Igor Wins Australia Day weekender. Xie Second. Antic misses out!

On a Bright and sunny Australia Day 56 chess nuts decided to be gundled inside a room to play chess. The tournament had plenty of players with large ratings including GM Dejan Antic, FM Igor Bjelobrk, IM George Xie, FM Jesse Sales. Other over 2000 players included Tomek Rej, Niel Wright, Jason Hu, Paul Broekhuyse, Barak Atzmon-Simon and Johny Bolens. All these players accounted for their weaker opponents in round one except for Johny Bolens who underestimated his opponent in Michael Tracey. " I Sacrificed too much" said Bolens. Antic's first game was against David Adler who dropped a piece nearing the endgame and promptly resigned.

Adler,D - Antic,D [E60]
Australia Day Weekender (1.1), 26.01.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nc3 h6 5.Bh4 g5 6.Bg3 Nh5 7.e3 Nxg3 8.hxg3 c5 9.Nf3 d6 10.Qd2 g4 11.Nh4 Nc6 12.dxc5 dxc5 13.Qxd8+ Kxd8 14.0–0–0+ Kc7 15.Nd5+ Kb8 16.Be2 h5 17.f3 e6 18.Nf4 Ne5 19.Rd2 Kc7 20.Rhd1 b6 21.b3 Bb7 22.Nd3 Rad8 23.fxg4 hxg4 24.Nxe5 Rxd2 25.Rxd2 Bxe5 26.Bxg4 Bxg3 27.Nf3 f5 28.Bh3 Bxf3 0–1

Bjelobrk outplayed Benjamin Cheung on board two. First losing a pawn then the exchange and then more pawns and Benjamin Resigned.

Bjelobrk,I - Cheung,B [A13]
Australia Day Weekender (1.2), 26.01.2008
1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 e6 5.0–0 Be7 6.d3 0–0 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.Bf4 Re8 9.Rc1 a6 10.cxd5 Nxd5 11.Nxd5 exd5 12.d4 cxd4 13.Nxd4 Nxd4 14.Qxd4 Bf6 15.Qxd5 Qxd5 16.Bxd5 Rxe2 17.Rfe1 Rxe1+ 18.Rxe1 g5 19.Re8+ Kg7 20.Bd6 Be6 21.Rxa8 Bxd5 22.b3 Kh6 23.Rg8 Bg7 24.Bf8 Bxf8 25.Rxf8 Kg7 26.Rd8 Bc6 27.Kf1 g4 28.Ke2 f5 29.Ke3 Kg6 30.Kf4 Be4 31.Rd6+ Kh5 32.b4 Bb1 33.a4 Bc2 34.a5 Bb1 35.Rd7 Be4 36.Rxh7+ Kg6 37.Re7 Bb1 38.Rxb7 1–0

ACT's Emma Guo lost to FM George Xie, potential Sydneysider Jesse Sales accounted for NSWCA Treasurer Norman Greenwood. Tomek Rej defeated Roy Banecefic in an attacking display. Niel Wright defeated Les Kovacs, I got smashed by Jason Hu, Paul Broekhuyse accounted for Danny Bisson, and Barak Atzmon Simon beat Michael Courtney. To get to the next upset you have to go to board 21 where Drawmeister Nick Mann drew with Jason Cohn, Lloyd Fell drew with young Kinto Wan, Wah Cheung drew with Joshua Christensen. The unrated players faired well as Baby Joseph defeated Dennis Wan and Harun Majumder defeated Pierre Guenette.

In round two the top seeds kept Mowing down the lower rated opponents. Antic defeated Blair Mandla in a Benoni, Milan Grcic lost to Igor Bjelobrk who underpromoted a pawn to inflict defeat, Gerge Xie defeated Sarwat Rewais, Sales defeated Mos Ali, Tomek Rej defeated Stephen Javor, the closet grandmaster - Amiel Rosario lost to Niel Wright. Jason Hu defeated Andrew Philips , Paul Broekhuyse defeated Herman Rachmadi and Barak Atzmon-Simon defeated Rebecca Harris. There was only one draw for the round. I drew with Patrick Beaven with opposite colour bishops. Upsets for round two included Michael Tracey over Michael Dunn, Unrated Harun Majumder defeating Lloyd Fell, Gary Losh Defeating Dennis Wan, Mark Ryan defeating David Adler, Luthien Russell defeated Roy Banicevic, and Benjamin Whiteside defeating Les Kovacs.

Round two games:

Antic,D - Mandla,B [A44]
Australia Day Weekender (2.1), 26.01.2008
1.d4 c5 2.d5 e5 3.e4 Nf6 4.Nc3 d6 5.Be2 g6 6.Nf3 Bg7 7.0–0 0–0 8.Nd2 Na6 9.Nc4 Nc7 10.a4 Nfe8 11.f4 f5 12.fxe5 Bxe5 13.Nxe5 dxe5 14.exf5 Rxf5 15.Be3 b6 16.Qd2 Nd6 17.g4 Rxf1+ 18.Rxf1 Bb7 19.Bg5 Qd7 20.Bf6 Re8 21.h3 e4 22.Qf4 Rf8 23.g5 Nxd5 24.Nxd5 Bxd5 25.Rd1 Qc6 26.Qe5 Ne8 27.Qxd5+ Qxd5 28.Rxd5 Nxf6 29.gxf6 Rxf6 30.Rd7 a5 31.Re7 Rf4 32.b3 Kf8 33.Re6 Kf7 34.Bc4 Kg7 35.Kg2 Kh6 36.Bd5 Kg5 37.Bxe4 Kh4 1–0

Grcic,M - Bjelobrk,I [A89]
Australia Day Weekender (2.2), 26.01.2008
1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.c4 Bg7 5.Nc3 0–0 6.Nf3 d6 7.0–0 Nc6 8.d5 Na5 9.Qd3 e5 10.e4 fxe4 11.Nxe4 Nxe4 12.Qxe4 Bf5 13.Qe2 Bg4 14.Qe4 Bxf3 15.Bxf3 Nxc4 16.Bg4 Nb6 17.h4 Qe8 18.Bg5 c6 19.dxc6 d5 20.Qb4 bxc6 21.Be7 Rf7 22.Be6 e4 23.Bxf7+ Kxf7 24.Bc5 Rb8 25.Bd6 Rb7 26.Rac1 Qd7 27.Qc5 Bxb2 28.Rc2 Ke6 29.Bf4 Nc4 30.Qf8 Bf6 31.Qg8+ Kf5 32.Be3 Ne5 33.Qf8 Qe6 34.Kg2 Kg4 35.Qh6 Qf5 36.Bf4 Rf7 37.Rh1 Bg7 38.Qxh7 e3 39.Rb2 Qe4+ 40.Kg1 Nf3+ 41.Kf1 Bxb2 42.Qg8 e2+ 43.Kg2 e1N+ 0–1

Round three saw some of the big names start to pair up Jason Hu come up against the Grandmaster in the tournament Dejan Antic and lost in a benoni which gave Antic (as black) two very advanced passed pawns in the endgame:

Hu,J - Antic,D [E66]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (3.1), 26.01.2008
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0–0 5.0–0 d6 6.Nc3 c5 7.d4 Nc6 8.d5 Na5 9.Qd3 e5 10.Nh4 Nh5 11.Bf3 f5 12.Bxh5 gxh5 13.e3 a6 14.Qe2 Bd7 15.Kh1 b5 16.cxb5 axb5 17.e4 b4 18.Nd1 Nb3 19.Rb1 Nd4 20.Qxh5 fxe4 21.Bg5 Qe8 22.Qxe8 Rfxe8 23.a3 Bb5 24.Re1 Bd3 25.Rc1 bxa3 26.bxa3 Rxa3 27.Nb2 Nf3 28.Nxd3 Rxd3 29.Nxf3 exf3 30.Red1 Rxd1+ 31.Rxd1 e4 32.Be3 Ra8 33.Bf4 Ra6 34.h4 Bd4 35.Re1 Bxf2 36.Rxe4 Bd4 37.Re1 h5 38.Rf1 f2 39.Kg2 Kf7 40.Rb1 Kg6 41.Kf3 Kf5 42.Rd1 Rb6 43.Rc1 c4 44.Kg2 c3 45.Rd1 Ke4 46.Bg5 c2 47.Rc1 Rb1 48.Rxc2 f1Q+ 0–1

Meanwhile on board two Igor Bjelobrk defeated Barak Atzmon-Simon's From Gambit against Igors Birds opening.

Bjelobrk,I - Atzmon-Simon,B [A02]
Australia Day Weekender (3.2), 26.01.2008
1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.d4 Ng4 6.Qd3 c5 7.Qe4+ Be6 8.Ng5 Nxh2 9.Nxe6 Bg3+ 10.Kd1 fxe6 11.Qxe6+ Qe7 12.Qc8+ Qd8 13.Qxc5 Rf8 14.Nd2 g6 15.e4 Nd7 16.Bb5 a6 17.Bxd7+ Qxd7 18.Nf3 Qg4 19.Bh6 Rf7 20.Qg5 Rxf3 21.Qxg4 Nxg4 22.gxf3 Nf2+ 23.Ke2 Nxh1 24.Rxh1 Bc7 25.f4 1-0

On board three George Xie was able to overcome Paul Broekhuyse's London system.

Broekhuyse,P - Xie,G [D02]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (3.3), 26.01.2008
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bf4 Bg4 4.e3 e6 5.Bb5 Bd6 6.Bg3 Nge7 7.Nbd2 a6 8.Be2 0–0 9.0–0 Nf5 10.Bxd6 cxd6 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Nxf3 Rc8 13.Bd3 g6 14.c3 Na5 15.Qe2 Ng7 16.e4 Nh5 17.exd5 Nf4 18.Qd1 exd5 19.Re1 Nc4 20.Rb1 b5 21.Bf1 a5 22.g3 Ne6 23.Bg2 b4 24.cxb4 axb4 25.Qa4 Qb6 26.Rxe6 Ra8 27.Qc2 fxe6 28.Ng5 Rac8 29.Qe2 Rce8 30.Nxe6 Qa5 31.Qg4 Rf5 32.Nf4 Kg7 33.Rc1 b3 34.Bxd5 Rxd5 35.Rxc4 bxa2 36.Nxd5 a1Q+ 37.Kh2 Qd8 0–1

Jesse Sales accounted for Benjamin Harris on the fouth Board whilst TomekRej conceded a draw against Brendan Norman. Other Upsets for the round included Gary Losh over Stephen JavorRoy Banecevic conceded a draw against Jonathan Ren as did Les Kovacs agaist Daniel McGowan.

The Last of the Saturday round saw the titled players play off against each other. The clash of the overseas listed players was on board one Sales Drew with Antic.:

Antic,D - Sales,J [A60]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (4.1), 26.01.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 Bd6 6.Nc3 0–0 7.g3 Bc7 8.Bg2 d6 9.0–0 a6 10.a4 Re8 11.b3 Nbd7 12.Bb2 Rb8 13.Nd2 Nf8 14.e4 Ba5 15.Qc2 b5 16.h3 Ng6 17.Rfe1 Bd7 18.axb5 axb5 19.Nd1 c4 20.bxc4 bxc4 21.Bc3 Bxc3 22.Qxc3 Qc8 23.Ne3 ½–½
George Xie did not get enough compensation for a sacrificed exchange on the second board against Igor Bjelobrk.

Xie,G - Bjelobrk,I [D18]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (4.2), 29.01.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0–0 Nbd7 9.Qe2 Bg6 10.Rd1 0–0 11.Na2 Bd6 12.b4 Qe7 13.Bd2 Bh5 14.e4 e5 15.Bg5 exd4 16.Rxd4 Bxf3 17.Qxf3 Bxh2+ 18.Kf1 Be5 19.Rxd7 Qxd7 20.Rd1 Qe7 21.b5 h6 22.Bc1 Rfd8 23.Re1 cxb5 24.axb5 Rac8 25.Ba3 Qd7 26.Qb3 Rc7 27.Nb4 Qd4 28.Bd5 Ng4 29.Qa2 Bd6 30.Rb1 Bxb4 31.Bxb4 Nxf2 32.b6 axb6 0–1

Onboard three Tomek Rej defeated Brendan Norman after Norman's wild Benoni went wron losing a piece but instead of going down a piece decided to play two pieces for a queen down. Eventually Rej's Queen infiltrated the black position and black resigned:

Rej,T - Wright,N [A56]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (4.3), 27.01.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e5 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 Nbd7 6.Bd3 Be7 7.Bd2 a6 8.Nge2 h5 9.Ng3 g6 10.Qe2 h4 11.Nf1 Nh5 12.g3 Bg5 13.Ne3 Qe7 14.0–0–0 Qf8 15.Kb1 Qh6 16.Ng4 Bxd2 17.Nxh6 Bxh6 18.Bc2 Ndf6 19.Rhg1 0–0 20.f3 Rb8 21.Qf2 b5 22.g4 Nf4 23.g5 b4 24.Ne2 Bg7 25.Nxf4 exf4 26.gxf6 Bxf6 27.e5 Bxe5 28.Qxh4 Kg7 29.Qe7 1–0

Joshua Christensen continued his unbeaten streak on board four by drawing against Neil Wright. Barak Atsmon simon drew with Jason Cohn and Jason Hu accounted for Mos Ali. Broekhuyse defeated Amiel Rosario and Johny Bolens making his way back up the pack defeated Johnathan Adams. Upsets for the round included Trent Parker over Lloyd Fell, Valsalan Karayi over Dennis Wan, Mark Ryan over Pierre Guenette, Les Kovacs was held to a draw by Nicholas Mann and on the lower boards Kunec drew with Lance chiddy.

DAY TWO
Yet another beautiful day was wasted playing chess in at Norths Club at Cammeray.While the Sun shon outside top seed Dejan Antic's tournament went from good to bad to missing out on a prize after round 7.. In round 5, the first of the Sunday rounds, Dejan Antic did not get his way on the top board. It was time for the top two seeds to meet. After an interesting Nimzo Indian Dejan Antic eventually missed a combination which allowed Igor Bjelobrk to win a piece for little or no compensation:

Bjelobrk,I - Antic ,D [E24]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (5.1), 27.01.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 b6 6.e3 0–0 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.f3 d5 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Ne2 c5 11.0–0 Re8 12.Ng3 Nc6 13.Ra2 Ne7 14.Raf2 Ng6 15.Re1 Rc8 16.Bb2 h5 17.Qb1 h4 18.Nf1 Nf8 19.e4 cxd4 20.cxd4 Nh5 21.e5 Nf4 22.Bf5 Rc6 23.g3 N4e6 24.f4 Bc8 25.Bd3 Nc7 26.f5 Nh7 27.Kh1 Ng5 28.gxh4 Ne4 29.Rf4 Rh6 30.Ng3 Bb7 31.Qc2 Rxh4 32.Rxh4 Qxh4 33.Bxe4 dxe4 34.Qxc7 Ba8 35.e6 1–0

Meanwhile on the second board Jesse Sales slayed Tomek Rej's Dragon with a Maroczy Bind:
Sales,J - Rej,T [B36]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (5.2), 27.01.2008
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 g6 6.e4 d6 7.Be2 Bg7 8.Be3 0–0 9.Qd2 Qa5 10.f3 Nd7 11.Nb3 Qa6 12.0–0 Nf6 13.Rfd1 Be6 14.Rac1 Rac8 15.Nd5 Rfe8 16.Bf1 b6 17.Bg5 Nd7 18.Be3 Nc5 19.Nd4 Bd7 20.Nxc6 Bxc6 21.Bd4 Bxd4+ 22.Qxd4 Qb7 23.Ne3 Ne6 24.Qd2 Rcd8 25.Qf2 Qc8 26.Kh1 Qd7 27.Nd5 scoreshet Inelligible 1–0

In other top results, George Xie accounted for Brendan Norman, Neil Wright drew with Blair Mandla, Jason Hu defeated Sarwat Rewais, Paul Broekhuyse finally ended Joshua Christensens unbeated run and Garry Losh, who had an excellent tourney up to now lost to Johny Bolens. Jason Cohn drew with Benjamin Harris and Barak Atzmon-Simon defeated Herman Rachmadi. Mos Ali turned up with about six minutes left on his clock after taking a wrong turn and ending up getting lost. He was in luck however. His opponent was Milan Grcic whom was in the same car! A draw was agreed to. Michael Dunn drew with Norman Greenwood, Andrew Phillips drew with Michael Tracey, David Adler drew with Harun Majunda, Lloyd Fell drew with Johnathan Ren, Nick Mann held Oscar Wang to a draw as did Wah Cheung against Patrick Beahan. Upsets for the round include Emma guo over Amiel Rosario, Valsalan Karayi against Jonathan Adams, Kinto Wan defeated Roy Banicevic, Benjamin Whiteside defeated Dennis Wan. Pierre Guenette forfeited to Luthien Russel as he was sick and withdrew with very little notice.

Round 6 and the GM recovered in this round to defeat Jason Cohn. But on board one an interesting game was brewing between Jesse Sales and Igor Bjelobrk. Sales played 1.Nf3 and Bjelobrk played to arrive at a dutch defence but the usual dutch position didn't come to fruition. Sales lost a piece for a pawn to a pawnfork. Goes to prove that even the best can have "Brain explosions" as I like to call them.

Sales,J - Bjelobrk,I [A04]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (6.1), 27.01.2008
1.Nf3 f5 2.d3 d6 3.e4 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.exf5 Bxf5 6.d4 Nf6 7.Bc4 d5 8.Bd3 Bg4 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 0–0 11.Be3 c5 12.0–0 Nc6 13.dxc5 e5 14.Bb5 d4 15.Rad1 Qa5 16.Bxc6 bxc6 17.Qxc6 dxc3 18.b4 Qxb4 19.Rb1 Qe4 20.Qe6+ Kh8 21.c6 Rae8 22.Qd6 Rd8 23.Qc5 Rc8 24.Rb7 Qxc6 25.Qe7 Rg8 26.Rxa7 Nd5 27.Qd7 Qxd7 28.Rxd7 Rgd8 29.Rxd8+ Rxd8 30.Rd1 Bf6 31.Bc5 Kg7 32.g3 Kf7 33.Rb1 Ke6 34.Kf1 Rc8 35.Rb5 Ra8 36.a3 Kd7 37.Rb3 Kc6 38.Bb4 e4 39.Ke2 Rb8 40.h4 Nxb4 41.axb4 Kb5 42.Ke3 Rd8 43.Ra3 Rd2 44.Ra2 Bd4+ 45.Kxe4 Bxf2 46.Kf3 Kxb4 47.Kg4 h5+ 48.Kf3 Bc5 49.Kf4 Bd6+ 50.Kf3 Rh2 51.Ra6 Kc5 52.Ra3 Rxc2 53.g4 Kc4 54.Ra6 hxg4+ 55.Kxg4 Bc5 56.Kf3 Rf2+ 0–1

Board two saw George Xie defeat Johny Bolens in a four knights game:
Xie,G - Bolens,J [C47]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (6.3), 27.01.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 d6 6.h3 0–0 7.0–0 a6 8.d4 exd4 9.Nxd4 Bd7 10.Nf5 h6 11.b3 Re8 12.Nxe7+ Nxe7 13.Bb2 Bc6 14.Qd4 Ng6 15.Rad1 Qe7 16.Rfe1 Qf8 17.a4 Re7 18.b4 b6 19.b5 axb5 20.axb5 Bd7 21.Ra1 Ree8 22.f4 Reb8 23.Ra6 Rc8 24.e5 Scoresheet inelligible 1–0
On board three Jason Hu defeated Paul Broekhuyse in and English Opening. Hu was able to pick up a pawn and then a second during the game. Paul fought on but to no prevail. Once Rooks were off White was clearly better and Black resigned:

Hu,J - Broekhuyse,P [A29]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (6.3), 27.01.2008
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0–0 6.0–0 d5 7.d4 exd4 8.Nxd4 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 c5 10.Qd3 d4 11.Nd5 Nxd5 12.Bxd5 Rb8 13.e4 dxe3 14.Bxe3 Be6 15.Rad1 Bxd5 16.cxd5 Bd6 17.Rd2 b5 18.b3 Qa5 19.Rc1 Rbc8 20.Rdc2 b4 21.h4 Rc7 22.h5 Rfc8 23.Qc4 a6 24.Qg4 Qb5 25.Bh6 g6 26.hxg6 hxg6 27.Kg2 Qd3 28.Rd2 Qf5 29.Qxf5 gxf5 30.Rc4 Kh7 31.Bf4 Rd8 32.Kf3 Kg6 33.Be3 Re8 34.Rdc2 Rec8 35.Rc1 Kf6 36.Rh1 Rg8 37.Rh6+ Rg6 38.Rh8 Ke5 39.Ra8 Kxd5 40.Rxa6 Be5 41.Ra5 Bc3 42.Rcxc5+ Rxc5 43.Rxc5+ Kd6 44.Rxf5 Ke6 45.Rb5 Rg8 46.Bc5 Rg5 47.Rb6+ Kd7 48.Be3 Ra5 49.Rb7+ Ke6 50.Ra7 Rf5+ 51.Ke4 Re5+ 52.Kd3 Rd5+ 53.Ke2 Rb5 54.Ra6+ Kf5 55.Kf3 f6 56.Rc6 Kg6 57.Ra6 Rb7 58.g4 Rd7 59.g5 Kf5 60.gxf6 Bxf6 61.Ra5+ Ke6 62.Ke4 Bb2 63.Ra6+ Kf7 64.Ra7 Rxa7 65.Bxa7 1–0

Tomek Rej played against Rebecca Harris on five: Rej 1 Harris 0. Meanwhile Brother Benjamin defeated Neil Wright. Barak Atzmon Simon was defeated by Blair Mandla.

Draws were agreed upon by Roy Banecevic against Whiteside.
Joshua Christensen continued an excellent tournament by defeating Steven Javor. Luthien Russel scored one for the girls against Dany Bisson and Johnathan Ren defeated Michael Courtney . Les Kovacs contined his disappointing tournament by going down to Oscar Wang.

Igor Bjelobrk was the sole person on 6/6 before round 7. Could Jason Hu make a dint in Igor's perfect score? Igor Bjelobrk and Jason Hu agreed to a draw on move 22 Thus securing Igor Bjelork outright first:
Bjelobrk,I - Hu,J [A11]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (7.1), 27.01.2008
1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.b3 Bf5 6.Bb2 e6 7.Be2 h6 8.0–0 Bd6 9.d4 0–0 10.Bd3 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 Nbd7 12.e4 dxe4 13.Nxe4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Nf6 15.Qh4 b5 16.Rfc1 Rc8 17.Ne5 Qe7 18.Rc2 Ba3 19.Bxa3 Qxa3 20.Rac1 b4 21.Qf4 Qa5 22.Rd1 ½–½

The last round saw the Grandmaster defeated by the no. 3 seed George Xie. The game was a Slav defence:
Antic,D - Xie,G [D94]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (7.2)
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.e3 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Bd3 a6 7.Qb3 0–0 8.0–0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Be2 Bf5 11.Bd2 c5 12.dxc5 Nbd7 13.Qa3 Qc8 14.b4 Ne4 15.Nxe4 Bxa1 16.Ng3 Bg7 17.Nxf5 gxf5 18.Qd3 Nf6 Scoresheet Inelligible 0–1

On Board three Jesse Sales accounted for Barak Atzmon Simon to take equal third with Rej and Hu.

Board 4 saw Tomek Rej play the black side of a nimzo indian where he sacrificed his Queen for two minor Pieces and a rook. Benjamin Harris had the Queen but eventually succumbed to Rej's pieces. Harris 0 Rej 2
Harris,B - Rej,T [E30]
NSWCA Australia Day Weekender (7.4), 27.01.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bg5 c5 5.d5 Nxd5 6.Bxd8 Nxc3 7.Qb3 Ne4+ 8.Kd1 Nxf2+ 9.Kc2 Kxd8 10.Nh3 Nxh1 11.e3 Nc6 12.Be2 Kc7 13.a3 Ba5 14.Rxh1 d5 15.Rf1 Rf8 16.Ng5 Bd7 17.cxd5 exd5 18.Qxd5 Rad8 19.Rxf7 Rxf7 20.Qxf7 Kb8 21.Bf3 Ne5 22.Qf4 Bc7 23.Nf7 Nxf3 24.Qxf3 Rf8 25.Qd5 Bc6 26.Qe6 Re8 27.Qh3 h6 28.Qg4 Rxe3 29.Qxg7 Ba4+ 30.Kd2 Re8 31.Qxh6 Bb3 32.Qh5 Bf4+ 0–1

Draws for the final round included Valsalan Karayi against Jonathan Ren. Upsets for the final round were Luthien Russel over Benjamin Cheung, David Adler lost to Kinto Wan, Whiteside defeated Micheal Tracey, Wan Cheng defeated Roy Banecevic and Kunkel Veikko defeated Les Kovacs.

Congratulations to Igor Bjelobrk on his win and George Xie on his second place.