A good field of 36 players took part in the 2012 ACT Rapidplay Championship. FM Junta Ikeda was the top seed, with Yi Yuan, and IM Andrew Brown seeded second and third. With Yi Yuan a little rusty, the tournament was a battle between the 1st and third seeds. They met in Round 5, playing a very exciting draw. Brown seemed to have the edge for most of the game (or at least the bits I saw), and managed to promote twice in the ending. But Ikeda was always ahead on the clock and Brown was forced to liquidate to a 'dead' position to ensure a draw. After that neither player dropped further points and ended tied for first on 6.5/7. Junta Ikeda received the trophy and title on count-back, making it 4 wins in a row for him.
Third place was shared by Elwyn Teki and Matthew Bennett, while Josh Bishop won the under 1700 prize. There was a 7(!) way tie for first in the Under 1400 category, with each player winning $7 (The odd dollar going into consolidated revenue).
The event was also significant in that I got to apply the new 10.2c rule for Rapidplay games. A player with seconds on the clock claimed a draw due to insufficient winning chances by his opponent (indeed it was drawn with best, but obvious play). As he did not have enough time to 'show' the drawing method (he might have been able to play 1 or 2 moves at best), I grabbed a digital clock and set it for an increment. Although his opponent had previously rejected the draw claim, when he realised how the game was to continue (with his opponent receiving an increment), he immediately agreed to a draw without any further play!
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2 comments:
I thought the increment rule for quickplay wasn't coming in until May or something next year?
It doesn't become official until 1 July 2013, but I'd thought I'd give it a try. As it turns out I mucked it up by giving an increment of 10 seconds, when the rule says 5 seconds. It would not have made a difference, as Nick Beare (who was defending), was planning to draw by keeping the opposition with his king. He just needed a few more seconds to demonstrate it.
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