The Joy of Chess
Geoff Hyde (photos by Samuel and Peter Slingo)
Chess has been experiencing a huge surge in popularity since the Queen’s Gambit series and the pandemic. One factor in this phenomenon has been the people, like Levy Rozman, Hikaru Nakamura and Daniel Naroditsky -to name just a few- who know how to make chess seem cool and fun. At St George (and the Sydney Academy of Chess, SAC) we have our own Pied Piper of the Royal Game, John-Stuart Plant. One of his many inspirational contributions has been the running of the annual Intergenerational Chess Tournament, in conjunction with the Georges River Council, the SAC, and our own club.
Last Saturday, April 20, saw the fourth iteration of the event, and despite a late change to an indoor venue to avoid the rain, it ran more enjoyably, and more crazily (in the best possible sense), than ever before. JSP was there to MC the fireworks, and to assail us all with a minimum of two truly terrible chess jokes between each of the six rounds. Chess luminaries such as past Oz Chess Champ, Fred Flatow, and GM Ian Rogers, either took part or simply the total absence of serenity and sanity. In the topsy-turviness of it all, not only did I end up with a higher score than our infinitely more talented club captain, Charles Zworestine, but so did our much loved Samuel Slingo. Just what voodoo spells did JSP cast?
Nevertheless, by some appalling accidents of fate, the podium places went to some truly gifted players, all from St George. JSP assures me this will never happen again.
St George Players InterGen
Khishigbaatat Bayasgalan. 1st. 6/6
Satwait Rewais 2nd 5.5/6
Anthony Karnaout equal 3rd. 5/6
Stevo Acevski. = 9th. 4.5/6
Arthur Huynh. = 9th. 4.5/6
Geoff Hyde = 9th. 4.5/6
Ashton Li = 16th. 4/6
Samuel Slingo = 16th. 4/6
Huey Teng = 16th. 4/6
Elijah Udovitch = 16th 4/6
John Parissis = 16th. 4/6
Charles Zworestine. =. 32nd 3.5/6
Dimitrios Gourlas. = 36th. 3/6
Ralph Shaw. = 36th. 3/6
Sam Sharkawy. = 63rd. 2/4
Srijan Badam = 78th. 1/4
Sometimes Players
Changhao Yu. Eql 3rd. 5/6
Leo Xu. 5/6
Bruce Urdanegui 4.5/6. = 9th
Sait Buzgan. = 16th. 4/6