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NEWS
Australian
Junior Championships
in Sydney
Congratulations to our local champions. Gene Nakauchi
won the Australian Under 16 title at the age of 12,
finishing second in the Open Under 18s behind Junta
Ikeda. Leteisha Simmonds won the Australian Girls
Under 12s, plus the corresponding rapid and lightning
titles. Alexander Stahnke won the Australian Open
Under 12 Rapid, Lightning and Problem solving titles.
Daniel Lapitan won the Australian Under 10 Problem
solving title. Well done to these Australian champions,
and to all those who competed and represented
Queensland.
Zong-Yuan Zhao becomes a GM in
record time
Zong-Yuan Zhao from Coffs Harbour, well known to
many of our local chess players, has become Australia's
third Grandmaster. He achieved this at the youngest age
(21), and in one of the shortest periods ever, with all
three GM norms being earned inside two months. The title
will be ratified at the next FIDE Congress later this
year. Zong-Yuan is likely to be selected on board one
for the Australian team the Olympiad this year, as his
FIDE performance rating has been consistently over 2600
in recent times.
Queensland InterSchools Teams
Chess Championships
This ever-increasing, state-wide, official Queensland
InterSchools competition is now underway with Ian
Murray having started his Round 1 tour in Cairns for
the Far North Queensland event, followed by Townsville
where the North Queensland event was held - he was
assisted by David Cowland-Cooper of IQ Chess for
these two tournaments. From there he travels all the way
down the coast for tournaments in Mackay, Rockhampton,
Gladstone, Bundaberg, Maryborough, Sunshine Coast, four
different comps in the Gold Coast region, then greater
Brisbane (six different comps). Rounds 2 and 3
will be held in Terms 2 and 3 in these same regions. Ian
will head out west for single rounds in Warwick, Roma,
Charleville, Longreach and Mt Isa in late May and early
June. Overall, the championships cover 51 days of
tournament chess this year, with venues right around
Queensland.
An interesting
development is that our unofficial Northern Rivers
InterSchools competition has now been recognised by the
NSW Junior Chess League as the official qualifying
competition for the region in the NSW interschools
competition.
Our InterSchools
brochure, which gives full details, can be found at
www.gardinerchess.com/schools/2008/schoolflierJan08.pdf.
The InterSchool results, along with photos, are posted
on the front page of our website hot off the press.
International
Junior Selections
Applications are open until 9 March and you can apply
via the website
www.australianjuniorchess.org.au. Please contact
Junior Selections Coordinator, Shannon Oliver, on
shan_o_86@hotmail.com with any queries.
Applications are now open for the various international
tournaments.
The website is
www.australianjuniorchess.org.au
Tournaments for which you can apply are:
-
World Youth Age
Championships (U8-U18)
-
Asean Age
Championships (U8-18)
-
Asian Youth Age
Championships (U8-U18)
-
World Junior
Championships (U20)
-
Asian Junior
Championship (U20)
All of these have
both an open and a girls' division. The World U16
Olympiad is an open teams tournament.
The dates for these
events are:
-
June 12-21
ASEAN Age Group Championships (Note: Australian
players are usually allowed to compete in ASEAN
Championships) Subic Bay, the Philippines
-
August 2-16
2008 World Junior (U20) Ankara, Turkey
-
August 15-24
World Youth Olympiad (U/16) Ankara, Turkey
-
October 19-31
World Youth Championships (U/8-U/18) Vung Tau,
Vietnam
The dates for the
Asian Youth and Asian Juniors have not been released,
and the Asean tournament dates have yet to be confirmed
by FIDE however if you are interested in going to either
of these tournaments, you must apply now (acceptance of
these selections will be deferred until after the dates
are announced)
The Asean tournament is a new tournament for Australia
to enter, and the exact regulations and age divisions
are still to be announced. In 2007 there were age
categories, but unlike World Youths, there is no free
accommodation for the first selected player. This may
change for 2008. In order to play in this tournament you
MUST apply for it and be selected.
There are a few other tournaments held during the year
to which Australia is allowed to send players. These
are:
-
April 26-May 5
World Schools Individual Championships Singapore
-
July 9-17 2008
World Schools Championship, Pardubice, Czech
Republic
-
September 1-7 ASEAN
Youth U/9, U/12 and U/15 Youth Teams Championships
Venue as yet unknown.
If you are interested
in playing any of these please let Shannon know.
Selections will close on the 9 March 2008.
Email me if you have any queries/problems with the site.
If you wish to see the selection procedure by-law please
go to
click here
or request a copy from Shannon.
Growth in Junior Chess
Chess in schools is expanding quite rapidly and this is evidenced by the number of juniors
listed on the Queensland Junior Ratings List. In March
1997 there were 821 on the list, and in January 2008
there are 2445! David McKinnon was barely out of the
junior ranks when he took on the job of producing the list. Now Dr David McKinnon still carries out this onerous task on
a voluntary basis, and we are indebted to him. Juniors
(which includes kids up to 18 years of age) are removed
from the list if they are inactive for 18 months.
CHESS CLUBS
Bardon Bishops
The Bardon Bishops Junior Chess Club welcomes new
primary school aged members. We meet every week in
school terms (starting on 22 February 2008) at the
Bardon State School library from 3:30 to 5 pm. For an
annual $10 fee plus $5 per week including afternoon tea
it is a great way to meet new friends, learn some new
chess moves and play others in rated tournaments.
We would love to have new primary school aged members.
Parents also are more than welcome to stay and play
chess (and we don't charge them anything).
For further details, please contact Gillian Bristow at
bristowg@bigpond.net.au or 0417 005 253.
Kings of Chess Club
http://www.kingsofchess.biz/
Amir Karibasic's club meets on the
first Tuesday of each week, from 6-10pm at the Italo-Australian
Soccer Club, 18 Fairway Drive, Clear Island Waters
QLD 4226. More info can be found at:
www.italoaustralianclub.com.au.
Southport Chess Club
This club, run
by Alf Stubbs, meets
at the old Trumps Restaurant
- Southport Workers Club, Scarborough Street every
Saturday from 10 am to 12 noon. For information, call
Alf on 5532 9942.
Trivia
There are 169,518,829,100,544,000,000,000,000,000 ways
of playing the first ten turns of a game of chess. There
are supposedly more possible combinations of moves in a
40 move game of chess than there are electrons in the
universe. FIDE estimates that there are about 550
million chess players worldwide.
Webpage
There are a number of upcoming events promoted in this
bulletin. Entry leaflets can be downloaded and printed
from our webpage at
www.gardinerchess.com. All Gardiner Chess events,
and some other events, can be entered online with your
credit card number using the secure 'pay online' button.
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UPCOMING
TOURNAMENTS
Northside
Schools Teams Invitational
Mon 31 March
Chess Camp
Mon-Fri 7-11 April
brochure here
Qld Women's Championship
Sat/Sun 12/13 April
Student Free
Tournament at the Gardiner Chess Centre M on 14
April
info here
Knights of
Byron Junior Tournament
Wed 16 April
Gold Coast
Junior Championships S at/Sun 19/20 April
info here
Sunshine Coast
Allegro
Sun 20 April
Gold Coast
Junior Masters
Term 2 commences Mon 21 April
Qld Inter-Club
Round 2
Sun 27 April
INFORMATION
Gardiner Chess Adult Club
The long Christmas break and the summer rapid
competitions have just about been completed and it is
now back down to serious business. The Bruce Harris
Trophy commences on Wed 5 March and runs for 6
Wednesdays. This will be followed by the Club
Championship which commences on Wed 16 April and
runs for 8 rounds finishing on 18th June. All welcome.
Please note that the club will be closed on State of
Origin Wednesdays.
Australian Chess Centre of
Excellence
We are continuing to push for funding for the proposed
Australian Chess Academy. Although this push has been
going on for 10 years, we have become more active lately
with the emergence of significant philanthropic and
community support. Unfortunately both the federal and
Queensland governments, despite early encouragement by the
latter, have consistently refused us, so it looks as
though we will have to find 100% of the money from the
private sector.
The aim is to bring the 20 strongest kids from around
Australia (and a few full fee paying overseas students)
to Varsity College, and immerse them in chess studies.
It is intended that the inaugural Director will be GM
Ian Rogers, and there will be regular short term
visits from top chess trainers from overseas. The
overall aim is to produce world top 10 players. The
total budget is $300,000 per annum and this includes
allowance for billeting academy students with local
families, and for overseas travel to international
events. My colleague John Humphrey is working
with me on this project.
Very Keen on Chess?
Some sites to visit, where you will find a wealth of
information:
FIDE at
www.fide.com. This is the official site of the World
Chess Federation.
Australian Chess Federation (ACF)
www.auschess.org.au.
The official site for Australian Chess.
Chess Association of Queensland (CAQ)
www.caq.org.au. Queensland's official site.
The Week in Chess (TWIC)
www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html - news
about the latest top class tournaments worldwide.
Chess Base www.chessbase.com. World chess news.
www.letsplaychess.com is a friendly online chess
club where you can play chess with players from all over
the World.
Internet Chess Club (ICC)
www.chessclub.com - this is
the number one site for serious players to play online.
Free Internet Chess Server (FICS)
www.freechess.org -
another very good free chess playing server.
Chess Chat bulletin board
http://chesschat.org/
Unofficial Australian bulletin board
...and of course www.gardinerchess.com
Chess Shop at Gardiner Chess
For a complete range of chess goods, including sets,
clocks, books, DVDs etc, please visit us at the chess
centre at Mudgeeraba, or online at
www.gardinerchess.com.
CAQ Newsletter
If you wish to subscribe to the CAQ newsletter, please
contact Brian Thomas on
brian_thomas_au@yahoo.com.au
Reports and Tournament Notices
Reports and tournament notices are most welcome for
inclusion in this bulletin. Please email
info@gardinerchess.com.
JOBS
IQ Chess
Franchise Opportunities
Our aim is to provide schools throughout
Queensland with ongoing chess coaching services.
David Cowland-Cooper is already running an excellent
franchise in Cairns.
If you are passionate about chess, can teach primary
students, have good communication and business skills,
then an IQ Chess franchise might be for you. Please
contact Graeme Gardiner to discuss. Email
ggardiner@gardinerchess.com or phone 5522 7221.
Chess
Coaches Required
Leaving school and
going to uni? Need part-time income whilst studying?
Consider working for Gardiner Chess as a coach in
schools in your region. Contact us by phone or
email. We need coaches in all areas, but particularly in the Southern areas and Northern
areas of Brisbane - ie Redcliffe, Caboolture, Samford, Logan
and Forest Lake areas.
Gardiner Chess employs many coaches (mainly casual
part-time) around South East Queensland and Northern
NSW. Because increasing numbers of schools are keen to
introduce chess programmes we always are on the lookout
for more coaching staff. While many of our staff are uni
students, others are older and just want to supplement
their income. Generally quite strong players are
required for high schools, but the playing strength for
primary students is not so important, because the vast
majority are beginners. The ability to teach and relate
well to young people is the most important attribute we
are looking for. We provide our coaches with extensive
resources plus assistance in training methods and
support. Additionally, we hold professional development
seminars twice a year. Please contact Graeme Gardiner
if you are interested:
ggardiner@gardinerchess.com or 5522 7221.
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All the very best in chess
Graeme and Wendy Gardiner
Gardiner Chess
11 Hardys Road Mudgeeraba Qld 4213
Phone +61 7 5522 7221
Fax +61 7 5522 7760
Email
ggardiner@gardinerchess.com
Webpage
www.gardinerchess.com
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