Played at Applecross Senior High School on 21/22 & 28/29 March
Applecross Senior High School was the setting for the new WA Open tournament, and we thank the school for allowing us to use their excellent venue. Unfortunately, a number of our stronger players were missing from the field, including Stephanus Kurniawan, Michael Horstmann, Tim Hare, Tom Donaldson, Yita Choong, David Ellis and myself, and only 23 players ended up taking part. However, with less than a week to go, I had only 9 entries so, from my point of view, the final result is not so bad! Rightly, or wrongly, I choose to believe that we were the victims of multiple coincidences, not a general lack of interest in the event. Anyway, one advantage of having so many strong players absent was that the battle for the 3 qualifying places for the WA Closed Championship was thrown wide open, and we saw a very interesting struggle for those places.
The tournament proved to be a close affair all the way, with Tristan Boyd, Dennis Holland, Marc Vlietstra, Edik Gilmetdinov and Derek Elkington sharing the lead at various stages. Although Tristan did not have things go totally his way, he was never out of the lead and managed to finish just in front, conceding just two draws (Marc Vlietstra & Edik Gilmetdinov). Dennis Holland had an excellent result, losing only to Tristan, and would have finished equal first if he had been able to find a way to win against Eddy Seah in the last round. Marc Vlietstra’s loss to Dennis in round 6 ended his chances of winning but he played some good Chess throughout. Edik Gilmetdinov and Derek Elkington each had amazing tournaments, achieving high scores against strong fields. Eddy Seah and Guy Booth both started slowly but fought their way back to finish equal fourth. Guy managed three consecutive wins against higher rated opponents.
The 3 qualifying places for the WA Closed Championship were taken by Tristan Boyd, Dennis Holland and Marc Vlietstra. Since Tristan is certain to qualify by virtue of his rating, Edik Gilmetdinov will take his qualifying place. If Marc ends up qualifying by rating, then Derek Elkington will also get a qualifying place.
Dennis Holland won his second WA Reserves Championship by a clear point. Veronica Williams won her second WA Womens Championship (by scaring off all challengers?). Aaron McHugh and William Williams each won their respective rating groups the hard way, by winning their last two games.
There were many interesting struggles, and the lower rated players did not always come off second best. The following players each managed to defeat an opponent rated more than 200 points above themselves: Aaron McHugh (twice!!), Peter Zylstra, Grant Bultman, Guy Booth and Edik Gilmetdinov. Also worthy of mention are the four players who drew with an opponent more than 400 points above them: Edik Gilmetdinov (against Tristan Boyd!), Gary Donaldson, Steve Mijailovic and Veronica Williams.
I believe that the event was a success, there seemed to be a good spirit amongst the players, and the two games a day seemed quite comfortable. The possibility of qualifying for the WA Closed Championship added an extra dimension. I would like to repeat the experiment next year and then assess its success. Any comments on the format of the WA Open would be appreciated.
Haydn Barber, DOP
Prize Winners
Open: 1st Tristan Boyd 6.0 (2009 WA Open Champion)
2nd Dennis Holland 5.5
3rd Marc Vlietstra 5.0
Reserves: 1st Dennis Holland 5.0 (2009 WA Reserves Champion)
Women: 1st Veronica Williams 2.0 (2009 WA Womens Champion)
U1850/U1700: =1st Edik Gilmetdinov 4.5
Derek Elkington 4.5
Guy Booth 4.5
U1400: 1st Aaron McHugh 4.0
U1200: 1st William Williams 3.0
Biggest Upsets: 1st Aaron McHugh
2nd Peter Zylstra
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Final Standings
Place Name Loc Score M-Buch. Progr.
1 Boyd, Tristan 2272 6 21.5 24.5
2 Holland, Dennis 1837 5.5 19.5 22.5
3 Vlietstra, Marc 2013 5 21.0 21.0
4-7 Gilmetdinov, Edik 1699 4.5 21.5 22.0
Elkington, Derek 1689 4.5 20.5 21.0
Seah, Eddy 1917 4.5 19.0 16.5
Booth, Guy 1511 4.5 18.0 17.0
8-11 Dempster, Dave 1772 4 20.0 16.5
Abdat, Akef 1867 4 19.5 17.0
Dunlop, Gordon 1845 4 15.5 15.0
McHugh, Aaron 1360 4 14.5 12.5
12 Shaw, Robin 1739 3.5 18.0 16.0
13-18 Tomic, Nedeljko 1746 3 20.0 16.0
Mijailovic, Steve 1399 3 18.0 11.0
Donaldson, Gary 1394 3 17.0 12.0
Sam, Ryan 1578 3 14.5 11.0
McMahon, Denis 1561 3 14.0 10.5
Williams, William 1144 3 13.0 6.0
19-20 Bultman, Grant 1614 2.5 21.0 11.5
Williams, Veronica 1122 2.5 15.0 8.0
21-23 Leeson, Robert 1332 2 18.5 7.5
Zylstra, Peter 1048 2 15.0 10.0
Murphy, Justin 1352 2 15.0 6.0
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Cross Table
No Name Loc Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. Boyd, Tristan 2272 6 12:W 8:W 6:W 2:D 10:D 11:W 15:W 2. Vlietstra, Marc 2013 5 13:W 7:D 3:W 1:D 8:W 6:L 5:W 3. Seah, Eddy 1917 4.5 14:W 10:L 2:L 20:W 12:W 7:W 6:D 4. Abdat, Akef 1867 4 15:W 9:W 11:L 8:L 7:D 16:W 10:D 5. Dunlop, Gordon 1845 4 16:D 12:L 17:D 19:W 18:W 8:W 2:L 6. Holland, Dennis 1837 5.5 17:W 23:W 1:L 12:W 11:W 2:W 3:D 7. Dempster, Dave 1772 4 18:W 2:D 10:L 17:W 4:D 3:L 13:W 8. Tomic, Nedeljko 1746 3 19:W 1:L 13:W 4:W 2:L 5:L 18:L 9. Shaw, Robin 1739 3.5 20:W 4:L 14:W :D 15:L 17:W 11:L 10. Gilmetdinov, Edik 1699 4.5 21:W 3:W 7:W 11:D 1:D 15:L 4:D 11. Elkington, Derek 1689 4.5 22:W 16:W 4:W 10:D 6:L 1:L 9:W 12. Bultman, Grant 1614 2.5 1:L 5:W 23:W 6:L 3:L 18:L 17:D 13. Sam, Ryan 1578 3 2:L 19:W 8:L 15:L 20:W 23:W 7:L 14. McMahon, Denis 1561 3 3:L 21:W 9:L 22:D 17:L 19:W 16:D 15. Booth, Guy 1511 4.5 4:L 20:D 16:W 13:W 9:W 10:W 1:L 16. Mijailovic, Steve 1399 3 5:D 11:L 15:L 21:W 22:W 4:L 14:D 17. Donaldson, Gary 1394 3 6:L 22:W 5:D 7:L 14:W 9:L 12:D 18. McHugh, Aaron 1360 4 7:L :D 20:D 23:W 5:L 12:W 8:W 19. Murphy, Justin 1352 2 8:L 13:L 21:W 5:L 23:L 14:L :W 20. Leeson, Robert 1332 2 9:L 15:D 18:D 3:L 13:L :W 21:L 21. Williams, William 1144 3 10:L 14:L 19:L 16:L :W 22:W 20:W 22. Williams, Veronica 1122 2.5 11:L 17:L :W 14:D 16:L 21:L 23:W 23. Zylstra, Peter 1048 2 :W 6:L 12:L 18:L 19:W 13:L 22:L |