Young Players at the Australian Open Part Four

Mon, 2013-02-11 11:53 -- IM Max Illingworth

 

Young Players at the Australian Open Part Four

For this final part I will go through the results of the other young players in the Australian Open on a round-by-round basis rather than by individual players. As the tournament featured a large number of young players, I will focus on upset results by juniors (under 18) with some games. Note that in referring to upset results by juniors I have not included Bobby Cheng’s results as I already went through his games in the first two parts.

In the first round, the biggest upset win was scored by Laughlan James who defeated FM Greg Canfell with the Black pieces in a King’s Indian Attack. This was probably the game of the round.

(9) Canfell,Gregory (2360) - James,Laughlan (1865) [A00]

Australian Open (1.9), 02.01.2013

1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.Ngf3 Be7 5.g3 0–0 6.Bg2 c5 7.e5 Nfd7 8.0–0 Nc6 9.Re1 Qc7 10.Qe2 b5 11.Nf1 Bb7 12.h4 Rfd8 13.N1h2 c4 14.d4 b4 15.Ng4 Nf8 16.h5 h6 17.Be3 Nh7 18.c3 Rdb8 19.Qd2 Qd8 20.Nfh2 Bf8 21.f4 a5 22.Nf3 Ne7 23.Nh4 Bc8 24.Bf2 Rb5 25.Ne3 Rab8 26.g4 Nc6 27.Nxc4 Bd7 28.Ne3 bxc3 29.bxc3 Rb2 30.Nc2 Na7 31.Rec1 Ba4 32.Nf3 Qc7 33.g5 Be7 34.gxh6 gxh6 35.Be1 Kh8 36.Bf1 Qc8 37.Bd3 f5 38.exf6 Bxf6 39.Bg6 Nc6 40.Qd3 Qg8 41.Ne5 Bxe5 42.dxe5 Ne7 43.Bg3 Nf8 44.Nd4 Nfxg6 45.hxg6 Nxg6 46.f5 Nf4 47.Qf3 Rg2+ 48.Qxg2 Nxg2 49.Kxg2 Rb2+ 0–1

 

Other upsets included Jack Puccini’s draw against fellow junior FM Gene Nakauchi (who became Australian Junior Champion U18 shortly after the Australian Open), Michael Kethro’s draw with Barak Atzmon-Simon, Martin Jack’s draw against fellow junior Oscar Wang and Shirley Gu’s draw with Jeff Cabilin. Though no longer a junior, Ben Encel’s draw with WGM Irene Kharisma Sukandar was also an excellent result. In the majority of these games the lower-rated player was even slightly unlucky not to win.

 

The most significant junior upset of the second round was Zachary Loh’s win over the winner of the 2012 Australasian Masters, Anton Smirnov; below is the game:

 

(68) Loh,Zachary (1945) - Smirnov,Anton (2207) [A00]

Australian Open (2.13), 03.01.2013

 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 a6 5.Qc2 Nbd7 6.Nf3 e6 7.Bd3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 b5 9.Bd3 c5 10.a4 b4 11.Ne4 Bb7 12.Ned2 Rc8 13.Qd1 cxd4 14.exd4 Be7 15.0–0 0–0 16.Qe2 Nd5 17.Nc4 Qc7 18.Nfe5 Nxe5 19.dxe5 Rfd8 20.Bd2 Ba8 21.a5 Qc6 22.f3 Qc5+ 23.Kh1 Qd4 24.Rfd1 Qh4 25.Rac1 Bg5 26.g3 Qh6 27.Bxg5 Qxg5 28.Be4 g6 29.f4 Qe7 30.Nd6 Rxc1 31.Rxc1 f6 32.Qxa6 fxe5 33.fxe5 Rf8 34.Rc8 Nc7 35.Rxf8+ Qxf8 36.Qe2 Bxe4+ 37.Nxe4 Qa8 38.Qc4 Qxa5 39.Nf6+ Kh8 40.Qd4 Nd5 41.Qf2 Qa8 42.Kg1 Kg7 43.h4 Ne7 44.Qc5 Qa1+ 45.Kh2 Qxb2+ 46.Kh3 Kf7 47.Nxh7 Qc3 48.Ng5+ Ke8 49.Nxe6 Kd7 50.Qd6+ Ke8 51.Qd8+ Kf7 52.Ng5+ 1–0

 

Martin Jack continued his good start with a draw as Black against Karel Hursky, and on the lower boards, Shucheng Zheng won against Mat-Arif Zulkifli, Leo Jiang held Calvin Bennett to a draw and on the bottom board Ray Yang won against Mark Baterowicz.

 

On to the third round, where Pasan Perera’s upset win over FM Christopher Wallis was the best of the junior results this round:

 

(130) Wallis,Christopher (2283) - Perera,Pasan (1923) [A00]

Australian Open (3.19), 04.01.2013

 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.f3 c6 4.c4 Nbd7 5.Nc3 e5 6.Nge2 Qb6 7.a3 g6 8.Be3 Bg7 9.Qd2 Qc7 10.d5 cxd5 11.cxd5 a6 12.Rc1 Qb8 13.g4 h5 14.g5 Ng8 15.h4 Ne7 16.Bh3 b5 17.Bxd7+ Bxd7 18.f4 Bg4 19.fxe5 Bxe5 20.Bd4 0–0 21.Bxe5 dxe5 22.0–0 Nc8 23.Rf6 Nd6 24.Ng3 Qa7+ 25.Qf2 Qxf2+ 26.Kxf2 Nc4 27.Rc2 Rfc8 28.Rc6 Bd7 29.Rxc8+ Rxc8 30.Nd1 Bg4 31.Ne3 Nd6 32.Rc6 Rxc6 33.dxc6 Be6 34.Nd5 Kf8 35.b4 Nc4 36.Nc7 Bc8 37.Nf1 Ke7 38.Ne3 Nxa3 39.Ncd5+ Kd6 40.c7 Kd7 41.Ke2 Bb7 42.Nf6+ Kxc7 43.Kd3 Bc8 44.Kc3 Be6 45.Kb2 Nc4+ 46.Nxc4 Bxc4 47.Ka3 Be6 48.Kb2 Kb6 49.Ka3 Kc6 50.Kb2 Bc4 51.Kc3 Be2 52.Kd2 Bf3 53.Kd3 Bg4 54.Kc3 a5 55.bxa5 Kc5 56.a6 b4+ 57.Kb3 Bd1+ 58.Kb2 Kb6 59.Nd7+ Kxa6 60.Nxe5 Kb6 61.Nxf7 Bf3 62.e5 Bd5 63.Nh8 Be4 64.e6 Kc6 65.Nf7 Bf5 66.e7 Kd7 67.Nh6 Be6 0–1

 

That said Pasan wasn’t the only junior to shine: Laughlan James proved his win over FM Greg Canfell wasn’t a one-off brilliancy by drawing with Barak Atzmon-Simon; Ryan Louie upset Ian Rout; WFM Megan Setiabudi drew with Jeff Cabilin; Martin Jack drew his third game in a row against Tony Davis; Shucheng Zheng went half a point better in his win over Mark Choong; and Kevin Willathgamuwa defeated Kenneth Holt.

 

Round 4 was a good one for the juniors: on the top boards we had Luke Li draw comfortably as Black against IM and 2012 Olympiad representative Moulthun Ly:

 

(169) Ly,Moulthun (2417) - Li,Zuhao Luke (2261) [A00]

Australian Open (4.3), 05.01.2013

 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nc6 7.0–0 Nb6 8.e3 0–0 9.Nc3 Re8 10.Re1 a5 11.Qe2 Be6 12.Nd2 Nb4 13.Rd1 c6 14.a3 N4d5 15.Nce4 Qc8 16.Nc5 Bg4 17.f3 Bh3 18.Bxh3 Qxh3 19.Nxb7 Nxe3 20.Qxe3 Qd7 21.Nc5 Qxd4 22.Qxd4 Bxd4+ 23.Kf1 Bxc5 24.Ne4 Na4 25.Bf4 f5 26.Nxc5 Nxc5 27.Rac1 Ne6 28.Rxc6 Nxf4 29.gxf4 Reb8 30.Rd2 Rb3 31.Kf2 Rab8 32.Rcc2 Kf7 33.Re2 R8b7 34.Kg2 Kf6 35.Kg3 a4 36.h4 R7b6 37.Rc7 Re6 38.Rec2 Reb6 39.Re2 Re6 40.Rh2 Reb6 41.Rcc2 Rb8 42.Rc6+ Kg7 43.h5 Rxb2 44.h6+ Kf7 45.Rxb2 Rxb2 46.Rc8 Rb3 47.Rh8 Rxa3 48.Rxh7+ Kg8 49.Rxe7 Ra1 50.Ra7 a3 51.Kh2 ½–½

 

Justin Tan drew with White against IM George Xie, however a bigger upset was Pasan Perera’s win over Anthonie Pieter Luchtmeijer:

 

(183) Perera,Pasan (1923) - Luchtmeijer,Ton (2108) [A00]

Australian Open (4.17), 05.01.2013

 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.g3 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Be6 7.0–0 Be7 8.Re1 Bf6 9.Ne4 Be7 10.d4 exd4 11.Nxd4 Nxd4 12.Qxd4 0–0 13.Nc5 Bxc5 14.Qxc5 c6 15.c4 Qb6 16.Qxb6 Nxb6 17.b3 Rad8 18.Bg5 Rd7 19.Rad1 Rxd1 20.Rxd1 f6 21.Bf4 Kf7 22.a4 Re8 23.a5 Nd7 24.a6 bxa6 25.Bxc6 Rd8 26.Bb7 Ke8 27.Bc7 1–0

 

In the middle of the field we had WFM Megan Setiabudi score another upset draw, this time with Ilija Ilic, and Martin Jack drew with Jeff Cabilin, who must have been getting sick of playing juniors by this point in the tournament! Kevin Willathgamuwa continued his good run with a draw versus Peter Fry, and Shirley Gu and Leo Jiang defeated Shanon Vuglar and Rex Simmonds respectively.

 

There weren’t a lot of junior upsets in Round 5, though Pengyu Chen had a good draw as Black against FM Tristan Boyd:

 

(231) Boyd,Tristan (2306) - Chen,Pengyu (2121) [A00]

Australian Open (5.9), 06.01.2013

 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0–0 Nbd7 9.Qe2 Bg6 10.e4 0–0 11.e5 Nd5 12.Nxd5 cxd5 13.Bd3 Rc8 14.Bg5 Qb6 15.Bxg6 fxg6 16.Be3 Nb8 17.Rfc1 Nc6 18.Rc2 h6 19.h4 Ne7 20.Rac1 Rxc2 21.Rxc2 ½–½

 

Moving down the boards, WFM Megan Setiabudi drew with fellow junior Zachary Loh, and Michael Kethro also secured an upset draw (against Akef Saleh), as did Shirley Gu (against Laughlan James, also a junior). The only other upset was a major one in rating difference, with Ray Yang defeating Dennis Wan – the rating difference being over 800 points.

 

Round 6 again didn’t see much in the way of junior upsets on the higher boards. However WFM Megan Setiabudi continued what was a great tournament for her by defeating the higher-rated and very solid David Webster:

 

(303) Webster,David (2017) - Setiabudi,Megan (1809) [A00]

Australian Open (6.26), 07.01.2013

 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d3 a6 4.g3 b5 5.Bg2 Bb7 6.Nbd2 d6 7.0–0 Nf6 8.Re1 Be7 9.c3 0–0 10.d4 cxd4 11.Nxd4 d5 12.e5 Nfd7 13.Qg4 Nc5 14.N2f3 Re8 15.Ng5 Qd7 16.Qh5 Bxg5 17.Bxg5 Nc6 18.Nf3 Ne7 19.Be3 Ne4 20.Ng5 Nxg5 21.Bxg5 Rac8 22.Rad1 Nc6 23.Qg4 Ne7 24.h4 Kh8 25.h5 h6 26.Bh4 Rc4 27.Rd4 Rec8 28.Bf1 Rxd4 29.Qxd4 Nf5 30.Qf4 d4 31.cxd4 Qd5 32.f3 Qxd4+ 33.Qxd4 Nxd4 34.Rd1 Nxf3+ 35.Kf2 Nxe5 36.Rd2 Be4 37.Ke3 Bf5 38.Be2 Rc2 39.Rd6 a5 40.Bxb5 Rxb2 41.a4 Ng4+ 42.Kd4 Rd2+ 43.Kc5 Rxd6 44.Kxd6 f6 45.Bd7 Ne3 46.Kc5 e5 47.Bb5 Bg4 48.Be8 Nd1 49.Bg6 Nc3 50.Kb6 e4 51.Kxa5 e3 52.Bd3 e2 53.Bxe2 Nxe2 54.Kb6 Bxh5 55.a5 Bf3 56.g4 Bxg4 57.a6 Bf3 58.a7 g5 59.Be1 g4 0–1

 

Jack Puccini also scored an upset win (against Hilton Bennett); Kevin Willathgamuwa drew against Phillip Drew; Ray Yang was showing his 956 rating to hardly be an accurate appraisal of his ability as he beat the far higher-rated Fritz Van der Wal; finally Leo Jiang drew his game against Robin Shaw.

 

Perhaps excited by the prospect of the upcoming Australian Blitz Championships, the juniors decided to not follow the script in Round 7! FM Gene Nakauchi achieved a nice win against IM and 2012 Olympiad representative Stephen Solomon:

 

(338) Solomon,Stephen (2410) - Nakauchi,Gene (2191) [A00]

Australian Open (7.6), 08.01.2013

 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Bc5 6.Nb3 Ba7 7.c4 d6 8.Nc3 Nc6 9.0–0 Nf6 10.Bf4 h6 11.Be2 e5 12.Bg3 Be6 13.Qd3 Rc8 14.Rad1 Nd4 15.Nd5 0–0 16.Nxd4 Bxd4 17.Kh1 Nd7 18.b4 b5 19.cxb5 Nb6 20.Nxb6 Qxb6 21.a4 Bc4 22.Qxc4 Rxc4 23.Bxc4 axb5 24.a5 Qc6 25.Bd5 Qc2 26.f4 Qb2 27.fxe5 dxe5 28.Rb1 Qd2 29.a6 Kh7 30.h3 Rc8 31.Rbd1 Qxb4 32.Bb7 Rc2 33.Rxd4 Qxd4 34.Bh2 Qd2 35.Rg1 Ra2 36.Bxe5 b4 37.Bb8 b3 38.a7 b2 39.e5 Qc2 40.a8Q Rxa8 41.Bxa8 b1Q 42.Bd6 Qba2 43.Bf3 Qf2 44.Rd1 Qac2 45.Ra1 Qg3 46.Rf1 Qc4 47.Rd1 Qcf4 0–1

 

Also impressive was Jack Puccini’s win (also with the black pieces) against Gareth Charles; meanwhile Jared Louie drew with Black against David Lovejoy; Shucheng Zheng won with Black against Jose Escribano; and Leo Jiang used the black pieces to draw with Mark Baterowicz. Quite a coincidence that all the junior upset results saw the juniors playing Black!

 

In Round 8 we had a slew of upset results by the younger generation! FM Gene Nakauchi put himself in contention to win the tournament by beating FM Greg Canfell, and both Luke Li and Anton Smirnov put in good performances in drawing with IM Trevor Tao and WGM Irene Kharisma Sukandar respectively. However the game I’m going to show is Zachary Loh’s win over FM and 2012 MCC Champion Dusan Stojic:

 

(399) Loh,Zachary (1945) - Stojic,Dusan (2235) [A00]

Australian Open (8.12), 10.01.2013

 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 d6 4.Nc3 g6 5.e4 Bg7 6.h3 0–0 7.Bg5 h6 8.Be3 e6 9.Nf3 exd5 10.cxd5 Qe7 11.Bd3 b5 12.e5 dxe5 13.Bxb5 Rd8 14.Bc4 Nc6 15.Qe2 Nb4 16.d6 Qxd6 17.Rd1 Qe7 18.Rxd8+ Qxd8 19.Nxe5 Be6 20.Bxe6 fxe6 21.Bxc5 Nxa2 22.Nxa2 Qd5 23.b4 Ne4 24.Nxg6 Kf7 25.Ne7 Qe5 26.0–0 Bf6 27.f4 Qb2 28.Qxe4 Bxe7 29.Qxa8 Bxc5+ 30.bxc5 Qxa2 31.c6 Qd5 32.Qxa7+ 1–0

 

Pasan Perera scored an upset win against the slightly higher-rated Donato Mallari and Ryan Louie continued playing well in beating Iskandar Bin Abdullah. Other upsets recorded by juniors were Kevin Willathgamuwa’s draw with Anthony Pickering, Shucheng Zheng’s win over Norths Chess Club President Paul Glissan and Jared Louie’s win over Ian Dickson.

 

As regular readers of this blog will know, the top board clash featured two juniors (Gene Nakauchi vs. Bobby Cheng) and ended in a win for Bobby, but the most noteworthy game by a junior in terms of an upset result was Zachary Loh’s draw with Black against IM George Xie:

 

(449) Xie,George (2382) - Loh,Zachary (1945) [A00]

Australian Open (9.7), 11.01.2013

 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.0–0 e5 7.Nc3 Nc7 8.a3 Be7 9.b4 f6 10.b5 Nd4 11.a4 0–0 12.Ba3 Rb8 13.e3 Nxf3+ 14.Bxf3 f5 15.d3 Be6 16.Qc2 Qe8 17.Rfe1 Qf7 18.Bg2 Rfd8 19.a5 b6 20.axb6 axb6 21.Bb2 Bf6 22.Ra7 Rd7 23.Bc6 Re7 24.e4 f4 25.Rea1 Qh5 26.Nd5 Nxd5 27.exd5 Rxa7 28.Rxa7 Bf5 29.d6 fxg3 30.hxg3 Qg6 31.Qc4+ Kh8 32.Qd5 Qg4 33.Bxe5 Qd1+ 34.Kh2 Qh5+ 35.Kg1 Qd1+ 36.Kg2 Bxd3 37.Ra1 Bf1+ 38.Kg1 Qxd5 39.Bxd5 Bxe5 40.Rxf1 Bxd6 41.Re1 g6 42.Re6 Rd8 43.Bc4 Kg7 44.f4 Rd7 45.Kf2 Rd8 46.Kf3 Rd7 47.g4 Bc7 48.Rc6 Bd8 49.Be6 Rd4 50.g5 Rb4 51.Rd6 Rd4 52.Rc6 Rb4 53.Rc8 Rd4 54.Ke3 h6 55.gxh6+ Kxh6 56.Rc6 Kg7 57.Ba2 Rb4 58.Rd6 Rd4 59.Re6 Rd1 60.Bc4 Rd7 61.Rc6 Re7+ 62.Kf3 Rd7 63.Bf1 Rd4 64.Ke3 g5 65.f5 g4 66.Rg6+ Kf7 67.Be2 Rb4 68.Rxg4 Rxg4 69.Bxg4 Bf6 70.Ke4 c4 71.Bd1 c3 72.Kd5 Ke7 73.Bc2 Kd7 74.Bb3 Bg7 ½–½

 

Meanwhile Pasan won against 2007 Australian Junior Champion Michael Wei.

 

(457) Perera,Pasan (1923) - Wei,Michael (2107) [A00]

Australian Open (9.15), 11.01.2013

 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c3 g6 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.e3 Nh5 6.Bg5 Qd6 7.Be2 Nf6 8.Nbd2 Qb6 9.b3 Nbd7 10.0–0 c5 11.Rc1 0–0 12.c4 cxd4 13.exd4 Qd6 14.Re1 Ne4 15.c5 Qe6 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.Bd3 Nf6 18.Bxf6 Qxf6 19.Bxe4 Rb8 20.h3 e6 21.Qd2 Qe7 22.Rcd1 Qc7 23.Qc2 Bd7 24.b4 a5 25.a3 Bc6 26.Ne5 Rfd8 27.Bxc6 Bxe5 28.dxe5 bxc6 29.Qe4 axb4 30.axb4 Rd5 31.Ra1 Qb7 32.Reb1 Rbd8 33.Ra4 Rd4 34.Qe2 Rd3 35.Rba1 Kg7 36.Qg4 R8d4 37.Qg5 Rd1+ 38.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 39.Kh2 Rd4 40.h4 Rxb4 41.h5 h6 42.Qf6+ Kh7 43.Rxb4 Qxb4 44.Qxf7+ 1–0

 

In an all-junior battle Jack Puccini upset Oscar Wang and Martin Jack also had an upset win, against Allen Setiabudi. Additionally Jared Louie won his game against Anthony Pickering, Michael Kethro drew against Phillip Drew, and Leo Jiang also drew his game, against Eric Staak.

 

In Round 10 the highlight for the juniors was again a draw by Zachary Loh, this time against FM Tristan Boyd:

 

(505) Loh,Zachary (1945) - Boyd,Tristan (2306) [A00]

Australian Open (10.10), 12.01.2013

 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.Nf3 Be7 7.e3 Bf5 8.Be2 h6 9.Bh4 Nbd7 10.h3 Ne4 11.Bxe7 Qxe7 12.Nd2 Ndf6 13.Ndxe4 Bxe4 14.Bf3 0–0 15.Bxe4 Nxe4 16.Nxe4 Qxe4 17.0–0 Rfe8 18.Qb3 Qe7 19.Rac1 Rad8 20.Qc3 f5 ½–½

 

That’s not to say that there were no other junior upsets: Ryan Louie won against Akef Saleh; Michael Kethro beat Kenneth Holt; Kevin Willathgamuwa defeated recent ex-junior Nicholas Deen-Cowell; and Shucheng Zheng drew with Benjamin Encel.

 

The last round is often of psychological importance to a player; a win can make us feel good about the tournament even if the last ten rounds weren’t so great, and a loss can make even a good tournament feel disappointing. In any case FM Gene Nakauchi and Pengyu Chen reached 7/11 with draws against junior Justin Tan and Christopher Wallis, but the biggest upset was Jack Puccini’s crushing win against the normally very solid Adrian Chek:

 

(568) Puccini,Jack (1819) - Chek,Adrian (2082) [B15]

Australian Open (11.19), 13.01.2013

 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.Be3 Na6 6.Qd2 Nc7 7.Nge2 h5 8.Nf4 e6 9.0–0–0 Ne7 10.h4 b6 11.Be2 Bb7 12.g4 hxg4 13.fxg4 dxe4 14.h5 Qd7 15.hxg6 Nxg6 16.Nxg6 fxg6 17.Rxh8+ Bxh8 18.Bg5 c5 19.Qf4 Bxd4 20.Rf1 Qg7 21.Nb5 Bxb2+ 22.Kb1 Nd5 23.Qd6 Be5 24.Qxe6+ Ne7 25.Nd6+ Bxd6 26.Bb5+ Kd8 27.Qd7# 1–0

 

Other good results were Ryan Louie’s draw with giant killer George Lester (who had beaten FM Tristan Boyd and FM Greg Canfell earlier in the tournament), Martin Jack’s draw against Ian Rout (who was then deservedly awarded the 2013 ACF Purdy Medal for Chess Journalism), Shucheng Zheng’s win against Herman Rachmadi which brought him to an excellent 50% score, and Shirley Gu’s win over Shane Dibley.

 

While no longer a junior, mention should also be made of Eric Shi’s result: rated just 1755, he scored a slew of upset wins (against Kenneth Holt, Clive Ng, Adrian Chek, Iskandar Bin Abdullah and improving junior Karl Zelesco) and drew against Gareth Charles and Hilton Bennett to reach 6/11. A stupendous result indeed; well done Eric!

 

Likewise Yita Choong had an excellent result, losing only to top seed GM Igor Khenkin and scoring draws against GM Darryl Johansen, fellow Western Australian FM Tristan Boyd, IM George Xie, WGM Irene Kharisma Sukandar and FM Christopher Wallis, and won against Luke Li in the last round to score a superb 7.5/11.

 

That concludes my series of posts on the Australian Open. I apologise for the unoriginal reporting of results in this part but I wanted to give credit to all the juniors who had good results, either in individual games or in the tournament in a whole. Next week I’ll look at some chess being played outside Australia!