Dear All,

First of all, apologies for my getting three weeks behind again! I have been busy with the start of uni, getting back into teaching mode etc - first week of classes last week. Apologies, but this will probably be my last bulletin for a while - I am likely to be flat out for quite some time...

Anyway, as a result, what you get this week is once again several bulletins in one! I will do Rounds 9, 10 and Under 1400 Finals, but leave out any matches for which I do not have a report. (Apologies for this absence of some reports; again, people have been away, and I am too busy to chase! I will still give you the results for these)...

By the way, we did great! Won all divisions except mine (Under 2100). Yes, I know, again I admit we let the team down - at least we came equal third...


ROUND 9

Under 2100 St. George had the bye.

Under 1800 St. George Dragons had the bye.

Under 1800 Manly 2.5 St. George Saints 1.5
1. Stefan Bayani 1801 0.5-0.5 Robert Kovacs 1660
2. David Webster 1790 0.5-0.5 Chris Waterman 1603
3. Charles Bleyer 1691 0.5-0.5 Kole Murgoski 1618
4. Jack Mejzini 1607 1-0 Tom Tomas 1603

Report by Saints team captain Robert Kovacs - thanks Robert!
Tom Tomas arrived at least half an hour late at Manly after getting lost. He then lost quickly to Jack Mejzini - a long trip for little result for Tom. Some time later Kole's opponent asked for a draw, and he agreed. David Webster got into a manoeuvring game with Chris Waterman, and as this is one of Chris' strengths he was able to get a slight advantage - according to both players - but Chris couldn't see how to convert this and asked for a draw which was agreed too. My game with Stefan Bayani saw us agree to a perpetual check draw each with less than one minute left on the clock. He was lucky to escape, having to sacrifice his queen to avoid mate, but the time I used up getting the attack and the subsequent time he used up avoiding mate saw us with too little time - so, the perpetual.
Under 1600 St. George Saints 3.5 Norths Grizzlies 0.5
1. John Papantoniou 1629 1-0 Frank Low 1547
2. Jack Ruan 1557 1-0 John Pepping 1534
3. Harry Ruan 1459 1-0 Norman Greenwood 1530
4. Sean Gu 1361 0.5-0.5 Garry Jennings 1172

Brief report by CZ - From what little I remember of this match, John was the most convincing, getting a crushing attack and going on to wipe out poor Frank Low! Sean was somewhat worse in a double rook ending; but his opponent offered a draw seeing no way through, which Sean gratefully accepted! Jack took a long while to build up a winning attack against Pepping, despite being a pawn or two ahead (I forget exactly!); but eventually from memory he got through for a crushing tactical victory. Harry was worse for much of his game against Norm, but fought hard as ever - he reached a queen ending which should have been better for Norm, then drawn, but Norm misplayed it; and in the end Harry won queen and two pawns vs queen! So, the Saints (25 points) won the division by a massive 4 points - well done juniors!

Under 1600 Parramatta 2.5 St. George Dragons 1.5
1. Trent Parker 1533 1-0 Peter Astorga 1643
2. Kasem Ata 1420 0.5-0.5 Brian Press 1542
3. Michael Ngo 1403 0-1 Geoff Britton 1510
4. K. Koganti Unrated 1-0 Michael Lo 1437

So, the Dragons came third with 19 points, from the Saints (25) and Rooty Hill (21) - CZ.

Under 1400 1st Round of Finals Rooty Hill 1.5 St. George Saints 2.5
1. Ken Macgillivray 1421 0-1 Sean Gu 1361
2. George Smit 1398 0.5-0.5 John Gu Unrated
3. David McDonald 1342 0-1 Shirley Gu 0842
4. David Van Look 1204 1-0 Jian Gu Unrated

Report by acting Saints captain Jian Gu - thanks Jian!
Our junior team experienced terrible difficulty, as 4 of our 5 players were unable to attend due to various reasons. We tried our best to get eligible players to help us. Thanks to Sean Gu and his father John Gu, as we would have forfeited without their help. Furthermore they contributed 1.5 points to the team to enable us to win by 2.5 vs 1.5. Thanks again Sean Gu and John Gu!

We were 15 minutes late as we went on the M5 instead of the M4. Basically all the games were very close apart from Board 1. Sean smashed Ken Macgillivray. The whole game ended in 21 moves. Sean is simply too strong for his opponent, although their ratings are similar.

John Gu, an unrated player, was the second one to finish. He didn't have a very good opening, but he fought back in the middlegame. After 40 moves both sides agreed to a draw.

Jian Gu, Shirley's father (another unrated player), lost to David Van Elmpt after a long battle. When both had a rook and 4 pawns on the board, David managed a promotion. Jian resigned after 58 moves.

Shirley had a tough game; she was the last one to finish. She had a good opening, but lost a knight in the middle game. She tried hard to defend, won her piece back and brought the game to the endgame - a rook and 5 pawns each. The while David McDonald, whose rating is 350 points higher, was busy taking her 2 pawns on b2 and c3 with his rook, Shirley's middle pawns had the chance to break through, and promoted after David's rook was forcibly swapped off! Hence he resigned.

Well done four Gus!

Under 1400 1st Round of Finals St. George Dragons 3 Ryde Eastwood 1
1. Omar Taric 1361 0-1 Alan Marton 1366
2. Patrick Keuning 1358 1-0 Simon Parker 1300
3. Thierry Ollivain 1342 1-0 Greig Edwards Unrated
4. Adolfo Garrido Unrated 1-0 Douglas Eyres 1222


ROUND 10

Under 2100 Parramatta Blue 2 St. George 2
1. Edgardo Agulto 2100 1-0 Livio Borghi 2070
2. Lachlan Benson 1891 0-1 Quentin Reitmans 2010
3. Andrew Furst 1808 0-1 James Watson 1923
4. Vasil Tulevski 1777 1-0 Nick Radev 1870

Very brief report by CZ - A good result against a team who beat us 4-0 the first time we played them! Aina and I had to miss the match for various reasons, so we had to fish out a very rusty Livio Borghi (thanks Quentin for arranging this) who lost convincingly to Agulto. Quentin won his first game - on time! Amazing, considering the time difficulties he had the whole tournament... James played his most controlled game of the tournament for a good victory. Nick lost a topsy-turvy struggle to Vasil. So, equal third for us with Parra Blue - not too bad...

Under 1800 St. George Dragons 4 Manly 0
1. Sarwat Rewais 1768 1-0 Charles Bleyer 1691
2. Nick Kordahi 1777 1-0 Tze Weng Foong 1621
3. Dimitar Mojanovski 1720 1-0 Jonathan Adams 1579
4. Mirsad Zekic 1687 1-0 Bernhard Niesert Unrated

A convincing victory to get the Dragons outright first! Only Dimitar struggled at all, but fought back to win in the ending. Well done team! - CZ.

Under 1800 Ryde Eastwood 2.5 St. George Saints 1.5
Steven Herrn Liu 1779 0.5-0.5 Robert Kovacs 1660
Lorenzo Escalante 1742 0-1 Chris Waterman 1603
Joshua Christensen 1651 1-0 Kole Murgoski 1618
Jowenn Lua Unrated 1-0 Tom Tomas 1603
Sadly, this left the Saints fifth - still, an excellent effort by an outrated side... - CZ.

Under 1600 finished!

Under 1400 2nd Round of Finals Rooty Hill 2.5 St. George Dragons 1.5
1. Ken Macgillivray 1421 0.5-0.5 Omar Taric 1361
2. George Smit 1398 1-0 Thierry Ollivain 1342
3. David McDonald 1342 0-1 Vane Radevski 1290
4. David Van Look 1204 1-0 Adolfo Garrido Unrated

Under 1400 2nd Round of Finals Ryde Eastwood 1.5 St. George Saints 2.5
1. Alan Marton 1366 0.5-0.5 Marco Lee 1388
2. Simon Parker 1300 0-1 Cedric Koh 1222
3. Greig Edwards Unrated 1-0 Clarise Koh 0946
4. Douglas Eyres 1222 0-1 Shirley Gu 0842


ROUND 11

All divisions finished except...

Under 1400 3rd Round of Finals St. George Saints 2 St. George Dragons 2
1. Marco Lee 1388 0-1 Thierry Ollivain 1342
2. Cedric Koh 1222 1-0 Patrick Keuning 1358
3. Clarise Koh 0946 1-0 Nick Rallis Unrated
4. Shirley Gu 0842 0-1 Adolfo Garrido Unrated

So the Dragons first, pipping the all junior Saints team who ended up in second place by just half a point - well done to all the players in both teams! - CZ.

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