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The race is over and Geoff Saw won. Well done Geoff. At the
7th round of a Swiss the games are supposed to be relatively free of wide rating differences. But, we had our share of upsets even in this final round.
Dusan Stojic won with white over John Nemeth; similarly Nur Yachou hurt Milenko Lojanica’s rating. Janusz Dutka is becoming a target for fast improving juniors as Zhigen Lin held him to a draw. Devrim van Dijk scored again, this time at the expense of Svetozar Stojic, and Derek Yu took the wind out of Sam Elbrish’s B Grade ambition.
A major upset by Vanja Rozenblat against Anton Nincevic was followed by Jason Tang taking many, many points from Udit Thakur.
I liked the way Jerome Lugo infiltrated Eugene Schön’s defence. Finally, Marieke van Dijk showed old habits are hard to shake with a blunder in a winning position against Thomas Feng.
Full seventh round results here.
This was the best round in living memory for upsets and upstarts; and it
proved a really bonus for spectators.
As expected, Geoff Saw is now a clear point ahead with a round to go.
Geoff has probably decided that his coaching reputation is enhanced by winning
something recent.
Dusan Stojic tied with Milenko Lojanica a pawn down in a rook and pawn ending
that revealed Milenko had not read the book. Zhigen Wilson Lin continues
to impress and took a half-point from Abraham Rushdi. Similarly Garry
Lycett could be proud of his draw against Marcel Rothlisberger. Bruce
Simpson took a draw in a won position, an uncharacteristic generosity.
Flinder Hiew punched a hole in Anton Nincevic’s spinnaker and Frank Benjamin
finished off junior Lugo (good to be able to beat one of them). John Butler
is struggling and is lucky that Patrick Tan is unrated. Finally, Marieke
van Dijk proved too experienced for Cathy Farrelly.
The ACF web-site contains details this week of the new
ACF March ratings.
A correction of +70 points has been applied to all ACF players to retain parity
between ACF and FIDE ratings for those active Australians who have both.
(The FIDE ratings have been inflating over time). Please raise any rating
problems with the Treasurer.
Three huge upsets on the first seven boards. Dragicevic accounted for
Bourmistrov, and Meydan accounted for Flude (“I didn’t see it coming’, said
Flude shaking his head at a wonderful sacrifice. Life doesn’t get any
better than this for kibbutzers). Wallis defeated Dutka in what looked
like a prepared line.
Two scare-draws; Lugo v Rushdi, and Elbrish v Sharman and upsets Braham over
Bekker and Whittick over Chmiel, created interest in the middle of the pairings.
In the bottom third McCulloch lost to Qian, and Sam Fell lost to WHO (sorry,
Hiew) to show that upsets can occur anywhere. Finally, the ultimate scare-draw
as Thomas Feng held previous upset king F-L Khung.
The ACF web-site contains details this week of the new ACF March ratings.
A correction of +70 points has generally been applied to retain parity between
ACF and FIDE ratings for those active Australians who have both. (The
FIDE ratings have been inflating over time). Please raise any rating problems
with the Treasurer.
Three forfeits amongst the top 20 boards was an extra-ordinary occurrence
at Box Hill. I know we all take pride in the recommended practice of giving
early warning if you cannot make it to your game on a Friday evening.
The organisers work hard at ensuring everyone gets a game at Box Hill. Remember,
if you cannot play, please ring early in the week.
Board six saw a scare-draw as Michelle Lee held Mehmedalija Dizdarevic to
share the point. And Howard Liston got more than a scare from Zhigen Lin.
“Who coaches him” Howard was asking even days later. Perhaps Howard has
not been watching our warnings in this bulletin. Board twelve saw Chris
Wallis upset Scott Sharman but it was an easy point as Scott looked in no condition
to play. Derek Yu had a huge win over Devrim van Dijk; how long will those
bragging rights last. Sadly Phil Wheelwright features here again; this
time losing to Peter Braham. The good news Phil is that the ratings slide
will get you off my ‘upsets’ radar soon. Good to see Norm Wilson get on
the scoreboard. Natasha Lauder picked up a good half point against the
rusty Trevor Chong. Now watch this next one you ratings-rich middle-tablers;
Eugene Schon defeated Rochelleh Ziffer. Jason Tang accounted for Fred
Tischman; Jason is not radar material just yet, but will be; so watch out.
Nathan Fell caused David Creedon some problems that could not be shaken, and
Alan Gray won an epic struggle against Marieke van Dijk.
Did you know that Box Hill will be hosting both the Victorian Open and the
Victorian Junior this year. These week-enders are already looking to be
bumper events. $1000 first prize for the Open, and 8 (yes 8) rating prizes
of $150.
Four upsets in the first nine boards, but none of them caused by juniors;
perhaps the tide is turning. Meydan defeated M Lojanica, Narentham defeated
Kempen, Stanning defeated Yachou, and Bekker drew with Sharman.
Other notable upsets included junior Wallis rolled Jenkins, Elbrish defeated
Chmiel, Goudy over R Fell, N Lauder beat Neymanis, Schon accounted for Galiabovitch.
Late entrants are still be accepted into the field on a case-by-case negotiated
basis. The latest entrant has a high FIDE rating and could win the unrated
prize but is not eligible for the other prizes as a condition of entry.
Did you know that Box Hill will be hosting both the Victorian Open and the
Victorian Junior this year. These week-enders are already looking to be
bumper events. $1000 first prize for the Open, and 8 (yes 8) rating prizes of
$150.
The February Rookies Cup was played Sunday 15/2 and won by Denis Bourmistrov.
John Nemeth won the adult section. Elena Galaibovitch won the Queens Cup.
The Tuesday New Season Swiss is proceeding at 7:45pm and late entry is possible.
We welcome the new volunteers to club administration (Ruperto Lugo; treasurer
of Whitehorse Junior Chess, and Denis Bourmistrov onto the Victorian Open organising
committee).
An extra handful of entrants have started after the first evening.
Catch-up games have been arranged in most circumstances.
The board two pairing Yachou v Bourmistrov has been postponed. Scare-draw
upsets started to occur on the higher boards and the usual suspects were causing
the trouble. Ruperto Lugo held Leon Kempen to a long-fought draw and Michelle
Lee took half a point from Janusz Dutka.
Arie Meydan got one back for the oldies by taking a full point from Dusan
Stojic. But the junior attack continued with Zhigen Lin accounting for
Garry Lycett., and Reubban Muthusamy dealing with Rad Chmiel. The big
upset that caught my eye was Abhishek Nannegari over Devrim van Dijk.
On the bottom boards Flinder Hiew picked up points from Robert Chan.
Did you know that Box Hill will be hosting both the Victorian Open and the
Victorian Junior this year. These week-enders are already looking to be
bumper events. $1000 first prize for the Open, and 8 (yes 8) rating prizes
of $150.
Entries were taken smoothly up to 7:45pm when the pairings were made and
the large accelerated Swiss got under way. Two players over 2000 rating
in Denis Bourmistrov, fresh from success at the recent Australian Junior Championship,
and Geoff Saw resuming after a lay-off from competitive chess.
The average rating difference of pairings for this round is 400+ so there
were very few full-scale upsets on the top twenty boards. However there
were scare-draws to Dragicevic v Meldau, Rushdi v Wheelwright, Narenthran v
Wallis and newcomer Omeragic v Rothlisberger. I was particularly pleased
for Phil Wheelwright because he has suffered some rating drops in recent times;
but well done here. Only one of these ‘upsets’ was a rapidly improving
junior; so perhaps that issue is now behind us.
The first real upset was on board 23 where life-member, Eric Neymanis, was
rolled by newcomer Eugene Schon; Eugene has been practicing at the Aus. Junior.
Another big scare-draw was Richard Martin v Jerome Lugo; these two also featured
in WA. Sally Yu had a great win over Paul Qian, a case of a micro-junior
sneaking up on a mini-junior.
It was good to see Phillip O’Connor back around the Club. We need his
web-site skills. Arbiter was Gerrit Hartland, and set-up crew was efficient
under Anton Nincevic and Marieke van Dijk.
The President, Howard Liston, welcomed all to the first big event of the
year at Box Hill.
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