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?

Some lucky scheduling

 From the end of July I plan to be travelling for around 12 weeks. My trip starts in Kazakhstan, with the 2024 World Rapid and Blitz  Teams event. The onwards to the UK, before attending the 2024 Chess Olympiad in Hungary. A bit of sightseeing across Europe afterwards, before a possible excursion to play in the 2024 Guernsey Open, before heading home.

There was a 10 day gap in early October to fill in, but the announcement of Season 2 of the Global Chess League looks to have solved that issue. it slots neatly in the gap of the 3rd to the 12th October, and will be held in London. Last years event attracted a lot of interest, and I expect this years tournament will be even more popular. Not sure I can organise media access, but if you don't ask, you don't get!

Helmut Ackermann

 The ACT Chess community has lost another of its veteran chess players, with the passing of Helmut Ackermann. He was a former ACTCA President and tournament organiser, as well as being a regular club competitor for many decades. 

He was involved in running the Woden Chess Club when I first started playing club chess, and he was always helpful in telling me what I needed to know as a new tournament player. We would have played together in various rapid and blitz events, but I do not seem to have any record of facing him at longer time controls. 

He also took part in the very first Doeberl Cup in 1963, and made sure he attended the event as often as he could, including earlier this year. Having moved on from tournament chess as he grew older, he still was a regular participant in the casual chess meetings at the Canberra Southern Cross Club. 

His passing breaks a link with the Canberra chess scene of the 1950's and 60's and he will be missed.

Play it like you sac'ed it

 If you find yourself down a pawn in the opening, a good piece of advice is to play it like a gambit. Aim for quick development and open lines, as way of making up for your oversight. Just sitting back and letting the game proceed normally doses not usually work

Radisich,Matt - Sengstock,Steven [B01]
Belconnen Cup (5), 25.06.2024

Not a chess puzzle

 Can you work out what day of the week Abby was born on, based on the following conversations?

Abby and Barry know the day of the week they were born on, but not the day of the week the other was. Both know that Barry was not born on a Monday, and they are told (by someone who knows both birthdays) that they were born on consecutive days of the week (eg Tue, Wed), although not necessarily in a specific order. 

They are then asked alternately whether they know the day of the week the other was born on, starting with Abby. "No", "No", "No" "No", "No", "Yes!" (3 No's by Abbey, 2 No's and a final Yes by Barry). What day of the week was Abby born?

If you can't find a solution, or the question was simply worded badly, then you can see the answer below.

But chess is already cool

 

Surprise Opening, surprise player

 While there is no rule that says that players of a certain style must play a certain style of opening, it is always a little surprising when a well know player breaks that rule. Reading about Akiba Rubinstein, I discovered that in a tournament organised shortly after the end of World War I in Sweden, be basically played the Kings Gambit as White whenever he had the chance. It did not do him any harm, as he finished in 1st place, albeit against a fairly weak field.

But when facing stronger opposition, he did not seem to shy away from this opening choice other, as the following slashing win demonstrates.

Rubinstein,Akiba - Hromadka,Karel [C30]
Maehrisch Ostrau International Masters Maehrisch Ostrau (4), 05.07.1923

Disturbing image of the day

 I was looking through my newsfeed when I glanced at an articled concerning Assisted Dying. What was more concerning was the accompanying photo was of two elderly gentleman playing chess. No idea why.

 

The Top Ten

 I've just received an email from the FIDE Historical Commission, asking me to nominate the 10 best male and 10 best female players in history. This is part of the celebrations for FIDE's 100th Anniversary.

I've probably attempted this a couple of time previously on this blog (at least for the list of male players), although I will have to go searching. The actual deadline for submissions is very short  (1rth June), but if you think you can help me out here, I'm willing to listen to suggestions in the comments section. NB The request is the 10 'best' players, which indicates that playing strength is the overriding consideration, which may rule out 'significant' players, who may have had an impact on chess greater than their results would show.

2024 NSW Open - Final Day

 The final day of the 2024 NSW Open ended with a couple of surprise winners, after a very tough day of chess. Going into the final round there were 7 players tied for the lead on 5/6. The top board pairing saw IM Igor Bjelobrk and FM Gary McNamara reach a rook and pawn ending which ended in a draw when McNamara won a rook, but had to return it shortly afterwards to eliminate the last pawn on the board. On Board 2 IM George Xie was unable to break down CM Reyaansh Chakrabarty's solid play, and that game was drawn as well. Board 3 saw Willis Lo have the best of it for most of the game against Terrence Tang, until an attempt to avoid a bishop and wrong colour rook pawn finish blew up in his face, resulting in an unexpected win for Tang. And on Board 4 WCM Bayasgalan Khishigbaatar defeated Zhiyuan Shen to join Tang as the only players on 6 points. There was a 5 way tie for third, with the players on the top 2 boards joined by FM Michael Kethro, who defeated Yifei Hu on board 5. 

The Under 1600 section had an even stranger finish, with first prize being shared by the players who finished 5th! This was due to ACF unrated players being ineligible to win cash prizes (apart from the unrated prize). Edward Rust won the event on 6.5/7, followed by Vu Ky Anh Nguyen and Bumbayar Khurtsgerel on 6, with Matthew Ottley on 5.5. However, each of these players did not have an ACF standard rating meaning that Steve Hemsley, Arav Callan, Terry Gao, and Winston Yuan picked up the cash with 5/7 (with another 4 unrated on the same score also missing out!)

The tournament attracted a field of 176 players, an increase over the last few years. The new venue was looked upon favourably by the players, and the change of schedule to a maximum of 2 rounds per day was very popular. The BSW Chess Association are looking to expand the event next year, with additional prizes and possibly an extra section being added to the weekender.

2024 NSW Open Day 3

 The third day of the 2024 NSW Open ended with a couple of surprises at the top of the leaders board. Young CM Reyaansh Chakrabarty defeated FM Michael Kethro in round 4 and drew with IM Gary Lane in round 5 to reach 4.5/5. He was joined by FM Gary McNamara and Willis Lo, levaing the 3 of them half a point ahead of the chasing pack. he group of players on 4 includeds IM's Lane, Igor Bjelobrk and George Xie, along with a number of other top seeds.

Today's 6th round will see Chakrabarty and McNamara meet on board 1, with Lo facing off against fellow Canberran Michael Kethro on board 2.

Steve Hemsley holds a half point lead in the Minor, having won his first 5 games. Unrated player Edward Rust is on 4.5 and the two are playing in this mornings round. 

The final round of the tournament begins at 3pm this afternoon, and the top games of the Open can be followed at nswopen.nswca.org.au

2024 NSW Open Day 2

 The 2nd day of the 2024 NSW Open ended with 5 players still sharing the lead. A few quick draws in the days third round contributed to this, although a number of hard fought battles were also a factor. 

IM's Igor Bjelobrk and Gary Lane were held to draws by their CM opponents (Kendrick Zhang and Yifei Hu) on boards 1 and 3. IM George Xi picked up the full point against Kye Walls, as FM Michael Kethro and FM Gary McNamara. CM Reyansh Chakarabarty and FM Clive Ng were the other 2 players to reach 3/3. 

In the Under 1600 event, 2nd seed Steve Hemsley was joined by 2 unrated players (Edward Rust and Cory Yang) along with Lucas Lin, Kamal Jain and Arav Callan. A few strong player who stumbled early are still close behind, setting up a tight finish for this event.

2024 NSW Open - Day 1

 The 2024 NSW Open started with a new innovation, a Friday night round! As a result the event is now held over 4 days, with a slightly easier schedule for players, with 2 rounds on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. 

The new tournament venue (Novatel @ Rooty Hill) has seen a record turnout of 176 players across two sections (Open 96, Minor 80). There was some concern that the Friday night round might result in increased bye requests for that round, but the number of byes on Friday, matched the number of byes that were requested for the previous Sunday night round.

As for the tournament, 15 players have started with 2/2. Most of the top seeds are in this group, although a first round loss by one of the pre-tournament favorites precipitated his early withdrawal from the event.  The Minor (Under 1600) also has a big tie on 2/2 (12 in total) but in that tournament, likely winners can possibly come from anywhere. Among the regular participants in this section are a few unrated/stale-rated dark horses, which makes finding a likely winner quite difficult.

   If you want to follow the live games from the top 8 boards you can do so at https://lichess.org/broadcast/2024-nsw-open/round-1/DDq3VORN#boards Up to date results and pairings are  at http://nswopen.nswca.org.au/ noting that issues with the vegaresults sight may require you to click the alternative results link instead.

2024 NSW Open

 The 2024 NSW Open is being held across this coming long weekend (All hail King Charles). It looks like here will be around 180 players across the Open and Under 1600 section. This is an increase over last year, due in part to a new venue. The old Russian Club could only accommodate 150 players (at a very tight squeeze) while the new venue (Novatel at Rooty Hill) has a lot more room. The other change is extending the schedule to 4 days, meaning Sunday only has 2 rounds, rather than 3 as in previous years.

If you want to check out the results you can follow the tournament at https://www.vegaresult.com/event/2551 Other cool stuff like a lnk to the live games will come later

(I am a paid official at this event)

Half remembered opening theory

 I guess half remembered opening theory is better than none, at least under certain circumstances. Facing a Goring Gambit in a very recent game, I remembered a recommendation from George Botterill where Black plays Bb4, follows up with d6 and then takes on c3 with the bishop at the correct moment.  So far so good, but I could not remember what happens next. Fortunately my opponent chose a line that Botterill did not recommend,  although I then chose a response that wasn't good either. But the long and the short of it was that I seemed to have the better of the opening, my opponent sacrificed material for play, and after3 hours, I managed to grind out a win in a R+B+N v Q position (I had the bits, not the queen)

If you are interested the line is supposed to be 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.c3 dxc3 5.Nxc3 Bb4 6.Bc4 d6 7.Qb3 (7.O-O Bxc3 8.bxc3 Bg4! is given by Botterill as best) 7. ... Qe7 (and 7. ... Qd7 is better) 

What is up with Ding?

 The short answer, is that I have no idea. His poor run of form has continued, losing his last 3 classical games at 2024 Norway Chess. The most common explanation is a combination of recent poor health, and the psychological letdown after winning the World Championship. This may be so, but then again ...

When I played him in 2019, he had just flown in from St Louis, where he had beaten Magnus Carlsen in a playoff to win the 2019 Sinquefield Cup. He was clearly unwell when he played me, and at one point I was convinced he was going to fall asleep at the board. Nonetheless, he went all the way through the tournament, only losing in the Final. Of course the level of opposition is slightly below what he is currently facing, but at least in 2019 he was still able to win while suffering from poor health.

Aged like sour milk

 Having suggested that the format of the 2024 Norway Chess event was contributing to overly drawish play, the next 2 rounds of the Open section saw 5 decisive games out of the 6 played. What really kicked things off seems to have been Prag beating Carlsen in a very simple and stylish manner. Carlsen then bounced back with a 4th round win over Caruana, while Prag went down to Nakamura. In the mean time Ding's struggles continue, losing to Caruana and Firouzja in successive rounds. At this stage Firouzja leads by half a point over Carlsen. The Women's event is a little more clear cut, with Vaishali leading by 2.5 points!

Praggnanandhaa, R vs Carlsen, Magnus
Norway Chess 2024

Quick easy practice

 If you are looking for some easy practice, then Youtube might have the answer. I'm not talking about instructional videos, but a fairly easy chess engine you can play through their website. Under the new heading of 'Playables' Youtube have added a whole pile of web based games. One of the games is 'Chess Classic' While it isn't very good (at least the lower levels) it does provide a quick way to play some casual online chess. As for the practice bit, if you are just learning chess, then beating easy chess engines is one way top get better. It helps you sharpen your basic tactics without getting crushed later in the game. As per an earlier recommendation, start at the easiest level and play until you can win 3 games in a row. Then move up to the next level. It worked for me when I first started playing chess, and it is a good way to get to the 'not dropping pieces' stage of your game.

Fighting against draws

 The 2024 Norway Chess event started a few days ago, with a strong group of players in both the Open and Women's sections. As in previous years, they are using a scoring format (3,1,0) that is designed to create a winner and loser for each pairing, even if the games themselves fail to do so. If the normal game is drawn, an Armageddon game is played, with winner getting an extra half point (so drawn games always score 1.5-1.0)

While it might make the scoreboard look interesting, this hasn't necessarily carried over to the board. All 6 games in the Open section have been drawn, with 5 of the 6 in the Women's section also going that way. And while there is a restriction of draw offer before move 30, Ding v Carlsen in Rd 1 still ended in a 14 move draw, after a repetition occurred out of the opening.

Hopefully the action will heat up as players work out what they need to do to finish at the top of the field.

2024 ACT Championship - Final Day

 IM Junta Ikeda has won his 11th ACT Championship, repeating his 7/7 score he also achieved in last years tournament. His round 6 game against FM Michael Kethro left him a point in front with 1 round to play, but a win over NSW junior Reyaansh Chakrabarty in round 7 kept his 100% record intact. 2nd place was shared between FM Michael Kethro, CM Lalit Prasad, and ACT junior, Masaki Horikawa, on 5.5. Horikawa started the tournament seeded 20th, so his 2nd place finish was quite an achievement. 

Oladoyan Fasakin and Somon Vos shared the Under 2000 prize, while the Under 1600 prize was shared between Simon Louie, Jerry Cheng, Lohit Hegde, Aarav Rawat and Olamide Fasakin. Padma Gyalpo was the best FIDE unrated player,

While the first 3 days went pretty smoothly, day 4 was filled with drama. On opening the venue, it became apparent there was no power. Round 6 was started, while the cause was investigated. It turns out that there was an 'unscheduled power outage' in the suburb, which not only meant no lights in the playing area, but no live game broadcast as well. Fortunately there was enough natural light in the venue to allow the round to proceed. The promised repair time (by EVO Energy) came and went, and further enquiries were made. Power was then restored to the suburb, but not, it turned out, to the small area where the venue was located. Another promised repair time was missed, followed by a more general 'sometime between 1pm and 4pm'. With round 7 starting at 2:45pm it soon became clear that if the lighting was not restored, the games would finish in darkness. 4pm passed by without EVO delivering on their promise, and games were moved to areas closer to the windows. Even this proved unsatisfactory and the organisers were reduced to trying to light the inside of the venue with car headlights from the outside. I even added a new arbiting skill to my toolbox, walking through the bush to where the workman were located to either (a) get an estimated time of repair or (b) a supply of industrial strength torches to light the venue. Just as I reached the worksite I was told it had been fixed and the lights would be back soon. At 5:35pm (35 minutes past sunset) the lights did in fact come on, 8.5 hours after they went out. There were half a dozen games still in progress, and the tournament eventually finished under playable conditions.

As the Chief Arbiter, I would like to thank all the players for their understanding in what turned out to be very difficult conditions. While I am sure some players last round results were impacted by the poor (non-existent) lighting, they recognised that this was outside the control of the organisers and arbiters.

2024 ACT Championships - Day 3

 IM Junta Ikeda has taken the outright lead in the 2024 ACT Chess Championship, after another 2 wins on day 3. He beat CM Lalit Prasad in the morning round, and then CM Hui Li in round 5. Li had drawn with FM Michael Kethro in the 4th round before being outplayed by Ikeda in the days 2nd round. Kethro defeated Harry Johnson in the 5th round to move to 4.5, and will now play Ikeda in Round 6 tomorrow. Reyaansh Chakrabarty recovered from his round 3 disaster to win both game today and is tied for 3rd alongside Prasad, Thomas Gatzen-O'Keefe and Tim Pearce.

2024 ACT Championships - Day 2

 The 2nd day of the 2024 ACT Championship saw the top seeds having a much tougher time of it, than on the first day. Both IM Junta Ikeda and FM Michael Kethro had to convert drawn rook and pawn endings into wins, while 2nd see Reyaansh Chakrabarty blundered into a mate against Ian Hosking after 16 moves.

The Round 3 game between Oladoyin Fasakin and Ikeda saw the evaluation needle swing back and forth, including a missed mate in 2 for Oladoyin when both players were in time trouble. Eventually Ikeda was able to pose enough problems and a misplaced rook spelled the end for Fasakin. It was a similar story in the Kethro Vos game where an over pressing Kethro gave Vos a brief chance to win material in a Rook and Bishop ending, before Vos failed to defend the R+P V R ending.

After 3 rounds there are still 5 players on 3/3. With another 2 rounds tomorrow, a likely winner should emerge, although in prevoius years, this tournament has often been decided by final round results.

 

2024 ACT Championship - Day 1

 The 2024 ACT Chess Championship has started with a large field of 56 players. As an open event it does have a significant 'tail' but the top end of the event still has a number of strong players. IM Junta Ikeda and FM Michael Kethro are the two favoured local players, with Reyansh Chakrabarty (NSW) checking in as number 2 seed.

The first round went according to seeding, with one exception. Tim Pearce dropped an exchange to local junior Louis Chen, who then methodically reduce material until Pearce was left in a lost king and pawn ending. Paul Dunn held out the longest against a stronger opponent, until walking into a game ending tactic against CM Lalit Prasad.

You can see the tournament results at https://www.vegaresult.com/vega/index.php?id=3848 and live broadcast (top 4 boards) at https://lichess.org/broadcast/2024-act-chess-championship/round-1/zOf7gMV2

2024 ACT Championship begins tomorrow

 The 2024 ACT Chess Championship starts tomorrow, running across the Reconciliation Day long weekend. As of this evening here are 52 players entered, with IM Junta Ikeda and FM Michael Kethro as the top seeds.  As it is an open event, there are also a bunch of interstate players taking part, noting that while they are eligible for prizes, they are not eligible for the Championship title. 

The first round is at 7pm tomorrow (Friday) and and has 2 rounds on each of the following days. It is not too late to enter, and you can do so via https://www.trybooking.com/CRNMU

Let's start at the start

 There is an interesting chess event running across the weekend in Morocco. The Morocco Chess Week is featuring Casablanca Chess which is a fixed opening variant. At the start of each round the players are given a famous game, and the move on which they can vary from the given move. They have a couple of minutes to study the game/position and then they play a 15 minute game. 

At the end of Day 1 Carlsen leads with 2.5/3, ahead of Nakamura on 1.5, with Anand and Amin on 1. Of most interest from this event is that the Evan's Gambit was chosen in Round 1, and White (Carlsen and Nakamura) both won. Carlsen then defeated Nakamura in round 3, in a g4 Sicilian.

Someone on the internet did ask if such games could be rated, and I said no. If people are confused as to why (as a lot of people seemed to be), rated games must be played according to the FIDE Laws of Chess. And in 2.3, the initial position of the chessboard is given. These games do not start in the defined position.

Nakamura, Hikaru v Amin, Basem
Casablanca Chess 2024

Milan Ninchich (1957 - 2024)

 It is with great sadness that I report the passing of Milan Ninchich. Milan was an active player on the Canberra chess scene for over 30 years, having moved here from Perth after taking a government job in the nation's capital. On arrival he became an active member of the Belconnen Chess Club, participating in numerous club and weekend events. A player who enjoyed attacking chess, he proved to be a challenging opponent, and the games he produce (win or lose) were always enjoyable to play through. 

I played him at least 20 times (not counting offhand games) going back to the early 1990's. It was one of our early games that was the most memorable, as it was a game that I still consider my best ever. But without Milan's attempt to refute my opening as early as move 7 (an idea prepared in advance) the game would never have existed. As a result I have always considered him the 'co-author' of this brilliancy.

In later years his involvement in the chess scene was curtailed by health issues, but we would stay in touch, discussing computer chess (of which he had an avid interest) and other chess topics. He was also a prolific contributor to this blog, either in the comments section, or via emailed links to articles he found interesting. To me, Milan was the type of player any chess club or community needed, always cheerful and always welcoming to new players.

For local chess players who wish to remember Milan, his funeral will be at Serbian Orthodox Church of St Sava, Lambrigg Street Farrar at 1:30pm 23rd May 2024. He is survived by his wide Biljana and children Doug and  Nada. I'm sure I speak for the Canberra chess community in offering our sympathies at this difficult time.

A Recreational Player

 While reading through the regulations for the 2024 FIDE Rapid Teams Championship, I cam across a new chess term. In the document, there is a reference to a "Recreational Player". This is defined as a player whose rating has never been above 2000 on any of the FDIE Rating Lists (Standard, Raid or Blitz). 

The reason for defining such a players is that each team playing in the 2024 FIDE Rapid Teams Championship is required to field at least 1 Recreational Player per match (which in this case is over 6 boards). Given that 1st prize in the event is 100K (US) now might be the time to recruit your friends uncle who was apparently "a chess grandmaster, but before they had ratings"

 

I've had better days

 I was looking through a few games by Vassily Smyslov, as I had just picked up a copy of his book on his early career (up until 1957). I was planning to show an early win against Gerasimov, but I realised I had posted it 14 years ago, So instead, I found a very short game, where a quick tactical blow brought about resignation. However in this case I suspect Spraggett resigned more out of disgust than anything else, as the position isn't lost, just "losing".

Spraggett,Kevin (2550) - Smyslov,Vassily (2595) [E11]
Candidates Tournament Montpellier (6), 1985

2024 ACT Teams Rapidplay

 A field of 19 teams turned out for the 2024 ACT Teams Rapidplay Championship. In previous years the field would be 10 to 12 teams, but this year saw a big jump in numbers. The ACT chess clubs were well represented by official teams, and there were school teams, junior teams, and teams that were just formed on the day.

In fact the winning team was just such a team, with Harry's Pushers (Harry Press, Milles Patterson, Jerry Cheng, and Padma Gyalpo) winning with a score of 21.5/28. They score heavily on the top 2 boards (13/14), but also had solid results on the bottom 2 boards to emerge as clear winners. In 2nd place were Underscore on 18.5, a junior team who scored a big 3.5-0.5 win in the final round to overtake some more fancied teams. In 3rd pace were Gungahlin A on 18, who also collected the Larko Cup for the best score by an official club team. 

The turnout was a bit of surprise for me as the organiser, and when I arrived at the venue was somewhat shocked to see around 25 players already waiting. After the process of registration (and team formation) was completed, the event got off to a quick start. By the end the 7 round tournament was even running ahead of time, which was also a pleasant surprised. And although we don't usually do a lot of teams chess in the ACT, this may change in the future, given the success of this tournament.

2024 ACT Chess Championship - 24th - 27th May 2024

2024 ACT Chess Championship

24-27 May 2023 (Friday evening through Monday Reconciliation Day)

7-rounds FIDE/ACF Rated Swiss Format

Venue: Campbell High School

Trealor Cres, Campbell (next to War Memorial)

Schedule: Friday 24 May 7:00pm

Saturday 25 May – Monday 27 May 10:00am and 2:30pm on each day

90 minutes per game with 30 second per move increment from move one (Fischer)

Director of Play:

FIDE International Arbiter Shaun Press

Friday 24 May 2023 7:00 PM - Monday 27 May 2023 6:00 PM (UTC+10)

Entries: https://www.trybooking.com/CRNMU 

First prize $500

Prize Pool: $1500+

The Chess Player

 The movie "The Chess Player" popped up on SVS World Movies recently. A Spanish film, it tells the story of a chess champion who is imprisoned during the Second World War. It is a fairly simple film with a somewhat familiar plot (which I won't spoil) , but the chess scenes are quite well done. If you do want to have a look, the link to online streaming is https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/movie/the-chess-player/2243769411934 (NB You may have to create a free account to view)

A family affair

 It isn't always the easiest thing to play someone in your immediate family, but it is sometimes necessary. In small events (local local club tournaments) it cannot always be avoided, although I was a little fortunate in avoiding my son in a lot of tournaments (I started with 3 wins in standard chess, but that was it for me).

In bigger events it is less likely to happen, but depending on the profile of the players, it can often draw a crowd.

Botez,Andrea (1879) - Botez,Alexandra (1970) [D02]
Sardinia Worldchess https://lichess.org/study/oBL0 (3.48), 29.04.2024

2024 ACT Teams - Rescheduled to 5th May

 The 2024 ACT Teams Rapid Championship is being held on Sunday, 5th May 2024, at Campbell High. This event is open to all ACTCA members as well as all members of the ACTJCL. The format of the tournament is teams of 4, playing 7 rounds of 15 minute chess. The last event was held in 2022 and a good time was had by all.

Tournament Details
Date: Sunday 5th May 2024 - Registration from 9:30am, Prize giving at 3:30pm

Venue: Campbell High School, Trealor Cres, Campbell ACT

Rounds: 7

Time control: G15+5s

Prizes: 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed trophies. Medals for the best scorer on each board. Bonus prizes for best dressed team, best work/social team. The Larko Cup will be awarded to the best official club team

Team Rules
1. Teams consist of 4 players (+1 reserve if you wish)
2. The average rating of boards 2,3 and 4 must be below 1850 (FIDE Rapid). Board 1 can have any rating you wish! If a player does not have a FIDE Rapid rating, then ACF Quickplay will be used. Unrated players will count as 1400 (NB FIDE is increasing players ratings on 1st March 2024)
3. Teams must play in rating order (players within 50 points of each other may swap)
4. Players without a team are welcome as teams will also be formed on the day
5. Each team will appoint a captain who is responsible for results etc

Cost: $10 per player (Pay on the day)

Lunch: A nutritious lunch will be provided by the organisers

Pre-registration: To make organising a little easier, teams can be submitted to Shaun Press shaunpress@gmail.com There will be a lucky door prize for teams that pre-register

Rated: This event will be ACF and FIDE Rated.

Anzac Day Hybrid

The team representing the ACT Junior League has won the 2024 Anzac Day Junior Hybrid Event, its 2nd win in 2 years. The event brought together 5 teams representing ACT, Victoria (Hobson Bay), NSW (JZMC), Western Australia (Kingsley CC) and Christchurch NZ (ISCC). The event was a 5 round RR, played over 6 games per match.

The ACT team scored 18.5/24, with HBCC on 13, JZMC 12, ISCC 9.5 and KCC 7. Despite the margin of victory, the event was a lot closer than the scores indicated with a number of games in the final round ACT v HBCC match looking like they could go either way. 

The tournament was organised by IA Casey Goh (HBCC) and was played with a time limit of G30m+15s inc. Four players score 4/4, Okitha Babaranda (ISCC), Olamide Fasakin (ACT), Dev Raichura (ACT) and Olaoluwa (ACT).

Eleutherios,Thomas - Hari,Dhruv (1486) [B76]
ANZAC Day Inter Club Juniors Hybrid Frie Tornelo INT (5.1), 25.04.2024

That was wild

 A very spectacular Candidates event came to an end with an amazing finish. Gukesh ended up winning the event outright, but only after Caruana and Nepo drew in 100+ moves. A real tragedy for Caruna, as he had two winning positions, which he failed to convert. Watching the game online was a real roller coaster, as the game went from equal to winning for Caruna to drawn, back to winning for Caruana, and finally drawn. As a result Gukesh will play Ding Liren for the World Championship title, which given Ding's recent form, may see Gukesh become the youngest World Champion ever.

  

Caruana,Fabiano (2803) - Nepomniachtchi,Ian (2758) [D35]
FIDE Candidates 2024 Toronto, Canada (14), 21.04.2024

Yeh, nah

 Sometimes a trap is so tempting, so obvious, and so spectacular, that there is no way it could work. And in a lot of cases you would be right. But sometimes you play it anyway, and it turns out that it really doesn't work. The game below is an example, except the trap did work. To preserve the identities of the perpetrator and the victim, I'm leaving the names off. The moves given are what *should have happened* if Black had played 7. ... Qb6. Instead he chose 7. ... Qd6?? and resigned after 8.Ne5+ Kd8 9.Nxf7+ 7. ... Qb6 would have been -3 for White with the correct follow up

FM White - Mr Black
I'm not telling Swiss

Down to 4

 After a couple of exciting rounds, the 2024 Candidates is down to 4 players. There is a 3 way tie at the top, with Nepo, Naka, and Gukesh all on 7.5, with Fabi on 7. Nepo and Nakamura have the toughest assignments, playing each other in round 13 and then Caruana and Gukesh respectively in the last round. Gukesh has an out of form Firouzja in round 13, while Caruana is playing a much tougher Prag. At this stage Gukesh seems to have the best run home, but this could all change if Nakamura can pull off the big final round comeback. 

Caruana,Fabiano (2803) - Vidit,Santosh Gujrathi (2727) [C54]
FIDE Candidates 2024 Toronto, Canada (12.4), 18.04.2024

Of shoes and ships and sealing wax ...

 I was asked by one of my readers about whether I was going to comment on the latest happenings in the Candidates Tournament. My initial inclination was to say no*, but with todays extra spice I've changed my mind.

Yesterdays fun started when Chief Arbiter Aris Marghetis asked Alireza Firouzja to stop making so much noise with his shoes when walking around. Apparently this had disturbed at least one other player, who had complained to Aris. Firouzja was not happy about the request, and after the round complained on social media. 

As an Arbiter, I've also had to deal with this issue from time to time. It usually occurs when the venue has hard wood floors, and more formal shoes (ie not sandshoes) are being worn. Normally such requests are handled in good spirits, although not always.

Having dealt with yesterdays issues, another Firouzja related incident occurred in todays round. Normally no spectators/seconds/family members are allowed on the playing floor after the round starts. However this as relaxed for later rounds, with access for the first 15 minutes for family etc being allowed. However, when Firouzja father was asked to leave he made a bit of a scene, and outside said he was going to call the police on the organisers. Again this looks like a case of a reasonably normal request being treated with outright hostility. Again in my experience as an arbiter, players/parents/spectators who insist on everyone else being potential lawbreakers are the ones that react the worst when regulations to protect the integrity of the event are applied to them!

*By way of explanation. At one point in the lead up to the Candidates I was asked if I was available to be one of the Deputy Arbiters. I did say yes, but it then turned out they rolled the job of Deputy Arbiter and Fairplay officer into one position and I was the odd one out. I've also worked with Aris Marghetis in the past and he is an excellent arbiter, especially in the area of  'crowd control'. So anything I write on this topic is going to support the decisions he made.

Watching rather than writing

 I'm a big fan of reading about chess (and most other things) but I am falling into the trap of watching more chess than reading (or writing). Maybe this is just me catching up with the times, or just part of my continuing descent into laziness. It probably hasn't been helped in the short term by picking up my usual cold after running an interschool event (120 players at the ACT Girls Primary Championships). 

Having said that I will probably stick to writing as (a) I have a good face for radio and (b) it probably takes *more* effort to produce visual content than it does to produce written content.

Randomised positions

 While there is a belief that top level chess has a dependence on extensive opening preparation, I'm not convinced it is true. Certainly Carlsen seems to do well with his "make it up as I go along" opening approach, and a number of other players are following his lead. The following game from the Candidates certainly started with a surprise opening, but the evaluation of who was better seemed to swing back and forward throughout the game, indicating the while Prag may have been comfortable with the opening, he wasn't relying on it to deliver a victory.

Vidit,Santosh Gujrathi (2727) - Praggnanandhaa R (2747) [C70]
FIDE Candidates 2024 Toronto, Canada (3.4), 05.04.2024

Candidates Chaos

 The 2024 Candidates Tournament is underway in Toronto, and round 2 of the Open section saw 4 decisive games. Probably the most noteworthy was Vidit beating Nakamura, although Caruana's win over Abasov may be the most consequential. 

Going into the tournament, Caruana was probably the favourite, with Nakamura considered the player most likely to defy the odds. However, considering the rating spread of the field, I think the games between the leaders won't be as important as the games against the back markers (like Candidates events of old). So the win by Caruana was an important won, as was Nepo's win over Firouzja. If at the halfway mark someone is +3 (or more), then it may be all over for the rest of the field.

Caruana,Fabiano (2803) - Abasov,Nijat (2632) [B30]
FIDE Candidates 2024 Toronto, Canada (2.4), 04.04.2024

Melbourne International Open

 With the Doeberl Cup run and done for another year, a number of players made their way to Melbourne for the new Melbourne International Open. The brain child of local organiser Walter Wolffs, the event has attracted both a large and strong field. And whether there were some residual effects from the Doeberl schedule, the first couple of rounds were a bit of a bloodbath for the top seeds. 

The top 4 boards saw the higher rated players only manage 1.5 (3 draws and a loss), with GM Darryl Johansen also a victim. After that things settled down a bit, although there are few GM's and IM's playing catch up. 

And while the net effect of this may be to provide lower seeded players a change to challenge titled players, the results aren't always pretty.

Venkatesh,M.R. (2382) - Li,Tedric (1990) [C00]
Round 4: Venkatesh, M.R. - Li, Tedric Melbourne International Open, 04.04.2024

2024 O2C Doeberl Cup - Three in a row for Melkumyan

 GM Hrant Melkumyan has recorded his 3rd O2C Doeberl Cup tournament win in  a row, after a dominant performance in the 2024 edition. Going into the final round a full point ahead, he drew with GM Mitrabha Guha to reach 8/9. IM Peng Cheng also drew on board 2, to take 2nd place on 7/9. IM Arghyadip Das defeated FM Albert Winkleman on board 3 to take a share of 2nd, also ending Winkelman's chances of scoring an IM norm in the process. 

The Major was won by Bryan Yang on 6..5/7. He finished a point ahead of Elliot Wong, Ethan Chang and Daniel Wang. The Minor was shared between Austin Chen and Chee Seng Lue, who both scored 6/7. The Mini saw Aden Power finish with a perfect 7/7, a full point ahead of Alexander Warne.

2024 O2C Doeberl Cup - Day 4

 GM Hrant Melkumyan ended the 4th day of the 2024 O2C Doeberl Cup with one hand firmly attached to the trophy. After a draw in round 7 against IM James Morris, he played a nice attacking game against FM Fred Litchfield to maintain his one point lead over the chasing pack. Chinese IM Peng Cheng holds down second place after beating Morris in Round 8, with the Indian trio of GM Guha, GM Venkatesh and IM Das in equal third.

Of interest to the Canberra Chess community is FM Albert Winkelmans final round games against IM Das. A win for Winkelman will secure him an IM norm, his first. Other Canberra players on the top boards are IM Junta Ikeda (Board 4) and FM Frred Litchfield (Board 7).

The final round will finish around 1:30pm today. You can see the final standings for the Premier, and the other events at www.doeberlcup.com.au

2024 O2C Doeberl Cup - Day 3

 GM Hrant Melkumyan is on track for another Doeberl Cup win, starting the tournament with 6 from 6. In the morning round he defeated reigning Australian Champion IM Rishi Sardana, and then IM Mihajlo Radovanovic in the afternoon round. He is now a full point ahead of second place with 3 rounds to play.

One of the players in 2nd place is FM Albert Winkelman, who has good chances of scoring an IM norm. He has a performance rating over 2500 and his round 7 pairing against GM M Venkatesh gives him the required mix of opponents for a valid norm. Also in 2nd place are IM James Morris, IM Peng Cheng, and FM Fred Litchfield. Despite Litchfield's good score (5/6), starting the event with a round 1 loss has meant that the field he has faced is well below the level needed for a title norm!

Day 3 also saw the holding of the traditional Doeberl Blitz event. This year there 2 events, and early starting Under 1600 blitz and the regular late event Open. GM Anton Smirnov won the 120 player Open blitz with 8/9, ahead of a field that included GM Mitrabha Guha, IM James Morris, IM Mihajlo Radovanovic and WIM Heather Richards.

Today will see Melkumyan face James Morris on the top board, Peng Cheng against Litchfield on the 2nd board, and Winkelman v Ventatesh on board 3. Lower down a closely watched pairing involves IM Gary Lane against Ryan Lane on board 11.

2024 O2C Doeberl Cup - Day 2

 Day 2 of the 2024 O2C Doeberl Cup saw the rest of the sections join up with the Premier. 413 players in total sat down to play when all events officially began at 1pm on Friday, which is once again, a record entry for the tournament.

Round 3 of the Premier had a sensation on the top board,  with GM Hrant Melkumyan having a walkover win againt GM M Venkatesh. Suffering the effects of jet lag, Venkatesh overslept, missing the 1pm start, and the 30 minute deadline to show up. The extra rest probably assisted Melkumyan, as he won a very long round 4 game against IM Peng Chen to reach 4/4. In joint second are IM Rishi Sardana, IM James Morris, and FM Albert Winkelman. Sardana and Morris drew their Round 4 game against each other, while Winkelman drew with Indian GM Mitrabha Guha.

As for the other events, there were the usual upsets across the top boards, especially in the Major and Minor,  with less than half od the top 10 seeds getting to 2/2. Full results from all events can be found at http://doeberlcup.com.au/draws_results.html

2024 O2C Doeberl Cup - Day 1

 The 2024 O2C Doeberl Cup began with the first 2 rounds of the Premier section. This year's field includes 4 GM's, 8 IM's and 38 titled players overall. While the top boards saw the usual rating gap between top half an bottom half, this actually shrunk on the lower boards, in part due to the recent changes to the FIDE Rating System. Consequently there were a few upsets in the first round, and even into the second.

Defending champion GM Hrant Melkumyan started the tournament with 2 straightforward wins (including one over Harry Press). 2nd seed Mitrabha Guhu found round 2 a lot tougher, salvaging a draw against FM Michael Steadmen (NZ) from a position where he was a lot worse. IM Das from India and IM Ikeda from Canberra were also held to draws by their lower ranked opponents in the 2nd round. 

Round 3 has 10 players on 2/2. The top board will see GM Venkatesh face GM Melkumyan in a game that will be an early indicator of how the tournament may work out for both players.

The rest of the tournament sections start today, with last years record entry already broken. Across the 5 section there are 415 players taking part. The action begins at 1pm today. GM Darryl Johansen is providing onsite commentary of the Premier section, while games are being broadcast (on a 30m delay) at Lichess 

Ashwath Kaushik (1986) - Sardana,Rishi (2476) [B96]
Round 1, 2024 Doeberl Cup, 28.03.2024

2024 O2C Doeberl Cup - Starts tomorrow

 The 2024 O2C Doeberl Cup begins tomorrow, with the first 2 rounds of the Premier. The pairings for the Premier are available at https://chess-results.com/tnr915556.aspx?lan=1&art=2&rd=1 As with any large tournament (416 players in total) there have been a couple of hiccups. We lost a couple of GM's at the last(ish) minute, in at least one case due to the sudden scheduling of a national teams event. On the other hand the event has attracted a larger than usual group of titled players, so there will be plenty of exciting games.

The first round begins at 1pm tomorrow, with round 2 at 7pm. There will be live coverage on Lichess while GM Darryl Johansen will be providing live commentary on site. If you are in Canberra, feel free to drop into the Canberra Southern Cross Club in Woden. Spectators are welcome.

For results, links and further information head to www.doeberlcup.com.au

2024 O2C Doeberl Cup - Arriving GM's

 With the 2024 O2C Doeberl Cup starting on Thursday, the first of the visiting GM''s are starting to arrive. The 2024 Commonwealth Champion GM Mitrabha Guha is arriving early tomorrow, and will be soon followed by a number of other strong players. Coming off a number of recent good results, Guha looks to be in form, and may prove a threat to tope seed GM Hrant Melkumyan, who is aiming for his third win in a row (and 4th overall).

Mitrabha,Guha (2526) - Rohith Krishna S (2410) [A36]
202 Commonwealth Championship, Round 9

Simple questions with simple answers

 Saw this on youtube (no link cause I am lazy)
"Is checkers a better game than chess?" No

2024 O2C Doeberl Cup - 1 week to go

 The 2024 O2C Doeberl Cup starts in a week, and at this stage the event is very close to breaking last years attendance record. The Premier is the strongest it has been for years, with 5 GM's, 8 IM's and 27 other titles players. Both the Major (Under 2100) and Minor (Under 1800) have reached capacity, while there are a few spots left in the Mini (Under 1500) and the Under 1200 event. 

With last years Blitz event attracting a field of 177 players, this years Blitz will have 2 sections. There will be an early starting Under 1600 event (beginning at 5:30pm on the Saturday), and the Open event (starting at 7:30pm). And for the first time since 2019 there will be an onsite commentator, with GM Daryl Johansen covering all 5 days of the tournament.

I was today years old

 I only learned today that the line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 f5?! was the Rousseau Gambit. I'd heard this opening discussed numerous times within the Canberra chess scene, but for some reason I thought it was a different opening, and the moves above were just sort of dodgy Italian/Latvian hybrid (The Italvian Opening?). I'd even played it in the past at fast time limits, albeit with little success.

Despite it's poor reputation it sometimes works out for Black. Here GM Dejan Bojkov comes undone against Pavel Dimitrov in what appears to be a brutal kingside hack.

Bojkov,Dejan (2514) - Dimitrov,Pavel (2304) [C50]
BUL-chT-A 62nd Sunny Beach (1.3), 19.09.2012

Roll your own openings

 Every time someone mentions the Jobava London to me, I feel compelled to point out that the true author of this opening was Canberra junior player, Gary Wilson. Indeed, Wilson was playing it before Jobava was born (Nov 1983), so credit where credit is due.

I'm now seeing a similar case, although to be fair, it isn't an exact copy. Anna Cramling has created her own opening, The Cow. Not so much an opening as a system, the basic moves are e3,d3,Ne2-Ng3,Nd2-b3,Be2,Bd2. White allows Black to opportunity to build the big centre, before trying to dismantle it.

If White played 1.d4 (instead of d3), it would be very similar to a system that Canberra player Erik Jochimsen has been playing for years. The early knight manoeuvre to g3 is a staple of the system, followed by the development of the white squared bishop. Now I'm not sure what Anti-Cow strategies have been developed, but once local players targeted the knight on g3 with a h pawn thrust, Jochimsen found the opening was not as effective as he had hoped it would be. But ever the optimist, Jochimsen has stuck with it, keeping faith with his invention.

Some important AGM's

 If you are a Canberra resident (or live close by) there are a couple of important Annual General Meetings coming up.

The ACT Junior Chess League AGM is on Sunday 17th March 1:30pm at Campbell High School (during the ACTJCL Autumn Allegro). It is open to the parents of members of the ACTJCL. The ACTJCL has been running without a full committee for the last few years and so there is a need for parents to step up and fill the executive roles.

The ACT Chess Association AGM is being held on Thursday 28th March 7:00pm at the Canberra Southern Cross Club, Woden. This is during the Doeberl Cup, so members can drop in a spectate the Premier, before attending the AGM. Unlike the Junior Chess League, the ACTCA has been running with a full committee (who are re-standing this year), but that should not prevent interested members from attending.

  

Burning bridges

 One advantage higher rated players often have, is that their lower rated opponents feel the need to do something dramatic, to try and avoid being ground down. I fell into this trap recently, blundering a piece to a faulty combination last week at my club, while the example below came from the final round of the Ballarat Begonia Open. While top seed GM Gawain Jones would be expected to win this final round clash, his opponents over optimistic attack made the task a lot simpler.

Jones,Gawain (2618) - Chan,Kris (2071) [E90]
Begonia Open 2024 Ballarat, Australia (7.1), 11.03.2024

Some blindfold practice

 Try and visualise the following position - White:Kf1, Rd6, Pa7,d7,g3,h3 Black: Kd8, Ra2, Pg5,g6,h7

How do you play as white?

(From the book Cognitive Chess by Konstantin Chernyshov)

Despite getting the position in my head quite quickly, it still took me around 5 minutes before I worked out the winning idea. See how well you can do.

A proper GM event

 The headline is a little dramatic, in that there are lots of proper GM events. But the Shenzen Masters kind of feels like a pre-covid GM event, rather than the an event that is squeezed between the next online KO/Rapid/Troll-fest that seems to be prevalent today. Four local GM's and 4 foreign GM's in the 2600-2800 range has seen some entertaining games. 

The one game I picked from the tournament is a 30 mover, surprisingly won by Black using the Petroff. In the end the sneaky black pawn on b2 made all the difference.

Erigaisi,Arjun (2738) - Bu Xiangzhi (2671) [C43]
5th Shenzhen Longgang Shenzhen CHN (2), 01.03.2024

2024 Olympiad

 It might seem a long way off, but the wheels are already in motion for Federations planning to attend the 2024 Chess Olympiad. It will be held in Budapest in mid September, but Federations are already able to register their attendance. In fact the deadline for doing so is sometime next week, so the organisers are clearly trying to have a solid estimate of numbers well in advance.

Although the actual team registrations are not open as yet, I do note that the New Zealand Chess Federation is off to an early start, having already selected their squads. Normally the Australian teams are selected some time after Easter, while for other teams in the region selections are often complicated by availability of players (due to work/financial issues).

Xmas day for chess players

 The 1st of March FIDE Rating List saw the proposed rating 'compression' come into effect. All rated players under 2000 were given a rating boost, based on the formula New rating = Old rating + (0.4 * (2000 - Old rating)). So for a player rated 1001 that would bee 400 points, while a player rated 1990, that would be 4 points. 

From a local point of view there ware 2 main effects. Firstly, lots of players qualify for higher categories in the upcoming Doeberl Cup. Secondly, there may well be a lot of 'farming' going on, as older players regain some of the points previously lost to younger players (ie rather than avoiding junior players, it may be an advantage in playing them as their ratings increased by a greater amount)

Every 4 years

 In honour of the 29th of Feb, I've dug up a game that was played on the 29th of Feb, and lasted 29 moves!

Fressinet,Laurent (2700) - Ding,Liren (2766) [D78]
China Elite Mind blitz Huaian (20), 29.02.2016

Similar concepts

 While sorting out some games from my current club event, I was struck by the similarity between the game featured in the "Found Scoresheets" article, and the one played below. They both used a combination of the knight and dark squared bishop to attack c7, and in both cases Nb5 was an important move. The other interesting thing was that they were played at exactly the same time, on the same table (this game being on Board 2). I'm sure some advanced plagiarism detector might have something to say about that, but apart from noticing that Nb5 was a threat in the board 1 game, I can't say that I borrowed anything specifically from it.

Press,Shaun - Garland,Liam [E67]
Rama Memorial --- (4), 20.02.2024

Off to the show

 The Canberra Show is on this weekend, and I plan to visit tomorrow. There is even a chess themed craft competition this year, with prizes for the best crafted chess sets. However (according to Philp Vels, who tipped me off), the distinguishing feature of every set on display, is that they are all set up incorrectly. Apart from the usual 'white on right' error, there are also some sets with the kings and queens on the wrong starting squares, or the slightly more imaginative, king opposite queen across the board.

I will take photos.

Lost scoresheets

 The flipside to yesterday's post on Found Scoresheets, are lost scoresheets. Sometimes they legitimately disappear, but in some case, they are "lost" because looking at them is somewhat painful. 

As an example, the scoresheet for the game below was "lost" for a number of days. Having collected an undeserved point*, and generally unhappy with the course of the game, I couldn't locate the scoresheet the next day. To be honest, I didn't look terribly hard for it either, and assumed it had gone out with the rubbish. In fact it was where I normally put my scoresheets after a game (in my bag), but it took me a week to realise this. So here is a "lost scoresheet" game, with apologies to my opponent.

*My opponent left a knight fork on at the end, and resigned due to not realising he was still winning.

Knight,Will - Press,Shaun [C27]
Rama Memorial --- (3), 13.02.2024

Found scoresheets

 One of the simple pleasures in life is finding a book that you know nothing about, and discovering it is quite a good read. I've had occasion to do this, usually when travelling, or simply out and about. The chess equivalent of this may well be finding a left behind scoresheet at a tournament or club.

The game below is from one such scoresheet. To be fair, it was actually played on the board next to mine at the Gungahlin Chess Club yesterday evening, but if one of the players hadn't left it behind, then I doubt I would have remembered enough of the game to put it here. 

The game itself has a few points of interest. Before the game Matt Radisich was being encourage to play the Albin Counter Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5), but thought that FM Fred Litchfield would avoid it with 2.Nf3. So when 2.c4 was played, Radisich had a bit of a think, probably weighing up the chances that White had something prepared. 5.Bf4 was another interesting choice, as this gave White an opportunity to play an eventual Nb5, although I had assumed that Black would takes steps to prevent this. When he failed to do so, Blacks positions was already close to collapsing, which it did after a short tactical sequence around move 20.

But the real lesson from this game. Always clean up after yourself.

Litchfield,Fred - Radisich,Matt [D10]
Rama Memorial 20.02.2024

David Bronstein

 Yesterday (19 February) was the 100th anniversary of the birth of David Bronstein. Although he never became World Champion (tying his only match 12-12 with Mikhail Botvinnik) he was still one of the most consequential figures in modern chess. Early on in his career he developed or strengthened a number of important opening systems, while towards the end he participated in a number of matches involving increasingly strong chess engines. 

An inventive attacking player, Bronstein demonstrated a propensity for sacrificial play from the very start of his chess career,

Bronstein,David I - Zaslavsky,A [C43]
Bronstein in Kiev Kiev, 1938

2024 ACT Teams Competition

The 2024 ACT Teams Rapid Championship is being held on Sunday, 3rd March 2024, at Campbell High. This event is open to all ACTCA members as well as all members of the ACTJCL. The format of the tournament is teams of 4, playing 7 rounds of 15 minute chess. The last event was held in 2022 and a good time was had by all.

Tournament Details
Date: Sunday 3rd March 2024 - Registration from 9:30am, Prize giving at 3:30pm

Venue: Campbell High School, Trealor Cres, Campbell ACT

Rounds: 7

Time control: G15+5s

Prizes: 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed trophies. Medals for the best scorer on each board. Bonus prizes for best dressed team, best work/social team. The Larko Cup will be awarded to the best official club team

Team Rules
1. Teams consist of 4 players (+1 reserve if you wish)
2. The average rating of boards 2,3 and 4 must be below 1850 (FIDE Rapid). Board 1 can have any rating you wish! If a player does not have a FIDE Rapid rating, then ACF Quickplay will be used. Unrated players will count as 1400 (NB FIDE is increasing players ratings on 1st March 2024)
3. Teams must play in rating order (players within 50 points of each other may swap)
4. Players without a team are welcome as teams will also be formed on the day
5. Each team will appoint a captain who is responsible for results etc

Cost: $10 per player (Pay on the day)

Lunch: A nutritious lunch will be provided by the organisers

Pre-registration: To make organising a little easier, teams can be submitted to Shaun Press shaunpress@gmail.com There will be a lucky door prize for teams that pre-register

Rated: This event will be ACF and FIDE Rated.

Some basic endgame tips on youtube

 A shameless plug for an eventual 12 part series on Basic Endings for Beginners (based on the book of the title by JH Blake)

The direct link is https://youtu.be/xDOJf4A-Wmo?si=Ti4Mi_2wZA_NB4t8

Oops I Resigned One More Time

 After the success of his book "Oops I Resigned Again", GM Ian Rogers has released a follow up. "Oops I Resigned One More Time". Once again the book looks at the tragic side of chess, where players prematurely throw in the towel, instead of finding the saving, or even the winning, move.

Each chapter consists of 5 positions, where the reader is asked to find the saving move. With 20 chapters, there are 100 position of varying degrees of difficulty to work through. But that's not all! Every position has a story attached to it, whether it is the circumstances behind the game, a potted history of one of the players involved, or just an amusing anecdote related to the position. So you actually get 2 books for the price of 1! A book to help you sharpen your tactics, plus a book of engaging chess stories which you can share next time you are at the club.

The book is available from Australian Chess Enterprises (for local readers) plus online retailers for overseas buyers.

(** I was sent a review copy of the book, as well as having one of my own games featured **)

The downside of playing for tricks

 There are some games where you just fall into the trap of playing for tricks. Common sense disappears and instead, each move is based on some dodgy 2 move trick you hope your opponent will fall for. Here is an example where White tries for a tricky idea around move 12, which basically loses. After that he just keeps digging a deeper hole, hoping his opponent might fall in (Narrators voice: No he didn't)

Stevanic,David (2294) - Kozlovic,Jernej (2174) [C52]
28th HIT Open 2024 Nova Gorica SLO (9.12), 02.02.2024

2024 Book Fair

 This years Lifeline Book Fair was absolutely packed. Even getting there early left me a long way back in the queue. Fortunately there was quite a large collection of chess books on offer, so I didn't miss out on the bargains. 

Somewhat shamefully I did by a book on the London System, but I made up for it by grabbing a copy of the Jan Timman classic "The Art of Chess Analysis". At first I thought I already owned a copy but it turns out that it was a significant omission from my library. I did grab a few other titles, and also was interviewed by ABC Radio while browsing. As the Book Fair runs until Sunday I will probably make the effort to return towards the end, to see what remains.

Things Shaun has been doing recently

 Putting together a new 5 shelf bookshelf.

Why? Because it is the Lifeline Bookfair tomorrow. No other reason is necessary.

2024 O2C Doeberl Cup - Choosing your section

 There are now only 8 weeks to go before the 2024 O2C Doeberl Cup. At this stage there are 154 entries across all the divisions, which is 37 more than this stage last year. 

While the tournament format is the same as last year (except for an additional Under 1600 Lightning event on Saturday evening), there is one change that players might not be aware of. Although the rating cutoffs are unchanged, FIDE is giving all players rated under 2000 a one off rating boost on the 1st March. This means that players who would normally not have a high enough rating to qualify for a section may now do so, based on their FIDE rating. To make it clear, the rating cutoffs for the various sections will not be changed. Players can ask to move up (if their rating allows), after the 1st of March.

The other thing I should remind people of, is that the rules for the rating cut offs are enforced ruthlessly. Every year we receive emails from parents (and the odd grown up), asking for special consideration for their child (or themselves)  to be allowed to play in a higher section. The answer is always no. And all the time I have been reading these emails, there has only been one case where a player over performed in the section they qualified for (an unrated adult player in the Minor about 10 years back). 

(** I am the Chief Organiser of the 2024 O2C Doeberl Cup ** )

I thought we were good

 Some more drama in the world of chess, with the St Louis Chess Club releasing a statement concerning GM Hans Niemann. Basically it says that due to past behaviour, he is not invited to any events being organised by the St Louis Chess Club for the remainder of 2024.

While they did not list the behaviour concerned, Niemann copped to damaging a hotel room while attending a previous event. And while this is a matter between Niemann and the SLCC, one aspect of it did pique my interest. In complaining about his treatment, Niemann remarked that having apologised to the hotel (and paid the cost of damages), he thought he was in the clear. The fact that they did not see it in the same way was somehow unfair on him.

Previously I posted something on how people justify there own poor behaviour (Techniques of Neutralisation) This response from Niemann seems to be related to that, specifically a variant on Denial of Harm. Believing he fixed the issue, he seems to contend there was no harm done. There is also an element of Denial of Victim here as well, arguing that he is the 'good guy' because he apologised, and therefore the SLCC and the hotel concerned are behaving badly. 

But clearly the SLCC and the hotel see it differently, which is the real point here. You don't get to behave badly, and then set the parameters on how such behaviour is to be treated. 

Softly, softly

 The FIDE Qualification Commission has decided to restrict the use of Scheveningen and Schiller format events for earning title norms. The full announcement can be found at https://fide.com/news/2869 

As the statement says, the motivation for this decision is mainly about what titles represent. Historically, chess titles were awarded (formally or informally) as a consequence of achievements in important and significant events. I* would like to think this should still be the case, recognising that the growth in chess has lead to a growth in the number of events that may fit this criteria. Nonetheless, I believe that there still should be standards applied to the events that award titles, rather than existing for the sole purpose of simply awarding titles. 

(*I am the Secretary of the FIDE Qualification Commission, and drafted the linked statement on behalf of QC)

Club season kick off

 The Gungahlin Chess Club started its first tournaments of the year, with the Ramakrishna Memorial and the Gungahlin Junior Championship running side by side. A total of 44 players turned up to play, which is a good number to start the year. I was called in as the 'house man' for the Ramakrishna Memorial, and got off to a good start, scoring a nice win in 17 moves. After my opponents 8th move, I decided to check out 9.e4 as a response, and having looked at enough lines to convince me it worked, played it. I had calculated that I was better up until around move  14, and when I reached that point, realised I had a pretty quick checkmate, which my opponent kindly let me play on the board.

Press,Shaun - Cunningham,Cam [D15]
Ramakrishna Memorial --- (1), 30.01.2024

I did enjoy that

 Just spent the last few days watching the 2nd Test Match between Australia and the West Indies. In the end, the West Indies won by 8 runs (which for non cricket fans is a very close result). Having started seriously following cricket from 1974 onwards, I spent most of the first 20 years watching Australia get soundly beaten by the West Indies (1975-76 being the exception). From the late 90's onwards this flipped, with Australia being the dominate team, but as someone who thought Australia ay never win a series against the West Indies, I'm OK with todays result. Well done to the West Indies for a well deserved victory.

Roy Teymant OAM

 Congratulations to Roy Teymant, who has been awarded the Order of Australia Medal, in the 2024 Australia Day Honours. The rather terse entry simply says "For services to chess", although it is certainly for more than that.

Roy has been a long term organiser in Canberra,  particularly with the Canberra Chess Club. When the club was in a bit of a slump, he took on the management role at the club, rebuilding it up to it's former glory. He has also served on the ACT Chess Association Committee for a number of years, assisting the ACTCA in organising various events in the nations capital. I believe Roy is the first local player/organiser to be recognised for work in chess, and it is a well deserved honour.

Also being recognised on the honours list was another recipient with a chess connection. Dr June Factor was mas a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her work in the field of literature. Apart from being a successful author, she is also GM Ian Roger's mother. 

Bacon, Morphy, Erdos

 I saw a recent article concerning the mathematician Paul Erdos. A prolific collaborator and publisher, he was probably the first subject of the 'n degrees of separation' game, which was more popularly attached to the actor Kevin Bacon.

In the world of chess there is also the concept of the Morphy number, where you trace the number of steps back to Paul Morphy, through a chain of opponents. Surprisingly, my Morphy number seems higher than either my Erdos or Bacon numbers, although the distance in time may account for this.

My Erdos number is 4, having collaborated on a paper with someone whose Erdos number was 3. My Bacon number (probably 4) is somewhat tenuous, as I worked on an amateur film with the Australian actor Joseph Clements (we we 12 years old at the time!, and I don't believe it was ever completed or shown). But my Morphy number appears to be 5, via GM Ian Rogers who has a Morphy number of 4, at least the last time I checked. Of course there may be other paths that I am not aware of, but I'm happy enough with 5.

How not to play chess

 While it is certainly harder to play good chess than bad chess, the reasons for being bad at chess do deserve some study. I did see a quote (allegedly from Lasker), about not understanding how people could be bad at chess, but maybe I imagined it.

There is a book called "How Not To Play Chess" by Zonosko-Borovsky, although his first rule is the rather broad "Avoid Mistakes". He does break it down a little, but if I was explaining this concept, I would at least have the following

• Don't get checkmated
• Don't lose your queen
• Don't lose other pieces
• Don't lose pawns
• Don't try and win by moving the same piece over and over

After that I would probably line up with what Zonosko-Borovsky said, such as "Don't make automatic replies", "Don't abandon the centre", "Don't surrender open files"

But in reality, for new players, it is the first set of rules that you need to focus on. otherwise the rest of the rules won't matter

When is it a good time to resign?

 For some players, there is never a good time to resign. "Play it out" is their mantra. For others, resigning is a way of gaining at some small amount of dignity for an otherwise awful game. But generally, there is no absolutely correct answer.

In the following game between Firouzja and Ding Liren, there were potentially 3 places where an understandable resignation could occur. The first was on move 21 after Firouza collected 2 pieces for a rook. The second was on move 30, when Firouzja was ahead a piece for a pawn. And the third was when it did actually happen, as Ding realised he had no more saving chances.

Firouzja,Alireza (2759) - Ding,Liren (2780) [D40]
Tata Steel Masters 2024 Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands (8.6), 21.01.2024