Friday 10 December 2010

2010 Australasian Masters

Round robin title norm tournaments have become a rarity these days, with most organisers finding that large swisses are a more cost effective format. A few months ago I mentioned that New Zealand were at least keeping the format alive with the George Trundle Masters, and I'm pleased to say that the Chess Victoria are doing the same in Australia with the 2010 Australasian Masters.
This 10 player round robin is currently being held at the Box Hill Chess Club and the organisers have cleverly assembled an international field by utilising some Australian based overseas registered players, as well as getting Michael Steadman over from New Zealand. So far 7 rounds have been held and IM Stephen Solomon is the pace setter with an impressive 6/7. A point back are Bobby Cheng and Erik Teichmann and with the IM norm requirement 6.5/9, these are the only 2 players with norm chances left.
Details of the event are on the Chess Victoria website, while live coverage of some games is here.

Teichmann,Erik - Illingworth,Max [A00]
Australasian Masters , 10.12.2010

1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 Bxb4 3.Bxe5 Nf6 4.c4 0-0 5.Nf3 Re8 6.e3 d5 7.Bb2 c5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Qc2 Nc6 10.a3 Ba5 11.Qxc5 Bb6 12.Qc4 Be6 13.Qa4 Qd6 14.Be2 Bf5 15.0-0 Re4 16.Qd1 Rd8 17.Nc3 Nxc3 18.Bxc3 Bc7 19.g3 Qg6 20.Qb3 h5 21.d3 Rg4 22.Qxb7 Bb6 23.Ne5 Nxe5 24.Bxe5 Bxd3 25.Bxd3 Rxd3 26.Rfd1 Rc4 27.Qa8+ Kh7 28.Qf3 Rxd1+ 29.Rxd1 f6 30.Bd6 Qf7 31.Rd5 g6 32.Bf4 Qe6 33.Qd1 h4 34.gxh4 Qe4 35.h5 f5 36.Bg3 Rc3 37.h3 Rxa3 38.Kh2 Ra2 39.Rd7+ Kg8 40.Qb3+ Kh8 41.Qxa2 1-0

1 comment:

Paul said...

Good to see the Sokolsky take a point !