We have one player who cannot play due to work commitments, Sarah Anton and she has been replaced in the draw by Alex Kaplan who is playing James Martin. This leaves me free to blog and fulfil my role as arbiter, as Michael Hain requested a bye in this round due to work commitments, and John Dowling decided not to play as he was competing in the Oceania Seniors tournament at Box Hill Chess Club. Congratulations go to MCC's very own Mirko Rujevic for winning this event. I was at the event yesterday for some time and it was great to see so much experience behind the chess board gathered in one place.
1 hour of chess played:
Today I will be kibitzing with FM Bill Jordan. A couple of quick winners tonight were Charlotte Dilnutt over James Brennan, and Jesse Jager over Jack Shanks.
On board 1 we have a Czech benoni with a huge wedge of interlocked pawns. Something will give at some stage. On board 2 Anthony Hain looks to have lost his queen for not enough compensation. On 4 there are 2 very tired looking guys playing. Richard Voon has been playing in the seniors, while Gary Bekker has been conducting an arbiter's seminar and course. Other games of interest include pawn advantages to Jamie martin and Paul Kovacevic, while Ruben Nowak has 2 pieces for a rook but his position is still very bad.
2 hours down.
Justin Penrose won against Anthony Hain on board 2:
Around the boards, Peter Fry appears to be a piece up against Richard McCart. while Paul Kovacevic seems to have an extra 3 pawns in a rook ending against Robert Frantzeskos.
Amazing how soon things can change. The time issue hassled Gary Bekker who is now a piece down. Ari Dale looks to have a big position now. He has got g6 in and looks to be opening up Kerry's king side.
The game on board 8 is quite interesting, between Thai Ly and Rad Chmiel. Thai has the 2 bishops but it is a bit of a mess. Quote of the night goes to Jesse Jager, "Isn't white just a pawn up?" Actually, no, it's materially level, but we still like white :D
It's great taking the fun out of someone for counting the board wrong like I just did to Jesse. Deservedly, I now have to admit I did the same thing in the Voon-Bekker game. Gary isn't a piece down, but an exchange up! However, he has the 30 second increment to finish his game. I have had to remind a player about making a number of draw offers again. This time, after making the draw offer, he was unsure that his opponent had heard so he asked again....and again....and again....and....you get the picture!
Some interesting endgames:
We're getting into the last parts of the games now. Ari Dale looks comfortable now against Kerry....in fact they've just come through and Ari has won and stays clear in the tournament. There has been a deal of criticism of the draw which was produced by swissperfect without any interference by me. To be fair, I did say that I wouldn't be changing the pairings without exceptional circumstances as I don't have time to work on them, but that hasn't stopped some from displaying their disgust with the draw. The issue is whether the top seed should have floated up, and to some extent I have sympathy with this as it seems natural. But is it right? I don't know, especially with Kerry already having floated down.
Anyway, back to the games. Phillip Drew has an exchange for some pawns against Michael Addamo, and Wichael only has 3 minutes. The only other game is Thai Ly and Rad Chmiel which hasn't changed much from before.
Vic Champs update: Johansen has 2 pawn advantage, though it's all on one side now.
Michael Addamo's pawns smashed through the centre, and Johansen converted his advantage in the Victorian Championship. There is still one game going, between Thai Ly and Rad Chmiel, but that is it for me for tonight. I will post some games in the near future, and the full results on the MCC website soon. The pairings for round 5 will be posted probably Wednesday night.
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