Monday 13 March 2017

IM Andrew Brown wins 2017 ACT Championship

IM Andrew Brown is the 2017 ACT Chess Champion, winning the tournament with a perfect 7/7. He started the final day on 5/5, but had to navigate a tough round 6 game against Dillon Hathiramani. Despite the players reaching a drawn rook and pawn ending, Brown kept pushing in mutual time trouble, until Hathiramani finally cracked, allowing Brown to keep his full point lead. In the final round he played rising star Saffron Archer, but scored another win, to complete a perfect tournament.
IM Junta Ikeda finished in 2nd place on 6/7, winning both his final day games. His last round game against Willis Lo was a little odd however, with Lo winning a pawn with a nice tactic. Lo then lost the thread in the resulting complications, before resigning in a position that Stockfish thinks is equal.
Final round wins by Hathiramani and Pearce gave them a share of third place. Archer and Siddhant Badrinarayan shared the 1400-1699 prize, while Amol Kiran won the Under 1400 prize. Canberra veteran Joe Marks also picked up a prize, with the best score by a non FIDE rated player.
Final standings plus game files for the tournament are available at http://tournaments.streetchess.net/actchamp2017

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