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NZ Championship Round two sore consistency among the top boards as IM Dive, FM Garbett, and Haag of Germany all had wins. On the top board, NM* Anderson, playing white, was a pawn up against FM Smith, but Smith had pressure on the Queen side. In a well fought battle, the game ended in a draw. After McNabb's well deserved win against McLaren yesterday in Round one, Van Der Hoorn did well to win against the youngster from Auckland to become the sole leader in the 109th NZ Championship with two points out of two. The bottom seed, Hilton Bennett is showing his form after having two draws in the tournament to date, that is, against Brian Jones of Australia and IM Ker of Wellington. The match between the two Candidate Master's, CM Spain and CM Dowden ended in a draw, the difference between the two players in terms of rating and master points is minimal. Three months ago McLaren and Giles played one another in the Birkenhead Licensing Trust Open, the victor was Giles of Maruia. The two players were to meet again in round two, however, this time the win went to McLaren. Near the bottom of the table there are four players who have all played good chess who deserve more points for their efforts. Brian Jones from Australia is on ½ point, and Litwak of Poland, Sutherland, and Giles are on zero. Round 3 should prove to be an interesting round of chess play, as the results in the tournament firm up.
The upper middle of the crosstable showed fighting spirit - Fraemohs, Goodhue, and Aldridge all had wins whilst the higher rated players had losses - Donaldson, J. Wojnar, Sims, and Boardman. Out of the top 8 seeds, only Turner (no.1) and Martin-Buss (no.2) have a perfect score, that is, two points. Near the bottom of the table, Gino Thornton had a very good win over
the veteran Rex Scarf of Ashburton, Brendan Reedy fought hard for a
well earned draw against Brett Mullan, and Michael Stevenson defeated
the experienced Julius Bojtor. The new-comer Ngawati Heremaia was unable
to repeat yesterday's win, losing to the consistent Craig Hall, in a
game that is in contention for the nicest game award. |