The first day of the 2018 O2C Doeberl Cup saw the first 2 rounds of the Premier. Quite unusually for the tournament, there were very few upsets in the first round, with the top 19 seeds beating their lower rated opponents. Probably the closest player to upsetting the form guide was Fred Litchfield, who lost on time against GM Abhijit Kunte in a position where he was still better. Otherwise it was smooth sailing, at least until round 2 came along.
The first shock was IM Trevor Tao losing to Sean Christian Goh in pretty quick time. This was then topped by FM Pengyu Chen's win over GM Kunte, who now seems a little out of form. The board 4 clash between IM Stephen Solomon and GM Anton Smirnov was a hard fought struggle, with Smirnov unable to break down Solomon's defense. Wins for Stojic over Ikeda and Bennett over Kuan were further evidence that no one is safe in this field.
There are still 11 players on 2/2, including 3 of the 5 GM's. Each of the leading GM's face an IM keen to create further updates. Round 3 starts at 1pm (Canberra time) and you can catch the action from the top boards at https://www.doeberlcup.com.au/broadcast.html
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