Australian Championships 2014 Part 2/Puzzles 08-10

After the draw with Anton, there was some relief from the double round days in the form of a rest day. I took the opportunity to play more chess, participating in the lightning tournament. After losses to Papin and Cheng and a draw with Partsi I wasn't really paying too much attention to the top of the field but was told after my last game (against Anton's dad Vlad, a game where there were serious chances for both sides but ending in a draw) that a win would have actually had either myself or Vlad in a 4-way playoff for the title. In any case, it was a lot of fun and I saw a few faces that I hadn't for a while.

Back to the main tournament, to start the home straight, I next faced Queenslander Brodie McClymont, a win giving me good chances (probably 1/2 after the win) for an IM norm. Unfortunately for me, the game was a bit of a flop as I needlessly gave the two Bishops and a Pawn and never recovered. Next I faced FM Dragicevic and we had our 4th draw in a row, though not without its fair share of drama!

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With 3 rounds to go I played FM Wallis, another familiar face. For once I played a convincing game in an offbeat Caro Kann.

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A slightly unfortunate pairing took me out of IM norm contention, hitting FM Luke Li who was just too low rated to keep me in the hunt. The game itself looked set to be a repeat of the Wallis game, as some accurate play gave me a serious positional edge with the 2 Bishops and a great position and Luke sacrificed the exchange for some counterplay and a pawn. This time, however, the conversion went awry, as I allowed a simple tactic to win back the exchange and only managed a draw.

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The final round was a rather tame affair against IM Wohl, as I swapped into an Old Indian ending that never really swung in either players' favour and we agreed a draw in a double-edge but probably equal ending. In all, a very enjoyable event. Congratulations to the new Australian Champion Max Illingworth, and the Reserve Champion Doug Hamilton, a very worthy winner!