Chess in Melbourne 3/9/2012-16/9/2012

My posts about weekly events have previously just been lists, but these can be seen easily on the Calendar so I am changing to more of a commentary based weekly report.

We are coming to the end of a school term and both Chess Victoria and Chesskids are conducting a number of interschool tournaments around the state. School chess in Victoria is flourishing though the clubs are only seeing a small minority of these players going through their doors.

The clubs are active with Melbourne Chess Club's Open tournament about to start on Mondays nights starting on the 10th. Big events at Box Hill and Noble Park are coming to a conclusion. Box Hill Club Championship is arguably the premier event at this moment in Victoria. It is a tournament affected by the Olympiad as top seed, FM Bobby Cheng is representing Australia U-16 in Turkey (he is not the only player from this tournament). I'm not too sure what is happening with the postponements as it seems that Bobby, and Ari Dale, Savithri Narenthran and Jack Puccini will all be absent for 2 rounds. Though not a club championship, Noble Park's Masters and Challengers tournaments bring an elite group in round robin format. This had also been affected by the Olympiad, but the round robin format has allowed the players the flexibility of playing their games in advance. Justin Tan, who is on duty in Turkey currently leads the tournament, though he can be caught and overtaken by Dusan Stojic if he wins his outstanding games. The Challengers event is great as a qualifier for the following year's Masters. This year, Jimmy Ying moved up into the Masters and would have gained invaluable experience. This year's Challenger's is currently being led by a comeback player, Anurag Sannidhanam.

Box Hill Chess Club is also running its Masters round robin event on Tuesdays, with this event also nearing its conclusion. The details of this event are a bit sketchy, but I'm guessing that field was assembled but someone dropped out. Organiser David Flude jumped in to fill up the spots, and is having to play some catch up games. I'm not sure of the exact scores, but it looks as if top seeds FM Bill Jordan, Marcus Raine and Max Chew Lee are fighting it out for top place.

Croydon Chess Club runs a varied and interesting Calendar in the Eastern suburbs. After their Frost tournament which is being led by Franz Oswald, they have a chess 960 allegro. For those of you that have never played this variant of chess, the major pieces are mixed up on the back rank to start a game, bringing a random element into each game. Openings experts don't get their favourite positions in chess 960!

On a Tuesday evening in the Western suburbs, Hobson's Bay Chess Club meet (my first club in Australia!). They are currently coming to the end of their 5 round swiss, the 'Koshnitsky'. Tony Davis won his forst 3 games to take the lead, though I haven't seen the results from last night. The tournament finishes next week, and on September 18th they have an allegro night, which would be a great time for new players, or old players looking for a new venue, to check the club out.

Of course, if it's blitz that you are interested in then probably the MCC is the place to be every Saturday! Or Box Hill on Sunday for their Rookies cup!

Melbourne's Chess Week 27/08/2012-2/09/2012

Winter is a great time to be playing chess, and there is a lot of chess happening around the Melbourne area at the moment. The clubs are all active, junior chess is flourishing, and some of our players are representing Australia at the Olympiad in Turkey starting Monday 27th.

Find links to where you can play chess in Victoria here, and check out the calendar to see if there are upcoming events near you. I will be trying to update these regularly, but please tell me if there are things missing or wrong by email on carl.coffeehousechess@gmail.com.

Thanks

Carl

Mon 27 Aug 2012 
19:00 - 23:30 E. Malitis Memorial
Where: 66 Leicester St, Fitzroy

Tue 28 Aug 2012 
09:00 - 14:00 chesskids interschool Pakenham

09:00 - 14:30 chesskids interschool, Bacchus Marsh

19:30 - 23:00 HBCC Koshnitsky Cup
Where: Hobson's Bay Chess Club

19:45 - 23:45 Box Hill Masters
Where: Box Hill Chess Club

Wed 29 Aug 2012
09:00 - 14:00 chesskids interschool, Melton

Thu 30 Aug 2012 
09:00 - 14:00 chesskids interschool, Williamstown

18:00 - 19:00 Croydon Junior Club Cahmpionship
Where: Croydon Chess Club

19:30 - 23:00 Frost, Croydon Chess Club
Where: Croydon Chess Club

Fri 31 Aug 2012 
09:00 - 14:00 chesskids interschool, Cheltenham

19:45 - 23:45 Box Hill Club Championship
Where: Box Hill Chess Club

Sat 1 Sep 2012 
10:00 - 12:00 Junior Coaching
Where: 66 Leicester St, Fitzroy 

14:00 - 17:45 Allegro
Where: 66 Leicester St, Fitzroy 

15:00 - 19:00 Noble Park Masters and Challengers
Where: Noble Park Chess Club

19:00 - 20:30 Blitz!
Where: 66 Leicester St, Fitzroy

Sun 2 Sep 2012
Fitzroy Skittles
Where: 66 Leicester St, Fitzroy

More country chess

Yesterday saw an Interschool tournament in Bendigo, today was Ballarat's turn. The Secondary competition saw 44 players competing from 3 schools with Thumula Gamage winning 7/7 for the top performance of the day. Full results can be seen here.

A nice group shot of Kerang Technical High School Team, courtesy of chesskids

Chess Statewide

It can be too easy to think of Melbourne as being Victoria. However, there is plenty of country chess going on at all levels, and the premier annual tournament in the state is held in Ballarat. Well, I received an email from Nigel Barrow pointing out that a junior chess tournament was held in Bendigo and received local media coverage.

Here's what Nigel had to say about the event.

Yesterday (21st August) separate Primary and Secondary School Zonal tournaments were conducted at Girton Grammar, Bendigo.

52 students contested the Secondary tournament, which featured teams from Girton Grammar, Catholic College and Maryborough Education Centre (MEC). The tournament was seven rounds with time limits of 15 minutes each.

85 students competed in the Primary tournament, which featured teams from Winters Flat, Castlemaine Primary, Girton Grammar, Maryborough Education Centre and Eaglehawk North Primary. The tournament was only for 6 rounds as many of the students were delayed for the scheduled start of the first round due to travel and bus issues.

Congraulations to Alan Zhou (Secondary) and Joe Flexmore & Lloyd Butcher (Primary) for finishing first in their tournaments.

Overall, the two tournaments were played in a friendly atmosphere, with no disuptes, and ran quite smoothly. This was due to both the attitude of the students and the organisational and managemennt skills of the various teachers and volunteers (I only had to put the results into the computer).

Please note the Girton secondary team names are based on which of the six "school house" the students were from:
JE/RI indicates students from the Jenkin and Riley houses,
JO/FR indicates students from the Jones and Frew houses,
M/AH indicates sudents from the Millward and Ahearne houses.
 Team Standings - Secondary:
Place Name                           Score
  1   GIRTON GRAMMAR SECONDARY JE/RI 20.5
  2   GIRTON GRAMMAR SECONDARY JO/FR 19 
  3   CATHOLIC COLLEGE BENDIGO A     18 
      CATHOLIC COLLEGE BENDIGO B     18 
  5   GIRTON GRAMMAR SECONDARY M/AH  17 
  6   MEC SECONDARY                  16   

Team Standings - Primary
Place Name                   Score
  1   WINTERS FLAT PRIMARY A 26.5
  2   MEC PRIMARY A          21 
  3   WINTERS FLAT PRIMARY B 19 
  4   CASTLEMAINE PRIMARY B  18.5
  5   CASTLEMAINE PRIMARY A  18 
  6   GIRTON GRAMMAR PRIMARY 17.5
  7   ST MARYS PRIMARY A     16.5
  8   ST MARYS PRIMARY B     14 
  9   MEC PRIMARY B          13.5
 10   EAGLEHAWK NTH PRIMARY  9    

Individual Standings - Secondary:
Place Name                   Club                           Score
  1   Zhou, Allan            Girton Grammar Secondary JE/RI 7  
  2   Hartshorn, Finn        Girton Grammar Secondary M/AH  6  
  3   Eenjies, Tavish        Girton Grammar Secondary JO/FR 5.5
  4   Henrickson, Sullivan   MEC Secondary                  5  
  5   Bevan, Fin             Girton Grammar Secondary JO/FR 5  
  6   Myres, Michael         Girton Grammar Secondary M/AH  5  
  7   Berryman, Will         Catholic College Bendigo A     5  
  8   Babovic, Milos         Girton Grammar Secondary JE/RI 5  
  9   Mann, Stephanie        Catholic College Bendigo B     5  
 10   Knight, Joshua         Catholic College Bendigo A     5  
 11   Brown, James           Catholic College Bendigo A     4.5
 12   Brennan, Riley         Girton Grammar Secondary JE/RI 4.5
 13   Goffin, Rowan          Catholic College Bendigo B     4.5
 14   Pitson, Jack           Catholic College Bendigo B     4.5
 15   Caltibianco, Paul      Girton Grammar Secondary JO/FR 4.5
 16   Lyons, Charlotte       Catholic College Bendigo B     4  
 17   Smith, River           Girton Grammar Secondary JE/RI 4  
 18   Woodhatch, Riley       Catholic College Bendigo B     4  
 19   King, Simon            MEC Secondary                  4  
 20   Price, Lewis           Girton Grammar Secondary JO/FR 4  
 21   King, Jordan           MEC Secondary                  3.5
 22   Exell, Ayden           Catholic College Bendigo A     3.5
 23   Reilly, Blake          Girton Grammar Secondary JO/FR 3.5
 24   Jayasekera, Rani       Girton Grammar Secondary JE/RI 3.5
 25   Swanson, Bianca        Catholic College Bendigo B     3.5
 26   Smagas, Spencer        Girton Grammar Secondary JO/FR 3.5
 27   Walton, Holly          Catholic College Bendigo B     3.5
 28   William Fraser, Travis MEC Secondary                  3.5
 29   Howell, Harrison       Catholic College Bendigo B     3.5
 30   Smith, Roy             Catholic College Bendigo B     3.5
 31   Brewin, Tom            Girton Grammar Secondary M/AH  3  
 32   Neilsen, Alexander     Girton Grammar Secondary M/AH  3  
 33   Morrison, Tom          Girton Grammar Secondary M/AH  3  
 34   Pianta, Zachary        Catholic College Bendigo A     3  
 35   Kelly, Gnaden          Catholic College Bendigo A     3  
 36   Jonny, Joel            Catholic College Bendigo B     3  
 37   Smagas, Nelson         Girton Grammar Secondary JO/FR 3  
 38   Edwards, Bailey        Girton Grammar Secondary M/AH  3  
 39   Carmeron, Riley        Catholic College Bendigo A     3  
 40   Ilagan, Rajan          Girton Grammar Secondary JE/RI 2.5
 41   Hartigan, Chelsea      Catholic College Bendigo A     2.5
 42   Killick, Mia           Catholic College Bendigo B     2.5
 43   Nassar, David          Girton Grammar Secondary JE/RI 2.5
 44   Enever, Harry          Catholic College Bendigo A     2  
 45   Haythorne, Patrick     Girton Grammar Secondary JO/FR 2  
 46   Weaver, Harry          Girton Grammar Secondary JE/RI 2  
 47   King, Zac              Girton Grammar Secondary M/AH  2  
 48   Cooper, Sharni         Catholic College Bendigo A     1.5
 49   Marshall, Zac          Girton Grammar Secondary JO/FR 1.5
 50   Johnston, Jai          Girton Grammar Secondary M/AH  1.5
 51   Douch, Connor          Girton Grammar Secondary JO/FR 1  
 52   Wild, James            Catholic College Bendigo A     1    

Individual Standings - Primary
Place Name                       Club                   Score
  1   Flexmore, Joe              Winters Flat Primary A 6  
  2   Butcher, Lloyd             Winters Flat Primary A 6  
  3   Lanfranchi, Jackson        MEC Primary A          5  
  4   Vella, Regan               Winters Flat Primary A 5  
  5   McCoy, Kaspar              Winters Flat Primary A 5  
  6   Showell, Sidney            Castlemaine Primary B  5  
  7   Coventry Brownrigg, Henry  Castlemaine Primary A  4.5
  8   Gamage, Sankalpa           Girton Grammar Primary 4.5
  9   Melton, B.J.               MEC Primary A          4.5
 10   Van Domburgh, Shem         St Marys Primary A     4.5
 11   Stroek, Felix              Winters Flat Primary A 4.5
 12   Tremlett-Davies, Henry     Winters Flat Primary A 4.5
 13   Saunders, Cohen            Winters Flat Primary B 4  
 14   Killeen, Caspar            Winters Flat Primary B 4  
 15   Dodson, Courtney           St Marys Primary A     4  
 16   Lyell, Jenson              MEC Primary A          4  
 17   Berry-Smith, Jaspar        Winters Flat Primary A 4  
 18   Munn, Travis               Castlemaine Primary B  4  
 19   Pattern, Lewis             MEC Primary A          4  
 20   Byrne, Martineau           Castlemaine Primary B  4  
 21   Hinrichson, William        Winters Flat Primary A 4  
 22   Marsden-Sweeney, Dylan     Winters Flat Primary B 4  
 23   Kennard, Ben               Winters Flat Primary A 4  
 24   Russell, David             Girton Grammar Primary 3.5
 25   Maroudas, Stefan           Winters Flat Primary B 3.5
 26   Rogers, Eli                Winters Flat Primary B 3.5
 27   O'Brien, Lucas             St Marys Primary B     3.5
 28   McMahon, Dylan             MEC Primary A          3.5
 29   Denk Rai, Fabian           Castlemaine Primary B  3.5
 30   MacKinnon, Callum          Castlemaine Primary A  3.5
 31   Bailey-Banks, Jaxon        Girton Grammar Primary 3.5
 32   MacDougal Di Manno, Reuben Winters Flat Primary B 3.5
 33   Jennings, Finley           Castlemaine Primary A  3.5
 34   Wellard, Macklin           Eaglehawk Nth Primary  3.5
 35   Chaffey, James             Castlemaine Primary A  3.5
 36   Lohmann, Jacob             MEC Primary A          3.5
 37   McCoy, Gabe                Winters Flat Primary B 3  
 38   Reed, Justin               St Marys Primary A     3  
 39   Casley, Jack               St Marys Primary A     3  
 40   Ragg-Hansen, Rama          Winters Flat Primary A 3  
 41   Hutchings, Ben             Girton Grammar Primary 3  
 42   Chapman, Bailey            Castlemaine Primary A  3  
 43   Nies, Miriam               Girton Grammar Primary 3  
 44   Tokovic, Malakai           Castlemaine Primary A  3  
 45   Marshall, Zed              Castlemaine Primary A  3  
 46   Freudenberg, Ryan          Winters Flat Primary B 3  
 47   Ford, Riley                MEC Primary A          3  
 48   Walker, Brendan            St Marys Primary B     3  
 49   Rose, Freddie              Winters Flat Primary A 3  
 50   Parker, Nathan             MEC Primary A          3  
 51   McCaig, Connor             Girton Grammar Primary 3  
 52   Aldridge, Declan           MEC Primary B          3  
 53   Leathan, Aiden             MEC Primary B          3  
 54   Bird, Austin               St Marys Primary B     3  
 55   Lawrence, Sophie           Winters Flat Primary B 2.5
 56   Cheema, Alayvir            Girton Grammar Primary 2.5
 57   Tolland, Xavier            St Marys Primary B     2.5
 58   Lang, Bailie               MEC Primary B          2.5
 59   Muirson, Sergio            MEC Primary B          2.5
 60   Polinelli, Coby            MEC Primary B          2.5
 61   Broughton, Tom             Castlemaine Primary A  2.5
 62   O'Connor, Niamh            Castlemaine Primary B  2  
 63   Jones, Kyle                St Marys Primary B     2  
 64   Rolands, Campbell          St Marys Primary B     2  
 65   Reed, Kirrilly             St Marys Primary A     2  
 66   Pollard, Jy                St Marys Primary B     2  
 67   Kelly, James               St Marys Primary A     2  
 68   Maroudas, Evia             Winters Flat Primary B 2  
 69   Zi Chia, Ri                Girton Grammar Primary 2  
 70   Loughan, Michael           Girton Grammar Primary 2  
 71   Jumpertz, Gabriel          St Marys Primary A     2  
 72   Shobanan, Harrishma        Girton Grammar Primary 2  
 73   Leevers, Padric            Castlemaine Primary B  2  
 74   Meadows, Lloyd             Castlemaine Primary B  2  
 75   Trew, Hayden               Eaglehawk Nth Primary  1.5
 76   Attwater, James            Eaglehawk Nth Primary  1.5
 77   Marshall, Tobiah           Castlemaine Primary B  1.5
 78   Lumsdon-Hill, Adam         Eaglehawk Nth Primary  1.5
 79   Poradi, Max                St Marys Primary A     1.5
 80   Shaleah, Gahan             Eaglehawk Nth Primary  1  
 81   Wellard, Elliot            Eaglehawk Nth Primary  1  
 82   Mundy, Charlotte           Eaglehawk Nth Primary  1  
 83   Diss, Shane                Eaglehawk Nth Primary  1  
 84   Diss, Jasmine              Eaglehawk Nth Primary  0.5
 85   Trew, Stephanie            Eaglehawk Nth Primary  0