Dubbo Open - Day 1

At the end of Day 1, top seed David Castor (NSW) is tied for first place in the 2008 Dubbo Open. David has 3 wins from 3 games, along with Tony Weller (QLD) and Mike Canfell (NSW). They are followed by about 10 players who are on 2/3.
David won the 14 player lightning tournament last night with a perfect 6/6. In what was a lighthearted event other prizes included 'Biggest Blunder', 'Weirdest Game' and 'Quickest Win'. I tried for all 3 by playing various gambits including the Kings, Sorensen, and Englund but came up empty handed.

After winning my first game yesterday, I decided to protect my +1 score by having a couple of quick draws in rounds 2&3.

Guo,E - Press,S [C55]
Dubbo Open, 12.04.2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.0-0 Bc5 6.e5 d5 7.exf6 dxc4 8.Re1+ Be6 9.Ng5 Qd5 10.Nc3 Qf5 11.Nce4 0-0-0 12.g4 Qe5 13.Nxe6 fxe6 14.fxg7 Rhg8 15.Nxc5 Qxc5 16.Bh6 e5 17.Qf3 Qd5 18.Qf5+ Qd7(D)
19.Qf3 Qe6 20.g5 Nb4 21.Re4 Nxc2 22.Qf6 Rd6 23.Qf8+ Rd8 24.Qf6 Rd6 ½-½

Most of the game was theory (at least up until move 14), and every time I played a move I felt I was being mocked by the ghosts of 19th century German theorists.


Press,S - Bemrose,T [E24]
Dubbo Open, 12.04.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 c5 6.Qc2 Nc6 7.Nf3 b6 8.e4 d6 9.Bd3 h6 10.0-0 0-0 (D)
11.e5 dxe5 12.dxe5 Nd7 13.Bf4 Bb7 14.Rad1 Qe7 15.Qd2 Rfd8 16.Rfe1 Nf8 17.Qe3 Na5 18.Nd2 Rd7 19.Ne4 Bxe4 20.Bxe4 Rad8 21.Rxd7 Rxd7 22.Qg3 Ng6 23.Bxg6 fxg6 24.Qxg6 Qf7 25.Qe4 g5 26.Bg3 Kg7 27.h4 Qg6 28.hxg5 hxg5 29.f4 ½-½

From move 11 onwards I planned to checkmate my opponent, starting with Bxh6, but never quite had the firepower to pull it off. By move 20 we were both short of time, and he offered a draw around move 25, but I played on to what I thought was move 30 before returning the offer.