by DOP Charles Zworestine
GM Rogers 1st place in the July Weekender
The NSWCA July weekender was held for the first time this year at Parramatta RSL Club in Sydney’s west, and attracted a satisfactory field of 51 players. The top seed, as ever, was GM Ian Rogers; but he was challenged by six other players rated over 2000 – most of them young (under the age of 30)! In rating order, these were George Xie, Tomek Rej, Neil Wright, Andrew Bird, Paul Broekhuyse and Ronald Yu. A disappointing aspect of the event was that there were only six juniors, and only one interstate player: Mos Ali (ACT). But the standard Fischer time controls of 60 minutes plus 10 seconds per move from the start were still always guaranteed to produce their usual surprises; and they did not disappoint…
Mind you, Round 1 did not produce too many shocks, as the players over 2000 all won; only Tomek Rej had to fight, eventually winning a queen and pawn ending against unrated Bi Liu. There was a significant upset lower down, as Joel Bedford stunned Mos Ali by winning an exchange and making it count in an ending; apart from this, there were only a few draws not going according to rating… It was a similar story in Round 2, as all the higher seeds won. The only thing close to an upset was a win by unrated Stephen Stipic over Vaness Reid. George Xie won a nice game against Ahmed Faris (see game below); Ahmed thought he was winning, but George broke through with a brilliant tactic…
Faris, A (1762) - Xie, G (2316) [B23], 2006 NSWCA July W/E Round 2 Board 2 29/07/2006
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 e6 3.f4 d5 4.e5 Nc6 5.Bb5 Bd7 6.Nf3 Nge7 7.0–0 Nf5 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.d3 h5 10.Na4 h4 11.Qe1 Rb8 12.b3 c4 13.dxc4 Rb4 14.Ba3 Rxc4 15.bxc4 Bxa3 16.Qc3 Be7 17.c5 h3 18.g3 Bc8 19.Nd4 Nxd4 20.Qxd4 Qa5 21.Rab1 0–0 22.Rf3 f6 23.Rc3 fxe5 24.fxe5 Ba6 25.Qg4 Rf5 26.Qg6 Qb4 27.Qxe6+ Kh8 28.Qc8+ Bf8 29.Qb8 Qd4+ 0–1
It was not until Round 3 that the shocks really began; but boy, did they begin! When I first looked, George Xie was a piece down against Ronald Yu; he had to withstand several tactical complications, but Ronald made it stand up for an upset win. Neil Wright was another casualty, losing two pieces for a rook and eventually going down to Michael Dunn. Just to add to the chaos, Max Illingworth won an exchange against Andrew Bird; his pieces then infiltrated on the open d-file, getting to Andrew’s king to force mate for another upset victory. The unrateds kept doing well, with Stephen Stipic upsetting Tony Pickering and Bi Liu stunning Ahmed Faris when his queen, knight and pawns were too powerful for Ahmed’s queen and rook. Only Ian Rogers was immune, winning convincingly against Paul Broekhuyse; even Tomek Rej had to struggle, winning tactically in time pressure from a worse position against Johny Bolens.
Round 4 came, and Ian Rogers got to 4/4 by beating Ronald Yu; his two beautiful bishops and central passed pawns looked crushing… Tomek joined him there by beating Max Illingworth, who failed to take a key pawn and was soon lost. Ilia Zvedeniouk was on 3.5/4 after a three move tactic resulted in a fork winning the exchange; he was joined there by the unrated Marios Zajac, who beat Stipic. Meanwhile, Neil Wright pulled off the swindle of the century, errors costing him first one piece and then another against Jose Escribano; but sadly for Jose he missed a tactic forcing mate, gradually lost back his material in time pressure and ended up losing in an ending! There were a couple more upsets lower down, as Andrew Bird had to fight for a draw in time pressure with Slavko Trkulja; and Anthony Villanueva forced mate to beat Johny Bolens.
Sunday morning dawned with Rogers and Rej both at the board early ready for battle; but unfortunately for Tomek his position imploded, as Ian (Black) won pawns to get to 5/5 and Tomek could not drum up a sufficient attack as compensation. Ilia reached 4.5/5 after he won a queen ending a pawn ahead against Zajac; George Xie joined a large group on 4/5 after his attack broke through to beat Max; and Vasil was also on 4/5 after he upset Neil Wright by winning the debate over whether Neil’s isolated advanced passed c pawn was strong or weak. In the battle of flora vs fauna, the feathers flew as Moss (sic) Ali played Bird’s against Bird; but Andrew’s feathers could not be ruffled, as he made a bird of it! Although Max Illingworth wanted it to be a draw (so we could kill two birds with one stone), Andrew proved to be master of the rookery, winning a long game in a queen and rook ending. Lower down, the juniors wreaked their usual havoc, as Derek Lau upset Joshua Christensen and Oscar Wang came from behind to stun Frank Kresinger.
Ian Rogers and Ilia Zvedeniouk reached a king and pawn ending quickly on top board in Round 6; sadly for Ilia, Ian’s outside passed pawn was just winning! So Ian was on 6/6, but 3 players on 5/6 still had a chance to catch him: George Xie, Paul Broekhuyse and Ronald Yu. While George was accounting for Tulevski and Paul for Zajac, Ronald had a rather longer game against Tomek; in the end, he made an extra exchange count in Tomek’s time pressure to score an upset win. Bird and Pickering were on 4.5/6 after wins over Stipic and Kordahi respectively. In the last game to finish, Joshua Christensen constructed an interesting draw: his 3 connected passed pawns buried his own king, so his opponent (Con Kamaras) was able to obtain a perpetual check with just two bishops!
So the top two seeds once more met in the final round, promising a great struggle – which was duly delivered! George (White) had Ian in grave trouble for most of the game, but you do not get to become a grandmaster without being a fighter; and despite being lost at various points, Ian fought back to draw a magnificent thriller (see game below). Another weekender won by Rogers, while George had to be content with equal second with Paul Broekhuyse, Ronald Yu and Ilia Zvedeniouk. Paul had the upper hand in his rook and pawn ending with Ronald, but Ronald fought very hard to achieve a draw ("all rook endings are drawn"); while Ilia made an extra pawn count to upset Andrew Bird. And so ended an interesting event, a good one for Parramatta first up. Thanks to Shane Burgess and the Parramatta club for their excellent organisation. This event should be there to stay, and will keep getting better; hope to see double the numbers there next year!
Xie, G (2316) - Rogers, I (2599) [C04], NSWCA July W/E Round 7 Board 1 30/07/2006
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nc6 4.c3 f5 5.e5 Nh6 6.Bd3 Nf7 7.Ne2 Bd7 8.h4 Qe7 9.Nf4 0–0–0 10.Nf3 Kb8 11.b4 Rc8 12.a4 g6 13.Ba3 Qe8 14.b5 Ncd8 15.c4 Bxa3 16.Rxa3 dxc4 17.Bxc4 Qe7 18.Rb3 Re8 19.0–0 g5 20.Nh5 g4 21.Ne1 Qxh4 22.Nf6 Re7 23.f4 gxf3 24.Nxf3 Qf4 25.Nh2 Qg5 26.Qe1 Qg7 27.Nf3 h6 28.Qb4 Ng5 29.Nxg5 hxg5 30.Rh3 g4 31.Rh7 Qxh7 32.Nxh7 Rxh7 33.Kf2 b6 34.d5 exd5 35.Bxd5 Ne6 36.a5 Nc5 37.Kg3 Nd3 38.Qb1 Nc5 39.Rxf5 Bxf5 40.Qxf5 Re7 41.Qf6 Re6 42.Bxe6 Ne4+ 43.Kh4 Nxf6 44.Bxc8 Nd5 45.Bxg4 bxa5 46.Bf3 Ne7 47.Kg5 Kc8 48.Kf6 Kd8 49.Kf7 a4 50.Bd1 a3 51.Bb3 c6 52.bxc6 Nxc6 53.e6 Ne5+ 54.Kf8 Ng6+ 55.Kg7 Ne5 56.Kf6 Ng4+ 57.Kg5 Ne3 58.g4 Ke7 59.Kf4 Nc2 60.Ke5 Nb4 61.g5 Nd3+ 62.Kf5 Nc5 63.Ba2 Nb7 64.Kg6 Nd8 65.Kf5 Nb7 66.g6 Nd6+ 67.Kg5 Ne8 68.Kh6 Kf6 69.Kh7 Ng7 70.Bb3 Ne8 71.Ba2 Ng7 72.Bd5 a5 73.Bb3 a4 74.Ba2 Ne8 75.Bc4 Ng7 76.Ba2 Ne8 77.Bc4 ½–½
Prize List: 1st Ian Rogers 6.5/7; 2nd = George Xie, Paul Broekhuyse, Ronald Yu, Ilia Zvedeniouk (1st U2000-1800) 5.5; 2nd U2000-1800 Johny Bolens 5; U1800-1600 1st = Vasil Tulevski, Anthony Pickering, Nick Kordahi, Herman Rachmadi 4.5; U1600-1400 1st Slavko Trkulja 4.5; 2nd Anthony Villanueva 4; U1400 1st Derek Lau 4; 2nd = Armando Rizzardini, Benjamin Cheung 3.
Place Name Feder Loc Score
1 Rogers, Ian NSW 2599 6.5
2-5 Yu, Ronald NSW 2043 5.5
Xie, George NSW 2316 5.5
Zvedeniouk, Ilia NSW 1997 5.5
Broekhuyse, Paul NSW 2058 5.5
6-8 Rej, Tomek NSW 2209 5
Wright, Neil NSW 2108 5
Bolens, Johny NSW 1992 5
9-15 Tulevski, Vasil NSW 1774 4.5
Illingworth, Max NSW 1880 4.5
Bird, Andrew NSW 2099 4.5
Pickering, Anthony NSW 1747 4.5
Trkulja, Slavko NSW 1588 4.5
Kordahi, Nicholas NSW 1727 4.5
Rachmadi, Herman NSW 1679 4.5
16-20 Dunn, Michael NSW 1853 4
Villanueva, Anthony NSW 1568 4
Lau, Derek NSW 844 4
Ali, Mosaddeque ACT 1752 4
Escribano, Jose NSW 1656 4
21-30 Zajac, Marios NSW 3.5
Stipic, Stephen NSW 3.5
Li, Biu NSW 3.5
Saksena, Kaushik NSW 1677 3.5
Parker, Trent NSW 1493 3.5
Djukovic, Dragan NSW 1673 3.5
Losh, Gary NSW 1461 3.5
Furst, Andrew NSW 3.5
Reynolds, Paul NSW 1564 3.5
Faris, Ahmed NSW 1762 3.5
31-38 Ryan, Mark NSW 1473 3
Greenwood, Norman NSW 1467 3
Burgess, Shane NSW 1434 3
Cheung, Benjamin NSW 1225 3
Christensen, Joshua NSW 1554 3
Sewell, Rob NSW 1414 3
Rizzardini, Armando NSW 1256 3
Katnic, Eddy NSW 1607 3
39-44 Bedford, Joel NSW 1344 2.5
Wang, Oscar NSW 1053 2.5
Tracey, Michael NSW 1415 2.5
Kamaras, Con NSW 1323 2.5
Beveridge, David NSW 1238 2.5
Banicevic, Roy NSW 1651 2.5
45-47 Diggins, Graham NSW 2
Swords, Chester NSW 515 2
Mascarenhas, Alan NSW 1527 2
48 Kresinger, Frank NSW 1466 1.5
49 Chiddy, Lance NSW 868 1
50 Reid, Vaness NSW 1672 0.5
51 Smith, Ross A NSW 0
No Name Loc Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. Rogers, Ian 2599 6.5 26:W 12:W 6:W 7:W 3:W 8:W 2:D 2. Xie, George 2316 5.5 27:W 13:W 7:L 19:W 10:W 12:W 1:D 3. Rej, Tomek 2209 5 48:W 18:W 9:W 10:W 1:L 7:L 15:W 4. Wright, Neil 2108 5 28:W 47:W 11:L 21:W 12:L 25:W 14:W 5. Bird, Andrew 2099 4.5 29:W 19:W 10:L 24:D 14:W 50:W 8:L 6. Broekhuyse, Paul 2058 5.5 30:W 25:W 1:L 38:W 11:W 51:W 7:D 7. Yu, Ronald 2043 5.5 31:W 24:W 2:W 1:L 25:W 3:W 6:D 8. Zvedeniouk, Ilia 1997 5.5 :D 22:W 16:W 11:W 51:W 1:L 5:W 9. Bolens, Johny 1992 5 32:W 37:W 3:L 25:L 29:W 44:W 11:W 10. Illingworth, Max 1880 4.5 34:W 41:W 5:W 3:L 2:L 47:W 12:D 11. Dunn, Michael 1853 4 35:W 45:W 4:W 8:L 6:L 30:W 9:L 12. Tulevski, Vasil 1774 4.5 36:W 1:L 27:W 30:W 4:W 2:L 10:D 13. Faris, Ahmed 1762 3.5 49:W 2:L 48:L 32:D 39:W 26:L 35:W 14. Ali, Mosaddeque 1752 4 37:L 32:W 29:W 44:W 5:L 31:W 4:L 15. Pickering, Anthony 1747 4.5 :D 33:W 50:L 48:W 24:W 16:W 3:L 16. Kordahi, Nicholas 1727 4.5 :D 40:W 8:L 35:W 33:W 15:L 18:W 17. Rachmadi, Herman 1679 4.5 :D 42:W 51:L 40:W 50:L 48:W 26:W 18. Saksena, Kaushik 1677 3.5 38:W 3:L 30:L 36:W 48:D 33:W 16:L 19. Djukovic, Dragan 1673 3.5 39:W 5:L 31:W 2:L 30:L 34:D 38:W 20. Reid, Vaness 1672 .5 40:D 50:L 38:- : : : : 21. Escribano, Jose 1656 4 41:L 34:W 37:W 4:L 31:L 36:W 50:W 22. Banicevic, Roy 1651 2.5 50:D 8:L 33:L 26:L 46:L 49:W 32:W 23. Katnic, Eddy 1607 3 42:D 51:L 35:L 34:D 41:W 37:D 39:D 24. Trkulja, Slavko 1588 4.5 44:W 7:L 41:W 5:D 15:L 42:W 51:W 25. Villanueva, Anthony 1568 4 46:W 6:L 45:W 9:W 7:L 4:L 31:W 26. Reynolds, Paul 1564 3.5 1:L 35:D 42:L 22:W 40:W 13:W 17:L 27. Christensen, Joshua 1554 3 2:L 49:W 12:L 41:W 44:L 38:D 34:D 28. Mascarenhas, Alan 1527 2 4:L 38:L 40:L 46:L 49:W 45:W 36:L 29. Parker, Trent 1493 3.5 5:L 39:W 14:L 43:W 9:L 46:W 47:D 30. Ryan, Mark 1473 3 6:L 43:W 18:W 12:L 19:W 11:L 44:L 31. Greenwood, Norman 1467 3 7:L 46:W 19:L 45:W 21:W 14:L 25:L 32. Kresinger, Frank 1466 1.5 9:L 14:L 49:W 13:D 42:L 39:L 22:L 33. Losh, Gary 1461 3.5 51:D 15:L 22:W 42:W 16:L 18:L 37:W 34. Burgess, Shane 1434 3 10:L 21:L 39:D 23:D 35:W 19:D 27:D 35. Tracey, Michael 1415 2.5 11:L 26:D 23:W 16:L 34:L 40:W 13:L 36. Sewell, Rob 1414 3 12:L 48:L 46:W 18:L 43:W 21:L 28:W 37. Bedford, Joel 1344 2.5 14:W 9:L 21:L 47:L 45:W 23:D 33:L 38. Kamaras, Con 1323 2.5 18:L 28:W 20:+ 6:L 47:L 27:D 19:L 39. Rizzardini, Armando 1256 3 19:L 29:L 34:D 49:W 13:L 32:W 23:D 40. Beveridge, David 1238 2.5 20:D 16:L 28:W 17:L 26:L 35:L 43:W 41. Cheung, Benjamin 1225 3 21:W 10:L 24:L 27:L 23:L 43:W 46:W 42. Wang, Oscar 1053 2.5 23:D 17:L 26:W 33:L 32:W 24:L 48:L 43. Chiddy, Lance 868 1 47:L 30:L :W 29:L 36:L 41:L 40:L 44. Lau, Derek 844 4 24:L :W 47:W 14:L 27:W 9:L 30:W 45. Swords, Chester 515 2 :W 11:L 25:L 31:L 37:L 28:L 49:W 46. Diggins, Graham 2 25:L 31:L 36:L 28:W 22:W 29:L 41:L 47. Furst, Andrew 3.5 43:W 4:L 44:L 37:W 38:W 10:L 29:D 48. Li, Biu 3.5 3:L 36:W 13:W 15:L 18:D 17:L 42:W 49. Smith, Ross A 0 13:L 27:L 32:L 39:L 28:L 22:L 45:L 50. Stipic, Stephen 3.5 22:D 20:W 15:W 51:L 17:W 5:L 21:L 51. Zajac, Marios 3.5 33:D 23:W 17:W 50:W 8:L 6:L 24:L