Wednesday 2 January 2008

Australian Championship Underway

The 2008 Australian Championship is underway, with a good turnout for all the tournaments. Although the results for round 1 aren't up yet (Day 1 is always harder than the rest for organisers), the live broadcast of the top 4 boards did show one big upset.
Gareth Oliver took advantage of IM George Xie's surrounded Queen, to pick up material, and a better position out of the opening. Such was the size of his advantage that Gareth could afford to be a little generous in not finishing off George directly, without endangering his eventual win.

Oliver,G - Xie,G [E53]
Australian Open , 02.01.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 c5 9.Nf3 Qa5 10.Bd2 b6 11.Ne5 Ba6 (D)
12.Bxe6! Bb7 [ 12...fxe6 13.c4+-] 13.Bc4 Ne4 14.Qf3 cxd4 15.Bxf7+ Kh8 16.Qh5 Rxf7 17.Nxf7+ Kg8 18.Nh6+ gxh6 19.Qe8+ Kg7 20.Qe7+ Kg6 21.Qxb7 Nxd2 22.Rc1 dxc3 23.Qxa8 Qxa3 24.Rd1 Qd6 25.Ke2 a5 26.Rc1 Qe5 27.f4 Qb5+ 28.Kf2 Qb2 29.Qxb8 Nb3+ 30.Kg3 Nxc1 31.Qg8+ Kf5 32.Rd1 c2 33.Rd5+ Kf6 34.Qh8+ Ke6 35.Qxb2 Ne2+ 36.Kf3 c1Q 37.Qe5+ 1-0

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