2014 O2C Doeberl Cup - Nisipeanu edges Vajda on tie-break

The 2014 O2C Doeberl Cup saw a fighting finish with GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and GM Levente Vajda finishing in a tie for first with 7.5/9. Both players won their final round games to stay half a point ahead of GM Hrant Melkumyan and surprise packet  Ke Mu. In fact the top 7 games were all decisive, while even the drawn game on round 8 between GM Loek Van Wely and FM Endre Ambrus was a titanic struggle.
When the smoke had cleared Nisipeanu had the higher tie-break than Vajda, meaning he was the winner of the actual Doeberl Cup. The players drew their individual game in round 6 before both finishing with 2.5/3.
The tournament saw a number of players earning title norms. FM Junta Ikeda scored his third IM norm (despite losing the final round) and now needs to get his rating over 2400 for the title. Untitled Chinese player Ke Mu scored a GM norm but apparently he has 3 GM norms already! The reason for a lack of title (even an FM title) is that he has never had a rating over 2300. New Zealand player Luke Li scored another IM norm (to match the one he scored at last years event), while WFM Sengeravdan Otgonjargal scored a WIM norm.
Eu-Han Chin won the Major (U/2000) event with a win over Andrey Bliznyuk in the final round. The Minor (Under 1600) saw a three way tie for first between Zoe Harrison, Jamie-Lee Guo and Tim Priest. Former World Champion Gary Kasparov was on hand to present the prizes, which was an added bonus for all the winners.
Overall the tournament was a big success with a 315 players taking part over the 4 tournaments. Of course such a big tournament requires an extra big effort to keep the whole thing on track and the organisation team of O2C (headed by Charles Bishop and Steve Rohan-Jones) did a magnificent job. The front desk team of Shun Ikeda, Jenny Mason, Mirabelle Guo (plus other helpers) did its usual efficient job, while the arbiting team of Charles Zworestine, Lee Forace, Alana Chibnall and Miona Ikeda made sure the event ran without any major incidents. There was one incident at the prize giving where GM Ian Rogers and ACF President Gary Wastell put a decades long feud on public display, to the dismay of  many in the crowd, but hopefully that won't detract from what was otherwise a very successful event.

Full results from the tournament can be found at www.doeberlcup.com.au while a selection of game from the top boards of the premier can be download from the Results page.


Nisipeanu,Liviu-Dieter - Zhao,Zong-Yuan [D10]
2014 O2C Doeberl Cup Canberra, Australia (7.1), 20.04.2014