Six Way Finish in NSW Open

Six players tied for equal first in the NSW Open this evening as top players fall to upsets. Olympiad aspirants IM George Xie and FM Igor Bjelobrk failed to shine while untitled players Jason Hu, the ACT's Andrew Brown and the powerful Tomek Rej occupy top places. Here are the top finishers (preliminary results, check NSWCA for complete details).

5.5 Rej, Brown, Antic, Solomon, Sales, Hu
5.0 Redgrave
4.5 Kizov, Bjelobrk, Furst, Azyvazyan, Chernih, Dunn

I arrived at the tournament hall just after the round 7 began to be greeted by some enthusiastic news from the officials. The big news was that Andrew Brown beat IM George Xie (who continued his less than stellar play here by drawing the last game against Michael Dunn) and Jason Hu drew, as black, against no less than GM Antic!

2008 NSW Open
Antic, Dejan
Hu, Jason
D12

1. d4 c6 2. c4 d5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Bg4 7. Qb3 Qc7 8. h3 Bh5 9. g4 Bg6 10. g5 dxc4 11. Bxc4 Nd5 12. Nxg6 hxg6 13. h4 Be7 14. e4 Nxc3 15. bxc3 b5 16. Be2 a6 17. a4 b4 18. cxb4 Qd6 19. Be3 Qxb4+ 20. Qxb4 Bxb4+ 21. Kf1 Ke7 22. Kg2 Rc8 23. h5 gxh5 24. Rxh5 g6 25. Rh7 Nd7 26. Rc1 a5 27. Bg4 Rab8 28. f4 Nf8 29. Rhh1 Ba3 30. Rb1 Rb4 31. Rxb4 axb4 32. Rb1 Ra8 33. Bd1 Nd7 34. Bb3 Rc8 35. Kf3 c5 36. dxc5 Nxc5 37. Bd4 Nxb3 38. Rxb3 Kd6 39. Ke2 Ra8 40. Kd3 Rxa4 41. Kc4 Kc6 42. Rd3 Bc1 43. Be5 b3+ 44. Kxb3 Ra3+ 45. Kc2 1/2-1/2

In the U1600 section, Vaness Reid secured an unlikely victory finishing outright first by defeating Pinoy-Aussie Anthony Villanueva in an exciting last round contest. The final position had Reid holding 3 pawns plus King versus Villanueva's K and N combo. The pawns won.

6.5 Reid
6.0 Griffin
5.5 Villanueva, Ruan
5.0 Chau, Parker, Wan K., Wan D., Miranda, Satrapa

2008 NSW Open
Rej, Tomek
Solomon, Stephen
E37

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 Ne4 7. Qc2 c5 8. dxc5 Nc6 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Nf3 Bf5 11. b4 O-O 12. Bb2 b6 13. b5 bxc5 14. bxc6 Qa5+ 15. Nd2 Rab8 16. c7 Rb3 (16... Rb6 17. O-O-O Ng3 18. e4 Nxh1 19. exf5 Nxf2 20. Re1 d4 21. Re5 Rc6 22. Nc4 1-0 De Jong,J (2426)-Dutreeuw,M (2401)/Antwerp BEL 2007/The Week in Chess 661) 17. Rd1 c4

Position after 17...c4

18. g4 (18. e3 is given by my database as the normal move. Ng3 19. Qxb3 cxb3 20. hxg3 Bc2 21. Rc1 d4 22. Bd3 Rc8 23. Bxc2 bxc2 24. Rxc2 dxe3 25. fxe3 Rxc7 26. Rh5 Qxh5 27. Rxc7 h6 28. Bd4 a6 29. Nf3 Qd5 30. Rc3 Qa2 31. Kf1 Qb1+ 32. Kf2 Kh7 33. Ne5 f6 34. Nd3 Qa2+ 35. Kg1 Kg6 36. Nf4+ Kf5 37. Kh2 Kg4 38. e4 Qd2 39. Rd3 Qc2 40. Re3 a5 41. e5 fxe5 42. Rxe5 a4 43. Nd5 1-0 Kasparov,G (2775)-Renet,O (2480)/Evry 1989/EXT 1997) 18... Bg6 19. Bg2 Nxf2 20. Qxb3 cxb3 21. Kxf2 Qxc7 22. Nf3 Be4 23. Nd4 Re8 24. Bf3 Qf4 25. h4 h6 26. h5 Rc8 27. Rc1 Rc2 28. Nxc2 bxc2 29. Kg2 Qxg4+ 30. Kf2 Qf4 31. Rhg1 f6 32. Rg4 Qh2+ 33. Ke3 Qb8 34. Bxe4 Qxb2 35. Bxd5+ Kf8 36. Kd2 Qxa3 37. Bf3 Qa5+ 38. Kxc2 Qxh5 39. Kb3 Qe5 40. Re4 Qd6 41. Rc8+ Kf7 42. Rec4 Qd1+ 43. Kc3 Qa1+ 44. Kd3 f5 45. R4c6 Qd1+ 46. Kc4 Qa4+ 47. Kd5 Qa5+ 48. Kd4 Qa1+ 49. Ke3 Qg1+ 50. Kd2 Qd4+ 51. Kc2 Qa4+ 52. Kb2 Qb4+ 53. Kc1 Qa3+ 54. Kd2 Qa5+ 55. Ke3 Qe5+ 56. Kf2 f4 57. R6c7+ Kg6 58. Rc6+ Kf7 59. Rc5 Qd4+ 60. Kg2 g6 61. R8c7+ Kf6 62. Rd5 Qb6 63. Rdc5 Qb1 64. Rxa7 h5 65. Ra6+ Kg7 66. Rcc6 h4 67. Rxg6+ Kh7 68. Rgb6 h3+ 69. Kh2 1-0

2008 NSW Open
Solomon, Stephen
Antic, Dejan
C13

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Nbd7 6. Nf3 h6 7. Bxf6 Nxf6 8. Bd3 c6 9. Qd2 Qc7 10. O-O-O b6 11. Rhe1 Be7 12. Ne5 Bb7 13. f4 O-O 14. Qe3 c5 15. Nxf6+ Bxf6 16. dxc5 bxc5 17. Bc4 Bxe5 18. Qxe5 Qxe5 19. Rxe5 Bxg2 20. f5 exf5 21. Rd7 Bf3 22. Rxc5 f4 23. h4 Bg4 24. Re7 Rad8 25. b4 Rd1+ 26. Kb2 Rd7 27. Re4 Kh7 28. Rxf4 f5 29. Be6 Rb7 30. Kb3 g6 31. b5 Kg7 32. c4 Re7 33. Rc6 Rf6 34. Bd5 g5 35. hxg5 hxg5 36. Rf1 Be2 37. Rg1 g4 38. a4 f4 39. a5 Rxc6 40. Bxc6 Re6 41. Bd5 Re3+ 42. Kb4 Rg3 43. Ra1 f3 44. b6 axb6 45. axb6 Rh3 46. b7 Rh8 47. Ra8 f2 48. Rxh8 1-0

And here are the last few moves of Solomon - Bjelobrk. Solo had well over 15 minutes left at this point, while Bjelobrk only had less than 5 minutes.

Solomon - Bjelobrk, 1-0

Play now continued 1. h5+ Kf6 2. b4 Rh3+ 3. Kd4 Rh4+ 4. Kc3 Ke6 5. Kb3 Rh1 6. Rg5 Kd6 7. Rc5 Rh4 8. Ka4 Kd7 9. Ka5 Kd6 10. Rf5 Rh1 11. b5 Ra1+ 12. Kb6 Rh1 13. Kb7 Rh2 14. b6 Rh1 15. Kb8 1-0

Some last round results are as follows:

Brown - Rej, draw
Dunn - Xie, draw
Kizov - Antic, 0-1
Bolens - Christensen, draw
Chan - Redgrave, 0-1
Sales - Furst, 1-0
Hu - McNamara, 1-0