This game puzzle comes from GM Ian Rogers’ excellent book ‘Oops! I resigned one more time!’. It features a game from the 1985 Australian Open in Ballarat, between David Hacche and Eddy Levi.
Game Puzzle from 1985 Australian Open
Chess by Chris Depasquale 22/3/25 Begonia 2025
Chris writes in his column: “At the recent Begonia Open, Anthony Hain met a Heffalump in former Australian champion Stephen Solomon. As in the previous example (Robson vs Caruana, American Cup), the operation was a success but the patient died. Hain deserves credit for how he went about it.” Here is the game annotated by Chris – (see Diagram below labelled: “In the diagrammed position it is White to play his 15th move in today’s second game.”)
The ‘Usurper’ – The Immortal Sacrifice Game
Kevin Perrin recently found this game, featured in David Howell’s The Times chess column, in his archives and played through it because he recognised the name ‘Grigory Serper’ as a player at the World Junior championship held in Adelaide in 1988 for which he was the chief arbiter. That event included household names such as Gelfand, Ivanchuk, Akopian, Adams, Polgar and many other future stars, but it was won by Joel Lautier from France. It was one of his most rewarding chess experiences.
Play through Serper, the usurper‘s game against Ioannis Nikolaidis to experience “the story of the hecatomb, the legendary Greek sacrifice of 100 oxen”, cited as an inspiration for Serper’s game. Swedish GM Tiger Hillarp in his recent book, “Tiger’s Chaos Theory” 2024, gives this game to show that intuition can play a vital part in chess; Serper sacrifices his entire army to win the game.
Getting ready for the Australian Open 84/85
Although it is difficult to see their faces in this Courier article, the standard bearers were Kevin Perrin, Rod Jacobs, Andy Miitel, and Gordon Males, in their youth! Kevin and Rod are still active in the Ballarat Chess Club in 2025.
Shane Hill
Shane Hill was the youngest competitor in the event, having just finished fourth in the World Under 14 Chess Championships in Argentina. This article was written after Round 4 was completed.
The Ballarat Handicap Chess Tournament 1866-‘67
As far as I know, this is one of the first chess tournament held in Australia, albeit restricted to players from Ballarat. It probably was the longest ever played, lasting over a period of no less than 8 months (i.e. September 1866-April 1867), and ending in a beautifully reported controversy.
Amongst the players was the winner Charles M. Fisher, one of the strongest players in the ‘colony’ of Victoria. A database of 47 of his games can be found on the internet: https://www.chessgames.com/player/charles_marshall_fisher.html. They are amongst the oldest recorded games of Australia.
The old newspaper reports include beautiful and flowery descriptions of the chess-scene in Ballarat, more than 150 years ago.
Bas van Riel
“The Ballarat Star” dated 17 Sept 1866
The chess tournament has at length been finally arranged, under the most favorable auspices, and it has been decided by the committee that play shall commence on the evening of Tuesday, 11th September, at the Mechanics’ Institute. Fourteen days will be allowed for the first set of matches to be played off, and it is hoped members will not exceed that time, as by doing so the tournament will be protracted and the other competitors will be delayed from commencing the second series of matches. It has been arranged for the winners in the first set to play for the first, second and third prizes.
The committee, with the view of equalizing the play, has taken great pains to discover the relative strength of the respective players, so that neither should have any undue advantage, and has accordingly divided them into four classes- the first class giving the second a pawn and move, the third a pawn and two moves, and the fourth class a knight.
The following is the list of entries, together with their classification:-
First Class – Messrs J.M.Connell, C.Fisher, and A.G.M’Combe.
Second Class – Messrs W.H.Batten, R.Bristow, H.Deveril, T.W.Gaggin, J.A.Harvey, W.Hogarth, R.S.Mitchell, A.Mongredien, D.O’Connor, J.B.Partridge, F.W.Tatham, and C.M.Watson
Third Class – Messrs Davey, Kennedy, H.M.Pascoe and J.Taylor
Fourth Class – Messrs J.Campbell, J.P.Fennings, G.Fisher, J.Holdes, and J.A.Wilson.
The players have been paired as follows by lot:-
Batten – Holdes 0-1
Bristow-Gaggin
Campbell-M’Combe
Connell-Taylor 1-0
Davey-Partridge 1-0
Deveril-O’Connor 1-0
Fennings-Hogarth
C.Fisher-Pascoe
G.Fisher-Harvey 0-1
Kennedy-Mitchell
Mongredien-Tatham 0.5-0.5
Watson-Wilson 0.5-0.5
“The Ballarat Star” dated 25th September 1866.
The chess tournament, since its commencement has progressed favorably, and the chess-room is almost every evening crowded with players. Already no less than nine games have been played off, and more would probably have been concluded were it not that many of the competitors refrain from playing to the last moment, in order to make themselves proficient in the openings. The following is the list of the games already finished:- (see Part 1, BvR).
We give in detail the game played by Messrs O’Connor (white) and Deveril (black):-
(The comments in the game about some moves were actually made by the original reporter in 1866! BvR)
The Star offices on Sturt St. Ballarat
The 34th Begonia Open Tournament, 2000
Report by Bas van Riel
The traditional and unique Ballarat Begonia Open Chess Tournament was this year’s first Grand Prix (Class 3) event in Victoria. Organising successful tournaments without making a financial loss has been very difficult in Victoria for the last few years. One may argue about the reasons for this. After a disappointing entry level in 1998, the tournament organisers were extremely lucky to secure substantial sponsorships last year, which undoubtedly increased the players’ interest. Having missed out on extra funds this year, the committee didn’t know what to expect. However, it turned out that it didn’t have to worry, as 90 players turned up, exactly the same number as last year.
The number of top players, headed by DARRYL JOHANSEN, was fairly small, but the record entry of juniors (18) was very pleasing. Worth mentioning is the group of players who seem to return to Ballarat year in, year out, many of them pensioners. This special composition of the tournament creates a unique atmosphere with a group which takes chess seriously, trying to win (prizes), a large group of ‘social’ players and thirdly the group of juniors with all their distractions and variable interests (not only in chess!). An interesting mix of chess players blended in one single Ballarat tournament.
To make all this happen each year again, is mainly due to the untiring efforts of Kevin Perrin (DOP). Mind you, he has been involved as the main organiser since the inception of the tournament.
The great support in different ways by players, clubs, VCA and ChessWorld is invaluable for the success of our tournament, and it is greatly appreciated by the committee. Visits by chess personalities such as Robert Jamieson, Guy West, Gary Wastell, David Flude etc., certainly add flavour and moral support to the event.
As far as I am aware the tournament went flawlessly, apart from a brief failure of a group of lights during one of the evening rounds: a minor hiccup compared to last year’s commotion when the arbiter was stuck in the elevator for more than an hour!
The social aspects of the event were improved by a sausage sizzle lunch; the Craigs Hotel offering meals and drink discounts, making it a focal meeting point for all between the rounds; and also by the drinks-and-nibbles provided after the final round up to the prize-giving ceremony.
In the top group GEORGE PRATSCH (1752, =newcomer?) had a good tournament, helped by a good draw. He finished with 5.5 points on equal 4th spot. STEWART BOOTH started with a strategic draw in the first round and this carried him safely through the next few rounds, thereby building up valuable match practice before meeting the bigger guns in the crucial last rounds. The B-group was jointly won by JANOS NEMETH who scored very well against four much higher rated players, and good old OLGERTS BERGMANIS with 5 points each. I would not be surprised to find that Olgerts and his friend GUNNAR LAMBERTS have played in virtually all (34) Ballarat Begonia Open tournaments.
The C-group was won equally by two juniors with 5 points each: AMIR NISSEN (Vic) and AARON GUTHRIE (SA). Amir drew with STEWART BOOTH, won against KEN HOLT and being the 51st seed, the average seeding of his opponents was 19! Similarly, Aaron being seeded 67 met with opponents averaging 29 and he polished off his effort with a win against DAVID CORDOVER (10) in the last round.
Group D was jointly won (3.5 points) by ERIC LINDBERG who squeezed three wins out of his last three opponents, and COLIN FINLAY from NSW, who played a solid tournament.
A brief note by Gary Bekker:
The event was won by MIRKO RUJEVIC with 6.5 / 7 points. Equal second were GM DARRYL JOHANSEN, who lost to RUJEVIC in round 5, and MARK CHAPMAN who drew with IM LEONID SANDLER and agreed a quick draw with Rujevic in the final round. Chapman did not have to play against Johansen, while Sandler finished outside of the prize list after a draw with Chapman, losing to Rujevic and then to Johansen in the final round. Leading final scores: M. RUJEVIC 6.5; D. JOHANSEN, M. CHAPMAN 6.0; S. BOOTH, S. LOW, J. PRATSCH 5.5; G. SZUVEGES, J. NEMETH, G. GILL, M. BARON, M. LOJANICA, O. BERGMANIS, D. PARTSI, A. NISSEN, A. GUTHRIE 5.0.
Many thanks to all involved in the tournament, especially to BAS VAN RIEL, KEVIN PERRIN and PATRICK COOK for organising the event and collecting duplicate scoresheets for publication.
Download the pgn game file here, containing 47 games from the tournament.