Friday, May 11, 2007

Open Thread

Just some bits and pieces to end the week.

In the Fiji Zonal, IM Zhao and FM Goldenberg are in the lead with 5 points apiece after 6 games. A highlight so far seems to be this kid Gene Nakauchi. It looks he's in the running for an FM title. Wow!

Thanks also to some helpful readers I've managed to ID the Torre book that I asked about. The book is called "Beyond The 13th Move". My cousin happens to be in RP now so hopefully she can pick up a copy!.

And Remember Josh Waitzkin? He seems to have transformed himself into some sort of self-help guru and recently released a book, "The Art of Learning".

Finally, no word yet from the ACF on the state of our national championships - not here and not on Chess Chat. It's like these guys are just totally ignoring the whole thing. The normally combative Dr Kevin Bonham, usually the ACF's spokesperson on this blog (though he often insists that he speaks only for himself), is nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he's away. No matter as it boils down to this: nobody is willing to take on the financial risk - not Mr Parr, not the NSWCA and, as far as we can establish, certainly not the ACF. What we do know is that an approach has been made to ACF head Gary Wastell to possibly broker a deal that will involve a shared profit/loss arrangement between the NSWCA, the ACF and an organiser (not necessarily Peter Parr). Can the championships be saved?

Have a good weekend all!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

G'Day Amiel. As this is an open thread, my pet topic is that something be done to arrest the malaise that affects NSW chess. Everything is deteriorating in NSW chess. Player numbers are down at weekenders, the Grade Matches has only 30 teams this year, most chess clubs report reduced number of players and so on. Yet I do not know what the solutions are. Maybe starting a get lost Gletsos campaign would be a good start. What I do know is that something must be done soon before it is too late. If NSW chess goes under then what will become of the rest of Australian chess.

Anonymous said...

Ditto for Victorian chess. We have NO interclub down here.
Imagine NO interclub...nothing.
Chess has been run into the ground.

Anonymous said...

If only people who wasted so much time being critical on bulletin boards actually gave some time to help out.... chess would be in a much better state of affairs

Anonymous said...

The rest of australian chess doesnt actually need NSW.
Why is it that players in NSW are so self centric?

Maybe this is part of the reason for the malaise.

Anonymous said...

Looks like another batch of weak titled players! YAY

Anonymous said...

so who should have gained the im title at the oceania zonal? puchen wang or igor goldenberg? it seems it depends on what tiebreak system is used. has the correct one been used and should the system to be used have been stated before the tournament began? will there be protests? will fide step in and award the title to both? interesting stuff at the chesschat oceania zonal thread, heh ... not like some other comatose abode :E

Anonymous said...

hi Amiel
It is good to have your blog back in operation after your sojurn to the other hemisphere. I think you do an excellent job of moderating some difficult anon. comments.

I notice the posts to date, on this OPEN thread you have provided, have all looked at the glass as half empty.

Just for a counter-balance, the ROOKIES Cup event today (clash with Mothers Day) had a near record turnout of 50, and in no small way this is due to the influence of our new non-chess-playing President Gladys Liu, the mum of two ERGAS squad members.
Our Tuesday coaching numbers are up by 25% and we are looking for a fourth coach to participate in the 90 minute session.

We have now opened for business in a new session...Sunday arvo., due to numbers who can't be handled in our other sessions.
We are about to sign a deal with the local Traders Association to run a monthly SIMUL in their 'town square'. An earner for juniors who are trying to finance trips to tournaments.

Anonymous said...

I am tired of all this continual anon whinging about NSW chess / NSWCA / Bill Gletsos.

Things are actually going well in NSW. Record numbers attend junior events. The recent SIO attracted almost 150 players and had the strongest field ever assembled in Australia. Under its clever President Bill Gletsos the NSWCA is managing NSW chess very capabably and successfully. So why all this whinging about the state of NSW chess when things are going well?

Anonymous said...

Can you please tell me what NSWCA had to do with the recent SIO?
From everything I seen and read, SIO's success was the reward for it's organisers work. To wit, Brian Jones and ?? (sorry, forgotten the co-organiser's name). NSWCA had bugger all to do with it apart from fronting with a small amount of sponsorship at the last minute when they seen that it was going to work and had better get on the bandwagon.
If you still believe that NSWCA is responsible for the growth and success of chess in this state, then I have a bridge for sale!

Anonymous said...

In response to the poster of 9:16 PM, May 13, 2007, is your name Bozo the clown? Mate, adult chess in NSW is in a crisis, and the NSWCA is the organisation ultimately responsible for adult chess in NSW.

You correctly point out that junior chess in NSW is doing well, but this has nothing to do with the NSWCA. The NSWJCL is responsible for junior chess in NSW, not the NSWCA.

The success of the SIO was due mainly to the efforts of Brian Jones and had nothing to do with the NSWCA.

Bozo, please tell us how the NSWCA is managing NSW chess very capably and successfully when we had the comical Grade Matches Open fiasco of a couple of years ago and last year's NSW Open lost $3600? And today [14/5/07] I noticed on the NSWCA website under Upcoming events it mentions Laurieton May 5+6 and 2007 NSW Teams challenge May 6 and there are still no results up on their website for the 2007 NSW Teams challenge [which finished over 1 week ago and is a NSWCA run event]. Bozo, now you can see why there is so much whingieng about the state of NSW chess and NSWCA incompetence!

The Closet Grandmaster said...

For the record, Brian Jones' co-organiser was Dr Vasil Tulevski.

- TCG

Anonymous said...

"Record numbers attend junior events."

Yeah lol

NSWCA doesnt run junior events the NSWJCL do. And also the SIO was nothing to do with the NSWCA.

But the NSWCA did put $500 to help sponsor the SIO really late because they saw the guy Sweeney who they hate put $500 into it before thay did lol

Anonymous said...

And also I forgot to say FYI the NSWCA lost over $10000 of its nest egg in a year. WTF WTF WTF

Anonymous said...

The NSWCA are getting better. They now have the results of the NSWCA teams Challenge Rapidplay on their website! Well done NSWCA.

But they need to improve much more with their website. Their Upcoming Events section still advertises Laurieton May 5+6 and 2007 NSW Teams challenge May 6! And there is no information at all on the NSWCA website about the supposedly prestigous Grade Matches which start next week! Unbelievable.

Oh, and I still don't have the Grade Matches booklet, which no doubt like previous years is due to NSWCA incompetence with not getting the booklets out on time [thankfully my team captain told me where we play next week].

It is not surprising that only 30 teams are playing in the Grade Matches this year. When will the NSWCA get its act together and stop being so incompetent? It is not just "whingeing players who do no organising work" like me that are fed up with NSWCA incompetence. Seasoned and competent officials like Peter Parr, Charles Zworestine, Brian Jones and so on are also fed up.

Thats my rant for the day. Get your act together NSWCA.