouble Rxd6 37.Rxd6 Nxd6 38.Bb4 Rd8 39.Nc6 Rc8 40.Ne5 Nc4 41.Nxf7 Ra8 42.g4? hxg4 43.Kg2 Nxa3 44.Kg3 Nc2 45.Bd2 Rf8 46.Ng5+ Kg8 47.Ne4 Nd4 48.Kxg4 Rf5 49.f4 Ne6 50.Be3 Ng7 51.Bd4 Ra5 52.Be5 Ra4 53.Nf6+ Kf7 54.Kg5 Ne6+ 55.Kh6 Ra3 0-1 white is mated


Fuller played actively in the middle-game winning the exchange with a combination on move 28. Fuller missed an even better 28th move forcing immediate resignation(Qxf2 check followed by Nxh2). Canfell came very close to drawing the endgame but eventually lost when mate was unavoidable at move 55. Andrew Bird who had conceded only two draws in his first seven games lost his vital last game by trying too hard to win against Barak Atzmon-Simon.

The game between 60 year-old Max Fuller(who won the title for the first time 40 years ago) and 11 year-old Raymond Song will determine the winner (Fuller or Bird). Leading scores (9 players, 8 games). M.Fuller 5.5/7: A.Bird 6/8: G.Canfell, R.Song 4.5/7: B.Atzmon-Simon 4.5/8. A 4 game play-off match will be held in the event of a tie.

The next Australian Chess Federation Grand Prix event, the Gosford Open, will be held at Central Coast Leagues Club, Gosford with 7 rounds over the weekend 5-6 November.

GM Baadur Jobava(GEO 2601)won the category 16(av 2638)Samba Cup in Skanderborg(Denmark)scoring 5.5/9(performance 2722) half a point ahead of Bruzon(2677),Zhang(2613),Miton(2636) and Timofeev(2658). Vassily Ivanchuk(UKR 2748)the top seed scored 4.5/9

Final scores in the 4 player Crown Group Essent Hoogeveen(NED) cat 16(2629)event - P.Harikrishna(IND 2673) 4/6,I.Sokolov(NED 2696) 3.5,E.Sutovsky(ISR 2654)2.5,World Womens Champion A.Stefanova(BUL 2494)2.
The 77 player open event(including 14 grandmasters) was won by Vladimir Baklan(UKR 2590) scoring 7/9. GM Ian Rogers(AUS 2556)seeded 6th finished 2nd-7th equal on 6.5 points(4wins,5draws)with a 2532 performance rating. F.Nijboer(NED 2545),E.Rozentalis(LTU 2585),M.Brodsky(UKR 2564),E.L'Ami(NED 2541) and A.Goloshchapov(UKR 2523) also scored 6.5 points. FM Manual Weeks(2268 formerly of Sydney,currently living in Spain)seeded 45th scored 4.5 finishing 36th-44th equal(performance rating 2353)

The World Teams Championship(10 teams) start tomorrow in Beer-Sheva,Israel. Russia(Svidler 2740,Grischuk 2720,Dreev 2694,Morozevich 2707,Motylev 2632 and Bareev 2675)are the top seeds. The other leading teams are Ukraine,Armenia and Israel.
 

Johansen wins Victorian Championship
Peter Parr

Grandmaster Darryl Johansen won the Victorian State Championship for the eleventh time even though he lost his last round game to FM Chris Depasquale. Final scores (11 players, 10 games): D.Johansen(GM 2462) 7.5: M.Rujevic(IM 2247) 7: D.Smerdon(IM 2421),P.Froehlich(IM 2360) 6: L.Sandler(IM 2381) 5.5: C.Depasquale(FM 2309),E.Levi(FM 2241) 5: I.Goldenberg(FM 2335) 4.5: D.Hacche(2187) 4: D.Beaumont 3: J.Hislop 1.5

Andrew Bird, the clear leader, has only one game left to play in the NSW State Championship at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club.
The top three games A.Mendes da Costa v A.Bird, G.Canfell v R.Song and veterans M.Fuller v R.Capilitan were all drawn in the seventh round. Leading scores (9 players, 8 games) A.Bird 6/7, FM G.Canfell and FM M.Fuller each 4.5/6, R.Song 3.5/6, B.Atzmon-Simon 3.5/7.

The second leg of the Manly-North Sydney match held last week was won by North Sydney 10.5-6.5. The first leg was drawn 10-5-10.5 leaving North Sydney the overall winners 21-17. Leading final scores of The 21st Interleagues Premiership(40 players,7 rounds) J.Bolens 6,A.Rose,E.Puzon 5.5,A.Flatow 5.

Former NSWCA Councillor Ken Organ died last week at the age of 78. He was an Umpire in the strong 1958 Australian Championship in Sydney won by IM L.Steiner and an office-bearer in the 1960's.

The Laurieton Services Club(Mid North Coast)Open weekender will be held over 7 rounds on 29-30 October.

NSW Champion George Xie scored his first International Master norm(over 2450 performance rating) at the age of nineteen by winning the following last round game against Grandmaster opposition in the Asian Individual Championship in Hyderabad,India.

George Xie (FM AUS 2340) v Taleb Moussa (GM UAE 2510) 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. f4 d6 7. Nf3 Nh6 8. O-O Rb8 9. Qe1 O-O 10. b3 f6 11. Bd2 e5 12. Rd1 Nf7 13. Na4 exf4 14. Bxf4 Ne5 15.Kh1 Rb7 16. Qg3 Rbf7 17. Rfe1 Qa5 18. c3 Re8 19. Nd2 Ba6 20. Re3 Rd7 21. d4 cxd4 22. cxd4 Nf7 23. Rc3 Bb5 24. Nc4 Qd8 25. Nd2 Rde7 26. h3 g5 27. Be3 Qa5 28. Rdc1 h6 29. Bg1 d5 30. exd5 Bxa4 31. d6 Nxd6 32. Qxd6 Bb5 33. a4 Ba6 34.Nc4 Qf5 35. Qxc6 Bxc4 36. Qxc4+ Kh8 37. Qd3 Qd7 38. d5 f5 39. d6 Re6 40. Rc7 Qxd6 41. Qxd6 Rxd6 42. Rxa7 Rd2 43. a5 Bb2 44. Rb1 Red8 45. a6 Bd4 46. Bxd4+ R2xd4 47. Rb7 g4 48. a7 g3 49. Rb8 Kg7 50. Rxd8 Rxd8 1-0

Xie will represent Australia in the World Junior(Under 20 Championship)in Istanbul,Turkey comencing on 8th November.
Xie needs one more similar result(and a 2400+ rating) to become an International Master.

Fourteen-year-old Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen(Norway)has won the Gausdal(Norway)International scoring 8/9(performance rating 2792). Vladimir Kramnik(Russia) believes he is the real World Champion and is seeking a match with Veselin Topalov(Bulgaria). Topalov convincingly won the 8 player,14 round World Championship in Argentina earlier this month. Kramnik rejected his invitation to play in this event.Topalov,the official World Champion,now firmly states he will not play a match against Kramnik(World no 7)rated 60 points below him.
 

Topalov is World Champion
Peter Parr

Veselin Topalov(Bulgaria) has convincingly won the World Championship in San Luis,Argentina(Prize fund AUS $1,335,000). Topalov in his first magnificent seven games scored 6.5 drawing only with top seed former World Champion Viswanathan Anand.

Topalov,V (2788) - Adams,Mi (2719) [A30] Rd 4 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.g3 b6 5.Bg2 Bb7 6.0-0 Be7 7.Re1 Ne4 8.d4 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Be4 10.Bf1 d6 11.h4 a fighting move Nd7 12.d5 0-0 13.a4 h6 14.Bh3 exd5 15.cxd5 Bf6 16.Ra3 b5 17.axb5 Nb6 18.c4 Bxf3 19.Rxf3 Nxc4 20.Qa4 Ne5 21.Ra3 Re8 22.h5 Re7 23.Bf4 Rb8 24.Bf5 Qe8 25.Bc2 Qd7 26.Qe4 Ng6 27.Qd3 c4 28.Qxc4 Nxf4 29.Qxf4 Re5 30.Qf3 Qh3 31.Rxa7 Rxh5 32.e3 Qh2+ 33.Kf1 Qh3+ 34.Ke2 Re5 35.Rc7 Rc8? 36.Bf5! Rxf5 37.Rxc8+ Kh7 38.Rh1 1-0

Topalov drew his last seven games finishing a full 1.5 points ahead of Anand and four time Russian Champion Peter Svidler.

Final scores(8 players,14 rounds) V.Topalov(BUL 2788) 10 (performance rating 2890),V.Anand(IND 2788) and P.Svidler(RUS 2738)8.5,A.Morozevich(RUS 2707) 7,P.Leko(HUN 2763) 6.5,R.Kasimdzhanov(UZB 2670) and M.Adams(ENG 2719)5.5,J.Polgar(HUN 2735) 4.5

Topalov(aged 30) is interested to play a title match with Kramnik or Kasparov in 2006. The President of Bulgaria,a keen player,and his two sons followed the last games live on the internet. The Women's World Champion Antoeneta Stefanova and Senior World Champion GM Liuben Spassov are also from Bulgaria.

Final scores in the Karabakh, Armenia International (10 players, 9 rounds, average rating 2668):- L.Aronian (ARM 2724) 6: A.Anastasian (ARM 2596), H.Nakamura (USA 2662) 5.5: I.Sokolov (NED 2696) 5: B.Macieja (POL 2592), V.Bologan (MDA 2682), V.Ivanchuk (UKR 2748), K.Asrian (ARM 2645) 4: X.Bu (CHN 2637), A.Dreev (RUS 2694) 3.5


Leading final scores in the 140 player World Senior Championship in Lignano, Italy. GM L.Spassov (BUL 2396) winner on count back and GM V.Jansa (CZE 2511) 8.5/11. Srboljub Zaric of Adelaide scored 7 points (27th place) and Phillip Viner of Sydney scored 6.5 (33rd place). WIM L.Saunina (RUS) won the Women's World Seniors scoring 7.5/9. WIM Biljana Dekic of Sydney was in tenth place with 5/9.

International Master Aleksander Wohl of Wilsons Creek, NSW has won the 136 Player Munich Open Tournament winning the title on count back from Grandmaster Cyril Marcelin (France 2463).

The 86 player Asian Individual Championship in Hyderabad,India was won by Z.Zhang(CHN 2598) scoring 7.5/9,2nd was S.Li(CHN 2510)on 7. FM George Xie of Sydney(NSW Champion)lost his first two games but won his last two defeating Grandmaster Taleb Moussa(UAE 2510)in the final round. Xie(2340) scored 5/9(5 wins,4 losses),the average rating of his opponents was 2420(only one below 2400). FM S.Lukey(NZL 2286)scored 2.5 points.

Andrew Bird retained his lead in the NSW State Championship by defeating Quentin Reitmans (NSW Junior Champion 1981) in the sixth round. Four times NSW Championship Greg Canfell beat veteran Romeo Capilitan. Leading scores (9 players, 8 rounds) A.Bird 5.5/6: FM G.Canfell and FM M.Fuller 4/5, R.Song 3/5. Angela Song leads the main supporting event with 5.5/6.

Topalov two points ahead
Peter Parr (SMH 10/10/05)

Veselin Topalov is a full two points clear of the field with five games to play in the World Championship double round robin in San Luis,Argentina. Topalov scored an amazing 6.5/7 in the first half of the event and has drawn his first two games against his two highest rated opponents Leko(Rd 8) and Anand (Rd 9)in the second half for an overall rating performance so far of 3020.

Anand,the top seed,playing white against Topalov in round 9 sacrificed a Knight to force a repetition in only 17 moves - a game Anand needed to win.
A.Morozevich - P.Leko(Rd 9) B33 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 e5 6 Ndb5 d6 7 Bg5 a6 8 Na3 b5 9 Nd5 Be7 10 Bxf6 Bxf6 11 c4 b4 12 Nc2 Rb8 13 b3 Bg5 14 g3 0-0 15 h4 Bh6 16 Bh3 Be6 17 Kf1 a5 18 Kg2 Rb7 19 Bf5 Kh8 20 Qd3 Nb8 21 Rad1 Na6 22 Qf3 g6 23 Bh3 f5 24 h5 fxe4 25 Qxe4 Nc5 26 Qe2 Bxd5+ 27 Rxd5 Rbf7 28 Rf1 gxh5 29 Qxh5 Qf6 30 Bg4 Ne4 31 f3 Qg7 32 Rdd1 Nf6 33 Qh3 Nxg4 34 Qxg4 Qf6 35 Qe4 Bf4 36 Kf2 Qh6 37 gxf4 Rxf4 38 Rh1 Qg7 39 Qd5 e4 40 Rdg1 Rxf3+ 41 Ke2 Rf2+ 42 Kd1 Qe5 43 Rh5 Rf1+ 44 Rxf1 Rxf1+ 45 Ke2 Qf4 46 Qd4+ Kg8 47 Rg5+ Qxg5 48 Kxf1 Qc1+ 49 Ne1 Qf4+ 50 Kg1 Qg5+ 51 Ng2 Qc1+ 52 Kh2 Qh6+ 53 Kg3 Qg5+ 54 Kf2 1-0 This was Morozevich's third consecutive win but he will need to beat Topalov in the tenth round starting at 4am(Sydney time)this morning.

Scores after 9 rounds(8 players,14 rounds) V.Topalov(BUL 2788) 7.5,P.Svidler(RUS 2738) 5.5,A.Morozevich(RUS 2707)and V.Anand(IND 2788) 5,P.Leko(HUN 2763) 4,R.Kasimdzhanov(UZB 2670)3.5,M.Adams(ENG 2719) 3,J.Polgar(HUN 2735)2.5

Progress scores in the 140 player World Seniors Championship in Lignano Italy - GM L.Spassov(BUL 2396)and GM V.Jansa(CZE 2511)7.5/9,GM J.Klovans(LAT 2463) 7. Phillip Viner(AUS 2144) is in 31st place with 5.5,and Srboljub Zaric(AUS 2187) is in 43rd place on 5 points. WIM Biljana Dekic(AUS) has scored 4/8 in the World Seniors Womens Championship.

New South Wales Champion George Xie(FM 2340)has lost his first two games in the Asian Individual Championship in Hyderabad,India. Xie is seeded 89th out of 101 players with the top nine rated above 2600.

Leading final scores of NSWCA Ryde-Eastwood Open (37 players, 7 rounds) I.Bjelobrk, A.Ayvazyan 6, J.Bolens, A.Pickering, J.Harp 5.

NSW players have a choice of competing in four tournaments on Monday evenings - Rooty Hill RSL Club Championship (7 rounds) and Fishers Ghost Open at Campbelltown Catholic Club (7 rounds) start tonight. Berger Cup at the Hakoah Club Bondi (9 rounds) start on Monday 17th October.The Canterbury Open at Lakemba Memorial Services Club(7 rounds) starts on October 24th.

The NSW Junior League continued its record-breaking school holidays tournaments with the City of Sydney Junior Championships which attracted 112 players,nearly twice as many as last year. The Under 18 division was won convincingly by 11-year-old Raymond Song with a clean score. Three players,Adrian Miranda,Edwin Wu and William Xu,tied in the Under 15 division and will play off for the title. Leading final scores - Under 18(21 players,8 rounds) Raymond Song 8,Jeffrey Tse 6,David Webster 5.5 Under 15(28 players,8 rounds) Adrian Miranda,Edwin Wu and William Xu 6.5 each. Under 12(63 players,11 rounds) William Yap 9,John McMahon,Eric Shi,Michael Rice,Jonathan Ren and Jordan Morris 8 each.
 

Topalov on Top of the World

Peter Parr

Veselin Topalov has taken the early lead after four rounds in the World Championship round-robin tournament in San Luis,Argentina. Topalov won 3 games and reached a winning ending of Queen and two pawns v Queen  in his encounter with top seed Vishy Anand. Topalov,very short of time,made several mistakes and Anand drew by perpetual check. The defending World Champion,seeded last,won the following entertaining game against the favorite in round 4. 

 R.Kasimdzhanov(UZB)-V.Anand(IND){B 90} 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be3 Ng4 7 Bg5 h6 8 Bh4 g5 9 Bg3 Bg7 10 h3 Ne5 11 Nf5 Bxf5 12 exf5 Nbc6 13 Nd5 e6 14 fxe6 fxe6 15 Ne3 0-0 16 Be2 Qe7 17 0-0 Rad8 18 Bh5 Kh8 19 Re1 d5 20 a4 Nc4 21 Nxc4 dxc4 22 Qg4 Qb4 23 Qxe6 Rd2 24 Rad1 Nd4 25 Qe4 Nf5 26 Be5 Rxf2 27 Bf3 Rd2 28 Bxg7+ Kxg7 29 Qe5+ Rf6 30 a5 Nh4 31 Qc7+ Rf7 32 Qe5+ Rf6 33 Bh5 Ng6 34 Bxg6 Rxd1 35 Rxd1 Kxg6 36 Qe4+ Kg7 37 Rd7+ Kg8 38 Qh7+ 1-0      Scores after round 4(8 players,14 rounds) V.Topalov(BUL) 3.5,P.Svidler(RUS ) 3,V.Anand(IND ) 2.5,R.Kasimdzhanov(UZB ) 2,J.Polgar(HUN ),P.Leko(HUN) 1.5,M.Adams(ENG),A.Morozevich(RUS) 1. Round 5 starts at 4am Tuesday(Sydney time).

 

Grandmasters E.Vasiukov(RUS) and H.Hecht(GER) share the lead with 4/4 in the World Seniors Championship in Lignano,Italy. P.Viner and S. Zaric of Australia have each scored 2.5 points. IWM Biljana Dekic(AUS) is half a point behind the leaders after 3 rounds of the World Seniors Womens Championship.

 

Leading players(total 50597) on the October 2005 World Rating List - G.Kasparov(RUS 2812) now retired,V.Anand(IND 2788),V.Topalov(BUL 2782),P.Leko(HUN 2751),V.Ivanchuk(UKR 2748),P.Svidler(RUS 2740),V.Kramnik(RUS 2739),J.Polgar(HUN 2735),E.Bacrot(FRA 2725),L.Aronian(ARM 2724). Women - J.Polgar(HUN 2735),Z.Polgar(USA 2577) - 204 in the world.Best junior-T.Radjabov(AZE 2704). Leading Australians are I.Rogers(GM 2556,world no 279),D.Johansen(GM 2462,world no 1033),Z.Zhao(IM 2461),G.Lane(IM 2445),A.Wohl(IM 2439),T.Tao(2422),D.Smerdon(IM 2421),S.Solomon(IM 2415),J.Wallace(IM 2392),M.Chapman(IM 2388). The average rating by top 10 from each country is Russia 2710(156 GM and 417 IM),Ukraine 26662,USA 2622,Hungary 2620. Australia is in 52nd place(140 countries) at 2440

 

Andrew Bird,the leader in the NSW Championship. was a pawn ahead in a rook and pawn engame against FM Max Fuller who played accurately to force a draw. Leading scores(9players,8 games) A.Bird 4.5/5,FM M.Fuller 4/5,FM G.Canfell 3/4.

 

Forty-eight girls contested this year's NSW Girls Championships, more than twice as many as last year. The new NSW Girls Champion is 16-year-old Rebecca Harris, the current Australian Girls Champion. Harris suffered one loss in the six-round event – to 13-year-old Deborah Ng. The NSW Girls Under 12 Championship was won by Karishma Kumar with a clean score. Leading final scores – Under 18 (16 players, 6 rounds): Rebecca Harris 5, Sarah Behne-Smith and Emma Storey 4.5 each, Deborah Ng and Adelaide Soltysik 4 each; Under 12 (32 players, 11 rounds): Karishma Kumar 11, Michel Lu and Charmian Zhang 9 each.

 

The NSW Junior Chess League also held its two Spring tournaments last week and these attracted record entries for this time of the year. Both were won by James Cronan, who conceded only half a point in the two events. Leading final scores – Spring One-Day Tournament (256 players, 7 rounds): James Cronan 7, Anish Kumar and Max Illingworth 6.5 each; Spring Two-Day Tournament (195 players, 11 rounds): James Cronan 10.5, Max Illingworth 10, Benjamin Harris, Jason Cohn and Joseph Nguyen 8.5 each.   The City of Sydney Junior Championships (in three divisions, Under 18, 15 and 12) will be held this week on Wednesday to Friday. For details see www.nswjcl.org.au or phone Margaret Cuckson, 9388 7940.

 

World Championship in Argentina.
Peter Parr

The World Championship will be decided in San Luis, Argentina from 28th September - 16th October 2005.

Eight players V.Anand (IND 2788), V.Topalov (BUL 2788), P.Leko (Hun 2763), P.Svidler (RUS 2738), I.Polgar (HUN 2735), M.Adams (ENG 2719), A.Morozevich (RUS 2707) and defending World Champion R.Kasimdzhanov (UZB 2670) will compete in a double round robin(Classical time control). The winner will almost certainly be either Anand,Topalov or Leko,the top 3 seeds.

IM Aleks Wohl(2403)of Wilsons Creek(NSW)seeded 23rd in the Lausanne Open in Switzerland,finished 11th in the 140 player,7 round event. Wohl scored 5 points losing only to GM F.Berkes(HUN 2619)the top seed, and drawing with GM Tigran Petrosian(ARM 2581) and GM E.Kengis(LAT 2534).


Andrew Bird is off to a flying start retaining his 100% score in the NSW State Championship defeating the top seed FM Greg Canfell in the following game. Bird,Andrew(3rd seed) - Canfell,Greg [E92] 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.d4 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.Be3 Qe7 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Nd5 Qd8 10.Bc5 Nxe4(Karpov-Kasparov 1990) 11.Be7 Qd7 12.Bxf8 Kxf8 13.Qd3 Nd6 14.Qa3 e4 15.Ng5(sharper than Nd2 -Shipov 2540-Ahn 2295 in 1996) Kg8 16.Rd1 h6 17.Nxe4 Nxe4 18.Ne7+ Kh7 19.Rxd7 Bxd7 20.Bf3 Nd6 21.b3 Bf8 22.Nd5 Na6 23.Nf6+ Kh8 24.Nxd7 Re8+ 25.Be2 Bg7 26.Kf1 Ne4 27.Qc1 Re7 28.Bf3 Nc3 29.Nf6 Bxf6 30.Qxh6+ Kg8 31.g3 Nc5 32.h4 Bg7 33.Qg5 Rd7 34.Qxc5 Rd2 35.Qg5 Rxa2 36.Kg2 c5 37.Qd8+ Kh7 38.h5 g5 39.Qxg5 Bd4 40.Qf5+ Kh8 41.Qc8+ Kh7 42.Qf5+ Kh8 43 Rf1 1-0

FM Max Fuller (the second seed) beat Jeff Cabilin who was unable to recover from a very passive position in the middle game. Leading scores:-(9 players,8 games) A.Bird 4/4, FM M.Fuller 3.5/4, FM G.Canfell 3/4.

IM Zong-Yuan Zhao will be giving a simultaneous exhibition at 7.30pm on Wednesday at St George Leagues Club,Kogarah.Zhao (2489)is ranked no 3 on the Australian Rating list. Contact Chris Nikolaou Tel 0403 324 548 to play. Spectators welcome.
An ACF Grand Prix Tournament will be held at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club over the Long Weekend 1-3 October. There are 7 rounds with prizes for players rated below 1400, 1600, 1800 and 2000 as well as major prizes. Details Trent Parker 0419 469 764

This year's Schools Challenge,conducted by the NSW Junior League at Knox Grammar School,attracted 111 teams from 69 schools,including teams from Newcastle,Wagga Wagga and Toormina(Coffs Harbour). Leading final scores(7 rounds)-Primary Section(71 teams from 43 schools) Sydney Grammar St Ives Prep A 20.5,Scots College A,Sydney Grammar St Ives Prep B 15.5,best girls team Mona Vale Public D 10. Secondary section(40 teams from 26 schools)Knox Grammar A 16.5,Sydney Grammar A 16,Blue Mountains Grammar A 15.5,best girls team North Sydney Girls High A 13.

The NSW Junior League's activities over the coming school holidays include a one-day tournament(this Wednesday),a two-day tournament(Thursday and Friday),the NSW Girls Championship(also Thursday and Friday) and the City of Sydney Junior Championships(Wed-Fri 5-7 October). For details see the League's website www.nswjcl.org.au or contact Margaret Cuckson,phone 9388 7940.
 

Kerr Scores Grandmaster Result
Peter Parr

Stephen Kerr of Sydney has achieved his first correspondence grandmaster norm by scoring 8.5/10 (GM norm 8) in an ICCF category 7 GM tournament. Kerr is currently a Senior International Master of correspondence chess (rating 2609) and needs similar results over another 14 games to become a grandmaster. Kerr won the following game in spectacular fashion.

M. Larsson (SWE) - S. Kerr (AUS)ICCF-CL/0406/C1 1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nxe4 e5 4.Bc4 Nc6 5.d3 Be7 6.Nf3 Nf6 7.Neg5 Nd5 8.Qe2 f6 9.Ne4 Bg4 10.c3 Qd7 11.h3 Be6 12.0-0 0-0-0 13.Re1 Rhe8 (Not 13...g5?! 14.Nexg5!) 14.a4 g5 15.a5 h5 16.a6 g4 17.hxg4 hxg4 18.axb7+ Kb8 19.Bxd5 Bxd5 20.Nh2 f5 21.b4 Rh8 22.Be3 fxe4 23.dxe4 Bc5! 24.exd5 Qh7 25.Kf1 Qxh2 26.Qa2 Bxe3 27.Rxe3 Rxd5! 0-1


IM Aleks Wohl of Wilson Creek (NSW) scored 6/9 in the Graz (Austria) International Open. Leading final scores (67 players) GM D.Shengelia (GEO 2525) 7.5, GM T.Luther (GER 2540) 7,GM N.Stanec (AUT 2566) and GM I.Balinov (AUT 2388) 6.5, Wohl tied for 5th place.

GM Evgeny Bareev won the Russian Championship Qualifier on tie-break from former world champion Alexander Khalifman in Kazan. Bareev, the top seed, was impressive winning the following games with the white pieces.

Bareev,E (2688) - Belov,Vl (2596) [E39] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5 5.dxc5 0-0 6.a3 Bxc5 7.Nf3 b6 8.Bf4 Bb7 9.Rd1 Nc6 10.e4 Ne7 11.h4 Ng4 12.Rd2 f5 13.Bd3 Ng6 14.Bg5 Qb8 15.b4 Bd6 16.exf5 N6e5 17.Be4 Nxc4 18.Rd4 Bg3 19.0-0 d5 20.Bxd5 Bh2+ 21.Kh1 exd5 22.Rxg4 Ne5 23.Nxh2 Nxg4 24.Nxg4 d4 25.Ne2 h6 26.Qc4+ Kh8 27.Bf4 Qe8 28.Ng3 1-0

Bareev,E (2688) - Kharlov,A (2619) [D20] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Bxc4 Nb6 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.Ne2 Nb4 8.Be4 f5 9.exf6 exf6 10.0-0 f5 11.Bf3 Bd6 12.Nbc3 0-0 13.a3 Nc6 14.Nb5 Ne7 15.Qb3+ Kh8 16.Nxd6 Qxd6 17.Bf4 Qd8 18.Be5 Ng6 19.Rfe1 f4 20.a4 c6 21.a5 Nd5 22.Nc3 Nxc3 23.Qxc3 Nh4 24.a6 Nxf3+ 25.Qxf3 Kg8 26.Qb3+ Rf7 27.Bc7 Qf8 28.Bd6 Qxd6 29.Re8+ Qf8 30.Rae1 g6 31.R1e7 Kg7 32.Rxf8 Rxe7 33.Qg8+ Kh6 34.h4 1-0

Bareev,E (2688) - Bocharov,D (2574) [E11] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 0-0 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 d5 7.e5 Nfd7 8.b4 a5 9.b5 c5 10.Bb2 cxd4 11.Be2 Nc5 12.Bxd4 Nbd7 13.a4 Nb6 14.Qc2 Nxc4 15.Bxc4 dxc4 16.Nxc4 b6 17.Rd1 Qc7 18.Nd6 Bb7 19.Bxc5 Bd5 20.Nd4 bxc5 21.N4f5 Bg5 22.0-0 c4 23.Qc3 f6 24.f4 Bh6 25.Qe3 fxe5 26.b6 Qd7 27.Qxe5 Rad8 28.Rfe1 Kh8 29.Rxd5 exd5 30.Nxh6 c3 31.b7 c2 32.Ndf7+ 1-0

53 of the 66 participants were rated above 2500. Leading final scores (66 players, 9 rounds) E.Bareev (2688), A.Khalifman (2653) 6.5, S.Volkov (2622), S.Rublevsky (2645), D.Jakovenko (2627), E.Najer (2614), A.Motylev (2675), V.Zvaginsev (2659), E.Tomashevsky (2555) all 6 points.
The first seven listed will join Kramnik, Grischuk, Dreev, Svidler and Morozevich in the Russian Championship final in December 2005.

Leading final scores in the ACT Championship in Canberra(45 players including 5 rated above 1800,11 rounds)- Michael Wei (2049)9.5,Tor Lattimore(1857) and Junta Ikeda(2029) 7.5(all juniors).
 

Gold Coast Primary 907 Players
Peter Parr

The Gold Coast Primary Schools Teams Championship last week attracted a record 907 players - an Australian record for the most number of players at one venue(Carrara Basketball) at one time.Somerset College won the main event(6 teams,48 players). There were 8 other divisions for the remaining 859 players with each division consisting of teams totalling between 96 and 124 players. Former Australian Chess Federation President Graeme Gardiner of Mudgeeraba was the main organiser. Next year the target is 1000 players at the same venue.

Greg Canfell defeated Jeff Cabilin by trapping his queen in the centre of the board on the 16th move in his third round game of the NSW Championship at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club.Andrew Bird beat Romeo Capilitan and Max Fuller outclassed Barak Atzmon-Simon.

Leading scores(9 players,8 games) FM G.Canfell 3/3,A.Bird 2/2,FM M.Fuller 2.5/3. WFM Angela Song leads the main supporting event(10 players) with 3/3 and Carlo Canuto has scored 3/3 in the 25 player under 1600 rated tournament.

The NSWCA Grade Match Presentation of Prizes will be held at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club on Wednesday evening.

The 21st Interleagues Premiership is being held at 4 clubs Ryde-Eastwood,Wests,Mt Pritchard Community Club and Lakemba Service Memorial Club. The nine round St George Leagues Club swiss tournament starts tomorrow evening.

IM Aleks Wohl of Wilsons Creek(NSW) has scored 5/8 in the Graz(Austria) International Open. Wohl drew with GM's Balinov(AUT)and Luther(GER)in rounds 4 and 5 after winning his first three games. Wohl needed to defeat GM David Shengelia(GEO)in round 8 to share the lead but lost. There is one round to play.

The World Championship Zonal tournament held in Kuala Lumpur was jointly won by GM Utut Adianto(INA)and GM Mark Paragua(PHI 2596)half a point ahead of Asia's first Grandmaster Eugenio Torre(PHI). Xuan Hoang(VIE)won the Women's Zonal


The 74th Ukrainian Championship was held as a 32 player(including 18 GM's)knockout event in Rivne,the home city of the 23- year-old Ukrainian Chess Federation President Volodimir Kovalchuk. The final match was between the top two seeds Zahar Efimenko aged 20(World Under 14 Champion 1999)and Alexander Areshchenko aged 19 (World Under 14 Champion 2000)both from Kramatorsk Chess Club. The following game tied the match 1-1. This was followed by rapid play which was also tied 1-1 and Areshchenko won the blitz play-off for the title 1.5-0.5

Efimenko,Z (2643) - Areshchenko,A (2625) [B89] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Nc6 8.Be3 Be7 9.Qe2 Qc7 10.0-0-0 Na5 11.g4 b5 12.g5 Nxb3+ 13.axb3 Nd7 14.h4 b4 15.Na4 Nc5 16.h5 Bd7 17.Kb1 Bxa4 18.bxa4 Nxa4 19.g6 Bf6 20.f4 0-0 21.h6 hxg6 22.f5 Rfb8 23.hxg7 Bxg7 24.fxg6 f5 25.Rh7 Ra7 26.exf5 Qa5 27.Qc4 Qe5 28.Qxe6+ Qxe6 29.Nxe6 Nxb2 30.Rxg7+ 1-0

Leading scores after round 8 of the semi-finals of the 58th Russian Championship in Kazan(66 players including 53 rated above 2500) S.Volkov (2622) 6,S.Rublevsky(2645),D.Jakovenko(2627),A.Motylev(2675),E.Bareev(2688),E.Najer(2614) D.Bocharov(2574) and former World Champion A.Khalifman(2653)all 5.5
 

Canfell leads NSW Championship
Peter Parr (SMH 05/09/05)

FIDE Master Greg Canfell,the top seed,is the only player to have won two games in the NSW Championship at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club. Canfell won a pawn on move 14 in the following tactical game in round 2 B.Atzmon-Simon(2100) v G.Canfell(2376) 1 g3 Nf6 2 Bg2 g6 3 Nf3 Bg7 4 0-0 0-0 5 c4 d6 6 Nc3 e5 7 d4 Nbd7 8 e3 c6 9 Qc2 Re8 10 Rd1 Qe7 11 b4 exd4 12 exd4 Nb6 13 c5 Nbd5 14 Re1? Nxb4! 15 Qd2 Qd8 16 Rxe8+ Nxe8 17 Ne4 Nd5 18 Ba3 dxc5 19 Bxc5 Bf5 20 Re1 Qc7 21 Qe2 h6 22 h4 Rd8 23 Qc4 Be6 24 Qc1 Qa5 25 Re2 Bg4 26 Rc2 Qa4 27 Ned2 Bf5 28 Rb2 b6 0-1

FM Max Fuller the second seed and Andrew Bird seeded third both won their second round games on forfeit. Eleven-year-old Raymond Song seeded fourth beat Quentin Reitmans who overlooked a tactic in an equal position. There are now nine players in the title event - I.Zirdum and B.Murray have withdrawn. There are 35 players in supporting tournaments.

Leading final scores in the NSW Metropolitan Inter-Leagues Rapid-Play (85 players,9rounds) FM G.Xie(NSW Champion 2002 and 2004) 9, I.Zirdum(2286),J.Bolens(2118) and A.Camer(2187) 7


The very strong Victorian Championship has started in Melbourne with Grandmaster D.Johansen,International Masters D.Smerdon,L.Sandler,P.Froehlich and M.Rujevic,FIDE Masters C.Depasquale and E.Levi as well as I.Goldenberg(2335) among the participants.

Haydn Barber,NSW Champion in 1987,has won the Championship of Western Australia for the thirteenth time.

The Australian Chess Federation has rated 149 tournaments(13128 games)since June 2005. September top ten - GM I.Rogers(NSW)2631(-17),IM A.Wohl(NSW)2538(=),IM Z.Zhao(NSW)2489(+75),IM G.Lane(NSW)2474(=),GM D.Johansen(VIC)2460(-4), I.Bjelobrk(VIC)2423(+24),T.Tao(SA)2418(+31),IM D.Smerdon(VIC)2418(=),IM M.Chapman(SA)2405(=),IM S.Solomon(QLD)2391(-20).

Top females - WFM A.Caoili(QLD) 2293,WIM A.Sorokina(QLD)2184,WIM N.Koshnitsky(NSW) 2135,IM I.Berezina-Feldman(NSW)2128,WIM L.Moylan(NSW)2093,G.Nguyen(SA)2072. Seniors over 80-L.Fell(NSW) 1786,over 70-P.Viner(NSW) 2041,over 60-A.Flatow(NSW) 2227. Juniors U-20 IM Z.Zhao(NSW) 2489,U-18 S.Chow(VIC)2192,U-16 and U-14 M.Ly(QLD)2071,U-12 R.Song(NSW)2046,U-10 Y.Yuan(ACT)1450

IM Aleks Wohl of Wilsons Creek(NSW)was bitterly disappointed to finish half a point behind first place in the 93 player Salzburg,Austria International. Wohl,seeded thirteenth,achieved a clearly winning position in the final round but only drew costing him a tie for first place. Wohl tied for fourth half a point behind GM A.Shchekachev(RUS 2570),GM V.Burmakin(RUS 2558)and GM T.Luther(GER 2540).


The semi-finals of the 58th Russian Championship has started in the Tatar city of Kazan. The top six seeds in the 66 player(including 53 players rated above 2500) 9 round event are E.Bareev(2688),A.Motylev(2675),K.Sakaev(2669),A.Timofeev(2661),V.Zvjaginsev(2659) and former World Champion A.Khalifman(2653).
 

Wang Hao wins Malaysian Open
Peter Parr

The untitled sixteen-year-old Wang Hao of China scored a sensational nine wins and two draws to win the strong Malaysian Open last week in Kuala Lumpur.Grandmaster Ian Rogers of Sydney was in outright second place before the final round but lost on the white side of an English Opening against Wang Hao.
Leading final scores(70 players,11 rounds) Wang Hao(CHN 2512) 10,GM R.Antonio(PHI 2513) 8,IM J.Gonzales(PHI 2477),GM U.Adianto(INA 2588),GM I.Rogers(AUS 2569),GM N.Mariano(PHI 2466),GM A.Nguyen(VIE 2555),GM A.Kunte(IND) 2561 all 7.5 FM L.Jones(AUS) was 54th scoring 4.5 and FM B.Jones(AUS) was 58th on 4 points.
Wang Hao also won the Dubai Open in April finishing outright first above 53 grandmasters and 30 international masters.

GM Joel Lautier(2672) won the French Championship last week(cat 13,average 2560) in Chartres,France scoring 7.5/11. Fourteen-year-old Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-LaGrave(2527)and GM A.Sokolov(2603) tied for second place with 7/11.
Maxime lost only one game and performed at 2660 rating level.

Fifteen-year-old Gaston Needleman(ARG) tied for second with 6 grandmasters all rated over 2600 in the American Continental Championship in Buenos Aires. The six GM's qualified for the six places (for the 2006 World Cup)in the seven way play-off. The FIDE Congress last week in Dresden,Germany has granted Needleman a place in the 2006 World Cup.

International Master Aleks Wohl(2403) of Wilsons Creek(NSW)has a performance rating of 2505 so far in the 93 player Salzburg,Austria International. Wohl seeded 13th lost to the top seed Russian Grandmaster Andrei Shchekachev(2570),won five and drew two in the first eight rounds. GM Shchekachev and GM Thomas Luther(GER 2540) share the lead with 6.5/8 half a point ahead of Wohl in joint third place with one round to play.


The NSW State Championship and supporting tournaments started last week at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club with a total of 45 players(including 15 rated above 1700). The top seed and firm favorite in the title event(10 players,9rounds)is FM Greg Canfell(4 time winner rated 2327). None of the other top 20 NSW players are competing in this year's championship. Nineteen-year-old George Xie who won every game in 2002 and also scored nine out of nine last year(3.5 points ahead of his closest rivals)is not defending his title.

Canfell won a difficult game against Alex Mendes da Costa. Veteran FM Max Fuller(2141,seeded 2nd)and three time Australian Open Champion was fortunate to draw with Quentin Reitmans and third seed Andrew Bird won a long end-game against fourth seed eleven-year-old Raymond Song.

Manly-Warringah Rugby League Club Chess Club President Gordon Miller has been awarded life membership for 25 years dedicated service to the club.
The popular annual Ford Memorial Open tournament(FIDE rated) will be held at North Sydney Leagues Club over nine rounds on Tuesday evenings commencing tomorrow and finishing on 15th November.
 

Needleman Knocked Out
Peter Parr

Fifteen-year-old Gaston Needleman(Argentina) was very unlucky to be knocked out of the next World Championship cycle in the American Continental Championship in Buenos Aires. Needleman(2242)was seeded 99th but finished 2nd= scoring 8/11 and a 2655 performance rating. Six Grandmasters all rated between 2601 and 2700 and Needleman played off for 6 qualifying places. Fourteen of the fifteen games between the six grandmasters were drawn-the six all qualified-and the young Needleman missed out scoring only 1.5/6.

Fourteen-year-old Maxime Vachier-Lagrave(2527) who recently became one of the youngest grandmasters in history at the age of 14 years and 4 months has taken the early lead with 4/5(performance 2790)in the Championship of France.


International Master Alexander Matros(2450)won the NSW Rapid Play Championship(40 players including six above 2150) at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club conceding only half a point in the final round.Matros was Junior Champion of Kazakhstan in 1986 and Champion of Moscow State University in 1990 and 1991. He is an economist based in the USA and has a Ph.D in Mathematics(Moscow) and Game Theory(Stockholm).Matros is working in Sydney for a few weeks.
Vladimir Smirnov(2172) scored six wins but lost to Matros. Australian Champion IM Gary Lane(2474) took third place losing to Matros and drawing with Sim Navarro(2000). FM Lee Jones won the under 2000 rated prize.


The Australian Championships will be held in the Grand Windsor Ballroom,Carlton Crest Hotel(5 Star),Brisbane from 28th December 2005 to 9th January 2006. The Hotel Special Rates bookings must be made by 31st August.The Australian Championship[early entries include five grandmasters L.Ftacnik(SVK),I.Rogers(NSW),M.Chandler(ENG),R.Schmaltz(GER) and D.Johansen(VIC) as well as IM's G.Lane(NSW),S.Solomon(QLD)and A.Wohl(NSW)] and supporting tournaments-the Australian Major(ACF rating below 2150) and the Australian Minor(ACF rating below 1800) as well as the Australian Senior Championship(age 60+)will be held over 11 rounds in the afternoons.

The Australian Junior Under 18,Girls Under 18,Under 12 and Girls Under 12 will be held in the mornings over 11 rounds. Optional Rapid and Lightning tournaments will be held on the free days 1st and 6th January. A large entry in every division is expected. Full information at www.ozchess2006.com or Tel Ian Murray 07 3411 3445.

Following the Australian Championships in Brisbane is the most Prestigious Open tournament ever staged in New Zealand from 15th-24th January 2006 in Queenstown. The Queenstown Chess Classic is a 10 Round FIDE Rated event for players of any strength and nationality played in the Ballroom of the Millenium Hotel,Queenstown's premier events location.The total prize fund including all ratings divisions will be about AUS $30,000. The Rapid-Play will be held 25-26 January and the Lightning on 26th January. Full information at www.queenstownchess.com or Tel Paul Spiller 64-9-5347411

 

Netherlands Win Gold
Peter Parr

Netherlands,seeded sixth,won the European Team Championship in Gothenburg,Sweden. Russia,the top seeds,finished in fourteenth place.
Van Wely,L (NED 2655) - Akopian,V (ARM 2705) [E38] Rd 4 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5 5.dxc5 Qc7 6.Nf3 Bxc5 7.g3 Qb6 8.e3 Be7 9.Bg2 a6 10.b3 Qc7 11.Nd4 0-0 12.0-0 d6 13.Bb2 Ra7 14.Qe2 b6 15.f4 Bb7 16.g4 Bxg2 17.Qxg2 Qb7 18.g5 Qxg2+ 19.Kxg2 Nfd7 20.h4 Re8 21.Rfd1 Rc7 22.Rd2 Nc6 23.Nde2 f5 24.e4 Rf8 25.exf5 Rxf5 26.Ne4 e5 27.Nxd6 Bxd6 28.Rxd6 exf4 29.Rf1 Ne7 30.Nxf4 Rb7 31.Nd5 Nxd5 32.cxd5 Rxf1 33.Kxf1 a5 34.h5 b5 35.Ke2 Kf8 36.Bd4 b4 37.Kd3 Ke7 38.Ra6 Kf7 39.Kc4 Rc7+ 40.Rc6 Rb7 41.g6+ hxg6 42.hxg6+ Ke8 43.d6 Kd8 44.Ra6 1-0

Tiviakov,S (NED 2678) - Dreev,A (RUS 2698) [B10]Rd 6 1.e4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 Qc7 4.Ngf3 Nd7 5.exd5 cxd5 6.d4 e6 7.Bd3 Ne7 8.0-0 g6 9.Re1 Bg7 10.Nf1 Nc6 11.c3 0-0 12.Bg5 e5 13.Ne3 Nb6 14.dxe5 Nxe5 15.Bf4 Nxf3+ 16.Qxf3 Qc6 17.Nc2 Bd7 18.Nd4 Qc5 19.Qg3 Rfe8 20.Bd6 Qc8 21.h4 Na4 22.Nb5 Bxb5 23.Bxb5 Rxe1+ 24.Rxe1 Nxb2 25.Re8+ Qxe8 26.Bxe8 Rxe8 27.Bc5 b6 28.Bd4 Nc4 29.Qg5 Ne5 30.h5 h6 31.Qe3 g5 32.f4 gxf4 33.Qxf4 Re6 34.Qf5 Bf6 35.Kh2 Bg7 36.a4 Bf6 37.Kh3 Bg7 38.g4! Bf6 39.g5! hxg5 40.h6 g4+ 41.Kg2 Kf8 42.h7 Bg7 43.Bxe5 Rxe5 44.Qd7 Re7 45.Qd8+ Re8 46.Qd6+ Re7 47.Qh6!! Re2+ 48.Kf1 Bxh6 49.h8Q+ 1-0

Leading final scores(196 players including 119 Grandmasters,40 teams) Netherlands 15/18(6 match wins,3 drawn matches - 9 games won,26 drawn,1 lost),Israel 14,France and Greece 13,Ukraine,Poland and Georgia 12. Alexander Graf(Germany)had the best performance rating of 2801(6.5/8).
Poland won the Womens(26 teams) scoring 15/18 followed by Georgia 14,Russia and Bulgaria 12.

British Champion Jonathan Rowson(SCO GM 2599)retained his title with the winning score of 8.5/11 this year in the Isle of Man.
Grandmaster Ian Rogers(2569) of Sydney scored 6/9(rating performance 2376) finishing 28th in the 250 player Vlissingen,Netherlands Open last week.


The following titles recommended by the FIDE Trainers Committee will be confirmed(subject to final approval of the Presidential Board) at the 76th FIDE(World Chess Federation) Congress this week in Dresden,Germany. FIDE Instructor-J.Tanti(SA). FIDE Senior Trainer-GM I.Rogers(NSW). FIDE Trainer IM I.Berezina-Feldman(NSW),IM V.Feldman(NSW),FM B.Tindall(NSW),IM L.Sandler(VIC),WIM A. Sorokina(QLD).

Mark de Groen has won the Manly-Warringah Leagues Club Championship scoring 10.5/11.Norman Greenwood was first in the main supporting event with 8.5/10.
Ronald Scott scored 6/6 in the Newcastle Coal City Open Weekender.

The Rooty Hill RSL Open starts tonight,The Combined Leagues Clubs Rapid-Play commences on Wednesday evening at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club.The NSW State Championship restricted to the top ten players,the reserves and under 1600 rated events will also be held at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club each Sunday afternoon from 21st August. Details Trent Parker tel 0419 469 764
 

Netherlands lead
Peter Parr

Netherlands,seeded sixth,lead the European Team Championship(5 wins,3 draws) with one round to play in Gothenburg,Sweden.The team of Van Wely,Sokolov,Tiviakov,Timman and Van Den Doel have performed above 2700 rating from their 32 games.Their oldest player Jan Timman(53) has the best score 4.5/6(2773). All five players in the Russian Team(top seeds)are playing below their rating and have lost three matches to France,Netherlands and Hungary. Leading scores after round 8(16 match points)Netherlands 13,Israel,Poland(Markowski 6/7),Georgia 12. Women's - Poland 14(6 wins and draws with Georgia and Russia, Socko 6.5/8),Georgia 13,Russia(top seeds - Kosintseva 6/7) and Bulgaria 11

Grandmaster Susan Polgar (former women's world champion) achieved a Guiness Book of World Records last Monday playing 326 simultaneous games (309 wins, 14 draws, 3 losses = 96.93% in 16.5 hours in Florida, USA).

St. George Leagues Club have won each division of the NSW Chess Association inter-club grade match competition which finished last week although they had to share first with Ryde-Eastwood in the under 1400 section.

Sydney Chess Academy and St. George shared the lead with two rounds to play in the open division finals.
The NSWCA agreed with a suggestion regarding the pairings of the last two rounds by the St. George Leagues Club Captain.
Sydney Chess Academy appealed the pairings - the appeal was rejected and Sydney Chess Academy withdrew from the event - a very sad state of affairs.

Final scores St. George 22.5/36 (I.Rogers 5/5 A.Rose 6.5/8), Asquith (J.Tan 6.5/8), Canterbury 21.5/36 and out of 28 games - Sydney Chess Academy 18.5 (S.Quick 5.5/6) (B.Tindall 6.5/8), North Sydney Brown Bears 16(R.Song 5.5/7), Rooty Hill 14.5, Parramatta 5.5, North Sydney Grizzly Bears 4.

Under 2000 - (36 games) St. George 25 (K.Stead 7.5/9), Campbelltown 19.5 (D.Peters 7/9),Wollongong 14(M.Erkan 6/8), Rooty Hill 13.5 Under 1800 - (32 games) St. George Dragons 22.5 (S.Rewais 5.5/6) North Sydney 18 (A.Song 6/7) Rooty Hill Knights 18 (L.Tenorio 7/8), Rooty Hill Rooks 16, Ryde-Eastwood 16(B.Yum 5.5/7), Manly 15(C.Bleyer 4.5/6) Croatia Sydney 14, St.George Saints 13, Mt.Pritchard 11.5

Under 1600 - St George 30.5/44(J.Roberts 8/10,J.Nichas 8.5/11),Wollongong 28(B.Serelak 6/7,M.Tokarz 8/10),Rooty Hill Knights 24.5(C.Rust 6/7,N.Tiqui 8/11),North Sydney Brown Bears 23.5,Rooty Hill Rooks 23.5,Wests 22,North Sydney Grizzlies 22,Manly 22(G.Dick 7.5/8),Mt Pritchard 21.5,Canterbury 16,Ryde-Eastwood 16,Fairfield 14.5.

Under 1400 (36 games) St.George Dragons 22 (T.Ollivain 6.5/9), Ryde-Eastwood 22, (W.Leong 5/7), Fairfield 21.5 (T.Parker 6/8), Rooty Hill Knights 20.5, North Sydney 19.5 (O.Roach 6/7) St. George Saints 18.5 (P.Johansson 7/9), Wests 16.5 (J.Lau 5.5/7), Manly 14.5, Canterbury 13, Rooty Hill Rooks 12.

Leading final scores in the NSWCA weekender at Rose Bay RSL Club (36 players, 7 rounds) FM J.Sales 6.5, J.Bolens 6, V.Berezin 5.5, R.Lopis,FM G.Xie, M.Illingworth 5.

The NSW Rapid Play will be held at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club over 7 rounds on Sunday 14th August.Details Trent Parker 0419 469 764
 

22 Australians in World Youth
Peter Parr (SMH 01/08/05)

Final scores of the 22 Australian players at the World Youth Championship(1108 players from 82 Federations,11 rounds) in Belfort, France. Under 18 Boys-Vincent Suttor(NSW) 5.5,Peter Jovanovic(ACT) 4,Gareth Oliver(ACT) 4. Under 16 Boys-James Obst(SA) 5.5,James Cronan(NSW) 5,Christopher Wallis(VIC) 4.5. Under 16 Girls-Heather Huddleston(NSW) 6,Vaness Reid(NSW) 5,Miona Ikeda(ACT) 3.5. Under 14 Boys-Moulthun Ly(QLD) 7,Junta Ikeda(ACT)6.5,Edwin Wu(NSW) 4.5,Derek Yu (VIC) 4. Under 14 Girls-Tamzin Oliver (ACT) 4.5. Under 12 Boys-Zhigen Lin (VIC) 5.5,Justin Chow(ACT) 2.5. Under 12 Girls- Sally Yu (VIC) 5.5,Luthien Russell(QLD) 4.5,Molly McGarity(QLD) 4.Under 10 Boys Yi Yuan(ACT) 6,Jake McCook(ACT) 4.Under 10 Girls-Emma Guo(ACT) 7.


Grandmaster Ian Rogers of Sydney(seeded 13th) scored an excellent result in the Amsterdam International Tournament finishing second equal with a 2647 performance rating.

Eljanov,P (UKR 2639 aged 22) - Rogers,I (AUS 2569 aged 45) [E14] Rd 5 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 b6 5.a3 Bxd2+ 6.Qxd2 Bb7 7.e3 d6 8.Be2 Nbd7 9.0-0 0-0 10.b4 a5 11.Bb2 Qe7 12.Qc2 Ra7 13.Nd2 axb4 14.axb4 Rfa8 15.e4 Rxa1 16.Rxa1 Rxa1+ 17.Bxa1 Qd8 18.d5 Qa8 19.Bd4 Qa3 20.Qb2 Qxb2 21.Bxb2 b5 22.f3 bxc4 23.dxe6 fxe6 24.Bxc4 Kf7 25.Bb5 Nb6 26.e5 dxe5 27.Bxe5 Nbd5 28.Nc4 Nxb4 29.Bxc7 Ba6 30.Ne5+ Kg8 31.Ba4 Nd3 32.Nc6 Nb2 33.Bb3 Bc4 34.Bc2 Bd3 1/2

Leading final scores (100 players, 9 rounds). P.Eljanov (UKR 2639) 7: I.Rogers (AUS 2569), V.Akopian (ARM 2705),I.Cheparinov (BUL 2634), D.Stellwagen (NED 2533), A.Timofeev (RUS 2661), I.Khenkin (GER 2610), E.L'Ami (NED 2519) all 6.5

A.Volokitin(UKR 2671,aged 19)and B.Gelfand(ISR 2724) tied for first in the 6 player Biel,Switzerland GM event each scoring 6/10. Fourteen-year-old GM M.Carlsen(NOR 2528) scored 4 points. IM Aleks Wohl(NSW) seeded 23rd finished 11th-20th equal in the Biel Masters with 7/11. Aaron Guthrie (SA)scored 5 points. The 100 player event was won by GM M.Kobalia(RUS 2614) scoring 8.5 followed by GM E.Alekseev(RUS 2625) on 8 points.

Sixty-six teams from thirty-eight countries,40 in the men's section and 26 in the women's section are competing in the European Team Championship in Gothenburg,Sweden. The all grandmaster local Swedish team(seeded 20th)took the sole lead in the first round on Saturday evening by defeating Cyprus 4-0. The top seeds Russia(2692)beat Croatia 2.5-1.5 and second seeds Israel(2659)beat Slovenia 3.5-0.5. In other matches Olympic Gold Medallists Ukraine beat Spain 3-1,Armenia were held to four draws by Lithuania and eighteenth seeds England beat Luxembourg 3.5-0.5. Germany took the sole lead in the women's section in round 1 beating Switzerland 4-0 and top seeds Russia beat Slovenia 3.5-0.5.

Leading final scores of the Australian National University Grand Prix Weekender in Canberra (71 players, 7 rounds).
FM Jesse Sales(PHI) 6.5, FM I.Bjelobrk(VIC) 6: M.Dizdarevic(VIC), M.Yu(NSW) 5.5

The Coal City Open weekend tournament (6th-7th August) over 6 rounds will be held the The Bridge Club, 12 Young Road, Broadmeadow. For details contact Newcastle District Chess Association. Tel 4946 9267
 

Teenager wins in Dortmund
Peter Parr

Local hero nineteen-year-old Arkadij Naiditsch,the bottom seed,sensationally won the Dortmund Super-grandmaster tournament (cat 19,average rating 2711). The following game was played in the first round

Naiditsch,A (2612) - Sutovsky,E (2674) [B33]Rd 1 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Nxe7 Nxe7 11.Bd3 Bb7 12.Bxf6 gxf6 13.Qh5 d5 14.0-0-0 d4 15.Nb1 Qa5 16.a3 b4 17.Qh6 Ng6 18.g3 Rb8 19.f4 b3 20.c4 dxc3 21.Nxc3 Rc8 22.f5 Ne7 23.Qxf6 Rxc3+ 24.Kb1 Rg8 25.bxc3 Qxa3 26.Qb6 Qa2+ 27.Kc1 Kf8 28.f6 1-0

Final scores A.Naiditsch (GER, 2612) 5.5/9, V.Topalov (BUL 2788), E.Bacrot (FRA 2729), P.Svidler (RUS 2738), L.Van Wely (NED 2655) 5, V.Kramnik (RUS 2744), M.Adams (ENG 2719), P.Leko (HUN 2763) 4, E.Sutovsky (ISR 2674) 3.5, P.Nielsen (DEN 2668) 3.

Grandmaster Ian Rogers of Sydney could tie for first place if he wins the last round of the strong 100 player Amsterdam International. Rogers,seeded 13th,defeated the highly rated 20-year-old Russian grandmaster Artyom Timofeev in the following game.

Rogers,I (2569) - Timofeev,A. (2661) [D92] Rd 4 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.Rc1 dxc4 7.e4 Bg4 8.Bxc4 Nh5 9.Be3 Bxf3 10.gxf3 e5 11.dxe5 Bxe5 12.Bh6 Nc6 13.Bxf8 Qxf8 14.Ne2 Nf4 15.Nxf4 Bxf4 16.Rc3 Ne5 17.Qb3 c6 18.Rc2 Rd8 19.Be2 b5 20.Qa3 Qe8 21.Kf1 Rd7 22.Kg2 Qd8 23.h4 h5 24.b4 Qe7 25.Qc3 Kh7 26.a3 Rd6 27.Qc5 g5 28.Rd1 Ng6 29.Rxd6 Nxh4+ 30.Kf1 Bxd6 31.Qxc6 Qe5 32.Qd5 Qf4 33.e5 Bxe5 34.Qe4+ Ng6 35.Qxf4 Nxf4 36.Bxb5 Kg6 37.a4 g4 38.fxg4 hxg4 39.Bc4 f5 40.b5 Kf6 41.a5 Bd4 42.Rd2 Bc5 43.Rd7 Ke5 44.Bb3 Ke4 45.Rc7 Bd4 46.b6 axb6 47.a6 1-0

Leading scores after round 8(100 players,9 rounds) V.Akopian(ARM 2705),I.Sokolov(NED 2691),P.Eljanov(UKR 2639) 6. Ian Rogers(AUS 2569)is in a 16 way tie for 4th-19th places having scored 5.5 points from 8 players with an average rating of 2502.
Australians IM Aleks Wohl and Aaron Guthrie have each scored 3/5 in the Biel,Switzerland Masters(94 players including 18 grandmasters).

Twenty-two Australians are competing in nine of the ten divisions(11 rounds each) in the World Youth Championships in Belfort,France.There are 1108 players from 82 Federations. Progress scores after 6 rounds U18 B-V.Suttor 3,G.Oliver 3,P.Jovanovic 2 U16B-J.Obst 3,C.Wallis 2.5,J.Cronan 2 U16G-H.Huddleston 3.5,V.Reid 2.5,M.Ikeda 1.5 U14B-M.Ly 3.5,J.Ikeda 2.5,E.Wu 2,D.Yu 2 U14G-T.Oliver 2.5 U12B-Z.Lin 4,J.Chow 1.5 U12G-M.McGarity 2.5,L.Russell 2.5,S.Yu 2.5 U10B-Y.Yuan 3 J.McCook 1 U10G-E.Guo 3.5

Leading final scores in the Fairfield Winter Cup(69 players) FM I.Bjelobrk 6.5/7,FM J.Sales 6,A.Ayvazyan,V.Berezin,FM G.Xie 5.5

The next ACF Grand Prix Weekender(7 rounds) will be held at Rose Bay RSL Club on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st July. Details Trent Parker tel 0419 469 764.
 

Wohl wins weight in wine
Peter Parr

International Master Aleks Wohl,a resident of Wilsons Creek (near Byron Bay) NSW,has won his weight in wine (82 large bottles) by finishing outright first in the 74 player Open Medoc Wine International tournament in France scoring 7.5 points from 9 games.
Lin Zhigen Wilson (VIC) finished 17th out of 121 players from 14 countries in the Dubai Open Junior. Aaron Guthrie has scored 5.5/8 and is placed 19th so far in the 166 player Oberwart Open in Austria. Australian junior champion Moulthun Ly has scored 4.5 points and is in 56th place.

The World Youth Championships commence tomorrow in Belfort, France. There are 1102 players (639 M, 463 F) from 82 countries competing in 10 divisions - under 18, 16, 14, 12, 10 for boys and girls.

Australia has 22 players,18 relatives and 5 coaches (only 9 countries have more entries) and is competing in all 10 divisions.

Last year Raymond Song of Sydney tied for first place in the world under 10 boys but will not be competing this year.

Progress scores in Dortmund, Germany after round 8 (cat 19, average rating 2711, 10 players, 9 rounds).
A.Naiditsch(GER 2612) 5,L.Van Wely(NED 2655),V.Kramnik(RUS 2744),P.Svidler(RUS 2738) all 4.5,V.Topalov(BUL 2788),E.Bacrot(FRA 2729),M.Adams(ENG 2719),P.Leko(HUN 2763) all 4,E.Sutovsky(ISR 2674) 3,P.Nielsen(DEN 2668) 2.5

Sutovsky,E (2674) - Bacrot,E (2729) [C93] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Bb7 10.d4 Re8 11.Ng5 Rf8 12.Nf3 Re8 13.Nbd2 Bf8 14.a3 h6 15.Ba2 Nb8 16.d5 c6 17.c4 Nbd7 18.b4 Nb6 19.dxc6 Bxc6 20.Qb3 Ra7 21.Bb2 Nxc4 22.Nxc4 bxc4 23.Qxc4 Bxe4 24.Rxe4 d5 25.Qb3 Nxe4 26.Nxe5 Qb6 27.Ng4 Rae7 28.Rf1 Nd2 29.Qxd5 Nxf1 30.Ne5 Qf6 31.Nd3 Re1 0-1 Nineteen year old Arkadij Naiditsch,ranked last(World no 112)is the sole leader with one round to play having lost only to top seed Veselin Topalov(World no 2-3).

Grandmaster Ian Rogers of Sydney(seeded 13th)has defeated FM Rob Witt(NED)in the first round of the 100 player Amsterdam International.

Scores after eight rounds of the Open Division of the NSW Chess Association inter-club grade match competition - Sydney Chess Chess Academy and St George 21/32,Canterbury 19.5,Asquith 18.5 IM Irena Berezina-Feldman won the recent Hakoah Cup. The Hakoah Club Open Championships and under 1700 rated events start on Monday 25th July at Hakoah Club,Bondi.

David Behne-Smith of Newcastle has won the NSW Junior Championship in a close finish. Behne-Smith,aged 16,is a former NSW Country Junior Co-champion and has three younger siblings who are also strong players. The NSW Under 12 Championship has been won by William Xu who lost a hard-fought play-off for the title last year. Leading final scores Under 18(24 players,9 rounds)- David Behne-Smith 6.5,David Webster,Joshua Levin,Jamie Boyce,Max Illingworth and David Lam each 6:Under 12(57 players,10 rounds) William Xu 9.5,Adrian Miranda 9,Dominic Nguyen 8.5

Trevor Tao won the Adelaide University Open Grand Prix weekender scoring 6.5/7 half a point ahead of IM Zong Zhao(NSW).

The next ACF GP weekender is the Australian National University Open in Canberra 23-24 July. Details Paul Dunn Tel 6251 1360.
 

Zhao wins every game
Peter Parr

The Australian Young Masters tournament was convincingly won by IM Zong-Yuan Zhao with a clean score - 9 wins from 9 games. Former Australian Junior Champion Tomek Rej finished in second place. Leading final scores(10 players,9 rounds) Z.Zhao(NSW) 9,T.Rej(NSW) 7,Junta Ikeda(ACT) and NSW Champion George Xie 5.5. Zhao also scored 2/2 in the Sydney grade matches as well as winning every game he played(6 out of 6) in the recent St George Leagues Club World Rated Club Championship.

Rej,Tomek - Zhao,Zong-Yuan Australian Young Masters Sydney (5) 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 c5 8.0-0-0 g5 9.Bg3 Bxc3 10.Qxc3 Ne4 11.Qb3 Nc6 12.dxc5 Be6 13.Kb1 Qa5 14.Nf3 d4 15.Qa3 Nc3+ 16.Kc1 Nxa2+ 17.Kc2 Bf5+ 18.Kb3 Qb5+ 0-1

Australian Junior Masters(10 players,9 rounds) Alex Mendes da Costa(NSW) 8,Ken Xie(NSW) 6,Jason Hu(NSW) 5.5. Australian Girls Masters (8 players,7 rounds) Shannon Oliver(ACT) 6.5,Rebecca Harris(NSW) 4.5,Emma Guo(ACT) 4

As well as conducting the Australian Young Masters tournaments last week at Rockdale the NSW Junior League held its usual school holidays tournaments at Lidcombe. The Winter One-Day tournament attracted 262 players and produced a quadruple tie for first place - Anish Kumar,Blair Mandla,Jonathan Shen and James Aclis each scored 6.5/7. The Winter Two-Day tournament was contested by 205 players and was won by Blair Mandla 9.5/11 followed by Rohan Cunico 9.

The NSW Junior Championships are being held this week. The Under 18 division started yesterday and the Under 12 starts on Wednesday;both finish on Friday. Details may be found on www.nswjcl.com.au or contact Margaret Cuckson 9388 7940.

Scores after seven rounds of the Open Division of the NSW Chess Association inter-club grade match competition - St George 19/28(GM I.Rogers 5/5),Sydney Chess Academy 18.5(FM B.Tindall 6.5/7),Canterbury 18,Asquith Leagues 16.5,North Sydney Brown Bears 16,Rooty Hill 14.5,Parramatta 5.5,North Sydney Grizzly Bears 4. The top four teams have qualified for the three round robin final matches.

The next ACF Grand Prix Weekender will be played on July 16th and 17th at Fairfield RSL Club over seven rounds.

Final scores in the Australian Masters in Melbourne(10 players,9 rounds) - 37 yr old FM Jesse Sales(PHI 2340) 7,IM P.Froehlich(GER)6.5,IM G.West 6,IM M.Rujevic ,C.Gorka(ENG) 5.5,FM E.Levi,FM C.Depasquale 3.5,W.Lee(SIN) and FM W.Jordan 3,A.Pecori 1.5

IM Aleks Wohl of Sydney is the sole leader on 7/8 with one round to play in the 74 player Open Medoc Wine International in France. First prize is the winner's weight in wine.

Lin Zhigen Wilson(VIC)has scored 4.5/7 so far in the Dubai Open Junior(121 players from 14 countries).

Progress scores in Dortmund,Germany after round 2 (cat 19,average rating 2711)Leko,Adams,Nielsen 1.5,Topalov,Svidler,Naiditsch,Sutovsky,Van Wely 1,Kramnik 0.5,Bacrot 0.

World Number 1 Garry Kasparov(RUS)and his wife left the London Underground at Kings Cross twenty minutes before the terrorists struck the station.
 

Nisipeanu European Champion
Peter Parr (04/07/05)

Grandmaster Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu(ROM)has won the European Championship in Warsaw,Poland with a score of 10 points(7 wins and 6 draws) in the thirteen round event(229 players including 54 rated above 2600). 18yr old Teimour Radjabov (AZE)was second with 9.5 and 15yr old Sergey Karjakin(UKR)and top seed Vassily Ivanchuk(UKR)were among the group of 7 players on 9 points.Karjakin led with 7/8 but lost to Ivanchuk in round 9.

Hydra,the most powerful chess computer in the world,beat World number 7 Michael Adams 5.5-0.5 last week. Hydra has a massive database of millions of games,openings,endgame tablebases etc and an analysing speed of 36,000 million positions every time Adams makes a move(average every 3 minutes).The final frontier for the world's top players against the monster is one move every 24 hours.

Leading players on the July 2005 World Rating List - G.Kasparov(RUS)2812,V.Anand(IND)and V.Topalov(BUL)2788,P.Leko(HUN)2763,V.Ivanchuk(UKR)2752,V.Kramnik(RUS)2744,P.Svidler(RUS)2738,J.Polgar(HUN)2735. Judith Polgar is the top female player with her elder sister Zsuzsa ranked second at 2577(World no 205),T.Radjabov(AZE)is the best junior at 2682. 1078 tournaments were processed in the last 3 months(none from Australia).

From overseas events GM Ian Rogers(AUS) is 2569(-7)-world no 231,and IM J.Wallace(AUS)is 2392(-18).All other leading Australians are unchanged. There are now 48,216 players on the world rating list including 9412 rated from 1600-2000.The average rating by top ten from each country is Russia 2713(150 grandmasters,415 IM's)Ukraine 2657(50 GM's and 167 IM's),USA 2623(60 GM's,96 IM's). Australia is 53rd out of 142 countries at 2437 with 2 GM's and 16 IM's.

Leading final scores in the Suncoast Caloundra Open(58 players,7 rounds) GM I.Rogers(NSW) 6.5,Moulthun Ly(QLD,Australian Junior Champion who beat GM Johansen) 6,GM Roland Schmaltz(GER)5.5,GM D.Johansen(VIC)A.Weller,FM N.Stawski,P.Wongwichit,D.Elkington (all QLD) 5

The Commonman tournament in Wollongong was won by Johny Bolens half a point ahead of David Castor.
This year's Secondary Schools One-Day Tournament for the Terrey Shaw Shield has been won by Knox Grammar School after a close battle with Girraween High School. The Junior section(years 9 and below)was won by Sydney Grammar School for the fifth successive year. The tournament attracted 57 teams from 34 schools including teams from Wagga Wagga,Nowra and Newcastle.

Thirty of Australia's strongest young players,from all states except Tasmania,are competing this week in three round robin tournaments,the Australian Young Masters,Junior Masters and Girls Masters. The top seeds in the first of these tournaments are IM Zong-Yuan Zhao,winner of the 2004 Doeberl Cup and FM George Xie,the current NSW Champion. The tournaments are being held in the St Joseph's Church Hall,Rockdale,from Monday to Friday starting at 10am.

The NSW Junior League's holiday events commence this week and include a one-day tournament on Wednesday and a two day tournament on Thursday and Friday. These are followed the next week by the NSW Junior Championships. For details see www.nswjcl.org.au or contact Margaret Cuckson phone 9388 7940.

 

Machine crushes Adams
Peter Parr

Hydra,the most powerful chess computer in the world,has crushed World number seven Michael Adams(ENG 2737) in a six game match scoring 3.5 points from the first 4 games with 2 games to play. Hydra with a processing power equivalent to more than 200 standard Personal Computers(analysing 200 million moves in one second) is housed in a secure server room in Abu Dhabi with Adams playing at Wembley Centre,London. The prizes are AUS $33,000 for each game won and AUS $13,000 for each drawn game. Hydra has won AUS $112,000 so far and Adams AUS $13,000.

Leading final scores in the European Women's Championship held in the Republic Palace in Chisinau,Moldova (164 players,12 rounds) IM Kateryna Lahno(UKR) and IM Nadezhda Kosintseva(RUS) 9. Kateryna(aged 15) won the play off match 2-0. Australian Open Champion IM Elena Sedina(Italy) was 33rd scoring 7.5 points.

Leading scores after 7 rounds of the European Championship in Warsaw,Poland (229 players including 54 rated above 2600,13 rounds) GM Sergey Karjakin(UKR 2635 seeded 26th,aged 15)and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu(ROM 2670) 6. Here are two games from the event.
Portisch,L (HUN 2525) - Warakomski,T (POL 2384) [A29] 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 Bb4 5.Nf3 0-0 6.0-0 e4 7.Ne1 Bxc3 8.dxc3 Re8 9.Bg5 Re5 10.f4 Re6 11.Nc2 Qe7 12.f5 Rd6 13.Qc1 Ne5 14.Ne3 h6 15.Bxf6 Rxf6 16.Nd5 Qc5+ 17.Kh1 Rd6 18.f6 g5 19.Rf5 Rxd5 20.cxd5 d6 21.Rxg5+ 1-0

Radjabov,T (AZE 2673 aged 18) - Mastrovasilis,D (GRE 2562) [D44] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 b5 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 Nd5 10.Nd2 Bb7 11.Be2 Nd7 12.0-0 Qb6 13.a4 a6 14.Nde4 Be7 15.Qd2 h5 16.Nxd5 exd5 17.Nxg5 c5 18.Rae1 h4 19.Bf4 Nf8 20.e6 Nxe6 21.Bg4 Bxg5 22.Bxg5 cxd4 23.Qb4 1-0

Final scores in the category 15 GM tournament in Paks(Hungary)average rating 2616,10 rounds - Z.Almasi(HUN 2628)6.5, V.Korchnoi(SUI 2619)6, K.Sasikiran(IND 2642) 5.5, E.Berkes(HUN 2617) 5, E.Sutovsky(ISR 2665) 3.5, P.Acs(HUN 2525) 3.5 Former World title challenger Viktor Korchnoi,now aged seventy-four,started with 5.5/7 but scored only 0.5 in his last 3 games to finish second with an excellent 2685 performance rating.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the City Chess complex in Elista,Kalmykia last week.

The Gold Coast Open Grand Prix weekender attracted 82 players in two divisions. Grandmaster Ian Rogers of Sydney won the 24 player open event scoring 6.5/7 ahead of Australian Junior Champion Moulthun Ly 5.5,WIM Arianne Caoili 5,Casey Barnard and IM Stephen Solomon 4.5

Progress scores in the Open Division of the NSW Chess Association inter-club grade match competition after 5 rounds(20 games) St George 14(GM Ian Rogers 4/4, Adrian Rose 5/5),Sydney Chess Academy 13,Canterbury 12.5,Asquith Leagues 11.5,North Sydney Brown Bears and Rooty Hill 11,Parramatta and North Sydney Grizzly Bears 3.5. St George Leagues Club teams are also leading the Under 2000,Under 1800,and Under 1600 rated divisions.

The Australian Masters starts this afternoon at the Melbourne chess Club in Fitzroy.
 

Bjelobrk NSW Open Champion
Peter Parr

FIDE Master Igor Bjelobrk ranked number one in New Zealand on the world rating list has won the NSW Open Championship in Sydney defeating Grandmaster Ian Rogers in a fine attacking game in the final round. Bjelobrk conceded only two draws with Tomek Rej and IM Stephen Solomon. Ian Rogers, the defending champion (7/7 last year) and top seed lost on time in a winning position against thirteen year old Canberra junior Junta Ikeda in round 2.

Leading final scores (56 players, 7 rounds):- FM I.Bjelobrk (VIC) 6, FM G.Xie (NSW Champion) 5.5, IM S.Solomon (QLD), T.Rej, GM I.Rogers, FM G.Canfell, V.Berezin, J.Chan, K.O'Chee, R.Song 5. Under 1600 rated event (58 players, 7 rounds) N.Greenwood and D.Evans 6.

Progress scores in the Open Division of the NSW Chess Association inter-club grade match competition after 4 rounds(16 games)- Canterbury 11.5, St.George (Ian Rogers 3/3,Adrian Rose 4/4) 11,Sydney Chess Academy and North Sydney Brown Bears 10, Asquith 9, Rooty Hill 7.5, North Sydney Grizzly Bears 3, Parramatta 2. GM I.Rogers(ST G) beat FM I.Bjelobrk(ASQ) and FM G.Xie(2353)(CANT)defeated IM Javier Gil(2447)(SCA)in fourth round matches.

The annual Commonman Weekend Tournament at Wollongong Collegians Club will be held on 25th and 26th June. Details Matthew Sweeney 0402 407 873.

The annual Secondary Schools One-Day Teams Tournament for the Terrey Shaw Shield will be held on Sunday 26th June. The event commemorates International Master Terrey Shaw,a Sydney barrister who represented Australia with distinction in nine consecutive Chess Olympiads and who died in 1997. The tournament is sponsored by Terrey Shaw's former colleagues in the legal profession and in the chess community. Enquiries: Richard Gastineau-Hills,phone 9412 4579,or see the NSW Junior Chess League's website www.nswjcl.org.au.

Grandmaster Darryl Johansen the top seed, won his first six games in the Victorian Open Championship in Melbourne and drew with International Master Peter Froehlich the second seed in the last round.
Leading final scores (96 players, 7 rounds) GM D.Johansen 6.5, IM G.West and M.Lojanica 6, IM P.Froehlich, M.Pyke, C.Wallis 5.5

World Number 1 (after the retirement of Garry Kasparov) Viswanathan Anand (India) defeated reigning World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov (UZB) 2.5-1.5 in the final of the Leon, Spain rapid play tournament. Anand lost the first game, won the second, drew the third and won the following tense final game.

Anand,V (2785) - Kasimdzhanov,R (2670) [C88] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Na5 11.Ba2 c5 12.Nbd2 Nc6 13.Nf1 Bc8 14.Bg5 Ne8 15.Bxe7 Nxe7 16.Ne3 Nf6 17.c3 Qc7 18.Nh2 Be6 19.Nhg4 Nd7 20.Qf3 c4 21.Nf5 Bxf5 22.exf5 f6 23.a4 d5 24.Ne3 Qc6 25.dxc4 dxc4 26.Qxc6 Nxc6 27.b4 Nb6 28.a5 Nd7 29.Rad1 Rad8 30.Nxc4 bxc4 31.Bxc4+ Kh8 32.Bxa6 Ne7 33.Bb7 Nxf5 34.g4 Ne7 35.c4 Nb8 36.a6 Nbc6 37.Rxd8 Rxd8 38.b5 Na5 39.Ra1 1-0
 

Five Clubs Fight For First
Peter Parr

Five Clubs have scored between eight and nine points after three rounds(twelve games)of the NSW Chess Association Open Division of the inter-club grade match competition.
Progress scores - Canterbury(H.Jens 3/3) 9, North Sydney Brown Bears (R.Song 3/3) 9, Sydney Chess Academy 8.5, Asquith Leagues(J.Tan 3/3 on board 1) 8, St.George(A.Rose 3/3) 8, Rooty Hill 4.5, Parramatta 0.5, North Sydney Grizzly Bears 0.5.

Teams from St George lead the next three ratings divisions - Under 2000,Under 1800 and Under 1600. Rooty Hill Knights and Ryde-Eastwood lead the Under 1400 rated division.

The top seeds in the 112+ player,7 round NSW Open Queens Birthday weekend tournament at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club include Grandmaster Ian Rogers,International Master Stephen Solomon and NSW Champion George Xie.

The top four seeds GM D.Johansen 2464,IM P.Froehlich 2374,IM G.West 2369,IM M.Rujevic 2240 have all won their first two games in the 97 player Victorian Open Championship at Box Hill Chess Club,Melbourne. Froehlich lost to Adrian Flitney and West lost to Mehmedalija Dizdarevic in round 3.

The next two important ACF Grand Prix events will be held in Queensland. The Gold Coast Open will be held in Robina from 18-19th June and the Caloundra Open from 25-26 June each with a prize fund of $3000.

World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov(UZB)meets World Number 1 (after the retirement of G.Kasparov) Vishy Anand(IND) in the final match of the Leon,Spain rapid play tournament. Kasimdzhanov beat A.Shirov(ESP)3-1 and Anand defeated M.Carlsen(NOR) 3-1 in the semi-final matches on Saturday evening.

Ukrainian Grandmaster Vladimir Savon (1940-2005) has died in Kharkov at the age of 64. Savon played in 10 USSR Championships winning in 1971 scoring 15/21(undefeated)ahead of Grandmasters Tal, Smyslov,Karpov,Balashov, Stein,Bronstein, Polugayevsky,Taimanov etc. This result was sensational as Savon only held the IM Title at the time of his victory. Savon scored 87% at the 1972 Olympiad helping the USSR to win the gold medals.

Savon,Vladimir A (2570) - Dzindzichashvili,Roman (2480) [B81] URS-ch39 Leningrad (13), 03.10.1971 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.g4 h6 7.Rg1 Nc6 8.Be3 a6 9.h3 Bd7 10.f4 Qc7 11.Qd2 b5 12.Bd3 Nxd4 13.Bxd4 Bc6 14.Qe2 e5 15.Nd5 Nxd5 16.exd5 Bxd5 17.fxe5 0-0-0 18.0-0-0 Qc6 19.Rgf1 dxe5 20.Bxe5 f6 21.Bf5+ Kb7 22.Rxd5 Rxd5 23.Be4 Bc5 24.Rd1 Ka7 25.Bxd5 Qe8 26.Be6 fxe5 27.Qxe5 1-0

Savon,Vladimir A - Bobotsov,Milko G [B45] Albena, 1973 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 g5 8.Bg3 Bb4 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.a3 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 0-0 12.Bd3 Qa5 13.Qd2 e5 14.h4 Nh7 15.hxg5 hxg5 16.Rxh7 Kxh7 17.Qxg5 f6 18.Qh5+ Kg7 19.Kd2 Rh8 20.Qg4+ Kf7 21.f4 exf4 22.e5 Qxe5 23.Qg6+ Kf8 24.Re1 fxg3 25.Rxe5 fxe5 26.Qf6+ Kg8 27.Qd8+ Kg7 28.Qe7+ Kh6 29.Qf6+ Kh5 30.Be2 mate 1-0
 

Cup Winners Top the Ratings.
Peter Parr (06/06/05)

The joint winners of the Doeberl Cup Easter weekender Grandmaster Ian Rogers
(+7) and International Master Aleks Wohl (+32) maintained their positions as the top two players each scoring 6/7 in the three month rating period.
Rogers is 110 rating points ahead of Wohl who is 64 points ahead of IM Gary Lane(-15),the Australian Champion,in third place ahead of GM Darryl Johansen
(-27) in fourth place.

The Australian Chess Federation has rated 134 tournaments(10715 games)since March 2005.
June top ten: GM I.Rogers(NSW) 2648, IM A.Wohl(NSW)2538,IM G.Lane(NSW) 2474,GM D.Johansen(VIC) 2464,IM D.Smerdon(VIC) 2418,IM Z.Zhao(NSW) 2414,IM
S.Solomon(QLD) 2411,IM M.Chapman(SA)2405,I.Bjelobrk(VIC) 2399 T.Tao(SA) 2387.

Top females: WFM A.Caoili(QLD) 2296,WIM A.Sorokina(QLD) 2184,WIM
N.Koshnitsky(NSW) 2164,IM I.Berezina-Feldman(NSW) 2151,WIM L.Moylan(NSW)
2102,G.Nguyen(SA) 2071

Seniors Over 60: D.Hamilton (VIC) 2231 Over 70: P.Viner (NSW) 2050 Over
80: L.Fell (NSW) 1800 Under 20: IM Z.Zhao (NSW) 2414, FM G.Xie (NSW) 2367 Under 18: S.Chow (VIC) 2192 Under 16, Under 14 & Under 12:R.Song (NSW) 2035 Under 10: Y.Yuan (ACT) 1394.
The Mingara Club(Tumbi Umbi,NSW Central Coast)Major weekend tournament for players rated below 2100 attracted 33 players.Ilia Zvedeniouk won with 5.5/6 followed by Max Illingworth 5,Jason Chan and Mosaddeque Ali 4.5. There were two players rated above 2000 Ilija Ilic 2043 who scored 3.5 and FM Lee Jones
2043 scoring 4 points.

Progress scores in the Open Division of the NSW Chess Association inter-club grade match competition - North Sydney Brown Bears 4/4,Canterbury 6/8,St George 5.5/8,Asquith Leagues,Sydney Chess Academy 4.5/8,Rooty Hill 3.5/8,Parramatta 0/4,North Sydney Grizzly Bears 0/8. Justin Tan(Asquith,2205),the 2000 Australian Junior Champion,beat Vladimir
Smirnov(2296) and NSW Champion FM George Xie(2353) in the first two rounds.


The next ACF Grand Prix weekend tournament The NSW Open organised by the NSW Chess Association will be held at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club from June 11th to June 13th. A minimum prize fund of $5000 is guaranteed by the NSWCA with a large range of prizes for players of all standards in the main event and supporting under 1600 rated tournament. Seven rounds will be held over three days. Enquiries Trent Parker Tel 0419 469 764


Grandmaster Andor Lilienthal celebrated his 94th birthday last month in Budapest, Hungary. He played ten world champions in tournaments defeating five of them Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Botvinnik and Smyslov. He sacrificed his queen in the following brilliant game played more than seventy years ago defeating Jose Raul Capablanca (Cuba) one of the greatest players of all time. Lilienthal - Capablanca, [E24]Hastings 1934/35 1.d4
Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 b6 6.f3 d5 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 Ba6 9.e4
Bxc4 10.Bxc4 dxc4 11.Qa4+ Qd7 12.Qxc4 Qc6 13.Qd3 Nbd7 14.Ne2 Rd8 15.0-0 a5
16.Qc2 Qc4 17.f4 Rc8 18.f5 e5 19.dxe5 Qxe4?(if 19..Nxe5 20 Bxf6 gxf6 21 Nf4 with a good attack.Best was 19..Qc5+although white still stands better) 20 exf6!! brilliant 20...Qxc2 21.fxg7 Rg8 22.Nd4 Qe4 23.Rae1 Nc5 24.Rxe4+ Nxe4
25.Re1 Rxg7 26.Rxe4+ 1-0
 

Rogers wins in Bangkok
Peter Parr

Grandmaster Ian Rogers of Sydney,the top seed, won the Bangkok (Thailand)Open on tie-break from GM Eugenio Torre(PHI) scoring six wins and three draws.Rogers tied for first in the same event last year with the same score.

Leading final scores (73 players including 15 rated above 2200,9 rounds)GM I.Rogers(AUS 2576)and GM E.Torre(PHI 2530) 7.5,GM S.Wu(SIN 2513) 7,IM R.Shetty(IND 2348),IM B.Nadera(PHI 2424),O.Barbosa(PHI 2342),GM T.Bakre (IND 2474),A.Essing (GER 2263) all 6.5. Ian's wife WFM Cathy Rogers(1994) finished 21st equal scoring 5 points while Sydney tourist FM Tim Reilly(2301) tied for ninth place with 6 points.

Final scores in the Mtel Super Grandmaster Tournament in Sofia,Bulgaria(6 players, cat 20,average rating 2746, 10 rounds): V.Topalov (Bul 2778) 6.5: V.Anand (IND 2785) 5.5, J.Polgar (HUN 2732), R.Ponomariov (UKR 2695) 5: V.Kramnik (RUS 2753), M.Adams (ENG 2737) 4.

The 35th Bosna GM tournament finished yesterday in Sarajevo(Bosnia). The following game was played in round three. Bologan,V (2700) - Movsesian,S (2628) [D11] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 a6 5.Qc2 e6 6.Nbd2 Nbd7 7.b3 Be7 8.Bb2 0-0 9.Bd3 h6 10.0-0 c5 11.Rad1 b6 12.e4 dxe4 13.Nxe4 Qc7 14.d5 exd5 15.cxd5 Nxd5 16.Bc4 Nb4 17.Rxd7 Qxd7 18.Qc3 Qg4 19.Nfg5 Qxg5 20.Nxg5 Bf6 21.Qf3 Bxb2 22.Nxf7 b5 23.Nxh6+ Kh7 24.Qxf8 bxc4 25.Qxc5 1-0 Leading final scores (10 players,average rating 2631,9 rounds)V.Bologan(MDA 2700),I.Sokolov(NED 2662)6.5, A.Timofeev(RUS 2622)5.5, S.Movsesian(SVK 2628)and A.Shirov(ESP 2714) 5

21 year-old Grandmaster Zviard Izoria from the Republic of Georgia won the first prize of AUS $67,000 in the richest(total prize fund AUS $670,000)open tournament in history - the HB Global in Minneapolis,USA winning the following game in round four. Izoria,Z (2602) - Sokolin,L (2513) [A53] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.d5 Ne5 6.Nxe5 dxe5 7.Qb3 Qc8 8.e4 Bd7 9.f4 e6 10.Be2 exd5 11.fxe5 Nxe4 12.cxd5 Nxc3 13.Qxc3 c6 14.e6 fxe6 15.Bh5+ Kd8 16.Bg5+ Kc7 17.Bf4+ Kb6 18.Qb3+ Ka6 19.Be2+ b5 20.a4 Kb6 21.dxc6 Qxc6 22.Be3+ Bc5 23.Rc1 1-0 Izoria scored 7.5/9 finishing half a point ahead of ten grandmasters including Gata Kamsky (USA 2700), the top seed, who each scored 7 points.
The event attracted 1400 players (including 43 grandmasters)and was held in seven ratings divisions.

IM Zong-Yuan Zhao(2420)was in a class of his own winning every game he actually played in the World Rated St George Leagues Club Championship. Final scores(10 players,9 rounds) IM Z.Zhao 7.5,A.Rose 6,IWM L.Moylan,IWM N.Koshnitsky 5.5,R.Kabir,I.Zvedeniouk 4.5,I.Zirdum,Q.Reitmans 3.5,A.Camer 2.5,A.Bird 2. The World Rated second division was won by Henk Jens scoring 6.5/9 half a point ahead of 86 year-old veteran Lloyd Fell in second place.

St George defeated North Sydney 22.5-15.5 in the big board match. The top two games were drawn (N.Sydney names first)FM M.Stephens(2390)-FM G.Xie(2353) and FM M.Fuller(2139)-WIM N.Koshnitsky(2216).

The World Rated North Sydney Leagues Club Championship which started on Feb 8th is nearing completion.Leading scores(12 players,11 rounds)- C.Ghenzer 7.5/11,G.Charles 6.5/11,J.Cronan 5.5/10,M.Wettstein 6/11
 

Topalov on top of the World
Peter Parr

World number 3 Veselin Topalov(BUL),a sporting hero in his country,has taken the sole lead with one round to play in the Mtel Super Grandmaster Tournament in Sofia,Bulgaria. Topalov had 2/5 at the half way stage but beat World number 2 Viswanathan Anand in the following game in round 6

Topalov,V (2778) - Anand,V (2785) [E15] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3
Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Nc3 c6 8.e4 d5 9.Qc2 dxe4 10.Nxe4 Bb7 11.Neg5 c5
12.d5 exd5 13.cxd5 h6 14.Nxf7 Kxf7 15.0-0-0 Bd6 16.Nh4 Bc8 17.Re1 Na6 18.Re6
Nb4 19.Bxb4 cxb4 20.Bc4 b5 21.Bxb5 Be7 22.Ng6 Nxd5 23.Rxe7+ Nxe7 24.Bc4+ Kf6
25.Nxh8 Qd4 26.Rd1 Qa1+ 27.Kd2 Qd4+ 28.Ke1 Qe5+ 29.Qe2 Qxe2+ 30.Kxe2 Nf5
31.Nf7 a5 32.g4 Nh4 33.h3 Ra7 34.Rd6+ Ke7 35.Rb6 Rc7 36.Ne5 Ng2 37.Ng6+ Kd8
38.Kf1 Bb7 39.Rxb7 Rxb7 40.Kxg2 Rd7 41.Nf8 Rd2 42.Ne6+ Ke7 43.Nxg7 Rxa2 44.Nf5+ Kf6 45.Nxh6 Rc2 46.Bf7 Rc3 47.f4 a4 48.bxa4 b3 49.g5+ Kg7 50.f5 b2 51.f6+ Kh7 52.Nf5 1-0

Ponomariov,R (2695) - Kramnik,V (2753) [E12] Rd 6 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6
4.Nc3 Bb7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 g5 7.Bg3 Nh5 8.e3 Nxg3 9.hxg3 Bg7 10.Qc2 Nc6 11.0-0-0 Qe7 12.g4 Nb4 13.Qd2 c5 14.d5 exd5 15.a3 dxc4 16.axb4 cxb4 17.Nb5
d5 18.Nbd4 Bf6 19.e4 c3 20.bxc3 dxe4 21.Nf5 Qc7 22.Bb5+ Kf8 23.N3d4 Rc8
24.Ne2 e3 25.Qxe3 Bxg2 26.Rhg1 Bc6 27.Bxc6 Qxc6 28.Rd6 Qa4 29.Rxf6 Qa1+
30.Kd2 Qa2+ 31.Kd1 Re8 32.Qd3 Qa4+ 33.Qc2 Qxc2+ 34.Kxc2 Rxe2+ 35.Kb3 bxc3
36.Rd1 Rd2 37.Rc1 c2 38.Rc6 Kg8 39.Nxh6+ Kh7 40.Nxf7 Rg8 41.R1xc2 Rxc2
42.Kxc2 Rg7 43.Rf6 Kg8 44.Ne5 Kh7 45.Rf5 1-0

Progress scores after round 9(average rating 2746,6 players,10 rounds) V.Topalov(BUL 2778) 5.5,V.Anand(IND 2785) 5,J.Polgar (HUN 2732)and R.Ponomariov(UKR 2695) 4.5,V.Kramnik(RUS 2753)4,M.Adams(ENG) 3.5

Vassily Ivanchuk(UKR 2739)easily won the 40th Capablanca Memorial(category 15,average rating 2619) in Havana,Cuba scoring 9.5/12(performance rating 2841).Lazaro Bruzon(CUB 2669)was second with 7/12.

The Presidential Board of the World Chess Federation met last week in Doha, Qatar. The eight participants who have all confirmed their participation in the World Championship Tournament are Rustam Kasimdzhanov (UZB, World Champion), Viswanathan Anand (IND, World Champion 2000-2002), Veselin Topalov (Bul), Peter Leko (Hun), Michael Adams (Eng), Alexander Morozevich (RUS), Peter Svidler (RUS) and Judith Polgar (HUN).
Garry Kasparov (RUS, World number 1) has retired and Vladimir Kramnik
(Russia) declined his invitation.

The new world champion will be decided by a double round robin tournament (prize fund AUS $1,300,000) in the Province of San Luis, Argentina from 27th September to 16th October 2005.

Leading final scores of the ACF Grand Prix May weekender organised by the NSW Chess Association (33 players including 9 rated above 1700) at Rose Bay RSL Club. G.Xie (2353) 7, D.Stojic (1962) 5.5, J.Bolens (2050), B.Murray (1996), R.Harris (1631) and H.Rachmadi (1636) 5, B.Harris (1565) 4.5

 

Adams beats Kramnik
Peter Parr

Michael Adams defeated early leader Vladimir Kramnik in the following thrilling game on Saturday evening in the third round of the highest rated Super Grandmaster tournament so far in 2005. Kramnik sacrificed material resulting in his queen for rook,knight and bishop with black having two extra pawns on the queenside. Adams methodically won the pawns to take the sole lead in the tournament.

M.Adams(ENG 2737)-V.Kramnik(RUS 2753) MTEL Masters in Sofia,Bulgaria - 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nxe5 d6 4 Nf3 Nxe4 5 d4 d5 6 Bd3 Nc6 7 0-0 Be7 8 c4 Nb4 9 Be2 0-0 10 Nc3 Bf5 11 a3 Nxc3 12 bxc3 Nc6 13 Re1 Re8 14 cxd5 Qxd5 15 Bf4 Rac8 16 Bg3 Bf6 17 Nd2 Qa5 18 Qc1 Bxd4 19 cxd4 Nxd4 20 Bc4(black gave up his bishop for two pawns on d4 and now forks the rooks) Nc2 21 Rxe8+! Rxe8 22 Rb1 Re1+ 23 Qxe1 Nxe1 24 Rxe1 Kf8 25 Nf3 f6 26 Rd1 Qc5 27 Bf1 Ke8 28 Nd4 Bd7 29 Rd3 a5 30 h3 b5 31 Nb3 Qxa3 32 Bxc7 a4 33 Bd6 Qb2 34 Nc5 a3?(better was Bf5) 35 Re3+ Kf7 36 Nd3! Qb1 37 Bxa3 Be6 38 Nf4 b4 39 Bxb4 Qxb4 40 Nxe6 g6 41 g3 1-0 The rest is a matter of technique so Kramnik resigned.

The World's two highest rated active players Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov played a similar exciting game in the first round. Anand stood better with three minor pieces and active play for a queen and two pawns but the game ended in a a draw after 60 moves.
Kramnik defeated former World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov in the first round in the only other decisive game so far.

Progress scores after round 3(category 20,average rating 2747,10 rounds) M.Adams(ENG 2737) 2, V.Topalov(BUL 2778),J.Polgar(HUN 2732),V.Anand(IND 2785),V.Kramnik(RUS 2753) all 1.5, R.Ponomariov(UKR 2695) 1.

The 25th annual Sydney Western Suburbs Premiership inter-club competition attracted 19 teams(7 from Rooty Hill) from 9 clubs. Sydney Academy won the Open division with 20.5/32. The best scorers in the winning team were WM Laura Moylan 6/7,Justin Tan 4.5/6 and FM Brett Tindall 4.5/8. The NSW Chess Association inter-club grade match competition starts on Monday 23rd May with 43 teams(Rooty Hill 8,St George 7,North Sydney 6) from 16 clubs in 5 divisions. St George with their top four listed players GM I.Rogers 2641,IM Z.Zhao 2420,M.Drummond 2317 and WM N.Koshnitsky 2216 are top seeds.Last year's winners Wests are not competing in the open grade this year.

Gary Benson of Sydney last week became Australia's fourth Senior International Master of Correspondence Chess.
Max Salm,Tim Runting and Stephen Kerr are the other three. Cecil Purdy(1906-1979),the first World Correspondence Champion,Lucius Endzelins(1909-1981)and Romanas Arlauskas(1917- )have been the only three Australians to hold the Correspondence Grandmaster Title. Arlauskas of Adelaide who will be 88 on June 11th retired from correspondence play forty years ago.
 

Senior IM Title for Kerr
Peter Parr

Former Australian and British Junior champion Stephen Kerr of Sydney who became an International Master of Correspondence Chess in 2004 scored his third and final norm for the Senior International Master Correspondence title list week.

Kerr scored half a point above the SM norm in two international events - Champion League teams event on board one and on board one for Australia in the 15th Correspondence Olympiad. Kerr's final norm was in the Cecil Purdy Jubilee. Purdy of Sydney (1906-1979) won the first World Correspondence Championship in 1953. Australia now has 3 senior international masters (no grandmasters) Max Salm, Tim Runting (President of the Correspondence Chess League of Australia) and Stephen Kerr.

Here is the final game and a remarkable save that earned Kerr his final SM norm. Purdy Jubilee A S.Kerr - Carol-Peter Gouw (GM, NED) 1.c4 f5 2.g3 d6 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nc3 e5 5.d3 Be7 6.e4 c6 7.Nge2 O-O 8.O-O Na6 9.h3 fxe4 10.dxe4 Nc5 11.Be3 Be6 12.b3 Qc8 13.g4 a6 14.f4 b5 15.f5 Bf7 16.g5 Nh5 17.Bf3 b4 18.Na4 Nxa4 19.bxa4 Nf4 20.Nxf4 exf4 21.Bxf4 Bxc4 22.Re1 d5 23.Kg2 Ra7 24.Bg4 Qd8 25.Qc1 Bd3 26.Qxc6 Bxe4+ 27.Rxe4 dxe4 28.Rd1 Qa8 29.Qb6 Kh8 30.h4 Bd8 31.Qxb4 Raf7 32.Bd6 Re8 33.Qb3 Rb7 34.Qc3 e3!(A strong move which results in a long combination winning white's queen for two minor pieces.) 35.Bf3 Ba5! 36.Qxa5 Rb2+ 37.Kg3 e2 38.Rd3 Qd8 39.Qe1 Rb1 40.Qxb1 e1=Q+ 41.Qxe1 Rxe1 42.Rd5 Kg8 43.a5 Qc8 44.Bc5 Rf1 45.h5 Qc7+ 46.Kg4 Qxa5 47.g6 Qc7 48.Be3 Rb1 49.a3 h6 50.Bf4 Qc8 51.Re5 Rb5 (Here most players and computers would assess white chances of holding this position to be pretty remote but..) 52.Rxb5! axb5 53.Bd6! Qc4+ 1/2-1/2 (White holds by means of a "fortress". After 54.Kg3 Qd3 55.Bb4 Qxf5 black's king is trapped in the corner and the lone queen can make no progress against white's king and white squared bishop)

The Frank Parr (my father) and David Parr (my brother, NSW Champion 1974) Memorial Correspondence International Grandmaster tournaments start this week. SM Stephen Kerr needs to score 8/14 in this very strong category 13 Frank Parr Memorial to achieve his first grandmaster result.


GM Ian Rogers,WFM Cathy Rogers and FM Tim Reilly all of Sydney are competing in the Bangkok Open 19-23 May.
The category 20 double round robin, 7 hour games between Anand, Topalov, Kramnik, Ponomariov, Admas and Polgar will be held in Sofia, Bulgaria from 11th to 22nd May.

Leading final scores in the Laurieton (NSW) May Open ACF Grand Prix Weekender (28 players, 7 rounds) J.Bolens (trophy on count back) D.Castor 6.5, A.Keuning 5.

North Sydney Leagues Club drew 10.5-10.5 in a 21 board match against Manly-Warringah Leagues Club last week.

The next ACF Grand Prix weekender organised by the NSW Chess Association(tel Trent Parker 0419 469764) will be held over 7 rounds at Rose Bay RSL Club on 14th and 15th May.
 

NSW Schools over 8500 players
Peter Parr (SMH 02/05/05)

The NSW Junior League's main primary and secondary schools teams competitions for 2005 commence this week. The primary schools competition is being held in 33 zones across the state with 1150 teams from 418 schools. In the secondary schools competition 284 teams from 89 schools are taking part in metropolitan areas while a record 147 schools(one team each) have already started in a separate country districts competition.

Matches are held weekly in second and third terms with finals taking place in third and fourth terms. As each team consists of four players a total of approximately 6300 school students will be competing each week. However,with the substitution of reserves during the season it is expected that over 8500 players will take part before the competitions have finished.

Leading final scores in the NSW Chess Association Teams Challenge(19 teams,28 games) Sydney University no 1 team 24(in board order Tomek Rej 7/7,Jason Chan 6,Kevin O'Chee 5,Aaron Yap 6),Hyde Park 20.5(Haris Muljadi scored 6.5/7 on board 3).

The nine round Hakoah Cup in open and under 1700 rated divisions(tel Vladimir Feldman 0414798503) commence this evening at the Hakoah Club,Bondi.

The Russian team championship(included 75 grandmasters) held in Dagomys,Sochi last week was won by Tomsk-400(12 teams,66 games) 41.5 ahead of MaxVen Jekatyerinburg 39 in second place. Leading scores on board 1 -Svidler(2725)6.5/10,Alekseev(2597) 6.5/11,Gelfand(2713) 6/10,Ivanchuk(2739) 6/10,Malakhov(2670) 6/11,Volokitin (2679) 6/11. Here are two games from the event.


Bareev,E (2709) - Chernyshov,K (2531) [A40] 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.e4 Bb7 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.Ne2 Nb4 6.Nbc3 Nxd3+ 7.Qxd3 Bb4 8.0-0 Bxc3 9.Nxc3 Ne7 10.b3 0-0 11.Ba3 d6 12.f4 c5 13.f5 Nc6 14.f6 gxf6 15.Rf4 Nxd4 16.Rh4 f5 17.Qg3+ Kh8 18.Qh3 Qg5 19.Rxh7+ Kg8 20.Rf1 Qg6 21.Rh6 Qg7 22.Bc1 Bxe4 23.Nxe4 fxe4 24.Bg5 f6 25.Bxf6 Rxf6 26.Rfxf6 1-0


Zvjaginsev,V (2649) - Bareev,E (2709) [A09] 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 d4 3.g3 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.exd4 cxd4 6.Bg2 e5 7.0-0 Nf6 8.d3 Bd6 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.Nbd2 Qe7 12.a3 Bf5 13.Qe2 0-0 14.b4 Rfe8 15.Nh4 Be6 16.Ne4 g5 17.Qh5 Kg7 18.f4 exf4 19.gxf4 Bxf4 20.Rxf4 gxf4 21.b5 Nd8 22.Rf1 Qc7 23.c5 Rg8 24.Nd6 Kf8 25.Kh1 Ke7 26.Qe5 Rg5 27.Nhf5+ Kd7 28.Bxb7 1-0

The tenth 100 board match since 1976(tied 50-50) was held in Parnu,Estonia last week. Estonia beat Latvia 59-41. Estonia lead Latvia 527.5-472.5 over the 1000 games so far.

The World Chess Federation announced last week the eight player double round robin World Championship will be held in San Luis,Argentina with a prize fund of AUS $1.3 million. The City of Alghero in Sardinia,Italy claims it just met the original bidding deadline of April 28th with a bid of AUS $2 million. Kasparov(retired)and Kramnik(who would only agree to play the winner) will be replaced in the event.
 

TIVIAKOV 2971
Peter Parr

Grandmaster Sergei Tiviakov conceded only half a point in the category 10 Gausdal,Norway Grandmaster tournament giving him an incredible 2971 performance rating.

S.Tiviakov (NED 2631) - S.Williams (ENG 2466) [C06] 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.c3 c5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.Ne2 cxd4 8.cxd4 f6 9.exf6 Nxf6 10.0-0 Bd6 11.Nf3 Qc7 12.Bg5 0-0 13.Rc1 h6 14.Bh4 Nh5 15.Bg3 Nxg3 16.Nxg3 Qf7 17.Qe2 Qf4 18.Bb1 g5 19.Qd3 Qf7 20.Rce1 b6 [20...Bd7!? looks more natural] 21.Ne5 Bxe5 22.dxe5 a5 23.Nh5! Ba6 24.Nf6+ Kh8 [24...Qxf6?? 25.Qh7 mate!] 25.Qh3 Qg7 26.Qxe6! Nd4 27.Qxb6 Ne2+ 28.Rxe2 [28.Kh1 also wins] 28...Bxe2 29.Re1 Rab8 30.Qd4 Rb4 31.Qd2 Ba6 32.Nxd5 Rd8 33.e6! Rxb2 34.Qxa5 Rdb8 35.e7 Bb5 36.Qxb5! [A spectacular way to finish the game.] 36...R2xb5 37.e8Q+ Rxe8 38.Rxe8+ Qg8 39.Rxg8+ Kxg8 40.Bc2 1-0

Leading final scores S.Tiviakov(NED 2631) 8.5/9, K.Kulaots(EST 2572) 7, O.Korneev(RUS 2611) 6

The eight player double round robin World Championship is scheduled for San Luis,Argentina 27 September - 16 October with a prize fund of AUS $1.3 million. The financial guarantee has been made by San Luis Governor Alberto Rodriguez Saa who was interim President of Argentina for one week in December 2001. Billions of dollars left the country,foreign debt payments were suspended and citizens were prohibited from withdrawing their savings during the Argentine financial crisis of December 2001. The new World Champion in October 2005 will have to defend his World Title in 2006 against the winner of the 128 player World Championship knock-out tournament to be held in Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam in December 2005.

The largest scholastic tournament in history took place in Nashville,TN,USA last week with 5230 players from kindergarten to 12th grade from over 1300 schools in 600 cities in 48 states participating. The previous record was 4606 in Kansas City.
The US Chess Federation organised the event with celebrities including former World Champions Anatoly Karpov and Susan Polgar giving lectures and exhibitions. After four days of competition over 1000 trophies and plaques were awarded.

Thirteen-year-old Jeffrey Tse has won the NSW Junior League's Autumn Two-day tournament,which was contested by 242 players ranging in age from five to seventeen. Leading final scores(10 rounds) Jeffrey Tse 8.5,Justin Huang,Max Illingworth,Evan Law,David Webster and Blair Mandia 8 each

Alex Feldman defeated the leader Dr Vladimir Zeldovich in the final round of the Henry Greenfield Cup at The Hakoah Club Bondi. The result enabled his mother IM Irina Berezina-Feldman to win the tournament directed by his father IM Vladimir Feldman. Leading final scores(26 players,9 rounds) IM I.Berezina-Feldman 7,A.Feldman and Dr V.Zeldovich 6.5. The annual Hakoah Cup starts next Monday 2nd May in two divisions-open and under 1700.

Jason Chan won the 39 player City of Sydney Rapidplay Championship scoring 6.5/7 a full point ahead of Romeo Capilitan and Stanislav Berezovski who tied for second.

Evelyn Koshnitsky 90
Peter Parr

Evelyn Koshnitsky who has been promoting the game of chess in Australia for more than seventy years is in Sydney this week visiting relatives and friends and to celebrate her nintieth birthday on Wednesday.

She was born Evelyn Esau(5 days before the landing at Gallipoli in 1915) in the town of Woodside in the Adelaide Hills where her grandfather had been the local doctor from 1851-1901. Evelyn trained as a nurse at the Adelaide hospital at the age of 19 and met Garry Koshnitsky(1907-1999) in September 1940 at the Sydney Metropolitan Chess Club. Garry and Evelyn started the Chess Academy in Elizabeth St,Sydney CBD just after the War until 1961 when they moved to Adelaide.Evelyn spent most of her spare time at the Academy organising boys and girls events,womens chess etc for 15 years. Sadly in 2005 there is no chess club in the Sydney CBD.

Evelyn,an international arbiter and SA Womens Champion in 1964 and 1966,has organised numerous events in South Australia during the last 44 years including the World Junior in 1988,the strongest ever held. Garry Koshnitsky MBE was the Australian Champion 1932-34 and 1939-1945 and won numerous State Championships of QLD,NSW and SA since 1926 and captained 5 Australian Olympic Teams between 1964 and 1980.
Evelyn Koshnitsky was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1980 and The Order of Australia(AM) in 1990 for services to chess.

Leading final scores in the City of Sydney Championship(21 players) - FM George Xie 8.5/9,A.Ayvazyan 7,FM G.Canfell 6.5,V.Suttor,E.Bautista 5.5. H.Rachmadi won the 32 player under 1700 rated division with 8/9. Xie also won the Sydney Lightning title(44 players,11 rounds) G.Xie 9.5,J.Hu 8.5,J.Chan and R.Yu 8. Francisco Plaza(2420),the top seed,scored 7 points.
The NSW Teams Challenge will be held on Sunday 24th April at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club.

The NSW Junior League's Autumn One-Day tournament attracted 277 entries,a record for a school holiday tournament,and was won by Blair Mandia with 6.5/7. Mandia secured first place with a last round victory over the previous leader,Max Illingworth,who finished in a tie for second place with eleven other players. The League's Autumn Two-Day Tournament will be held this Wednesday and Thursday. For details see www.nswjcl.org.au or contact Margaret Cuckson,phone 9388 7940.

The untitled schoolboy(16th birthday last week) Wang Hao of China finished outright first(rating performance 2723) in the Dubai Open last week ahead of 53 Grandmasters(including 16 above 2600). WIM Anastasia Sorokina(AUS 2230) scored 4/9(performance 2237).

Chess legend Bobby Fischer is enjoying Icelandic hospitality relaxing in his hotel suite after spending 9 months in jail in Japan. Fischer has dismissed his US Lawyer and dropped his lawsuit against the US Government and his fiancee Miyoko Watai has returned to Japan. Sponsorship is available for a Fischer-Benko match in Kanizsa near the Serbia/Hungary border where Fischer lived in 1993.

World Number One Garry Kasparov,hard to beat at the chessboard,has been assaulted at a