Victorian Championships Final Round

Today, the final round of the Victorian Championships and Reserves Tournaments were held at Box Hill Chess Club. In the Championship, it was exciting with 4 players in with a chance of first place. In first was IM Mirko Rujevic who had drawn against IM James Morris earlier this week, the game played early as James is off to play in the Malaysian Open. Equal first before the final round was Dusan Stojic, with Chris Wallis and IM Igor Goldenberg half a point behind. Igor was playing Dusan in the final round so an exciting finish in prospect. While Chris Wallis managed to win against David hacche, the game between Igor and Dusan ended in a draw which meant that Dusan Stojic and Chris Wallis came equal first, with the IM's Rujevic and Goldenberg half a point behind. 12 year old World Champ Bobby Cheng was the best of the rest, but the top four were a long way clear. Final standings were:

1. Wallis, Stojic 8.5
3. IM Rujevic, IM Goldenberg 8
5. FM Cheng 6.5
6. IM Sandler 5
7. IM Morris, FM Hamilton, Gorka 4.5
10. FM Levi, Hacche 3.5
12. Beaumont 1

With 4 IM's and 3 FM's this was a strong Victorian Championships and that usually means the Reserves Tournament is also strong. I once won the Reserves tournament a couple of years ago and Dusan and Chris were also in it. The main prize of the Reserves Tournament is an automatic spot in the following year's Champioship event. This was taken by Sylvester Urban who dominated the Reserves Tournament this year. He scored 8/9 to finish 2 points clear. It was close for second place with only 2 points seperating 2-8 places. Vineetha Wijesurija should be happy with her 2nd place, while Svetozar Stojic, the highest rated player in the tournament and a previous Championsip competitor will probably be a little disappointed.
Final standings were:

1.S.Urban 8
2.V.Wijesurija 6
3-4 F.Lekkas, V.Kildisas 5,5
5. S.Stojic 5
6-8 S.Hose, J.Wallmuller, R.Beattie 4
9 P.Cavezza 2,5
10 P.Wallmuller 0,5

From my own personal point of view, I am satisfied with my result, though it was nothing special. I managed to reach my expected score, or just below it, and will probably lose 2 or 3 FIDE rating points. I played endgames pretty well, which is quite a bonus, but really didn't compete in complicated positions. My openings were non existent and I played no critical positions. I only managed .5 against the top 5 which is testament to how badly I was playing against the in-form crowd.
Today I managed a draw against IM Leonid Sandler, but from a relatively early position, I accepted an IQP which saw me struggling to equalise for the rest of the game. Luckily for me, Leonid is also struggling to find his best form and he could never seem to find a way to capitalise on his structural superiority.