Tournament:
208 chess players gathered at the Sydney Latvian Society Club in Strathfield for our Spring Holiday chess competition - the Inner West Chess Challenge 25.
184 out of the total number, which means almost 90% of the players, were already JCL rated and had either competed in one or two tournaments previously, or were seasoned players.
The top seed again (also in the 23rd edition last year) was Winston Zhao Chen rated 915, and the ratings ranged all the way down to 256.
Winston took a strategic draw against Aidan Seifert in Round 5, and this left 4 other players with an unblemished record, ie 5/5 - they were 2nd seed Sebastian Wei, Min Savage, Anton Hardt and Eric Liu.
In the next round, unrated 15 year old Anton defeated Sebastian on board 1, and Min had a good upset win over Eric. In Round 7 Anton kept his winning streak, taking the outright lead after overcoming Min, while Winston and Eric bounced back with wins on boards 2 and 3.
In the final round, Anton beat Winston on top board to become the overall Champion with 8/8. Congratulations Anton! He will also have his name incscribed on the large silver cup. Well done also to Eric Liu and John Nguyen who won their final round games to score 7/8, finishing in equal second place.
Sydney Academy of Chess would like to thank as always the Sydney Latvian Society Club for providing us with a spacious playing hall, our arbiters to ensure fair play and good sportsmanship at all times, and the parents and players for attending and for staying throughout the long day.
The full results including standings, crosstable and prizewinners can be viewed using the links below.
We hope to see you again at the next chess tournament!
