Oceania at the Olympiad

 While keeping a close eye on the performance of the PNG team, I was also watching how the rest of Oceania was going. Importantly, every Oceania federation sent a team in the Open category (for the 1st time) while there were 7 federations in the Women's section (a little over 50%). 

A number of teams made their debut this year, and I should single out the performance of the Tongan team. For a Federation that has only been around for a couple of years, to finish with 6 match points, and 14.5 game points, at their first Olympiad , is quite the achievement. 

There is also the 'unofficial' Pacific championship ( ie without the big 2 of Australia and NZ), which Guam won in both sections. But even in the overall standings, NZ ran very close to Australia in the Open, and finished with more game points that the 'West Island' in the Women's section.

A number of direct titles were earned from the event as well, which I have listed below 

 

Open

Place	Name	Points	Game Points	W/D/L
56	Australia	13	25.5	+5=3-3
59	New Zealand	13	25	+6=1-4
125	Guam	10	21	+5=0-6
150	Papua New Guinea	9	19.5	+4=1-6
181	New Caledonia	8	18	+4=0-7
187	Fiji	7	16.5	+2=3-6
191	Kiribati	7	16.5	+2=3-6
192	Palau	7	16.5	+2=3-6
195	Solomon Islands	6	14.5	+3=0-8
200	Vanuatu	6	15.5	+2=2-7
201	Tonga	6	14.5	+3=0-8
202	Naoero	5	14.5	+1=3-7
205	Marshall Islands	0	1.5	+0=0-8

Women’s

Place	Federation	Points	Game Points	W/D/L
51	Australia	13	23	+6=1-4
86	New Zealand	11	23.5	+5=1-5
132	Guam	9	21	+3=3-5
143	Fiji	9	17	+4=1-6
159	Papua New Guinea	8	17.5	+3=2-6
167	Palau	7	16.5	+3=1-7
171	Vanuatu	7	13.5	+3=1-7

There were a number of personal achievements , in the form of FIDE titles

Open

FM title (conditional on having a rating above 2100 after 30 FIDE rated games)

Amnol, Ishmael Papua New Guinea

Galois, Mathieu New Caledonia

Maharaj, Yash Krishen Fiji

Tenezaca, Cristian Guam

CM title (awarded upon confirmation by FIDE Titles Office, and acceptance by Federation)

Amnol, Ishmael Papua New Guinea

Buccat, Benchly Cabanayan Guam

Delrieu, Pierre Vanuatu

Gadeanang, Andrew Naoero

Galois, Mathieu New Caledonia

Justo, James Marcus Guam

Maharaj, Yash Krishen Fiji

Mailangi, Sosefo Tonga

Martin, Ataake Kiribati

Tan, Santiago Jr Palau

Tenezaca, Cristian Guam

WFM title (conditional on having a rating above 1900 after 30 FIDE rated games)

Benzon, Tiffany Guam

Delrieu, Lou-Anne Vanuatu

WCM title (awarded upon confirmation by FIDE Titles Office, and acceptance by Federation)

Delrieu, Lou-Anne Vanuatu

Justo, Alexis Rian Guam

Masau, Latileta Fiji

Mimino, Natasha Papua New Guinea

 

 

 

 

2026 Olympiad - Day 12

 A nice surprise pairing for the Open team in the final round of the 2026 Olympiad. San Marino! As I noted previously, they are a regular opponent for PNG, including in 2002 where we also played them in the final round (It was 2-2, but the draw in my game earned me an eventual FM title).

For this match PNG scored a narrow 2.5-1.5 win, which was enough to move us up to 9 match points (+4=1-6). Stuart Fancy won on board 1, while Bing Barredo won again on bd 2, completing an event that started with 5 straight losses, but then ended with 4 straight wins! A draw on the bottom board to Kavaea Evara was enough to ensure the match win. 

The Women's team was up against Cape Verde seeded about 50 places higher. Nonetheless the team fought well, losing 1.5-2.5 ( 3 draws) and finishing the event on 8 points (+3=2-6). For a team without FIDE ratings, and taking part in the Olympiad for the 1st time, this was a fantastic achievement. Like the Open team, they really found their feet in the 2nd half of the event , once initial nerves an inexperience was overcome.

Both teams exceeded my initial expectations, with the Open team finishing 44 places above their starting rank (the best of all teams in the Open Olympiad). The team is also going home with a number of players earning their first FIDE ratings (and 2 titles), which will enable the federation to begin organising more FIDE rated events in the country.

 

2026 Chess Olympiad - Day 11

 With 2 rounds to play both PNG teams were looking for a big finish. Ishmael Amnol had already secured enough points for a conditional FM title, but still need to play one more game to make it official. In the Women's team both Liberty Joku (Bd 1) and Natasha Mimino (Bd 3) both needed a win for the WCM title.

The women's team was paired with Curacao, and manged to score a 2.5-1.5 win against their higher seeded opponent. Natasha Mimino scored the win to earn PNG's first WCM title, as Chrstine Wosley also won. Tiana Kukula drew on board 4 to deliver the match win, but sadly Liberty Joku lost, dashing the hopes of a 2nd WCM title for PNG.

The Open team scored a decisive win over Pacific neighbors Kiribati (hilariously, throughout the FIDE congress the various chairs pronounced it with the hard T). PNG won 3.5-0.5, with Ishamel Amnol increasing his score to 7/9. Kavaea Evara helped boost the score, recovering from a losing position to save an additional half point. The match win was the 3rd of the tournament against other Oceania federations, helping boost the teams standing in out unofficial championship.

With 2 titles achieved in the same round, it was an historic day for PNG chess. Also of interest that St Joseph's Boroko has now produced 3 titled players (2 FM's and a WCM),  with Ishmael Amnol and Natasha Mimino attending the school in recent years, while I was a student there in 1975 and 1976!

2026 Chess Olympiad - Day 10

 Round 9 of the Open Olympiad saw PNG lose to the Bahamas by a narrow 1.5-2.5 margin. Ishmael Amnol rested for this round (after 8 straight games), and having secured his conditional FM title the round before. Stuart Fancy drew on Board 1, while Bing Berredo continued his good late tournament form with a win on board 2. However some missed opportunities on the bottom 2 boards gave Bahamas enough points to edge us out.

The Women's team drew with the much higher seeded Burundi team. Liberty Joku and Natasha Mimino scored the wins for the team, and moving them up the rankings with 6 match points. It also gives both players a chance for WCM titles, depending on the result in round 10. 

2026 Chess Olympiad - Day 9

 Day 9 of the 2026 Chess Olympiad saw both PNG teams score big wins. The Open team won their South Pacific derby against Fiji 3-1. Previously this match was the decider in the 'small' Pacific Champs, but with the growth of chess in the Oceania region, both PNG and Fiji are now challenged by other, stronger teams.

The real highlight was again the win by Ishmael Amnol. This was his 5th win in a row, and secures a conditional FM title (once he plays his 9th game). He is on 6/8 and is performing above the 2100 rating mark needed to be awarded the title. PNG also saw wins to Stuart Fancy on board 1 and Bing Barredo on board 2.

The Women's team had an even bigger win, scoring 3.5 points against the Seychelles. Liberty Joku scored her 3rd win of the tournament on board 1, with wins for Lucy Age (go Amaroo Primary!) and Tiana Kukula on board 4. 

Both the Open and Women's teams are on 5 match points, and with winnable matches today (fingers crossed) are looking for a strong finish to the event. 

2026 Chess Olympiad - Day 8

 (And on the 7th day, everyone rested)

A number of teams who thought they would enjoy the rest day, came back even more exhausted than they thought. With the hot weather in Samarkand, and the busy tour schedules for the cultural tours, it was no surprise that players turned up for the 2nd half of the event almost as tired as when the finished the first half.

The PNG Open team lost to Gambia 1-3. Once again Ishmael Amnol scored the win (and is now on 5/7), although Stuart Fancy missed a clear win towards the end, which would have allowed the team to split the points. The Women's team continues to grow in confidence, drawing with Dominica 2-2, with Christine Wosley and Liberty Joku both scoring wins. So both teams are now on 3 match points, and aiming for a strong finish. 

The Australian Women's team drew 2-2 with the much higher seeded Israel team. Heather Richards took the principled stand of sitting out the match (she was scheduled to play) , sticking to her strongly held humanitarian beliefs. The Australian open team went down to the strong Hungary team 1.5-2.5 but Bobby Cheng's win over Richard Rapport on board 1 was an outstanding result.

2026 Chess Olympiad - Day 6

 The final round before the rest day saw some very tired chess (from lots of teams). The PNG Open team had a solid 2-2 draw with Sierra Leone, drawing on the top 2 boards, winning on board 3, and losing on board 4. The Board 3 win the Ishmael Amnol took him to 4/6 and secured him the CM title, as even he loses his next game, he has passed 50% for 7 games. (Spoilers - he did not lose his next round game). 

The Women's team  had a more difficult time, losing to Laos 3-1. But the highlight for the team was a win by Christine Wosley , who scored her first Olympiad win with a nice queen sacrifice at the end.

The after round action was at the Bermuda Party, which sadly has become a shadow of ots former self. What used to be an organic, not to serious, pre rest day fun event run by the Bermuda team, has now been taken over by successive organising committee , who simply run it as a fully corporate style function, with over regulation, a cookie cutter set of techno DJ's, and not enough service areas for the crowds that turn up. While it is a good way to catch up with friends, it has lost a lot of the spontaneity that made it a success in the first place. 

 

2026 Chess Olympiad - Day 5

 (Apologies for the missed reports - FIDE Congress has started)

 After the outstanding effort in round 4, round 5 saw a tough pairing for the Women's team. Against a more experienced Jersey team they lost 3-1, but still scored a fantastic win board 3, with Natasha Mimino playing a great attacking game to beat her opponent in 19 moves.

The Open team lost to Mali 3-1, but unlike some rounds where we were unlucky, we were definitely lucky in our win. Ishmael Amnol was totally lost in a rook and pawn eneding, but his opponent misplayed it badly, resulting in a drawn position. After rejecting Ishmael's draw offer, he then blundered a 2nd time, allowing Ishmael to find a nice trick to reach a Q (for Ishmael) v R ending. But realizing he had blundered, the opponent offered his hand, and when Ishmael shook it (assuming it was a resignation), the opponent then said "Draw". However Ismael was having none of this, explained to the arbiter what had happened, and the game continued for the 5 or so moves until the Mali player finally made his last blunder. 

As for the other Oceania federations (sans Australia and NZ) , Guam is once again leading the way. The have 2 wins from 5 matches, putting them ahead of the other 9 (small) federations. In the Women's events, Guam and Fiji share the lead, both scoring 1 match win and 1 match draw.

 

 

2026 Chess Olympiad - Day 4

 An historic day for PNG Women's Chess with the Women's team beating Grenada 4-0. Having started with three 4-0 defeats, not only was this the first Olympiad win for the team, it was also the first Olympiad wins for the players as well. Natasha Mimino recorded the first win for the team, but this was soon followed by Luciana Age, Liberty Joku and Tiania Kukula all adding points for the team.

In the Open section the PNG team lost 1.5 - 2.5 to Saudi Arabia. The result could have been significantly different as Bing Barredo missed a forced win and got mated shortly after. Ishmael Amnol once again demonstrated his growing talent by picking up his 2nd win of the event to go to 2/4, while Tom McCoy scored half a point in a game where both sides seemed to sense that draw was the inevitable outcome, despite missed wins for both sides!

But the real controversy of the day was the default loss by GM David Smerdon  in his game against Albania, after he was found to have left his watch on during the game. The watch itself was not a communication device, but the tournament rule still requires a player wearing any kind of watch to be DQ'd.  Fortunately the rest of the team covered for this unfortunate outcome by scoring 2.5/3 to win the match.

2026 Chess Olympiad - Day 3

 A tough day for the PNG teams, with 0-4 results in both sections. The Open team has Trinidad and Tobago , who had consistently beaten us in previous events ( 3 since 2000 by my counting). Again lack of match experience was the main factor with good positions on 2 of the 4 boards disappearing with 1 move blunders. One thing that differentiates chess at this level from regular club or online chess is that wins have to be earned, not received.

The Women's team is showing continual improvement as they adjust to the style of this tournament. But again the difference between winning and won is match experience. On 2 boards PNG was winning or at least holding, but nerves can lead to the wrong choice and while 1.5-2.5 might have been the 'fairer' result, it was not to be. 

But the players recognise that the wins aren't that far off, and hopefully they  will start to come tomorrow.

2026 Chess Olympiad - Day 2

 I'll start with another complaint. The PNG Team (plus many others) are staying about an hour away from the venue. There is a morning shuttle bus service that starts at 10am, and I thought I would catch that in to see the final round of the FIDE People with Disabilities Olympiad. But there was no 10am bus, or 10:30 am bus, as apparently, the drivers were off having breakfast. So I missed that

On the other hand, the PNG Open team won their 2nd round match 2.5-1.5, against Palau. Not only was this a good win over our Oceania rivals, it was the earliest match win for a PNG team in the Olympiad (there was a 4-0 win on forfeit in Rd 2 at Baku, but that hardly counts).

 Stuart Fancy won a very quick game on Board 1, and Ishmael Amnol won his first Olympiad game on Board 3. And back and forth draw on Board 4 by Kavaea Evara sealed the match win for PNG. The Women's team had their chances against Togo, but went down 4-0. However they are in good spirits and tomorrow they should start to put some points on the board.

One of the regions larger islands (Australia) seems to be doing well in both sections, winning 2.5-1.5 against Cyprus in the Open, and 3.5-0.5 against South Korea in the Women's section.

 

Fancy, Stuart - Pedro, Aron
2026 Olympiad Round 2, PNG v Palau, 17.09.2026

2026 Chess Olympiad Day 1

 I am in Samarkand at the 2026 Chess Olympiad, so I figured I should post some updates as I go. 

As you might be aware from the headlines in the chess media there were/are issues with transport and accommodation. I can confirm by and large these reports are accurate.  The organisers seemed to be overwhelmed by the arrival of chess players (in Tashkent and Samarkand), although one would have thought they new we were coming. As a result the Tashkent Railway station was awash with players who had been told they had bookings, but found they did not have tickets. This issue was eventually resolved by handing out tickets to teams that made the most noise. Unfortunately the main PNG team had to wait 5 hours for a train, which deposited them in Samarkand at 4am. 

 Another hour by bus to the hotel complex, followed by confusion about which hotel we were staying at (they changed our hotel without telling us), and the team did not get to sleep until 6am (a full 12 hours after they arrived in Tashkent)

On the other hand, the chess venue is excellent. The playing hall is spacious, and the organisers have made it as comfortable as possible. As I am just Head of Delegation for Papua New Guinea this time, I did not have access to the playing area, so had to slum it in the very luxurious Expo area. Lots of activities, food and drink options, I was still bale to follow all of the action from a more comfortable viewing area. 

As for the chess, Round 1 is normally straightforward, with a few upsets thrown in. The PNG Open team almost pulled of a big one, going very close to 2-2 with Sri Lanka. We did pick up a default win on Board 4 (no idea why the Sri Lankan player was missing), and Tom McCoy had a winning position against his higher rated opponent on board 3. But a miscalculation late in the game turned a win into a loss, and we went down 1-3. For the first time ever PNG fielded a Women's team and despite losing 0-4 to Jordan, the team fought hard. Playing your first Olympiad and first Olympiad game is tough, and I am sure the next few rounds will see some improved results.

I think the Australian Open team won 4-0 against Senegal (based on the live broadcast results), while the Women's team won 3-1 (again based on live broadcast).  One upset result reported to me was a 2-2 between Brazil and Botswana, while top seeds India dropped a point to Thailand (on Bd 1) while Iraq took half a point off the USA

Have I invented a new game?

 I know this blog has been somewhat moribund recently, and I'd like to say I'm taking steps to fix this (Narrator: No such steps are being taken). But every now and then I do think of something to post

 I was toying with the idea of a dice game, and came up with an easy but possibly tricky version. It can teach kids about probability and decision make, but at the risk of turning them into degenerate gamblers.

 Two player game. Each player has one dice which they roll. At the start of the game they put $1 into the pot. The player with the higher number wins , but ... The loser can pay another $1 for a second roll. If they beat the winners first roll, they win the pot (ie $3) but if they tie or are still lower on the 2nd roll, they lose ($3). If the initial roll is tied, then the players add another $1 to the pot each (bringing the pot to $4 for the next roll). If they player declines the 2nd roll, they automatically lose.

Simple rules I hope, and something that can be easily played (if you have lots of $1 coins).

Where the trickiness lies is in when you should 'buy' the 2nd roll if you lose. If you lose to a 6, then buying a 2nd roll is a waste of time (as ties still lose the 2nd time around). But if you lose to a 2 (because you rolled a 1) then you probably should buy, as you have a 2/3 chance of winning. But the middle numbers become a little bit harder to judge. And secondly, is your decision affected by the size of the pot (eg you've tied 2 rolls in a row, so the pot is now $6 rather than $2).

I fed all this into an AI, just to check the math. It described this as an example of 'option pricing' (ie what should I pay for an expected return) but did not find any examples of this game existing elsewhere (noting it is AI and therefore is probably wrong)  

There are also possible variants - One is a gamblers ruin  version, where after each tie the pot is doubled (rather than increased by $2). Another is a turn limited game, where you play a fixed number of rounds (say 6 to 10). Does your decision change the closer you get to the finish of the game?

One big swindle

 At some point in my life I will probably play every mainline chess opening, either by design or accident (e.g. I once played a French Defence as black through a move order trick). The Benoni Defence looks to be the next cab of the rank, and I have been looking at a number of top level games. It is less popular at the top level these days, but serves as a succesful weapon at the lower levels. This may be due to the fact that Black requires tactical resources to overcome the openings positional defects, or as John Nunn says , the Benoni is "one big swindle"

 

Spassky,Boris Vasilievich - Fischer,Robert James (2785) [A77]
World-ch27 Fischer-Spassky +7-3=11 Reykjavik (3), 16.07.1972

When in Rome

I'm currently visiting Rome, on my way back home from the 2026 World Youth Championship. Looking at the modern chess history of the city , it doesn't quite have the track record of other European capitals. The was a time in the 1980's when it held a sequence of strong Round Robin events, attracting a number of strong GM's. But since then the strongest events seem to Italian Championship's, or open swiss events. 

But from one of those strong RR events , a game which probably should have a saying attached to it "When in Rome, don't do this" 

Kortschnoj,Viktor Lvovich (2650) - Makropoulos,Georgios (2485) [A34]
Rome Rome, 1981

2026 ANU Open - 31st July, 1st & 2nd August

 

2026 ANU Open

ANU Open/Minor 2026
31st July (Fri), 1st August (Sat), 2nd August (Sun)
ACF Rated and FIDE rated*
Floor 4, 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 31st July 7pm, Rd 2 10am Sat 1st Aug, Rd 3 2pm, Rd 4 6pm, Rd 5 10am Sun 2nd Aug, Rd 6 2pm)

$4000 prize pool ($1200 1st prize Open, $600 1st Minor)
(* Games involving players FIDE 2400+ will not be rated as per FIDE Rating regulations. )

Friday 31 July 2026 7:00 PM - Sunday 2 August 2026 6:00 PM (UTC+10)

Location

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

Registration: https://www.trybooking.com/DNNUX 

You never need to know it , until you need to know it

 The dreaded K+B+N v K caught another victim at the World Under 18 Championship. Gor every player who has practiced this ending until they can checkmate in their sleep, there are probably 999 players who have either practiced it once, or 'will get to it later'. And for most players, you will never be on either side of this ending over your entire chess career. Until it becomes important ...

 

Breuil,Tristan (2296) - Soojay,Jorah (2100) [C02]
World Youth Champ 2026 Open 18 Montesilvano (3.35), 17.06.2026

How I spent my day off

 Yesterday was a rest day at the 2026 World Youth Chess Championship. So I took advantage of this to go and visit a country I have always wanted to see. San Marino. Even since I was a child, I found the idea of a country inside another country fascinating. But when I got older I developed another connection to the country, through chess.

Since I started representing PNG at chess Olympiads, way back in 2000, PNG have played San Marion a 6 times, and another 2 times prior to that. Over the course of 8 matches PNG holds a narrow 4.5-3.5 lead.  My contribution has been less than stellar, with 3 draws and a loss.

The country, completely surrounded by Italy, was founded in 301CE  and is considered the oldest republic still in existence.  After a 3.5 hour bus round to get there, we had a guided tour of the castles located at the top of the mountain, before heading of to do our own exploring. Despite the heat, and the steep climbs, it matched my expectations, especially the idea I had of it from my childhood. Located on the top of a mountain peak, it certainly looked to be an ideal defensive position against medieval armies. Lots of walls, fortresses, cliffs and cobblestones to traverse or observe, left me exhausted by the end of the day.  

Another 3.5 hours back in the bus, before getting ready for the 2nd half of the tournament. 

World Rapid and Blitz Teams - Day 4

 The 4th day of the World Rapid and Blitz Teams Championship was for the Blitz portion of the event. Unlike the Rapid (which was held as a swiss) the Blitz saw the teams assigned to 4 pools of 12, with a RR played to determine who qualified for the KO finals (top 4 going through from each pool).

The Street Chess Canberra teams ended up in an interesting pool, with 3 teams that had played in the Rapid competition, and 4 teams who finished at the top end of the Rapid. Their final result of 9th (out of 12th) was a very good result, in part due to beating teams they probably should have won against in the Rapid.

But the real highlight was probably in a match they lost, where they took 2 points of the winners of the Rapid, Dragon Chilling. Their opponents  wheeled out Ding Liren on Bd 1, and they had 5 GM's on the top 5 boards. Street Chess were outrated by 600 points on most if the boards, only losing 4-2 was a fantastic result. Wins for Matt Radisich and CM Ryan Lane delivered a result that was one of the big surprises on the tournament.

 

Lane,Ryan (1956) - Ju,Wenjun (2458) [B33]
FIDE WRBTC 2026, Hong Kong,(6.4), 20.06.2026

World Rapid and Blitz Championship - Day 3

 Another tough day for the Street Chess Canberra team, although once again a couple of changed results could have lead to a more triumphal post. The main issue for the last day was under performing (but highly seeded) teams dropping down to play them. This included a couple of teams who were seeded mid field at the start, but had not quite performed to the seeding. 

A 4-2 loss in round 9 was followed by a 3-3 result against a strong Spanish team in round 10. Both Rounds 11 and 12 could be described as matches of 'missed chances' especially the last round where  losing 5.5-0.5 belied the fact that there were at least 2 positions winning for Street Chess, and at least 2 drawn positions late in the round. 

As one of the lowest seeded teams (45 from 48) the last place finish was not totally unexpected. With 4 matches decided by a single game (2.5-3.5) it is always possible to say that with a little luck things might have looked better, but this only goes to show how every game counts, especially in team events.

As for the team it looks as though everyone performed as expected (based on rating, and taking into account the make up of the opposition). Now is the time to highlight Harry Press and FM Fred Litchfield, who were given the task of holding down the top 2 boards. Not an enviable job, but they fronted up each day (12 games for Harry, 11 for Fred), and managed to clip some players along the way. 5 draws for Harry (including 2 against GM opponents) and one win plus 5 draws for Fred, gave the rest of the team a little breathing space for their games.

Tomorrow is the Blitz portion of the tournament. Each team is placed in a pool of 12 teams, with the top teams from the RR qualifying for the finals.  Street Chess is in the pool with Dragon Chilling, and assuming that they pick Ding for that match, a third Press v Ding match-up is on the cards. Hopefully Harry can avenge his fathers 2-0 loss from the 2019 World Cup

 

Litchfield,Frederick (2107) - Kavin Mohan (2266) [D30]
FIDE WRBTC 2026, Hong Kong, (11.20), 19.06.2026

On sending a team to the World Rapid and Blitz Teams Championship

 I was involved in the 2024 World Rapid and Blitz Teams Championship in Astana, as a pairings officer. I thought it was a great event, and provided an opportunity for players who might not make their national team a chance to play an Olympiad style event. 

So when the event was announced for Hong Kong this year, I decided to organise a team. It was never going to be a national team or event a hand picked team of top players. It was going to be a team representing Street Chess Canberra, and was going to be picked from players with a strong connection to that event. The initial selections were based on players who had won the tournament a significant number of times (eg Fred Litchfield who has won it more than 100 times), or had assisted me over the years in running the event (e.g. Miles Patterson who is the playing captain of the team.) So as not to decide the team based on the ability to pay, I covered all the airfares for the players, paid the event entry fee , and purchased team shirts for the event. The players were required to cover their own accommodation and meal expenses (although I did offer to cover that for 2 players who declined their invitation).

While 5 players were happy with this arrangement, in the end I did need to pick 3 replacements. One replacement had played Street Chess in the past, while for one spot, I simply offered a place on the team as a prize at this years Doeberl Cup. But ultimately, it was a team  representative of a grass roots chess activity that has run for over 30 years in Canberra and has provided a venue for enjoyable chess events for regular club players.

Interestingly, I was told that a group of top Australian players were thinking of playing, but their efforts came to naught, as they could not get themselves organised in time. This does not surprise me at all, as for a lot of Australian chess (at least in my 40 years experience), it is always 'someone else' who should be supplying the answers. Fortunately for the  team from Canberra, we (and not just me) are good at solving problems, both on and off the chess board.

Low key Goat

 One of the big lessons I learned after my first chess olympiad (way back in 2000), is that my BS did not work against serious players. Dodgy openings, sad swindling attempts, hopeless piece sacrifices  aren't going to fly against players who really understand how to play chess. So I knuckled down, tried to learn more about where my pieces really belonged (on the board it turns out) and was rewarded with a nice solid 6/9 (+3=6-0) at the 2002 Olympiad.

I realised I should have passed some of this wisdom onto the lower rated members of the Street Chess Canberra team, who are currently playing in Hong Kong. Today was another tough day, losing 3 matched, but finally getting on the board with a 3-3 draw in round 8.  Frustratingly for the team, 3 of the losses have been 2.5-3.5. So while 'woulda, coulda, shoulda' applies here, narrow losses of this kind do remind me of my own early Olympiad experience. 

The player who did best today was Matt Radisich, who score 2.5/3 on Board 6. But as you can see from the following game, maybe it was better for him not to be told to play solid, boring chess. While 3. ... f5?! in the Italian could be described as 'brave' it seemed to absolutely confuse his opponent, who tossed a piece in the opening.   But as this event has shown, having a winning position, and having a winning result isn't always the same thing, so well done to Matt for avoiding any banana peels in what was a very long game.

 

Zhen,Andrew - Radisich,Matt (1758) [C50]
FIDE WRBTC 2026, Hong Kong, (8.30), 18.06.2026

And another good win for the Street Chess Team

 While the final round of the day did not turn out so great, the team can still be pleased with how they played. The star from day 1 was CM Ryan Lane, who score 2 wins and a draw from his 4 games. He is his first win, from round 2.

 

Lane,Ryan (2143) - Slavin,Gennadie (2201) [C06]
FIDE WTRC 2026 Hongkong (2.123), 17.06.2026

2026 World Rapid and Blitz Teams Championship - Street Chess in the house

 The 2026 World Rapid and Blitz Teams Championship is underway in Hong Kong. A mixture of Olympiad style chess with 'make up your own teams' approach to entry, it has attracted most of the Worlds leading players. 

It has also been graced with the presence of a team representing Street Chess Canberra. The initial team list was to consist of players who had played a significant number of Street Chess events over the years, but a few drop outs required some 'ringers' to be selected. Nonetheless a team of 8 players (all AUS) are playing, and despite being one of the bottom seeds, are already putting up a good fight.

The 1st round saw the team go down 0.5-5.5 to Red Psuedodragon (Fred Litchfield drawing with IM Polina Shuvalova), before narrow 2.5-3.5 losses against higher seeded teams in rounds 2 and 3. There are 4 rounds per day, and you can follow the action on Lichess.

 

Kurochkin,Victor (2356) - Richards,Heather S (2097) [B07]
FIDE WTRC 2026 Hongkong (2.122), 17.06.2026

2026 World Youth Chess Championship Round 1

 The 2026 World Youth Chess Championship (Under 16, Under 16 and Under 14 Open and Girls) is underway in Montesilvano, Italy. Around 750 players from 85 Federations are represented,with Italy, the USA and Kazakhstan sending the largest delegations. As with events of this size, there is always the chance of a 1st round upset, although board 2 of the Under 18 Open may have not been anyone's first choice.

 

Kvaloy,Aksel Bu (2483) - Schneider,Aron (2204) [B45]
2026 World Youth Chess Championship Under 18 Open 15.06.2026

4NCL Last weekend

 My current tourist excursion to Europe is not particularly chess related, even though there have been some small chess activities along the way. To emphasise this, I'm even missing the final weekend of the 4NCL, even if I will be quite close to the venue this weekend (well 60km's away, which is close if you are an Australian, but a 2 hour journey if you're not). I will at least be there in spirit, as I do provide some sponsorship support for the White Rose team. They have been having a 'middling' season in Div 1 so far (5 match wins, 4 losses), but they did win the 1st round of the final weekend today. This was aided by a top board win for GM Gawain Maroroa-Jones, over fellow GM Danny Gormally

 

Gormally,Daniel W (2377) - Maroroa Jones,Gawain C B (2645) [C78]
4NCL Div 1 2025-26 England (9.25), 02.05.2026

Jardin du Luxembourg

 According to some tourist guides Jardin du Luxembourg is a place to find some park chess. However it depends upon which day you visit. During the week the chess tables seemed empty but a second visit by myself on a Sunday afternoon saw the chess tables overflowing with players and spectators.

Watching some of the games it was a little hard to estimate the strength of players. For every game decided by sacrificial kingside attack, there would be another where one of the players hung their queen. Opening theory also seemed a little rough and ready, so my guess is that for a lot of the games, 1600 would be about right.

But to prove that chess is a universal language, I was able to follow a lot of the discussions, despite having a very basic understanding of French. In one game a player (as white) had played Rxb7, and the opponent was presumably asking if he could castle queenside.   'Non' was the incorrect reply , and so he castled in the opposite direction, dropping the c pawn. I assume it was a case that neither player knew the rules, rather than deliberate trickery. Supporting this theory, I also noticed that 'clock move' seemed to be the rule, as a number of obvious blunders were corrected by moving the piece to a better square before the clock was pressed.

So if you are visiting Paris, definitely drop in, but make sure it is on the weekend, rather than a weekday. 

Testing new-ish software

 Recently I blew up my aging desktop computer (with real smoke etc) and with it, by very aging copy of chessbase. As luck would have it, O was able to score a cheapish copy of Chessbase 17 , which is apparently the last version you could get on physical media. 

One feature I like is the provision of live event databases. This may help me find more interesting games for this blog, as previously I had the choice between downloading pgn files (usually from TWIC) or pretending that Keres v Petrosian was still cutting edge opening theory.

As an example, here is a game from the current World Seniors Teams Championship. It caught my eye because the winner was a contemporary of formerly active Canberra player Andrey Bliznyuk, while his opponent was also a pretty useful player, having toweled me up in the 2017 Gibraltar Masters.

 

Bergstrom,Rolf (2148) - Vaisser,Anatoli (2412) [C02]
FIDE WSTCC-65 2026 Durres (3.21), 21.04.2026

Who needs a queen?

 In more increasingly busy role as Secretary of the FIDE Qualfication Commission, I receive a lot of strange queries that do not always have anything to do with my job. One recent query was from a player claiming a record for playing the longest game without moving his uncaptured queen. The first important point is FIDE QC do not endorse or approve such records, as it isn't our job, and secondly, such claims are often incorrect. In this specific case the claim was for a 35 move game, which turned to be around 10 moves short of the actual record. Indeed there was even a GM v GM clash that went for 40 moves, and resulted in a win for the player who did not need to use his queen at all!

  

Panno,Oscar (2520) - Biyiasas,Peter (2460) [E69]
Interzonal-10b Manila (7), 22.06.1976

A nice story about chess in Port Moresby

 

A fantastic initiative and if you are in Moresby, worth dropping in for 

Flaming hot chess

 The perils of outdoor chess are mainly weather related. Usually for a city like Canberra it is the cold weather that affects events like Street Chess, but just for a change, it was the heat that was the real issue today. With a top temperature of 41C (106F) I am pretty sure it was the hottest Street Chess on record. For me, just reading out the pairings was exhausting, in part because 40 players turned up! For the players, not only was the heat an issue, but failure to find shade also meant that the chess clocks screens would turn black (due to overheating of the liquid crystals). 

So well done for everyone who turned up and survived!

2026 Australian Junior - FM Reyaansh Chakrabarty wins title

 FM Reyaansh Chakrabarty is the new Australian Junior Champion winning with a score of 8/9. Tied for 2nd were CM Joel Leong and FM Yifei Hu on 6.5. Going into the final round he held a half point lead over Leong, but a loss for Leong and a win for Chakrabarty widened the gap at the top.

While some players were fighting for final placings, there were a number of other interesting games between players looking to improve there final score. Larry Cheng was involved in one such game albeit on the losing side. There were also some good games in the Under 16 event (won by CM Micah Young with 8.5/9!) which can be found on the tournaments Lichess link. 

Full results and links to replayable games from the Under 18 and 16 events can be found at the tournament website https://australianjuniorchesschampionship2026.org/

Cheng,Larry (1759) - Wang,Daniel [D05]
2026 Australian Championship Under 18 ye https://lichess.org/broadcast/ (9.4), 24.01.2026

2026 Australian Junior - Blitz and Problems

 Although the Australian Junior Chess Championship has a scheduled rest day, a lot of players do not use it for rest. Instead some (almost 100) spend the morning solving problems of various difficulties, and the traditional Problem Solving Competition. It is a very enjoyable event (I was a problem setter this year), but oddly, is probably the only in person problem solving competition in Australia. As I have yet to start helping with the marking process, but based on the number of players who took the full 2 hours to complete (or incomplete) the paper, it was certainly challenging.

In the afternoon there was the 2026 Australian Junior Blitz Championship. It was held in 2 sections (Under 18 and Under 12) and ran for 11 rounds. I was pleased to say there were zero disputes, with the players showing excellent sportsmanship throughout, allowing the tournament to run to schedule. FM Yifei Hu was the over all winner, but you can see all the results at https://www.vegaresults.com/event/4813

2026 Australian Junior

 After a gap of 11 years, the Australian Junior Chess Championship returns to Canberra. There are around 400 entries this year, across 12 sections. The Under 18 (Championship section) has 31 players, with FM Reyaansh Chakrabarty the top seed. Although the event runs for 9 days, only the older age groups play all days. Tomorrow sees the U110 and Under 8 sections also start, but these sections are played over 3 days (with a faster time control).

Event details can be found at https://australianjuniorchesschampionship2026.org/ with links to live boards and results (when the even starts)

2026 Australian Championship - 1 and done

 FM Yi Liu looks to have the 2026 Australian Championship sewn up, holding a 1 point lead going into the final round. The only player with a chance of catching him is CM Tedric Li who sits a point behind. Yi, who has won 9 of his 10 games, dispatched FM  Reyaansh Chakrabarty with some clever play in a double rook ending.

Chakrabarty,Reyaansh (2271) - Liu,Yi (2329) [C17]
Australian Chess Championship 2026 https://lichess.org/broadcast/ (10.1), 20.12.2025

The Avalanches

 Although the following game from the 2026 Australian Championship is pretty one sided, it is still interesting to look at. White got tangled up in the centre (do not open lines when behind in development is the relevant hint here), and was struggling from then on. Black maintained his advantage throughout, alternating between fending of simple mate threats, and rolling his pawns down the board. Eventually the black pawn on d2 proved the key to the winning combination, although White resigned before the pawn could promote.

Min,Ren (Alex) (2012) - Rodgers,Jack (2198) [A45]
Australian Chess Championship 2026 https://lichess.org/broadcast/ (8.15), 12.01.2026

Bananas

 Looking for an attacking opening against 1.d4 as Black. If you aren't confident enough to sacrifice a pawn in the opening with the Benko, you could always try it's slower cousin, The Benoni. Although White often gets up and running with a central pawn avalanche, if White gets it wrong, then Black often powers through.

Chang,Ethan (2052) - Testolin,Ryder (2238) [A56]
Australian Chess Championship 2026 https://lichess.org/broadcast/ (6.8), 09.01.2026

Time is on my side, yes it is

 For a long time, the thinking time of players was not published as part of game scores. So when looking through games, it wasn't always clear if a mistake was due to a simple miscalculation or as a result of 'zeitnot', With most major events being broadcast online, it is now easier to look at thinking times, and at least make an educated guess. This is certainly the case from the current Australian Championship, where a number of games seem to be decided by poor decisions while short of time. An example of this follows

Tang,Terrence (2108) - Richards,Heather S (2125) [A46]
Australian Chess Championship 2026 https://lichess.org/broadcast/ (5.11), 08.01.2026

Scrambled like an egg

 Often I recommend playing against computers as a way of improving your chess. I suggest starting at a low level and then keep moving up every time you win at that level. Putting this into practice, I am facing of against a series of online bots , normally as I lie awake in bed in the morning. Of course it does get more challenging the higher you go, and I now often lose (or draw) a sequence of games before winning. But it does help when the bot plays into an opening you are familiar with.

2026 Australian Championship Day 2

 Following on from yesterdays choice, I decided to select another win from the 'older' brigade. IM Gary Lane had a pretty convincing win over FM Kai Jie Soo. Possibly Gary was better prepared, as he once wrote a book called "Beating the French" although in that volume, the Advance Variation was recommended, rather than the Tarrasch

Lane,Gary W (2230) - Soo,Kai Jie (2276) [C03]
Australian Chess Championship 2026 https://lichess.org/broadcast/ (3.4), 06.01.2026

2026 Australian Championship Rd 1

 No idea who is going to win this event at this stage, but when I can I will share a game of interest. For round 1, it is a nice win by GM Daryl Johansen over strong Queensland player Benjamin Leong.

Johansen,Darryl K (2272) - Leong,Benjamin (2089) [A12]
Australian Chess Championship 2026 https://lichess.org/broadcast/ (1.5), 05.01.2026