There was only half a point between the top five finishers in this year's Club Championship and nothing between the top two, Branko Santrac and local FIDE Master John Curtis.
After missing the first round and being dealt a surprising blow by Keith Hogan in the second, John finished with five straight wins. His final final-round victory over Branko left the two locked on five points as joint 2009 champions.
Equal third on 4½ were club president John Pascoe, new member Keith Farrell and Gary Losh.
Keith was a clear winner in Division 1 (players rated under 1300). Going into the last round he and Louie Kreidl had established themselves as Division 1 winner and runner-up, their clash on Board 4 to decide who was what. As they say in the Olympics, Louie won silver.
Members of our Wednesday junior group will be tested for their Level 1 Achievement Awards this week. To earn the award, players must master eight beginner-level skills. Dylan Calder recently became our first Level 1 achiever and we expect several others to soon join him.
The senior club will rest from competition on the long weekend Monday, October 5, but will be open for social games.
Our annual Points Handicap starts the following Monday, October 12, when players are given points start according to their ratings - the lower rating, the more points start. John Kadlubek is salivating already. He may be our lowest rated player but laid claim to being our biggest burglar when scoring 5/6 in winning a rapid event in May. Giving this man a start could hurt us all. The tournament will be held over three Mondays with two 25-minute games to be played each night.
See Club Championship results below.
No Name Loc Total Result Name Loc Total 1 Curtis, John 2261 [4] 1:0 Santrac, Branko 1791 [5] 2 Hogan, Keith 1310 [4] 0:1 Losh, Gary 1470 [3.5] 3 Keaveney, Joseph 1312 [3.5] 0:1 Pascoe, John L 1437 [3.5] 4 Farrell, Keith R 1292 [3.5] 1:0 Kreidl, Lou 1254 [3.5] 5 Guo, Timothy 1048 [2] 1:0 Kadlubek, John 833 [2] 6 Winsor, Hugh 966 [2] 1:0 Robb, Ian 1130 [1]
No Name Rtg Loc Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 Santrac, Branko 1791 5 9:W 5:W 3:W 8:L 4:W 7:W 2:L 2 Curtis, John 2261 5 0: 6:L 13:+ 13:W 10:W 8:W 1:W 3 Farrell, Keith R 1292 4.5 12:W 14:+ 1:L 4:D 5:W 6:L 9:W 4 Losh, Gary 1470 4.5 11:W 10:W 8:L 3:D 1:L 0:W 6:W 5 Pascoe, John L 1437 4.5 0:W 1:L 9:D 12:W 3:L 11:W 8:W 6 Hogan, Keith 1310 4 0: 2:W 10:W 7:L 11:W 3:W 4:L 7 Clark, Neil 1340 4 10:L 13:W 12:W 6:W 8:W 1:L 0: 8 Keaveney, Joseph 1312 3.5 0:D 15:+ 4:W 1:W 7:L 2:L 5:L 9 Kreidl, Lou 1254 3.5 1:L 11:+ 5:D 11:L 12:W 10:W 3:L 10 Winsor, Hugh 966 3 7:W 4:L 6:L 0:W 2:L 9:L 13:W 11 Guo, Timothy 1048 3 4:L 9:- 0:W 9:W 6:L 5:L 12:W 12 Kadlubek, John 833 2 3:L 0:W 7:L 5:L 9:L 13:W 11:L 13 Robb, Ian 1130 1 14:L 7:L 2:- 2:L 0:W 12:L 10:L 14 Kodzoman, Ivan 1582 1 13:W 3:- 0: 0: 0: 0: 0: 15 Maddy, Barry 945 .5 0:D 8:- 0: 0: 0: 0: 0:
This year's Wyong Shire Cup winner Branko Santrac guaranteed himself at least a share of first place in the Club Championship by staying a point clear of the field with his win over Neil Clark in the penultimate round.
On four points and within reach of Branko are John Curtis and Keith Hogan, who each missed the first round but have lost only a game apiece since. Branko will concede 480 rating points to the highly credentialed John when they meet in the final round, but will go into the game knowing that a draw would be enough for him stand alone as 2009 Champion.
Keith will play Gary Losh, against whom he has a strong record despite conceding 160 points.
Neil Clark, inflictor of Keith's only loss and also on four points, would have joined the mix but for the intervention of a pre-booked holiday cruise. We wish him fine sailing.
Lou Kreidl and Keith Farrell, each on 3.5 points and 1.5 points clear of the rest, will meet in a final-round showdown to decide who will take the winner and runner-up divisional prizes.
See results from September 21 and draw for September 28 below.
No Name Loc Total Result Name Loc Total 1 Santrac, Branko 1791 [4] 1:0 Clark, Neil 1340 [4] 2 Keaveney, Joseph 1312 [3.5] 0:1 Curtis, John 2271 [3] 3 Farrell, Keith R 1292 [3.5] 0:1 Hogan, Keith 1310 [3] 4 Pascoe, John L 1437 [2.5] 1:0 Guo, Timothy 1048 [2] 5 Kreidl, Lou 1254 [2.5] 1:0 Winsor, Hugh 966 [2] 6 Robb, Ian 1130 [1] 0:1 Kadlubek, John 833 [1] 7 Losh, Gary 1470 [2.5] 1:0 BYE
1 Curtis, John 2271 [4] : Santrac, Branko 1791 [5] 2 Hogan, Keith 1310 [4] : Losh, Gary 1470 [3.5] 3 Keaveney, Joseph 1312 [3.5] : Pascoe, John L 1437 [3.5] 4 Farrell, Keith R 1292 [3.5] : Kreidl, Lou 1254 [3.5] 5 Guo, Timothy 1048 [2] : Kadlubek, John 833 [2] 6 Winsor, Hugh 966 [2] : Robb, Ian 1130 [1]
Joe Keaveney's winning ways came to a crashing halt when walking into a mate after just seven moves against Neil Clark in Round 5 of the Club Championship.
The loss drops Joe to equal third with two rounds remaining, while Neil, who has strung together four consecutive wins since his opening round loss to Hughie Winsor, joins Branko Santrac at the head of the table.
Keith Farrell skipped into equal third (and jumped a point ahead of the field in the battle for Division 1 prizes) with a win over the 145-point higher rated John Pascoe.
The club's junior Wednesday group has grown to nine, most of whom will compete in the Central Coast Schools Individual Chess Championships to be conducted in both primary and secondary divisions at Wyong High on Friday, September 20. We wish them good luck.
See results and draw for September 21 below.
Results for Round 5 - 14 September , 2009
No Name Loc Total Result Name Loc Total 1 Clark, Neil 1340 [3] 1:0 Keaveney, Joseph 1312 [3.5] 2 Losh, Gary 1470 [2.5] 0:1 Santrac, Branko 1791 [3] 3 Pascoe, John L 1437 [2.5] 0:1 Farrell, Keith R 1292 [2.5] 4 Winsor, Hugh 966 [2] 0:1 Curtis, John 2261 [2] 5 Guo, Timothy 1048 [2] 0:1 Hogan, Keith 1310 [2] 6 Kadlubek, John 833 [1] 0:1 Kreidl, Lou 1254 [1.5] 7 Robb, Ian 1130 [0] 1:0 BYE
1 Santrac, Branko 1791 [4] : Clark, Neil 1340 [4] 2 Keaveney, Joseph 1312 [3.5] : Curtis, John 2261 [3] 3 Farrell, Keith R 1292 [3.5] : Hogan, Keith 1310 [3] 4 Pascoe, John L 1437 [2.5] : Guo, Timothy 1048 [2] 5 Kreidl, Lou 1254 [2.5] : Winsor, Hugh 966 [2] 6 Robb, Ian 1130 [1] : Kadlubek, John 833 [1] 7 Losh, Gary 1470 [2.5] 1:0 BYE
Joe Keaveney is smiling his way through a purple patch after knocking over second seed Branko Santrac in Round 4 of the Club Championships.
Branko, with a 479 rating-points advantage, appeared prepared to relinquish his queen for two rooks, but saw too late that an exposed check would cost him a bishop as well. He was mated soon afterwards, giving Joe his second upset win in consecutive weeks and putting him half a point clear of the field.
Others to perform well while conceding ratings points were Tim Guo, who beat Louie Kreidl, and Keith Farrell, who drew with Gary Losh.
See results and draw for September 14 below.
Results for Round 4 - 7 September , 2009
No Name Loc Total Result Name Loc Total 1 Santrac, Branko 1791 [3] 0:1 Keaveney, Joseph 1312 [2.5] 2 Losh, Gary 1470 [2] .5:.5 Farrell, Keith R 1292 [2] 3 Hogan, Keith 1310 [2] 0:1 Clark, Neil 1340 [2] 4 Kadlubek, John 833 [1] 0:1 Pascoe, John L 1437 [1.5] 5 Kreidl, Lou 1254 [1.5] 0:1 Guo, Timothy 1048 [1] 6 Curtis, John 2261 [1] 1:0 Robb, Ian 1130 [0] 7 Winsor, Hugh 966 [1] 1:0 BYEDraw for Round 5 - 14 September , 2009
1 Clark, Neil 1340 [3] : Keaveney, Joseph 1312 [3.5] 2 Losh, Gary 1470 [2.5] : Santrac, Branko 1791 [3] 3 Pascoe, John L 1437 [2.5] : Farrell, Keith R 1292 [2.5] 4 Winsor, Hugh 966 [2] : Curtis, John 2261 [2] 5 Guo, Timothy 1048 [2] : Hogan, Keith 1310 [2] 6 Kadlubek, John 833 [1] : Kreidl, Lou 1254 [1.5] 7 Robb, Ian 1130 [0] 1:0 BYE by Swiss Perfect (TM) www.swissperfect.comReport from Monday 31 August - Mingara Club Championships
| Joe Keaveney (1312) scored an upset at Monday night's Club Championship round when he demolished Gary Losh (1470) in little more than a handful of moves. Joe Played the Scotch and a confused Gary answered with the Botch. From the diagrammed position Joe (white) played Qe5, when the only defence against mate was to martyr the knight at f4. After a couple of fruitless checks and a few dying gasps it was all over. In the only other upset, Lou Kreidl (1254) held John Pascoe to a draw despite conceding more than 170 rating points. With three rounds completed Branko Santrac is the only player still on maximum points. See below for Round 3 results and the draw for September 7. |  |
No Name Local rating Total Name Local rating Total 1 Santrac, Branko 1791 [3] : Keaveney, Joseph 1312 [2.5] 2 Losh, Gary 1470 [2] : Farrell, Keith R 1292 [2] 3 Hogan, Keith 1310 [2] : Clark, Neil 1340 [2] 4 Kadlubek, John 833 [1] : Pascoe, John L 1437 [1.5] 5 Kreidl, Lou 1254 [1.5] : Guo, Timothy 1048 [1] 6 Curtis, John 2261 [1] : Robb, Ian 1130 [0] 7 Winsor, Hugh 966 [1] 1:0 BYE
No Name Local rating Total Name Local rating Total 1 Farrell, Keith R 1292 [2] 0:1 Santrac, Branko 1791 [2] 2 Keaveney, Joseph 1312 [1.5] 1:0 Losh, Gary 1470 [2] 3 Pascoe, John L 1437 [1] .5:.5 Kreidl, Lou 1254 [1] 4 Clark, Neil 1340 [1] 1:0 Kadlubek, John 833 [1] 5 Winsor, Hugh 966 [1] 0:1 Hogan, Keith 1310 [1] 6 Curtis, John 2261 [0] +:- Robb, Ian 1130 [0] 7 Guo, Timothy 1048 [0] 1:0 BYE