During the rest day of Oceania Zonal Chess Championship, a meeting was held at the tournament site where FIDE General Secretary Ignatius Leong of Singapore, (4th from right, front row), attended for the first time. Seated are Roberto Hernandez, Palau representative and Rupert Jones, (FIDE-CACDEC Official). Standing from left, front row, are Fernando Aguilar (Solomon Islands), Paul Spiller (NZ), Joselito Marcos (PNG), Shaun Press (PNG Secretary), Mr. Leong, Brian Jones, Gloria Sukhu (Fiji) and Garvin Gray. At the back row, from left are Hilton Bennett (NZ), Paul Spiller (NZ), Jamie Kenmure (Australian journalist), Gary Bekker, Mr. Canfell and Graeme Gardiner, the event's organizer.
(Photo by: Roberto Hernandez)
2 GMs DOMINATE OCEANIA ZONAL,
GOLD COAST OPEN
THE RECENTLY concluded Oceania Zonal Chess Championship and Gold Coast Open chess tournaments were dominated by Australia's latest Grandmaster (GM) David Smirdon and British GM Gawain Jones respectively during the event that started on June 20-26 (Oceania) and June 27-28 (GC Open).
With his results in the Oceania, Smirdon completed the FIDE rating requirement of obtaining 2500 rating to become a GM. Thus, he will become the 4th Australian GM: 1. Daryl Johansen 2. Zong-Yuan Zhao and 3. Ian Rogers, who retired from active competition due to illness but helped in analyzing the top 4 boards of the Zonal live throughout the tournament.
The Oceania Zonal Chess Championship was held in the Queensland and New South Wales border at the Outrigger Twin Towns Resort where some of the seeded players have stayed including Palau lone representative Roberto Hernandez and first time participant Solomon Islands, whose entree is a Filipino, Fernando Aguilar, a 20-year resident there and holder of Solomon Islands passport.
Their chess federation had been admitted in the Solomon Islands National Olympic Committee in just one week of applying. And they've got a corporate sponsorship of $150,000.00 from Phoenix International because their chess program is focus on out of school youth.
Australia, being a host country can field as many players as they can. They fielded in 56 players in the men's (Open) division and 10 players in the women's side, where former Philippine member of women's team in many Chess Olympiad Arianne Caoili, a WIM, won the title over top seed Irina Berezina, an IM, by just a mere half point. They drew their middle round encounter and finished both undefeated.
During the game's rest day, GM Jones held a simultaneous game against 16 players including Hernandez. All 16 players lost their game with the player on Hernandez' left side almost winning or drawing his game but blundered away his queen by a knight fork.
In the same night, a blitz chess competition was held and Hernandez' roommate GM Zhong-Yuan Zhao won the title.
(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
A 10-year old boy, Daniel Lapitan, joined the blitz chess and had beaten Candidate Master (CM) Manoj Kumar, from Fiji and another roommate of Hernandez.
Daniel had beaten another player from Fiji (a 6'4" guy Mr. Raicar) in just 12 moves a day earlier to record the shortest game so far in the Oceania Zonal.
GM Ian Rogers was impressed by the talent of the boy and gave him a free 2-hour teaching lesson on the morning of the event's rest day. It will cost AU$800.00 to have lessons for 2 hours with GM Rogers.
(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
Lapitan is a Junior Chess Champion and Player of the Year in Guardian Angel School, Gold Coast Australia in 2006. In the last round of this Zonal, he outwitted Fiji's top player Damian Norris, who has a FIDE rating of 2142.
More about this child prodigy in the next issue of Chess Mate.
Source: Chess Mate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Pages 9-10
Volume19
June 29-July 05, 2009
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