The Aussie - Round 2

What about Ftacnik? And Chandler?

In my haste to bang out a post yesterday - I totally forgot about these two gentlemen. But, of course, they are playing in the event. In fact, they each won their games against fide masters. Despite this oversight, I maintain that Aussie GM Rogers is still the man to beat and will be my bet out point all other competitors.

What a great start to the tournament! Two games deserve a mention. Schmaltz - Smirnov and Johansen - Caoili had me on the edge of my seat. It seems to me that the former involved a miscalculation by Smirnov when he played 35...Bxf2+. Whereas in the latter game, Caoili had good winning chances and it surely would have been a sensational start if a grandmaster had lost in round 1.

Good luck to all players!

Round 2 tips:

1 IM Smerdon, David (1).5:.5 GM Ftacnik, Lubomir (1)
2 GM Rogers, Ian (1)1:0 FM Bjelobrk, Igor (1)
3 IM Solomon, Stephen (1)0:1 GM Schmaltz, Roland (1)
4 GM Chandler, Murray (1)1:0 FM Humphrey, Jonathan (1)
5 IM Zhao, Zong-Yuan (1)1:0 Ly, Moulthun (1)
6 WIM Moylan, Laura (1)0:1 IM Lane, Gary (1)
7 WIM Caoili, Arianne (0.5)1:0 Obst, James (1)
8 Song, Raymond (0.5)0:1 GM Johansen, Darryl (0.5)
9 IM Wohl, Alex (0) 1:0 FM Xie, George (0.5)
10 FM Canfell, Greg (0)1:0 Lakner, Jay (0)
11 FM Goldenberg, Igor (0)1:0 Booth, Stewart (0)
12 FM Guthrie, Aaron (0).5:.5 Bird, Andrew (0)
13 Wallis, Christopher (0)0:1 FM Levi, Eddy (0)
14 Smirnov, Vladimir (0)1:0 Pyke, Malcolm (0)
15 Frame, Nigel (0)0:1 FM Dougherty, Michael (0)