Melbourne International Open

 With the Doeberl Cup run and done for another year, a number of players made their way to Melbourne for the new Melbourne International Open. The brain child of local organiser Walter Wolffs, the event has attracted both a large and strong field. And whether there were some residual effects from the Doeberl schedule, the first couple of rounds were a bit of a bloodbath for the top seeds. 

The top 4 boards saw the higher rated players only manage 1.5 (3 draws and a loss), with GM Darryl Johansen also a victim. After that things settled down a bit, although there are few GM's and IM's playing catch up. 

And while the net effect of this may be to provide lower seeded players a change to challenge titled players, the results aren't always pretty.

Venkatesh,M.R. (2382) - Li,Tedric (1990) [C00]
Round 4: Venkatesh, M.R. - Li, Tedric Melbourne International Open, 04.04.2024

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b6 3. Bg2 Bb7 4. d3 d5 5. Nbd2 e6 6. O-O Be7 7. e4 c5 8. Re1 O-O 9. e5 Nfd7 10. Nf1 Nc6 11. h4 h6 12. N1h2 b5 13. Bf4 a5 14. Qd2 c4 15. d4 b4 16. c3 bxc3 17. bxc3 Ba6 18. Bxh6 gxh6 19. Qxh6 Re8 20. Ng4 f6 21. Ng5 fxg5 22. Qxe6+ Kg7 23. Qh6+ Kg8 24. Bxd5# 1-0