Lidums Australian Young Masters 2018

Back down under

I’m back in Australia once again in December to play in the Lidums Australian Young Masters which is running from December 8th to 14th. The Young Masters has a long history and the current organisers have been growing the event since it moved permanently to Adelaide in 2011; last year saw the introduction of a GM event, for the first time, alongside the IM and Open divisions. The event is open to players under 30 years old and this year has players from twelve federations participating.

The event is possible thanks to the generous sponsorship from the Lidums Chess Foundation. The Lidums family has a long and proud history of supporting chess in South Australia over many decades, and the Lidums Chess Foundation was established by Aivars Lidums in 1988 following the success of the Adsteam-Lidums International chess tournament.

Group photo of the winners in all sections of the 2017 edition with Aivars Lidums standing on the left | Photo: Irene Sukandar

GM group

Last year’s heroes were Bobby Cheng and Kanan Izzat, both from Melbourne, who tied for first and both scored GM norms. They are back again hoping to score their final norms and complete their titles.

Aivars Lidums giving the trophy to IM Kanan Izzat who was first via tiebreak over IM Bobby Cheng, overlooking in the background are two of the organisers of the event, Sabrina and David Koetsier | Photo: Eric Rosen

Looking to stop them will be a trio of foreign GMs: top-seeded Norwegian Frode Urkedal, Uzbek Andrey Kvon and, a regular visitor to Australia, Vasily Papin from Russia.

GM Vasily Papin from Russia and GM Urkedal Frode from Norway | Photo: Sabrina Koetsier

The field is rounded out by yours truly and a number of Australian players hopeful of achieving norms.

Starting rank

Average Rating 2422, Category 7

Standings after Round 4

All games Rounds 1-4

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IM group

Newly minted Grandmaster Benjamin Arvola, who achieved his final norm at the Batumi Olympiad headlines the field. He is joined by visitors from five other countries, including the American chess photographer Eric Rosen and the young Singaporean Olympian Lee Qingaun, who both happily return after playing the event last year.

IM Benjamin Arvola Notkevich from Norway and Fedja Zulfic, the playing organiser, will again try his luck in the IM field | Photo: Sabrina Koetsier

Starting rank

Average Rating 2270, Category 1

Standings after Round 4

Open tournament

The winner of the Open event qualifies for the IM event in the following years. The top seeds in this event is Vietnamese WCM Nguyen Mai Chi Phan, who is currently studying in Adelaide. She is joined by local hopes Kyle Leaver, who recently won the City of Adelaide and Punala Kiripitige, this year’s State champion.

Punala Kiripitige and Kyle Leaver | Photo: Sabrina Koetsier

Links

• Official site
• Full results (Chess-Results)