Aussie Trio Beat Kiwis

International masters Guy West and Stephen Solomon finished equal first in the George Trundle Masters tournament in New Zealand. Both collected a total of 7 points.

Another Australian, FM Tim Reilly, slotted himself in third place finishing with 6.5 points out of nine. Reilly also bagged the extra prize of an IM norm.

More information is available from the official website.

Auckland IM Tournament (NZ)
Steadman, Michael
Solomon, Stephen
C42

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. c4 Nc6 6. Nc3 Nxc3 7. bxc3 Be7 8. d4 O-O 9. Bd3 d5 10. cxd5 Qxd5 11. Qc2 h6 12. O-O Qd6 13. Re1 Be6 14. Rb1 b6 15. Bh7+ Kh8 16. Be4 Rad8 17. Rb5 a6 18. Rh5 Bg4 19. Rd5 Qf6 20. Rxd8 Bxd8 21. Bxc6 Qxc6 22. Ba3 Rg8 23. Ne5 Qe6 24. d5 Qf5 25. Qa4 Be2 26. f4 Bh5 27. h3 g5 28. fxg5 Bxg5 29. Qe4 Qxe4 30. Rxe4 f5 31. Rc4 c5 32. dxc6 Be2 33. Rd4 Be3+ 34. Kh2

After 34. Kh2

34...Bf1 35. g3 f4 36. Ng6+ Rxg6 37. Rd8+ Kg7 38. Rd7+ Kg8 39. Rd8+ Kf7 40. Rd7+ Ke8 41. Re7+ Kd8 42. c7+ Kc8 43. g4 h5 44. g5 Rxg5 45. Bd6 Rg2+ 46. Kh1 Rg8 0-1

Dion's Chess Podcast

We now have permission from Dion to post his podcast here while he searches for a suitable host. As usual, just click on the 'play' button. There's been a couple of feedback saying that they found it difficult to download the MP3 file or simply couldn't find the dowload link at all. So hopefully, this makes it easier for you.


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Dunnygate?

This is FM Greg Canfell's version of the laughable fiasco currently happening in Elista. But too bad that it's based on an Aussie slang. Anyway, Greg asked me if the news from Elista had hit the mainstream. Well it has, actually. Here is a short list.

Note that some of these may require registration.

New York Times: Bathroom Dispute Halts Chess Championship
Telegraph UK: Loo Row Threatens Chess Championships
The Times: Chess Challenge Falls to Pieces
Guardian Unlimited: Kramnik's carry on over his own convenience
India Times: Will this prove to be Chess Waterloo?"
BBC: Toilet breaks trigger chess row

Here's an idea. Why don't these two guys just settle the whole thing with chess boxing? Stop behaving like a couple of tootsies and get it over and done with.

And where is the FIDE boss in all this? The man's in Sochi attending some government meeting of the Heads of the Regions of the South Russian Regions. He can do no more than send an open letter. You can read it here.

Ironically, in that letter addressed to Kramnik, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov says:

Millions of chess fans in the whole world are following this match with great interest and are looking forward for the just outcome produced over the chess board and not from exchanging open letters which we are receiving from both teams.

You know, is there any other sport in the world that is so plagued by open letters? That's part of the problem, I think. Instead of just talking, these guys fire off an open letter at the first opportunity thus escalating rapidly an issue that may very well have been easily solved in a face-to-face confrontation. At the risk of sounding like Oprah, or worse, Dr Phil - boys, sit down and talk it over. Take a deep breath and talk. Good for you, good for us, good for the sport.

2006 Ryde-Eastwood Open

It is a number that must surely warm the heart of NSWCA head Bill Gletsos. Seventy-two players fronted up today to compete in the 3-day long Ryde-Eastwood Open. And to round off a successful turnout, no less than Aussie numero uno GM Ian Rogers leads the field as the number 1 seed.

The field is quite impressive. Support cast to Rogers includes visiting international master Andras Toth, of Hungary, FMs George Xie, Igor Bjelobrk and Greg Canfell; WIM Laura Moylan is also in attendance and a cabal of 2000+ rated players such as Ayvazyan, O'Chee and former New South Wales junior champion Paul Broekhuyse.

John Slidziunas is here all the way from Tasmania as well as a couple of Victorians. The largest visiting crowd came from the ACT - mostly juniors.

Jason Lyons, recently back from his overseas vacation is the arbiter. He looked very well dressed I must say. One wonders if he'll take another shot at the NSWCA presidency at the end of this year.

For your entertainment here are a couple of games from the second round. Victorian junior James Morris scores a victory that surprised even him, I think. He was rather worried, he said, that Narelle Szuveges closed the position. Then, out of nowhere, his position turned into a dangerous attack. It was over very quickly.

2006 Ryde-Eastwood Open
Morris, James
Szuveges, Narelle
A36

1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. e4 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 e6 6. Nge2 Nge7 7. O-O O-O 8. d3 d6 9. f4 b6 10. Be3 Nd4 11. f5 Nec6 12. g4 Rb8 13. Ng3 e5 14. Nd5 f6 15. Qd2 g5 16. h4 h6 17. hxg5 hxg5

After 17. hxg5

18. Kf2 Kf7 19. Rh1 Bb7 (19... Rh8) 20. Rh7 Kg8 (20...Rg8 21. Nh5) 21. Rah1 Ne7 22. Nh5 Rf7 23. Nxg7 Nxd5 24. Rh8+ 1-0

In the next game, FM Greg Canfell defeats Ahmed Faris. Canfell informs me that he could probably have win this encounter much sooner.

Ryde-Eastwood Open
Canfell, Greg
Faris, Ahmed
C88

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4 Bb7 9. Nc3 b4 10. Nd5 d6 11. a5 Nb8 12. Nxe7+ Qxe7 13. d3 h6 14. Nh4 Bc8? missing White's next move. 15. Ng6 Qd7 16. Nxf8 Kxf8 17. f4 c5 18. fxe5 dxe5 19. Be3 Qc7 20. Qf3 Bg4 21. Qg3 Nbd7 22. Rf1 Qd6 23. Rf2 Bh5 24. Raf1 Bg6 25. Qh4 Ke7 26. h3 Rf8 27. g4 Ke8 28. Qg3 Qc7 29. Ba4 Kd8 30. Bxd7 Nxd7 31. h4 f6

After 31...f6

32. g5 hxg5 33. hxg5 Bf7 34. Rh2 Bg8 35. Qg4 (Fritz is suggesting 35. Rh8) 35... Qd6 36. b3 Be6 37. Qh5 Kc7 38. Rg2 Qe7 39. Qh7 Qf7 40. gxf6 Nxf6 41. Qh2 Kd6 42. Rg5 1-0

And here is a game from the top seed. Michael Dunn's 18. Qf8 wasn't best. Rogers apparently suggested 18. Qc7 instead.

Ryde-Eastwood Open
Rogers, Ian
Dunn, Michael
E01

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 c6 5. Bg2 Nbd7 6. O-O Bd6 7. Nbd2 O-O 8. Qc2 Re8 9. e4 dxe4 10. Ng5 e5 11. Ndxe4 Bc7 12. dxe5 Bxe5 13. Rd1 Qe7 14. Be3 h6 15. Nxf6+ Nxf6 16. Nf3 Bg4 17. Re1 Bxf3 18. Bxf3 Qf8 19. Qb3 a5 20. Qxb7 Rab8 21. Qxc6 Bxb2 22. Rab1 Rec8 23. Qa6 Bc3 24. Rxb8 Rxb8 25. Rd1 Bb4 26. Bxh6 Qc8 27. Qxc8+ Rxc8 28. Bg5 Nh7 29. Rd8+ Rxd8 30. Bxd8 1-0

I actually missed most of round 2, too busy watching the grand final match between the West Coast Eagles and the Sydney Swans. I tell you something folks, Australian Rules Football has got to be worst form of football there is. It looks to be just a glorified random kick-around the park. There is no structure to the game, none that I can see at least. But no other sport, outside of soccer (the real football), can drive spectators crazy in this country. It was awesome! I might just convert.

Queensland Teams Planned

There are plans in Australian state of Queensland to conduct a teams event, the local CAQ newsletter reports. The objectives are quite ambitious but, the proper motivation and will-power, definitely attainable.

1.To give Queensland chess a professionally organised teams event similar to those of other sporting bodies.
2.To retain teenagers in the game during and after high school.
3.To give all a professional team structure with a yearly chess season.

You can read all this in the CAQ's October newsletter.

In other Queensland news, Howard Duggan last week resigned from his position as boss of the CAQ. Todate, we have no idea of his reasons for doing so but did come as a surprise. We invite insiders of Queensland politics to shed some light on this.

We head on over across the continent to Western Australia and pick up that state's very excellent and well-assembled monthly newsletter. There are games from the recent state chess championships as well as a sad bit news regarding a local player's passing.

Finally, Dion Sampson has released a follow up podcast to his excellent first effort. If you can manage to find it, the second MP3 file can be download from this page. It's a bit of a hassle but for now, we're stuck with this. I could load that second file to my TCG Odeo stream but, so far, Dion hasn't provided his sign off on that. Here's hoping that our friend can soon find a better podcast host.

Pichay Opens Chess Building

Here is a photo of NCFP boss Prospero "Butch" Pichay during the opening ceremony of the Chess Institutes Building that is located within the Bulacan State University. Journalist Marlon Bernardino says that, "The chess institute building will provide chess players from Bulacan and nearby provinces to spend their free time and keep them away from drugs and other illegal activities."


From Left: Father Pablo Legaspi, Bulacan congressman Pedro Pancho, NCFP president and Surigao del Sur representative Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr., Bulacan Chess Federation president Richard Dela Cruz and Dr. Rosario Pimentel, president of Bulacan State University.

World Championship Whinging

A few moments ago, grandmaster Susan Polgar, while observing the (non) events in Elista said, "Unbelievable! This is really sad!" Some 20 minutes after the scheduled start of play, there are still no moves.

Proving once again what I have long believed that the chess world should really abandon the concept of a "World Champion", our two combatants Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov are behaving like a couple of whinging tootsies.

Mig in the Daily Dirt calls this ridiculous fiasco "Bladdergate" and surely there is no more apt a label (I prefer it to Chessbase's "toiletgate"). What is there to be expected but for the two highest exponents of our game embarassing their sport right in front of the entire world?

First, the Bulgarian side (Topalov) accused the opposition, the Russian Kramnik, of excusing himself to the toilet far too frequently. Not, say, 2 or 3 times, as might be reasonably normal - but 50 times in every game! I suppose, after losing the first two games, it was only natural for the Bulgarians to imagine all sorts of fairytales. To remedy the situation, the Bulgarians demanded, among other things, that "When the two players need to go to the bathroom, they should be accompanied by an assistant arbiter."

That was later followed by a meeting of the FIDE Appeals Committee which eventually decided, among other things, that "In the [Bulgarian] appeal there is an exaggeration of the number of times that Mr. Kramnik visited the toilet. Despite there being an unusual number of visits, this is insufficient on its own to come to a conclusion."

Further, FIDE suggested closing "both the toilets in the players' rest rooms and to open another toilet that will be available only to the two players." It was to this that the Russians expressed some unhappiness. This was a portion of their official reply: "With such a decision the WCC Committee is clearly violating both the rules and regulations of the WCC match and the rights of Mr. Kramnik."

And so, here we are. At 3:15PM local time in Elista, various online sources are reporting that Topalov is actually sitting at the board apparently ready to play. While Kramnik is, well, waiting for some damn toilet door to open. Just hilarious! This is the World Championship and these guys are squabbling over toilets!

Ladies and gentlemen - this is chess. And that is how it is at the highest levels of our game.

Mini Checkmate

I know a certain volunteer chess official who drives around from chess event to chess event in a $250,000 Jag. Well, your humble TCG, dear readers, will never drive a $250,000 car but I think I'll happily settle for one of these.


I walked past one of these yesterday and immediately fell in love. You can find out more about this gorgeous beauty here.

Kiwi Still the Jamaican Champ

Now Pablo Williams has actually made it to the mainstream press. He is still calling himself the number one player in Jamaica. Speaking to Canada's National Post, Williams says, "People really like the show...Music draws the crowds."

From canada.com

For Flag and Country

Three Pinoy hopefuls are setting off on an overseas trek in search of glory. National master John-Paul Gomez is heading for the World Juniors Championships in Yerevan, Armenia. Marlon Bernardino quotes Gomez as saying, "For flag and country I will do my very best". Accompanying the 20-year old Gomez is Oliver Dimakiling who will apparently act as Gomez's second.

From Yerevan, the two Filipinos are slated to participate in the Calvia Chess Festival in Spain followed by an appearance at the 2006 Offene Internationale Bayerishe Schuch Meisterschaft in Bad Wiessee, Germany.

Another Pinoy who is on the hunt for his third GM norm is IM Jayson Gonzales. Marlon Bernardino just emailed me to say that Gonzales had already left RP shores last Wednesday to head off for Europe. It looks like Gonzales will hook up with his compatriots in the same two tournaments above. But while Gomez and Dimakiling will be back in RP by Christmas, Gonzales will apparently prolong his European stint and compete in the legendary Hastings event in England.

We pray (at least to that goddess of chess, Caissa) and wish the very best for our Pinoy warriors. That's just so cheesy, isn't it? But hey, we're Pinoys! And we're "OE".