2014 Dubbo Open - Day 2

The 2014 Dubbo Open saw the two winning players take a somewhat different path to first place. Local player Don Keast started the second day with a draw against third seed Leon Kempen. He then closed the gap on tournament leader Alana Chibnall with a good attacking win, before defeating Fritz Vander Wal in the final round to reach 5/6.
Alana Chibnall got off to a good start with a win over top seed Bruce Murray. A somewhat dubious piece sacrifice paid off for Chibnall after Murray went wrong defending his king, and Chibnall went from being a piece down to a piece up at the end. She then came unstuck when Keast sacrificed a pawn in the opening and then threw his pieces at her king. But the then a remarkable stroke of like in the final game gave her a share of first prize. Playing Leon Kempen she pushed all game for a mating attack. However Kempen defended until a double rook ending was reached. Although Chibnall could push a pawn to the 7th rank with check, Kempen could simply block it with his king, and then secure the draw with a perpetual check. But when moving his king, Kempen failed to block the pawn, instead allowing Chibnall to both promote the pawn, and checkmate him at the same time.  The extra half point allowed Chibnall to tie Keast on 5/6, and knocked Kempen out of the prize list.
Third place was shared by Bruce Murray, who drew his last round game against Neil Clark, and Trevor Bemrose, who beat Bill Egan. Clark and Alexander Aich shared the under 1600 prize with 4/6, with Nikhil Rajesh the best junior, also on 4/6. Chris Martin played well above his rating to also score 4 points, winning the Under 1300 prize.