The Finals of the Australian Capital Territory Schools Chess Championships were held last week, and both events saw high quality and exciting chess.
In the High School/College section Hawker College were the convincing winners, score 22/28 and finishing 3 points ahead of Alfred Deakin High, and Radford College. The Hawker team consisted of Junta Ikeda (Australian Junior Champion), Sherab Guo-Yuthok, Michael Reading and Rohan Verma. The second placing for Alfred Deakin was also outstanding as school commitments prevented two regular players from taking part. Nonetheless the replacements were more than adequate, with the team edging out Radford College on tie-break.
The Primary Schools Championship saw a dramatic finish, with the final round starting with the top 7 teams within 2 points of each other. Turner Primary emerged victorious winning their final round 3-1 which was just enough to hold off Curtin Primary who fell half a point short despite winning their final round 3.5-0.5. Radford Primary finished in third place, a further half point back.
Overall the event attracted almost 1000 players, which is pretty good from a city the size of Canberra (and surrounding regions). In fact the event would have had more players but their were physical limitations on number of teams that could take part in each zone.
Congratulations to Rebekah Gupte and her team of helpers for running the competition, and well done to all those who took part.
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8 comments:
Are these the qualifiers for the ASTC held in December?
As these events are played with a time limit of G/15, the top 4 teams in each section then play off for the ASTC spot at the time limit used for the ASTC. There are some extra conditions usually applied (eg no. of ACF rated players on the team), but I believe in this case all top 4 finishers are taking part in the playoffs.
In the secondary division, both Radford and Alfred Deakin have indicated that if Hawker can get a team together for the playoff, then they will consider withdrawing their challenge. Hawker have been struggling to get a good board 4 to play. With a decent board 4, their team is so strong that I think any reasonable person would want to see them being the ACT rep team and wouldn't waste time going into a playoff.
In the primary I wouldn't have thought that Curtin would go in? You have to field the same board 1 in the playoff as competed in the finals and Lucinda is already in the girls team that is representing the ACT at the ASTC.
I gather there was some problem with deciding the primary qualifiers for the playoff, as Rebekah was looking stressed when I asked who they were.....
Jenni
I think Rebekah needed to double-check the status of a couple of players to be able to determine who did or didn't qualify.
For Curtin, Lucinda played B1 for the Open but Yi-Ying played B1 for the Girls.
Against the suggestions of the coordinator the Curtin children wanted to play in the Playoff - Lucinda, unexpectedly, was particularly keen so 3 of the 4 "Curtin Freddos" - including their B1 - want to be in the Playoff team. (Leaving 3 of the 4 girls, including B1 still in the Girls team and topped up - if it ends up being required - by reserves drawn from our second Girls' team that finished 3rd in that Final).
This is the umpteenth time we have tried to qualify in both and we'll probably be not quite good enough - yet again. However the play on the day, and the finish of both Curtin teams, left me thinking we are not exactly off the pace - so I let myself be nagged into it.
I think the kids always want to go into the playoffs. :) My Radford kids were a bit disappointed when I said I was going to withdraw them if Hawker gets a team together, but I think it is the right thing to do.
I think Curtin might win the play off - they certainly played extremely well at the finals. Although I am told that Turner were missing their correct board 4, so that might change things if they have him in the playoff. They were certianly very weak on board 4 and why they struggled a bit to keep the lead.
I think it would be a pity if Curtin didn't field their strongest team for the ASTC, as Lucinda would be missed. Anyway it will be fun to see if Curtin can win both. :)
Jenni
I think we could possibly win the playoff but I will be suprised if we do. I think I have had even stronger teams in this situation before and still missed out. The interesting thing this year is having such an (apparently) evenly matched set of teams. We've had a couple of good teams in the past but rarely all 4 contenders being so closely matched.
It's possible we'll have the kind of result we had in the Final, very close between all teams, or someone will just turn up in great form and clean everyone else up. Over the years I've not been very good at predicting the PS winners.
Libby said "...so I let myself be nagged into it."
That will probably be the last time you will offer a lift to Lucinda! :)
I agree that the primary playoffs might be a case of everyone splitting the points and then a team gets ahead by a nose at the end. As I said I've been told that Turner have a much better board 4 than what they fielded at the finals, so that might make a difference.
Now that I know who the teams are, I am going to contact the Radford parents and try and badger them into a bit more activity - all a bit too late really. They are a good team, but I could see a lot of rustiness in some of the games on Friday.
Jenni
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