2009 Canterbury Summer Swiss

The 2009 Canterbury Summer Swiss was held at the Box Hill Chess Club (Melbourne) from the 27th-29th of December. It was a 7-round swiss tournament, which was both ACF and FIDE-rated. Top seed was Samuel Chow (2328).

Here are the final results:

1st CM Max Illingworth (2264) on 6/7
2nd-4th Igor Dyment (2125), Domagoj Dragicevic (2137) and Leon Kempen (1867) on 5.5/7

Click here to see the final crosstable to the 2009 Canterbury Summer Swiss.

The games from the ASTC will be up soon, the webmaster is still awaiting to receive the game file. While you're waiting, here is an ASTC tournament report by Kerry Lyall and Charles Zworestine.

Next tournament to be reported on: 2009/2010 Australian Championships

2009 Australian Schools Teams Championships

The 2009 Australian Schools Teams Championships was held in Scotch College, Melbourne, on the 5th and 6th of December. The highly populated tournament was organised by Kerry Lyall and arbitered by Dr Charles Zworestine.

Here are the final results:

Secondary Open
1st Scotch College VIC (19/20)
2nd North Sydney Boys High NSW (13/20)
3rd Kings Christian College QLD (12.5/20)

Winning team in board order: Zhigen Lin (2146), Eugene Schön (2171), Derek Yu (2009), Nicholas Liu (1847), Richard Owen (unr)

Secondary Girls
1st Somerset College QLD (16/20)
2nd Presbyterian Ladies College VIC (15/20)
3rd Radford College ACT (12/20)

Primary Open
1st Mount View VIC (18/20)
2nd Kings QLD (12.5/20)
3rd Carlingford West NSW (9.5/20)

Primary Girls
1st Somerville House QLD (18/20)
2nd Curtin ACT (15/20)
3rd Presbyterian Ladies College VIC (11/20)

Click here for the final results to the 2009 Australian Schools Teams Championships.

The games from the tournament will be available in due course on the website.

2009 Victorian Blitz Chess Championship

The 2009 Victorian Blitz Chess Championship was played on the 29th of November. The tournament was held at Box Hill Chess Club.

Here are the final standings:

1st-2nd IM Igor Goldenberg (2384), IM Leonid Sandler (2228) with 9.5/11
3rd FM Bobby Cheng (2130, recent World U12 Chess Champion) with 8.5/11

Click here for the full standings to the 2009 Victorian Blitz Chess Championship.

2009 World Youth Chess Championships

The 2009 World Youth Chess Championships was held in Antalya/Turkey from the 11th -23rd of November. We had two very notable top placings. In the U8, the top seed was Candidate Master Jorian Jared Acosta Cubides (2015). In the U12, the top seed was untitled Suri Vaibhav (2344).

Here are the final results for the under 12:
1st FM Bobby Cheng (2202) with 9/11 (Under 12 World Champion)
2nd-4th FM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2079), Richard Wang (2044) and David Paravyan (2021) with 8.5/11

Here are the final results for the under 8:
1st Aryan Gholami (1950) with 9/11
2nd-5th Tanuj Vasudeva, Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei (1678), Anton Smirnov (1853), Abdulla Azaroglu Qadimbayli with 8.5/11

Click here to see other results.

2009 Victorian Championships

The 2009 Victorian Championships was played from October 10 - November 15, 2009. It was played in a variety of different venues around Melbourne. Top seed was GM Darryl Johansen (2477).

Here are the final results:

1st GM Darryl Johansen on 9/11
2nd IM-elect James Morris (2194) on 8/11
3rd/4th FM Eddy Levi (2242) and Wang-Sheng Lee (2254) on 7/11

Next tournament to be reported on: 2009 World Youth Chess Championships

Australia's Four Grandmasters

Today, I want to take a brief look at Australia's GMs. In Australia, GMs are scarce and to become one, people often need to go to other continents and then return. Currently, the top 4 positions in Australia are occupied by our 4 GMs. Let's go through them.

1. Zhao, Zong-Yuan (2572)

Born in Beijing in 1986, Zhao moved to Australia while still very young. Recently, his rating has skyrocketed allowing him to take the number 1 position in Australia. He earned his GM title in 2008. Peak rating: 2583

2. Rogers, Ian (2545)

Ian Rogers has a legendary reputation. Born in Hobart in 1960, he was Australia's highest rated player for over twenty years, and represented Australia at fourteen chess olympiads (twelve of them on first board). He earned his GM title in 1985. In recent times, his peak rating was 2594 (in 2005). Rogers retired in 2007.

Special Note: Rogers coached me at a U16 World Youth Olympiad.

3. Smerdon, David (2525)

Born in Brisbane in 1984, Smerdon is also one of our new GMs. He is currently ranked 582 in the world (of active players). He earned his GM title in 2009. Peak rating: 2525

4. Johansen, Darryl Keith (2474)

Born in Melbourne in 1959, Johansen won the Australian Chess Championship a record five times (in 1984, 1988, 1990, 2000, and 2002). He has also represented Australia at twelve Chess Olympiads. Discounting Australian-born American Walter Browne, Johansen is Australia's second grandmaster. He earned his GM title in 1995. Peak rating: 2531

Special Note: Johansen once helped take down a door I was trapped behind. This happened in Georgia at a World Youth tournament.

(All ratings are FIDE)

Coming Australian Grand Prix Events

The following are events that are coming soon. These events are part of the 2009 Yulgilbar-Think Big Grand Prix, a large chess competition with prizes (all strong events are normally part of the grand prix).

		Vikings Weekender	ACT	Canberra	28/11/09	29/11/09	1
		Christmas Open	WA	Perth	05/12/09	06/12/09	1
		MCC Christmas Weekender	VIC	Melbourne	19/12/09	20/12/09	1
		Canterbury Summer Swiss	VIC	Canterbury	27/12/09	29/12/09	2

Next tournament to be reported on: 2009 Victorian Championship

2009 Melbourne Chess Club Cup Weekender

Sadly, this year there was no Elwood tournament, but we were treated to the 2009 Melbourne Chess Club Cup Weekender instead. The tournament was 9 rounds from 30th of October - 3rd of November. The tournament was FIDE rated, presumably with norm opportunities. The top seed was IM-elect Igor Goldenberg (2405).

Here are the results:
1st FM Erik Teichmann (2335) with 7/9
2nd-3rd IM-elect James Morris (2194), IM Guy West (2356) with 6.5/9

2009 Australian Young Masters

The 2009 Australian Young Masters and several accompanying tournaments were held at Rockdale (Sydney) from the 6-11th of October.

Here are the final results:

Young Masters
1st Andrew Brown (1974) 7.5/9
2nd Blair Mandla (2095) 6/9
3rd Gene Nakauchi (2034) 5.5/9

Junior Masters
1st Sally Yu (1716) 7.5/9
2nd-4th Nicholas Deen-Cowell (1564), Alistair Cameron (1722), Kevin Tan (1639) 5.5/9

Girls Masters
1st Alana Chibnall (1411) 7.5/9
2nd-3rd Sophie Eustace (1489), Megan Setiabudi (1347) 6.5/9

2009 Surfers Paradise Open

The 2009 Surfers Paradise Open was held from the 26-27th of September. It was a category 5 Grand Prix event. A large attraction was Latvian Super Grandmaster Alexei Shirov (2730), attending to play a simul. The turnout was strong with top seed being GM David Smerdon (2535).

Here are the results:
1st Moulthun Ly (2308) with 5/6
2nd-7th Phachara Wongwichit (2055), GM David Smerdon, IM Leonid Sandler (2240), Yi Liu (1835), Bruce Williams (1884) and Jonas Müller (1929) with 4/6

Next event to be reported on: 2009 Australian Young Masters

Chess Openings Videos

I have created a new YouTube series on chess openings. Currently three videos - Sicilian, King's Indian and Caro-Kann. More on the way!

2009 Nell Van De Graaff Classic

The 2009 Nell Van De Graaff Classic was a Class 3 Grand Prix event held at the Gardiner Chess Centre from the 19-20th of September. Top seed was IM Stephen Solomon (2370).

Here are the results:

1st IM Stephen Solomon with 5.5/6
2nd-4th Josu Tornay (2107), Phachara Wongwichit (2055) and FM Gene Nakauchi (2034) with 5/6

Click here for the full standings to the 2009 Nell Van De Graaff Classic.

2009 CV Secondary Schools Championship Finals

The 2009 CV Secondary Schools Championship Finals (or the 2009 Chess Victoria Schools Finals) was held at Box Hill Chess Club on the 10th of September. The turnout was very strong. Arbiter and organiser IM Leonid Sandler said that 90% of Victoria's best juniors were in attendance. Many of the strongest juniors are hardly playing since they have to concentrate on their studies and this tournament is one of the few in which most of them appear out of the woodwork.

Here are the final results:
1st Scotch College 22.5/28
2nd Balwyn High 20.5/28
3rd Melbourne High 18/28

Individual standings:
1st-2nd Eugene Schön (2173), Zhigen Lin (2146) with 6.5/7
3rd-4th Christopher Wallis (2234), Farn Ling Khung (1143) with 5.5/7

The Scotch College team comprised of Eugene Schön, Zhigen Lin, Derek Yu (2009), Nicholas Liu (1706) and Richard Owen.

Scotch College will now be advancing onto the nationals, which is being held at Melbourne this year.

Box Hill Chess Club September Allegro

The 2009 Box Hill Chess Club September Allegro was held at BHCC in Melbourne on the 4th of September. It was a strong turnout, especially for an allegro tournament. Christopher Wallis (2159), the top seed, won the event with 5/5.

Click here to see the final standings for the 2009 Box Hill Chess Club September Allegro.

Coming Australian Grand Prix Events

The following are events that are coming soon. These events are part of the 2009 Yulgilbar-Think Big Grand Prix, a large chess competition with prizes (all strong events are normally part of the grand prix).

		Hobart Weekender	TAS	Hobart	15/08/09	16/08/09	1
		North Queensland Open	QLD	Townsville	15/08/09	16/08/09	1
		Blayney Open	NSW	Blayney	12/09/09	13/09/09	2
		Nell Van De Graaff Classic	QLD	Gold Coast	19/09/09	20/09/09	3
		MCC Memorial Weekender	VIC	Melbourne	19/09/09	20/09/09	1
		Bendigo Surfers Paradise Open	QLD	Surfers Paradise	26/09/09	27/09/09	5
		Ryde-Eastwood Open	NSW	Sydney	03/10/09	05/10/09	4
		The Croydon Anand	VIC	Melbourne	03/10/09	04/10/09	1
		Labour Day Weekend	SA	Adelaide	03/10/09	04/10/09	1
		Willetton Open	WA	Perth	10/10/09	11/10/09	1
		Wendy Terry Memorial	QLD	Brisbane	10/10/09	11/10/09	1
		Burnie Shines Weekender	TAS	Burnie	24/10/09	25/10/09	1
		Melbourne Cup Weekender	VIC	Melbourne	30/10/09	03/11/09	5
		Gosford Open	NSW	Gosford	31/10/09	01/11/09	1

Beating the International Masters

I have started a new YouTube series called Beating the International Masters. This is a continuation of my earlier series Beating the Grandmasters. In the first video, I show a game where I play against International Master Mirko Rujevic.

2009 Geelong Open

The 2009 Geelong Open was a class 2 Australian Grand Prix tournament held from the 18-19th of July. It was held in the Court House Building. The top seed was IM Leonid Sandler (2228).

Here are the final results:
1st-2nd IM Leonid Sandler, (soon to be FM) Bobby Cheng (2130) on 5/6
3rd-4th Laurence Matheson (1989), Milenko Lojanica (1974) on 4.5/6

Beating the Grandmasters

I have come up with a new YouTube Chess Series called Beating the Grandmasters. Here is a preview.

Coming Australian Grand Prix Events

I apologise that I haven't had much of a chance to give updates on coming events. The following are events that are coming soon. These events are part of the 2009 Yulgilbar-Think Big Grand Prix, a large chess competition with prizes (all strong events are normally part of the grand prix).

		ANU Open	ACT	Canberra	25/07/09	26/07/09	4
		ANU U1600	ACT	Canberra	25/07/09	26/07/09	4
		Bundaberg Open	QLD	Bundaberg	01/08/09	02/08/09	2
		Hobart Weekender	TAS	Hobart	15/08/09	16/08/09	1
		North Queensland Open	QLD	Townsville	15/08/09	16/08/09	1
		Blayney Open	NSW	Blayney	12/09/09	13/09/09	2
		Nell Van De Graaff Classic	QLD	Gold Coast	19/09/09	20/09/09	3
		MCC Memorial Weekender	VIC	Melbourne	19/09/09	20/09/09	1
		Bendigo Surfers Paradise Open	QLD	Surfers Paradise	26/09/09	27/09/09	5

2009 Freytag Checkmate Open

The 2009 Freytag Checkmate Open was held at Rostrevor College in Adelaide from the 4-5th of July. There was a strong turnout of 40 players with top seed being IM (GM next rating period) David Smerdon (2526). This was a class 5 Grand Prix event.

Here are the final results:
1st David Smerdon (2526) on 6/7
2nd FM (IM next rating period) James Morris (2089) on 5.5/7
3rd-5th Trevor Tao (2397), Yi Yuan (2199) and GM Darryl Johansen (2459) on 5/7

Click here to see the final crosstable for the 2009 Freytag Checkmate Open.

2009 Victorian Junior Chess Championship

The 2009 Victorian Junior Chess Championship was held at Box Hill Chess Club (Melbourne) from the 27th of June to the 2nd of July. There were two sections, the under 12 and the under 18. The top seed was Bobby Cheng (2130).

Here are the final results to the under 18:
1st Jason Tang (1838) on 8.5/9, and winning the title of Victorian Junior Champion
2nd Bobby Cheng on 7.5/9
3rd-4th Thomas Feng (1524) and Jonathan Tang (1291) on 6.5/9

The under 12 was won by Ari Dale (1001), Joshua Devarajh (673), Kyle Gibson (1222) and Anurag Sannidhanam (1516) with 6/7. Ari Dale won the under 12 title on countback.

Click here to see the final cross table for the 2009 Victorian Junior Chess Championship.

Click here to see the final cross table for the 2009 Under 12 Victorian Junior Chess Championship.

2009 Gold Coast Open

The 2009 Gold Coast Open was played from the 27-28th of June. It was held at the Outrigger Twin Towns Resort in Tweed Heads (same as the Oceania Zonal from two posts before). The top seed was GM Gawain Jones (2560).

Here are the final results:
1st GM Gawain Jones with 6/7
2nd-5th In countback order, Puchen Wang (2361), David Smerdon (2526), Stephen Solomon (2379) and Max Illingworth (2190) with 5.5/7

Click here to see the final crosstable for the 2009 Gold Coast Open.

2009 Box Hill Club Championship

The 2009 Box Hill Club Championship was a 9-round tournament from the 24th of April to the 26th of June, held at Box Hill Chess Club. The top seed was Douglas Hamilton (2144). Laurence Matheson (1926) comfortably led the tournament from start to finish.

Here are the final results:
1st Laurence Matheson with 8/9
2nd-3rd Bobby Cheng (2133) and Jason Tang (1808) with 7/9

Click here to see the final crosstable for the 2009 Box Hill Club Championship.

2009 Oceania Zonal

The 2009 Oceania Zonal was held at Tweed Heads, Gold Coast (Outrigger Twin Towns Resort) from the 20-26th of June. It was a strong tournament with a whole range of titled players. The top seed was GM Zong-Yuan Zhao (2583).

Here are the final results:
1st IM and soon-to-be GM David Smerdon (2489) with 7.5/9
2nd-7th (in countback order) FM James Morris (2114), GM Zong-Yuan Zhao, FM Igor Bjelobrk (2332), IM Stephen Solomon (2455), Bobby Cheng (2103) and Michael Steadman (2262) with 6.5/9

This zonal tournament gives out official chess titles. It is worthy to note that FM James Morris achieved the IM title, while Bobby Cheng and Michael Steadman both received FM titles.

In the female tournament, there were 18 players with the highest seed being IM Irina Berezina (2252).

Here are the final results:
1st WIM Arianne Caoili (2172) with 8/9
2nd IM Irina Berezina with 7/9
3rd WFM Sue Maroroa with 6/9

I'm not too sure about this, but I think Sue Maroroa receives the WIM title, while Vaness Reid (1837) and Sarah Anton (1718) both get WFM titles.

Click here to see the final crosstable for the 2009 Oceania Zonal Open tournament.

Click here to see the final crosstable for the 2009 Oceania Zonal Womens tournament.

2009 CV Secondary Schools Chess Championship - Balwyn Cup

The 2009 Balwyn Cup, part of the CV Secondary Schools Chess Championship, was held at Balwyn High School. A whole flurry of secondary schools attended. It was a 7-round tournament. Teams consist of 5 players, where players cannot play against teammates but can still play against players from other teams from the same school. In the end, the score for the team is determined by adding the number of points of the 4 best performers.

Balwyn High led the tournament almost all the way. However, with a spectacular last round, Scotch College slipped ahead to win the tournament.

Here are the final results:
1st Scotch College
2nd Balwyn High
3rd Brighton Grammar

The Scotch College 1st team comprised of Derek Yu (1838), Eugene Schön (2136), Zhigen Lin (2200), Richard Owen and Nicholas Liu (1583).

2009 Victorian Open

The 2009 Victorian Open had a great turnout of 94 players. It was held at Box Hill Chess Club (Melbourne) from the 6th-8th of June. The top seed was GM Gawain Jones (2560). This tournament has been registered as a Class 4 Grand Prix tournament, improving on last year.

Here are the final results:
1st-2nd IM Mirko Rujevic (2223, and winner on countback) and FM Erik Teichmann (2296) on 6/7
3rd-7th Domagoj Dragicevic (2166), GM Gawain Jones, IM Stephen Solomon (2379), IM Igor Goldenberg (2384) and IM Guy West (2292) on 5.5/7

2009 Anzac Day Weekender

The 2009 Anzac Day Weekender was held at Melbourne Chess Club on the Anzac weekend (25-26 of April). There was a strong tournament of 22 players. The top seed was GM Gawain Jones (2551). Here are the results:

1st-2nd GM Gawain Jones, IM David Smerdon (2520) 4.5/5
3rd Eugene Schön (2094)

Latest Chess Promo for the NBA on TNT

The NBA has recently come out with an interesting chess video. What has this got to do with Australian chess? Not much, sorry.

2009 Sydney International Open Chess Tournament

The 2009 Sydney International Open chess tournament was held from the 15-19th of April at the Parramatta Town Hall in Sydney, NSW. The turnout was good and the field included 8 GMs. The top seed was Australian's own GM Zong-Yuan Zhao (2583), who was an IM (!) at this time last year and actually came equal 1st in the 2008 SIO. Victorian GM Darryl Johansen had a marvellous performance in this tournament, leading it all the way to the finish.

Here are the results for the Sydney International Open:
1st-4th GM Darryl Johansen (2452, highest countback), IM George Xie (2402), GM Abhijit Kunte (2513) and GM Gawain Jones (2550), all with 7/9.

Click here to see the final crosstable for the 2009 Sydney International Open.

The Sydney International Open has a sister tournament, the Sydney International Challengers for under 2000 players. It was won by Victorian player Colin B Savage (1999) with 8.5/9.

Click here to see the final crosstable for the 2009 Sydney International Challengers.

Click here to download the PGN from the 2009 Sydney International Open and Sydney International Challengers.

O2C 47th Doeberl Cup

The O2C 47th Doeberl Cup was held in the Hellenic Club in Canberra, ACT. There was a strong turnout of 7 GMs and a plethora of other titled players. The Doeberl Cup consists of four "sections" - Premier, Major, Minor and "Mind Games U1200s", each with their own tournament. There was also a Chess960 tournament, replacing the traditional Lightning tournament.

Ian Rogers also gave video commentary on all of the rounds. You can find them under "DoeberlCup" on YouTube. Scroll down to the "Videos" heading.

My favourite video was the one from round 6. Annoyingly, the YouTube video doesn't fit within the width of this blog, but here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE9SlEcC0Sw

The highest ranked players going into the Premier tournament were GMs Dimitri Reinderman (2560), Gawain C B Jones (2550) and Das Neelotpal (2514). These players are from The Netherlands, England and India respectively.

Here are the final standings for the Premier tournament:
1st-3rd IM Deep Sengupta (2466), and GMs Gawain C B Jones and Chakkravarthy J Deepan (2482), all with 7/9. IM Deep Sengupta had the highest countback and achieved a GM norm with one round to spare.

The Doeberl Cup Major was won by Colin Cloudsdale and Brendon Norman with 6/7.
The Doeberl Cup Minor was won by Alana Chibnall with 6/7.
Awaiting results on the Doeberl Cup Mind Games Under 1200.
The Doeberl Cup Chess960 tournament was won by IM Swayangsu Satyapragyan with 7.5/9.

Click here to see the final crosstable of the Doeberl Cup Premier. Click here to see the final round results for the Doeberl Cup Premier.

Click here to see the final crosstable of the Doeberl Cup Major. Click here to see the final round results for the Doeberl Cup Major.

Click here to see the final crosstable of the Doeberl Cup Minor.

Click here to download a PGN file of the 2009 Doeberl Cup.

2009 Box Hill Chess Club Autumn Cup

The 2009 Box Hill Chess Club Autumn Cup was played over the course of several weeks at Box Hill Chess Club (3 Rochester Road Canterbury). It is the first big event on the calender for BHCC. It was a 7-round swiss tournament with $1,000 in prizes. The top seeds were Samuel Chow (2328), Geoff Saw (2276) and Christopher Wallis (2153).

The final results are:
1st/2nd Eugene Schön (1931), Geoff Saw (2276) on 6/7, with Eugene having the higher countback and achieving the title of BHCC Autumn Cup Champion.
3rd/4th Bobby Cheng (2085), Marcus Raine (1883) on 5.5/7

You can find the final crosstable to the 2009 Box Hill Chess Club Autumn Cup by clicking here.

2009 Brighton Chess Cup - Victorian Secondary Schools Open Teams Championship

The 2009 Brighton Grammar Chess Cup was held on the 26th of March, as part of a larger Victorian Secondary Schools Open Teams Championship (organised by Chess Victoria). The venue was Brighton Grammar School, and it has been one of the strongest tournaments held at the school. Scotch College won the tournament.

The placings were:
1st Scotch College
2nd Melbourne High School
3rd Brighton Grammar

Individual placings were:
1st/2nd Eugene Schön (2094), Nicholas Liu (1536) 7/7
3rd Zhigen Lin (2200) 6.5/7

How to achieve a FIDE rating

I want to talk about how one goes about to achieve a FIDE rating. Many players do not have FIDE ratings and are a bit confused about how to get one. In Australia, ACF ratings are used the most prominently, but they do not count towards achieving any chess title. FIDE ratings play a major role in achieving FM, IM and GM titles (and the female equivalents, and I guess Candidate Master too, but that has less to do with rating). It could be argued that FIDE ratings matter and an ACF rating does not, although there's probably something bad about having an extremely low ACF rating.

Here is a brief rundown on FIDE ratings:

FM title - must be rated 2300+ and must pay FIDE a sum of money
IM title - must be rated 2400+ and have 3 IM "norms" (norms are achieved through set performance level in a 9-round tournament)
GM title - must win either the World Junior Championship or World Senior Championship; otherwise must be rated 2500+ and have 3 GM norms

Now, how do you get your first FIDE rating? One often needs to be a quite strong "club player" in order to achieve a rating. I was rated 1819 ACF before I got my first FIDE rating. Although nowadays, the FIDE "rating floor" (lowest rating possible) is lower, so weaker players can achieve a FIDE rating more easily, which may or may not be a good thing.

To achieve a FIDE rating, you must:
1. Play in a FIDE-rated tournament. There aren't that many around, so you have to pick and choose. Here are some usual ones that crop up: Australian Junior Championships (u18), Australian Open, Australian Championship, Ballarat Begonia Open, Doeberl Cup, Sydney International Open, Elwood Bendigo Bank Chess Championship. The Box Hill Chess Club in Melbourne runs a FIDE-rated tournament every year. State Opens are typically FIDE-rated too. For juniors, many world or Asean tournaments are FIDE-rated, e.g. the World Youth Chess Championships. Perhaps I am forgetting a few tournaments.

2. I'm not totally sure about this next detail, but over the course of two years, you must achieve at least 2.5 points against 9 FIDE-rated players. After two years on inactivity, the provisional rating is probably erased.

Please note that:
a) Only games with rated opponents are counted.
b) If you lose the first game in a "block of games", the first game will be disregarded. This is probably the same if you continue losing all your games.
c) If you score 50% against your 9 opponents, then your initial rating will be equal to the average rating of your opponents.

Coming Australian Grand Prix Events

The following are events that are coming soon. These events are part of the 2009 Yulgilbar-Think Big Grand Prix, a large chess competition with prizes (all strong events are normally part of the grand prix).

See below for results to the Ballarat Begonia Open.

Event Place Class Start Finish Contact Begonia Open Ballarat, Vic 3 7/3/09 9/3/09 Club website South-West Open Bunbury, WA 1 7/3/09 8/3/09 CAWA website Tasmanian Championships Burnie, Tas 1 7/3/09 9/3/09 TCA website Dubbo Open Dubbo, NSW 1 28/3/09 29/3/09 NSWCA website Dubbo Open Dubbo, NSW 1 28/3/09 29/3/09 NSWCA website The Croydon Khalifman Melbourne, Vic 1 4/4/09 5/4/09 Club website O2C Doeberl Cup Premier Canberra, ACT 5 9/4/09 13/4/09 Tournament website O2C Doeberl Cup Major Canberra, ACT 5 10/4/09 13/4/09 Tournament website O2C Doeberl Cup Minor Canberra, ACT 5 10/4/09 13/4/09 Tournament website Sydney International Open Parramatta, NSW 5 14/4/09 19/4/09 Tournament website Sydney International Challengers Parramatta, NSW 5 14/4/09 19/4/09 Tournament website

2009 43rd Ballarat Begonia Open

The 2009 43rd Ballarat Begonia Open was held from the 7th-9th of March and the venue was the historic Old Gaol building. This tournament was FIDE-rated and a Category 3 Grand Prix.

The following ratings are ACF ratings. The event was won jointly by FM (soon-to-be IM) Igor Goldenberg (2376) and FM Erik Teichmann (2240), both on 6/7 with Goldenberg having the higher countback.

3rd-5th were Christopher Wallis (2124), IM Mirko Rujevic (2217) and Bobby Cheng (2133).

Click here to see the final crosstable for the 2009 43rd Ballarat Begonia Open.

2009 43rd Ballarat Begonia Open Begins

The 2009 43rd Ballarat Begonia Open will be held from the 7th-9th of March (during the long weekend) and the venue is the historic Old Gaol building. The top 10 boards play in "elevation" which is lower than the normal boards, referred to as "the pit" (sorry if that explanation seemed strange). This tournament is FIDE-rated and is a Category 3 Grand Prix. The top seed has not been officially announced.

March 2009 ACF Ratings

The March 2009 ACF Ratings are out now. The new list includes top rankings for age divisions and a list of top Australian players.

The top 5 are:

  2605!    0  NSW  Rogers, Ian [GM]
  2602!    0  NSW  Zhao, Zong-Yuan [GM]
  2520!!  10  ACT  Smerdon, David C [IM]
  2479!   21  NSW  Wohl, Aleksander H [IM]
  2419!!  19  QLD  Solomon, Stephen J [IM]

Finally, my own rating has increased to 2200!

You can see the March 2009 ACF Ratings by clicking here.

Peter Svidler wins the 7th Gibtelecom tournament in Gibraltar

Russian GM Peter Svidler (2723) won the 7th Gibtelecom tournament in Gibraltar. What has this got to do with Australian chess? Very little, but here's an entertaining video of Peter Svidler, American IM Irina Krush (2457) and Aussie FM Manuel Weeks (2181) playing cricket.

2009 Box Hill Autumn Cup

The 2009 Box Hill Chess Club Autumn Cup (which I won in 2007!) will be held from the 6th of Feburary-27th of March, 2009. The venue is the Box Hill Chess Club in Melbourne, Victoria. It will be a 7-round swiss "accelerated" tournament. There is a $1,000 total prize fund. The top seed is currently Geoff Saw (2276) according to the entries page.

Click here for the official page to the 2009 Box Hill Autumn Cup.

2009 Queenstown Chess Classic

The 2009 Queenstown Chess Classic was held in Queenstown, New Zealand from the 15th-24th of January. It was a 10-round FIDE-rated event. The venue was the Millennium Hotel. Top seed in the event was Israeli GM Victor Mikhalevski (2608).

Here are the final results
1st IM David Smerdon (2463) 8/10
2nd-7th GMs Eduardas Rozentalis (2590), Victor Mikhalevski, Klaus Bischoff (2545), Gawain Jones (2540), Dimitrios Mastrovasilis (2580), Leif Erlend Johannessen (2539) all on 7.5/10

Igor Goldenberg (2398, 6.5/10) secured his final norm and raised his rating above 2400 which makes him an IM. In addition, IM norms were scored by Sam Chow (2267, 7/10), Domagoj Dragicevic (2205, 7/10) and Andrew Brown (1987, 6.5/10).

Click here to view the final standings of the Queenstown Chess Classic 2009.

2009 Queenstown Chess Classic Midway Report

The 2009 Queenstown Chess Classic, held in New Zealand from the 15th-24th of January, is currently under way. After 6 rounds, Lithuanian GM Eduardas Rozentalis (2590) is leading with 5.5/6. Closely following are German GM Klaus Bischoff (2545), Aussie IM David Smerdon (2463), and local Victorian player Domagoj Dragicevic (2205), all on 5/6.

2008 Australian Masters

This event has somehow slipped my mind, but as an old saying says, "better late than sorry". Please don't quote me on that because I may not always abide by the saying. This was a 9-round FIDE- and ACF-rated round robin event. The top seed was Stephen Solomon (2470).

Here are the final results
1st FM Vladimir Smirnov (2338) 7/9
2nd IM Guy West (2342) 6.5/9
3rd IM Stephen Solomon 6/9

2009 Australian Open Chess Championships

The 2009 Australian Open Chess Championships will be held at the Manly-Warringah Rugby Leagues Club in Sydney. It will be played from the 2nd-11th of January (shorter than the Juniors! Although one could argue that adults are 'busier'). This tournament is a an 11-Round FIDE-rated event. According to the website, the top seed was Mark Chapman (2402).

This tournament also encompasses an Under 1600 Tournament and the Australian Open Lightning Championship.

Here are the final results of Australian Open:
1st-2nd IM Aleksandar Wohl (2342), IM George Xie (2397) on 9/11
3rd-5th IM Mark Chapman (2402), Eugene Schön (2115), Jason Hu (2182) on 8/11

The Under 1600 Tournament was won by Calvin Bennet (1567) and Anton Smirnov (1440).

The Australian Open Lightning Championship was shared by CM Max Illingworth and FM Jesse Sales.

The results of the Australian Open and its sister events can be found at the official 2009 Australian Open Chess Championships website.

For information on the Australian Junior Chess Championships, see below.

2009 Lidums Australian Junior Chess Championships

The 2009 Lidums Australian Junior Chess Championships will be held at Saint Ignatius' College in Athelstone, Adelaide. The competition goes from the 2nd-13th of January and the Under 18 Open Division will be FIDE rated (for some reason). The top seeds were Yi Yuan and Yita Choong, both rated 2058.

This tournament also encompasses the Australian Junior Rapid tournament, the Australian Juniors Lightning Championship (which I won U16 last year!) and a Problem Solving competition.

Here are the final results:
1st-2nd Cedric Antolis (1889) and Yi Yuan on 10/11; Cedric won the U18 title by winning the play-off 1.5-0.5
3rd Andrew Brown (2017) on 8.5/11

The 2009 Australian Juniors Rapidplay was won by Gene Nakauchi, on 6/6.

The 2009 Australian Juniors Lightning Championship was shared by Cedric Antolis and Andrew Brown, both on 9/11.

The Problem Solving competition was won by Yita Choong with a full score.

2009 Australian Open Chess Championships Midway Report

After 7 rounds in the 2009 Australian Open Chess Championships, Aleksander Wohl (2342) is leading the tournament with 6.5/7. He is a full point ahead of the closest competitors, who consist of Mark Chapman (2402), Vladimir Smirnov (2372), Jesse Sales (2340), Eugene Schön (2115) and Tony Davis (1967) on 5.5/7. Wohl is in a comfortable position, however a loss (but not a draw) would allow many players to catch up to him. There are 4 rounds to go.

(Continuation of report, after round 8) I must also mention the performance of Eugene Schön. In Round 6 Eugene defeated IM George Xie (2397) and today he defeated Vladimir Smirnov (2372) to move to 6.5/8, equal with Jesse Noel Sales and behind only IM Aleksander Wohl who sits on 7/8.

In the next round Eugene is paired against Jesse Noel Sales [ACF Rating: 2304, FIDE Rating: 2304]. Jesse is from the Philippines and the chess-mad Filipino press has been making regular reports on his progress: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/sports/01/06/09/sales-tries-rebound-aussie-chess-tourney. I'm sure that tomorrow they will be reporting on how he goes against Eugene!

Eugene has so far achieved a FIDE performance rating of 2487, and a true ACF performance rating of 2485!

See below for information on the 2009 Lidums Australian Junior Chess Championships.

2009 Lidums Australian Junior Chess Championships Midway Report

After 6 rounds in the 2009 Lidums Australian Junior Chess Championships, Cedric Antolis (1889) from Victoria is leading the tournament outright with 5.5/6. He is trailed by the 1st and 3rd seeds (whom he both beat), Yi Yuan (2058) and Gene Nakauchi (2039), both on 5/6. There are 5 rounds to go and since Cedric has played most of the top seeds, he is in a good position to take the tournament. However, this is very difficult to say as any draw or loss would allow other players to catch up.

In the Australian Juniors Under 18 Girls, Sally Yu (1645) is leading outright with 4/4, a full point ahead of the closest players. Again, a loss (but not a draw) would allow other players to catch up.

2009 Australian Open Chess Championships Begin

The 2009 Australian Open Chess Championships will be held at the Manly-Warringah Rugby Leagues Club in Sydney. It will be played from the 2nd-11th of January (shorter than the Juniors! Although one could argue that adults are 'busier'). This tournament is a an 11-Round FIDE-rated event. According to the website, the top seed is Mark Chapman (2402).

This tournament also encompasses an Under 1600 Tournament and the Australian Open Lightning Championship.

I may report halfway through this tournament and will have a full report at the end of the tournament.

For information on the Australian Junior Chess Championships, see below.

2009 Lidums Australian Junior Chess Championships Begin

The 2009 Lidums Australian Junior Chess Championships will be held at Saint Ignatius' College in Athelstone, Adelaide. The competition goes from the 2nd-13th of January and the Under 18 Open Division will be FIDE rated (for some reason). According to the list of entries, the top seeds are Yi Yuan and Yita Choong, both rated 2058, although it will be clearer when the 1st round is completed (if a higher-rated player turns up at the last moment).

This tournament also encompasses the Australian Juniors Rapid tournament, the Australian Juniors Lightning Championship (which I won U16 last year!) and a Problem Solving competition.

I may report halfway through this tournament and will have a full report at the end of the tournament.