2023 ANU Open - Ikeda wins

 IM Junta Ikeda has added yet another title to his large collection, winning the 2023 ANU Open. Starting the day on 4/4 he defeated Fred Litchfield in round 5, before playing a 95 move draw against the rapidly improving Harvey Zhu. Harry Press (4.5) tied for second with CM Lalit Prasad, after Prasad scored an upset win over FM Fred Litchfield. Harvey Zhu and Terrance Tang shared the 1600-2000 rating prize, while Leiming Yu capped a fantastic tournament by winning the Under 1600 prize.

Matthew Dwyer scored 6 ins from 6 games to finish first in the Minor event. However he had to be content with the Best Unrated prize as he does not currently have a ACF/FIDE rating. This left Larry Cheng and Olamide Fasakin sharing the first place prize money, finishing on 5/6.

The tournament attracted a good field of 68 players, which was a substantial increase over last years turnout. The new venue at ANU was ideal for the tournament and hopefully it can be used for next years event. The event was strongly supported by the ANU Chess Society, with a number of members taking part in the tournament. There is even talk of returning to the days of a full blown chess festival, with simuls, computer chess and other activities being organised. 

2023 ANU Open Days 2

 IM Junta Ikeda has taken the outright lead in the 2023 ANU Open. He scored another 3 wins today, including an important Round4 victory over third seed Harry Press. He is half a point ahead of 2nd seed FM Fred Litchfield, after Litchfield took a bye for the evening round. As Litchfield is the only player on 3.5, he faces Ikeda in the morning round. 

In third place are Press, Terrence Tang, Harvey Zhu and Leiming Yu. Yu has been the real surprise of this event, scoring 3/4 against players rated 500 points ahead of him. He faces Tang in round 5, and based on current form, has good chances to go into the final round on 4/5.

In the Minor (Under 1600), it is the unrated players setting the pace. Matthew Dwyer is on 4/4, half a point ahead of Andrew Blakers on 3.5. Also sharing 2nd are junior players Eshaan Extross and Leon Sostaric. Blakers, who won the ACT Junior Championship in 1973(!) is making a competitive comeback after 50 years, having been one of Australia's leading researchers in Solar energy systems. 

Tomorrow mornings round starts at 10am, with the final round at 2pm. Live coverage of the top 4 boards can be found at the results link, which is http://tournaments.streetchess.net/ANU2023/

2023 ANU Open - Round 1

 The 2023 ANU Open and Minor (Under 1600) tournaments began today, with a total of 67 players. The Open section has 31 players, with IM Junta Ikeda as the top seed. While the top 5 seeds all scored wins against their lower rated opponents, there were a few upsets further down. Leiming Yu, Jonah Gear and Dev Raichura all score upset wins, while Masaki Horikawa held his higher rated opponent to a draw.

The Minor (Under 1600) had 36 players, and once again almost all games went according to rating. Paul Dunn lost to unrated Matthew Dwyer, while experienced junior player Eshaan Extross escaped with a draw against debutant Andrew Blakers. 

The return to the Australian National University was welcomed by all, and the tournament saw a number of current and former ANU staff and students take part. The playing room is spacious and well lit, and quite close to coffee shops, bars and take aways. The only thing missing was live coverage of the top boards, but this will start tomorrow (round 2 @ 10 am)

All the results can be found at http://tournaments.streetchess.net/ANU2023/ which also has a link to the live coverage

Reading the Riot Act

 The Riot Act is a Canberra institution, starting off as local discussion forum, before transforming itself into a local news platform. It was one of the sites I used to read regularly when I was working, although in retirement my readership is more sporadic. 

But I draw you attention to it, because they have just published a nice article on Street Chess (complete with pictures of me sporting my current beard). I even revealed some 'secret' chess moves that players might not know about ('Clickbait' warning. They are castling, en passant and promotion)

So check out the article at https://the-riotact.com/more-popular-than-its-ever-been-why-chess-is-still-champion-in-canberra/686139 and then stay for the other cool news stories.

2023 ANU Open (AKA Winter Cup) - Updated Venue

 The 2023 ANU Open is returning to the Australian national university, after arranging a venue on campus. The new venue is in the centre of the ANU, right next to eateries, coffee shops and the ANU Bar. The updated details for the tournament are

ANU Open 2023

28-30 July (One round Friday evening, three Saturday, two Sunday)

Format: Open section and Under 1600 Section (ACF)

Time control: 60m+30s inc (FIDE Rated except for players 2400+)

Schedule: Round 1 Friday 28th 7PM,

Round 2 Sat 29th 10am, Rd 3 2pm, Round 4, 6pm

Round 5 Sun 30th 10am, Round 6 2pm Prize giving 6pm

Entry Fee: $80 ($60 concession) - GM, IM, WGM and WIM Free

Prizes: $1000 1st Open, $400 1st Minor $3600 in total

Venue: Room 2.02, Marie Reay Teaching Centre, University Avenue, Australian National University

Booking link: https://www.trybooking.com/CJWCT

Oskar Hellman

 The ACT chess community is mourning the passing of Oskar Hellman, who died on Sunday. An active participant in ACT events for as long as I had been involved in Canberra Chess, Hellman was a regular participant  at Street Chess, making the 2 hour journey from his home near Wombeyan Caves to Canberra almost every weekend of the year. Since 2010 he played in 462 events, which was to most of any player during this time span. Born in 1935, Oskar was the oldest active player at Street Chess, but was happy to take on any opponent, especially the younger brigade. 

Prior to retiring to the Southern Highlands of NSW, he worked in the steel industry, and was an active player in Wollongong, Southern Sydney and elsewhere. His winter holidays often took him to North Queensland, where he participated in, and won, and number of events. He was a regular participant in the Doeberl Cup, first playing in 1978, and winning the Minor (Under 1600) in 2001. 

An attacking player at heart, he was particularly fond of playing, and winning with, the Blackmar-Diemar Gambit. He scored a number of fine wins with this opening, even against players who knew it was coming. 

Oskar is survived by his wife Monika, and children. As one Canberra's longest serving players, he will be missed.

Hellmann,Oscar - Riggs,Robert [D00]
Capitol Territory-ch Australia, 1994

2023 Women's World Championship

 Ju Wenjun has retained her Women's World Championship title after a last game win over challenger Lei Tingjie. The match was tied at 5.5 each (1 win each and 9 draws), before the final game. Although the 12th game started with the Colle System, it game soon heated up, when Wenjun decided to create a pair of passed pans on the queenside. A sequence of moves that left Wenjun with two knights for a rook looked to be good for Lei, but the ending proved to be better for the knights, and Wenjun won the game, and the match.

Wenjun Ju (2564) - Tingjie Lei (2554) [D04]
FIDE Women's World Championship Shanghai/Chongqing CHN (12.1), 22.07.2023