FM Junta Ikeda has added another Vikings Weekender title to his collection, scoring 6/7 to win the tournament by half a point. The key to his victory was his round 6 game against IM George Xie, which was decided in a familiar fashion. Short of time (down to his last few seconds on more than 1 occasion), Ikeda had to defend against a very strong attack from Xie. However as the attack began to falter, Ikeda improved his position and eventually went on the counter offensive as Xie's clock ran down. Eventually Ikeda won material, and caught Xie's king in a mating net.
In the final round Ikeda played IM Vladimir Smirnov and a draw gave Ikeda first place, while Smirnov took a share of second. Along with Smirnov, IM's Andrew Brown and George Xie also made it to 5.5/7.
Curiously for a weekend event most of the rating group prizes were decided by games between opponents within the same rating group. Wins for Mos Ali, Milan Grcic and Willis Lo gave them a share of the Under 1800 prize, with Lo also being the best placed junior.
Other players with good performances included Canberra juniors Fred Litchfield and Jamie-Lee Guo (both prize winners), while Greg Melrose showed he still knows his way around the board, scoring 5/7. The tournament itself was a delight to run with the Tuggeranong Chess Club (Glenn Ingham, Matt Radisich and Jim Flood) doing a fantastic organisation job.
Final results from the tournament can be found here.
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