2005 Spielvogel Memorial

Round 1

Up and comers James Eldridge and Judd Madden have surprised scoring against there higher rated more experienced opponents!! Peter Lumsdon and John Lavery, James pounced on a tactical shot winning Peters queen and the full point in sicilian najdorf poison pawn, Peter resigned 1 move later. Judd pushed hard trying to prove a pawn advantage won early in a french defense, John a dogged fighter at the best of times held firm and a draw was the end result with a knight each left on the board and insuficent material to win. Other games produced no surprises with the higher rated players overpowering there lesser rated opponents. The postponed game John Fragakis v Joel Beggs to be played Tuesday night.

Results
John Abson v Charlie Andrews	0 - 1
John Lavery v Judd Madden	½ - ½
James Eldridge v Peter Lumsdon	1 - 0
Jamie Brotheridge v Darren Young	1 - 0
Mitchel Bailey v Scott Stewart	0 - 1
John Frangakis v Joel Beggs	0 - 1
Patrick Cook v Robert Bailey	1 - 0
Michael Schreenan	Bye

Round 2

The big surprise of the round Joel Beggs forces John Lavery to fight to hold the draw after achieving a dominating position from an exchange French, John defending a pawn down for a lot of the game, Joel demonstrating he isn’t to be taken lightly despite his recent appearance on the chess scene.

The rest of the round produced no surprises on the score board but hard times were had by Charlie Andrews employing his trusty Danish against James Eldridge some have suggested he was lucky!! to win after exchanging two rooks for Jimmies queen. Darren Young had Mitchel Bailey under the pump But Mitchel ever cool under pressure with his trusty Cara Kan accepted mate when Darren walked into it.

Scott Stewart employed a Kings Indian Attack against Jamie Brotherdige, aiming for and achieving a solid position ceded a small advantage into the middlegame. JB losing patience lost a pawn in an unfavourable tactical exchange enough to secure the point for Scott. The other three games were very routine for the higher rated players, their opposite numbers struggling to hold onto material to offer serious resistance.

Results
Scott Stewart v Jamie Brotheridge	1 - 0
Michael Schreenan v Patrick Cook	0 - 1
Charlie Andrews v James Eldridge	1 - 0
Joel Beggs v John Lavery	½ - ½
Judd Madden v John Frangakis	1 - 0
Peter Lumsdon v Robert Bailey	0 - 1
Darren Young v Mitchel Bailey	0 - 1
John Abson	Bye

Round 3

Michael Schreenan was lucky to survive the opening against James, but emerged a full pizza(piece) up, Jimmie employing some of his finer chess arts to escape from Michael's stranglehold. Joel Beggs pressed hard against Jamie Brotheridge; Jamie had to sacrifice a pawn after about 10 moves, just to get a little bit of space and fought the hard fight to hold the draw. Joel missed an easy endgame win, having the passed pawn and not fulfilling its rightful destiny; passed pawns are made to be pushed!! Rob Bailey said he was lucky against John Frangakis who had a nice combination to net a piece, Rob later finding a nice Queen sac to finish off the skirmish.

Charlie Andrews displayed superior technique with the black side of a Spanish after winning a pawn early, trading quickly down to a won endgame. Peter Lumsdon executed a nice piece sacrifice against Mitchel Bailey at the end of a series of exchanges, taking the can opener to Mitchel's King side with serious conpensation. Mitchel shortly afterwards dropped his queen, his mind not on his chess craft but apparently more focussed on the World of Warcraft. John Lavery made short work of John Abson, winning a couple of pieces and displaying fine technique to win from there.

Results
Patrick Cook v Scott Stewart	0 - 1
Judd Madden v Charlie Andrews	0 - 1
Jamie Brotheridge v Joel Beggs	½ - ½
John Lavery v John Abson	1 - 0
Mitchel Bailey v Peter Lumsdon	0 - 1
James Eldridge v Michael Schreenan	½ - ½
Robert Bailey v John Frangakis	1 - 0
Darren Young	Bye

Round 4

The night the knights went hopping mad, Tonight saw three alekhines defences employed by Pat Cook, James Eldridge and Jamie Brotheridge. In Joel Beggs v Patrick Cook, Joel displayed more of his fighting qualities made Pat Cook work hard for his point despite giving an early pawn. Pat wins but not without a struggle. James Eldridge employed the more unusual second move for Black Ne4?! against Robert Bailey, James getting into all sorts of trouble held to draw despite being several pawns down. Jamie Brotheridge struggled against Peter and sacraficed an exchange unnecessarily, easy win for Peter.

Round 4 also saw the board 1 clash between Scott Stewart v John Lavery, French Winawer, John opting to rid himself of his Bad French Bishop with the maneuvere b6 Ba6. The game quickly became a nightmare of complications typical of these two players. Neither party really wanting the point on the night drew as the game entered its final phases both players missing decisive opportunities earlier in the piece. The remaining games very routine for the higher rated opponents

Results
Scott Stewart v John Lavery	½ - ½
Joel Beggs v Patrick Cook	0 - 1
Peter Lumsdon v Jamie Brotheridge	1 - 0
Michael Schreenan v Judd Madden	0 - 1
Robert Bailey v James Eldridge	½ - ½
John Abson v Darren Young	0 - 1
John Frangakis v Mitchel Bailey	0 - 1
Charlie Andrews	Bye

Round 5

Night of the Crush!! Victory for Scott Stewart over Charlie Andrews, 17 move miniature. Sweet revenge for Scott, after failing miserably against Charlie in the last round of the 2004 Club Championships, costing him the title. Charlie employed the King's Indian Attack against the Leningrad Dutch. Not ideal, White controlling only one of three key central squares critical to the position. To make matters worse he played Rb1, and later took time out to gobble Scott's Queen's knight pawn and c6 knight. The three tempi ceded here enough for the Kingside attack to be lethal!

Peter Lumsdon had simular devastating results against Pat Cook's Larson, Pat struggling after an opening inaccuracy. John Lavery polished off Mitchel Bailey in fine form; a Thematic Knight sacrifice on h7, drawing and trapping the black King on g6. Joel ground down Darren in a very quiet game, a Spanish Giuoco Pianissimo, where Darren eventually forgot a knight was pinned ceding the point after losing material. John Abson wins against Michael Screenan. Rob went down in an interesting game against Jamie Brotheridge.

Results
Charlie Andrews v Scott Stewart	0 - 1
Patrick Cook v Peter Lumsdon	0 - 1
John Lavery v Mitchel Bailey	1 - 0
James Eldridge v Judd Madden	½ - ½
Darren Young v Joel Beggs	0 - 1
Jamie Brotheridge v Robert Bailey	1 - 0
John Abson v Michael Schreenan	1 - 0
John Frangakis	Bye

Round 6

Results
Scott Stewart v Peter Lumsdon	1 - 0
Patrick Cook v John Lavery	½ - ½
Joel Beggs v Charlie Andrews	1 - 0
Judd Madden v Jamie Brotheridge	0 - 1
Darren Young v James Eldridge	0 - 1
Mitchel Bailey v John Abson	1 - 0
Michael Schreenan v John Frangakis	0 - 1
Robert Bailey	Bye

Round 7

Results
Joel Beggs v Scott Stewart	0 - 1
Peter Lumsdon v John Lavery	1 - 0
Jamie Brotheridge v Patrick Cook	½ - ½
James Eldridge v Mitchel Bailey	½ - ½
Robert Bailey v John Abson	1 - 0
Michael Schreenan v Darren Young	0 - 1
Judd Madden	Bye
John Frangakis	Bye
Charlie Andrews	Bye

../../PGNfiles/spielvogel2005.pgn

From Australian Dictionary of Bibliography

Nathan Frederick Spielvogel (1874-1956), teacher, writer and historian, was born on 10 May 1874 at Ballarat, Victoria, son of Newman Frederick Spielvogel, pawnbroker, and his wife Hannah, née Cohen. Newman, an Austrian, and Hannah, a Prussian, were typical of the strong Jewish community on the Ballarat goldfields. Nathan attended Dana Street State School and trained there in 1892-95 as a pupil-teacher. He taught at several schools in the Wimmera, including Dimboola (1897, 1899-1907).

A small man, with sharply chiselled features, a wide forehead, big ears, warm eyes, a jutting chin and a beard that became golden, Spielvogel was adventurous and imaginative. In 1904 he spent his savings of £120 on a six-month journey through Egypt, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Britain. He had begun his writing career in 1894 with a Christmas story for the Ballarat Courier, to which—with the Jewish press, the Bulletin, the Dimboola Banner and other newspapers—he contributed regularly under such pen names as 'Genung', 'Eko', 'Ato' and 'Ahaswar'. From the early 1920s he wrote a humorous piece each month for the Teachers' Journal, but was probably best known for his first book, A Gumsucker on the Tramp (1906). It sold 20,000 copies. He also published The Cocky Farmer (1914), A Gumsucker at Home (1914), Old Eko's Note-Book (1930) and a volume of poetry called Our Gum Trees (1913).

He loved a beer (not lager) and around 1908 dined every Thursday at Fasoli's café, Melbourne, with writers and artists such as E. J. Brady, Norman Lindsay, Hal Gye, C. J. Dennis and Louis Esson. Later he was close to J. K. Moir, Victor Kennedy and R. H. Croll of the Bread and Cheese Club. Croll thought him 'offensively Australian' yet proudly Jewish, a conjunction that rent Spielvogel in 1901 when his love for a Gentile conflicted with a promise to his mother not to marry out of the faith. He remained steadfast and on 6 September 1911 at the Great Synagogue, Hyde Park, Sydney, married Jessie Muriel, daughter of Henry Harris, publisher of the Hebrew Standard.

After further postings to other Victorian schools, Spielvogel returned to Ballarat to be headmaster of Dana Street in 1924-39. Inspiring, sympathetic and methodical, he was immensely popular: a phalanx of pupils usually escorted him into the grounds. As president of the revived Ballarat Historical Society (1933-56), he developed a passion for local history. He published vignettes of early Ballarat life and a popular monograph, The Affair at Eureka (1928). After retirement he was largely responsible for managing the local museum and for placing plaques and monuments at historic sites. His broadcasts and press releases increased historical awareness.

Spielvogel was president of the Ballarat Hebrew Congregation, the Mechanics' Institute, the Teachers' Institute and Dana Street Old Scholars' Association. Strongly patriotic during World War I, he became chairman of the Dads' Association in World War II. A sharp mind lay behind his lifelong interest in chess: he was secretary (1894) and president (1939) of the Ballarat club and represented Victoria in 1921 and 1925. He was instrumental in sustaining the Ballarat synagogue between 1941 and 1953 and wrote Jewish stories with a tenderness and strength that drew from Judah Waten the remark that Jewish literature in Australia began with him. Spielvogel died on 10 September 1956 at Ballarat and was buried in the old cemetery. His wife and their three sons (all of whom had married out of the faith and in his absence) survived him.