Knight Times December 2008

Knight Times

Chess World Pty. Ltd. ABN 41118087862

Full Report on the National Interschool Championships

Message from the Guru, Another very successful year with record numbers playing Merry Xmas interschool chess again and yet more schools from all the staff incorporating chess into their at Chess Kids curriculum.

Next year will see the launch of quite a few Coming Up ... exciting new projects! Keep in touch. RJ Shield On behalf of all the coaches and staff at Chess Kids may I wish you all a Happy Sunday 14th December Holidays and a Mentally Stimulating New Doncaster Gardens P.S. Year. Dehnert St., Doncaster East. 1 pm to 5 pm David Cordover, $20 per player. Managing Director, Enrol at www.chesskids.com.au Chess Group of Companies

Page 1 Knight Times December 2008

National Interschool Chess Championships , 1st - 2nd December

Tournament Winners - Scotch College, Nicholas Liu, Kollan Chen, Richard Owen, Max Thornley, Eugene Schon & Max Merrilees.

The National Interschool Chess chess or a variety of mind sports, browse at the Championships were held at Monash chess bookshop or just explore the university University from December 1st to 2nd, 2008. environment.

The tournament was opened by the Vice- Congratulations to all 249 players, representing Chancellor, Professor Adam Shoemaker, who 50 schools from all 8 states and territories for wished the players well for the tournament and their participation and enthusiasm throughout encouraged them to investigate the excellent the tournament. Thank you once again to facilities available at Monash University. Monash University for helping make this experience possible and to the teachers/ The tournament was attended by Gary Bekker, parents/coaches who came to support the the President of the Oceania Chess Zone, and players. it is possible that, with his help, next year this event will be even bigger and better. We have All the participants received a certificate or plans to make the 2009 event either a Oceania trophy at the conclusion of the event. Interschool Chess Championships or an Asia- Particularly well done to the following Prize Pacific Interschool Chess Championships! Winners in the National Interschool Chess Championships: The participants were treated to a feast of chess over the two days, including analysis of Girls Only - Primary Championships their games by chess coaches after each round 1st Doncaster Gardens Primary School (VIC) and lectures between rounds by Robert 2nd Mount View Primary (VIC) Jamieson, Chris Depasquale and Carl Gorka. 3rd Stanmore Public School (NSW) Between games players could play social

Page 2 Knight Times December 2008

Girls Only - Secondary Championships 2nd Brighton Grammar (VIC) 1st Penrhos College (WA) 3rd Mazenod College (VIC) 2nd MacRobertson Girls High (VIC) 3rd Ulverstone High School (TAS) Open Secondary Championships 1st High School (VIC) Primary Championships 2nd Alfred Deakin High (ACT) 1st Brighton Grammar School (VIC) 3rd Mazenod College (VIC) 2nd Mount View Primary (VIC) =3rd (4th on countback) - Carey Grammar 3rd Mitcham Primary (SA) (VIC) =3rd (4th on countback) - Stanmore Public School (NSW) Full scores may be obtained from: Junior Secondary (Middle Years) http://www.interschool.com.au Championships 1st Scotch College (VIC) Photos of the event are available for purchase from www.eyelightsphotography.com.

(Right) The Wesley College team (Vic).

(Below) The top Primary team, Brighton Grammar (Vic.)

Max Fisher, Alex Gruen, Joshua Ng, Issac Ng (individual top scorer) and Jeffrey Jiang.

(Above) The Curtin Primary School team (ACT).

Page 3 Knight Times December 2008 Here I know that I can exchange Queens with Best Game 17.dxc5 dxc5 18.Qxd7 Nbxd7 and I will win a Here is one of the better games from the pawn but I decide to apply more pressure as Secondary championships - played by the there is not much he can do about it 17...Rfd8 individual winner Laurence Matheson who 18.b3 There is still no reason to take the pawn scored 6.5/7. on c5 yet as there is still nothing black can do Laurence Matheson (Carey Grammar - Vic) about it 18...Nc8 (18... Qe7 was better - Ed) Lawrence Breytag (St Marys District High - Tas) 19.dxc5 Now the time is right to exchange off National Interschool Championships Rd 3 19...dxc5 20.Qxd7 Rxd7 21.Rxd7 Nxd7 22.Bxb7 Rb8 23.Bd5 My bishop comes back to 1.e4 Nf6 Alekhine's Defense 2.e5 Nd5 3.c4 a strong square to threaten Bxf7+ (23 Bxc8 Nb6 4.Nc3 Setting the trap 4...Nc6 5.c5 winning Rxc8 24 Rxf7 Kxf7 25 Nd6+ looks OK - Ed) the knight on b6 4...d6 5.exd6 exd6 6.d4 Be7 23...Nf6 24.e4 Now if he takes the Bishop I will 7.Nf3 Bg4 8.Be2 N8d7 It is more normal to take with the e-pawn and he will have to deal develop the knight on c6 in this line [8...Bxf3 with a protected passed pawn 24...a6 25.Nc3 9.Bxf3 Nxc4 10.Bxb7 winning the exchange and Ne7 26.Bxf7+ A simple tactic, winning a second a pawn after 10...Nd7 11.Bxa8 Qxa8 or pawn 26...Kxf7 27.e5 Rd8 (Better was 27... 10.Qa4+ winning the knight] 9.Qd3 Rb6 28 exf6 gxf6 29 Ne4 Rc6 - Ed) 28.exf6 Overprotecting c4 so that there is nothing he gxf6 29.Ne4 Now both pawns are under attack can do to win the pawn which might be possible so he must lose one of them, therefore he after 9... or 10...Bxf3 9...0-0 10.Be3 Protecting decided to resign 1-0 the d4 square so that after 10...Bf6 and 11...c5 I Notes by Laurence Matheson can still leave the pawn on d4 which is very important because if he takes the pawn on d4 he will have an isolated (and weak) pawn on d6 BEST MOVE 10...Bf6 11.0-0 c5 (see diagram)

The best move of the tournament was 12.Ng5 I force black to give up his light squared undoubtedly in the above position in the bishop for my knight 12...Bxg5 [12...Bxe2 Primary Section. Black played 1 ... d5 and 13.Qxh7# or; 12...g6 13.Nxh7 Bxe2 14.Nxf6+ white replied 2 cxd5 e.p. BUT left the black Qxf6 15.Nxe2+-] 13.Bxg4 Bxe3 Not the best, pawn on d5 thus ensuring that his “d” pawn he allows me to put an extra pawn in the centre would queen. 2 ... Kf7 3 d7 1-0. Black did 14.fxe3 Nf6 15.Bf3 Qc7 16.Nb5 Qd7 17.Rad1 not notice the extra pawn! Page 4 Knight Times December 2008 Building Their Mental Muscles ... Scenes from the Nationals

249 Players 50 Schools

8 States & Territories

Page 5 Knight Times December 2008 If we could read their minds .....

I’m just back I’ve heard of the from the chess tree of analysis olympics and I’ve but this is got this torch to ridiculous. prove it!

Now if I could just find where I put that horsey one.

It’s only round 2 and I’m exhausted If he doesn’t already! let me win I’ll stab him with this pen! Damn! I’ve left my toothbrush at home!

Chess is for everyone!

Page 6 Knight Times December 2008 Can You Find the Mate in TWO MOVES ? Tarrasch - Fiedler 1892 Paulsen - Blachy 1857 Blackburne - Martin 1876

White to Move. (Solutions at bottom of page) A Nice King-Hunt... XMAS PUZZLE White Nic Taylor (Warrnambool College) “The Xmas Tree” Black Nicholas Liu (Scotch College) National Interschool Rd 2 1.d4 Nf6 2.e3 d5 3.Nf3 Bf5 4.Bd3 Bxd3 5.Qxd3 c6 6.O-O e6 7.Nc3 Be7 8.e4 O-O 9.exd5 cxd5 10.Bg5 Nc6 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.h4 Qb6

Black to play and mate in two moves. Answer: (No cheating - don’t look yet!) For Black’s pawns to get to where they are he must have captured 10 pieces, including the white B on f1. It follows that the e4 pawn must have moved 13.Ng5 g6 14.Qf3 Bxd4 15.h5 Qxb2 16.hxg6 Qxc3 earlier to allow the B to be captured, so White’s last 17.gxh7+ Kg7 18.h8=Q+ Kxh8 19.Qh5+ Kg7 move can only have been 1.c4. 20.Qh7+ Kf6 21.Qh6+ Ke7 22.Qh4 Bf6 23.f4 Qd4+ 24.Rf2 Qxa1+ 25.Kh2 Rh8 26.Qxh8 Rxh8+ 27.Kg3 The winning move therefore is 1...bxc3 e.p. followed by

c2 mate!

Nd4 28.Kg4 Nf5 29.c3 Qd1+ 30.Rf3 Rh4# 0-1

2.Bf5# Kxd7 1.Qxd7+ 3. 2.c7xb8=N# Ka6 1.Qd5# 2. 2.Bf7# Kxg4 1.Qg4+ 1. Solutions to Mate in Two Moves Two in Mate to Solutions

Page 7 Knight Times December 2008

Australia’s Greatest Chess Teacher

By IM Robert Jamieson

There lives in Sydney a little old lady, she would be about 93 years old by now, who holds a unique chess record. Her name is Mrs. Anne Purdy and she was a good chess player in her day, but not quite as good as her other family members. Her father (Spencer Crakanthorp) was Australian Chess Champion, her husband, Cecil Purdy, was Australian Chess Champion as was their son John Purdy!

I’d like to tell you a little bit about Cecil Purdy who is widely acknowledged as an outstanding writer, player and chess teacher. IM Cecil Purdy Purdy, based in Sydney, wrote a national chess magazine from 1929 to 1967 (“Chess World”) and several instructional chess books one of which “Chess Made Easy” has now sold over 500,000 copies. In his spare time he found time to gain the IM title and win the first World Correspondence Chess Championship in 1953.

Purdy was renown as a teacher who explained difficult chess concepts in such a way that the average player could understand and over the years he wrote many instructional articles in his magazine and books. Fortunately many of these are still available in print through Thinkers Press in the USA which has compiled and republished much of Purdy’s work and instructional games.

Purdy suggested an excellent way of studying chess whereby the player would play through a master game and cover up the player’s moves with a card whilst he tried to guess the next move before uncovering it. This in effect allowed anyone to have a world champion coaching them through the agency of the moves and notes to an annotated game.

When I was a young player I tried to read all of Purdy’s magazines and books and eagerly devoured everything that he had to say. It was a great thrill for me when I eventually was playing against him in an over-the-board game in 1975 (when Purdy was an old man). I won that game after a hard struggle but remember during the post mortem that we had analyzed a variation and I wanted to move on, but Cecil kept going back to examine it further as he thought that he must have had something better. This was another side to his greatness ... an iron will to find the best move in every position.

I can heartily recommend to any young players today that they start their chess careers by reading either of Purdy’s acclaimed books: “Chess Made Easy” “Guide to Good Chess” - for beginners $11.95 - for intermediate players $30.00

Chess World has both these books on sale for Xmas.

Page 8 Knight Times December 2008

Basic Opening Principles

By IM Robert Jamieson

The other day I visited one of Chess Kids’ coaching classes at a large private school in the eastern suburbs to get my first taste of what it’s like teaching primary aged children how to play better chess.

After the lesson I had a quick game against one of the players (this was in the second highest group at the school). I quickly seized the centre with 3 of my pawns, developed my knights and a bishop and castled my King away to safety. During this time my opponent was busily trying the checkmate me in 4 moves with his Q and B and when this failed he threw his pawns at me and moved his Q around in circles. After about 8 moves all he had to show for his play was a developed Q and a ruined pawn structure. I noticed that a number of the other players seemed to be adopting a similar strategy!

It seems to me that this may be a common fault with young players and that something should be done about it! So, let me give you a couple of simple rules that will enable you to survive the opening without being checkmated or being hopelessly behind in development.

There are 3 Golden Rules in the opening that inexperienced players should follow: 1. Control as much of the centre as you can. 2. Develop your pieces off the back line. 3. Make your King safe (by castling).

You can achieve these aims by playing a standard opening “system” rather than selecting random moves. Here are two systems you could try.

1. King’s Indian System White just plays the moves 1.Nf3, 2.g3, 3.Bg2, 4.0-0, 5.d3, 6.Nbd2, 7.e4, 8.c3, 9.Qc2 assuming that Black has not exchanged any pieces or done anything too radical. Notice how white’s King is very safe with the extra protection of a B and a N close by.

2. Queen’s Pawn System White just plays the moves 1.d4, 2.Nf3, 3.e3, 4.Be2, 5.0-0, 6.b3, 7.Bb2, 8.Nbd2, 9.c4 and again white has a nice solid position with no weaknesses.

Even if you a playing a superior opponent you have now survived the first 9 moves without being checkmated or losing material, your King is safe, your pieces are co- operating with each other, and your pawn structure is sound.

You may not win the game but at least you are off to a flying start!

Page 9 Knight Times December 2008 International News

Zong-Yuan Zhao, recently crowned as Australia’s third grandmaster and now our highest rated player, is only 22 years of age. He was the Australian Junior Champion in 2001 and gained the IM title at the age of 14 years!

At the recent Chess Olympiad in Dresden (Germany) he met the Swiss No. 1, Victor Korchnoi, the world’s oldest active grandmaster and 3 times challenger for the world championship. Here is the game.

Chess Olympiad 2008 Zong-Yuan Zhao 2567 (Australia) Viktor Korchnoi 2584 (Switzerland)

1.Nf3 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 O-O 5.a3 Bxc3 6.Qxc3 a5 7.b3 d6 8.Bb2 e5 9.g3 c5 Black is trying to close the position and put his pawns on black squares as his opponent has a dark- squared B against Black’s N. 10.Bg2 Nc6 11.O-O Bg4 12.Rfe1 Qb6 13.e3 a4 14.bxa4 Rxa4 15.d3 Rd8 16.Rab1 Qa5 17.Qb3 Qa6 18.Nd2 Ra5 (see diagram) 19.f4! A daring plan to open up the position for his dark square B. 19...Be6 20.Bc1 If 20 Bxc3 Qxc3 21 fxe5 Ng4 and Black has attacking chances for the pawn. 20...Bc8 21.Qb6 Qxb6 22.Rxb6 Nd7 23.Rb3 Nf6 24.Bb2 Ra6 24...Re8 would have saved the “e” pawn. 25.Bxc6 Rxc6 26.fxe5 Ng4 27.exd6 Rcxd6 28.d4 Rh6 29.Nf3 Bf5? This loses 2 tempi but Black is at a loss for a good plan. 30.e4 Bc8 31.d5 b6 32.Bc1 Rg6 33.Nh4 Rgd6 34.e5 Re8 35.Nf3 Rg6 36.h3 Nf6 White to play his 19th move. If 36... Nh6 37.Nh4 wins the exchange. 37.exf6 Rxg3+ 38.Kf2 Rxe1 39.Kxe1 gxf6 40.Kf2 Rxh3 41.Rxb6 Bg4 42.Rxf6 Rh1 43.Bb2 Bxf3 44.Kxf3 1-0 A great scalp for Zhong.

Page 10 Knight Times December 2008

Coach Profile Robert Harle Robert is one of Chess Kids full-time coaches who loves his work and coaches in Melbourne’s inner Eastern suburbs.

“I learnt chess at the age of 6 years from my father whilst living in Sydney” Robert said. “I joined the Chatswood Chess Club at the age of 12 years and my biggest thrill was meeting Australia’s greatest chess teacher, Cecil Purdy, who lived nearby.”

“When I learnt chess I had no-one to help me so it’s great to be able to teach chess to young players myself. I’m trying to teach my pupils more about chess and how to improve and to show them different things they can do in their games. The kids all seem to have fun; they enjoy playing chess and it’s a great social activity for them.”

I quizzed a few of Robert’s pupils about their chess.

What did you like about today’s lesson? “I learnt something new.” - Harry What do you most like about chess? “Having fun and playing.” - Josh “Learning new skills and playing with friends.” - Lachlan “Making new friends and learning to concentrate.” - Sam

Robert’s advice to young players is “Have fun, enjoy the game and you will improve.” Coach Robert Harle demonstrates smothered mate to his class at Elsternwick Primary School. Chess & Tennis Chess & Mind Sports Holiday ProgramS Dates: 22nd & 23rd December or 12th, 13th, 14th January. Venue: Glen Iris Valley Tennis Club, 260 High St Rd, Mt.Waverley. Or Venue: Mind Sports Centre, 758 North Road, Ormond. Enquiries: ph. 1300 424 377 or www.chesskids.com.au

Page 11 Knight Times December 2008

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