Chandler Says Thanks

From Queenstown's local paper:

I’m underwriting the tournament again for about $100,000 as a thank you to the NZ chess community, who were fantastic to me when I started out as a professional player in 1975 when I was aged 15.

See you all there next week! I'm just praying that I won't suffer from any further hiccups between now and then. Some genius in Qantas actually decided to cancel my return flight, Queenstown back to Christchurch. Consequently, I had to buy another ticket via Air NZ. Luckily the difference in prices wasn't all that significant.

Dunnygate in Aussie Open

This just in.

"Dunnygate" has erupted in the currently ongoing Aussie Open championships. We have just been advised by FM Brett Tindall that a player was caught red handed with what he described as a "hand held machine". It would seem that this player visited the men's toilet no less than six times during the course of a game!

In Australia's numero uno chess bulletin board, Chess Chat, NSWCA boss Bill Gletsos says that the player was expelled, he appealed and the appeal unanimously denied by the appeals committee.

Thanks to FM Tindall for sending us this specially annotated PGN.

1. e4 c5 2. b3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 Black visits toilet 4. Bb2 Nc6 5. Nf3 e6 6. g3 d6 Black visits toilet 7. Bg2 dxe5 8. Nxe5 Nxe5 Black visits toilet 9. Bxe5 f6 10. Bb2 Be7 11. f4 O-O Black visits toilet 12. O-O c4 13. Nc3 Bc5+ Black visits toilet 14. Kh1 Nxc3 15. Bxc3 Bd4 16. Bxd4 Qxd4 17. c3 Qc5 18. b4 Qc7 19. Qf3 Rd8 Black visits toilet for the last time 20. Rad1 a5 Black player forfeited, found in the toilet frequently visiting the cubicle using electronic assistance (handheld chess program). 1-0

Indians Invade Doeberl Cup

I don't think I've mentioned the next edition of the Doeberl Cup and that's mainly because it seems way too early. But time flies quickly enough and before you know it, you're scrambling for accomodation or cheapo transport tickets. Might as well pencil it in now and sort out logistics. Like, for example, the 6 GMs who've entered. Notice, too, that the young Indian hottie IM Tania Sachdev is in the event. Well, talk about fancy moves! She's certainly got a few, let me tell ya.

If you're in the game for a little nice income, take a look at the major section. Top prize there is AU$1,500. Not quite the heights of the World Open, but still impressive by local standards. Probably for some of you, it's almost a good reason to go on a ratings diet and get back down to sub-2000 in time for April. Just a wee thought. Aah..money!

By the way, the Doeberl organisers are also running a "design a t-shirt" competition. My entry is: "Chess960 Sux!"

Wohl Takes the Lead

IM Alex Wohl today snatched the lead in the Australian Open when he defeated FM Jesse Sales in their round 6 encounter. The Pinoy player dropped a piece and looked to be lost, but he, in fact, had a saving maneouvre.

Position after 48. Bg3

In this position, Sales, perhaps eager to recover the piece, continued with 48...h4. He lost by the 77th move. What would have been a better continuation?

Is darts a sport?

Surprising that the question, "is darts a sport?" is still being asked. But that's exactly what London's Times paper asked - with Giles Smith saying yes, and Patrick Kidd saying no. Here, Mr Smith could also very well be talking about chess:

[I]f we have nothing but confidence in calling darts a sport, then it's with reason. Things are sport because enough people choose to call them sport - to think of them that way and discuss them as such. To that extent, calling darts a sport is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In any case, the traditional objections melt away. “But you don't even have to be fit,” people say. Not in the conventional sense, no. And I'll go farther: you can even be fat. But you don't have to be fit to play golf, either, and no one ever says that Lee Westwood isn't svelte enough to be a sportsman.

Read more in The Times Online.

Interior Designer Needed

Dropped in on the Australian Open in Manly yesterday, but I spent most of my time catching up with a couple of old buddies and not so much watching the games. It was rather nice to see, especially, IM Alex Wohl who's visiting here with his young family. One lesson he learned, he said, was to never play chess while suffering from dengue fever as he did last year in the Philippines. Well, he's not suffering from that illness this time around as he's currently on 4.5 from five games.

Worth mentioning, too, from yesterday's proceedings is that the NSWCA has at last expressed its congratulations to Zong Yuan Zhao for attaining his grandmaster title. The association's treasurer, Norm Greenwood, gave a nice speech and GM Zhao himself responded by thanking everyone. Zhao reportedly said that he was glad to be able to attend this "weekender". We'll put that down as a Freudian slip.

Finally, if anyone of our readers knows of an interior designer who charges out at a reasonable price, please let me know. One of our very well-known chess personalities urgently needs one.

Action in Aussie Open

They haven't exactly got a prestige tournament, but the organisers of the currently ongoing Australian Open are at least keeping distant spectators very happy. Live coverage of the top 2 boards is given and results are up on the site very quickly. Most important of all is that the games are uploaded with little delay.

After just three rounds, we're seeing plenty of action. Here's just a couple that grabbed my attention. In the first game, Sydney junior Max Illingworth tries out the fashionable Shabalov Attack, a system which has featured in the arsenal of the likes of Morozevich, Aronian, Topalov and many more.

Australian Open, Manly
Illingworth, Max
Voon, Richard
D45

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. g4 h6 8. Bd2 Qe7 9. Rg1 e5 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Ne4 Bc7 (11... Bb4 12. O-O-O Bxd2+ 13. Qxd2 exd4 14. Qxd4 N7f6 15. Bd3 Nxe4 16. Bxe4 Nf6 17. Bc2 Bd7 18. g5 hxg5 19. Rxg5 Rh5 20. Rxg7 Rd5 21. Qh4 Rxd1+ 22. Bxd1 O-O-O 23. Bc2 Be6 24. a3 Bd5 25. Nd4 Kb8 26. Rh7 c5 27. Nf5 Qe5 28. f4 Qe6 29. Rh6 Rg8 30. Qxf6 Rg1+ 31. Kd2 Rg2+ 32. Kc3 Rxc2+ 33. Kxc2 Bb3+ 34. Kd2 Qd5+ 35. Nd4 Qg2+ 36. Ne2 {1-0 Kempinski,R (2567)-Geller,J (2480)/Dresden 2006/CBM 113 ext}) 12. O-O-O N7f6 13. Nxe5 Bxe5 14. dxe5 Qxe5 15. Nxf6+ Qxf6 16. e4 Nf4?

Position after 16...Nf4

17. e5! Qg5 18. Qe4 Bxg4 19. Bxf4 Qh5 20. Rd2 O-O? 21. Qg2 1-0

In this next duel, FM Jesse Sales, who is still registered with the RP federation, outcalculates his Danish opponent.


Australian Open, Manly
Mortensen, Henrik
Sales, Jesse Noel
C25

1. e4 Nc6 2. Nc3 e5 3. f4 exf4 4. Nf3 d6 5. d4 g5 6. h4 g4 7. Ng1 Bg7 8. d5 Ne5 9. Bxf4 a6 10. Qd2 Bd7 11. O-O-O Ne7 12. Kb1 Nc8 13. Bd3 Nb6 14. Nge2 Nec4 15. Qe1 h6 16. Qg3 Qe7 17. b3 Na3+ 18. Kb2 Nb5 19. Bd2 O-O 20. a4 c5 21. axb5 axb5 22. Ra1 c4 23. Rxa8 Rxa8 24. Qe3 cxd3 25. Qxb6 dxe2 26. Qxb7 Rc8 27. Re1 Qe5 28. Qxd7 Rxc3 0-1

Finally, here we have the highly talented Tomek Rej coming out on top, with the white pieces, in a Noteboom varation against fellow Sydneysider Michael Dunn. Rej's bishop pair is just deadly, but his dancing around with the queen is sweet. His last move has got to be the "BOOM!" in Noteboom.

Australian Open, Manly
Rej, Tomek
Dunn, Michael
D31

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. e3 b5 6. a4 Bb4 7. Bd2 a5 8. axb5 Bxc3 9. Bxc3 cxb5 10. b3 Bb7 11. bxc4 b4 12. Bb2 Nf6 13. Bd3 O-O 14. Qc2 Nbd7 15. e4 e5 16. O-O Qc7 17. Rfe1 Rfe8 18. c5 h6 19. h3 exd4 20. Bxd4 Bc6 21. e5 Nh5 22. e6 Rxe6 23. Bc4 Rxe1+ 24. Rxe1 Nf8 25. Ne5 Be8 26. Qf5 Nf6 27. Ng4 Nxg4 28. Qxg4 g6 29. Qf3 Rd8 30. Ba1 Nh7 31. Qe3 g5 32. Qe4 Bc6 33. Qg6+ 1-0

New Laws of Chess

I've got NSWCA boss Bill Gletsos to thank for this. A number of days ago he posted a quick summary of the new laws of chess that are set to take effect as from 1 July. You can see all of them here. A downloadable draft document of the Laws in their entirety is available courtesy of the KNSB.

Now Mr Gletsos is right - the proposed new article, 6.7, what I call the "turn up on time rule", is the most controversial. And that's mainly because it's simply the most ridiculous. Like I said before, it has none whatsoever to do with chess! There are far too many situations that could arise that causes a player to be delayed. He might have a toilet emergency, for instance, as happened in Dresden; or have a little accident on the road; or be hassled by some overly officious club receptionist who just needs to see every damn ID card that proves you are who you say you are!

Still, at least as far as Article 6.7 is concerned there are 2 options under consideration. Lets hope option 1 is successful. Most sane tournament organisers, I think, will not be so harsh.

Short: 2 games is abomination

In his report for NIC on the Commonwealth Championships, which he won, GM Nigel Short was at his unrelenting best.

The imbecile who invented the concept of two games a day should have rusty nails driven into his most sensitive parts before being shot by firing squad. Even that is too lenient a punishment. Yes, I understand it is physically possible to play successive games of chess, just as it is physically possible to play two football matches, but that does not make it a good idea. No, this is an abomination, a degradation of our noble game, which only organisers of the lowest grade amateur tournaments, and FIDE, can possibly countenance.

Well, then, I wonder what he'll make of the Elwood Bendigo Chess Championships? As you can see, he's a confirmed entrant for this year's event, and yes, definitely a big coup for Aussie chess. I just hope that they told the guy that he'll be playing 2 games a day!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all. Hope you all had a good one. As for me, I spent the night with a few chess buddies directly under the Harbour Bridge. As far as I'm concerned, nothing ever beats the Sydney fireworks. There was hardly any chess talk, though, except for a brief discussion on - would you believe(?) - Peter Leko. It was decided that this guy was as boring as bat crap. That one was just kind of out of the blue, but there you have it. I'm almost tempted to hand out a "most boring player" of the year award!

On that note, Shaun Press now has his pick for the 2008 Aussie Player of the Year. And the gong goes to GM Zong Yuan Zhao. Hard to disagree with that one. Zhao was absolutely tremendous last year, topping off 2008 with an excellent outing in Dresden then followed by a brief stint as a gun-for-hire in China. He even has his own entry in Wikipedia which I only discovered today!

For a more international flavour - check out also Peter Doggers' (ChessVibes) nice wrap up of his 2008. Plenty of good stuff there, although I preferred much of his earlier work, especially those that included game walkthroughs by the players themselves. Like this one.

Year 2008 was definitely a biggie for TCG with Dresden being the main highlight. This year, we're off to yet another big one - the Queenstown Chess Classic, followed soon after by the regular fixtures (Doeberl and SIO) and, of course, the Oceania Zonal.

Finally good luck to all Australian Open participants. (I'd provide a link to the tournament website, but it looks like the NSWCA have ran out of bandwidth). A note to you guys, especially those staying in hotels/hostels south of the bridge, that if you want to play some blitz on Friday nights, you can catch some of us locals in the Spanish Club. Come join us. We'll teach you a few moves. OTB, that is.