26/5/2007 Summer Courses by Malta Chess Federation

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The Malta Chess Federation will be organising two courses this summer: Introduction to Chess for Kids and Chess for Beginners.

Introduction to Chess for Kids: This course is aimed to teach kids under the age of 12 how to play the game of chess. Basic idea of the chessboard and pieces would help but is not a requirement for the applicants.

Chess for Beginners: Targeted to people who know the basic rules of the game and would like to learn basic techniques. The course is open for all ages.

The courses will be held this summer during the months of July to September. Each course will consist of 10 sessions of one and a half hours each, with two sessions held every week. The total cost for the course is Lm20. All sessions will be held in an air-conditioned environment at the chess club at 87, St.Vincent Street, Sliema. Places are limited and are on a first come first served basis.

The courses will be delivered by Ray Azzopardi – an experienced teacher and chess player, Colin Pace (2 times Malta Champion) and Duncan Vella (twice runner-up).

The Introduction to Chess for Kids course will start on the 9th July and will be held every Monday and Thursday at 6pm-7:30pm. This course ends on the 9th August.

The Chess for Beginners course will start on the 11th July and will be held every Wednesday at 6pm – 7:30pm and Saturday at 9am – 10:30am. This course ends on the 11th August. The dates and time may change depending on the number of applications. The final dates will be sent two weeks prior to the start of the courses.

Applications and payments (to Malta Chess Federation) for these courses are open till Friday 15th June. To apply send the form below and send it by post to: Malta Chess Federation, 87, St.Vincent Street, Sliema SLM 1445 or by email: info@chessmalta.com. Click here for a printer friendly version of the application.

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15/12/2006 Simultaneous Chess Exhibition at Societa' Filarmonica Sliema

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National Chess Master Duncan Vella, who has a local chess rating of 2107, was the guest of honour for the 2nd edition of the Simultaneous Chess Challenge held at the luxurious Cultural Performance Hall of the Societa' Filarmonica Sliema last Sunday. Vella took on a field of eleven U16 players selected from the results of the Junior Chess Championship 2006. The activity was organised with the collaboration of the Malta Chess Federation.

The players who were invited for this activity were Christopher Farrugia, Glenn A.Fenech, Daniel Saliba, Andre Xuereb, Andrew Micallef, Luke Saliba, Luke J.Buhagiar, Rita Saliba, Darryl Agius, Jean Pierre Xuereb and Clarissa Cremona.

Duncan Vella had approximately two hours to finish off all the games.

Vella took this friendly challenge seriously developing his white pieces to the best squares to take advantage of his superiority in the early stages of the game. Some of the younger players were soon in deep trouble however a number of boards were very well balanced and the middle-game proved to be relatively tougher to Vella than he had anticipated.

The game against L.Saliba turned into an interesting end-game of two active rooks against a rook, knight and bishop. Saliba gave up a rook for the knight and bishop however he mis-calculated and come out of this scuffle with two pawns down. Vella slowly transformed the game into a win.

G.Fenech and D.Saliba also managed to give Vella a very good show and it was only through end-game technique that the black kings were finally laid to rest.

The same cannot be said for the game against C.Farrugia which ended in a draw. In a desperate position Farrugia found a way out by giving up his knight and then perpetually 'checked' the white monarch with his queen. A meritable draw for the U18 Champion.

The surprise of the day came about on board nine where Rita Saliba, 13 yrs of Sliema, managed to beat the challenger. In an end-game of 2 rooks versus 2 rooks Vella picked a pawn switfly on the e7 square with his rook missing the point that Saliba's rooks were both defending this square from both ends of the e-file. Saliba came out of this exchange with one whole rook up! Vella resigned the game immediately.

At the end of the allocated time the tally was nine wins, one draw and one lost game for NM Vella. This is a good score and certainly a good lesson in opening theory and basic tactics for the younger generation of chess players.

The activity was very well received by everyone involved. Cav. Dott.Tonio Portughese, President of the Societa' Filarmonica Sliema, acknowledged that this second edition was another successful event and said that he looks forward for the third edition next year. He thanked everyone involved and presented Mr.D.Vella with a commemorative token.

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11/12/2006 MCF Annual General Meeting 2006

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The AGM of the Malta Chess Federation was held last Sunday at the chess premises in St.Vincent Str, Sliema. The MCF council for this coming year is made up as follows:

• President Mr.G.D.Borg
• VP Mr.D.Vella,
• General Secretary Mr.C.Pace
• Treasurer Mr.J.J.Borg
• Members: Mr.R.Sammut, Mr.R.Azzopardi, Mr.S.Farrugia and Mr.N.Grima

The Chess Calendar for 2006/2007 will be published shortly. In the meantime the new council wishes to remind all chess players that this Wednesday there will be the annual Chess Simultaneous Exhibition at the Cultural performance hall of the Societa' Filarmonica Sliema at 9.30am where Duncan Vella will play against twelve U16 players.

Also starting this week there is the first round of the Malta Open 2006 competition at the chess club in Sliema.

The Malta Open will be played between the 15th and the 21st with both days inclusive. To check details go to www.chessmalta.com or contact Mr.R.Sammut on 99466706.

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19/09/2006 APS Junior Chess Championship 2006 at St.Elias College

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The Malta Chess Federation Junior Championship 2006, kindly sponsored by APS Bank, came to an end last week at the Main hall of St.Elias College in St.Venera.

The top category, that of Junior Chess Champion 2006, was won by Mark Cardona, of Qormi, who made it three in a row after his successes in the same competition in 2004 and 2005.

Patrick Zerafa of Marsaxlokk, and Rabat lad Sam Sacco, came second and third respectively with Sacco coming very close to a major upset after beating the Champion Cardona in round four. Sacco needed the full point in his last encounter on Friday however he missed to beat the more experienced Zerafa and after pushing it a little too far ended up losing the game and the title.

Christopher Farrugia was declared U/18 Champion with Leonard Farrugia clinging the U/16 title.

In the U/14 competition Luke Saliba, of St.Venera, retained his U/14 Champion trophy for the second year running with Luke Joseph Buhagiar taking second place. Rita Saliba was third overall and picked the Best female trophy leaving the third place trophy to Naomi Mercieca.

In the U/12 competition the struggle for first place was decided by Bucholtz since Rubi Mercieca, Jean Pierre Xuereb and Clarissa Cremona all ended the competition with four points out of five games. Interesting these three very promising youngsters managed to win one game each in their direct clashes whilst they all managed to beat the rest of the field in style. In the end Rubi Mercieca was declared U/12 Champion with nine year old Jean Pierre Xuereb taking second place and the U/10 Champion title. Cremona was third overall winning the Best Female award. Other trophy winners were Daniel Bezzina, Jean Luke Mangion and youngster Claude Spiteri Belcher.

The prize giving was presided by two vice Presidents of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), namely, Libyan national Mr.Nizar Ali ELHAJ, and Mr.Geoffrey D.Borg who is also the President of the local Chess Federation. Mr.Borg thanked the College rector, Fr.Charles Mallia, for hosting the Junior Championship and the organising group for the good work. He also thanked the parents and all the participants for their contributions to make this event another success story.

The competition was staged at the main hall of St.Elias College in St.Venera.

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09/08/2006 National Chess Championship 2006 - Patrick Zerafa wins the Candidates

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The second phase of the National Chess Championship - the Candidates - kindly sponsored by Simonds Farsons Cisk, came to an end with the final round staged this Monday at 6pm.

Unexpectedly, although deservedly, Patrick Zerafa, M'Xlokk, came first after he overcame the top seed of the competition Colin Pace in the last round. Pace paid dearly in the end-game when he lost on time after having consumed most of the time on his clock deliberating opening and middel-game positions.

Zerafa won five games out of seven beating three much higher rated players in the process.

The second, third and fourth placed players were close behind on five points with David Cilia Vincenti declared as overall second with a superior Bucholtz-score. Duncan Vella was third and Joe Gauci fourth.

Zerafa, Cilia Vincenti, Vella and Gauci now qualify for this year's chess finals scheduled for October. They will be joined by Andrew Borg and the legendary, 2005 Champion, Harry Camilleri for the National Chess Finals 2006. The National Chess finals is the last phase of the Simonds Farsons Cisk Chess Championship cycle.

Colin Pace and Mark Cardona, both finalists last year, were left stranded in fifth and sixth place followed by Oliver Said.

George Caruana, who is returning to the local chess scene after some years, had a relatively good competition playing above his ranking and ending on fifty percent score.

Ron Sammut, on the other hand, will quickly put this competition behind him after a disappointing performance whilst Noel Grima and Jesseica Aguilar, who had qualified to the Candidates from the preliminaries of February, must have found the goings a little too tough for them against much higher rated players.

For all the results and standings, click here.

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09/06/2006 Geoffrey D.Borg elected as Vice President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE)

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Geoffrey.D.Borg, President of the Malta Chess Federation and also a FIDE Master, was elected as one of seven Vice Presidents of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) during the second day of the FIDE General Assembly held in Turin, Italy last Saturday 3rd June 2006.

The General Assembly, this year, was characterized by the challenge of the Right Move for a Bona FIDE campaign, led by Dutch businessman Bessel Kok, to take over the running of FIDE. Geoffrey Borg was the campaign director of this group as well as a candidate for the Treasurer position on the main five-man ticket.

Thanks to his hard work and relentless efforts, the campaign developed into a very tense struggle with the developed countries declaring opening their support for Kok and the ex-Soviet block and the developing countries sticking together in support of the current President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. It is to be noted that Ilyumzhinov is the same person who, in the political World, is also the President of the Russian republic of Kalmykia.

Unfortunately, however not surprisingly, the Kirsan block-vote with their grass-root support, managed to win the elections with 96 country votes in favour and 54 countries against. A clear victory for the incumbent President albeit against a significantly large opposition. Following this election the President nominated three Vice Presidents as per FIDE statute and the race was on for the remaining three VP places that required direct elections with 150 countries taking part, each country having one vote.

Geoffrey contested this election on an individual basis. The other contenders were Selivanov from Russia, B.Kelleher from the USA, A.Nihat Yazici the Turkish Chess Federation President, the Iranian Chess Federation President Maddahi and the Hungarian delegate Racsanyi.

Notwithstanding the Ilyumzhinov block-vote for Selivanov, Kelleher and Racsanyi, and also the political strength of the other very well known contestants, Geoffrey Borg received a staggering 83 votes and was elected as a VP together with Selivanov and the American Kelleher. This great result was the fruit of the visits that Borg made to various Arab, African, Latin American and Caribbean countries in the last few months before the election.

A deservedly great accomplishment for a Maltese delegate in a major international sport Federation that is the third largest international Federation with almost 160 member countries.

A deservedly great triumph also for Geoffrey Borg on a personal basis, for Malta in general and for Maltese Chess in particular. Chess in Malta will certainly look forward with higher hopes now that its President is part of the main FIDE Board.

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10/03/2006 FARSONS CHESS PRELIMINARIES

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The Farsons Chess Preliminaries, the first stage of the National Chess Championship 2006, came to an end recently at the Chess Premises in Sliema with newcomer Jesseica Aguilar, sister to Filipina Aguilar, winning the competition with a staggering 6/7. Jesseica played splendidly throughout winning five games and drawing the other two. She has now qualified for the candidates that is planned for July/August 2006.

The other qualifiers are Noel Grima and George Caruana, followed by Matthew Saliba, Aymna Ibrahim and Clarence Psaila.

Congratulations to all of them from the Malta Chess Federation council - Prosit!

In the last round Aguilar had the better of Alex Farrugia, who needed a full point to qualify, beating him with the white pieces. The other top games, between Ayman Ibrahim and George Caruana, and that between Matthew Saliba and Clarence Psaila ended in a convenient draw - a half point won that was all that they needed to qualify. On fourth board Noel Grima defeated Michael Cuschieri to earn his place in the Candidates and thanks to this win he managed to end the competition in second place.

At the bottom of the table the clash between Andre Xuereb and Daniel Saliba, both fourteen year olds, ended in a draw while Rita Saliba managed the full point against Stephen Attard. Newcomer Michael Grech registered his second straight win beating Kurt Crockfort with white.

Classification:

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