Too Low Key Toukley

Once again i trek off on the 4.53 train from Picton, heading from toukley. And i'll first say that Toukley is a beautiful place for a tournament but a bitch to get to by public transport. From Wyong train station one must catch a bus from Wyong to Lake Haven shops and another bus to Toukley. But, hey, Busways was the bus operaters and I know Busways Campbelltown/ Camden do a reasonably good job at providing public transport.... so i thought. Getting to Toukley on the Saturday was the easy bit.

With a disappointing field of 20 starters there were two clear cut contenders for the top two prizes. IM Gary Lane and former ACF Webmaster and Newsletter editor were the only two players rated over 2000. Andrew Phillips was the Third seed with a rating of 1717 and an astonishing 9 players rated in the 1400-1500 bracket.

In round One I was lucky enough to play Gary Lane who smashed me in the Ruy Lopez. The upsets had already started when Paul Broekhuyse could only muster a draw against Radislav Ivanovic. I reckon there must be a curse or something at Toukley. Players who have good results against much higher rated opponents early in the tournament seem to get low scores. This year it was Ivanovic's turn. He only ended up on 2/7 for the tournament. Last year I defeated Johny Bolens in the first round and I only ended on 1.5/7! However the Radislav - Broekhuyse result could have been different though because Radislav's phone went off during the first round but apparently the Director of Play Kieth Farrell was out of the room and his opponent did not claim the win. Lets just say that i have already learnt my lesson.....
Other upsets includedGary Losh (1438) over Victor Liuga (1676), Graeme Deacon (1403) drew with Bill Egan (1530), and on the 10th board father Aurel-John Buciu (1485) travelled all the way from Queensland to be defeated by his son Alex Buciu (833).

Round Two saw Lane Defeat Joe Frias while Paul Broekhuyse started climbing his way to the top by defeating Bill Egan. Meanwhile Andrew Phillips (1717) was knocked off the top of the leaderboard by drawing to Luka Tubic (1486). Meanwhile in other upsets Radislav Ivanovic (1449) started his slide down the boards by drawing with Graeme Deacon (1403). and tournament organiser Gary Losh (1438) drew with Stephen Barnes (1653).

So by Round three there were only two players on two points: Gary Land and Richard Eccles. After round three Garry Lane was the sole leader through to the end of the tournament. He started in round three by dispatching Richard Eccles. Meanwhile on board two Paul Broekhuyse defeated Stephen Barnesand on Board three it was a battle of the locals. Andrew Phillips of Warnervale against Gary Losh of Budgewoi. Andrew Philips won on this occasion. There were no real upsets except for Graeme Deacon (1403) defeating George Smit (1429) and Michael Weltner (1530) drawing with Bill Egan (1530).

On the top board a long battle from a Saemich Kings Indian Defence occured with Gary Lane on the black side with a knight up giving two pawns as compensation for Andrew Phillips. Both in time trouble, Gary lane was able to find a way to swap off the Queens which brought the resignation. On board two Broekhuyse defeated Luca Tubic. Board three and board four both had minor upsets with Richard Eccles (1611) drawing with Ben Ryan (1448) and Joe Frias (1507) drawing with the undefeated 17th seed Graeme Deacon (1403). Gary Losh (1438) also caused an upset by defeating Bill Egan (1530). Young Alex Mehan (1390) defeated the out of practice Victor Liugia (1676).

And at the conclusion of round 4 it was time to get to my accomodation; a friend of the family at Wyee. Discovering earlier in the day that the last Busways bus from Toukley to Lake Haven was at about 7-7.30 I had to find a lift to a station or otherwise i had to pay for a taxi. I ended up getting a lift from Andrew Phillips to Wyong station where I was able to catch a train two stops (or one stop express) to Wyee..... With fun to come in the morning....

I caught the 8.18 train from Wyee to Wyong to catch a bus to Lake haven to discover that the next bus to Toukley was at 10.12 arriving at the RSL 10.20 - 20 minutes past the scheduled start time for round 5! And i was at Lake Haven at 9.30. So I decided to pay the $15 taxi fare to get from Lake haven shops to Toukley so that i wouldn't be late. And it paid off!

In round 5 It was the battle of the big guns on board one. Lane won to extend his lead from half a point to one and a half points. Whilst Broekhuyse was joined in equal second by Andrew Phillips, Richard Eccles, Ben Ryan and Luca Tubic who were all on 2.5 and won their games. Out of those games Ben Ryan (1448) defeated Joe Frias (1507) and Richard Eccles (1611) defeated Stephen Barnes (1653) to clam minor upsets. Other upsets included an improving Alex Mehan (1390) defeating Michael Weltner (1422) and Alex Buciu (833) drawing with Victor Liuga (1676).

In round 6 Gary lane secured the top prize by defeating Luka Tubic, Paul Broekhuyse defeated the well performing junior Ben Ryan and Richard Eccles drew with third seed Andrew Phillips. I racked up a minor upset when i (1483) defeated Joe Frias (1507) in a Nimzowitch come Scandinavian come Kings indian Attack where Joe at one stage missed mate in two. Other upsets included Alex Mehan drawing with Gary losh, Graeme deacon drawing with Stephen Barnes and Victor Liuga losing to Aurel-John Buciu.
After 6 rounds Gary Lane had it all wrapped up on 6/6 followed in second by Paul Broekhuyse on 4.5/6. Equal third was shared between Andrew Phillips, Myself and Richard Eccles. In contention for podium honours: Ben Ryan, Alex Mehan and Luca Tubic on 3.5/7

Round 7 saw the Top seed play the number 18 seed. Gary land defeated Alex Mehan to take out the Toukley Open with a Picket fence score of 7/7. Paul Broekhuyse defeated Andrew Phillips to bump him out of podium contention. I offered a draw to Richard Eccles quite early in the game where i had a bit of a spacial advantage after an Anti Grunfeld. He declined but later offered the draw once again. Ben Ryan Defeated Luca Tbic on Board 4 to claim equal 3rd. Other upsets included Stephen barnes drawing with Bill Egan, Gay Losh defeating Joe Frias, Victor Liuga drawing a very long game with Michael weltner, Radislav Ivanovic losing to George Smit. But the unluckiest person on the sunday was Alex Momot. Alex Momot is the blind person who plays at a lot of country tournaments and he is a very nice fellow. But he left his mobile phone on going into the 7th round. And it rang....And the arbiter was in the room to forfeit him. Just when he had a player close to his rating of 848, Alex Buciu rated 833. They played out the game anyway and Alex Momot won the game. Due to this forfeiture he ended up on 0/7.

With all proceedings over and done with, it was time to go home..... and i had no lift to the railway station.... The time is 5.40. Oh Well there's a bus from Toukley at 6.14. Caught this bus to Lake Haven to find out that the next connecting bus to Wyong was at.......7.22!!!! And the one previously was at 6.12. Talk about connectivity......So I get to Wyong at about 8.00pm......The next train to Sydney isn't until 8.45!!! Streuth this is beyond a Joke. I finally arrive at campbelltown just after midnight. I am lucky that i have a great mother otherwise i would have had to wait on Campbelltown Station for hours to get a train to Picton....Thanks Mum!

So - To next years Toukley. I think improvements can be made in several areas. Circluation of flyers to clubs rather than just relying on everyone to view the tournament details on the internet, perhaps the RSL club could be convinced to use their courtesy bus to pick up participants from the local railway station and back for a fee. This would drastically reduce the burden on people who have to rely on public transport. For me, I have decided that i will not play this excellent tournament this year unless the Public Transport problem is ironed out.