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James Morris Wins Ballarat Begonia Open Chess
by Paul Power, Australian Chess Federation
Victorian International Master James Morris is the Ballarat Begonia Open Chess Champion 2023, with a masterful display, scoring 6.5/7, never in danger and conceding only a non-combative draw in the second last round to second placed International Master Igor Bjelobrk.
Bjelobrk, 6/7, conceded only the draw to Morris and took a half point bye in round 5.
Top seed Grandmaster Zong-Yuan Zhao conceded only the loss to Morris and finished in third place on tiebreak.
David Cannon, 6/7, had a very strong result, losing only to Bjelobrk, in round 3, and finishing with wins over International Master Ari Dale and fellow FIDE Master Chris Wallis.
Full results at https://www.ballaratchess.com/begonia/2023/index.html
The 57th Ballarat Begonia Open Chess Tournament ran 11-13 March with 225 entrants, including top players from Victoria and interstate.
Heading the field were Grandmasters Zong-Yuan Zhao, Darryl Johansen, Woman Grandmaster Julia Ryjanova and International Masters Igor Bjelobrk, James Morris, Ari Dale, Stephen Solomon and FIDE Master Chris Wallis.
Past winning players were Johansen (14 times), Zhao (3), Morris (5), Solomon (7), Wallis (1) and Dragicevic (2).
Rate of play was 90 minutes plus 30 seconds per move from move 1, with IA Peter Tsai as Chief Arbiter.
Organisation and Management was by Kevin Perrin, Patrick Cook and other members of the Ballarat Chess Club.
Key moments:
David Cannon’s crushing win, as White, over Ari Dale:
20. e6!
from which, after 20… Bxe6 21. Rxf7, there was no recovery.
Stephen Solomon’s Queen Sacrifice, as Black, against Israel Yadao:
after 10. Bd5,
Solomon played 10… Nxd5, allowing 11. Bxd8,
After 11. Bxd8 Nf4 12. Qc2 (Better is 12. Qd2), the continuation that would make sense of the sacrifice is 12… Nxg2+ 13. Kd1 (13. Kf1 Bh3 14. Kg1 (14. Ng5 Ne3+) ) … Rxd8
But Solomon played 12… Rxd8 allowing 13. O-O, giving rise to complicated continuations.
The game was subsequently drawn.
James Morris’s pivotal win with White over Yuan Zhao:
With both players on 4/4, Morris, White, chose the Moscow (aka Rossolimo) Variation against Zhao’s Sicilian Defence.
Zhao played the uncommon 5… e5, as played by Topalov against Vachier-Lagrave, Grand Prix Riga 2019, setting the character of the game.
With the centre locked, Morris engineered the creation of the semi-open b-file beginning 12. b4
A critical position was reached after 28… Bd2, where Morris had the opportunity to press the initiative with 29. f4
followed by 29… exf4 30. gxf4, threatening e5 with a protected passed d-pawn, for example
But instead, played 29. Qe7, permitting Bb4
After the consequent exchanges, on 33. e5, White still had the advantage of a King side pawn majority and Black the disadvantage of a backward pawn on the semi-open b-file.
“Opposite coloured Bishops” might be a getout clause for Black, should the Rooks be exchanged.
After pawn exchanges and manoeuvreing, White eventually managed to capture Black’s b-pawn, 62. Rxb6
[EDIT (Keong): Removed many images.]
but the win was still problematic.
At move 68, White could move the unprotected Rook off the b-file, for example
but, instead, played the Rook to the unprotected square 68. Rb7, allowing Black to force a draw with 68… Re2
But, instead, Zhao played 68… Bb4, setting up what became a critical position.
Here, Morris, finding no other way to try to win, sacrificed Rook for Bishop
and reached a position where, after 73. Kb3
White cannot lose.
Now on 73… Kc6 74. Kxb4 Kb6, White cannot advance.
But, instead, Zhao played 73… Re1, permitting 74. Kxb4
and permitting White’s Bishop to shield the a-pawn from rear attack by Black’s Rook.
(if 74… Kc7 75. a7 Kb7 76. Bd5+ Kxa7 77. Be4 and the e-pawn triumphs)
Black cannot stop both White’s passed pawns.
Final position
The game was a great contest, but one in which Morris, as in every other game this tournament, was never in danger of losing.
Morris went on to win the event on 6.5/7, with Zhao, Bjelobrk and Cannon on 6/7.
Moves, thanks to Yuan Zhao:
[EventCountry “AUS”]
[EventDate “2023.03.11”]
[Round “5”]
[PlyCount “159”]
[Site “Ballarat”]
[White “Morris, James”]
[Black “Zhao, Zong-Yuan”]
[Result “1-0”]
[Event “Ballarat Begonia 2023”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[Annotator “yuan_”]
[Date “2023.03.12”]
[ECO “B51”]
[EventRounds “7”]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O e5 6. d3 Be7 7. a3 O-O 8. c4 Nb6 9. Bc2 Bg4 10. h3 Bh5 11. Nc3 Nfd7 12. b4 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 Bg5 14. Bb2 Nb8 15. bxc5 dxc5 16. a4 a5 17. Nd5 Nc6 18. Qg4 Nxd5 19. cxd5 Nd4 20. Bxd4 cxd4 21. Bb3 Ra6 22. Bc4 Rb6 23. Rab1 Bd2 24. Qf5 Bf4 25. Rxb6 Qxb6 26. g3 g6 27. Qd7 Bg5 28. d6 Bd2 29. Qe7 Bb4 30. Qxe5 Qxd6 31. Qxd6 Bxd6 32. f4 Kg7 33. e5 Bb4 34. Kg2 f6 35. e6 f5 36. Rf2 Kf6 37. Re2 h5 38. Re5 Ke7 39. Rb5 Rb8 40. Kf3 b6 41. Re5 Rd8 42. g4 hxg4+ 43. hxg4 Bd6 44. Re1 Rh8 45. Kg3 Rh7 46. Rb1 Bc5 47. Rg1 Kf6 48. Re1 Bd6 49. Bd5 g5 50. gxf5 gxf4+ 51. Kf2 Rh2+ 52. Kg1 Rh7 53. Be4 Bb4 54. Re2 Rh3 55. Rf2 f3 56. Bxf3 Rg3+ 57. Kf1 Kxf5 58. Bd5+ Kg5 59. Be4 Rg4 60. Rf5+ Kh6 61. Rb5 Rg7 62. Rxb6 Kg5 63. Bd5 Kf6 64. Bc4 Rg3 65. Ke2 Re3+ 66. Kd1 Re1+ 67. Kc2 Bc3 68. Rb7 Bb4 69. Rxb4 axb4 70. Kb2 Ke5 71. a5 Kd6 72. a6 Re5 73. Kb3 Re1 74. Kxb4 Rb1+ 75. Bb3 Ra1 76. Ba4 Rc1 77. a7 Rc8 78. Ka5 Kxe6 79. Kb6 Rh8 80. Bc6 1-0
Tandem Simultaneous by Visiting FIDE Officials
by Gary Wastell
A tandem simultaneous display was held on 31 March at Lauriston Girls School in Melbourne. It was arranged by Chess Victoria during a three day stopover in Melbourne by FIDE Managing Director, Dana Reizniece-Ozola, and Anastasia Sorokina, Chair of the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess.
Dana is Deputy to Chairman of the FIDE Management Board, Arkady Dvorkovich and a member of the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia.
Anastasia is a former Australian Olympiad team member and, until recently, a FIDE Vice-president and President of the Belarus Chess Federation.
Dana Reizniece-Ozola
Anastasia Sorokina
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