Big Board Match: North Sydney v St George

The annual "grudge" match was on again. On Tuesday night, the players from St George travelled to North Sydney (Norths) for the annual Big Board match.

The majority of the players from St George turned up and although the games are scheduled to start at 7.30pm, unfortunately, the pairings did not happen until a good 45 minutes later.

In the end, a whopping total of 50 boards was finalised.

My opponent was Graham Allison (1368). There was nothing fascinating about the game. I can only say that I made a few blunders, he made a few mistakes. And in the end, as Tarrasch said,"I was the next to last person to blunder", which was rather unfortunate for Graham and he resigned on move 63.

This was my first OTB game for over a year and I was pretty disappointed with my play despite my win. I got into a winning position and miscalculated... badly and my opponent failed to capitalise on it.

My brother-in-law Steven won his game in his typical 1.d4 opening while my friend's son Dylan won his game in a very nice style with a neat tactical combination by beating a pin with a counter pin.

My board was among the last to finish. In the end, North Sydney emerged with nice little 30-20 victory over St George. This was a slight improvement over last year where North Sydney (Norths) 28.5-19.5 (only to get subsequently clobbered by St George in the return match with 33.5-12.5 *ouch*)

The Grade Matches are due to start in a fortnight's time and I've planned to participate.

I realised that my OTB play has deteriorated beyond comprehension. I seriously need to pull up my socks before then.

NSW Grade Matches 2009

Next week is the start of the NSW Grade Matches.

And it so turns out that I have been placed in a rather unusual/unique situation of having to play for 2 separate teams in separate groups (this is allowed).

I am rostered to play for U1600 Norths Bears for North Sydney and for the U1800 team for Ryde Eastwood.

My schedule is now packed and looks like this:

Tuesday May 26 - U1600 Norths Bears vs Norths Grizzlies
Wednesday May 27 - U1800 Ryde Eastwood vs Parramatta
Tuesday June 02 - U1800 St George Saints vs Ryde Eastwood
Thursday June 04 - U1600 Parramatta vs Norths Bears
Tuesday June 09 - U1600 Norths Bears vs Manly
Monday June 15 - U1600 Canterbury vs Norths Bears
Tuesday June 16 - U1800 Norths Grizzlies vs Ryde Eastwood
Monday June 22 - U1600 Rooty Hill vs Norths Bears
Wednesday June 24 - U1800 Ryde Eastwood vs Norths Brown Bears
Tuesday June 30 - U1600 Norths Bears vs St George Saints
Thursday July 02 - U1800 Parramatta vs Ryde Eastwood
Tuesday July 07 - U1600 St George Dragons vs Norths Bears
Wednesday July 08 - U1800 Ryde Eastwood vs St George Saints
Wednesday July 15 - U1800 Ryde Eastwood vs Norths Bear Cubs
Wednesday July 22 - U1800 Ryde Eastwood vs Norths Grizzlies
Tuesday July 28 - U1800 Norths Brown Bears vs Ryde Eastwood

In addition, where I am not playing the NSW Grade Matches on Tuesday nights, I intend to play in the North Sydney Winter Challenge which takes place every Tuesday night as well. This event however is non rated unlike the Grade Matches and time controls are 1hr+30 sec increment for each move. Good enough for a good solid rate of gameplay and not too hurried to be in the same vein as a rapid game.

Ryde Eastwood is having severe problems in fielding players in both the U1800 category and U1600 category (there were not enough of available players for the U1600 team so there is no U1600 team from Ryde Eastwood this year). I'm only rated 1540 (and this rating is expected to fall below 1500 when the next list comes out in June) and I've signed up for the U1800 team. *shakes head*

St George Chess News

While browsing through various chess club news in NSW, the following posting made on the St George Chess website certainly raises eyebrows.

I blame this on FIDE for going with their motto of "Gens Una Sumus" (We are all one family) instead of Susan Polgar's motto of "win with grace and lose with dignity". :)

Okay, John Papantoniou (rated 1629) is a 14 year old teen who defeated his opponent Admir Kicic (unrated) and the youngster is probably excited over his quick win or he may have a running feud with his opponent but is there really a need to plaster this on their website? Charles Zworestine, St George Chess Club Captain evidently thinks so and in fact, found it amusing:

Addendum from John Papantoniou:
Dear Charles, this is my part of the report from the last game:

How To Beat A Kicic in 7 Minutes

Step 1: Go to Grandparents' house in Carlingford at 6:00 p.m.
Step 2: Leave for chess at 7:10
Step 3: Turn up 8 minutes late after getting trapped by a detour circle. (Obviously I don't count this time).
Step 4: Quickly borrow pen from Mrs Ruan after realising that I have forgotten to bring one. (Roughly 1 Minute)
Step 5: J. Papantoniou A. Kicic
1.e4 1:07 d6 1:15
2.d4 1:07 Nf6 1:14
3.Nc3 1:07 g6 1:14
4.Nf3 1:07 Bg7 1:14
5.Bc4 1:07 0-0 1:14
6.0-0 1:07 Bg4 1:14
7.h3 1:07 Bxf3 1:14
8.Qxf3 1:07 e5 1:14
(By playing at blitz pace we had caught up to all the other games. In addition, I was very happy that my opponent had played e5 before c6; and after thinking for 20 seconds, I came up with a trap based upon the idea that Kicic would continue to play innocuous and easy to find moves).
9.dxe5 1:06 dxe5 1:14
10.Bg5 1:06 h6? 1:14 (Ha ha. He fell for it!)
11.Rae1 1:06 Nd7? 1:14
(He could play hxg5 or Qxe1 and settle for the rook and bishop with a weak g5 pawn; this is what I expected. Now I just win two pieces for a rook).
(10. ...Qe7 11. Nd5! wins a piece or leaves Black with a horrible position after 11. ...Qc5! 12.Nxf6+ Bxf6 13.Bxf6 Qxc4 (because Black cannot deal with the queen attacking h6)).
12.Bxf6 1:06 Bxf6 1:14
Step 6: Have pen stop working and ask Mrs Ruan for another. (Another minute gone).
Step 7: J. Papantoniou A.Kicic
13.Rxd7! 1:05 Qxd7 1:14
14.Qxf6 1:05 c6 (a bit too late) 1:13
15.Re1 1:05 Qc7 1:13
16.Qxg6+ 1:05 Kh8 1:13
17.Qxh6+ 1:04 Kg8 1:12
18.Rd3! 1:04 Resigns 1:11
1 - 0
Step 8: Look at watch and note: start time 7:39 pm, end time 7:46 pm!
Step 9: Return pen.
Step 10: Call mum (who had not yet made it back to my grandparents' house), and tell her I am finished.
Step 11: Show game to Blair Mandla.
Step 12: Go home with mum.
My parting sentiment: The child who is last to arrive and first to leave is not lazy, but rather efficient at swindling!

Regards, John Papantoniou