Knight Times June 2009

Knight Times

Chess World Australia Pty. Ltd. ABN 41 118 087 862

Message from the Guru, for Success!

Colleges in the United States offer chess scholarships of US$200,000 each year in the form of tuition, plus up to $15,000 stipend.

University of Maryland, Baltimore County president Freeman Hrabowski was quoted as saying “I think it’s one of the best business decisions I’ve made as president here. We’ve always worked to attract high achieving students, and the chess players helped create a climate that celebrated smart people. Chess was a perfect fit as a symbol for the life of the mind.”

New Zealand's top junior Puchen Wang (now 19 years old) moved to the US in 2008, taking up a scholarship to the University of Texas - Dallas. He now studies Business Administration while playing on the college chess team.

Here in Australia it is Monash University that leads the way in recognising the value of chess in education with their sponsorship of the National Interschool Chess Championships (details from www.interschool.com.au/nationals/). Frank Lekkas is presented with the RJ Shield by IM Robert Jamieson at the We tried to find out if any private schools in May RJ Shield Tournament held at Australia offered Chess Scholarships. While a very Doncaster Gardens Primary School. high number of top chess players received scholarships (in all states), schools are not calling them "Chess Scholarships". They are always awarded after students had achieved the necessary academic level. The fact that students were good at chess became useful at the interview stage. Chess Kids Contacts: www.chesskids.com.au Many of the chess players at Scotch College (National Champions) Coaching: are on scholarships....are they chess scholarships? Or just that [email protected] those who gain scholarships happen to excel at Retail: chess? In either case it seems that if you play chess well you are giving yourself a better chance [email protected] to win a scholarship at any level. Interschool: [email protected] Newsletter: DavidCordover, [email protected] Managing Director, 1300-424-377 Chess Group of Companies

Page 1 Knight Times June 2009 RJ Shield TournamentS

The third RJ Shield tournament for 2009 was held on 31st May at Doncaster Gardens Primary School. The winner was Frank Lekkas who scored 7/7. He wasHome luckyRJ toShield, score 31st a May mate 2009 in one with 8 seconds left against William Lai, but otherwise Team Standings comfortably won his games. Place Name Score Players Player Standings Place Name Rating Score Bonus ? 1 Frank Lekkas 1275 7 31 Isaac Zhao, aged 7 and rated at 964, takes 2 Daniel Sheen 882 5! 25! on the big boys at the May RJ Shield. 3 Adolph Lekkas 1040 5 33 4 Thomas Venville 839 53 5 32! 5 Harry Dempsey 928 5 31 Prize-winners were: 6 Jonathan Tissa 1011 14 5 30! 1st: Frank Lekkas 7 Isaac Zhao 964 6 5 27! 2nd: Daniel Sheen 8 Lachlan Semple 983 5 27! 9 Joanna Tissa 936 4! 30 3rd: Adolph Lekkas 10 William Lai 922 3 4 30! 1st U/12 Thomas Venville 11 Maiyurentheran Srikumar 854 4 29! 1st U/10 Jonathan Tissa 12 Jason Chew 900 4 28! 1st U/8 Isaac Zhao 13 Alex Van Zyl Smit 821 4 27! Top Girl Isobel Nixon 14 Brandon Venville 804 8 4 27! 15 Jun Phua 837 10 4 23! Encouragement Award Lachlan Semple 16 Michael Van Zyl Smit 821 4 23! Players won lucky board prizes during the 17 Shankar Seevanayagam 925 31 4 23 tournament and received advice on their games 18 Max Ruan 770 3! 26! from a panel of coaches who were at the 19 Andreas Belbasis 690 3! 24 tournament. Our thanks to Daniel for directing 20 Aaron Gill 704 3 3! 22! the event and to Doncaster Gardens Primary 21 Jeremy Emrose 863 31 3! 21! School for supplying the venue. 22 Isobel Nixon 720 3 26 23 William Exon 648 3 26 24 Henry Lai 770 13 3 25! 25 Christian Callick 383 3 24! Coming Up ... 26 Karu Handoyo 758 3 21! RJ Shield 27 Oliver Daly 333 3 21! Chess Tournament 28 Bowen Hafey 597 3 20! 29 Tylah Parnis 624 3 19 Sunday 28th June 30 Sophie Paul 482 2! 15 Tucker Road Primary School 31 Joshua Synan 495 2 22! 16 Tucker Road, Bentleigh 32 Malavan Srikumar 575 2 22! 33 Grishm Ganatra 444 2 19! 1.00 pm to 5.00 pm 34 Sara Janev 484 2 17 $20 per player. 35 Liam Synan 430 2 16! Enrol at www.chesskids.com.au 36 Joanna Gray 424 2 16 37 Tom Eady-Jennings 527 1! 22 Page 2 Knight Times June 2009

PRACTICAL ADVICE ..... From IM Robert Jamieson

Many chess players, when confronted with a chess position, just launch Clearly White’s big advantage is his passed straight into the fray and start analysing pawn on a7 which is nearly through to moves until they find something they becoming a new queen. like. What would White like to do? Queen the These players could make their lives a lot pawn! easier if instead they took a moment to look at What’s stopping him? The Black Queen on d5 the position to see what is actually going on. is covering the queening square and holding How do we find the best move in a position? Black’s game together. Regular readers of this newsletter will know that I’ve suggested that we “examine all checks and Can we get rid of this pesky Queen? captures”. This may turn up something unexpected. It may not. What are our options?

Another technique used by strong players is to Have a look yourself before reading further. ask themselves “what would I like to do” in the position. Perhaps you are trying to create a 1.Qf3 - He just swaps Queens and plays passed pawn that can go through to queen or Kb7. perhaps you would like to open up a line of 1.Qxe6+ - He plays 1...Qxe6 2.a8=Q+ Kc7 attack to the opponent’s King. and he’s OK. Once you have established the aim, you then 1.Qh5 - He just takes 1...Qxh5 and he’s look for ways of achieving that aim. Even threatening Qd1+. moves that may, at first glance, look “silly”. 1.c4 - He just takes the pawn en passant. Have a look at the position below. 1.Qf5 - 1...exf5 0-1 1.Rf5 - now if he plays 1...Qxf5 2.a8=Q is mate and after 1...exf5 2.Qxd5 Rxd5 3.a8=Q + White wins! Can he move his Queen instead? If 1...Qc6 or Qe4 or Qb7 2.Rxc5+ wins. So we have found our brilliancy 1.Rf5!! 1-0. We did it merely by thinking logically about the position and asking the question “What would I like to do”? By training your brain to think logically and examine the options in a systematic fashion you will not only have improved your chess ability, you will have gained a valuable life skill!

White to move. Page 3 Knight Times June 2009

Book Review The book includes an appendix of various Australian Title holders which to me seems a little irrelevant to the subject of the book. Australian Chess Brilliancies : Creative Attacking Chess from Down Under. If I wish to be pedantic, I noted a number of errors in these lists which perhaps the by Kevin Casey $19.95 author has copied from the ACF’s website. I must write to them one day to have them corrected.

Meanwhile, here is an example of an exciting finish from one of the games in the book.

G.West v D.Hacche - Ballarat 1995

It’s always good to see another chess book published by an Australian author, so I welcome the publication of “Australian Chess Brilliancies” by Queensland player Kevin Casey.

The book starts off defining what is a brilliancy including several examples from the author’s own games which indicate that he is no stranger when it comes to tactics White to move. on the chess board. Play continued: I searched in vain for one of my own games 1.Ng5! fxg5 2.hxg5 h6 3.Qxh6+! 1-0 as in the book, but then again I was never a 3...gxh6 4.Rxh6+ Kg7 5.Nh5+ is mate. brilliant player, but there are plenty of examples from Rogers, Solomon, Smerdon At a cost of only $19.95 this book is great and Johnansen plus lesser lights like value and I recommend it to you. Goldsmith and Levi who are renown for their - Robert Jamieson attacking style.

Page 4 Knight Times June 2009

Hanks for the Memories - by IM Robert Jamieson

John Hanks Most people reading this newsletter will never have heard of John Hanks. Our little world of chess however is filled with colourful and interesting personalities for those who care 7/2/1926 - 29/5/2009 to look.

Australia has just lost one such player in John Hanks who passed away on 29th May aged 83 years. Hanks was an White to Play Australian Master and one of our leading players from the late 1940s to the 1970s. 20.Nh5! He was runner-up in the 1949 Australian Luring the N away so that the Queen can join in the attack. Championship and played board 2 in the Nxh5 21.Qh7 f5 22.Re8+! Kf7 23.Bxf5 Bxf5 Australian Team at the 1964 Havana 24.Qxf5+ Nf6 25.Qe6+ Kg6 26.Nh4+ Kh5 , but he never quite 27.Qf5+ g5 28.Qf3+ Ng4 29.h3 Bh2+ 30.Kh1 made it to the top of the tree. Qf4 31.hxg4+ Qxg4 32.Qf7+ Kxh4 33.R1e6 h5 34.Kxh2 Qf4+ 35.g3+ 1-0 Here is his last round victory against Cecil Purdy from the 1961 Australian Championships which stopped Purdy Chess Quotes: from winning the title. “"I keep on fighting as long as my opponent can make a mistake." J.N.Hanks C.J.S.Purdy (Emanuel Lasker) Aust. Championship, Adelaide 1961 D43 - Queen's Gambit/Semi-Slav/Botvinnik Variation 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bxf6 Chess Quotes: Qxf6 6.Nc3 c6 7.Qb3 Nd7 8.e4 dxe4 9.Nxe4 Qf4 10.Bd3 Nf6 11.Ng3 Be7 12.O-O O-O "That's what Chess is all about. 13.Rfe1 Qc7 14.Rad1 Rd8 15.Bb1 b6 16.Qc2 One day you give your Kf8 17.Re2 c5 18.d5! opponent a lesson, the next day A brilliant idea to open the “e” file and start an he gives you one." attack on Black’s poorly defended King. (Bobby Fischer) 18...exd5 19.Rde1 Bd6

Page 5 Knight Times June 2009 boy with 5 seconds must have been an Time Management experienced lightning player with good hand eye co-ordination as he ripped out the next few Time management is an essential skill moves in four seconds. His poor opponent for all students particularly when they was still trying to play good moves on the board are in their later years at school. (as opposed to fast moves as required by the situation) and he used 10 seconds and so lost I have a friend who is a University student the game on time by one second! and he is constantly telling me the problems he has trying to balance It is clear that playing chess his studies, his sporting activities under the constraint of a and his social life. When he sits an time control teaches examination he often gets bogged players a valuable life down on a hard question and ends skill. up without enough time to finish the exam. Clearly he is struggling when it Chess players must learn to manage comes to time management, but then their time efficiently, just as they HE IS NOT A CHESS PLAYER! would in an exam, by moving neither too quickly nor too slowly. Experienced chess players should be At the RJ Shield in May David experts in time management. When we Cordover explained to the players that play in tournaments using chess clocks we they had 15 minutes for each game and that constantly have to balance what is happening they should ensure that they used this time on the board with what is happening on the wisely by not rushing out with the first move that clock so as to ensure that we do not lose on comes to mind. time or on position. I suggest to players that it is a good tactic to I was at a recent Chess Kids Lightning always try to be a little bit ahead of your Tournament (where both players have just 5 opponent on the clock so if you have a long minutes each for the game) and was talking to game, or get down to an even position, it will be one of the parents. He told me that his son your opponent who is is danger of losing on was 7 years of age and had only been playing time and not you. for two months. I watched one of his games and he seemed to have an excellent grasp of I know many players who see themselves as chess. He had castled his King to safety, his perfectionists and try to find the best move in pieces were developed and co-ordinated, and every position. They spend too much time he was playing carefully so as not to make a trying to find a great move and end up having to mistake. He won the game convincingly. rush their moves at the finish of the game.

I had to leave the tournament early, but later Better to play a good that night keenly looked up the final scores on move quickly than a the internet to see if this boy had finished in the great move slowly! top few places. He came last with just one win! I was amazed. I emailed his father to ask what The discipline of balancing what is happening had happened and he explained that his son on the board with what is happening on the was playing with a chess clock for the first time clock also teaches players how to balance and had lost many of his games on time. conflicting factors to achieve the desired result.

Contrast this with another game I was watching So next time you are playing in the RJ Shield at the tournament where a player had only 5 just remember that you are not just having fun seconds left to his opponent’s 10 seconds and playing chess, you are improving your time they had an even position on the board. The management skills.

Page 6 Knight Times June 2009 http://chesskids.com.au/interschool/results/ Chess Kids Ratings Here are the latest Ratings Lists.

Check the Chess Kids website for more details and be sure to check/update your own player details. We still have a few duplicate players or players who need to update to their new school.

Page 7 Knight Times June 2009 See if you can find a winning fork in the Forks! following two positions. by IM Robert Jamieson

Ouch! I’ve been forked!

In chess a fork is a tactic that uses one piece to attack two or more of the opponent's pieces at the same time, hoping to achieve material gain White to play. (by capturing one of the opponent's pieces) because the opponent can only counter one of the two (or more) threats. The piece moving to make the multiple attack on the opponent's pieces is the forking piece. The opponent's pieces which are attacked by the forking piece are ones which are forked.

White to play.

To spot potential forks look for unprotected pieces that could be open to a double attack and examine all checks. Knights are especially good at forking so pay special attention to

attacking moves with your Knights.

In this position for instance White’s rooks are 1-0 2.Nxd8+ Kxb7 1.Bb7+! 2: Position

forked by the black pawn and the black King 1-0 2.f5+ Bxg5 1.Rg5+! 1: Position and Rook are forked by the white Knight. Answers:

Page 8 Knight Times June 2009 Threatening checkmate. An Active Lifestyle! 7.h3 By IM Robert Jamieson

We are told that an active lifestyle is good for us and I certainly do my bit by playing tennis ... but CHESS? Doesn’t sound very active to me.

On the chess board however it is a different matter. Take rook endgames for example. The most important thing in many rook endgames is to have the active rook. An active rook is like a tank on open ground behind enemy lines inflicting devastation on everything in sight. Even an active King can create unexpected threats in the endgame.

Have a look at the position below for example. 7...Ra1+ 8.Kh2 Ra2+ 9.Kg1 Ra1+ ½-½ Drawn by perpetual check.

Even though White is 4 pawns up, the fact that Black's pieces are more attacking saves a draw.

So, yet another comparison is drawn between chess and life…activity can keep you alive longer!

AUSTRALIAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

Hobart, Jan 13-25, 2010 This position looks desperate for Black. at Hutchins School, He is material down, has weak pawns and Sandy Bay, Hobart, TAS. is about to lose another pawn. The only saving factor is that Black's King is far more Applications now open for the active than White's. Chess Kids Team (max. 18 places).

1...g5! 2.Rxh7 Rxa2 3.Rh6+ Ke5 4.Rxc6 Ring 1300 424 477 for details. Ke4 5.Rxc5 f4 6.exf4 Kf3 Page 9 Knight Times June 2009 Knight Times Famous Chess Player Quiz June 2009 Famous Chess Player Quiz CAN YOU MATCH THE PICTURES WITH THE CORRECT NAME? CAN YOU MATCHF.K. Esling THE - firstPICTURES Australian WITH Chess THE Champion CORRECT NAME? C.J.S.PurdyF.K. -Esling first World - first Correspondence Australian Chess Chess Champion Champion C.J.S.PurdyViswanathan - first Anand World - current Correspondence World Chess Chess Champion Champion ViswanathanBobby Fischer Anand - World - current Chess World Champion Chess 1972-75 Champion Ian BobbyRogers Fischer - Australian - World Chess Champion and chess 1972-75 writer. Zhong-YuanIan Rogers Zhao- Australian - GM &Grandmaster Australian Chess and chess Champion writer. Zhong-YuanGary Kasparov Zhao - Former- GM & AustralianWorld Chess Chess Champion Champion GaryDarryl Kasparov Johansen - Former - Australian World GrandmasterChess Champion AnatolyDarryl Karpov Johansen - World -Chess Australian Champion Grandmaster 1975-1985. Anatoly Karpov - World Chess Champion 1975-1985. SCORE: 3 good, 5 excellent, 7 exceptional, 9 Guru! (Answers on page 12) SCORE: 3 good, 5 excellent, 7 exceptional, 9 Guru! (Answers on page 12) Player 1 Player 2 Player 3

Name ...... Name ...... Name ...... Player 4 Player 5 Player 6

Name ...... Name ...... Name ...... Player 7 Player 8 Player 9

Name ...... Name ...... Name ......

PagePage 10 10 Knight Times June 2009

What is a grandmaster?

The title “Grandmaster” is awarded to world-class chess masters by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from "World Champion", Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain.

It is a lifetime title, in chess literature usually abbreviated as GM (this is in contrast to FM for FIDE Master and IM for International Master). St.Petersburg 1914 Players

GM, IM, and FM are open to both men and FIDE first awarded the International women. A separate gender-segregated title, Grandmaster title in 1950 to 27 players. In 1972 WGM for Woman Grandmaster, is also there were only 88 GM's with 33 being Russian. available, but is something of a misnomer. It is In July 2005, the FIDE ratings list included over awarded for a level of skill between that of a 900 grandmasters. The increase is at least FIDE Master and an International Master. In partly due to the greater ease of travel, which 1991 Susan Polgar became the first woman to makes it simpler to organize the international earn the GM title under the same conditions as tournaments required to provide the men and these days most of the top 10 opportunities. women hold the GM title. The Grandmaster title retains its prestige Current Regulations because it represents a very high level of chess performance against other titled players. A The requirements for becoming a Grandmaster chess master is typically in the top 2% of all are somewhat complex. A player must have a tournament players. A Grandmaster is typically chess rating of at least 2500 at one time in the top 0.02% percent at the time he or she (although they need not maintain this level to earns the title. keep the title). A rating of 2400 or higher is required to become an International Master. In Title Inflation addition, three favorable results (called norms) Some people have argued that the players in tournaments involving other Grandmasters, currently awarded the title of Grandmaster are (including some from countries other than the not as dominant as those five original applicant's), are usually required before FIDE Grandmasters were in their day. Lasker, will confer the title on a player. There are other Capablanca and Alekhine were all World milestones a player can achieve to get the title, Champions, and both Tarrasch and Marshall such as winning the World Junior were strong enough to play world title matches Championship. (both losing against Lasker). Origin and Current Statistics This argument says that the title of The title "Grandmaster" was first formally Grandmaster ought to be reserved for those conferred by Russian Tsar Nicholas II, who in who, at some time in their lives, become serious 1914 awarded it to five players (Lasker, contenders for the World Championship, or who Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch and Marshall), have actually held that title. Otherwise, a who were finalists of a tournament in Saint "super-GM" designation becomes necessary in Petersburg which he had partially funded. The order to refer to that group, leading to an tournament was won by Lasker ahead of accumulation of superlatives. Capablanca. (This article is condensed from Wikipaedia)

Page 11 Knight Times June 2009

Chess World for all your chess requisites.

451 North Rd, Ormond www.chessworld.com.au Ph. 1300 424 377

Interschool CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2009 Interschool Championships are now well underway. If your school hasn’t entered a team yet, or would like another chance to make the finals, just log onto interschool.com.au and choose an up-coming event to play in.

On 15th June I dropped in to watch the finish of the Bayside Zone of the Interschool Championships which was won by Brighton Grammar Secondary Junior School.

The Paterson Lakes Primary Team - winners of the There was a high standard of play on Frankston Zone on 18th June. show with many of the younger Brighton players, such as Alex Gruen Home Frankston, 18th Jun 2009 and Joshua & Isaac Ng, showing a great deal of promise. Team Standings Place Name Score Players Answers to Quiz Watch out Scotch College in the finals! 1 Patterson Lakes Primary 24! 14 on page 10:

2 Woodleigh - Minimbah Juni - A 22! 8 1. Ian Rogers, On 18th June I went down to Frankston 2. Gary Kasparov, to see a Primary School Zone at Kingsley Park Primary - A 19 15 3 3. Bobby Fischer, Kingsley Park Primary School. 4 Seaford Primary 19 9 4. C.J.S.Purdy, 5 The Peninsula School 18! 5 5. Vishwan Anand, There were 95 players from 9 schools 6 Mt Eliza North Primary 15! 10 6. Zong-Yuan Zhao, competing for top honours, which went 7 Kingsley Park Primary - B 14! 15 7. Anatoly Karpov, to the Patterson Lakes Primary School Team. 8 Woodleigh - Minimbah Juni - B 14 7 8. F.K.Esling, 9 Tyabb Primary 13 12 9. Darryl Johansen. Patterson Lakes’ players also finished Player Standings in the top 3 places in the tournament Place Name Rating Team Score Bonuswith ? Luke Bailey being undefeated on 1 Luke Bailey 975 25 Patterson Lakes Primary 7 28 7/7. 2 Mae Salazar 1047 Patterson Lakes Primary 6! 29 Thanks to all those schools which are 3 Dean Martini 1026 14 Patterson Lakes Primary 6 31! hosting venues in this year’s 4 Lachlan Muirden 983 20 Woodleigh - Minimbah Juni - A 6 31! competition. The kids certainly seem to 5 Nicholas Muirden 808 36 Woodleigh - Minimbah Juni - A 6 30! have a good time and every player 6 Patrick Hodgkins 764 45 Woodleigh - Minimbah Juni - A 5! 34 receives a certificate. 7 Oscar Cooke-Abbott 886 19 Kingsley Park Primary - A 5 34 Page 12 8 Oliver May 858 22 The Peninsula School 5 34 9 Derek Xiao 891 Mt Eliza North Primary 5 31! 10 Harrison Morgan 816 Kingsley Park Primary - A 5 29! 11 Evan Inavolu 920 Patterson Lakes Primary 5 29 12 Antonius Bennett 850 3 Patterson Lakes Primary 5 29 13 Matt Blair 852 Woodleigh - Minimbah Juni - A 5 27! 14 Jordan Taskovski 809 19 Woodleigh - Minimbah Juni - A 5 27 15 Nick Lesjak 825 Patterson Lakes Primary 5 24! 16 Indiana Jennings 770 Seaford Primary 5 24 17 Xavier Gibbon 828 10 Seaford Primary 5 22! 18 Charles Hura 964 11 Kingsley Park Primary - A 4! 31! 19 Jordan Fuhrmann 920 1 The Peninsula School 4! 31! 20 Aaron Paratene 846 1 Seaford Primary 4! 30! 21 Shaun Monk 675 19 Kingsley Park Primary - A 4! 28 22 Tyler Neal 927 13 Kingsley Park Primary - A 4! 27 23 Jarrad Fisher 759 9 The Peninsula School 4! 27 24 Ethan Creaser 683 19 Patterson Lakes Primary 4! 25!