How good are your rooks?

 Here is a simple test to see how good you are at using your rooks. It is White to move, and with the king trapped on g1, it is the rooks to do all the work. Find the right rook move, and you will find the right path to victory.

Scholars Trap

 During the Olympiad (and possibly after), there was a lot of commentary about the quality of play on the lower boards. There were a few examples of Scholars Mate, and this was seen as evidence that not everyone had 'earned' the right to be there.

As a past Olympiad player  (and a recent official), I do not believe lines should be drawn in this way. If you are picked by your Federation to play, then you get to play. Both China and India were considered 'non chess' countries in the not so recent past, an opinion that would not be said out loud these days.

And speaking of Scholars Mate, in the following game, White was able to pick up a piece after Black failed to spot how strong simply threatening it could be.

  

Javakhishvili,Lela (2476) - Sahithi,Varshini M (2312) [E15]
44th Olympiad Chennai 2022 Mahabalipuram, Chennai (4.3), 01.08.2022

Cheng wins in Barcelona

 Backing up from his excellent performance at the 2022 Chess Olympiad, GM Bobby Cheng has just tied for 1st in a strong Open event in Barcelona. Winning his last round, he caught the 2 leaders (who drew on the top board) with an impressive score of 8/10. This result, combined with his Olympiad result will see him add around 40 points to his current rating, pushing him to around 2580.

Faced with a must win game in the final round, he found a long term piece sacrifice which kept his opponent under pressure, and then finished the game off with a mating attack.

 

Cheng,Bobby (2540) - Terry,Renato (2507) [A55]
23rd Sants Open chess24.com (10.3), 28.08.2022

2022 ACT Women's and Girls Championship - 11 September 2022

2022 ACT Women's and Girls' Chess Championship - Sunday 11 September 2022

7 rounds, 15m+ 5s per game. Rated by the Australian Chess Federation (Quickplay List)

Schedule: Sunday 11th September - Check-in 9.30am Round 1 10am Round 2 10:45am Round 3 11:30am Round 4 12:15am
Lunch Break 1pm-1:30pm
Round 5 1:30pm Round 6 2:15 pm Round 7 3pm Prize Giving 3:45pm

Prizes - 1st $250 2nd $125 3rd $75 Trophies for 1st, 2nd, 3rd + Medals for U14, U12, and U10

Max. two half-point byes available for Rounds 1-4.

Entry fee $20 Adults, $10 Junior. WGM, WIM, WFM and WCM Free.

+ Novices event for unrated players - Free entry with medals for 1st, 2nd and 3rd (Same schedule as Championship)

NB Players with ACF Ratings can only play the Championship event. Unrated players can choose to enter the Championship or the Novices Event.

Venue: Campbell High School
Treloar Cres, Campbell ACT

Entries close Saturday 5pm 10 Sept.
Register at https://www.trybooking.com/CCFIY

2023 Australian Open

 The 2023 Australian Open is being held from the 2nd to the 10th January 2023, in Perth. The Open will be an 11 round event, with 3 double round days. First prize is $3000, and the total prize pool is over $10,000. There is also Minor event (Under 1600) running alongside the Open.

Full details for the tournament can be found at https://sites.google.com/view/2023ausopen/home

The Trojan Bishop?

 The 'Greek Gift' is the well known sacrifice on h7, followed by Ng5+. Although it is thought to be named after the Trojan Horse, the odd thing is that it is the Bishop which is sacrificed, not the knight. Here is a recent game where the Bishop is also offered as a gift, but on h5 rather than h7. But like in the ancient myth, it is an offer that should not have been accepted.

White - Black [A83]
Gungahlin CC, 23.08.2022

Playing it safe

 My ongoing trawl through games from the Olympiad has left me somewhat disappointed with the choice of openings. There were very few Kings Gambit's and most of the Two Knight's Defence's were met with the tame d3. Probably the best of the few Two Knight's proper was the following game, where White got tangled up on the e file, and dropped a piece due to a miscalculation.

Sharikhan,Shawal (1789) - Asllani,Muhamet (2235) [C59]
44th Olympiad Chennai 2022 Mahabalipuram, Chennai (1.3), 29.07.2022