Virgil

2008 Geelong Open Tournament Report – By Gary Bekker

The 2008 Geelong Open attracted 43 entrants, about the same as last year, including eight players rated over 2000.

Round 1:
Stephen Jago messed up a winning position against Domagoj Dragicevic and lost, Rhys Hopkins played a fine game against Leon Kempen to draw, and Roland Brockman missed an opportunity to win against Colin Savige but was able to force a draw in time trouble. Most other games went as expected.

Round 2:
Several interesting games on the top boards. The game Mehmedalija Dizdarevic - Svetozar Stojic was a fascinating battle. Tony Davis defeated Malcolm Pyke and Angelo Tsagarakis defeated James Morris. Rhys Hopkins had another good result defeating Max Mollard.

Round 3:
Some very tough fought games and surprising upsets. The board 2 game Cheng - Hacche was interrupted by an unusual clock incident. After move 40, with both players very short of time, the clock reset itself to the initial setup display. Thankfully observant spectators were able to recall the clock times and play was quickly resumed. Bobby Cheng handled the time pressure well and went on to win. Tony Davis defeated Domagoj Dragicevic with a massive attack on the queenside. Andrew Wemyss played a fine game to defeat Svetozar Stojic. At the end of the first day of play, Leonid Sandler, Bobby Cheng and Tony Davis share the lead with 3/3.

Round 4:
Young Bobby Cheng excited spectators by defeating the tournament's top seed, IM Leonid Sandler, to take the outright lead. Tony Davis' dream run came to an end with a loss to Colin Savage. Hogg blundered and lost to Dusan Stojic. David Hacche's bad luck continued with an unexpected loss to Mehmedalija Dizdarevic. Dragicevic and Morris won their games to stay in contention for prizes. Justin Tan defeated Eugene Shon. Anurag Sannidhanam failed to arrive for play without notifying the tournament organisers.

Round 5:
Bobby Cheng exchanged into an opposite coloured bishop ending and was held to a draw by Dusan Stojic. This allowed Mehmedalija Dizdarevic to tie with him for first by defeating Colin Savige with one of Mehmedalija's trademark kingside assaults. Leonid Sandler and Domagoj Dragicevic both won their games to come equal third with Dusan Stojic. Local Geelong player Michael Sugrue was awarded the Group A (U/2000) prize. Justin Tan and Oleg Grygoryan shared the Group B (U/1700) prize and Nikola Ivanov won the Group C prize.

Final Leading Scores:

1-2 Cheng, Bobby 4.5
Dizdarevic, Mehmedalija 4.5
3-5 Stojic, Dusan 4
Sandler, Leonid 4
Dragicevic, Domagoj 4
6-9 Hogg, Dean 3.5
Pyke, Malcolm L 3.5
Savige, Colin B 3.5
Sugrue, Michael 3.5
10-21 Hacche, David J 3
Davis, Tony J 3
Morris, James 3
Tsagarakis, Angelo 3
Gill, Geoffrey 3
Kempen, Leon 3
Schon, Eugene 3
Tan, Justin 3
Ivanov, Nikola 3
Mijatovic, Bosko 3
Grygoryan, Oleg 3
Stojic, Svetozar 3

Selected Games:

Sandler,L (2282) - Cheng,B (1958) [D38]
Geelong Open (4.1), 20.07.2008

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.Ne5 Bd7 7.Nxc6 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 Bxc6 9.Qb3 dxc4 10.Qxc4 Ne4 11.Bf4 Qf6 12.Bg3 0-0-0 13.e3 h5 14.f3 Nxg3 15.hxg3 e5 16.Kf2 g5 17.Be2 e4 18.f4 h4 19.Bg4+ Bd7 20.Bxd7+ Rxd7 21.Ke2 hxg3 22.Qc5 gxf4 23.exf4 Qa6+ 24.c4 Rhd8 [24...Rxh1! 25.Rxh1 Qxa2+ 26.Ke3 Qf2+ 27.Kxe4 Qxg2+-+] 25.Rhd1 f5 26.Rd2 Rd5 27.Qb4 c5 28.Qb5 Qxb5 29.cxb5 cxd4 30.a4 Kc7 31.Rh1 Rc5 32.Rh7+ Kb6 33.Rg7 Rc3 34.a5+ Kxa5 35.Rxb7 d3+ 36.Ke3 Rc1 37.Ra2+ Kb4 38.Kd2 Rg1 39.Rb2+ Ka3 0-1


Cheng,B (1958) - Stojic,D (2142) [A70]
Geelong Open (5.1), 20.07.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.h3 Bg7 8.Bd3 0-0 9.Nf3 a6 10.a4 Nbd7 11.0-0 Nh5 12.Bg5 Bf6 13.Be3 Ne5 14.Nxe5 Bxe5 15.f4 Bg7 16.Rf2 Re8 17.g4 Nf6 18.g5 Nxe4 19.Nxe4 Bf5 20.Ng3 Rxe3 21.Nxf5 gxf5 22.Bxf5 Qe7 23.Qh5 Re1+ 24.Rxe1 Qxe1+ 25.Kg2 Re8 26.Qxh7+ Kf8 27.Bd3 Re3 28.g6 f5 29.Qh5 Bd4 30.Qxf5+ Ke7 31.Qg4 Re4 32.Qe2? (White hopes to simplify into a winning ending. He cannot capture 32.Bxe4? because of 32...Qxf2+, but after 32.Qh4+! protecting the rook on f2 with tempo, White holds all the aces.) 32...Rxe2 33.Rxe2+ Qxe2+ 34.Bxe2 Bxb2 (Unfortunately for White, the resulting opposite coloured bishop ending is almost certainly drawn.) 35.h4 Kf6 36.h5 Kf5 37.Kf3 Bg7 38.Bd3+ Kf6 39.Ke4 Bh6 40.a5 Bf8 41.Be2 Bh6 42.Bf1 Bf8 43.Bh3 Be7 44.Bc8 Bd8 45.f5 Kg7 46.Kf4? (After 46.Bxb7 White retains some winning chances, but Black should be able to blockade the king side pawns and draw.) 46...Bxa5 47.Bxb7 Bd2+ 48.Ke4 a5 49.Bc6 c4 50.Bb5 c3 51.Kd3 Kf6 52.Bd7 Kg7 ½-½


Dizdarevic,M (1929) - Stojic,D (2142) [B87]
Geelong Open (2.2), 19.07.2008

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 b5 8.a3 Be7 9.Be3 Qc7 10.f3 0-0 11.Qd2 Nc6 12.Nxc6 Qxc6 13.g4 Bb7 14.g5 Nd7 15.h4 Ne5 16.Qg2 a5 17.h5 b4 18.Ne2 a4 19.Nd4 Nxf3+ 20.Qxf3 Qxe4 21.Qxe4 Bxe4 22.Rh4 axb3 23.Rxe4 bxa3 24.Nxb3 axb2 25.Rb1 d5 26.Rg4 f5 27.Rg1 f4 28.Bd4 Rf5 29.Bxb2 Rxg5 30.Rxg5 Bxg5 31.Kf2 Rc8 32.Na1 Kf7 33.Be5 Bf6 34.Rb7+ Kg8 35.Bxf6 gxf6 36.h6 e5 37.Rg7+ Kh8 38.Rf7 Kg8 39.Rxf6 Ra8 40.Nb3 Rc8 41.Na1 d4 42.Kf3 Ra8 43.Nb3 Rc8 44.Na1 [Better was 44.Nc1! Rxc2 45.Nd3 Rc3 46.Ke4+-] 44...Ra8 ½-½


Dizdarevic,M (1929) - Savige,C (2041) [B86]
Geelong Open (5.2), 20.07.2008

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Be7 8.Be3 0-0 9.f3 Nc6 10.Qd2 Qc7 11.g4 Na5 12.g5 Nxb3 13.axb3 Nd7 14.f4 Re8 15.h4 b6 16.h5 Bb7 17.g6 Bf8 18.gxf7+ Kxf7 19.0-0-0 b5 20.f5 exf5 21.Nxf5 Nf6 22.Rdf1 Rac8 23.h6 g6 24.Ng7 Re5 25.Bd4 Be7 26.Bxe5 dxe5 27.Nd5 Qd6 28.Qg2 Kg8?? (28.Bxd5 was required.) 29.Nf5 Nxd5 (Queen moves allow 30.Nfxe7++-) 30.Nxd6 1-0