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