April fools day

 It might be an age thing, but April Fools Day tends to pass me by more and more. I did catch a couple of chess related ones, although the Carlsen retiring one was pretty obvious. There was one concerning the new BBC Chess Show "Chess Masters: The Endgame" on FB which did catch some people unaware (the contact for the Show was Afo Ools which was a clue).

But elsewhere (away from chess) I did like the installation of floating roundabouts on Sydney Harbour, as a way of helping the traffic flow at the busiest points.

2025 Dubbo Open - Kempen and Vujasin tie for 1st

 The 2025 Dubbo Open ended ina tie between Nikola Vujasin and Leon Kempen, on 5/6. Kempen had started the tournament with 4/4, including a win over top seed Blake Lynch, but a loss to Vujasin left a 3 way tie for 1st going into the final round. Vujasin defeated fellow leader Ron Groenhout with a strong attack on the top board, while Kempen beat Cameron McLean on board 2. 

Groenhout had the consolation of sharing the Under 1600 prize with former tournament winner Fritz vander Wal on 4/6. Prakashbabu  Radhakrishnan was the best U1300 player, while Cameron McClean and Sarayu Prakashbabu shared the best unrated prize.

Although this years event was smaller than previous years, it was an enjoyable, and very social tournament. As usual, the Dubbo Chess Club did a great job of organising the tournament,  and with the support of the Dubbo RSL Club, were able to offer a generous prize pool. Next years event is likely to be on the weekend of the 14th and 15th of March, so plan your entries now!

2025 Dubbo Open

 The 2025 Dubbo Open has returned, after a break last year. A smaller than average field of 21 players turned up for the first round, with Blake Lynch as the top seed. Despite the small field, the first round was quite competitive, with a couple of upset wins recorded by the lower ranked players.  

The 2nd round is now underway, and at least one upset has already been recorded. If you want to keep up with the scores (or simply decide that YOU should have entered this year) you can do so at https://www.vegaresult.com/en/event.php?id=3583

Ozbase - Backup needed

 Ozbase has been an invaluable resource for maintaining the history of Australian Chess. managed by Paul Dunn. Up until recently it was a huge archive of historical Australian games and tournaments. Unfortunately, the website has disappeared, the domain name has been transferred elsewhere, and most importantly, the web hosting company claims there is no backup available. 

So if anyone has a recent backup of the database, a copy would be greatly appreciated. Reconstructing the html files shouldn't be too difficult, but a complete copy of the game files (or files) would be incredibly helpful. If you can help. just get in touch with me, and I will let Paul Dunn know. 

Not a good birthday week for Ivanchuk

 Vasyl Ivanchuk celebrated his 56th birthday last week, but based on the following game it might not have been a great birthday week. In round 9 of the European Championship, Ivanchuk faced Maxim Rodshtein who decided on move 17 to sacrifice a piece. In this case it was a 'real' sacrifice in that there was no immediate mating attack, or the change to win back material. Instead there was just pressure in the form of a central pawn mass, which caused to Ivanchuk to play some poor defensive moves. But the real shock came on move 28, when Ivanchuk allowed a mate in 1. Of course this may have been his way of resigning a lost position, but for a GM of his calibre, a surprise nonetheless

Rodshtein,Maxim (2623) - Ivanchuk,Vasyl (2604) [E07]
Round 9: European Championship (9.10), 24.03.2025

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Nc3 Nbd7 7. Qd3 c6 8. O-O b6 9. b3 a5 10. e4 Ba6 11. e5 Ne8 12. a4 Nc7 13. Rd1 h6 14. Bb2 Rb8 15. Nd2 b5 16. axb5 cxb5 17. Nxd5 exd5 18. cxd5 Bb4 19. d6 Ne6 20. Nf1 Bb7 21. Bxb7 Rxb7 22. Ne3 Nb6 23. Qxb5 Qb8 24. Nf5 Re8 25. Rac1 Nd7 26. Qe2 Nb6 27. d5 Nc5 28. Qg4 Nxb3 29. Qxg7# 1-0

2025 ACT Teams Rapidplay

 The ACT Teams Rapidplay has grown in popularity over the last few years, with this years event attracting 21 teams. Some of the teams represented the local chess clubs (and were playing for the Larko Cup), some were just a group of friends (or friends dads), while other represented other chess organistations.

The clear winner of this years event was the Canberra Academy of Chess I team. They won all their matches and finished on 21.5/28. Tied for 2nd were the Purple Pineapple Pickers and the Tuggeranong Chess Club on 18. PPP took 2nd on countback, while third placed Tuggeranong took home the Larko Cup, their 2nd win in 3 years.

This years event was incredibly even on paper with the top 8 teams within 100 points of each other on average rating. It turned out that depth was what really counted with the winning team scoring 13.5/14 on boards 3 and 4. 

One highlight was the pairing of the All-Star Kids team, against the All-Star Dads team. Each board pairing saw father play son, with the Kids winning 3-1. There were also a few internal club match ups, with these matches being played with as much venom as the top boards.

Board medals went to: Bd 1 CM Hui Li (PPP), Bd 2 Jonah Gear (CAC I) , Bd 3 Jordan Brown (CAC I), Bd 4 Douglas Shuttleworth (CAC I)

Best team name was won by Yogis and the Beare, Best reserve Hakoo Desai (Rosary), Biggest rating gain Sanat Hegde (All Star Kids) and best female Varshini Mididuddi (Canberra Rising Stars)

Target: c6

 Here is another great example of following a simple plan to its obvious conclusion. White employs a king side fianchetto, training all his pieces on the c6 pawn. But in the end, the pawn itself survives the entire game. Instead, in trying to defend the pawn, Black falls victim to various other tactics, resulting in a winning final position for white.

Lagarde,Maxime (2615) - Yilmaz,Mustafa (2576) [A20]
Round 6: European Championship (6.11), 20.03.2025

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 c6 4. d4 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 d6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. dxe5 dxe5 9. Qxd8 Rxd8 10. Nf3 Re8 11. b4 Bf5 12. Nd2 Nbd7 13. Nb3 Rac8 14. Na5 Rc7 15. O-O Rec8 16. b5 Nc5 17. bxc6 bxc6 18. Rfd1 Kf8 19. Rd6 Bd7 20. Rad1 Ke7 21. f4 exf4 22. gxf4 Nb7 23. Nxb7 Rxb7 24. e4 Nh5 25. f5 Nf6 26. Bh3 Ne8 27. R6d3 Rcc7 28. e5 f6 29. e6 Bc8 30. Ne4 Rb4 31. Nc5 Rxc4 32. Rd7+ Kf8 33. Rxc7 Nxc7 34. Rd8+ Ne8 35. Nd7+ Ke7 36. Rxc8 Rc1+ 37. Kf2 Rc2+ 38. Kg3 Rc3+ 39. Kh4 g5+ 40. fxg6 hxg6 41. Rxe8+ Kxe8 42. Nxf6+ Kf8 43. Bg4 Rc2 44. h3 Rxa2 45. Kg5 a5 46. Nd7+ Ke8 47. Kxg6 a4 48. Nf6+ Kf8 49. Ng8 Ra1 50. e7+ Ke8 51. Bh5 Kd7 52. Kg7 Rg1+ 53. Bg6 Re1 54. e8Q+ Rxe8 55. Nf6+ Ke7 56. Bxe8 1-0