Project Grandmaster

Here's something that the Australian Chess Federation could try and emulate. (I know, I know - we just hate playing second to those Kiwis). Their counterparts across the Tasman, the New Zealand Chess Federation, are running a so-called "Project Grandmaster". The idea is to support that country's search for its next GM which, at the moment, looks very likely to be in 17 year old IM Puchen Wang. And the Kiwis aren't being modest about it, too, aiming for a budget of $50K (I'm guessing that's NZ dollars) to achieve their objective. Kiwi fans can donate monies in a number of ways. In return, they'll "have access to a special website where Puchen will report his results, annotate some games, and keep us in touch with how he is getting on" as well as, of course, get that nice warm feeling that they've contributed something to New Zealand chess.

Good luck to Puchen. He recently competed in Capelle La Grande, in France, where he finished with six points from 9 games. His tournament ended very positively with a win over Georgian grandmaster Davit Shengelia, rated 2568. Unfortunately, the official site doesn't have that game available, but we do have Puchen's draw in round 2 against English GM Mark Hebden.

24e Open de Cappelle la Grande
Wang, P.
Hebden, M.
B07

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. Bd3 O-O 5. O-O d6 6. Nbd2 Nbd7 7. e4 e5 8. c3 b6 9. Re1 a5 10. Nf1 Bb7 11. Ng3 Re8 12. d5 c6 13. c4 Nc5 14. dxc6 Bxc6 15. Bc2 Qc7 16. Nd2 h5 17. f3 b5 18. Ne2 bxc4 19. Nxc4 d5 20. exd5 Nxd5 21. Bg5 e4 22. Nd4 Bxd4+ 23. Qxd4 Ne6 24. Qd2 Nxg5 25. Qxg5 Nb4 26. Rac1 Nxc2 27. Rxc2 exf3 28. Ne5 Qa7+ 29. Rf2 fxg2 30. Rc1 Rxe5 31. Qxe5 Re8 32. Qf4 Bd5 33. Qd2 Ba8 34. Re1 Rxe1+ 35. Qxe1 Bd5 36. Qe5 Qc5 37. Qc3 Qe7 38. Qd2 Qe5 39. Re2 Qf5 40. Re1 Bxa2 41. Qxg2 Bd5 42. Qg3 Bc6 43. h4 a4 44. Re2 Qd5 45. Qf4 Qd1+ 46. Kf2 Qh1 47. Rd2 Qg2+ 48. Ke3 Qg1+ 49. Qf2 Qc1 50. Qf6 Bb5 51. Qg5 Bc4 52. Kd4 Be6 53. Qf4 Kg7 54. Ke3 Qg1+ 55. Qf2 Qh1 56. Qg3 Bg4 57. Kd4 Qc1 58. Qc3 Qe1 59. Kc5+ Kh7 60. Qf6 Qxd2 1/2-1/2