When the Big Boys come to town: A Report on the 2009 Gold Coast Open

by DOP Charles Zworestine

It’s back... After last year’s disappointing turnout of 74 players, there was great hope that the enthusiasm generated by the Oceanic Zonal would help the numbers for this year’s Gold Coast Open – especially as it was held in the same venue! Sure enough, the excellent facilities at the Outrigger Twin Towns Resort in Tweed Heads did encourage more players to turn up – 118 in total, which was even up on the 111 of two years ago. The strength of the field in the Open event may have helped, a field headed by English GM Gawain Jones (currently resident in Australia) but also boasting our latest GM David Smerdon, as well as IMs George Xie, Stephen Solomon (a previous four time winner!) and visiting Kiwi Puchen Wang. In all 51 players, while the event also promised a highly competitive Under 1600 section (with 42 players) and lots of fun in the Under 1000 (25 players). With all three events played at the standard Australian weekender time controls of one hour plus 10 seconds per move from the start (Fischer), much interesting chess was likely to be in store for us; but as always, you will have to read on to find out more!

Open Event

Top seeds here on ACF rating were 1. GM Gawain Jones, 2. GM David Smerdon, 3. IM George Xie, 4. Moulthun Ly, 5. IM Stephen Solomon and 6. IM Puchen Wang. Indeed the field boasted an amazing 20 players over 2000 – some sort of record for an Australian two day weekender? Anyway, such a field always seems to attract early upsets – and this event was no exception! Zachary Searle held Yi Yuan to a draw, as did Kevin Tan against David Castor; the latter even did so from a position of strength, unable to cash in on an extra piece and only able to draw in a mutual time scramble. Amiel Rosario (yes, the Closet Grandmaster does actually play chess occasionally!) went one better, scoring an upset victory against FM Gene Nakauchi by getting his attack through to win material then force mate after both players got down to only their ten second increment. The only other upset was scored by Mike Canfell, who defeated FM Brian Jones after recovering from a slightly worse position to get his pieces in and triumph.

Amazing things really began happening in Round 2, as both Stephen Solomon and Endre Ambrus pushed too hard to win drawn positions and ended up losing instead! First Endre (against Mathew Juszczynski), trying to break through a locked position with knight and bishop against two bishops, sacrificed a piece for two pawns but then realised it was still drawn – so he declined his opponent’s draw offer, misplayed it and lost instead! Then Solo, having been two pawns ahead but with doubled pawns, a rook each and opposite coloured bishops, sacrificed a piece for 4 pawns (and the rooks were swapped off) to try to beat Tristan Stevens – but again it was still drawn! But being Solo, after manoeuvring forever, he sacrificed a key pawn, giving Tristan a winning passed c-pawn; and although Tritty nearly fell for a cute Solo stalemate trap, he was still able to win in the end.

The other top boards were rather boring in comparison, as James Morris was perhaps a little bit too fearless in attacking Gawain Jones; the GM (with the White bits) eventually won James’ queen and the game… On Board 2, Smurf won pawns to beat Antonio Krstev; while George Xie and Moulthun Ly also made fairly short work of their opponents. Puchen Wang got a fatal passed b-pawn in a bishop ending against Kerry Stead; while Manoj Kumar won pawns to win a bishop ending and upset Joselito Marcos. David Castor’s two rooks eventually beat Yi Yuan’s queen; and Kevin Tan took advantage of weak pawns to win an ending to upset Zachary Searle. More upsets lower down, as Mario Krstev stunned Brian Jones (who sacrificed his queen for rook, knight and pawn but then had insufficient time to play the position properly); Yi Liu upset Emma Guo; and Sally Yu won pawns and an initiative as Black to eventually register another upset win, this one against Sam Grigg.

Round 3 gave us not so many upsets, but five joint leaders on 3/3: Gawain Jones, David Smerdon, George Xie, Puchen Wang and Max Illingworth. Gawain was winning, a piece for two pawns ahead against Andrew Brown; he nearly made it much harder with an inaccurate move, but prevailed in Andrew’s time pressure anyway. Smurf won a piece to beat Eugene Schon; George finished with a neat queening combination to defeat Tristan Stevens; Puchen beat Manoj Kumar; and Max defeated Mathew Juszczynski. Ben Lazarus scored an upset draw with Magic Moulthun Ly (MM), but missed a chance to join the leaders as he was probably winning (the exchange for two pawns ahead) at the end! Kevin Tan drew with Joselito Marcos; and other upset wins were scored in nice attacking fashion by Amiel Rosario against Marc Vlietstra, and Brian Jones who eventually spotted a pretty checkmate against Yi Yuan.

A fascinating top board game between Gawain Jones (White) and Puchen Wang saw Puchen the exchange ahead, but with Gawain having two pawns as compensation – and I could not figure out what on earth was going on in this game! Weak pawns and passed pawns all over the board meant that it was a really difficult position to assess – and in the end Puchen got one of his through to win a piece, and a rook up he went to register an upset win and take the outright lead on 4/4. But then draws on the next three boards left David Smerdon, George Xie and Max Illingworth on 3.5/4 breathing down his neck! David and George agreed to a draw in a mutual time scramble in another complicated game; Max and Ben Lazarus drew a very tough rook ending where either one of them could have been winning at different stages; and MM was very lucky to draw a king and pawn ending with Endre Ambrus after Endre calculated the winning variation, but for some reason then did not play it, allowing MM’s king in for a draw instead! Upsets saw Tristan Stevens draw with Eugene Schon, who had to force a repetition or lose; and Manoj Kumar defend well to repel an attack and beat Andrew Brown. Marc Vlietstra got an extra queen to beat Joselito Marcos; Alex Stahnke got an initiative to upset Sam Grigg; and Daniel Lapitan drew from a position of strength against Ben Encel when he could not quite get his advanced passed d7 pawn through.

Sunday morning dawned beautiful and sunny – but not for our latest GM! David Smerdon found himself a pawn down early as Black against Puchen Wang, and was gradually outplayed in his time pressure to allow Puchen’s pieces to get in for another upset win. So, 5/5 and still the outright lead for Puchen; but Max Illingworth was only half a point behind after his own upset win against George Xie. Among 5 players on 4/5 were Gawain Jones, who convincingly beat Gene Nakauchi; Moulthun Ly, who sacrificed pieces for pawns to attack Antonio Krstev and eventually ended up in a won endgame with three connected passed pawns for a bishop; Solo, who won an endgame a pawn up against Phachara; Ben Lazarus, who won a long game against Manoj Kumar; and James Morris, who beat Amin Fazel. Upsets saw George Lester’s two knights and queen beat Andrew Brown’s queen, knight and bishop; Alex Stahnke draw a game he should have won against Marc Vlietstra; and Yi Liu defeat Jonas Muller.

The golden run for Max continued in Round 6, as he inflicted Puchen’s first defeat in an intriguing game where he had an extra piece, but Puchen had three pawns for it! Puchen may have thought that he had an attack too, but he did not: Max simplified into an ending with two bishops against one, created passed pawns of his own and finally stopped Puchen’s passed pawns to triumph and take the outright lead on 5.5/6. Breathing down his neck on 5/6 with Puchen were Gawain Jones, who won the exchange to beat MM; and Solo, who defeated James Morris. George Xie engineered a brilliant finish (sacrificing a rook to get at the enemy king) to defeat Ben Lazarus and reach 4.5/6, where he was joined by Smurf (who beat George Lester) and Eugene Schon (who upset Endre Ambrus). Other upsets saw Mathew Juszczynski beat Gene Nakauchi, and Tristan Stevens defeat Joselito Marcos. Ben Encel’s draw with Yi Yuan was also an upset; while in the last game to finish, Alex Stahnke upset David Castor when his extra rook barely managed to handle David’s advanced passed pawn. 

Unfortunately for Max he was worse early against Gawain Jones in the last round, and found he could not recover. The GM thus reached 6/7, enough for outright first after Puchen Wang and Stephen Solomon drew a difficult rook endgame on Board 2. They were joined in second place on 5.5/7 by Max and David Smerdon, who beat MM. George Xie failed to join them when he could only draw with the ever solid Eugene Schon on Board 3. Brian Jones upset Ben Lazarus by winning a piece in Ben’s time pressure to join them in sixth place. George Lester’s upset win with lots of extra material against Tristan Stevens earnt him a tie for first Under 2000 with David Lovejoy, who beat Alex Stahnke. Upsets by Mario Krstev over Gene Nakauchi and Kevin Tan against Sam Grigg left them in a log jam of five players equal third Under 2000, which did not include Daniel Lapitan in spite of his upset draw with Joselito Marcos. Also noteworthy was Gloria Sukhu’s win against Leteisha Simmonds – her first win this visit to Australia!

Prize List: 1^st Gawain Jones 6/7; = 2^nd David Smerdon, Stephen Solomon, Puchen Wang, Max Illingworth 5.5/7; = 6^th George Xie, Eugene Schon, James Morris, Phachara Wongwichit, Brian Jones 5/7; = 1^st Under 2000 David Lovejoy, George Lester 4.5/7; = 3^rd Under 2000 Kerry Stead, Manoj Kumar, Mathew Juszczynski, Mario Krstev, Kevin Tan 4/7.

Gold Coast Under 1600

Here Mark Stokes (1598) was the top seed, followed by Amir Karibasic (1573), Herman Rachmadi (1569), Vaness Reid (1563), Fijian Gaurav Raicar (FIDE 1560), Mike Duffin (1549), Trent Parker (1529) and Craig Stewart (1513). Eight players over 1500 – not bad! Mark Stokes had to fight like a tiger before overcoming promising junior Callum Gray in Round 1 – but at least he survived! Herman Rachmadi did not, suffering a major upset loss to Rohan Pyne after the latter won queen for rook. Gaurav Raicar also lost (to Gary Sands), as did Victor Liuga after losing a piece to Jonathan Ringrose. In fact there were so many upsets at the top I could not keep track! Charlie Guo got his heavy pieces in to upset Trent Parker; while Nathan Adler blundered a piece to lose to Oliver McCarthy. Ryan Louie beat Seth Vlietstra, and the only other upsets were draws: Brent Winston with Matthew Gilpin, and Anthony Solomon with Lou Damaschino.

The upsets continued in Round 2, as Charlie Guo stunned Vaness Reid and Rohan Pyne upset Axel Stahnke; clearly Charlie and Rohan are both under-rated… All the other upsets were draws: Gary Sands with William Bay, Jared Louie with Hans-Peter Muller, Anthony Solomon with Herman Rachmadi after Herman fell for a stalemate trick, and Peter-John Bargo with Gaurav Raicar… By Round 3 we were down to 3 joint leaders on 3/3, including top seed Mark Stokes after he ground down Caleb Eriksson. The others were Charlie Guo, who kept his run of upsets going by beating Alex Miles; and Martin Jack, who was dead lost two pawns down against Amir Karibasic until his opponent walked into a mating net! Apart from these there were fewer upset wins this round, although Ryan Louie did defeat David Adler. Upset draws were scored by Anthony Solomon from queen for rook down (but with passed pawns as compensation) against Victor Liuga; Oliver McCarthy with David Cigelj; and Harry Hughes against Callum Gray.

Going into Day 2, Mark Stokes was still unbeaten on 4/4, this was enough for the outright lead after he won bags of material to beat Martin Jack. Craig Stewart ended Charlie Guo’s run to reach 3.5/4; he was joined there by Mike Duffin, who beat William Bay. Matthew Gilpin failed to join them when he could only draw with Amir Karibasic. Not many upsets this round, except Oliver McCarthy’s draw with Gaurav Raicar… Round 5 saw Mark’s run finally come to an end at the hands of Mike Duffin, who won a very tough minor piece ending by taking advantage of Mark’s weak and overextended pawns and eventually queening one of his own. He was joined in the lead on 4.5/5 by Craig Stewart, who won a piece to upset Vaness Reid. Among several upsets this round, Charlie Guo drew with Matt Gilpin; Martin Jack beat Axel Stahnke; Lou Damaschino beat Amir Karibasic; Ryan Louie beat Gaurav Raicar; and Rohan Pyne defeated David Adler.

It looked like Mark Stokes was really going to be out of contention in his Round 6 time scramble against Trent Parker, two pawns down in a rook and opposite coloured bishop endgame – until a frustrated Trent fell into a mating net and lost! This left Mark alone on 5/6, just half a point behind Craig Stewart (5.5/6) after his extra outside passed h-pawn was winning in a rook and knight ending against Mike Duffin – but then Mike made it easier by walking into a knight fork losing his rook! Mike was joined on 4.5/6 by Herman Rachmadi (who beat Martin Jack in a king and pawn ending) and Matthew Gilpin (who upset Victor Liuga). Upset draws were registered by Charlie Guo against Lou Damaschino, and Sabin Karibasic against Gaurav Raicar. Upset wins were registered by Ryan Louie over Axel Stahnke, and Jonathan Ringrose against Alex Miles.

The critical top board game between Mark Stokes and Craig Stewart in the final round saw an aggressive Mark (as White) win loads of material to reach 6/7 – and guaranteed first place! Herman Rachmadi sacrificed a piece for an attack which he successfully got through to beat Mike Duffin; he got to an ending with queen for rook, and duly prevailed to reach 5.5/7. He thus joined Craig in equal second place, while Rohan Pyne registered yet another upset win (this one against Lou Damaschino) to score outright first in Rating Group A (Under 1400). Meanwhile the draw by Jonathan Ringrose against Charlie Guo won him Rating Group B (Under 1100). Apart from this, there were not so many last round upsets; but it was nice to see Under 1000 sponsor Dr. Peter Haron register a final round upset victory against Gaurav Raicar.

Prize List: 1^st Mark Stokes 6/7; = 2^nd Herman Rachmadi, Craig Stewart 5.5/7; 1^st Under 1400 (Rating Group A) Rohan Pyne 5/7; = 2^nd Rating Group A William Bay, Charlie Guo 4.5/7; 1^st Under 1100 (Rating Group B) Jonathan Ringrose 4.5/7; = 2^nd Rating Group B Oliver McCarthy, Ryan Louie 4/7.

Gold Coast Under 1000

I was surprised to find that 19 out of 25 players in this event had ACF ratings – I didn’t know we had that many players rated under 1000! Of course, many of them were juniors, but not the top two seeds: Robert Ritorze (963) and David Soul (965). But neither of them won in Round 1! Robert was held to a draw by Melanie Karibasic; while David lost to one on many rising Queensland juniors, Samuel Mainwood. Jamie-Lee Guo was also upset, falling to Elizabeth Kay after he said he was winning, but he blundered his queen! The unrated Tony Hughes also defeated Jake Pyper; other than that, there were no first round surprises.

In Round 2 Kees Huband-Lint upset Isaac Deboer, while the next two boards were drawn (Allan Foster with Jake Pyper, and Matthew Cervenjak with Samuel Mainwood). Melanie Karibasic upset David Soul; apart from that, all other games went largely according to rating... We felt we would get an outright leader after Round 3, but no: Boards 1 and 2 were both drawn! Board 1 saw Jasper Hong and Kees Huband-Lint swap off into a drawn endgame; while on Board 2 Allan Foster tried to beat Joshua Taylor with king and two pawns against king and one pawn, but could not do so. This allowed Robert Ritorze to join Jasper, Kees and Joshua in a five way tie for first on 2.5/3 by beating Matthew Cervenjak; Samuel Mainwood joined them by upsetting Zac Clarkson, while Melanie Karibasic continued her good run by drawing with Jake Pyper.

An outright leader emerged after Round 4, as Kees Huband-Lint attacked to beat Robert Ritorze and reach 3.5/4. Joshua Taylor and Jasper Hong could only draw an ending, leaving them in a bunch on 3/4 which included Matthew Pyper after he beat Samuel Mainwood... So to Round 5 on the Sunday morning, and a three-way tie for first on 4/5 after Isaac Deboer beat Joshua Taylor, and Allan Foster defeated Jasper Hong. Matthew Pyper missed a chance to join them when he lost to Robert Ritorze. But Kees Huband-Lint was up there with Isaac and Joshua after he had another solid draw on top board with Jake Pyper.

Incredibly, the two players who were equal leading on 5/6 after Round 6 had a full point lead over the field – nobody else had better than 4/6! They were Allan Foster, who beat Isaac Deboer; and Kees Huband-Lint, who had an extra piece and two extra pawns at the closing stages of his win against Samuel Mainwood. Jake Pyper’s loss to Jasper Hong left him out of contention, as did Zac Clarkson’s upset draw with Robert Ritorze... A very quick last round top board draw between Allan and Kees was mutually convenient, as it guaranteed them equal first on 5.5/7. Jasper Hong also drew, but this upset against Robert Ritorze was not enough for equal second after Matthew Pyper’s own upset win against Isaac Deboer got him to 5/7. So, a ratings prize for Matthew, and a share of second in the same rating group for his brother Jake after he upset Matthew Cervenjak; while Zane Clarkson took out a ratings prize as well despite a last round loss to Samuel Mainwood.

Prize List: = 1^st Allan Foster, Kees Huband-Lint 5.5/7; = 3^rd Zac Clarkson, Matthew Pyper (1^st Rating Group A (Under 800) claimed by the latter) 5/7; = 2^nd Rating Group A Jasper Hong, Jake Pyper, Samuel Mainwood 4.5/7; 1^st Rating Group B (Under 500) Zane Clarkson 3.5/7; = 2^nd Rating Group B Nelson Guo, Jesse Martin 3/7.