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Doncaster Chess Club timetable has changed. Toddler chess classes now on FRIDAY nights. Spaces still available. Visit the website.
Last night was an interesting night on “ChessKids On-Line.” CheckNorris and I were continuing our debate about one of his games. I tend to base all of my moves on positional considerations whilst Check just focuses on tactics so we often disagree in our assessment of positions. Rookbane butted in to our discussion to ask me how he could improve his Chess Tempo rating, which was “stuck” around 1600. I suggested that instead of analysing variations he just “looks” for good moves.
About this time DarkKnight came on and asked everyone to help her with her English homework. She had to write a poem about “Winter”. I went to work and came up with :
Oh Winter, dreary, cold and grey,
I wish that you would go away.
The birds have flown, the sun has set,
My mind it has but one regret.
I moved my knight and lost my queen,
A worse chess move is seldom seen.
I blame the cold, my mind it froze,
A good excuse I do suppose.
Not bad I thought, and it has a chess theme. I finished the evening with a quick game against Rookbane. I was struggling early (he has improved a lot) and we reached the diagrammed position. Without much thought I played 1.Nd6. Here CheckNorris asked me why I played 1.Nd6? I replied “It’s a good square for the Knight.” I don’t think he understands about good squares and was probably looking at some tactical line instead. The game only went 3 more moves before one of the players resigned. Today’s puzzle is to tell me what the 3 moves were to finish the game after 1.Nd6.
I had a call from GM Ian Rogers the other day. He was organising a fund-raising auction for the Australian 16U team going to Turkey later in the year and was wondering if I’d like to bid for some of the chess memorabilia. I ended up bidding $100 for Bill Egan’s new book “The Doeberl Cup – 50 years of Australian Chess History” (retail $39.95). My bid was successful. It may have cost me $60 more than the retail price, but I figured if it helped to get “Check Norris” (the #1 ranked player on Chess Kids On-Line) out of the country for a few weeks it was money well spent. That would give me a chance to catch up to him!
I’ve discovered that the book comes with a CD in the back, with 6000 chess games from the Doeberl Cup as well, and it’s a big book with 336 pages, photos, games and player profiles. It’s a great read that I’d recommend to everyone, even juniors who know only the digital age. It’s nice to learn a bit about the background of Australian Chess rather than just the current players. Better still you get to see pictures of Australia’s top players before they became fat, bald and old. Ian Rogers and Guy West look much the same but the rest of us have changed somewhat!
Speaking of Guy West, I don’t think Guy ever won the Doeberl Cup, but he has provided us with a nice puzzle for this week. Guy is playing White against Alistair Anderson and clearly has a good attack going. Can you find a pretty finish for White?
6nr/Rnrq1pbk/3p3p/1pp1pNP1/1P2P2R/1BPP1Q2/3B1PK1/8 w – - 0 1White to play and win
Justin Tan wins MCC Anzac Day Weekender
The Australian 16U Chess Team (the “Chessaroos”) recently played an on-line match against Indonesia as part of their training for the 16U Chess Olympiad to be held in Turkey in a few months time. Unfortunately Australia went down 3.5 – 6.5 but we did not have our strongest team playing as several players were playing in other events.
Justin Tan, our no.2 player 16U, was participating in the MCC Anzac Day Weekender for instance where he had a outstanding tournament. He finished outright first on 6.5/7 winning the $500 first prize. Along the way he beat the top seed, IM James Morris, who had to be content with second place and 6/7. As well as being good at chess Justin is one of Australia’s top gymnasts in his age-group but, at the moment, hopefully chess is winning the battle for his time.
For today’s puzzle let’s see if you can match Justin’s tactical ability. The diagram shows Justin as White in his game against Tony Davis. Justin is trying to win a piece by trapping Black’s stray Knight. Your task is both to win the piece and find Black’s defence. Good luck.
2k4r/2p2pbp/2N1p1p1/1B6/2P2P2/6P1/1n5P/1R4K1 w – - 1 25White to play and win
GM Garima
Promotions happen in chess all the time, yet they are too rarely celebrated. Today we celebrate!
I’ve heard from teachers, parents and coaches more times than I can count how lucky we are to have Garima on our team. Mostly you will know her from phone or email, so I thought I’d post a rare picture so everyone can see how gorgeous she is too. 
Over the last 3 years she has gradually taken on more responsibilities as she demonstrated exceptional performance again and again. Garima has finally stepped up to the senior role of General Manager of our entire business.
I am certain she’ll do a much better job than I have until now, so expect a lot from Chess Kids in years to come. I’m personally grateful to Garima for accepting this demanding role as it frees some of my time to invest in other interests.
So, congratulations Garima and we all wish you continued success!
Last week I mentioned the Doeberl Cup in Canberra played over Easter, and the following week Australia’s best players moved on to Sydney for the Sydney International Open. I was hoping to follow the games and find some nice puzzles to show you but the slack organisers didn’t get around to uploading the games onto their website. All the more disappointing as our better players are all fighting hard for a place in the Australian Olympiad team and it would have been great to see all their games.
What to do? A couple of weeks ago one of my on-line opponents, Check Norris, sent me a puzzle from one of his own games which I was able to use. Fortunately this week another of my on-line mates, Murray Beard, has sent me a puzzle that he thought may be of interest. It’s Black to play and win and it’s got me stumped. I’ve been studying the position for quite sometime and I can’t find a checkmate for Black. Worse than that, it dawns on me that Black is a Queen down so if he can’t checkmate he’s clearly going to lose. Perhaps Murray has sent me the wrong position and left off the black Queen by mistake? If so, which square should the Queen be on to solve the puzzle? Clearly, I need your help to solve this puzzle. Can you explain what has happened and whether or not there is a win for Black?
3rr1nk/pR6/3b3p/5p2/2Pp1PpP/P2n4/6BK/1RBQ2N1 b – - 0 1Black to play and win
Last week I mentioned about the Doeberl Cup being played in Canberra over Easter and hoped that Bobby Cheng would come up with some interesting puzzles for us. I tried to follow the games live on the internet but the organisers made a fatal mistake. They allocated 4 live game boards to the Premier Division but invited 8 foreign grandmasters to play in the tournament. It’s simple maths! 8 grandmasters, 2 players per board, 4 live boards – there were no live boards left for me to watch the Australian players’ games! ARGHHH! Never-the-less, if you waited long enough, eventually the games would appear on the website so I did get to see a few of Bobby’s games. He started very well with an impressive win against Australia’s top player, Zhao Yuan-Zhong and in the last round a win would have given Bobby an IM result. I’m still waiting to see that game, but Bobby did come good with a puzzle for us.
In round 5 he was white against GM Attila Czebe from Hungary and they reached the following position. Czebe played 53…Nxc4 54.Kxc4 Ke5 and offered a draw. Bobby thought for a while and accepted. In this sequence of events there were two blunders and one “brilliancy”. What were they and why?
8/4p3/3k4/4n3/2BK4/4pP2/4P3/8 b – - 2 53What were the blunders and brilliancy?
Easter is a great time for chess in Australia because 50 years ago a Canberra builder named Eric Doeberl decided to sponsor a chess tournament in Canberra over the Easter break. The event became the “Doeberl Cup”, Australia’s biggest and strongest adult chess tournament, which of course is celebrating 50 years with the 2012 tournament. The field boasts 8 GMs, 1 WGM, 13 IMs and 1 WIM in the 78 player “Premier” division. It’s a great opportunity for our leading players and juniors to test themselves against international opposition and certainly many Victorians juniors are making the trip to Canberra. Fortunately you’ll be able to follow the games on-line at home also as David Cordover is going to Canberra to use Tornelo to record the results and games (just search under “Tornelo – Australian Trial”).
One Victorian junior making the trip is Laurence Matheson who finds himself paired against GM Czebe Attila 2477 from Hungary in the first round. Laurence has been training for the big tournament by playing 2 minute games on “Chess Kids On-Line” and blitz games on the ICC website against strong opponents and has kindly sent me one of his victories against “some Spanish IM”. (See Diagram). Clearly Laurence as Black is winning comfortably and could just play safely to ensure the win. Laurence however has other ideas and wants to win quickly even if he has to take risks. Can you help him to finish the game quickly?
2r2rk1/5pp1/3p3p/p2qpP1N/1p2n1P1/4QN2/PPP5/1KR5 w – - 0 1Black to play and win?
