Saturday 5 January 2008

Australian Championship - Almost Halfway

The 2008 Australian Championship has almost reached the halfway point, after only 3 days. Fortunately for the players (and the gravitas of the tournament), the schedule now slows down to one round a day for the final 6 rounds.
After 5 rounds IM Stephen Solomon is the sole leader with 4.5/5, starting with 4 wins and a fifth round draw with GM Dejan Antic. Antic shares second place with FM Jesse Sales, on 4 points.
Interestingly enough both players are registered with overseas federations, although under the current ACF by-laws they are eligible to play in the championship (IIRC). Whether they are eligible to hold the title depends upon whether the ACF Council considers them a "permanent resident of Australia"
Of the ACT players, Gareth Oliver's good start (win over IM Xie followed by draw with IM Riemsdijk) was slowed by a couple of losses and he is on 2/5. Junta Ikeda is also on 2/5 ( defeating IM Xie as well!), while current Australian Junior Champion Michael Wei is on 1.5.
In the Major visiting South Korean player Sanghoon Lee shares first place with Tim Hare and James Watson (4.5/5). Shannon Oliver is the best of the Canberran's with 3.5/5.
The minor consists of a whole lot of NSW players, a whole lot of South Korean juniors, and a lone Queenslander . Anthony Villanueva (NSW) leads with 5/5.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I spoke to Shannon this morning and she tells me Gareth is totally exhusted and not feeling too well. I would be expressing some maternal concern, however given his lack of sleep due to mad socialising just before he left Canberra, I feel this is pretty much self inflicted. :)

Jenni

Anonymous said...

i've been watching the event at the venue - and it's a very well organised tournament. some very interesting games. sales-solomon today had a big crowd!