At the end of the 4th day of the 2025 Oceania Zonal, the leading pack has thinned a little. The surprise leader is FM Stirling Bayaca, who is on 5.5/6. In the morning round he defeated GM Darryl Johansen and then FM Felix Xie (NZ) in round 6. He is being chased by IM James Morris, IM David Cannon, FM Chris Wallis and GM Temur Kuybokarov who are all on 5 points. Tomorrow mornings round sees Bayaca up against Morris in the board 1 clash.
In the Women's Zonal, WGM Julia Ryjanova and WCM Chai Xin Chen share the lead on 5.5/6. They play each other in tomorrows first round, with the winner being well placed to win the event. A draw between the 2 leaders will open to door for WFM Zhiyuan Shen to catch up, as she is in outright third on 5/6.
Round 7 and 8 will be played tomorrow, with round 9 starting at 10am on Wednesday. Although qualifying for the World Cup is the ultimate goal from both events, a chance to earn direct titles is also a motivation for the rest of the field. With 6/9 required for an FM/WFM title, and 4.5/9 for a CM/WCM some results may be affected by title considerations. For some this may lead to over cautious play (like being on the bubble in poker), but for others, a last minute run up the score table may be in order.
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