Another one bites the dust

World Champion Magnus Carlsen has recovered from a middling start to win the 2014 Gashimov Memorial after defeating co-leader Fabiano Caruana in the final round. Caruana, who is touted as a future challenger for Carlsen's title, lost control of the position early on, and despite an attempt to hack on the king side, was always behind. He resigned after realising he was running out of checks, and could not defend against Carlsen's two queens. Carlsen score 6.5/10, with 5 wins, 2 losses and 3 draws. Caruana finished in second place with 5.5, although he can be caught by either Nakamura or Radjabov, who are still playing their final round game.
If you wish to catch the result of this final game, or in fact all the games in the event (plus the accompanying B tournament) the visit the official homepage.

Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line

So goes a famous line from "The Princess Bride". Unfortunately for my opponent, Ian Hosking, he decided he had enough of facing the Closed Sicilian, and deviated at move 2 with 2. ... e5. This still has a Sicilian flavour, as after 3.f4 we've transposed into the Mafia Variation of the Kings Gambit. The rest of the (brief) game was a bit of mix and match, where he played both the Be7 and g5 variations of the KGA, while I just concentrated on developing as many pieces as possible.
Despite, or maybe because of, the quick finish, this won't be remembered as one of the better games in the Press v Hosking series.

Press,Shaun - Hosking,Ian [B23]
Murphy Memorial, 29.04.2014

The stuff nightmares are made of

By beating Hikaru Nakamura for the 2nd time in the Gashimov Memorial, Magnus Carlsen has extended his record to 10 wins and 0 losses over Nakamura at classical chess. In both games Nakamrua was better at one point, but as in a number of previous games, allowed Carlsen to equalise and then take control. No doubt the mounting score has something to do with this, as Nakamura must be wondering where his first win is going to come from.
While such lopsided scores aren't that uncommon in chess, this one stands out in part due to the margin, but also due to Nakamura's recent claim that he is Carlsen's biggest threat. The unfortunate side effect of this claim is that every game is seen as a test of its accuracy.
Of course Nakamura could turn it around. Bobby Fischer lost a fair number of games against Mikhail Tal before scoring his first win, and he had never beaten Boris Spassky until their World Championship match. Of course Fischer then made it hard for any one else to even the score with him by retiring in 1972 (apart from one match in 1992).
Of course it can be a matter of timing. I have a +5 score (no losses) against a couple of strong players, but this was achieved early in their careers, and it is unlikely we will meet over the board anytime soon. On the other hand I have lost all 4 games I have played against Fritz Van der Waal, and as I mainly play club chess these days, I can't see myself turning that around in the near future.

2014 Sydney International Open - Moulthun Ly triumphant

IM Moulthun Ly has won the 2014 Sydney International Open with a final round draw over GM Levente Vajda. The draw moved him to 7/9, a left him half a point clear of the chasing pack. As well as picking up the $4000 first prize, Ly also scored his first GM norm, having a performance rating of 2623. He went through the event undefeated, scoring 5 wins and 4 draws.
Five players tied for second place. They were GM Liviu Nisipeanu, GM Levente Vajda, FM Junta Ikeda, GM Loek Van Wely and Ke Mu. FM Junta Ikeda scored another IM norm, his fourth, but more importantly moved his rating over 2400, thereby confirming his IM title. Untitled Ke Mu fell an agonising 3 points short of an IM norm, despite a last round win over compatriot Qilin Bao.
In the Challengers, Tony Weller timed his finishing run to perfection, overtaking previous leader Paul Russell after winning their final round game.Weller won his last 5 games to finish on 7.5/9. Russell tied for second with Arif Hassani, half a point back.

Ly,Moulthun - Vajda,Levente [C88]
2014 Sydney International (9.1), 27.04.2014

2014 Sydney International Open - Day 4

The rising generation of Australian chess stars is coming to the fore in the final rounds of the 2014 Sydney International Open. IM Moulthun Ly leads the tournament on 6.5, ahead of GM Liviu-Dieter Nispeanu, GM Levente Vajda, GM Hrant Melkumyan and FM Junta Ikeda. By drawing the Nispeanu, Ikeda looks to have gained enough rating points to reach 2400 and confirm his IM title. As an added bonus he also has a chance of scoring a GM norm, but needs to beat GM Darryl Johansen in the final round to do so. Ly is also in the running for a GM norm, needing at least half a point against Vajda in their final round game.
The last round pairings sees the leading bunch all play players on different scores, meaning that any of 5 players still has a chance of winning the tournament.  The Ly - Vajda game will be the most closely watched, but all the games on the live boards will help determine the final standings.
In the Challengers, Paul Russell holds a half point lead over Tony Weller. The two play in the last round, with the winner taking outright first.


Vajda,Levente - Luke,Li [C54]
2014 Sydney International (8.4), 26.04.2014

2014 Sydney International Open - Day 3

Australian IM Moulthun Ly has taken the outright lead in the 2014 Sydney International Open. Wins over WIM Mo Zhai and GM Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury moved him to 5.5/6. In second place are GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and FM Junta Ikeda, on 5 points. Of those on 4.5, Bahman Kargosha is the suprise packet, beating IM's Bjelobrk and Lane in todays rounds.
In the Sydney International Challengers, Rewais Sarwat leads on 5.5, half a pijt ahead of Arif Hassani, Paul Russell and Finley Dale.
Rounds 7&8 take place tomorrow at Parramatta Town Hall.Hall. The morning round starts at 10am, with the afternoon round kicking off at 4pm.

2014 Sydney International Open - Day 2

The second day of the 2014 Sydney International Open ended with 6 players sharing the lead on 3.5/4. In the 4th round the top two boards were both drawn, while the Melkumyan and Vajda game was also drawn, after 6 hours of play. On board 3 WIM Zhai Mo upset second seed GM Loek Van Wely, while Junta Ikeda moved closer to his IM title with a win over IM Gary Lane.
Back on 3 points are another 10 players, so an eventual winner is not likely to emerge for another few rounds.
In the Challengers, Arif Hassani and Ari Dale share the lead on 4/4, half a point ahead of Rewais Sarwat The two leaders play in tomorrow mornings round, and a win for either will put them in a good position to win the tournament.


Vajda,Levente - Lane,Gary [A06]
2014 Sydney International (3.3), 24.04.2014

2014 Sydney International Open - Day 1

The 2014 Sydney International Open and Challengers began today with close to 120 players taking part. The Open has a field of 72 players while the Challengers has 46 competitors. The top seeds of the Open look very similar to the top seeds of the recently completed Doeberl Cup (Nisipeanu, Van Wely, Melkumyan, Vajda), although below that some new players have joined the field.
The first couple of rounds went mainly to seeding, although the effects of a second week of '2 game a day' chess was beginning to show on some of the competitors. FM Luke Li and GM Luke Van Wely played a draw in the second round, while WIM Heather Richards battled sickness to score an upset win over IM Igor Bjelobrk.
Coverage of the tournament can be found at sio.nswca.org.au with the top games being broadcast live, If you wish to see the tournament in person, round 3 starts at 10:00 am at the Parramatta Town Hall, just up from the Parramatta railway station.


Atzmon-Simon,Barak - Melkumyan,Hrant [D97]
2014 Sydney International (1.3), 23.04.2014

Nice picture, nice game

Although Garry Kasparov was the main attraction for the crowds at the 2014 O2C Doeberl Cup. it was local FM Junta Ikeda who had the big photo in the Canberra Times (print version). Certainly the coverage of Ikeda's tournament was deserved, as he was playing on the top board in the final round, and had already secured his third IM norm with a draw in the previous round. Along the way he won a number of nice games (as well as one by 'mobile phone'). His win over IM Russell Dive was particularly striking, and was finished with a clever queen sacrifice.
The online version of the Canberra Times article is here, featuring both Kasparov and Ikeda.


Ikeda,Junta - Dive,Russell [A06]
2014 O2C Doeberl Cup Canberra, Australia (6.5), 19.04.2014

2014 O2C Doeberl Cup - Nisipeanu edges Vajda on tie-break

The 2014 O2C Doeberl Cup saw a fighting finish with GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and GM Levente Vajda finishing in a tie for first with 7.5/9. Both players won their final round games to stay half a point ahead of GM Hrant Melkumyan and surprise packet  Ke Mu. In fact the top 7 games were all decisive, while even the drawn game on round 8 between GM Loek Van Wely and FM Endre Ambrus was a titanic struggle.
When the smoke had cleared Nisipeanu had the higher tie-break than Vajda, meaning he was the winner of the actual Doeberl Cup. The players drew their individual game in round 6 before both finishing with 2.5/3.
The tournament saw a number of players earning title norms. FM Junta Ikeda scored his third IM norm (despite losing the final round) and now needs to get his rating over 2400 for the title. Untitled Chinese player Ke Mu scored a GM norm but apparently he has 3 GM norms already! The reason for a lack of title (even an FM title) is that he has never had a rating over 2300. New Zealand player Luke Li scored another IM norm (to match the one he scored at last years event), while WFM Sengeravdan Otgonjargal scored a WIM norm.
Eu-Han Chin won the Major (U/2000) event with a win over Andrey Bliznyuk in the final round. The Minor (Under 1600) saw a three way tie for first between Zoe Harrison, Jamie-Lee Guo and Tim Priest. Former World Champion Gary Kasparov was on hand to present the prizes, which was an added bonus for all the winners.
Overall the tournament was a big success with a 315 players taking part over the 4 tournaments. Of course such a big tournament requires an extra big effort to keep the whole thing on track and the organisation team of O2C (headed by Charles Bishop and Steve Rohan-Jones) did a magnificent job. The front desk team of Shun Ikeda, Jenny Mason, Mirabelle Guo (plus other helpers) did its usual efficient job, while the arbiting team of Charles Zworestine, Lee Forace, Alana Chibnall and Miona Ikeda made sure the event ran without any major incidents. There was one incident at the prize giving where GM Ian Rogers and ACF President Gary Wastell put a decades long feud on public display, to the dismay of  many in the crowd, but hopefully that won't detract from what was otherwise a very successful event.

Full results from the tournament can be found at www.doeberlcup.com.au while a selection of game from the top boards of the premier can be download from the Results page.


Nisipeanu,Liviu-Dieter - Zhao,Zong-Yuan [D10]
2014 O2C Doeberl Cup Canberra, Australia (7.1), 20.04.2014

2014 O2C Doeberl Cup - A belated update

The 2014 O2C Doeberl Cup is charging along, so much so I have barely had any time to keep this blog up to date. The Premier is particulalry exciting, with the overseas GM's finding local players more than a match.
Going into round 8 Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu holds a half point lead over the chasing pack. His play has been particulalry impressive, with very nice wins over FM Kanan Izzat and GM Zong-Yuan Zhao being the standouts. In the group on 5.5/7 GM's Hrant Melkumyan and Levente Vajda are joined by a trio of young Australian players in the form of IM James Morris, IM Andrew Brown, and FM Junta Ikeda. In the case of Brown and Ikeda, they both have a chance of being the first local players to win the event since Tony Wiedenhofer in 1973.
Other players doing well include Canberaa chess coah FM Endre Ambrus who defeated IM Gary Lane in round 7. Fred Litchfield and Willis Lo are carrying the flag for the local juniors, sitting mid field after 7 rounds.
Last not saw a very busy Lightning event with around 100 players taking part. IM Bobby Cheng led from start to finish, winning his first 8 games before dropping the last round to leave his winning margin at half a point. While I was too busy to check out much of the action, there were a number of exciting games and close finishes. One suprise entrant was FM Ignatius Leong who is in towwn as part of Gary Kasparov's visit to the tournament. He lameneted that Blitz is much more a young persons game these days, but enoyed the tournament nonetheless.
The last round of the event is tomorrow, starting at 9:30 am at the Woden Tradies Club. The tournament should finish around 1pm (or possibly later) and the prize giving, attended by former World Champion Gary Kasparov, will take place soon afterwards.

2014 O2C Doeberl Cup - quick facts

A record turn out of over 300 players has made this an exceptionally busy Doeberl Cup. The venue is filled to capacity, and we have even had to move some of the lower section boards into the top room to give everyone some breathing space. The Premier eventually settled down to 94 players ( after some no shows ) while the Major, Minor and Under 1200 are full or nearly full.
You can catch all the results plus live games from the Premier at www.doeberlcup.com.au
I will try and bring more news on the tournament when I can, but if you are after a more instant news fix, check out the live blog on the tournament web site

Gashimov Memorial

The next "Super-GM" event on the calendar, the 2014 Gashimov Memorial, starts this coming Sunday. The top group contains Carlsen, Nakamura, Karjakin, Caruana, Radjabov and Mammedyarov (every player rated over 2700!). The B group is a 10 player tournament head by Wang Hao and Pavel Eljanov.
The schedule is 5 rounds, 1 rest day and then another 5 rounds. The games start at the reasonable time of 8pm (Canberra time), so you can probably catch most of the action before bedtime. Further details, as well as links to live coverage can be found at the tournament website.

2014 O2C Doeberl Cup - 2 days till kick off

The 2014 O2C Doeberl Cup starts in 2 days, and already entries have passed the 300 mark. The Major (U/2000), Minor (U/1600) and Under 1200 event are all filled up, so the only way to get into these events is hope for a last minute drop out. The Premier still has some space left, but you need to enter by midday tomorrow to guarantee a spot.
As in previous years the pairings for the first round of each of the tournaments will be done the night before. The drawing of lots for the Premier will take place at the ANU Chess Club, and then the pairings will be posted at both chess-results.com and the tournament website. There will be a live broadcast of the top 5 games from the Premier, as well as the top game from the Major. And if you are present at the venue, GM Ian Rogers will be doing live commentary of the games each round.

(** I am a paid official for this event **)

Rollerball Chess

Rollerball Chess. It really is a thing.
It was invented in 1998 by Jean-Louis Cazaux and was inspired by the 1975 movie Rollerball. The game is played on a 7x7 donut shaped chessboard, with the central 9 squares missing. You either win by checkmate, or by getting your king to the starting square of the opponents king. A description of the game can be found here, at wikipedia.
I'm not sure how playable the game is, but one thought did come to mind. A life sized version of the game, with actual people, might be entertaining, although a little difficult to keep under control. I suspect everyone would want to be a rook or a bishop (so as to get a good head of speed up), although putting heavier set players in as pawns might be a winning strategy, especially if you are only captured if you are knocked over. Maybe something for the chess boxing promoters to think about in the future.

2014 Bangkok Open

The moveable feast that is Easter meant this year saw a clash of dates between the Bangkok Open and the Doeberl Cup. For European readers it might seem odd that the organisers worry about a clash between tournaments held 7,500km apart, but there are some players who play both events (and the SIO as well). Fortunately it looks as if neither event is suffering for numbers, and in fact a group of Australian players has decided that flying to Thailand is more appealing than staying at home.
There is live coverage of the event via Chessdom, and today's games featured Australian FM Tim Reilly on the top boards (sadly he lost). If you want to see the results for the Open then of course Chess Results is your friend. The results for the Challengers can be found the same way.

How to win at games that are not chess

Over at Huffington Post, there is a link to a video that shows you how to win at 5 classic board games. They include Monopoly,  Battleship, Connect 4, Hungry, Hungry Hippos and Chess. While the advice seems sensible for the first 4, the advice for chess (as the decision to include it) is not so good.
The strategies seems to be influenced by a loose reading of game theory, although I'm not sure how deeply the analysis runs. But if you are looking for an edge the next time you hold a games night, the you can look at the story here.

A sound opening, or just a successful one

I saw a story the other day that listed the "most successful" chess openings. As with most studies of this type, the answer depends on what data set you use. I am pretty sure that 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Qxf7# is probably the winningest opening ever, but if you only looked at games where the moves were actually recorded, then the strike rate for 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 falls away.
The study that I saw had the Queens Gambit at the top of the list (for White), but I'm assuming this covered all the games that start with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 and did not differentiate between Declined, Accepted, Slav etc But it was the second opening which kind of had me bemused. It was the venerable Blackmar-Diemar Gambit! This indicated to me that the number of games studied were not just confined to 2600+ v 2600+ clashes, but probably included a fair chunk of online chess. It also seemed to say that the strength of the players was not a consideration either.
But numbers are numbers and it makes me wonder. Would you play an unsound opening that you knew would collect a lot of victims in the small pool you swim in, or would you stick with sound openings knowing that you score better against stronger opponents, even if your overall score was lower?

(Before you all write in, yes, I am an example of the first choice *cough* Traxler *cough*)

2014 Sydney International Open

Starting just after the 2014 O2C Doeberl Cup is the 2014 Sydney International Open. This is a 9 round event running over 5 days, divided into 2 sections. The Open has $14,200 in prizes and is open to any player. The tournament both FIDE rated and will also offer FIDE title norms. The Minor tournament is open to players rated Under 1900 (ACF) and offers $3,450 in prizes.
You can enter at the tournament website. If you enter and pay you will go into the tournament field, while you can just register and be placed on the pending entries list. If you are intending to play you should register in advance as it makes life easier for the organisers as well encouraging other players to enter.
The tournament is at the Parramatta Town Hall and runs from Wednesday 23rd April until Sunday 27th April.

(** I am a paid official for this event **)

2014 ANU Masters - Ikeda victorious

FM Junta Ikeda has wrapped up the 2014 ANU Masters in fine style, with a good win over Wenlin Yin. Ikeda went into this game only needing a draw for outright first, but some nicely judged tactics delivered him the full point. He finished on 6.5/7 a full point ahead of IM Andrew Brown. Miles Patterson took third place with 4/7 (+3=2-2). In the group of players on 3.5, Fred Litchfield would be happy in his first ANU Masters, while Andrey Bliznyuk drew with the top two finishers, but dropped points to some of the lower seeded players. Wenlin Yin also had a solid event to finish on 3.5, while Alana Chibnall and Adrian de Noskowski struggled throughout.


Yin,Wenlin (1941) - Ikeda,Junta (2338)
2014 ANU Masters Canberra AUS (7.2), 09.04.2014

Bundesliga action

The worlds strongest club event, the German Bundesliga, has ended with Baden-Baden winning for the 9th year in a row. They went through this years competition winning every match, finishing 6 points (3 matches) ahead of the field. For the final weekend they had Lev Aronian on top board and he scored an impressive 2.5/3. His draw was against Richard Rapport in a game that stated 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.e3 Nc6 4.g4!?
There was more action on the lower boards where Dennis Wagner and Alexi Shirov produced the following spectacular game.

Wagner,Dennis - Shirov,Alexi [D46]
Bundesliga, 04.04.2014

Record numbers for the 2014 O2C Doeberl Cup

Even though there is still a week and a half until the start of the 2014 O2C Doeberl Cup, a record sized field has already entered the event. As of this evening there are 278 entrants over the 4 events, smashing the previous record of 250 players. The demand for places is so large that the tournament organisers have extended the size of the top tournaments, but even now there are only a few places left. The obvious reason for the extra large filed is the scheduled appearance of former World Champion Gary Kasparov during the event. He will be at the tournament on Sunday (20th) and Monday (21st), and will hopefully be taking a break from chess politics (in his role as a candidate for FIDE President), to talk to the chess playing public.
If you still haven't entered the event, and plan to do so, you need to visit the tournament website http://www.doeberlcup.com.au/ and get your entry in as quickly as possible. Apart from the Under 1200 event, entries have to made in advance, as entries are not taken on the day.

(NB I am a paid official for this event)

2014 Dubbo Open - Day 2

The 2014 Dubbo Open saw the two winning players take a somewhat different path to first place. Local player Don Keast started the second day with a draw against third seed Leon Kempen. He then closed the gap on tournament leader Alana Chibnall with a good attacking win, before defeating Fritz Vander Wal in the final round to reach 5/6.
Alana Chibnall got off to a good start with a win over top seed Bruce Murray. A somewhat dubious piece sacrifice paid off for Chibnall after Murray went wrong defending his king, and Chibnall went from being a piece down to a piece up at the end. She then came unstuck when Keast sacrificed a pawn in the opening and then threw his pieces at her king. But the then a remarkable stroke of like in the final game gave her a share of first prize. Playing Leon Kempen she pushed all game for a mating attack. However Kempen defended until a double rook ending was reached. Although Chibnall could push a pawn to the 7th rank with check, Kempen could simply block it with his king, and then secure the draw with a perpetual check. But when moving his king, Kempen failed to block the pawn, instead allowing Chibnall to both promote the pawn, and checkmate him at the same time.  The extra half point allowed Chibnall to tie Keast on 5/6, and knocked Kempen out of the prize list.
Third place was shared by Bruce Murray, who drew his last round game against Neil Clark, and Trevor Bemrose, who beat Bill Egan. Clark and Alexander Aich shared the under 1600 prize with 4/6, with Nikhil Rajesh the best junior, also on 4/6. Chris Martin played well above his rating to also score 4 points, winning the Under 1300 prize.

2014 Dubbo Open - Day 1

After last years excellent turn out of 46 players, a much smaller field of 27 fronted up for this years Dubbo Open. Bruce Murray was the top seed, with Don Keast, Leon Kempen and Alana Chibnall filling the next 3 slots.
The first round was a fairly predictable affair, with the exception of Jingming Chow drawing with John Pacoe. To prove this result was no fluke, Chow then drew his second round game with the higher rated  Neil Clark. The second round saw a couple of other upset results with Alexander Aich drawing with Leon Kempen, and Nikhil Rajesh drawing with Don Keast.
However the end of the third round saw the top seeds occupy the top placings, with Bruce Murray and Alana Chibnall leading the tournament on 3/3. Half a point behind are Don Keast, Leon Kempen, and tournament organiser Alexander Aich. Tomorrows 4th round will see Chibnall v Murray and Keast v Kempen.
Apart from the serious business of the Open tournament, the club also hosted a handicap blitz event in the evening. Despite giving her opponents a head start on the clock in every game, Alana Chibnall won the event with 5/5. In second place was junior player James Joseph, who was able to take advantage of his unrated status to start his games with more time than his opponents.

Scared Stiff

Looking through a collection of vintage films, I came across "Sacred Stiff", a movie that has some connection with chess. The main character (played by Jack Haley) is a somewhat absent-minded chess columnist, who ends up involved with gangsters, murder, and a stolen jade chess set. The only review of the movie I have read was not that positive,describing the lead character as 'awful' and his behaviour as 'completely unbelievable'. But it does check in at a relativity short 64 minutes, so you won't be wasting too much of your life if you watch this.
Full versions of this film seem to exist on youtube, or you can find it via various 'free movie' apps for Android or the Ipad.

Is being the oldest a handicap?

I was recently reading the introduction to "Spassky's 100 Best Games" by Bernard Cafferty and I cam across a theory I had not seen before. It was from David Hooper (who passed away in 1998) and it was that "a significant proportion of great chess masters are second children and more especially second sons in a family". In support of this claim he said that Spassky, Alekhine, Fischer and Botvinnik are known instances.
It does seem an appealing theory, at least on the surface, and now Magnus Carlsen can be added to the list. By being the second child you have someone to compete against from an early age, and this would help you chess development. But I suspect it is one of these theories that would not hold up to rigorous analysis (assuming all the data was available) and we only notice it because some obvious cases fit the pattern.


Kasparov,Garry (2690) - Spassky,Boris V (2605) [E84]
Niksic Niksic (8), 1983

April Fools Day - better luck next year

For some reason I noticed a lot of chess related April Fools Day jokes this year, although overall I thought it was a poor crop. Since the Candidates tournament has just ended, there were plenty of World Championship themed stories, including the  news that the match would take place on an oil rig in the North Sea. There were a couple of predictable "Changes to the Laws of Chess" announcements, including the suggestion being ahead 5 points (eg a rook) for two consecutive moves would be an automatic win.
The one that made me chuckle a little was the conspiracy theory based on the fact that Nakamura and Susan Polgar had never been seen in the same place at the same time, but this was less of a joke and more a humorous observation.
But if a joke is based upon how many people got sucked in, then GM David Smerdon's FB post about selling his website to chess.com might take the cake. Certainly the number of likes/congratulatory posts indicated that it fooled quite a number of people, but I suspect a few more did check their calendars before risking a comment.

2014 Dubbo Open - this weekend

The 2014 Dubbo Open is on this coming weekend (5&6 April) at the Dubbo RSL Club. Last years event attracted a large field of 46 players, and hopefully this years event will be just as popular. It is a 6 round event, played with a time limit of G60m+10s. Entry fee is $45 ($35 concession, $25 junior) and first prize is $350. You can enter on the day from 9:30am, or contact the organisers via the club homepage. As an added bonus the always popular handicap blitz event will once again be running this year.

(** I am a paid official for this event **)