NSW Open - Day 1

The best way to describe the first day of the 2012 NSW Open, was that is was 'technically difficult'. Not for the players, who tended to stick to the task of playing chess, but for the arbiters and organisers.
Getting the event underway on time was the first challenge, with a number of walk-up entries resulting a fair bit of entry list juggling and updating. Once play did start, the live game uploads refused to behave, which meant more trouble, especially as I managed to break the tournament website while trying to solve the problem. Having eventually repaired the damage, and getting the broadcast working, the internet connection at the venue went down in flames, resulting in most of the second round games freezing around the 10 move mark.
Apart from that, the 144 players who entered the tournament did actually get to play their two rounds today. The Open section ended up with an impressive 92 players, with no upsets on the top boards. This means that the top board pairings tomorrow will see a number of clashes between the top seeds and up and coming junior players.
The Under 1600 tournament ended up with 52 players. With the smaller field only 10 players made it to round 3 with a perfect score. Unlike the Open, the bunched nature of the field makes a likely winner harder to pick, although somewhat surprisingly, it is the more experienced players who make up the bulk of the leading pack.
Full results and pairings for the Open are available at http://www.chess-results.com/tnr74946.aspx?lan=1 Parings and result for the Under 1600 will be available when the last of the website issues are resolved.