2012 Sydney International - Day 3

Day 3 of the Sydney International Open saw a number of hard fought games, as well as an indication the tiredness may be setting in. Round 6 saw a very quick draw on board 1 (10 moves) as GM Levente Vajda and GM Attila Czebe decided to conserve some energy for the later rounds. On board 2 GM Gergely Szabo (today's birthday boy) had the same goal, but did the same thing by beating IM Rathnakaran in a fairly short game. Of the Australian players, IM Gary Lane and FM Junta Ikeda stayed up with the leaders by drawing both their games. The round 5 game was against each other, while Lane drew with GM Horvath in round 6, and Ikeda with IM Zeng. The draw by Lane kept undefeated streak from the start of the Doeberl Cup alive. With three rounds to go, tournament strategy may be as important as tournament play. The overseas GM's may be looking for the simplest path to first place, while the norm hunters may be looking to maximise their title chances. I would not be surprised to see some quick draws in the next couple of rounds as a result, but there my be enough fight in the chasing pack to keep the leaders on their toes.