City of Melbourne Open - Round 1

The City of Melbourne Open began last night at Melbourne Chess Club. The field on the night was a rather small one of 20 players, with a few others unable to play on the first night (and being awarded half point byes as a result). Players are still able to join the tournament, so if anyone missed round 1 & would like to play, they can still join the tournament up until round 3.
The tournament itself has a field that is fairly typical for MCC events, with a few players above 2000 (headed in this case by IM Mirko Rujevic), with the bulk of the field in the 2000-1600 range. This meant that a number of games were highly competitive (often unusual in Swiss events) & there were a few upset results. Gary Bekker beat David Hacche after David misplayed the middlegame, before finally missing a tactic in the endgame, while Roger McCart achieved an overwhelming position against Garry Lycett, but teetered on the bring of flagfall for a number of moves before it was finally Garry who lost on time when trying to defend the difficult position he was faced with. Finley Dale & Jason Chew also held their higher rated opponents, George Hua & David Lacey respectively, to draws.

Results are available on ChessChat. Pairings will also be posted on ChessChat on Thursdays.

Below is the board 3 clash between Gary Bekker & David Hacche, which sees David go astray in the middle game before missing a final tactic in the end game, allowing Gary to take the victory.

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.

City of Melbourne Open - Round 7

Round 7 looked to be a very exciting round on paper, and in many ways it delivered on its potential. Board 1 was where the excitement was, with Justin Penrose castling queenside in a Caro Kann & launching an attack on the uncastled king of co-leader Ari Dale. Just when it looked like Penrose might be making some progress, he played an inaccurate move that allowed Dale to consolidate his position & steer the game towards a winning ending. This allowed Ari to return to once again become the sole leader of the event. Other boards saw a variety of results. The highly anticipated Gorka-Pyke clash was a non-event, with neither player in the mood to play for a range of reasons, with the game ending peacefully on move 15 (with checkmate threatened!). The game between Lacey & Beaumont began peacefully, but became dramatic when Beaumont started to get on top in the position. Rather than defend passively, Lacey launched a counter-attack against Beaumont's king, sacrificing two pieces to try to get at Beaumont's king. Beaumont then put his king on the wrong square, going to e7 rather than g7 & Lacey was able to force a draw with perpetual check. Paul Kovacevic appeared to be cruising towards a win against Rad Chmiel, but went horribly astray in the rook & minor piece ending, ultimately losing a piece. However Chmiel's remaining pawns were difficult to defend & Kovacevic managed to liquidate the position until the final position saw Chmiel with a knight & pawn against Kovacevic's two pawns, with Chmiel unable to maintain his remaining pawn, so another draw was agreed. In other games, Anthony Hain continued another late charge in an MCC event with a win over Richard Voon, while James Martin beat John Dowling & John Beckman beat Gary Bekker.
As usual, results are available on ChessChat.
This week's game sees the top of the table clash between Penrose & Dale. Penrose's attack seemed to be working, until the blunder 22.Bd4, which allowed Dale to get on top & move a point ahead of the the field.

City of Melbourne Open - Round 6

With tournament leader Ari Dale away in Sydney playing in the Asian Amateurs (where he is equal leader at the time of writing), this was an opportunity for the other players in the event to stake their claim at a position at the top of the tournament. As it transpired, only Justin Penrose was able to join Ari in the tournament lead, after a nice win in on the white side of an unusual line of the Ruy Lopez. Malcolm Pyke managed to plant his knight on d6 against David Beaumont & managed to survive David's attempts to escape the bind on his position, winning the game & moving himself within half a point of the leaders. Carl Gorka utilised an unusual placement of his bishops (on a1 & b1), as well as his knights & later queen to drum up a winning attack against Laurent Michaille's king, to join those half a point off the lead. On other boards the results did not always go according to rating, with David Lacey beating John Dowling, while John Beckman beat Jack Puccini. Richard McCart also used his 'get out of jail free' card against Gary Bekker, finding a perpetual check when he was 2 rooks down!
As usual, results are available on ChessChat.
This week's game sees Rad Chmiel employ an unusual variation of the Ruy Lopez against Justin Penrose, although it does begin to resemble a more normal Lopez position around move 10. Penrose responded to Chmiel's queenside pressure by sacrificing an exchange & found himself with a passed c-pawn for his efforts. Chmiel then played a few poor moves, allowing Penrose's rook to get to the seventh, and the threats were too much for Chmiel, who had to give up his queen to fend off checkmate, but that still left him with a position he was unable to defend.

City of Melbourne Open - Round 5

The tournament now has an outright leader, with Ari Dale beating Laurent Michaille on the white side of a Nimzo-Indian Defense, while co-leader Carl Gorka was defeated by David Beaumont. The leaves Ari half a point ahead of a chasing pack of David Beaumont, Justin Penrose & Rad Chmiel. The further complication to the tournament is that Ari is off to Sydney to play in the Asian Amateurs Championship next week, so will be taking a half-point bye! This means that after round 6, the leader(s) will be on 5/6 & the tournament will still be wide open!
The top board clash between Ari Dale & Laurent Michaille saw Laurent play the Nimzo-Indian Defense & found himself in a tangle early, with pressure against his knights. Ari used his space advantage & bishop pair to create further problems for Laurent, who decided to sacrifice an exchange to complicate the position. Unfortunately, Ari's passed c-pawn created further problems for Laurent & ultimately proved decisive.
David Beaumont uncharacteristically played 1.e4 against Carl Gorka, but it was all a cunning plan to get the game into a favourable English, without having to face a line with an early d5. After some positional maneuvering in the middlegame, Carl blundered with 21...Bg5 & David found the way through the tactics to emerge with an extra piece that he converted into the full point.
Paul Kovacevic went astray early on the white side of a Dutch Defense against Justin Penrose, when he did not see Penrose's strong move 19...Rxd4! This tactic eventually won Penrose a piece & he quickly used his active rooks to overwhelm Kovacevic's king to take the point.
Rad Chmiel & David Lacey played an interesting c3 Sicilian, with a variety of tactical and positional alternatives for both players. Ultimately a series of exchanges occurred & the players found themselves in an ending with Chmiel's two rooks & bishop facing Lacey's two rooks & knight. The position was further complicated by pawn majorities on opposite sides of the board, and Chmiel's pawns proved faster in the position. Although computer analysis suggested that Lacey may have been able to hold the position with accurate play, he erred & was forced to give up his rook for Chmiel's b-pawn & Chmiel was able to halt Lacey's pawns with his king & rook to secure the victory.
As usual, results are available on ChessChat.
This week's game sees David Beaumont's opening experiment prove successful, as he gets the type of position he was after, and then successfully navigates the middlegame tactics to retain his position just half a point off the pace.

City of Melbourne Open - Round 4

There are still three leaders after round 4 of the City of Melbourne Open, but they may not have been the people some would be expecting after looking at the games midway through the round. The top board clash between Carl Gorka & Ari Dale was a topsy-turvy affair, with Gorka playing very aggressively against Dale's Caro Kann defense. Gorka sacrificed a pawn for an attack, which Dale seemed to be neutralising, until around move 35, when Gorka played Qc7, with strong threats against Dale's king. Gorka missed a win with 38.Qh2, when Dale would have been forced to give up his queen for rook and pawn, leaving a relatively straightforward technical win. Instead, the game continued, eventually becoming a queen ending where Gorka held an extra pawn, but was unable to make progress & a draw was agreed.
The board 2 clash between Laurent Michaille & David Beaumont appeared to be going Beaumont's way, with a strong kingside initiative eventually netting him an extra pawn. Just when it seemed as though the attack would break through, Beaumont carelessly allowed Qh7+, which won a piece & turned the momentum of the game on its head. Michaille was then able to shut down Beaumont's threats & exchange pieces, forcing Beaumont to resign in a hopeless position.
Justin Penrose appeared to be slowly outplaying Malcolm Pyke on board 3, until he allowed Pyke to develop serious threats against his king, forcing Penrose to sacrifice an exchange to avoid disaster. After some further exchanges, the players reached an endgame with Pyke's two rooks facing Penrose's rook, knight & multiple passed pawns. Ultimately Pyke was unable to halt the advancing pawns & Penrose went on to record a victory.
On other boards, David Lacey defeated Richard Voon, after Richard misplayed a promising position, while Rad Chmiel, Paul Kovacevic, Roger McCart & Bill Reid all recorded wins over slightly higher rated opponents.
As usual, results are available on ChessChat.
This week's game is the top board clash, which saw both sides with chances throughout the game!

City of Melbourne Open - Round 3

The cream is slowly rising to the top in the current Monday night tournament at the Melbourne Chess Club, the City of Melbourne Open. There are now three outright leaders in the event & they are three of the more fancied players to win - top seed Carl Gorka, MCC 'hero' David Beaumont & the rapidly improving Ari Dale - who are all on 3/3. Immediately behind them are tournament second seed Malcolm Pyke & talented Frenchman Laurent Michaille, who are both on 2.5/3. This makes the next few rounds crucial in deciding the final placing for the event, as these top players now begin to play one another.
The battle of the Gar(r)y's finished in a draw, when Gary Bekker's passed pawns were neutralised by Garry Lycett's bishop & the players repeated the position when Bekker's knight was under constant pressure. Richard Voon showed that the older generation still have a few tricks left in them with a nice win over Jack Puccini, while Finley Dale held Bill Reid to a draw. Most of the other games went according to rating, although with many games having a rating difference of less than one hundred points, many of the games were very hard fought.
As usual, results are available on ChessChat.
This week's game shows the difference between the top players & those in the middle of the field, with Carl Gorka putting Jim Papadinis to the sword in convincing fashion!

City of Melbourne Open - Round 2

On paper, round 2 seemed to be 'business as usual' for the top seeds in the City of Melbourne, however a closer look reveals that there was some luck & some extended games that were required for the top seeds to avoid losses this round.
Justin Penrose was the luckiest player this week, when in the following position his opponent, who had been playing on the 30 second increment for the previous 40 or so moves, blundered at the final hurdle before reaching a drawn position:

Here Rxh7 is a simple draw, with a King & Rook v King & Rook ending ... but the result is vastly different after Rxa1??
There were some upsets on the lower boards, with the McCart brothers enjoying a good evening, with both brothers recording wins against higher rated opponents.
As usual, full results can be found on ChessChat.
The game of the round this week sees David Beaumont disproving his own ideas about the Benko Gambit, showing that it is indeed a very playable opening & in spite of being a pawn down for a majority of the game. The exchanges only helped black's position & the weaknesses in white's pawn structure ultimately proved too difficult to defend, allowing black to crash through for the win.

MCC City of Melbourne Open - round 1

The first round of the City of Melbourne saw 24 players with games (a few players were unable to make it to the first round) & a number of very close games were played, with so much of the field rated over 1800 (21 of the 28 current entrants)! Although there were no wins by players in the bottom half of the pairings, Felix Wyss & Roger McCart held their higher rated opponents to draws in a round where some of the top seeds were lucky to escape with a point!
Players are still able to enter the tournament (entry is open until round 3) & should let me know (by email, or contact me via ChessChat or mobile) by Wednesday if they wish to be included in the round 2 pairings.
As usual, results are available on ChessChat.
This week's game sees David Beaumont play a speculative exchange sacrifice, and just when his attack appears to be running out of steam, disaster strikes for Chmiel!