Round 6 Update from Parramatta

Thankfully, the 2008 Australian Chess Championship has ran fairly smoothly so far. But this afternoon our chief arbiter had to deal with a potential bombshell.

Joshua Christensen, playing against Bill Egan, was quite convinced that he had some 40-50 seconds left on his clock when he played 45. Rg1+. But to his dismay his time had struck zero just as he played the move. Charles Zworestine was called over to investigate to see if the clock was faulty. No problem was found. In the absence of any evident defect, Christensen had no choice but to accept that he'd lost on time.

By the way, Bill Egan informed me that his book on the history of the Doeberl Cup is coming along quite nicely. The original publication date was to be this year's Doeberl edition but we'll now have to wait until 2009. But even aiming for next year will still be quite tight, Bill tells me.

In another time-related issue, Andrew Furst, who had less than 60 seconds left against Victoria's Richard Voon (who had 25 minutes), suddenly got up from the board to request that the arbiter temporarily stop the clocks. His reason? He was absolutely dying to go to the toilet. Charles agreed to this request. Mr Voon, on the other hand, seemed unhappy but not too concerned except to query Charles' decision. The arbiter calmly explained that he was exercising his discretion to stop the clock and allow Mr Furst to relieve himself. We agree with Charles.

Some guys, though, just have enough trouble keeping on or with time either OTB or even away from it. Take David Hacche. This afternoon David settled for another draw. By his own admission, he just can't seem to win another game further adding, "But that was my own fault as I started 40 minutes late".

For our first featured encounter we have Gareth Charles trying out the Trompowsky. The opening didn't exactly turn out too well for Gareth and by the middle game it was all over.

Australian Chess Championships 2008
Charles, Gareth
Morris, Michael
A45

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 The Trompowsky. He'd already played this against Greg Canfell in the State Championships and won. 2...c5 3. d5 d6 4. Nc3 h6 5. Bf4 Qa5 6. Qd2 g5 7. Bg3 Nh5 8. e4 Bg7 9. Be2 Nxg3 10. hxg3 a6 11. Nh3 Qb4 12. O-O-O? Bxh3 13. Rxh3 Nd7 14. Re1 c4 15. Nd1?? Bxb2+ 16. Nxb2 c3 17. Qe3 cxb2+ 18. Kb1 Qxe1+ 19. Kxb2 Qb4+ 20. Kc1 Rc8 0-1

One of the best things about these kinds of big events is that they often attract the attendance of legends whose exploits some of us have only read about. For instance, I'd not previously seen a certain Douglas Hamilton in action, although I'm sure most of us have heard about this guy. Here is Mr Hamilton facing one of today's young talents Ronald Yu.

Australian Chess Championships 2008
Hamilton, Douglas
Yu, Ronald
D08

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 d4 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. a3 Nge7 6. g3 Ng6 7. Bg2 Be6 8. b3 Qd7 9. O-O O-O-O 10. Nbd2 Be7 11. Bb2 h5 12. h4 Ngxe5 13. b4 Nxf3+ 14. Nxf3 Bxc4 15. Rc1 Qe6 16. Re1 Bf6 17. Qc2 Bb3 18. Qd3 Bd5 19. Rc5 Ne5 20. Nxe5 Bxg2 21. Kxg2 Bxe5 22. Rec1 Rd7 23. b5 Re8 24. R1c2 g5 25. hxg5 h4 26. f4 Bd6 27. R5c4 hxg3 28. Qxd4 Qg4 29. e3 f6 30. f5 Qxf5 31. Qxf6 Qd5+ 32. Qf3 Qxg5 33. Bf6 Qxe3 34. Qxe3 Rxe3 35. R4c3 Rxc3 36. Rxc3 Rf7 37. Bh4 Rf2+ 38. Kg1 Rb2 39. Bxg3 Bxg3 40. Rxg3 Rxb5 41. Kf2 Re5 0-1

In the next game, ex-ACF man Paul Broekhuyse scores another point courtesy of NSWCA councillor Jason Hu. Quite a horrible game by the latter. "Couldn't be bothered" is how he characterised it.

Australian Chess Championships 2008
Broekhuyse, Paul
Hu, Jason
A44

1. d4 c5 2. d5 d6 3. e4 e5 4. f4 exf4 5. Bxf4 Qf6 6. Qc1 h6 7. Nf3 g5 8. Bg3 g4 9. e5 Qe7 10. Bb5+ Bd7 11. Bxd7+ Nxd7 12. Nh4 dxe5 13. O-O Qg5 14. Qe1 f6 15. Nc3 O-O-O 16. Ne4 Qh5 17. Qa5 Nb8 18. Rad1 Qf7 19. Bxe5 b6 20. Qc3 Rxd5 21. Qb3 Rd7 22. Qxf7 Rxf7 23. Bxb8 Kxb8 24. Ng6 Rhh7 25. Rd8+ Kc7 26. Rxf8 Rxf8 27. Nxf8 Rf7 28. Ng6 Kc6 29. Ne5+ 1-0

As I was walking around I happened to stop by the Bleicher - Escribano match. The former Sydneysider Escribano (he now resides in Melbourne) was just resigning and he did so with a smile. Once upon a time, he would have just abruptly leave the board and looking all grumpy. Today, however, he described the loss as a "humbling experience". Bleicher, you see, has apparently just had a quadruple heart bypass.

Here are a couple more interesting tidbits about our friend Jose Escribano. He once seriously aspired to becoming a grandmaster and also once abandoned a Victorian tournament for a woman!

Below are a rundown of today's results.

Main section
Pyke - Atzmon-Simon, draw
Suttor - Capilitan, draw
Charles - Morris, M - 0-1
Broekhuyse - Hu - 1-0
Booth - Oliver, draw
Hamilton - Yu, 0-1
Bjelobrk - Xie, 0-1
Lane - Boyd, draw
Lazarus - Illingworth, draw
Wei - Hacche, draw

Major
Viswanath - Jule, 1-0
Sheldrick - Korenveski, 1-0
Mandla - Fry, draw
Stojic - Eccles, 1-0
Hare - Watson, draw
Descallar - Viner, 0-1
Tulevski -Kim, 0-1

Keep an eye on the official site for further updates. Chief arbiter Charles Zworestine has actually been writing excellent daily summaries which are printed and displayed in the tournament venue. So far I've not seen these on the site but they should be available soon.