Silent attacks in Sydney International Open chess
15 Apr 10 @ 07:00am by Steven Deare
SSSSHHHHH! You could have walked through Church Street Mall and past Parramatta Town Hall last week and been blissfully unaware of a fierce contest nearby.
Grappling with each other in silence were some of the world’s top chess players.
More than 100 players fought out the fourth annual Sydney International Open, a five-day tournament which finished on Sunday.
In a surprise result, Bulgarian Dejan Bojkov upstaged the only player in the top 100 at the tournament Li Chao, of China.
Tournament organiser Brian Jones said Bojkov was close to the top 100 but his win ahead of Li showed anything could happen in chess.
“Li Chao was the only player in top 100, so it just shows you can’t win everything,” Jones said. “As they say, every dog has his day.”
Bojkov secured most of the $5000 tournament prize money.
He and Li are grandmasters in the sport. Organisers usually provide grandmasters with accommodation to lure the star players.
While Li finished eighth, another grandmaster closer to home, Zhao Zong-Yuan, of Lidcombe, was third.
The medical student was born in China but moved to Australia as a child.
Another local scored a great result in the second tier Challengers tournament. Andrew Pan, of Carlingford, the Baulkham Hills High student profiled in the Advertiser (Elders aren’t betters, February 17), won that competition.
Source: http://parramatta-advertiser.whereilive.com.au
Who was the top seed?