I recently stumbled across Jordan McCabe while browsing online and was completely amazed…I have rarely seen such a talent in any field!
More impressive is his lack of “ball hogging” tendencies that many young basketball stars have, and Jordan is just as comfortable throwing a beautiful pass to set-up his teammates…have a look at the videos below!
So here I am again…
Yes so it’s been a busy week…
From learning the ins and outs of the whole social networking scene (Facebook, Twitter etc), to quarrelling with my girlfriend…this week has been extremely busy!
So…where do I start?
This entry will not be half as philosophical as the previous journal entry and will be more of a “vent”, but I’m sure you can forgive me this.
In the aim to maximise energy levels, improve overall body health and strengthen my immune system, I today bought a 4 month batch of “CENOVIS: Men’s Once Daily Multi”.
It sounds like some “magic sex pill” (which of course, I WOULDN’T NEED!
), but in fact it is a multi-vitamin containing the following components (roughly);
My aim is (as I said), to strengthen my body to the greatest degree particularly since I’ve recently got back into physical training and also the change of seasons means possible colds floating around too so immune strength needs to be maximised. I have never tried to supplement my diet with this type of thing before so I’ll let you know how it goes as tomorrow is day one of my 125 day trial batch.
Now the whole Facebook thing is an interesting issue…for years I scorned people who spend HOURS each day of valuable time to browse aimlessly on Facebook.
Over time I tried it and due to the ridiculous invasions of privacy throughout their programming, I closed my account and kept away for a long time…
Why didn’t I think that this “invasion of privacy” and “gaping personal exposure” might be good for business purposes??? Who knows, but I have stumbled upon this fact now (joining the party much later than others) and spent a couple of hours absorbing all the secrets to Facebooking and Twitter, planning to use them for these aforementioned purposes in the future…what great tools!
I also made another Facebook page with tighter security settings for personal use just for keeping contact with my mother, close friends and girlfriend when needed.
You may add either the Facebook of my chess coaching business here, or my personal page here.
I’m getting kind of tired and my mind is empty…have a nice sleep everybody. 
Here is my attempt at a Chinese dish similar to that which I have eaten before…
I am NOT following a recipe but I AM just throwing the basic elements together with some common sense.
The result turns out not too bad as expressed by my Chinese taste testers and myself as well! 
Try this one for your self! 
So I’ve decided to keep an online journal…not for you but for me.
These pages will be stained with the experiences, thoughts, laughs and tears of life, thus exposing much of my soul…how lucky art thou? 
It is 6.55am and as the rain trickles down my window, a peaceful silence embraces me and I wonder if the train will arrive at my destination on time.
The train seems empty and my thoughts drift to my former life, which seems more like an unreal history lesson or a badly directed Hollywood movie now than a collection of everyday experiences..
Behaviour that would now make me blush with embarrassment driven by a quality of thought that could shame the Neanderthal ancestors before me… I frown and take a deep breath .
I decide finally that the former stage of my life was the “educational stage” of life where many lessons, accumulated knowledge and understanding came from…so that nobody I advise in later life can ever say such things as “Why should I listen to you? You’ve never walked in my shoes!! 
“, I have, young friend….I have .
Recent readings of the works of philosopher Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) have strengthened my conviction that the trials in life should be welcomed as a blessing in disguise, rather than an inescapable storm.
War time will teach us courage as illness teaches us fortitude, ugliness teaches us to appreciate beauty as loneliness teaches us to appreciate love…life is a two sided coin.
So what should we do about it? What is the ultimate end to aim for?
I believe the answer is the same as that which has alluded most men for centuries…wisdom.
Each age and each culture has had its great bearers of wisdom from Jesus Christ to Socrates, Lao Tzu to Confucius…these great minds opened the eyes of millions.
Most of the worlds population have closed their eyes again…fallen back to sleep.
““We can be knowledgable with other men’s knowledge but we cannot be wise with other men’s wisdom.”
-Michel de Montaigne
My train approaches my destination and I shutdown the laptop as the doors abruptly open…”please stand clear, doors closing…”.
Due to some new priorities and business goals, I will have to limit my blogging in the future and will only be blogging in the form of the weekly video show “Brendan’s Wednesday News”.
This week is only a rush job and is basically a video impression of the NSW Open games and players…
I hope you enjoy…
Yes, I know I haven’t been updating the blog and I have been so busy but I DO hope to give some brief coverage of the NSW Open…its the least I could do, right? 
Round 1:
Saleh,Alef – Zhao,Zong-Yuan [E20]
NSW Open (1.1), 12.06.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 c5 5.g3 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Ne4 7.Qc2 Qa5 8.Bd2 Bxc3 9.Bxc3 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Nc6 11.Nb3 Qa4 12.c5 b6 13.cxb6 axb6 14.Bg2 0–0 15.0–0 Ba6 16.Rfd1 Bc4 17.Qb2 d5 18.Nd4 Nxd4 19.cxd4 b5 20.a3 Qb3 21.Qxb3 Bxb3 22.Rdb1 Bc4 23.e3 Ra4 24.Bf1 Rfa8 25.Bxc4 bxc4 26.Rb2 g5 27.Rba2 g4 28.Kg2 Rb8 29.h3 h5 30.hxg4 hxg4 31.Kf1 Rb3 32.Ke2 Kg7 33.Kd2 Kg6 34.Ke2 Kf5 35.Kd2 Ke4 36.Ke2 f6 37.Ke1 e5 38.dxe5 fxe5 39.Ke2 c3 40.Kd1 Kd3 41.Kc1 Ra7 42.a4 Rh7 0–1
Xie,George – Kordahi,Nick [A48]
NSW Open (1.2), 12.06.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Ne4 4.Bh4 Bg7 5.Qd3 d5 6.Nbd2 Nd6 7.e4 dxe4 8.Nxe4 Bf5 9.Nxd6+ Qxd6 10.Qb5+ Qc6 11.Ne5 Qxb5 12.Bxb5+ c6 13.Bc4 f6 14.Nd3 Nd7 15.0–0–0 Nb6 16.Bb3 Nd5 17.Rhe1 b6 18.Bg3 a5 19.a3 Bh6+ 20.Kb1 Bxd3 21.Rxd3 Kd7 22.c4 Nf4 23.Rf3 Nh5 24.Ba4 Nxg3 25.hxg3 Bg5 [25...Kd6 Xie 26.Rh1 Bg7] 26.d5 b5 27.dxc6+ Kxc6 28.Bxb5+ Kc5 29.Rxe7 Rad8 30.Rc7+ Kd4 31.c5 Rb8 32.Rd3+ Ke5 33.Re7+ Kf5 34.Bd7# 1–0
Bolens,Johnny – Christensen,Joshua [B10]
NSW Open (1.8), 12.06.2010
1.e4 c6 2.f4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.g4 Be4 5.Nf3 e6 6.d3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 Qh4+ 8.Qg3 Be7 9.Nd2 Nd7 10.Nf3 Qxg3+ 11.hxg3 0–0–0 12.Bd2 Nh6 13.Bh3 c5 14.0–0–0 Kb8 15.Kb1 c4 16.d4 b5 17.f5 b4 18.f6 Bf8 19.fxg7 Bxg7 20.Bxb4 Nb6 21.Ng5 Rd7 22.Rdf1 Rg8 23.Nxh7 Rh8 24.Nf6 Rb7 25.g5 Bxf6 26.exf6 1–0
(Arthur Huynh, who drew with Zhao in round 2)
Aztmon-Simon,Barak – Thomas,Tom [A14]
NSW Open (1.10), 12.06.2010
1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 d5 4.Nf3 c6 5.b3 Nbd7 6.0–0 Be7 7.Bb2 0–0 8.d3 b6 9.Nbd2 Bb7 10.e4 dxe4 11.Nxe4 Nxe4 12.dxe4 Bf6 13.Bxf6 Nxf6 14.Qc2 Nd7 15.Rad1 Qe7 16.Nd4 Rac8 17.f4 Rfd8 18.e5 Nf8 19.Qc3 g6 20.g4 Qh4 21.h3 h5 22.g5 c5 23.Ne2 Rxd1 24.Rxd1 Bxg2 25.Kxg2 Nh7 26.Qe3 f6 27.exf6 Re8 28.Qe5 Nxf6 29.Qxf6 e5 30.Rd7 exf4 31.Qg7# 1–0
Huynh,Arthur – Ingham,Glen [E43]
NSW Open (1.18), 12.06.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Bd3 Bb7 6.Nf3 c5 7.0–0 cxd4 8.exd4 d5 9.Qa4+ Nc6 10.Ne5 Bxc3 11.bxc3 0–0 12.Bg5 Qd6 13.Rfe1 Ne4 14.Bf4 Nxe5 15.Bxe5 Qd8 16.cxd5 exd5 17.c4 Qh4 18.Qc2 Rac8 19.Re3 f5 20.Rh3 Qg5 21.Bxe4 fxe4 22.Rg3 Rxc4 23.Rxg5 Rxc2 24.Rxg7+ Kh8 25.Rg6+ 1–0
McElroy,Warren – Smirnov,Anton [D02]
NSW Open (1.27), 12.06.2010
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c6 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 Bd6 5.Nbd2 f5 6.Ne5 Nf6 7.b3 0–0 8.a4 Bxe5 9.dxe5 Ng4 10.Nf3 Nd7 11.Ba3 c5 12.Qd2 Qc7 13.Qc3 b6 14.Bb2 Bb7 15.Be2 Nh6 16.Ng5 Rfe8 17.0–0 a6 18.f4 Nf7 19.Nxf7 Kxf7 20.Qd3 Red8 21.Qd2 Rac8 22.c4 dxc4 23.Bxc4 Nxe5 24.Bxe5 Rxd2 25.Bxc7 Rxg2+ 0–1
(Jason Hu, a strong Sydney player)
Ruan,Jack – Chandhuri,Neel [E77]
NSW Open (1.30), 12.06.2010
[Norman]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 c5 5.d5 d6 6.f4 0–0 7.Nf3 Nbd7 8.Be2 Re8 9.0–0 Nb6 10.e5 dxe5 11.fxe5 Ng4 12.Bf4 e6 13.h3 Bh6 14.Qc1 Bxf4 15.Qxf4 exd5 16.hxg4 a6 17.Qh6 f6 18.exf6 Qxf6 19.Ng5 Qd4+ 20.Kh1 Qg7 21.Qxg7+ Kxg7 22.Rf7+ Kg8 23.Raf1 Bd7 24.cxd5 Nxd5 25.Nxd5 Rxe2 26.Nf6+ [26.Nf6+ Kh8 27.Rxh7#] 1–0
Encel,Ben – Mathew,Shishi [B24]
NSW Open (1.32), 12.06.2010
[Norman]
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.f4 Nc6 4.Nf3 a6 5.g3 Nf6 6.Bg2 e6 7.0–0 Be7 8.d3 Qc7 9.h3 0–0 10.Ne2 d5 11.e5 Nd7 12.c3 b5 13.Be3 Bb7 14.d4 Rfd8 15.f5 exf5 16.Ng5 Na5 17.Rxf5 Nc4 18.Bf4 f6 19.exf6 Bd6 20.Ne6 Qb8 21.Nxd8 Bxf4 22.Nxf4 Ne3 23.Qh5 [23.f7+ Kh8 24.Ng6+ hxg6 25.Qh5+ gxh5 26.Rxh5#] 23…g6 24.f7+ 1–0
Now, round 1 was a normal case of the higher rated bullies beating up the weaker guys below them mostly but then in round 2 something strange happened…karma! 
Round 2:
Now as I said before, karma struck in round two with the highly rated bullies getting a little of their own medicine….well, not really… but its nice to see some inspired players proving that the powerful guys at the top of our chess scene are indeed mortal!
The main list of casualties on the top boards is as follows;
Athur Huynh drew with Zong-Yuan Zhao
John Papatoniou beat George Xie
Emma Guo drew with Tomek Rej
Mosaddeque Ali drew with Armen Ayvazyan
Anton Smirnov beat Johnny Bolens
Jack Ruan drew with Stanislav Berezovski
George Lester beat Barak Atzmon-Simon
Unbelievable right? Here’s some proof!
Zhao,Zong-Yuan – Huynh,Arthur [E46]
NSW Open (2.1), 12.06.2010
[Norman]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0–0 5.Nge2 d5 6.a3 Be7 7.cxd5 exd5 8.g3 Re8 9.Bg2 c6 10.0–0 Bf5 11.b4 a6 12.h3 h6 13.g4 Bh7 14.Ng3 Nbd7 15.f4 Bd6 16.h4 Ne4 17.Ncxe4 Bxe4 18.Nxe4 dxe4 19.g5 hxg5 20.hxg5 a5 21.bxa5 Rxa5 22.Bd2 Ra7 23.Qb3 Nb6 24.a4 Nd5 25.a5 Qe7 26.Rfb1 Qe6 27.a6 bxa6 28.Qc2 Bf8 29.Ra4 f5 30.Rba1 Rea8 31.Bf1 a5 32.Bc4 Be7 33.Bxa5 Kf8 34.Bd2 Rxa4 35.Rxa4 Rxa4 36.Qxa4 Qd6 37.Qa8+ Kf7 38.Kf2 g6 39.Ke2 Bf8 40.Ba5 Be7 41.Qb7 Ke8 42.Qa8+ Kf7 43.Qb7 Ke8 44.Qa8+ Kf7 draw offered 45.Bb6 Qe6 46.Kf2 Kg7 47.Qb8?! [¹47.Qe8+- Zhao] 47…Kf7 48.Bc7 Bf8 49.Be5 Qe7 50.Qa8 Qd7 51.Bf6 Bg7 52.Bd8 Bf8 53.Bb6 Kg7 54.Bd8 Kf7 55.Ba5 Qd6 56.Qc8 Be7 57.Qb7 Kf8 58.Ke2 Qa3 59.Bxd5 cxd5 60.Qxd5 Qd3+ 61.Kf2 Qc2+ 62.Ke1 Qc1+ 63.Ke2 Qc2+ 64.Ke1 Qc1+ 65.Kf2 Qc2+ 66.Kg3 Qe2 67.Qb3 draw offered ½–½
Papantoniou,John – Xie,George [A28]
NSW Open (2.2), 12.06.2010
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.d4 e4 5.Ng5 Bb4 6.d5 Ne5 7.Qd4 Qe7 8.Ngxe4 Nxe4 9.Qxe4 f5 10.Qxf5 d6 11.Qc2 0–0 12.e4 Bc5 13.Nd1 Qh4 14.Be3 Bg4 15.Bxc5 Bxd1 16.Kxd1 dxc5 17.f3 Rae8 18.Qe2 c6 19.g3 Qf6 20.f4 Ng4 21.Kc2 Qg6 22.Bg2 b5 23.Rhe1 bxc4 24.Bh3 Nf6 25.Be6+ Kh8 26.f5 Qg5 27.Qxc4 cxd5 28.exd5 Ng4 29.h4 Ne3+ 30.Kd3 Qxg3 31.Rxe3 Qf2 32.Qc2 c4+ 33.Qxc4 Rxf5 34.Rae1 Rf4 35.Qc3 Rd8 36.h5 h6 37.R1e2 Qf1 38.Rg3 Qb1+ 39.Kd2 Rf6 40.Rxg7 Qf1 41.Rg6 Rdf8 42.Rxh6+ Kg7 43.Rg6+ Kh7 44.Qc7+ Kh8 45.Qg7# 1–0
Guo,Emma – Rej,Tomek [C54]
NSW Open (2.4), 12.06.2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.c3 Nf6 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 Nxe4 8.0–0 Bxc3 9.d5 Bf6 10.Re1 Ne7 11.Rxe4 d6 12.Bg5 Bxg5 13.Nxg5 h6 14.Qe2 hxg5 15.Re1 Be6 16.dxe6 f6 17.Re3 Kf8 18.Qd3 Kg8 19.Bb3 c6 20.Bc2 d5 21.Rh3 Rxh3 22.Qxh3 g6 23.Qg4 Qd6 24.g3 Kg7 25.h4 gxh4 26.gxh4 Rh8 27.Bxg6 Nxg6 28.h5 Kf8 29.Qxg6 Qe7 30.Kf1 Rg8 31.Qd3 Ke8 32.Re3 Qc5 33.Qh7 Qc1+ 34.Ke2 Qc4+ 35.Kd2 Qb4+ ½–½
Smirnov,Anton – Bolens,Johnny [D41]
NSW Open (2.8), 12.06.2010
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 c6 3.d4 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nf3 Be7 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Bd3 Nd7 9.0–0 N7f6 10.Ne5 0–0 11.a3 a6 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bd2 Qb6 14.Nf3 Qxb2 15.Na4 1–0
(Johnny Bolens, realising he has fallen into the oldest trap in the book!)
The remainder of the tournament promises to be very interesting and I shall watch with interest, but as I have to coach today…I will not arrive at the venue until 6pm maybe, so coverage will be slowed…
I also have a video of coverage coming soon, so be patient and you will enjoy it, I’m sure!
