2021 January State Library Blitz Tournament


On Sunday, 31st January a Blitz tournament was held at the Great Southern Room in the State Library. The tournament was held in the shadow of an impending COVID-19 lockdown which became knowledge about the time registration commenced. Consequently, we had 32 players in the Open division, 6 players in the Newbies Division and 6 withdrawals. Statistics that look more common place in cricket bowling than a chess tournament. Because the library had to close early the number of rounds were reduced from 11 to 9 for the main tournament.

Despite the looming lockdown the participants made this an enjoyable occasion.

Open Division

The nine round Open division was dominated by Ihsan Ferozkohi with only a draw with Rebo preventing a perfect score. Boyd McCamon who travelled all the way from Bunbury also had a good tournament finishing second with 7.5. There was a strong performance by 10-year-old Yonal De Vas who finished with 5.5, including an upset win against Dylan Gough.

Open Prize Winners

1st: Ihsan Ferozkohi 8.5/9, 2nd: Boyd McCamon 7.5/9, =3rd: Yihe (Rebo) Fu & Joel Rufin 7/9, =5th: Neville Shah & Jamie Laubbacher 6.5/9
Upset prize: Yonal De Vas

Newbie Division

6 less experienced players opted to take part in a separate Newbie Division. This was dominated by the two adults, Daniel and Morgan with Lucas Gruber the best of the younger players. A total of 8 rounds were played using a time limit of 5 minutes plus 3 seconds as opposed to the 3 minutes plus 2 seconds used in the Open Division. There were some withdrawals prior to the completion on this tournament. The results were:

1st: Daniel Malesta 7/7 (withdrew after round 7), 2nd: Lucas Gruber 4.5/8, 3rd: Oscar Hetel 4/8, 4th: Gray El-Ansary 3.5/7 (withdrew after round 7), 5th: Morgan Johnston 2/2 (withdrew after round 2), 6th: Sebastian Gough 2/8

Prizes were awarded to Daniel and Lucas.

Special thanks to Dylan Gough for his assistance with this tournament in particular organising the contestants in the Open division and coping with the Vega software. Thanks to the State Library for providing an excellent venue, with air-conditioning and a nice view over the city. Finally, thanks to John Prince for his assistance in getting all the equipment back to the Roe Street car park through a very quiet and almost deserted Northbridge. John still had to return home to Margaret River.

Report kindly provided by Alan Wolstencroft




Cross Table


 Pos NAME                      Rtg     Fed  Pts |   1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9   | Buc1  BucT   
			    ACF Quick 
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1  Ihsan Ferozkohi           2366    AUS  8.5 | +B7   +W4   +B10  +W6   +B2   +W9   =B3   +W5   +B11  | 47.5  52.5 
  2  Boyd McCamon               --     AUS  7.5 | +W9   +B12  +W3   +B5   -W1   =B4   +W6   +B8   +W10  | 49.5  54.5 
  3  Rebo Fu                   2155    AUS  7.0 | +B19  +W16  -B2   +W32  +B13  +W7   =W1   =B4   +W9   | 46.0  49.5 
  4  Neville Shah              2068    AUS  6.0 | +B26  -B1   +W28  +W11  +B6   =W2   +B7   =W3   -B5   | 48.0  50.5 
  5  Jamie Laubbacher          1781    AUS  6.0 | +B24  +W23  +B15  -W2   -B7   +W13  +B9   -B1   +W4   | 45.5  49.0 
  6  Yonal de Vas              1091    AUS  5.5 | +B30  +W26  +B11  -B1   -W4   +W10  -B2   =W7   +B16  | 45.0  47.5 
  7  Saminda de Vas            1923    AUS  5.5 | -W1   +B27  +W18  +B25  +W5   -B3   -W4   =B6   +W15  | 44.0  46.5 
  8  Joel Rufin                 --     AUS  5.5 |  --    --   +W21  +B18  +W25  +B17  +W12  -W2   =B14  | 39.0  41.5 
  9  Oscar Gao                 1663    AUS  5.0 | -B2   +W22  +B16  +W10  +B15  -B1   -W5   +W13  -B3   | 48.0  51.5 
 10  John Prince                --     AUS  5.0 | +W31  +B14  -W1   -B9   +W27  -B6   +W20  +B12  -B2   | 44.5  47.5 
 11  Dylan Gough               1546    AUS  5.0 | +W21  +B18  -W6   -B4   +W14  -B12  +W22  +B15  -W1   | 42.0  45.5 
 12  Jonathan Smith             --     AUS  5.0 | +B22  -W2   +B29  -W13  +B19  +W11  -B8   -W10  +B18  | 40.0  43.0 
 13  Yung Fu Leong             1739    AUS  5.0 | -W18  +B21  +W24  +B12  -W3   -B5   +W26  -B9   +W20  | 39.0  41.5 
 14  Celine Ong                1209    AUS  5.0 | +B33  -W10  +B32F =W15  -B11  -W16  +B24  +B17  =W8   | 37.0  38.0 
 15  Ned Tomic                 1477    AUS  4.5 | +W17  +B25  -W5   =B14  -W9   +B27  +B16  -W11  -B7   | 38.5  41.0 
 16  Iker Hernandez Mendez      --     AUS  4.5 | +W28  -B3   -W9   +B22  =W17  +B14  -W15  +B26  -W6   | 38.0  40.5 
 17  Abhay Bhatia               --     AUS  4.5 | -B15  -W29  +B30  +W33  =B16  -W8   +B25  -W14  +W24  | 32.5  33.5 
 18  Kundan Dharmapuri         1497    AUS  4.0 | +B13  -W11  -B7   -W8   -B28  +W30  +BYE  +B22  -W12  | 36.5  39.5 
 19  Herbert Cadag              --     AUS  4.0 | -W3   -B28  +W23  +B31  -W12  -B22  +W21  -B20  +W26  | 35.0  37.5 
 20  Aarnav Gupta              1254    AUS  4.0 |  --    --   -W27  +B23  +W21  +B25  -B10  +W19  -B13  | 35.0  37.5 
 21  Ram Manv Soni              858    AUS  4.0 | -B11  -W13  -B8   +W24  -B20  +W33  -B19  +B29  +W27  | 35.0  36.0 
 22  Voon Choon Leong           --     AUS  4.0 | -W12  -B9   +BYE  -W16  +B33  +W19  -B11  -W18  +B28  | 33.0  34.0 
 23  Anoushka Gupta             764    AUS  4.0 |  --    --   -B19  -W20  -B24  +W29  +B33  +W25  +BYE  | 30.5  31.5 
 24  Shannon Koh                --     AUS  3.5 | -W5   =W30  -B13  -B21  +W23  +B31  -W14  +W28  -B17  | 35.0  38.0 
 25  Eric Deng                  824    AUS  3.0 | +B29  -W15  +B33  -W7   -B8   -W20  -W17  -B23  +BYE  | 35.5  36.5 
 26  Angus Chen                 755    AUS  3.0 | -W4   -B6   -W31  +BYE  +B30  +W28  -B13  -W16  -B19  | 34.0  36.5 
 27  Bernard Laugery            956    AUS  3.0 | -B20  -W7   +B20  +W29  -B10  -W15  -B28  +W31  -B21  | 33.5  36.5 
 28  Sanjay Mukhedkar           --     AUS  3.0 | -B16  +W19  -B4   -W30  +W18  -B26  +W27  -B24  -W22  | 31.0  33.5 
 29  Rayan Jape                 --     AUS  3.0 | -W25  +B17  -W12  -B27  -W31  -B23  +B30  -W21  +W33  | 29.5  30.5 
 30  Jun Wei Neo               1693    AUS  2.5 | -W6   =B24  -W17  +B28  -W26  -B18  -W29  +B33  -BYE  | 29.0  30.0 
 31  Varun Mukhedkar            --     AUS  2.0 | -B10  -W33  +B26  -W19  +B29  -W24  -BYE  -B27  -BYE  | 28.0  29.0 
 32  Nicholas Ng               1297    AUS  1.0 | WITHDREW                 --    --    --    --    --   |    
 33  Paula Gruber               572    AUS  1.0 | -W14  +B31  -W25  -B17  -W22  -B21  -W23  -W30  -B29  | 30.5  33.0 
 

 ADDITIONAL NOTES
	
 a) There were the following late registrants: Aarnav Gupta, Anoushka Gupta and Joel Rufin. 
    Their results for the first two rounds were:
    Round 1 Aarnav Gupta 1 vs Bernard Laugery 0; Anoushka Gupta 0 vs Joel Rufin 1
    Round 2 Joel Rufin 0.5 vs Aarnav Gupta 0.5; Jamie Laubbacher 1 vs Anoushka Gupta 0 
 
 b) Nicholas Ng withdrew from the tournament prior to commencement. 
    He was removed prior to the start of round 4. Hence Celine Ong's win by forfeiture in round 3 
    and Voon Choon Leong's bye.