NSWOpen07Report

NSW Open 2007 Report
By Charles Z

On the Queen's Birthday long weekend of 9th, 10th and 11th of June 2007, the NSW Chess Association ran one of their more successful NSW Open events: 107 players, with 50 in the Open event and 57 in the Under 1600. Held at Parramatta RSL in Sydney's west, the FIDE rated Open event was run at the standard Fischer time controls of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds per move from the start, and attracted top seeds GM Ian Rogers, GM Dejan Antic, IM Andras Toth and FM Igor Bjelobrk, as well as players from interstate (the ACT and Queensland) and even as far afield as Shanghai (Angela Song)! It was supplemented by the richest Under 1600 event in the country ($750 first prize), an event which also attracted players from the ACT and Queensland - and one player (Aiswerya Shankar) from as far away as India!

The titled players all won in Round 1, but there was a sensation already in Round 2 when Jason Hu drew a solid rook endgame with Ian Rogers. Antic convincingly beat Alex Mendes da Costa, but Toth was a bit lucky to beat Angela Song on time from the exchange down. Antic continued winning in Round 3, but Toth struggled again, taking forever to beat Junta Ikeda. Jason Chan, meanwhile, scored an upset win as White in a fairly long game against Igor Bjelobrk, who took a poisoned pawn and then could only watch as Jason got his rook to the seventh and caused devastation to his king and pawns. With a win over Brian Jones, Armen Ayvazyan joined Dejan, Andras and Jason in the lead on 3/3.

Antic and Toth were the only two left on 4/4 after Round 4, Antic beating Armen Ayvazyan in a nice tactical game while Andras won a long endgame against Jason Chan. Ian Rogers reached 3.5/4 by beating Gareth Charles on time (in a game where Gareth was always under pressure); while Igor Bjelobrk defeated Jason Hu in a game where Jason was a bit too passive. Antic then became the outright leader on 5/5 after beating Toth; the GM may have been worse, but he ended up winning on time... Ian Rogers won a rook ending against Ayvazyan, as did Bjelobrk against Mendes da Costa.

So to the Monday, where Ian Rogers accepted Dejan Antic’s draw offer in a slightly worse position as Black to leave Dejan still outright leader on 5.5/6. Ian was joined on 5/6 by Toth, who beat Bjelobrk in a rook and minor piece endgame. Toth then drew his last round game with Ian Rogers from a pawn up (but his extra pawn was doubled and isolated). When Antic kept solid to draw with Jason Hu, the Serbian GM was thus the 2007 NSW Open champion; while Jason could be very proud to have drawn with both GMs in the same event! Toth and Ian Rogers were equal second on 5.5/7, while a log jam of players shared the 4th and 5th prizes on 5/7.

Prize Winners: 1st Dejan Antic 6/7; = 2nd Ian Rogers, Andras Toth 5.5; = 4th Armen Ayvazyan, Igor Bjelobrk, Johny Bolens, Jason Hu, Neil Wright 5; = 1st Under 2000–1850 Jason Chan, Alex Mendes da Costa 4; = 1st Under 1850–1700 Mos Ali, Arthur Huynh, Brendon Norman 4;

Joint top seeds here were Canberra Junior Emma Guo and Anthony Villanueva. Anthony lost to Mark Ryan in Round 1; while Emma lost to Matthew Koutnik in Round 2 – she had the two bishops but then let Matthew lock the position to make his knights superior, and he eventually won pawn, piece and game! Six players got to 3/3 after the first Sunday game - they were Leo Kang, Michael Tracey, Benjamin Cheung, Amir Karibasic, Danny Bisson and Bruce Harris - with Joshua Lau was the only player on 2.5/3. Leo and Michael drew a long rook and pawn ending in Round 4, and Bruce and Benjamin also drew; so Danny Bisson found himself the sole leader on 4/4 after he beat Amir Karibasic.

Danny lost his first game in Round 5, blundering into mate in two to lose to Benjamin Cheung; and suddenly we had three joint leaders on 4.5/5! Leo Kang (who beat Amir Karibasic) was one of them; Benjamin was another; and Bruce Harris was the third, and perhaps the luckiest! Having blundered a piece from a won position against Michael Tracey, he was fortunate to be able to queen his h pawn and win anyway. John Papantoniou joined Danny Bisson on 4/5 by breaking through in a king and pawn ending to beat Phil Bourke. Monday saw Leo Kang as our new outright leader on 5.5/6 after Round 6, winning exchange and game against Benjamin Cheung; but John Papantoniou was just half a point behind after surviving an attack to beat Bruce Harris. John was perhaps even luckier in Round 7, where Matthew Koutnik moved a rook en prise to lose a dead drawn position to him; and after Trent Parker beat Leo Kang in a nice game, the 13 year old Papantoniou was NSW Under 1600 Champion on 6/7! Four players had to share second on 5.5/7; of course, two of them were juniors...

Prize Winners: 1st John Papantoniou 6/7; = 2nd Benjamin Cheung, Tereza Grbin, Leo Kang, Trent Parker 5.5; = 1st Under 1450–1300 Amir Karibasic, Mark Ryan 5; Best Unrated Kevin Zhou 4.5; 1st Under 1300 Cedric Koh 4.5; = 2nd Under 1300 Joshua Lau, Megan Setiabudi 4.