Report – 27 February 2009
St David’s Day
Welsh massacre of Barbarians
Today was the greatest St David’s Day victory yet, accomplished by a very strong Welsh team whose members occupied five of the top seven places after handicaps were added. Two players new to Australian chess, Thomas Wanderer and Evelyn Rampler had flown out from Vienna especially to take part in the St David’s Day tournament, such is its reputation nowadays. When asked if they had chess ratings, Thomas said “about 2200” and Evelyn “about 1800”. After it was determined that they were serious, a rigorous re-calculation of the handicap system was undertaken to ensure fairness and equity for all.
The tournament
The first round saw the greatest mismatch since Colonel Moreau took on a field of Grandmasters at the 1903 Monte Carlo tournament (achieving a world record 0 from 26). James Hiller (ACF rating 582) was faced with an opponent whose FIDE rating is 2264 – a 1682 difference of rating points. Thomas seemed unsure of what he got, but at least was spared the loud burping and hiccoughing fits of later rounds. There was also a controversy in the first round when Peter Hiller punished an illegal move of his opponent Gary Sands by capturing his king, and then was punished himself by the loss of the game. There was quite a bit of quibbling until it was finally established what had actually occurred.
Several players started well – the Welsh vanguard of Tony, Nathan and Andrew were all undefeated in the first rounds, with Tony only having a draw picked off him by fellow Welshman Brian who played quixotically as usual – performing strongly against the stronger players and losing games he would expect to win (including a loss to James on time – OUCH!).
Andrew’s campaign again came unstuck against Nathan who has achieved nemesis status since the 45 Minute final. Nathan himself lost to Tony, so it seemed the tournament’s outcome would be decided in the penultimate round clash between Tony and Thomas. In this game Thomas applied relentless methodical pressure until Tony’s pieces became so unco-ordinated that he lost one and resigned.
With the handicaps Tony still had a chance though and needed to win in the last round against Evelyn to win the tournament. This he achieved thus winning the tournament for the first time. Once Thomas and Evelyn saw the prize (a leek), they were perhaps relieved that they would not have to cart this around Australia on their backpacking holiday and then back to Vienna.
At the prize ceremony Thomas was asked if our club was stronger than his club in Vienna. He was very diplomatic in his non-reply.
Links that reveal something of the chess life of Thomas and Evelyn are below:
http://www.derschachfreund.at/Archiv/skcobenzl_blitz-klm2007.pdf
http://chess-results.com/tnr12965.aspx?lan=0
St David’s Day tournament standings
All players to play 10 games
|
No. |
Draw No. |
NAME |
|
POINTS |
plus |
TOTAL |
|
1 |
8 |
Tony Howes |
W |
8½ |
1.58 |
10.08 |
|
2 |
11 |
Thomas Wanderer |
B |
10 |
0.00 |
10.00 |
|
3 |
1 |
Nathan Shaw |
W |
7 |
2.74 |
9.74 |
|
4 |
13 |
Andrew Robinson |
W |
7 |
2.14 |
9.14 |
|
5 |
7 |
Garvin Gray |
B |
5 |
3.50 |
8.50 |
|
6 |
12 |
Brian Willcock |
W |
4½ |
3.49 |
7.99 |
|
7 |
4 |
Mark Taylor |
W |
3 |
4.85 |
7.85 |
|
8 |
6 |
Gary Sands |
B |
3 |
4.56 |
7.56 |
|
9 |
9 |
Peter Hiller |
B |
2 |
4.06 |
6.06 |
|
10 |
3 |
James Hiller |
B |
1 |
5.00 |
6.00 |
|
11 |
5 |
Evelyn Rampler |
B |
4 |
1.40 |
5.40 |
St David’s Day tournament 2009 results in detail
(W=Welsh; B=Barbarian)
St David’s Day – Teams standings
All players to play 10 games
|
No. |
THE WELSH |
|
POINTS |
Handicap |
TOTAL |
|
1 |
Tony Howes |
W |
8½ |
1.58 |
10.08 |
|
3 |
Nathan Shaw |
W |
7 |
2.74 |
9.74 |
|
4 |
Andrew Robinson |
W |
7 |
2.14 |
9.14 |
|
6 |
Brian Willcock |
W |
4½ |
3.49 |
7.99 |
|
7 |
Mark Taylor |
W |
3 |
4.85 |
7.85 |
|
|
WELSH SUB-TOTAL: |
|
30.00 |
14.80 |
44.80 |
|
|
Divide by 5 and multiply by 6… |
|
|
|
|
|
|
WELSH TOTAL: |
|
36.00 |
17.76 |
53.76 |
|
No. |
THE BARBARIANS |
|
POINTS |
Handicap |
TOTAL |
|
2 |
Thomas Wanderer |
B |
10 |
0.00 |
10.00 |
|
5 |
Garvin Gray |
B |
5 |
3.50 |
8.50 |
|
8 |
Gary Sands |
B |
3 |
4.56 |
7.56 |
|
9 |
Peter Hiller |
B |
2 |
4.06 |
6.06 |
|
10 |
James Hiller |
B |
1 |
5.00 |
6.00 |
|
11 |
Evelyn Rampler |
B |
4 |
1.40 |
5.40 |
|
|
BARBARIAN TOTAL: |
|
25.00 |
18.52 |
43.52 |
Quote of the night
“I’m too old” – James denying suggestions that he and Mitchell Johnson might become an item.