2011 ACT Junior Championship - Day 1 Results

Available here

New DGT Software

Having struggled with various versions of TOMA (DGT's game broadcasting software) over the years, I am pleased to see they have released a completely new software package to handle this task. Replacing Toma is DGT Livechess. It is written in Java and has the benefit of being able to run under MacOS X and Linux, as well as Windows. The other important feature is that is is free to download and use.
So far I've only tested it with a single board, which even works via my Serial-to-USB connector, but I would be interested to test the behaviour with multiple boards. It did take a little bit of menu surfing to get everything to work properly, but having done so, it seems easier than under the old software.
DGT Livechess is available from the DGT website at this link. There is also a web page which gives quick getting started instructions, with the promise of a full manual in the near future.

Odd suggestions

I'm quite a keen collector of strange chess rules. Often these rules are just simple misinterpretations, passed on by a more 'knowledgeable' source. An example of this would be 'pawns can't capture on their first moves', which was what I was taught my a school friend at the age of 7.
On the other hand, their are some rule suggestions that are deliberate attempts to change the nature of the game. As a member of the FIDE Rules and Tournament Regulation I get to see these proposals more than most players. Honour bound as we are to consider these suggestions, the issue is often how long we should consider them for!
Two recent suggestions, from the same source, are: Removing the En-Pas capture from the game (or at least that is what was being proposed, although the letter is a little hard to understand), and allowing castling out of check.
Not sure I see the merit of either proposal, but they will of course be discussed at some point.

Improving tournaments

Organisers often have a dilemma when putting on chess tournaments. Do they ration their efforts, based on the assumption that the extra effort won't produce greater returns, or do they work hard at making the tournament more attractive, understanding that this may increase the tournament returns. I'm not just talking about money (and in fact would suggest that organisers not worry about that either) but other features, whether it be venues, conditions or overall tournament feel.'
Generally in Canberra tournament organisers have looked at 'the little things' as a way of making tournaments more attractive, and usually these changes have helped grow the chess scene here.
This years ACT Junior Chess Championship is trying one of these 'little things', by FIDE rating the tournament for the first time. In part this is motivated by having about half a dozen juniors just short of getting a published rating, as well as giving the more established juniors something more to play for. Of course there is an extra cost attached to this move, but it is minimal compared to the overall tournament budget.
For anyone interested in playing in this event, here are some details

Dates: 5-7 October 2011
Rounds: 3 per day
Time: Starts 9:00 am each day
Time Limit: G60m+30s per move
Venue: Campbell High School, Treloar Cres, Campbell
Entry Fee: $40 ($50 for non ACTJCL members)

Further details for this event can be found at the ACT Junior Chess League Website.

Too complicated for me

After a rest day the 2001 Grand Slam Masters continued, with Ivanchuk continuing his winning run. Aronian was his victim in round 4, in a game that looked pretty wild to me. With so many pieces (and pawns) en pris at various stages of the game it wasn't surprising that both sides missed knock out (or saving) moves. The final mistake was by Aronian on move 32, with Ivanchuk winning a piece.
There is one more round to be player, before the players leave Sao Paulo and continue the tournament in Bilbao.

Aronian,Levon (2807) - Ivanchuk,Vassily (2765) [D37]
4th Final Masters Sao Paulo/Bilbao BRA/ESP (4), 30.09.2011

Think and grow rich

In a recent discussion on why chess players are happy to take short draws in tournaments, Michael Basman suggested that people become serious chess players as an alternative to hard work. If that is the case (and I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with the observation), then it may explain why the world is not full of millionaire chess players. Not through hard work, but 'smart' work, in the area of high finance. The New York Times has an article on financial companies hiring chess players to make smart investment decisions for them, although if I recall correctly, this already happened in the 1990's. The article contains a couple of success stories (GM David Norwood is interviewed) but I guess I'm a little surprised that more high profile examples aren't given. It leads me to think that the strike rate of successful chess player-traders is no higher than non-chessplaying traders.

A quick win for PNG

Although I've decided that CC and online turn based chess isn't going to result in the dramatic improvement that I hoped, I still play the odd game now and then. I am in the middle of a mini-match (2 games), while wearing my PNG hat on chess.com, with 1.f3! the mandated opening move. This is the Gedult Opening, named after David Gedult, although Thomas Barnes played it 100 years earlier.
Opening theory on the Gedult is a little sparse, with 2.Kf2 being the most popular continuation, after almost any Black reply. Obviously the line 1 ... e5 2.g4?? is to be avoided, while Gedult himself used 1.f3 as a way of tricking his opponent into a Blackmar-Diemer after 1. ... d5 2.e4 dxe 3.Nc3.
Knowing nothing of this I simply went for development as Black and won quickly after keeping my opponents king in the centre. Not a classic by any means, but a good example of development versus non-development.

serjfromkomi - Press,Shaun [A00]
www.chess.com, 29.09.2011