2014 ACT Championships - Day 1

The 2014 ACT Championships began this evening, with 32 players taking part. The field was a small increase over previous years, with a mixture of keen adult players and enthusiastic juniors making up the bulk of the field. The top seed is FM Junta Ikeda, with IM Andrew Brown and Andrey Bliznyuk filling the next two spots.
The first round went according to script, with most of the higher rated players untroubled in picking up points off their opponents, but there were a couple of tough games. Sankeertan Bardrinarayan held out for quite a while against IM Andrew Brown, while Paul Dunn had Andrey Bliznyuk on the ropes for much of the game after winning material. However Bliznyuk was able to turn the tables, and a R+2B v 2R ended in his favour. The board 1 game ended when FM Junta Ikeda found a nice finish, sacrificing his queen a'la Philidor.
Standings for this event, as well as the draw for the next round can be found at http://www.chess-results.com/tnr126576.aspx?lan=1


Ikeda,Junta (2338) - Mcdonald,David (1328) [B93]
2014 ACT Championship Canberra, Australia (1.1), 21.03.2014