Australian Championship Pack Mentality

After round 3 of the Australian Championship, the tournament remains as close as ever. the only decisive result on the top boards was George Xie's victory over James Morris. This lets George leapfrog James and join the leaders.

2.5/3: Ly, Smirnov V, Wohl, Xie, Zhao
2/3: Cheng, Dragicevic, Ikeda, Johansen, Khamparia, McClyrmont, Morris, Steadman

This is a big pack separated by just half a point, and still strong players lurk behind these such as Illingworth, Solomon, Stojic and Wallis. It is far too early to tell where the prizes are going to go which keeps the excitement within the Championship.

24 hours can be a long time in chess. This time yesterday, James Morris was celebrating a win over Indian IM Khamparia, while today, he will be trying to regroup after losing to George Xie. However, he has the comfort of knowing that he has 2 of the top players behind him already in this event.

A critical position in the game Morris-Khamparia, where black couldn't find the best continuation. 23..Rac8? allowing white to win a pawn with 24.bxc4 Rxc4 25.Qb3 and here Black tried 25..Rc3

but lost the pawn after 26.Rexd3! Rxb3 27.axb3. James went on to win the ending in good style.

The top fourth round pairings:

Zhao-Ly
Wohl-Xie
Morris-Smirnov
Cheng-Khamparia
McClyrmont-Johansen

Can the deadlock be broken at the top of the tree? And for us locals, can any of the Victorians, Morris, Cheng or Johansen maintain their challenge?

Chess heroes

There are some great tournaments around the World at the moment. Forgive me for promoting my English heritage, but tonight the annual Hastings tournament starts. It's an excellent field, and I know a few players and I've played against quite a few. Unfortunately, the time difference between here and England at the moment means that to watch the games, I'll have to stay up half the night which won't be happening. It's tremendous for the tournament to have a player of the strength of Wang Yue 2697 at the top of the field. But I'll be hoping that one of the locals takes the title. Top English player is David Howell 2633 and he is the second seed and main hope for England. But not the only hope. I'd love to see Mark Hebden or Keith Arkell do well even though (or maybe because) they kept beating me up in weekend tournaments in the UK.

Meanwhile, there are 2 top World class events happening this new year period. Reggio Emilia started yesterday with everybody's favourite comeback player, Alexander Morozevich.

Morozevich was the little player's favourite, he played unorthodox openings and had interesting games. Since his return this year, Morozevich has played much more orthodox openings, and had outstanding results. He still plays interesting positions, as can be seen from the complicated game he played last night against Fabiano Caruana. The Closed Spanish is the most orthodox of openings but when 2 dynamic players come together things can get very interesting.

Morozevich is black, and has given a pawn for amazing play, a knight on d3 is going to be a pain for white, and black's dark squared bishop will work its way to the long diagonal. This had all been played before in the game Anand-Kamsky (m7) PCA Candidates Final 1995, and is typical of Morozevich's dynamic style. It is great to have top players who are not scared to take risks to win games.

Later the game reached this position, where Moro has been outplayed by his younger opponent. Caruana took his advantage now by playing, 42. Nxc4 Qf6 43. Qf1 Be8 44. d6 Qd8 45. Nd5 Bb5 46. Rxf7 Nxe4

and could have won, but erred with 47.Nc7? [47.Nf6 Kh8 48.Qb1 wins] and Morozevich didn't need another invitation 47..Bxc4 48. Qxc4 Nxd6 49. Ne6 Nxc4 0-1

Nakamura also won a game against Vitiugov while Ivanchuk and Giri drew their game. Funnily enough, Morozevich wasn't going to be playing in this tournament, but rather Gashimov was in the event. However, Gashimov chose to play at the other interesting event, starting later today in San Sebastian. Celebrating the centenary of the 1911 San Sebastian tournament won by Capablanca, the Donostia Chess Festival will be a 7 round knockout event. With 10 players over 2700 in the field, it looks to be an exciting prospect.


In the 1911 event Capablanca scored 9.5/14 ahead of Rubinstein, Vidmar, Marshall, Tarrasch, Schlechter, Nimzowitsch,     Bernstein, Spielmann, Teichmann, Maroczy, Janowski, Burn, Duras, Leonhardt.

Now that's a field to try to emulate!

Capablanca is 7th from the right, sitting and looking calm at San Sebastian 1911

Australian Championship Day 2

Day 2 of the Australian Championship didn't really help to sort out the pecking order. There are a few players at the top, a few at the bottom, and the majority in between. In fact, the table looks more like a round robin after 2 rounds, which I suppose reflects the fact that there are only 30 players and many are evenly matched. This is an 11 round event and it's already looking like a plus score will be a good effort for most players. Those who are on 2/2 are GM Zhou, IM's Ly, Morris, Smirnov and Wohl. Half a point behind is IM George Xie and everyone else is on half points or less. The top pairings are:

Smirnov-Zhou
Ly-Wohl
Xie-Morris

For us locals, the interesting pairing of these is the bottom one as Victorian IM James Morris takes on number 2 seed George Xie. Now I know I said that I am supporting George to win this tournament. However, I will be loyal to my fellow Victorian, and friend James Morris, who lives just up the road from me and plays at the same club, the Melbourne Chess Club. James has had his supporters and some detractors over the years, which I've thought pretty unfair as he's only young. Ok, if a junior plays a bad game, then it's a fair enough to tell them, and junior's are generally sturdy enough to take constructive criticism. But James has copped it for a number of things, the most notable in my mind being when he became an IM. James won his title at a zonal tournament, rather than gaining norms and reaching 2400. However, becoming an IM at 15, most of us who knew James realised it was only a matter of time before he worked his strength up to 2400. (coincidentally, Bobby Cheng gained the FM title at the same zonal before reaching 2300, but has also fulfilled this potential!). This year has seen James reaching heights he has not previously achieved, and his win today against 3rd seed IM A. Khamparia of India is another confirmation of his great potential.

The organisation of the tournament seems to be well in hand, and the website is regularly updated. One thing I have not been able to find, is the results of the previous rounds, though that is probably more due to my ineptitude than the website. A pgn of the first round games was put up today, and there was a very nice attack pulled off by 2010 Victorian Champion, Dusan Stojic.

 In the above position, Dusan Stojic as white played 24.Bh6 against Jonas Muller. The game continued 24..Rc8 25.fxg6 hxg6 to reach the following position where, Dusan tore black's defences apart.

 26.Rxf7!! Kxf7 27.Rf1 Ke7

 28.Qxg6 [28.Bg5 is preferred by Stockfish, but the text is certainly good enough] 28..Ne8 29.Bg5+ Nef6

and to finish things off in style, 30.Rxf6! Nxf6 31.Qxf6+ Kd7 32.Qe7+ 1-0

Christmas Chess

Ok, where to look? Today the 2012 Australian Championship started....yes, I know its 2011, but when the tournament ends it will be 2012. The tournament favourite is GM Zong-Yuan Zhou and he had an easier than expected first round game as his opponent didn't show up. In fact, there is some sort of story here, but I'll wait till I see Bill Jordan to find out the full thing. I said that I would be following IM George Xie in this tournament. In the first round he drew with local player Domagoj Dragicevic. It was a pretty mad game, with Domagoj choosing a wierd b4 idea against the Sicilian.

Meanwhile, not all the favourites had their day. GM Johansen agreed to a 14 move draw with local youngster Laurence Matheson, while the 2008 champion Stephen Solomon also drew. However, the big upsets of the round came on the lower boards. Queensland junior Yi Liu defeated FM Bobby Chneg, while 2009 Victorian Junior Champion Jason Tang beat New Zealand FM Mike Steadman. I think this shows that while the battle at the top might be between a few, there is competitiveness in the middle and bottom half of the field.

The round 2 pairings have been produced, and the most intriguing one is between 2 of the players on half a point. The pairing Solomon-Johansen would have been expected at some stage in the tournament but probably not as early as round 2!

Across the world there are some great tournaments happening over the festive holidays. The traditional Hastings congress looks to be pretty strong this year (although I remember the round robins of the 1980's that were always great). I'll be following this one closely. Reggio Emilia is holding an elite round robin tournament which will be a good warm up for Wijk in January. Then there are strong opens in Groningen, Litomsyl, Geneva ( 2 live games happening as I write!) and Zurich.

Personally, the tournament that I would most like to play in at the present moment is in Davos, or Interlaken. The tournament is not strong, and not big, but what a place to hold a Christmas Chess Event!

Waiting for Wijk

It's almost Christmas and chess is playing second fiddle to eating, drinking and making merry! But the festive holidays are a traditional time for chess and the break from work gives chess players time to recharge ready for the next batch of tournaments. Here in Australia, Christmas marks the start of the summer holidays, and with it comes the typical glut of chess tournaments.

First is the Australian Championship, and associated events, which are due to start December 27th in Geelong, Victoria. Geelong is about 45 minutes west drive from Melbourne so I guess players have the choice to commute if they want. Of course, the National Championship will have players from all over Australia and overseas. It is quite an impressive list of players, and it is a tournament that I would some day like to play in. Although I am currently English on the FIDE list, I think that I qualify as an entrant based on my residence and citizenship, which is now Australian. I think that by the next Championship (they are every 2 years), I will probably have Australia next to my name anyway!

After the Championship, 2 tournaments start. One is the Australian Junior Championships which are being held in Melbourne. The other is the biennial Queenstown Classic in New Zealand. I will be at the Australian Junior as a coach and helper so I should be able to report first hand on what is happening. The Queenstown tournament will be followed avidly here in Australia, as so many of our players will be playing. With 11 GM's already in the field, this is likely to be a great tournament. Congratulations to Murray Chandler, Paul Spiller and Helen Milligan (and everyone else) who have put together another great tournament.

I will be watching some of the action from New Zealand while at the Australian Junior Championship. Both tournaments start on the same day, Saturday 14th January. At a local level, these are hugely important events, but in the scheme of things both will be overshadowed by the traditional Wijk tournament in Holland. The Tata Steel tournament has an amazing field led by World Number 1, Magnus Carlsen. Probably the best thing for us in Australia, is that the games in Holland will be starting at night for us so it is doubtful we will be able to follow them live. However, the games and analysis will be followed closely while live action from this end of the World is also being watched.

I reckon that by the end of my holiday, which coincides with end of the Tata Steel Tournament, I'll be in need of another holiday!

Anyway, I suppose I better stick my neck out with some tips:

Australian Champion: George Xie (really nice guy, deserves it this time)
Queenstown Classic: Gawain Jones (go with the English!)
Tata Steel: Levon Aronian (Time for him to go for World number 1 spot!)

Following chess

There have been 2 events happening in Melbourne this weekend. The Melbourne Chess Club hosted their traditional Christmas Swiss tournament. This was a 6 round event registered on the Australian weekend Grand Prix. I think the weekender suffered a little form the fact that it clashed with the last weekend of the Australasian Masters. At least a couple of the competitors in that would most probably have played in the MCC event if they had been free.

The weekender was a small and mostly local affair with about 30 players, most of whom play at the MCC. In the end, the tournament was won outright by FM Michael Baron. Michael is an interesting character at the MCC. His passion in chess for fast time controls, and when playing he is deeply competitive. Away from the games, he is more than willing to share his knowledge and ideas and it perhaps only when talking to him that I've been able to guage his understanding of the game. I played him once at long play chess a few years ago under terrible conditions (it was over 40C outside with no aircon in the building) and we both agreed to a draw in a position that was rich with possibilities. Michael is often underestimated as a player because he rarely plays long play events. When he does, he is, however, usually a force to be reckoned with.

The Australasian Masters is still in progress as I write, The last round started a little while ago with a couple of players still in contention for first and Bobby Cheng needing to win against Leonid Sandler to gain an IM norm from the event. (Actually, as I'm writing I've just noticed the event has been won by young IM James Morris). This tournament has been a triumph for the young players with James Morris and Bobby Cheng making most of the running. Experienced IM Stephen Solomon is also in the running, but times are definitely changing for him to be challenged so seriously by the younger generation. Actually, with these great young talents and the authors of the FIGJAM blog, Australian chess seems to be on the verge of a new top layer of players. Hopefully, at least one of these talented youngsters can make it to the GM level!

Unfortunately I haven't been able to see any games from either event, though this has been my own fault rather than because of the organisers. Also I was planning to drop into these tournaments yesterday, but with one thing and another, I couldn't seen to get to them. I think it's high time I tried to get some words of wisdom from some of those players that I'm quite close to, so that's my next task for this blog.....

Chess only

From now on this blog will be devoted to chess only. Mostly, it will be about chess in Melbourne, and wherever I am, but there will be some other stuff (such as refuting the Petroff).

I've nearly finished work for the year and in retrospect I have to admit I overcommitted myself to chess activities in 2011. At one point I was working about 70 hours a week (coaching chess!), arbitering tournaments one night, running chess groups another night, trying to organise a teams tournament as well as captaining 2 of the teams in the event. I burnt out pretty badly, had to cut out all chess at my club, lost the thread of the teams tournament which luckily others were able to take on, and only just managed to hold the work together, though I was feeling pretty ill or just run down at times. Anyway, my New Year's resolution is to keep my activities to a manageable level, so if you ask me to help out with something and I refuse, please don't feel offended. I will still do what I can, especially around my club, the Melbourne Chess Club.

Around Melbourne there are some events in this lead up to Christmas. Box Hill Chess Club just finished what seemed an extremely successful tournament called the Canterbury Day Nighter. The tournament had a pretty good turn out and was won by popular local player Domagoj Dragicevic. Domagoj has had an active year, and seems to be moving up towards the FM level in strength.

Box Hill Chess Club are also hosting the annual round robin norm event, the Australasian Masters. This tournament has been organised by various individuals over the years (I had a go in 2006!) and is always a tough event to make happen. To qualify as a norm event, there has to be the requisite number of foreign players and the requisite number of titled players. Depending on who happens to be floating around Australia at any given time, this can make organising this a thankless task. This year the organisation has fallen on the head of Chess Victoria President Leonid Sandler. Leonid has taken it upon himself to organise this event for the past couple of years and has done well in the end to assemble a field this year. The tournament runs on a shoestring budget (big thanks must go to Eddy Levi for his continual sponsorship of the event) so it is difficult to pay out too much for titled players. However, IM's Rujevic, Morris and Solomon made up the requisite number for the 10 player round robin. Foreign players proved harder for Leonid, but he came up with the 4 players in the end (recently the Masters has been lucky to have strong foreign players Vladimir Smirnov and Erik Teichmann playing, but neither are in the event this year. I am nowhere near their strength, but I have also found myself in the tournament in years gone by as a foreign player but not this year). The main norm hunters in the event are local FM's Bobby Cheng, Dusan Stojic and Eddy Levi. The tournament finishes at the weekend and I hope to be there for a round at some stage.

Melbourne Chess Club are hosting their traditional Christmas Swiss Weekender this coming weekend, so I might pop in to see how this is going as well.

Leonid Sandler (right) with outgoing CV member David Hacche

Melbourne Chess Club had their AGM over the weekend and I couldn't attend because I was in Tasmania. I don't have the details of the meeting, but the main thing is the election of the office bearers. There has been some continuity and some change:

President: Grant Szuveges

Vice President: Elizabeth Warren

Treasurer: Andrew Saint


Secretary: Anthony Hain

Registrar:Justin Penrose

Assistant Treasurer: Jesse Jager

Committee Member: John Beckman

Anthony Hain and Justin Penrose are the new members on the committee, and there don't seem to be as many members as in the past couple of years. Hopefully this will not put too much strain on their efforts, especially seeing the MCC is organising the Australian Junior Championships in 2012.

Chess Victoria also held their AGM a few weeks ago at the MCC and from my club's point of view the news is that our President, Grant Szuveges has joined the CV committee. Good luck to all these officebearers in their positions for the next year.