Ftacnik Sails Away with Parkroyal Title
GM Lubomir Ftacnik of the Slovak Republic won the Parkroyal Surfers tournament in Australia with 7.5/9, a full point ahead of the field. Tied for second were Sergey Galdunts and Predrag Nikolic with 6.5.
In the final round, Wohl gave up his queen for a rook and bishop, and Ftacnik easily parried the threats to win in 29 moves. After a Ruy Lopez, Galdunts found a way to break through Hunt's kingside defenses. His attack ended with a queen sack and checkmate in 49 moves. Nikolic got a passed d-pawn against Tindall's Benoni, won the exchange, and the game was over quickly in 26 moves.
Final Round Results:
Ftacnik 1-0 Wohl
Hunt 0-1 Galdunts
Nikolic 1-0 Tindall
Wallace ˝-˝ Johansen
Rogers 1-0 Stead
Rujevic 1-0 Zhao
Caoili 0-1 Hanks
Vagg 0-1 Teichmann
Kassa 0-1 Allen
Corker 0-1 Yadao
Weeks ˝-˝ Saw
Final Standings:
1. Ftacnik, Lubomir SVK 2582 7.5
2-3. Galdunts, Sergey ARM 2473 6.5
Nikolic, Predrag BIH 2656 6.5
4-6. Johansen, Darryl AUS 2494 5.5
Rogers, Ian AUS 2562 5.5
Wohl, Aleksander AUS 2438 5.5
7-9. Wallace, John-Paul AUS 2367 5.0
Hunt, Adam ENG 2388 5.0
Rujevic, Mirko AUS 2348 5.0
10-15. Yadao, Israel PHI 2000 4.5
Zhao, Zong Yuan AUS 2242 4.5
Tindall, Brett AUS 2194 4.5
Allen, Andrew AUS 2264 4.5
Teichmann, Erik ENG 2365 4.5
Hanks, John AUS 2166 4.5
16. Stead, Kerry AUS 2042 4.0
17-19. Caoili, Arianne PHI 2097 3.5
Weeks, Manuel AUS 2256 3.5
Saw, Geoffrey AUS 2264 3.5
20-21. Vagg, Adam AUS 2000 2.0
Kassa, Peter AUS 2000 2.0
22. Corker, Kerry AUS 2002 1.5
Results and games are available at the tournament website:
http://www.auschess.org.au/oceania/spi.htm
16 June 2000
Ftacnik Dunks Rogers, Increases Lead
Tournament leader Lubomir Ftacnik submarined Ian Rogers, and increased his lead over the field to a full point after 8 rounds of the Parkroyal Surfers tournament in Australia. Ftacnik-Rogers was a tough King's Indian duel, with Ftacnik maneuvering his rooks to the seventh and forcing Rogers' resignation in 48 moves.
Johansen forced a quick 14-move draw off a QGA when he threatened to repeatedly check Nikolic with his queen. Galdunts dove through the kingside defenses of Wallace's Pirc, sacked a piece, and created an unstoppable mating threat to win in 32 moves. Wohl chose a modest queen pawn setup against the lower-rated Stead, but he quickly admiraled a dominant position anyway. His queen-bishop battery on the long diagonal threatened to flush Stead's king out into the center of the board, so the game ended in 30 moves.
Round 8 Results:
Ftacnik 1-0 Rogers
Johansen ˝-˝ Nikolic
Galdunts 1-0 Wallace
Wohl 1-0 Stead
Leaders After Round 8:
1. Ftacnik, Lubomir SVK 2582 6.5
2-4. Nikolic, Predrag BIH 2656 5.5
Galdunts, Sergey ARM 2473 5.5
Wohl, Aleksander AUS 2438 5.5
5-6. Johansen, Darryl AUS 2494 5.0
Hunt, Adam ENG 2388 5.0
7-10. Wallace, John-Paul AUS 2367 4.5
Rogers, Ian AUS 2562 4.5
Zhao, Zong Yuan AUS 2242 4.5
Tindall, Brett AUS 2194 4.5
15 June 2000
Ftacnik Throws Johansen Overboard
Lubomir Ftacnik beat Johansen while Galdunts, the other Round 6 leader, lost his game, leaving Ftacnik in the lead with 5.5 points after Round 7. Nikolic is right behind with 5 points.
Johansen-Ftacnik exchanged pieces until they were each left with a queen, rook and 3 pawns. Johansen had his a-, b-, and c-file pawns, while Ftacnik had f, g, and h. Ftacnik was quicker, moved his king forward after a few checks, and collected the point in 50 moves.
In a QGD, Nikolic forced his rooks to the seventh next to Galdunts' king, then brought in his knight for the kill in 45 moves. Hunt drew Rogers and his Scandinavian in 41 moves. Wohl and Yadao castled on opposite wings after a Nimzovich defense, and Wohl was first, with action on the open b-file to win in 24 moves. Wallace beat Zhao's King's Indian in 31 moves with a pawn on the 7th about to queen, winning material.
Round 7 Results:
Johansen 0-1 Ftacnik
Nikolic 1-0 Galdunts
Hunt ˝-˝ Rogers
Wohl 1-0 Yadao
Wallace 1-0 Zhao
Leaders After Round 7:
1. Ftacnik, Lubomir SVK 2582 5.5
2. Nikolic, Predrag BIH 2656 5.0
3-7. Johansen, Darryl AUS 2494 4.5
Galdunts, Sergey ARM 2473 4.5
Wallace, John-Paul AUS 2367 4.5
Rogers, Ian AUS 2562 4.5
Wohl, Aleksander AUS 2438 4.5
13 June 2000
Galdunts, Johansen, Ftacnik Leaders
Ftacnik joined Galdunts and Johansen atop the leaderboard after 6 rounds of the Parkroyal Surfers tournament in Australia.
Ftacnik played a Maroczy Bind Sicilian, finally sacrificing the exchange for threats with his passed f-pawn. Wallace could do nothing with his rook except guard the back rank to keep the pawn from queening. Meanwhile, Ftacnik engineered another passed pawn, and Wallace resigned in 78 moves.
Galdunts-Johansen was an 11-move affair without hostilities. Rogers-Nikolic was a Torre Attack where Nikolic stole the b-pawn while Rogers messed up his kingside. Rogers sacked the exchange but Nikolic gave it right back and, with only bishops and pawns remaining, a draw was agreed after 26 moves.
Zhao played the 6. Be3 Sicilian against Hunt, sacked the exchange and got a passed d-pawn, but a draw was agreed after 34 moves. Wohl played the Grunfeld against Allen, got a passed a-pawn, and won in 42 moves.
Round 6 Results:
Galdunts (2473) ˝-˝ Johansen (2494)
Rogers (2562) ˝-˝ Nikolic (2656)
Ftacnik (2582) 1-0 Wallace (2367)
Zhao (2242) ˝-˝ Hunt (2388)
Allen (2264) 0-1 Wohl (2438)
Caoili (2078) 0-1 Yadao (unrated)
Leaders After Round 6
1-3. Johansen, Darryl AUS 2494 4.5
Galdunts, Sergey ARM 2473 4.5
Ftacnik, Lubomir SVK 2582 4.5
4-5. Nikolic, Predrag BIH 2656 4.0
Rogers, Ian AUS 2562 4.0
6-10. Hunt, Adam ENG 2388 3.5
Wallace, John-Paul AUS 2367 3.5
Wohl, Aleksander AUS 2438 3.5
Yadao, Israel PHI 3.5
Zhao, Zong Yuan AUS 2242 3.5
12 June 2000
Galdunts, Johansen Co-Leaders
Sergey Galdunts of Armenia joined Darryl Johansen at the top of the leaderboard after Round 5 of the Parkroyal Surfers tournament in Australia.
Wohl-Galdunts began: 1. Nf3 f5 2. d3 Nc6 3. e4 d6. The game became a rooks-pawn-and-knight ending where Galdunts picked up several pawns and won in 46 moves.
Rogers-Johansen was a QGD drawn in 41 moves. Nikolic-Ftacnik ended peacefully after only 14 moves. Wallace played a Dragon and gave up his queen for a rook and knight, winning in 43 moves.
Round 5 Results:
Rogers ˝-˝ Johansen
Nikolic ˝-˝ Ftacnik
Wohl 0-1 Galdunts
Yadao 0-1 Wallace
Hunt 1-0 Rujevic
Tindall 0-1 Allen
Leaders After Round 5:
1-2. Johansen, Darryl AUS 2494 4.0
Galdunts, Sergey ARM 2473 4.0
3-6. Nikolic, Predrag BIH 2656 3.5
Rogers, Ian AUS 2562 3.5
Wallace, John-Paul AUS 2367 3.5
Ftacnik, Lubomir SVK 2582 3.5
7-9. Hunt, Adam ENG 2388 3.0
Allen, Andrew AUS 2264 3.0
Zhao, Zong Yuan AUS 2242 3.0
11 June 2000
Johansen Plays Swimmingly
After Johansen's Catalan opening, he emerged a couple pawns up after a series of exchanges. Wohl gave up the hopeless queen-and-pawn endgame in 44 moves. As the only 3rd round leader with a victory, Johansen is now in sole first place with 3.5 points.
Zhao sacrificed a rook for a knight and 2 pawns, but Nikolic seized the prodigy's passed b-pawn, ending all serious threats.
Galdunts played a Tarrasch defense, drawing Ftacnik in 56 moves.
Allen was no match for Rogers' King's Indian. The game ended in 25 moves with Allen's kingside in tatters.
Round 4 Results
Ftacnik ˝-˝ Galdunts
Johansen 1-0 Wohl
Zhao 0-1 Nikolic
Allen 0-1 Rogers
Wallace ˝-˝ Hunt
Rujevic ˝-˝ Tindall
Leaders After Round 4:
1. Johansen, Darryl AUS 2494 3.5
2-5. Nikolic, Predrag BIH 2656 3.0
Galdunts, Sergey ARM 2473 3.0
Rogers, Ian AUS 2562 3.0
Ftacnik, Lubomir SVK 2582 3.0
6-8. Wohl, Aleksander AUS 2438 2.5
Wallace, John-Paul AUS 2367 2.5
Yadao, Israel PHI 2.5
9 June 2000
4 Tied for Lead After 3 Rounds
Nikolic had an extra pawn in his rook-and-pawn ending with Wohl but it wasn't enough for a win. Ftacnik squeaked through a win in 52 moves from a Scheveningen Sicilian when Hunt found himself in zugzwang in a bishop-and-pawn endgame.
After a Paulsen Sicilian, Johansen found himself a couple pawns up and threw unrated upstart Yadao overboard in 49 moves.
Galdunts answered Rujevic's French with 2.d3 and won in 45 moves.
Zhao neutralized Saw's unasuming English setup and dunked him in the rooks-and-pawn ending in 46 moves.
Round 3 Results:
Nikolic ˝-˝ Wohl
Rogers ˝-˝ Wallace
Hunt 0-1 Ftacnik
Yadao 0-1 Johansen
Galdunts 1-0 Rujevic
Saw 0-1 Zhao
Leaders After Round 3:
Johansen, Darryl AUS 2494 2.5
Wohl, Aleksander AUS 2438 2.5
Galdunts, Sergey ARM 2473 2.5
Ftacnik, Lubomir SVK 2582 2.5
Nikolic, Predrag BIH 2656 2.0
Rogers, Ian AUS 2562 2.0
Wallace, John-Paul AUS 2367 2.0
Allen, Andrew AUS 2264 2.0
Zhao, Zong Yuan AUS 2242 2.0
Hunt, Adam ENG 2388 1.5
Yadao, Israel PHI 1.5
Rujevic, Mirko AUS 2348 1.5
Tindall, Brett AUS 2194 1.5
Stead, Kerry AUS 2042 1.5
8 June 2000
Wohl Perfect After 2 Rounds
After 2 rounds, Aleksander Wohl of Australia is the only player with a perfect score. Wohl won a pawn in the middlegame against Saw (2264) and deftly rode it all the way to victory in 57 moves.
Top-rated Nikolic was held to a draw by Wallace (2373) in a Queen's Gambit Accepted. Ian Rogers and Rujevic (2348) battled to a 94-move draw. Unrated Israel Yadao of the Philippines drew Galdunts (2473) to move into a share for second place. Ftacnik outdueled Teichman (2365) in 67 moves after an opening that started 1. d4 Nc6 2. e4 e5. Zhao got on the scoreboard with a win.
Standings after Round 2:
Wohl, Aleksander AUS 2438 2.0
Nikolic, Predrag BIH 2656 1.5
Rogers, Ian AUS 2562 1.5
Galdunts, Sergey ARM 2473 1.5
Johansen, Darryl AUS 2494 1.5
Hunt, Adam ENG 2388 1.5
Wallace, John-Paul AUS 2367 1.5
Rujevic, Mirko AUS 2348 1.5
Yadao, Israel PHI 1.5
Ftacnik, Lubomir SVK 2582 1.5
7 June 2000
Parkroyal: Strongest Event in Australia in Years
The Parkroyal Surfers tournament in Australia is sure to create many waves down under. It is the strongest event held there in years. The tournament runs from June 7 to 17.
Among the competitors are Predrag Nikolic, Ian Rogers, Lubomir Ftacnik, and 13-year old Zong Yuan Zhao (2242). The top 4 boards of each round will be broadcast live on ICC.
In Round 1, top-rated Nikolic drowned Allen and his Bogo-Indian in a mere 29 moves. Ftacnik was forced to perpetually check Weeks after only 26 moves. Young Zhao fought valiantly against Rogers while down the exchange, but was all wet after 51 moves.
Round 1 winners:
Nikolic, Predrag BIH 2656
Rogers, Ian AUS 2562
Johansen, Darryl AUS 2494
Galdunts, Sergey ARM 2473
Wohl, Aleksander AUS 2438
Hunt, Adam ENG 2388
Wallace, John-Paul AUS 2367
Rujevic, Mirko AUS 2348
Saw, Geoffrey AUS 2264
Yadao, Israel PHI
|
|
