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