I guess not all rook and pawn endings are drawn

 The 2025 Women's World Championship is underway in China, and game 2 has already thrown up a bit of excitement. After a solid draw in game 1, game 2 was heading in the same direction, until the 'curse of move 40' struck Wenjun Ju. Although she was dropping the b pawn, she missed a way of giving it up for rook activity, and the position went from equal to losing. Despite attempts to complicate the issue by pushing the h pawn, this did not save the game, resulting in a win for Zhongyi Tan.

Tan,Zhongyi (2555) - Ju,Wenjun (2561) [A29]
FIDE Women's world championship match2025 China Shanghai, China (2.1), 04.04.2025

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bc5 7. O-O O-O 8. d3 h6 9. Nxd5 Qxd5 10. Bd2 Qd6 11. Bc3 Qe7 12. Nd2 Nd4 13. e3 Nb5 14. a4 Nxc3 15. bxc3 c6 16. a5 Bd7 17. Qb3 Rab8 18. Ne4 Bd6 19. Nxd6 Qxd6 20. d4 b6 21. axb6 axb6 22. Ra7 Be6 23. Qa4 Rfc8 24. Rb1 Bd5 25. dxe5 Qxe5 26. Qd4 Qxd4 27. exd4 Bxg2 28. Kxg2 b5 29. Re1 Ra8 30. Ree7 Rxa7 31. Rxa7 c5 32. Kf3 cxd4 33. cxd4 Kf8 34. Rb7 Rc3+ 35. Ke4 Rc2 36. Ke3 Rc3+ 37. Kd2 Rf3 38. Ke2 Rf5 39. Ke3 h5 40. f4 Ke8 41. Ke4 Rf6 42. Rxb5 g6 43. d5 Ra6 44. Ke5 f6+ 45. Kd4 Ra2 46. Kc5 Rxh2 47. Rb8+ Kd7 48. Rb7+ Kc8 49. Rg7 g5 50. f5 h4 51. gxh4 gxh4 52. Rh7 h3 53. Kd6 Kb8 54. Kd7 Kb7 55. d6 Kb6 56. Kd8 Rh1 57. d7 h2 58. Rh3 Kb7 59. Rb3+ Ka7 60. Rb2 Ka6 61. Re2 Kb7 62. Ke7 1-0

April fools day

 It might be an age thing, but April Fools Day tends to pass me by more and more. I did catch a couple of chess related ones, although the Carlsen retiring one was pretty obvious. There was one concerning the new BBC Chess Show "Chess Masters: The Endgame" on FB which did catch some people unaware (the contact for the Show was Afo Ools which was a clue).

But elsewhere (away from chess) I did like the installation of floating roundabouts on Sydney Harbour, as a way of helping the traffic flow at the busiest points.

2025 Dubbo Open - Kempen and Vujasin tie for 1st

 The 2025 Dubbo Open ended ina tie between Nikola Vujasin and Leon Kempen, on 5/6. Kempen had started the tournament with 4/4, including a win over top seed Blake Lynch, but a loss to Vujasin left a 3 way tie for 1st going into the final round. Vujasin defeated fellow leader Ron Groenhout with a strong attack on the top board, while Kempen beat Cameron McLean on board 2. 

Groenhout had the consolation of sharing the Under 1600 prize with former tournament winner Fritz vander Wal on 4/6. Prakashbabu  Radhakrishnan was the best U1300 player, while Cameron McClean and Sarayu Prakashbabu shared the best unrated prize.

Although this years event was smaller than previous years, it was an enjoyable, and very social tournament. As usual, the Dubbo Chess Club did a great job of organising the tournament,  and with the support of the Dubbo RSL Club, were able to offer a generous prize pool. Next years event is likely to be on the weekend of the 14th and 15th of March, so plan your entries now!

2025 Dubbo Open

 The 2025 Dubbo Open has returned, after a break last year. A smaller than average field of 21 players turned up for the first round, with Blake Lynch as the top seed. Despite the small field, the first round was quite competitive, with a couple of upset wins recorded by the lower ranked players.  

The 2nd round is now underway, and at least one upset has already been recorded. If you want to keep up with the scores (or simply decide that YOU should have entered this year) you can do so at https://www.vegaresult.com/en/event.php?id=3583

Ozbase - Backup needed

 Ozbase has been an invaluable resource for maintaining the history of Australian Chess. managed by Paul Dunn. Up until recently it was a huge archive of historical Australian games and tournaments. Unfortunately, the website has disappeared, the domain name has been transferred elsewhere, and most importantly, the web hosting company claims there is no backup available. 

So if anyone has a recent backup of the database, a copy would be greatly appreciated. Reconstructing the html files shouldn't be too difficult, but a complete copy of the game files (or files) would be incredibly helpful. If you can help. just get in touch with me, and I will let Paul Dunn know. 

Not a good birthday week for Ivanchuk

 Vasyl Ivanchuk celebrated his 56th birthday last week, but based on the following game it might not have been a great birthday week. In round 9 of the European Championship, Ivanchuk faced Maxim Rodshtein who decided on move 17 to sacrifice a piece. In this case it was a 'real' sacrifice in that there was no immediate mating attack, or the change to win back material. Instead there was just pressure in the form of a central pawn mass, which caused to Ivanchuk to play some poor defensive moves. But the real shock came on move 28, when Ivanchuk allowed a mate in 1. Of course this may have been his way of resigning a lost position, but for a GM of his calibre, a surprise nonetheless

Rodshtein,Maxim (2623) - Ivanchuk,Vasyl (2604) [E07]
Round 9: European Championship (9.10), 24.03.2025

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Nc3 Nbd7 7. Qd3 c6 8. O-O b6 9. b3 a5 10. e4 Ba6 11. e5 Ne8 12. a4 Nc7 13. Rd1 h6 14. Bb2 Rb8 15. Nd2 b5 16. axb5 cxb5 17. Nxd5 exd5 18. cxd5 Bb4 19. d6 Ne6 20. Nf1 Bb7 21. Bxb7 Rxb7 22. Ne3 Nb6 23. Qxb5 Qb8 24. Nf5 Re8 25. Rac1 Nd7 26. Qe2 Nb6 27. d5 Nc5 28. Qg4 Nxb3 29. Qxg7# 1-0

2025 ACT Teams Rapidplay

 The ACT Teams Rapidplay has grown in popularity over the last few years, with this years event attracting 21 teams. Some of the teams represented the local chess clubs (and were playing for the Larko Cup), some were just a group of friends (or friends dads), while other represented other chess organistations.

The clear winner of this years event was the Canberra Academy of Chess I team. They won all their matches and finished on 21.5/28. Tied for 2nd were the Purple Pineapple Pickers and the Tuggeranong Chess Club on 18. PPP took 2nd on countback, while third placed Tuggeranong took home the Larko Cup, their 2nd win in 3 years.

This years event was incredibly even on paper with the top 8 teams within 100 points of each other on average rating. It turned out that depth was what really counted with the winning team scoring 13.5/14 on boards 3 and 4. 

One highlight was the pairing of the All-Star Kids team, against the All-Star Dads team. Each board pairing saw father play son, with the Kids winning 3-1. There were also a few internal club match ups, with these matches being played with as much venom as the top boards.

Board medals went to: Bd 1 CM Hui Li (PPP), Bd 2 Jonah Gear (CAC I) , Bd 3 Jordan Brown (CAC I), Bd 4 Douglas Shuttleworth (CAC I)

Best team name was won by Yogis and the Beare, Best reserve Hakoo Desai (Rosary), Biggest rating gain Sanat Hegde (All Star Kids) and best female Varshini Mididuddi (Canberra Rising Stars)