Monday 3 November 2014

Hjorth Open - Day 3

Day three of the Hjorth Open saw the top players begin to play one another & there were surprisingly few draws on the top boards. By the end of the day, only IM Max Illingworth was able to keep a perfect score intact to move to 5/5, however IM James Morris was only half a point behind him after winning all of his games following his round 1 bye.

Of course there were also a number of upsets, with a number of lower rated players showing that ratings are indeed just numbers - Hoai Nguyen, Ray Yang, Anthony Hain, Alana Chibnall, Vishal Bhat & Aryn Gooch all beat higher rated opponents in round 4, while Tony Davis, Gyula Plaganyi, Lousanne Beeren & Kayson Wang scored wins against higher rated opponents in round 5.

In terms of games, two stood out in round 4 - Max Illingworth's win over fellow IM Igor Goldenberg, while IM James Morris found a pretty finish against Max Chew Lee.





Once again, the day's highlight was the lecture at the end of the day, this time presented by IM Guy West. Although Guy only showed two of Greg's games - his win against American Larry Musa from the 1978 Australian Championship & his win against GM Tony Miles from the 1984 British Championship - he told a number of stories & anecdotes about Greg from throughout his life, which were both amusing & informative at the same time!

IM Guy West ready to begin his presentation
IM Guy West showing Greg's win over Larry Musa & the various tricks & traps set by the move Qc2!
Guy reading an interesting profile that he wrote about Greg Hjorth for Ian Rogers' famous book Australian Chess - Into the Eighties, although he did question why he was making such bold, though ultimately often true, statements about this teenage prodigy while Guy himself was only in his early twenties!
IM Guy West analysing Greg's famous with over English GM Tony Miles
IM Guy West in front of the final position in the famous Miles-Hjorth game at the end of the lecture.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for blogging about this, Kerry. It's special for those of us who can't be there in person.

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