Gardiner Chess Inter-Schools Tournament Director

Ian Murray has advised that he will be retiring as Tournament Director of the Queensland Inter-Schools Teams Chess Championships effective the end of August this year. It will be a sad day.

Ian has been a wonderful servant of Queensland and Australian chess for some 33 years. In the 70s and 80s he held the positions of Secretary, Games Starter and Director of Play with the Correspondence Chess League of Australia. For 10 years he was the President and Secretary of the Rockhampton Chess Club. He then held various positions with the Chess Association of Queensland right through from 1987 to the present day. These included Secretary, Treasurer, Membership Secretary, Magazine Editor and Webmaster. From 1999 through to 2004 he ran a small business partnership with Nik Stawski, Queensland School of Chess, and a chess products business, Chess Stuff as a sole trader. Since 2004 he has worked as Tournament Director for Gardiner Chess, overseeing the expansion of the Queensland Inter-Schools competition statewide. In 2008 he ran a very successful appeal for the Australian Olympiad team, and has just undertaken the same task for the 2010 team.

Ian has never been one to grab the limelight. He has preferred to work as a 'backroom boy', where he has worked tirelessly and selflessly for the development of chess, and in particular junior chess. We are very grateful that he chose to work for Gardiner Chess in the twilight years of his career. He and his wife Barbara will be going on a month long safari to Africa in September. Ian has told us that he will be available as a casual arbiter at inter-schools events from time to time.

We wish Ian all the very best for his retirement.

Gardiner Chess Director of Operations

We are pleased to announce that we have appointed Andrew Fitzpatrick as the Director of Operations for Gardiner Chess - this is a new fulltime position. Graeme has known Andrew since he was a junior chess player in the ACT.

Andrew is currently the Women's League Manager at Capital Football in the ACT. Prior to that he was the Tournament and Events Manager at Chess Kids, Victoria.

He is a confident public speaker. He has a Bachelor of Business degree, majoring in Sports and Leisure Management. He is young, and we believe will bring the energy, expertise and enthusiasm necessary to develop the inter-schools chess competition, and also our schools coaching programme.

He was one of the major organisers at the Australian Open Chess Championships held in Canberra in 2007, and he has personally done a lot of coaching in schools during his uni years.

He will commence with Gardiner Chess at the end of July, and will immediately accompany Ian on his final statewide run.

Queensland Inter-Schools Competition

Term 2 tournaments starting this week

For full details of the competition, including calendar, rules, regions, newsletters and how to enter please go here

...and for full details of each event plus photos, please go here

See the Official Calendar here

World Championship Match

Topalov (Bulgaria) v Anand (India)

The 12 game world championship match between Topalov and Anand is reaching its final stages, with the scores deadlocked at 5-5 with two games to go.

Follow the final stages at http://www.anand-topalov.com/

Sydney International Challengers' Tournament

Gold Coast junior Alex Stahnke won the Sydney International Challengers' tournament during the Easter school holidays.

Well done Alex!

Full results here
 

Redcliffe Peninsula Open

This event was won by IM Stephen Solomon.

Gold Coast junior Gene Nakauchi came second.

Full results here

Gold Coast Junior Championships

Daniel Lapitan had his best result to date when he won the Gold Coast Junior Championships. In the process he defeated strong juniors Alex Stahnke and Yi Liu.

Full scores here

Gold Coast Rapid Championships
Next Sunday 16 May

6 rounds 30+10 Fischer.

Another opportunity for all adults and juniors, with good cash prizes, and the cafe open all day.

Full details here

Queensland Girls Championship
Saturday & Sunday, 29 & 30 May

Titles for all age groups (Under 18, 16, 14, 12, 10 and 8)

7 rounds 60+10 Fischer

C'mon girls, give it a go! Good cash prizes.

Full details here

Medal Event

Sunday 30 May

For Boys and Girls rated under 1000 or unrated

10 rounds 15 mins a side

Medals for 1st, 2nd and 3rd

Full details here

Gold Coast Open
Saturday & Sunday, 26 & 27 June

This is our flagship event for the year

Yulgilbar-Think Big Australian Grand Prix Category 5 event

Widely regarded as one of the top 4 or 5 weekenders in Australia

Nearly $7,000 in cash prizes

Many thanks to major sponsor Dr Peter Haron

Early confirmed entries include:

GM Zong Yuan Zhou, GM David Smerdon and IM George Xie

Grandmaster Ian Rogers will be providing live analysis of the top boards

Arbiter Dr Charles Zworestine

7 rounds 60+10 Fischer

Full details here
 

Queensland Junior Championships
28 June to 3 July

Grandmaster Ian Rogers will be providing after game analysis throughout the event

Arbiter Dr Charles Zworestine

Under 8s Mon 28th June only - 9 rounds 15+10 Fischer

Under 10s Tues 29th June only - 7 rounds 30+10 Fischer

Under 12s Mon/Tues 28/29 June - 7 rounds 60+10 Fischer

Under 18s (includes under 16s and under 14s) Wed-Sat 30 June to 3 July - 8 rounds 90+30 Fischer

Note: Under 8s may also play in the under 10s if they wish. Under 12s may also play in the under 18s if they wish

Every effort will be made to find billet accommodation for Queensland regional players

Full details here
 

School Holiday Chess Camp

Mon, Tues, Wed and Frid 5, 6, 7 and 9 July

The usual popular mix of chess coaching, exercises, rated tournament chess and a good social time

Full details here

Suncoast Open

Saturday & Sunday, 22 & 23 May

2010 Yulgilbar-Think Big Australian Chess Grand Prix Class 1

Venue: Coolum-Peregian RSL

7 rounds 60+10 Fischer

Full details here

Runaway Bay Shopping Village Junior Tournament

Thursday 8 July

8 rounds 25 mins a side

$500 in cash prizes

Full details here

Queensland Championships

Sat 10 July to Sun 15 August

Venues: Sunnybank Hills Library, Mt Ommaney Library, Qld Contract Bridge Club and Banyo Library

9 rounds, 40/90 + 30 mins + 30 secs a move from the start

Full details here

Bundaberg Open

21/22 August

2010 Yulgilbar-Think Big Australian Chess Grand Prix Class 1

Venue: Central State School, Bundaberg

6 rounds 60+10 Fischer

Full details here

The biennial Chess Olympiad is one of the world's biggest sporting events, and the most important teams event on the world chess calendar.

The 39th Olympiad is being held at Khanty-Mansiysk, 1900 km from Moscow in western Siberia - it's hard to imagine a more remote venue from Australia!

Australia will be fielding an open and a women's team, each five players and a team captain, of our best available players.

With experience at the last two or three Olympiads, our new young stars GM Zong-Yuan Zhao, GM David Smerdon and IM George Xie will be out to continue our fine record.

Unlike most competing nations, the Australian teams receive no government support and must pay their own way, a burden compounded by the distance involved from Australia to Siberia and the corresponding high air fares. The costs increase with every Olympiad. They can't do it alone, but depend on the support of the Australian chess community.

We ask you all to reach for the hip pocket, and give what you can to the ACF Olympiad Appeal. No donation is too large or too small - all will get the teams that much closer to Khanty-Mansiysk and will be acknowledged on this site.

Full details here

For School Teachers, Coaches and Parents

Easy Daily Chess Exercises for your Students

Why not suggest to your children that they make a daily visit to our webpage www.gardinerchess.com to do the three puzzles, which are updated daily (courtesy Shredder). They are composed at three levels, and offer a variety of different themes. There is even a hint button if the puzzle is proving too hard. Whilst on the webpage, no doubt students will get used to looking for their latest rating, their results in the inter-schools competition, upcoming events and heaps of other information - all of which add to the chess culture.

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 and due to demand for chess in schools is currently widening his operation into Townsville.

If you are passionate about chess, can teach primary students, have good communication and business skills, then a low cost IQ Chess franchise might be for you. Please contact Graeme Gardiner to discuss. Email ggardiner@gardinerchess.com
or phone 5522 7221.
 

Keen on Chess?

Here are 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.

• Oceania Chess www.auschess.org.au/oceania/index.htm 
  FIDE Oceania Zone President Gary Bekker's site.

• 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.

• Chess Vibes http://www.chessvibes.com/ World chess news. Along with Chess Base, this is perhaps the most interesting site around in the serious chess world.

• Chessdom http://www.chessdom.com/ Current chess happenings around the world.

• Chess.com http://www.chess.com/ Very popular site!

• Let's Play Chess 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 to keep up to date with 'things chess' go to www.gardinerchess.com 

Chess Blogs

Two good Australian blog sites are:

• The Closet Grandmaster http://closetgrandmaster.blogspot.com/

• Chess Express http://chessexpress.blogspot.com/

• There are many overseas sites, which include (for example) the informational one by Susan Polgar http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/ 

Want to Find a Chess Club?

• Go to the CAQ site here http://www.caq.org.au/htm/clubs.htm

• Or to the Gardiner Chess Website -  http://www.gardinerchess.com/links.htm#Clubs

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. If your school is keen to upgrade their chess resources, call us for our 'specials for schools' - for example we have unbeatable prices for chess sets (tournament, terrace and giant sets)

Gardiner Chess 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.

School Chess Coaches Required
 

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 once or twice a year. Please contact Graeme Gardiner if you are interested: ggardiner@gardinerchess.com  or 5522 7221.

CAQ Newsletter

If you wish to receive the regular CAQ email newsletter, please sign up at http://www.caq.org.au/