The Friendly Club!
The St George Chess Club prides itself on a diverse membership with a range of chess abilities. We foster a social atmosphere for players of all ages and abilities.
The club runs regular internal club competitions and participates in interclub tournaments. More information about the activities can be found from the calendar.
Club Games: 7:30pm Tuesday nights, Prince Edward Rooms, St George Leagues Club, 124 Princes Highway, Kogarah NSW
News
The Joy of Chess
Geoff Hyde (photos by Samuel and Peter Slingo)
Chess has been experiencing a huge surge in popularity since the Queen’s Gambit series and the pandemic. One factor in this phenomenon has been the people, like Levy Rozman, Hikaru Nakamura and Daniel Naroditsky -to name just a few- who know how to make chess seem cool and fun. At St George (and the Sydney Academy of Chess, SAC) we have our own Pied Piper of the Royal Game, John-Stuart Plant. One of his many inspirational contributions has been the running of the annual Intergenerational Chess Tournament, in conjunction with the Georges River Council, the SAC, and our own club.
Last Saturday, April 20, saw the fourth iteration of the event, and despite a late change to an indoor venue to avoid the rain, it ran more enjoyably, and more crazily (in the best possible sense), than ever before. JSP was there to MC the fireworks, and to assail us all with a minimum of two truly terrible chess jokes between each of the six rounds. Chess luminaries such as past Oz Chess Champ, Fred Flatow, and GM Ian Rogers, either took part or simply savored the total absence of serenity and sanity. In the topsy-turviness of it all, not only did I end up with a higher score than our infinitely more talented club captain, Charles Zworestine, but so did our much loved Samuel Slingo. Just what voodoo spells did JSP cast?
Nevertheless, by some appalling accidents of fate, the podium places went to some truly gifted players, all from St George. JSP assures me this will never happen again.
St George Players at the InterGenerational Tournament
Khishigbaatat Bayasgalan. 1st. 6/6
Satwait Rewais 2nd 5.5/6
Anthony Karnaout equal 3rd. 5/6
Stevo Acevski. = 9th. 4.5/6
Arthur Huynh. = 9th. 4.5/6
Geoff Hyde = 9th. 4.5/6
Ashton Li = 16th. 4/6
Samuel Slingo = 16th. 4/6
Huey Teng = 16th. 4/6
Elijah Udovitch = 16th 4/6
John Parissis = 16th. 4/6
Sait Buzgan. = 16th. 4/6
Charles Zworestine. =. 32nd 3.5/6
Dimitrios Gourlas. = 36th. 3/6
Ralph Shaw. = 36th. 3/6
Sam Sharkawy. = 63rd. 2/4
Srijan Badam = 78th. 1/4
Sometimes Players
Changhao Yu. Eql 3rd. 5/6
Leo Xu. 5/6
Bruce Urdanegui 4.5/6. = 9th
Round 5 of the 2024 Club Champs
Khishigbataar Bayasgalan (4.5/5) has kept the lead in Division One, with a slender lead of a half-point from John-Stuart Plant. There are quite a few adjourned games in that division though, and the results of those matches could rock the boat when they are played.
Division Two sees Michael Babic and Brian Allison sharing the lead on 3.5, with Graham Saint and Ted Power sitting back on 3. Beydoun Ghassan on 3.5 leads Volkan Soker on 3 in Division Three, with many players lurking on 2.5. It’s Ashton Li in the lead in Division Four, with 3 points, with Sam Sharkawy and Kevin Liu just behind on 2.5. Again, there’s a heap of players waiting to pounce on 2. In Division Five, Huey Teng retains his perfect record, 5/5, leading Peter Swinton on 3 and Aaron Hu on 3. The Division Six deadlock continues with Stephen Manwarring and Ken Eldridge both sitting on 4.5, leading Ethan Currie (3) and Samuel Slingo (2). Zach Lee also keeps his lead in Division Seven, on 4.5, with Anujin Soo on 3.5, and Robert Roszkowski and Dimitrios Gourlas on 3.
Round 4 of the 2024 Club Champs
Khishigbataar Bayasgalan, fresh from finishing as the top-scoring female in the Doeberl Cup, had her third win of the tournament, and maintains her Division One lead with 3.5/4. Close behind is John-Stuart Plant on 3, and Jeremy Plunkett has moved up to sole third on 2.5.
Division Two has three club veterans all in the lead on 3/4: Graham Saint, Michael Babic and Brian Allison. Ted Power still has chances, sitting half a point behind. In Division 3, Ramu Srinirasa now leads on 3/4, with Ghassan Beydoun on 2.5, and Volkan Soker a further half-point back. Division Four is the closest fought of all, with the leader, Sam Sharkawy only on 2.5, and then four players behind him on 2: Ashton Li, Robert Fenton-Lee, Kevin Liu and Darren Curtis. In contrast, Division 5 Five sees the biggest lead of all: Huey Teng, with the only perfect score of the tourney (4/4), leads Peter Swinton on 2.5, with Ralph Mitchell, Aaron Hu and Nihal Scammell all equal on 2. Stephen Manwarring and Ken Eldridge drew in Round 4, and thus became co-leaders of Division 6 (3.5/4), with Ethan Currie on 3 and Samuel Slingo on 2. It’s most youth in Division 7, with young Zach Lee leading the pack on 3.5; being him are Robert Roszkowski and Dimitrios Gourlas on 3 and Anujin Soo on 2.5.
Upcoming Events at St George & elsewhere
Chatswood Checkmate Allegro: Sunday May 19
A new event on the NSWCA calendar: a 7 round Swiss with a time control of 10 minutes each per game plus 5 seconds per move. It will be held in the foyer of The Concourse, Chatswood’s prime entertainment venue. Full details here and you can register here.