Games & News

Here you will find updates about the 2015 Victorian Chess Championship, as well as a downloadable PGN file of games & an updated Cross Table.

This year the event once again looks like a battle of generations, with half the field over the age of 50! With IM Kanan Izzat unable to defend his title this year, will we see a new champion, or will a former champion once again claim the title?

The first round saw a number of players taking a cautious approach, with five of the six games drawn, although there were opportunities for many players in their individual games.

Round two was the complete opposite, with all games decisive, leaving six players in the lead on 1.5/2!

At the half way point of the event (after round 6, where there is a break for the Victorian Open), James Morris leads with an impressive 4.5/5 (one game to play), while Chris Wallis is on 4.5/6, with Darryl Johansen close behind on 3.5/5 (also with a game to play), while Domagoj Dragicevic (on 3.5/6) & Eddy Levi (on 3/5) are also on 'plus' scores.

With so many players tied early in the event, every half point will be worth fighting for, unless someone can break away from the pack over the coming rounds.

With two rounds to go, the event is James Morris' to lose. He is half a point ahead of the pack on 6.5, with three games to play, against Malcolm Pyke, Simon Schmidt & Eddy Levi. Of those in the chasing pack, Darryl Johansen has games against Philip Drew & Mirko Rujevic, while Christopher Wallis has Malcolm Pyke & Douglas Hamilton to play. Domagoj Dragicevic is also on 6 points, however he only has one game to play against Leonid Sandler, while Eddy Levi is on 5.5 & has games to play against Mirko Rujevic & James Morris.

Congratulations to IM James Morris for winning the 2015 Victorian Chess Championship!

GM Darryl Johansen & FM Chris Wallis were equal second, half a point behind James. Well done!

Note that in the PGN file, the round 4 games, Hamilton-Hacche & Schmidt-Levi are incomplete. If the players have a complete record of the games, it would be greatly appreciated if they could update the games.

There are also some games that are missing from the PGN file. If any of the players have the following games, could they please send them to me, or provide me with a copy of the scoresheet:

Round 3 - Pyke v Morris

Round 6 - Levi v Johansen