Upcoming Events: 
2008 Victorian Contry Chess Championship: To be held in Castlemaine on the 4th and 5th of October.!
Recent Reults: 
Pre Country Vic Tournament: Currently being held at the Bendigo Chess Club - Nigel Barrow leads on 4 points, ahead of Leigh Healey and Max Mollard on 3. Final round this Wednesday, September 24.
2008 Bendigo Chess Club Championship: The 2008 Final finished up in a tie between Nigel Barrow and Max Mollard, with Barrow winning the play-off to win his 7th straight title. Andre Sardone took out the Reserves title.
2007 Victorian Country Chess Championship won by Malcolm Pyke.
Saturday, October 6th
Sixteen players descended upon Castlemaine from all corners of country Victoria on the weekend to compete in the Victorian Country Chess Championship, a tournament that traditionaly features some of the best players in the country... (but not too many from the city!)
This years event was one of the strongest in recent times, with last year's winner, Mark Bruere, seeded eighth (one place away from qualifying for the Reserves section!)
Things got off to an auspicious start, with a large paper maché sculpture of Ganesh, the Hindu elephant god of "success and overcoming obstacles" featuring prominently in the community hall in which the tournament was held, (a most appropriate deity for chess!)
Ganesh beholds all that transpires before him... (on board one).
Ganesh certainly got to view some fantastic battles as the players set to business. Games went to rating in Round 1, with the exception of Rob Loveband from Ballarat holding the higher rated Nigel Barrow to a draw.
Round 1 - Malcolm Pyke (left) plays Patrick Cook from Ballarat. On board 3 Bendigo Chess Club president Max Mollard waits for his opponent to arrive, while Steven Fletcher (left) takes on Ken Czuczman.
Round 2 saw Pyke & Booth continue their winning runs, while Bruere had a good victory over Alistair Anderson from Geelong. Sarah Anton looked to have a winning position against Bendigo Chess Club President, Max Mollard, however an oversight allowed Max to escape with the point.
Things became interesting after Round 2, when the tournament director's computer went into meltdown, delaying the start of Round 3. Eventually, the pairings were produced, with the top two seeds Malcolm Pyke (rating 2119) & Stewart Booth (rating 2111) producing an exciting clash on board one.
Booth sacrificed a Bishop for three pawns early in the opening, but with clever piece play, Pyke managed to prove the superiority of White's position:
[Event "Victorian Country Championships"]
[Site "?"]
2007.10.06
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Pyke, Malcolm"]
[Black "Booth, Stewart"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2119"]
[BlackElo "2111"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[SourceDate "2007.01.03"]
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 e6 7. f3 Bb4 8. e4 Bxe4 9. fxe4 Nxe4 10. Bd2 Qxd4 11. Nxe4 Qxe4 12. Qe2 Bxd2 13. Kxd2 Qd5 14.Kc2 Na6 15. Nxc4 Nb4 16. Kb3 c5 17. Rd1 Qc6 18. Ne5 Qb6 19. Qb5 Nc6 20. a5Qc7 21. Nxc6 Qxc6 22. Rd6 Qxb5 23. Bxb5 Kf8 24. Rd7 Rb8 25. Rf1 f6 26. Rfd1 a6 27. Bc4 b6 28. Rd8 Kf7 29. R1d7 Kg6 30. Rxh8 Rxh8 31. axb6 Rb8 32. b7 1-0
Action from Round 2: Anderson (left) against Bruere in the foreground, Zoppi plays Booth & Pyke (with Ganesh looking on) plays Fletcher.
Sunday, October 7th:
Round 4 pairings got underway, thanks to a backup laptop provided by International Arbiter, Kevin Perrin.
Ken Czuczman had to withdraw from the tournament at this stage due to ill health, Bendigo player Steve Ahern generously agreed to play as a late entrant to avoid the tournament having a bye. We all wish Ken a speedy recovery.
On board one, Pyke's winning run come to a halt, being held to a draw by Mark Bruere. Meanwhile a tremendous struggle was occurring on one of the lower boards between Steven Fletcher (Geelong) and Nigel Barrow (Bendigo).
Barrow snatched a pawn early, and managed to survive some complicated tactics to hold onto it through to a queen and knight endgame... just when it looked like Fletcher was destined to lose a knight, he generated a couple of ingenious tactics; first to avoid losing his knight, and then to turn the tables and win Barrow's knight!
Barrow snatched a pawn early, and managed to survive some complicated tactics to hold onto it through to a queen and knight endgame... just when it looked like Fletcher was destined to lose a knight, he generated a couple of ingenious tactics; first to avoid losing his knight, and then to turn the tables and win Barrow's knight!
Event "Country Vic"]
[Site "?"]
2007.10.07
[Round "5"]
[White "Steven Fletcher"]
[Black "Nigel Barrow"]
[Result "1-0"]
1. Nf3 c5 2. e3 Nf6 3. d4 e6 4. a3 d5 5. dxc5 Bxc5 6. b4 Be7 7. Bb2 O-O 8.Be2 a5 9. bxa5 Qxa5 10. Qd2 Qc7 11. Nc3 Bd7 12. O-O Rc8 13. h3 Bxa3 14. Nxd5 Nxd5 15. c4 Bxb2 16. Rxa8 Nb6 17. Rxb8 Qxb8 18. Qxb2 Nxc4 19. Qd4 Bb5 20. Rb1 Na3 21. Rxb5 Rc1 22. Bf1 Nxb5 23. Qb2 Rxf1 24. Kxf1 Nc7 25. Qe5 Na6 26. Qb5 Qc8 27. Nd4 h6 28. f4 Nb8 29. Qb6 Nd7 30. Qd6 Nf6 31. g4 b5 32.g5 hxg5 33. fxg5 Qc4 34. Ke1 Qc1 35. Ke2 Ne4 36. Qe5 Qc4 37. Ke1 Qd3 38.
Qb8 Kh7 39. Qf4 Qb1 40. Ke2 Nc3 41. Kf2 Qg6 42. Nf3 Nd5 43. Qd4 Ne7 44. Qc5 Nd5 45. Qxb5 Qf5 46. Qf1 e5 47. e4 Qxe4 48. Qa6 Qe3 49. Kg3 Qf4 50. Kg2 Ne3 51. Kf2 e4 52. Qe2 Nf5 53. g6! fxg6? 54. Qxe4! (If 54... Qxe4 55.Ng5 wins back the Queen} 54... Qg3 55. Ke2 Qg2 56. Kd1 Qf1 57. Kd2 Qf2 58. Kc1 Qc5 59. Kd2 Qf2 60. Kc1 Kh6?? {The losing move.} 61. Qf4 g5 62. Qxg5 Kh7 63. Qxf5 Kg8 64. Qc8 Kh7 65. Qc2 Qxc2 66. Kxc2 Kh6 67. Kd3 Kh5 68. Ke4 g6 69. Kf4 Kh6 70. Kg4 Kh7 71. Kg5 Kg7 72. Nh4 Kh7 73. Nxg6 Kg7 74. h4 Kh7 75. h5 Kg8 76. Kh6 Kf7 77. Kh7 Kf6 78. Ne5 Kg5 79. h6 Kf6 80. Kg8 1-0
Round 5 saw another win by Pyke, this time over Mario Zoppi (Geelong) while Bruere held Booth to a draw to stay within half a point of the lead. Sarah Anton had another high rated player on the ropes, but another oversight allowed Steven Fletcher to turn the tables.
In the final round, Pyke defeated Max Mollard to secure outright first (Max actually overlooked a forced win on move 34 with c4!).
[Event "Victorian Country Championships"]
[Site "?"]
2007.10.07
[Round "6.1"]
[White "Mollard, Max"]
[Black "Pyke, Malcolm"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "1546"]
[BlackElo "2119"]
[Annotator "Pyke,Malcolm"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[SourceDate "2007.01.03"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Bd6 6. Nf3 Nge7 7. O-O Bg4 8.Bg5 f6 9. Bh4 Qd7 10. Nbd2 O-O-O 11. Qa4 Bf5 12. Bxf5 Nxf5 13. Rfe1 Kb8 14. Bg3 Ncxd4 15. Qxd7 Nxf3 16. Nxf3 Rxd7 17. Re2 Bxg3 18. hxg3 c6 19. Rae1 Kc7 20. g4Nd6 21. Nd4 Nc8 22. b4 Kb8 23. Re6 Rf8 24. f3 Rff7 25. f4 Nd6 26. f5 Kc7 27.R6e2 Ne4 28. Ne6 Kb6 29. Re3 Kb5 30. a4 Kxa4 31. Ra1 Kb5 32. Rxa7 Kb6 33.Ra5 Rde7 34. Rd3? {34. c4! threatens mate and forces the win of the knight!} 34... Ng5 35. Re3 Nxe6 36. fxe6 Rf8 37. c4 dxc4 38. Rc5 Rfe8 39. Rxc4 Rxe6 40. Rd3 Re4 41. Rdd4 Rxd4 42. Rxd4 Re7 43. Kf2c5 44. bxc5 Kxc5 45. Rf4 b5 0-1
Booth knocked off Fletcher to finish in outright second place, whilst Zoppi ended Bruere's run, leaving a three way tie for third between Bruere, Zoppi and Alistair Anderson (Geelong). In the Reserves section, Mollard was joined on three points by Sarah Anton, who had a fine win over Patrick Cook (Ballarat), and Rob Loveband (also from Ballarat) who in the last game to finish, overcame stubborn resistance from Jon Daivis (Shepparton).
This was an especially good result for Sarah & Rob, as this was the first time they had played in the tournament. Sarah enters the record books as the first female to have her name engraved on the Reserves' trophy, and has her sights firmly set on the main trophy next year. Given the form she showed in this tournament, that may well prove portentious!
Final Results:
Malcolm Pyke, 1st 5.5/6,
Stewart Booth, 2nd 4.5/6,
Mario Zoppi, Alistair Anderson & Mark Bruere =3rd, 4.0/6
Reserves:
Sarah Anton, Rob Loveband & Maxwell Mollard =1st-3rd, 3.0/6.
Reserves Trophy
Congratulations to all the players for a wonderful tournament that was held in a great, friendly spirit and atmosphere, (as evidenced by all the players getting together for a group photo at the end).
Special thanks to John Lavery for organising the tournament, Patrick Cook & Kevin Perrin for their assistance throughout and Malcolm Pyke for providing assistance with the computer pairing program, Swissperfect, not to mention providing copies of his games for this report!
~ Nigel Barrow.
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Spring Allegro, completed 3rd October. Finished in a three way tie between Nigel Barrow, Leigh Healey & Peter O'Connor.
Spring Lightning, completed 26th September, won by Leigh Healey.
Pre Country Vic Championship - completed 19th September, 2007.
Won by David Schepisi.
Winter Cup - completed 1st August 2007.
Won by Leigh Healey ahead of John Lavery.
2007 Club Championship - completed 13th June 2007.
This resulted in a tie between Nigel Barrow & Leigh Healey, with Nigel winning the play-off and his 6th straight title! 