Saturday 19 December 2009

Ikeda strikes again

Junta Ikeda has continued his recent run of successes with a win in the 2009 ACT Rapidplay Championship. The 42 player field attracted a number of strong Canberra players including GM David Smerdon, FM Endre Ambrus, Yi Yuan, Andrew Brown, Tuan Le and Junta Ikeda.
The key game was the Round 6 clash between Ikeda and Smerdon. Smerdon had scored 5/5 up until this point, and Junta was half a point behind. In an exciting game, both players tried to take advantage of the exposed nature of the others king, but it was Ikeda who finally triumphed, with his Queen and Rooks doing the damage. A neat last round win over Andrew Brown left him on 6.5/7, just in front of Smerdon on 6.
The event was held outdoors and the large field enjoyed beautiful weather throughout. The event organisers, the ACT Chess Association plan to hold it on the Saturday before Christmas in future years, and were particularly pleased with the size of the entry.

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