No Chess Column?

 GM Ian Rogers has announced that the Canberra Times plans to drop his chess column from the Sunday paper in a couple of weeks. Ian has been writing the column for a few weeks short of 30 years, while the column itself has been in existence since 1968. Also likely to go is the Bridge column, which has had the same editor for its entire lifespan, Len Dixon, who is 101 years old!

Sadly this has been a trend in the print media of late, with Ian's Sydney Morning Herald column dropped in 2020, only to be saved by a concerted letter writing campaign. Quite possibly this will have the same effect on the Canberra Times, so I encourage everyone to get to work. If you want your complaints/opinions published, then an email to letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au will do. You can also contact the editor directly at  johnpaul.moloney@canberraTimes.com.au - or make your concerns know to feedback@canberratimes.com.au

** Corrected email address **

2023 ACT Chess Championship - 10th title for Ikeda

 IM Junta Ikeda is the ACT Chess Champion for the 10th time, after finishing on 7/7 in the 2023 Championship. He completed his perfect score with wins over CM Hui Li in round 6 and Terrence Tang in the final round. A point behind was FM Michael Kethro who finished his event with a nice attacking win over Malik Amer. CM Hui Li tied for 3rd place on 5.5, along with up and coming junior player Thomas Gatzen-O'Keefe. Seeded 15th in the tournament Gatzen-O'Keefe won his last 4 games to pick up a share of the third place prize, as well as some rating points.

Michael Rolph finished on 4.5 the win the best FIDE Unrated prize, while Olamide Fasakin had the biggest rating gain in the tournament. Gatzen-O'Keefe was the winner of Rating Group 1, while Jonah gear was the best scoring player from Rating Group 2.

Full results from the tournament can be found at http://tournaments.streetchess.net/actchampionship2023/

Junta Ikeda - Hui Li [D36]
2023 ACT Championship (6), 29.05.2023

2023 ACT Championship - Day 3

 IM Junta Ikeda is closing in on his 10th ACT Chess Championship, after winning two important games today. In round 4 he defeated Harry Press after Press sacrificed an exchange for insufficient compensation, and then defeated 2nd seed FM Michal Kethro in round 5. With 2 rounds to play Ikeda is on 5/5 and leads by half a point over CM Hui Li, and visiting player Terrence Tang. Li is paired against Ikeda in round 6, and looks to be in form, having defeated Press in round 5. Tang and Kethro play on board 2, with kethro hoping that Li can open up the event with a result against Ikeda. Malik Amer, Daniel Lee and Michael Rolph are also on 4 points, and remain in contention for the prizes.

2023 ACT Championship - Day 2

 The leading group in the 2023 ACT Championship has been whittled down to 4 players, after rounds 2 and 3 today. Top seed IM Junta Ikeda had a quick win over Tim Pearce in the morning round, before winning a tougher fight against Malik Amer in the third round. FM Michael Kethro also had to work hard on round 3, outplaying Oladoyin Fasakin in a Knight v Bishop ending. Harry Press scored two attacking victories to also move to 3 points, while Daniel Lee beat Harry Johnson to become the final member of the 100% group.

Tomorrows round 4 sees Press v Ikeda on the top board,  with Kethro v Lee on board 2. CM Hui Li is on board 3, having played a long and ultimately drawn game against Terrence Tang. He will be playing local junior Owen MacMullin, who is also on 2.5, with two wins (and a bye).

Tomorrows round starts at 10:30am and you can follow the top 4 boards at either http://tournaments.streetchess.net/actchampionship2023/ or on Lichess (just search for the 2023 ACT Championship broadcast)

2023 ACT Championship - Day 1

 The first round of the 2023 ACT Championship saw most of the top seeds get through without too much trouble. It wasn't until board 15 that the results started to go against rating. Mark Scully was beaten quite convincingly by Owen MacMullin, while Olaoluwa Fasakin upset fellow junior Larry Cheng. The top 4 boards saw fairly easy wins for the top seeds, although FM Michael Kethro had to overcome determined resistance from Joshua Liang. 

The tournament saw a larger than usual field of 55 players, which would have been larger (and stronger) if not for a few dop outs due to the flue and similar ailments (NB It was 1 degree above 0 when I left the venue this evening). The new venue (Eastlakes Club in Griffith) proved a winner with the players, both in terms of comfort, and facilities. 

Tomorrow will see rounds 2&3, and the results/live games can be found at http://tournaments.streetchess.net/actchampionship2023/

Extross,Eshaan - Pearce,Tim [B13]
2023 ACT Championship (1), 26.05.2023

+3 for the win?

 The 2023 Sharjah Masters is finishing today, and based on the current games in progress 6/9 may well be the winning score. On the one hand this is a low score for a 78 player event, but understandable when you see that it is an all GM tournament. Of course this will result in a large tie for 1st, unless someone on the top boards finds a way of converting an advantage (But wait, Erigaisi has a forced mate as I type this).

One player who has played win/lose chess has been Australian Champ Temur Kuybokarov, he is 4.5/8 at the moment, with 4 wins, 3 losses and a single draw. One of his wins was against GM Salem Saleh, where he was outrated by almost 100 points.

Temur Kuybokarov - A.R. Saleh Salem [C88]
Sharjah Masters 2023 Chess.com (7), 13.05.2023

2023 ACT Championship Update

 Entries for the 2023 ACT Chess Championship close on Friday at 6pm (First round is at 7pm). At this stage the entry list stands at 47 players, with IM Junta Ikeda as the top seed. He is likely to be challenged by a group of younger local players, with Willis Lo and Harry Press the next 2 seeds.

The event is being played at the Eastlake Club in Griffth for the first time, with the club providing an excellent venue both in terms of space, and service. Meals will be available at the venue throughout (but no cheese toasties this year!). Based on the current entries, there will be at least $1500 in prizes, with $500 for 1st.

It is not too late to enter, and you can do so at https://www.trybooking.com/CIDPJ. 

The current entry list can be seen at http://tournaments.streetchess.net/actchampionship2023/