Time to fly

 Today I start a 12 week working holiday, with stop being the 2024 World Rapid and Blitz Teams event in Astana. After that a bit of a holiday in the UK before heading the Chess Olympiad in Budapest. Before and after I will probably play a few chess events, while doing a bit of a tourist run at the same time. If all works out I will be in Canberra by the end of October.

Hopefully there will be plenty of chess content to report on during my travels, so I will do my best to keep this blog ticking along. 

2024 ANU Open - IM Ikeda wins again

 IM Junta Ikeda has won the 2024 ANU Open, winning both his final round games to finish on a perfect 6 from 6. A quick round 6 win over CM Hui Li was enough to secure outright first, leaving the other players battling for the minor placings. FM Fred Litchfield eventually finished on 5/6 after beating Thomas Gatzen-O'Keefe, although Gatzen O'Keefe still finished on enough points to collect the 1600-1999 rating prize. Young Sydney junior Vu Ky Anh Nguyen finished in third place on 4.5, while Kamal Jain and Thomas Eleutherios shared the remaining rating prize.

 The Minor (Under 1600) section saw a 3 way tie for first place. Daniil Yelkhovsky started the day on 4/4, but 2 drawn games allowed Jerry Cheng and Connor Amoore to catch him on 5/6. The other prizes were shared fairly generously, with a number of ties in each rating section. There were good performances by local junior players, although a few 'grown ups' also took home some cash.

73 players took part across both sections, and the event was pretty easy to run. Once again the ANU provided us with a good venue, with plenty of room for the players, and good access for the spectators. The increase in prizes (up to $4000) also saw an increase in the size of the field. Now that the event looks to be back on a secure footing, hopefully next year will see the event move towards attracting an even larger turnout. 

Full standings can be found at https://www.vegaresult.com/en/event.php?id=2715 while game from Rounds 2 to 6 in the Open can be found at https://lichess.org/broadcast/2024-anu-open/round-6/DUcjk3Eg

2024 ANU Open - Day 2

 With 4 rounds played, IM Junta Ikeda is now the clear favourite to win the 2024 ANU Open. He defeated 2nd see FM Fred Litchfield in Round 4, in a game basically defined by a single tactical sequence. Litchfield had to surrender the exchange and after that it was a matter of technique for the tournaments top seed. Ikeda is on 4/4, a full point ahead of 6 players on 3. Ikeda plays Julius Clegg in round 5. Clegg, who does not have a standard rating as yet, has proved to be the real surprise of the event, going undefeated so far, including a round 4 draw with CM Hui Li.

In the Minor event (Under 1600), top seed Daniil Yelkhovsky is on 4/4, half a point ahead of Lohit Hegde and Padma Gyalpo. Gyalpo plays Yelkhovsky in the morning round, while Hegde is up against Jerry Cheng. 

2024 ANU Open - Day 1

 The first day of the 2024 ANU Open saw a significant number of upsets, both in the Open and in the Minor. This was mainly due to the closeness in rating between the top and bottom halves of the pairings, at least for the middle boards. 

In the Open CM Hui Li recovered from a lost ending to draw with Kamal Jain on board 3, while Donghoon Shin upset 4th seed Oladoyin Fasakin on the next board. Overall the bottom half picked up 5.5 points across 15 games in the 1st round. In the Minor (Under 1600) it was a similar story, starting with drawn games on boards 2 and 3. While the top half did a little better than in the Open, 2 wins and 4 draws was still a good result for the lower rated players. Tournament standings can be found at https://www.vegaresult.com/en/event.php?id=2715

On of the most interesting games from round 1 was played between two junior players in the Open. Dev Raichura played an Evans Gambit and after his opponent lost control of the centre, Dev steamrolled his way to victory.

Raichura,Dev - Verma,Rudra [C51]
ANU Open (1), 26.07.2024

They must do things differently in Canberra

 Another year of interschool chess, another set of weird rule interpretations.

At yesterdays interschool event I 9and the other arbiters) were overwhelmed by a hug number of illegal move issues. This in part is caused by our '3 strikes' policy, in which the first illegal move receives a warning, rather than a penalty, thereby increasing the number of illegal moves we have to handle by 50%. In on case a player tried to castle through check and when told that this was not allowed simply said "They must do things differently in Canberra". And apart from the use "both kings in check" situations, one case involved a player dealing with a check by moving their king 5(!) squares away, although this was only to another square where the king was still in check.

The other strange situation involved the non reporting of a result. Due to the tight schedule, if a player did not report a result they ran the risk of receiving a double forfeit. This happened in 3 separate rounds. But in one case this led to a bizarre situation. Having always recorded such results a double forfeit (0F-0F) the pairing program simply paired the same opponents against each other in the next round (this is allowed under the Swiss Pairing Rules, as it assumed the game had not been played). To heap further pain on the player who had one the previous round, he then lost the return bout, thereby scoring 0/2 against the same opponent. Of course my mistake was recording the game as a forfeit, when I should have used 0-0.

World Record washup

 If the numbers quoted on various news feeds are correct, there were 5.4 million games of chess were played in a 24 hour period on July 20 2024. I suspect the vast majority of these were played online although a significant contribution did com from the 820+ OTB events that were also held on that day. In this part of the world there were events held in most capital cities, while Auckland also put on a couple of quite  large tournaments. I was asked what the pervious record was, and while I don't know for sure, I assumed it was 0. Not because no games of chess have ever been played, but because I think this is the first time it has been officially counted.

By all reports everyone (worldwide) seemed to really enjoy being part of something global, and so I suspect this will become an annual event.

Street Chess - In the news

 As part of yesterdays International Chess Day, Street Chess Canberra contributed to setting a record for the most number of recorded games of chess played in a day. The regular Saturday event attracted 55 players, which was one of our biggest fields evet. As a special event, we even attracted a large amount of media interest with coverage on local and national radio, newspaper interviews and even a live cross on Australia's national news network (ABC). 

There was a larger story broadcast on ABC in the evening, which you can see here

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x92kcc8

Off to set a World Record

 Today is International Chess Day. As part of the 100th anniversary of the founding of FIDE, there will be an attempt to set a record for the most number of games of chess officially recorded in a 24 hour period. Street Chess is part of this attempt, so if you wish to be in it, just get along to Street Chess at 10:45am at King O'Malley's City Walk, Canberra City. It runs until 3pm ad open to anyone who wants to take part (NB $10/$5/$1 entry fees)

2024 Olympiad Team Lists

 The first set of team lists for the 2024 Olympiad have been posted. You can see who is currently registered at https://chess-results.com/tnr967173.aspx?lan=1 (and there is a link to the Women's event as well) 

Points of interest - USA is seeded 1st in the Open, and Georgia is seeded 1st in the Women's Olympiad. China makes a return after missing Chennai, but Russia and Belarus are still excluded. Australia is 40th in the Open and 44th in the Women's.

However, as there is a possibility of late team changes, these seedings may change. 

Biel 2024

 The Biel Chess Festival starts this evening (Canberra time) with a number of large events. Apart from the 2 GM events right at the top, there is a couple of big swisses, for amateur players and for aspiring masters. A couple of Australian players are in the entry lists for these events. FM Albert Winkelman is in the Masters Open, seeded 62nd out of 128 players. Walter Wolffs is in the Amateur section, seeded 100th out of 129 players. 

You can follow all the action at https://www.bielchessfestival.ch/Homepage.html (Just as I clicked on the link, it looks like the games in the GM event have just started!)

2024 World Rapid and Blitz Teams Championship

 In a couple of weeks I will be of to Astana for the 2024 World Rapid and Blitz Teams Championship. This 4 day event has already attracted some pretty strong teams from around the world (listed here). Indeed, although it is designed as a kind of Rapid Olympiad for all sorts of teams, the large prize pool seems to have left the event rather top heavy. Great news for he spectators, but a little tough on teams at the lower end. 

If I'm not involved next year as an official, I may even try and get a Street Chess team organised (depending on the venue of course!)

I have a theory ....

 Although i have spent most of this year *not* chess coaching, I still get asked to a little from time to time. One of the questions I often asking myself when working with groups, is "who will develop into a strong chess player?" This isn't as easy as looking at results, or even games, as promising players often disappear at an early stage of their careers.

So thinking a little outside the board, and based on little more than my own observations, it is the kids that enjoy talking about chess that often bloom. And not just about the moves, but about the history, about recent tournaments at the top level, and even questions about the rules. I guess it shows that there is a real motivation to go further in chess, which results in putting more effort in improving your game.  

Is it possible to win without any captures?

 Is it possible to win without any captures? Of course it is. 1.f3 e5 2.g4?? Qh4# being one such example. But in a serious game, it is significantly less likely. Even building up a winning advantage before the first capture is made is quite rare, although the following games shows it can be done. Nothing was captured up until move 26, when the first Black capture was essentially the winning move.

Fan,Chloe (1907) - Litchfield,Frederick (2191) [B51]
Round 5: Sydney Championship , 08.07.2024

2024 ANU Open 26-28th July

 

2024 ANU Open

ANU Open/Minor 2024

26th, 27th, 28th July
ACF Rated and FIDE rated*
Room 2.02, Marie Reay Teaching Centre, University Ave, ANU, ACT
Time control: 60m + 30s

Open and Under 1600 sections (Both FIDE Rated)
6 round swiss (Round 1 Friday 26th July 7pm, Rd 2 10am Sat 27th, Rd 3 2pm, Rd 4 6pm, Rd 5 10am Sun 28th, Rd 6 2pm)

$4000 prize pool ($1100 1st prize Open, $600 1st Minor)
(* Games involving players FIDE 2400+ will not be rated as per FIDE Rating regulations. )
Friday 26 July 2024 7:00 PM - Sunday 28 July 2024 6:00 PM (UTC+10)

LOCATION

Room 2.02 Marie Reay Teaching Centre
University Ave, Acton ACT 2600

Entry link: https://www.trybooking.com/CTFVB

Why don't people actually quit chess?

 At no stage in my chess life have I actually quit playing chess. Possibly the longest I have gone without playing was about 6 months when I was in 1st year uni, but after that I've always tried to play. So I find it funny when I see people announce that they are quitting chess, usually for the 4th or 5th time. And it is often strong players who I seem to notice, although I guess the fact that they are strong players makes it noticeable. Even Bobby Fischer made a couple of comebacks (if you count his match against a chess computer in the mid 1970's). 

So why tell everyone you're quitting if you don't follow through?