2010 Gold Coast International Chess Festival (26-30 December 2010)

The organizer of this Australia tournament was very kind to write a report on it:
My name is Amir Karibasic and I am the main Organizer of the 2010 Gold Coast Chess Festival for the 4th time .

The fact is that our club, Kings of chess club, see www.kingsofchess.biz, organized these tournament successfully every year using different months, but this Year we decided to alter the dates (just to test) from after the Christmas break, 26 – 30 December. Not many chess organizers believed that this would work and chess players over looked this date very sceptically, especially when the Australian Open starts every Year on the 2nd of January. We thought that that was good because the 2 tournaments could be linked together and International visitors could have 2 weeks of fun.
Back to 2009: Australia is far away from the chess world unlike Europe which chess central. You cannot see many “Super” Grandmasters visiting this continent. As a club chess player I was always fascinated about the combinations in chess, therefore I studied Mikhail Tal and Alexei Shirov games and bought all of Shirov’ s books and DVDs published by Chessbase.
Then I started wondering-“What would it be like to have Alexei Shirov visit the Gold Coast?”. (For those people who don’t know where the Gold Coast is- it is located 80km from Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland, and 900km from Sydney and 2000km from Melbourne)

As we announced it to the 2007 to club members, everyone laughed at our idea. Then it all started in 2008 when Super Grandmaster Alexei Shirov accepted to be the judge for the Brilliancy prize and in 2009 surprised us once again with his decision to visit Australia and Gold Coast, whilst performing a Simul which increases the popularity of chess in Australia. OK, obviously that is already a too long story but I have only one thing to add. I had spent 5 days with Alexei showing him around Gold Coast. To me it felt like I was accompanying a school mate, could I find a better word, possibly, but that is how our friendship and trust became strengthened. The best moment of this event I remember, was when Alexei Shirov walked into the venue, The Australian public was stunned, for 5 seconds everything went quiet and then after came a big applause, as they realised it was true. That was the best moment in my chess career as the organizer.

Let’s continue with 2010 and again there were sceptics about our idea to make a FIDE tournament, from 26-30 December, just after the Christmas. In my life I was always an optimist and always believed that I can do something if I want to. It looks arrogant, but I found that is a like a medicine for good health and a long life. Supported only by several players, I felt all my work in the last 3 Years was collapsing and my reputation was fading. But thanks to my personality and my brain which switched on the trigger for survival- commanding me, saying ‘Let’s do it. Open a campaign, and search for public support’. The “blitz-krieg” advertising began and the chess public answered positively. The Sponsorship and entries started to flow including No.1 Australian player Grandmaster Zhao Zong Yuan (2586), \No. 3 Australian player IM George Xie (2478), IM James Morris 2260, Moulthun Ly 2298, FM Junta Ikeda 2264 etc.

2010 Gold Coast Chess Festival became an event created by the Australian chess public.

The highlight of the event was that we used 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss, for the first time in Australia. This scoring system made FM Junta Ikeda a new Champion who in the last round jumped 3 points up and won the tournament, for more see www.goldcoastchessfestival.com or check our video release at : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaAa-hpQ8ME

Here is the for me the best game between: GM Zhao Zong Yuan (2586) vs IM George Xie (2478):

Zhao,Zong-Yuan (2586) - Xie,George (2478) [C11]
Gold Coast Chess Festival 2010 (9), 30.12.2010
[Zhao,Zong-Yuan]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.Qd2 b5 9.a3 Bb7 10.Bd3 g5!? 11.fxg5 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Ncxe5!? [12...Ndxe5 this is the move I knew of 13.0–0 Bg7 14.Nxc6 Bxc6 15.Bc5 is a line if I am not mistaken] 13.0–0 Bg7 14.Nce2 this seemed like the most logical plan, bringing the knight to h5 14...0–0 15.Ng3 Ng4! this move I hadn't expected although looking back it seems to be the best move [15...Qc7 16.Nh5 Ng4 17.Rf4 Nxe3 18.Qxe3 Qe5 (18...e5 19.Nf6+) 19.Qh3! (19.Qg3+-) ] 16.Rf4 I didn't quite realise that with this move the next set of moves is semi forced [16.c3 During the game I really only thought about going for a direct attack but this sensible move certainly has merits] 16...Nde5! After this I went into the thinking tank, the more I thought the more I realised that white now has to sacrifice something [16...Nxe3 17.Qxe3 Qxg5 (17...e5 18.Rh4 exd4 (18...e4 19.Ngf5 exd3 20.Ne7+ Kh8 21.Rxh7+ Kxh7 22.Qh3+ is a nice line which I did see :)) 19.Bxh7+ Kh8 I saw up to here and I thought it should be winning, now with an engine it's also quite straight forward 20.Qf4 Ne5 21.Nh5 f6 22.Bf5 fxg5 23.Nf6++-) 18.Nxe6 I was this much but now Fritz 5 points out 18...Qe7 but the rest is quite easy here 19.Nf5 Qxe6 20.Qg3 Qe5 21.Nxg7±] 17.Raf1!? I saw the upcoming idea and despite the fact it all worked out I still have doubts now even after the game. On the other hand everything else looked depressing so this decision is forced too... 17...Nxe3 Black has many options now...most of them winning some material [17...Qxg5 18.Rxg4 (18.Nxe6? Qh4–+) 18...Qxg4 19.Rf4 Qg5 20.Nxe6+- took a while for me to see but finally it clicked; 17...Nxd3 this one also gave me huge headaches 18.Rxg4! a) 18.cxd3 Nxe3 19.Qxe3 e5 20.Rf6 exd4 21.Qxd4 Bxf6 22.Rxf6 Qe7–+; b) 18.Qxd3 Nxe3 19.Qxe3 (19.Rh4 h6!–+) 19...e5 20.Rf6 exd4 21.Qxd4 Bxf6 22.Rxf6 Qe7 23.h3 Rae8–+ this whole variation could have also happened in the game but if white is forced into it then he is justlost; 18...Nxb2 this move fell outside of my vision but fortunately white seems fine here (18...Ne5 19.Rh4 is what I was planning) 19.Nh5‚] 18.Qxe3 Nxd3


19.Rf6 Nc5? I feel this is too passive although of course a deep computer analysis is needed [19...Bxf6! 20.gxf6 Kh8 21.cxd3 Rc8! and I am not that confident about white's chances (21...Rg8 22.Nf3 (22.Qe5 Qb6 (22...Rg6) 23.Kh1 Rac8 24.Nf3 d4) 22...Rc8 (22...d4 23.Ne5!) 23.Ne5 Rc7 24.d4©) 22.Nh5 Rg8 23.Ng7 Qf8 here I think black is better although white may hold; 19...Nxb2 20.Nh5 Nc4 21.Qh3 Qb6 22.c3 Bh8 23.Kh1 (23.Rh6 Bxd4+ 24.cxd4 Qxd4+ 25.Kh1) ; 19...e5 I didn't think this was good in the game but there is this Nc1 idea which might make it okay 20.Nh5 exd4 21.Qxd4 (21.Qxd3 Qe7) 21...Nc1!? Fritz 5 idea 22.Rxc1 Bh8 23.Rcf1 Qe7] 20.Nh5 Bh8 21.Rh6 Now I didn't really see a defence 21...Ne4 22.Nf6+ Bxf6 23.gxf6 Qd6 [23...Kh8 24.Rxh7+ Kxh7 25.Qh3+ Kg6 26.Qg4+ Ng5 27.h4+-; 23...Qb6 24.Rf4 Rfc8 25.Rxe4 dxe4 26.Qg5+ Kf8 27.Qg7+ Ke8 28.Qg8+ Kd7 29.Qxf7+ Kd6 30.Qxe6+ Kc7 31.Rxh7++-] 24.Rh5 A nice way to sort of rescue a really up and down tournament 1–0
Other events like the Blitz tournament and something new and special like a Simul on the 64 boards at Broadbeach Mall. The Winner of the Blitz tournament was Mr Moulthun Ly (2298), one of the sharpest players in Australia.
The Simul on 64 boards had been held with the idea that 8 Masters played on 8 boards against the Australian public. The Simul performers where: GM Zhao Zong Yuan (No1 Australian Player), IM James Morris(Highest titled Junior in Australia), Moulthun Ly(one of the fastest Blitz Chess players in Australia), WFM Emma Guo (Highest rated Female Junior), Daniel Lapitan (the boy who drew with Alexei Shirov in 2009 Simul), Leteisha Simmonds (Queesland Junior Champion), Abbie Kanagarajah (rising star in women chess) and Melanie Karibasic (best women in Kings of chess Club).


No1 Australian Player GM Zhao Zong Yuan (2586) – Simul
2010 Gold Coast Chess Festival: All in all it became a success and attracted Australian television and local news papers.
See you again from 26-30 December on the Gold Coast , No 1 Tourist destination in Australia.
All International players are welcome.