Tsunami v Wallaper
(A Mysterious Game From the Australian Interstate Challenge?)
Querido Club Bullwinkle,
Aqui en Madrid/Asturias hemos escuchado de un famoso juego de ajedrez por correspondencia entre dos Gran Maestros Australianos, Tsunami y Wallpaper. Seguramente, Rogers es el unico gran Maestro Australiano??? O Tsunami y Wallpaper son Gran Maestros de correspondencia??? La Federacion de Ajedrez Australiana no tiene record de este juego, nos podria ayudar??
Saludos,
Juan Carlos Gonzalez
Dear Juan Carlos,
Australia actually has two male OTB grandmasters - Ian Rogers and Darryl Johansen. In all likelihood, ‘Tsunami’ and ‘Wallaper’ are bogus entities! For sake of interest, however, we’ve used the
Plain Naan search engine to track down all internet references to the game you mention. Please note that these all appear to have come from the ACF Bulletin Board, which at the time had something of a reputation for misleading posts.Regards,
Club Bullwinkle
From: Butcherbird
Date: 01 Jun 2001
The big boys with the big moves have been playing another internet challenge. Team Tsunami and Team Rod Wallaper have been facing off over the net. For the benefit of ACFBB viewers we thought we should update the moves here.
Team Tsunami - Team Rod Wallaper 1.g4 d5 2.Bg2 g6 3.d3 Bg7 4.Nd2
From: Jon Paxman
Date: 03 Jun 2001
Could you elaborate Paul?
Who are team Tsunami and team Rod Wallpaper?
From: S. McGaven
Date: 04 Jun 2001
Jon,
I’ve heard about this match-up from the inner sanctum. Not sure if this is game 1 or game 2 of the series. Please inform. Team Tsunami is a category 5 and has a corresponding rating plus. Team R Wallaper has the Qball.
Regards,
From: Butcherbird
Date: 05 Jun 2001
Shooter talks the talk. But he can never walk the walk. What does Mr Garros have to say about this matter?
From: R. Garros
Date: 05 Jun 2001
I was under l’impression that the Black team was, in fact, headed by Monsieur WALLAPER, as distinct from WALLPAPER.
The game itself is tres bon.
From: Butcherbird
Date: 05 Jun 2001
Mr.Garros - at times you make as much sense as a Damir Dokic outburst
From: Srinath Kapur
Date: 14 Jun 2001
I fear I still do not quite understand. What is a Category 5? Some kind of ability level? And what is Mr Wallaper doing with a Q-Ball in the match?
In addition to those comments listed above,
Plain Naan dredged up what seems to be the .pgn file of the game itself. As you can see, the participants are not GMs.
Tsunami,T (1940) - Wallaper,T (1884) [A00]
Australian Interstate Challenge, 2001
[Annotations: Bok Choy 6.1]
1.g4! Bonza mate! 1...d5 2.Bg2 g6?! Pure deviancy. 3.d3 Bg7 4.Nd2 c6 5.h3 Nf6 6.g5! Bonsai! 6...Ng8? "Sorry mate!" [6...Nh5 engages the gravity drive.] 7.e4 e5 8.h4 a5?! RIP Baby Bear. 9.exd5 cxd5 10.c4 Ne7 11.Ne2 Nbc6 12.Nc3 d4 13.Nce4 "It's like we were dancing, Marty!" 13...Ng8? "Sorry mate!" 14.c5 h6 15.Nc4 Rb8 16.Ned6+ Black resigns. 1-0
‘
Bok Choy 6.1’ is believed to be an experimental chess interface, under development in Idaho. Interestingly, though, a Plain Naan search for ‘Bok Choy’ turned up the following (familiar?) references:
From: Butcherbird
Date: 08 Jun 2001
J’adoube means "I adjust" in French. Don’t know why we use it. Could say "Bok Choy" for all I care.
From: Ronald Scott
Date: 08 Jun 2001
Yeah I think if you did say "Bok Choy" while you adjusted a piece it would be appropriate because you have indicated in some way that you mean to adjust.
From: R. Garros
Date: 08 Jun 2001
Ah yes, this is what interests me!
Where in the history of chess did "J’adoube" pass into popular usage INSTEAD of such terms as "Bok Choy" and "Chicka-Chigar" ?
I would have thought it more likely that a Russian term would have found its way into the vernacular.
Is this merely recognition of French as the ‘global language’ (back when it was), or was chess just really taking off in France when somebody first knocked over a piece and caused a bit of a hu-ha by picking it up again...?
Tres interesting!
From: Jonathan Sarfati
Date: 10 Jun 2001
Well, you could always say "adjusting" in English. Pretty radical, huh? Well, it’s the nearest thing we have nowadays to an international language. Even the Aussie-accented version qualifies, and it’s better than Aussie-butchered French ;)
A search for the ‘Australian Interstate Challenge’ also turned up a thread of posts from the old ACF Bulletin Board:
From: Jonathan Paxman
Date: 14 Jun 2001
Rubbish.
Give us evidence if you want to accuse us of any impropriety. And don’t hide behind anonymity.
From: R. Garros
Date: 14 Jun 2001
Oh. Aren’t we allowed to use computers?
Sorry.
From: S. McGaven
Date: 15 Jun 2001
I heard that someone known as "Hansie" may have been "assisting" in the WA/SA clash.
From: Butcherbird
Date: 15 Jun 2001
Well I guess in that case the WA-Qld match is going to be close then, isn’t it?
From: R. Garros
Date: 16 Jun 2001
And one must not forget the match-fixing and corruption issues once chess becomes a sport, oui?
We’ve already witnessed a - how would you say - controversy? in the WA v SA match. Do we want chess to become like this all the time?
Keep chess a non-sport! A non-racist, non-sexist, non-phobic, non-sport!
Merci.
From: S. McGaven
Date: 18 Jun 2001
I recently heard that Qld conducted a knock-out tournament to decide the State Championship.
I must commend Qld on this effort to jazz up the format. Way to go guys.
Suggestion for next year though - introduce playing of the Joker, use one of those hooter things to signify commencement of the round, and have Billy J Smith and Fiona Mac as guest commentators.
Gotta love Billy J!
From: R. Garros
Date: 18 Jun 2001
You would have to spray detergent all over the pieces, oui?
From: Jonathan Sarfati
Date: 18 Jun 2001
Mais non, we knew what we were in for when we entered. Everyone knows that knockouts are meaningless for all but the first place, but here there was a bonus in that the top two made it to the final. Even people like me who had the misfortune to play the winner earlier than they would have liked made a profit in the weekend. At least the tournament was over and done with, rather than dragging over two weekends and a mid-week night too.
Having said that, a weekend Swiss wouldn’t have been a bad idea either -- there’s no reason people have to follow the idiosyncrasies of the Despot of Kalmykia.
From: Srinath Kapur
Date: 18 Jun 2001
An excellent idea Mr McGaven. Perhaps also the lightning play-offs could be replaced by an obstacle course where the two opponents have to carry a chess board around without spilling the pieces.
In conclusion, it would seem that ‘Tsunami v Wallaper’ was a game of much infamy but little credibility. It is unlikely that you will see either of its participants competing in Spain (unless you have a vulnerable Bulletin Board), or any other country in which chess is recognised as a serious sport.