WA State Championship



WA State Chess Championship Trophy

WA State Chess Championship Trophy

The trophy was donated in the 1950's by Reg Harrison to perpetuate the memory of his chess-playing son Geoffrey who was killed whilst serving with the R.A.A.F.


The major event in the W.A. chess calendar is the annual State Championship. In recent years the format of the State Championship has alternated between an open event in which all registered players can take part and a closed event restricted to players rated over 1850. When the State Championship is a closed event a reserves event is also run. But when the Championship is an open event the reserves champion is the best performed under 1850 player. The first W.A. Championship was held more than a century ago.




2011 West Australian State Championship

The 2011 WA State Championship was held as a closed event and played on Sundays, from the 17th of July to the 18th of September at Moresby Street Centre in Kensington.



2011 State Chess Closed Championship

Yita Choong was the well deserved winner of this year’s WA Closed Chess Championship. He played solidly for most of the tournament, whereas all of his rivals were unable to consistently play anywhere near their best.

Of the three players who tied for second place (Stephanus Kurniawan, Tim Hare and Akef Saleh) probably only Akef will be pleased with the result. He was the only player to defeat the new Champion.

The two Juniors who played, Aston Taminsjah and Thomas Pinnock, performed quite creditably. Overall, they both had a very strong year, and we look forward to bigger and better performances in 2012.

One other issue that I should mention is the matter of qualifying places. When I first proposed the current system of qualifying places (3 from WA Open, WA Junior Champion and WA Qualifying Champion) it was in the context of a 12 player WA Closed. However, it was felt that 11 rounds were just too many, and the 5 qualifying places were applied to the 10 player format. This was not a problem in 2009 and 2010, but led to strong players being excluded in 2011, and it may be an issue we will have to re-visit.


2011 Qualifying/Reserves Championship

Dave Dempster and Dennis Holland dominated this event, finishing equal first on 8/9 - 2½ points ahead of the rest. Dave lost to Nedeljko Tomic and Dennis lost to Dave. Dennis becomes the 2011 WA Reserves Champion because Dave’s rating was above the 1850 cutoff. The place in the 2012 WA Closed Championship was awarded to Dave, due to his higher countback.

Nedeljko Tomic started very well, but faded to finish third. Evan Yeung played quite well and, with an ounce of luck, would have finished third. Gavin Adam was always thereabouts.

Evan Yeung & George Carolin-Unkovich shared the U/1800 prize.

I should mention the performance of Subramanya Pailoor. Subramanya only joined the tournament in round 3 and some work commitments made it difficult for him to play all of his games. He was also unfamiliar with the way we run our tournaments, which did not help. In the end, he had to forfeit 3 games, which should not be seen as a reflection on him. In the games that he played, he showed that he is a strong Chess player.

Reports by Haydn Barber


Prize Winners


State Champion

 Yita Choong
Runners Up

 Stephanus Kurniawan, Tim Hare & Akef Saleh

Reserves Champion

 Dennis Holland



2011 WA Closed Chess Championship Cross Table

No Name ACF FIDE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Score Place
1 Stephanus Kurniawan 2252 2263   0 0 0 1 = 1 1 1 1 5.5 =2nd
2 Yita Choong 2237 2092 1   = 1 1 0 1 1 1 = 7.0 1st
3 Tim Hare 2119 2172 1 =   0 = 1 = 1 0 1 5.5 =2nd
4 Haydn Barber 2104 2167 1 0 1   = 0 1 0 = 1 5.0 5th
5 David Ellis 2008 2034 0 0 = =   = = 1 = 0 3.5 7th
6 Akef Saleh 1928 1929 = 1 0 1 =   1 = 0 1 5.5 =2nd
7 Aston Taminsjah 1878 1710 0 0 = 0 = 0   1 1 0 3.0 =8th
8 John Fedec 1852 1946 0 0 0 1 0 = 0   = 1 3.0 =8th
9 Gordon Dunlop 1840 1910 0 0 1 = = 1 0 =   = 4.0 6th
10 Thomas Pinnock unr unr 0 = 0 0 1 0 1 0 =   3.0 =8th

2011 Championship Games PGN




Also in conjunction with this years State Championship, a Qualifying/Reserves tournament was being run to determine the 2011 WA Reserves Champion and a place in next years closed championship.

 

2011 WA Qualifying/ReservesTournament Cross Table
No Name ACF 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Score Place
1 Dave Dempster 1895   1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8.0 =1st
2 Dennis Holland 1831 0   1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8.0 =1st
3 Nedeljko Tomic 1826 1 0   1 1 0 0 1 1 = 5.5 3rd
4 Gavin Adam 1804 0 0 0   1 = = 1 1 1f 5.0 4th
5 Fred Maris 1577 0 0 0 0   1 1 0 = 1f 3.5 =7th
6 Evan Yeung 1489 0 0 1 = 0   1 1 1 0 4.5 =5th
7 George Caroilin-Unkovich 1453 0 0 1 = 0 0   1 1 1f 4.5 =5th
8 Joseph Cheong 1416 0 0 0 0 1 0 0   0 0 1.0 10th
9 John McArthur 1114 0 0 0 0 = 0 0 1   0 1.5 9th
10 Subramanya Pailoor unr 0 0 = 0f 0f 1 0f 1 1   3.5 =7th


2011 Qualifying/Reserves Games PGN






 

Previous State Champions

1895 N.E. Hill 1928 L. Younkman 1960 W. Leonhardt 1986 J. Simpson (11)
1896 J.Hilton 1930 J. Sayers 1961 W. Leonhardt 1987 J. Simpson
1898 H.P. Colebatch (1) 1931 B.W. Stenhouse 1962 J. Rush 1988 L. Pang
1899 J. Hilton 1935 A.C. Harris 1963 J. Rush 1989 H. Barber
1900 W.S. Viner (2) 1936 G. Lindgren 1964 W. Leonhardt 1990 H. Barber
1901 W.S. Viner 1937 M.E. Goldstein 1965 C. Wells 1991 H. Barber
1903 W.S. Viner 1938 M.E. Goldstein 1966 W. Leonhardt 1992 H. Barber
1905 W.S. Viner 1939 E. Stannard 1967 M. Woodhams 1993 S. Byrne
1908 W.W. Farrington 1940 G. Lindgren 1968 M. Woodhams 1994 H. Barber (12)
1909 J. Hilton 1941 G. Lindgren 1969 M. Woodhams 1995 H. Barber
1910 E.H. Watson 1942 G. Lindgren 1970 H. Barber (7) 1996 H. Barber
1912 J. Sayers 1943 G. Lindgren 1971 J. Raudzins (8) 1997 S. Byrne
1913 J. Hilton 1944 G. Lindgren 1972 W. Leonhardt 1998 M.T. Partis
1914 J. Hilton 1945 G. Lindgren 1973 R. Lilly 1999 D. Dwyer
1915 J. Sayers 1946 G.H. Hastings 1974 R. Lilly 2000 M. Wilkins
1916 J. Sayers 1947 G.H. Hastings 1975 D. Ellis (9) 2001 M. Wilkins
1917 R. Woodman (3) 1948 G. Lindley (6)         J. Finkelstein 2002 H. Barber
         E.A. Neild 1949 G. Lindley 1976 W.Ballentyne 2003 H. Barber
1918 J. Sayers 1950 G. Lindley 1977 R. DiRenzo (8) 2004 H. Barber
1919 E.A. Brose 1951 S. Nikolenko 1978 D. Ellis 2005 H. Barber
1920 E.A. Coleman 1952 G. Lindley 1979 D. Ellis 2006 H. Barber
1921 A.E. Morris 1953 M. Diamant 1980 R.J. Cooper 2007 T. Boyd
1922 J. Sayers 1954 W. Leonhardt 1981 M.T. Partis 2008 T. Boyd
1923 J. Sayers 1955 P. Timoshenko 1982 W. Ballantyne 2009 T. Boyd
1924 J. Sayers (4) 1956 W. Leonhardt 1983 J-G. Estiot 2010 T. Hare
1925 A.E. Morris (5) 1957 P.M. Foster 1984 C. Kinsman (10) 2011 Y. Choong
1926 J. Sayers 1958 W. Leonhardt          A. Regan
1927 J. Sayers 1959 V.W.D. Stannard 1985 H. Barber

Notes :

(1) Later Sir Hal Colebatch.
(2) Later Champion of Australia.
(3) Challenge match.
(4) There was a challenge match in 1924 between J. Sayers and L. Younkman, won by Younkman, but it is not clear whether this was for the championship.
(5) We believe the champion in 1926 was J. Sayers, but have no authority for this.
(6) Name changed from Lindgren.
(7) H. Barber won play-off 3-0 against K. Hoff.
(8) M. T. Partis won but was ineligible for the title.
(9) After 4 game play-off.
(10) After 4 way double round play-off between C. Kinsman 3.5/6, A. Reagan 3.5/6, D. Ellis 3.0/6 & S. Dibdin 2.0/6.
(11) H. Barber tied with J. Simpson but a play-off match unable to be organised as H. Barber left W.A.
(12) H. Barber won play-off 3-1 against S. Byrne.

 

Previous State Reserves Champions

1961 K. Grinfeld  1980 C. Kinsman  1997 D. Dempster
1962 N. Doig  1981 G. Anderson  1998 P. Roza
1963 M. Carter  1982 M. Curtis  1999 R. Galvin
1964 M. Woodhams  1983 G. Anderson  2000 P. Rados
1965 R. Johnstone  1984 B. Gaslevich  2001 A. Kuklinski
1966 B. Hoff  1985 G. Dunlop & J. Steinbock  2002 N. Mills
1967 R. Bailey  1986 J. Aquilina & L. Escalante  2003 P. Rados
1968 P. Browning  1987 D. Walker  2004 G. Dunlop
1969 A. Blue  1988 S. Gethin & S. Broad  2005 Y. Choong
1972 C. Kinsman & A. Wasser  1989 G. Dunlop  2006 G. Dunlop
1973 B. Hanowski  1990 G. Dunlop  2007 D. Holland
1974 P. Hruby  1991 Eu Jin Teh  2008 G. Viswanath
1975 J. Novak  1992 G. Dunlop & Eu Jin Teh  2009 D. Holland
1976 D. Wallwork  1993 J. Field & A. Chin  2010 J. Fedec
1977 P. Hruby  1994 Eu Jin Teh  2011 D. Holland
1978 S. Piscopo  1995 Z. Davison
1979 J.E. Fletcher & A. Wasser  1996 R. Maris