2019 Grenke - Carlsen dominates

Following up from his decisive win at the 2019 Shamkir event, Magnus Carlsen continued his hot run of form by winning the 2019 Grenke Chess Classic with 7.5/9. He finished 1.5 points ahead of Fabiano Caruana, and pushed his rating up to 2875, which is getting close to his highest ever rating (2882 in 2014). After starting the tournament with 2 wins, he drew the next 3 games before finishing with 4 straight wins. While the game against Svidler is probably the most interesting (Svidler allowed Carlsen to mate him with a pawn!) his final round game is a fantastic example of accurate calculation and moving from one advantage to another.

Carlsen,Magnus (2845) - Vachier-Lagrave,Maxime (2773) [A37]
GRENKE Chess Classic 2019 Karlsruhe/Baden Baden GER (9.3), 29.04.2019

2019 Sydney International Open - Win for Song

FM Raymond Song improved on his second place finish at last weeks O2C Doeberl Cup by finishing equal first in the 2019 Sydney International Open. He finished on 7/9 to tie with WGM Padmini Rout, taking the cup on count back.
He faced GM Daniel Fernandez in the final round and at one point had a winning advantage in a rook and pawn ending. However the choice of the wrong plan allowed Fernandez back into the game, and the game ended in a 68 move draw. Rout then caught Song, beating IM Junta Ikeda in a nice attacking game. GM Abhijit Kunte was outright equal third on 6.5/9 (alongside GM Daniel Fernandez), drawing with GM Darryl Johansen in the final round.
Junior player Jack Keating won the Challengers with a very impressive 8/9. Seeded 46th(!) he won 7 games and drew 2, to finsh a full point ahead of Adrian Chek.
The relaunched Sydney International Open and Challengers, proved a great success. Hosted by Macquarie University as part of the Macquarie University Chess Festival, the 4 festival events (Open, Challengers, Junior Rapidplay and Blitz) attracted 260 players over the 6 days. The organisers (including me) were happy with both the numbers and the tournament finances, and are looking forward to holding it again in 2020.


Johansen,Darryl - O'Chee,Kevin [D37]
Sydney International Open (8), 28.04.2019

Why would you?

A few years ago this happened at Street Chess ("Stolen laptop halts play"). Sadly a new criminal has struck, stealing a bag of DGT clocks. Once again it was a crime of opportunity, and occurred while other equipment was being transported to the playing area. Fortunately we had a backup system (old analog clocks), so the show did go on, albeit with the tick tick tick of past millenia.
What anyone would do with stolen digital chess clocks (apart from play chess) is a good question. Not the easiest gear in the world to fence, so the belief for now is that they have ended up in a convenient garbage hopper.

2019 Sydney International Open - Day 2

FM Raymond Song is continuing his impressive form, leading the 2019 SIO with 4/4. He scored his second win in a week over WGM Padimi Rout, this time with an early piece sacrifice, which while not giving him an immediate reward, gave him enough pawns to win the ending. Half a point behind are GM Abhijit Kunte, IM Junta Ikeda, GM Daniel Fernandez, FM Jack Puccini and FM Daniel Gong. Round 5 sees Song against Kunte and once again, a win for Song (or even a draw) will put him on track for at least an IM norm.
Round 5 starts at Noon, with Round 6 at 6 pm. There will be live commentary at the venue by GM Ian Rogers, while you can follow the games online at chess24.com

The e pawn then the d pawn

Some opening advice I read when younger was "if you start with e4 then your aim is to play d4. If you start with d4 then your aim is to play e4". A bit simplistic of course, but when it works, it works!


Kunte,Abhijit - Steadman,Michael [E65]
Sydney International Open (2), 24.04.2019

2019 Sydney International Open

The 2019 Sydney International Open, which is part of the Macquarie University Chess Festival, has just started. The returning event (which previously ran up until 2014) has attracted over 170 players across the 3 events. The top tournament has 60+ players, while the Peter Parr Memorial Challengers has more than 70 players taking part.
GM Abhijit Kunte is the top seed, followed by English GM Daniel Fernandez. Another player looking to do well is FM Raymod Song, who is hoping for a second IM or GM norm, following on from his outstanding performance at the 2019 O2C Doeberl Cup.
The tournament runs for the next 5 days (until Sunday), with rounds at 12 noon and 6pm. There is also a junior tournament taking place on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and eligible players can still enter that event.

2019 O2C Doeberl Cup - Day 5

GM Hrant Melkumyan has won the 2019 O2C Doeberl Cup with an impressive 7.5/9. He lead FM Raymond Song by half a point going into the final round, and they were paired together on the top board. After a combative game, which saw Melkumyan sacrifice a couple of pawns, a repetition left the top two standings unchanged. Song finished outright second, and collected a GM norm as well. A quick draw on board 2 between GM Abhijit Kunte and IM Igor Bjelobrk meant Kunte finished in a tie for third, along with GM Anton Smirnov (who beat GM Darryl Johansen) and GM Deep Sengupta (who beat IM Junta Ikeda).
The Major was won by Jaime Frias who scored 6.5/7. A full point behind were Vladimir Chugunov, Zhiyuan Shen and Anthony Fikh. The Minor finished in a tie between Jordan Brown and Jason Pan, with Brown winning the first place trophy on countback.
The tournament attracted 254 players across the 4 sections, as well as another 114 players in the Blitz event. The organisers were happy with both the numbers and the overall event. There were no major disputes and the tournament ran smoothly across the entire 5 days.


Song,Raymond (2329) - Padmini,Rout (2364)
2019 O2C Doeberl Cup Premier Canberra, Australia (7.3), 21.04.2019