Dejan Antic Beats the Benko

Ian Rogers relied upon an old fave today against his seventh round opponent Dejan Antic. The Australian, possibly wanting to surprise, opened the Black pieces with a Benko Gambit. But Antic was more than ready with himself producing, according to my database at least, a novelty with 15. Bf4. The reply 15...Bxc3 didn't look right to me as it seemed to leave the King a tad naked around his darkies. Not helping, too, was an incapacitated Rook on f7 as White's big bits loomed for a kill. The closing skirmishes left Rogers too few pawns and zero chances. He had to resign.



Zhao - Goldenberg was a dance of the big pieces with their respective remaining minors, a Knight for Zhao and a black Bishop for Goldenberg, playing supporting roles. But the Knight, as it often does, proved the more useful. A win for Zhao today that puts him on 6.5 points to grab the solo lead.

And something is broken in IM Mirko Rujevic's Grand Prix Attack especially against grandmaster opposition. The man should find something more current. The GP is way so 80's.

Johansen beat Lin while Michael Wei weaved the round's biggest stunner - a win against Vladimir Smirnov.

For more, readers should head for the Australian Open's very well stocked official website.