Sunday 27 March 2016

2016 O2C Doeberl Cup - Day 3

Day 3 of the Doeberl Cup is certainly the toughest day each year. There is a shift from afternoon and evening round to morning and afternoon round, which means a 9:30am start (although only 1 player was caught out this year). The there is the traditional Saturday night Blitz event, which this year attracted a field of 116 players. So a pretty solid 13 hours of chess, with the odd little break in between.
In the main event IM Anton Smirnov had two drawn games, allowing GM Hrant Melkumyan and IM James Morris to catch up. In behind the top 3 are GM Surya Ganguly, GM Zong Yuan Zhao, and IM Gary Lane. Tomorros round sees Melumyan and Morris play while Smirnov starts the day with Ganguly.
In the Major event (Under 2000) Jesson Montenegro leades with 4/4, although the pack on 3.5 is quite large. In the Minor (Under 1600) three players still have perfect scores, Hamish Jones, Alsitair McCutcheon and David Unger.
By the end of tomorrow, it should be a lot clearer who the likely winners of each event should be, although the minor events often throw up a surprise or two on the way. Tournament results/standings and live broadcasts can be found at the tournament website, and all the action begins tomorrow at 9:30 am.

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