Congratulations to all involved in the making of this great memorable tournament!
80+ players fought galiantly and in the true spirit of the game for 3 days in the hospitable and warm environment of the Box Hill and Canterbury Juniors Chess Club!
The congratulatory notes list is long!
First of all to the organisers!
CV officials and the BHCC stalwarts co-operated fully in order to run things smoothly and successfully!
Gerry Hartland - the official arbiter, assisted in a couple of instances by Marcus Raine, asserted his popular style of direction on a co-operative chessplaying lot!
Trevor Stanning - co-operated with Gerry in all aspects of keeping things in order including the difficult task of your DGT transmission during rounds!
Members of the BHCC and CJCC committees including mums and dads who were rostered for canteen duties and other tasks (including the very popular provision, preparation and serving of yummy goodies in the end of the tournament) so important in staging such an important event.
Notable visitors such as the Presidents of ACF and CV Mssrs Gary Wastell and Leonid Sandler, [b][color="Blue"]Chess personalities Mssrs IM Robert Jamieson, Carl Gorka, officials of other Clubs and others.
An incredibly heart warming and friendly atmosphere exhibited by juniors of all Clubs. The kids analysed, playerd, joked and encouraged each other in a great spirit developed and promoted for so many by more senior members!
The joint winners of the main event FM Bobby Cheng (who actually made a short and to the point speech - well he only said "thank you" but that's an improvement of Bobby's very laconic standards - and IM Eric Teichman who congratulated the organisers as well as a the catering staff in his address!
The last couple of weeks before the staging of the tournament, I agitated, criticised, screamed, provoked, cried and in gererally tested the organisers' patience (not excluding my dear friends Gerry, Trevor and Leonid) in many ways.
My goal was to encourage participation and add as many behinds on seats as possible! If I overdid it with my melodramatic overtones I sincerely apologise! I totally deserve the stern - yet friendly and understanding as well as humorous dressing I received throughout the tournament.
An extra for Gerry, who apart from his other duties during the tournament kept us informed providing details of the tournament through the CV's website news and results
Last but not least a big to Carl Gorka for blogging live the tournament and thanks for airing yours trully thoughts in a short but meaningful interview which you will find on Carl's blog link here! Coffee House Chess