Back to blogging ...

I've almost finished moving house ... and with that almost over, I can get back to relatively regular blogging about events.
Quite a bit has happened since my last regular blog post - this post will cover the 'quick summary', with more detail to come in future posts ...
Happenings:
Victorian Championships - finished with James Morris winning with 9.5/11 ahead of Guy West on 7.5/11, with Domagoj Dragicevic, Bobby Cheng & Igor Goldenberg tying for third with 7/11.
A PGN file of the games is available on the FIDE web site.
Victorian Reserves - finished with Ari Dale winning with 7.5/9. Pano Skiotis, Laurent Michaille & Jack Puccini tied for second on 6.5/9
City of Melbourne Open - finished with Ari Dale winning with 7/9. Justin Penrose & Anthony Hain tied for 2nd with 6.5/9.
A PGN file of the top board games is available on the FIDE web site.
FIDE Arbiter Application - With the completion of the Victorian Championships, I have now submitted my application for the FIDE Arbiter title. The events I ran that I included in the application were the MCC Club Championship, MCC ANZAC Day Weekender, Doeberl Cup & Victorian Championship, as well as the arbiters seminar from Box Hill near then end of 2011. Although it is not online yet, I would expect it to appear on the FIDE web site, along with other applications to be approved at the upcoming FIDE Congress (held during the Olympiad). If all goes to plan, this means that I should be an official FIDE Arbiter by September!
Interview - I was recently involved in an email interview by Grant Szuveges for the Melbourne Chess Club website. The interview covers a bit about my background, but focuses on the differences between chess in Sydney & Melbourne (where I grew up & where I am living now). Feel free to let me know what you think of it.
Chess Victoria Teams Competition - Has started for another year. This time I'm the arbiter for the event (with Grant Szuveges being the main organiser). I hope to have a page up in the next few days with up-to-date standing & results for both divisions. This should also make things easier for players & those intertested to follow the event, rather than having to follow the relevant thread on ChessChat, or find things on the Chess Victoria website.
Victorian Junior Championships - I was the arbiter for the Under 18 event which was held last week. This was convincingly won by James Morris with 9/9 ahead of Karl Zelesco on 7/9 & Ari Dale & Ian Choi on 6.5/9.
Expect quite a few posts here int he next few days covering the events mentioned here in more detail.