Glen Eira Chess Club

Ok, over the past few weeks we made some mistakes in the running of this chess club. We started to build a regular number of visitors each week, and seemed to have a good thing going. Then we moved venue to a nicer space. Unfortunately, we didn't get contact details for our members so couldn't let them know about this. As a result we lost some bodies from the new place. As a result of this, I have decided that the most important thing for a new club is communication, and I'll be trying to write a short, regular newsletter for members to keep them up to date. This week we came close to getting 20 people through the doors which is really the minimum number we will need as a starting point to build the club.

While the venue is excellent, it has a security issue. Carnegie Library, where we play, closes at 6 pm on a Friday, and people cannot enter the building without a key, or unless someone opens the doors for them from inside. This is another issue we will have to overcome if we're to stay at this venue. For the past couple of weeks we have had only a couple of people through the doors, but this week we had enough to start some small round robin events. These will take place over the next 8-10 weeks, with some leeway for players to make up games if they cannot come to the club one night. There are still spots available for anyone who wants to play, and if we get enough players, we can even start another group. The players were roughly divided into playing strength groups, and over the space of time, these groups should establish into an upper and lower group with promotion and relegation. While I like the swiss system, I still prefer the old round robin system for a tournament, and my mind drifts back to my junior days when I'd turn up at the club and there would be a noticeboard with hand drawn crosstables that were gradually filled in throughout the year. Games that weren't played were obviously counted as double zeroes and tournaments could last a whole calendar year! Those were the days :D

The first step in remedying a problem is in identifying it. We have seen the mistakes we've made, and will try to make amends and ensure they don't happen again. Starting a new chess club from scratch is something that everyone at Glen Eira Chess Club is learning how to do. And I've just noticed that our website hasn't been updated with the new venue, which is another job to do!

My first game in our round robin was against a talented junior who is under rated (as they all seem to be) and can probably hold his own at 1400-1600 level. This boy is essentially self taught, has received a minimum of private coaching and just likes to play. Again, this reminds me of how things were in the old days when I was a junior. I managed to win the game, but not without a struggle, and not without chances for my young opponent. Here's the game with light notes.




I had a really enjoyable night on Friday. The games were played in great spirit, things were hard fought but not taken overly seriously, and it was good just chatting with people through the evening. Anyone who wants to come down to the club are very welcome, and we can accommodate everyone from beginners to seasoned tournament players. Generally, the emphasis is on making the club a friendly place to play, but we will be holding tournaments for those who like things to be more competitive. And finally, we are open to ideas, so if you want to be a part of the club, or if you are already a part of the club, what do you want to see happening? We'll do our best to please as many members as possible.

And The Magic Number Today Is....

46

Hmm, seems a bit random? Well, it's not, and it's nothing to do with numerology or any other bullshit destiny type thingo.

Holiday countdown playmobil Calendar (from wired.com)

Today I'm starting my holiday countdown, like an advent calendar to my holiday, except it has nothing to do with Christmas, and there aren't any chocolates to open up. In 46 days, my wife Caroline and I will be travelling to the USA on a roadtrip of a lifetime.The reason I chose 46 as the countdown date is that's my age. Yes, I know you're staggering around in total disbelief that my youthful charm, and boyish looks in fact, cloak a man approaching his fifties. But it is true, I was born in October 1966, apparently while Jim Reeves "Distant Drums" was the number 1 song in the charts (drat).

Jim Reeves tragically dies at just 41 (wikipedia)

Funnily enough 46 days after we leave for holiday, will be another holiday weekend, the November Melbourne Cup Saturday comes 46 days after we leave for the USA. Spooky....

Did you know that Brodman Area 46 is a part of the brain that plays a role in sustaining attention and memory. I'd say they are pretty important things for a chess player. And in fact, would it therefore be more than a mere coincidence that my game of chess tonight lasted 46 moves? (Indeed it would, it actually lasted 35!)

The red shading represents Brodman Area 46 (wikipedia)

It is also no coincidence that Oklahoma is the 46th state of the USA. I say no coincidence because we'll be going nowhere it on our holiday. However, 46 hours into our trip we would have already experienced the magic of Sequoia National Park in California, and the biggest trees in the world. I think I read somewhere that one of the absolute biggest of these trees can have over a billion leaves on it! Another 46 hours on, and we would have driven a loop of Yellowstone National Park. Another 46 hours, and (hopefully) we would have seen dinosaur tracks in Northern Utah. Another 46 hours should have seen us to the Arches National Park, actually the part of the holiday I'm looking forward to the most. 46 hours after that, and we should be in Arizona and somewhere near Page and Lake Powell with its stunning views along the Colorado River. 46 hours later and we'd have visited the Grand Canyon and Sedona, which I found out yesterday is strongly marked by ley lines, but I'm not getting into that either! 46 more hours before we're flying home, and I reckon that I'll sleep for about 46 hours when I get here.

Am I excited about my upcoming holiday? Well I'm no more excited than Caroline, let's just say that! Just a warning, though. There'll be more posts like this as we get closer to the take off, and then I'll be switching from chess writing to fully blown travel writing mode.

Arches National Park (wikipedia)

Some Midweek Chess

Imagine you're playing someone rated maybe 250-300 points below you. The game may not be a push over, but you are probably feeling confident that if you play with no major errors, then you should be a technically better player than your opponent. So play risk free, and wait for the chances to present themselves, which they surely must. The worst that could possibly happen is that by playing it safe, you end up with a draw, and only if your opponent plays above their usual game.

Sounds like a reasonable plan, and sounds like a plan used by most players. However, GM Simon Williams isn't most players! His philosophy seems to be more like, I don't care whether you're a beginner or a World Champion, I'm going to throw pieces around in the style of Tal, or Anderssen and smash you in the most brilliant way I can....or I'll lose in the process! It is a most admirable way of playing, and it has brought the 'GingerGM' a number of fans.

Yesterday at the British Championships, Williams was playing Richard Weaving who is no mug but at 2200ish, not in the same league as the GM (2480ish). But rather than playing it safe, Williams threw pieces around, creating half threats, full threats, bluffs and feints, before landing a knockout blow to finish the game.

White has sacrificed a pawn for this lead in development, but black needs only a couple of moves to get back on track, and to have a healthy endgame advantage. But it is white to play!

White to play and win!

(answer tomorrow:as it's the day after tomorrow...Williams finished the game elegantly with 1.Nf6+! Kh8 [1..gxf6 2.Qg4+ Kh8 3.Rg3 and black must part with the queen to avoid mate] 2.Rh3 1-0)

I was glad to see an old acquaintance, Don Mason, get a good draw against GM Peter Wells. Don used the age old method of mixing it as much as possible against a higher rated opponent. The opening was a Nimzo-Indian and Don chose one of the most aggressive systems, the Samisch, and eventually one of the most random positions of the tournament so far was reached:

Luckily this position was even too random for a GM to fathom, and it wasn't long after this that the game ended in a draw. I wish both these players well in the rest of the tournament. I used to play in the Birmingham League as did Mason, and I remember Peter Wells as a junior, Peter always being the strongest junior in our county, Hampshire. Don has another tough game in the next round against another GM, Mark Hebden while Peter plays Michael Yeo (am I getting mixed up, or is Michael another Hampshire player?).

There are currently 13 players on a maximum 2/2, 6 GM's, 5 IM's, and 2 FM's, including Australia's Gary Lane. The full rankings, and pairings can be seen here.

Summer Chess Action

That might seem a funny thing to say for someone who is in mid winter, but up in the Northern Hemisphere, it is summer holiday time and there is an absolute abundance of chess across Europe. Australian GM David Smerdon is currently on 3.5/4 in the Politiken Cup in Denmark, half a point off the 9 leaders, in this 10 round swiss. Things didn't look too clever for David yesterday, but he came up with a great save.

As white Smerdon had lost a pawn, then sacrificed a piece to gain nowhere near enough compensation in the form of activity. Here, he played 25.Rxf6!? Bxf6 26.Bxf6 Rf8, and white should probably take on h8 and try to grovel through a really bad ending a pawn down. Smerdon tried a different tack!

27.Ng4, and got away with it! Black should really now take the bishop on f6, but possibly thought of more. 27..h5?

Ok, so it's white to play and draw! Answer tomorrow :)

(It's tomorrow!!) David played 28.Re7! [threatening 29.Rg7# so black has to move a rook. He can't move the f-rook as there would follow (eg) 28..Ra8 29.Rg7+ Kf8 30.Ne5 and black will have to give up a lot of material to avoid mate. So he has to play] 28..Rh7 29.Nh6!+ Rxh6 30.Rg7+ Kh8 31.Rf7+ Kg8 32.Rg7+ with a perpetual draw, and an excellent save!
Smerdon is on the same points as legends Jan Timman and Lajos Portisch, and I'm currently watch Portisch holding his own as black in a Scotch game against Parimarjan Negi. Meanwhile across the Channel, the British Championships opened yesterday with no acceleration. The 11 round Championship will truly come around in week 2 when the placings are sorted out, but it's still quite interesting to see seeds fall, and some classy GM moves against amateur opposition. My favourite move of the first round (of the games I've seen so far) was GM Tony Kosten's winning move.

Kosten playing white has an amazing position, and just needs to find a coup de grace! There might be a number of winning moves here, but none are as stylish as 27.Rc6! 1-0

Grandmaster Glenn Flear had to concede a draw, but perhaps the biggest upset was William Foo beating IM Richard Bates. I know nothing about William Foo other than he is 16 years old (if you believe chessbase) but his play was mightily impressive against Bates. Bates took one risk too many, and Foo was able to win a pawn, which he converted remarkably easily.


I have to say that the website is excellent (especially so after the disappointment of the World Youth Olympiad website) with lots of info. Apparently, Keith Arkell won the Bullet challenge against Gary Lane on Sunday. You can see pictures and read about it on the Championship blog.

As One Ends Another Begins

It's turn around day for my interests in chess. I have been following the exploits of the Australian teams at the World Youth Olympiad in China for the past week or so. Today was the last round, and Australia 1 had a slight chance of picking up a medal if they won their match, and other results went their way. The only issue was that they had to overcome top seed Russia. The Australians gave it a very good shot, but in the end the Russian team, featuring a squad rated averagely above 2400, proved just strong enough winning the match by the closest of margins, 2.5-1.5. However, this left the Aussies in a disappointing 10th place (=9th). The event was dominated by India who started as the number 2 seeds, but in the end proved the only unbeatable team in the tournament. Second were Russia, and equal third were Turkey and Hungary.

Australia fielded 2 teams and the second team started from a middle ranking. Unfortunately this put them in the line of the host nation's mass of teams. China fielded over 40 teams, and some of the international countries had little chance to play anyone other than Chinese teams. Australia 2 were one of these. Despite this, the team did pretty well finishing in a bunch in the mid 30's out of a total of 72 teams. Reading the reports of team coach Ian Rogers on the chesschat forum, I couldn't help but feel his exasperation at this situation with the huge number of Chinese teams. Ian is a respected journalist, and not scared to speak his mind, so I will be keeping my ears open for his analysis of the tournament.

Individually, there was quite some success for the young Australians. Ari Dale secured an individual Silver medal on board 4 for the 1st team scoring an excellent 6.5/9. Bobby Cheng managed the same score on board 1 for the 1st team, a tremendous performance and finishing 5th best board 1! Yi Liu scored 5/8 on board 5 (finishing 5th), Anton Smirnov, playing well above his age bracket scored 4/8 on board 2 (11th), and Justin Tan 2/6 on board 3 (9th). The second team also had great performances, the highlights being Jack Puccini's 6.5/8  (15th) on board 3 and Zach Loh's 5.5/9 on board 2 (23rd).

And so my attentions immediately shifts from China to England, where the 100th British Chess Championships start today. Actually, there have already been some warm up events such as a 14 board simul given by GM Nick Pert, and an hour long bullet match between GM Keith Arkell and IM Gary Lane. I don't know what the final score was here, but I do know that Keith is an unbelievably strong fast player. There are some events that take place in the mornings and these will also have started, but the main opening ceremony is set for about 2 hours time, and the main championship will start about 30 minutes after that. For followers here in Australia, the games are starting about 11.30 pm. Shame for me, as I would have liked to have followed the events live. Never mind, I'll just catch up on the action the next day.

Now you'd think that a tournament without Michael Adams (leading in Dortmund so GB can hardly complain about his absence), Nigel Short, Luke McShane and Matthew Sadler could be considered a let down, but really this is looking like a pretty good championships. A grand total of 13 GM's have entered out of a field of over 100. I'm glad to say there are a few names I remember, but it is also heartening to see many new players reaching this level. While I would wish everyone good luck, it is with the proviso that we all like to see a good upset once in a while!

Now that's a lot of writing with no chess. So, I noticed that Aussie GM David Smerdon is playing the Politiken Cup in Denmark that started a couple of days ago and has started with 3/3. The tournament has some other interesting characters, notably legends of the board, Lajos Portisch and Jan Timman. Now they might not be as great now as they once were, but I'd love to be sat in the same tournament as them! Timman finished his game yesterday pretty quickly! His opponent somewhat imploded at the end!

MCC Update

Since I moved to Australia about 8 and a half years ago, there have been 4 players who I've had a particularly bad record against. IM Guy West I have never managed to beat, I've scored a few draws, and lost quite a few. FM Dusan Stojic I have managed to win against, and have picked up the odd draw, but I must be at about -6 against him. My record against IM Mirko Rujevic perplexes me as I seem to get decent positions, but his sharp and imaginative sense at the chess board usually allows him to come out of things well. While I've beaten him, and drawn a few, I reckon I'm at -5 at least. And against Malcolm Pyke I have had a bad time. I don't remember the exact score, but he won a whole load back to back. I'm either up, level or no worse than -2 against everyone else I've played in Australia. (A bold announcement and if you are someone I've forgotten, then please don't hesitate to remind me)

Guy West and Dusan Stojic

What made me think about this was seeing the field for the Melbourne Chess Club's latest Monday night tournament, the Malitis Memorial. This mid year 7-round swiss has usually had small turn outs compared to other MCC events, but this year the tournament seems to holding it's own with the previous City of Melbourne Open and a field of 29 players are currently competing compared with 23 for the previous event. The top 2 seeds are from my nemesis group, Rujevic and Pyke and these 2 are currently on 2/2 and in the leading group of the event along with David Lacey, Tom Kalisch and Paul Kovacevic. It's still, of course, too early to tell what will happen but with only 7 rounds, the tournament will quickly sort itself out.

Malcolm Pyke

Mirko Rujevic

One player has asked for a bye for tomorrow's third round game in the Malitis Memorial. Jack Puccini is currently in China playing for Australia in the World Youth Olympiad, a team tournament for under 16's. Jack is currently playing board 3 for Australia 2 and has scored a magnificent 5/6, his only loss being to 2449 rated Russian FM Kiril Alekseenko. The MCC are also represented in the Australia 1 team with Ari Dale also having a stellar performance scoring 5.5/7 on board 4 although things were even better before the double round yesterday as it was the second game on the day he lost. All the young Australians are working hard to achieve the best results for their teams, and currently, the 1st team are 8th place (=7th) and the 2nd team are in 39th (=30th). There are still 2 rounds to go and both teams will be looking to improve upon their current standings.

In my last post, I complained about the lack of pgn games on the official website. Well, within about 1 hour of writing that post a pgn of rounds 1-6 was posted on the website. I was immediately ready to forgive the organisers, until I opened it and found it contained only the games from the live boards. To be honest, these games should have been posted to the site immediately, and it should have taken some time for other games to be manually loaded into a database. But I am now not going to hold my breath for the remaining games of the event to be published.

A Quick Post

Well, I've been sick as a dog the past few days which means I missed much of the chess action in China at the World Youth Olympiad, as well as the start of Biel and Dortmund. I'm still feeling pretty rough so this post will be quick. The Australian teams seem to be doing ok at the Youth Olympiad. The 1st team is in the fight for the medals, and the 2nd team is competing in the middle of the tournament. This was pretty much as expected, and it is good that our kids, helped by their trainers should live up to expectations.

Today will be a make or break day with a double round which will see some teams catapult up the rankings, and some slide a fair way down. At the moment, round 7 is in action, and later today we'll have round 8. There are to be 10 rounds in all, with the tournament finishing on Monday.

There are some issues with the event. First, the official website is pretty bad. A lot of material has not been updated, and a couple of the links lead to blank pages. Now it wouldn't be such a bother if these pages weren't too important, but we're talking about "standings" and "pgn". In fact, the lack of published games has been really disappointing. The best place to find the results and scores is the chess-results server.

The other issue is the number of Chinese teams competing, about 40! While there is nothing in the rules against this happening, it makes the event a kind of Chinese tournament with a few other countries invited, rather than the international event it is meant to be. At the top of the tournament, these Chinese teams don't come into the equation too much, but in the middle, and at the bottom of the tournament, it is more than likely that they will be encountered. This is what the Australian 2nd team has found. Australia 2 are a mid strength team and rather than playing a group of international teams, they have played 5 different Chinese teams in the first 6 rounds.

Currently, Australia 1 in 8th place (joint 6th) and Australia 2 in 40th (joint 32nd). Good luck in the remaining 4 rounds!