Wednesday 10 April 2013

Melbourne Chess Club Championships - Round 8

Round 8 of the MCC Championship was an emotional round, with the night beginning with a minute's silence for Andrew Saint & Hannibal Swartz, who tragically died while returning from the Doeberl Cup over Easter. Once the chess got underway, Guy West won again on board 1, this time against Domagoj Dragicevic. Domagoj appeared to have a good position out of the opening, winning a pawn with Guy having little compensation for it, but Guy later found a tactic to win the pawn back, before outplaying Domagoj in the rook & minor piece ending to secure the point & retain his lead in the tournament. Ari Dale & Justin Tan drew their postponed game, while Frenchman Laurent Michaille beat Chris Wallis to move into equal second with Ari, one point behind Guy. This means that Guy needs only a draw to secure the Club Championship title once again, but Laurent's uncompromising style would suggest that he will need to fight off a fierce attack from the Frenchman before he is able to claim the title!
There were also a few upset results on the night, with James Cameron beating Paul Kovacevic, While David Hacche & Phillip Drew held their higher rated opponents to draws.
The fight for the minor placings is very much alive, with Justin Tan on 5.5, half a point behind Ari & Laurent, while there are 5 others (and possibly a sixth with a game to be played on Thursday) on 5/8.
Results for round 8 are on ChessChat.
Below is the game between Laurent Michaille & Chris Wallis.

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