2016 O2C Doeberl Cup - Day 1

The first day of the 2016 O2C Doeberl Cup saw the first 2 rounds of the Premier, and there was plenty of excitement for the spectators. While  the first round went mainly to seeding (apart from a couple of draws for the higher seeded players), Round 2 saw some more dramatic results. Top seed GM Hrant Melkumyan was held to a draw by FM Luke Li, as was GM Zong Yuan Zhao, against FM Chris Wallis. A worse fate was to befall IM Max Illingworth, who lost to FM Tristan Boyd, leaving GM Surya Ganguly to hold the fort against the lower seed pack, with a win over IM Aleks Wohl.
Players in the next seeding bracket did a little better, and as a result there are still 9 players on 2/2. Included in this group are young players Smirnov, Morris, Wallis and Ikeda, while veterans Lane and Chapman are also there. Results for the event can be found at www.doeberlcup.com.au and if you follow this liks to the live games you can even catch up with the games that were broadcast for round 1.
On player who possibly falls between the young/veteran groupings is IM Trevor Tao. He is currently os 1.5, but he was so pleased with his round 1 game, he submitted ot for the brilliancy prize. Sadly the event does not have such a prize, but I did promise him I would put it on this blog.


Tao,Trevor - Soo-Burrowes,Eliot [D00]
O2C Doeberl Cup Open Canberra (1.13), 24.03.2016