2017 ANU Open - Fred Litchfield wins

The 2017 ANU Open has been won by local player Fred Litchfield. Litchfield set up his victory with wins over IM Andrew Brown in round 5 and Oladoyan Fasakin in round 6. Holding a full point lead over Brown and Fasakin going into a final round, a draw with WIM Emma Guo was enough to take outright first, and $1000 in prize money. Brown, who finished first in the previous 4 years, took second place on 5.5 with Guo and Fasakin tied for third.
The Minor (Under 1600) tournament saw a tie for first between John Adams and Ruofan Xu. Adams was making a return to competitive chess after 15 years but showed no signs of rust, winning his first 5 games. A loss by Adams to Xu in round 6 threw the event wide open, but both players then won in the final round to finish on 6/7. Kamal Jane and Athena Hathiramani recovered from slow starts to the tournament to finish tied for 3rd on 5.5.
Full results for this event can be found at http://tournaments.streetchess.net/anu2017/ and you can replay the games and download pgns for the top board from this site.

2017 ANU Open - Day 1

IM Andrew Brown is well placed to collect another ANU Open trophy, sharing the lead after the first 4 rounds of the tournament. He finished the day with 3.5/4, tied with Fred Litchfield and Oladoyin Fasakin. Brown and Fasakin drew a tough round 2 game, and won the other 3. Litchfield started the tournament with 3 wins, before a round 4 half point bye allowed Brown and Fasakin to catch him.
Canberra Junior Dillon Hathiramani is in 4th place with 3/4. Round 5 will see Brown and Litchfield play on board 1, with Fasakin and Hathiramani playing on board 2.
The Minor tournament sees ACF Treasurer John Adams hold a surprise lead on 4/4. Despite not playing in a tournament for 15 years, Adams has beaten a number of veteran players to lead by half a point over Neil Clark, Lee Forace and Mitchell Jones. The morning round sees Admas play Clark, while Forace and Jones play on board 2.
Coverage of the tournament (including standings and DGT games from the first day) can be found at http://tournaments.streetchess.net/anu2017/


Litchfield,Fred - Ingham,Glenn [D11]
2017 ANU Open Canberra, Australia (1.3), 29.07.2017

Return of the Pawn

The opening event of the 2017 ANU Open was held this evening at King O'Malley's in the centre of Canberra. The 2017 ACT Teams Blitz was won by the aptly named, Return of the Pawn, with 9/10. Board 1 for Return of the Pawn was William Booth, making a bit of a comeback to competition chess, and scoring 5/5. Partnered with Elwyn Teki, they drew with the top seeded Retired Gardeners team in the first round 1-1, and then won their remaining games.

The Retired Gardeners (Roger Farrell and Baldev Bedi) also went through the 5 round event undefeated, but dropped an important point to the 'Fear Itself' team (Miles Patterson and Stephen Priest) in round 4. The 8 team event was quite tough and a number of strong teams fell by the wayside.

Tomorrow sees the first day ANU Open and Minor, a the ANU School of Art. The action kicks off at 10 am, and entries are still open for interested players.

ACT Teams Blitz and ANU Chess Festival

The ACT Teams Blitz event is taking place on Friday 28th July (ie tomorrow) at King O'Malley's, in Canberra City. The event starts at 6pm and is open to all players. The format is a 5 round swiss for teams of 2, but if you don't have a partner, just turn up anyway, as teams can be formed on the spot.  There is no entry fee, and there will be prizes for the winning team, and the best scoring players.
On the 29th and 30th of June, the ANU Open and ANU Minor will be taking place. Current entries for each of the tournaments can be found at http://tournaments.streetchess.net/anu2017/  Online registrations are still open at http://vesus.org/festivals/2017-anu-open/ and you can download the tournament brochure from that link. Entries are coming in slowly (only 48 at the moment), with the Minor tournament (Under 1600) looking particularly attractive for anyone rated over 1300 (as most of the field is rated below that).

Tony Salvage RIP

Tony Salvage, a regular member of the Belconnen Chess Club in the 1990's, passed away a few days ago. Originally from the UK, he had came out to Australia in the 1960's to work for the old Department of Supply, before ending up in the Department of Defence. This is where out paths first crossed, but discovering he was a chess player, encouraged him to join the Belconnen Chess Club. A few years later we ended up working in the same section, and while I outrated him in chess, he outranked me at work, being my boss for a few years.
Tony was a jovial player, playing more for enjoyment than glory. While never rising to any great heights, he was a difficult opponent for the younger members of the club (due to years of experience), beating a young Larua Moylan (now a WIM) among others. One evening he played out a tough draw against a newcomer to the club, who turned out to be an overseas player with a rating of around 1800. The player asked how strong his opponent was and was surprised to find out he was significantly lower rated. When Tony found out the strength of his opponent he was also surprised, but for the opposite reason.
In later years Tony retired from chess to take up Bridge, finding it a more social activity. He is survived by a large family, with 8 children, 23 grand children and 16 great-grandchildren.


Salvage,Tony - Wills,Colin [C02]
Belconnen-ch Belconnen, 1993

From little things big things grow

A nice chess story hit the national media in Australia this week. A small Western Australian primary school has inspired the local council to fund the carving of some giant chess pieces to celebrate their success in state and national junior chess competitions. However, these pieces aren't your normal large pieces. These are carved out of the trunks of old Jarrah Trees, which the council had originally  planned to remove completely. The Kendenup Council instead decided to leave the trunks in place, and a local wood carver had gone to work with his chainsaw. The pieces, some as large as 4 metres high, will stand in the towns main street, to greet visitors to the town of 1000 people.
The full ABC story (including pictures of some of the pieces) is here.

The toasted cheese sandwich test

I still believe that ChessMaster  10th Edition is one of the better pieces of chess software released. Apart from the chess engine (and graduated levels) it has a plethora of training modules and drills to help you improve your chess.
One of the drills I keep returning to (about once a year) is checkmate with KBN v K. I'm pretty sure I know have it down pat, but it is always a good idea to double check. So make it a little more interesting I had a go at lunchtime today, while making toasted cheese sandwiches.  I'd prepare the sandwich, turn on the toastie maker, and then try and checkmate before I burnt down the house.
I'm pleased to say that the house is still sanding, although this may be due to Chessmaster choosing the same defence each time, rather than trying to confuse me.