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Gold Coast Tin
Cup 2007
Well the Qld chess season started in earnest with the 11th annual running of the tournament that gives an early indication of which players will be challenging the might of Australian chess this forthcoming year.
The adventure began about an hour before the schedule start time with no less than 18 late entries. What was pleasing was to see so many new players in their first tournament. The organizers quickly sent mercy vehicles out looking for more boards, clocks and even tables. The volunteers from Nerang Community Church, who were the primary sponsors of the event, quickly realized that the DOP needed a valium!
Round 1 and it was quickly noticed that this was going to be a weekend of great chess with previous winners of the Tin Cup in John Alkin and Mark Stokes taking their seats on boards one and three. The rose amongst the thorns was Australian representative Alexandra Jule on board two.
At the end of round one Mark Stokes could only draw against Caleb Eriksson and both John and Alex were reminded that there is no such thing as an easy first round on the Gold Coast. Both John and Alex managed to win long games in true champions' fashion.
The tough first round shows that almost anyone in the top half of the field could win the trophy.
Round 2 and John Alkin falls to one of the mountain men from Toowoomba in Brock McIntyre and young gun Alex Stahnke held Alex Jule to a draw. The top three seeds were already back in the masses.
Louay Al Zaher was flying the adult flag with a win against Daniel Ford whilst fast maturing Gene Nakauchi was eyeing the top boards with a win against Sean Erickson.
Outreach Chess is fast becoming known for running events for the whole family and this was shown when on the lower boards mum Sanae Toda showed her children the way to the winning post by winning her first game. Well done mum! This victory earned Sanae a chocolate bar for upset wins along with Brock McIntyre and Melanie Karibasic.
Round 3 and Louay decides he likes sitting on board one and dispenses with Jessica Kinder. Gene Nakauchi is now on board 2 and sends Logan stalwart Craig Stewart back down the leaders ladder after his brief visit to the top. Jonas Muller another young champion from the Gold Coast defeats friend Sam Grigg on board three. There is no such thing as friendship over the board.
Meanwhile, just on the perimeter is Kieton Beilby winning a chocolate bar for his upset win over Alexandra Jule. Other chocaholics were Daniel Torise (unrated) and Matthew Lloyd.
Phew, end of the first day and there are more smiles than tales of the one that got away.
Round 4 begins with 6 players still undefeated and matching up on the top boards. Kieton Beilby continues his run by quickly sending current Gold Coast Open U1600 winner Yitao Lei to the wrong side of 1-0.
Then… the drought breaks, the heavens open and the roof springs a leak – right onto e5. That focuses the players to the centre of the board. A quick relocation of players, a mop up and more valium for the DOP.
Walking around the floor it is noticeable that there are more than the normal number of English Openings being played. You won’t find the English Opening on board 1 where Ric Ambatali plays for the win with 1.e4 against Louay Al Zaher but Louay holds out – he is really starting to settle on board 1.
Meanwhile board 2 has Jonas Muller playing 1.d4 against Gene Nakauchi who has won the Gardiner Chess Junior Masters several times. Well true to the trend that ratings and titles show how you played last game and Jonas forced his way to equal first place.
It was pleasing to see John Humphrey having a fabulous tournament and his upset win against Mark Stokes earned another adult the privileged chocolate bar.
So round 5 we see Al Zaher, Muller and Beilby undefeated on 4 points. However, another mountain man from Toowoomba is by himself only half a point behind. Teenager Michael Gearing is really enjoying his chess and playing with bags of confidence.
The important draw goes up, oops someone put down the wrong result, the draw goes down. Let’s try that again and it’s Louay Al Zaher and Kieton Beilby (rated about 300 points lower) on board one. Meanwhile, on board 2 Jonas Muller is in the boxed seat but about to see just how good the mountain man Michael Gearing is.
The news has gotten out that the hottest thing in South East Queensland this weekend is the Tin Cup. It was great to see so many visitors including parents, sponsors, coaches and chess administrators. I can’t recall seeing so much spectator support and would like to thank them all on the players behalf.
Round 5 is complete and the momentum of Kieton is too strong for the experience of Louay. The resultant draw between Michael Gearing and Jonas Muller left Kieton all on his lonesome as King of the Mountain with 5/5.
The final round saw the distribution of show bags for both kids and adults. These bags contained vouchers, brochures, toys and lollies and were a big hit. Thanks to all our sponsors for packaging this fun novelty item together.
Now the serious business. Final round and Kieton Beilby meets Jonas Muller who is half a point behind him and also clear second place. There is a huge pile up behind the boys including John Alkin who is looking for a sneaky way to get to the podium.
However, Kieton attacks hard and the result is a draw which gave Kieton outright first. This is an absolutely fabulous effort from the Gold Coast junior who was seeded 30th!
It takes for the final game of the weekend between Micheal Gearing and Louay Al Zaher which resulted in a draw to be completed before the minor results are decided.
When it’s all over it’s Kieton Beilby outright first on 5.5/6 and equal second are Ric Ambatali (who ever so quietly snuck up the leaders board) and Jonas Muller on 5/6.
It was a fabulous weekend with many players complimenting the organizers and bestowing accolades upon the best chess canteen in Qld. There also is the great feeling of knowing that the organizers in Outreach Chess will use 40% of the proceeds to sponsor other chess clubs and another 40% will be used to support organizations that help the homeless.
I sign off now with the final comments of one stalwart player who said ‘it was the best tournament ever’.
Now to prepare for the Gardiner Chess Gold Coast Open. GMs, IMs, one hundred players, two divisions – where did I put that valium?
Take care and God bless,
Peter Bender DOP
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