Tuesday 15 June 2021

2021 NSW Open - Fernandez and Ikeda share the spoils

 GM Daniel Fernandez (ENG) and IM Junta Ikeda (AUS) have tied for first in the 2021 NSW Open, both with an undefeated 6/7. They started the day with draws in the 6th round (Fernandez against IM Gary Lane and Ikeda against IM James Morris), before both winning their final round games. Fernandez defeated Kerry Lin on the top board, while Ikeda beat Gary Lane on board 2.

The minor places were filled by IM James Morris, Sterling Bayaca and Harry Press. Due to the large field in the Open (78 players) and results in the earlier rounds, Fernandez and Ikeda did not play each other. Only Lin and Lane played both of the winners, while the field was much more varied for the other top finishers.

The Under 1600 tournament also saw a tie for 1st place, with Savin Peramunetilleke and Jason Pan finishing on 6/7. Pan lost to Peramunetilleke in round 4, but was able to catch up by winning his final round game against unrated Benjamin Tee. Tee who score an impressive 5/7, actually started the event with a bye, due to the alphabetical sorting of the unrated players in this tournament!

The tournament was very successful, with the 140 places on offer filling up 3 weeks out. Apart from the usual issues with poorly behaved junior players, the tournament ran pretty smoothly. Quite pleasing were the number of new (adult) players taking part, some of whom did very well.

Final crosstables for the tournament are at chess-results.com (Open and Minor)



Ikeda,Junta - Lane,Gary [C78]
2021 NSW Open Sydney, Australia (7.2), 14.06.2021


1 comment:

Kevin said...

Thanks Shaun, a very well organised tournament!