Anthony Ker wins Julian Mazur Memorial

Anthony Ker took the Julian Mazur Memorial title, defeating Mark van der Hoorn in 9 moves (with the Black pieces!) on Tuesday. Nic Croad came 2nd, losing to Anthony but defeating everyone else. Brian Nijman defeated me to come 3rd, 1.5 points behind on 5.5. Noteworthy performances by newcomers Andrew Grkow, who finished on 4.5, and Anil Jhurani, who finished on 4.

Full results:

Round 7
Ker 1 Baider 0
Croad 1 Forster 0
Sellen 0 Nyberg 1
Nijman 1/2 Marner 1/2
Jackson 0 Van der Hoorn 1
Salem 0 Grkow 1
Rabina 0 Kay 1
Drinkwater 1 Proctor 0
Shierlaw 0 Jhurani 1

Round 8
Van der Hoorn 0 Ker 1
Croad 1 Nyberg 0 (default)
Sellen 0 Nijman 1
Marner 1 Brockway 0
Jackson 1 Shierlaw 0
Drinkwater 0 Farrington 1
Kay 0 Forster 1
Jhurani 0 Grkow 1
Bardiya 1 Salem 0 (default)
Bowden 0 Rabina 1 (default);

Final placings:
1st Anthony Ker (8)
2nd Nic Croad (7)
3rd Brian Nijman (5.5)
4-6 Bill Forster, Gavin Marner, Michael Nyberg (5)
7-8 Andrew Grkow, Mark Van der Hoorn (4.5)
9-14 Anil Jhurani, Bruce Kay, Daniel Baider, Ian Sellen, Romeo Rabina, Ross Jackson (4)
15 Andrew Brockway (3.5)
16-17 Ridhesh Bardiya, Lawrence Farrington (3)
18 Edmund Salem (2.5)
19-23 Alex Manouilenko, Blaise Drinkwater, Hamish Shierlaw, Matthew Proctor, Sebastian Krueger (2)
24 Paul Bowden, Somesh Pattekar (1.5)

That was the last tournament of the year, apart from the transfer chess scheduled for tomorrow. Summary of 2008 results as follows:

Summer Cup
1 Nic Croad
2-4 Daniel Baider, Russell Dive, Anthony Ker

Fischer Random
1 Anthony Ker
2 Nic Croad
3-5 Michael Nyberg, Russell Dive Scott Wastney

Autumn Cup Round Robin
A grade Russell Dive
B grade Michael Nyberg
C grade Don Stracy
D grade Michael Hewson and Alistair Nicholls

Club Rapid
1 Russell Dive
2-3 Anthony Ker, Nic Croad

Club Championship
A grade Russell Dive
B Grade Martin Hill
C grade Blaise Drinkwater, Edmund Salem, Paul Bowden

Julian Mazur Memorial
1 Anthony Ker
2 Nic Croad
3 Brian Nijman

Julian Mazur Memorial - Anthony Ker continues to dominate

Anthony Ker seems to be heading for a clean sweep in the Julian Mazur Memorial. After 6 rounds he has 100%, with Nic Croad 1 point behind on 5. The chasing pack is another full point behind that.
Nic coolly defended against a typical wild, entertaining attack from Mark van der Hoorn, when all of a sudden the attack disappeared and Mark was left with a serious material deficit. They were still analysing where it went wrong when I left. Daniel Baider was back from school studies to notch up a convincing win against Ross Jackson. If anyone can dent Anthony's score, it must be this talented young man.

Full round 6 results:

Forster 0 Ker 1
Van der Hoorn 0 Croad 1
Baider 1 Jackson 0
Brockway 0 Nijman 1
Sellen 1 Shierlaw 0
Rabina 1/2 Jhurani 1/2
Grkow 1 Bowden 0
Kay 0 Marner 1
Salem 1 Drinkwater 0
Bardiya 0 Proctor 1

Standings after 6 rounds:

1. Anthony Ker (6 points)
2. Nic Croad (5)
3-8 Bill Forster, Brian Nijman, Daniel Baider, Ian Sellen, Michael Nyberg, Romeo Rabina (4)
9-10 Gavin Marner, Mark van der Hoorn (3.5)
11-14 Andrew Brockway, Anil Jhurani, Bruce Kay, Ross Jackson (3)
15-16 Andrew Grkow, Edmund Salem (2.5)
17-20 Ridhesh Bardiya, Alexei Manouilenko, Hamish Shierlaw, Sebastian Krueger (2)
21-23 Lawrence Farrington, Matthew Proctor, Paul Bowden (1.5)
24-25 Blaise Drinkwater, Somesh Pattekar (1)

Chess Olympiad disappointment for NZ

The Dresden Olympiad finished with New Zealand, seeded 71st in the open section, ending in 97th place, a disappointing performance. They had a bad first round loss against Trinidad and Tobago, but then seemed to stage a recovery, culminating in a victory against 29th seed Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 7th round. After this New Zealand were unfortunately pitted against the big guys, the incredibly strong Ukrainian team (0-4), then Georgia (0-4), Turkey (0.5-3.5), and Brazil (1-3). I think they can consider themselves unlucky to continue to have had such strong opposition. Individual performances were not that great, apart from Roger Nokes' astonishing start with 5/5, a rating performance of 2723. This was followed by a draw and 4 losses, but still, he was the only player who managed to perform above his rating. Russell Dive, so invincible at our own club, scored 2/8, but the worst performance was Bob Smith with 0.5/8, and a rating performance of 1790.
On the plus side, the women's team, led by Helen Milligan, outperformed their seeding, finishing in 62nd place, with Australia 1 place below. Helen and Judy Gao both improved their ratings in the process.