Ikeda leads Australian Open

After 6 rounds Canberra FM Junta Ikeda is the sole leader of the Australian Open. His 5.5 points has included wins over GM Zong Yuan Zhao and FM Vladimir Smirnov, and a draw with IM Stephen Solomon. There is a 4 way tie for second with IM Stephen Solomon, IM George Xie, FM Max Illingworth and FM Greg Canfell all on 5 points. Tomorrow is a rest day with Ikeda playing Canfell on the top board in round 7.

Ikeda,Junta (2262) - Smirnov,Vladimir (2382) [A35]

Australian Open NSLCC, Cammeray, NSW (6.2), 07.01.2011

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 e5 4.e3 d6 5.a3 g6 6.d4 Bg4 7.d5 Nb8 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 Bh6 10.g4 Bg5 11.Ne4 Be7 12.h4 Nf6 13.Ng3 Nbd7 14.g5 Ng8 15.Ne4 h5 16.Bd2 Qb6 17.Bc3 Qb3 18.Bd3 Nb6 19.Qe2 0-0-0 20.Nd2 Qa4 21.f4 Qe8 22.fxe5 Na4 23.Ba5 b6 24.b3 Bf8 25.Nf3 Bg7 26.Bd2 Bxe5 27.Nxe5 Qxe5 28.Rc1 Nb2 29.Bb1 Re8 30.Rh3 Nxc4 31.Bc3 Qxd5 32.bxc4 Qe6 33.Qg2 Rh7 34.Bd3 Kc7 35.Kd2 Ne7 36.Rf1 Nc6 37.Rf6 Qd7 38.Rh1 Nd8 39.Bc2 Re7 40.Qf3 Nc6 41.Rf1 Qg4 42.Qf4 Ne5 43.Bxe5 dxe5 44.Qe4 Qd7+ 45.Qd5 Qe8 46.Kc1 Kb8 47.Be4 Qa4 48.Qd8# 1-0

2011 New Zealand Championship

New Zealand is justifiably proud of its Championship, which is the longest running national championship in the world. The 118th edition is currently running at the Auckland Chess Centre, with 11 time winner Anthony Ker leading after 5 rounds with 4.5.

Before the event there was some discussion about the strength if this years field, with the fact that the Oceania Zonal is starting in Rotorua in a little over 2 weeks possibly forcing some players to choose one event over the other. However looking at the field for both, it seems that the championship field shades the zonal field for strength, where the New Zealanders are concerned. This is the opposite of the situation in Australia where the strength of the Australians in the Zonal (at the top) are slightly stronger than those playing in the Australian Open. I wonder if this a commentary on the notion of national pride for the respective countries, or is it just the case that some holiday destinations are better than others?

The rebound

With the December/January period being a busy chess playing period, there are going to be some players facing the same opponents twice or three times. Under these circumstances it will either be a case of one player having the wood over the other, or a chance to even the score.

In the third round of the Australian Open, GM Zong Yuan Zhao faced up against Andrew Brown, who had defeated him in the third round of the recently completed Gold Coast tournament. However lightning didn't strike twice and Zhao turned the tables on Brown, with a nice tactical win.

Zhao,Zong Yuan (2586) - Brown,Andrew (2175) [B33]

Australian Open NSLCC, Cammeray, NSW (3.1), 04.01.2011

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3 Ne7 12.Nxf6+ gxf6 13.Nc2 Bb7 14.Bd3 d5 15.exd5 Qxd5 16.Ne3 Qe6 17.a4 e4 18.Be2 Rd8 19.Qc2 f5 20.axb5 f4 21.bxa6 fxe3 22.axb7 exf2+ 23.Kf1 Nd5 24.Qa4+ Ke7 25.Qa7 Qd7 26.Rd1 Ke6 27.c4 1-0

Should I grab the queen?

A few issues of Australian Correspondence Chess Quarterly ago, I annotated a set of games that started with the Marshall Gambit (Ruy Lopez version). I remarked that annotating Marshall's was a difficult task as either one player came up with a theoretical novelty (TN) which just won on the spot, or the game petered out into a draw. The unstated point was that the Marshall is pretty much all tactics, and strategical battles are almost non existent.

As further evidence of this point, I've just completed a game in the Australia v India match which ended in a draw. My opponent played the Kevitz variation, which can be annoying, but is't the sternest test of the opening. The crucial point was at move 23 where he offered me the choice of winning back a sacrificed piece, or winning his queen for bishop and rook. Part of the difficulty for me was that my enthusiasm for CC is waning a little so I didn't subject the position to the level of scrutiny it required. Having thought my opponent had a defence to 23. ... Rxe3, I went for the queen, but without enough pieces to help my queen the game quickly ended in a draw.

De,Gautam (2096) - Press,Shaun [C89]

Australia - India ICCF

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.Bxd5 cxd5 13.d4 Bd6 14.Re1 Qh4 15.g3 Qh3 16.Qf3 Bf5 17.Qxd5 Rae8 18.Bd2 Bf4 19.Rxe8 Rxe8 20.Qg2 Qh5 21.f3 Bd3 22.gxf4 Re6 (D)

23.Be3N [RR 23.Qf2 Be2 24.f5 Qxf5 25.h4 Bxf3 26.Qg3 h6 27.Bf4 (RR 27.Be3 Rg6 28.Bg5 hxg5 29.h5 Bxh5 30.Nd2 Re6 31.Re1 Qg4 32.Qxg4 Rxe1+ 33.Kf2 Bxg4 34.Kxe1 Be6 35.a3 f5 36.b3 Kf8 37.Kf2 Ke7 38.c4 g4 39.a4 bxa4 40.bxa4 g5 41.a5 f4 Terada,S-Sakai,K/corr JPCA 1999/½-½ (53)) 27...Re4 28.Nd2 Rxf4 29.Rf1 Rg4 30.Rxf3 Rxg3+ 31.Rxg3 Qc2 32.Rg2 Qxb2 0-1 Femmel,D (2109)-Sakai,K (2091)/IECC Email 2001 (32)] 23...Rg6?! [23...Rxe3!] 24.Nd2 Rxg2+ 25.Kxg2 Qd5 26.b3 Qc6 27.Rc1 Qg6+ 28.Kf2 Qh5 29.Kg2 Qg6+ ½-½

Upset or massacre?

Picking a first round game for publication from any big swiss is often a choice between upset or massacre. You either find some poor player in the lower half of the field who gets hammered by a GM/IM opponent, or you find some poor player in the top half of the field who blows up against a much lower rated opponent.

For the current Australian Open I've decided to feature the upset. As the event is being seeded on FIDE ratings, the gap between the two players doesn't look that great, but there was a gap of 43 places in the seedings between the two players. Surprisingly it was a tactical miscalculation by the higher seeded player that pretty much decided the game, but Alana still finished the game with a nice queen sac.

Vogel,Joerg (2069) - Chibnall,Alana (1807) [A62]

Australian Open NSLCC, Cammeray, NSW (1.17), 02.01.2011

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.g3 g6 7.Bg2 Bg7 8.Nf3 0-0 9.0-0 Re8 10.Re1 Na6 11.Nd2 Nc7 12.a4 a6 13.Nc4 Rb8 14.a5 Nb5 15.Bf4 Nh5 (D)

16.Nxb5 axb5 17.Nxd6 Nxf4 18.Nxe8 Nxg2 19.Nxg7 Nxe1 20.e4 Kxg7 21.Qxe1 Qe7 22.Qc3+ Kg8 23.Re1 Bd7 24.e5 Rc8 25.Ra1 b4 26.Qe3 Bb5 27.b3 c4 28.bxc4 Rxc4 29.Rd1 Rc3 30.Qb6 Be8 31.d6 Qxe5 32.Qxb7 Qe2 33.Rb1 Rc2 34.Qb6 Bc6 35.Qe3 b3 36.a6 Qxa6 37.Qxb3 Qe2 38.Rf1 Bf3 39.d7 Qxf1+ 0-1

A hard move to find

The Reggio Emilia tournament, currently running in Italy, saw Nigel Short bounce back from his poor showing in the London Chess Classic, with 2 wins in the first 2 rounds. His first round win over Gashimov was a titanic struggle where both Kings diced with death, but his second victory was a result of a "well disguised and beautiful swindle", as he posted on his facebook page. He also described the physical reaction that occurred when he played 36.Rb8!!, but as this is a family blog, I think I'll leave it there for now.

Short,N (2680) - Morozevich,A (2700)
[C11] 53rd Masters Reggio Emilia ITA (2), 29.12.2010

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.dxc5 Nc6 7.a3 Bxc5 8.Qg4 0-0 9.Bd3 Qe7 10.Bd2 f6 11.Qh4 h6 12.exf6 Nxf6 13.0-0-0 e5 14.fxe5 Nxe5 15.Nf3 Nxd3+ 16.cxd3 b5 17.Rhe1 Qb7 18.Be3 Bxe3+ 19.Rxe3 a5 20.Rde1 b4 21.Re7 Qb6 22.axb4 axb4 23.Nd1 Bg4 24.Kd2 b3 25.Ke2 Ra4 26.Qg3 Nh5 27.Qe5 Rf5 28.Qc3 Bxf3+ 29.gxf3 d4 30.Re8+ Kh7 31.Qc8 Nf4+ 32.Kf1 Qb5 33.Nf2 Nxd3 34.Rh8+ Kg6 35.Qe6+ Kh5 (D)
36.Rb8 Qe5 37.Rxe5 Ra1+ 38.Re1 Rxe1+ 39.Qxe1 Nxe1 40.Kxe1 Rxf3 41.Rd8 Re3+ 42.Kf1 Rc3 43.bxc3 dxc3 44.Nd3 1-0

2011 Australian Open

The 2011 Australian Open starts tomorrow and the organisers have the first round pairings up already. Top seed for the event is GM Zong Yuan Zhao, with IM George Xie, IM Stephen Solomon, IM Vladimir Feldman and IM Irinia Berezina-Feldman also taking part. As this is the equivalent of of the Australian national championship events, restrictions on foreign players for title norms don't apply, and so there should be some players hoping for an IM norm. This would include Junta Ikeda and Max Illingworth who both had good tournament victories in the last week.

Alongside the Open, is a Minor (under 1600) event, and the Norths Classic, which looks almost like a Seniors event (Although I'll apologise in advance to any below 55's playing in this tournament for that description).

The tournament web page is here, with links to results for all the events, and live coverage of the top games.