2019 Dubbo Open - Day 2

GM Darryl Johansen has won the 2019 Dubbo Open, finishing on 5.5/6. Starting the day on 3/3 Johansen defeated newcomer Blake Lynch in round 4, drew with CM Leon Kempen in round 5, before beating WFM Alana Chibnall in the final round. Leon Kempen had a chance to join Johansen in first place, but drew his final round game, to finish outright second on 5. There was a 5 way tie for third between Trevor Bemrose, Matt Radisich, Paul Russell, Dominic Fox and Andriy Bukreyev.
Local junior Eamonn Fitzgerald picked up the best junior prize, while John Pascoe and Chris Nadolny tied for Best Under 1400. Apart from the prize winners, good performances were recorded by tournament newcomers Blake Lynch, Vladimir Chugurov and Matthew Chippendale, all scoring 4/6.
Overall the tournament was a great success, with a good entry of 42 players. As the arbiter, I did not have any major incidents to deal with, although I did have one amusing situation. Two players had medical conditions preventing them from recording their moves, and as fate would have it, they were paired to play each other during the event. I acted as the scribe for the game, which was played at a significantly faster the usual, contained a couple of interesting illegal moves, and ended with a strange double blunder.
Next year is the 20th Dubbo Open, and the organisers are planning to make it a bigger event, both in terms of numbers, and prize money.