As the chess community
would know, Chess Victoria staged a bushfire appeal fundraiser with the
sequential chess simultaneous exhibition on Saturday 21 March 2009. The
response was fantastic.
Leading up to, and during the event we managed to get good media coverage
and we were well received by the general public and the tourists, while
all the time keeping our eye on the ball and getting some great donations
for the bushfire appeal!
Events like
these really help to promote our game, our clubs and there were people
that came and said that they would be interested in learning how to play
chess and even joining a club. It was fantastic to witness the chess
community going to the wider community and general public in a way that
engaged with them, because many people simply didn’t know that Chess
Victoria existed.
I would like to personally
thank Leonid Sandler for his support and dedication to this
project, Angela Murphy who was on the loud speaker for the duration of the
event and all the volunteers
who participated, took donations and helped throughout the day; Allison
Ring, Sonia Masini, Sara O'Connor, Braden Murphy and Zoran Sajinovic.
It was good
to see the ACF President Gary Wastell and BHCC President Gladys Liu
showing their support even during their busy schedule.
On behalf of
Chess Victoria and myself I would like to thank all the participants for
their time and support:
1. Igor
Goldenberg who is current Victorian Champion (he has won a total of 4
titles) and our newest International Master. He played against possibly
the strongest field of players and lost one game against University
student Kozo.
2. Sam Chow
is the number 3 player in Victoria in the current ACF ratings list, and
holds one International master norm (from a tournament in New Zealand in
January 2009)
3. Bobby
Cheng is a 12-year old student from Balwyn High School, is one of the
highest rated juniors in Victoria, and is one of our brightest prospects
for the future.
4. James
Morris is a 14-year old FIDE Master and one of the best talents in our
state.
5. Laurence
Matheson is 13-years old and is a former Australian Junior Champion (under
10 and 12) and is an up and coming junior with a variety of different
talents. Laurence is doing mathematics for year 12 and is also a very
promising piano player!
6. Sally Yu
is 14-year old, and is the current Australian Girls Champion She has won
many Victorian Girls titles and a very good chance to make Australian
Women’s Olympiad team in the not too distant future.
7. Jason Tang
and Isaac Ng are two top Brighton Grammar School chess players.
Issac was one
of the most improved players on the latest ACF rating list.
Chess
Victoria would like to acknowledge and thank all of the participants who
gave their support and made this project happening:
Australian
Red Cross
Melbourne
City Council and the Events Team
Clement – Stone Town Planners
The Banner
Lady
Harry the
Hirer
McLean Audio
Services
25/03/2009
Katrin Wills
President Chess Victoria
