Asian Schools Chess Championship 2009_Final Result and Standing

In another twist of cruel, cruel fate, Mirakla Mithran missed out on a medal at the Asian Schools Chess Championship 2009 when she only managed to draw her last game. Going into the final Rd 9, there was a girl out on first with 7/8 and three girls on 6/8 including Mirakla. One of the three won and the other also drew while the leader won. So Mirakla ended up on joint third position with 6.5/9 but fourth on tie-break.

Mishael lost his last round game to finish the tournament with 3.5/9.

Congrats and commiseration to Mirakla.

Asian Schools Chess Championship 2009

Just by chance whilst looking for the results of the Asian Indoor Games, I came across this tournament, Asian Schools Chess Championship 2009, in Chess-Results.com. It is being held from the 6th to 23rd December 2009 at the Ceylon Continental Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka. The tournament has U7 Open, U7 Girls, U9 Open, U9 Girls, U11 Open, U11 Girls, U13 Open, U13 Girls, U15 Open, and U15 Girls. In some divisions, the number of participants are quite small and as expected, majority of players are from the home federation, Sri Lanka.

Australia has two juniors, siblings from Sydney, in the event. Mirakla Mithran (Fide Elo 1595) is playing in the U13 Girls (12 participants) and is second seed. Her younger brother, Mishael Chellappah, is competing in the U9 Open.

Mirakla is joint second with one more round to be played and is sitting on 6/8 (+5 =2 -0, the loss was to the top seed, S Pramodhi Sathya from Sri Lanka (Fide Elo 1642)). She plays the 7th seed, Sri Lankan Samadhini Pinto (who has 3.5/8). But everyone else in the top half had played each other and is having an easy game (in theory) in last round.

Mishael has 3 wins and a draw and is 3.5/8 with one last round to go.

The NSWJCL 2009 EOTY Round-Robin Weekender_Report

Well, I survived my first tournament as tournament organiser. We began the day with a perfect 24 entries making the magical 3 divisions of 8 players each in a round-robin. Within 10 minutes we lost one player and we had to have the dreaded bye. On the whole the tournament ran smoothly with Arbiter, FM Brett Tindall as captain.

The full results and crosstables can be found here, here and here.

In Div 1, John Papantoniou emerged the winner with Nicholas Deen-Cowell second and half-a-point behind. John had a scare in the very first round when he could only draw with the bottom seeded player in Div 1, Dylan Siow-Lee. But John recovered and despite dropping a game to Pasan Perera (who came 3rd) and in spite of changing his white opening repertoire mid-way (and trying something different), edged ahead of Nicholas. Nicholas was held to one draw too many.

In Div 2, Aran Sandrasegaran had to defeat George Li in the last game to win first prize. Aran had something of a scare in the game against young Noah Gong when in a winning position, he dropped a rook. Luckily he kept his cool and duly proved that 5 pawns (including a dangerous passed pawn) is just too many for a rook and bishop to handle. Brothers from Gosford, Michael and Paul Russell, had a sibling decider and Paul emerged the winner. Michael's excuse, ahem! was that he was feeling a bit unwell. :) :) :) Paul claimed 3rd prize.

In Div 3, we saw the emergence of a possible new star on the firmament of NSW junior chess, when young Kevin Willathgamuwa scored a picket fence result of 7/7. Kevin is only 5 years old! Watch out the world!

My thanks to all juniors who participated and parents who patiently waited. There were some lessons learned and hopefully changes will be made to improve the next edition of the NSWJCL EOTY R-R tournament.

The NSWJCL 2009 EOTY Round-Robin Weekender

I am most embarrassed to mention that I have been planning this EOTY R-R tournament for NSWJCL juniors but forgot to publicise on this blog. There I was, a week ago, frantic with worry, almost tearing my hair out, chewing off my nails, thinking "I have to cancel, I have to cancel" like a new age mantra (on the contrary). But what has come together today is the reason why I believe in a god! As the muslims say, "god is good!" and "god is merciful". The tournament will run tomorrow with 3 rated divisions of 8 players in a round-robin. Here was the original info:

The NSWJCL 2009 EOTY Round-Robin Weekender
(for JCL 600+ juniors) (in rated divisions of 8 players each)

Date: Saturday 19th December (4 rounds) and Sunday 20th December (3 rounds)
Venue: Sydney Academy of Chess, Level 1, 30a George Street, Burwood (approx. 2 minutes' walk from Burwood Railway Stn)
Time control: 60 mins + 10 secs increment (from move 1) (60' + 10" Fischer)
Entry Fee: $30

You will be playing other juniors of comparable strength at serious time controls. Recording of moves is mandatory. This tournament is suitable for juniors intending to proceed to adult tournaments or as warm up to the 2010 Australian Junior Championships or for juniors just wanting good serious yet fun games of chess.

Eligibility: Players must be members of the NSW Junior Chess League and under the age 18 as on the first day of the tournament.
Prizes: Chess book vouchers for 1st and 2nd placing in every division (dependant on entries).

And I forgot to mention in the original flyer the starting time: It is 9:00 am registration for 9:30 am start. Arbiter is FM Brett Tindall (he did query the early start but I wanted as early finish as possible with the time controls).

And due to the healthy number of entries, I may be able to do more in the area of prizes. We will see once I work out the final figures.

If you are in the area, feel free to drop in and play some blitz or rapid. Brett has also set up some chinese chess if you feel adventurous.

New Sponsorship Deal for Australian Junior Chess

This just landed in my gmail inbox from AusJCL V-P, GM Ian Rogers:

New Sponsorship Deal for Australian Junior Chess

15th December 2009

Australian junior chess, already feting their first World Champion in Melbourne’s Bobby Cheng, has a new reason to celebrate with the signing of a new sponsor for the national chess Junior Elite Training Squad, JETS.

The JETS squad, founded in 2000, features 30 of the best junior players from around Australia, with an emphasis on developing the skills of young talents of 14 years or less. Johns-Putra Limited has agreed to fully fund the 2010 JETS squad, including the national camp in Sydney in July.

Managing Director of Johns-Putra Limited, Geraldine Johns-Putra expressed her pleasure at the agreement struck with the Australian Junior Chess League, the organiser of the JETS squad; “As someone who has benefited tremendously from chess as a junior, I feel privileged to be in a position to do something for Australian juniors today. Many of the opportunities I gained through chess would not have been possible without the support of individuals who donated time and money. I wish all of the juniors in the JETS squad the best and hope that they learn and grow as much as they can from this wonderful initiative. "

Johns-Putra Limited is a London-based boutique legal consulting practice focussing on cross-border China mergers and acquisitions. Its mission is to help clients build bridges between China and the West and to secure success across cultures. It is committed to advancing cross-cultural business in China and is one of the few boutique legal consulting practices in cross-border corporate transactions in China.

The Australian Junior Chess League is dedicated to organising and promoting chess among young people around Australia. In January the AJCL will be backing the Australian Junior Championships in Hobart and later in 2010 will select players to represent Australia at the Asian and World Junior Championships.

For more information, please contact Geraldine Johns-Putra, on +44 (0)20 7286 7664 or at geraldine@johns-putra.com, or Ian Rogers, Deputy President AJCL, on +61 (0)416599230 or GMIanRogers@gmail.com ."

2009 Commonwealth Chess Championship_Round 9 and Final Standings

The last Round has been played and the post-mortem begins. Congratulations are in order for "Mighty" Max Illingworth who achieved a bronze medal in the Open division ahead of more highly rated players including 4 IMs (such as Malaysia's GM-aspirant IM Mas Hafizulhelmi) and 6 FMs. Also of deserving mention is Issac Ng who, I think, just missed out on a bronze medal and he came 4th on tiebreak but whose performance rating was nearly 100 points above his nominal rating going into the competition.

Other juniors head home reflecting on what might have been. Others will determine to do better the next time.

Commonwealth Open
Round 9 results:
FM Fernandez Daniel Howard SIN 2230 5 ½ - ½ 5½ CM Illingworth Max AUS 2211
Stojic Dusan AUS 2201 4 0 - 1 4 IM Konguvel Ponnuswamy IND 2444
Lazarus Ben AUS 2168 3 1 bye

Max Illingworth came joint 3rd and 3rd on tiebreak with 6/9. Well Done!!! TPR=2418!!!

Ben Lazarus came 18th with 4/9. TPR=2144.

Dusan also managed 4/9 and came 20th. TPR=2155.

Commonwealth U20/U16
Round 9 results:
Muralidhar Suraj IND 2079 5½ ½ - ½ 5½ Guo Emma AUS 1910
Grigg Sam AUS 1978 4½ 1 - 0 5 Chin Matthew Peter SIN 1954
WIM Jule Alexandra AUS 1945 4½ 1 - 0 4½ Yong Han Shawn SIN
Anjana Krishna S IND 1908 4 1 - 0 4 Feng Thomas AUS 1700
Ng Joshua AUS 0 3 1 - 0 3 Kanagarajah Abbie AUS

Emma Guo came joint 6th but 8th on tiebreak with 6/9. TPR=1818.

Sam Grigg came 11th with 5.5/9. TPR=1832.

Alexandra Jule came 13th also with 5.5/9. TPR=1721.

Thomas Feng was 28th with 4/9. TPR=1621.

Joshua Ng came 32nd also with 4/9. TPR=1394.

Abbie Kanagarajah came 43rd with 3/9. TPR=1449.

Commonwealth U12
Round 9 results:
Ng Isaac AUS 1641 6 1 - 0 5½ Muralidhar Satvik IND 1824
Gu Sean AUS 1837 5½ 1 - 0 5½ Fernandez Michael SIN 1806
Koh Cedric AUS 0 4½ 1 - 0 5 Yahaya Muhammad Nuriman MAS
Koh Clarise AUS 0 4 1 - 0 4 Yap Wan Lin MAS

Issac Ng came joint 2nd but 4th on tiebreak (7/9) (unlucky!!!). TPR=1749. Well done!

Sean Gu came joint 5th and 5th on tiebreak (6.5/9). TPR=1631.

Cedric Koh came 21st with 5.5/9. TPR=1683.

Clarise Koh came 33rd with 5/9. TPR=1397.

2009 Commonwealth Chess Championship_Rds 7 and 8 Results

Commonwealth Open
Round 7 results:
IM Ashwin Jayaram IND 2448 5 0 - 1 4 CM Illingworth Max AUS 2211
Thakur Akash IND 2368 3 1 - 0 3 Lazarus Ben AUS 2168
Tan Weiliang SIN 2168 2½ 0 - 1 2 Stojic Dusan AUS 2201

Round 8 results:
CM Illingworth Max AUS 2211 5 ½ - ½ 4 Lee Kim Han Edward MAS 2114
Lazarus Ben AUS 2168 3 0 - 1 3 Dole Anant RSA 2068
Stojic Dusan AUS 2201 3 1 bye

Commonwealth U20/U16
Round 7 results:
WIM Jule Alexandra AUS 1945 4 0 - 1 4 Harini S IND 2053
Grigg Sam AUS 1978 3½ 1 - 0 3½ Yuan Wei Ting SIN 1675
Soh Hong Han Isaak Ethan SIN 0 3½ 0 - 1 3½ Guo Emma AUS 1910
Feng Thomas AUS 1700 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ Kanagarajah Abbie AUS
Ng Joshua AUS 0 2 ½ - ½ 2 Koh Abigail SIN

Round 8 results:
WFM Ho En Huei Danielle SIN 1774 5 1 - 0 4½ Grigg Sam AUS 1978
Guo Emma AUS 1910 4½ 1 - 0 4 Jitendria Vels IND 1977
Cheng Jie Ling Zerlene SIN 1798 4 ½ - ½ 4 WIM Jule Alexandra AUS 1945
Toh Qin Kane MAS 0 3 0 - 1 3 Feng Thomas AUS 1700
Kanagarajah Abbie AUS 0 3 0 - 1 2½ Narayanan Renitha MAS
Lau Zechariah Sean SIN 0 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ Ng Joshua AUS

Commonwealth U12
Round 7 results:
Ng Isaac AUS 1641 5 0 - 1 5 WCM Ivana Maria Furtado IND 1859
Gu Sean AUS 1837 4½ 0 - 1 4½ Liu Yong Kang Samuel SIN 1741
Koh Cedric AUS 0 4 ½ - ½ 4 Tan Wei Hao MAS 1870
Koh Clarise AUS 0 3 1 - 0 3 Yeoh Hsin Ying Candice SIN

Round 8 results:
WFM Monisha Raja Jawahar SIN 1601 5 0 - 1 5 Ng Isaac AUS 1641
Chan Hiang Yong Gerald SIN 0 4½ 0 - 1 4½ Gu Sean AUS 1837
Muralidhar Satvik IND 1824 4½ 1 - 0 4½ Koh Cedric AUS
Gorak Rajesh IND 1355 4 1 - 0 4 Koh Clarise AUS

2009 Commonwealth Chess Championship_Quick Update

The Commonwealth Championships enters its absolute critical stage this morning at 12 noon AEST (9 am local time). It is the last round. I don't have time to summarise the results of Rds 7 and 8 but here is the lowdown on Australian juniors having medal chances.

Max is now joint 2nd and is second on tiebreak with 5.5/8. He plays Singaporean FM Daniel Howard Fernandez and needs to win to assure himself of a silver. The 3rd seed and leader, IM Enrique Paciencia of Singapore, is on 7/8 and cannot be caught and is assured of a first no matter the result of the last round.

Emma Guo in the U20/16 (5.5/8)has a very slim chance and so has Issac Ng (6/8).

Keep cheering even though you cannot follow any live games.

A US junior reflection on World Youth ......

I guess until Australian juniors begin to cultivate the habit of expressing themslevs in writing, I am beholden to the USCF ChessOnline for their great articles. Here is one from Abby Marshall, one of the very best player in the US (and I have blog about her and her column in ChessCafe previosly): click here.

A US Chess Father's Perspective ......

Somthing to break the monotony of juniors results. Here is a great article by the father (Mark Schein) of an USA junior participating in the Mational K-12 Scholastic chess championship: click here.

I do know that thanks to his success in chess, Aaron hates trophies and won’t carry them home. That's my job. It's ok, I don't mind explaining to the TSA at the security line that my son's a good chess player. The trophy also helps when the X-ray security technician jumps up and yells when she sees the little chess clock surrounded by dangerous looking pawns on her screen. I’m sure the clock and pieces look extremely threatening on the security screen. They should, that chess set has turned our lives upside down.

I can empathise with this after my own experience carrying a big trophy from Sweden back to Australia via Helsinki, Amsterdam, KL.

I'm hoping the weekend is calm and worry-free. Chess has settled into a nice rhythm for us over the last six months. Win or lose the games have been well played and relaxed. I'm sure all of that is about to change. Why will all of that change this weekend? It must be the parents. I think the parents have an internal desire to validate to themselves and others that all the work done during the year and all the adult tournaments played, pay off at the scholastics. Why can't it be the other way around: all the work at scholastics pay off when our kids play against adults? I guess it's because when our child beats an adult at a chess club, that adult’s parent is rarely sitting outside with me. I guess I need to be relaxed and the rhythm will continue.

2009 Commonwealth Chess Championship_Rds 3, 4, 5 and 6 Results

Six rounds have already been played and a few Australians are doing well, challenging for the top of their respective tables. One is Max Illingworth in the Open. Looking ahead to Rd 7, Max is joint 3rd and 3rd on tiebreak with 4/6 and a TPR of 2433 and for his hard work is rewarded with a Bd 1 clash with the top seed, IM Jayaram Ashwin (Indian) (2448). Alexandra Jule is now 5th in the U20 with 4/6. (But the group is topped by two U16 players. Not sure how it works and its implication for the U20. Will have to check the rules.) In the U12, we are doing well with Issac Ng now joint first with five others on 5/6. Sean Gu is half-a-point behind. Issac plays the very experienced and 2nd seed WCM Maria Furtada Ivana on Bd 1 while Sean plays a 1741 junior from Singapore on Bd 4.

Three more rounds to go and things are getting intense now. Australian juniors cannot afford to drop any more games now if they want to end up in medal positions.

BTW, my inside source at Commonwealth Championships confirmed that Alexandra Jule did win on forfeit because her opponent was not at the board at the start of the game pursuant to the zero-tolerance start forfeit.

Commonwealth Open
Round 3 was a good round with all three Australians winning and Max defeating the IM. So was Rd 4 where Dusan and Ben won and Max drew with a 2384 FM from Singapore. In Rd 5, against all titled opponents, only Max managed to win against an Indian FM rated 2274. Dusan could not complete a "triple result" against the Malaysian IM with whom Ben drew and Max defeated - Dusan lost. Ben lost to the same FM that Max drew the previous round. In Rd 6, the boys again faced titled opponents and both Max and Ben managed to draw their games while Dusan lost. Ben is now on 50% (3/6) while Dusan is a point behind.

Round 3 results:
IM Lim Yee-Weng MAS 2336 1 0 - 1 1 CM Illingworth Max AUS 2211
WIM Solomons Anzel RSA 1954 ½ 0 - 1 ½ Lazarus Ben AUS 2168
Koh Jonathan SIN 2211 0 0 - 1 0 Stojic Dusan AUS 2201

Round 4 results:
CM Illingworth Max AUS 2211 2 ½ - ½ 2 FM Chan Wei Xuan Timothy SIN 2384
Lazarus Ben AUS 2168 1½ 1 - 0 1 FM Lo Kin Mun Dominic SIN 2174
Stojic Dusan AUS 2201 1 1 - 0 ½ WIM Solomons Anzel RSA 1954

Round 5 results:
FM Chan Wei Xuan Timothy SIN 2384 2½ 1 - 0 2½ Lazarus Ben AUS 2168
FM Sauravh Khherdekar IND 2274 2½ 0 - 1 2½ CM Illingworth Max AUS 2211
IM Lim Yee-Weng MAS 2336 1½ 1 - 0 2 Stojic Dusan AUS 2201

Round 6 results:
CM Illingworth Max AUS 2211 3½ ½ - ½ 3 IM Gokhale Chandrashekhar IND 2259
Lazarus Ben AUS 2168 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ Lee Kim Han Edward MAS 2114
Stojic Dusan AUS 2201 2 0 - 1 2 Thakur Akash IND 2368

Commonwealth U20/U16
In Rd 3, it was 50% performance with Sam, Emma and Abbie winning their games. Round 4 did not turn out well, only Alexandra drew her game and Thomas won in an all-Australian clash with Joshua. Four Australians drew their game in Rd 5 while Emma won and Joshua got a full point courtesy of the zero-tolerance starting forfeit. Emma is continuing her good from by drawing in Rd 6 while Alexandra won another game and Abbie drew her game. Emma and Sam are on 3.5/6. Thomas and Abbie are on 2.5/6 while Joshua is on 2/6.

Round 3 results:
WIM Jule Alexandra AUS 1945 2 0 - 1 2 Udeshi Aditya IND 2330
Grigg Sam AUS 1978 2 1 - 0 2 Yong Han Shawn SIN
Feng Thomas AUS 1700 1 0 - 1 1 IM Lalith Babu M R IND 2460
Raja Aparna IND 1921 1 1 - 0 1 Ng Joshua AUS
Toh Qin Kane MAS 0 1 0 - 1 1 Guo Emma AUS 1910
Er Si Hui Vivian SIN 1688 ½ 0 - 1 ½ Kanagarajah Abbie AUS

Round 4 results:
Grigg Sam AUS 1978 3 0 - 1 3 Yashas Devappa IND 2119
Guo Emma AUS 1910 2 0 - 1 2 IM Lalith Babu M R IND 2460
Mar Teng Chou Nathan SIN 0 2 ½ - ½ 2 WIM Jule Alexandra AUS 1945
Kanagarajah Abbie AUS 0 1½ 0 - 1 1½ Bhuvaneshwari R IND 1666
Ng Joshua AUS 0 1 0 - 1 1 Feng Thomas AUS 1700

Round 5 results:
WFM Pujari Rucha IND 2060 3 ½ - ½ 3 Grigg Sam AUS 1978
WIM Jule Alexandra AUS 1945 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ Iskandar Bin Abdullah SIN 1839
Neo Xiuwen Christabel SIN 1798 2 0 - 1 2 Guo Emma AUS 1910
Feng Thomas AUS 1700 2 ½ - ½ 2 Lo Yin Ling Melissa SIN 1804
Chong Yan Meng MAS 0 1½ ½ - ½ 1½ Kanagarajah Abbie AUS
Goh Yen Fei SIN 0 ½ - - + 1 Ng Joshua AUS

Round 6 results:
Mohana Priya J IND 1988 3½ 1 - 0 3½ Grigg Sam AUS 1978
Tan Jun Feng MAS 1801 3 0 - 1 3 WIM Jule Alexandra AUS 1945
Guo Emma AUS 1910 3 ½ - ½ 3 Yong Han Shawn SIN
Yuan Wei Ting SIN 1675 2½ 1 - 0 2½ Feng Thomas AUS 1700
Kanagarajah Abbie AUS 0 2 ½ - ½ 2 Neo Xiuwen Christabel SIN 1798
Chan Yi-Jun Timothy SIN 1590 2 1 - 0 2 Ng Joshua AUS


Commonwealth U12
In Rd 3, the juniors did quite well, with Sean and Cedric winning their games and Issac drawing his. Sean kept winning in Rd 4 and Issac won his game as well. Sean and Issac, both played on Bd 1 and 3 respectively in Rd 5 and drew their games. The Kohs, Cedric and Clarise, bounced back to win their games. A great result for the round! Another good result in Rd 6 with Issac, Cedric and Clarise winning their games. Unfortunately Sean lost his first game. Cedric is doing well with 4/6 and Clarise is on 50% (3/6).

Round 3 results:
Gu Sean AUS 1837 2 1 - 0 2 Cheong Zhan Hao John SIN
Ng Isaac AUS 1641 2 ½ - ½ 2 Yick Benjamin Oliver SIN
Koh Cedric AUS 0 1 1 - 0 1 Srija Seshadri IND 1822
Sunyasakta Satpathy IND 1795 1 1 - 0 1 Koh Clarise AUS

Round 4 results:
Tin Jingyao SIN 0 3 0 - 1 3 Gu Sean AUS 1837
Fernandez Michael SIN 1806 2½ 0 - 1 2½ Ng Isaac AUS 1641
Ong Jun Xue Calvin SIN 1773 2 1 - 0 2 Koh Cedric AUS
Koh Clarise AUS 0 1 0 - 1 1 Cheong Ren Hao Jonathan SIN
Round 5 results:
Gu Sean AUS 1837 4 ½ - ½ 4 WCM Ivana Maria Furtado IND 1859
Ng Isaac AUS 1641 3½ ½ - ½ 3 Tan Wei Hao MAS 1870
Koh Cedric AUS 0 2 1 - 0 2 Wong Yi Chee MAS
Foo Zhi Yu Shawn SIN 0 1 0 - 1 1 Koh Clarise AUS

Round 6 results:
Lee Kai Jie Edward SIN 1775 4 1 - 0 4½ Gu Sean AUS 1837
Tin Jingyao SIN 0 4 0 - 1 4 Ng Isaac AUS 1641
Ow Jun Wai Ryan SIN 1681 3 0 - 1 3 Koh Cedric AUS
Chan Li Xuan Beverly SIN 0 2 0 - 1 2 Koh Clarise AUS

2009 Commonwealth Chess Championship_Rds 1 and 2 Results

On the whole, the Australian juniors did well yesterday at the 2009 Commonwealth Chess Championship with 2 rounds a day. The U12 did fantastically well with all 4 juniors winning their games!!!

Commonwealth Open
Max and Dusan lost their Rd 1 games but Ben did well to draw with a 2336 Malaysian IM. Max recovered to Rd 2 but Ben and Dusan lost in Rd 2. For Rd 3, Ben and Dusan are playing opponents either lower in rating or within 50 rating points whilst Max is playing the same Malaysian IM that drew with Ben.

Round 1 results:
IM Paciencia Enrique SIN 2424 1 - 0 CM Illingworth Max AUS 2211
FM Chan Wei Xuan Timothy SIN 2384 1 - 0 Stojic Dusan AUS 2201
IM Lim Yee-Weng MAS 2336 0 ½ - ½ 0 Lazarus Ben AUS 2168

Round 2 results:
Lazarus Ben AUS 2168 ½ 0 - 1 ½ IM Ashwin Jayaram IND 2448
CM Illingworth Max AUS 2211 0 1 - 0 0 Tan Weiliang SIN 2168
Stojic Dusan AUS 2201 0 0 - 1 0 Dole Anant RSA 2068

Commonwealth U20/U16
Alexandra, Emma and Sam won in Rd 1, Sam defeating Abbie. And it looks like Alexandra won on forfeit in Rd 2 on Bd 1 while Sam, Thomas and Joshua won their games and Abbie drew. There were two other forfeits and I noticed in the rules that it is zero-tolerance for the start of the game. Wonder if these three players fell foul of that "inane" (my opinion) rule. In Rd 3, Alexandra, Thomas and Joshua have tough games against notionally higher rated players.

Round 1 results:
Feng Thomas AUS 1700 0 - 1 Udeshi Aditya IND 2330
Grigg Sam AUS 1978 1 - 0 Kanagarajah Abbie AUS
Lau Zechariah Sean SIN 0 - 1 WIM Jule Alexandra AUS 1945
Lim Jing Hong MAS 0 - 1 Guo Emma AUS 1910
Iskandar Bin Abdullah SIN 1839 1 - 0 Ng Joshua AUS

Round 2 results:
WIM Jule Alexandra AUS 1945 1 + - - 1 IM Lalith Babu M R IND 2460
Guo Emma AUS 1910 1 0 - 1 1 Yashas Devappa IND 2119
Cheng Jie Ling Zerlene SIN 1798 1 0 - 1 1 Grigg Sam AUS 1978
Kanagarajah Abbie AUS 0 ½ - ½ 0 Chng Jiun Jing Pearle SIN 1739
Kok Han Yi SIN 0 0 - 1 0 Feng Thomas AUS 1700
Ng Joshua AUS 0 1 - 0 0 Chong Yan Meng MAS

Commonwealth U12
Forgot to mention yesterday that Sean is seeded third in the U12. In Rd 1, Sean and Issac won, Sean defeating Clarise. And what a fantastic result in Rd, with all 4 juniors winning their games!!! For Rd 3, Cedric and Clarise have tough games against ~1800s.

Round 1 results:
Koh Cedric AUS 0 0 - 1 0 WCM Ivana Maria Furtado IND 1859
Gu Sean AUS 1837 0 1 - 0 0 Koh Clarise AUS
Ng Isaac AUS 1641 1 - 0 0 Low Zhen Yu Cyrus SIN

Round 2 results:
Fam Jia En Victoria SIN 1 0 - 1 1 Gu Sean AUS 1837
Teo Ryan SIN 1 0 - 1 1 Ng Isaac AUS 1641
Tan Sheryl-Lynn SIN 0 0 - 1 0 Koh Cedric AUS
Koh Clarise AUS 0 1 - 0 0 Vikram Ravichandran SIN

2009 Commonwealth Chess Championship

The 2009 Commonwealth Chess Championship is currently underway in Singapore as part of the Singapore International Chess Festival 2009. Originally, the Commonwealth Chess Championship was scheduled for the 14th to 21st July 2009 but due to circumstances the Malaysian chess organisers were unable to hold the event in Ipoh, Malaysia.

The opening was yesterday and the first round begins today at 9:00 am (local time) which is 12 noon AEST (I think (?)).

Schedule is 10th December : Round 1 – 0900 hour;
Round 2 – 1600 hour

11th December : Round 3 – 0900 hour;
Round 4 – 1600 hour

12th December : Round 5 – 0900 hour;
Round 6 – 1600 hour

13th December : Round 7 – 0900 hour;
Round 8 – 1600 hour

14th December : Round 9 – 0900 hour;
Closing Ceremony – 1500 hour

The official website is here and the results can be followed here.

There are 3 Classes in the Commonwealth plus the Singapore Challengers for Fide rated 2200 and below.

Commonwealth Open
Australian juniors are Max Illingworth (NSW), Dusan Stojic (Vic) and Ben Lazarus (Qld).

Round 1 pairings:
IM Paciencia Enrique SIN 2424 vs CM Illingworth Max AUS 2211
FM Chan Wei Xuan Timothy SIN 2384 vs Stojic Dusan AUS 2201
IM Lim Yee-Weng MAS 2336 vs Lazarus Ben AUS 2168

Commonwealth U20/U16
Australian juniors are Thomas Feng (Vic), Sam Grigg (Qld), Abbie Kanagarajah (Qld), WIM Alexandra Jule (Qld), Emma Gua (ACT), and Joshua Ng (Vic).

Round 1 pairings:
Feng Thomas AUS 1700 vs Udeshi Aditya IND 2330
Grigg Sam AUS 1978 vs Kanagarajah Abbie AUS
Lau Zechariah Sean SIN vs WIM Jule Alexandra AUS 1945
Lim Jing Hong MAS 0 vs Guo Emma AUS 1910
Iskandar Bin Abdullah SIN 1839 vs Ng Joshua AUS

Commonwealth U12
Australian juniors are Cedric Koh (NSW), Sean Gu (NSW), Clarise Koh (NSW), and Issac Ng (Vic).

Round 1 pairings:
Koh Cedric AUS vs WCM Ivana Maria Furtado IND 1859
Gu Sean AUS 1837 vs Koh Clarise AUS
Ng Isaac AUS 1641 vs Low Zhen Yu Cyrus SIN

We have the unfortunate Rd 1 pairings of Aussie juniors against each other, Sam playing Abbie and Sean playing Clarise.

Note there are two other Australians playing in the Singapore Challenger but I suspect they are not juniors. They are James Attwood (2047) and Steven O'Reilly (1974).

Good Luck to everyone.

Australia's World Champion writes ......

Australia's World Champion in Chess, Bobby Cheng from Victoria, has written a report of his path to victory at the 2009 World Youth in Turkey recently. The link is here.

From the report, I would surmise the following as critical ingredients in any successful outing at international level:

1) stamina (5.5 hours to get a drawn game);
2) will to win and not say die (swindled a win);
3) good endgame technique;
4) less blunders than your opponents;
5) comeback from a loss,

And I like this advice from the coach at the World Youth, GM David Arutinian, when Bobby was planning for his last round game:

The following morning I found out I was playing top seed Suri Vaibhav, the highest rated U12 player in the world. I was considering playing for a draw but David said to me “you will not get this opportunity many times so you should play for a win even if it is risky”.

It seems that Bobby is presently being coached by GM Darryl Johansen as well as his former Kiwi coach, Ewen Green.

Bobby is currently playing in the 2009 Australasian Masters. You can follow the results here or here. Bobby Cheng faced GM Johansen in Rd 2 but the live game showed this as a 10-moves draw ??!!

Another junior playing is IM-elect James Morris.

Alexandra Kostenyuk_Interview 2......

This is a follow-up to my blog on Alexandra Kosteniuk's interview, reporting on yet another interview. It is also in response to a comment posted on the blog about the blitz game at the World Blitz Championship in which Kosteniuk defeated Judit Polgar. USCF's blogger/reporter Jennifer Shahade interviewed Kosteniuk and the Women World Champion provided annotations and background to the game with Polgar. You can read it here. Reading the annotations again reinforces the importance of endgame training for juniors. This is what Kosteniuk said:

In the first game of my mini-blitz-match with Judit I lost in an even knight endgame. In the second game we once again reached a knight endgame. That morning, my database crashed and I wasn't able to prepare any openings. So, I spent my preparation hours reading the recent chess review magazine "64" in which there was an article by GM Mikhail Kobalia about the recent Women's World Team championship in China. In this article Mikhail talks about a pawn endgame that arose in the game between Maria Muzychuk and Ju Wenjun. [......] The position in that game after 51...g5, curiously enough resembles the idea that helped me to win this game against Judit Polgar.

In the interview the Women World Champion had some advice for juniors (yet more advice, eh!?):

CLO: Do you think that blitz is good training for tournaments?
AK: I would say that it's the opposite, classical tournaments are good training for blitz.

CLO: What would you suggest to our young players for general training?
AK: I would say that results are a direct result of how much you train. Before the world championship I won in Nalchik last year, I had trained intensively six months, both on chess and on my physical form. Another thing I noticed is that if you haven't played in awhile, after you train a lot and get back into shape, don't expect your first tournament to be the best one ever, usually the first tournament is not so good, but the next one is much better. So my advice would be to start training hard both on chess and on sports, then play a training classical tournament, then your important classical tournament. And if all goes well after that, you'll be ready to play the blitz tournament of your life!

CLO: As an exceptional blitz player, do you have any tips for contenders in the K-12 if they encounter time pressure?
AK: Blitz chess is not the same as Classical chess, it is quite different. I would strongly advise any player to do anything he or she can to avoid time pressure. It's a fact that people make mistakes in time pressure. So be disciplined and play a little faster than your opponent. If you have more time than your opponent and you are nearing the time pressure zone, it's a significant advantage if you have more time. But if you do end up in time pressure, keep your senses, calculate fast, and verify it's not a blunder before playing. And if you're an exceptional blitz player, that's great, play all the blitz tournaments you can, especially those in which most of your opponents are stronger than you :-)

Now there was the ubiquitous question on fashion:

CLO: The clothing company Zimaletto sponsors you and I can't help but ask, what is the best outfit to play blitz in?

But you need to read the interview to know Kosteniuk's response.