MCC Australia Day Weekender ... the beginning!

Another long weekend & another chess tournament to run ... this time the Australia Day Weekender at the Melbourne Chess Club. This will hopefully be my second step towards the FIDE Arbiter title (IA Gary Bekker playing, so hopefully he can verify that things went smoothly & sign the paperwork for FIDE accordingly), after last year's Arbiters seminar.
The first round has just started, with 25 players entered, with the top four seed (Baron, Gorka, Urban & Beaumont) all being rated above 2000. The basic results, crosstables and the like will be posted on chesschat, with the 'colour commentary' being available here over the weekend.
My early prediction for the tournament is top seed Michael Baron, however I think he'll have to work hard to win the event, with plenty of tough opponents for him.

The tournament hall shortly after the start of the round.