2018 Chessexpress Player of the Year

After skipping this award last year, I made sure to have a look at various performances of Australian players in 2018, so as not to forget two years in a row.
Once again a number of players had excellent performances. both locally and internationally, and it could have gone to any of them. But as in past years I also look at a unique or special achievement within the last 12 months to help me decide.
Based on this, the 2018 Chessexpress Player of the Year award goes to GM Justin Tan. Justin, who I think gets a little overlooked in Australia, earned his GM title not once, but twice! At first it was though his performance in the 4NCL was enough for his final norm, only to have it rejected on technical grounds. He then went and won the 2018 Paracin Open with 7.5/9, which did earn him his final norm. He also scored an undefeated 5.5/9 in the British Championship, and just today finished in third place at the Australian Open. 
So congratulations to GM Justin Tan for a successful 2018.

2019 Sydney International Open

I'm pleased to announce that the 2019 Macquarie University Chess Festival will be taking place from the 24th to the 28th of April 2019. The headline event for this tournament will be the resurrected Sydney International Open, which previously ran from 2007 to 2014.
The 2019 event has come about do the the generous sponsorship of the NSW Chess Association, and the Macquarie University Chess Club. The Chess Festival begins 2 days after the finish of the 2019 O2C Doeberl Cup, and as such, there will be a number of overseas GMs and IMs playing in both events.
Alongside the Open will be the Peter Parr Memorial Challengers (for Under 2000 players). and a Junior Rapidplay on Saturday and Sunday morning (before the main rounds).
Details of the event can be found at sio.nswca.org.au At this stage there are some details still to be finalised, but for now, you can schedule your chess holidays for late April!

(* Disclaimer: I am part of the organising team for this event *)

Hastings 2018-19

Open swisses can be a little tricky for top seeds in the first round, doubly so if accelerated pairings are used. Hastings is one tournament that does use them, and as a result, the first round saw many dropped half points and points. One player who got caught out big time was GM Simon Williams, who went down quite quickly to his FM opponent. Another player who found the going tough was former Doeberl Cup winner GM Stefan Djuric, who was held to a draw by his 2100 rated opponent.
Hastings, which is one of my favourite events, has attracted a mixed field of European GM's and local English players. Interestingly, the usual large contingent of Indian players is missing this year, possibly lured away by competing events.
The first round of the event was yesterday and it runs until the 6th of January. The tournament website is http://www.hastingschess.com/ and contains all the usual links to coverage and results.


WILLIAMS, Simon K (2472) - WILLOW, Jonah B (2218)
Hastings Masters 2018-19 (Horntye Sports Centre, Bohemia Road, TN34 1EX, Hastings), 28.12.2018

1. Nf3 c5 2. e3 Nf6 3. c4 g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. exd4 d5 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. Bg5 Be6 8. c5 Bg7 9. Bb5 Ne4 10. O-O O-O 11. Be3 Bg4 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 f5 15. Qd1 f4 16. Bc1 f3 17. g3 Qd7 18. Kh2 Rf5 19. h4 Nf6 20. Be3 Ng4+ 21. Kg1 Raf8 22. Re1 Rh5 23. Qd3 Rxh4 24. gxh4 Qc7 0-1

2019(?) Australian Open

The 2019 Australian Open has has begun in Ashwood, Melbourne, and has attracted a massive field of 300+ players. I'm pretty sure this is a record for this tournament, although the early 2000's the tournament was often run in a single section.
The Open field is 167 strong, with GM Anton Smirnov as the top seed, with GM's Justin Tan, Vasily Papin and Darryl Johansen as the other GM's in the field. There are 11 IM's and the top 9 seeds are rated above 2400.
The first round didn't see too many upsets on the top boards, with WGM Julia Ryjanova the highest seeded player held to a draw and  CM Tony Davis the only higher seeded player to lose.
One possible reason for the large numbers is the event has been compressed into 5 days. It runs until the 31st December 2018, which means that the 2019 title holder will be determined before the end of 2018 (hence the question mark in the heading). While the organisers can regard this as a successful outcome for the event (especially as no one else wished to host it), it does reduce the significance of the title somewhat.
The event homepage is at https://sites.google.com/view/aus-open-chess-2019/home and you can follow various links to pairings and live (if intermittent) coverage.

2018 World Rapid and Blitz

The 2018 World Rapid and Blitz is beginning tomorrow (Canberra Time). The event is being held in St Petersburg, with play from the 26th to the 30th. The first 3 days see the 15 round rapid being decided (5 rounds per day), with the blitz then running for 2 days. Magnus Carlsen is the top seed.
Play begins 3pm local time, which is 11pm Canberra time. The time limit for the rapid is 15m+10s, so I suspect each round will start on the hour, with the days play finishing around 4am.
The official website is http://wrbc2018.com/en/ and there will be links to live coverage of the games.

A gift for Christmas

While the following game was not played in Christmas Day, it was played at the Hastings Christmas Congress, and it involved White giving Black a very generous gift. Having built up a beautiful attack, Flohr threw away the full point with one move (24.Nd8 instead of 24.Nxg7), and then donated the other half point with 25.Rg4.

Flohr,Salo - Fine,Reuben [D61]
Christmas Congress 1935/36-16 Premier Hastings White Rock Pavilion (1), 27.12.1935

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3 Be7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Qc2 c6 8. a3 Re8 9. Rd1 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nd5 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. O-O Nxc3 13. Qxc3 c5 14. d5 exd5 15. Rxd5 b6 16. Rfd1 Rf8 17. b4 cxb4 18. axb4 Nf6 19. Re5 Qc7 20. Ng5 Bb7 21. Ne6 Qc6 22. f3 Ba6 23. Rd4 Rfc8 24. Nd8 Qc7 25. Rg4 Qxd8 26. Reg5 Qd1+ 27. Kf2 Nxg4+ 28. Rxg4 g6 29. Bxf7+ Kxf7 30. Rf4+ Kg8 31. Qf6 Qd7 0-1

Smirnov wins Australasian Masters

GM Anton Smirnov has won the 2018 Australasian Masters, with an impressive  score of 7.5/9. Australia's Number 1 player was undefeated, with 6 wins and 3 draws. In second place was IM Bobby Cheng, who scored 6.5/9, which was enough for his third and final GM norm. He was only beaten by Smirnov, winning 5 and drawing 3 of his remaining games. The other good performance in hits event was by FM Karl Zelesco, who finished on 4.5, which was enough for his third and final IM norm.
IM Ari Dale finished first in the IM event, also scoring an unbeaten 7.5/9. FM Brandon Clarke was the third player to earn a title norm, scoring 7/9 to pick up his second IM norm.
Three norms is quite an impressive strike rate for a single event, as is two Australian players earning titles on the same day. Cheng becomes the 10th Australian player to become a GM, while Zelesco continues the run of young Australian players earning the IM title.


Cheng,Bobby (2510) - Kvon,Andrey (2509) [E91]
2018 Australasian Masters GM Norm Tourna Melbourne (9.2), 23.12.2018

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 c5 7. O-O cxd4 8. Nxd4 Nc6 9. Be3 Bd7 10. h3 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Bc6 12. Qc2 Qa5 13. Rfd1 Rfc8 14. b3 b5 15. Rac1 a6 16. Nd5 Bxd5 17. exd5 Rc7 18. Qb2 b4 19. Bf3 Ne8 20. Bxg7 Nxg7 21. Re1 Raa7 22. h4 h5 23. g4 hxg4 24. Bxg4 Ra8 25. Re3 Rf8 26. Rce1 f5 27. Bd1 Qb6 28. h5 gxh5 29. Rg3 Rf6 30. Bxh5 Qb8 31. Rxe7 Rxe7 32. Qxf6 Qf8 33. Qh6 f4 34. Bg6 Re1+ 35. Kg2 Qf6 36. Bh7+ Kf7 37. Bg8+ 1-0

When namesakes clash

When I first started playing chess in the 1980's, I discovered I wasn't the only "Press". There was a Sydney player, Brian Press, and although I did not believe we were related, a few people asked me if we were. While I haven't seen too many other players with the same surname as mine (with the exception of my own son), I have kept an eye on this for other players.
For example, local Canberra organiser Andrew Greenwood was erroneously believed to be the son of former ACF Treasurer Norm Greenwood, while in recent years there has been two John Adams involved in chess administration. In Gibraltar a few years back I saw two players with the same surname (male and female), and was told by one of them that the other player was her ex-husband. As fate would have it, they were then paired against each other.
One of the stronger matches was Emmanuel and Edward Lasker. There was of course a familial connection (they were very distant cousins), but this did not detract from the interest when they played each other. Of course Emmanuel was the stronger of the two, as the following game shows.


Lasker,Edward - Lasker,Emanuel [D52]
New York International Masters-01 New York,NY (19), 13.04.1924

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 Qa5 7. Nd2 Bb4 8. Qc2 Ne4 9. Ndxe4 dxe4 10. Bf4 O-O 11. Be2 e5 12. dxe5 Nxe5 13. O-O Bxc3 14. Qxc3 Qxc3 15. bxc3 Re8 16. c5 Nd7 17. Bd6 b6 18. cxb6 axb6 19. Rfd1 Ba6 20. Bxa6 Rxa6 21. a4 Rea8 22. Kf1 f5 23. Rab1 R8a7 24. g4 fxg4 25. Rb4 Nf6 26. Bb8 Ra8 27. Rd8+ Kf7 28. Bc7 Rxa4 29. Rxa8 Rxa8 30. Rxb6 Nd5 31. Rb7 Ke6 32. c4 Ne7 33. Rb4 Ra1+ 34. Ke2 Ra2+ 35. Ke1 Nf5 36. Rb6 Kd7 37. Be5 Ra4 38. c5 Ke6 39. Bd6 Kd5 40. Rb7 h5 41. Bf8 g6 42. Rd7+ Kc4 43. Rd1 Ra3 44. Rd8 Nh4 45. Bg7 Nf3+ 46. Ke2 Ra2+ 47. Kf1 Rd2 48. Rxd2 Nxd2+ 49. Kg2 Kxc5 50. h3 gxh3+ 51. Kxh3 g5 0-1

An Annotators Responsibilities

I'm back to typesetting some chess books over the summer, and it is interesting to see the different approaches to writing that some (historical) chess authors have. Certainly older books seemed to provide an opportunity for chess personalities to engage in personal feuds, but often the older the book, the more vitriolic the comments.
Without giving either the title of the book, or the identity of the author away, I was particularly amused by the following quote
"In some respects these players were well paired, not for equality of force, indeed, Mr. Williams being by far the stronger, but because each, in his degree, exhibits the same want of depth and inventive power in his combinations, and the same tiresome prolixity in manoeuvring his men. It need hardly be said that the games, from first to last, are remarkable only for their unvarying and unexampled dullness."

I wonder if a writer would be allowed to say such things today?

Mini Chess

If you find playing long games of chess a little taxing (or time consuming), you can always look at the various forms of 'mini chess' that have been developed. Possibly the most famous version is 'Los Alamos' chess, which is a 6x6 game, with bishops removed. It was invented as an early computer chess engine, with the reduced size making the program easier to write (no castling, double pawn move or en pas).
While there have been boards as small as 3x3, these either have trivial wins for one side, or lack sufficient 'depth'. It isn't until you get to 4x5 boards that it becomes a bit of challenge, although a skilled player should work out winning ideas pretty quickly. Once you get to 5x5 (or 5x6) all the pieces can be used. There is an argument that these sort of games should be used to start younger players off, as handling 16 pieces on an 8x8 board is a little daunting (something I tend to agree with for children under the age of 7).
6x6 games might be the right balance between normal chess and fun chess (especially if you are playing non-serious players). One idea is to either play without 1 type of piece (rooks, bishops or knights), while another interesting suggestion is to play with two bishops on one side, and two knights on the other!

2018 Australasian Masters

The 2018 Australasian Masters is up an running in Melbourne Australia, with another batch of local players hoping to pick up IM/GM results. The GM event sees Andrey Kvon and Vasily Papin back up from the Australian Young Masters, where they have been joined by Australia's top player GM Anton Smirnov. Smirnov leads the event with three wins from his first three games, although has yet to play Kvon and Papin. Of the norm chasers, IM Bobby Cheng is well placed on 2.5/3, while veteran IM Stephen Solomon has started with 2 wins and a loss (to Smirnov).
In the IM event, New Zealand junior Alphaeus Ang leads with 3/3. Close behind is FM Brandon Clarke, who is hoping to pick up his second IM norm, after narrowly missing out in Adelaide.
Coverage of the event is a little hard to find, but a good starting point is https://chessnews.asia/2018-australasian-masters/ The Pairing And Results links also has replayable games, but there seems to be no links to live games.

Ang,Alphaeus Wei Ern (2118) - Lee,Qing Aun (2297)
2018 Australasian Masters IM Norm Tourna Melbourne AUS (3), 17.12.2018

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. Qc2 bxc4 5. e4 e6 6. Nc3 exd5 7. e5 d4 8. exf6 d5 9. Bxc4 dxc4 10. Qe4+ Be6 11. Qxa8 dxc3 12. Ne2 Bd5 13. Qxa7 Nc6 14. Qa4 Bxg2 15. Rg1 Bf3 16. fxg7 Bxg7 17. Rxg7 Qf6 18. Qa8+ Kd7 19. Qb7+ Ke6 20. Nf4+ Ke5 21. Qc7+ Ke4 22. Rxf7 Rg8 23. Ne2 Kd3 24. Rxf6 Bxe2 25. Qxh7+ 1-0

Summer holiday puzzles

With the end of the school/coaching year, here are a few puzzles to keep you thinking for the next few days at least.

1. Place 8 queens on the board so that none attack any other queen (OK this is a well known puzzle)
2. How many queens can you place on the board so that all squares are attacked? (Queens are allowed to attack each other in this case)
3. Place a bishop on a1 and pawns on every black square. Can you move the bishop to h8, capturing a pawn on every move? (This is equivalent to a Bishops tour where every square of the bishops colour is visited while playing distinct moves. Visited squares can be crossed, but not stopped on)
4. Is it possible the cover a 5x6 board with dominoes in such away there are no straight edges that extend across the board? What about a 6x6 board?
5. Place pawns on e8, e7, e6 and e5. Is it possible to divide the board into equal continuous areas of 16 squares each, so that each area contains a single pawn?

(Some of these puzzles were courtesy of my fellow coaches IM Andrew Brown and I.M. Hosking, while others were sourced from "The Mathematics of Chessboard Problems")

Travel concessions for being a chessplayer

In an attempt to demonstrate that I collect far too much information, I discovered that in 1913, the Victorian State Railways offered a concession for chess players travelling to official events. The concession for interstate travel was a 33% discount on a single ticket, while for country events it was at the 'Holiday Excursion' rate.
The conditions for travel were a minimum of 6 players travelling together (but no more than 20). The travel had to be authorised/approved by the Secretary of the relevant association or club. And a minimum distance of 25 miles had to be travelled.
This of course did not apply exclusively to chess players, as golfers, footballers and even quoit throwers were on the eligibility list as well.
Now, if I could only convince Etihad to reintroduce such a scheme.

2018 ACT Rapidplay

The 2018 ACT Rapidplay Championships is being held on the 22nd December in City Walk, Canberra City. This is the traditional end of year event for ACT Chess, and normally attracts both a large, and strong field. The tournament is a 7 round swiss, with a time limit of G/15m.
Registrations open at 10:30am and play beings at 11am. It is run a single swiss event, and entry fee is $10 for adults, $5 for juniors. Sponsored by King O'Malley's, there is normally around $300 in prizes. Players of all ages are welcome, and apart from the place prizes, there will be category prizes on offer.

h6 is a blessing and a curse

The pawn on h6 (or h3) can be both a blessing and a curse. While it provides some breathing room for the castled king, and annoys adventurous bishops, in is often a target for sacrificial attacks. Many juniors (include myself when I was younger), hoped to line up the bishop and queen on the c1-h6 diagonal and blow open the kingside with Bxh6.
Older and more experienced players normally deal with such obvious threats, but sometimes the sacrifice is underestimated. Whether David Howell saw the threat and decided it didn't work, or simply thought Gawain Jones could not play it, is unknown to me, but the fact that it was played resulted in a very entertaining game. Objectively the sacrifice wasn't winning, but it gave Jones enough play that eventually Howell was unable to defend all the squares around the king, allowing Jones to win back the sacrificed piece. After that is was a matter of harassing the exposed king until a winning simplification could be played.

Jones,Gawain C B (2682) - Howell,David W L (2696) [C50]
ch-GBR KO 2018 London ENG (3.2), 12.12.2018

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 a5 7. Re1 h6 8. Nbd2 O-O 9. Nf1 Ne7 10. Ng3 Ng6 11. h3 a4 12. d4 exd4 13. Nxd4 Re8 14. Be3 Bb6 15. Qc2 d5 16. exd5 Nxd5 17. Bxh6 Rxe1+ 18. Rxe1 Bxd4 19. cxd4 gxh6 20. Nh5 Ngf4 21. Re5 Be6 22. Qc1 Nxh5 23. Rxh5 Nf6 24. Rxh6 Ra5 25. Bxe6 fxe6 26. Rg6+ Kf7 27. Qh6 e5 28. g4 exd4 29. g5 Rf5 30. gxf6 Rxf6 31. Qh7+ Ke6 32. Rg8 Qd7 33. Rg7 Qc6 34. Rxc7 Qb6 35. Rxb7 Qc6 36. Rc7 Qb6 37. Qe4+ Kd6 38. Rc4 d3 39. Rd4+ Kc7 40. Qe7+ Kc8 41. Rc4+ Rc6 42. Qe8+ Kc7 43. Rxc6+ Qxc6 44. Qxc6+ Kxc6 45. Kf1 1-0

Hack, Slash and Burn

While it seems that GM norms may be out of reach in the top event of the Australian Young Masters, there are still a few players with chances of picking up an IM norm. One player is Albert Winkelman, who is currently tied for first place in the IM tournament. He is currently undefeated with 3 wins and 4 draws, and needs 1.5/2 to score his first IM norm. His result is all the more remarkable as he is the tournaments bottom seed, but is performing at 300 points above his rating.

The following win (over Fedja Zulfic) demonstrates the form he is in. After Fedja seemed to unnecessarily drop the pawn on e3 his position rapidly went south. After Winkelman the exchange sacrifice on e2, the White king had very few safe squares. A couple of nice knight moves was then all that was needed to finish the game.

Zulfic,Fedja (2204) - Winkelman,Albert (2075) [A00]
2018 Lidums Australian Young Masters IM Adelaide, South Australia (5.3), 11.12.2018

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 O-O 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bd3 Bg4 9. f3 Bh5 10. Ne2 Bg6 11. O-O c5 12. Ng3 Re8 13. Ra2 Qa5 14. Rc2 Nc6 15. Bb2 Rxe3 16. Bxg6 hxg6 17. Qc1 Re7 18. h4 Qc7 19. Kf2 Rae8 20. h5 Re3 21. hxg6 fxg6 22. Ne2 Qh2 23. Rh1 Rxe2+ 24. Rxe2 Rxe2+ 25. Kxe2 Qxg2+ 26. Ke3 Na5 27. Ba1 Nc4+ 28. Kd3 Ng4 29. Rg1 Nb2+ 0-1

Phil Viner 1927 - 2018

News has just come through that Phil Viner has passed away at the age of 91. One of the veterans of the Australian chess scene, he represented Australia at 2 Olympiads (1964 and 1968) with a score of 9.5 from 18 games. He had a long and distinguished chess career, being a regular competitor in Australian Championships, NSW Championships and events like the Doeberl Cup (which he won in 1977).
He was born in 1927, and was the son of William Samuel Viner, who was Australian Champion in 1906 (until 1922) and again in 1924. His father passed away when he was quite young, but inherited both his fathers aptitude for chess, as well as his library of books and newspaper cuttings. He began to play seriously soon after World War 2, mixing over the board chess with correspondence chess. He became a CC IM in 1984, and won the NSW Championship in 1972 and 1978.
Away from the board he also served as President of the Australian Chess Federation (where I first met him), as well as being the chess columnist for The Australian for 30 years. Later in life he took to Seniors Chess with a passion, winning the Australian title a number of times and representing Oceania at the World Seniors Championship.
Always a gentleman, he will be missed.


Viner,Phillip - Averbakh,Yuri L [E70]
AUS-ch Adelaide (12), 19.10.1960

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nge2 O-O 6. Ng3 c5 7. d5 e5 8. Be2 Ne8 9. O-O Qh4 10. Be3 Bh6 11. Qd2 Bf4 12. Bd3 Nd7 13. Nce2 g5 14. f3 Ndf6 15. Rf2 Nh5 16. Nf1 Bxe3 17. Nxe3 Nf4 18. Ng3 Ng7 19. Ngf5 Nxf5 20. exf5 Qh5 21. Bf1 f6 22. g3 Nh3+ 23. Bxh3 Qxh3 24. Qd3 Bd7 25. Qf1 Qxf1+ 26. Rfxf1 h5 27. a4 a5 28. b3 Kf7 29. Rae1 Rae8 30. Kg2 Rg8 31. h3 e4 32. f4 Rg7 33. fxg5 Rxg5 34. g4 1/2-1/2

2018 London Chess Classic

The 2018 London Chess Classic is about to begin, with the traditional Pro-Biz Cup. This is an 'alternate move' competition, with teams of 2 players taking it turns to move the pieces.The teams consist of one GM and one amateur, although a few of the amateurs look quite strong. GM's taking part include Fabiano Caruana, Lev Aronian and Gary Kasparov.
Tomorrow the final of the Grand Chess Tour starts, although there is a different format this year. It is a four player knockout (Caruana, Nakamura, Aronian, Vachier-Lagrave), and combines classical chess with rapidplay.
Alongside all this are traditional events like the FIDE Open and British knockout. All the details can be found at https://www.londonchessclassic.com along with games and links to live coverage.

2018 Australian Young Masters

Let it not be said that there is no longer the opportunity for Australian players to earn title norms at home. In the last few years a number of events have expanded to become strong enough for players to earn IM or GM norms. One such event is the Young Masters tournament, held in Adelaide each year, usually in December.
Originally an event for Australian Junior players, the definition of 'young' has been stretched somewhat, and overseas players are also now welcome. This years GM event has 5 local players and 5 overseas visitors, headed by GM Frode Urkedal (Nor). However Urkedal found the first round of the tournament tough going, losing to FM Patrick Gong. Possibly he was affected by travel, as he had a crushing attack by move 26, but missed 27.Rxh5! and soon lost control of the position. The other visitors fared better, with GM Vasilly Papin beating IM Junta Ikeda, and IM Kanan Izzat beating Kris Chan.
The event runs until next next Friday, and you can follow the tournament at https://www.lidumsaym.com/ There is also live coverage of the top section at chess24.com (albeit on a half hour delay)


Urkedal,Frode (2539) - Gong,Patrick (2328)
2018 Lidums Australian Young Masters GM Adelaide, South Australia (1.1), 08.12.2018

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. d5 d6 4. c4 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. e4 O-O 7. h3 a6 8. a4 a5 9. Bf4 Na6 10. Be2 Nh5 11. Bh2 Bh6 12. O-O Nf4 13. Re1 Nb4 14. Bf1 e5 15. dxe6 fxe6 16. e5 d5 17. g3 Nh5 18. cxd5 Nxd5 19. Ne4 b6 20. g4 Nhf4 21. g5 Bg7 22. Nf6+ Kh8 23. Re4 Nh5 24. Rh4 Ne7 25. Bd3 Bb7 26. Qe2 Qc8 27. Nd2 Nf5 28. Bxf5 exf5 29. Ra3 Qc6 30. Nf3 Qe6 31. Qc4 Qxc4 32. Rxc4 Rad8 33. Rc1 Rf7 34. Re1 Re7 35. Nxh5 gxh5 36. Nh4 Be4 37. f3 Bd3 38. Rxd3 Rxd3 39. Nxf5 Re8 40. f4 Bf8 41. Re2 c4 42. e6 Bc5+ 43. Kg2 Red8 44. Nh6 Rd2 45. Kf1 Rd1+ 46. Kg2 R8d2 47. Rxd2 Rxd2+ 48. Kh1 Rxb2 49. f5 Re2 50. Be5+ Rxe5 51. Nf7+ Kg8 52. Nxe5 c3 53. Nd3 c2 54. Kg2 Be3 55. g6 hxg6 56. fxg6 Kf8 57. Kg3 Bg5 58. Kf3 c1Q 59. Nxc1 Bxc1 60. Ke4 Bb2 61. Kf5 Ke7 62. Kg5 Kxe6 63. Kxh5 Bc1 0-1

Alpha Zero returns

Alpha Zero, the self learning program that is able to master a number of rule based games, has popped up again. After a year working on improvements Alpha Zero has once again crushed its closest competitors in the world of Computer Chess/Go/Shogi.
Up against it's favourite whipping boy, AZ won a 1000(!) game match 155 to 6 (with 839 draws). Unlike the previous match both programs had longer time controls (3 hours plus a 15 second increment per move). AZ also played matches with a time handicap, and it was only when Stockfish had a huge time advantage did the results become less one sided.
There are a number of places to read about the latest results, but it is probably best to start at the source.  A number of games from the match have also been released, including this nice effort.


AlphaZero - Stockfish 8
Computer Match London, UK (255), 18.01.2018

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Qc2 Na6 9. a3 c5 10. d5 exd5 11. Ng5 Nc7 12. h4 h6 13. Nxd5 Ncxd5 14. cxd5 d6 15. a4 Qd7 16. Bc3 Rfe8 17. O-O-O Bd8 18. e4 Ng4 19. Bh3 hxg5 20. f3 f5 21. fxg4 fxg4 22. Bf1 gxh4 23. Bb5 Qf7 24. gxh4 Bf6 25. Rhf1 Rf8 26. Bxf6 gxf6 27. Rf4 Qg7 28. Be2 Qh6 29. Rdf1 g3 30. Qd3 Kh8 31. Qxg3 Rae8 32. Bd3 Bc8 33. Kb1 Rf7 34. Qf2 Bd7 35. h5 Ref8 36. Bc2 Be8 37. Rf3 Re7 38. Rxf6 Qxf6 39. Qxf6+ Rxf6 40. Rxf6 Kg7 41. Rxd6 Bxh5 42. Kc1 Re5 43. a5 bxa5 44. Kd2 Be8 45. Ra6 Rh5 46. Bd3 a4 47. d6 Bf7 48. d7 Rh8 49. e5 1-0

It's starting not to feel like Christmas

I understand that Christmas isn't a huge deal everywhere on the planet, but I still feel surprised when big chess events begin, or run across December the 25th. Over the years I have seen events in the Middle East, Singapore and even Spain which ask players to give up Christmas Day to play chess.
Added to that list is the 2018 World Rapid and Blitz Championship in St Petersburg, Russia. The event has been moved from Saudi Arabia to Russia, due to the inability to guarantee visa's for all players (eg players from Israel). However the dates remain the same, meaning Christmas Day is the scheduled arrival day for players wishing to take part.
The actual games (Rapid first) start on the 26th, and run through to the 30th of December. While the event isn't quite as open as it looks (you need to be rated above 2500 to enter), there is an exception for national champions, regardless of rating. However winter in Russia may not be that appealing, especially for us in the southern hemisphere, although it might be slightly more bearable than the December heat in Saudi Arabia.

Transfer Time

The annual ACT Junior Chess League Transfer tournament is on this Sunday, 8th December. It will be held at Campbell High School, Trealor Crescent Campbell (next to the War Memorial) with registration from 12:30 pm. The event begins at 1pm with an entry fee of $30 per team (which includes a free pizza lunch). Even if you don't have a partner, you can just enter on the day and a partner will be found for you.
This event is the traditional end of year tournament for the ACT Junior Chess League and all juniors are invited. Even if you are not a junior, you are most welcome to take part, as 'transfer' does not recognise age or ability!

A really long term queen sacrifice

While building up my collection of queen sacrifices (for coaching purposes), I came across this monster of a game. Nick de Firmian gives up his queen on move 13 before eventually winning on move 110. To be fair, he did get three pieces in return for it, but to play almost 100 moves while making sure you don't fall for a queen fork does take some doing.
I'm not sure what Jon Speelman (as black) thought of it all, but hopefully I will remember to ask him next time I see him.


De Firmian,Nick E (2395) - Speelman,Jonathan S (2410) [B57]
WchT U26 fin-A Mexico City (6), 19.08.1977

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bc4 Qb6 7. Nb3 e6 8. O-O Be7 9. Be3 Qc7 10. f4 a6 11. a4 b6 12. Bd3 O-O 13. Qf3 Nb4 14. e5 Bb7 15. exf6 Bxf3 16. fxe7 Qxe7 17. Rxf3 Nxd3 18. cxd3 d5 19. Nb1 Rfc8 20. N1d2 Rc2 21. Bd4 Rac8 22. Bc3 g6 23. Nb1 d4 24. Nxd4 Rc1+ 25. Rf1 Rxf1+ 26. Kxf1 Qd6 27. Nd2 Qxf4+ 28. N2f3 Qd6 29. h3 e5 30. Ne2 Re8 31. d4 exd4 32. Nexd4 Qf4 33. Kg1 Qe3+ 34. Kh1 Qd3 35. Nc6 Qd5 36. Nb4 Qb3 37. Nxa6 Rd8 38. Nd4 Qc4 39. Nb5 Qe2 40. Kh2 Rd1 41. Rxd1 Qxd1 42. Nb4 Qxa4 43. Nc7 f5 44. Ncd5 b5 45. Nf6+ Kg7 46. Nbd5 h6 47. Ng4+ Kf7 48. Ne5+ Ke6 49. Nb4 g5 50. Nf3 Kf7 51. Nd4 Kg6 52. Nbc6 f4 53. Ne5+ Kh7 54. Ndf3 b4 55. Bd4 Qc2 56. Nd7 Qf5 57. Nf6+ Kg6 58. h4 Qe6 59. hxg5 hxg5 60. Nh7 Kf5 61. Nhxg5 Qa2 62. Be5 Qb1 63. Nh3 Kg4 64. Nxf4 b3 65. Nh3 Qc2 66. Bd4 Qc7+ 67. Be5 Qc2 68. Bc3 Qh7 69. Ne5+ Kf5 70. g4+ Ke6 71. Kg3 Qc2 72. Nf4+ Ke7 73. Nf3 Kf7 74. Ne5+ Kg8 75. Nf3 Kf7 76. g5 Kg8 77. Kg4 Kf7 78. g6+ Kg8 79. Kg3 Qb1 80. Be5 Qf5 81. Kh4 Qb1 82. Kg4 Qe4 83. Bf6 Qc6 84. Bc3 Qc4 85. Kg3 Qe4 86. Nd2 Qe7 87. Kf3 Qe1 88. Kg4 Qe3 89. Kf5 Qc5+ 90. Ke4 Qd6 91. Kf3 Qd7 92. Ke3 Qg4 93. Nf3 Qc8 94. Nd5 Qe6+ 95. Kd4 Qg4+ 96. Kc5 Qc8+ 97. Kd6 Qb8+ 98. Ke6 Qe8+ 99. Kf5 Qb5 100. Ke4 Qe2+ 101. Ne3 Qa6 102. Ne5 Qa4+ 103. Bd4 Qa8+ 104. Nd5 Kg7 105. Bc3 Kg8 106. Ng4 Qe8+ 107. Kf3 Qf8+ 108. Kg2 Qe8 109. Nh6+ Kf8 110. g7# 1-0

World Championship post-mortem

I have been asked by a few people about my thoughts on the Carlsen - Caruana World Championship Match. I'm probably not alone in thinking that there was excitement at the start, some boredom in the middle, before a very tense finish. Despite the concerns of the match diminishing the 'brand' by featuring twelve drawn games, having it decided in the tie-breaks seemed to raise the interest in the match, at least in the general media.
I certainly saw plenty of coverage of the result in places where chess doesn't usually feature. Most of the cable news stations (and sports stations) had the result featured in their regular updates, and the coverage was similar to how other sporting events were covered. 
So despite my concerns part way through the match I think it has proved to be an overall benefit to chess, though having said that, it is still worth looking at finding improvements to the format.

Save the date(s)

To borrow from a trick that FIDE are currently using, it might be worth keeping your calendar clear from the 24th to the 28th of April 2019, especially if you live in Sydney. This is the week following the O2C Doeberl Cup, meaning you may be able to double your international chess fun!.
More details to follow in a week (hopefully!)

Carlsen Retains Title After Tie-Breaks

After 12 drawn games in the 2018 World Championship Match, Magnus Carlsen has retained his title in a very one sided tie-breaker. He needed only 3 games of rapid chess (25m+10s) to defeat Fabiano Caruana, winning all 3 games in a fairly dominant performance.
Game 1 of the tie-break match probably set the scene, with Caruana being punished for having a truly horrible pawn structure. While this does not seem to be such an issue at longer time controls, Carlsen was able to target multiple weaknesses before reaching a winning rook and pawn ending. After that Caruana was always playing catch up, and Carlsen was able to take advantage of Caruana's attempts to unbalance the position.
While Carlsen was clearly the better player at the faster time controls, I do feel that Caruana deserved a better finish to the match. He match Carlsen for preparation during the main match, and showed that he was not intimidated by Carlsen's reputation as a 'grinder'. By the end of the match Carlsen was certainly aware of this as well, which possibly explains why Carlsen offered an early draw in game 12 of the main match.
Having gone through experience of playing such a high level match, I would not be surprised if Caruana is the challenger for the next World Championship Match, and if he is I suspect the odds of a change of Champion will be much shorter.


Carlsen,Magnus (2835) - Caruana,Fabiano (2832) [A22]
WCh Rapid TB 2018 London ENG (1), 28.11.2018

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bb4 4. e4 O-O 5. Nge2 c6 6. Bg2 a6 7. O-O b5 8. d4 d6 9. a3 Bxc3 10. Nxc3 bxc4 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. Na4 Be6 13. Qxd8 Rxd8 14. Be3 Nbd7 15. f3 Rab8 16. Rac1 Rb3 17. Rfe1 Ne8 18. Bf1 Nd6 19. Rcd1 Nb5 20. Nc5 Rxb2 21. Nxe6 fxe6 22. Bxc4 Nd4 23. Bxd4 exd4 24. Bxe6+ Kf8 25. Rxd4 Ke7 26. Rxd7+ Rxd7 27. Bxd7 Kxd7 28. Rd1+ Ke6 29. f4 c5 30. Rd5 Rc2 31. h4 c4 32. f5+ Kf6 33. Rc5 h5 34. Kf1 Rc3 35. Kg2 Rxa3 36. Rxc4 Ke5 37. Rc7 Kxe4 38. Re7+ Kxf5 39. Rxg7 Kf6 40. Rg5 a5 41. Rxh5 a4 42. Ra5 Ra1 43. Kf3 a3 44. Ra6+ Kg7 45. Kg2 Ra2+ 46. Kh3 Ra1 47. h5 Kh7 48. g4 Kg7 49. Kh4 a2 50. Kg5 Kf7 51. h6 Rb1 52. Ra7+ Kg8 53. Rxa2 Rb5+ 54. Kg6 Rb6+ 55. Kh5 1-0

Best of Three Sets

With the 2018 World Championship seeing 12 drawn games in a row, there has been talk of how to possibly provide more excitement in such matches. In the cases where both players are almost equally matched, finding a way to provide a level of decisiveness is difficult.
Borrowing heavily from discussions I have seen on the English Chess Forum (involving IA Alex Holowczak and others), I wonder if the following format could work

The match is divided into 3 sets of 4 games. The first player to reach 2.5 points wins the set (as in Tennis). In the case of a 2-2 tie, then a tie-breaker of 6 blitz games are held (G/5m) with the first to 3.5 wining the set. In the case of a 3-3 tie in the tie-break, then an 'Armageddon' game is held to decide the set. The first player to win 2 sets wins the title. Colours alternate for each game of the set (including Armageddon if necessary). They swap for the first game of the next set. The defending Champion has choice of White or Black for the first game of the first set.

I'm not saying that this format is perfect, but in terms of marketing and tension, it may be a slight improvement over the current system, as there will be a leader and chaser earlier in the event.

5am update

The final game of the 2018 World Championship Match between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana has ended in a draw, so the title will now be decided by tie-breaks.
The game itself looked quite interesting out of the opening, although the players did repeat the position early on. However the position remained closed, and despite action on opposite sides of the board, a draw was agreed on move 31.

Not a massive payday

I spent yesterday increasing the size of my chess library by about 100 books, after a pleasant drive to Penrith and back. One of the books I brought back was the tournament book of the 1924 New York Tournament, which was won by Lasker ahead of Capablanca. It was the strongest event of that year, and is rightly considered one of the 'Classic' tournaments of chess history.
The book itself was written by Alekhine and Helms and typically of books from that time contained a lot of details concerning the tournament organisation. For instance the overall budget was around $13,000 while first prize was $1500.
While this may have been quite a substantial prize for the 1920's, it turns out it wasn't as large as I figured, although this depends on how you measure it. Based on the inflation rate for the US, first prize would be around $22,000 which while nice, is probably on the low side for a tournament of this calibre. However, in 1924, $4000 would probably buy you a modest house in the average US city, while in 2018, the median house price in the us is closer to $200,000. So in these terms first prize would buy you 37.5% of a house, which is $75000 in today's terms.
Two other points from this event were (a) they collected around $3500 in ticket sales from spectators (close to $30,000 in today's money) and (b) Capablanca lost his first tournament game in 8 years, to Richard Reti.


Reti,Richard - Capablanca,Jose Raul [A15]
New York International Masters-01 New York,NY (5), 22.03.1924

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. b4 Bg7 4. Bb2 O-O 5. g3 b6 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. O-O d6 8. d3 Nbd7 9. Nbd2 e5 10. Qc2 Re8 11. Rfd1 a5 12. a3 h6 13. Nf1 c5 14. b5 Nf8 15. e3 Qc7 16. d4 Be4 17. Qc3 exd4 18. exd4 N6d7 19. Qd2 cxd4 20. Bxd4 Qxc4 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 22. Qb2+ Kg8 23. Rxd6 Qc5 24. Rad1 Ra7 25. Ne3 Qh5 26. Nd4 Bxg2 27. Kxg2 Qe5 28. Nc4 Qc5 29. Nc6 Rc7 30. Ne3 Ne5 31. R1d5 1-0

2018 World Seniors

It seems to be the season for World Championhsip's, with the Women's World Championship just finishing, the Carlsen v Caruana Match almost down to tie-breaks, and the World Seniors taking place in Bled.
The popularity of Seniors chess continues to grow, with over 300 players taking part across the 4 events (Open and Women's 50+, Open and Women's 65+). Australia and New Zealand have both sent a number of players to the tournaments, with 6 from NZ and 4 from Australia. The best performing player from this group so far (in terms of points) is CM Hilton Bennett who is on 3.5/6.
Current standings for each event can be found, starting from here http://chess-results.com/tnr361547.aspx?lan=1 This takes you to the 50+ Open event, so just click on the links for the other tournaments.

2018 World Championship - rising tension

While the 2018 World Championship Match has seen 9 drawn games in a row, I get the sense that the tension is starting to build for both players. Games 8 and 9 have both seen slightly more adventurous openings, and both games also saw missed chances for both the challenger and champion.
Game 8 saw Carlsen try and rush the kingside with a pawn push, but this gave Caruana chance for a decisive invasion with his queen (24.Qh5!). However he chose the timid 24.h3 and Carlsen was able to quickly steer the game into safer waters. Game 9 saw Carlsen gain a slight advantage in the middle games, but this time an overly aggressive pawn push enabled Caruana to exchange into a drawn position. A clearly frustrated Carlsen then probably played more moves than he needed to, before another draw was agreed.
With 3 games to play, Caruana's chances of taking the title have somewhat improved. He has the white pieces in 2 of the final 3 games, and a 6-6 result gives him a moral victory over the pre-match favourite. While Carlsen is considered superior at faster time limits, Caruana has shown that he has handled the pressure of matchplay at least as well as Carlsen, and this may the deciding factor.

Caruana,Fabiano (2832) - Carlsen,Magnus (2835) [B33]
WCh 2018 London ENG (8), 19.11.2018

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8. exd5 Nb8 9. a4 Be7 10. Be2 O-O 11. O-O Nd7 12. Bd2 f5 13. a5 a6 14. Na3 e4 15. Nc4 Ne5 16. Nb6 Rb8 17. f4 exf3 18. Bxf3 g5 19. c4 f4 20. Bc3 Bf5 21. c5 Nxf3+ 22. Qxf3 dxc5 23. Rad1 Bd6 24. h3 Qe8 25. Nc4 Qg6 26. Nxd6 Qxd6 27. h4 gxh4 28. Qxf4 Qxf4 29. Rxf4 h5 30. Re1 Bg4 31. Rf6 Rxf6 32. Bxf6 Kf7 33. Bxh4 Re8 34. Rf1+ Kg8 35. Rf6 Re2 36. Rg6+ Kf8 37. d6 Rd2 38. Rg5 1/2-1/2

Not just chess

One of the arguments against chess being a proper sport is the 'beer test'. Basically, any activity that can be carried out successfully while holding a beer is not a proper sport. So it gladdened my heart (and tickled my funny bone), to see a story about a Curling team being disqualified for being too drunk to play.
Of course chess has had a number of 'playing while drunk' incidents, and as Curling is sometimes described as 'Chess on Ice', there seems to be a weird kind of synthesis here. But where this story seems to have it over chess is the ranking of the players. At least some of them have serious international recognition in the curling community, and now it seems, in the drinking community! 

The back handed 'Thank You'

I was recently reading a discussion concerning the "annoying habits" of junior players. As with such discussions there were a number of entries (with examples for tournament play), although the "they keep beating me" response would be as equally valid as any other.
But the one that always jumps out at me is the "back handed Thank You". This almost exclusively occurs in junior v junior games, and happens after one player captures the other players piece. As the Bishop sweeps across the board to remove the Queen, thanks is given as a somewhat derisive 'Thank You'. Of course the thanks offered isn't genuine, but is a way of pointing out the opponents mistake.
Often I also see the 'I meant that' follow up. Of course there is no way that a player meant to to lose the queen for nothing, but in what passes for 3rd grade banter, this seems to be the best come back available.

2018 Vikings Weekender - GM Smirnov wins

GM Anton Smirnov has won the 2018 Vikings Weekender, with an impressive 6.5/7. Holding a full point lead entering the final round, he resisted the temptation of a quick draw, instead playing 88 moves to score the win. He finished a point ahead of IM Junta Ikeda, and FM Brandon Clarke.
Ikeda, who had started the second day equal with Smirnov, lost to Clarke in round 6 to end his hopes of a share of first place. The win for Clarke was very impressive, as the round before he played a 100+ mover against Largo Bengt, which eventually finished in a drawn R+N v R ending.
Apart from Ikeda, Canberra players who picked up prizes included Tim Pearce and Matt Radisich (Under 2000), and Albert Winkelman (Best Junior).
The Minor (Under 1600) saw a run away victory for top seed Bazli Karattiyattil. He collected another 3 wins on the second day to finish on 7/7. 2 points back in second place were Yifu Wu and Aaron Nguyen. Paul Dunn and Clyde Robins shared the Under 1150 prize, with Athena Hathiramani wining the Best Female prize.
The new venue (Vikings Club Lanyon) proved very popular with the players, providing more space and light than previous years. While the total number of players (50) was around the same as previous years, the strength of the Open was significantly stronger, with half the field rated above 2000.
Full results plus replayable games from the top boards od the open can be found at http://tournaments.streetchess.net/vikings2018 (NB Not all games were recorded correctly due to technical issues)


Yin,Wenlin - Smirnov,Anton
2018 Vikings Weekend Open and Minor Tuggeranong, Australia (6.1), 18.11.2018

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. O-O a6 5. Bd3 g6 6. c3 Bg7 7. Bc2 b5 8. d4 cxd4 9. cxd4 Bb7 10. a4 b4 11. a5 Ngf6 12. Nbd2 O-O 13. Qe2 Qb8 14. Nb3 Rc8 15. Bd3 Nf8 16. Bd2 Ne6 17. Ra4 Qc7 18. Rxb4 Rcb8 19. Rc1 Qd7 20. d5 Nd8 21. Nfd4 e6 22. dxe6 fxe6 23. Rbc4 Ne8 24. R4c2 Kh8 25. Qg4 Bc8 26. Bc4 Nf6 27. Qh4 Qe7 28. Bh6 Bd7 29. Bxg7+ Kxg7 30. h3 Nf7 31. Nd2 Rb4 32. N2f3 h6 33. Bd3 e5 34. Nc6 Bxc6 35. Rxc6 Ra7 36. R1c2 Ra4 37. Nd2 Rxa5 38. Nc4 Ra1+ 39. Kh2 a5 40. Nb6 Qd8 41. Qg3 Rb7 42. Qe3 h5 43. Bc4 Nh6 44. Qb3 Nfg4+ 45. hxg4 Qh4+ 0-1

2018 Vikings Weekender - Day 1

At the end of the first day of the 2018 Vikings Weekender, GM Anton Smirnov and IM Junta Ikeda share the lead with 3.5/4. They met in the 4th round, with the game finishing in a quick draw by repetition. On 3 points are FM Brandon Clarke, and Bahman Kargosha. Clarke lost his round 3 game against Smirnov (see below), while Kargosha has had 2 wins and 2 draws.
The 26 players Open event has probably the strongest field in the tournaments history, with the top half of the field rated above 2000. A combination of strong visiting players, and young local talent has created an event where every round is challenging for those taking part.
In the 24 player Minor (Under 1600), Bazli Karattiyatil leads with 4/4. He looked to be in a little trouble in his round 4 game against Yifu Wu, but a clever in between move was enough to halt Wu's attack and leave Karattiyatil with a winning position.
Full results and a link to the live coverage can be found at http://tournaments.streetchess.net/vikings2018/ The fifth round for both tournaments starts at 10:30am tomorrow (Canberra time).

One of the more interesting games from the tournament was the round 3 clash between Smirnov and Clarke. Clarke found an interesting (and correct) piece sacrifice, even allowing Smirnov to promote his e pawn. But just at the crucial moment, Clarke got carried away by visions of checkmate, and played into a losing line. If he had simply captured the new queen (21. ... Rxc8) then Smirnov had nothing better than 22.Bd2 Rb1+! 23.Kxb1 Rb8+ 24.Kc1 Bb2+ with a perpetual.


Smirnov,Anton - Clarke,Brandon [B90]
Vikings Weekender, 17.11.2018

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. Bd3 g6 7. f3 Bg7 8. Be3 Nc6 9. Qd2 O-O 10. O-O-O d5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. e5 Nd7 13. f4 Qa5 14. Kb1 Rb8 15. Ne2 Qa3 16. Qc3 Qxc3 17. Nxc3 f6 18. e6 f5 19. exd7 Bxc3 20. dxc8Q Rxb2+ 21. Kc1 Rxa2 22. Qe6+ Rf7 23. Qc8+ Rf8 24. Qb7 Ra1+ 25. Qb1 Rxb1+ 26. Kxb1 Rb8+ 27. Ka2 1-0

2018 World Championship - Another (interesting) draw

The 5th game of the 2018 World Championship once again ended in a draw, but at least this one looked interesting. Caruana played an early pawn sacrifice in the Sicilian, but Carlsen found the right replies (NB The theory up to move 11 dates back to the early 1980's). By move 16 White had a pawn on c7, but this was easily covered by Carlsen's King, which he decided to stroll around the board over the next 17 moves, before it ended up on f5 (having journeyed as far as c3 by move 26).
Tonight is the last game before the colours 'switch', with Carlsen being white and then white again in round 7 (to avoid the same player always being White after a rest day). Hopefully he will decide this is the best opportunity to grab the lead in the match, and as a result we see a more unbalanced position out of the opening.

Caruana,F (2832) - Carlsen,M (2835) [B31]
WCh 2018 London ENG (5), 15.11.2018

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Re1 e5 6. b4 Nxb4 7. Bb2 a6 8. a3 axb5 9. axb4 Rxa1 10. Bxa1 d6 11. bxc5 Ne7 12. Qe2 b4 13. Qc4 Qa5 14. cxd6 Be6 15. Qc7 Qxc7 16. dxc7 Nc6 17. c3 Kd7 18. cxb4 Ra8 19. Bc3 Kxc7 20. d3 Kb6 21. Bd2 Rd8 22. Be3+ Kb5 23. Nc3+ Kxb4 24. Nd5+ Bxd5 25. exd5 Rxd5 26. Rb1+ Kc3 27. Rxb7 Nd8 28. Rc7+ Kxd3 29. Kf1 h5 30. h3 Ke4 31. Ng5+ Kf5 32. Nxf7 Nxf7 33. Rxf7+ Bf6 34. g4+ 1/2-1/2

2018 World Championship - some alternative coverage

While serious chessplayers are going to look at chess24 or chess.com for the World Championship coverage, there are a couple of other sites that offer a slightly different perspective.
deadspin.com covers sports in a slightly humorous way, and they are bringing this approach to their chess coverage.  "Woody Harrelson attends World Chess Championship Ceremony, Screws everything up" was one of their early headlines, but overall they are covering in the same way they cover other sports. They even did a preview of the match, revealing some of the  twitter fights that happen at the highest levels of chess.
For slightly more analytical coverage, then fivethirtyeight.com is the place to visit. While fivethirtyeight is well known as a politics/statistics site, it does cover lots of other areas, including sports. The World Chess Championship has been heavily featured over the last few days, with today's story about the 'leak' of Caruana's preparation via youtube being one example.
While the broader coverage of the World Championship is a good thing for chess, the fact that the match has started with 4 draws hasn't been missed, either by the article authors, or by those commentating at home.

2018 Vikings Weekender - Strong field getting ready

The 2018 Vikings Weekender looks like it will be one of the strongest events in recent years, with almost half the field rated above 2000. GM Anton Smirnov is the top seed, with IM Junta Ikeda carrying the flag for the home town. So far 21 players have entered, although registrations are open up until the day of the event.
The Under 1600 is also looking good, although players for this event have been a little slower in registering. The tournament begins at 10:30am on Saturday 17th at the Lanyon Club in Canberra. You can register at the top link, or enter at the venue from 10am on Saturday.
I will be the tournament arbiter, as well as handling online coverage etc. The top 4 boards of the Open will be broadcast, over at http://tournaments.streetchess.net/

2018 World Championship - A semi rest day

The third game of the 2018 World Championship did not rise to any great heights. Again it was a Sicilian Rossolimo, with Carlsen the first to vary from Game 1 (6. ... Qc7). However neither player pushed terribly hard, and while there were opportunities for both players to play more challenging moves, the game didn't really veer to far from equality.
The main point of interest for me was in fact how the game ended. Caruana sacrificed his knight for a pawn, and then a move later the draw was agreed. To the serious chess player this is an obvious draw (An eventual bishop and wrong rook pawn ending would have been reached). But for the more casual player this might have seen strange (Black is a piece up!). Stewart Reuben one said to me "A player should only resign when it is clear to all the spectators why he has done so". This could apply to agreeing draws in some situations as well.


Caruana,Fabiano (2832) - Carlsen,Magnus (2835) [B31]
WCh 2018 London ENG (3), 12.11.2018

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. O-O Qc7 7. Re1 e5 8. a3 Nf6 9. b4 O-O 10. Nbd2 Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Nxf3 cxb4 13. axb4 a5 14. bxa5 Rxa5 15. Bd2 Raa8 16. Qb1 Nd7 17. Qb4 Rfe8 18. Bc3 b5 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. Ra1 Rxa1+ 21. Bxa1 Qa7 22. Bc3 Qa2 23. Qb2 Qxb2 24. Bxb2 f6 25. Kf1 Kf7 26. Ke2 Nc5 27. Bc3 Ne6 28. g3 Bf8 29. Nd2 Ng5 30. h4 Ne6 31. Nb3 h5 32. Bd2 Bd6 33. c3 c5 34. Be3 Ke7 35. Kd1 Kd7 36. Kc2 f5 37. Kd1 fxe4 38. dxe4 c4 39. Nd2 Nc5 40. Bxc5 Bxc5 41. Ke2 Kc6 42. Nf1 b4 43. cxb4 Bxb4 44. Ne3 Kc5 45. f4 exf4 46. gxf4 Ba5 47. f5 gxf5 48. Nxc4 Kxc4 49. exf5 1/2-1/2

2018 World Championship - Game 2

The second game of the 2018 World Championship was another interesting draw, but in around half the time of the first game. This time it was Caruana with the opening surprise, choosing a new move in the Queens Gambit Decline. Carlsen took his time in navigating the early middlegame (passing up the opportunity to try and win, or try and sacrifice material), before a rook and pawn ending was reached. Caruana was even a pawn up but to no avail, as the position was drawn for quite a while.
Tomorrow is a rest day, but I assume both players will be spending the day hard at work.
In related news it seems the organisers have underestimated the popularity of the match, with the regular tickets (70 quid each!) only allowing half an hour viewing during the first 3 hours of the match. Not a good look for the organisers (Agon) and something that I am sure will count against them when their contract comes up for review.

2018 World Championship - A tough draw

The 2018 World Championship began with a marathon 115 move draw. After 1.e4 (and not 1.d4 as played by Woody Harrelson), Carlsen chose to play a Sicilian Defence, which was a little surprising. He managed to get an advantage in the middlegame, but in time trouble missed a couple of stronger ideas. He did realise this by trying one of them just after the first time control, but by this stage it was too late. Nonetheless, it seems part of the match strategy is to wear Caruana down, and so a drawn out rook and pawn ending was played, before the players split the point.
Despite the result, Carlsen should be happy with the first game. He took the initiative with Black (both in his opening choice, and play), and showed he was prepared to grind in an equal position. The positive for Caruana is that he managed to hold on, and was able to match Carlsen in the latter stages of the game.
The next game is in a few hours (it is 2 games, then a rest day schedule), so it will be interesting to see whether Carlsen chooses something mainline, or goes for an opening that creates an early middlegame.

2018 World Championship tips

With the 2018 World Championship starting in a few hours, it is time to put my reputation as a tipster on the line. Having looked at both players records, recent form, likely opening strategies, quality of the support team, etc etc, I realise that I'm still going to go with my gut on this one. And my gut thinks that Carlsen will win. While I think it might be a close match, I'm going to predict a 6.5-4.5 final score, with a win for Carlsen in match 11 to wrap it up.

It started with this

There has been a lot of talk about Ding Liren's undefeated streak (96 games and counting), although it has been pointed out that Sergei Tiviakov had a 110 game streak in 2004-05. And while this is indeed impressive, I still think the Bobby Fischer 20 wins in a row is still the gold standard for elite chess players.
It began at the Palma de Mallorca Zonal in 1970 and only came to an end with a loss to Petrosian in the Candidates Final match. The run of wins included two 6-0 match wins against Taimanov and Larsen during the Candidates series.
The game that started it all is quite an impressive one, with Fischer finding a nice (if thematic) piece sacrifice against Rubinetti. I don't know when it dawned on Rubinetti that he was losing, as he seemed to play like someone who didn't think the sacrifice was sound (trying to swap the bishop with 19. ... Nh5 being an example). What I am certain of however, is that Fischer knew he was winning well before Rubinetti decided to tip over his king.


Fischer,Robert James - Rubinetti,Jorge Alberto [B87]
Palma de Mallorca Interzonal Palma de Mallorca (17), 02.12.1970

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Bc4 a6 7. Bb3 b5 8. O-O Bb7 9. Re1 Nbd7 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bh4 Nc5 12. Bd5 exd5 13. exd5+ Kd7 14. b4 Na4 15. Nxa4 bxa4 16. c4 Kc8 17. Qxa4 Qd7 18. Qb3 g5 19. Bg3 Nh5 20. c5 dxc5 21. bxc5 Qxd5 22. Re8+ Kd7 23. Qa4+ Bc6 24. Nxc6 1-0

A real draw this time

A lot of recent games between myself and Milan Grcic have ended in quick draws. Usually Grcic isn't happy with his position, offers me a draw, and after some thought I accept. At least tonight's draw was a more full blooded affair, especially after I decided to go pawn grabbing. The pawn sacrifice on on move 8 is theory btw, and even 14.Qxa7 has been played a couple of times before. But after that it got a bit complicated, although I had seen a potential double bishop sacrifice for Black when calculating Qxa7. After the first bishop sac I thought he would take the quick draw, and at first I thought the second bishop sac was just for show. But 26. ... R3b5 gave me a bit of a shock, until I realised I could always surrender the queen for the second rook.
In the post mortem  we debated whose pawns would be faster in the 2R v Q position, but Stockfish thinks Black should simply keep checking and take the draw (so I assume White would win the race)

Press,Shaun - Grcic,Milan [B34]
Swiss Festive Fun, 06.11.2018

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c5 4. Nf3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. e5 Nd5 9. Nxd5 cxd5 10. Qxd5 Rb8 11. Bc4 O-O 12. O-O Bb7 13. Qd4 d6 14. Qxa7 Bxe5 15. c3 Qc8 16. Be2 Qe6 17. Qa4 Rfc8 18. Qc2 Bd5 19. a3 Rc7 20. Qd2 Rb3 21. Bd3 Rcb7 22. Rab1 Bxg2 23. Kxg2 Qg4+ 24. Kh1 Qf3+ 25. Kg1 Bxh2+ 26. Kxh2 R3b5 27. Bxb5 Rxb5 28. Bg5 Qh5+ 29. Kg2 Qg4+ 30. Kh2 1/2-1/2

World Championship begins Saturday

The 2018 World Championship Match begins this Saturday in London. Due to the 11 hour time difference with Australia, the viewing time of 2am (3pm London) is certainly not ideal. Otherwise a $US20  subscription for live coverage of the match might be money well spent.
The other thing you could spend your money on, is having a punt on the outcome. Current odds have Caruana paying around $3.25 (for a $1 bet), which is pretty generous odds for essentially a two person contest. It pays to shop around however, as at least one other site I've seen has Caruana shortening from $3.25 to $2.75, no doubt as other punters look to get on a good thing.
Of course I still think that Carlsen will win the match, but that shouldn't prevent you from looking for value in your betting.

Showing real class

This weekend saw the playoffs for the ACT Schools Championship to decide which teams will take part in the Australian Schools Teams Championship. The most closely contested event was the Primary Open section where 3 evenly match teams took part. With one match left to play (Radford v Garran), any of the three teams (Radford, Turner or Garran) could qualify, depending upon the result.
Garran needed an unlikely 4-0 win to finish in first place, while Radford only needed 2 points. Any other result would see Turner go through, as they had already played all their games. After the first 20 minutes, it began to look as though Garran was in with a chance, as they stood better on all boards. But a win for Radford on board 3 changed that equation, with only Turner or Radford now in the running. However Garran scored two wins and with a superior position in the remaining game, it looked as though Turner was off to Adelaide. Then in  a finish reminiscent of a more high profile junior event this week, dogged defence by the last Radford player paid off, as his opponent faltered, and he pulled off a miraculous win to see Radford qualify by the narrowest margin.
A tragic loss for Garran, a missed opportunity for Turner, and a fortunate outcome for Radford, but most importantly, the whole event was played in good spirits and with good sportsmanship. No complaints or appeals (which occurred in the World Youth), just sincere congratulations to the winning team.
In the other sections Canberra Grammar will be representing the ACT in the Open Secondary, while Turner won the Girls Primary playoff against Caroline Chisholm, earning the chance to defend the title they won last year.

2018 Women's World Championship

The first round the 2018 Women's World Championship is this evening, starting at 9pm Canberra time (3pm local time). This will be the last Championship run as a knockout, as the new FIDE management team have announced a new format for the next cycle.
The Oceania representative is Kathryn Hardegen, who is facing the top seed Ju Wenjun in the first round. Hardegen, who finished second in the 2017 Oceania Zonal, certainly has a big task ahead of her to advance to the second round, but stranger things have happened in a knockout.
The event website is https://ugra2018.fide.com and you can follow the lives games from here.

Chess Posters

While looking for something else (a 16th century document of the Rules of Chess) I came across a small collection of chess posters from the National Library of The Netherlands. You can see them at this link https://www.kb.nl/en/resources-research-guides/kb-collections/collections-by-theme/chess-and-draughts-collection/chess-posters
Meanwhile my search for the oldest published set of rules for chess continues ...

All hallows eve

As it is Halloween, here is a Halloween Gambit to celebrate. While played during a rapid event, both players were pretty decent, so it may teach you something.


Klepaczka,Tomasz (2240) - Bulski,Krzysztof (2549) [C47]
EU-ch rapid Warsaw (3), 15.12.2012

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nxe5 Nxe5 5. d4 Nc6 6. d5 Ne5 7. f4 Ng6 8. e5 Ng8 9. d6 cxd6 10. exd6 Qb6 11. Nb5 Kd8 12. Qf3 Bxd6 13. Be3 Bc5 14. Bxc5 Qxc5 15. O-O-O Nh6 16. Nd6 Kc7 17. Bc4 Nf5 18. Nxf5 Qxf5 19. Rd4 d6 20. Rhd1 Bd7 21. g4 Qxg4 22. Qd5 Rad8 23. Qxd6+ Kc8 24. Bxf7 Qf3 25. Rc4+ Bc6 26. Be6+ Rd7 27. Bxd7+ 1-0

Another classic worth knowing

You can learn a lot just by paying attention. Or in the world of chess, by studying the classics. This was made particularly clear to me at the club tonight, when I managed to win a nice game by borrowing a strategy off Capablanca. Having damaged my opponents kingside pawn structure (doubled f pawns after BxN on f3), I locked his dark square bishop out of the game. Then with the 'extra' piece I shifted over to the queenside to reach a winning ending.
Kind of like this game ...


Winter,William - Capablanca,Jose Raul [C49]
Victory Congress 1Chief Tournament Hastings (5), 15.08.1918

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. d3 Bd6 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bh4 c5 10. Nd5 g5 11. Nxf6+ Qxf6 12. Bg3 Bg4 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 Qxf3 15. gxf3 f6 16. Kg2 a5 17. a4 Kf7 18. Rh1 Ke6 19. h4 Rfb8 20. hxg5 hxg5 21. b3 c6 22. Ra2 b5 23. Rha1 c4 24. axb5 cxb3 25. cxb3 Rxb5 26. Ra4 Rxb3 27. d4 Rb5 28. Rc4 Rb4 29. Rxc6 Rxd4 0-1

Accelerated Steinitz Gambit

The Steinitz Gambit usually occurs in the Vienna Opening, after 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 exf4 4.d4!? Qh4+ 5.Ke2 It is correctly named, as Steinitz played this line on plenty of occasions, although not always with plenty of success.
There is a line of the King's Gambit, also named the Steinitz Gambit, which is the same line as above, but with the knight moves removed (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.d4?! Qh4+). This was the line I witnessed at a junior event today, although White went wrong with 4.g3?  Black missed the obvious win of a piece after 4 ... fxg3 5.Bg2 gxh2+ 6.Kf1 Qf6? and White eventually won after finding a nice forced mate which involved a queen sacrifice. But as the game was too 'up and down' to show the full power of the opening, I've chosen a different game instead.


Jacobs,Byron A (2245) - Gelfer,Israel (2355) [C33]
London Lewisham op 1st London, 1981

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. d4 Qh4+ 4. Ke2 Nf6 5. Nf3 Qg4 6. Nc3 Bb4 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8. exd5 c6 9. Kf2 O-O 10. Be2 Qf5 11. c3 Bd6 12. Rf1 Qxd5 13. Kg1 Bc7 14. c4 Qf5 15. Ne5 d6 16. Bg4 Qf6 17. Bxc8 Rxc8 18. Rxf4 Qe7 19. Nxf7 d5 20. Nh6+ Kh8 21. Nf7+ Kg8 22. Rf1 Qh4 23. h3 Rf8 24. Qe2 Qxd4+ 25. Be3 Qxc4 26. Nh6+ gxh6 27. Rxf8+ Kxf8 28. Bxh6+ Kf7 29. Rf1+ Kg6 30. Qe6+ Kh5 31. Qf5+ 1-0

Build your own clock

If you aren't satisfied with the current crop of chess clocks, you can always build your own. Using some inexpensive electronics, plus a set of instructions found here, you can make your own. They even supply pre-built clocks, which still gives you the ability to write your own control code.
While electronic clocks are now quite common place, the one piece of code I would be interested in adding/testing, is the ability to set a time via a wifi/bluetooth interface, cutting down on the time required to reset clocks at the start of each round!

Celtic Tigers

As Australia lacks a proper national team competition, it looks as though the 4NCL (UK) is the next best thing. I have a connection with the White Rose team (as a sponsor, and very bad player), while the manager is Rupert Jones (who carries an Australian passport).
Another team with a strong Australian connection is the Celtic Tigers. They are managed by Chris Skulte, who was an active player on the Australian scene, before work carried him off to Europe. Their top team played in 4NCL division 2 last season, but a second place finish sees them promoted to Division 1 for the new season. Building on this success, they are now adding a second team in Division 4, to provide more opportunities for new players (including David Webster, another wandering Sydneysider).
They have an excellent website, providing coverage of all their adventures (both on and off the board). There is also a newsletter produced every couple of months, which can be downloaded from the site.

Doing without h3

One of the sins we commit as chess players is taking advice as 'read'. For as long as I can remember 9.d4 is the main line of the Ruy Lopez was not recommended, 'because Black plays 9 ... Bg4'. Instead 9.h3 followed by 10.d4 is considered best.
However, handled the correct way, playing d4 before h3 is probably as good as the main line. I tried it in my final round game of the Olympiad, and had quite a good position, until I fell apart after move 30. And going back 100 years, Capablanca showed and instructive way of handling the position, albeit in a slightly different line.
Allowing the bishop to go to g4, before hitting it with h3, gives Black the choice of returning along the diagonal, or moving back to h4. This was the choice of Capablanca's opponent, whereupon Capa played g4 (not worrying about king safety) and shifted play to the queenside, with Black effectively a piece down.


Capablanca,Jose Raul - Black,Roy Turnbull [C87]
New York Rice prel New York,NY (1), 1916

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 d6 7. c3 O-O 8. d4 b5 9. Bc2 Bg4 10. d5 Nb8 11. h3 Bh5 12. Nbd2 Nbd7 13. Nf1 Re8 14. g4 Bg6 15. Ng3 h6 16. a4 Nh7 17. Qe2 Rb8 18. axb5 axb5 19. b4 Qc8 20. Bd3 c6 21. dxc6 Qxc6 22. Ra5 Qxc3 23. Bxb5 Qc7 24. Be3 Red8 25. Rc1 Qb7 26. Bc6 Qxb4 27. Ra4 Qb3 28. Ra7 Nhf8 29. Nd2 Qb2 30. Qd1 Bg5 31. Rc2 Bxe3 32. Rxb2 Bxa7 33. Rxb8 Nxb8 34. Bd5 Ne6 35. Ne2 Nd7 36. Qa4 Bb8 37. Qa2 Ndc5 38. f3 Kf8 39. Nc4 Ke7 40. Na5 Kf6 41. Nc6 Rc8 42. h4 Bc7 43. f4 Bxe4 44. g5+ hxg5 45. hxg5+ Nxg5 46. fxg5+ Kxg5 47. Bxe4 Nxe4 48. Qxf7 Bb6+ 49. Kg2 Rxc6 50. Qxg7+ Kh5 51. Qh7+ Kg5 52. Qxe4 Rc7 53. Ng3 Kf6 54. Qd5 Bc5 55. Ne4+ Ke7 56. Kf3 Kd7 57. Kg4 Rc6 58. Qf7+ Kc8 59. Nf6 Rc7 60. Qe8+ Kb7 61. Nd5 Rc8 62. Qb5+ Ka7 63. Ne7 1-0

Oceania Rivalry

At the chess Olympiads I have been involved with, there has always been a little bit of rivalry between the 'small' Oceania federations. Initially this was mainly a Fiji v PNG contest, but with the addition of newer federations, this now includes Guam, Palau, Nauru and the Solomon Islands. (NB 'Small' refers to the chess playing population, as PNG has more people than NZ)
This year the team that did best out of this set of countries was Guam, who scored 8 match points (Fiji and Solomon Islands did not send a team). This was extra impressive as they were seeded 181st, with just one FIDE rated player on the team. Apart from a 4-0 loss to Iraq in the first round, they scored something in each of their matches, and they defeated Central African Republic and Mauritius along the way. Four other drawn matches moved them ahead of their Pacific rivals, with a last round 2-2 against Ghana being the most important.
They scored 18.5 game points, with Elmer Prudente on Board 1 finishing with an impressive 6/11. He was ably supported by Roger Orio on board 3, with 5/10. 

As a follow up to their good performance in Batumi, the federation is hosting the 2019 Oceania Zonal. This will take place between 18th and 24th February 2019 and is open to all players registered with Oceania federations.
Orio,Rogelio L (1793) - Capella,Rurik (1979) [A45]
43rd Olympiad 2018 Batumi GEO (5.3), 28.09.2018

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d6 3. e3 g6 4. c3 Bg7 5. Nd2 O-O 6. Be2 Nc6 7. Ngf3 Nh5 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bh4 Nf6 10. h3 e5 11. O-O g5 12. Bg3 Qe7 13. Nh2 e4 14. b4 d5 15. a4 Nh7 16. b5 Nd8 17. c4 c6 18. cxd5 cxd5 19. Rc1 f5 20. f3 f4 21. exf4 gxf4 22. Be1 e3 23. Nb3 Bf5 24. Nc5 Qg5 25. Kh1 b6 26. h4 Qh5 27. Nd3 Ne6 28. Ne5 Rac8 29. Rc6 Bxe5 30. dxe5 d4 31. Bc4 d3 32. g4 fxg3 33. Rg1 Kh8 34. Bxg3 e2 35. Qd2 Rg8 36. Bxe6 Rxc6 37. Bxg8 Rc2 38. Qe3 Kxg8 39. e6 Kf8 40. Bd6+ 1-0

Isle of Man 2018

Billing itself as the strongest Open tournament ever, the 2018 Isle of Man tournament has begun overnight. The top half starts at around 2450, and board 37 saw an all GM pairing, so maybe the claim is true.
What is clear is that the top 20 players had to work to collect their points, and half points. Nine of the top twenty pairings were drawn, which is remarkable given the 20th seed is Boris Gelfand (2701). While there were no upset wins for lower rated players in this group, Viswanathan Anand looked to be quite a bit of trouble against young FM Raunak Sadhwani before turning the tables to grab a full point.
The start times are a little inconvenient for live viewing from Australia (east coast at least), but if you wish to stay up past 12:30 am you can see all the action via the tournament website.


Xiong,Jeffery (2656) - Karavade,Eesha (2374)
Chess.com Isle of Man Intermational Ches Douglas (Isle of Man) (1.29), 20.10.2018

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. dxc5 e6 5. Nf3 Bxc5 6. a3 Ne7 7. Bd3 Ng6 8. O-O O-O 9. Ng5 Be7 10. Qh5 Bxg5 11. Bxg5 Qc7 12. Nc3 Nc6 13. f4 Nd4 14. Rae1 h6 15. Bf6 gxf6 16. exf6 Nf5 17. Bxf5 exf5 18. Nxd5 Qc5+ 19. Re3 Rd8 20. Qxh6 Qf8 21. Ne7+ 1-0

Chess Training

Congratulations to IM Guy West for his win in the 2018 Chess Train tournament. This was an 11 round rapid event played over 5 days in a few countries in Europe. The players played 2 rapid games a day, while travelling on a train from Prague to Warsaw and back. The trip looked very popular, with over 100 players taking part. Apart from West, Australia saw FM Tim Reilly, Sean Watharow and Jean Watson forming the victorious Aussie Wood Ducks team. Full results are here.

Dress code / Uniform

Not FM Rupert Jones

For a quite long time FIDE were very keen to have teams (and players) adhere to a dress code in important events (eg Olympiad, World Cup etc). At first it looked as though they were going to be quite heavy handed on the matter, but of late, it seems that they were happy to let federations set their own standards.
In practice, most federations at the Olympiad supplied their teams with some sort of uniform, and the standard of dress was reasonably high. Australia was an exception to this (as in the uniform wasn't paid for by the ACF), while Rupert Jones (PNG) seemed more comfortable playing in t-shirts and stretch pants, rather than the PNGCF polo shirt work by the rest of the team.
The recently completed European Club Championship had a similar dress code, although Magnus Carlsen was a notable refusenik (at least for a few rounds). Early on he, and a few other GM's, played in shorts, despite this not being allowed. Eventually the word was given that the dress code was being enforced, and long pants became the fashion.
Personally I prefer to see dress code 'guidelines' rather than 'regulations', leaving it up to the players to decide what is appropriate. Not every team at the Olympiad had a uniform, but those that did not still managed to play in what I thought was perfectly acceptable outfits. Certainly there did not seem to be any issues at the tournament, and for me, this is probably the best way to go.

Caruana is in form

During the 2018 Olympiad I was only able to catch small glimpses of the action in the main hall, and so I missed one quite significant result. Fabiano Caruana scored an impressive 7/10 on Board 1 for the USA, with a TPR of 2859.
He played a number of the worlds leading GM's along the way, with wins over Anand and Mamedyarov being the standouts. This result is even more impressive, as it is quite possible that he 'held back' on some of his openings, keeping them up his sleeve for his match against Carlsen.
Looking at these results and games, I think the upcoming World Championship match is going to be a lot closer than I originally thought. Caruana has a real chance of taking the title now, and Carlsen may even be a slight underdog.
Carlsen is playing in the European Club Championship, and had a lucky escape in round 6 against Liren Ding. He missed a tactic against Ding, and only some resourceful defensive moves saved half a point. If he makes a similar mistake against Caruana, then he may not be so lucky.


Caruana,Fabiano (2827) - Anand,Viswanathan (2771) [E03]
43rd Olympiad 2018 Batumi GEO (4.1), 27.09.2018

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Nbd7 6. Qxc4 a6 7. Be3 Bd6 8. Qc2 O-O 9. Nh3 e5 10. O-O h6 11. dxe5 Nxe5 12. Nc3 Qe7 13. Rad1 Re8 14. Nf4 c6 15. Bd4 g5 16. Nd3 Nxd3 17. Rxd3 Be5 18. Qd2 Bf5 19. e4 Bg6 20. f4 gxf4 21. Bxe5 Qxe5 22. gxf4 Qc5+ 23. Kh1 Nxe4 24. Nxe4 Rxe4 25. Rg3 Rd4 26. Qe3 1-0

No more lonely knights

Apparently this is a real thing https://www.chess.com/news/view/world-chess-launches-chess-dating-app
As the above story states (slightly NSFW btw), it is a hookup app designed to bring chess players together (a kind of online Bermuda Party!). There appears to be some connection with the upcoming World Championship match, which makes the logo used for the match less of a surprise (according to Anish Giri)

2018 Vikings Weekender 17th-18th November 2018

The 2018 Vikings Weekender is being held on the weekend of the 17th and 18th November 2018. This is one of the three big weekend events held in Canberra, and is being sponsored by the Tuggeranong Vikings Rugby Union Club.
This year the tournament will be held at the Lanyon Club (Heidelberg St, Condor) located next to Lanyon Shopping Centre. It is a larger venue than last year, allowing more players and a more comfortable setting.
First prize is $1000 for the Open, with a $500 first prize in the Under 1600 section. There will be 7 rounds, with a time limit of G/60M+10s in both sections. Entry is $65 (GM's+IM's free), $45 for concessions and juniors.
Further details can be found at http://vesus.org/festivals/2018-vikings-weekender/ You can register your interest for the event at that page as well (NB Payment isn't required, but early entries do help the organisers). Registering with a FIDE ID is pretty straight forward, but if you don't have one, just enter non-zero values in the mandatory ID and rating fields (The page is picky about value checking for some reason!)

(NB I am the arbiter for this event and will be paid for my services)

Olympiad highlights - a visual journey

One of the many things done well at this years Chess Olympiad was the production of a number of good videos. Some were played at the closing ceremony, while others are available on the Olympiad Youtube Channel.
One highlight of the closing ceremony was the performance of 'Oh Capablanca' by Juga. You can watch her performance in the clip of the closing ceremony, or just listen to song directly.

2018 ACT Junior Championship

Congratulations to Joshua Lee for winning the 2018 ACT Junior Chess Championship. He scored an impressive 8/9 to win the FIDE rated tournament, a full point ahead of Lachlan Ho, Yizhen Diao and Ruofan Xu. He only looked in difficulty against Ho, and a quick last round draw against Dexuean Kong was enough to capture the title.
Athena Hathiramani was the best placed female player, in an event which had a female entry of a little over 25% Erin Milne tied with Hathiramani and won the Under 12 Girls trophy.
It was interesting to see the difference in results between players with a FIDE rating and those without. The FIDE rated players beat all their non rated opponents (with the exception of a single draw), even if they had worse positions during the game. Clearly the experience at playing at a higher level comes in handy in situations like this, as the 'saves' were often due to their opponents eventually losing concentration and blundering back.
There were 42 players in the tournament which was a healthy number for an event like this. The majority of players were aged under 12, so hopefully this group will provide the next generation of ACT champions.

Elshan Moradiabadi

The PNG performed quite well at this years Olympiad, and a significant amount of credit has to go to the team captain, GM Elshan Moradiabadi. We finished with 20.5 game points, which is the highest total we have ever achieved in an 11 round Olympiad. Apart from an opening 4-0 loss to Belgium, we scored something in every match, and had a few narrow 1.5-2.5 losses which could have gone the other way.
Elshan quickly realised we were all either rusty or inexperienced so was quick to tailor his coaching methods to suit this. His opening preparation was very thorough, and he was able to show us a number of surprise lines in well known openings. In almost all games we achieved playable positions going into the middlegame (which was what he was aiming for), although we (as a team) didn't always do such preparation justice (I threw away a number of good positions for example). He was always upbeat even we were sure we had crushed his will to live, and proved to be an inspiring captain and coach.
As a professional player, coach and author, he went straight from the Olympiad to take part in the St Louis Chess Club Fall Classic. With little rest, and running a bit of fever, he was still able to hold it together to score a very good round 1 win. Playing through the game I was struck at the winning approach he used in the game was very similar to what he was trying to teach us. He achieved a stable pawn structure, with extra space on the kingside. He then found the best squares for his pieces, before launching a winning kingside attack.


Moradiabadi,Elshan (2534) - Boros,Denes (2439) [D02]
St Louis Fall B 2018 Saint Louis USA (1.1), 10.10.2018

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Bg2 c6 7. O-O Nbd7 8. Qc2 b6 9. Rd1 O-O 10. Bf4 Bb7 11. Ne5 Nh5 12. Bc1 Nhf6 13. Bf4 Nh5 14. Bc1 Nhf6 15. Nc3 Rc8 16. e4 dxc4 17. Nxc4 b5 18. Ne3 Qb6 19. b3 Rfe8 20. Bb2 Bf8 21. e5 Nd5 22. Ncxd5 cxd5 23. Qe2 a5 24. Bf1 b4 25. h4 Ra8 26. Qg4 Re7 27. Bd3 a4 28. Bc2 Bc6 29. Qf4 f6 30. Ng4 f5 31. Ne3 Rf7 32. g4 g6 33. gxf5 gxf5 34. Kh2 axb3 35. Rg1+ Kh8 36. Bxb3 Qa6 37. Rg2 Bg7 38. h5 h6 39. Rag1 Rg8 40. Ng4 Kh7 41. Bc1 Bf8 42. Nxh6 Rxg2+ 43. Rxg2 Rg7 44. Rxg7+ Bxg7 45. Nxf5 exf5 46. h6 Bf8 47. Qxf5+ Kg8 48. Qg6+ 1-0

The Election

tl;dr Dvorkovich ran a better campaign and had a better message than everyone else.

Long version

I found the 2018 FIDE Campaign quite interesting, although I was a little surprised at the outcome.
I was much more involved this time, as I was assisting Paul Spiller in his run for Oceania Zone President, and this turned into more general assistance to Nigel Short in his campaign for FIDE President. In the lead up to the Olympiad I was spending a lot of time ringing Oceania Federations (or at least trying to), and exchanging emails with the campaigns and federations.
From the outset PNG was not going to support the Makro ticket, as a consequence of what had happened regarding the PNG delegate in 2014. ("What do you think we were going to do?" was a comment I made to more than one person). Our position was therefore Short on the first ballot, and Dvorkovich on the second ballot if necessary. And initially I thought that Makro was going to win, based on the techniques used in 2014 (lock federations in early, bully/promise delegates with offers of positions, run the election in a way that favours the incumbent).
However once I arrived in Batumi things began to change. It became clear after the first few days that the Dvorkovich campaign was in this to win. The PNG delegation was invited to meet Dvorkovich after one of the rounds, and arriving at the suggested restaurant, noticed there were probably over 100 people of other federations in attendance.  Nonetheless he spent a good 45 minutes talking to us, taking note of out suggestions. At this point I realised that the election was going to a lot closer than the FIDE ticket had hoped.
In the expo area of the Olympiad both the Makro ticket and Dvorkovich ticket had stands. (There was no stand for the Short ticket as 'insurgents don't do stands!') While the Dvorkovich stand was putting out the positive message, the Makro campaign was running on the other tickets negatives (including producing some awful propaganda cartoons attacking the other candidates). The Makro campaign had also attempted to counter the well financed Dvorkovich ticket by trying to outlaw the giving of gifts etc (which had been a standard campaign technique for Makro etc previously). This was ignored and a number of federations availed themselves of the Dvorkivich goody bag.
Meanwhile the Short campaign was chugging along, mainly working on the other delegates during Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner. Short was working on the belief that he had 25 federations supporting him, which while not enough to win, was large enough to have a say in the final outcome.
Makro had also complained to the Ethics commission in the hope of getting Dvorkovich barred from the election. Once this complaint was rejected it became clear that the Makro ticket was in trouble (and they now knew it). The decison to reject the complaint was also an interesting one, as it showed a more independent mindset among some FIDE office holders. One of the issues from 2014 was every disputed case went in Kirsan's favour, which wasn't the case this time.
Closer to the actual vote all campaigns began to push a bit harder. Dvorkovich threw a couple of nice functions (one of which had mermaids), while the organisers threw a party for the Makro ticket (as an aside I and others offered to organise an event for Short at the Oasis Hotel where we were staying. This would have involved 8 bottles of wine and 250 Lari across the bar!) By this stage it was becoming very clear that Dvorkovich was close to winning on the first ballot (and he said as much to us).
I had planned to attend the whole day of the election, but an error in our team submission meant I had to play instead. I did get to attend the morning part of the election, but had to leave just before the vote began. However this was revealing enough, as the FIDE officials at the front of the room didn't appear that popular. Haiti made a complaint for the floor about how they were tricked out of voting, while the Slovenian delegate had to explain why their proxy was given to Makro the day after the board unanimously voted to support Dvorkovich (A stay in hospital was the apparent reason).
Before the vote each candidate gave a speech. Nigel Short Dvorkovich went first, followed by Nigel Short. Short used his platform to criticise the FIDE establishment. However he pulled a rabbit out of the hat at the end, by announcing his withdrawal and asking for a vote for Dvorkovich instead. Apparently this strategy was decided the day before, in the belief that staying in may have muddied the waters ('A GM move' said one person, 'A real d**k move' was another comment). By doing it this way he still had the right to give a speech, essentially making the contest 2 against 1. This seemed to catch Makro flat footed, as he was prepared for 2 rivals, not one.
After the speeches the voting took place, and in the end it resulted in quite a wide victory (by 25 votes to Dvorkovich). The Short team thought the difference was in the people who would have voted for them, although I think a couple of federations switched from Short to Dvorkovich.
With my game finished I returned to the congress to see a happy Dvorkovich team posing for photos, including with some people who had been on the opposite side an hour before!
Overall I thought it was a better election than in 2014, where personal animosity was the main driver. At least this time there were real policies put forward and decisions could be based on that. The Dvorkich campaign tapped in the desire to change things after 23 years, and this was a significant factor. Hopefully this will translate into an improved FIDE, but even if the new admin comes up short, at last the federations now know they are able to effect change at the ballot box, which I think is the most important thing.

The quickest

As I was bust playing most days of the Olympiad, I didn't really focus on what was going on around me in the tournament hall (especially as the Arbiters disapproved of players leaving the board too often). So I'm just catching up with the other games, and looking for what was quirky or interesting.
There were a number of 1 move games in the tournament, where players did not appear. In some cases this was because teams did not arrive, chose not to turn up (Qatar defaulted to Kuwait in the final round), or players being sidetracked by the FIDE elections. Of the games that were played I have chosen both the shortest win, and the shortest draw. While short wins are common, short draws are now harder to come by, as there are no draw offers allowed before both sides have played 30 moves. But repetitions are still allowable, and this was how that particular game finished.


Arab,Adlane (2482) - Nevska,Gerda (1819) [E71]
43rd Olympiad 2018 Batumi GEO (1.3), 24.09.2018

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. h3 a6 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. e5 Ng8 8. Bf4 c5 9. exd6 cxd4 10. Nd5 Ra7 11. dxe7 1-0

AlHuwar,Jasem (2245) - Linster,Philippe (2273) [A05]
43rd Olympiad 2018 Batumi GEO (8.2), 02.10.2018

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Bf5 4. O-O e6 5. d3 c6 6. c4 dxc4 7. dxc4 Qxd1 8. Rxd1 Nbd7 9. Nc3 Bc2 10. Rd2 Bg6 11. Rd1 Bc2 12. Rd2 Bg6 13. Rd1 1/2-1/2

Last round nerves

Last round nerves can be a coach killer. In the case of PNG we had two players who failed to deal with the pressure, and two players who conquered it. One of these players was Tom McCoy who was playing in his very first Olympiad. After a late night team meeting it was decided that Tom was going to suit up for the last round, giving him an outside change to reach 50% (he was on 3/7 at this stage). The decision paid off for the team as he played an excellent game, including choosing a very sharp continuation on move 18. Possibly nerves were affecting his opponent as well, as in the complications there may have been a missed drawing line. Having gained the advantage, Tom played a very good ending, eventually scoring the win, and helping PNG finish with a 'Desmond' (2-2) against Saudi Arabia.

McCoy,Tom - Al Thebaiti,Ahmed M (1988) [B40]
43rd Olympiad 2018 Batumi GEO (11.4), 05.10.2018

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 a6 4. g3 Nc6 5. Bg2 Nf6 6. O-O d6 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Be7 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. e5 Nd5 11. Nxd5 cxd5 12. exd6 Qxd6 13. c4 O-O 14. cxd5 Rd8 15. Re1 Bb7 16. Bf4 Qb6 17. Rc1 Bd6 18. dxe6 Bxf4 19. exf7+ Kf8 20. Re8+ Rxe8 21. fxe8Q+ Rxe8 22. gxf4 Bxg2 23. Kxg2 Qxb2 24. Qd6+ Kg8 25. Qd5+ Kh8 26. Rc7 Qe2 27. Qg5 Qe4+ 28. Kg3 Qd3+ 29. f3 Qd4 30. Qc5 Qd1 31. Qc1 Qd6 32. Qc6 Qd8 33. Qd7 Qxd7 34. Rxd7 h6 35. Ra7 Re6 36. h4 h5 37. f5 Rb6 38. Kf4 Kh7 39. Kg5 Rh6 40. Ra8 Rf6 41. a3 Rh6 42. Rf8 Rb6 43. Ra8 Rh6 44. a4 Rf6 45. Re8 Rc6 46. Re6 Rc3 47. f4 a5 48. Re5 Rc1 49. Rxa5 Rg1+ 50. Kxh5 Rf1 51. Kg4 Rg1+ 52. Kf3 Rh1 53. Ra7 Kg8 54. a5 Rxh4 55. a6 Rh1 56. Rb7 1-0

Back in Canberra

A quick update now that I have arrived back home to Canberra. It was a pleasant two day journey from Batumi-Tbilis-Doha-Sydney-Canberra by Train, planes and busses. Now I hope to get some sleep before writing more about the last two weeks.

2018 Chess Olympiad - Days 11 & 12

For the 2018 PNG Chess Olympiad team the final two rounds were the ecstasy of victory and the agony of ... non-defeat. In round 10 we played the US Virgin Islands, and scored a big 3.5-0.5 win over them (I gave up the only half point). Then in the final round we were paired with Saudi Arabia, a match that looked challenging for us.
Board 1 Stuart Fancy, and Board 4 Tom McCoy then stepped up and collected two points for us. Tom's game was particularly good, deciding on a gutsy tactical continuation that in the end collected him enough pawns to win the game. (As a result he also finished on 50% for the tournament). I let the team down by rapidly throwing away a good position, and needing just a draw for the match win, Rupert Jones missed a one move tactic and went from +0.0 to a lot less than that.
So 2-2 was a better result than we expected, but left us feeling we missed a bigger opportunity. Overall the team performed very well, with our game points score of 20.5 ahead of a large number of teams, while out match points score of 7 equalled or exceeded our more recent efforts.
In the overall event China did the double, winning both Open and Womens. A full report on this (and many other things) will appear when I travel back to Canberra.

2018 Olympiad - Days 9 & 10

The last couple of days at the 2018 Chess Olympiad have been very hectic, with the FIDE election proving to be a big distraction (but more on that in another post).
In the chess, the PNG team has 'hit the wall', only scoring 1.5 from rounds 8 and 9. FM Rupert Jones won his game against Haiti as the team went down 1-3, while he was the only half point in a bigger 0.5-3.5 loss to Mauritania. In a lot of instances we had good positions out of the opening, but then lost control of the game and went on to lose. This is probably a combination of both tiredness, and a lack of regular chess at this level.
In the Open section Poland are the somewhat surprise leader on 16 points. The 11th seeds have not lost a match as yet, and have played a number of close rivals. The group behind them contains the USA, China, Armenia and England. The Australian team is in slightly positive territory (10/18), with the good news that the two Olympiad debutantes (IM Bobby Cheng and IM James Morris performing ahead of their ratings).
China leads the Women's Olympiad by a point ahead of Ukraine, Armenia and USA. Australia is back in mid field, with a damaging loss to Switzerland in the last round partially the reason.

2018 Olympiad - Day 8

The 7th round of the 2018 Chess Olympiad saw PNG score it's second 4-0 win of the tournament. Up against Palau we were rating favourites on each board, but such matches can always be a little tricky. In the end we won on each of the boards but we had to work hard to do so. I had a brain snap after winning some pawns in the opening, where I failed to count a sequence of captures correctly and missed the win of a piece, but my position was good enough to win anyway. Tom McCoy scored his second win of the tournament on board 4, while Helmut Marko and Stuart Fancy won after determined resistance from their opponents. The win puts us up to 4 match points, and 13.5 game points. We play Haiti in today's round, and while seeded above them, this is another tricky match for us.
At the top end of the tournament there is now a three way tie between Azerbaijan, Poland, and the USA. The Russian team is struggling back on 10 points, only 1 point ahead of the 33rd placed Australian's. In the Women's Olympiad, Armenia is the outright leader, having inflicted the USA teams first loss in round 7. The Australian team has dropped back to midfield, having faced a number of strong teams as a result of their flying start.

2018 Olympiad - Day 7

Yesterday was the 7th day of the Chess Olympiad, with round 6 being played. PNG continued its run of narrow losses, this time losing 1.5-2.5 to Aruba. We scored a win and a draw on the top 2 boards, but losses on 3 & 4 left us on the wrong side of the result sheet. So we remain on 2 match points, although our game points score (9.5/24) is more than a large number of teams placed ahead of us.
The last few days at he Olympiad have also been filled with meetings and electioneering. The attempt by the Makro campaign to have the rival Dvorkovich ticket disqualified from running was rejected by the Ethics Commission, although Serbia has been barred from voting at the election. There is a sense on the floor that Dvorkovich might just have enough votes to win, but if other elections (from say 2016) show, negative campaigns have a lot of sway. There is also the mechanics of delegates and proxies to take into account, with at least two Oceania Federations guilty of 'phoning in' their vote, rather than seriously engaging in the electoral process.
Today PNG play Palau in an all Oceania match up. With a brief respite from meetings, hopefully we will be a well rested team, and we can score our second win!