2020 Arthur Teters Memorial
Tournament Winner: Gary Voigt
Round 6
Garry has continued his good run, defeating Jamie who misplayed a rook ending. He stands on 5 points followed closely by Ruari, Joel and Kevin on 4.5 - they all won their games. Scott resigned a hitherto even game after a careless knight move left his knight and queen forked. Kevin took a throwaway win from Hossam who must have become tired, and gave back his overwhelming advantage.
Round 5
In Round 5 Bas played a cramped game against Garry and was overwhelmed on the queen side by a relentless pawn push combined with a collapsing centre. Jamie's draw with Scott was a game played with 99%+ accuracy on both sides, neither player ever gaining an advantage. Ruari vs Rob was a bit of a blunderfest - Ruari giving Rob the chance for an overwhelming win, which he missed, limping into a drawn bishops of opposite colours endgame.
Round 4
Garry vs Ruari both players played without erring and with accuracy levels over 99% on both sides, ending with rook and bishop vs rook and bishop of the same colour unable to make headway and ending in a draw.
Scott vs Rob's game was one way from the beginning with black's d pawn falling, allowing a trade off of most pieces and then a pawn majority push ending with a nice piece sacrifice by white to clear the path to a new queen.
Jamie surged to the front of the tournament with a win against Caitlin, queening his d pawn which had a short but profitable life, winning a bishop and turning the tide.
So, Scott and Jamie are in the lead on 3.5 points, just ahead of 5 players on 3 points. Three games to go, it's anyone's bet as to the eventual winner.
Round 3
In Round 3 Rob played Hossam on Board 1 in a very equal game which was won with the help of a pawn on the 6th rank, held throughout the game until its value jumped. Ruari vs Kevin was a seesaw affair with blunders on both sides, and as in many of these games, the person to blunder last, Kevin, lost. Patrick vs Scott was a fighting game where Patrick could have got a draw by repetition with a bishop check, but went for a losing rook check on move 30 instead. Joel vs Garry was was well played on both sides with a Chess.com 'Accuracy' rating of above 99% for both players with only one 'Inaccuracy' making the difference - Garry managed to get his queen and rook on the 2nd rank - pressuring Joel to go for a check rather than snaffling a pawn and potentially holding the game. Jamie swept Cassandra aside after a series of miscalculations by her and a 99.3% 'Accuracy' by him.
Round 2:
Round 2 had some good games but there was one upset, Harrison vs Hossam. Harrison played one of his usual creations, Hossam played a typically unorthdox developing move on move 4 with Nh6, to develop to f5 on move 5, after some normal development on the previous moves. Hossam started some fireworks on the board on move 6 with Bxf2. Harrison declined the bishop but very soon, the white king was under heavy assault from black's queen, bishop and knight. After a lot of trades throughout the middlegame, Hossam emerged with a rook up with a few extra pawns against a white bishop and rook. The game ended after Hossam forked the white king and bishop, so with black being a bishop and a rook up, white resigned.
Caitlin Barnett vs Rob Loveband was a declined Benko gambit. White played solidly until after a 'removing of the defender' tactic on the queen on move 17 resulted in white having a rook to black's two minor pieces. White then misplayed, leaving black up a piece but after the queens were exchanged, white managed to get a very active rook with some aggressive pawns. This counterplay caused careful and accurate play by black but black weathered the assault and managed a checkmate.
So going into round three, there are two players on 2/2 points: Hossam and Rob, with quite a few players on 1.5/2. There is also an adjournment so pairings for round three may be delayed.
Round 1:
The first round of the Teter's tournament for 2020 went quite smoothly despite the drastic change in scenery. Players had to adjust to a new format of an online board as opposed to a physical board.
There were three notable results from the first round. The first being Hossam beating Bas in a Kings Indian Attack setup. Hossam managed to win a pawn just out of the opening, which Bas got back during the middlegame. In the resulting endgame, Bas made a few positional inaccuracies which Hossam exploited, creating a checkmate on the side of the board.
The second game of note was Justin's draw against Harrison. After a typically unusual opening by Harrison, black had trouble converting the position into a solid advantage, allowing white to consolidate and push for an advantage after one of black's knight jumped too far into whites territory. In the endgame, white was two pawns up but misplayed allowing black to reach a stalemate position.
The third game was Patrick vs Anna. After solid play by both in a semi-slav opening, the board opened up leaving black with an isolated queens pawn (IQP). Later in the game black managed to reconnect the IQP and win one of the white pawns. After black grabbed another one of white's pawns, white managed to give a perpetual check to the black king resulting in a draw. A good game by both players.
All of the other games went as expected.
If there are still those that would like to play in the Teter's, please message Ruari using the email above.
Teters Memorial Introduction
Arbiters/Coordinators: Ruari Coffey (Chess.com Handle - Meow909) Kevin Perrin (KevinP201)
Time Controls: 60 minutes plus a 30 second increment
Starting next week on, we will be playing the Teters Tournament. The format will be 60min+30s, Swiss. Pairings will be done through Vega and posted here, in the Pairings/Results tab
Please message Ruari (Meow909) either through Chess.com, email (ruari.coffey@gmail.com) or text (0423122543) to provide interest in playing the tournament.
Rating will be paired through ACF but only Chess.com rating will be changing.
To begin the round, the player who is white will challenge their designated opponent through chess.com with the appropriate time control (60 minutes +30 seconds) and colour.
After the completion of each round, could the winner of the match please message Ruari (any of the above contacts) to provide the result. In the event of a draw, preferably both players provide a message but at least one is needed. Either player can do this.
The preferred format of the message is as follows:
[Name of player (white) (Username)] vs [Name of player (black) (Username)]; [result (1-0, 0-1, 0.5-0.5)]
[Name of whoever sent the message].
Please make sure that, if you are joining the club, the entry fee has been payed to the club, through Kevin Perrin (KevinP@ppt.com.au).
This event will not be ACF rated, and there will be no monetary prize.
Enter your games at Chessmicrobase
For the past decade or so, the period between the annual Club Championships, for the Andy Miitel shield and John Baynham shield, has been filled with non-descript rapid play tournaments. At the suggestion of some club members, a new annual 7 round Swiss, games to be rated, was devised. All that remained was to give it a name. After a great deal of discussion, it was finally agreed to honour a past Ballarat player who has faded, almost to obscurity, in our collective memories.
Arthur Teters was part of the great wave of post-war immigration to Australia of Baltic chess players. He arrived in Australia in 1950 and won the Australian Open in Melbourne in 1953, before settling in Ballarat in 1954.
It can be established that he won the Ballarat Club championship in 1954 and 1957, and possibly several other years as well. He was elected President of the Club shortly after arriving here and played successfully for the Club in numerous inter-city matches. His other OTB achievements included winning the Country Victorian championship in the 1950’s, and then the Victorian State championship in 1965, no doubt after he had returned to live in Melbourne.
Upon his arrival in Ballarat, he had told the “Courier” that a highlight of his youth was holding the World Champion to a draw in a simultaneous exhibition in Riga. The Champion could only have been Mikhail Botvinnik, a notable achievement indeed.
He was also a strong and active CC player, winning the Victorian Correspondence Chess championship in the 1950’s and representing Australia in a CC Olympiad.
By a curious coincidence, the current President of the Club, Patrick Cook, played against Mr. Teters a number of times in the 1970’s and ‘80’s, without ever knowing of his connection to Ballarat chess. So, it is important that he not be forgotten and this new tournament is an appropriate salute to a past Ballarat champion.