Monday 15 April 2013

Back to work ... and a surprise visit!

With the school term starting again in Victoria (just as it is finishing in NSW & some other parts of Australia), it means that I am back at work, with today starting with the annual year 7 tournament at Billanook College, after a morning session at Banyule Primary.
This time I was an assistant arbiter (Ian Birchall was in charge of things today), so had some time to take a few photos of the tournament in action. The thing that makes the Billanook tournament somewhat unique is that it involves all of the year 7 students, even some who were very new to chess. The tournament also gives them an introduction to chess in a more social setting, where they are around their friends & generally makes for a fun event.
 Great way to start a term with a room full of kids playing chess!

The tournament is also at the same venue as the Billanook Classic, which is an Allegro Series (where I will be playing for a change), which begins this Sunday & features a wide range of players, from Masters to relative newcomers, so everyone gets competitive games!
In unrelated news, I recently visited James Morris & Dimitry Partsi in hosptial, as they recover from the horrific car accident over Easter which shocked the chess community. Thankfully both are much better than they were & look to be on the way to a full, although lengthy, recovery! Although James & his mother Rowena were pleased to see me, James was much more excited to see another visitor - none other than the face of Pokerstars, Daniel Negreanu! Daniel is in town for the World Series of Poker Asia Pacific (where he is currently on the final table of the main event) & it was great of him to take time out of his schedule to see James in hospital! Hopefully he can finish off his trip well (he had previously final tabled the 8-game, which was won by Phil Ivey) & take home the main event bracelet!

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