Hobart Chess Club: news, results, misc.

[Kevin Bonham]

Hobart Chess Club currently meets on Mondays at Guilford Young College, West Hobart. We meet in the library near the tennis courts, entrance off Patrick St from 6:30 on.

Accessing the venue

Our venue is the library at Guilford Young College. From Patrick St go down the drive beside the tennis courts and keep going until there is a glass wall right in front of you. At that point go through the doors on the right and take the lift to level 3. If the door is locked and there is no-one on the door there should be a sign out with a bell attached - ring the bell and someone will come down and let you in.
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The Hobart Chess Club was originally the Hobart International Chess Club.

The International Chess Club was first formed in 1994 among members of various, especially Serbian, Hobart ethnic communities. The club acquired the equipment of the original Hobart Chess Club shortly after forming, changing its name to Hobart International Chess Club at this time. In 2002 the club merged with the Sandy Bay Chess Club.

The club now has a junior and a senior club. The club meets on Mondays with the junior club meeting from 5:30-6:30 during school terms. The adult club meets from 6:30 pm and is open every week excepting most public holidays and 3-4 weeks over Xmas/New Year.

Some of our tournaments are one night quick tournaments and some run for several nights. Multi-week events are Swisses with postponed games allowed in the club championships, and half-point byes available for other events.


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List of Club Champions and Scores

1995 Kevin Bonham 17.5/20 (2RR)
1996 Alija Premilovac 6/7
1997 Pavel Sakov and Lazar Divkovic 7/8
1998 Kevin Bonham 7.5/10 (2RR)
1999 Kevin Bonham 8.5/10 (2RR)
2000 Kevin Bonham 13/14 (2RR)
2001 Kevin Bonham 5/6
2002 Kevin Bonham 14/14
2003 Kevin Bonham 14.5/15
2004 Tom Kacic 14/16
2005 Kevin Bonham 12/14
2006 Kevin Bonham 13.5/14
2007 Neil Markovitz 13/14
2008 Neil Markovitz 9/10
2009 Neil Markovitz, Julian Steward and Kevin Bonham 10/11
2010 Julian Steward 9/10 (2RR)
2011 Kevin Bonham 10/12 (2RR)
2012 Kevin Bonham and Neil Markovitz 7.5/10 (2RR)
2013 Joshua Loh 10/10
2014 David Rolph 6/8
2015 Kevin Bonham 8.5/10
2016 Kevin Bonham 8.5/9
2017 Kevin Bonham 9/9
2018 Jerome Pirotais 9/9
2019 Kevin Bonham 8.5/9
2020 (not held)
2021 Kevin Bonham 8.5/9

In 2011 a Faster Division of the Club Championship was added for players rated under 1500 ACF.

2011 Graham Richards and Milutin Ivkovic
2012 Davis Kim
2013 Davis Kim
2014 Milutin Ivkovic
2015 Milutin Ivkovic
2016 Joshua Perrin

Faster Division was not held from 2017.

List of Club Lightning Champions

2002 Tom Kacic, Lazar Divkovic and Kevin Bonham all 12/14
2003 Nigel Frame 9.5/11
2004 Kevin Bonham 7.5/9*
2005 Nigel Frame and Kevin Bonham 14/15
2006 Kevin Bonham 9/10 (double round robin)
2007 Kevin Bonham 9.5/10
2008 David Small 11.5/12
2009 Neil Markovitz 12/13
2010 Neil Markovitz and Kevin Bonham 6/7
2011 Neil Markovitz and Kevin Bonham 8/9
2012 Kevin Bonham 6/7
2013 Neil Markovitz and Peter Knight 6/7
2014: Kevin Bonham 5.5/7
2015: Kevin Bonham 7/7
2016: David Small 9/9
2017: Kevin Bonham and Aidan Cox 8/9
2018: Aidan Cox 9/9
2019: Will Rumley 8/9
2020: Toby Straton 7/9
2021: Zacharias Lim 8/9
2022: Kevin Bonham 8/9

* Lim Yee Weng won tournament but did not join the club during the year.

[Kevin Bonham]

Material moved from original post 1 dated 21-10-2005:


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Results of the 2005 HICC Championship (recently completed):

12/14 Kevin Bonham 1942
10.5 Tom Kacic 1852
10 Nigel Frame 1851, Martin Line 1659
9.5 Peter Billam 1934
8.5 Charles Chadwick 1724, Milutin Ivkovic 1545
8 Michael Midson 1526
6.5 John O'Mara 1532
6 Scott Cohen 1343, Janice Martin 1503
3.5 Graham Richards 1412
3 John Kennedy 1332
2.5 Winand Frantzen 1263
0.5 Noel O'Mara 1287

DNFs 2/6 Cameron Harris 1599, 0/3 Paul Lovric UNR.

Several players commented that this was the toughest Tasmanian club tournament they had played in and that easy points were rather hard to come by. By around the halfway stage Bonham had conceded draws (both of which should have been losses) to Midson and Ivkovic, but the remaining top contenders had each dropped around three points either to each other or to the various inconsistent midfielders. (Ivkovic especially did all kinds of damage to the pointy end with draws with Bonham and Billam and wins over Kacic and Chadwick, but he also lost to J O'Mara and Martin.) A win by defending champion Kacic over Bonham in a rather sloppy game with a few rounds to go stopped the latter dominating the tournament but was too late to change anything but the minor places. State champ Nigel Frame had two losses (to Bonham in a 92-move epic and to Line) but also had four draws.

Martin Line, who won the 1992 Sandy Bay Club Championship with a perfect score but has only been back in chess for a couple of years after several years off, appears to be getting back towards his former strength. He lost hundreds of ratings points after a poor result when he first returned but appears to be rapidly recouping them.

Currently a G60 tournament is in progress and Bonham with 6/6 currently leads but has not yet played any other top contenders. Frame won a very interesting From's Gambit game against Billam but then had an upset loss to Cohen (who seems rather underrated), so Frame and Billam trail by one game.

Upcoming event: simul with FM Erik Teichmann Wednesday 26th Oct. Will post results here (his previous score a few years ago was +18=1-1).

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Original post 2 dated 27-10-2005:

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Upcoming event: simul with FM Erik Teichmann Wednesday 26th Oct. Will post results here (his previous score a few years ago was +18=1-1).

This time Teichmann, creatively fresh from a pleasant walk down the Overland Track, had little trouble racking up a 16-0 shutout against a field comprised of HICC members and juniors from the Kingston library chess club (thanks to Don Robertson for recruiting the latter).

Unfortunately numbers at the club have been badly down for no apparent reason over the last month or so and this didn't help the strength of the field for this simul.

One game has regrettably survived in which the hopes of the locals to register a solitary half point were cruelly snuffed out by a hideous piece of brainfade at the end of a long hard day.

PGN Viewer

 

[Kevin Bonham]

A. Goose [1942]

Oh dear, my little joke has been immortalised in the newsletter.

[Kevin Bonham]

On Dec 7 the club will be holding a special fun pre-Xmas novelty blitz tournament with a handicap of 1 pawn worth of material odds per 100 ratings points. Given that juniors are good at blitz and underrated anyway I expect any who show up to have a field day!

G60 tournament has been a bit insipid with a number of withdrawals or scratchings (some of these by players who were just short of the 50% mark to be classed as finishers). Bonham has 100% and leads by two points with not many games left to play but was a bit lucky to win a long game against Line after dropping a knight for two pawns and some compensation in the middlegame.

[Kevin Bonham]

On Dec 7 the club will be holding a special fun pre-Xmas novelty blitz tournament with a handicap of 1 pawn worth of material odds per 100 ratings points. Given that juniors are good at blitz and underrated anyway I expect any who show up to have a field day!

We didn't get any rated juniors, just as well for the adults as James Briant is quite capable of beating top adult blitzers even if they start with their queens! We got four unrated juniors and put them in at est.800.

The following system of odds was used based on rating difference: 0-99 no odds 100-199 KBP 200-299 KBP+QBP 300-399 QN 400-499 QN+KBP 500-599 QR 600-699 QN+QB 700-799 QN+QB+KBP 800-899 QR+QN 900+ Queen.

10/12 Nigel Frame 1850 John O'Mara 1543 (Frame won playoff, played at same odds but colours reversed to in the tournament)
9.5 Kevin Bonham 1940
9 Graham Richards 1398
8 John Slidziunas 1704
7 Henry Sheerwater est.1500
6.5 Noel O'Mara 1217
5.5 Scott Cohen 1445
4.5 Tom Krasnicki est.1250
4 Alina Krasnicki est.800 (junior prize)
2 Callum Norris est.800
1 Sebastian Krasnicki est.800, Piyusha Banneheke est.800

Milutin Ivkovic withdrew after being ruled lost for king capture against Scott Cohen in round 1. It had been announced before play that king capture would lose, but Ivkovic's English isn't that good - an unfortunate situation.

There were a number of beginner's mistakes at odds play, eg one Black starting without his f-pawn found himself in immediate strife after 1.e4 e5?? 2.Qh5+ +-.

Generally the juniors only took points off each other but Callum Norris beat Graham Richards who gave rook odds, Alina Krasnicki, worthy winner of the junior prize, drew with her father Tom who gave piece and pawn odds (both flags fell) and also drew with Kevin Bonham who gave queen odds (which, as it turned out, prevented Bonham from making the playoff). In the playoff Frame beat John O'Mara on time.

Graham Richards was about as inconsistent with respect to opponents' ratings as he is without odds, compensating for losing to Norris by beating both Frame and Bonham who gave him piece and pawn odds and rook odds respectively. Frame's other loss was to Noel O'Mara and John O'Mara's other loss was to Bonham.

We might try this again sometime but will probably try to use a Swiss to cut the number of rounds as it was too much for some of the juniors.

First prize was a bottle of bubbly and junior prize was a small box of chocolates. I think both were donated by Graham Richards.

[Kevin Bonham]

Bonham has won the G60 tournament with 9/9 after swindling Frame from a typically pathetic position. A few games to be played early next year will determine second place on a score of 5.5 or 6.

[Oepty]

Bonham has won the G60 tournament with 9/9 after swindling Frame from a typically pathetic position. A few games to be played early next year will determine second place on a score of 5.5 or 6.

Kevin. Well done on the win.
Scott

[Kevin Bonham]

Thanks Freddy and thanks also for your kind comment on the selections thread.

Here's the swindle. I am not giving the full game - not to hide my own dreadful play earlier but to protect Nigel's opening theory for the champs as he needs all the help he can get!

PGN Viewer

 

I was very surprised by the generous resignation although after 37.Kg2 Rxf1 38.Kxf1 Bd6 I would expect to win with relatively little trouble.

The correct response to 32...Bxe5 is 33.Nxe6 when I was intending yet another swindle attempt 33...Bd6, but then 34.c5! and White remains a pawn up.

[Kevin Bonham]

Final results HICC One Hour

9/9 Kevin Bonham 1940
5.5 Scott Cohen 1445, Nigel Frame 1849
5 Martin Line 1715
4.5 John O'Mara 1543, Michael Saunders 1531
4 Tom Kacic 1836
3.5 Milutin Ivkovic 1561
2 John Kennedy 1301
1.5 Janice Martin 1495

Scratched: 2/3 Peter Billam, 0/5 Chris Edwards, 1/2 Suraj Dutt
Withdrawn: 0/2 Winand Frantzen, .5/4 Mike Midson

Nice result for Cohen including wins over Frame, O'Mara, Ivkovic. Kacic had three losses then didn't finish the event but had played enough to be classed as a finisher forfeiting the remainder.

Suppose I should be pleased with a picket fence and such a freakish victory margin but my main feeling over this event is disappointment that so many players entered the event but could not complete it.

[1144]

Kevin, how many people do you have entered for the Tasmanian Championship held out the Burnie Chess Club.

P.S If you could PM me with the answer it would be great.

Thanking You

1144

[Kevin Bonham]

Kevin, how many people do you have entered for the Tasmanian Championship held out the Burnie Chess Club.

P.S If you could PM me with the answer it would be great.

I tried that but got a message that your preferences aren't set to receive PMs. If you didn't set them that way it might be that the ban on using PMs before you've posted three messages also applies to receiving them.

Most entrants in Tassie tournaments leave it til the last ten days and in any case I'm not the organiser - the BCC is organising and receiving entries. In this case the entry forms haven't been issued yet as proposals relating to time controls are still being resolved, although this will be sorted out one way or the other within days.

I reckon there will be at least 30 entries and possibly as many as 40.

[Kevin Bonham]

The club's annual Lightning Championship was held tonight and attracted a surprisingly small turnout. Results (double round-robin) 9/10 Kevin Bonham 8 Nigel Frame 7 Milutin Ivkovic 4 Michael Saunders 2 Mike Midson 0 John Kennedy.

The outcome was decided by the mini-matches between the first three players, all of whom have won the state blitz title (in Frame's case several times) and scored 2-0s against all the others in this event. Bonham scored 1.5/2 vs Frame and Frame the same against Ivkovic. Bonham then won the first game of the mini-match with Ivkovic after the latter delivered checkmate without first removing his king from discovered check, an extreme Swindle even by the standards of yours truly since not only was I two pieces down but the mate was unstoppable. The second game of the minimatch was drawn.

Starting next week the club is opening a Junior Branch! The junior group will play from 6-7pm at the same venue and will probably be geared towards experienced rather than beginning juniors initially.

Attempts to move the club in view of space limitations at its existing venue have been quite thoroughly explored without success.

[Spiny Norman]

Starting next week the club is opening a Junior Branch! The junior group will play from 6-7pm at the same venue ...

Good stuff guys ... that's the ticket!

[Kevin Bonham]

Very good news for the club. We have been able to obtain the large Acacia Room at the centre virtually every night this year by switching our meeting night to Monday, starting this coming Monday.

We now have a junior club which meets on Mondays from 5-7pm and a main club which meets on Mondays from 7:30pm-whenever. It is likely the club will now flourish as word of the consistent availability of the big room spreads and as juniors gradually become strong enough to cross over.

The club champs has 17 entries so far with a few more expected before entries are cut off in a few weeks. Presently Nigel Frame and Janice Martin (3/3) and Kevin Bonham and Michael Saunders (2/2) are the only players still with 100% scores, Martin defeating three higher rated opponents! Other notable events have included Noel O'Mara (1217) scoring an upset win over Martin Line (1696) - though Noel is actually much stronger than that rating when in form - and John Kennedy getting a nice 90th birthday present when John O'Mara resigned a drawn ending against him!

[peter_knight]

Thats good news for me because i have Mondays off
I should be able to come next week