The Bendigo Chess Club meets every Wednesday night from 7:15pm in the Burnett Dining Room at La Trobe University's Bendigo Campus - as of 4th January 2012, this venue will change to Toorak House. 135 Mollison St, Bendigo. Juniors and new members welcome.
Nigel Barrow & Stewart Booth tie for equal first in Victorian Country Chess Championship
Stewart Booth, (left) & Nigel Barrow, (right) are presented the trophy by Victorian Rural Chess League President, Kevin Perrin (Centre)
Eighteen players travelled to Swan Hill to compete un the Victorian Country Chess Championship held at Swan Hill (8th & 9th October, 2011), the event finished in a tie for equal first between Bendigo Chess Club’s Nigel Barrow and many times winner, Dr Stewart Booth.
Bendigo Club Champion, Leigh Healey also had a good tournament, tying equal 3rd-4th with 11 times Sri Lankan women’s champion, Vineetha Wijesuriya.
Full tournament write-up, results, games, photos and history of the tournament can be found on the VRCL page of the Ballarat Chess club website.http://www.ballaratchess.com/vrcl/vindex.html
2011 Bendigo Chess Club champion Leigh Healey takes on Ballarat’s James Watson in round one – the game finished in an exciting draw.
Ballarat v Bendigo Kevin Perrin takes on Bendigo Club President, Max Mollard in the background, while Dr David Schepisi enjoys a joke with Vineetha Wijesuriya in the foreground.
Equal third – Vineetha Wijesuriya is presented with her prize, while Patrick Cook (Ballarat) and last year's co champion, Russell Murray (Stony Creek) look on.
2011 Club Championship won by Leigh Healey!
Round 5
( 10th August 2011)
Congratulations to Leigh Healey, who is the 2011 Bendigo Chess Club Champion after winning his game in the final round against Nigel Barrow last night. This is the sixth time Leigh has won the Club Championship, first winning it in 1980, and last winning it in 2001.
Leigh went into the final round as tournament leader on 3 points, needing only a draw to ensure at least a tie for equal first, but looked in trouble early on, after losing tempi early on in the Black side of a Caro Kann defence. Nigel was able to set up a strong attacking position and win a central pawn, however Leigh managed to simplify the position and blockade the central passed pawn, eventually winning it back – pushing for the win, Nigel made a tactical mistake allowing Leigh to capitalise and win the exchange – the material advantage being enough to secure victory.
In other games, Andre Sardone on 2.5 points found himself on the Black side of a Sicilian Alapin needing to win against David Schepisi. However David advanced a pawn and Andre soon found his knight with no escape square. As compensation for the piece, the White pawn structure was dislocated and there were some open lines for active piece play, however David defended well, and was able to capitalise on his material advantage.
Ken Czuczman employed the solid French Defence against Max Mollard, and seemed to be winning the battle on the Queenside, however, Max managed to breakthrough with a pawn advance on the Kingside to secure victory.
Results Round 5
No Name Result Name
1 Max J Mollard 1:0 Ken Czuczman
2 David Schepisi 1:0 Andre Sardone
3 Nigel Barrow 0:1 Leigh Healey
Standings
Place Name Feder Loc Score
1 Healey, Leigh VIC 1666 4
2-4 Schepisi, David VIC 1716 2.5
Mollard, Max J VIC 1620 2.5
Sardone, Andre VIC 2.5
5 Barrow, Nigel VIC 1901 2
6 Czuczman, Ken VIC 1452 1.5
Cross Table
No Name Feder Rtg 1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Barrow, Nigel VIC * L W L W L
2. Healey, Leigh VIC W * W W W -
3. Schepisi, David VIC L L * W D W
4. Mollard, Max J VIC W L L * W D
5. Czuczman, Ken VIC L L D L * W
6. Sardone, Andre VIC W + L D L *
In the Reserves, Paul Jackson secured victory by playing his game in advance against Lyle Pyers. This is the first time Paul has won this tournament, and is a fitting farewell result (Paul will be leaving the Club soon to take up employment in Queensland).
In other games, Nick Pitson got off to a terrific start against Jos Duivenvoorden, unleashing a devastating pin to win the Black Queen for a Bishop, and looked to be slowly breaking down Black’s defensive pawn chain. Somehow, Jos managed to get back into the game, and later turned the tables find a Rook and Knight checkmate.
Terry Mills, fresh from his experience in the Oceania Seniors tournament, played solidly against Sam Rendell, reaching an endgame a pawn ahead. With some imaginative play, Sam managed to simplify down to just pawn versus pawn, with both players managing to promote to their pawn to a Queen. A draw was soon agreed when it appeared that the Queens would be forcibly exchanged.
Results Round 5
No Name Result Name
1 Paul Jackson (5) 1:0 Lyle Pyers (4)
2 Terry Mills (11) .5:.5 Sam Rendell (2)
3 Nick Pitson (8) 0:1 Jos Duivenvoorden (10)
4 Iain Aitken (3) 1:0 BYE
Final Standings
Place Name Score
1 Jackson, Paul 4.5
2 Rendell, Sam 3.5
3-4 Mills, Terry 3
Duivenvoorden, Jos 3
5-6 O'Connor, Peter 2.5
Pyers, Lyle 2.5
7 Aitken, Iain 2
8-9 Gleeson, David 1
Sawers, Joe 1
10-12 Pitson, Nick 0
Dowd, Jason 0
Smith, River 0
Thank you to all competitors, organisers and spectators who helped make it an enjoyable and friendly championship.
Upcoming Weeks:
Wed Aug 17th: Winter Allegro,
Wed Aug 24th Annual General Meeting followed by a Blitz tournament,
Wed Aug 31st Round 1, Pre Country Vic Championships
Round 4
( 3rd August 2011)
Round 4 of the Club Championship and Reserves was conducted last night
Leigh Healey shot to the lead in the Club Championship, eventually overcoming Max Mollard’s Archangel Defence to the Ruy Lopez. Under time pressure, Max missed a chance to save his Bishop with check. The critical moment occurred just a few moves later when, in a Queen & Rook endgame Max, who had been under extreme time pressure for quite a few moves, overlooked a threat that cost a rook. Earlier in the evening, David Schepisi resigned after overlooking a move from Nigel Barrow which threatened mate and the Black Queen, the only way to avoid immediate disaster was to lose a bishop. In the remaining game, Ken Czuczman chalked up his first victory for the tournament when Andre Sardone played a move he thought was winning a piece, however the wily former champion found a move that immediately turned the tables and won the exchange – the resulting material advantage was handled well and Andre never had a chance to get back into the game.
Results Round 4
No Name Result Name
1 Leigh Healey 1:0 Max J Mollard
2 Nigel Barrow 1:0 David Schepisi
3 Andre Sardone 0:1 Ken Czuczman
Standings after 4 rounds.
Place Name Feder Rtg Loc Score
1 Healey, Leigh VIC 1666 3
2 Sardone, Andre VIC 2.5
3 Barrow, Nigel VIC 1901 2
4-6 Mollard, Max J VIC 1620 1.5
Czuczman, Ken VIC 1452 1.5
Schepisi, David VIC 1716 1.5
This makes the final round results interesting: If Leigh wins next week, he wins the Club Championship, if he only draws, Andre can tie for equal first if he achieves a victory over David. Finally, if Leigh loses and Andre draws, we could see a three way tie for first, which has never happened before in living memory of the tournament!
Round 5 (August 10):
No Name Result Name
1 Max J Mollard : Ken Czuczman
2 David Schepisi : Andre Sardone
3 Nigel Barrow : Leigh Healey
Meanwhile, going into the final round of the Reserves, Paul Jackson is half a point clear of the fast finishing Sam Rendell. Sam won his game convincingly against Peter O’Connor, fighting back from a pawn down and exploiting his opponent’s failure to castle. Paul won a long minor piece endgame against Jos Duivenvoorden, with Bishops & Knights shuffling to and fro. Jos gave up a knight for two connected passed pawns, but Paul’s two Bishops, in concert with the King were able to blockade the pawns. The threat of promoting an advanced outside passed pawn was enough to convince Jos to resign. In the other games, Nick Pitson was defeated by Terry Mills and Jason Dowd’s outside passed pawn wasn’t strong enough to defeat David Gleeson’s extra rook. In the final game to finish, Lyle Pyers played a sparkling attack against Iain Aitken, before deciding to eschew a quick win by checkmate, preferring instead to go into a long endgame tantalising his opponent by sacrificing minor amounts of his material advantage to simplify the position. In the end a threatened pawn promotion was enough to convince his opponent to lay down his King.
Results Round 4
No Name Result Name
1 Peter O'Connor (1) 0:1 Sam Rendell (2)
2 Jos Duivenvoorden (11) 0:1 Paul Jackson (5)
3 Lyle Pyers (4) 1:0 Iain Aitken (3)
4 Nick Pitson (8) 0:1 Terry Mills (13)
5 Jason Dowd (6) 0:1 David Gleeson (9)
Standings After 4 Rounds
Place Name Score
1 Jackson, Paul 3.5
2 Rendell, Sam 3
3-5 O'Connor, Peter 2.5
Mills, Terry 2.5
Pyers, Lyle 2.5
6 Duivenvoorden, Jos 2
7-9 Aitken, Iain 1
Gleeson, David 1
Sawers, Joe 1
10-14 Dowd, Jason 0
Pitson, Nick 0
Smith, River 0
The proposed draw for next week is as follows. Both Peter and Paul are going away so hopefully they can organise to play their respective games before they leave.
Proposed draw Round 5 Reserves Club Championship:
1 Jackson, P (8) : Pyers, L (4)
2 Mills, T (10) : Rendell, S (2)
3 Aitken, I (6) : O'Connor, P (1)
4 Gleeson, D (13) : Duivenvoorden, J (9)
5 Pitson, N (12) : Dowd, J (3)
Round 3
(27 July 2011)
In the main Championship, Max Mollard had a splendid win against Nigel Barrow, employing a combination involving a knight sacrifice discovering an attack on his opponent’s Queen, whilst threatening a discovered check on the next move, while David Schepis and Ken Czuczman agreed to a draw in a rook and pawn endgame where Ken was a pawn up, but could make no headway. Leigh Healey was unable to arrange his game with Andre Sardone before leaving for interstate, so lost the game on forfeit. With two rounds to go, this makes things very interesting. Andre is half a point ahead of Leigh, but faces tough games against Ken and David in the next two rounds. A loss by Andre or Leigh next week could see David and Max come into contention!
Results Round 3:
No Name Result Name
1 Max J Mollard 1:0 Nigel Barrow
2 Leigh Healey -:+ Andre Sardone
3 David Schepisi .5:.5 Ken Czuczman
Standings after Round 3: Place Name Feder Rtg Loc Score
1 Sardone, Andre VIC 2.5
2 Healey, Leigh VIC 1666 2
3-4 Mollard, Max J VIC 1620 1.5
Schepisi, David VIC 1716 1.5
5 Barrow, Nigel VIC 1901 1
6 Czuczman, Ken VIC 1452 0.5
Round 4 Next Week (August 3):
No Name Result Name
1 Leigh Healey : Max J Mollard
2 Nigel Barrow : David Schepisi
3 Andre Sardone : Ken Czuczman
Round 5 (August 10):
No Name Result Name
1 Max J Mollard : Ken Czuczman
2 David Schepisi : Andre Sardone
3 Nigel Barrow : Leigh Healey
Meanwhile in the Reserves, Paul and Peter agreed to a draw on top board, Sam was too strong for Iain, Jos overcame Jason’s defence and in a topsy-turvy game, Terry & Lyle agreed to a draw.
No Name Result Name
1 Paul Jackson (5) .5:.5 Peter O'Connor (1)
2 Sam Rendell (2) 1:0 Iain Aitken (3)
3 Terry Mills (13) .5:.5 Lyle Pyers (4)
4 Jos Duivenvoorden (11) 1:0 Jason Dowd (6)
5 Joe Sawers (7) 1:0 Nick Pitson (8)
Leading Scores:
Place Name Feder Rtg Loc Score
1-2 O'Connor, Peter 1329 2.5
Jackson, Paul 1206 2.5
3-4 Duivenvoorden, Jos 1110 2
Rendell, Sam 1286 2
5-6 Mills, Terry 1070 1.5
Pyers, Lyle 1222 1.5
Round 2
(23 July 2011) Round 2 of the Chamionships were played last week, with a small field participating in the Reserves. Leigh Healey won material early, soon winning quickly against Ken Czuczman. Max Mollard won a pawn early in the opening against David Schepisi, however, David slowly managed to turned the tables, eventually winning in a rook and pawn endgame by creating an unstoppable, supported, advanced passed pawn. In a highly original game featuring unusual middlegame complications, Andre Sardone exploited control of the a7-g1 diagonal, preventing Nigel Barrow from castling, before utilising a queen fork combination to win a pawn. Nigel overlooked a pin allowing a second pawn to fall, and from then on, there was no counterplay.
Club Championship Results : Round 2
1 Max J Mollard 0:1 David Schepisi
2 Ken Czuczman 0:1 Leigh Healey
3 Nigel Barrow 0:1 Andre Sardone
In the Reserves, Peter O'Connor & Paul Jackson are leading the field, both with two wins.
Reserves Results : Round 2
1 Peter O'Connor 1:0 Jos Duivenvoorden
2 Paul Jackson 1:0 Terry Mills
3 Jason Dowd 0:1 Sam Rendell
4 Iain Aitken 1:0 Joe Sawers
5 River Smith 0:1 Lyle Pyers
Round 1
Round 1 of the 2011 Club Championship Finals are now underway and this year's top six features no fewer than 5 former champions. In Round 1, Andre Sardone got off to a good start reaching a queen & rook ending a pawn ahead against Max Mollard - Andre was short on time however, and Max gladly accepted his draw offer. Ken Czuczman played well on the White side of a Bg5 Nimzo Indian obtaining a strong attack early on, however one inaccuracy allowed Nigel Barrow to turn the tables. Reigning club champion, David Schepisi assayed his favourite Benko Gambit against Leigh Healey, who eventually broke through in the centre.
Results Round 1: (13 July, 2011)
Andre Sardone v Max Mollard 0.5 - 0.5
Ken Czuczman v Nigel Barrow 0-1
Leigh Healey v David Schepisi 1-0
Round 2 Next week (20 July, 2011):
Max Mollard v David Schepisi
Ken Czuczman v Leigh Healey
Nigel Barro v Andre Sardone
Meanwhile in the Reserves, Sam Rendell came unstuck with the "touch move" rule against Paul Jackson (announcing a bishop move before realising that Paul was threatening mate. Top seed Peter O'Connor had too many pawns in the endgame for Lyle Pyers, and Jos Duivenvoorden & Iain Aitken played a "titanic struggle" with Jos' queen, rook & 3 rawns versus Iain's queen, bBishop & 5 pawns. Iain eventually struck an iceberg when Jos managed to force the exchange of queens and promote a passed pawn.
Results Reserves Round 1:
1 Lyle Pyers v Peter O'Connor 0-1
2 Sam Rendell v Paul Jackson 0-1
3 Jos Duivenvoorden v Iain Aitken 1-0
4 Terry Mills 1:0 BYE
Next week's pairings dependent on additional players entering.
The Bendigo Chess Club meets every Wednesday night from 7:15pm in the Burnett Dining Room at Toorak House, 135 Molison St, Bendigo (entry via Maclaren St at rear). Juniors and new members always most welcome.