Thursday 31 December 2009

2009 Australian Player of the Year

Despite some outstanding individual performances in 2009, for me there is pretty clear choice for the (Chessexpress) 2009 Australian Player of the Year.
GM David Smerdon started the year both as an IM, and as the winner of the 2009 Queenstown Classic. He then moved his rating over the 2500 mark at the NSW Open, to confirm his GM title. A win in the Oceania Zonal booked a trip to snowy Siberia where he held GM Leinier Dominguez at bay in 2 classical time control games and then 3 rapidplay games before one bad move sent him home again. And as the icing on the cake, he was also the winner of the 2009 Yulgilbar - Think Big Grand Prix Series.
Congratulations David, and I look forward to next year being just as successful.

2 comments:

MachoM said...

HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody!

Smerdon seems to be a very good choice.

Anonymous said...

What about Bobby Cheng or James Morris?