Melbourne Chess Club CUP WEEKENDER - Page 3 - OzChess

**Lekko** · 09-17-2009, 12:36 AM

Originally Posted by Fenguin

Hi Mike,

Is it possible for me to give you the form and money on Friday night to enter and you can hand in the form and money for me at the MCC Transfer Tournament?

Thanks,
Fenguin

Fenguin, I'll be coming in on Friday (most likely) for allegro. If you want, I can give Grant the money and the form on Saturday when I go to MCC's allegro.

Or you can come to MCC's Allegro!

**Grant Szuveges** · 09-17-2009, 02:33 AM

Heartbreak Kid,

Great to see MCC members promoting our allegro at all times!!!

What a weekend of chess it could be - Friday night at Box Hills allegro, Saturday at MCCs allegro and then Sunday at MCCs transfer tournament!!!

**Grant Szuveges** · 09-22-2009, 07:49 PM

Hi Everyone

The earlybird discount on entry fees will close in less than a week. Please pay your entry fees before Sept 30th please in order to get $10 off.... Check this thread for the MCCs bank details.

**Grant Szuveges** · 09-27-2009, 05:00 PM

Hi Everyone

Here is the list of entries so far. Only 4 more days to go if you want to get the earlybird discount!

PAID (or not fee due to title)

Elliot RENZIES
Eugene SCHON
Bobby CHENG
Mark MACKENZIE
David SMERDON (GM)
Tristan RAYSON - HILL
James MORRIS (IM)
Efrain TIONKO
Hamish SELNES
George LESTER
Steven SOLOMON (IM)
Elizabeth WARREN
Roger McCART
Zacharey LOH
Tony DOWDEN
Scott HUMPHREYS

UNPAID

Michael ADDAMO
Jake KOSTRZEWA
David HACCHE
Justin TAN
Frank LEKKAS
Thomas FENG
David FLUDE

**Grant Szuveges** · 10-07-2009, 11:37 PM

Hi Everyone

Ive got a few quick announcements regarding the Cup Weekender:

1. I have continued liasing (is that spelt right?) with the Nepalese Chess Federation and they want to send out 3 players and an official. So far I have only had 1 person offer accomodation and 1 offer food. If these players are going to come out to Australia to play in this event, I need to find 3 more people who are willing to billet the players and 3 people who are willing to supply food for them. If you are interested, please contact me asap, as it will take a few weeks for the players to get their Australian visas approved. You can contact me on grantszuveges@gmail.com or by phone on 0401-925-075. Bear it in mind that Nepal is one of the worlds poorest countries and that it will be the first time in history that Nepalese players have played in a chess tournament in Australia.

2. A team of 8 junior players will also be coming out from the Philipines. They havnt got their visas yet but are in the process of doing so. This should add some interest to the event.

3. If anyone has any friends from other countries who may be interested in playing, please encourage them to do so, so that we can have more countries represented.

Since the visas for the international players have not been confirmed yet, I wont add the players names to the official list yet. I will add them when they are confirmed. 2 of the Nepalese players are rated over 2000 and the other one is over 1900. Im not sure how strong the Philipino players are yet.

**Firegoat7** · 10-08-2009, 01:05 AM

Originally Posted by Grant Szuveges

Hi Everyone

Ive got a few quick announcements regarding the Cup Weekender:

1. I have continued liasing (is that spelt right?) with the Nepalese Chess Federation and they want to send out 3 players and an official. So far I have only had 1 person offer accomodation and 1 offer food. If these players are going to come out to Australia to play in this event, I need to find 3 more people who are willing to billet the players and 3 people who are willing to supply food for them. If you are interested, please contact me asap, as it will take a few weeks for the players to get their Australian visas approved. You can contact me on grantszuveges@gmail.com or by phone on 0401-925-075. Bear it in mind that Nepal is one of the worlds poorest countries and that it will be the first time in history that Nepalese players have played in a chess tournament in Australia.

Call me a cynic, but this offer sounds highly suspect. A quick check of Nepals recent Olympic achievments shows the playing strength of their strongest team.

1 Surbir Lama 2084
2 Balram Napit 1909
3 Sujendra Prasad Sherstha 2068
4 Manish Hamal 2028

These are Fide ratings, meaning that the players are below the strength of your average A grade player in Australia. Of course their federation might be sponsoring the presumed $6,000 in airfare costs. But it seems, quite frankly, like a waste of money, if, that was the case. I would double check with the appropriate embassy before treating any of these claims seriously. Furthermore, I would also avoid giving out too much personal information until verifying the legitimacy of the candidates. But then again, you have travelled Nepal and may have a different story to tell, so this remains a space to watch.

Originally Posted by Grant Szuveges

2. A team of 8 junior players will also be coming out from the Philipines. They havnt got their visas yet but are in the process of doing so. This should add some interest to the event.

Again, similar issues as the story above. And seriously, this poverty argument has to be completely bogus. Since when do poor people pay for airfares to play in an Australian weekender that offers a first prize of $1,500 dolars?

cheers,
Fg7

**Grant Szuveges** · 10-08-2009, 02:45 AM

David

Ive just had a look at the Nepalese players ELO ratings, and all 4 players wanting to play are legitimate chess players. The Nepalese players wanting to play are Rajendra Bajracharya (number 10 in Nepal), Uttam Thapa (number 13) and Rabindra Shakya (number 27). All three have ratings between 1900 and 2100. As for the Olympiad team players, they are definately not the strongest team possible (based on their ratings at least). The team that you found consisted of numbers 5, 6, 8 and 23 in Nepal - with player 6 being an FM. I imagine that the players who go to international events are the ones that can afford to rather than the strongest or highest rated. The following is a list of Nepal's top 50 rated players:

1 Nepali Badrilal 2158 NEP HIMALYAN CHESS CLUB A 1
2 Shrestha Keshav 2145 NEP HIMALYAN CHESS CLUB A 3
3 Tandukar Naveen 2133 NEP KANTIPUR CHESS CLUB 1
4 Shrestha Bilam Lal 2088 NEP HIMALYAN CHESS CLUB A 2
5 Shrestha Sujendra Prasad 2063 NEP MAKHAN CHESS CLUB 4
6 FM Hamal Manish 2058 NEP KANTIPUR CHESS CLUB 3
7 Niraula Niraj 2041 NEP MACHHINDRA CHESS CLUB 3
8 Lama Surbir 2032 NEP MACHHINDRA CHESS CLUB 1
9 Pathak Tekendra Raj 2031 NEP SUDUR PASCHIM 1
10 Bajracharya Rajendra 2019 NEP HIMALYAN CHESS CLUB A 4
11 Joshi Deergha Raj 2016 NEP SUDUR PASCHIM 3
12 Punya Man Karmacharya 2014 NEP MAKHAN CHESS CLUB 1
13 Thapa Uttam Raj 2009 NEP KANTIPUR CHESS CLUB 2
14 Duwal Ganesh Man 1998 NEP FRIENDS OF NATION CLUB 1
15 Shrestha Lav Kumar 1993 NEP HIMALYAN CHESS CLUB B 1
16 Shrestha Rajendra Prasad 1990 NEP MAKHAN CHESS CLUB 3
17 Malakar Prachand Man 1986 NEP KANTIPUR CHESS CLUB 5
18 Rajbhandari Rijendra 1984 NEP MACHHINDRA CHESS CLUB 2
19 Chhetri Rajan 1976 NEP KANTIPUR CHESS CLUB 4
20 Byanjankar Ratna 1968 NEP PATAN JYCES 3
21 Sharma Bhagawati Prasad 1957 NEP CHETANSHIL SAMAJ 3
22 Maharjan Baburaja 1956 NEP PATAN JYCES 4
23 Napit Balaram 1952 NEP FRIENDS OF NATION CLUB 2
24 Maharjan Prem Krishna 1946 NEP HIMALYAN CHESS CLUB B 2
25 Dr Bajracharya Sangha Ratna 1939 NEP CHETANSHIL SAMAJ 5
26 Shrestha Shyam 1927 NEP MACHHINDRA CHESS CLUB 4
27 Shakya Rabindra 1925 NEP PATAN JYCES 2
28 Nepal Prakash 1917 NEP KATHMANDU CHESS CLUB 2
29 Agrawal Sitaram 1911 NEP MAKHAN CHESS CLUB 5
30 Kuluju Bikash 1899 NEP HIMALYAN CHESS CLUB B 3
31 Prajapati Niranjan 1887 NEP FRIENDS OF NATION CLUB 3
32 Rauniyar Rakesh 1886 NEP MACHHINDRA CHESS CLUB 5
33 Adhikari Ramesh 1885 NEP KATHMANDU CHESS CLUB 3
34 Shreshtha Gyanendra Prasad 1881 NEP NEPAL CHESS CLUB 2
35 Shrestha Vijay J 1880 NEP HIMALYAN CHESS CLUB B 4
36 Chaulagain Purushottam 1877 NEP KATHMANDU CHESS CLUB 1
37 Maharjan Bijay 1860 NEP PATAN JYCES 1
38 Pradhan Saurav 1850 NEP NEPAL CHESS CLUB 5
39 Gurung Bijay 1838 NEP KASKI DISTRICT CHESS ASS 2
40 Shakya Tri-Ratna 1838 NEP LALITPUR DISTRICT SPORTS COMMITEE 5
41 Rai Rajendra 1816 NEP DHARAN CHESS CLUB 1
42 Pandey Bheem Datt 1804 NEP BANKE D C A 3
43 Limbu Bhawani 1791 NEP BUKAS COM 1
44 Rajopadhyay Prajwol Raj 1773 NEP BANKE D C A 1
45 Rawal Basant 1773 NEP SUDUR PASCHIM 4
46 Maharjan Dipak 1769 NEP KANTIPUR CHESS TEAM 2
47 Pradhan Madhav Prasad 1767 NEP NEPAL CHESS CLUB 1
48 Roka Milan 1731 NEP KANTIPUR CHESS TEAM 1
49 Priye Bikram 1702 NEP SUDUR PASCHIM 5
50 Chaulagain Harichandra 1698 NEP BATTISH PUTALI YOUTH CLUB 1

I have also had a look at Nepals page on the FIDE website and Rajest Hari Joshi (the man Ive been in contact with) is definately the contact person for the Nepalese chess federation. I cant give you any more information than this, but it seems very legitimate to me. As for who is paying their airfares, Ive got no idea - possibilities include a private sponsor, rich relatives in India, the federation itself, who knows.... They may be rich by Nepalese standards - which does not mean they would have much by our standards. I dont know. Things are different over there - society doesnt quite work the same way as it does here. Whatever the reason behind this whole thing, I can say that these guys are legitimate chess players though.

As for the Philipino players, they havnt asked for any money, any sponosorship, any free entries or any freebies of any sort.

As for the poverty argument, I dont really think that it exists. We live in a very rich country which is quite expensive to people from most other countries. Someone who is well off in another country finds the costs here exorbitant. I have a friend in Romania who came here for a holiday. She was constantly complaining about the price of everything - yet in Romania she was considered rich. And on the other side of the fence every time Ive been to Scandinavia, Ive complained about how expensive everything is - yet Im certainly not poor by Australian standards. Ive also met lots of British people all over the world who are poor by British standards yet enjoy a very strong currency whenever they leave their country. Anyway, we are heading off track a bit now... Point is that the Nepalese players are legit. Do you want to put one up at your place to start the ball rolling?

**Tonks** · 10-08-2009, 10:00 AM

Originally Posted by Grant Szuveges

2. A team of 8 junior players will also be coming out from the Philipines. They havnt got their visas yet but are in the process of doing so. This should add some interest to the event.

Originally Posted by Firegoat7

Again, similar issues as the story above. And seriously, this poverty argument has to be completely bogus. Since when do poor people pay for airfares to play in an Australian weekender that offers a first prize of $1,500 dolars?
Fg7

There have been some Filipino kids playing in at least the last two Cup Weekenders. These kids are fairly weak compared to our top junior quadrant and are sent here for nothing more than gaining international chess and cultural experience. Their travels here have been organised by the Metropolitan Chess Club (Manila based) and have generally been made possible through corporate sponsorship.

I understand the cynicism, as I heard of some stories about disappearing Filipinos at some other tournament, but if these kids are travelling through the Metropolitan Chess Club, the interest is legitimate.

**Grant Szuveges** · 10-09-2009, 12:21 AM

Originally Posted by Tonks

There have been some Filipino kids playing in at least the last two Cup Weekenders. These kids are fairly weak compared to our top junior quadrant and are sent here for nothing more than gaining international chess and cultural experience. Their travels here have been organised by the Metropolitan Chess Club (Manila based) and have generally been made possible through corporate sponsorship.

I understand the cynicism, as I heard of some stories about disappearing Filipinos at some other tournament, but if these kids are travelling through the Metropolitan Chess Club, the interest is legitimate.

These kids are definately travelling through the Metropolitan Chess Club, and as I said earlier, they have not asked for any money or conditions.

**MikesGuns** · 10-09-2009, 07:52 AM

Do we have a list of entries?

**Grant Szuveges** · 10-21-2009, 12:34 AM

Hi Everyone

Here is a more up to date list of the players as it stands now. For those of you who havnt paid yet, please do so asap. I havnt included the Nepalese and Philipino players yet as they are waiting for their visas. There are approx 12 of them all in all. Stephen Solomon is unable to play and Smerdon is now doubtful, but there are quite a number of 2000-2300 type players playing, so the top half should still be fairly strong. Players without FIDE ratings may have a good opportunity to get one (or at least a block of games towards one) from this event. Hopefully I get a flood of entries in the next few days, as we only have approx 10 days to go!!! Looking forward to it greatly.

I would also like to use this opportunity to thank Chess Victoria for their generous donation of $500 towards the arbiter and admin costs of this tournament. The arbiter will be International Arbiter Gary Bekker - the best in the business, so with him in charge things should run very smoothly and also be lots of fun!

Talk to you all when Ive got more info...

Grant Szuveges

Cup Weekend Players:

RENZIES, Elliot (PAID)
SCHON, Eugene (PAID)
CHENG, Bobby (PAID)
MACKENZIE, Mark (PAID)
ADDAMO, Michael (PAID)
KOSTRZEWA, Jake
SMERDON, David GM (???)
RAYSO

HILL, Tristan (PAID)
HACCHE, David
MORRIS, James IM (PAID – no fee)
TIONKO, Efraim (PAID)
TAN, Justin
SELNES, Hamish (PAID)
LESTER, George (PAID)
LEKKAS, Frank
WARREN, Elizabeth (PAID)
McCART, Roger (PAID)
LOH, Zachary (PAID)
FENG, Thomas
DOWDEN, Tony (PAID)
HUMPHREYS, Scott (PAID)
FLUDE, David
GIBSON, Kyle (PAID)
DRAGICEVIC, Domagoj (PAID)
SMIRNOV, Anton (PAID)
STOJIC, Svetozar (PAID)
McCOOK, Jake (PAID)
SEAH, Eddy
KOLAK, Chris
YU, Sally

**Grant Szuveges** · 10-22-2009, 01:15 AM

I had a chat with David Beaumont today, and he asked me to put his name on the list! Firegoat has played well in some MCC Allegros this year and he seems to be winning quite a few games in the Vic Champs reserves, so come down and have a crack at him in the Cup weekender. Since it is a 9 round event, 9 people could get to play against Firegoat!!! Imagine the bragging rights if you beat him! But imagine what will happen if you dont beat him! If that isnt enough incentive to get at least another 40 entries, I dont know what is...

**Axiom** · 10-22-2009, 01:24 AM

Originally Posted by Grant Szuveges

I had a chat with David Beaumont today, and he asked me to put his name on the list! Firegoat has played well in some MCC Allegros this year and he seems to be winning quite a few games in the Vic Champs reserves, so come down and have a crack at him in the Cup weekender. Since it is a 9 round event, 9 people could get to play against Firegoat!!! Imagine the bragging rights if you beat him! But imagine what will happen if you dont beat him! If that isnt enough incentive to get at least another 40 entries, I dont know what is...

OMG ! THE GOAT - LIVE ON BOARD !!

This is an URGENT announcement to all libertarian and libertarian leaning chess players to front up and kick the collectivist all the way from the a file to the h file !

********** THIS IS IN FACT AN OFFICIAL ORDER FROM THE SCT-LIBERTY CENTRAL AGENCY *********

**Grant Szuveges** · 10-23-2009, 11:34 PM

Big news: David Smerdon will not be playing in the tournament. This has really opened up the field with numerous playing capable of winning. Two big names (amongst others) to enter over the past few days are IMs Guy West and Igor Goldenberg. The field is starting to shape up as quite strong - particularly at the top.

**Fenguin** · 10-23-2009, 11:39 PM

Hi Grant,

Is it fine if I paid the entry fee on the night the tournament starts?

Thanks,
Thomas Feng

09-17-2009, 12:36 AM	#31 (permalink)
Lekko HBK Join Date: May 2009 Location: Melbourne Posts: 1,311 ICC Handle: Heartbreak-Kid FICS Handle: HeartBreakingKid	Originally Posted by Fenguin Hi Mike, Is it possible for me to give you the form and money on Friday night to enter and you can hand in the form and money for me at the MCC Transfer Tournament? Thanks, Fenguin Fenguin, I'll be coming in on Friday (most likely) for allegro. If you want, I can give Grant the money and the form on Saturday when I go to MCC's allegro. Or you can come to MCC's Allegro!

09-22-2009, 07:49 PM	#33 (permalink)
Grant Szuveges Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 942	Less than a week until earlybird entries close!!! Hi Everyone The earlybird discount on entry fees will close in less than a week. Please pay your entry fees before Sept 30th please in order to get $10 off.... Check this thread for the MCCs bank details.

09-27-2009, 05:00 PM	#34 (permalink)
Grant Szuveges Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 942	list of entries so far Hi Everyone Here is the list of entries so far. Only 4 more days to go if you want to get the earlybird discount! PAID (or not fee due to title) Elliot RENZIES Eugene SCHON Bobby CHENG Mark MACKENZIE David SMERDON (GM) Tristan RAYSON - HILL James MORRIS (IM) Efrain TIONKO Hamish SELNES George LESTER Steven SOLOMON (IM) Elizabeth WARREN Roger McCART Zacharey LOH Tony DOWDEN Scott HUMPHREYS UNPAID Michael ADDAMO Jake KOSTRZEWA David HACCHE Justin TAN Frank LEKKAS Thomas FENG David FLUDE

10-07-2009, 11:37 PM	#35 (permalink)
Grant Szuveges Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 942	international players Hi Everyone Ive got a few quick announcements regarding the Cup Weekender: 1. I have continued liasing (is that spelt right?) with the Nepalese Chess Federation and they want to send out 3 players and an official. So far I have only had 1 person offer accomodation and 1 offer food. If these players are going to come out to Australia to play in this event, I need to find 3 more people who are willing to billet the players and 3 people who are willing to supply food for them. If you are interested, please contact me asap, as it will take a few weeks for the players to get their Australian visas approved. You can contact me on grantszuveges@gmail.com or by phone on 0401-925-075. Bear it in mind that Nepal is one of the worlds poorest countries and that it will be the first time in history that Nepalese players have played in a chess tournament in Australia. 2. A team of 8 junior players will also be coming out from the Philipines. They havnt got their visas yet but are in the process of doing so. This should add some interest to the event. 3. If anyone has any friends from other countries who may be interested in playing, please encourage them to do so, so that we can have more countries represented. Since the visas for the international players have not been confirmed yet, I wont add the players names to the official list yet. I will add them when they are confirmed. 2 of the Nepalese players are rated over 2000 and the other one is over 1900. Im not sure how strong the Philipino players are yet.

10-08-2009, 01:05 AM	#36 (permalink)
Firegoat7 Moderator Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Getting owned by White in the Dragon and trying to recover lost positions from shock paralysis OTB Posts: 1,924 ICC Handle: guest	Originally Posted by Grant Szuveges Hi Everyone Ive got a few quick announcements regarding the Cup Weekender: 1. I have continued liasing (is that spelt right?) with the Nepalese Chess Federation and they want to send out 3 players and an official. So far I have only had 1 person offer accomodation and 1 offer food. If these players are going to come out to Australia to play in this event, I need to find 3 more people who are willing to billet the players and 3 people who are willing to supply food for them. If you are interested, please contact me asap, as it will take a few weeks for the players to get their Australian visas approved. You can contact me on grantszuveges@gmail.com or by phone on 0401-925-075. Bear it in mind that Nepal is one of the worlds poorest countries and that it will be the first time in history that Nepalese players have played in a chess tournament in Australia. Call me a cynic, but this offer sounds highly suspect. A quick check of Nepals recent Olympic achievments shows the playing strength of their strongest team. 1 Surbir Lama 2084 2 Balram Napit 1909 3 Sujendra Prasad Sherstha 2068 4 Manish Hamal 2028 These are Fide ratings, meaning that the players are below the strength of your average A grade player in Australia. Of course their federation might be sponsoring the presumed $6,000 in airfare costs. But it seems, quite frankly, like a waste of money, if, that was the case. I would double check with the appropriate embassy before treating any of these claims seriously. Furthermore, I would also avoid giving out too much personal information until verifying the legitimacy of the candidates. But then again, you have travelled Nepal and may have a different story to tell, so this remains a space to watch. Originally Posted by Grant Szuveges 2. A team of 8 junior players will also be coming out from the Philipines. They havnt got their visas yet but are in the process of doing so. This should add some interest to the event. Again, similar issues as the story above. And seriously, this poverty argument has to be completely bogus. Since when do poor people pay for airfares to play in an Australian weekender that offers a first prize of $1,500 dolars? cheers, Fg7 __________________ "...What I meant? Dear Mr Ian Rout (ACF news publisher) could you please put Ozchessforum in the next news letter! There is no reason to hide this forum from the Australian chess public. What they meant? Sorry, No english!- Amir Karibasic

09-17-2009, 02:33 AM	#32 (permalink)
Grant Szuveges Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 942	Heartbreak Kid, Great to see MCC members promoting our allegro at all times!!! What a weekend of chess it could be - Friday night at Box Hills allegro, Saturday at MCCs allegro and then Sunday at MCCs transfer tournament!!!

10-08-2009, 02:45 AM	#37 (permalink)
Grant Szuveges Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 942	David Ive just had a look at the Nepalese players ELO ratings, and all 4 players wanting to play are legitimate chess players. The Nepalese players wanting to play are Rajendra Bajracharya (number 10 in Nepal), Uttam Thapa (number 13) and Rabindra Shakya (number 27). All three have ratings between 1900 and 2100. As for the Olympiad team players, they are definately not the strongest team possible (based on their ratings at least). The team that you found consisted of numbers 5, 6, 8 and 23 in Nepal - with player 6 being an FM. I imagine that the players who go to international events are the ones that can afford to rather than the strongest or highest rated. The following is a list of Nepal's top 50 rated players: 1 Nepali Badrilal 2158 NEP HIMALYAN CHESS CLUB A 1 2 Shrestha Keshav 2145 NEP HIMALYAN CHESS CLUB A 3 3 Tandukar Naveen 2133 NEP KANTIPUR CHESS CLUB 1 4 Shrestha Bilam Lal 2088 NEP HIMALYAN CHESS CLUB A 2 5 Shrestha Sujendra Prasad 2063 NEP MAKHAN CHESS CLUB 4 6 FM Hamal Manish 2058 NEP KANTIPUR CHESS CLUB 3 7 Niraula Niraj 2041 NEP MACHHINDRA CHESS CLUB 3 8 Lama Surbir 2032 NEP MACHHINDRA CHESS CLUB 1 9 Pathak Tekendra Raj 2031 NEP SUDUR PASCHIM 1 10 Bajracharya Rajendra 2019 NEP HIMALYAN CHESS CLUB A 4 11 Joshi Deergha Raj 2016 NEP SUDUR PASCHIM 3 12 Punya Man Karmacharya 2014 NEP MAKHAN CHESS CLUB 1 13 Thapa Uttam Raj 2009 NEP KANTIPUR CHESS CLUB 2 14 Duwal Ganesh Man 1998 NEP FRIENDS OF NATION CLUB 1 15 Shrestha Lav Kumar 1993 NEP HIMALYAN CHESS CLUB B 1 16 Shrestha Rajendra Prasad 1990 NEP MAKHAN CHESS CLUB 3 17 Malakar Prachand Man 1986 NEP KANTIPUR CHESS CLUB 5 18 Rajbhandari Rijendra 1984 NEP MACHHINDRA CHESS CLUB 2 19 Chhetri Rajan 1976 NEP KANTIPUR CHESS CLUB 4 20 Byanjankar Ratna 1968 NEP PATAN JYCES 3 21 Sharma Bhagawati Prasad 1957 NEP CHETANSHIL SAMAJ 3 22 Maharjan Baburaja 1956 NEP PATAN JYCES 4 23 Napit Balaram 1952 NEP FRIENDS OF NATION CLUB 2 24 Maharjan Prem Krishna 1946 NEP HIMALYAN CHESS CLUB B 2 25 Dr Bajracharya Sangha Ratna 1939 NEP CHETANSHIL SAMAJ 5 26 Shrestha Shyam 1927 NEP MACHHINDRA CHESS CLUB 4 27 Shakya Rabindra 1925 NEP PATAN JYCES 2 28 Nepal Prakash 1917 NEP KATHMANDU CHESS CLUB 2 29 Agrawal Sitaram 1911 NEP MAKHAN CHESS CLUB 5 30 Kuluju Bikash 1899 NEP HIMALYAN CHESS CLUB B 3 31 Prajapati Niranjan 1887 NEP FRIENDS OF NATION CLUB 3 32 Rauniyar Rakesh 1886 NEP MACHHINDRA CHESS CLUB 5 33 Adhikari Ramesh 1885 NEP KATHMANDU CHESS CLUB 3 34 Shreshtha Gyanendra Prasad 1881 NEP NEPAL CHESS CLUB 2 35 Shrestha Vijay J 1880 NEP HIMALYAN CHESS CLUB B 4 36 Chaulagain Purushottam 1877 NEP KATHMANDU CHESS CLUB 1 37 Maharjan Bijay 1860 NEP PATAN JYCES 1 38 Pradhan Saurav 1850 NEP NEPAL CHESS CLUB 5 39 Gurung Bijay 1838 NEP KASKI DISTRICT CHESS ASS 2 40 Shakya Tri-Ratna 1838 NEP LALITPUR DISTRICT SPORTS COMMITEE 5 41 Rai Rajendra 1816 NEP DHARAN CHESS CLUB 1 42 Pandey Bheem Datt 1804 NEP BANKE D C A 3 43 Limbu Bhawani 1791 NEP BUKAS COM 1 44 Rajopadhyay Prajwol Raj 1773 NEP BANKE D C A 1 45 Rawal Basant 1773 NEP SUDUR PASCHIM 4 46 Maharjan Dipak 1769 NEP KANTIPUR CHESS TEAM 2 47 Pradhan Madhav Prasad 1767 NEP NEPAL CHESS CLUB 1 48 Roka Milan 1731 NEP KANTIPUR CHESS TEAM 1 49 Priye Bikram 1702 NEP SUDUR PASCHIM 5 50 Chaulagain Harichandra 1698 NEP BATTISH PUTALI YOUTH CLUB 1 I have also had a look at Nepals page on the FIDE website and Rajest Hari Joshi (the man Ive been in contact with) is definately the contact person for the Nepalese chess federation. I cant give you any more information than this, but it seems very legitimate to me. As for who is paying their airfares, Ive got no idea - possibilities include a private sponsor, rich relatives in India, the federation itself, who knows.... They may be rich by Nepalese standards - which does not mean they would have much by our standards. I dont know. Things are different over there - society doesnt quite work the same way as it does here. Whatever the reason behind this whole thing, I can say that these guys are legitimate chess players though. As for the Philipino players, they havnt asked for any money, any sponosorship, any free entries or any freebies of any sort. As for the poverty argument, I dont really think that it exists. We live in a very rich country which is quite expensive to people from most other countries. Someone who is well off in another country finds the costs here exorbitant. I have a friend in Romania who came here for a holiday. She was constantly complaining about the price of everything - yet in Romania she was considered rich. And on the other side of the fence every time Ive been to Scandinavia, Ive complained about how expensive everything is - yet Im certainly not poor by Australian standards. Ive also met lots of British people all over the world who are poor by British standards yet enjoy a very strong currency whenever they leave their country. Anyway, we are heading off track a bit now... Point is that the Nepalese players are legit. Do you want to put one up at your place to start the ball rolling?

10-08-2009, 10:00 AM	#38 (permalink)
Tonks Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 51	Originally Posted by Grant Szuveges 2. A team of 8 junior players will also be coming out from the Philipines. They havnt got their visas yet but are in the process of doing so. This should add some interest to the event. Originally Posted by Firegoat7 Again, similar issues as the story above. And seriously, this poverty argument has to be completely bogus. Since when do poor people pay for airfares to play in an Australian weekender that offers a first prize of $1,500 dolars? Fg7 There have been some Filipino kids playing in at least the last two Cup Weekenders. These kids are fairly weak compared to our top junior quadrant and are sent here for nothing more than gaining international chess and cultural experience. Their travels here have been organised by the Metropolitan Chess Club (Manila based) and have generally been made possible through corporate sponsorship. I understand the cynicism, as I heard of some stories about disappearing Filipinos at some other tournament, but if these kids are travelling through the Metropolitan Chess Club, the interest is legitimate.

10-09-2009, 12:21 AM	#39 (permalink)
Grant Szuveges Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 942	Originally Posted by Tonks There have been some Filipino kids playing in at least the last two Cup Weekenders. These kids are fairly weak compared to our top junior quadrant and are sent here for nothing more than gaining international chess and cultural experience. Their travels here have been organised by the Metropolitan Chess Club (Manila based) and have generally been made possible through corporate sponsorship. I understand the cynicism, as I heard of some stories about disappearing Filipinos at some other tournament, but if these kids are travelling through the Metropolitan Chess Club, the interest is legitimate. These kids are definately travelling through the Metropolitan Chess Club, and as I said earlier, they have not asked for any money or conditions.

10-09-2009, 07:52 AM	#40 (permalink)
MikesGuns BHCC and MCC Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Melbourne Posts: 245 ICC Handle: MikesGuns	Do we have a list of entries? __________________ Never get cocky when you are playing a lower rated player.

10-21-2009, 12:34 AM	#41 (permalink)
Grant Szuveges Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 942	Hi Everyone Here is a more up to date list of the players as it stands now. For those of you who havnt paid yet, please do so asap. I havnt included the Nepalese and Philipino players yet as they are waiting for their visas. There are approx 12 of them all in all. Stephen Solomon is unable to play and Smerdon is now doubtful, but there are quite a number of 2000-2300 type players playing, so the top half should still be fairly strong. Players without FIDE ratings may have a good opportunity to get one (or at least a block of games towards one) from this event. Hopefully I get a flood of entries in the next few days, as we only have approx 10 days to go!!! Looking forward to it greatly. I would also like to use this opportunity to thank Chess Victoria for their generous donation of $500 towards the arbiter and admin costs of this tournament. The arbiter will be International Arbiter Gary Bekker - the best in the business, so with him in charge things should run very smoothly and also be lots of fun! Talk to you all when Ive got more info... Grant Szuveges Cup Weekend Players: RENZIES, Elliot (PAID) SCHON, Eugene (PAID) CHENG, Bobby (PAID) MACKENZIE, Mark (PAID) ADDAMO, Michael (PAID) KOSTRZEWA, Jake SMERDON, David GM (???) RAYSOHILL, Tristan (PAID) HACCHE, David MORRIS, James IM (PAID – no fee) TIONKO, Efraim (PAID) TAN, Justin SELNES, Hamish (PAID) LESTER, George (PAID) LEKKAS, Frank WARREN, Elizabeth (PAID) McCART, Roger (PAID) LOH, Zachary (PAID) FENG, Thomas DOWDEN, Tony (PAID) HUMPHREYS, Scott (PAID) FLUDE, David GIBSON, Kyle (PAID) DRAGICEVIC, Domagoj (PAID) SMIRNOV, Anton (PAID) STOJIC, Svetozar (PAID) McCOOK, Jake (PAID) SEAH, Eddy KOLAK, Chris YU, Sally

10-22-2009, 01:15 AM	#42 (permalink)
Grant Szuveges Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 942	The GOAT is playing!!! I had a chat with David Beaumont today, and he asked me to put his name on the list! Firegoat has played well in some MCC Allegros this year and he seems to be winning quite a few games in the Vic Champs reserves, so come down and have a crack at him in the Cup weekender. Since it is a 9 round event, 9 people could get to play against Firegoat!!! Imagine the bragging rights if you beat him! But imagine what will happen if you dont beat him! If that isnt enough incentive to get at least another 40 entries, I dont know what is...

10-22-2009, 01:24 AM	#43 (permalink)
Axiom Reality Analyst Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 3,498	Originally Posted by Grant Szuveges I had a chat with David Beaumont today, and he asked me to put his name on the list! Firegoat has played well in some MCC Allegros this year and he seems to be winning quite a few games in the Vic Champs reserves, so come down and have a crack at him in the Cup weekender. Since it is a 9 round event, 9 people could get to play against Firegoat!!! Imagine the bragging rights if you beat him! But imagine what will happen if you dont beat him! If that isnt enough incentive to get at least another 40 entries, I dont know what is... OMG ! THE GOAT - LIVE ON BOARD !! This is an URGENT announcement to all libertarian and libertarian leaning chess players to front up and kick the collectivist all the way from the a file to the h file ! ******** THIS IS IN FACT AN OFFICIAL ORDER FROM THE SCT-LIBERTY CENTRAL AGENCY ***** __________________ "Sometimes the obligation of the intelligent is to restate the obvious. None more important than emphatically stating that there is a : ' Naked Emperor Elephant in the Room' " Axiom**

10-23-2009, 11:34 PM	#44 (permalink)
Grant Szuveges Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 942	Smerdon Out, West & Goldenberg In Big news: David Smerdon will not be playing in the tournament. This has really opened up the field with numerous playing capable of winning. Two big names (amongst others) to enter over the past few days are IMs Guy West and Igor Goldenberg. The field is starting to shape up as quite strong - particularly at the top.

10-23-2009, 11:39 PM	#45 (permalink)
Fenguin BHCC/CJCC Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Mt Waverley Posts: 123 ICC Handle: Fenguins	Hi Grant, Is it fine if I paid the entry fee on the night the tournament starts? Thanks, Thomas Feng __________________ rawr

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