Draw for rounds 7 and 8

Robert Isted next rounds
Round 7 (Phil absent - all players to attend and play earlier rounds)
1 Paul Loveric (4) : Fred Duiker (14)
2 Dylan Kuzmic (5) : Reg Harvey (3)
3 Nigel Lewis (6) : Russell Horton (2)
4 Peter Lucas (7) : Andrew Fifield (1)
5 Owen Cameron (8) : Phil Donnelly (13)
6 Vincent Horton (9) : Kevin Hendrey (12)
7 Carey Kuzmic (10) : David Hughes (11)

Round 8
1 Fred Duiker (14) : David Hughes (11)
2 Kevin Hendrey (12) : Carey Kuzmic (10)
3 Phil Donnelly (13) : Vincent Horton (9)
4 Andrew Fifield (1) : Owen Cameron (8)
5 Russell Horton (2) : Peter Lucas (7)
6 Reg Harvey (3) 1:0 Nigel Lewis (6)
7 Paul Loveric (4) : Dylan Kuzmic (5)

Tasmanian Chess History

Chess stalwart, Neville Ledger has published another volume of chess tournaments in Tasmania.  Results and comments on all Tas events dating back to 1890.  The latest volume 5 is $5 and available from Neville Ledger, PO Box 837, Burnie, Tas, 7320.

Hobart Weekender

Hobart Weekender 2010
Class One Yulgilbar-Think Big Australian Chess Grand Prix event.  Hosted by Hobart International Chess Club
VENUE: Migrant Resource Centre, 49 Molle St, Hobart
FORMAT: 6 round Swiss or Accelerated Swiss. 60 minutes plus 10 seconds per move per player.
ROUNDS START: Saturday 14th August 10:30 am, 1:30 pm, 4:00 pm, 7:15 pm.  Sunday 15th August 9:30 am, 12:45 pm.
ENTRY FEES: $50 waged, $45 conc, $30 U18, $25 U12, $5 discount if entry received by 6th Aug. Entries on day close 10 am. If considering entering on day, please let us know.
ENQUIRIES: Kevin Bonham ph. 0421 428 775 email k_bonham@tassie.net.au
HALF POINT BYES: One per player maximum, Saturday only, if requested in writing with entry or before the day for round 1, or before the start of previous round for rounds 2-4. Not available if player has already received a bye or forfeit.

Games and results update

Fred and Nigel with their Bronze medals from the very hotly contested Lindsay Atkinson.

Robert Isted Results
Fred 1 vs Vincent 0
Russell 0 vs Reg 1.  (I was thrashing Reg, with an exchange, two pawns and Reg's king under attack.  In an attempt to drive the knife deeper I kept the Queens on.  10 moves later completely lost.)
Andrew 1 vs Nigel 0
Vincent 1 vs Carey 0 (Exchange up and won on time).
Russell vs David 0.  (David struggled in the opening and was continually cramped.  I missed a chance to win a piece and but gained an exchange to easily round up the lose pawns).
Reg 1 vs Fred 0.  (Reg attacked ferociously, later Fred fought back and mounted his own ferocity.  Reg checkmated while Fred was threatening mate in 1).
Dylan 1 vs Nigel 0.  (Dylan played a King's Gambit, pushed his kingside pawns with his two rooks supporting).
Fred 0 vs Carey 1
David 0 vs Vincent 1 (Vincent was up an early exchange and then David gave away his Bishop :-(
Russell 1 vs Dylan 0 (We played familiar territory with the English Defence and Dylan nearly repeated Bb7xe4, but settled for Nf6 and so stymied his f5 breakout.  With f3 blocking the bishop I pushed a dubious h4.  The oncoming pawns looked too much for Dylan so he exchanged his bishop for 2 nointers.  I found breaking through tricky and was down to low time before I secured a mate with knight on h8 and f6).
Reg 1 vs Nigel 0 (The Stonewall strikes again, a hot sac Bxf7 got things going for Reg).

All good games!?

When we looked at the draw for round 3 most games looked to be interesting with strong tussles to eventuate.  The surprises encountered in earlier games are posted here http://members.dodo.com.au/phild707/
Reg won a piece to a two move tactic, but Andrew managed to wriggle out with a draw.
Dylan went down to Kevin
Nigel returned to club form and defeated David to be very pleased with himself.
Owen had a tough time against Vincent.
Carey v Phil was a symmetrical English for a while until white, noticing that black on the point of launching a Q side pawn offensive, correctly counterattacked in the centre. Carey 1st sac'ed a pawn then a knight to gain a crushing grip on e6 and f7 and all the initiative. Unfortunately, particularly after such an enterprising game by Carey, he got engrossed in the position, forgot to watch the clock and his flag fell. Bad luck as he deserved at least a draw. (Notes from Phil)
In my game against Fred - I had a crushing attack, won  an exchange and tried to get too much out of the position, ran short on time, dropped a few quick pawns and accepted a draw with 80 secs left.  Fred kept on hanging in and remarked afterwards, "Why is everyone's rating so low in this club?"

Robert Isted Draw

Round 3 {Berger number ( )}
1 Russell Horton (2) : Fred Duiker (14)
2 Reg Harvey (3) : Andrew Fifield (1)
3 Paul Loveric (4) : Phil Donnelly (13)
4 Dylan Kuzmic (5) : Kevin Hendrey (12)
5 Nigel Lewis (6) : David Hughes (11)
6 Peter Lucas (7) : Carey Kuzmic (10)
7 Owen Cameron (8) : Vincent Horton (9)

Round 4
1 Fred Duiker (14) : Vincent Horton (9)
2 Carey Kuzmic (10) : Owen Cameron (8)
3 David Hughes (11) : Peter Lucas (7)
4 Kevin Hendrey (12) : Nigel Lewis (6)
5 Phil Donnelly (13) : Dylan Kuzmic (5)
6 Andrew Fifield (1) : Paul Loveric (4)
7 Russell Horton (2) : Reg Harvey (3)

Round 5
1 Reg Harvey (3) : Fred Duiker (14)
2 Paul Loveric (4) : Russell Horton (2)
3 Dylan Kuzmic (5) : Andrew Fifield (1)
4 Phil Donnelly (13) 0:1 Nigel Lewis (6)
5 Peter Lucas (7) : Kevin Hendrey (12)
6 Owen Cameron (8) : David Hughes (11)
7 Vincent Horton (9) : Carey Kuzmic (10)

Surprise Sacrifice

Recently Andrew has been playing the odd sacrifice and Wednesday against Russell was no exception.  Andrew used an offbeat Bg5 and f4 Sicilian and black was better.  On move 13 he surprisingly sacked his Knight on e6, it looked a mistake, Queens were swapped and I was looking better.  Unfortunately according to my German analyst there was only one good move for black and this wasn't the one I chose.  Andrew's remaining pieces swarmed in, tied  Black up, attacked the king and Black was losing.  Maybe Andrew was trying to get too much out of the position but we managed to swap pieces off, to be 5 pawns and R vs 4 P and R and a draw resulted.
Carey played Nigel and had some early initiative, winning an exchange.  Nigel defended strongly before Carey's pieces broke through but he was running short of time and Nigel gained the upperhand and a win.
Fred played newcomer Owen.  Owen lost some pawns early but managed to create some counter play for a while before falling to his first smother mate.
David played Dylan. 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 b6.  Dylan was on the backfoot early and David managed to get a Knight into d6 and then a pawn on the same square which became a thorn in Dylan's side.  Dylan castled long and David enjoyed a Q-side march of his pawns to win.
Phil played Reg and was a pawn up and better, although short on time.  Other players thought that swapping Qs suited Reg 0-1.

BCC Rules

Interesting games are the usual fare at BCC due to the evenness in ability of most players. With Alastair tucked away studying, just about anyone can hold their own against most of the club players. This results in unusual results, and contesting of Minor placings. The BCC rule, "No countbacks, we like giving out ,medals," has resulted in some 6 way ties for bronze and silver medals.  Russell, Carey, David, Reg, Dylan and Kevin (absent) show off their medals.

Phil enjoys the moment - two trophies in one year - more to come?