AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2008

by Charles Zworestine

For me, anyway, it is becoming difficult to write anything original about these events; after all, Adelaide 2008 marked the 11th annual Australian Schools Teams Championships! I have now been present at eight of these; and I was particularly looking forward this time to hosting a team from the Northern Territory for the first time. Much work had been put in to accommodate them when they emailed Chief Organiser Alan Goldsmith three weeks before the event; it later transpired that the ACF had in fact approved their entry months earlier, but the message had not reached Alan and so he had set a schedule finishing at 4:00 pm on the Sunday without them. Their inclusion meant a reduced time control in the event they were planning to enter, the Secondary Open: 45 minutes plus 10 seconds per move from the start (Fischer), not ACF rated (only rapid rated) and a second South Australian team invited to fill the resulting bye. Yet nobody seemed to mind - we were a step closer to the long-term goal of an all-inclusive event which incorporated every Australian state and territory…

A shame, then, when the Northern Territory team pulled out due to lack of funding… Their last minute withdrawal meant I had to persuade the second South Australian team to gracefully exit as well; a situation made worse by the fact that it was St. Ignatius, the venue for the upcoming Australian Junior Championships! We are all greatly indebted to Peter Serwan, master in charge of chess at St. Ignatius, who did manage to contact his players (a nontrivial exercise) and persuade them all that it was best for the event if they withdrew and left us with 6 teams, no bye and all events ACF rated at the same time control of 60 minutes plus 10 seconds per move from the start (Fischer)… With this drama behind us, at least everyone seemed happy with the excellent venue at Rostrevor College, where the food and the boarding facilities were widely praised and the general social atmosphere was enhanced by a nice BBQ on the Saturday night. So we were all left to concentrate on the chess, which featured many strong players (especially in the Secondary Open) and much excitement; let’s see how all the teams fared this year!

Primary Girls Division: Somerville’s Summary Successes

Yes indeed, Somerville House (Queensland) were overwhelming favourites in this one: they had the Australian Champion Stephen Solomon as their coach, and their Board 1 Abbie Kanagarajah had relegated the current Australian Girls Under 12 Champion Leteisha Simmonds to Board 2! It looked like they would dominate; and so it proved. They began by beating another one of the favourites, Summer Hill (NSW), who had the highest rated player of the event (Caroline Shan) on Board 1 – no matter, Somerville still won 4-0. Meanwhile one of their main rivals, a side with four ACF rated players in Curtin (ACT), had an accident or two in beating Mount View (Victoria) 2.5-1.5. A curiosity was the performance of a South Australian composite team put in to fill the bye; they beat the actual SA representatives St. Michael’s Lutheran by 4-0, but the crosstable says they lost all their matches 4-0 because they were actually the bye!

Round 2 saw Summer Hill recover to beat the SA composite team 3.5-0.5, scored as 4-0; while Somerville continued their roll with a 3-1 win against Curtin. I didn’t see the games, but Libby Smith said Curtin could have done much better, ruining at least one won position; unfortunately the girls all seem to move much too fast at this level… Poor St. Michael’s were again dominated, losing 4-0 to Mount View. Somerville inflicted the same fate on them in Round 3, while Curtin blew another couple of won positions in losing 3-1 to Summer Hill and Mount View beat the SA composite team 4-0. All this left Somerville leading on 11/12 going into Day 2, by 1.5 points from Mount View on 9.5; Summer Hill had meanwhile recovered to 7/12, while Curtin’s 4.5/12 was deceptive as they had the easier pairings on Day 2, and so felt they  could still catch up…

Their words proved prescient, as they beat the SA composite team 4-0 in Round 4; fortunately for them Somerville did the same to Mount View, but unfortunately for them Summer Hill also did the same to St. Michael’s! Things got tense for the minor places, however, when Mount View stunned Summer Hill 2.5-1.5 in the last round, Caroline Shan managing to hold a draw on top board. This proved vital, as that left Summer Hill and Curtin equal second on 12.5/20 after Curtin beat St. Michael’s 4-0, with poor Mount View narrowly missing out on a place on 12/20. The tiebreak saw match points level for Summer Hill and Curtin, so Summer Hill won second place (and relegated Curtin to third) based on their individual result. Of course, throughout all this Somerville House were the convincing winners on 19/20 after beating the SA composite team 4-0; amazingly, theirs was not to be the best score of the whole event…

Primary Open Division: Down To The Wire

Penshurst West (NSW), with four players fresh from representing Australia at the recent World Youth Championships (Jack Ruan, Harry Ruan, Cedric Koh and Clarise Koh), were the early favourites in this one; but it was clear to me from the start that this event could easily turn into a three horse race. Greythorn (Victoria) had the third highest rated player of the whole event in their Board 1, Bobby Cheng; and Somerset (Queensland), with all-round depth, also appeared to be dangerous. This certainly seemed to be the case after Round 1, where Penshurst West beat Mitcham (SA) 4-0 and Somerset beat Magill (SA), also by 4-0. The 3-1 win by Greythorn against Hawker (ACT) was a bit harder fought. Would the upset loss on Board 3 by Enoch Fan (Greythorn) against Anand Gupte (Hawker) prove significant later on?

No answers were provided in Round 2, except that we knew the event would be close – all three sides reached equal first on 6/8! While Greythorn beat Magill 3-1 (losing on Board 4), the 3-1 win by Mitcham over Hawker was a little less significant. What was more vital was a thrillingly hard-fought 2-2 draw between Somerset and Penshurst West, who looked to be in trouble after Jack and Harry Ruan had agreed to draws (with Keith Chan and Alex Arase respectively) and Clarise Koh had blundered her queen to lose to Daniel Arase on Board 4. Could Cedric Koh save the Penshurst team? The answer was yes, but only after a desperately tight and closely fought endgame win against Sabin Karibasic on Board 3…

Round 3 still provided no answers, as Somerset and Greythorn drew 2-2 after Bobby Cheng maintained his 100% score by beating Keith Chan, and Daniel Arase suffered an upset loss on Board 4. Wins by Alex Arase and Sabin Karibasic maintained the balance, especially after an upset loss by Jack Ruan to Stuart Mason meant that Penshurst West were only able to beat Hawker 3-1 (and Mitcham beat Magill 2.5-1.5). This left Penshurst West with a one point lead on 9/12 going into Day 2, from both Somerset and Greythorn on 8/12; clearly it was still very tight… Even tighter after Round 4, where Penshurst West again looked to be in trouble against Greythorn (Bobby Cheng beating Jack Ruan) but salvaged draws on Boards 2 and 3 to achieve another 2-2 draw. While Hawker stunned Magill 4-0, the 3-1 win by Somerset against Mitcham (Keith Chan blundering a rook to lose to Alistair Cameron) left us with a most thrilling finish: Penshurst West and Somerset 11/16, Greythorn 10/16 and any one of them could still win it!

Despite Bobby Cheng reaching 5/5, Greythorn missed their chance when they lost on Boards 2 and 4 to draw 2-2 with Mitcham; they were now condemned to third on 12/20… But who would win out of Somerset and Penshurst? The latter quickly reached 3-0 against Magill, but Natasha Bortsova on Board 1 was giving Jack Ruan all he could handle; and when Somerset built up their own 3-0 lead against Hawker, it all came down to the last two games! Jack managed to grind Natasha down in an ending; while Sabin popped a piece from an exchange ahead, and so with rook and pawn for two pieces could only manage a draw with Anand Gupte. Hence Penshurst won it on 15/20, by just half a point from Somerset on 14.5/20; what an incredible finish!

Secondary Girls Division: NSW Dominance Finally Broken

I have to admit I was not sure who were favourites in this one, as there were some strong players on Board 1: Jessica Kinder (Somerset, Queensland), Sally Yu (Presbyterian Ladies College, Victoria), Luthien Russell (Daramalan, ACT) and Shan-Shan Qiao (North Sydney Girls, NSW). Would they stop the dominance of NSW, who have won the last few times via first Abbotsleigh and then North Sydney Girls? Defending champs North Sydney Girls were again the NSW representative, and the first round provided few clues: North Sydney Girls defeated PLC 3-1 (Shan-Shan Qiao losing to Sally Yu on Board 1, but Charmian Zhang upsetting Susan Sheng on Board 2), but the other results were both 4-0! Daramalan accounted for an SA composite team included to fill the bye; while Somerset beat Wilderness, the official SA representatives.  No real upsets there; but what would happen when the four non SA teams started meeting?

A close match in Round 2 gave us no answers, as North Sydney defeated Daramalan 2.5-1.5; Shan-Shan drew with Luthien and North Sydney won Boards 3 and 4, but Lara Ong beat Charmian Zhang on Board 2. Somerset reached 8/8 by beating the SA composite team 4-0, while PLC could only manage 2.5-1.5 vs Wilderness, drawing Board 3 and losing Board 4… Somerset looked set to dominate after Round 3, where they beat Daramalan 3-1; Luthien Russell stunned Jessica Kinder, but sister Danielle Kinder made up for this by upsetting Lara Ong and Somerset won Boards 3 and 4. So they entered Day 2 on 11/12, with a 2.5 point lead over North Sydney after the latter beat Wilderness 3-1 (losing on Board 4); PLC beat the SA composite team 4-0…

The critical match in Round 4 was tight, as North Sydney felt they needed a 3-1 win to have a chance; their hopes were scuppered a bit early, though, when Charmian popped her queen to lose to Danielle! Could they win the other 3 boards? The answer was no, despite winning Board 4; but a hard fought loss by Amy Cao to Maxine Tan on Board 3 ended their chances, as Shan-Shan could not convert an extra piece (for 2 pawns) against Jessica and finished up agreeing to a draw. So 2.5-1.5 to Somerset virtually guaranteed them the title, as PLC and Daramalan drew 2-2 (Sally drawing with Luthien). The final round saw Somerset win the event on 16.5/20 to break the NSW dominance after beating PLC 3-1 (top two boards drawn), while North Sydney claimed second on 14/20 after beating the SA composite team 4-0. Third place ended up very close, Daramalan drawing 2-2 with Wilderness after an upset loss by Lara Ong to Katerina Flabouris on Board 2. This left Daramalan and PLC equal third on 10.5/20; technically PLC claimed third on countback, but equal third meant extra trophies so both schools could take something away…

Secondary Open Division: A Hat-Trick?

In the last couple of years the Victorian school has dominated this one, winning convincingly; Balwyn first won it in 2006, and they then had it all wrapped up with a round to spare last year! Could the new Victorian representatives, Scotch College, make it a Victorian hat-trick? They certainly seemed to have the best balanced all-round side, with their top three boards (Zhigen Lin, Eugene Schon and Derek Yu) all ACF rated over 1800; even their Board 4, Nicholas Liu, was 1464. But Hawker (ACT) looked tough, having Australian Junior Champion Junta Ikeda on top board and dangerous players on Boards 2 and 3 in Sherab Guo-Yuthok and Michael Reading; and the side from King’s College, Queensland (Sam Grigg, Sebastian Jule, Daniel Ford and Caleb Eriksson) also loomed dangerous. Then there was the ever dangerous Sydney Grammar (NSW), who won the inaugural couple of events and also featured all-round depth in Joshua Levin, John Papantoniou and Leo Kang (all over 1600); and even the SA and WA sides had ACF rated players, the dangerous James Griggs and Anthony Milton on the top two boards for Prince Alfred College (SA) while top board for Seton Catholic College (WA), Chris Boni, had an ACF rating of 1447. It certainly seemed like Scotch would not have it all their own way; I at least thought at the beginning that we were in for an exciting tournament…

But somehow, right from the start, everything seemed to go Scotch’s way! The pairings helped, as they beat Seton 4-0 in Round 1; even here they benefited from the Seton players sitting on the wrong sides, so even though their Board 4 (their reserve Richard Owen) lost from a won position against the Seton Board 1 (Chris Boni), Roland Eime and I felt as arbiters that we had no choice but to reverse that result for team scoring purposes! (It was still scored as a win to Chris for ACF rating purposes). That got them off to an early lead, as King’s beat Prince Alfred 3-1 (James Griggs stunning Sam Grigg on Board 1) and Sydney Grammar scored likewise against Hawker. In the latter match John Papantoniou upset Sherab in an ending; this was to become a trend…

Round 2 saw Scotch keep rolling by beating Prince Alfred 4-0, while Hawker did likewise to Seton. The match between Grammar and King’s was much tighter, but Grammar could actually have won 3.5-0.5 if Joshua Levin had converted his extra piece (albeit in a rather complicated position) against Sam Grigg; instead, he lost on time! Grammar still won 2.5-1.5, fuelled by John Papantoniou’s upset win against Sebastian Jule on Board 2 when John fought back from an inferior position into another won endgame… But all this came to naught for Grammar when they lost 3.5-0.5 to Scotch in Round 3, Eugene Schon scoring a crushing attack against John Papantoniou but Leo Kang fighting back from a lost position to draw with Derek Yu. So Scotch had it practically wrapped up on 11.5/12 going into Day 2, while Hawker stunned King’s 3-1 due largely to Michael Reading’s upset win over Daniel Ford; thus Hawker entered Day 2 in second place on 8/12, while Seton drew 2-2 with Prince Alfred by winning the bottom two boards.

The minor places changed dramatically after Round 4, although not affecting them as much was the 4-0 win by King’s over Seton; but more significant was Hawker’s 4-0 loss to Scotch! The golden run for Scotch continued when after a magnificent and hard fought game, Junta Ikeda and Zhigen Lin reached a drawn knight and pawn ending with Junta actually a pawn ahead; a shame, then, that Junta lost on time… Grammar then seized their opportunity with a 3-1 win against Prince Alfred, winning Boards 2 and 3 and drawing the rest; they were now clear favourite for second place! This they duly secured on 12.5/20 with a 3.5-0.5 win against Seton in Round 5, while Scotch concluded their amazing run with another 4-0 win, this time against King’s. Their final score of 19.5/20 was the best of all four events, and meant they won by an incredible 7 point margin! Hawker’s 3-1 win over Prince Alfred (losing Board 4), meanwhile, was enough to grab them outright third place on 11/20. We can only hope next year will be more exciting, with no more dominant Victorian sides coached by Geoff Saw!