No. 638

14 December 2024

Dec 13, 2024

Editorial

by Miles Patterson

Welcome to the December 2024 ACF Newsletter. Thanks for all the contributions for this issue. Please note the requests for nominations for ACF Medals and Awards, and particularly note the tight deadlines.

ACF Notices

ACF MEDALS & AWARDS - NOMINATIONS INVITED

Australian Players-of-the-Year 2024

Nominations are invited for potential winners of the following medals, to be awarded to Australian players who have made the greatest impact during 2024. Recipients are offered financial assistance to participate in significant forthcoming national or international events.

Steiner Medal and Steiner-Holt Award – Australian Player of the Year 2024

This medal is to be awarded to the Australian player who has made the greatest impact, not necessarily the highest-rated – it is for the most notable achievement during 2024. There is no limit to the number of times the Steiner or Viner medals may be won by the same player.

Viner Medal & Award – Australian Senior Player of the Year 2024

On the same basis as the Steiner Medal, the Viner Medal is limited to nominees born in or before 1974.

Arlauskas Medal & Romanas Arlauskas Award – Australian Under-16 Player of the Year 2024

The Arlauskas Medal, also awarded on the same basis as the Steiner Medal, is limited to nominees born in or after 2008. The Arlauskas Medal and Romanas Arlauskas Award may not be won by the same person more than twice. Previous recipients are listed at https://auschess.org.au/honour-boards/

Nominations

Nominations need not be from among a State's own members or residents.
A separate document or message containing the following should be provided in respect of each nominee:

name in full (correctly spelt)
contact details (phone, email, postal address)
a citation describing relevant achievements, suitable for reading when the medal is presented and/or publication thereafter;
anything else relevant to the nomination.

Please address email nominations to awards@auschess.org.au

Deadline: Australian Player-of-the-Year 2024 medals & awards – 2 January 2025.

Nominators must retain copies of documents submitted and phone 0409 525 963 or (03) 9787 7974 to confirm delivery if not acknowledged 24 hours after expected delivery time.

FIDE RATING SUBMISSIONS

Note that events for FIDE ratings that are completed in the last seven days of the month need to be submitted to ACF FIDE Ratings Officer Bill Gletsos for ratings immediately so that any issues with them can be resolved in time for events to be rated in that month. Also note that intended changes of names or dates of FIDE-rated events need to be notified immediately as they may affect the event's rating status. Note also that all FIDE rated events must be submitted for ACF ratings – no exceptions.

FIDE RATED EVENT REGISTRATION

Australian tournaments to be FIDE rated must be advised to the ACF FIDE Ratings Officer at least 40 days prior to the start of the tournament for tournaments where norms are available and at least 7 days prior to the start of the tournament for all other tournaments. Where these conditions are not met, the decision whether to register it or not is solely at the discretion of the ACF FIDE Ratings Officer.

FIDE ID NUMBER REGISTRATION

FIDE has issued a warning that they will not accept tournaments for FIDE rating where those tournaments contain players who do not have FIDE ID numbers. Although new Australian players can be registered by the ACF FIDE Ratings Officer, this does not apply to new players from overseas. Therefore, organisers should not immediately accept the entries of overseas players who lack FIDE ID numbers to FIDE rated tournaments; instead, those players should be required to first obtain a FIDE ID from their own national federation.

Tournaments submitted that include foreign players who do not have ID numbers end up not being FIDE rated. Organisers need to confirm prior to the start of the tournament that all players without a FIDE ID number are either Australian citizens or have a permanent residency visa.

Players without ID numbers should only be submitted as Australian if they are citizens or are a permanent residency visa holder; if a player is registered under the wrong country, they may incur transfer costs later. For further information/clarification contact the ACF FIDE Ratings Officer Bill Gletsos via fide_ratings@auschess.org.au.

AUSTRALIAN REPRESENTATIVE INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR CHESS TOURNAMENTS

Any inquiries can be sent to Selections Director Tom Saltmarsh, at selections_director@auschess.org.au.

ACF POSITIONS

The following ACF Council-appointed positions are vacant. Councillors and others wishing to inquire or register interest in appointment to one or more of these positions are welcome to email executive@auschess.org.au or phone 0409 525 963 at any time.

Advertising Manager. It has been suggested that, ideally, the appointee would be a person with an interest in coordinating advertising in both the ACF newsletter and website, and at or in connection with ACF championships, the Grand Prix and other major ACF events.

Assistant Secretary. This position and the currently filled position of Assistant Treasurer were created to provide opportunities for younger administrators to experience the joys of chess administration at national level.

Archives Director. Generally, the Archives Director would be expected to gather, maintain and build a repository of records and documents that might be of historical interest or value, or which might help in confirming the organisation’s status or credibility for a variety of purposes.

Trophies Officer. Responsibilities relating to trophies and other mementos to be presented in connection with ACF Championships and other events.

ACF FUNDING SUPPORT PROGRAM

The application deadline for activities commencing between 1 March 2025 and 31 August 2025 is 31 December 2024. Application forms and related information are available on request to executive@auschess.org.au.

News from the States / Territories

Australian Capital Territory

Australian Capital Territory Chess Association (ACTCA)

Recent Events

2024 Vikings Weekender

By Shaun Press (chessexpress)

Day One

The 2024 Vikings Weekender saw a large turnout for this year’s event. The Open section saw a good field of 37 players, represented by the usual grouping of Canberra's top players. IM Junta Ikeda was the top seed, and he started the tournament with a win over Larry Cheng. FM Fred Litchfield beat David Esposito on board 2, with Harry Press winning against Chayne Planiden on board 3. The top half didn't all have it their own way, with wins by Jerry Cheng and Thomas Eleutherios against higher rated opponents standing out.

The Minor (Under 1600) had a slightly smaller field of 32 players. Most games went according to rating. The notable exceptions were wins by James Madoc and James Nelson, the latter playing his first OTB tournament game.

Day Two

The tournament was once again following the regular script, with IM Junta Ikeda leading with 4 wins from 4 games. He defeated young NSW players Vu Nguyen and Yifei Hu in Rounds 3 and 4, and led 3rd seed Harry Press by half a point. Press looked a little bit shaky in yesterday’s early rounds (escaping with a draw against Oladoyin Fasakin), but finished the day with a crushing win over CM Hui Li. There was a large pack of players on 3 points, including 2nd seed FM Fred Litchfield and 17th seed Ryan Liu.

In the Under 1600 event, Max Windsor was on 4/4, leading unrated Axel Healy on 3.5. Windsor converted a slightly tricky QvN ending after Padma Gyalpo missed a saving check in a KvN v KvP ending. The following pack of players on 3/4 consisted entirely of junior players, with the significant exception of CM Bill Egan, now well into his ninth decade on this earth.

Day Three

The final two rounds of the 2024 Vikings Weekender delivered on the action, with a couple of upsets delivering a surprise(d) set of winners. IM Junta Ikeda took a half point lead going into the final day, but a loss to Harry Press on the top board threw the tournament wide open. Press overtook Ikeda at the top of the table, and going into the final round, Ikeda, FM Fred Litchfield, Willis Lo and Daniel Wang were all tied on 4/5.

Despite having an advantage against FM Fred Litchfield in the final round, Press offered a draw which was quickly accepted. This moved Press to 5/6 but gave the following pack a chance to tie for 1st. Despite his best efforts, Lo could only draw with Yifei Hu, leaving him tied for third. The real drama was being played out on board 2, where Ikeda was playing Daniel Wang. Knocking back a draw offer from Wang, Ikeda soon found himself in real trouble, and in the last game of the tournament to finish, lost his 2nd game in a row. This allowed Wang to join Press in first place, with both players winning the event for the 1st time.

The Minor (under 1600) was much more straightforward, with Max Windsor scoring a perfect 6/6. Nicholas Lee finished outright 2nd on 5, recovering from the loss of a piece against Padma Gyalpo, by finding a back rank mate combination. There was a big tie for 3rd place, with the performance of James Madoc being a standout.

Full results can be found at https://www.vegaresult.com/en/event.php?id=2996

Games from the top 4 boards from each round are at https://lichess.org/broadcast/2024-vikings-weekender/round-6/kpDogywv

Upcoming Events

2024 ACT Rapid Championship

Saturday 21st December, 11am to 2:30pm at King O'Malley's, City Walk, Canberra City (where Street Chess is held). Registrations open at 10:45 am (enter on the day). ACT Resident players must be a member of the ACTCA or ACT Junior Chess League to take part in this event. Get membership here

2025 ACT Lightning Championship

21 January. Gungahlin Chess Club. Eastlakes, Gungahlin.

2025 Doeberl Cup

17-21 April, Canberra Southern Cross Club Woden,
92-96 Corinna Street, Woden ACT 2606 Registrations here

Street Chess

Every Saturday. From 10.45 to 2.30. King O’Malley’s in Civic.

New South Wales

New South Wales Chess Association Inc (NSWCA)

Recent Events

New England Open

1st Michael Freeman 5.5/6, 2nd Kye Walls 5, 35 players

2024 NSW Blitz Championship

1st WCM Bayasgalan Khishigbaatar 9/11, 2nd= CM Tri Kien Le, FM Alexi Vargas Arteaga, FM Jason Hu, 8.5

Upcoming Events

2025 Sydney International Open

23-27 April, Novotel West HQ, Conference Rooms 5 & 6, see NSWCA site

Northern Territory

Northern Territory Chess Association

Queensland

Recent Events

2024 Queensland Seniors

1st Bruce Holliday 5/6, 2nd= Oleg Korenevski, Tony Dowden, Hossein Ghodosi, Matthew Juszczynski 4.5. 32 players

2024 Queensland Women’s and Girls’ Championships

Women’s Champion: Isabella Guan 5.5/6

Girls’ Champion: Chloe Wang 5

19 players. Detailed results here

2024 Queensland Teams Championships

1st Mars Chess Club 1. 32 teams played. Detailed results here.

2024 Queensland Blitz Championship

1st Tom Maguire, 2nd= Mars Qi, Jaymarc Gutierrez, Micah Young

South Australia

South Australian Chess Association Inc (SACA)

Recent Events

October Rapid 2024 Results
1st Eryk Paprzycki, 3.5/4
=2nd Edgar Mdinaradze, Haasith Gummalla, Pradyun Parikh, Raghavendran Kasinathan, David Chesney, 3. 22 players
October Allegro #1 2024 Results
1st Kyle Leaver, 5/5, =2nd Ayman Almutawa, Hamish Pattison, David Chesney, 3
15 players
October Booster 2024 Results
1st Kyle Leaver, 5/5, 2nd James Bayliss, 4. 6 players
October Blitz #1 2024 Results
1st Kyle Leaver, 10/11, 2nd Aaron Perkins, 9.5, 3rd Bradley Clark Thompson, 8.5
12 players
October Allegro #2 2024 Results
1st Kyle Leaver, 5/5, 2nd Chen Bi Zang, 3.5. 15 players
October Blitz #2 2024 Results
1st Song Yang, 11/11, 2nd Kyle Leaver, 9, 3rd Aaron Perkins, 8
12 players
November Rapid 2024 Results
=1st Hamish Pattison, Samuel Hansen, 3.5/4
=3rd James Bayliss, Seyed Ilia Zafari, 3. 10 players
November Booster 2024 Results
=1st Aaron Perkins, CM Junior Tay (OS) 4.5/5. 6 players
November Allegro #1 2024 Results
=1st Bradley Clark Thompson, Hamish Pattison, 4
3rd Tannish Mahesh (OS), 3.5. 10 players
South Australian Seniors Championship 2024 Results
Seniors section: 1st Goran Srdic, 5/6
Veteran section: =1st Jeff Hams, Edgar Mdinaradze, 4.5
17 players

Upcoming Events

Tuesday 17-Dec-2024, Lidums Series #1
Thursday 19-Dec-2024, Lidums Series #2
Friday 20-Dec-2024, Junior December Allegro
Boxing Day 26-Dec-2024, Lidums Australian Allegro Chess Championship
SACA December Classical, 29-30 December, Details here

Tasmania

Tasmanian Chess Association Inc (TCA)

Upcoming Events

2025 Australia Day Weekender

Hobart, 24-27 January 2025 Details here

Victoria

Chess Victoria Inc (CV)

Recent Events

Judit Polgar Rapid Team Competition

1st The Eagles, 2nd Huntingtower, 3rd Knights of the Checkered Table

Upcoming Events

2024 Victorian Blitz Championship

Monday 23rd December 2024 starting at 6-30 pm
Melbourne Chess Club, 66 Leicester Street, Fitzroy. Details here

2025 Australian Open Chess Championships

Melbourne, 2nd to 11th January 2025 Details here

St Kilda - the Club where Experience Meets Youth.

By IM Leonid Sandler

We all know that children are the future of chess. In a small suburban club in fancy St Kilda (Victoria) we have many senior players who are playing on a regular basis against little and not so little kids. And it is very pleasing to see that experienced players are winning many tournaments in St Kilda Chess Club.

The last event saw 78-year old FIDE Master Naum Kagan win, scoring 6.5 points from 7 games. Naum has not played competitive chess for about 20 years! In 1978 he played against legendary Gary Kasparov in the Sokolsky Memorial tournament in his native Belarus. In this memorable event Gary Kasparov became a Master.

Another Australian chess legend 78-years old International Master Mirko Rujevic won a few tournaments in 2024. We called him Australian Korchnoi! Not very often you can see 6-year old kids playing against 78-years grandfather.

Other club highlights include:

80-year-old John Beckman won the first tournament in his career! International Master Michael Gluzman publishes PGN files from St.Kilda CC events which allows juniors to prepare for their games. International Master Leonid Sandler for more than 2 years was unbeaten in 61 games!

Not too many small clubs can boast that 3 International Masters and FIDE Masters are present in weekly events.

St Kilda Chess Club

Western Australia

Chess Association of Western Australia Inc (CAWA)

Recent Events

Australian Schools Team Championship

Secondary Open: Anglican Church Grammar (QLD)

Secondary Girls: Anglican Church Grammar (QLD)

Primary Open: Anglican Church Grammar (QLD)

Primary Girls: Somerville House (QLD)

Upcoming Events

2025 Australian Junior Chess Championships

13 - 21 January 2025, Manning Community Hall in Manning, WA Details here

Finesse Chess Blitz Tournament

25th January at John McGrath Hall - 97 Hensman St, South Perth 6151. Details here

New Zealand

New Zealand Chess News (newzealandchess.nz)

Upcoming Events

2-12 January NZ Chess Congress 2025
13-19 January Bob Wade Masters 2025
8 February Hawkes Bay Rapid 2025
22 February 19th Bay of Plenty Rapid 2025
15 March Latvian Rapid 2025

International News

Upcoming International Events

Zone 3.6 Men's and Women's Zonals

24-29 Jan 25 Melbourne Details here

Recent Events

Impressions of Singapore

By Miles Patterson

Having enjoyed previous visits to Singapore, including playing some chess there, I booked my flight as soon as the venue for the World Championship match between Ding and Gukesh was announced.

While chess is probably not that familiar to the general public there, despite good publicity for the match, chess has still boomed in Singapore, as elsewhere. On my first day, I visited one of the local clubs to play in a rapid tournament. The playing room was crammed full, with nearly 60 enthusiastic players, most of them juniors. Everyone was very friendly, and the club even offers volunteers to show visitors around Singapore. I also briefly visited the Singapore Chess Federation offices in the same building, where several chess coaching sessions were in progress.

Bishan Chess Club Rapid Tournament

On another evening, I went to a chess meet up, where around 30 or so players gather each week in the atrium of a large office building complex to play casual games for a few hours. There are several other clubs and groups around Singapore and plenty of tournaments for all ages.

Another chess meet-up group organised a chess party at a semi-outdoor bar with live music. This was very popular. They sold t-shirts for the event and a well-known chess streamer turned up to take on allcomers.

‘Rook and Roll 24’ chess party

One day on a walking tour, when I mentioned that I was in Singapore for the World Chess Championship, a knowledgeable member of the group asked if Magnus was coming. I explained that he was no longer the World Champion and wouldn’t be around, only to discover later that day that actually he was in Singapore, playing a chess 960 (‘Freestyle Chess’) mini-match with Caruana to promote a Freestyle Chess five-event tour next year. The first game of the two-game match (won by Carlsen) was played on a luxury boat in the marina.

The World Championship event kicked off with a press conference at the Capitol Theatre, hosted by Maurice Ashley, with the players answering questions after introductory speeches by the FIDE President, Arkady Dvorkovich and GM Kevin Goh, CEO of the Singapore Chess Federation. Vishy Anand was in the audience and was warmly acknowledged.

Arkady Dvorkovich, Maurice Ashley, Ding, Gukesh and GM Kevin Goh at the press conference

This was followed in the evening by the opening ceremony. After an entertaining music and light show and welcoming speeches, Ding drew black for the first game.

Ding and Gukesh about to draw for colours at the opening ceremony

The match itself was held at the Equarius Hotel in Resort World Sentosa. Sentosa is an island to the south of Singapore which has been developed into a major resort, with luxury hotels and numerous leisure attractions, including Universal Studios. The playing room had seating for the audience with an area partitioned off for the players with one-way glass so they could not see the audience.

The ‘fishbowl’ playing area

Phones and other electronic devices were allowed in the audience for the first 30 minutes, then the whole audience was required to exit and deposit their devices at a check-in desk, then return to the playing room via airport-style screening. Each game started with Maurice Ashley announcing the players and then celebrity guests made the opening moves – two celebrities, one making an opening move for White, the other a response for Black. The match was very well attended with many games sold out. After each game, the players and media were whisked off to the media centre in the nearby Convention Centre for a press conference.

The post-game press conference

Google was a sponsor of the match. Did you spot, on the day of the first game, the ‘Doodle’ on Google’s home page was ‘celebrating chess’? Google had an AI-themed exhibition near the playing area, with consoles allowing you to ask Gemini questions about chess.

Google’s ‘AI and Chess’ exhibition

There was a chess set design generator, which produced pictures of pieces based on a theme of your choice, also letting you print off a card with your favourite piece on it.

AI-generated chess piece design

Among the many side events was an interesting presentation by Nenad Tomasev, one of the Deep Mind team behind the development of AlphaGo and AlphaZero. Some of the insights into their approach were counter-intuitive and surprising. Other activities included workshops and simuls by several of the celebrity visitors, as well as the very popular Singapore International Open tournament.

Nenad Tomasev

Apart from the playing hall, the most popular area was the Fan Zone. The room had two big screens showing the games in progress with commentary, free tea and coffee, snacks and drinks for purchase, bean bags and seats, with a few sets and clocks for casual play. There were several interactive screens covering all the previous world champions, a small exhibition of historic chess sets, clocks and chess computers and a display of posters from most of the World Championships of the last three decades. The championship trophy was on display in the Fan Zone for the duration of the match.

Interactive World Champions history screen

Towards the end of the games, the Fan Zone got very crowded and noisy as the tension rose, the crowd shouting at the players to move as they approached the time control (no increment for the first 40 moves can make for nerve-wracking chess).

The Fan Zone - note the match trophy displayed in front of the chequered screen

Indonesian IM Irene Sukandar appeared regularly in the Fan Zone presenting and interviewing celebrity visitors, including Xie Jun, Vishy Anand, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Boris Gelfand, Eugenio Torre and many others. After the interviews, the celebrities usually stayed for quite long periods for autographs and photo opportunities.

Irene Sukandar with Vishy Anand

There was a significant Australian presence. GM Zhao Zong-Yuan attended as the official FIDE anti-doping consultant, as well as playing in the Open. Canberra-based IM Andras Toth – ‘ChessCoach Andras’ on YouTube – was there, generating on-the-spot match content for Chessable, one of the sponsors. GM Ian Rogers dropped in. IM Gary Lane came for the match and the Open, as did several other Australians of all playing strengths. I must also mention Matthew Griffin from Melbourne, an artist, art lecturer and writer, but more importantly, a great chess fan, who, like me, was determined to enjoy the whole experience and was great company as we sampled Singapore’s chess and other attractions.

It was good to see so many people taking advantage of the opportunity to participate in the festival that a World Championship match creates. That opportunity does not occur often, especially for those of us based in Australia. I had a great time and look forward to doing it again one day.

Study of the Month

White to play and win

Solution at the end of the newsletter.

Book Review

By IM Gary Lane

Playing the Sveshnikov

an active repertoire by Milos Pavlovic, published by Quality Chess, hardback, 360 pages.

A repertoire for Black based on the Sicilian that includes learning long variations.

This opening used to be known as the Pelikan Variation until the 1980s when Russian grandmaster Evgeny Sveshnikov wrote various articles promoting his own games with the addition of an early …b5, to the point that his name stuck. If you are still not sure, then the opening sequence is 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 e5.

Pavolic does a good job at explaining the main lines and assumes you know at least ten moves of theory before expanding his ideas on how Black should proceed. Basically, Black is incurring strategic weakness by pushing his e-pawn but is rewarded with active piece play.

There are of course a lot of games played in this line so the author takes the sensible approach of offering a repertoire where he recommends a practical line that will keep club players happy by proving solid lines with chances of attacking, if White goes astray.

It is well presented with sometimes up to four diagrams per page so it makes for an easy read.

Essential reading for those playing the Sveshnikov.

Looking Back

Fifty Years Ago - Tal vs Australia

In 1974, John Engelander organised a telex simultaneous match between former World Champion Mikhail Tal and eight Australian players. After eight hours’ play, three games were finished with the rest adjudicated. The final result was four wins, three draws and one loss (to Max Fuller).