Some important events

There are a couple of important events beginning shortly, one domestic and one international.
The international event is the 2017 London Chess Classic which begins tomorrow evening, Canberra time. Once again it has attracted most of the worlds leading players including World Champion Magnus Carlsen, along with Aronian, MVL, and So. It is also the final event of this years Grand Chess Tour, with Magnus Carlsen holding a 3 point lead over Maxime Vachier Lagrave. Alongside the Super GM event is the LCC Fide Open which has attracted a very strong field, with plenty of GM's taking part. Also playing this year is WIM Emma Guo, and there are a few other Australian players in the supporting events.
The Lidums Australian Young Masters is starting on Saturday, and for the first time will see a GM section. French GM Adrien Demuth is the top seed, while there will be significant interest in the performance of Indian IM R. Praggnanandhaa who just scored a GM norm at the World Junior. alongside the GM event will be an IM norm event, as well as a FIDE rated open and an under 1200 event. Rounds will normally start at 3pm (Canberra Time) but there are a couple of double round days that also see a 10am start.

It takes more than a month

Compulsive learner Max Deutsch spent the last year trying to master 12 new skills, spending a month learning each of them. Topics covered included music, art and languages. For his final task he spent a month learning chess, and then played an exhibition game against World Champion Magnus Carlsen.
Initially he was going to play the 'Play chess with Magnus' app, but this turned into a game against the real Magnus, after word of the challenge had spread.
Unfortunately for Max, a month is not nearly enough time to reach the skill level to beat Magnus, and in fact it wasn't even enough time to reach a level to worry Magnus. Deutsch played a few moves that might best be described as 'loose' and then popped a piece on move 14. After that the outcome was never in doubt, with Carlsen mating on move  39.


Max Deutsch - Magnus Carlsen [C60]
Exhibition Game Hamburg GER, 09.11.2017

Getting around to it

About 3 years ago I had some free time on my hands, and decided to draw up a list of projects to do. One of those projects was to clean up my study/library/office, which had become a bit of a death trap. I'm proud to say that  I actually began working on that task today!
While sorting through the various boxes of stuff, I cam across some of my old chess computers. The most ancient one was a Scisys computer, which was featured in a blog post over 10 years ago. Also in this lot were a Novag, an Excalibur, a Tandy, and a slightly more modern Scisys.
One of the things I liked about old Scisys was that it wasn't very good (at least at the old levels). I've already described how I used it to improve my chess when starting out, and even today I still use some of the games I played against it in my coaching lessons.
My favourite game (as White) was 1.e4 e5 2.d4 ed 3.c3 dc 4.Bc4 cb 5.Qf3??!!   On the easiest level it fell into my trap and played 5. ... bxa1(Q) allowing 5.Qxf7# However the next level up saw it instead find the best move, which was 5. ... bxc1(Q)+ refuting my less than cunning play.

2018 O2C Doeberl Cup - Registrations now open

Registrations for the 2018 O2C Doeberl Cup are now being taken. Once again the event will be split over 4 divisions (Premier, Major, Minor and Under 1200), but there are some other changes that are worth noting.
The tournament has a new venue, although in a familiar neighbourhood. The Canberra Southern Cross Club in Woden is the host for the 2018 tournament.It is in the same precinct as the Hellenic Club and the Tradesman's Club, venues that have been used recently. The new venue is one of the largest licenced clubs in Canberra, so the amenities will be top notch. The venue will also be able to host all the events inside the one large room, which I always found a nice feature of the tournaments time at the Hellenic Club.
Time controls for the Premier have also reverted back to 90m+30s (no additional time added after move 40). The tournament had shifted to a longer time control in the Premier in anticipation of FIDE's changes to title regulations, but these were never implemented. With the tournament having double round days throughout, it was decided that the shorter time control was more sensible, both for consistent scheduling, and to provide players in the Premier a less onerous playing session.
As usual there is a limit on the number of players in each event, so early registration is sensible. Also, if you are above the rating cutoff for a particular tournament, then registering now protects you from missing out due to an unexpected rating drop.

(NB I am a paid official for this event)

Greedy Santa

With Christmas approaching, there will be a lot of work parties and opportunities for gift giving. I've already had one such get together, and at this I was introduced to "White Elephant Secret Santa", which is an alternative to the basic 'Secret Santa' that most people know about.
This got me thinking about a 'Game Theory' version of the game, and what the 'best' strategies are.
Firstly some rules:

1. There are N players
2. Each players pays N/2 dollars to take part
3. N envelopes are filled with an amount of money starting with $0, then $1 up to $N-1
4. Each player takes a number at random, lowest number choosing and opening the first envelope, revealing the money inside.
5. Subsequent players (starting at 2) can either steal money from another player, or chose to open a sealed envelope.
6. If a player has money stolen from them, they then get the same option (steal or open). Once a player opens an envelope, this turn ends and a new one starts with the next player
7. An amount can only be stolen once per turn, and there is a limit on the number of times an amount can be stolen overall (usually the third owner keeps it for good).

The addition of Rule 7 adds an extra level of strategy, as trying to steal the largest amount runs the risk of having it 'frozen' by another player. On the other hand, the last player may have the most power, as they have the greatest choice of what to take (and essentially a retaliation proof grab).
I don't know if anyone has done the maths on this, but it looks as though it may be an interesting programming exercise, both to simulate the game, and to try and generate the best strategy.

2017 World Junior

Two notable stories are coming out of the 2017 World Junior, which is currently being held in Italy. Firstly R Praggnanandhaa is on track to become a GM at the age of 12, although he does need to finish 1st to gain it automatically. After 9 rounds he is in third place, half a point of the lead, and has already earned a GM norm (with a 2700+ TPR).
Secondly, Australian representative Kevin Willathgamuwa is performing well over his pre tournament rating (1996), with a 2300 TPR. He was on 50% after 7 rounds, and although he has fallen back a bit, he is still gaining over 100 rating points, having played 8 IM's in his first 9 games. His brother Rowan is also playing in the tournament and is also picking up points, reaching 3/9.
There are 2 rounds left to play in this tournament, and the results (plus some games) can be found at chess-results.com

Slim pickings

Unlike round robins, swisses are normally a feast of good and bad chess, where every game is important (except maybe the last round), and players bounce up and down the standings with great regularity. Unless of course it is an elite swiss, in which case, every treads warily, keeping a close eye on all the games to make sure no one is getting too far ahead.
The Mallorca Grand Prix is providing slim pickings for anyone who likes the score table to contain lots of 1's an 0's. Not to disparage a good hard fought draw, but with over 60% of the games ending that way, not every draw is a result of players battling till exhaustion.
Of the decisive games, there have been a few that have jumped out at me. The one I've chosen for this post was Svidler's win over Hammer. Apart from the rarity of seeing 'actual mate on the physical chessboard', the fact the White king gets hacked on the kingside in a sicilian also adds to its attractiveness.


Hammer,Jon Ludvig (2629) - Svidler,Peter (2763) [B51]
Palma De Mallorca GP 2017 Palma de Mallorca ESP (3.5), 18.11.2017