Gardiner Chess Bulletin # 25 - 28 November 2004

In this issue

Christmas break-up arrangements; Summer School Holiday Events for Kids; Christmas Presents; Bored over Christmas? Join our group for NZ; One place available for Australian Juniors; Oceanic Zonal; 2005 Calendar; World Junior Championships; Asian Youth Under 14 Championship; Humble Pawn Regional Teams Event; Junior Masters; Queensland Inter-School Chess; CAQ events next weekend; Webpage; Bridge; Unsubscribe.

Christmas Break-Up Arrangements at the Centre

After-School Chess will finish for this year on Friday 10 December. On each evening of the last week a transfer tournament will be held.

On Sunday 12 December the Parent/Child Tournament will be held and this will be followed at 4pm by the break-up party. All welcome. Register at the centre for both the parent/child event and the party. Full details at our webpage www.gardinerchess.com

The final round of the Humble Pawn Regional Teams event will be held on Wednesday 15 December, and this will be followed by social drinks and nibbles and presentations.

The adult club will recommence on Wednesday 12 January with a rapid tournament.

After-school chess will recommence on Monday 24 January.

Summer School Holiday Events for Juniors

Morning and afternoon Summer Rapid events will be held at the centre each day for the week Monday to Friday 10 to 14 January. Book for a morning, afternoon, day, days or for the full week.

Our ever-popular Gardiner Chess Camp will be held at the centre from Monday to Friday during the week 17 to 21 January.

Our first Chess Camp in Brisbane will be held over three days from Monday to Wednesday, 17 to 19 January at the Marymac Centre, 616 Ipswich Road, Annerley.

Full details of each of these events at our webpage www.gardinerchess.com

Christmas Presents

You may like to consider choosing a Christmas present from our large range of chess products at the centre.

Last year we sold a number of Kaleidoscope strategy games over the Christmas period, and will have them available again this year at $60. If you are after another intelligent, great for family gatherings, non-chess strategy type of game as a present for Christmas, you can’t go past one called Blokus, which sells for $55. We always have these games available for use at the centre and they have been extremely popular between tournament rounds.

We also have quite a few themed chess sets – Star Wars, Harry Potter, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, etc, along with top of the range wooden sets, the standard tournament sets and a vast range of books, plus clocks, cds, and videos.

Bored over Christmas?

If at any stage over Christmas you are getting a little bored, visit the Chessbase website and spend some time trying to solve some really testing chess puzzles. www.chessbase.com/puzzle/

Join our Chess Group for the big Queenstown, NZ Open in January 2006

This promises to be one of the finest chess events ever held in Australasia. With NZ$35,000 in prizes, the event runs for 10 rounds from 15-24 January just over a year from now. We will travel on 13 January and return on 25 January. Each player can take up to two half-point byes by round 7. As each of the rounds starts at 3pm, there will be plenty of time each day to get out and about and do some sightseeing in one of the most scenic regions of the world. Perhaps the kids and young-at-heart adults will have a go at jet boating and other extreme sports for which the area is famous.

The prize fund is fantastic with even the 15^th player receiving $550. Ratings prizes include Grading Prizes: Best under 2000: $700 Best under 1800: $600 Best under 1600: $500.

The catch is that we have to do some booking of flights and accommodation 12 months out. Queenstown is a holiday destination, and January is peak season. At this stage, all you have to do is register your interest in travelling with our group. This will help us to do some planning, and reserve a place for you. Later on may be too late.

Don’t miss out on this great chess holiday. Estimated cost is less than $2,000 including air fares, accommodation and entry fees.

Australian Junior Championships 11 to 23 January 2005 at Mt Buller

We still have one place left in our party travelling to Mt Buller for the Australian Junior Championships. Our coaches are David Smerdon and Matthew Sonter and we have 11 juniors going. We have booked our own ski lodge, but unfortunately we can’t guarantee any snow (I wonder why?). Wendy and Graeme will be cooking (be warned, this may not always be quite gourmet standard though . . .), and a chess dad, Greg Baker, will also be travelling with us. Whilst the chess will be taken very seriously, there will be plenty of time for socialising and entertainment.

Oceanic Zonal, Auckland NZ 30 January to 4 February 2005

Gardiner Chess coach Matthew Sonter is entering this event, which is the regional qualifier for the World Championships. The Australian seeds are GM Darryl Johansen and IM Gary Lane. Our good friend Alex Wohl, who has been in Europe for the last few years, has also entered.

Entries to date are:

Open

GM Darryl Johansen [2483] (AUS)
IM Gary Lane [2442] (AUS)
IM Alex Wohl [2359] (AUS)
FM Brian Jones [2168](AUS)
FM Lee Jones [2199] (AUS)
Raymond Song [2002] (AUS)
Tony Booth [UNR] (NZL)
Igor Bjelobrk [2377] (NZL)
Leonard McLaren [2255] (NZL)
James Cronan [2062] (AUS)
Calvin Prasad [1830] (FIJI)
Gareth Oliver [2000} (AUS)
Philip Hair [2036] (NZL)

Women

IM Irina Berezina/Feldman [2281] (AUS)
WIM Anastasia Sorokina [2199] (AUS)
Angela Song [1838] (AUS)
Vivian Smith [UNR] (NZL)
Shannon Oliver [1980] (AUS)
Tamzin Oliver [UNR] (AUS)
Frentina Antrea [UNR] (FIJI)
Narelle Szuveges [1901] (AUS)

Arbiter Gary Bekker

Full details at www.globalchessenterprises.co.nz/

2005 Calendar

Ian Murray, Garvin Gray and Graeme Gardiner are just putting the finishing touches to the Queensland Calendar of Events for 2005. With proper coordination, we are usually able to finalise the calendar by early December and avoid clashes of dates. The 2005 calendar will shortly be available on our webpage www.gardinerchess.com. It will also be available on the CAQ website www.caq.org.au.

The calendar will include dates for the regional inter-school competitions right around the state.

World Junior Championships

David Smerdon is currently participating as Australia’s representative at the World Junior Championships in Cochin, India (Under 20). He is currently lying in 23^rd place of 72 players on 6/11. There are 14 rounds, and you can watch live games at the website www.worldjunior.chessindia.org/index.asp

Moulthun Ly from Brisbane, who is a regular visitor to the centre, did extremely well in the under 14 section of the World Youth Festival held in Greece. This was Moulthun’s first international experience, and after a slow start when he scored 2/4, he finished extremely well to finish with 7.5/11. Apart from that of Raymond Song, this was easily Australia’s best performance.

Raymond Song from Sydney, competing in the under 10 section, won on board one in the final round to finish on 9/11. Normally this would be a good enough score to win the event. But in an amazing finish, four players finished on 9/11, and the unlucky Raymond finished fourth on tie-break. This was a very unfortunate outcome for Raymond for his surprise round two loss. However, Raymond’s effort was close to being Australia’s best ever achievement at the World Youth Festival.

Asian Under 14 Youth Championship

I understand that Ben Lazarus will be representing Australia at the Asian Under 14s in Singapore from 10-18 December. Details of the event are likely to be found at www.singaporechess.org.sg/.  Ben has been in very good form lately and we wish him good luck and hope to be able to follow his progress via the website.

Humble Pawn Regional Teams Event

The surprise leaders after round 4 of the Humble Pawn Regional Teams event are the Tallai Titans. Henry MacLennan, Mitchell Carey, Cameron Thompson, Daniel Barrett, Jonas Muller and Kieton Beilby have melded as a team to lead over much higher-rated opponents. Most matches have involved very close tussles, and there has been some great chess. This is a round robin event involving ten teams of six players, which concludes on Wed 15 December.

Scores after Round 4

Tallai Titans                   3.5

Carrara Cannons            3

Robina Rooks                2.5

Burleigh Bishops            2.5

Tweed Tornadoes           2.5

Coomera Crushers         2

Broadbeach Brains         1.5

Southport                      1

Nerang Knights              1

Mudgeeraba Marauders  0.5

Team points are scored as follows: one point for a team win, half a point for a team draw and zero for a team loss. Count-back is the sum of individual scores.

Best individual scorers so far are Nik Stawski, Sam Grigg, Cameron Thompson and Vaso Dakovic on 4/4, with Alex Ruddy, Justin Pengelley, Jayden Fisher, Christina Webb and David Lovejoy on 3.5.

It is good to see several new players participating - we welcome Clint Stewart, Chris Bockmann, Thomas Erler, and Malcolm Miller.

Junior Masters

The final round of the last Junior Masters event for the year will be held tomorrow night. The series has been an outstanding success in readying youngsters for the rigours of championship chess.

Leading into the last round, there is a six-way tie for first place between Jessica Kinder, Yitao Lei, Daniel Ford, Leoma Lee, Lachlan Pedersen-Lee and Scott Underwood, all on 5/7.

On the final night (tomorrow, Monday 29 November), there will almost certainly be a lightning play-off for first place after round 8 is completed. Some of the games have been of a very high standard, with several going beyond three hours. Some have even gone past four hours. So come along and watch some very competitive chess on the last night.

After each game the juniors have their game analysed by leading players, currently Matthew Sonter and Nik Stawski. Previous analysers have included GM Ian Rogers, IM Stephen Solomon, IM Alex Davidovic, WIM Anastasia Sorokina, WIM Arianne Caoili and Craig Duxbury.

This Monday we understand that IM Robert Jamieson, who is holidaying at Byron Bay, will be guest analyser of games.

Queensland Inter-School Chess

Full details of the 2005 Calendar for schools will soon be available from our webpage www.gardinerchess.com In the meantime, next weekend, we wait to see how the Queensland representatives go at the national inter-school finals in Mt Buller. Good luck to Somerset College, Worongary Primary and Merrimac High (all Gold Coast). The Queensland Inter-School competition has been dominated by Brisbane and Gold Coast in recent years. We very much look forward to the day when we have winners from Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton etc.

Chess Association of Queensland Events Coming Up Next Weekend

Next Saturday 4 December, the Annual General Meeting of CAQ will be held at the Queensland Bridge Club, Woolloongabba, commencing at 2.30pm. The Association is looking for volunteers to help develop chess in Queensland. We’re sure that stalwart Ian Murray would appreciate someone taking over either the Secretary or the Treasurer position from him, but there are plenty of other opportunities available on the committee to make a difference to chess in Queensland.

The AGM will be followed at 4.30pm by the Queensland Lightning Championship.

The following day, Sunday 5 December, the Queensland Clubs Teams Championship will be held at Grace Lutheran College, Rothwell. Redcliffe are the hosting club on this occasion.

Webpage

For all up-to-date information on upcoming events, ratings, online entries and payments, results, live chess and much more, please go to www.gardinerchess.com. Wendy endeavours to update information on a daily basis.

Bridge

Diary date for 2005 – Mudgeeraba Novice Pairs, Sunday 1 May. The Mudgeeraba Bridge Club continues on Mondays from 9.30am.

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Gardiner Chess Bulletin # 24 - 31 October 2004

In This Issue

Gold Coast Lightning and Transfer Championships, Inaugural Coffs Harbour Open, Humble Pawn Regional Teams Trophy, Christmas Parent and Child Tournament and Break-Up Party, Christmas Gifts, School Holiday Camps (Gold Coast and Brisbane), Overseas Trip to Queenstown, Olympiad Results, Australian Juniors, World Juniors, Schools, Bridge, Webpage, Unsubscribe.

Next Weekend - Gold Coast Lightning Championship & Gold Coast Transfer Championship, Sunday 7 November at the Chess Centre

9 am Gold Coast Transfer Championship - Entry Fees: Adults $15, Concession $12, Juniors $10; Prizes Total $180; 13 rounds 5 mins a side guillotine

1.30pm Gold Coast Lightning Championship - Entry Fees: Adults $15, Concession $12, Juniors $10; Prizes Total $290; 13 rounds 5 mins a side guillotine

Entry forms available at the centre or via our webpage at www.gardinerchess.com.  If you wish, you can use your credit card and the ‘pay fees’ button on our webpage to enter.

Inaugural Coffs Harbour Open, Sat/Sun 13/14 November

We hope to take a bus full of players (adults and juniors) to the Coffs Harbour Open on Sat/Sun 13/14 November. We will depart from the centre at 4pm on Friday 12 November and return at about 10pm on Sunday 14 November. We will be staying at Pacific Towers. The venue is the Coffs Harbour Catholic Club. The cost of accommodation and transport is $95, plus you will need to bring sufficient cash for food. Tournament fees are Adults $60, Juniors Under 18 $40, Juniors Under 12 $20. Total Prizes $2,850. If you do not wish to travel with us, but would like to car pool, we have agreed to be the car pool coordinators for the Brisbane/Gold Coast area. Please email ggardiner@gardinerchess.com to register for this weekend.

Humble Pawn Regional Teams Event, 5 Wednesdays from 17 November to 15 December

This event was held for the first time last year and was played for the Humble Pawn Trophy, which was made from wood turned from a chunk of wood taken from a rogue tree that was felled after it threatened to fall upon the new chess centre. Ten teams of six contested the event and this will be repeated this year. We hope everyone will tackle the event with the same enthusiasm once again.

There will be two rounds a night on the first four nights and one round, plus Christmas drinks and nibbles, on the last night. Play will start at 7.15pm for 7.30pm each week and the teams will be (with captains in brackets) the Coomera Crushers (Peter Bender), Southport Sharks (Alex Ruddy), Nerang Knights (Peter Cormick), Carrara Cannons (Fred Rosenow), Mudgeeraba Marauders (Peter Haron), Tallai Titans (Ingrid Thompson), Broadbeach Brains (David Richards), Robina Rooks (Tony Wong), Burleigh Bishops (Bernie Saavedra) and Tweed Tornadoes (Matthew Sonter).

If you are interested in playing, please contact the team captain for your region, or email me and I’ll pass on your interest to the relevant team captain.  

Special Christmas Parent & Child Tournament and Christmas Break-Up Party, Sunday 12 December

This was a very popular pre-Christmas event last year. It will run from10am to 4pm and will be followed by the Christmas Break-Up Party from 4-7pm and this will feature annual presentations, fun games for kids (and adults) and refreshments (BYO drinks).

The tournament will cost $30 per couple and there will be prizes for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd outright plus 1^st mother/son, 1^st mother/ daughter, 1^st father/son and 1^st father/daughter plus encouragement prizes.

The party will cost $10 per person and $20 per family. All welcome.

Christmas Gifts

We stock a wide range of chess items in our chess shop, including Sets, Clocks, CDs, Videos, and plenty of Books– these make ideal Christmas presents for aspiring juniors and adults alike. Graeme is very happy to guide you in your choice of chess goods, to be appropriate to the playing strength of the recipient. If we don’t have what you want, we can usually get it in very quickly. Last Christmas we sold lots of copies of the popular Kaleidoscope game, which is an interesting pattern recognition game. We have it in stock again, along with another game we’ve recently introduced, called Blokus. These two games are in constant use at the centre by kids and adults who have a bit of time on their hands! Check them out next time you come to the centre.

Visit our webpage to view products for sale. Wendy and Ian are currently updating this page which will include more products over the next week or two.

Christmas School Holiday Activities

Once again in January we will have chess activities for kids. From Mon to Fri 10 to 14 January we will have Summer Rapids, which are morning 9.30am to 12.30pm and afternoon 1.30pm to 4.30pm rapid play tournaments. The cost is $15 for each morning, $15 for each afternoon, $25 per day and just $95 for the week!

Our usual school holiday camp with a mixture of coaching, tournament chess and fun activities runs from Mon to Fri 17 to 21 January. The cost is $45 per day or $175 for the week (early bird payment by 16 January $40 and $155 respectively).

The chess camp will be held as usual at the Gardiner Chess Centre, 11 Hardys Road Mudgeeraba. For the first time, we will also be running a chess camp in Brisbane on the same days, times and cost as the Gold Coast camp. The Brisbane venue is the Marymac Centre, 616 Ipswich Road, Annerley.

Our First Overseas Chess Group Trip – Queenstown, NZ - 13-25 January 2006

We are told that accommodation will be at a premium in January 2006 and that we will need to book 12 months ahead. Well that is coming up soon, so we suggest that any adults or juniors rated 1000+ who would like a chess holiday with a difference, register with us now!! This really is an unusual and wonderful opportunity for chess lovers who would also like to experience a superb holiday destination. If you don’t come, you will be really missing out on a great trip.

World Chess Olympiad Mallorca, Spain

This has now finished. The Australian men were seeded 45^th and finished 35^th. An excellent result. The women were seeded 35^th and finished 47^th.