Dear All,

First of all, apologies for my silence over the past few weeks! I was away for 10 days as DOP of tournaments on the Gold Coast and in Adelaide. As a result, I got behind in everything - I am only just now beginning to catch up...

Anyway, as a result, what you get this week is three bulletins in one! I will do Rounds 6, 7 and 8, but leave out any matches for which I do not have a report. (Apologies for this absence of some reports. Terence Wall, Peter Johansson and Jason Koh are all currently overseas... I will still give you the results for these)...

By the way, we are still doing great! Leading all divisions except mine (Under 2100). Yes, we are letting down the team - still in contention for second, though...


ROUND 6

Under 2100 St. George 2 Canterbury 2
1. Quentin Reitmans 2010 0-1 Ernesto Puzon 1965
2. James Watson 1923 0.5-0.5 Henk Jens 1867
3. Charles Zworestine 1942 0.5-0.5 Ahmed Faris 1813
4. Aina Musaeva 1915 1-0 David Lam 1702

Our usual topsy-turvy performance! Quentin was doing very well against Puzon, with superior activity and a powerful passed pawn - but as usual he misplayed it in time pressure, failed to push a passed pawn and ended up losing material to go down. James was much better out of the opening again, winning a pawn and seemingly headed for victory - till he gave back the pawn, and may well have been worse! Fortunately for him Henk swapped off queens. The resulting ending was fairly even, with either player needing to take risks to win - neither was prepared to do so, and so they agreed a draw. My game followed a similar pattern to my previous game with Faris, where I got a positional advantage (he had an isolated d-pawn) and kept swapping off all the way into a good knight vs bad bishop ending. At least, I thought it was good knight vs bad bishop - until his bishop got out, and I realised I was the one in zugzwang! From there I should have lost, especially since I was way down on time (down to my last 7 minutes or so) - and he got to dissolve his isolated d-pawn. But then my knight started hopping around; my opponent was careless, blundering a pawn to a knight fork; but I had insufficient time to win, so I sacrificed my knight to swap off all his pawns and the game settled into a draw. Aina was the only one who won convincingly, gradually building up a crushing attack and getting her pieces in to force mate. So, 2 all in the end - out of contention for first, and in a battle royale with Canterbury and Parramatta Blue for second place...

Under 1800 St. George Dragons 2 St. George Saints 2
1. Sarwat Rewais 1768 0.5-0.5 Robert Kovacs 1660
2. Andres Tejada Unrated 0.5-0.5 Chris Waterman 1603
3. Mirsad Zekic 1687 1-0 Kole Murgoski 1618
4. Dimitar Mojanovski 1720 0-1 Tom Tomas 1603

Report from Saints team captain Robert Kovacs - thanks Robert!
The two Under 1800 St George teams played each other this week and had (another) 2 all draw. I arrived nearly 10 minutes late this time (public transport!) and everyone else was already playing - a pleasant surprise as was Sarwat's courtesy in waiting for me. All the games seemed to be going along OK until disaster struck - for the Saints - Kole Murgoski failing to make the time control and losing on time to Mirsad Zekic. Mirsad has really speeded up his play! Some time later Chris Waterman and Andres Tejada agreed a draw seeing no way through after their position became very symmetrical and locked up. Next to finish was Tom Tomas' game against Dimitar, when Dimitar resigned due to an unstoppable mating attack after a long game. The last game to finish was mine and Sarwat's. It was a strange game with Sarwat blundering a pawn on move six and after I took it, I responded with my own blunder which led to queens and 2 pieces being swapped off and Sarwat regaining his pawn. And so, an endgame with 2 rooks and 2 pieces and most of the pawns commenced on about move 15 until we eventually agreed a draw on move 46 - with only one piece left but most of the pawns still on the board!

Under 1600 St. George Dragons 3 Rooty Hill 1
1. Peter Astorga 1643 0.5-0.5 Steven Jovanovic 1625
2. Brian Press 1542 0.5-0.5 Vedran Tobarac 1560
3. Geoff Britton 1510 1-0 Muhamed Buza 1569
4. Terence Wall 1506 1-0 Bill Herreros 1455

Report from Dragons team captain Terence Wall - thanks Terence!
For a change Peter was the last to finish, but it was still a very even game. Peter had a passed d-pawn plus bishop and e, f and g pawns. His opponent had e, f and g pawns and knight. The knight was menacing the pawns, and Peter tried some pretty sharp tactics to force a result before wisely settling for the draw.
Brian always looked safe with a Q + Ps ending and at one stage, to my excitement, made a move which would have led to mate in three only to be told politely by his opponent "Hey, it's my move not yours!". Brian blithely withdrew the move, but easily held the draw.
I thought Geoff's game was also dead, even when I glanced across from my game from time to time; but I was delighted at the last glance to see he was a rook + pawns vs pawns ahead, and he clinically dispatched his opponent.
I think I was fortunate in my game to play an opening in which my opponent played c5 and d5 in reply to my d4 and c4. I didn't seem to look back after 3.dxc5 d4 4.b4, and went on to retain the pawn. I then set a trap to capture his Q for two Ns, which he only avoided by yielding another pawn. When a third pawn came my way after forcing a queen swap, I won the exchange and he resigned.
I hope this 3-1 win helped peg back the lead Rooty Hill had over our young Saints (Angels?) Under 1600 team...

Under 1600 Parramatta 0.5 St. George Saints 3.5
1. Admir Kicic Unrated 0-1 John Papantoniou 1629
2. Trent Parker 1538 0-1 Jack Ruan 1557
3. Kazem Ata 1420 0-1 Harry Ruan 1459
4. Shane Burgess 1415 0.5-0.5 Sean Gu 1361

Report from Saints team captain Nellie Ruan - thanks Nellie!
The kids did pretty well this week. Our Board 1 Player John Papantoniou came a little bit late, but he finished the game very quickly, his opponent resigned in only 18 moves! I've asked John to write something about his game, hopefully he has already sent it to you. (He did - it was amusing! - addendum after this report - CZ).
Board 3 Harry Ruan finished his game second. In the opening it was roughly equal. Later, his opponent started blundering pawns and pieces. Then Harry smashed him. Harry had an easy game...
Board 4 Sean Gu was slightly better in the opening. But then he swapped off the pair of bishops and knights with Shane Burgess, and each remained with a queen, two rooks and six pawns on the board. The position was blocked up, and it started to become drawish. Sean and Burgess both could not break in, and so they agreed a draw.
Again Board 2 Jack Ruan finished the game last. Jack castled kingside, and Trent Parker castled queenside. They went into a locked middle game. Jack tried to make a counterattack on the queenside, while his opponent's pawns stormed. Eventually Jack's knights manoeuvered into the position and trapped Trent's queen, but Trent did a tactic and saved his queen. But Jack received two pieces for a rook. The problem was Jack's pieces were all on the back rank, and he had to give up a pawn to free them. Jack placed his pieces aggressively, and soon Trent's pieces were tied up to protect pawns. Then Jack played a cunning move which snatched an important pawn and created a passed pawn. Trent placed his rooks on the seventh rank threatening perpetual check. But Jack sacrificed his knight and let his pawn roam towards the queening square. Trent had to use his rook to guard the square, and Jack distracted it with a fork. Soon Jack had a queen and a decisive material advantage, and then Trent resigned.

Addendum from John Papantoniou: Dear Charles, this is my part of the report from the last game:
How To Beat A Kicic in 7 Minutes
Step 1: Go to Grandparents' house in Carlingford at 6:00 p.m.
Step 2: Leave for chess at 7:10
Step 3: Turn up 8 minutes late after getting trapped by a detour circle. (Obviously I don't count this time).
Step 4: Quickly borrow pen from Mrs Ruan after realising that I have forgotten to bring one. (Roughly 1 Minute)
Step 5: J. Papantoniou A. Kicic
1.e4 1:07 d6 1:15
2.d4 1:07 Nf6 1:14
3.Nc3 1:07 g6 1:14
4.Nf3 1:07 Bg7 1:14
5.Bc4 1:07 0-0 1:14
6.0-0 1:07 Bg4 1:14
7.h3 1:07 Bxf3 1:14
8.Qxf3 1:07 e5 1:14
(By playing at blitz pace we had caught up to all the other games. In addition, I was very happy that my opponent had played e5 before c6; and after thinking for 20 seconds, I came up with a trap based upon the idea that Kicic would continue to play innocuous and easy to find moves).
9.dxe5 1:06 dxe5 1:14
10.Bg5 1:06 h6? 1:14 (Ha ha. He fell for it!)
11.Rae1 1:06 Nd7? 1:14
(He could play hxg5 or Qxe1 and settle for the rook and bishop with a weak g5 pawn; this is what I expected. Now I just win two pieces for a rook).
(10. ...Qe7 11. Nd5! wins a piece or leaves Black with a horrible position after 11. ...Qc5! 12.Nxf6+ Bxf6 13.Bxf6 Qxc4 (because Black cannot deal with the queen attacking h6)).
12.Bxf6 1:06 Bxf6 1:14
Step 6: Have pen stop working and ask Mrs Ruan for another. (Another minute gone).
Step 7: J. Papantoniou A.Kicic
13.Rxd7! 1:05 Qxd7 1:14
14.Qxf6 1:05 c6 (a bit too late) 1:13
15.Re1 1:05 Qc7 1:13
16.Qxg6+ 1:05 Kh8 1:13
17.Qxh6+ 1:04 Kg8 1:12
18.Rd3! 1:04 Resigns 1:11
1 - 0
Step 8: Look at watch and note: start time 7:39 pm, end time 7:46 pm!
Step 9: Return pen.
Step 10: Call mum (who had not yet made it back to my grandparents' house), and tell her I am finished.
Step 11: Show game to Blair Mandla.
Step 12: Go home with mum.
My parting sentiment: The child who is last to arrive and first to leave is not lazy, but rather efficient at swindling!
Regards, John Papantoniou

Under 1400 St. George Dragons 1 Rooty Hill 3
1. Omar Taric 1361 1F-0F Ken Macgillivray 1421
2. Thierry Ollivain 1342 0-1 George Smit 1398
3. Peter Johansson 1335 0-1 David McDonald 1342
4. Henry Too 1314 0-1 David Van Look 1204

Brief Report by CZ - sad that Taric's forfeit was the only point the team got! It seems that Thierry and Peter got outplayed, although I did not really see their games. But Henry should have won, or at the very least claimed a draw if he knew the rules! He was up a queen for a bishop in a desperate time scramble, but an illegal move gave his opponent an extra two minutes. Then since he could not see how to win, he should have just swapped off his opponent's last pawn to draw (no mating material) - instead he ended up losing on time...

Under 1400 Parramatta 1.5 St. George Saints 2.5
1. Bob Sewell 1429 0-1 Cedric Koh 1222
2. David Beveridge 1292 0-1 Peng Yu Chen 1130
3. John Neville 1265 0.5-0.5 Clarise Koh 946
4. Mirakla Mithran 1057 1-0 Shirley Gu 842


ROUND 7

Under 2100 Parramatta Yellow 3 St. George 1
1. Nick Chernih 2072 1-0 Quentin Reitmans 2010
2. Blair Mandla 1942 1-0 James Watson 1923
3. Alex Mendes da Costa 1947 0.5-0.5 Aina Musaeva 1915
4. Chris Ray Brown 1741 0.5-0.5 Nick Radev 1870

I (CZ) was in Queensland, so I missed this match. James Watson (acting captain) told me the result when I rang him that night - not good! Apparently Quentin for once just got completely outplayed by Nick Chernih, while James played a bad opening to get into trouble against Blair Mandla. Even then he fought hard - the game went 51 moves - but found himself just one move short in the ending... Aina and Nick were better against their opponents, a rusty Alex Mendes da Costa and a lower rated Chris Ray Brown, but could not cash in, missed their chances and both ended up drawing. So we are definitely out of contention now, and struggling for second place...

Under 1800 Norths 1 St. George Dragons 3
1. Anthony Pickering 1774 1-0 Sarwat Rewais 1768
2. Fred Apcar 1734 0-1 Andres Tejada Unrated
3. Paul Glissan 1718 0-1 Nick Kordahi 1777
4. Stephen Javor 1740 0-1 Mirsad Zekic 1687

Under 1800 St. George Saints had the bye.

Under 1600 Norths Grizzlies 2.5 St. George Dragons 1.5
1. Frank Low 1547 0-1 Peter Astorga 1642
2. John Pepping 1534 1-0 Brian Press 1543
3. Norm Greenwood 1530 0.5-0.5 Geoff Britton 1510
4. Rex Simmonds 1518 1-0 Ludwig Wolf 1461

Under 1600 St. George Saints 2.5 North Sydney Brown Bears 1.5
1. John Papantoniou 1629 1-0 David Stern 1543
2. Jack Ruan 1557 1-0 Peter Creek 1542
3. Harry Ruan 1459 0-1 Michael Courtney 1500
4. Sean Gu 1361 0.5-0.5 Oscar Wang 1479

Report from Saints team captain Nellie Ruan - thanks Nellie!
This week Board 1 John Papantoniou finished his game first as usual. It seems he won easily. I've asked him to write something about his game for you (but John is slack as usual and has not done so! - CZ).
Board 3 Harry Ruan finished his battle second. In the opening, Harry pushed his pawn too far, and he could not defend his pawn because his opponent Michael Courtney had too many attackers. So Michael remained a pawn up. Harry tried to attack but he failed. Then Harry accidentally lost his rook by a tactical blunder. So Harry resigned. Poor Harry!
Board 2 Jack Ruan and his opponent Peter Creek headed into a casual opening of the positional d4 variety, except that Peter went completely off conventional repertoires! Peter as Black suffered minor drawbacks due to the fact that he had doubled pawns and Jack had the bishop pair. While Jack tried to develop his pieces into the fight, Peter swapped his knight for a bishop and allowed Jack to shift his h pawn and release his rook into battle. As the middle game took shape, Jack created an invincible outpost on b6, and his knight eyed Peter's territory. Peter managed to free himself of the doubled pawns by exchanging them, but exposing his king even further. Jack then played a positional break and forced his opponent to give away control of the c4 square, which ultimately would lead into d6. Peter tried to swap Jack's knight, but pinned himself. Finally Jack's rook swung into action and won a piece. Soon Jack's pieces united and led him into a forced mate.
Board 4 Sean Gu finished his game last. In the opening Sean had it slightly better due to the fact that he had more space. Then Sean was a pawn up. But Oscar Wang broke out and had a strong attack which cost a knight to defend. Due to the fact that Sean had two pawns pushed to the third rank, which gave Oscar a lot of threats, it was still not easy. So they swapped off the pieces and rooks, but Oscar blundered back a piece and Sean nicked another pawn. So only a few pawns and a pair of different coloured bishops remained on the board. Both of them couldn't break out, and a draw was agreed.

Under 1400 Norths 1 St. George Dragons 3
1. Hareesh Thippeswamy 1224 1-0 Omar Taric 1361
2. Paul Palmer 691 0-1 Rick Keuning 1358
3. Nicholas Little Unrated 0-1 Thierry Ollivain 1342
4. Michael Anderson Unrated 0-1 Peter Johansson 1335

Report from Dragons team captain Peter Johansson - thanks Peter!
On Tuesday night at North Sydney, I think a few of us in the St George Dragons Under 1400 team got a reminder of the danger of underestimating lower rated opponents. Mostly so Omar, who lost his game before I had any opportunity to see any of it! Omar didn't give me much details of what happened; so all I know is that he made a mistake that lost him his queen and he resigned.
At that stage I started to realise that the team was not in for an easy win at all! On Board 2 Rick Keuning was in all sorts of trouble, with his opponent threatening mate as well as threatening to win material. On Board 3 Thierry was still equal in material with Nicholas Little, and on Board 4 I (Peter) felt that my unrated opponent had the better position when we went into the middlegame.
Luckily things soon started to go our way: Rick managed to escape the mating threats, although the North Sydney player did get a pawn and exchange advantage. Thierry's opponent started to give away pieces for free, and my opponent had failed to make the most of his positional advantage in the middlegame. He had allowed me to swap off most of the pieces and to go into a knight and pawn endgame with equal material, in which my knight and king were better placed than his.
Thierry's opponent resigned when a single rook was his only remaining piece, whilst Thierry had all his pieces apart from a knight left on the board! Rick, who still at this stage was the exchange and a pawn down, was probably the luckiest of us this night. I recall looking at his game and noted that if it wasn't for one of Paul Palmer's bishops, Rick would be able to fork the North Sydney player's king and queen. I didn't see Paul's next move; but Rick told me that his opponent had fallen for a simple trick and moved his bishop to capture one of Rick's pieces, which meant that the way was now open for Rick's knight to fork the king and queen. Rick had an easy win from then on...
I was the last one to finish. Michael made it fairly simple for me by making a couple of questionable moves in the endgame. He resigned when he only had his king left, whilst I had king and 2 pawns. It was impossible for Michael to stop at least one of the pawns from queening...

Under 1400 St. George Saints had the bye.


ROUND 8

Under 2100 St. George 3 Bonnyrigg 1
Quentin Reitmans 2010 0-1 Djuro Pilja 1844
James Watson 1923 1-0 Krste Blazeski 1647
Charles Zworestine 1942 1-0 Gojko Trzin 1610
Aina Musaeva 1915 1-0 Marjan Todorovski 1587

As usual, the adventures were on the top two boards here! Aina beat her opponent fairly routinely, converting a positional advantage into an extra pawn into an extra piece through a tactical sequence miscalculated by her opponent (who maybe missed that his knight was trapped at the end of it). He resigned when she won a rook to a knight fork. I was as always a bit worse out of the opening; but then my opponent allowed me to swap off his most dangerous attacking pieces, and my remaining pieces got in to his king. I won the exchange and two pawns, swapped off into an ending and had no trouble winning this... James was, as ever, winning easily out of the opening - until he missed a bishop fork and got into huge trouble! He lost the exchange, faced three connected passed kingside pawns, and his king was exposed... Happily his opponent swapped off queens, so at least he was not going to get mated. But those pawns... His opponent, though, was cocky - he played blitz, fell into a trap where James' passed queenside pawn got through and had to give up a rook for it! The game should thereafter still have been drawn, but only with good defence - which was never forthcoming from a Blazeski playing blitz! In the end, he lost rook and bishop against rook. James' luckiest escape yet... Quentin of course was not so lucky. He sacrificed a piece for three pawns, and his position looked promising; but then he gave up the exchange in time pressure, lost his pawns and was down rook for pawn! He won back the exchange; but his opponent's extra piece was decisive, and not being as arrogant as Blazeski he duly converted! So, 3-1 again against the bottom placed Bonnyrigg - now only one match to go, and still trying to come second...

Under 1800 St. George Saints 2 Norths 2
1. Robert Kovacs 1660 1-0 Anthony Pickering 1774 (result not up on website due to appeal to NSWCA still being considered)
2. Chris Waterman 1603 0.5-0.5 Fred Apcar 1734
3. Kole Murgoski 1618 0-1 Stephen Javor 1740
4. Tom Tomas 1603 0.5-0.5 Mark Baterowicz 1504

Under 1800 Ryde Eastwood 1.5 St. George Dragons 2.5
1. Steven Herrn Liu 1779 0-1 Sarwat Rewais 1768
2. Lorenzo Escalante 1742 0-1 Nick Kordahi 1777
3. Joshua Christensen 1651 0.5-0.5 Andres Tejada Unrated
4. Jowenn Lua Unrated 1-0 Mirsad Zekic 1687

Under 1600 Bonnyrigg 0.5 St. George Saints 3.5
1. Rade Radovanovic 1546 0.5-0.5 John Papantoniou 1629
2. Vlado Cvijetic 1572 0-1 Jack Ruan 1557
3. Mirko Cvitkovic Unrated 0-1 Harry Ruan 1459
4. Milko Banovic Unrated 0-1 Sean Gu 1361

Report from Saints team captain Nellie Ruan - thanks Nellie!
Board 1 (Report by CZ) According to John Papantoniou he was better, but got careless and lazy as often with him - so he let his opponent escape with a draw!
Board 2 Jack and Vlado transposed into an English opening. Jack prepared his forces, while Vlado wasted his valuable developing time moving his queen around. When Vlado was developing his pieces, Jack thrusted his leading pawns forward. Then due to Vlado's lack of development, Jack tried to create a decisive attack along the a1-h8 diagonal. So Jack checked and annihilated a piece, and then checked and grabbed another one. Soon Vlado's king was being assassinated by a pair of bishops, a rook and the almighty queen. Shortly after the pieces were tied together, and Jack launched the final blow threatening mate. Vlado resigned immediately at the terrible position. This was the only week that Jack finished his battle first...
Board 3 In the opening Harry gave up a pawn for development. After a couple of exciting moves, Harry gained his pawn back and then was slightly better. Cvitkovic tried to castle queenside, but accidentally touched his rook first so he had to move his rook instead of castling. A few more moves later, Cvitkovic castled kingside. Then Harry swapped off all the pieces and only left a pair of rooks and 6 pawns on the board. In the endgame, Harry was better due to having more space, and his opponent was tied down to defending a pawn. Harry wondered his king around and then started to push his pawns. Finally Harry broke in, and ended up queening a pawn and then forcing checkmate.
Board 4 Sean Gu and Milko started about equal. Then Sean's position was slightly better. Later Sean and his opponent started to exchange piece by piece, remaining with a queen, a rook, a knight and pawns on the board. Sean's queen and rook were on the open e-file, while Milko's queen and rook were on the f-file. But they both were tied up. Finally, Sean got his opponent with a tactic; he won a piece and two pawns, then got his queen. So Milko resigned...

Under 1600 St. George Dragons 2.5 Manly 1.5
1. Peter Astorga 1648 1-0 Tze-Weng Foong 1621
2. Brian Press 1543 1-0 Jonathan Adams 1579
3. Geoff Britton 1510 0-1 Chris Dimock 1549
4. Michael Lo 1387 0.5-0.5 Owen Roach 1487

Under 1400 St. George Dragons and St. George Saints both had the bye. Week off before the finals this week. They qualified first and second respectively!

Regards,
Charles Zworestine.
Club Captain,
St. George Leagues Club Chess Club.