2011 Oceania Zonal Day 4

Two rounds and two more wins for GM Zong Yuan Zhao. He now leads the 2001 2011 Oceania Zonal by a full point, ahead of Moulthun Ly who is on 5/6. Having played each other in round 3, Zhao is up against GM David Smerdon in round 7, while Ly plays Bobby Cheng. Illingworth v Feldman is the board 3 pairing (both are on 4.5 with Cheng).

At this stage Zhao is the odds on favourite to win the event, although a win by Smerdon tomorrow would suddenly open up the field once more. For Ly, Illingworth and Cheng, there is also the IM title to consider, with 6.5 likely to be the required score.

In the Womens event, Dekic (5.5/6) leads bye half a point over Feldman, with Guo a further half point back. As none of the leaders has had a bye yet, the crucial round will be round 8 (tomorrow afternoon) when Guo plays Dekic while Feldman has the bye.

Tomorrow is a single round in the Open zonal (the Women play double rounds on Saturday and Sunday), so I finally have time for a bit of sight seeing (in between opening prep). The last few days have seen very nice weather, although the rain has returned just in time for the weekend. For the tourist there are plenty of things to do, but interestingly, almost all of the adventure parks, bungee rides, boat rides or tours keep the price of the activity very well hidden, often only revealing them via a small sign on the cash register. This seems to be a blanket policy in Rotorua, although I have been told this is the complete opposite to how it is in places like Queenstown.