2015 Vikings Weekender - Ly and Smirnov tie for first

The 2015 Vikings Weekender has finished in a tie for first place between IM Moulthun Ly and IM Anton Smirnov. Starting the second day on 3.5/4 (along with Michael Kethro), Ly drew with IM Junta Ikeda, while Smirnov could only halve the point with Kethro. Ly then defeated Kethro in Round 6, while Smirnov beat young Canberra player Albert Winkelman.  Final round wins over Litchfield (by Smirnov) and Jason Hu (by Ly) left them tied on 6/7 and earning $725 each. IM Junta Ikeda finished outright third on 5.5, while Albert Winkelman finished his excellent tournament with a win to be the best Under 1800 player on 4.5.
The Under 1600 event saw a 4 way tie for first place when draws on the tops boards in the final round saw Thomas Johnston, Jamie-Lee Guo, Tim Pearce and Bazli Karattiyattil all end up on 5.5/7. One other meritorious result in this event was that of local club legend Karl Galli who finished on 4/7, winning the Under 1200 prize.
While numbers were slightly down from last year (52 v 60) the tournament once again proved enjoyable for those that took part. Certainly the tough schedule of 7 games across two days (at 60m+10s) left a number of players looking frazzled by the end, although surprisingly this included some of the younger players as well.
The event was sponsored by the Tuggernanong Vikings Sports Club (Open plus junior prizes) and O2C (Under 1600). The tournament was jointly organised by the ACT Chess Association and the Tuggeranong Chess Club. The tournament will once again be held next year, although it might be slightly later in November, to avoid a clash with end of year school and university exams.
Full results plus DGT games can be found at http://tournaments.streetchess.net/vikings2015/

Ikeda,Junta - Smirnov,Anton [A01]
2015 Vikings Weekender Tuggeranong ACT (3.1), 14.11.2015