News: 2018

Triathlon Saturday

The third Triathlon tournament started with 23 participants, up 6 on last year. There were 13 adults and 9 juniors, and the Barnetts were the only females participating this year.

James Watson came up from Melbourne and was top seed. Jasan ran the competition and participated when there were odd numbers off participants - no byes thanks to him!

James only conceded one draw, to Rob Loveband, winning the rest of his games to take the title from runner up Ruari Coffey, and third place holder Kevin Perrin.

Top junior and winner of the Reserves prize was Leonard Goodison, who defeated his brother Justin in a play-off for first place.

League is closed

Patrick is the League winner this year, Rob is runner-up. Thanks to Jasan for all is work running this tournament!

Blitz 2018 concludes

Athough only scoring 6 points for the night, Rob Loveband had enough points up his sleeve to take out this year's Blitz title, King of the Clock.

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Triathlon Saturday

Ballarat Chess Club is pleased to announce our 3rd Ballarat Chess Triathlon:  An annual event where all participants take part in all three formats of the game: (Blitz, Rapid & Classic).

VENUE: The Hooper Room (Ballarat Chess Club Clubroom), Ballaarat Mechanics Institute, 117 Sturt Street, Ballarat

DATE: Saturday, December 8, 2018

ROUND TIMES: 

- Registration    9:30am

- Round 1          9:45am      Blitz

- Round 2          10:00am    Rapid

- Round 3          11:15am    Classic

- Round 4          2:45pm      Blitz

- Round 5          3:00pm      Rapid

- Round 6          4:15pm      Classic

HALF-POINT BYES:

- 1 half-point bye is permitted per player and can be taken for Rounds 1 through 4 only.

RATE OF PLAY:

- Blitz (All moves in 5 minutes per player)

- Rapid (All moves in 25 minutes per player plus an increment of 10 seconds per move from move 1)

- Classic (All moves in 60 minutes per player plus an increment of 30 seconds per move from move 1).  A forfeit will be awarded if a player is 30 minutes late for a classic game.

PRIZES:

- Overall (Gold Medal & $37.50 prizemoney)

- Reserve (Silver Medal & $37.50 prizemoney)

PLAY-OFFS FOR MEDALS (IF TIED):

- 2 Blitz games (1 with each colour).  If still tied....

- 1 Armageddon Blitz game (drawn by lots).  5 min for white, 4 min for black.  Black wins if game is drawn.

NO ENTRY FEE FOR TOURNAMENT (FREE)

Please reply via e-mail if you wish to participate in the event.

New Life Member

Rodney Jacobs has been awarded a life membership to the club - he joined many years ago and has been supporting the club in various roles for a great part of his life. In appreciation of his efforts, club president, Patrick Cook, can be seen below presenting him with his Medal.

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Arthur Koelle 2018

The 2018 Arthur Koelle tournament is at the pointy end... the deciding games in both divisions yet to be played. In the A group, the 3 contenders are Bas, Ruari and Sean, while in the B group, Leonard leads by half a point from Peter and Dan - all of whom have games to play.

 

A group
B group

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Australian Open

To enter the 2019 Australian Open Chess tournament go to the web site to register and pay.

Already two GMs have put their names down. Of our local members, Patrick, Rob, Bas and others have expressed interest in competing. Perhaps shared accommodation might be considered - cheaper to book a whole house than individual rooms?

It'll be held in Melbourne which is a great opportunity for us to attend without travelling interstate.

Arthur Koelle 2018

The 2018 Arthur Koelle tournament is in full swing - for tentative pairings and results click the round number in the table below for your group.

Harrison is leading the tournament on 3 points, followed by Ruari on 2.5. In the Reserves Leonard heads the field with a full 3 points and Louis and Kalen are kicking on his heels with 2.5 points.

VRCL Country Championships 2018

Carl Gorka won the Championship for 2018 on a score of 5.5, taking one 1/2 point bye for Sunday's Round 4 due to having to travel from Drouin early that morning. Geelong's Reza Daneshvar came second on 5 points, and Ballarat's Ruari Coffey came third on 4.5, an excellent performance garnering him the Reserve's title for 2018. Vega gives him a performance rating of 1829 - watch out local players!!

Carl and Ruari receive their prizes... but where did the wine bottles end up?

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Round 7

In a dramatic final round, the leader Rob Loveband was defeated by rampaging Jamie Brotheridge, while Bas van Riel overcame Rodney Jacobs, so Rob shares the title with Bas. Meanwhile, Sean Macak faced unbeaten Chantelle Barnett for the Reserves title, and he profited from a rare blunder by Chantelle; President Patrick Cook was probably lucky to defeat Secretary Anna Yates; Louis Douglas fell to Caitlin Barnett; and Peter Wang defeated promising junior Justin Goodison. Leading final scores: Rob Loveband & Bas van Riel 6, Jamie Brotheridge 5.5, Patrick Cook & Sean Macak 5

Anna playing Patrick, Gabriel played Tom, and Bas outplayed Rod for a share in the title.

Round 6

With one round to go, Rob Loveband has secured at least a share of the title after brushing aside Ruari Coffey. Bas van Riel remains in with a chance after defeating Peter Miitel. Meanwhile, several of our juniors are continuing to show very good chess skills. Sean Macak kept Patrick Cook honest with an excellent draw after good preparation. Chantelle Barnett punished Harrison Harrison’s eccentric opening play, and remains unbeaten! Kalen Douglas showed his promise with a fine win over Michael Schreenan, while his older brother Louis bounced back with a win over Matthew Pace.

Leonard plays Dan, Rob focuses against Ruari, and Sean faces the "drawmeister" Patrick.

September ratings achievements

A note from Bas, saying what needs to be said!: "I have just checked the new quarterly (Sept) ACF chess-rating lists. I am rapt to see the presence of our juniors so prominently. Cassandra and Caitlin in the ‘Top Females Under 20’ group, of the whole of Australia!! And Justin in the ‘Top 20 of most improvers’. Mind you, of all (!) chess players in Australia!! Fantastic achievements, well done." Sean Macak rose 174 points as well! Not sure why he is not on the list - his is an even bigger jump! Great work!

Our club champion, Heath Gooch, also appeared in the top 20 Under 18 Boys national ACF list - his rating is heading towards the 1900s!

Hopefully, he'll participate in some more tournaments in the latter part of the year.

Round 5

The 2018 Teters Memorial is reaching the pointy end, and Rob Loveband has charged to the lead after an excellent win over Patrick Cook. High flying juniors Louis Douglas and Sean Macak met each other with Sean emerging victorious in a fighting game. Chantelle Barnett showed high class technique in a rook and pawn ending to hold Peter Wang to a draw, and remains unbeaten! Kalen Douglas played very well against Rodney Jacob’s power chess before falling for a trick; and Ruari Coffey produced a nice smothered mate to defeat Harrison Harrison. Rob Loveband leads with 5/5, Bas van Riel and Ruari Coffey follow on 4/5, and Sean Macak heads a pack of players on 3.5/5.

Peter vs Chantelle, Ruby vs Anna, and Bas faces Jamie

Round 4

The strong run of the juniors stalled in round 4 when Sean Macak was outplayed in a lively game by Jamie Brotheridge, and Louis Douglas fell into a trap after initially getting the better of Patrick Cook. Chantelle Barnett did very well to hold Robert Bailey to a draw. At the top of the table, Rob Loveband now leads with 4/4 after a fine victory over top seed Bas van Riel.

Sean Macak meets Jamie Brotheridge, and Louis Douglas faces Patrick Cook

Round 3

The junior players had some mixed results this round. On the upside, experienced chess coach Robert Bailey was held to a draw by his student(!) Sean Macak, and Louis Douglas stunned his opponent Kent Baden to score a great win. Leonard Goodison fell to Gabriela Marquez, and Justin Goodison was taught a lesson by Kevin Perrin. Other notable results were Anna Yates’ excellent win over Tom Oppenheim, and Chantelle Barnett’s draw versus Michael Schreenan. Bas van Riel and Rob Loveband lead with 3/3.

Arthur Teters Memorial - Round 2

Juniors continue to do well in the tournament! Sean Macak dispatched veteran Ian Boyle, while Louis Douglas held professional coach Robert Bailey to a draw. Patrick Cook had to work hard to overcome Caitlin Barnet, and Rob Loveband conjured an aesthetically pretty mate against Kevin Perrin. All the other games went more or less as expected.

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Geelong repeats last year's performance


'Winners are grinners' and although Geelong Team Captain, Michael Sugrue (pictured below with Ballarat Team Captain, Rod Jacobs) came off second best to Bas van Riel in their game, Geelong scored 6.5 to Ballarat's 3.5 points, putting their name on the Fletcher Morrow Shield for 2018.

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Teters Round 1

35 players have entered the Arthur Teters Memorial 2018, including 2-time Club Champion Peter Miitel, returning to the Club after a lengthy period away. This is a fantastic turnout for this prestigious event. Since it is a Swiss tournament, the first few rounds tend to see mismatched pairings, leaving plenty of room for upsets. And we got 2 major upsets: first, Chantelle Barnett brilliantly defused Rodney Jacobs’ aggressive play to score a great victory (see games), and second, Sean Macak defeated a perhaps rusty Peter Miitel. That two of our up and coming juniors can score impressive wins against experienced Champions, bodes well for the future of chess in Ballarat. All the other games went according to rating, except for Matthew Pace scoring a forfeit.

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Arthur Teters Memorial

This year's tournament begins on August 2nd, and is a seven round Swiss tournament. Arthur was a past Ballarat Champion and also previous Australian Open winner. In 2015 we began using an old analog clock donated by Bill Hoffman as our trophy.

Last year the tournament was won by Harrison on 6.5 out of 7 points. There will be many competitors vying to hold the clock for the year - come a little early to register for the tournament and a chance to be the next Teters Champion!

Teters Tropy and Harrison's lucky hat

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Rapid Play #2

Patrick Cook won the second Rapid Play undefeated with a perfect score, and added to his previous effort in the first Rapid Play, it was enough to have his name scribed in the annals of club history yet again as the Rapid Play Champion! Congratulations! Like Karpov, Patrick's '"boa constrictor" playing style is solidly positional, taking no risks but reacting mercilessly to any tiny errors made by his opponents.'

Rob shakes hands with Patrick before being crushed by the Rapid play champion for 2018

Harrison's 'lucky hat' wasn't so lucky on the night, not phasing Ruari, and new members, Gabriella and Matt, face off behind old hands, Tom and Jamie.

Ian defeated Jasan, while Michael took out Gus

Club Championship 2018

Another year is done and dusted for the Championship. The big winner was Ballarat Chess Club - all the champions photographed below are juniors, and the continuing work of promoting chess in Ballarat seems to be paying off in terms of the number of young people enjoying the 'sport'. A combination of having a chess coach in the schools, several teachers running school clubs, and dedicated volunteers, some parents of players, some players themselves, running and promoting the tournaments, means that we have a thriving club with numbers increasing to the point where we may have to move upstairs to a larger room at some stage. Congratulations to Heath, Caitlin and Justin - it takes a consistent effort to win a tournament and you put in the hard yards!

President Cook presents Heath with the Championship Medal, Caitlin won the Reserves Medal and Justin the C Group Medal

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President Pat hits 60

After boarding the tram on Wendouree last Sunday with friend Edith, Patrick was pleasantly surprised to see friends appear at the next stop, then coincidentally again at the third stop and then, hang on, light bulbs began to switch on as he realised something was afoot! A half hour later the tram and its load of birthday well-wishers returned to the rotunda to find a chess-themed birthday party in full swing. Chess was being played by a good-sized contingent of friends from the club, and an elaborate Chess Game Cake lay in waiting for the gobsmacked victim of this surprise party. The sexagenarian can be seen below in his full Tram Conductor's uniform!

12-07-18 Blitz #2

20 participants, nearly half of whom were born in the 'noughties', enjoyed a 9 round marathon blitz tournament on Thursday evening. Some of the more senior members chose to rest up after the championship! Sean was the best performing junior coming equal second on 6/9 followed by Leonard and Caitlin on 5/9. Of the seniors, Rob scored a picket fence of 9/9 with Harrison, Jamie and Rod sharing second place with Sean on 6/9.

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Club Champion 2018 - Heath Gooch

The Championship game: 2nd seed Heath Gooch versus top seed Bas van Riel. Black, needing a win, went for the French, Winawer, and ignored Heath’s early draw offer. White gained a slight edge with the exchange of Queen’s, and kept the position safe and seemingly unassailable. Bas kept plugging away and late in the game (and night!) conjured up a passed pawn. According to Heath, Bas was now winning, but he stumbled at the crucial moment, and instead fell into a losing endgame which Heath finished off with his trademark technique, to become the 2018 Ballarat Chess Club Champion.
So Heath Gooch is our deserved Champion for 2018, Caitlin Barnett is 2018 Reserves Champion, and Justin Goodison is ‘C’ Group Champion, making a trio of juniors as our Champions! Congratulations to all three players.

Heath and Bas fight it out in the last round. Justin reaches across in the final game to checkmate opponent, Peter Wang, as coach Rob Bailey looks on with interest, and Reserves winner Caitlin Barnett.

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End game tournament

Jason Barnett devised an interesting and challenging practice tournament specifically so we could practise end game play. We played 5 rounds with randomly selected starting positions which were judged by computer to be equal after white's first move. We had a minute or two to study the position before starting a 5 minute 40 second increment game. A great way to get right to the nitty-gritty, analysing a position and making a plan.

C Group Winner: Justin Goodison

Justin Goodison has emerged at the top of the C Group after winning an exciting double round robin playoff between the top 4 players. Peter and Justin finished up on equal scores leading into their final match of the 6 x 15 minute game playoff. They were just ahead of Dan and Sasha after Dan defeated Justin in the first game.
In the Consolation event for the other C grade players, Dylan Worthy finished a clear winner and played some very fighting chess after struggling in the prior games. His good result signals that he has found the confidence to be a strong contender for the C grade title next year. Other players in this section were Kalen, Karthik, Selwyn and Gustav.

Justin reaches across in the final game to checkmate opponent, Peter Wang, as coach Rob Bailey looks on with interest

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Championship Round 9

Harrison Harrison took on Robert Bailey, and came up with a new opening oddity with 1.Nc3…2.e3…3.Nce2. With logical play, Black punished this eccentricity, and White quickly found himself in a tangle and dropping pawns. Black carefully kept the advantage through the middle game and into the endgame to score an excellent win.
A resurgent Jamie Brotheridge faced Rodney Jacobs in a Queen’s Gambit Declined. In a very complex game, White pressed hard, but Black resisted despite dropping the exchange along the way. A tough, theoretically drawn endgame was reached, with Black seeking safety in a rook versus bishop ending. The game went ‘til midnight!, with Jamie showing fantastic technique to score a memorable win.

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Championship Round 8

Heath Gooch faced Ruari Coffey and played the venerable Scotch Opening! Black missed a chance to grab a pawn in the opening, before he felt compelled to give up the exchange in the middle game. Thereafter, Heath’s classy technique kicked in, and he picked up a couple of pawns as well, forcing Ruari to resign in a hopeless endgame.

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June ratings

The ACF June ratings shuffled our member rankings around a little and we now find ourselves with Heath Gooch as the highest rated player in the club. Congratulations to Heath on his massive 73 point jump to 1839! Caitlin Barnett, up 134 points - awesome result! Justin Goodison zoomed up 95 points; excellent result there. Ben Naughton jumped 93 points - well done! Chantelle Barnett shot up 87 points, go Chantelle! Cameron Frame up 67 - another great improvement. There were some downs as well, of course, but it's usually only the seniors that go up and down with the tide; the juniors' ratings are usually more like a helium balloon - up, up and away!

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Championship Round 7

This was another fighting round of chess, with some strange things happening on the board!
Rodney Jacobs took on veteran Kevin Perrin in a Sicilian, and launched his favourite Morra Gambit. Hand to hand combat from both players ensued. With time trouble looming in an even end game, Black missed many drawing opportunities before being mated.
Kent Baden faced defending Champion Rob Loveband in a Caro-Kann. The game was over very quickly as White suffered a catastrophe in the opening, losing his Queen to a wicked pin.
Jamie Brotheridge met Robert Bailey in another Sicilian and it was a real slugfest.

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Championship Round 6

The vastly experienced 7-time Champion Kevin Perrin took on tournament newcomer Ruari Coffey, who played the rare Nimzowitsch Defence (1.e4 Nc6). White snapped off a pawn in the Opening with an old trick, and kept it throughout a complex game. At the end, Ruari overlooked a one move checkmate in a probably lost position.
Patrick Cook, 8-time Champion, playing his 34th Championship tournament, faced tournament leader Harrison Harrison. Black surprised everyone by leaving his opening experiments at home, and played a normal King’s Indian Defence. After reaching the middle game with equality, Harrison proceeded to outplay Patrick to achieve a winning position. White then rolled the dice without much confidence, sacrificing his Queen, only to discover that he had accidentally checkmated his opponent! As Rob Loveband noted, in a reference to Patrick’s disaster the previous week, “Fate turns on a dime”.

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Inaugural Barrow - van Riel Challenge Match 2018

The idea of a Ballarat versus Bendigo Challenge match along the lines of our annual Fletcher-Morrow match against Geelong has been floating around for several years, and after Kevin Perrin’s gentle coaxing over the past few months, the match finally was agreed upon. A shield has been ordered, and the two Clubs settled on Barrow–van Riel Challenge to honour two members who have been important to the history of both Clubs.

 

Championship Round 5

Defending Champion Rob Loveband took on veteran Kevin Perrin and played an odd Queen pawn opening that quickly resembled a weird Larsen Opening. White managed to win the exchange early on, and had little difficulty making his advantage count.


Cassandra Barnett faced Patrick Cook who played a Nimzo-Indian Defence. Black quickly gained a decisive advantage from the opening, picking up the exchange and a pawn. White resisted stubbornly, and late in the game Black was poleaxed by a lethal tactic that saw the 8-time Champion crash to a vexing defeat.

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BCCC Round 4

Harrison full steam ahead...


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BCCC Round 2

Round 2 sees Rod and Harrison keep the lead with 2 full points...


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BCCC Prologue

Patrick Cook is once again picking up his quill to record the triumphs and defeats of the 53rd Ballarat Chess Club Championships.

This week; the prologue with insights into the styles and recent performances of the participating players.


A shot from 2016: Mikel is enjoying his game!

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22-03-18 Rapid Play #1

After 3 games, Bas is the only one unscathed: Rod came unstuck to Justin, Kiki took out Harrison, Ruari drew with Rob and Patrick fell to Bas. The Rapid Play continues next Thursday.

New member Kent Baden plays Kiki. First round games.

Rod plays Tom. Bas defeated Patrick.

15-03-18 Blitz #1

24 players participated in the first blitz tourney of the year. Rob L. on 8 points finished 1/2 point ahead of Jamie who was a clear point ahead of the nearest rival. Caitlin was top junior on 5.5 points, 1/2 point ahead of Justin on 5 points. A fun night was had by all, although some of us were a little weary after a busy Begonia Open weekend! more...

Blitz #1

The Ernie Greenhalgh Blitz Championship.

A Grand Prix cycle of four, 9 round tournaments throughout the year, with a player's best 3 scores deciding the title. There is a $75 prize for the King or Queen of the clock!


Michael playing Chicken on a Blitz night 8 years ago...
Blitz chess does strange things to people: come along and find out for yourself!

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Begonia Open

James Morris and Anton Smirnov shared first prize at the Open on the weekend. Many locals enjoyed the tournament, and parents and friends of the players helped in the canteen. It was nearly a record for entries at 139 competitors, and the committee once again ensured a well run tournament placed Ballarat on the Chess map.

 


James, with the Kevin J Perrin Shield, relayed to everyone that the Begonia Open was his favourite Weekender.

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Spielvogel Round 7: Patrick prevails

After Patrick drawing with Rob, not even Ruari's defeat of Kevin could affect the outcome: Patrick's second Spielvogel title. Patrick noted after the tournament that it'd been a while between tournament wins, and that it felt good to be on the up. Rod commented that with upcoming players of Ruari's calibre the old guard may soon be taking a back seat!


Rod and Tom play the Barnett sisters, with the Begonia imminent Ruari takes on a somewhat preoccupied Kevin, and Rob and Patrick draw.

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Spielvogel Round 6

Tournament leader, Patrick Cook, got a freebie from a no-show which propelled him into an unbeatable position. Whether he shares the prize with Ruari or not depends on last round outcomes - Rob vs Patrick, and Ruari vs Kevin. Obviously underrated Ruari defeated one of the club's strongest players, Rod Jacobs, showing he is another young rising star of the club. Kevin's concentration held and he took a point from Jamie. Rob and Harrison both won their games against lower rated opponents. Caitlin Barnett is now the best performing junior in this tournament with 3.5 points. Kiki, Louis and Chantelle are all following with 3 points.


Ruari on the rise, Rob and Anna chat pre-game, Marley and Karthik start their battle.

Spielvogel Round 5

Patrick's 'steady as she goes' approach against Rod stood him in good stead as he showed that gambits don't always succeed against a calm, logical defence. Jamie and Rob had an even game up until late in the night when Rob, up the exchange and a pawn, couldn't summon the energy to fight on with two Rooks and a Bishop versus two Bishops and a Rook on an open board, and offered a draw. Underrated Tom Oppenheim lost a pawn race late in the game as Ruari took advantage of a pawn majority he had created very early in the game, to Queen on a1 covering Tom's queening square. In the big upset of the night, Jasan drew with Harrison, a player nearly double his rating!


Patrick unfazed by the Von Hennig Schara gambit, Rob and Jamie grind out a draw, and new member, Karthik, defeated by Leonard.

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Spielvogel Round 4

Rod continued his run with a win against Jamie; it was an even game until some miscalculations resulted in Black trying to survive down 2 exchanges. Ruari conceded a draw to Patrick in a slightly favourable position, after an even game. In Harrison vs Bas, Black had his a pawn on a2 by move 15! White's unusual opening resulted in a cramped position and an uncastled king. Black soon overwhelmed White's king near the centre of the board. Ben and Rob both took the point in their games.


Anna, Rod and Tom get ready while Jasan finalises the draw.

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Spielvogel Round 3

After 3. .., Ra6, a classic Surrealist opening in top seed Harrison's repertoire, Patrick's solid play and a timely push with central pawns was enough to take the whole point. Rod, facing second seed Bas, took advantage of somewhat sloppy opening play by White to gain the exchange and then after facing off a short-lived king-side attack by White, continued his attack on the queen-side, culminating with a pawn advancing to c3 and Bas' resignation. Jasan took advantage of Kevin's lapse in concentration and gift of his queen to secure a win against the veteran. Rob L, in trying to avoid swapping queens, dropped the exchange and Tom's continuing solid play eventuated in a draw regardless. Jamie, Ben and Ruari all made sure of the point in their games against lower rated opponents.


Bas couldn't pull the rabbit out of the hat after an opening slip up. Jamie on full points. Ben's second win

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Spielvogel Memorial

24 players are competing in the Spielvogel Memorial; a good entry spread over the A grade and the Reserves. Top seed and 2017 winner Harrison H. will be looking to keep the title for a third time.

After 2 rounds, 5 players are on 2 points and some important games are set to be decided next Thursday in Round 3. Top seed in the Reserves, Jasan Barnett, played a good game against Bas last week and will be trying to improve on his play even more this week against Kevin Perrin.

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