Happy 50th birthday Steven Solomon!

Last weekend Anthony, Steven's son, organised an open tournament in honour of his dads birthday. Since mine fell on the weekend, I was included as well. Thanks Anthony. And thanks for wearing your Doubleroo t-shirt at the prizegiving.

Prizegiving

Steven duly won the tournament with a picket fence score. His fifth round win against Moulthun Ly is very impressive. It is a true attacking masterpiece that deserves a place in Kevin Casey's next edition of  "Australian Chess Brilliancies".

My tournament was less convincing. I did receive my first birthday present for the weekend in the first round from Anthony Solomon. Organising can be distracting and Anthony gave me a piece very early.

I was extraordinarily lucky in the next round where I dropped two pawns cold against Tony Weller. I will show you this amazing swindle as soon as I find my scoresheet.

Third round I got Brodie McClymont. A  nice game right up to when I misplayed a winning ending. That scoresheet is missing too. Later on that evening we had some drinks and snacks followed by a wonderful chess cake and stories of past glories.

I chose to take a bye in the fourth round. My present to myself, not playing chess at 9am. I had a sneaky plan as well. Play an easy opponent in round 5 and Steven for the tournament in round 6.

The first part already nearly derailed my evil scheme. I was paired against Leteisha Simmonds who had been playing well. When I tried to semi-bluff her with 15...b5 she thought for a while and then took both pawns! Lost again...ooops. Luckily for me she got over eager to take all my pieces with 19.b4 allowing tactics. 19. Bf2 instead and it looks to me like I am just a pawn down with misplaced pieces.

The draw for the last round was greeted with great anticipation. Solo was on 5/5 while several mortals, including myself, were on 4. The clash of the birthday boys was the dream pairing for all concerned. It was not to be. The computer paired Steven against Lauchlan Pederson who had just beaten Gene Nakauchi {!!}, Moulthun got Ross Lam while I faced Melbourne IM James Morris. My scheme was undone.

On the bright side, I did manage to beat an IM, something I had not done for quite a while.


The other IM's also won so the final results were

No Name Feder Rtg Loc Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 SOLOMON, Stephen QLD 2428 6 33:W 27:W 14:W 4:W 2:W 8:W 2 LY, Moulthun QLD 2471 5 34:W 20:W 6:W 5:W 1:L 7:W 3 WOHL, Alex QLD 2466 5 25:W 11:W 4:D 0:D 10:W 5:W 4 MCCLYMONT, Brodie QLD 2399 4.5 22:W 16:W 3:D 1:L 17:W 14:W 5 MORRIS, James VIC 2409 4 8:W 10:W 17:W 2:L 13:W 3:L 6 NAKAUCHI, Gene QLD 2276 4 21:W 13:W 2:L 15:W 8:L 26:W 7 LAM, Ross QLD 1599 4 0:D 0:D 12:W 24:W 11:W 2:L 8 PEDERSEN, Lachlan QLD 1390 4 5:L 43:W 28:W 20:W 6:W 1:L 9 CASEY, Kevin QLD 2065 4 40:W 19:L 22:W 16:D 23:D 15:W 10 SIMMONDS, Leteisha QLD 1686 4 38:W 5:L 35:W 25:W 3:L 19:W 11 WELLER, Tony QLD 1712 4 42:W 3:L 40:W 19:W 7:L 21:W 12 LEE, Leon QLD 1262 4 14:L 39:W 7:L 31:W 27:W 20:W 13 HUGHES, Harry QLD 1600 4 43:W 6:L 42:W 37:W 5:L 23:W 14 LESTER, George QLD 2037 3.5 12:W 26:W 1:L 17:D 18:W 4:L 15 SELNES, Hamish QLD 1852 3.5 35:D 29:W 19:W 6:L 16:W 9:L 16 TSAI, Charles QLD 1485 3.5 32:W 4:L 30:W 9:D 15:L 24:W 17 CAVEEZZA, Paul VIC 1482 3.5 39:W 18:W 5:L 14:D 4:L 30:W 18 LOVEJOY, David QLD 1843 3.5 0:W 17:L 0:D 36:W 14:L 34:W 19 CERVANJAK, Mark QLD 1447 3 41:W 9:W 15:L 11:L 36:W 10:L 20 ESMALI, Ali QLD 1686 3 36:W 2:L 21:W 8:L 40:W 12:L 21 LIANG, Raymond QLD 1314 3 6:L 44:W 20:L 0:W 28:W 11:L 22 MCGREGOR, Craig QLD 1351 3 4:L 32:W 9:L 0:D 0:D 36:W 23 CIGELJ, David QLD 1231 3 0:D 46:W 37:D 0:D 9:D 13:L 24 MCKEE, Callum QLD 1000 3 27:L 33:W 46:W 7:L 25:W 16:L 25 SOLOMON, Anthony QLD 1423 3 3:L 38:W 31:W 10:L 24:L 37:W 26 HAMILTON, Don QLD 1537 3 44:W 14:L 45:W 0:D 0:D 6:L 27 STOKES, Mark QLD 1597 3 24:W 1:L 36:L 42:W 12:L 39:W 28 D'ARCY, Michael QLD 1782 3 0:D 0:D 8:L 35:W 21:L 38:W 29 MAGUIRE, Tom QLD 1667 3 37:L 15:L 0:D 44:W 38:D 35:W 30 WANG, Jason QLD 1154 2.5 0:D 31:D 16:L 34:D 37:W 17:L 31 YANG, Thomas QLD 711 2.5 0:D 30:D 25:L 12:L 42:D 44:W 32 SLATER-JONES, Henry QLD 916 2.5 16:L 22:L 33:L 0:D 46:W 42:W 33 POMERENKE, Zachary QLD 1408 2.5 1:L 24:L 32:W 38:D 35:L 43:W 34 ZHONG, Tony QLD 1446 2.5 2:L 36:L 44:W 30:D 43:W 18:L 35 MILLS, Gareth QLD 1246 2 15:D 37:D 10:L 28:L 33:W 29:L 36 MILLS, Ross QLD 1220 2 20:L 34:W 27:W 18:L 19:L 22:L 37 RANDALL, David QLD 1059 2 29:W 35:D 23:D 13:L 30:L 25:L 38 BARGO, Peter-John QLD 1098 2 10:L 25:L 39:W 33:D 29:D 28:L 39 MANUNEEDHI, Kabilan QLD 877 2 17:L 12:L 38:L 46:W 41:W 27:L 40 BUCIU, Avram QLD 1274 2 9:L 41:W 11:L 45:W 20:L 0: 41 SOLOMON, Michael QLD 700 2 19:L 40:L 43:L 0:W 39:L 46:W 42 KUYPERS, Ron QLD 1225 1.5 11:L 47:W 13:L 27:L 31:D 32:L 43 OSTAPENKO, Michael QLD 1045 1.5 13:L 8:L 41:W 0:D 34:L 33:L 44 SOLOMON, Rachael QLD 946 1 26:L 21:L 34:L 29:L 0:W 31:L 45 SOLOMON, John QLD 1000 1 0:D 0:D 26:L 40:L 0: 0: 46 ROGERS, Jim QLD 886 .5 0:D 23:L 24:L 39:L 32:L 41:L 47 SOLOMON, Janeen QLD 1400 .5 0: 42:L 0:D 0: 0: 0:


A great tournament, the first ever to feature all 6 Solomons, the best venue I have seen for a while and a great Saturday night party. Jim Richie did a very 
professional job as DOP and Anthony has shown himself to be a great organiser.

Congrats again Steven for also making 50 not out and for playing such a nice
game.

Now, I'm off to look for those two missing scoresheets...