The first day of the 2025 Oceania Zonal saw 166 players turn up to the Huntingdale Gold Club in Melbourne, to determine the Oceania qualifiers for the 2025 World Cup. The Open section saw 117 players arrive for round 1 (curiously missing a group of New Zealand junior players who had taken advantage of the entry conditions to enter, but not play) with 49 players in the Women's section (who all turned up).
As the entry for the Open was restricted to players rated above 1900 (for Australian entries), the first round was tougher than previous Zonals. Although the top 5 seeds won their first games, IM's Lane and Solomon drew with their lower rated opponents, while IM Russell Dive lost to NSW player Ian Stalker. In the Women's event the upsets started as soon as board 3, and included a run of 6 boards (bd's 6 to 11) where Black won all the games.
Today is a double round day, with round 2 already underway. Important links are
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