Saturday 5 to Saturday 12 May 2007

Two Gold Coast Juniors earn international titles at the Zonal!

We (Wendy and I) have just returned from Fiji, where we witnessed a very enjoyable chess event, and had a wonderful holiday at the same time.

Alexandra Jule aged 17 and Gene Nakauchi aged just 12, have become the first Gold Coast juniors to earn international titles whilst competing at the Oceanic Zonal Chess Tournament in Fiji.

The tournament, held over nine days, featured some of the strongest adult players in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and PNG, with several International Masters competing.

Alexandra came second in the women's event, scoring 6.5 out of 9 and more importantly earning an automatic WIM (Women's International Master) title. This is the second highest level of recognition by FIDE, the world governing body of chess. As most of you would know, the highest level is Grandmaster.

Gene scored 5 out of 9 in the open tournament, with every single opponent being rated hundreds of points higher on the ratings list. His only two defeats were to International Masters. Gene was automatically awarded the FIDE Master title, the third highest level of recognition.

I'm sure the Gold Coast chess community is immensely proud of the extraordinary achievements of these two fine young players.

The winners of the events, International Masters Zong Yuan Zhao and Irina Berezina, will now represent the region at the World Championships in Russia.

The organiser of the event, Dr Virgilio De Asa, did a fantastic job in providing such a great venue, and in making sure that all the major as well as the minor things went well. There were a few hiccoughs beyond the organisers' control when faulty light switches kept turning the main lights off and a rowdy band struck up much noise in an adjoining room. A bit off-putting to say the least - but at least it was the same for all competitors.

At the closing ceremony the Oceanic Zone President Gary Bekker announced that, subject to receiving satisfactory details, the 2009 Oceanic Zonal would be organised on the Gold Coast by Graeme and Wendy Gardiner. It will be very hard to beat this wonderful venue and such a well-organised event in Fiji, but of course we'll do our best.