City Of Melbourne Open Round 8 Live

A depleted field tonight as withdrawals and postponements due to the Victorian Juniors takes it toll. There is no live transmission tonight due to some technical issues with our computers and my lack of ability in solving these problems. We have postponements to the games Fitzpatrick-Addamo and Lekkas-Shanks (good luck to Michael Addamo and Frank Lekkas in the Victorian Junior Championships) and Ian Sutton has had to go to Sydney for a while and has withdrawn from the tournament so his game against Thai Ly has resulted in a victory by forfeit to Thai. One game was played yesterday, where Domogoj Dragicevic beat Pano Skiotis.

Ok, I will try to post some info about the top game as we have no live transmission. So far it’s a closed Spanish which I know very little about.

Rujevic-Tan

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. d4 Bg4 10. d5 Na5 11. Bc2 c6 12. a4 cxd5 13. exd5 Nc4 14. h3

The early news is that Laurie Dalton is a winner due to a no show by Alp Akverdi, Dusan Stojic has tried the opening 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 against Sylvester Urban. This is a sideline that both Stojic brothers have played a fair bit over the past few years so they know the resulting positions pretty well. Victor Kildisas has stodged a Bb5xc6 Sicilian against Sam Low. Roger Beattie appears to be an exchange down for no compensation and the interesting game is shaping up to be Schmidt-Voon with an opposite castled Sicilian.

At the request of a well known IM and Victorian chess personality I have taken a picture of Sam Low as it seems that it’s such a long time since he played that people need reminding what he looks like.  If anyone else has any requests for pictures of chess players, then feel free to ask and I’ll see what I can do. Perhaps a beachwear modelling photo session?

Board 1 update

Not very exciting, Mirko has chased the light squared bishop.

Rujevic-Tan

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. d4 Bg4 10. d5 Na5 11. Bc2 c6 12. a4 cxd5 13. exd5 Nc4 14. h3 Bh5 15. g4
Bg6 16. Bxg6

Approximately 1 and a half hours into the games:

Board 1 has not moved on much:

Rujevic-Tan: times 67-53

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. d4 Bg4 10. d5 Na5 11. Bc2 c6 12. a4 cxd5 13. exd5 Nc4 14. h3 Bh5 15. g4
Bg6 16. Bxg6 hxg6 17. b3 Nb6 18. a5 Nbd7 19. Be3 Rc8 20. b4 *

Board 3 has come down an endgame where white (Urban) has a majority on the queen side, but black (Stojic) has a more central king.

White to move here, and Sylvester is having a good long think.

Victor Kildisas is a pawn up, though it doesn’t seem like much against Sam Low who has some pressure along the h1-a8 diagonal. Roger Beattie is a ton of material down against Gary Lycett and the only other interesting point is Jim Papadinis’ orange coloured pen. If I was his opponent I would be complaining about the brightness on Jim’s scoresheet, that contrasts dramatically with the greyness on the board.

2 hour update

I’m finding it difficult to pick winners tonight. Roger Beattie still looks gone but is playing on. Ari Dale looks exhausted after playing non stop for the past 3 days at the Victorian under 12′s and under 18′s. He has already won 2 games today at the Vic Junior’s but is a pawn down against John Dowling. The game between Simon Schmidt and Richard Voon is heating up:

White to move, but who will smash through first?

The board 1 game has moved on a bit with Justin pressuring Mirko’s d5 pawn.

Rujevic-Tan
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. d4 Bg4 10. d5 Na5 11. Bc2 c6 12. a4 cxd5 13. exd5 Nc4 14. h3 Bh5 15. g4
Bg6 16. Bxg6 hxg6 17. b3 Nb6 18. a5 Nbd7 19. Be3 Rc8 20. b4 Qc7 21. Qb3 Qb7 22.
Rd1 Rc4

And from this position, Justin has taken the lead in this game with excellent calculation:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. d4 Bg4 10. d5 Na5 11. Bc2 c6 12. a4 cxd5 13. exd5 Nc4 14. h3 Bh5 15. g4
Bg6 16. Bxg6 hxg6 17. b3 Nb6 18. a5 Nbd7 19. Be3 Rc8 20. b4 Qc7 21. Qb3 Qb7 22.
Rd1 Rc4 23. Na3 Nxd5 24. Nxc4 bxc4 25. Qxc4 Nxe3 26. fxe3 Qxf3 27. Kh2

Mirko looks disgusted with himself, and if Justin can press home his advantage then we will have a new leader before the final round.

2 and a half hours

The game between Richard McCart and Felix Wyss has an interesting material distribution, as Felix has a rook for a bishop and 2 pawns. The queens and other pieces are still on so at the moment, the rook looks threatening. Jim papadinis’ orange pen hasn’t helped him as he is a host of pawns down to Paul Kovacevic. Alex kaplan finds himself with a huge time advantage against Adam Lovegrove even though Adam might have a positional advantage in the game. He will find it difficult to play this game out with only 3.27 on the clock compared to Kaplan’s 64 minutes.

The board 1 game now sees an overwhelming advantage to Justin Tan.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. d4 Bg4 10. d5 Na5 11. Bc2 c6 12. a4 cxd5 13. exd5 Nc4 14. h3 Bh5 15. g4
Bg6 16. Bxg6 hxg6 17. b3 Nb6 18. a5 Nbd7 19. Be3 Rc8 20. b4 Qc7 21. Qb3 Qb7 22.
Rd1 Rc4 23. Na3 Nxd5 24. Nxc4 bxc4 25. Qxc4 Nxe3 26. fxe3 Qxf3 27. Kh2 Bh4 28.
Qf1 Bg3+ 29. Kg1 Qxe3+ 30. Kg2 e4 31. Ra2 Be5 32. c4

Here is the position which Adam Lovegrove is having to play with under 2 minutes left.

And big news from board 1. After the moves

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. d4 Bg4 10. d5 Na5 11. Bc2 c6 12. a4 cxd5 13. exd5 Nc4 14. h3 Bh5 15. g4
Bg6 16. Bxg6 hxg6 17. b3 Nb6 18. a5 Nbd7 19. Be3 Rc8 20. b4 Qc7 21. Qb3 Qb7 22.
Rd1 Rc4 23. Na3 Nxd5 24. Nxc4 bxc4 25. Qxc4 Nxe3 26. fxe3 Qxf3 27. Kh2 Bh4 28.
Qf1 Bg3+ 29. Kg1 Qxe3+ 30. Kg2 e4 31. Ra2 Be5 32. c4 f5 33. Qf2 Qb3 34. Qe2
fxg4 35. hxg4 Qg3+ 36. Kh1 Qh3+ 37. Kg1 Rf4 Mirko resigned.

This was Justin’s first win against an International Master

3 hours update

About half the games have finished now. The ending between Urban and Stojic is looking better for Dusan and if he wins, he will join Domagoj Dragicevic in first place, half a point ahead of Rujevic. Sam Low has broken through a lot of stodge that Victor kildisas put in front of him, and looks to have a good advantage. Richard Voon is an exchange up and should convert, while Richard McCart and Rad Chmiel have a long way still to go with hardly any pieces or pawns off the board. Some diagrams to follow soon.

MCC life member Marcus Raine has been a welcome visitor to the club this evening. Marcus has some time off from his university studies and has come into the MCC after a full day at Box Hill Chess Club where he was present for the Victorian Junior Championships. I asked him about the hat imitatation perpetrated by Elliott Renzies and Serif Tuglaci. Marcus said he had no problems with having the same fashion sense as Tasso.

A big disappointment for Richard Voon who just lost an absolutely crushing position against Simon Schmidt after overlooking a threat of mate in 1 which forced him to give up some material. Dusan is now 2 pawns up in an ending where he has rook and knight against Sylvester’s rook and bishop. Sam Low is also 2 pawns up against Victor Kildisas while the McCart-Chmiel game continues on its long course.

Actually, as I was just writing that the 2 top boards ended with wins for Dusan Stojic and Sam Low. This means we have joint leaders going into the last round with Domagoj Dragicevic and Dusan Stojic on 6.5 with Mirko Rujevic just half a point behind on 6.

There is still one game going on, and it is getting to the finale between McCart and Chmiel. Last I looked it was double rooks, a minor piece each and about 5 pawns each, but both are down to the last 5 minutes so time may be a factor. It has now clarified to rook and 5 (Chmiel) v rook and 4 (McCart). Time will definitely be a factor in this result, they are both less than 5 minutes.

This is the end of the blog for tonight. Thanks again for watching and I will be posting the last round draw on the MCC website by Wednesday at the latest. This will mean calculating the draw based on some unplayed games, but that is the way it has to be. I will not be at the club next week so I’d like to thank the players for making the tournament an easy one to be the arbiter of. I have thoroughly enjoyed being arbiter and live blogging from the event. I will definitely be doing this agin in the future.

City of Melbourne Open Round 7 Live

A prompt start to the round has caught a few latecomers out, but the boards are gradually filling up. There are 2 postponed games, Lovegrove-Ro. McCart to be played on Tuesday and Wyss-Ly to be played on Thursday. I’ll be posting the draw for round 8 after Wyss-Ly has been played. A prize fund has been announced now, there being over $1000 in the pool with a first prize of $350. The live game tonight is the top 2 rated players in the tournament, Dragicevic-Rujevic.

The first winner of the night, was also the first forfeit of the tournament as Ari Dale took the full point when Jack Shanks failed to show up for his game in the 30 minute allotted time.

1 hour update:

Evergreen Felix Wyss is in the club despite his game being postponed until tomorrow. He is currently blasting out some blitz against Ari Dale who is a little disappointed to have had no game tonight. Board 1 times: 63-66. Both players look quite relaxed at the moment. Board 2 is a messy Kalashnikov, while board 3 sees Pyke, as white, with a central pawn wedge guaranteeing him more maneuvering space. Ian Sutton has chosen the Samisch against the KID rather than the 4 pawns which he played earlier in the tournament. Pano Skiotis arrived a bit late and is now down on the clock 79-42 against John Dowling. Richard Voon has a big centre and the 2 bishop’s against Justin Tan, a similar sort of game to that which Richard had against Sam Low earlier in the tourney, but Sam was able to create some play and win. Board 7 sees the early stages of a Benoni, while Sam Low on board 8 has the 2 bishops and a nice position against Frank Lekkas. Roger Beattie has his dark sunglasses on tonight, and that distracted me from looking at his game. And alex Kaplan has a queen for 2 knights against John Beckman and looks to be winning.

Battle of generations: Felix Wyss on the left has his mug, while Ari Dale has his water bottle.

2 Hour Update:

First game to finish was Pyke-Kildisas where Victor made too many slow moves allowing Malcolm to win an easy miature.

[Event "City of Melbourne"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2010.06.21"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Pyke, M."]
[Black "Kildisas, V."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E18"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "2010.05.12"]
[SourceDate "2010.06.21"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O Be7 6. c4 O-O 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Bd2 f5 9. d5 Nxc3 10. Bxc3 Bf6 11. Rc1 a5 12. Nd4 Qc8 13. e4 c5 14. Nb5 Bxc3 15. Rxc3 fxe4 16. Bxe4 Na6 17. Qh5 g6 Up to this point Malcolm has played simple chess and built up a winning position. He now wins in nice fashion.

18. Bxg6 hxg6 19. Qxg6+ Kh8 20. g4 1-0

Board 1 times: 36-48, and Mirko looks the more relaxed at the moment. FitzPatrick has managed to create a typical Kalashnikov mess against Stojic. Paul Kovacevic looks to be in trouble with his king caught in the centre against Sylvester Urban. The Lekkas-Low game has become quite interesting:

Which pawn should black recapture with and who is better?

Meanwhile, Roger beattie looks comfortable at 2 pawns up against Simon Schmidt. A very interesting ending is just beginning between Gary Lycett and Laurie Dalton:

White to move, but does he have any advantage here?

Unfotunately for us, Malcolm Pyke is not going to be able to play the rest of the tournament. Malcolm is taking the chance for the trip of a lifetime and going to Europe for a couple of months. He will be spending some time in England (he will be able to work out for himself why I decided to emigrate from that country) and then touring around some of the mainland. We all wish him a great time, and good luck if he gets to play any chess while he’s there.

I couldn’t work out which was Malcolm’s best side, so here are both: Malcolm Pyke from both the King Side and the Queen Side

3 Hour Update:

Board 1 times: 18-30. Voon-Tan has become interesting with Justin grabbing some pawns on the queenside, but Richard creating threats.

Also interesting is the ending between Roger Beattie and Simon Schmidt, the latter having fought back somewhat.

And the game between Alex Kaplan and John Beckman has been a topsy turvy affair, where Alex was a queen for 2 pieces up, then a piece for 2 pawns down, but it has now come down to a rook ending where it seems both players want to play to the bitter end.

White played Kc4 in this position.

On other boards, Sam Low is an exchange up, Gary Lycett is trying to win the double bishop ending and Sutton-Addamo is a crazy opposite side castling game that is poised to explode.

3 and a half hours:

Not many games left. Justin Tan looks good against Richard Voon, a clear exchange up but they only have one pawn each, so there are slight drawing chances for Richard. Gary Lycett is still trying to win a position against Laurie Dalton where there are opposite bishops and 5 pawns each, and no pawn stands on the colour of the opposite bishop. Roger Beattie is now 2 pawns up again in the following position.

Roger as white just played 1.g4.

The other game still going is between Dowling and Skiotis, where black is pressing. Oh, and of course Beckman-Kaplan where K, R, + P is taking on K, R + P. I think there has been no pawn move for at least 200 moves but neither side is budging!

4 hour update:

Only one game left in what has been an exciting night, with a number of interesting endgames. The final game of the night sees Roger Beattie with K, Q + NP v Simon Schmidt’s K + Q. It’s a hideously difficult endgame which I’ll probably use as the basis for the Wednesday night Endgame Group this week. Highlights tonight have been Michael Addamo’s draw with Ian Sutton, Malcolm Pyke’s win over Victor Kildisas, and Domogoj’s excellent effort to defeat the hitherto undefeated IM Mirko Rujevic on the live board.

Once again, thanks for looking at this blog. I will be posting the pairings for the next round after the postponed game that is due to be played on Thursday.

City of Melbourne Open round 6 Live

Tonight I finally produced a paper crosstable of the event, my least favourite job of arbitering an event.  Besides that, there are a couple of late arrivals. Michael Addamo turned up within 5 minutes of the start time, but we are still waiting for Thai Ly and neither player on board 5 has shown up yet. In the case of neither player showing, I am not sure of the firfeiture ruling which I’ll consult in a minute.

The game between Mirko Rujevic and Ian Sutton is on the featured board which should be interesting as they are both undefeated so far in the tournament.

With the exception of one postponed game between Ari Dale and Daryl Prasad to be played this Wednesday, all are here and all games have started. Pano Skiotis arrived with 10 minutes to spare, and Roger Beattie trumped him by arriving with more like 10 seconds to spare! My first impression of the games is that Justin Tan’s game will be a feature again. He is playing the white side of an English Attack against Domagoj’s Sicilian. And lower down the boards, Alex Kaplan has somehow managed to get a dark squared bishop to e5 in a Stonewall Attack. Jack Shanks has played the Stonewall defence to this!

1 hour update

BIG NEWS….Roger Beattie has fallen asleep at the board! Board 1 times: 64-55. Interesting games include board 3 where Domagoj hasn’t castled into Justin’s king side pawn avalanche, but has sacrificed the exchange on c3; more on this soon. Frank Lekkas is a tight spot against Victor Kildisas with Frank as black to move:

Sam Low sacrificed a pawn on e6 to hassle Dusan Stojic’s development. Paul Kovacevic and Gary Lycett are both a solid pawn up, while Thai Ly is a piece ahead.

At the back, Roger Beattie following the TAC advice and taking a 15 minute powernap!

2 more positions of interest:

The ending of the game Kaplan-Shanks with white to move.

Tan-Dragicevic with black to move.

2.5 hours update

Ian Sutton is down to 10 minutes against IM Rujevic on board 1 and is a pawn down in a tough position. The rest of the games from boards 2-5 are all in the balance. Sylvester Urban is still a solid pawn up and Simon Schmidt looks to be a rook up against John Beckman. The game between Papadinis and Dowling looks interesting.

Meanwhile, the interesting game Tan-Dragicevic has only seen the moves 1..Qc6 2.Kb1 to the above position.

3 hours update

Not many games left now, but it is still tense on the top boards.

Malcolm Pyke has a very active king compensating for his pawn weakness on e6.

All the other games have either just concluded or should do soon. Pano Skiotis is a pawn up and winning against Roger beattie who looks more awake now than all evening. Michael Addamo looks to be a piece up against Felix Wyss which is good as Michael’s Dad has just turned up to pick him up.

Well, it’s an early finish to the night with the last game finishing to a 3-fold repetition claim, though Brian FitzPatrick did think that his claim had been premature. Malcolm was a pawn ahead, but the position was difficult as he had a typically backward French e-pawn as his extra pawn and his pieces were passive with the exception of his king.

Due to the long weekend, and the excellent tournament being held at Canterbury CC this weekend, we will be having no round next week and the next games will be played on Monday 21st June. There is one adjourned game to be played on Wednesday and after that the pairings will be made. Thanks again for checking out this blog, I’ll try to put some games from this tournament up this week.

City of Melbourne Open Round 5 live

All has started, though we had some late arrivals. Dusan Stojic fought against traffic, as did Ian Sutton and they have both only just arrived. Besides that everyone is here, with the exception of Alex Kaplan who is playing Laurie Dalton. The feature game sees the Yugoslav battle between Dusan Stojic and IM Mirko Rujevic, but there are some interesting and competitive pairings all the way down to board 16 where Richard McCart faces his arch rival, Roger McCart

Early interest:

A lot of 1.d4 games tonight. Board 2 sees the 4 Pawns v the KID while Board 3 sees the Fianchetto for white against the KID. Exchange QGD’s on boards 5 and 14, Ari Dale has played the Grunfeld for the second time in the tournament, while John Dowling has a massive queen side initiative against Victor Kildisas. There are some pretty crazy games happening, but the game between Justin Tan and Sylvester Urban has already reached critical point. This is the position with Black to move:

Edit….the game has continued 1 ..Rxc3, 2. bxc3 Bxe5

1 hour update

Pieces of interest: Sam Low again has his majestic pen. I will endeavor to stop him before he leaves tonight and get a photo of it! Roger Beattie is struggling as last week he cracked 2 ribs. Roger is hoping that he doesn’t get into a wrestling match tonight. Laurie Dalton is out first winner tonight, though I didn’t see what happened. Alex Kaplan “I hallucinated”. Board 1 times: 58-81. Ian Sutton has the typical space advantage with the 4 pawns v the KID, Pano needs to counter this. Brian FitzPatrick and Sam Low have a fairly mad Sveshnikov Sicilian going with both players trying to create things on both sides of the board. Malcolm is a pawn up against Michael Addamo with no visible compensation. Frank Lekkas has the Accelerated Dragon again (as he did against Domagoj) and John beckman has set up a Maroczy Bind. Roger Beattie has 2 bishops against Thai Ly, but the game is fairly level. The only other games of interest at the moment are Wyss-Lycett which is level, but Gary has a shocking pawn structure of a7, c6, c3, e6, g6, h7. He will do to hold the ending. And Dowling-Kildisas where Victor has a king queen, both rooks and a knight on the back row, plus he has fianchettoed his other knight!

The continuation from the above diagram between Tan-Urban was 1 ..Rxc3, 2. bxc3 Bxe5 3. f4 Bxc3 4. Kb1 The game has moved on to this position:

Feel free to suggest the winner!

2 hour update

Board 1 times: 38-65. Pano has an extra pawn, but the position is opening up and Ian Sutton is better developed….I’m sitting on the fence here. Justin played Rd2 in the above position….an amazing fight by both players! John Dowling looks to be trying to breakthrough against Victor. The next few moves in this game will be critical. Felix Wyss has won the isolated c3 pawn of Gary Lycett and is a solid pawn ahead. Ari Dale is ahving a blinder against Richard Voon and looks to be winning material. The Grunfeld bishop has come to life. The battle of the McCart’s is being led by Roger who has the 2 bishop’s and a space advantage. Meanwhile, there is a fascinating ending between Paul Kovacevic and Simon Schmidt. Black to move.

2.5 hours update:

Boo!!!! The above endgame saw not many more moves played and a draw agreed. Have you ever been in a game against a Junior, won a piece, and then wondered when, or if, they would resign? Well, the boot is on the other foot as Richard Voon is a piece down against Ari Dale, but is playing on. And the Tan-Urban game continues to entertain….the position is now:

3 hours Update.

A big thanks to Roger Beattie for donating $50 to our building fund, and congratualtions for winning your game tonight against Thai Ly. Board 1 times: 10-35. On 2 Pano is now a pawn down and has only 5 minutes, his position is critical. Sam Low is also short on time with 8 minutes and the board is almost full and very complicated. Domagoj has initiated a minority attack in the QGD exchange. Victor Kildisas has ended a pawn up against John Dowling after the smoke cleared. Frank Lekkas has taken over the initiative in his game and is putting pressure on Jonh Beckman’s Maroczy centre. Papadinis-Shanks is a very closed game but Jim has a great knight against Jack’s bad bishop. Richard Voon is coming back into the game creating some attacking threats on the back rank. And the McCart’s game is tense, though Roger is now looking the more nervous.

Justin Tan has played Rg2 from the diagram above and the game is drawing a crowd.

3.5 hours update:

Dusan is down to 1 minute, but Mirko is having a big think. Brian FitzPatrick has a great d5 outpost for a knight which guarantees an edge. Voon is right back in the game with queen’s and opposite bishops left. Richard has the initiative. Sutton-Skiotis is an interesting ending.

And the Tan-Urban game has moved on a little to this position with Black to move.

Coming up to 4 hours gone and only the top 3 boards are still playing. Mirko has taken over his game, Ian Sutton is winning the endgame against Pano Skiotis, but the FitzPatrick-Low game is still in the balance, with Brian a pawn up, but all rooks and queens are still on the board.

Ok, the round is now over, with the last game being a loss on time for Sam Low. A shame for Sam who had fought hard in a slightly worse position for a long time and was close to reaching a drawish queen and pawn ending.

I will be putting the results and standings up on the MCC website tomorrow, and the draw should also be up tomorrow night. Thanks for watching the blog and as an extra bonus, here is the amazing pen of Sam Low’s that I’ve been raving on about

2010 Victorian Teams Championship Division 2

I am a player and captain of a team in division 1 and there is a page where the progress of my team can be seen. But I am also the captain of a team in the second division, and as the manager of the MCC teams competition, I am also interested in how all the teams do.

So first the team I manage is based around the company I work for, Chess Kids. A couple of the chess coaches and some of our more promising kids have started a team. So there is a combination of young players tasting their first adult chess events, and coaches who may not have played for quite some time. In the first round, Chess Kids had to travel to Geelong and performed really well. Our board 1, Frank Meerbach hasn’t played chess for quite some time and felt understandably rusty, but he still managed to draw on board 1. On board 2 we defaulted, which can be blamed entirely on the captain not contacting players early enough. On board 3 we won. Anthony Hain went pawn grabbing in the opening and was rightly punished by his opponent. But just at the moment when it looked close for Anthony to resign, his opponent obligingly gace away his queen for nothing. That was enough for a full point and the match even. On board 4 Sasha Parsons was giving away perhaps 400 rating points to his opponent, but put up a good fight. He eventually succumbed to some nice tactics along an a2-g8 diagonal, with his king sitting at the end of this. So all in all we lost the match 2.5-1.5, but had a great day out and learned much.

Division 2 results:

Unfortunately I don’t know the individual match scores, but here are the results:

Dandenong beat Hobson’s bay

Ballarat beat Yarra

MCC3 drew with BHCC

Geelong beat Chess Kids

MCC5 beat Ranges

MCC4 beat Canterbury

Croydon beat Noble Park

So that leaves the standings after the first round as:

3 points: Dandenong, Ballarat, Geelong, MCC5, MCC4, Croydon

1 point: MCC3, BHCC

0 points: Yarra, Hobson’s Bay, Canterbury, Ranges, Chess Kids, Noble Park

Brunswick Street

We’re lucky in Melbourne. Besides a great CBD, there are some amazing suburbs where you can kill some time in a relaxed manner. To name just a few, there’s St Kilda, Carlton, South Melbourne (The Old Paper Shop Deli), Port Melbourne, and the area that’s home to the Melbourne Chess Club, Fitzroy. The MCC is literally 1 minutes walk from Brunswick Street which has a host of great cafe’s and restaurants. It is an eclectic mix and off the top of my head I can think of Thai, Malaysian, Japanese, Lebanese, Afghan, Indian, Italian, Greek, French, Aussie, American and Chinese styles of food, and that doesn’t include the hispanic quarter around Johnston Street.

I’ve often got a half hour spare when going to the club and I’ve tried lots of bars/cafes/restaurants, but I always seem to head back to Cafe Nova. It’s in a great situation, just north of Johnston Street and open from early (the breakfasts are good ) till midnight or 1am at the weekend. As a lightweight who prefers caffeine to alcohol, I haven’t thought of Cafe Nova as a bar, but I could easily imagine spending a few hours chilling with some friends and some drinks of an evening. The menu caters for light eaters as well as for those who want full meals and the coffee is great. I’ve tried all the blends they have (home blend, cuban and fair trade), and the best for a long black, in my opinion, is the fair trade blend. It has the right degree of acidity which means the bitterness isn’t there, the body stays deep for the whole drink and the flavour is not overly strong but really pleasant.

However, just like any cafe, it’s the feel of the place that really makes the difference, and Cafe Nova is a great laid back place to spend some time.

Good food, good drinks, and friendly staff like Liz makes Cafe Nova a top place to be if you’re around Brunswick Street.

City of Melbourne Open Games

Hi all, here are some games from the City of Melbourne Open. I will be uploading more and publishing them when I can, but hopefully all will be updated by the end of the week.

[Event "City of Melbourne"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2010.05.24"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Schmidt, S."]
[Black "Dowling, J."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B22"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2010.05.12"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.12"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 e6 6. Nf3 d6 7. Nc3 Nxc3 8. bxc3 Qc7 9. Bb2 Nd7 10. exd6 Bxd6 11. Bd3 b6 12. O-O Bb7 13. h3 O-O 14. c4 Rac8 15. Rc1 Rfd8 16. d5 e5 17. Re1 Re8 18. Ng5 h6 19. Ne4 Bb4 20. Re2 Qd8 21. Ng3 Bf8 22. Bf5 g6 23. Bxd7 Qxd7 24. Rxe5 Rxe5 25. Bxe5 b5 26. Ne4 Be7 27. Bf6 Rxc4 28. Rxc4 bxc4 29. Bxe7 Qxe7 30. Qd4 Qb4 31. Nf6+ Kf8 32. d6 Qe1+ 33. Kh2 Qa5 34. d7 Ke7

[White to play has lots of winning tries. At the time, I was thinking of 35. Ng8+ followed by Qf6. But the most aesthetic move is 35. f4! threatening 36.Qe3 when Black's knight will be untouchable because of 37. Qe5#] 35. Ne8 Qd5 36. Qf6+ 0-1

[Event "City of Melbourne"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2010.05.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Sutton, I."]
[Black "Papadinis, J."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D07"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2010.05.12"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.12"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c4 Nf6 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nb6 6. h3 e6 7. Nc3 Be7 8. Be2 O-O 9. O-O a6 10. Be3 Nb8 11. Rc1 c6 12. Qb3 N8d7 13. Rfd1 Rb8 14. Bd3 h6 15. Bb1 Re8 16. d5 exd5 17. exd5 Nxd5 18. Nxd5 cxd5 19. Rxd5 Bf6 20. Qd3 Bxb2 21. Qh7+ Kf8 22. Rxd7 1-0

A mate in 5 moves from the game Sutton-Papadinis.

[Event "City of Melbourne"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2010.05.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Kildisas, V."]
[Black "Wyss, F."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B23"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2010.05.12"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.12"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Nf3 g6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Bg7 8. Be3 Nf6 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Be2 O-O 11. O-O Qc7 12. g4 Rab8 13. g5 Ne8 14. Rb1 f5 15. Bc4+ Kh8 16. Bb3 fxe4 17. Nxe4 Bf5 18. Ng3 Bh3 19. Rf2 c5 20. c3 Bd7 21. h4 Qc8 22. Bc2 Bg4 23. Qd3 e6 24. h5 c4 25. Qd2 gxh5 26. Rh2 e5 27. f5 Rf7 28. f6 Nxf6 29. gxf6 Bxf6 [See the diagram below] 30. Rf1 Qg8 31. Qg2 Rxb2 32. Rf2 Rxa2 33. Be4 Ra1+ 34. Rf1 Rxf1+ 35. Nxf1 Qe8 36. Ng3 h4 37. Nf1 Rg7 38. Bh6 Rg8 39. Qc2 Bd1+ 40. Qg2 Qh5 41. Qxg8+ Kxg8 42. Bd5+ Kh8 43. Rb2 Qxh6 44. Rb8+ Bd8 45. Rxd8+ Kg7 46. Rd7+ Kf8 47. Rxa7 Be2 48. Ra8+ Ke7 49. Ra7+ Kd8 50. Ra8+ Kc7 51. Ra7+ Kb6 52. Rb7+ Kc5 53. Be4 Qc1 54. Rb1 Qxc3 0-1

Victor Kildisas had thrown his pawns up the board at Felix Wyss’ king. Felix sacrificed a piece for 3 pawns and Victor’s king was suddenly feeling a little exposed. Who is better in this position? Probably white, but defending the oncoming attack is not an easy thing to do in practice.

[Event "City of Melbourne"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2010.05.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Pyke, M."]
[Black "Skiotis, P."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2010.05.12"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.12"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bd2 O-O 8. O-O-O c5 9. h4 a6 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Ng5 Nb6 12. Bd3 h6 13. dxc5 Bxc5 14. Bh7+ Kh8 15. Kb1 Bd7 16. Bd3 Rc8 17. Rc1 Qe7 18. Qd1 Nc4 19. Nf3 b5 20. Ka1 Nxb2 21. Kxb2 Ba3+ 22. Ka1 Bxc1 23. Bxc1 Rxc3 24. Bb2 Rcc8

[Surely white doesn't have enough for an exchange and a pawn? But he wins in just over 10 moves!] 25. Nd4 Rfe8 26. Bb1 b4 27. Rg1 a5 28. g4 Ne4 29. g5 Nxf2 30. Qh5 Rc3 31. gxh6 g6 32. Qxd5 Ng4 33. Ne2 Qxe3 34. Qxd7 Qxe2 35. Qxf7 Nxh6 36. Qxg6 Nf5 37. Qxf5 1-0

[Event "City of Melbourne"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2010.05.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Dowling, J."]
[Black "Urban, S."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E14"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2010.05.12"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.12"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 c5 4. Bd3 b6 5. O-O Bb7 6. c4 Be7 7. Nc3 cxd4 8. exd4 d5 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Ne5 O-O 11. Qh5 Nf6 12. Qh4 g6 13. Bh6 Nh5 14. Qh3 Ng7 15. Rfd1 Nd7 16. Nxd7 Qxd7 17. d5 Rfd8 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. dxe6 Qxe6 20. Qxe6 fxe6 21. Be4 Bxe4 22. Nxe4 Rd5 23. Nc3 Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Rd8 25. Rxd8 Bxd8 26. Ne4 e5 27. Kf1 Kf7 28. Ke2 Ke6 29. Kd3 b5 30. f3 h5 31. g3 g5 32. g4 hxg4 33. fxg4 Be7 [See diagram below] 34. Nc3 b4 35. Nb5 Kd5 36. Nc7+ Kc6 37. Ne6 Kd5 38. Nc7+ Kc6 39. Ne6 Kd6 40. Ng7 Kd5 41. Nf5 e4+ 42. Ke2 Bf6 43. b3 a6 44. Ke3 Bd8 45. Ke2 Ke5 46. h3 Bb6 47. Ng7 Bc5 48. Nh5 Kd4 49. Ng3 Ke5 50. Nf5 Kf4 51. Kf1 Kf3 52. Ng7 e3 53. Ke1 e2 0-1

I wonder how many players would have agreed to a draw at some stage during this ending? The bishop probably has a slight edge with pawns on both sides of the board, but the central light squares seen tightly bound by white’s king and knight.

City of Melbourne Open Round 4 live blog

The duties of an arbiter are many and one of the worst is defaulting players. I was very close to having to default our top board player, IM Mirko Rujevic, who struggled to get here on time through Socceroo traffic around the MCG. Thankfully, Mirko arrived with about 5 minutes to spare on the automatic default time and his game against Malcolm has started.

Besides that, we have one adjourned game tonight between Richard McCart and Victor Kildisas, and all the other games have started promptly. The adjourned game between Thai Ly and Michael Addamo from round 3 has been scheduled for this Thursday so the tournament is getting back on track. I will give some game details in about half an hour from now.

1 hour

Rujevic-Pyke 53min-80min. Board 2 is an opposite castled Sicilian while board 3 is a closed centre French type position. Sam Low has pressure against a backward d-pawn, and Sam also gets the prize for the nicest pen….I’ll try to get a photo of this quality object! Pano is a pawn up with advantage against Felix Wyss. Board 6 has seen Brian FitzPatrick leave his king in the centre and the f-file is semi-open. Frank Lekkas has yet to organise his pieces for an attack, though. Board 7 is a typical white centre versus black solid structure, while board 8 sees the 2 talented juniors in a wild piece play game. Scmidt-Dowling on board 9 is a fairly tense 2.c3 Sicilian which is due to explode relatively soon. Michael Addamo is a piece up against Paul Kovacevic with no visible counterplay. Rad Chmiel has the 2 bishops against Jack Shanks, but the game is otherwise level. Lycett-Voon is a struggle based around one file, with all rooks on the c-file, while Papadinis-Kaplan has already seen 40 moves and is heading to an endgame. Laurie Dalton has built up a lot of space, but the question is whether he has taken too much on, while the board 16 game sees a queenless middlegame.

Update

Some views about the board 1 game….I personally think that Malcolm is fine and that Mirko may have mixed up some variations. Malcolm avoided an early ..a6 so has gained time on that variation. I am no expert in the French, but it appears black has every reason to believe he has taken the advantage. However, Mirko is a very dangerous attacking player, and I expect he will not notice that he is a pawn down for quite a while. Malcolm has to be careful to stay active and not Mirko any hint of an initiative on the king side.

2 hours into the games

Our first winner tonight was Michael Addamo who won a piece against Paul Kovacevic. This was good for Michael’s Dad who was sat around the MCC waiting for Michael, the joy of all chess parents. The ending between Papadinis and Kaplan has entered its second scoresheet worth of moves, they are playing quicker than Anand-Topalov game 1 so their opening preparation must be very thorough.

Board 1: 31mins-63mins, Mirko taking a lot of time which is a bit unusual so maybe Malcolm has the better fo it. Dusan Stojic has thrown his h-pawn up the board and a nasty white attack is imminent. Domagoj is trying to counter down the c-file in this entertaining Sicilian. Board 3 is very messy as Black has pawns on f5-e6-d5 with no central white pawns. Black has no g-pawn and his king looks exposed, but it is difficult to see a direct KO for Sylvester Urban. Felix Wyss is still a pawn down but Pano has only 29 minutes left and things still look tricky to me. Sam Low seems to have some nasty threats based on a pin on the d-file against Roger Beattie. FitzPatrick has castled and has taken some space on the king side/centre but the game is unclear to me. John beckman is suffering with a weak isolated e-pawn which will soon be the target of attack. The juniors on 8 continue to mix it up, and the winner here is anyone’s guess. Unfortunately, it looks the type of position that is ripe for blunders, as neither player seems to have things under control.  Schmidt-Dowling is still the typical white space advantage against solid structure. Board 11 hasn’t changed much, while Lycett-Voon is a horrible Q+N ending. Dalton-McCart is a game of bad minor pieces, with both sides vying for the worst one. And Adam Lovegrove only has 27 minutes in the ending of 2N’s and 7 pawns each…actually, this just ended a draw!

2 and a half hours

Milan Stojic and Bill Jordan are welcome spectators tonight. Australia and winners over New Zealand at soccer, which should make Roger Beattie happy. His position looks difficult so he needs some cheering up. Board 1 sees Mirko creating threats, Malcolm down to 34 minutes, while Mirko has 23. Interestingly, Bill Jordan thought 22..Ng6 good for Black. Dusan has an attack on board 2, but Domagoj is still ready to pounce on the queen side. Urban-Sutton is still a mess, as is the Dale-Tan game. I wouldn’t feel comfortable on either side of either game. Skiotis is 2 pawns up and looks to be winning now against Felix Wyss, and Brian FitzPatrick has also won a pawn and looks in control. John Beckman has maintained material equality against Thai Ly, but Thai now has a dangerous looking passed central pawn. Simon Schmidt is a pawn up, but John Dowling has the 2 bishops. Lycett-Voon is now Q+N+5 pawns each, and Kaplan seems to have equalised against Papadinis who has 2 bishops, but Alex’ king is much better. Laurie Dalton has a big space advantage, the question now is can he convert this to something more tangible.

3 hours

Words from FM Bill Jordan: Rujevic looks to be getting compensation, if he can win a pawn it will be real, and he may even be better. Domagoj is low on time, under 10 minutes. Dusan has a lot of pressure on the king side but no clear way to break through. Sylvester needs to break black’s centre and if he can do this Ian Sutton’s position could collapse. Pano Skiotis should be winning but has allowed a possibility of a “Juggernaut”, a sacrifice of all material for a stalemate. FitzPatrick looks better, positionally good and a pawn up to boot. Dale-Tan is “very confusing”.

Thanks Bill, at least my analysis is mostly comfirmed!! The other games: Schmidt-Dowling is Q+N+4 v Q+B+4, but Simon’s queen and knight look threatening. Rad Chmiel has a definite advantage with space and the 2 bishops. The Papadinis-Kaplan game is now at:

White: Kd1, Bd7, Be7 P’s d5,e4,g5

Black Ke3, Bb4, Nf3, P’s c4, d6, e5.

Perhaps some endgame experts could predict the result with black to play!

3 and a half hours

Not many games left now, but some interesting positions. Ian Sutton has a B+N for rook exchange with attacking chances, queens and rooks still on the board. Brian FitzPatrick is a pawn up but Frank Lekkas has taken the initiative on the queen side. This however leaves Brian with dangerous attacking chances on the kingside, and his rooks are lined up on teh g and f files behind advancing pawns. Ari Dale is a piece down and Justin tan lloks to have the game in the bag. Jack Shanks is a pawn down to Rad Chmiel with just rook and knight v rook and bishop. Jack has been down to unc\der 1 minute for quite some time, but has played well under this time pressure. Laurie Dalton has a positional advantage but still no more, while Lycett-Voon is now queenless.

4 hours update

Well I have nothing left to report as all games have finished. The results will be up on the MCC website by lunchtime tomorrow, and the draw will be published a little later than usual, as I will wait until after the round 3 postponed game between Thai Ly and Michael Addamo to be completed on Thursday. Some highlights of the evening were Felix Wyss’s valiant attempt to sacrifice both his rooks to force stalemate. Pano just managed to have a safe square for his king, but it looked tricky at one stage. Dusan’s win was a nice attack on the king side.Domagoj never seemed to get enough queen side counterplay. Ian Sutton has been a bit rusty after his absence from chess, but he played forcefully tonight to beat Sylvester Urban. I’m not sure about John Dowling’s win against Simon Schmidt, but I’m pretty sure Simon was doing well until very near the end.

Thanks for watching this live blog, hopefully I’ll have some diagrams to include next week to make life more intersting and I’ll be posting a number of games from the past 2 rounds in the next couple of days.

City of Melbourne Open

The second round of the City of Melbourne open took place at the Melbourne Chess Club on Monday night. The results are posted on the site and the next round pairings will come out tomorrow. Already there have been some interesting results, and some great chess. Mirko Rujevic won against Victor Kildisas on board 1 in an open Spanish. Mirko gained the 2 bishops in the early middlegame, and then a pawn before putting too much pressure on Victor’s position. Boards 2 and 3 were draw’s showing that perhaps the lower rated players are competitive in this tournament, and those with higher ratings should take nothing for granted. John Dowling proved an especially difficult character for Dusan Stojic to nail down. John broke all the classical chess rules in the opening, and perhaps should have been punished at times, but Dusan didn’t find the strongest continuations in some fairly unorthodox positions. This game was the second last of the night to finish and I was very impressed by the way both players conducted the final stages of the game in severe time pressure. Dusan kept fighting till the end, refusing 2 draw offers along the way but John held his nerve and held the draw. Another interesting game was between Felix Wyss and Brian FitzPatrick who fought out a long ending with rooks and bishops of the same colour. The ending was incredibly difficult to judge, but finally the position clarified with Brian having a passed pawn that would cost a piece. Again, both players were faced with time shortage towards the end.

Upsets in this round predominated. Frank Lekkas won against Justin Tan who comes to the club directly after he does gymnastic training. I hope this isn’t too much of an effort for him. But in this game nothing should be taken from Frank Lekkas play, and he will be a handful for anyone in the tournament. John Beckman also won against the ratings, while Gary Lycett, Daryl Prasad and Laurie Dalton made draws against higher rated opponents. Laurie’s game was the last to finish at about 11.55pm. Rad Chmiel had been fighting for a win from a slight advantage for a long time and finally they found themselves in one of my favourite ending, rook and bishop versus rook with no pawns. The following position was reached:

It is black to move and Rad had only about 45 seconds to work things out. The game finished 1..Kf1? 2.Rf3!! [A fantastic move by Laurie bringing about a draw] 2..Rf2 [2..Bxf3 is also stalemate] Draw by stalemate.

However, Rad could have won but it is by no means easy to work out in 30 seconds. 1..Rf2+ 2.Kg1 Rf1+ 3.Kh2 Kf2 and it’s zugzwang! 4..Rh1# is the threat and there are no stalemate tricks.

Here are a selection of some more games from the first 2 rounds. I may come across more and will post them as I find them.

[Event "City of Melbourne"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2010.05.03"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Dragicevic, D."]
[Black "McCart, Ri"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B07"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2010.05.12"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.12"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Be3 Nf6 5. Qd2 Ng4 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 c6 8. h3 Nf6 9. a4 a5 10. f4 Qb6 11. Nf3 Nbd7 12. Bd3 Nh7 13. e5 dxe5 14. fxe5 e6 15. Ne4 O-O 16. Nd6 Qxb2 17. O-O Qb6 18. Kh1 c5 19. Be7 cxd4 20. Bxf8 Nhxf8 21. Qf4 f5 22. exf6 Nxf6 23. Ne4 Nh5 24. Qd2 Qc7 25. Rac1 Bd7 26. Ra1 Bc6 27. Rfe1 Bd5 28. Kg1 Nf4 29. Rab1 g5 30. Qf2 e5 31. Qg3 N8e6 32. h4 Qe7 33. hxg5 hxg5 34. Bf1 Rc8 35. Rbc1 Rf8 36. Nfxg5 Nxg5 37. Nxg5 Rf5 38. Ne4 Kf8 39. Rb1 Nh5 40. Qg4 Bxe4 41. Rxe4 Rg5 42. Qc8+ Qe8 43. Qxe8+ Kxe8 44. Rxb7 Ng3 45. Re1 Bh6 46. Rh7 Bg7 47. Rb1 Kf7 48. Rb7+ Kg8 49. Rh3 e4 50. Bc4+ Kf8 51. Rh7 e3 52. Rf7+ Ke8 53. Rfxg7 Rxg7 54. Rxg7 e2 55. Kf2 Nf5 56. Rg5 Nd6 57. Re5+ Kd7 58. Bxe2 1-0

[Event "City of Melbourne"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2010.05.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Rujevic, M."]
[Black "Kildisas, V."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C83"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2010.05.12"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.12"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3 Be7 10. a4 Na5 11. Bc2 b4 12. Nd4 bxc3 13. Nxe6 fxe6 14. Nxc3 Nxc3 15. bxc3 Nc4 16. Qg4 Kd7 17. Rd1 Nxe5 18. Rxd5+ Bd6 19. Qxg7+ Qe7 20. Qxe7+ Kxe7 21. Rd1 Rag8 22. Be4 h5 23. h3 Rg7 24. Ra2 Rhg8 25. Re2 h4 26. f4 Bc5+ 27. Kh1 Nc4 28. Bd5 Nd6 29. Bxe6 Rd8 30. c4 Ne4 31. Bd5 c6 32. Rxe4+ Kf8 33. f5 Rh7 34. Bg5 cxd5 35. cxd5 Rb8 36. d6 Rd7 37. Rxh4 Bxd6 38. Rh8+ 1-0

[Event "City of Melbourne"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2010.05.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Papadinis, J."]
[Black "Pyke, M."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A48"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2010.05.12"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.12"]

1. d4 g6 2. Nf3 Bg7 3. c3 d6 4. Bf4 Nf6 5. Nbd2 O-O 6. h3 Nc6 7. e4 Nd7 8. Bb5 a6 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. O-O c5 11. Rc1 Rb8 12. b3 a5 13. Nc4 Ra8 14. Re1 cxd4 15. cxd4 Nf6 16. Qd2 a4 17. b4 Ba6 18. a3 Bxc4 19. Rxc4 Nxe4 20. Qc2 Nf6 21. Rxc7 Nd5 22. Rb7 Nxf4 23. Rexe7 Nd5 24. Red7 Qf6 25. Qc6 Qf5 26. Qxd6 Nf4 27. b5 Nxh3+ 28. gxh3 Qxf3 29. b6 Rfe8 30. Re7 Rxe7 31. Rxe7 Bf8 32. Qd7 Qf5 33. Qc6 Rb8 34. Re1 Qc8 35. Qb5 Qxh3 36. Re3 Qg4+ 37. Kf1 Qxd4 38. b7 Qa7 39. Re8 Rxe8
40. Qxe8 Qxb7 41. Qxa4 Qb2 0-1

[Event "City of Melbourne"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2010.05.03"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Urban, S."]
[Black "Dragicevic, D."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B60"]
[PlyCount "40"]
[EventDate "2010.05.12"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.12"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 Qb6 7. Nb3 e6 8. Be3 Qc7 9. f3 a6 10. a4 b6 11. Qd2 Bb7 12. Qf2 Nd7 13. Be2 Nb4 14. Rc1 Be7 15. O-O O-O 16. Rfd1 Rfd8 17. f4 Rab8 18. f5 Bc8 19. Nd4 Ne5 20. Rf1 exf5 1/2-1/2

[Event "City of Melbourne"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2010.05.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Stojic, D."]
[Black "Dowling, J."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B06"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2010.05.12"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.12"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Nf3 a6 5. a4 b6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Bb3 Ne7 8. Be3 h6 9. Qd2 Nd7 10. O-O Bb7 11. Ne1 Nf6 12. f3 d5 13. e5 Nd7 14. Ne2 a5 15. c3 Ba6 16. Bc2 Nf5 17. Bf4 Nf8 18. Rf2 h5 19. Bg5 Qd7 20. g4 Ne7 21. Ng3 Ng8 22. gxh5 gxh5 23. Ng2 f6 24. exf6 Nxf6 25. b4 Bc4 26. Nh4 Kd8 27. Re1 Kc8 28. Ngf5 Kb7 29. Nxg7 Qxg7 30. Rg2 Qf7 31. Qf4 N8d7 32. Ng6 Rhg8 33. Ne5 Qg7 34. Nxc4 dxc4 35. Rxe6 Raf8 36. Be4+ Kb8 37. Qd2 Nxe4 38. Rxe4 Rxf3 39. bxa5 Qf7 40. h4 Qd5
41. Qe2 Rxc3 42. axb6 Nxb6 $11 43. Bd2 Rcg3 44. Rxg3 Rxg3+ 45. Kh2 Rg8 46. a5 Nc8 47. Bf4 Qxa5 48. Qxc4 Rg4 49. Qb3+ Qb6 50. Qxb6+ Nxb6 51. Re8+ Kb7 52. Bg5 Rxd4 53. Rh8 c5 1/2-1/2

[Event "City of Melbourne"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2010.05.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Skiotis, P."]
[Black "Voon, R."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2010.05.12"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.12"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 Be7 7. Ne5 O-O 8. Bd3 h6 9. h4 Re8 10. g4 Nd7 11. g5 cxd4 12. exd4 Ncxe5 13. dxe5 Nf8 14. Qg4 Qb6 15. gxh6 g6 16. h5 f5 17. h7+ Kh8 18. hxg6 fxg4 19. g7+ Kxg7 20. h8=Q+ Kf7 21. Rh7+ 1-0

MCC City of Melbourne Open

This is the second tournament of the year of the Monday night calendar and traditionally, it has been a bit of a poor relative to the Club Championship. However, last year the late entry of Greg Hjorth and Eric Teichmann, as well as a large field triggered by the reinvigoration of the MCC, made the 2009 City of Melbourne Open as interesting as the 2009 Club Championships. This year, the City of Melbourne Open has again attracted an interesting field, with 32 players headed by IM Mirko Rujevic. The MCC welcomes Ian Sutton from Ireland who hasn’t played chess for a while, and Sam Low who also hasn’t played for some years. It is also good to see regulars from the Saturday Allegro series, such as Brian FitzPatrick and Sylvester Urban playing in our long play events. John Dowling from the USA follows up his participation in the ANZAC Day Weekender with an appearance here, and joins the list of regular, and not so regular players at the MCC.

The first round started about 10 minutes late, after sterling work from Malcolm Pyke and Pano Skiotis, collecting entries, imputting entry details into the SwissPerfect file, and setting up the tournament hall. The first game to finish resulted in a win for the evergreen Richard Voon whereas the final game to finish at about 11.30pm was a tough struggle between Domagoj Dragicevic and Richard McCart. Funnily enough, Richard Voon showed his energy and great enjoyment of the game of chess by the fact that at 11.30pm he was still playing blitz chess in the club against Jim Papadinis.

The full results can be seen on the MCC website. Both Frank Lekkas and Simon Schmidt carried on in great style after their Club Championship performances. Frank beat Thai Ly in a good attacking performance, though i think Thai will be a bit disappointed to not spot all of white’s threats. Simon drew with Ian Sutton after a difficult position was reached in the early middlegame with white having the bishop pair but hanging pawns. Felix Wyss won against a somewhat rusty Sam Low. Felix played the game well and entered an endgame of rook and opposite coloured bishops with a couple of extra pawns which was enough to win. Top seed Mirko built up a strong position and then was able to break through Paul Kovacevic’s defences in combinational style. Other interesting games included Pyke-Beattie where white gained a lot of space in the opening, even pushing his h-pawn to h6, but the final breakthrough came some time later as black put up good resistance; penultimate game to finish was McCart-Skiotis which ended with a King’s Indian Defence type position where virtually all the pieces were converging around the h and g-files and Pano was able to convert his king side attack. And one game that I saw analysed was between Victor Kildisas and Ari Dale in an Exchange Grunfeld which I don’t know much about, but I was impressed with the depth of ideas of both players. Ari, in particular, was looking at some interesting variations and seemed to fully understand the principles of attacking the white centre in the Grunfeld.

The next round draw will be published by Thursday at the latest. I have let the players know that any postponed games will be deemed a draw for pairing purposes, though i will be doing my best to avoid postponements if at all possible.

Evergreen Richard Voon, the first winner in the City of Melbourne Open