The final day of the 2024 NSW Open ended with a couple of surprise winners, after a very tough day of chess. Going into the final round there were 7 players tied for the lead on 5/6. The top board pairing saw IM Igor Bjelobrk and FM Gary McNamara reach a rook and pawn ending which ended in a draw when McNamara won a rook, but had to return it shortly afterwards to eliminate the last pawn on the board. On Board 2 IM George Xie was unable to break down CM Reyaansh Chakrabarty's solid play, and that game was drawn as well. Board 3 saw Willis Lo have the best of it for most of the game against Terrence Tang, until an attempt to avoid a bishop and wrong colour rook pawn finish blew up in his face, resulting in an unexpected win for Tang. And on Board 4 WCM Bayasgalan Khishigbaatar defeated Zhiyuan Shen to join Tang as the only players on 6 points. There was a 5 way tie for third, with the players on the top 2 boards joined by FM Michael Kethro, who defeated Yifei Hu on board 5.
The Under 1600 section had an even stranger finish, with first prize being shared by the players who finished 5th! This was due to ACF unrated players being ineligible to win cash prizes (apart from the unrated prize). Edward Rust won the event on 6.5/7, followed by Vu Ky Anh Nguyen and Bumbayar Khurtsgerel on 6, with Matthew Ottley on 5.5. However, each of these players did not have an ACF standard rating meaning that Steve Hemsley, Arav Callan, Terry Gao, and Winston Yuan picked up the cash with 5/7 (with another 4 unrated on the same score also missing out!)
The tournament attracted a field of 176 players, an increase over the last few years. The new venue was looked upon favourably by the players, and the change of schedule to a maximum of 2 rounds per day was very popular. The BSW Chess Association are looking to expand the event next year, with additional prizes and possibly an extra section being added to the weekender.
