45th Begonia Tournament 2011

Tournament Report by Gary Bekker, Arbiter

Dear players and chess enthusiasts, 

thank you for participating in the 2011 Begonia Open. A record 129 players took part in the event, including a large contingent of interstate and junior players. We hope you enjoyed the tournament and look forward to seeing you again next year.

Early round top seed upsets included losses by Leonid Sandler, Carl Gorka, Stephen Solomon, Erik Teichmann, Bobby Cheng, and Dusan Stojic in the first two rounds. Subsequent draws, including further upset results, left IM James Morris leading the tournament outright as the only person with a perfect score after round 4. Morris defeated Max Illingworth, Domagoj Dragicevic, and then drew with Guy West to win the tournament with 6.5 points. Equal second went to top seed IM Stephen Solomon, who recovered from his round two loss to FIDE Oceania Zone President Brian Jones by winning all of his remaining games, and Chris Wallis who conceded only two draws to former Australian Chess Champion Doug Hamilton and Melbourne Chess Club stalwart Malcolm Pyke. Colin Savige won rating Group A win nice wins over much higher rated opponents Dusan Stojic and IM Leonid Sandler. Colin has also won the best game prize for his win over Dusan Stojic.

 Group B winners were Frank Antoniazzi, Nathan Hibberd, Enoch Fan, Max Mollard, Ethan Lim, and Max Chew Lee. Group C was won by Denise Lim. The best local player prize was shared by Patrick Cook and Joel Beggs. Jody Middleton won the encouragement award donated by Milan Ilic in memory of Greg Hjorth and his contribution to chess as an outstanding junior chess player.

Five further prizes were awarded by Chess World / Chess Kids to Dusan Stojic, Peter Miitel, Alastair Dyer, Ethan Tang, and Joel Beggs. The top board games from the tournament have been attached as a PGN file, and a selection of the best games are reprinted below. The Swiss Perfect tournament files are also attached and have been submitted to the ACF Grand Prix Co-ordinator and to the relevant ratings officers for ACF and FIDE ratings. Thanks to Chess World / Chess Kids for sponsoring the tournament and providing their Tornelo tournament software. Thank you to Kevin Perrin, Patrick Cook, Rob Loveband and the Ballarat Chess Club organisers for hosting the event.  Many others also assisted in supporting the tournament and volunteering their time, and this is warmly appreciated.

Gary Bekker