Australian Junior Chess League March 2012 Bulletin
15 views
Skip to first unread message
simon
Mar 20, 2012, 6:19:18 PM3/20/12
to aus...@googlegroups.com
You are a member of the AusJCL e-mail list.
Australian Junior Chess League March 2012 Bulletin
In this bulletin:
Upcoming tournament reminder dates
Below are some reminder dates for major Australian and International tournaments that may be worth while going to. There are many more local club tournaments which are not mentioned here.
2012 Thailand Open; Thailand; 13-19 April
http://bangkokchess.com/
2012 Doeberl Cup; Canberra, ACT; 5-9 April
http://www.doeberlcup.com.au/
2012 Sydney International Open; Parramatta, NSW; 11-15 April
http://sio.parrachessclub.org/
2012 Gold Coast Junior Championship; Gold Coast, QLD; 21-22 April
2012 WA Junior Championship; Perth, WA; 28 April - 6 May
http://www.cawa.org.au/
2012 World Schools Individual Championship; Iasi, Romania; 28 April - 6 May
http://wscc2012.ro/
2012 Asian Championships; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; 4-13 May
2012 Fiji Open; Nadi, Fiji; 5-11 May
http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/2012-fiji-international-open-chess.html
2012 ACT Womens and Girls Championship; Canberra, ACT; 19-20 May
ACF & FIDE Ratings
New ACF and FIDE chess ratings were out this month. The ACF rating is the Australian Chess Federation national rating system, and FIDE is the international rating system.
You can find the ACF ratings here:
http://www.auschess.org.au/ratings/acfrate.htm
You can find FIDE ratings here:
http://www.fide.com/index.php
The top 12 under 20 on the FIDE list are:
International tournament application deadlines
The deadline for applications for all international events in the second half of 2012 is March 31. These events include:
http://www.australianjuniorchess.org.au/application.html
Charles Zworestine reports on the Junior Championships
A report on juniors in the 2012 Australian Junior Championships by Charles Zworestine
"The last time I wrote such a report, there were only four events at the Australian Junior Championships: Under 12 Girls, Under 12 Open, Under 18 Girls and Under 18 Open. But for the second year in a row, this year each category had their own separate event; although a lack of sufficient numbers meant that again the girls events had to be combined in pairs. This left us with a total of nine events: Under 8 and 10 Girls, Under 12 and 14 Girls, Under 16 and 18 Girls, Under 8 Open, Under 10 Open, Under 12 Open, Under 14 Open, Under 16 Open and Under 18 Open. The organisers from Melbourne Chess Club, headed by Simon Dale, did a wonderful job of putting on a fantastic event, with record numbers (277 players) across all events enjoying excellent facilities at Spensely Street Primary school in Clifton Hill near the centre of Melbourne. It was my twelfth Australian Junior Championships as arbiter, the second in a row without my venerable partner in crime, Great Grandpa IA Roland Eime – but don’t worry, I still inflicted readings from the book of FIDE on the older players. How did they all fare? Read on to find out!
Under 8 and 10 Girls
This 20 player Swiss began with no real shocks, and a good day for Black in Round 1 – winning 7 out of 10 games is not too shabby… Round 2 saw the top two seeds (Yuvini Perera and Jody Middleton) triumph; but third seed Denali Durden was held to a draw by Amelia Mendes in a locked knight vs bishop endgame. By Round 3 we had joint leaders in Yuvini and Jody, Yuvini winning a couple of pawns to beat Phoebe Phan in a tough rook ending while Jody won a piece then checkmated Emily Lin. Yuvini and Jody then drew an opposite coloured bishop ending in Round 4, while Phoebe Fan beat Denali in a lengthy endgame a pawn up and Amelia Mendes defeated Emily Lin after the latter misplaced a rook! This left Yuvini, Jody and Amelia joint leading on 3.5/4 after the first of 3 games on Day 2 – who would prevail?
Amelia scored a crucial upset win against Yuvini in Round 5, winning several pawns and an endgame; while Jody joined her in the lead by beating Cassandra Lim. Round 6 then saw Jody take the outright lead when Amelia, from a superior position, walked her king into a cute mate! Phoebe won to stay just half a point behind; but Yuvini could only draw with Denali to leave herself out of contention. The excitement levels then increased on the third and final morning, when Round 7 saw Phoebe stun Jody to take the outright lead on 6/7, after Jody misplayed a won rook ending and let Phoebe queen a key pawn! Jody was joined on 5.5/7 by Amelia, who beat Cassandra; while Denali beat Emily Lin to join Yuvini on 5. When Phoebe’s pawns beat Amelia’s extra piece in Round 8, we thought she was home, despite Jody staying within reach by beating Denali (and Emily upsetting Yuvini). But then the stunner: Emily attacked and beat Phoebe, and Jody won to take the Under 10 Girls title on 7.5/9. Meanwhile Cassandra and Emily were in a rapid playoff, won by Emily 2-0 to take out the Under 8 Girls title.
Under 12 and 14 Girls
Just an 18 player 9 round Swiss for this one, with the only shocks early being at the expense of the Chin sisters: Isobel Beasley stunning Chloe Chin in Round 1 via a neat back rank mating trick winning a rook, and Rebecca Strickland upsetting Nicole Chin with a discovered attack winning the enemy queen. By the end of Round 3 the top two seeds, Denise Lim and Zhi Lin Guo, were joint leaders on 3/3; so their Round 4 game seemed crucial to the ultimate tournament outcome! When Zhi Lin came from a piece down to win an exciting game in a queen ending a pawn up, things looked good for her. But Jody Middleton upset Nicole Chin to keep the pressure on. With 4 players on 3/4, it was still anyone’s tournament…
Round 5 saw Zhi Lin draw with Alanna Chew Lee, while Denise won to keep the pressure on; standings at this stage were Zhi Lin 4.5/5, Denise 4, and Alanna joined by Denali Durden on 3.5. Things were no clearer after Round 6, Zhi Lin beating Denali while Denise and Alanna both won (and Isobel Beasley got to 50% with another big upset, this time against Stephanie Cheah). When Zhi Lin drew a king and pawn ending against Nicole Chin in Round 7, Denise caught her on 6/7, with Alanna still just half a point behind after beating Denali. Round 8 put Alanna out of contention when she lost to Nicole; but Denise and Zhi Lin both won to reach 7/8 and set up a thrilling finish! Denise beat Nicole to keep her end of the bargain; Chloe Chin upset a fading Alanna; and then we all waited to see if Zhi Lin could force a playoff with Denise. Sadly for her, the answer was no, as she could only draw with Eliza Mapili. So Denise took the Under 14 Girls title outright on 8/9, with Zhi Lin second on 7.5; while Alanna’s score of 5.5/9 was good enough to take out the Under 12 Girls title after winning a rapid playoff 1.5-0.5 against Eliza.
Under 16 and 18 Girls
An unusual format was necessary for this one when we found ourselves with only 8 players; a double round robin was too many games, a single round robin not enough! The solution was a single round robin followed by a finals series: the top four playing each other again, and likewise the bottom four. This left the bottom four with some incentive, as they were still playing for third places… The early going saw few shocks, although Zoe Harrison proved that she would be a force to be reckoned with (despite her unrated status) when she beat Stephanie Gu as Black in Round 1. When she also upset Charlotte Dilnutt in Round 2, we had 4 players on 2/2 (with the others sadly on 0): Miranda Webb-Liddle, Ruihong Lu, Janaki Narenthran and Zoe.
Round 3 saw Ruihong win a tough game against Zoe, Miranda beat Charlotte and Stephanie defeat Janaki to leave Miranda and Ruihong on 3/3. The critical Round 4 game between Miranda and Ruihong then saw the former prevail when the latter popped a key pawn, then ended up checkmated in her search for counterplay! Janaki stayed in contention by beating Charlotte then Ruihong, while Miranda’s tough fighting draw with Zoe in Round 5 cut her lead to just half a point… Janaki beat Zoe in Round 6, but then lost in Round 7 to Miranda; and all the while Stephanie was catching up, her last round win in a topsy-turvy game against Ruihong getting her into the finals and relegating Ruihong to the bottom four. Scores going into the finals were Miranda 6.5/7, Janaki and Stephanie 5 and Zoe 4.5; and this proved enough of a buffer for Miranda, despite drawing with Stephanie then losing to Zoe to put herself under pressure! Zoe and Stephanie both beat Janaki, leaving them on 6.5 just half a point behind Miranda going into the last round. But Miranda held her nerve, a forcing tactical sequence winning a piece to beat Janaki and win the Under 18 Girls title outright on 8/10. Stephanie was just half a point behind her on 7.5, her last round win against Zoe good enough to earn her the Under 16 Girls title.
Under 8 Open
An impressive 27 players fought out this event for the youngest contenders. Astonishingly, Round 1 saw upsets on the top two boards, Michael Pogrebinsky drawing with top seed Bobby Yu via solid play simplifying to a dead drawn rook endgame, and Harry Phillips stunning second seed Daniel Dessau as Black. Things were more sane in Round 2, although Harry Phillips pulled off another upset by beating James Kwe; and by the end of Round 3 we actually had an outright leader on 3/3, Jason Chan’s win against Dominic Lim getting him there. Of course, with Michael Pogrebinsky beating Harry Phillips and Bobby Yu accounting for Daniel Dessau, they were both breathing down his neck on 2.5 with Gabriel Rips and Kevin Shen (who drew with each other). Jason then got to 4/4 when he beat Kevin via a knight fork winning the exchange; but Gabriel defeated Michael via his own knight forks, and Bobby also won to join Gabriel on 3.5/4.
Round 5 saw Bobby share the lead with Gabriel on 4.5/5, after Bobby’s queen beat Jason’s two rooks – although perhaps this game saw a slightly premature resignation from Jason – and Gabriel defeated Oliver Cordover. Round 6 was then decisive, Gabriel popping a rook to give Bobby the outright lead on 5.5/6, while Jason trapped the enemy knight to beat Harry and Kevin Shen defeated Michael Pogrebinsky. Bobby maintained his outright lead by beating Kevin Shen in Round 7, while Jason beat Gabriel by winning his queen to a discovered attack; and Round 8 saw Bobby wrap up the event with a round to spare after he beat Harry, while James Kwe upset Jason Chan. The final round saw Bobby beat James, Michael upset Jason, Harry do likewise to Gabriel and Kevin Shen defeat Jay Landau. The result was that Bobby was the Under 8 Champion on 8.5/9; with Michael and Kevin equal second on 6.5.
Under 10 Open
Top seed in this 60 player field (which represented an excellent turnout!) was Ethan Lim, followed in order by Kevin Willathgamuwa, Rowan Willathgamuwa and Tony Zhong (all of whom had ACF ratings over 1000). They all won in Rounds 1 and 2, where there were really no significant upsets; but Rowan was first to falter, conceding a draw to Luis Chan in Round 3. The top seeds began to meet in Round 4, Ethan toppling Tony with a nice attack and some neat tactics, while Kevin Willathgamuwa beat Kevin Song after surviving what should have been a winning attack from his opponent, but ending up with mate himself instead! Rowan won to remain in contention, equal third with Haran Salsalan on 3.5/4. We thought the Round 5 game between Kevin and Ethan would be crucial, Ethan winning the exchange early and cashing in to take the outright lead on 5/5. But Rowan beat Haran to remain just half a point behind; and Vishal Bhat upset Kevin Song to join a large group of players on 4/5.
When Ethan took a perpetual check against Rowan in Round 6, his lead was cut to just half a point, Rowan joined by Kevin, Tony Zhong and Vishal Bhat on 5/6. Kevin then beat Rowan in Round 7, while Ethan allowed Vishal a perpetual check and could only draw. With Tony Zhong also winning, this meant we had three joint leaders on 6/7: Ethan, Rowan and Tony were all just half a point ahead of Vishal, and we were clearly in for an exciting finish! Kevin’s early Bxh7+ sacrifice in Round 8 against Tony Zhong was interesting, and reaped the reward of a victory; but this was still just a share of the lead after Ethan also won, with Vishal just half a point further back after another victory. So to the thrilling final round, where Kevin won an ending to beat Vishal; Tony defeated Rowan; and Ethan could only draw with Kevin Song. So 8/9 and the Under 8 title outright for Kevin Willathgamuwa; while Ethan conceded too many draws and had to be content with second on 7.5, with Tony Zhong outright third on 7.
Under 12 Open
Without wishing to pre-empt things too much, it was the other brother’s turn this time… A 68 player field made this the biggest of all the events at this Australian Juniors; and NSW were always expected to do well in this one, with four of the top five seeds (top seed Rishi Dutta, second seed Kashish Christian, and fourth and fifth seeds Kevin and Rowan Willathgamuwa; with the third seed being a Victorian, David Cannon). And it was Rowan who was the star, winning the event and the Under 12 title with 8.5/9. This represented a huge comeback from his struggles in the Under 10 event; he upset Kashish in Round 4, cashing in on the early win of a pawn to win a lengthy game in a knight and pawn ending, then drew with David Cannon in Round 5. His big win was against Rishi in Round 6, again winning a pawn and then winning a piece through the ensuing passed d-pawn; he beat Finley Dale via a strong attack on his king in Round 7, his brother in a tactical battle in Round 8 and finally won Tristan Krstevski’s queen via a discovered attack to clinch the Under 10 title in Round 9 with the excellent score of 8.5/9.
Once again there were no upsets early, so we had to wait until Round 4 until the top seeds met. Rishi beat Finley Dale, grinding him down from what should have been a drawn king and pawn ending; all the other top seeds except Kashish also won, leaving us with 4 players on 4/4. After Round 5, Rishi had the outright lead when he beat Kevin in a long and hard fought rook ending; but this lead was short lived, Rowan taking the outright lead in Round 6 on 5.5/6 by half a point from 5 players, including brother Kevin who beat David Cannon. Rishi tailed Rowan for the rest of the way, beating David Cannon in Round 8 with a slow built attack on his king culminating in a neat rook sacrifice; but it proved not to be enough, and he drew a lengthy last round game with Kashish. This was enough for Kashish to pip Finley Dale for third on countback (both on 7/9), making it a trifecta of the top three places for NSW; Rishi got outright second on 7.5/9…
Under 14 Open
With an ACF rating of 2031, top seed Andrew Pan was more than 300 points higher rated than anyone else in this 43 player field; but a highly competitive group of players ensured that he did not have things all his own way! Indeed the whole event was tough, with upset Round 1 draws by Thomas Ebeyan (877) with fifth seed George Carolin-Unkovich (1603) and Mitchell Swain (579) with twelfth seed Ethan Derwent (1430). Round 2 saw even bigger upsets: second seed Vincent Chen lost to Ege Girgin, Thomas beat Ethan and Stuart Nicholls had the better (a pawn up) of his ending against Andrew Pan, but the latter fought hard and managed to draw. An amazing third round then saw 4 of the top 5 games drawn, leaving Andrew to join 9 players in the lead on 2.5/3 by beating Joseph Wong. This was cut to 3 players on 3.5/4 after Round 4, Andrew winning against Callum Gray while Stuart Nicholls won two pieces for a rook early to beat Martin Jack, Mason Carter beat Jimmy Ying and Stuart Mason drew with Alex MacAdam.
“Outright lead at last!”, thought Andrew after exploiting Mason Carter’s weak pawns to win their Round 5 ending: his 4.5/5 saw him half a point ahead of Joseph Wong, Vincent Chen (who beat Stuart Nicholls by winning two pawns then cashing in for victory when his rook and queen got in to checkmate Stuart’s king) and Tom Slater-Jones (who upset George Carolin-Unkovich). Ethan Derwent’s upset win against Martin Jack showed how tough things were in this field… Andrew could only draw with Vincent in an even bishop ending in Round 6, enabling Joseph to catch him in a tie for the lead on 5/6; and there were 5 more players just half a point further back on 4.5. Things clarified when Andrew beat Sam Gluzman in Round 7, Stuart taking care of Joseph to see Andrew back in the outright lead on 6/7 by half a point from Stuart and Vincent; then Round 8 saw Andrew defeat Tom Slater-Jones and Stuart beat George, but Vincent could only draw with Joseph Wong. So going into the final round, the contenders were Andrew 7/8, Stuart 6.5 and Vincent 6; but then 3 draws on the top 4 boards (Andrew with Martin Jack, Vincent with George and Joseph with Alex MacAdam) gave Stuart his chance! And he pounced, defeating Ethan Derwent to reach equal first with Andrew on 7.5/9 (with Vincent outright third on 6.5). A rapid playoff ensued, Andrew drawing the first game then grinding Stuart down to win 1.5-0.5; so Andrew won the Under 14 title after all, and Stuart had to be content with second place.
Under 16 Open
Not sure why, but this was perhaps the only disappointing division in terms of number of players: only 12 fronted up to play for the title of Australian Under 16 Champion. This necessitated a schedule change, an extra couple of rounds thrown in to accommodate a 12 player round robin. The top two seeds, Pasan Perera and Bernard Chau, were both from NSW; they were expected to fight it out with third seeded Max Chew Lee and fourth seeded Jack Puccini (both Victorian), among others. And so it proved… They all won in Round 1, although Bernard had to work hard to beat Matthew Pyper in a long game. For Bernard, the battle was just beginning…
Jack drew with Matthew Pyper in Round 2, while the others all won; Jack and Bernard also won in Round 3, while the first big battle saw Pasan engineer a neat tactical finish to beat Max. With no shocks in Round 4, Pasan reached 5/5 when he beat Pyper in Round 5; Bernard and Jack also won, but Max conceded half a point to Bazli Karattiyattil. Round 6 saw Bernard swindle a draw from a dead lost position against Max, while Jack drew with Glen Qi; with Pasan again a winner, he led on 6/6 from Bernard on 5.5 and Jack on 5. Jack won a pawn and an ending to beat Bernard in Round 7, and Max beat Matthew Pyper; but Pasan could only draw with Dmitry Li. When Max drew with Jack in Round 8 (the others won), it was a full point lead for Pasan from Bernard and Jack; and that remained the same as they all won in Round 9. But then the gritty Bernard won the critical Round 10 battle with Pasan when his heavy pieces got in to force mate; and as Jack also won, these three were level on 8.5/10 going into the last round – a thrilling finish! After Bernard won in Round 11, Pasan made it a NSW double when his two beautiful bishops won two pawns to take out Jack. A playoff between Bernard and Pasan ensued; and after two drawn rapid games, Bernard won a two blitz game playoff 1.5-0.5 to take the Under 16 title. Phew!
Under 18 Open
With a few top juniors absent in Queenstown, it seemed likely the winner in this 21 player field would come from one of the top 3 seeds: Justin Tan (Vic), Anton Smirnov (NSW) and Alistair Cameron (SA). They all won in Round 1, though Justin perhaps should have only drawn his queen ending with Savithri Narenthran; while upsets lower down saw Cameron Yung draw with fourth seed Thomas Pinnock, and Eric Shi beat fifth seed Thomas Feng. (The event was a shocker for Feng, who lost to the other Thomas in Round 2 and never recovered). With Round 2 going to script, we were up for the first big battle in Round 3, Alistair and Anton drawing a tough struggle while Justin beat Michael Chan and Zachary Loh upset Thomas Pinnock. Justin then had the outright lead on 4/4 when he beat Zachary Loh, from Alistair (beat Eric Shi) on 3.5 and Zachary and Anton (drew with Michael Chan) on 3; but the fun was just beginning…
A superb game by Alistair as White resulted in an upset win against Justin in Round 5 – after a hard fight, he got his active pieces in and forced a passed pawn through for victory. This left him on 4.5/5, leading by half a point from Justin and Anton, after the latter beat Zachary Loh in what should have been a drawn endgame… When Justin and Anton drew another tough battle in Round 6, Alistair’s win against Daniel Lapitan had him a full point in front; a lead he preserved after they all won in Round 7. Michael Chan held Alistair to a draw in Round 8, cutting his lead to half a point after Justin and Anton both won; and so it remained after they all won in Round 9. So Alistair Cameron (8/9) was the new Australian Junior Champion, with Justin and Anton equal second on 7.5; a ding-dong battle, and congratulations Alistair!
Many thanks must go to David Cordover, whose multiple roles included arbiter, bulletin editor, tournament sponsor and manager through his Tornelo online management system. He was a great help to me throughout the event. So too was Simon Dale, whose massive role as Chief Organiser included enlisting his parents (Chris and Sue) to help with the canteen, shopping, transport and so on. Thanks also to Kylie Soo and all the canteen helpers and my other arbiters, Frank Meerbach and Daniel Holten. It remains only to be seen if this fantastic event can be equalled or even bettered by Graeme Gardiner and his team next year; see you all in Queensland in 2013!
Main Title Winners: U18 Open Alistair Cameron (SA); U16 Open Bernard Chau (NSW); U14 Open Andrew Pan (NSW); U12 Open Rowan Willathgamuwa (NSW); U10 Open Kevin Willathgamuwa (NSW); U8 Open Bobby Yu (VIC); U18 Girls Miranda Webb-Liddle (VIC); U16 Girls Stephanie Gu (VIC); U14 Girls Denise Lim (VIC); U12 Girls Alanna Chew Lee (VIC); U10 Girls Jody Middleton (VIC); U8 Girls Emily Lin (VIC)"
You may also find the report here:
http://australianjuniorchess.org.au/report_ajcc.html
You can see the final scores in Tornelo:
https://auschess.tornelo.com/tournaments/australian-junior-championships
You can see the games (please note you will have to log into Tornelo to see the games):
https://auschess.tornelo.com/tournaments/australian-junior-championships/games
How to subscribe to the bulletin
Please forward this email bulletin on to anybody else who you may think will be interested. Also feel free to ask other chess parents if they know about the AusJCL bulletin.
To subscribe to this FREE bulletin please send an email to the bulletin editor, Simon Dale (s...@thecrag.com), titled 'AusJCL bulletin subscription request' OR subscribe directly to the AusJCL Google Group:
http://groups.google.com/group/ausjcl
Please note that Google Groups do not allow me to add you directly, so I have to invite you to be part of the group, whereby an invitation email will be sent to you which you must accept before you become part of the group.
Simon Dale
Bulletin Editor
Australian Junior Chess League
http://www.australianjuniorchess.org.au/
Australian Junior Chess League March 2012 Bulletin
In this bulletin:
- Upcoming tournament reminder dates
- ACF & FIDE ratings
- International tournament application deadlines
- Charles Zworestine reports on the Junior Championships
- How to subscribe to the bulletin
Upcoming tournament reminder dates
Below are some reminder dates for major Australian and International tournaments that may be worth while going to. There are many more local club tournaments which are not mentioned here.
2012 Thailand Open; Thailand; 13-19 April
http://bangkokchess.com/
2012 Doeberl Cup; Canberra, ACT; 5-9 April
http://www.doeberlcup.com.au/
2012 Sydney International Open; Parramatta, NSW; 11-15 April
http://sio.parrachessclub.org/
2012 Gold Coast Junior Championship; Gold Coast, QLD; 21-22 April
2012 WA Junior Championship; Perth, WA; 28 April - 6 May
http://www.cawa.org.au/
2012 World Schools Individual Championship; Iasi, Romania; 28 April - 6 May
http://wscc2012.ro/
2012 Asian Championships; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; 4-13 May
2012 Fiji Open; Nadi, Fiji; 5-11 May
http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/2012-fiji-international-open-chess.html
2012 ACT Womens and Girls Championship; Canberra, ACT; 19-20 May
ACF & FIDE Ratings
New ACF and FIDE chess ratings were out this month. The ACF rating is the Australian Chess Federation national rating system, and FIDE is the international rating system.
You can find the ACF ratings here:
http://www.auschess.org.au/ratings/acfrate.htm
You can find FIDE ratings here:
http://www.fide.com/index.php
The top 12 under 20 on the FIDE list are:
- Morris 2354
- Illingworth 2352
- Cheng 2344
- Brown 2221
- Schon 2197
- Tan 2179
- Choong 2152
- Smirnov 2151
- Matheson 2141
- Nakauchi 2127
- Liu 2116
- Zulfic 2112
International tournament application deadlines
The deadline for applications for all international events in the second half of 2012 is March 31. These events include:
- 2012 World Junior Championships (U/20); Athens, Greece; 1-16 August
- 2012 World U/16 Olympiad; Datca, Turkey; 5-14 August (Dates TBC)
- 2012 Asian Schools Championships & U5 Kindergarten; Davao,
Philippines; 10-29 October
- 2012 World Youth Championships (U/8 - U/18); Maribor, Slovenia; 7-19 November
http://www.australianjuniorchess.org.au/application.html
Charles Zworestine reports on the Junior Championships
A report on juniors in the 2012 Australian Junior Championships by Charles Zworestine
"The last time I wrote such a report, there were only four events at the Australian Junior Championships: Under 12 Girls, Under 12 Open, Under 18 Girls and Under 18 Open. But for the second year in a row, this year each category had their own separate event; although a lack of sufficient numbers meant that again the girls events had to be combined in pairs. This left us with a total of nine events: Under 8 and 10 Girls, Under 12 and 14 Girls, Under 16 and 18 Girls, Under 8 Open, Under 10 Open, Under 12 Open, Under 14 Open, Under 16 Open and Under 18 Open. The organisers from Melbourne Chess Club, headed by Simon Dale, did a wonderful job of putting on a fantastic event, with record numbers (277 players) across all events enjoying excellent facilities at Spensely Street Primary school in Clifton Hill near the centre of Melbourne. It was my twelfth Australian Junior Championships as arbiter, the second in a row without my venerable partner in crime, Great Grandpa IA Roland Eime – but don’t worry, I still inflicted readings from the book of FIDE on the older players. How did they all fare? Read on to find out!
Under 8 and 10 Girls
This 20 player Swiss began with no real shocks, and a good day for Black in Round 1 – winning 7 out of 10 games is not too shabby… Round 2 saw the top two seeds (Yuvini Perera and Jody Middleton) triumph; but third seed Denali Durden was held to a draw by Amelia Mendes in a locked knight vs bishop endgame. By Round 3 we had joint leaders in Yuvini and Jody, Yuvini winning a couple of pawns to beat Phoebe Phan in a tough rook ending while Jody won a piece then checkmated Emily Lin. Yuvini and Jody then drew an opposite coloured bishop ending in Round 4, while Phoebe Fan beat Denali in a lengthy endgame a pawn up and Amelia Mendes defeated Emily Lin after the latter misplaced a rook! This left Yuvini, Jody and Amelia joint leading on 3.5/4 after the first of 3 games on Day 2 – who would prevail?
Amelia scored a crucial upset win against Yuvini in Round 5, winning several pawns and an endgame; while Jody joined her in the lead by beating Cassandra Lim. Round 6 then saw Jody take the outright lead when Amelia, from a superior position, walked her king into a cute mate! Phoebe won to stay just half a point behind; but Yuvini could only draw with Denali to leave herself out of contention. The excitement levels then increased on the third and final morning, when Round 7 saw Phoebe stun Jody to take the outright lead on 6/7, after Jody misplayed a won rook ending and let Phoebe queen a key pawn! Jody was joined on 5.5/7 by Amelia, who beat Cassandra; while Denali beat Emily Lin to join Yuvini on 5. When Phoebe’s pawns beat Amelia’s extra piece in Round 8, we thought she was home, despite Jody staying within reach by beating Denali (and Emily upsetting Yuvini). But then the stunner: Emily attacked and beat Phoebe, and Jody won to take the Under 10 Girls title on 7.5/9. Meanwhile Cassandra and Emily were in a rapid playoff, won by Emily 2-0 to take out the Under 8 Girls title.
Under 12 and 14 Girls
Just an 18 player 9 round Swiss for this one, with the only shocks early being at the expense of the Chin sisters: Isobel Beasley stunning Chloe Chin in Round 1 via a neat back rank mating trick winning a rook, and Rebecca Strickland upsetting Nicole Chin with a discovered attack winning the enemy queen. By the end of Round 3 the top two seeds, Denise Lim and Zhi Lin Guo, were joint leaders on 3/3; so their Round 4 game seemed crucial to the ultimate tournament outcome! When Zhi Lin came from a piece down to win an exciting game in a queen ending a pawn up, things looked good for her. But Jody Middleton upset Nicole Chin to keep the pressure on. With 4 players on 3/4, it was still anyone’s tournament…
Round 5 saw Zhi Lin draw with Alanna Chew Lee, while Denise won to keep the pressure on; standings at this stage were Zhi Lin 4.5/5, Denise 4, and Alanna joined by Denali Durden on 3.5. Things were no clearer after Round 6, Zhi Lin beating Denali while Denise and Alanna both won (and Isobel Beasley got to 50% with another big upset, this time against Stephanie Cheah). When Zhi Lin drew a king and pawn ending against Nicole Chin in Round 7, Denise caught her on 6/7, with Alanna still just half a point behind after beating Denali. Round 8 put Alanna out of contention when she lost to Nicole; but Denise and Zhi Lin both won to reach 7/8 and set up a thrilling finish! Denise beat Nicole to keep her end of the bargain; Chloe Chin upset a fading Alanna; and then we all waited to see if Zhi Lin could force a playoff with Denise. Sadly for her, the answer was no, as she could only draw with Eliza Mapili. So Denise took the Under 14 Girls title outright on 8/9, with Zhi Lin second on 7.5; while Alanna’s score of 5.5/9 was good enough to take out the Under 12 Girls title after winning a rapid playoff 1.5-0.5 against Eliza.
Under 16 and 18 Girls
An unusual format was necessary for this one when we found ourselves with only 8 players; a double round robin was too many games, a single round robin not enough! The solution was a single round robin followed by a finals series: the top four playing each other again, and likewise the bottom four. This left the bottom four with some incentive, as they were still playing for third places… The early going saw few shocks, although Zoe Harrison proved that she would be a force to be reckoned with (despite her unrated status) when she beat Stephanie Gu as Black in Round 1. When she also upset Charlotte Dilnutt in Round 2, we had 4 players on 2/2 (with the others sadly on 0): Miranda Webb-Liddle, Ruihong Lu, Janaki Narenthran and Zoe.
Round 3 saw Ruihong win a tough game against Zoe, Miranda beat Charlotte and Stephanie defeat Janaki to leave Miranda and Ruihong on 3/3. The critical Round 4 game between Miranda and Ruihong then saw the former prevail when the latter popped a key pawn, then ended up checkmated in her search for counterplay! Janaki stayed in contention by beating Charlotte then Ruihong, while Miranda’s tough fighting draw with Zoe in Round 5 cut her lead to just half a point… Janaki beat Zoe in Round 6, but then lost in Round 7 to Miranda; and all the while Stephanie was catching up, her last round win in a topsy-turvy game against Ruihong getting her into the finals and relegating Ruihong to the bottom four. Scores going into the finals were Miranda 6.5/7, Janaki and Stephanie 5 and Zoe 4.5; and this proved enough of a buffer for Miranda, despite drawing with Stephanie then losing to Zoe to put herself under pressure! Zoe and Stephanie both beat Janaki, leaving them on 6.5 just half a point behind Miranda going into the last round. But Miranda held her nerve, a forcing tactical sequence winning a piece to beat Janaki and win the Under 18 Girls title outright on 8/10. Stephanie was just half a point behind her on 7.5, her last round win against Zoe good enough to earn her the Under 16 Girls title.
Under 8 Open
An impressive 27 players fought out this event for the youngest contenders. Astonishingly, Round 1 saw upsets on the top two boards, Michael Pogrebinsky drawing with top seed Bobby Yu via solid play simplifying to a dead drawn rook endgame, and Harry Phillips stunning second seed Daniel Dessau as Black. Things were more sane in Round 2, although Harry Phillips pulled off another upset by beating James Kwe; and by the end of Round 3 we actually had an outright leader on 3/3, Jason Chan’s win against Dominic Lim getting him there. Of course, with Michael Pogrebinsky beating Harry Phillips and Bobby Yu accounting for Daniel Dessau, they were both breathing down his neck on 2.5 with Gabriel Rips and Kevin Shen (who drew with each other). Jason then got to 4/4 when he beat Kevin via a knight fork winning the exchange; but Gabriel defeated Michael via his own knight forks, and Bobby also won to join Gabriel on 3.5/4.
Round 5 saw Bobby share the lead with Gabriel on 4.5/5, after Bobby’s queen beat Jason’s two rooks – although perhaps this game saw a slightly premature resignation from Jason – and Gabriel defeated Oliver Cordover. Round 6 was then decisive, Gabriel popping a rook to give Bobby the outright lead on 5.5/6, while Jason trapped the enemy knight to beat Harry and Kevin Shen defeated Michael Pogrebinsky. Bobby maintained his outright lead by beating Kevin Shen in Round 7, while Jason beat Gabriel by winning his queen to a discovered attack; and Round 8 saw Bobby wrap up the event with a round to spare after he beat Harry, while James Kwe upset Jason Chan. The final round saw Bobby beat James, Michael upset Jason, Harry do likewise to Gabriel and Kevin Shen defeat Jay Landau. The result was that Bobby was the Under 8 Champion on 8.5/9; with Michael and Kevin equal second on 6.5.
Under 10 Open
Top seed in this 60 player field (which represented an excellent turnout!) was Ethan Lim, followed in order by Kevin Willathgamuwa, Rowan Willathgamuwa and Tony Zhong (all of whom had ACF ratings over 1000). They all won in Rounds 1 and 2, where there were really no significant upsets; but Rowan was first to falter, conceding a draw to Luis Chan in Round 3. The top seeds began to meet in Round 4, Ethan toppling Tony with a nice attack and some neat tactics, while Kevin Willathgamuwa beat Kevin Song after surviving what should have been a winning attack from his opponent, but ending up with mate himself instead! Rowan won to remain in contention, equal third with Haran Salsalan on 3.5/4. We thought the Round 5 game between Kevin and Ethan would be crucial, Ethan winning the exchange early and cashing in to take the outright lead on 5/5. But Rowan beat Haran to remain just half a point behind; and Vishal Bhat upset Kevin Song to join a large group of players on 4/5.
When Ethan took a perpetual check against Rowan in Round 6, his lead was cut to just half a point, Rowan joined by Kevin, Tony Zhong and Vishal Bhat on 5/6. Kevin then beat Rowan in Round 7, while Ethan allowed Vishal a perpetual check and could only draw. With Tony Zhong also winning, this meant we had three joint leaders on 6/7: Ethan, Rowan and Tony were all just half a point ahead of Vishal, and we were clearly in for an exciting finish! Kevin’s early Bxh7+ sacrifice in Round 8 against Tony Zhong was interesting, and reaped the reward of a victory; but this was still just a share of the lead after Ethan also won, with Vishal just half a point further back after another victory. So to the thrilling final round, where Kevin won an ending to beat Vishal; Tony defeated Rowan; and Ethan could only draw with Kevin Song. So 8/9 and the Under 8 title outright for Kevin Willathgamuwa; while Ethan conceded too many draws and had to be content with second on 7.5, with Tony Zhong outright third on 7.
Under 12 Open
Without wishing to pre-empt things too much, it was the other brother’s turn this time… A 68 player field made this the biggest of all the events at this Australian Juniors; and NSW were always expected to do well in this one, with four of the top five seeds (top seed Rishi Dutta, second seed Kashish Christian, and fourth and fifth seeds Kevin and Rowan Willathgamuwa; with the third seed being a Victorian, David Cannon). And it was Rowan who was the star, winning the event and the Under 12 title with 8.5/9. This represented a huge comeback from his struggles in the Under 10 event; he upset Kashish in Round 4, cashing in on the early win of a pawn to win a lengthy game in a knight and pawn ending, then drew with David Cannon in Round 5. His big win was against Rishi in Round 6, again winning a pawn and then winning a piece through the ensuing passed d-pawn; he beat Finley Dale via a strong attack on his king in Round 7, his brother in a tactical battle in Round 8 and finally won Tristan Krstevski’s queen via a discovered attack to clinch the Under 10 title in Round 9 with the excellent score of 8.5/9.
Once again there were no upsets early, so we had to wait until Round 4 until the top seeds met. Rishi beat Finley Dale, grinding him down from what should have been a drawn king and pawn ending; all the other top seeds except Kashish also won, leaving us with 4 players on 4/4. After Round 5, Rishi had the outright lead when he beat Kevin in a long and hard fought rook ending; but this lead was short lived, Rowan taking the outright lead in Round 6 on 5.5/6 by half a point from 5 players, including brother Kevin who beat David Cannon. Rishi tailed Rowan for the rest of the way, beating David Cannon in Round 8 with a slow built attack on his king culminating in a neat rook sacrifice; but it proved not to be enough, and he drew a lengthy last round game with Kashish. This was enough for Kashish to pip Finley Dale for third on countback (both on 7/9), making it a trifecta of the top three places for NSW; Rishi got outright second on 7.5/9…
Under 14 Open
With an ACF rating of 2031, top seed Andrew Pan was more than 300 points higher rated than anyone else in this 43 player field; but a highly competitive group of players ensured that he did not have things all his own way! Indeed the whole event was tough, with upset Round 1 draws by Thomas Ebeyan (877) with fifth seed George Carolin-Unkovich (1603) and Mitchell Swain (579) with twelfth seed Ethan Derwent (1430). Round 2 saw even bigger upsets: second seed Vincent Chen lost to Ege Girgin, Thomas beat Ethan and Stuart Nicholls had the better (a pawn up) of his ending against Andrew Pan, but the latter fought hard and managed to draw. An amazing third round then saw 4 of the top 5 games drawn, leaving Andrew to join 9 players in the lead on 2.5/3 by beating Joseph Wong. This was cut to 3 players on 3.5/4 after Round 4, Andrew winning against Callum Gray while Stuart Nicholls won two pieces for a rook early to beat Martin Jack, Mason Carter beat Jimmy Ying and Stuart Mason drew with Alex MacAdam.
“Outright lead at last!”, thought Andrew after exploiting Mason Carter’s weak pawns to win their Round 5 ending: his 4.5/5 saw him half a point ahead of Joseph Wong, Vincent Chen (who beat Stuart Nicholls by winning two pawns then cashing in for victory when his rook and queen got in to checkmate Stuart’s king) and Tom Slater-Jones (who upset George Carolin-Unkovich). Ethan Derwent’s upset win against Martin Jack showed how tough things were in this field… Andrew could only draw with Vincent in an even bishop ending in Round 6, enabling Joseph to catch him in a tie for the lead on 5/6; and there were 5 more players just half a point further back on 4.5. Things clarified when Andrew beat Sam Gluzman in Round 7, Stuart taking care of Joseph to see Andrew back in the outright lead on 6/7 by half a point from Stuart and Vincent; then Round 8 saw Andrew defeat Tom Slater-Jones and Stuart beat George, but Vincent could only draw with Joseph Wong. So going into the final round, the contenders were Andrew 7/8, Stuart 6.5 and Vincent 6; but then 3 draws on the top 4 boards (Andrew with Martin Jack, Vincent with George and Joseph with Alex MacAdam) gave Stuart his chance! And he pounced, defeating Ethan Derwent to reach equal first with Andrew on 7.5/9 (with Vincent outright third on 6.5). A rapid playoff ensued, Andrew drawing the first game then grinding Stuart down to win 1.5-0.5; so Andrew won the Under 14 title after all, and Stuart had to be content with second place.
Under 16 Open
Not sure why, but this was perhaps the only disappointing division in terms of number of players: only 12 fronted up to play for the title of Australian Under 16 Champion. This necessitated a schedule change, an extra couple of rounds thrown in to accommodate a 12 player round robin. The top two seeds, Pasan Perera and Bernard Chau, were both from NSW; they were expected to fight it out with third seeded Max Chew Lee and fourth seeded Jack Puccini (both Victorian), among others. And so it proved… They all won in Round 1, although Bernard had to work hard to beat Matthew Pyper in a long game. For Bernard, the battle was just beginning…
Jack drew with Matthew Pyper in Round 2, while the others all won; Jack and Bernard also won in Round 3, while the first big battle saw Pasan engineer a neat tactical finish to beat Max. With no shocks in Round 4, Pasan reached 5/5 when he beat Pyper in Round 5; Bernard and Jack also won, but Max conceded half a point to Bazli Karattiyattil. Round 6 saw Bernard swindle a draw from a dead lost position against Max, while Jack drew with Glen Qi; with Pasan again a winner, he led on 6/6 from Bernard on 5.5 and Jack on 5. Jack won a pawn and an ending to beat Bernard in Round 7, and Max beat Matthew Pyper; but Pasan could only draw with Dmitry Li. When Max drew with Jack in Round 8 (the others won), it was a full point lead for Pasan from Bernard and Jack; and that remained the same as they all won in Round 9. But then the gritty Bernard won the critical Round 10 battle with Pasan when his heavy pieces got in to force mate; and as Jack also won, these three were level on 8.5/10 going into the last round – a thrilling finish! After Bernard won in Round 11, Pasan made it a NSW double when his two beautiful bishops won two pawns to take out Jack. A playoff between Bernard and Pasan ensued; and after two drawn rapid games, Bernard won a two blitz game playoff 1.5-0.5 to take the Under 16 title. Phew!
Under 18 Open
With a few top juniors absent in Queenstown, it seemed likely the winner in this 21 player field would come from one of the top 3 seeds: Justin Tan (Vic), Anton Smirnov (NSW) and Alistair Cameron (SA). They all won in Round 1, though Justin perhaps should have only drawn his queen ending with Savithri Narenthran; while upsets lower down saw Cameron Yung draw with fourth seed Thomas Pinnock, and Eric Shi beat fifth seed Thomas Feng. (The event was a shocker for Feng, who lost to the other Thomas in Round 2 and never recovered). With Round 2 going to script, we were up for the first big battle in Round 3, Alistair and Anton drawing a tough struggle while Justin beat Michael Chan and Zachary Loh upset Thomas Pinnock. Justin then had the outright lead on 4/4 when he beat Zachary Loh, from Alistair (beat Eric Shi) on 3.5 and Zachary and Anton (drew with Michael Chan) on 3; but the fun was just beginning…
A superb game by Alistair as White resulted in an upset win against Justin in Round 5 – after a hard fight, he got his active pieces in and forced a passed pawn through for victory. This left him on 4.5/5, leading by half a point from Justin and Anton, after the latter beat Zachary Loh in what should have been a drawn endgame… When Justin and Anton drew another tough battle in Round 6, Alistair’s win against Daniel Lapitan had him a full point in front; a lead he preserved after they all won in Round 7. Michael Chan held Alistair to a draw in Round 8, cutting his lead to half a point after Justin and Anton both won; and so it remained after they all won in Round 9. So Alistair Cameron (8/9) was the new Australian Junior Champion, with Justin and Anton equal second on 7.5; a ding-dong battle, and congratulations Alistair!
Many thanks must go to David Cordover, whose multiple roles included arbiter, bulletin editor, tournament sponsor and manager through his Tornelo online management system. He was a great help to me throughout the event. So too was Simon Dale, whose massive role as Chief Organiser included enlisting his parents (Chris and Sue) to help with the canteen, shopping, transport and so on. Thanks also to Kylie Soo and all the canteen helpers and my other arbiters, Frank Meerbach and Daniel Holten. It remains only to be seen if this fantastic event can be equalled or even bettered by Graeme Gardiner and his team next year; see you all in Queensland in 2013!
Main Title Winners: U18 Open Alistair Cameron (SA); U16 Open Bernard Chau (NSW); U14 Open Andrew Pan (NSW); U12 Open Rowan Willathgamuwa (NSW); U10 Open Kevin Willathgamuwa (NSW); U8 Open Bobby Yu (VIC); U18 Girls Miranda Webb-Liddle (VIC); U16 Girls Stephanie Gu (VIC); U14 Girls Denise Lim (VIC); U12 Girls Alanna Chew Lee (VIC); U10 Girls Jody Middleton (VIC); U8 Girls Emily Lin (VIC)"
You may also find the report here:
http://australianjuniorchess.org.au/report_ajcc.html
You can see the final scores in Tornelo:
https://auschess.tornelo.com/tournaments/australian-junior-championships
You can see the games (please note you will have to log into Tornelo to see the games):
https://auschess.tornelo.com/tournaments/australian-junior-championships/games
How to subscribe to the bulletin
Please forward this email bulletin on to anybody else who you may think will be interested. Also feel free to ask other chess parents if they know about the AusJCL bulletin.
To subscribe to this FREE bulletin please send an email to the bulletin editor, Simon Dale (s...@thecrag.com), titled 'AusJCL bulletin subscription request' OR subscribe directly to the AusJCL Google Group:
http://groups.google.com/group/ausjcl
Please note that Google Groups do not allow me to add you directly, so I have to invite you to be part of the group, whereby an invitation email will be sent to you which you must accept before you become part of the group.
Simon Dale
Bulletin Editor
Australian Junior Chess League
http://www.australianjuniorchess.org.au/
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages