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.
Round 4: Venkatesh, M.R. - Li, Tedric Melbourne International Open, 04.04.2024
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