Chess Victoria President IM Leonid Sandler hosted a 10 player simul exhibition at the Melbourne Chess Club on 27 March with GM Timur Gareyev who played blindfolded with the Black pieces on all 10 boards (makes it extra hard).
Sandler facilitated by walking to each board in turn, call out the board number, then the player himself or herself would then call out his or her own move in algebraic notation. The GM would then call out his move and Sandler would play that for him and press the clock. The GM had 105 minutes + 30 seconds per move while his opponents had 60 minutes without increment.
He won 7 games and lost 3 (Nicholas Ilic, CM Regan Crowley and WCM Alanna Chew Lee) - obviously a formidable array of opponents.
Another day, another place. The hardworking GM then moved from Melbourne to the national capital Canberra on 28 March to preface the Doeberl Cup celebrations beginning the next day with another 10-0 display.
This time Gareyev had 90 minutes with 1-minute increments, while his opponents had 55 minutes and no increment. Unlike a normal simulwhere players move in turn, each player could move at any time, and push the clock to start Garayev's time running.
Gareyev has now played 4 blindfold simuls in Australia and has endeared himself with his engaging personality and great gifts: Churchies(Brisbane 29 January), Kings Christian College (Gold Coast 31 January where he told the students; “To become a great chess player you need to make a lot of great moves, not just one big move to win a game”) 10-0, Melbourne Chess Club (27 March) 7-3 and Canberra (29 March) 10-0.
