2005 Fairfield Winter Cup Report
by DOP Charles Zworestine
It seems that chess players like to play in winter, judging by the numbers being up in the last few events at which I have been DOP… The Fairfield Winter Cup was no exception, this year attracting 68 players (22 up on last year). Everyone seemed happy with the prize pool, especially so many ratings prizes; and the Fischer time controls of 60 minutes plus 10 seconds per move from the start. Perhaps not so happy with the late start, caused as always by so many late entries… But never mind, we knew we were in for a great tournament: with FMs Igor Bjelobrk and George Xie as the top two seeds, and other strong players such as Filipino Jesse Noel Sales (the 2005 Australian Masters Champion), Victor Berezin, Armen Ayvazyan and Gareth Charles, it was obviously going to be highly competitive at the top…
Round 1 was predictable, with only two upsets: Ilia Zvedeniouk hung his queen early to a pin and lost to Norm Greenwood, while a rusty Gary McNamara lost the exchange and the game after miscalculating a combination against Anish Kumar. Still fairly easy wins for the top few seeds in Round 2, although Ayvazyan had to really work as Black against Angela Song – it looked to me like she had a really strong attack. Her plan was too slow, however: Ayvazyan defended well, and ended up in a won ending two pawns up. Mos Ali held eighth seed Aina Musaeva (FIDE rated 2094) to a draw, as did Peter Doan with ninth seed Mario Falchoni (2060) after Peter had a raging attack as compensation for a piece, but had to settle for a perpetual check. More upsets as Carrie Evans’ Qxe1 forced Gary McNamara’s resignation (as Kxe1 walked into a discovered attack losing his queen back and leaving him a rook down); Rakesh Kumar shocked Anthony Keuning; and Samuel Talisayon beat Anthony Villanueva.
So to Round 3, and we already had an all FM pairing: Lee Jones White against Igor Bjelobrk on Board 1. As it turned out, Iggy won this one convincingly: Lee overreached on the queenside, let Igor’s pieces in and resigned when his king was trapped in the middle and he was losing at least a pawn (see game below). George Xie didn’t fare so well against Raymond Song; he was lucky to draw his ending the exchange down in the end… Sales recovered from a lost position a piece down to beat Bolens, while Berezin won a longish game against Jason Chan. Draws on the next three boards kept the tournament interesting, as it left a large group of players on 2.5/3; these included Mos Ali (who upset Mario Falchoni), and Eddy Katnic (who beat Alex Mendes da Costa after the latter blundered away a critical pawn).
Jones, L (2037) - Bjelobrk, I (2399) [D37] 2005 Fairfield Winter Cup (3), Board 1 16/07/2005
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0–0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.c5 b6 8.b4 c6 9.Qc2 a5 10.b5 Bb7 11.bxc6 Bxc6 12.cxb6 Nxb6 13.Ne5 Rc8 14.a3 Ba4 15.Qb2 Ne4 16.Rc1 Nxc3 17.Rxc3 Rxc3 18.Qxc3 Qc8 19.Qb2 f6 0-1
I actually had to leave early to go to a dinner on the Saturday night, so I missed Round 4! Igor won against Sales on Board 1: apparently Iggy swapped queens early, and won with his bishop pair in the ending after Sales’ knight got trapped on an awkward square. On Board 2 Berezin (White) upset Xie after Victor also got a good ending: he had two rooks on the seventh rank and a bishop attacking George’s king on g6, and this was enough to win. Armen Ayvazyan described his game on Board 3 as a known theoretical position, where his opponent (Raymond Song) misplaced his queen, thus leaving Armen with a slight advantage in a closed position; so Ray tried to complicate and attack Armen’s king, but his position got worse and worse and he eventually lost. Savelieff upset Zvedeniouk after Ilia blundered his pieces; and James Watson played the wrong move order in a drawn ending against Doan, so lost instead!
Come Sunday morning, and Berezin offered an early draw on Board 1 against Bjelobrk; in a slightly inferior position, Iggy accepted. That allowed Ayvazyan to join them in he lead on 4.5/5 after he defeated Danny Stojic. Sales joined a large group of people on 4/5 when he beat Ben Ingram, among them Gareth Charles who was very lucky to beat Arthur Huynh: with Gareth behind on time and down a queen for two rooks, it was Arthur who moved too slowly and lost on time! In the compulsory all female pairing, Aina Musaeva had her third draw of the event when she refused to allow Angela Song’s pieces any entry points into her position. Carrie Evans struck another blow for the ladies and continued her own good form with another upset win, this time against Muhamed Buza.
A much longer game for Iggy in Round 6 against Ayvazyan, but this time the higher seed prevailed: Armen overreached as Black with his pawns, lost a couple and resigned when Iggy’s extra pawns were overwhelming him. Sales (White) played a good game to defeat Berezin: his attack also resulted in a won ending two pawns up… From a difficult position where I thought his connected passed pawns were winning, Gareth Charles collapsed in mutual time pressure against Jason Chan: falling for tactics he lost first a knight, then the exchange to end up a rook down and resigning when he was about to be mated. Bolens beat Michael Morris in another time scramble, and an aggressive Ilic upset Raymond Song while George Xie was beating up his sister Angela. Danny Stojic inflicted Musaeva’s first defeat when his more active pieces got through in the ending, while one move turned Ilia Zvedeniouk’s won position into a loss against Lee Jones.
This all left Iggy in outright first on 5.5/6, and he duly took out the win and the title by beating Bolens in a long and exciting last round game where it was fairly even for a long time, but Johny eventually blundered, let Igor’s queen and rook in and got mated in time pressure. Sales beat Jason Chan to take outright second, while George Xie ended Ilic’s run by winning a piece early and making it stand up in a long game. George thus shared third with Berezin (beat Stojic) and Ayvazyan (who won a very quick miniature against Lee Jones). Further down, an in-form Alex Mendes da Costa scored an upset draw with Mario Falchoni. Then a long delay before the presentation, as we needed lots of time to work out the prizes – there were more prizes than I could poke a stick at…
Thus ended another fun tournament, with a largish field seemingly enjoying the event which was conducted in a fairly relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Thank you to the Fairfield club for the use of their venue and facilities, especially the free lunch I enjoyed on both days! As the Fairfield Summer Cup has now been canned, the Winter Cup should become the flagship event for Fairfield Chess Club. It is an excellent event, and deserves the support it received. Hopefully even more players will come and play in this event next year…
Prize Winners: 1st Igor Bjelobrk 6.5/7; 2nd Jesse Noel Sales 6; = 3rd Armen Ayvazyan, Victor Berezin, George Xie 5.5; = 1st Rating Group A (Under 2050) Johny Bolens, Jason Chan, Ilija Ilic, Ben Ingram, Michael Morris 5; Best Junior Raymond Song 4.5; = 1st Rating Group B (Under 1800) Mos Ali, Tode Cvetkoski, Jose Escribano, Arthur Huynh, Herman Rachmadi, John Redgrave 4; = 1st Rating Group C (Under 1600) Eliot Hoving, Matthew Parravicini, Luka Tubic, Anthony Villanueva 3.5; = 1st Rating Group D (Under 1350) Leo Kang, Rakesh Kumar 3.5; 3rd Rating Group C Anish Kumar 3.
Place Name Feder Loc Score
1 Bjelobrk, Igor VIC 2399 6.5
2 Sales, Jesse Noel OS 2340 6
3-5 Berezin, Victor OS 2274 5.5
Ayvazyan, Armen NSW 2180 5.5
Xie, George NSW 2367 5.5
6-11 Bolens, Johny NSW 2014 5
Chan, Jason NSW 1982 5
Ilic, Ilija NSW 2006 5
Charles, Gareth NSW 2121 5
Morris, Michael NSW 1937 5
Ingram, Ben W NSW 1910 5
12-19 Stojic, Danny NSW 2059 4.5
Jones, Lee R NSW 2037 4.5
Song, Raymond NSW 2035 4.5
Musaeva, Aina NSW 2094 4.5
Falchoni, Mario NSW 2060 4.5
Mendes da Costa, Alex NSW 1876 4.5
Watson, James NSW 1817 4.5
Bautista, Elpidio NSW 1835 4.5
20-27 Ali, Mosaddeque ACT 1777 4
Huynh, Arthur NSW 1797 4
Cvetkoski, Tode NSW 1754 4
Redgrave, John NSW 1749 4
Escribano, Jose NSW 1674 4
McNamara, Gary NSW 1884 4
Rachmadi, Herman NSW 1675 4
Zvedeniouk, Ilia NSW 2048 4
28-41 Song, Angela NSW 1801 3.5
Savelieff, Geoffrey NSW 1683 3.5
Doan, Peter NSW 1729 3.5
Hoving, Eliot NSW 1526 3.5
Parravicini, Matthew NSW 1557 3.5
Ramachandran, Raj NSW 1620 3.5
Tomas, Tom NSW 1722 3.5
Kumar, Rakesh NSW 1325 3.5
Buza, Muhamed NSW 1630 3.5
Tubic, Luka NSW 1504 3.5
Nguyen, Peter NSW 1704 3.5
Pickering, Anthony NSW 1689 3.5
Kang, Leo NSW 1336 3.5
Villanueva, Anthony NSW 1594 3.5
42-51 Morales, Raul NSW 1475 3
Barasoain, Fernando NSW 1439 3
Evans, Carrie NSW 1369 3
Keuning, Anthony V NSW 1609 3
Bogdanoski, Petre NSW 1605 3
Kumar, Anish NSW 1338 3
Todorovski, Marjan NSW 3
Kresinger, Frank NSW 1432 3
Tracey, Michael J NSW 1391 3
Ngo, Michael NSW 3
52-56 Katnic, Eddy NSW 1549 2.5
Gonzales, Rolando NSW 1398 2.5
Losh, Gary NSW 1519 2.5
Ivanovic, Radislav NSW 1368 2.5
Rajendran, Prem NSW 632 2.5
57-62 Greenwood, Norman NSW 1477 2
Talisayon, Samuel NSW 1218 2
Karayi, Valsalan NSW 1373 2
Cameron, Jole NSW 1072 2
Talpade, Udit NSW 1040 2
Sweeney, Matthew NSW 1300 2
63-66 Kumar, Dhirendra NSW 1104 1.5
Frerer, Samantha NSW 1060 1.5
Markson, Ellis NSW 1111 1.5
Kumar, Sanjesh NSW 708 1.5
67-68 Kumar, Karishma NSW 161 1
Smirnov, Vladimir NSW 2296 1
69 Kumar, Amit NSW 0
No Name Loc Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. Bjelobrk, Igor 2399 6.5 34:W 20:W 12:W 3:W 5:D 6:W 14:W 2. Xie, George 2367 5.5 35:W 21:W 13:D 5:L 28:W 23:W 15:W 3. Sales, Jesse Noel 2340 6 36:W 22:W 14:W 1:L 18:W 5:W 16:W 4. Smirnov, Vladimir 2296 1 37:W : : : : : : 5. Berezin, Victor 2274 5.5 38:W 24:W 16:W 2:W 1:D 3:L 10:W 6. Ayvazyan, Armen 2180 5.5 39:W 23:W 15:D 13:W 10:W 1:L 12:W 7. Charles, Gareth 2121 5 40:W 26:W 18:D 25:D 24:W 16:L 19:W 8. Musaeva, Aina 2094 4.5 42:W 25:D 28:W 15:D 23:D 10:L 29:W 9. Falchoni, Mario 2060 4.5 43:W 28:D 25:L :D 42:W 26:W 20:D 10. Stojic, Danny 2059 4.5 44:W 27:W 17:D 41:W 6:L 8:W 5:L 11. Zvedeniouk, Ilia 2048 4 45:L 51:W 38:W 32:L 37:W 12:L 46:W 12. Jones, Lee R 2037 4.5 46:W 29:W 1:L 17:D 36:W 11:W 6:L 13. Song, Raymond 2035 4.5 47:W 30:W 2:D 6:L 41:W 15:L 42:W 14. Bolens, Johny 2014 5 48:W 31:W 3:L 29:W 25:W 17:W 1:L 15. Ilic, Ilija 2006 5 49:W 32:W 6:D 8:D 26:W 13:W 2:L 16. Chan, Jason 1982 5 50:W 33:W 5:L 35:W 27:W 7:W 3:L 17. Morris, Michael 1937 5 52:W 45:W 10:D 12:D 32:W 14:L 24:W 18. Ingram, Ben W 1910 5 53:W 66:W 7:D :D 3:L 32:W 25:W 19. McNamara, Gary 1884 4 54:L 52:L 66:W 48:W 44:W 27:W 7:L 20. Mendes da Costa, Alex 1876 4.5 55:W 1:L 41:L 50:W 45:W 34:W 9:D 21. Bautista, Elpidio 1835 4.5 56:W 2:L 40:L 49:W 43:D 47:W 36:W 22. Watson, James 1817 4.5 57:W 3:L 42:D 28:L 39:W 41:W 23:W 23. Song, Angela 1801 3.5 58:W 6:L 43:W 34:W 8:D 2:L 22:L 24. Huynh, Arthur 1797 4 59:W 5:L 44:W 33:W 7:L 46:W 17:L 25. Ali, Mosaddeque 1777 4 60:W 8:D 9:W 7:D 14:L 52:W 18:L 26. Cvetkoski, Tode 1754 4 61:W 7:L 45:W 46:W 15:L 9:L 40:W 27. Redgrave, John 1749 4 62:W 10:L 47:W 40:W 16:L 19:L 37:W 28. Doan, Peter 1729 3.5 63:W 9:D 8:L 22:W 2:L 40:L 52:W 29. Tomas, Tom 1722 3.5 64:W 12:L 49:W 14:L 40:D 43:W 8:L 30. Nguyen, Peter 1704 3.5 65:W 13:L 46:L 53:W 56:D 42:L 43:W 31. Pickering, Anthony 1689 3.5 67:W 14:L 52:L 54:W 46:L 45:W 44:D 32. Savelieff, Geoffrey 1683 3.5 68:W 15:L 48:W 11:W 17:L 18:L 55:D 33. Rachmadi, Herman 1675 4 69:W 16:L 54:W 24:L 47:L 48:W 38:W 34. Escribano, Jose 1674 4 1:L 53:W 56:W 23:L 69:W 20:L 47:W 35. Buza, Muhamed 1630 3.5 2:L 55:W 58:W 16:L 52:L 49:D 53:W 36. Ramachandran, Raj 1620 3.5 3:L 57:W 69:W :D 12:L 56:W 21:L 37. Keuning, Anthony V 1609 3 4:L 56:L 60:W 55:W 11:L 50:W 27:L 38. Bogdanoski, Petre 1605 3 5:L 59:W 11:L 56:L 51:W 69:W 33:L 39. Villanueva, Anthony 1594 3.5 6:L 58:L 61:D 60:W 22:L 63:W 49:W 40. Parravicini, Matthew 1557 3.5 7:L 61:W 21:W 27:L 29:D 28:W 26:L 41. Katnic, Eddy 1549 2.5 :D 54:W 20:W 10:L 13:L 22:L 56:L 42. Hoving, Eliot 1526 3.5 8:L 60:W 22:D 52:W 9:L 30:W 13:L 43. Losh, Gary 1519 2.5 9:L 63:W 23:L 57:W 21:D 29:L 30:L 44. Tubic, Luka 1504 3.5 10:L 62:W 24:L 58:W 19:L 54:W 31:D 45. Greenwood, Norman 1477 2 11:W 17:L 26:L 59:W 20:L 31:L 54:L 46. Morales, Raul 1475 3 12:L 64:W 30:W 26:L 31:W 24:L 11:L 47. Barasoain, Fernando 1439 3 13:L 65:W 27:L 66:W 33:W 21:L 34:L 48. Kresinger, Frank 1432 3 14:L 67:W 32:L 19:L 58:W 33:L 51:W 49. Gonzales, Rolando 1398 2.5 15:L 68:W 29:L 21:L 57:W 35:D 39:L 50. Tracey, Michael J 1391 3 16:L 69:L 62:W 20:L 59:W 37:L 61:W 51. Karayi, Valsalan 1373 2 : 11:L 63:W :D 38:L 61:D 48:L 52. Evans, Carrie 1369 3 17:L 19:W 31:W 42:L 35:W 25:L 28:L 53. Ivanovic, Radislav 1368 2.5 18:L 34:L 64:W 30:L 62:D 58:W 35:L 54. Kumar, Anish 1338 3 19:W 41:L 33:L 31:L 64:W 44:L 45:W 55. Kang, Leo 1336 3.5 20:L 35:L 65:W 37:L 66:W 62:W 32:D 56. Kumar, Rakesh 1325 3.5 21:L 37:W 34:L 38:W 30:D 36:L 41:W 57. Sweeney, Matthew 1300 2 22:L 36:L 67:W 43:L 49:L 60:D 63:D 58. Talisayon, Samuel 1218 2 23:L 39:W 35:L 44:L 48:L 53:L 67:W 59. Markson, Ellis 1111 1.5 24:L 38:L 68:W 45:L 50:L 64:D 65:L 60. Kumar, Dhirendra 1104 1.5 25:L 42:L 37:L 39:L 68:W 57:D 69:L 61. Cameron, Jole 1072 2 26:L 40:L 39:D 69:L 67:W 51:D 50:L 62. Frerer, Samantha 1060 1.5 27:L 44:L 50:L 67:W 53:D 55:L 64:L 63. Talpade, Udit 1040 2 28:L 43:L 51:L :D 65:W 39:L 57:D 64. Kumar, Sanjesh 708 1.5 29:L 46:L 53:L 68:L 54:L 59:D 62:W 65. Rajendran, Prem 632 2.5 30:L 47:L 55:L :D 63:L 66:W 59:W 66. Kumar, Karishma 161 1 :W 18:L 19:L 47:L 55:L 65:L 68:L 67. Kumar, Amit 0 31:L 48:L 57:L 62:L 61:L 68:L 58:L 68. Ngo, Michael 3 32:L 49:L 59:L 64:W 60:L 67:W 66:W 69. Todorovski, Marjan 3 33:L 50:W 36:L 61:W 34:L 38:L 60:W