The following game combines a number of hilarious themes that I often feature on this blog.
(1) The French Defence gets a fearful hammering
(2) Grabbing the b pawn with your queen is once again bad
(3) Every now and then players who should know better (an IM in this case) still find a way of digging themselves further into trouble
GM Temur Kuybokarov has won the 2025 Oceania Zonal, with a final score of 8/9. After dropping his 4th round game, he finished with 5 straight wins, beating FM Chris Wallis in the final round. Tied for 2nd were IM Rishi Sardana, IM James Morris and FM Stirling Bayaca on 7/9. Both Sardana and Morris went through the event undefeated, as did IM Gary Lane (6/9), who curiously drew every game he started with the white pieces.
WGM Julia Ryjanova was the clear winner of the Women's Zonal, scoring 8.5/9. She only conceded a draw to WFM Shiyuan Shen, who finished 2nd on 8/9. In third place was WCM Chao Xin Cheng who scored 7/9.
Both events saw a number of players earn direct titles. A few have already earned their FM/WFM/CM/WCM titles (based on career ratings), while for others, the titles will be awarded based on achieving the minimum required rating.
As Chief Arbiter of the event, I found it a very enjoyable event. The chess was competitive throughout, including the final round, and a number of younger players showed a real step up in class. The venue (Huntingdale Golf Club) was fantastic, and the organising team from the Box Hill Chess Club (lead by Peter Tsai) did a brilliant job throughout.
Full results and links to tournament games can be found at https://sites.google.com/view/2025oceaniazonals/home
With one round left to play GM Temur Kybokarov holds a half point lead in the 2025 Oceania Zonal. Bouncing back after his round 4 loss, Kuybokarov has reeled off 4 straight wins, taking down FM Alphaeus And and FM Stirling Bayaca in todays rounds. In outright 2nd is Chris Wallis, who beat IM David Cannon in round 7 and drew with FM Luis Chan in round 8. Fittingly, Wallis and Kuybokarov will face each other in the final round, which begins at 10am Melbourne time, tomorrow.
In equal third are 6 players on 6/8. While 1st place is out of reach for this group, a 2nd or 3rd place finish is an IM norm for the non IM's in this group.
WGM Julia Ryjanova leads the Women Zonal on 7.5/8, half a point ahead of WFM Zhiyuan Shen. As both players have already met (drawing their game), the destination of the qualifying place for the World Cup will depend on their final round games. Ryjanova is playing Elaina Qiang, while Shen plays WCM Luna Xu.
While a few players have already scored enough points for direct titles, the last round will determine who else will earn them. Interestingly, the final round pairings see players in the open hoping to reach 6/9 (an FM title), up against players who already the this, or a higher title. So expect some fighting chess in the final round, which can be seen from 10:30am on Lichess.
At the end of the 4th day of the 2025 Oceania Zonal, the leading pack has thinned a little. The surprise leader is FM Stirling Bayaca, who is on 5.5/6. In the morning round he defeated GM Darryl Johansen and then FM Felix Xie (NZ) in round 6. He is being chased by IM James Morris, IM David Cannon, FM Chris Wallis and GM Temur Kuybokarov who are all on 5 points. Tomorrow mornings round sees Bayaca up against Morris in the board 1 clash.
In the Women's Zonal, WGM Julia Ryjanova and WCM Chai Xin Chen share the lead on 5.5/6. They play each other in tomorrows first round, with the winner being well placed to win the event. A draw between the 2 leaders will open to door for WFM Zhiyuan Shen to catch up, as she is in outright third on 5/6.
Round 7 and 8 will be played tomorrow, with round 9 starting at 10am on Wednesday. Although qualifying for the World Cup is the ultimate goal from both events, a chance to earn direct titles is also a motivation for the rest of the field. With 6/9 required for an FM/WFM title, and 4.5/9 for a CM/WCM some results may be affected by title considerations. For some this may lead to over cautious play (like being on the bubble in poker), but for others, a last minute run up the score table may be in order.
Day 3 of the 2025 Oceania Zonal started with a Blitz event. The 2025 Ocenia Blitz Championship was won by IM James Morris, scoring 8.5/9. FM Li Yiu finished 2nd on 7.5, and FM Luis Chan 3rd on 7.
Round 4 was in the afternoon and the surprise result was IM Davin Cannon beating top seed GM Temur Kuybokarov. A tactical miscalculation saw Cannon win an important pawn, and Kuybokarov could not generate enough counterplay as compensation. Cannon now shares the lead IM James Morris, who also reached 4/4 by beating FM Luis Chan. Tied for 3rd are a further 6 players on 3.5.
The lead in the Women's Zonal is also shared between 2 players, WGM Julia Ryjanova and Grace Yin. Yin, who started the tournament as 30th seed has had an impressive run of 4 straight wins, but will face Ryjanova in tomorrow mornings round.
The nest 2 days are both double round days, with the morning round starting at 10:00 am and the afternoon round beginning at 3:00 pm
After 3 rounds, 6 players are still on a perfect in the Open section of the 2025 Oceania Zonal. Top seed GM Temur Kuybokarov scored an easy win over Reyaansh Chakrabarty to maintain his perfect start. He was joined by IM James Morris, FM Felix Xie, IM David Cannon, FM Chris Wallis and FM Luis Chan, after they all scored round 3 wins. Another 13 players are on 2.5/3, so the likely winner(s) of the event are still some way from being known.
In the Women's Zonal, 5 players lead on 3/3. WGM Julia Ryjanova, Grace Yin, WFM Zhiyan Shen, WCM Jody Middleton and WCM Chao Xin Cheng have all had perfect starts to event, although tomorrows round may change that. Again there is a large group of players within one win of the leaders, so again, an eventual winner may take some rounds to emerge.
The first day of the 2025 Oceania Zonal saw 166 players turn up to the Huntingdale Gold Club in Melbourne, to determine the Oceania qualifiers for the 2025 World Cup. The Open section saw 117 players arrive for round 1 (curiously missing a group of New Zealand junior players who had taken advantage of the entry conditions to enter, but not play) with 49 players in the Women's section (who all turned up).
As the entry for the Open was restricted to players rated above 1900 (for Australian entries), the first round was tougher than previous Zonals. Although the top 5 seeds won their first games, IM's Lane and Solomon drew with their lower rated opponents, while IM Russell Dive lost to NSW player Ian Stalker. In the Women's event the upsets started as soon as board 3, and included a run of 6 boards (bd's 6 to 11) where Black won all the games.
Today is a double round day, with round 2 already underway. Important links are
The 2025 Oceania Zonal begins tomorrow, in Melbourne. Even with the tighter entry requirements (for home players at least), both events (Open and Women's) reached capacity entries months ago. Pleasingly the Open event has representatives from 7 of the Oceania Federations, while the Women's has 5 federations represented.
Both events will qualify 1 player to the 2025 World Cup, as well as offering the chance for players to earn direct titles (IM/WIM, FM/WFM and CM/WCM). Top seed in the Open is GM Temur Kuybokarov, and for the Women's WGM Julia Ryjanova.
The first round is at 1pm tomorrow (local time). Event details and result links can be found at https://sites.google.com/view/2025oceaniazonals/home
Note: I am Chief Arbiter for this event
Random bits of advice and commentary I gave to a coaching class today
With the final game of the tournament I decided to 'bank my winnings' and offer an early draw. This left me on +1 for the tournament (2 wins, 1 loss and 6 draws), and meant I played to almost exactly my rating. Having come into the event with no FIDE rated chess in the last 12 months, I was happy with this result. My final place of =4th was a pleasant surprise as well, as I figured anything in the top half would be good.
I found the tournament a very enjoyable experience, and the organisation was excellent. The schedule of 9 rounds over 7 days (only 2 double round days), gave me both enough time to prepare for my games, as well as to do some walking and sightseeing. Alongside my event were the IM Bob Wade Memorial (3 GM's+3 IM's) and the Middle Game Chess Foundation Challengers. The top event was designed to provide norm opportunities (and higher level chess) for New Zealand's rising starts, while the Middle Game Challengers showcased younger New Zealand talents. All three events saw some interesting and hard fought games, with the winners really having to work hard.
The organisers are looking at holding similar events next year, and I would certainly recommend the events for anyone interested in playing.
After a sequence of drawn games, I finally scored my 2nd win of the event. My opponent had great experience in playing Benoni type systems (1.d4 c5) so I tried to find a sequence that avoided the main lines. As it turned out that we reached a position that closely resembled a Closed Sicilian, with the significant difference being that my d pawn was on d5 rather than d3. As a result I was able to use the extra space to build up a kingside attack without worrying so much about a counter attack in the centre.
The final finish was evidence that good tactics come from good positions. The win moved me to 4.5/8, which meant I had achieved at least one of my goals, which was to score at least 50% for the tournament. (NB Once again the online broadcast threw in some extra moves at the end, for reasons that were not clear to me this time)
Having escaped with a fortunate draw in round 6, I offered the same gift to my opponent in round 7. Playing a mainline Gruenfeld, I reached the usual sort of position where Black is holding on, but always at risk if the White d pawn breaks loose. All the action kicked off around move 24 where I played 24 ... e6? which just encouraged the formulaic hack down the f file with f5 (24 ... Bd5! was the move). Then the next sequence of moves was not the best for both sides, but by move 31 I thought I would eb able to take the d pawn and survive. But just as in game 6, both my opponent and I missed the correct follow up to 34.Bg5. He assume he was winning material due the threat of Bxd8, while I thought I would get enough pawns as compensation for the piece after 34. ... Bxe5. It turns out both of missed the idea of 34. ... e6!! 35.exf6 Qe6! The threat is to take the knight on e2, or play Bxg2+, winning the queen. With best (computer calculated) play, I would have 3 pawns for the exchange, and definite winning chances. Instead everything came off and reducing his pawns meant that a draw by perpetual was the best result. (NB The live broadcast shows an incorrect ending, due to my opponent demonstrating how I could self mate by avoiding the perp).
Game 6 was played as the first game of a double round day (which in part excuses the quick draw the game before). I was happy with my position until I moved the queen to the wrong square on move 21. This meant I could not meet Bg5 with f4 and left me in trouble down the c file. After that I had to deal with pressure on my d pawn, which left me in a bad way. But the game then turned on a joint hallucination where both my opponent and I thought that 38.Qc2 lead to a perpetual, or a queen exchange leading to an equal ending. My opponent chose the later, and despite his attempts to create winning chances, it finished in a drawn opposite coloured bishop ending. Turns out he could have avoided to perpetual by making sure the king maneuvered to the correct squares .
So another draw, but at least I stayed on 50%
This game falls under the heading of 'tournament management'. In a round robin event, you don't necessarily have to win every game (unless you are Fischer), so taking a quick draw can restore your energy for the next day.
My round 4 game had a number of interesting points, including my usual issue of mis-assesing my winning chances. My younger opponent decided to take the c pawn in the Catalan (as black) and then hang on to it for as long as possible. Having been caught out by this idea previously, I decided to give him a passed b pawn, and then slowly play around it. If I won it back, great, if I didn't, I had other advantages to work with.
The game got quite interesting after he decided to give up two pieces for a rook and another pawn. This didn't give him the play he was hoping for, but at the same time, moved us closer to an ending where the b pawn might count for more. As a result I repeated the position (a perp on the queen), and we shook hands. According to the engine, repeating the position was my only real mistake in the game, as moving the night to c5 (instead of a5) could have resulted in a better position after Qb8 Nd7 followed by getting the other knight to c5. Suffice to say, the idea did not occur to me.
So I'm still on 50% (2/4), with today being a single round day.
This was the second game from yesterdays double round day. My opponent got a little tangled on the queenside and missed the idea of me catching the knight in the corner. I still had to be a little careful in regards to the passed a pawn, so I took the slow and steady route to convert the material advantage.
The win brought me back to 50% after 3 games.
This mornings round saw me get caught in a surprisingly short draw. Having chosen a line against the Exchange Ruy Lopez that gives Black easy equality, my opponent played a move that lost a pawn. To be fair it wasn't a great extra pawn for me, but it meant I could try and grind for a win. That was until I overlooked a tactic which allowed home to sacrifice a piece for a perpetual check. The whole game took about 40 minutes, and so I had most of the day off.
The New Zealand Chess Federation has organised a series of events to recognise the wonderful contributions of IM Bob Wade and CM Hilton Bennett to New Zealand Chess. The Bob Wade Masters is a 10 player round robin, with 3 GM's (Nagy, Song and Zhao) plus a mix of IM's and FM's. The Hilton Bennet Memorial is also a 10 player RR, with a mix of players who knew or played against Hilton during his chess career (including myself). The third event is mainly for younger players, and is alos a 10 player RR.
In the Masters, the 3 GM's all got off to a winning start, as did IM Sravin Renjith. The Bennett Memorial also saw 4 decisive games, although I was on the wrong end of the scoreboard in my game. Choosing the wrong way to meet a potential f5 push in the Kings Indian I went from better to worse, not quite getting to grips with the requirements of the position.
Tomorrow is a double round day, and all games can be followed at https://lichess.org/broadcast/bob-wade-masters-2025--bob_wade/YhDPYAvJ
The 2025 Australian Open has finished in a tien for 1st betweem IM Mihalo Radovanovic (SRB) and CM Tri Kien Le (VIE). They finished on 7.5/9 after recording wins in the final round. Le went through the event undefeated (6 wins, 3 dars), while Radovanovic lost to Le (in round 8), but won 7 games (also drawing with IM James Morris. Ryder Testolin finished in outright 3rd on 7 points, after beating Morris in a wild final round game. The loss by Morris pushed him back to a tie for 4th, alongside GM Daryl Johansen, Harvey Zhu, Sam Asaka, and FM Daniel Chan (SGP)
The title of Australian Women's Champion was awarded to WIM heather Richards, who finished on 5.5.
91 players took part in the Open, while a further 129 players played in the 7 round Minor. Daniil Yelkhovsky won this event on 6.5, ahead of a group of 4 players on 6.
The next major event in Melbourne will be the 2025 Oceania Zonal, which begins on the 24th January.
Legendary German GM Robert Hubner passed away a few days ago, at the age of 76. One the worlds top players in the 1970's and 80's, he reached a peak ranking of No. 3 in the world in 1981. He did this while essentially remaining a chess amateur, holding a number of academic positions during his playing career.
While known for his chess ability, he was also regarded as somewhat eccentric. His attempts at qualifying for the World Championship match ended with his withdrawal from the matches on 2 occasions, and a loss due to a spin of a roulette wheel when his match against Smyslov was drawn.
Somewhat of an anti-authoritarian, he retired from active chess when FIDE introduced drug testing to the sport. But even before that he demonstrated this in a famous game against Ken Rogoff, where in protest at being asked to play a significant number of games at the World Student Teams Championship (by his captain), he and Rogoff concocted an interesting draw (https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1543378)
A true original of the chess world, his passing severs another link with the great players of the 1960's and 70's.
IM James Morris has once again collected the title of Australian Blitz Champion, winning the 2025 edition with 9.5/11. He finished half a point ahead of IM David Cannon, with a group of players tied for third on 8.5. The top 2 players did not actually meet in the event, due to a surprisingly early loss for Morris (round 3) and a similar loss for Cannon (in round 4)
The event attracted 136 players and was run on the rest day for the 2025 Australian Open. The win for Morris qualifies him for the 2025 World Blitz Championship (as national champion), although where the 2025 edition will be is as yet to be determined.
Two important events kicked off today, with both the 2025 Australian Open and 2025 New Zealand Championship up and running. The New Zealand Championship has the distinction of being one of the oldest championships in the world (along with Scotland), being held regularly since 1889.
The strength of both events seems similar, although the NZ event looks to have more international federations represented. Top seed for the Australian Open is IM James Morris, while GM Gabor Nagy is the top seed in NZ.
Both events can be followed online, at lichess.org. The link for the Australian Open is https://lichess.org/broadcast/2025-australian-open--premier/round-1/MfE3W8Xn ehilr the NZ event can be followed at https://lichess.org/broadcast/new-zealand-chess-congress-2025/round-1/spI5tcia
The way the 2024 World Blitz Championship pretty much sums up the whole week in New York. After the top 8 players qualified for the final may agreeing to quick draws in the final round of the qualifiers, they spent the next day playing a series of knockout matches to determine a winner.
Except after 7 games in the final (4 regular games + 3 drawn tiebreaks), Carlsen proposed to Nepomniachtchi that they split the title and go home. Although this wasn't in the rules (https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/wrbc_regulations_2024_open.pdf ) Nepo agreed to this result, leaving FIDE with it's hands tied on the matter.
The general online opinion hasn't bee particularly kind to all involved, although some people think it was the best outcome* There is still a lot to be unpacked about this tournament, and the various tournament incidents** but I suspect this will happen much later in the year. For now, there are joint Open Blitz Champions. At least in the Women's event Ju Wenjun won the title according to the regulations, winning the final 3.5-2.5
* Use of the expressions 'general ... opinion' and 'some people' is very poor journalism, and is something you condemn.
** Earlier in the event, someone was actually arrested trying to enter the venue without the correct accreditation!
