O2C Doeberl Cup passes 200 entries

Entries for the 2008 O2C Doeberl Cup have passed the 200 mark, with 207 players entered across the 5 tournaments. While the Premier filled up almost a month ago, the other tournaments have taken their time to reach their limits. At the moment the Minor is the second largest event with 56 players, followed by the Major with 37 players. The new 2 day Under 1200 event has 17 players entered so far (although players can enter this event on the day), while the Seniors event lags behind with only 7 players entered. Entries will be taken up until the 19th of March so anyone planning to enter only has 8 days to do so.

The last issue of the Doeberl Cup Newsletter was going to have the following game included, until technical gremlins arose. So here it is instead.

Agdestein,S - Tindall,B [B70]
Doeberl Cup Canberra (1), 1997
In previous years it was rare to have more than 2 Grandmasters playing at the Doeberl Cup. When such a Grandmaster was from overseas it was quite a big deal. It was an even bigger deal when they were upset in the first round! 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Bg5 A very rare move in the Dragon. One idea is to aim for a Yugoslav Attack without playing f3. 6...Bg7 7.Qd2 [ 7.Bb5+ Bd7 8.Qe2 Nc6! resulted in a win for Sax (as black) against Ghinda in only 21 moves at the 1980 Olympiad.] 7...Nc6 [ 7...h6 is also playable here.] 8.Nb3 [ 8.0–0–0 drops a pawn to 8...Nxe4 9.Nxe4 Bxd4 10.Bb5 Bg7 although White's lead in development leaves the position dynamically equal.] 8...Be6 9.f4 0–0 10.Be2 a5! White would like to castle queenside before embarking on a kingside hack, but this move dissuades White from doing so. 11.a4 Rc8 Black has already organised his pieces on good squares, while White has a problem with King safety. 12.Ra3 Nb4 13.Bf3 Qb6(D)
14.f5?? White is decides to play for the attack, before his pieces are co-ordinated. This simply allows Black to exploit the defects in his opponents positions. 14...gxf5 15.Be3 Evidence that it has all gone wrong for White is that Black now has a choice of winning moves. [ 15.exf5 Bxf5 16.Na1 is an admission that Black has all the play.] 15...Nxc2+! [ 15...Qxe3+! 16.Qxe3 Nxc2+ 17.Kf2 Nxe3 18.Kxe3 fxe4 19.Bxe4 Nxe4 20.Nxe4 ( 20.Kxe4?? Bxc3 21.bxc3 Rxc3) 20...Bxb2 leaves Black with extra 3 pawns, and a winning position.] 16.Qxc2 Qxe3+ 17.Kd1 [ 17.Qe2 Qxe2+ 18.Bxe2 Nxe4–+] 17...Nxe4 18.Bxe4 fxe4 19.Nc1 Bg4+ 20.N3e2 Qd3+ Agdestein decided he'd seen enough and resigned. 0–1

(Standard disclaimer: I'm a paid official for this event)