2011 Oceania Zonal - Final

GM Zong Yuan Zhao completed a dominate performance in the 2011 Oceania Zonal with a final round win over IM Vladimir Feldman. Zhao finished with 8 wins and 1 draw (against Bobby Cheng). A point and a half behind in outright second was Andrew Brown, who defeated GM David Smerdon, and earning an IM title as well. Max Illingworth and Moulthun Ly tied for third on 6.5/9.

The final round of the Women's Zonal turned out to have more than a touch of drama, with both Irina Berezina-Feldman and Biljana Dekic only able to draw. With Emma Guo winning her game, Berezina-Feldman and Guo finished tied for first, with Dekic a half point behind. As a result, a play-off match between the two winners is to be organised in Australia at a later date.

Apart from success for the winners, there would be a number of people involved in junior chess in Canberra over the years who have reason the feel pleased as well. Of the 6 titles that could be earned at Zonal (IM,2xFM,WIM,2xWFM), 4 of those went to Canberra players. Andrew Brown becomes an IM, while Gareth Oliver earns an FM title. Emma Guo is now an WIM, while Megan Setiabudi picked up a WFM title after her 4th place finish. Moulthun Ly (FM) and Nicole Tsoi (WFM) were the other title recipients.

Full results can be found at the Canterbury Chess Club site (click on the Zonal link).

2011 Oceania Zonal Day 6

GM Zong Yuan Zhao has wrapped up the 2011 Oceania Zonal with a round to spare. Playing closest rival FM Bobby Cheng in round 8, the game ended in a draw on move 25. This leaves Zhao on 7.5/8 and still a point and a half ahead of the rest of the field. Tied for second on 6/8 are Cheng, Andrew Brown (who beat Junta Ikeda, and IM Vladimir Feldman, who upset IM George Xie). Tomorrow sees Zhao play Feldman, Brown against GM David Smerdon, and FM Max Illingworth v Cheng.

In the Womens Zonal, FM Emma Guo has done enough to secure the WIM title, with a win over Viv Smith in Round 10. She also has a chance of finishing first, depending on the last round results.

The final round starts at 10:30 am (NZ time), so all should be clear around lunch time (Australian time).

2011 Oceania Zonal Day 5

What a difference a day makes, at least for some people. GM Zong Yuan Zhao has extended his lead to a point and a half, and with only 2 rounds to go, is almost certain to qualify for the next FIDE World Cup. The only player who can overtake him is FM Bobby Cheng, and they play tomorrow. There is a group of 6 players 2 points behind the lead, and theoretically there could still be a multiple tie for first, but this is highly unlikely. Instead the interest in this group is to see who can clear the first hurdle towards an IM title. As the only 2 IM's in the group (Xie and Feldman) are paired together, the Ly v Illingworth and Ikeda v Brown pairings function as a kind of IM semi-final (not ignoring Cheng's chances of course).

The clash between the two GM's today did not disappoint, with an incredibly sharp opening leading to a tactical brawl that lasted all the way to the ending, where Zhao emerged 1 pawn ahead(!). However this advantage was enough in a rook and pawn ending, although Smerdon fought hard till the end.

Zhao,Zong Yuan (2586) - Smerdon,David C (2531) [B29]

Oceania Zonal Rotorua (7.1), 28.01.2011

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nc3 e6 5.Nxd5 exd5 6.d4 Nc6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qxd5 Qb6 9.Bc4 Bxf2+ 10.Ke2 0-0 11.Rf1 Bc5 12.Ng5 Nd4+ 13.Kd1 [RR 13.Ke1 Ne6 14.Ne4 d6 15.Bd3 dxe5 16.Qxe5 Qa5+ 17.Kd1 Bb4 18.Qxa5 Bxa5 ½-½ Lengyel,B (2268)-Bach,M (2276)/Budapest HUN 2009/The Week in Chess 749] 13...Ne6 14.Ne4 [RR 14.Qe4 Nxg5 15.Bxg5 d5 16.exd6 Qxd6+ 17.Bd3 Qxh2 18.Kd2 g6 19.Rae1 Bd7 20.Bf4 Qh4 21.Qxb7 Bf2 22.Re4 Bf5 23.Rc4 Be6 24.Re4 Rad8 25.Bc7 Qg5+ 26.Ke2 Bh4 27.Rxh4 Qxh4 28.Bxd8 Rxd8 Torre,E (2505)-Ljubojevic,L (2620)/Manila 1976/IZT/0-1 (52)] 14...Be7 15.Bd2N [RR 15.c3 Qc6 16.Qd3 (RR 16.Be3 b5 17.Qxc6 dxc6 18.Bb3 Nc7 19.Kc2 Be6 20.Bxe6 fxe6 21.Bc5 Bxc5 22.Nxc5 Rad8 23.Nb7 Rd5 24.Rxf8+ Kxf8 25.Rf1+ Ke7 26.Na5 c5 27.b3 Ke8 28.Nc6 c4 29.bxc4 bxc4 30.Rd1 Rxd1 Rivas Pastor,M (2200)-Feller,J (2225)/Amsterdam 1978/MCD/1-0 (64)) 16...Nc5 17.Nxc5 Qxc5 18.Bf4 a5 19.Bg3 b6

20.Kc2 Bb7 21.Rf4 Rac8 22.Raf1 Kh8 23.Bf2 Qc6 24.Bb5 Qxg2 25.Rg1 Qxh2 26.Rg3 Bh4 27.Rgf3 Bxf3 28.Rxf3 h6 29.Qf5 g6 Littlewood,J-Parr,F/Rhyl 1969/MCL/0-1 (36);

RR 15.Bd3 Qc6 16.Qxc6 dxc6 17.Nd6 b6 18.Be3 Bxd6 19.exd6 Rd8 20.h3 Rxd6 21.Kc1 Bb7 22.g4 c5 23.a3 Rad8 24.h4 Bg2 25.Rg1 Bc6 26.Rf1 a5 27.g5 b5 28.a4 c4 29.axb5 cxd3 Brause-Elazar/ICS rated blitz matc 1996/1-0 (46)] 15...Qxb2 16.Bc3 Qa3 17.Rf3 Nc7 18.Qd4 b5 (D)

19.e6 f6 20.exd7+ bxc4 21.Qxc4+ Kh8 22.Bxf6 Qb4 23.Qxb4 Bxb4 24.d8Q Rxd8+ 25.Bxd8 Nd5 26.Ba5 Bg4 27.Bxb4 Nxb4 28.c3 Nc6 29.Ke2 Kg8 30.Rb1 Ne5 31.Rb5 Re8 32.Ke3 Bxf3 33.gxf3 h6 34.a4 Kh7 35.Rc5 Re7 36.h4 Kg6 37.a5 a6 38.Rd5 Kf7 39.h5 Re6 40.f4 Ng4+ 41.Kd4 Nf6 42.Nxf6 Kxf6 43.c4 Rc6 44.c5 Ke6 45.Re5+ Kd7 46.f5 Rc8 47.Kd5 Rf8 48.c6+ Kd8 49.Kc5 Kc7 50.Re7+ Kd8 51.Rxg7 Rxf5+ 52.Kb6 Rb5+ 53.Kxa6 Rb1 54.Rb7 Rc1 55.Kb6 Rb1+ 56.Kc5 Ra1 57.Rh7 Rc1+ 58.Kd6 Rd1+ 59.Ke6 Rc1 60.Kd6 Rd1+ 61.Kc5 Rc1+ 62.Kb6 Rb1+ 63.Ka7 Rc1 64.a6 Kc8 65.Rxh6 Kc7 66.Rg6 1-0

2011 Oceania Zonal Day 4

Two rounds and two more wins for GM Zong Yuan Zhao. He now leads the 2001 2011 Oceania Zonal by a full point, ahead of Moulthun Ly who is on 5/6. Having played each other in round 3, Zhao is up against GM David Smerdon in round 7, while Ly plays Bobby Cheng. Illingworth v Feldman is the board 3 pairing (both are on 4.5 with Cheng).

At this stage Zhao is the odds on favourite to win the event, although a win by Smerdon tomorrow would suddenly open up the field once more. For Ly, Illingworth and Cheng, there is also the IM title to consider, with 6.5 likely to be the required score.

In the Womens event, Dekic (5.5/6) leads bye half a point over Feldman, with Guo a further half point back. As none of the leaders has had a bye yet, the crucial round will be round 8 (tomorrow afternoon) when Guo plays Dekic while Feldman has the bye.

Tomorrow is a single round in the Open zonal (the Women play double rounds on Saturday and Sunday), so I finally have time for a bit of sight seeing (in between opening prep). The last few days have seen very nice weather, although the rain has returned just in time for the weekend. For the tourist there are plenty of things to do, but interestingly, almost all of the adventure parks, bungee rides, boat rides or tours keep the price of the activity very well hidden, often only revealing them via a small sign on the cash register. This seems to be a blanket policy in Rotorua, although I have been told this is the complete opposite to how it is in places like Queenstown.

2011 Oceania Zonal Day 3

Today saw the 4th round of the 2011 Oceania Zonal, and GM Zong Yuan Zhao is the only player left on a perfect score. He beat IM Gary Lane in 40 moves, while the other round 3 leader, Andrew Brown, lost to Sydney FM Max Illingworth. Illingworth and Zhao play in tomorrows morning round on the top board.

As for the rest of the field, the race for first (or for various titles) is still wide open, with 13 players on 3/4. One of these players is GM David Smerdon who won an interesting game against Stephen Lukey. After playing his opening moves quite quickly, he slowed down around move 13 as Lukey kept the position under control. However a pawn grabbing excursion with the queen not only lost Lukey some time, but created an unbalanced position which allowed Smerdon to whip up a decisive attack.

Smerdon,David C (2531) - Lukey,Stephen G (2244) [C17]

Oceania Zonal Rotorua (4.6), 27.01.2011

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.Bd2 Ne7 6.Nb5 Bxd2+ 7.Qxd2 0-0 8.f4 a6 9.Nd6 cxd4 10.Nf3 Nbc6 11.Bd3 f6 12.0-0 fxe5 13.fxe5 Nf5 14.Bxf5 exf5 15.Qf4 Qb6 16.Kh1 h6 17.h4 Be6 18.Rad1 Qxb2 19.Rb1 Qxa2 (D)

20.Rxb7 Rab8 21.Rc7 Rb1 22.Rxb1 Qxb1+ 23.Kh2 Qb6 24.Rb7 Qd8 25.Qg3 Ne7 26.Nxd4 Bd7 27.e6 f4 28.Qg4 h5 29.Qg5 Nc6 30.Rxd7 1-0

2011 Oceania Zonal Day 2

The hero of the 2nd day of the 2011 Oceania Zonal was Andrew Brown. In the morning session he defeated Australian Junior Champion Bobby Cheng, and then in the afternoon he defeated Australian Open Champion IM George Xie. Brown is leading the zonal with 3/3, along with GM Zong Yuan Zhao and IM Gary Lane. Tomorrows draw sees Zhao play Lane, while Brown plays Max Illingworth.

Another player performing above his seeding is Tristan Stevens, who is on 2.5, with a win over IM James Morris and a draw with GM David Smerdon. He is one of 6 players half a point off the lead.

As for Fiji/PNG players it was a mixed day. Both Joselito Marcos and myself won in the morning (my opponent seemed to lose hope just as tricks were in the offing and resigned), while we both lost in the afternoon (I manged to drop a piece quite early on). Manoj Kumar from Fiji also won one and lost one today, while the other Fiji rep, Sam Goundar is hoping to break his duck tomorrow.

Full results of the event are now available at chess-results.com, while pgn files for all the rounds can be download from the Canterbury Chess Club website.

2011 Oceania Zonal - Rd 1

I don't have access to all the results but there were already some significant results in the first round of the 2011 Oceania Zonal. On board 2 David Smerdon was held to a draw by Ivan Dordevic, while further down their were a number of draws (including myself against Nigel Cooper, Brian Jones with Josh Bishop, Helen Milligan with Matthew Bennett and Andrew Fitzpatrick against Winston Yao).

56 players are taking part in the Open zonal, while the Women's zonal will be an 11 player round robin (with a couple of extra rounds added on). For those looking fr live coverage, this is still a work in progress, with some cabling issue still being resolved.

Tomorrow is a double round with round 2 at 9:30 am and round 3 at 3pm (NZ time).