2022 ACT Championship - Title shared between Sardana and Ikeda

 The 2022 ACT Chess Championship ended in a tie for 1st place, between the top two seeds, IM Rishi Sardana and IM Junta Ikeda. Unusually, the two winners did not actually play each other, instead getting to 6 points by beating other players.

The morning round saw previous leader Cameron McGowan lost to Fred Litchfield, which threw the tournament wide open. Going into the final round, there were 4 players on 5/6, with Sardana against Litchfield and Ikeda against McGowan. Sardana struck first, beating Litchfield after winning a piece in the middlegame, while Ikeda eventually triumphed after tactics went in his favour. Other results saw a 6 way tie for 3rd, involving most of the top seeds.

The final day saw a lot of interesting chess, with Michael Kethro winning a nice king an pawn ending in the final round. However the most outrageous finish of the tournament was probably in the game shown here

Press,Harry - Lo,Willis [C52]
2022 ACT Championship 30.05.2022

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 d6 7. Qb3 Qd7 8. dxe5 Bb6 9. Nbd2 Na5 10. Qb4 Nxc4 11. Nxc4 Bc5 12. Qb3 Ne7 13. exd6 cxd6 14. Ba3 O-O 15. Rd1 Qc6 16. Bxc5 dxc5 17. Nd6 b6 18. Ne5 Qc7 19. Nexf7 c4 20. Qb5 Rxf7 21. Nxf7 Kxf7 22. Qh5+ Kf8 23. Qxh7 Be6 24. O-O Rd8 25. Rxd8+ Qxd8 26. Qh5 Bf7 27. Qg4 Qd3 28. Rd1 Qxc3 29. h4 Qf6 30. Rd8+ Be8 31. e5 Qxe5 32. Qxc4 Qe1+ 33. Kh2 Qxf2 34. Rd3 Bc6 35. Rd8+ Be8 36. Rd4 Qf6 37. Rf4 Nf5 38. g4 Qxh4+ 39. Kg1 Qe1+ 40. Kg2 Bc6+ 41. Qxc6 Qg3+ 42. Kh1 Qh3+ 43. Kg1 Qg3+ 44. Kh1 Qxf4 45. gxf5 Qf1+ 46. Kh2 Qf2+ 47. Kh1 Qxa2 48. Qd6+ Kg8 49. Qd8+ Kf7 50. Qd7+ Kf6 51. Qd4+ Kxf5 52. Qf2+ Qxf2 1/2-1/2