Hello everyone,
The Fitzroy Open commenced last evening with three groups comprising a total of 22 entrants playing.
Because of the event being designed as an 8 players per group format, it was held as 2 x 8 player groups and 1 x 6 player
groups. Here are the three groups
Group 1
1. Papadinis, Jim VIC 1807
2. Urban, Sylvester VIC 1952
3. Chmiel, Rad VIC 1724
4. Rikalo, Milenko VIC 1719
5. Skiotis, Pano VIC 2024
6. Kovacevic, Paul VIC 1760
7. McCart, Richard VIC 1724
8. Pyke, Malcolm L VIC 2065
Group 2
1. Inthavong, Kiao VIC 1225
2. Wyss, Felix VIC 1697
3. Dale, Ari VIC 1085
4. Arkins, Damien NSW 1496
5. Ogden, Marcus W VIC 1618
6. McCart, Roger VIC 1592
7. Kostrzewa, Jake VIC 1497
8. Kaplan, Alex VIC 1554
Group 3
1. Schroder, Nicholas
2. Ivanov, Nikola VIC 1428
3. Dale, Finlay
4. Puccini, Jack
5. Beckman, John VIC 1486
6. Prasad, Daryl VIC 1187
So onto the Round 1 results
In group 1, all games were decisive. In Papadinis - Pyke, Jim was left saddled with a very poor light squared bishop, and
little play whilst Malcolm's pawns on dark squares, and knight were very capable of providing the difference in the end, with
Malcolm going on to win.
Urban - Ri. McCart was a strange looking opening to me, maybe some sort of Pirc or delayed Pirc... In any case Sylvester
played a temporary piece sacrifice to take advantage of Richard's exposed king and recovered the piece later leaving him with
a commanding position which he went on to win.
An irregular Indian defence featured between Rad Chmiel and Paul Kovacevic on Board 3. Rad developed a very dominating
position where all his pieces were very active and eventually this proved enough for the win. I say this as the game was
still in progress when I left last night.
An early entry to the ending between Milenko Rikalo and Pano Skiotis seemed to have left Pano with a big positional advantage
when I headed home, with a position close to this
on the board. Pano's knight seemed very superior, and I was wondering about various attempts at a queen side breakthrough. I
have since learnt that Milenko went on to win, and I guess I will know more about this game at some later point.
In Group 2, Board 1 was postponed owing to Alex Kaplan being sick and his opponent, Kiao Inthavong, kindly agreeing to play
the game later.
Jake Kostrzewa as black was an exchange up for a pawn early against Felix Wyss on board 2, but something must have changed
markedly, because Felix soon had two pieces for a rook and went on to win using those pieces, and a passed pawn on the c -
file ( I think )
Victorian Under 12 champion, Ari Dale, commenced his first weeknight event at MCC last night. Ari is a regular participant in
the lightning and Allegro competitions on Saturdays, where he is often placing well. Last night he played Roger McCart, and
seemed at one point to have a very nice position on the white side of a Semi Slav. Roger found a way to get his pieces onto
Ari's back rank, and a checkmate based on a pinning theme saw Roger record the point.
Damien Arkins and Marcus Ogden had an interesting Najdorf Sicilian where first Damien looked better then Marcus seemed to
have an edge, and then the result was the middle of the road with the points shared with a draw.
In Group 3, other debutantes to week night competitions at MCC make up half the field, With Finlay Dale, Jack Puccini and
Nicholas Schroder being joined by long time club players John Beckman, Nikola Ivanov, and Daryl Prasad.
An unusual advance French was the topic between Nicholas Schroder and Daryl Prasad. Early complications saw Daryl moving his
king's rook several times in the opening, and Nicholas having a passed pawn on h6 by about move 14. As it transpired, the
largest factor in the result of this game was that Nicholas failed to complete his development, with the Nb1, and Ra1 simply
onlookers for the whole game. This allowed Daryl to use his active pieces to checkmate Nicholas. This was the first game
completed for the night.
The Bird opening is looked at oddly by lots of players, but not Nikola Ivanov, who often plays it. His game with John Beckman
was an unfortunately common story in the Bird; Black launches an early attack which seems promising, but often this take them
by storm approach is defused by timely exchanges to reduce the attack. In this case reducing the attack also allowed Nikola
to utilise his extra pawn which had been sacrificed by John in the course of the attack. In an eventual Double Rook ending, a
cluster of pawns shielded Nikola's king from three sides from checks, and meanwhile John's remaining pawns were isolated or
weakened. Nikola won the ending not long after I left; I met John on the tram and had an interesting discussion with him and
Daryl Prasad about the merits of which way one should approach playing against the Bird.
The game between Finlay Dale and Jack Puccini had no recorded result so I am not going to comment.
So finally here are the remaining pairings for each group
Group 1
Round 1 09/11/09
1 Jim Papadinis 1807 [0] 0:1 Malcolm L Pyke 2065 [0]
2 Sylvester Urban 1952 [0] 1:0 Richard McCart 1724 [0]
3 Rad Chmiel 1724 [0] 1:0 Paul Kovacevic 1760 [0]
4 Milenko Rikalo 1719 [0] 1:0 Pano Skiotis 2024 [0]
Round 2 16/11/09
1 Malcolm L Pyke 2065 [1] : Pano Skiotis 2024 [0]
2 Paul Kovacevic 1760 [0] : Milenko Rikalo 1719 [1]
3 Richard McCart 1724 [0] : Rad Chmiel 1724 [1]
4 Jim Papadinis 1807 [0] : Sylvester Urban 1952 [1]
Round 3 23/11/09
1 Sylvester Urban 1952 [1] : Malcolm L Pyke 2065 [1]
2 Rad Chmiel 1724 [1] : Jim Papadinis 1807 [0]
3 Milenko Rikalo 1719 [1] : Richard McCart 1724 [0]
4 Pano Skiotis 2024 [0] : Paul Kovacevic 1760 [0]
Round 4 30/11/09
1 Malcolm L Pyke 2065 [1] : Paul Kovacevic 1760 [0]
2 Richard McCart 1724 [0] : Pano Skiotis 2024 [0]
3 Jim Papadinis 1807 [0] : Milenko Rikalo 1719 [1]
4 Sylvester Urban 1952 [1] : Rad Chmiel 1724 [1]
Round 5 07/12/09
1 Rad Chmiel 1724 [1] : Malcolm L Pyke 2065 [1]
2 Milenko Rikalo 1719 [1] : Sylvester Urban 1952 [1]
3 Pano Skiotis 2024 [0] : Jim Papadinis 1807 [0]
4 Paul Kovacevic 1760 [0] : Richard McCart 1724 [0]
Round 6 14/12/09
1 Malcolm L Pyke 2065 [1] : Richard McCart 1724 [0]
2 Jim Papadinis 1807 [0] : Paul Kovacevic 1760 [0]
3 Sylvester Urban 1952 [1] : Pano Skiotis 2024 [0]
4 Rad Chmiel 1724 [1] : Milenko Rikalo 1719 [1]
Round 7 21/12/09
1 Milenko Rikalo 1719 [1] : Malcolm L Pyke 2065 [1]
2 Pano Skiotis 2024 [0] : Rad Chmiel 1724 [1]
3 Paul Kovacevic 1760 [0] : Sylvester Urban 1952 [1]
4 Richard McCart 1724 [0] : Jim Papadinis 1807 [0]
Group 2
Round 1 09/11/09
5 Kiao Inthavong 1225 [0] : Alex Kaplan 1554 [0]
6 Felix Wyss 1697 [0] 1:0 Jake Kostrzewa 1497 [0]
7 Ari Dale 1085 [0] 0:1 Roger McCart 1592 [0]
8 Damien Arkins 1496 [0] .5:.5 Marcus W Ogden 1618 [0]
Round 2 16/11/09
5 Alex Kaplan 1554 [0] : Marcus W Ogden 1618 [.5]
6 Roger McCart 1592 [1] : Damien Arkins 1496 [.5]
7 Jake Kostrzewa 1497 [0] : Ari Dale 1085 [0]
8 Kiao Inthavong 1225 [0] : Felix Wyss 1697 [1]
Round 3 23/11/09
5 Felix Wyss 1697 [1] : Alex Kaplan 1554 [0]
6 Ari Dale 1085 [0] : Kiao Inthavong 1225 [0]
7 Damien Arkins 1496 [.5] : Jake Kostrzewa 1497 [0]
8 Marcus W Ogden 1618 [.5] : Roger McCart 1592 [1]
Round 4 30/11/09
5 Alex Kaplan 1554 [0] : Roger McCart 1592 [1]
6 Jake Kostrzewa 1497 [0] : Marcus W Ogden 1618 [.5]
7 Kiao Inthavong 1225 [0] : Damien Arkins 1496 [.5]
8 Felix Wyss 1697 [1] : Ari Dale 1085 [0]
Round 5 07/12/09
5 Ari Dale 1085 [0] : Alex Kaplan 1554 [0]
6 Damien Arkins 1496 [.5] : Felix Wyss 1697 [1]
7 Marcus W Ogden 1618 [.5] : Kiao Inthavong 1225 [0]
8 Roger McCart 1592 [1] : Jake Kostrzewa 1497 [0]
Round 6 14/12/09
5 Alex Kaplan 1554 [0] : Jake Kostrzewa 1497 [0]
6 Kiao Inthavong 1225 [0] : Roger McCart 1592 [1]
7 Felix Wyss 1697 [1] : Marcus W Ogden 1618 [.5]
8 Ari Dale 1085 [0] : Damien Arkins 1496 [.5]
Round 7 21/12/09
5 Damien Arkins 1496 [.5] : Alex Kaplan 1554 [0]
6 Marcus W Ogden 1618 [.5] : Ari Dale 1085 [0]
7 Roger McCart 1592 [1] : Felix Wyss 1697 [1]
8 Jake Kostrzewa 1497 [0] : Kiao Inthavong 1225 [0]
Group 3
Round 1 09/11/09
9 Nicholas Schroder [0] 0:1 Daryl Prasad 1187 [0]
10 Nikola Ivanov 1428 [0] 1:0 John Beckman 1486 [0]
11 Finlay Dale [0] : Jack Puccini [0]
Round 2 16/11/09
9 Daryl Prasad 1187 [1] : Jack Puccini [0]
10 John Beckman 1486 [0] : Finlay Dale [0]
11 Nicholas Schroder [0] : Nikola Ivanov 1428 [1]
Round 3 23/11/09
9 Nikola Ivanov 1428 [1] : Daryl Prasad 1187 [1]
10 Finlay Dale [0] : Nicholas Schroder [0]
11 Jack Puccini [0] : John Beckman 1486 [0]
Round 4 ( date to be confirmed )
9 Daryl Prasad 1187 [1] : John Beckman 1486 [0]
10 Nicholas Schroder [0] : Jack Puccini [0]
11 Nikola Ivanov 1428 [1] : Finlay Dale [0]
Round 5 ( date to be confirmed )
9 Finlay Dale [0] : Daryl Prasad 1187 [1]
10 Jack Puccini [0] : Nikola Ivanov 1428 [1]
11 John Beckman 1486 [0] : Nicholas Schroder [0]
TCAGB, Malcolm Pyke, secretary, MCC
