Queensland Clubs Teams Championship
<Link to photos from today’s action>
The Gap Chess Club entered this tournament for the first time since our last effort in 2002. All players performed to their credit on a day in which the odds were heavily stacked against us. Just making it there with eight players was an achievement (and one we didn’t quite reach).
Six TGCC players had arrived by the appointed time of 9:15am, when concern was rising that our top seed Phil Kirkman was not coming. A few mobile phone calls from Mark confirmed our worst fears. El Presidente bears much of the blame for this as it was a communication glitch, and Phil did say later that he felt he let the team down (even though it wasn’t his fault).
Mark was able to contact Peter Hiller, and his late arrival at 11:00pm saw us attain seven players, still one short. The CAQ convened a meeting of team captains and the other captains generously agreed to allow The Gap to field a ‘borrowed’ player (the CAQ stipulated that this must not be a junior). Fortunately for us David Barnard made himself available and appeared as our Board 3 giving us a full complement of 8 players. The club thanks David for this big effort, and notes his astonishment when he found out he was onboard 3!
There was a lot of administrative mayhem behind the scenes that caused the start of Round 1 to be delayed over an hour. The CAQ has given an undertaking that pre-registration will occur to avoid these problems next year.
The Gap (with an average rating of 1233) was given the bye in Round 1 (our most successful round!), while we sorted out our player list. As it turned out the first round bye was hardly necessary given the long delay in the start of Round 1.
Round 2 saw us up against Gold Coast B (average rating 1303 from 7 rated players) and this saw several creditable performances from The Gap. Indeed we achieved a 4-4 draw from a team perspective winning half of our games. Andrew looked behind for most of his game but won by maximises his blitz skills in a close endgame where time trouble was a factor for both players. Mick, Marty and Mark all had good wins first up against evenly matched opponents. Debbie was a bit unlucky in her game losing due to time trouble when ahead for much of the game. Gold Coast B had a similar rating profile across the boards to us, so this was the best chance that most of our players had of achieving a result.
Round 3 saw The Gap replicate its 0-8 result against Brisbane three years ago. Brisbane’s average rating was 1722, nearly 500 points above us, so this was not totally unexpected. None our games against Brisbane were even close, so we would like to do better than this next time around. Verdict: A disappointing round.
Round 4’s opponent was Redcliffe (average rating 1619). Again we were likely to be outclassed and were in most games. However there was some cheer for us with in-form Marty Chadwick achieving a sensational result against Michael Szabo to achieve our only win for the round.
In Round 5 we were matched with Bullwinkle (average rating 1838!!). Some may have thought it smart to inflate their club by importing a GM for the event, but many at The Gap thought it contrary to the spirit of this event. Bullwinkle’s may have gained the most points on the day and have their name on the cup, but there will always be a footnote against this win. Despite the odds against it, Mark Taylor pulled off a brilliant victory on the bottom board against a player rated more than 500 points above him. Mark was beaming after this game, and this alone would have made our attendance at this event worthwhile.
In Round 6 we took on Gold Coast A (average rating 1724) and again it was Marty who showed what a great run of form he is having lately by pulling off our only win. Debbie also managed to score for The Gap achieving a draw and gaining a half point. Andrew’s chance of scoring an upset victory on Board 1 was sabotaged by a dysfunctional clock that eliminated his chance of winning on time against an unarguably stronger, but (in this game) time-challenged opponent.
By the time Round 7 started it was 5:30pm, so two of our players had to leave for personal reasons. This was reported to the CAQ (who accepted the withdrawals), and apologies are extended to our opponents at Logan for this. Logan’s average rating was 1624, but if we remove their top board this drops to 1340, so The Gap stood a chance in the match-up. Unfortunately we struggled at the end of a long day and Logan CC played well to scoop all boards.
The Gap CC hopes to enter this tournament in future years, and will be working with the CAQ and other club representatives in an effort to improve the tournament for all. We would like to thank the organisers for their efforts. Also we would like to thank the members of other clubs who contributed to this being a friendly and enjoyable day.
The Gap CC results (courtesy of Marty)
Note: The Gap had the bye in Round 1.
|
The Gap Chess Club |
Round 2 – Gold Coast B |
Round 3 – Brisbane |
|||||
|
|
Rating |
Opponent |
Rating |
Result |
Opponent |
Rating |
Result |
|
Andrew Robinson |
1587 |
Richard Bean |
1561 |
W |
Pat Byrom |
1964 |
L |
|
Debbie Jenkins |
1400 |
Ric Kaspar |
1422 |
L |
Majid Jabur |
1855 |
L |
|
David Barnard |
1345 |
Axel Stahnke |
1443 |
L |
Cameron Bailey |
1802 |
L |
|
Mick Waters |
1295 |
Steve Carratt |
1341 |
W |
Louay Al Zaher |
1737 |
L |
|
Peter Hiller |
1121 |
Dylan Bourke |
1338 |
L |
Jorg Uecker |
1708 |
L |
|
Cameron De Vere |
1108 |
Vaso Dakovic |
1056 |
L |
John Alkin |
1638 |
L |
|
Marty Chadwick |
1023 |
Ingrid Thompson |
960 |
W |
Howard Duggan |
1546 |
L |
|
Mark Taylor |
984 |
Jeremy Renkin |
U/R |
W |
Adam Chevor |
1524 |
L |
|
The Gap Chess Club |
Round 4 – Redcliffe |
Round 5 – Bullwinkle |
|||||
|
|
Rating |
Opponent |
Rating |
Result |
Opponent |
Rating |
Result |
|
Andrew Robinson |
1587 |
Tony Truscott |
1879 |
L |
Roland Schmaltz |
2530 |
L |
|
Debbie Jenkins |
1400 |
John Myers |
1833 |
L |
Jonathan Humphrey |
2189 |
L |
|
David Barnard |
1345 |
Tony Weller |
1781 |
L |
Jacob Edwards |
1946 |
L |
|
Mick Waters |
1295 |
Elwyn Teki |
1662 |
L |
Kieran Olm-Milligan |
1724 |
L |
|
Peter Hiller |
1121 |
Mark Stokes |
1601 |
L |
Ben McPhee |
1682 |
L |
|
Cameron De Vere |
1108 |
Nathan Davidson |
1562 |
L |
Michael Van Pelt |
1613 |
L |
|
Marty Chadwick |
1023 |
Michael Szabo |
1483 |
W |
Craig Stewart |
1530 |
L |
|
Mark Taylor |
984 |
Anthony McRoberts |
1150 |
L |
Karina Mowles |
1489 |
W |
|
The Gap Chess Club |
Round 6 – Gold Coast A |
Round 7 – Logan |
|||||
|
|
Rating |
Opponent |
Rating |
Result |
Opponent |
Rating |
Result |
|
Andrew Robinson |
1587 |
Matthew Sonter |
2013 |
L |
John Sarfati |
2278 |
L(F) |
|
Debbie Jenkins |
1400 |
Phachara Wongwichit |
1945 |
D |
Don Patterson |
1844 |
L |
|
David Barnard |
1345 |
Nikolai Hart |
1718 |
L |
Phil Bennet |
1561 |
L |
|
Mick Waters |
1295 |
David Richards |
1639 |
L |
Oleg Korenevski |
1674 |
L |
|
Peter Hiller |
1121 |
Bernie Saavedra |
1669 |
L |
Derek Gibb |
1376 |
L(F) |
|
Cameron De Vere |
1108 |
Nenad Chelebichanin |
1605 |
L |
Wije Tilakumara |
1440 |
L |
|
Marty Chadwick |
1023 |
Joe Kingston |
1637 |
W |
Joe Wycha |
1388 |
L |
|
Mark Taylor |
984 |
Alex Ruddy |
1565 |
L |
John Surridge |
1434 |
L |
Marty’s report: (it was much longer and has been edited from 6 pages to 3 lines for legal reasons)
“Well, we were shut out in the last round... Deb played the best and lost on time to a 1900, though she was a pawn + exchange down anyway. All up, I think we were brave throughout the day and played with pride against obscenely ranked opponents.
I think Mark did really well to take a point from the Bullwinkle #8, who is rated 1489!!! Ridiculous!”
Quote of the night
“If you drive clockwise around Australia it is 900 metres longer than if you drive around anti-clockwise.” – Marty
“I think it’s a case of small man syndrome…” – Mark