2013 Dubbo Open - Day 1

The 2013 Dubbo Open is a tournament full of surprises. The first big surprise was the field of 46 players. With only 30 players entering before the morning of the tournament, the organisers were expecting a 'down year' after a run of good numbers. However a good number of 'walk ins' brought the field up to 46 which left the Dubbo Chess Club Treasurer with a big smile on his face.
Once the play began there were a couple more surprises. While a normal tournament has its fair share of underrated juniors, Dubbo seemed to have a group of pretty good, unrated adults as well. As with other country events, there were a number of players who were either making a comeback after a significant number of years away, or simply not had the opportunity to play face to face tournament chess. As a result there were a more than a few upsets in each round.
At the end of Day 1, one of the unrated players, Dragan Granjas, shares the lead with 3/3. Two of his wins were over Fritz Van Der Wal and David Locejoy, who had both preciously won the NSW Country Championships. Joining Granjas on 3 points were Jeffrey Plew, Don Keast and Harry Press. Closely behind them on 2.5 were Bruce Muray, Trent Parker, and tournament organiser Alexander Aich. Aich had a good start to the tournament ("My best first day ever" was his comment), drawinf with Leon Kempen in round 2 and beating Fritz Van Der Wal in the third round.
Tomorrow will see Plew v Press and Granjas v Keast on the top boards, with the winners then meeting in round 5.


Press,Harry - Jarek,Katherine [E12]
Dubbo Open, 16.03.2013

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3 Ba6 5. e3 d5 6. Qc2 Nbd7 7. Be2 Bb7 8. Nc3 dxc4 9. O-O c5 10. Rd1 Qb8 11. h3 Be7 12. e4 cxd4 13. Nxd4 O-O 14. Bxc4 Rc8 15. Qe2 Qc7 16. Ba2 a6 17. Bg5 Bc5 18. Rac1 Bxd4 19. Rxd4 Qe5 20. Bxf6 Nxf6 21. Rcd1 g6 22. f4 Qc5 23. Na4 Qa5 24. Nc3 b5 25. f5 exf5 26. e5 Ne4 27. Nxe4 Bxe4 28. Rd7 Qb6+ 29. Kh1 Rf8 30. e6 fxe6 31. R1d6 Qc5 32. Rxe6 Kh8 33. Ree7 Qc1+ 34. Kh2 Qf4+ 35. g3 Qh6 36. Qe3 g5 37. Qd4+ Rf6 38. Qxf6+ 1-0