Sunday 29 July 2018

2018 ANU Open - Brandon Clarke wins

Brandon Clarke has won the 2018 ANU Open, scoring 6/7 and finishing a point ahead of the field. Going into the final day as part of the leading group, he defeated FM Yi Liu in round 5 and IM James Morris in Round 6. Needing only half a point for outright first, he agreed to a quick draw to FM Michael Kethro to take the $1000 first prize. There was a 4 way tie for second, with Morris, Kethro Liu and Bahman Kargosha all on 5/7.
The 60m+10s time limit resulted in some exciting but frantic chess. While a number of players blew up as time ran short (including myself more than once), Clarke was able to handle the time scrambles a bit better than his opponents.
The Minor (Under 1600) was one by Yizhen Diao with 6/7, after beating previous leader Athena Hathiramani in the final round. Tied for second with Hathiramani was veteran Canberra player Joe Marks, proving that it isn't just junior players who clean in these events.
Full crosstables, as well as all the games from the top 4 boards can be found at http://tournaments.streetchess.net/anu2018/
For Canberra players the next weekend event is the 2018 Viking Weekender in November, while Sydney players can look forward to the 2018 August Weekender in a fortnight.

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