Coal City Open
Newcastle: A Nursery For Nifty Newcomers?
by DOP Charles Zworestine
Sorry, the opportunity for alliteration was irresistible... Actually, the winners and dominant players in Newcastle were not so much new as young - all under the age of 21! It is becoming increasingly difficult for older players to compete with the young brigade. Their skill, stamina and talent seems to be growing at an alarming rate, and they are producing results to match. At Coal City, the top 5 players were all 21 or younger; the trend continues...
This year's Coal City Open attracted 44 players, well up on the 26 of last year and 34 of the year before - a promising sign. A few changes were implemented from last year, which seem to me to have been positive ones - in any case, there were very few complaints. The change of venue from Cardiff back to Newcastle confused some players; but they all got there eventually. The numbers of rounds was changed from 6 to 7, but the Fischer time controls of one hour plus ten seconds per move from the start were retained. All of this led to a relatively dispute-free tournament, with some lively chess and fascinating results...
It was clear from the start that the event was going to be wide open, with no standout players (no GMs or IMs) but still 7 players rated over 2000. One of them, Lee Jones (2107), lost in the very first round! He had been paired with Segopotso Hlabano, the hat-wearing former champion of Botswana (?). We provisionally rated Segopotso at 1500, based on his results at the Newcastle Open earlier in the year. Well, we got that one wrong, as you'll soon see...
The first round results were fairly predictable apart from this, with all the other top seeds winning; although tournament organiser George Lithgow (rated 1260) did score an excellent upset draw with Gideon Bratten (1784). But then things really heated up in Round 2! First Duncan Peters (1827) upset top seed Chee Yin Thaw (2194), after Chee Yin (as Black) miscalculated his tactics. Then David Castor (1812) stunned third seed George Xie in a long and complicated rook and pawn ending, which George might have been winning but misplayed in time pressure. Actually, it was very exciting, with connected passed pawns all over the board (David had two on the queenside, George two in the centre and two on the kingside), it looked like anything could have happened... And it did: rather than the pawns deciding, George eventually got himself checkmated! Meanwhile Justin Marshall (1785: one of 3 ACT visitors) drew with Justin Tan (2123), as did Christian Sloper (1655) with Ilya Zvedeniouk (1875); and Segopotso continued his run by beating Raymond Vagle...
The fun continued in Round 3, with upsets on all of the top 4 boards (!): Geoff Butler (1939) drew with Brian Jones (2184), Duncan Peters upset Gareth Charles (2045), David Castor beat Michael Lip (2012) and Segopotso defeated Kerry Stead (1977). This left 3 surprise leaders after 3 rounds, none of whom were rated over 2000: Segopotso, Duncan and David! It was good to see good sportsmanship on bottom board, too, where young Sarah Behne-Smith (786) upset Peter Vidler (1332). Clearly Samson is not the only one who gains strength from hair; perhaps inspired by her ponytail, Sarah hung on and hung on to eventually outlast Peter in a long knight and pawn ending. And Peter was full of praise afterwards: always nice to see...
Things became even more interesting after Round 4, with Duncan and David drawing on Board 1. This enabled three players to catch them in the equal lead on 3.5/4 going in to Sunday: Brian Jones (who finally ended Segopotso's run), Ilya Zvedeniouk (who upset Justin Tan) and Geoff Butler (defeated Gideon Bratten). Our poor top seed couldn't take a trick as Black, this time losing to Raymond Vagle; at least he didn't feel as bad as Jeff Boardman, who may have been drawing when he moved his queen en prise in a queen and pawn ending against Gareth Charles. Kerry Stead also may not have felt so good after drawing from two pawns up against Dmitri Kavetski. Meanwhile, more upsets lower down, with Alex Mendes da Costa (1443) defeating Justin Marshall and George Lithgow beating Christian Sloper...
So the Sunday dawned, and Ilya obviously had a good night's sleep: he scored an excellent upset win over Brian Jones on Board 1 to share the lead on 4.5 after 5 rounds. It looked like he may be joined by Geoff Butler, whose position looked as solid as a rock against David Castor; but David is nothing if not a fighter, and somehow he turned it around to join Ilya. Sneaking up behind them on 4/5 were George Xie, Lee Jones, Gareth Charles and Michael Lip, the latter of whom scored a long upset win over Justin Tan. Alex Mendes da Costa continued his upset run by defeating Kerry Stead; despite Kerry scanning the locker of his brain for attempts to complicate, Alex's extra material proved too much...
A sensation seemed in store after Round 6, with Ilya defeating David to take the outright lead on 5.5/6. Could Ilya be Coal City champion? Or would that honour go to George Xie (who beat Gareth Charles) or Michael Lip (who upset Lee Jones)? It all came down to the last round, and a thrilling top board finish between Michael and Ilya. George had won very quickly against Geoff Butler, and awaited with baited breath to see if he was equal 1st or 2nd. The corridor of uncertainty widened as the game went on, with Ilya securing what looked like a decisive bind - he needed only to be patient, and the breakthrough would come... But then he faltered, sacrificing a piece unnecessarily and unsoundly. Michael hung on, turned the tables and won to leave himself and George equal first; Ilya had to be satisfied with equal 3rd with David Castor (who completed his excellent tournament by upsetting Brian Jones). I couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for Gareth Charles (who upset Chee Yin), and Jeff Boardman (who drew with Lee Jones): despite their excellent last round results, they scored no prizes.
To all Chess players I wish to thank all the players who came to Newcastle for our Coal City open and made the event a great success. In 2002 we only had a field of 26 players and were considering whether or not the tournament was a viable proposition. This year we had 44 players, this was a dramatic improvement and will guarantee the future of the tournament in its present form.Congratulations to Segopotso Hlabano who won the NSW Country Championship on count back.
Regards to all
from George Lithgow
President
Newcastle District Chess Association
Cross Table
No Name Feder Loc Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 Xie, George NSW 2168 6 18:W 3:L 24:W 13:W 6:W 5:W 7:W
2 Lip, Michael NSW 2012 6 28:W 27:W 3:L 19:W 9:W 10:W 4:W
3 Castor, David NSW 1812 5.5 29:W 1:W 2:W 6:D 7:W 4:L 8:W
4 Zvedeniouk, Ilya NSW 1891 5.5 38:W 23:D 26:W 9:W 8:W 3:W 2:L
5 Charles, Gareth NSW 2045 5 21:W 22:W 6:L 11:W 15:W 1:L 16:W
6 Peters, Duncan NSW 1837 4.5 40:W 16:W 5:W 3:D 1:L 7:L 21:W
7 Butler, Geoffrey T ACT 1939 4.5 39:W 19:W 8:D 25:W 3:L 6:W 1:L
8 Jones, Brian A NSW 2184 4.5 44:W 13:W 7:D 15:W 4:L 22:W 3:L
9 Tan, Justin NSW 2123 4.5 20:W 14:D 23:W 4:L 2:L 26:W 22:W
10 Jones, Lee R NSW 2107 4.5 15:L 33:W 18:W 27:W 17:W 2:L 11:D
11 Boardman, Jeffery NSW 1672 4.5 32:W 12:L 36:W 5:L 28:W 15:W 10:D
12 Stead, Kerry NSW 1977 4.5 37:W 11:W 15:L 22:D 21:L 20:W 17:W
13 Norman, Brendon NSW 1831 4.5 34:W 8:L 39:W 1:L 18:W 24:D 23:W
14 Marshall, Justin R ACT 1785 4.5 36:W 9:D 25:L 21:L 39:W 27:W 24:W
15 Hlabano, Segopotso NSW 1500 4 10:W 17:W 12:W 8:L 5:L 11:L 29:W
16 Thaw, Chee Yin OS 2194 4 24:W 6:L 44:W 17:L 26:W 19:W 5:L
17 Vagle, Raymond NSW 1850 4 33:W 15:L 37:W 16:W 10:L 21:W 12:L
18 Jurd, Sebastian NSW 1574 4 1:L 29:W 10:L 30:W 13:L 36:W 28:W
19 Dickson, Ian C NSW 1659 4 42:W 7:L 30:W 2:L 40:W 16:L 32:W
20 Fitzpatrick, Andrew ACT 1532 4 9:L 36:L 31:W 38:W 27:W 12:L 30:W
21 Mendes da Costa, Alex NSW 1443 3.5 5:L 31:D 35:W 14:W 12:W 17:L 6:L
22 Kavetski, Dmitri NSW 1731 3.5 31:W 5:L 38:W 12:D 25:W 8:L 9:L
23 Sloper, Christian NSW 1655 3.5 43:W 4:D 9:L 26:L 31:W 25:W 13:L
24 Huddleston, Heather NSW 1608 3.5 16:L 40:W 1:L 36:W 37:W 13:D 14:L
25 Bratten, Gideon NSW 1784 3.5 26:D 41:W 14:W 7:L 22:L 23:L 37:W
26 Lithgow, George NSW 1260 3 25:D 35:W 4:L 23:W 16:L 9:L 31:D
27 Groenhout, Ron NSW 1702 3 30:W 2:L 41:W 10:L 20:L 14:L 40:W
28 Bonjekovic, Tom NSW 1435 3 2:L 30:L 29:W 32:W 11:L 40:W 18:L
29 Miranda, Adrian NSW 1305 3 3:L 18:L 28:L 33:W 41:W 37:W 15:L
30 Charles, Jeremy NSW 1200 3 27:L 28:W 19:L 18:L 38:W 39:W 20:L
31 McGuirk, Michael NSW 1241 3 22:L 21:D 20:L 35:W 23:L 41:W 26:D
32 Parker, Trent NSW 1168 3 11:L 37:L 33:W 28:L 34:W 42:W 19:L
33 Deacon, Graeme NSW 1372 3 17:L 10:L 32:L 29:L 35:W 43:W 36:W
34 Vidler, Peter J NSW 1332 3 13:L 44:L 42:L 43:W 32:L 0:W 39:W
35 Behne-Smith, Jonathan NSW 777 2.5 0:D 26:L 21:L 31:L 33:L 38:W 42:W
36 Behne-Smith, David NSW 1288 2 14:L 20:W 11:L 24:L 44:W 18:L 33:L
37 Losh, Gary NSW 1409 2 12:L 32:W 17:L 42:W 24:L 29:L 25:L
38 Nemeth, Bela L NSW 1389 2 4:L 43:W 22:L 20:L 30:L 35:L 0:W
39 O'Brien, Theresa NSW 1400 2 7:L 42:W 13:L 41:W 14:L 30:L 34:L
40 Tyler, Jason NSW 1356 2 6:L 24:L 43:W 44:W 19:L 28:L 27:L
41 Chiddy, Lance NSW 642 2 0:W 25:L 27:L 39:L 29:L 31:L 43:W
42 Behne-Smith, Sarah NSW 786 1.5 19:L 39:L 34:W 37:L 0:D 32:L 35:L
43 Scaife, Jeff NSW 600 1 23:L 38:L 40:L 34:L 0:W 33:L 41:L
44 Escribano, Jose NSW 1574 1 8:L 34:W 16:L 40:L 36:L 0: 0: