Gold Coast Junior Masters + OCC + Fiji Open.

GOLD COAST JUNIOR MASTERS

As promised last post I went to the Junior Masters last weekend at Emmanuel College . This school provided excellent facilities for the event and several other events are to be held there in future for example the Gold Coast Active Championship on Sunday the 25th of March. Click on the link for the entry form.

Getting back to the tournament, apart from the Masters there was also an open on Sunday which was won convincingly by Jason Wang with 9/9!

The masters was played at a slower time-control over two days and ended in a tie between Raymond Liang and Oliver McCarthy with 6/7. Three of my students were playing. Kevin Song finished the tournament with a win over the top seed Matthew Piper with black and giving more than 400 Elo points head start!(4.5/7) =3rd.  David Liu who is currently rated  352 (!!) won his last three games finishing on a fantastic 4/7.

My third student missed the first two games due to basketball and left the event early probably due to other commitments scoring only one point. Blame his coach :-)

The Junior open.

It was a  pleasant surprise for me to see my former student GM David Smerdon on the weekend handing out prizes. We left independently but a few hours later met again accidentally on Burleigh Heads Beach. Great minds think alike :-) We went for a few beers at the Surf Life-saving Club with a few other chess-playing friends and caught up. David mentioned the Olympiad and asked if I was applying. I was unaware that the ACF had asked for applications as I had received no notification. He hadn't either but a friend of his who reads "Chesschat" had told him. It seems that this is the official organ of the ACF these days. I "suscribed" (try subscribe)  again for the newsletter, maybe this time.

Anyway while browsing the "in" chess site I happened upon a little discussion about the Oceanic Chess Confederation. It seems that there is an organisation....or maybe there isn't, you figure it out. Just in case you couldn't be bothered I have selected a few snippets for you.

another SHITE FITE in OZ

Dennis Jessop @ Brian Jones

I have done all that I can do to point out to you what the deficiencies in the OCC are. You have rejected my observations out-of-hand. If that is your attitude, to hell with you. There can be no resolution of this matter if you maintain an intransigent, uniformed and pig headed attitude. Some attempt to win friends rather than alienate potential supporters would reveal your human side, though I appreciate that subtlety and a sense of humour are not your strongest points.

IM Robert Jamieson @ Brian Jones

It is clear from the above, and this discussion in general, that Mr.Jones has little understanding of how to set up and run an organisation properly and, as such, is clearly ideally qualified to hold a high FIDE post.

I learnt many years ago that the best option was to avoid any dealings with Mr.Jones.

Brian Jones @ ACF & and retired chessplayers.

I am just an unpaid volunteer doing a job that few chess players want to do because of the shit they receive from the ACF Executive and from retired chess players who are too sick, lame or lazy to do the job themselves!

FIJI OPEN

While the executive of the ACF and the president of the Oceanic Chess Confederation are engaging in highly constructive discussions which are undoubtedly keeping them from doing something about the ACF website, one Oceanic nation is doing something that is of use to chess-players.  From the 5-12 of May they are holding an International tournament! Interested? Want to know more? Easy, just go to the Fiji Chess Federation Website! Yes, they have one, we don't. It is easy on the eye, full of useful information and up to date. Perhaps the Australian Chess Federation can take a Junket to Fiji to learn from the masters :D

About Queensland

Queensland Chess

I would like to share an email with you that I received from CAQ president Mark Stokes. After many years the Chess Association of Queensland is on the move again.

Hi Alex

          Bill Powell certainly did a fantastic job promoting Chess in Qld. His Calendar had 12 Open Events.

          The 2012  CAQ Calendar has 11 Open Events on it.

Feb 19 Bill Powell Open.

April 6 Qld Open

May 5 Peninsula Open Redcliffe

June 23 Gold Coast Open

Aug 11 Mackay Open

Aug 18 Bundaberg Open

Aug 25 Maryborough Open

Sept 8 Darling Downs Open

Sept 22 Nell Van Der Graff Classic  Gold Coast

Oct 6 Wendy Terry Memorial Open Redcliffe

Nov 24 Caloundra Open

The Queensland Championship, with $1000 for first, and with regional champions included, will be on during the new Queens Birthday Long Week-End at Sherwood in Brisbane.

Cheers   Mark C Stokes

                                                 Queensland Elections

In other Queensland news, last week our State elections got announced. I have not been paying attention to Australian, much less Queensland politics for a decade but the scene seems familiar. Our left leaning incumbents, the Labour party, led by Anna Bligh, has presided over several instances of mind-blowing incompetence the funniest of which a Clever Kiwi claiming to be a Tahitian Prince (no alarm bells yet?) scammed the health service for 16 million.

Her opponent is  Cambell Newman , the leader of the opposition party, the LNP (liberal national party). He was until recently the Lord Major of Brisbane. He has been in the news a lot recently in connection with an interesting Land deal the details of wihich also beggar belief.

Eerily similar to US elections a lot of the discussion is centred on issues like Gay marriage . Otherwise each is promising public funds to different interest groups. 

Democracy at work. We have a choice between half-wits and crooks like everywhere else but somehow it doesn't seem so bad here. Voting is compulsory so I will have to waste my vote on "neither of the above".

Gina & Donald

On the home front two Goats have joined the household. Gina is training to become a table-dancer and Donald

a hedge-trimmer? Goats like to climb on things...anything in fact. They also eat anything. Plants, grass, ropes, clothing, fingers if not removed rapidly etc.

That's all for today folks. Tomorrow a tournament in on on the Gold Coast but unfortunately I am about 30 years too old to play. Instead I will put on my journalist hat and bring you a report. Have a nice day :-)

Bill Powell Lives!

When I saw that the Coolum open tournament was named the " Bill Powell Open" I assumed my old mate had passed away. The "news" saddened me and memories of good times flooded my brain. I met Bill in the early nineties when I first went to play in the Coolum open and other tournaments in Queensland. Back then there were many, well organised with large prize funds and large fields. Bill sought out and obtained sponsorship, contacted the press for publicity and contacted top players to attract them to the tournaments. Amongst the many things Bill did for chess was creating the Australian chess directory. In it were the contact details of every chess club in Australasia that Bill could find as well as tournament listings, office bearers of state associations, chess correspondents and any other relevant information.

Here for example was a listing of the tournaments in Queensland in 1994. For you young people keep in mind that all this was done without a computer! A lot of work was involved especially since many people refused to share information for one reason or another.  

Compare this to our current calendar if you can find it. Let me give you the link to the Chess Association of Queensland and see if you can. Enough complaining, at least its better than the ACF website but that is not a high bar to jump over.

So this weekend I drove up to have a look and who do I see? Bill Powell, large as life. A wave of joy swept over me and before thinking I blurted out "Bill, you're alive!" He was glad to see me too and immediately invited me to spend the night at his place. This is an offer one cannot refuse especially since one is guaranteed a feed by his lovely wife Maxine. As it turns out Bill runs the Coolum Perigian RSL club where the tournament is held.

On Sunday Bill took me for a drive around Coolum for a bit of sightseeing while the rounds were on. If you have never been to the Sunshine Coast this is what you are missing out on.

Coolum beach

The un-patrolled beaches south of Coolum. Apparently people who dislike swimming garments can frolic here without fear of repercussions.

Stumers creek, a child and dog friendly are near the venue.

From Lows lookout.

The tournament was a turkey shoot. GM Roland Schmaltz who has been living in Brisbane for 7 years won with a picket fence 6/6. At the prizegiving he bade us all farewell as he is returning to Germany soon. This is a shame because we could use a strong GM around to encourage our juniors. Unfortunately the chess community has done nothing to "exploit" this natural resource. As unbelievable as it sounds we have people teaching children who don't know the en-passant rule and yet Roland currently has one (!!) student. Anyway, back to the tournament.

Roland playing Gold coast talent Jonas Muller who put up a good fight.

Second was Denis Ovcina, a player unknown to me. I saw him outplay Steven Solomon in the last round and steadily grind him down in an ending. Then like in many of Stevens games, a higher power intervened and Steven drew despite being a rook down.  Jonas finished equal third on 4.5 with a group of people including Steven and another 2 Gold coast Juniors, Gene Nakauchi and Martin Jack.

Gene v Daniel Lapitan in front and John Harris playing white against author Kevin Casey in the back. 

I did play some chess on the weekend. Saturday night they had a blitz tournament where I tied with Steven Solomon for 1st. Woohoo!

The tournament is now run by a capable young man by the name of Jeff Dyer. He is well supported by Bill and constantly asking how he can do things better. Although he has big shoes to fill I am sure he will bring chess back to prominence on the Sunshine coast. As for Bill, now we have exchanged numbers I am sure I will be visiting beautiful Coolum beach more often. 

The next event on the Sunshine coast I am aware of is in November 24-25 in Caloundra. The website is here. No details yet so let me know when it's done guys. Don't measure your performance by the ACF. 

Armenians in Wonderland

Oz is indeed a land of wonder. Standing on the corner in Broadbeach we had the choice of several good restaurants, a Japanese, a Thai, an Italian but we chose an Indian, the Saffron. If Australia survives 2012 we will be like Noah's Ark. A taste of every culture on Earth. 

left to right:  my arm, Peter Happy, David Esmonde, Annette Caoili, Levon Aronian, 3/4 of Sergei Movsesian.

It was at the Saffron that we saw off our Armenian friends Sergei and Lev. Noticing the lack of Armenian restaurants in Australia they are now going to an undisclosed location to open one up.

Lev also used the opportunity to sharpen his game by training with Gold Coast IM Peter Happy. Without a chess clock you say? Au contraire mon ami! If you look closely you will see a mobile phone behind the glass of water. If you have an Android phone you can simply download the Social Chess app and blitz away.

Our training methods here are unique. Pineapple, beach and uneven surface. Once you can play on rocks a table is a piece of cake.

I was feeling "artistically inspired" on this day. While local Guru Justin was updating Peter on the "Rocky Cove Gambit" I thought I'd take some pics from the surf. Unfortunately I forgot to heed the words of my favourite song from my currently favourite band "Never turn your back on the Sea"

Next week I'll tell you if Samsung mobiles are salt-water resistant.

If you too want to visit Whites beach just take the Broken Head Rd, turn right at the 7 mile beach sign and park at one of the un-signposted parking spots on the dirt road, take the track that looks like it leads nowhere and hope its the right one. Or if you know Justin ask him.

Whites beach was however only our second swim of the day. Our first was at Lake Ainsworth near Lennox Heads. Lennox markets are nestled between the beach and the lake. While we were swimming a busker was playing Spanish guitar in the background. Magic.

We also saw someone taller than Peter :)

Leaving the house is not a problem. When you have Giant Kookaburras guarding your house you've got nothing to worry about. That is not a miniature tractor!

And at night the specially trained Guard-roos look after the house. Here an adult is training a Joey.

That's all from the wonderful land of OZ for today.

 If you are in the area and would like to play a Chess tournament there is one in Coolum this weekend. Info here

I will not play mainly because titled players are not "encouraged" but might go as a journalist.

Toodles :)

Fairy tale ending Short-circuited

Last year about this time, after the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival I posted a rant about the Australasian Chess Crisis which touched on women's chess. A lively debate followed in the comments section where I made the following prediction.

"Anyway the young girls playing top level chess are getting better and better now and soon our conversation here will seem antiquated. In the next few years when Ho Yifan and her contemporaries rip the arms and legs off their male colleagues, girls will be inspired to do the same".

                                                         Never miss an opportunity to gloat!

I must admit however that I never expected that my "prophecy" would come true less than a year later. Women's World Chess Champion Hou Yifan has tied for first in the 10th Tradewise, Queens Diamond Jubilee, Gibraltar Masters Open.

Hou Yifan got to 8 points out of 10 first and then had to wait to see if anyone could catch her and force a 

play-off for the title. Nigel Short climbed that mountain by beating the higher rated Krishnan Sasikiran with black. He then ruined the script by winning the two game rapid play-off.

GM Simon Williams added that extra touch with his Video commentary. Many players joined him every day to show their games or comment on games still in progress. There are many hours of the best, most entertaining chess lessons you will ever get and all for free. I hope you leave it up there a while, and yes, I am talking to you Stewart Conquest!

Long time readers will remember this post and I hope you remembered it for Nana  Dzagnidze's masterpiece. She started like a rocket but then got slowed down a little by the 2700 gauntlet she had to face.

Rd.	Bo.	SNo		Name	Rtg	FED	Pts.	Res.
1	41	110	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	2280	IND	6.0	w ½
2	35	116		Chapman Terry P D	2253	ENG	5.0	s 1
3	24	181		Compton Alistair	2051	NZL	4.5	w 1
4	11	26	GM	Fier Alexandr	2603	BRA	5.5	s 1
5	4	10	GM	Movsesian Sergei	2700	ARM	7.0	w 1
6	2	11	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2700	IND	7.0	w ½
7	4	15	GM	Short Nigel D	2677	ENG	8.0	s ½
8	6	1	GM	Svidler Peter	2749	RUS	7.0	w 0
9	12	12	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	2699	FRA	6.0	s ½
10	12	13	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	2683	ARM	7.0	w 0

Look at what she did to this poor unsuspecting 2600 GM.

Lastly I must mention my celebrity guest ranter from the aforementioned post, Arianne Caoili who just won the Tata steel Tienkampen 2B round robin. Unfortunately I cannot find her games on the site, which btw could learn something from Gibraltar, and she has not sent me the pgns yet as requested so I cannot show you any games.


                              It seems all three ladies have gotten the "Doubleroo bump" Have a nice weekend!

R.I.P Phillip John Esmonde 26 August 1929 - 25 January 2012

I first met Phil in 1993. His son David was then president of the Gold Coast Chess Club and was mainly responsible for my move from Adelaide to the Gold Coast. They were then living in Paradise  Point and I visited frequently in those days. 

Phil with his sisters Kathleen and Lorraine

I clearly remember Phil inviting me in whether David was home or not, offered me a beer and we would chat even if the football was on. Only as I got to know him better did I realize what a sacrifice that was. He loved his footy and even umpired three Premierships.

As a faithful supporter of the Brisbane Lions he was allowed to drink out of the 2001 AFL Premiership cup 

He got several prizes for fairest and best Umpire. 

He passed away peacefully last Wednesday evening at the age of 82. Today his family and friends met to say goodbye. Below is a short Video that was played at the Funeral. The photos start after the first song so please be patient. You will be rewarded by an impression of the life of a real Australian from another era.

I feel privileged to have known you Phil and thankful for the things you taught me by example. One of those things is that you can say a lot with few words. I'll have to put that into practice one day :) Where ever you are now there is one thing I am sure of. Whoever is there is glad of your company.

Australia Day

The last week has been a bit busy, what with Wijk aan Zee  going on not to mention Queenstown.

 Every three years this little New Zealand city has hosted the southern Hemisphere's best Open tournament. Darryl Johansen has surprised everyone including himself with another spectacular performance.

 Meanwhile Levon Aronian has been blowing away the opposition in Holland. Watch him explain his game against Anish Giri here. This is must see entertainment and the fact that it takes place in the middle of the night is unfortunate but.... 

Luckily I am doing a Small Business course in the mornings so I can catch up on much needed sleep then. We have had torrential  rain this last week and many parts of Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales have had to be evacuated. 

After many days of virtually uninterrupted rainfall today the sun shone through. Just in time for Australia Day.

Here are a few pictures of the aftermath  of mother nature's fury in our area. Tomorrow the rains are said to continue.

   

Fellow Northern rivers chess player Justin Adams allowed me to post this photo. He has a brand new lake on his property.

Brunswick river is a bit higher than usual.

Lots of firewood has been washed ashore. Yay! Beach party!

These birds usually feed elsewhere. Perhaps the river washed some earthworms onto the beach?

Really? 

A Sand-crab busily trying to make a home.