Australian Championships 2014 Part 1/Puzzles 04-07

After an underwhelming Canterbury Summer Swiss where I was failing to put away and even losing to 1600s, I didn't like my chances of doing well in the closed Australian Championships, which began just 2 days later, run by Noble Park Chess Club at the Springvale Town Hall. The playing conditions were excellent and the event ran smoothly, while the difficult task of keeping a reasonable temperature during the hot days was well-managed; well done to Dusan and the guys at NPCC. The first round had me paired against GM Johansen, just like the same tournament 2 years ago. It was the same result too, as a KIA ended in a tame draw. Next up was the ultra solid FM Canfell who had beaten me last year.

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There was still more chess to play that day, as I faced visiting WGM Sukandar in a complicated closed Sicilian. See if you can do better than me in the critical position.

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Despite missing the win, I was still so far very well placed and once again faced some serious opposition in the form of Vietnamese GM Tu Hoang Thong, who demonstrated his strength by swapping into a favourable ending and then finding a nice combination in the following position.

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Now it was time for the second double round day and people were getting tired, IM Brown making an unfortunate blunder in the first game of the day to give me an easier run in an unclear position.

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Once again I had a disappointing end to the double round day, as I agreed a draw in a much better position against young gun FM Smirnov, completely missing the winning move.