2019 Arthur Teters Memorial
Tournament Winner: Simon Rutherford FM
Round 7
In the final round of the Teters, many strong games were played and the final results would determine if Simon Rutherford would share sole first place. The two main games of the night were Harrison Harrison vs Simon Rutherford and Patrick Cook vs Peter Miitel. After a relatively normal opening by Harrison standards, Simon managed to open up Harrison's kingside and promptly deliver a checkmate. With outstanding play in the tournament, Simon scores 7/7.
Patrick vs Peter was a Semi-Slav defence in which the game was quite even throughout. Patrick, after being offered two draw offers by Peter, accepted the third offer and scored 5.5/7.
Bas van Riel vs Jamie Brotheridge was a Sicillian: Najdorf. During the middlegame, white won the exchange and after a bit of resistance by black, went on to win the game.
Ruari Coffey vs Rodney Jacobs was a Bird's opening which transitioned into a Stonewall. After a queenside attack by black, white managed to hold and in an even position black made two moves of no return and resigned. Bas and Ruari finished on 5/7.
As for the reserves, Leonard and Justin Goodison finished with 4/7, a score on par with several of the other higher rated players.
Round 6
In round 6, Simon Rutherford played Jamie Brotheridge, the latter playing a Caro-Kann. After a positional error by black which opened their kingside and a well-timed piece sacrfice from white, black's king found itself virtually trapped with no safe defence and promptly resigned.
Rodney Jacobs vs Patrick Cook was a French: Tarrasch in which black opted to take a quiet approach. During the middlegame, white gave up a rook and bishop for a queen, only to blunder in the endgame over a positional miscalculation, leading to a nice checkmate by black.
All of the other games went as expected.
Simon now leads on 6/6. Patrick follows on 5/6 and Harrison on 4.5/6. There is still the possibility of a two-way tie depending on next weeks results.
Round 5
Simon leads with 5/5. Patrick vs Simon was a King's Indian in which neither side gained much advantage in the middlegame. However a few choice moves by Patrick allowed Simon to snatch a few pawns, after which Patrick resigned. Jamie vs Chantelle was a Gruenfeld, in which during the middlegame, Jamie won an exchange and converted the point soon after. Rodney v Peter was a Caro-Kann where black exchanged knights on e4 leaving a weakened pawn in white's camp. In an attempt to protect it, black weakened their light squares which white then exploited. A few more moves and black found themselves in an undesirable position and resigned. To cap off the round, Simon leads on 5/5, Rodney, Jamie and Patrick all trail with 4/5.
Round 4
Simon and Patrick are now the sole leaders in the tournament on 4/4. Simon vs Rodney was a declined centre gambit. Rodney appeard out of his preparation and Simon quickly scooped up the point. Patrick vs Harrison contained more of Harrison's' unusual play. During the middlegame, Patrick managed to pick up a rook and managed to hold his advantage to win the game. The game of the round however goes to Chantelle Barnett who managed to beat Bas van Riel, a brilliant upset. The game resembled a classical setup against a King's Indian structure. During the middlegame, a moment of inattention by Bas led to the loss of his queen and then he promptly resigned. The rest of the games went as expected.
Round 3
Simon, Patrick and Rodney now lead the pack, all unscathed on 3 points. Upsets in the round include Partrick's win over Bas, a French advance variation where Bas got tangled up trying too hard to defend a pawn and ended up in a lost middle game. Jamie went astray giving away too many pawns for little positional advantage until Rodney's d pawn headed unstoppably towards the first rank. Simon played the Caro Kann against Rob and things were pretty much book for the first 22 moves when Rob swapped a bishop for a knight and offered a draw - that happened to be the losing move... Round 4 and it'll be Rodney's turn to take on Simon.
Round 2
Once again no surprises, with 15 tournament games played on the night.
Round 1
All games went to the higher rated player, the only exception being Justin Goodison who held Harrison Harrison to a draw! Don't forget you can take a 1/2 pt bye if you notify Jasan before the round.
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.