TASMANIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 2008 (Launceston, March 8-10)

Tony Dowden completed the first hat-trick of Tasmanian state championships in 25 years when he comfortably won the 2008 state titles.

Dowden went into day two tied with top seed Neil Markovitz and fourth seed Ian Rout (ACT), but both soon came off second-best in tactical skirmishes, leaving Dowden with a one-point lead which he conserved with draws in the final two rounds.
In the final round Dowden had to carefully fend off an unusual knight sacrifice from Ramin Rezaie, but was clearly much better when a draw was agreed.
Markovitz and Rout had earlier drawn their final round game to take second and third respectively.

Markovitz faced very stiff resistance in his games with Glen Gibbs (who easily retained his Tasmanian Seniors Champion title) and Nigel Frame, but eventually overcame both.
Rout had some nice wins including a rather elegant one against Gibbs (where he had queen for two rooks in the late middlegame, but all Gibbs' pieces were on the back rank!), and also demonstrated coolness under pressure against state junior champ Alastair Dyer.
Dyer was attacking material down, and ultimately sacrificed a rook, but Rout simply gave up his queen and consolidated the rook and two pieces that he had for it into a watertight position, which Dyer lost on time looking for play against (there wasn't any)
Third seed Kevin Bonham started badly by blundering a knight against Carey Kuzmic in the only game not to follow the ratings in the first round; Kuzmic forced a draw in a won position but under some time pressure.
Subsequently Bonham saved several lost positions following poor opening play, but conceded four more draws.

Ramin Rezaie was remarkably unlucky. In round two he had a clearly won same-colour bishop ending against Vincent Horton, but missed a critical move and his young opponent pulled off a resourceful and determined save.
Worse was to come in round three when, following a long, sharp and complex middlegame, Rezaie reached an ending where he won Michael Lucht's bishop with check, leaving Ramin with queen knight and pawns versus queen and pawns, plus an opponent in  time trouble.
But Lucht had threats to win back the knight or force a perpetual, and as Rezaie dodged Lucht's constant threats to draw, the 1989 co-champion picked off pawn after pawn after pawn, ultimately swapping queens and winning (!) with five pawns against a knight and one.

With Dyer apparently a little out of form (but still doing not too badly) the junior stars of the tournament were Vincent Horton and Mason Carter.
Vincent's fighting qualities were evident in all his games, especially a great win over Lucht in the final round, and his time management has improved; his performance here (topping his rating division and both junior age groups!) suggests his play is moving up another level.
It was a great weekend for the Horton family generally, with dad Russell tying for a ratings prize and daughter Nina the new Tasmanian Womens Champion.
Nine year old Carter (1087), from a tiny town in the far south of the state, has been playing for just over a year and took out the U1400 prize, defeating Hood (1426) and convincingly outplaying Fry (1374).

(Nina Horton, McCulloch and Tandori each received one half-point bye and Tandori had a zero-point authorised last-round absence.
Harry Briant, Falloon, Ben Dowden, and Ellyn and Adam Carter each received one full point bye.)

Games

Markovitz - Dowden[notes: Dowden]
1.Nf3 e6 2.c4 f5 (As a recent convert to the White side of the English, I've found that a Dutch set-up can be irksome. In this game it works to a tee) 3.g3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.d3 d6 7.0-0 Nc6 8.Rb1 Qe8 9.Nb5 (The first sign an early morning round might not agree with Neil. 9.b4 looks more logical) 9...Bd8 10.Bg5 a6 (10...e5) 11.Bxf6 Rxf6 12.Nbd4 Ne7 13.c5 (Interesting, but Black can safely decline the pawn) 13...e5 14.cxd6 cxd6 15.Qb3+ (It looks wrong to block the b pawn) 15...Kh8 16.Nc2 f4 17.d4 (White is struggling to find a constructive plan. His attempt to blow up the centre soon goes badly awry) 17...e4 18.Ng5? (18.Ne1) 18...d5 19.Nh3?? (White had to try a piece sac on e4) 19...f3! 20.exf3 exf3 21.Rfe1 fxg2 22.Qxd5? Bxh3 23.Qxb7 Rc8 24.Nb4? Rb6 0-1

Rout - Gibbs Ian Rout writes:
"White contrives to get an improved Milner-Barry. Although Black nominally escapes to a material advantage of two Rooks plus pawn versus Queen, in practice these positions with the Rooks disconnected and the King stuck in between are better for the Queen, though White has to find a way to ooze round the central pawns before Black gets organised." 1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. Bd3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Nf3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. O-O Qb6 8. Re1 Be7 9. Na3 cxd4 10. cxd4 Nf8 11. b3 Bb4 12. Re3 Bc3 13. Rb1 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 Bxd4 15. Nb5 Bc5 16. b4 Be7 17. Qc2 Kd8 18. Rf3 f5 19. exf6 Bxf6 20. Rxf6 gxf6 21. Be3 Qc6 22. Qb2 e5 23. Rc1 Qd7 24. Rc7 Qxc7 25. Nxc7 Kxc7 26. Qc1+ Kd8 27. Bc5 h5 28. f4 e4 29. Qc3 Nd7 30. Bb5 Rh6 31. Qg3 Nxc5 32. Qg8+ Kc7 33. bxc5 1-0

Full crosstables, another fifteen games and discussions at Chess Chat

- Kevin Bonham