2024 ACT Lightning Championship

 The first ACT Chess Association event of the year was held at the Canberra Chess Club yesterday evening (11 Jan). The ACT Lightning Championship traditionally starts the chess year in Canberra, and usually attracts a good turnout. The 2024 edition saw 35 players take part, with Harry Press winning with a perfect 9/9. He finished 2 points ahead of Andrew Mather and Willis Lo, with Malik Amer and Jordan Brown a further point back. The time limit of 3m+2s favoured the younger players, although Miles Patterson and Lee Forace flew the flag for the older generation, finishing on 5.5 (+2).

The next ACTCA even should be the ACT Teams Championship, which is likely to be held in late February or early March, depending upon venue availability.

Sardana wins Australian Championship

 IM Rishi Sardana has won the 2024 Australian Championship, by a comprehensive 2 point margin. He score and undefeated 9.5/11, to finish 2 points ahead of Yi Liu and Samuel Asaka on 7.5. Tied for 4th were Fred Litchfield and Stephen Solomon on 7.

The win by Sardana was the first time a player from the Australian capital has won the national championship. It was looking like a possible ACT 1-2 finish with Litchfield, but a win by IM Solomon over Litchfield in the final round put an end to that dream. 

2024 Australian Championship - A two horse race?

 The 2024 Australian Championship appears to be a race between two players/ With 8 rounds completed IM Rishi Sardana leads on 7/8, having conceded a second draw in todays round. FM Fred Litchfield is in 2nd place with 6/8, while the remaining players are on 5/8 or below. Sardana has a potentially tricky matchup in round 9, playing IM Stephen Solomon, while Litchfield is up against one of the tournament surprise packets, CM Daniel Melamed. 

While Litchfield still has chances to earn an IM norm from this event, the pairings are not doing him any favours. While he has played the required number of IM's for a 9 game norm, he hasn't played the required number of titles players (only 4 at this stage, CM's not counting). if he goes for a 10 game norm he needs another IM, as well as hoping his average rating of opponents is above 2230. The other option is to drop a win (or wins)  against his lowest rated opponent and hope the remaining games are enough to give him a 9 game norm/

 

Frederick Litchfield (2176) - Aaron James Lee (2051) [D31]
Round 2: Frederick Litchfield - Aaron Ja https://lichess.org/study/bKXC, 02.01.2024

Tougher titles?

 I'm interested in receiving feedback on the current FIDE title system, especially in regards the number of titles being awarded. At this stage this is a non official request (ie not in my role as Secretary of the FIDE Qualification System) but it may turn out to  lead into a more formal review. 

One of the main comments I do hear is about the number of (W)GM's/(W)IM's/(W)FM's currently going around, especially compared the the historical origins of the titles. On the other hand, I don't see players who are close to the title hoping that the process is made harder.

One suggestion made to me today was to simply increase the peak rating required to earn a title (ie 2600 instead of 2500 for a GM). Certainly this would be a simple change, but I suspect the players who miss out due to this would be somewhat resentful of the players who beat the deadline. 

2023-24 Australian Championship

 The 2024 Australian Championship is underway in Adelaide. In good news for local readers of this blog, the top 2 places are currently held by Canberra players. IM Rishi Sardana is the top seed, and leads with 4/4. FM Fred Litchfield is in 2nd place on 3.5. Of course they are now paired in round 5, although this ensures that at least one of them will maintain the lead just before the half way mark. 

The Championship attracted 29 players, with 4 IM's, 2 WGM's and assorted other title players. Although title norms for this event are exempt from the normal foreigner requirement (due to it being a national championship), the performance rating required for an IM norm will be difficult to achieve, due to the ratings in the field.

The tournament runs for 11 rounds, and there are supporting events, including a Reserves tournament for players who did not qualify for the Championship. The tournament website is https://australianchesschampionships2024.org/ and there are links to live coverage.

Rishi Sardana (2470) - Julia Ryjanova (2285) [B12]
Round 4: Rishi Sardana - Julia Ryjanova https://lichess.org/study/Uz2f, 04.01.2024

A lot of games to look at

 At some stage, I will take the time too look through the games from the 2023 World Rapid and Blitz. With 160 games per round, and a total of 34 rounds (across Rapid and Blitz), the event saw approximately 5000 games played. Some were great, some were memorable (for various reasons), and a few were best forgotten. But the following game played by Australian GM Anton Smirnov in the first round of the Blitz, falls into the entertaining category.

2023 World Rapid and Blitz - Final Day

 Magnus Carlsen completed the double at the 2023 World Rapid and Blitz by winning the Blitz tournament with 16/21. He started the 2nd day of the Blitz with a loss to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave but finished with 7/8 to end up half a point ahead of Daniil Dubov. Vladislav Artemiev was in the lead at round 16 but fell back to 3rd place by the end.

Valentina Gunina was the popular winner of the Women's Blitz, finishing with 14/17. Alexandra Kosteniuk was 2nd on 13.5, and Jiner Zhu was 3rd on 12.5.

Unlike Day 4, there were no issues on the last day (at least from a pairing and organizational point of view). There was a slight delay for the final round after Carlsen queried the color allocation of his final game (he had double black), but a brief explanation from the Chief Arbiter  was all that was needed to assure him. 

My own experience of the event was overwhelmingly positive. It was well organised by the Uzbekistan Chess Federation, and the arbiting team was top notch. The quick turn around time between rounds to collect/check and produce pairings meant I was on my toes for the entire event, but to get to the finish was enormously satisfying. 

I'll be in Samarkand for another full day (due to flight rescheduling) then I begin the 30 hour trip back to Australia