The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 50

Weather Based on Bureau of Meteorology sources and private data with DON WHITE LISMORE MOREE BOURKE 4 0 ARMimLE TAMWORTH BROKEN J70 DCBBO ORANGE 0 ostoney; mm WOLLONGONG WAGGA WAGGA SYDNEY Dry 17 NEWCASTLE Fine 18 WOLLONGONG Dry 17 CANBERRA Clearing 10 BRISBANE Fine'20 Fine 28" PERTH Fine 18 ADELAIDE Shower 14 MELBOURNE Showers 13 HOBART Showers 10 ISi'ES -trtr III 3 I3 tviLirra i mr haU mgj lhm Todaylsj Forecai SPECIAL EVENTS The Pacific Jazz Summit is on at Darling Harbour at 12.30pm. A pantomime debating mining will be held at the Australian Museum from 11.30am until 1pm today. Adults $5, concession $3, children $2. A free Jam Theatre production of Charlotte's Web can be seen at The Coachhouse at The Rocks at 1 1.30am and 1.30pm, Tuesday-Sunday, until July 16. The Needlework Craft and Art Fair is on at the Sydney Exhibition Centre.

Open lOam-Spm. Adults $8, concessions $5, families $18. An American Independence Day parade will march through Darling Harbour from noon today and end with fireworks at 5.30pm. Examine rare paintings and journals from the First Fleet until August 27 at the Museum of Sydney. 10am-5pm.

Adults $6, concessions $4, families $12. See magazine covers from between the world wars at the Hyde Park Barracks Museum. 10am-Spm dairy. Adults $5, concessions S3 and families $12. Until August 13.

For listings in this section contact Rebecca Thurlow on 282 1870, Tuesday to Thursday 9am to 5pm. Fax number 282 2151. Address: GPO Box 506. Sydney. 2001.

TEXT FOR TODAY So Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and related to them what he had told her. John Ch 20 18 Sunrise- .7.01 am pm Sunset. Sunshine hours RAINFALL SYDNEY TOMORROW win be cool and mostly sunny with moderate to fresh winds. Top temperatures will be around 17 degrees. It will be mainly fine with freshening winds tending cold WS.

A brief shower or two is possible and top temperatures will be around 15-16 degrees. Tuesday is expected to be cool and mostly sunny with the top temperatures around 17 degrees. Wednesday will be fine and cool after a cold early morning with possible frosts westwards. Winds will be lighter and top temperatures are expected to be around 18 degrees. YESTERDAY'S SYDNEY TEMPERATURES Maximum: 16 Minimum: 10 STATEWIDE North Coast: Fine and cool to mild with fresh WSW winds.

Continuing dry and mostly sunny tomorrow. Central Coast: Fine and cool with WSW winds. Cold tonight, dry tomorrow. South Coast: Fine and cool with fresh SW winds easing. Chance of a shower or two tomorrow, fresh to strong SW winds.

Northern Tablelands: Cloudy periods in the west but mainly dry with WSW winds easing. Cloudy patches tomorrow, chance of a brief shower as winds tend colder SW. Central Tablelands: A shower or two in the west and south but mainly dry elsewhere. Fresh WSW winds easing. A few showers tomorrow with sleet or snow on higher parts.

Southern Tablelands: Showers in the west and south falling as snow above 1100 metres today. Fresh WSW winds. Showers increasing tomorrow with snowfalls lowering to 1000 metres. NW Slopes Plains: Cloudy periods on the slopes but fine with WSW winds easing. Continuing mainly dry and partly cloudy tomorrow.

CW Slopes Plains: Cloudy at times but mainly fine. Fresh WSW winds easing. Cool tomorrow with a shower or two on the higher slopes and SW winds. SW Slopes: Cold and fairly cloudy with a few showers. Cold and cloudy tomorrow with increasing showers in the east and south and snow above 1000 metres.

Freshening SW winds. Riverina: Cloudy at times with a clearing shower. WSW winds easing. Cold and cloudy tomorrow with a few showers. Western Plains: Cloudy periods in the south but dry.

WS winds easing. A shower or two briefly in the south tomorrow but fine elsewhere. OUTDOORS Wind direction WSW Wind speed 15-20 knots Wave fcght i-2m Swell waves l-2m Tides: High: 41.05 am (1.5m) and 1 1.02 pm (1.7m). Low: 5 am (0.4m) and 4.45 pm (0.6m). Queanbeyan 7, Perisher Valley 5, Tidbinbilla 27, Yass 14.

Hunter. Moonan flat 0.4. Illawarra: Bowral 2, Moss Vale 3. Coast: Braidwood 4, Merimbula 2. SNOW WATCH Between 20 and 50 cm of snow has fallen in the Snowies in the past 48 hours just in time for the school holidays.

Late yesterday, Charlotte Pass had almost 1 metre snow and there will be a temporary easing in the snow later today, but tomorrow and early Tuesday more good falls are likely as another surge of cold SW air crosses the region. Falls Creek and Mt Hotham in Victoria have also had good falls with more expected. Lower Westera: Balranald 1, Wentworth 1. CW Plains: Condobolin 0.8. fUveriaa: Ariah Park 5.

Culcairn 4, Darlington Point 5. Denih-quin 3, Finley 4, Griffith I. CW Slopes: Cowra 3, Cudal 1, Dubbo AP 0.6, Forbes 0.4, Moiong 4, Parkes 1. SW Slopes: Albury 6, Burrinjuck Dam 23, Cabramurra 26, Coota-mundra 9, Gundagai 13, Hume Reservoir 7, Tumbarumba 14, Tumut 10, Wagga 7, Young 8. TiMeUmh: Bathurst 2, Gul-gong 1, Katoomba 0.6, Lithgow 4, Mudgee 2, Oberon 5, Orange 7, Rockley 6.

Tablelands: Adaminaby 14, Berridale 12, Bombala AWS 3, Canberra 7, Charlotte Pass 4, Cooma 4, Cooma AP 8, Goul-burn AP II, Goulburn 10, A little Scottish card trick Feldman breaks drought CHESS BRIDGE IAN ROGERS DICK CUMMINGS WM VMt. 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 NORTH A J105 AK1063 65 KJ2 i wk EAST A 9643 Q982 87 A97 WEST A 87 VJ754 Q92 10843 SOUTH A AKQ2 V- AKJ1043 AQ6S North East Pass 2H Pass 2 NT Pass 3S Pass Pass Pass A AK 1086542 A1065 A9 There was no chance to use it, though, because you were in fourth seat and the opposition had bounced the auction to the four-level by the time it was your turn to call: Dealer West; both vulnerable; imps. NORTH A 973 85 KQ KQ 10842 WEST EAST AJ AQ KJ9743 VAQ1062 J432 987 A5 J763 SOUTH A AK 1086542 A1065 A9 West North East South 2H Pass 4H How the other half lives a weak two. What next? Since 4S seemed somewhat yellow-bellied, I pushed the boat out with 5S. Pamela Blinman (North) rose to the occasion by raising to 6S, and her judgment proved spot on.

West led the ace of clubs but there were 12 tricks for the taking. NS plus 1 ,430. Note that EW missed a delicate opportunity. They could have saved South 2D 2S 3D 6S West Pass Pass Pass Pass ONE of the great mysteries to this writer is the local popularity of a Scottish import, "Benjamin This is an idea designed to pander to those wedded to nearly-game-forcing twos in the Acol tradition, but disinclined to free themselves from that American curse, the weak two-bid. Under the Benjamin structure, 2H and 2S are weak two, 2D is an artificial game-force and 2C is an Acol-two promising eight or more playing tricks based on a suit to be named later.

The Australian variant also incorporates a balanced 19-21 in the 2C opening. The result is a hotchpotch, inferior to natural Acol-twos for game and slam bidding. Not naming your good suit immediately with the 2C opening tends to lose a vital round of bidding, which is akin to pre-empting yourself. What this means is that Benjamin-ites need plenty of effective mileage from their weak 2H and 2S openings to compensate. There are grave doubts whether they get it Having tested several two-bid structures ad nauseam over the years (including multis and weak two-suiters), I feel most comfortable with a 2C game-force and 2D, 2H and 2S as natural Acol-twos.

That is what Tim Seres and I will be using in the interstate championships in Darwin. (By the way, the withdrawal pains from giving up weak-twos are not nearly as bad as you might think. Trust me.) A deal from actual play at Double Bay during the week is an interesting sample. South gets her powerful suit across with a 2D opening, the ideal starting point for the development of a sensitive auction: Dealer East; NS vulnerable. FOR the first time in more than a decade an Australian woman has qualified for the World Chess Championship Interzonal tournament, a key event on the road to the 1997 Women's World Championship match.

Sydney's Irina Feldman reached the Interzonal by scoring a start-to-finish victory in the Asian-Pacific Women's Zonal which concluded this week in the Genting Highlands, Malaysia. The Asian-Pacific zone is geographically the largest in the world and ranges from Japan to New Zealand. For Feldman, 30, victory in Malaysia partially compensates for her poor fortune two years ago when, after tying for first place in the Jakarta Zonal, illness forced her to withdraw from a play-off match for the Interzonal berth. As in 1993, Feldman was undefeated in Malaysia and was able to coast home with draws in the final two rounds. Fifteen-year-old Vietnamese top seed Hoang Thanh Trang took the other Interzonal qualifying position.

Feldman was far from the only Australian success story at the Zonal. Adelaide's Ngan Koshnitsky and Sydney teenager Veronica Kli-menko, a last-minute inclusion in the tournament, both earned the FIDE Master title the rank just below International Master by scoring 7 and 6 points respectively. In contrast to the success of our women players, none of the three Australians in the concurrent Open Zonal managed to score above 50 per cent. Melbourne's Leonid Sandler went close to an International Master result but collapsed in the final three rounds. In the absence of most of the zone's top ranked players, including Dao Thien Hai of Vietnam, Torre of the Philippines and Australia's Johansen and Rogers, Utut Adianto abedefg Position after Black's 12th move.

of Indonesia dominated the Open Zonal, scoring the following convincing win over Sandler. Asian-Pacific Zonal 1995 White: Adianto Black: Sandler Opening: Queen's Gambit, Tar-rasch Defence l.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.NO cS 4.cxd5 exdS 5.g3 Nc6 6.Bg2 Nf6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Nc3 cxd4 10.Nxd4 h6 ll.Bf4!? Be6? A well-known inaccuracy; Black should play 1 and only retreat to e6 after 12.h3. The difference will become apparent shortly. 12.Rcl (See Diagram) 13.Nxe6! fxe6 14.Bh3! Qd7 15.e4! In the main line, h3 is not accessible to White's bishop but now, thanks to Black's obliging 12th move, White is winning a pawn by force. 16.exd5 Nxd5 17.Nxd5 QxdS 18.Qxd5 exd5 19.Bc7! Ra8 20.Be6 Kh821.Bxd5 Rac8 22.BM Bf6 23.b3 Nd4 24.Rxc8 Ne2 25.khl Rxc8 26.Bxb7 Rc2 27.Be3Rxs2 28.Rdl a5 29.Rd6 30.Be4 30.Bxcl Ral is unnecessarily complicated.

With an extra pawn and two powerful bishops. White need only avoid Black's desperate tricks to win. 31.Kg2 Ne2 32.Ra6 1-0 There is no escape from the mating threats on the back rank, e.g. 32.Kg833.Bg6 Kf8 34.Bc5 with checkmate to follow. Natural and strong (Acol two-bid).

Opening lead: C3. Once he had given a positive response in hearts, then shown a club-stopper. North did well to continue with 3S. This of course had to be merely sound three-card support, following the failure to raise on the previous round. Relying on partner to have the king or ace of clubs, and judging there were too many ifs and buts to justify a grand-slam investigation, South closed proceedings with a crisp 6S.

The defence made the ace of clubs then switched to a trump. Declarer won on the table, cashed the AK of diamonds and ruffed a diamond high. When trumps were no worse than 4-2 she had 12 tricks. It was a source of comfort that 6D would have failed with the queen of diamonds a certain loser. I defy anyone to come up with a realistic Benjamin auction to match this one.

There just isn't the space. A few days earlier, a teams congress at Lindfield produced another hand qualifying for an Acol-two: an imp by unding the 7H sacrifice. The deal is also another example of the inaccuracy of the so-called "law of total tricks" (yes people have the hide to style it a law). NS have an 1 1-card trump fit and so do EW. We are told this means there are 22 tricks available.

If NS can make 12 tricks in spades and they can EW should be able to make 10 tricks in hearts, but there are only eight What's two shy of the quota between friends? 52 THE SUN-HERALD, July 2, 1995 av.