Sensational Scotch! A report on the 2009 Australian Schools Teams Championships by Kerry Lyall and Charles Zworestine
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- Wang, Oscar - Yu, Derek, 2009 ASTC Secondary Open Board 3, Round 3 05/12/2009
- Tan, Kevin - Lin, Zhigen, 2009 ASTC Secondary Open Board 1, Round 3 05/12/2009
- Dale, Ari - Bortsova, Natasha, 2009 ASTC Primary Open Board 1, Round 4 06/12/2009
- Grigg, Sam - Tan, Kevin, 2009 ASTC Secondary Open Board 1, Round 4 06/12/2009
- Primary Girls
- Secondary Girls
| Sensational Scotch!
A Report on the 2009 Australian Schools Teams Championships by Kerry Lyall and Charles Zworestine The 2009 Australian Schools Teams Championships were held in the beautiful grounds of Scotch College, Hawthorn, Victoria in the Cardinal Pavilion on 5-6 December 2009. There were over 110 children competing in four separate competitions: Open Primary, Girls Primary, Open Secondary and Girls Secondary. In 2009, the following states were represented – Victoria, SA, QLD, NSW, ACT and WA. In some instances, not all states fielded a team for every competition, and Victoria provided a fill-in team to try and avoid byes: Spensely Street Primary School back-filled WA in the open primary section, Mount View Girls Primary School back-filled WA in the primary girls section and Lauriston back-filled South Australia in the primary girls section. Unfortunately, a backup team to fill the WA vacancy in the secondary girls section could not be organised in time for the competition; so this event had a bye (5 teams). Teams started arriving around 8.15 am on 5 December ready for the Opening Ceremony at 9.00 am. Mr Tom Batty, Principal of Scotch College, welcomed competitors, parents, teachers and coaches to the competition. Games started shortly after 9.30 am. All four divisions were played at a time control now common to Australian weekenders: 60 minutes for the whole game, plus ten seconds per move from the start (Fischer). Of course, only the secondary players ever really use this allotted time; with a few notable exceptions, the primary school players usually play blitz, and often all their games are over inside the first hour! Round 1: The Primary Girls saw convincing 4-0 wins by Somerville House (QLD) over Mount View (VIC) and Curtin (ACT) over Summer Hill (NSW); while Lauriston drew 2-2 with fellow Victorian side PLC. In the Primary Open, Victorian favourites Mount View showed no mercy to fellow Victorians Spensely Street, beating them 4-0. The NSW side, Carlingford West, were 3-1 victors over Magill (SA). Meanwhile the match between Kings (QLD) and Kaleen (ACT) looked closest on paper, ratings leaving them very evenly matched. The result, however, was a 3-1 triumph to Kings, Martin Jack defeating Yijun Zhang on Board 1 and Kees Huband-Lint beating Jamie-Lee Guo on Board 3, but Matthew Pyper losing to Marat Rostov on Board 2. Only 2 matches in the Secondary Girls; and while PLC enjoyed the bye (4 points), St Peter’s (SA) and Hornsby (NSW) had a dogfight resulting in a 2-2 draw. Meanwhile Somerset (QLD) beat Radford (ACT) 3-1, winning the bottom two boards and drawing Board 1 (Jessica Kinder vs Tamzin Oliver) and Board 2 after Joanne Mason agreed to a draw in a won position a pawn ahead against Danielle Kinder! The Secondary Open saw more ACF rated players than any of the other events; but it did not help Radford (ACT), who went down 4-0 to the overwhelming favourites Scotch College (VIC) despite Derek Yu having initially slightly the worse of a drawn knight vs bishop ending against Willis Lo on Board 3 and Nicholas Liu sacrificing a piece unsoundly against Bevan Lee on Board 4. The 4-0 win by Kings (QLD) against Seton (WA) was less eventful. Meanwhile North Sydney (NSW) did well to defeat Prince Alfred (SA) 3.5-0.5, Board 1 Kevin Tan agreeing to a draw after a wild game against Anthony Milton and Jack Ruan positionally beating Fabian Ivancic in a pure opposite coloured bishop ending on Board 2. Round 2: Once more Somerville House were too strong for their opposition in the Primary Girls, 4-0 victors over Lauriston. PLC did likewise to Summer Hill; but Curtin dropped a point to Mount View, winning 3-1 after Lucinda Flood was upset on top board by May-Yi Foo. In the meantime, the Primary Open saw Mount View motor along to 8/8 with a 4-0 win over Magill; but the other two matches were far tougher! Carlingford West won 2.5-1.5 against Kaleen, losing Board 3 and drawing Board 4 but Raymond Han scoring an upset win over Marat Rostov on Board 2. Meanwhile Lauriston scored upsets on both the top two boards to draw 2-2 with Kings. So to the Secondary Girls, where St. Peter’s relaxed in the luxury of the bye while Radford were 3-1 winners over Hornsby, losing only on Board 4. The match between PLC and Somerset was crucial, ending up 2-2 after the Victorians won on Board 4 but lost on Boards 2 and 3, leaving Sally Yu to level by tying up Jessica Kinder on Board 1. Scotch confirmed their tag as favourites by beating Kings 3.5-0.5 in the Secondary Open, Jaydon Blackman drawing with Nicholas Liu in an upset result on Board 4. But Zhigen Lin positionally outplayed Sam Grigg, winning a pawn; Eugene Schon won two bishops for a rook to defeat Sebastian Jule; and a knight fork saw Derek Yu beat Caleb Eriksson. North Sydney joined Scotch on 7.5/8 by beating Seton 4-0; while Prince Alfred beat Radford 2.5-1.5, winning Boards 3 and 4 but Anthony Milton suffering an upset loss to Edward Xing on Board 1 and Fabian Ivancic an upset draw with James Li on Board 2. Round 3: Somerville College rounded off a perfect day in the Primary Girls with another 4-0 win (against PLC) to reach 12/12; but even then they were not safe, as Curtin’s own 4-0 win against Lauriston left them on 11/12 and only a point behind! Summer Hill’s Board 4 snared them their first point in their 1-3 loss to Mount View... The same school (Mount View) were still dominating the Primary Open, despite conceding three draws in their 2.5-1.5 win against Kings; the Kings players were all thrilled to register the upset draws on Boards 1, 3 and 4, but Zachary Loh put paid to Matthew Pyper on Board 2 to give Mount View the win. Carlingford West suffered a massive blow to their chances with a shock 2.5-1.5 loss to Spensely Street, their top board Andrew Pan pushing too hard to win a drawn position against Ari Dale and losing instead! Meanwhile Magill stunned Kaleen 3-1, Natasha Bortsova beating Yijun Zhang and Ted Wachtel upsetting Jamie-Lee Guo. It was Somerset’s turn to rest in the Secondary Girls; but PLC ensured that they went into Day 2 level with them on 9/12 after beating Hornsby 3-1, suffering a shock loss on Board 3. The other match between Radford and St. Peter’s resulted in a tough 2.5-1.5 win to the ACT team, Radford losing on Board 3 and Board 1 seeing a tough fight between Sophie Eustace (White) and Tamzin Oliver end in an agreed draw despite White’s weak pawns. Meanwhile the Secondary Open saw the crucial battle between Scotch and North Sydney begin well for Scotch, Eugene Schon winning the exchange to grind down Jack Ruan after Derek Yu had earlier crushed Oscar Wang with tactics in 20 moves (see game below). But Jerry Xu had winning chances before drawing his Board 4 ending with Nicholas Liu; and Scotch completed a 3.5-0.5 victory when Kevin Tan on Board 1 missed a golden winning opportunity against Zhigen Lin, winning his queen for rook and bishop but soon allowing him back rank counterplay and a forced winning combination in time pressure. (See game below). Kings thus entered Day 2 half a point ahead of North Sydney in second place after beating Radford 4-0; while poor Seton were still yet to register a point after going down to Prince Alfred 4-0. Wang, Oscar - Yu, Derek, 2009 ASTC Secondary Open Board 3, Round 3 05/12/2009 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.e5 Ng4 9.Bf4 f6 10.exf6 0–0 11.0–0 Qxf6 12.Bg3 Bd6 13.h3 Bxg3 14.fxg3 Qd4+ 15.Kh1 Nf2+ 16.Rxf2 Qxf2 17.Qh5 h6 18.Rf1 Qxg3 19.Bh7+ Kxh7 20.Rxf8 Bxh3 0–1 Tan, Kevin - Lin, Zhigen, 2009 ASTC Secondary Open Board 1, Round 3 05/12/2009 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Be7 6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.c3 0–0 9.Bd3 b6 10.0–0 Bb7 11.Re1 Be7 12.Qc2 c5 13.dxc5 bxc5 14.Rad1 Qc7 15.Neg5 h6 16.Bh7+ Kh8 17.Rxd7 Qxd7 18.Nxf7+ (Ne5 wins even more easily!) Rxf7 19.Ne5 Bf6 20.Nxd7 Rxd7 21.Be4 Bd5 22.c4 Bxe4 23.Qxe4 Rad8 24.b3 Rd2 25.Qxe6 Bd4 26.Re2 Rd1+ 27.Re1 Rd2 28.Re2 Rd1+ 29.Re1 Bc3 30.Qe8+ Rxe8 31.Rxd1 Re1+ 32.Rxe1 Bxe1 33.Kf1 Bb4 34.Ke2 Kg8 35.Kd3 Kf7 36.Ke4 Ke6 37.f4 g6 38.g4 Bc3 39.Kd3 Ba1 40.Ke4 g5 41.f5+ Kd6 42.a3 a5 43.f6 Bxf6 44.Kf5 Bb2 45.a4 Bd4 46.Kg6 Ke5 47.Kxh6 Be3 48.Kh5 Kd4 49.h4 gxh4 50.Kxh4 Kc3 51.Kg3 Kxb3 52.Kf3 Bd4 53.Ke4 Kxc4 54.g5 Kb4 55.g6 Bg7 56.Kd3 c4+ 57.Kc2 Kxa4 58.Kb1 Kb3 59.Kc1 c3 60.Kb1 c2+ 61.Kc1 Bh6# 0–1 The competitors had earlier been very excited to obtain their lunches, which most people had ordered from Subway. There was an opportunity for participants to catch up with friends from interstate before the third round. After Round 3, most people stayed for the evening meal. There was a long queue for the 10 types of entree and the many varieties of pizza and salad, as almost 180 people waited to collect their dinner. Leteisha Simmonds, who was celebrating her birthday, cut the ice cream cake – which had three different flavours – one cake had a chess board decorating it, one had the Australian Junior Chess League written on it and the final cake had Australian Schools Teams Championships decorating it. No one went home hungry!
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bg5 Bg7 5.f4 Bg4 6.Nf3 a6 7.h3 Bd7 8.g4 h5 9.gxh5 Nxh5 10.e5 Ng3 11.Rg1 Nxf1 12.Rxf1 Bxh3 13.Rg1 Nd7 14.Nd5 f6 15.Bh4 Bf5 16.Ne3 Be4 17.Rg4 dxe5 18.fxe5 Bxf3 19.Qxf3 g5 20.0–0–0 Nb6 21.e6 Bf8 22.Bxg5 fxg5 23.Qf7# 1–0 Grigg, Sam - Tan, Kevin, 2009 ASTC Secondary Open Board 1, Round 4 06/12/2009 1.c4 g6 2.Nc3 Bg7 3.e4 d6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 0–0 6.Be2 e5 7.0–0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Nh5 10.c5 Nf4 11.Bxf4 exf4 12.Rc1 f5 13.e5 dxe5 14.d6 Nc6 15.Qd5+ Kh8 16.b5 Nd4 17.Nxe5 Nxe2+ 18.Nxe2 Qe8 19.d7 Bxd7 20.Nxd7 Rd8 21.c6 bxc6 22.bxc6 Qxe2 23.Rce1 Qg4 24.Qb3 Rfe8 25.Rxe8+ Rxe8 26.Qf7 Qe2 27.Qd5 Qe6 28.Qf3 Qe4 29.Nc5 Qc4 30.Nb3 Qc2 31.h4 Qxa2 32.h5 a5 33.h6 Bf6 34.Qd5 Qe2 35.Nxa5 Bc3 36.Rb1 f3 37.gxf3 Qe7 38.Qd7 Qg5+ 39.Kf1 Rd8 40.Qxc7 Qh4 41.Nc4 Qh1+ 42.Ke2 Re8+ 43.Ne5 Bxe5 44.Rb8 Qe1+ 45.Kxe1 Bc3+ 46.Kf1 1–0 Round 5: No more thrills in the Primary Girls, as Somerville House were clinical in dispatching Summer Hill 4-0 to claim first on 18/20. Curtin were shocked by PLC’s resistance in their 2-2 draw, happy in the end to take out second on 15/20 after upset losses on Boards 2 and 4. This left PLC third and Mount View fourth after they drew 2-2 with Lauriston. Mount View were just as clinical in the Primary Open, drawing Board 1 but winning the rest against Carlingford West for a 3.5-0.5 win to leave them first on 18/20. Kings were second on 12.5/20 after dispatching Magill 4-0; while Kaleen finally got it right in their 4-0 win against Spensely Street, not soon enough for them but happily for Carlingford West who thus took out third place on 9.5/20. There was still some excitement left in the Secondary Open, despite Scotch predictably beating Seton 4-0 to finish first on 19/20; but Jack Ruan on Board 2 dropped queen for rook in his upset loss to James Li, and when Jerry Xu on Board 4 declined Jak Carty’s draw offer and went on to lose instead, North Sydney were only able to draw 2-2 with Radford. Could Kings beat Prince Alfred 4-0 to overtake them? Tough wins by Sam Grigg over Anthony Milton and Sebastian Jule against Fabian Ivancic gave them a chance; but Caleb Eriksson pressed too hard on Board 3, and his loss to Owen Yang left Kings 3-1 victors, third on 12.5/20 half a point behind North Sydney in second on 13/20. Meanwhile the Secondary Girls saw a less thrilling finish than expected, when Tamzin Oliver maintained her good record against Sally Yu and Joanne Mason won Sakthi Ravitharan’s queen to leave Radford level at 2-2 with PLC. Somerset thus needed only 3 points, and duly registered them on the bottom three boards to leave Jessica Kinder’s draw with Sophie Eustace irrelevant; so Somerset took out first with 16/20, PLC second with 15/20, Radford third with 12.5/20 and Hornsby fourth when their 4-0 bye enabled them to overtake St. Peter’s. At the Closing Ceremony Kerry Lyall, the Chief Organiser of the tournament, thanked the many people who had assisted with the competition – especially Howard Chan and Michael Loh, two parents from the Mount View Primary School. Zhigen Lin, Board 1 for Scotch College, was presented with a book by FM Geoff Saw for his exemplary competition website. (Geoff also worked tirelessly over the weekend entering the games from the event). Kerry then introduced Mr Hugh Delahunty, Shadow Minister for Sport and Recreation, Youth Affairs and Veterans’ Affairs who gave a short speech and presented the certificates of participation to team captains and the trophies to the prize winners. Feedback from the tournament was that participants really enjoyed it, that everyone was nice and that they liked the trophies: a most successful event! The final standings were as follows: Primary Girls 1st Somerville House (QLD) 18/20; 2nd Curtin (ACT) 15; 3rd PLC (VIC) 11; 4th Mount View (VIC) 7; 5th Summer Hill (NSW) 5; 6th Lauriston (VIC) 4. Primary Open 1st Mount View (VIC) 18; 2nd Kings (QLD) 12.5; 3rd Carlingford West (NSW) 9.5; = 4th Spensely St (VIC), Kaleen (ACT) 7.5; 6th Magill (SA) 5. Secondary Girls 1st Somerset (QLD) 16; 2nd PLC (VIC) 15; 3rd Radford (ACT) 12.5 4th Hornsby (NSW) 8.5; 5th St. Peter's (SA) 8. Secondary Open 1st Scotch College (VIC) 19; 2nd North Sydney (NSW) 13; 3rd Kings (QLD) 12.5; 4th Prince Alfred (SA) 8; 5th Radford (ACT) 6.5; 6th Seton (WA) 1. Download 32.46 Kb. Share with your friends:
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