Victorian Junior Championship - into the eleventh hour

The third round in a day is always somewhat of a lottery, a test of stamina as much as a test of skill. And when the games over run it is doubly hard for the competitors. So far, both the rounds have gone over time today, and the third round started an hour later than advertised. I don't think that anyone is too bothered of the last round starting at 5pm, but when it was scheduled to start at 4pm it is rather annoying, especially if anyone had plans in the evening (like me, for instance!).

 Board 1, no surprises with IM James Morris (left), but Matthew Cheah upset second seed, Zelesco in the previous round

 Board 2, Zachary Loh (left) against Michael Chan

 Board 3, Savithri Narenthan (left) against Karl Zelesco

 The main playing area

 Talented Girls (Gawin and Dilnutt) against talented boys (Yung and Yuan)

 All MCC clash, Ari Dale (left) against Nicolaas Schroeder

The back of Sam Gluzman is nearest to us, while Jimmy Ying faces him, on board 5. The line of top boards is Box Hill Chess Club's DGT transmission boards.


In round 3 we saw Max Chew Lee's great victory against Ari dale, and that looked like being the upset of the day. However, he was trumped in the next round by Matthew Cheah in the 4th round, beating Karl Zelesco. This means that only one of the top seeds remains undefeated, and that is James Morris. He has to play Matthew Cheah in the fifth round. The other top seed is Michael Chan, who had dropped a half point to top girl, Savithri Narenthran, in the third round this morning. Michael found top gear in his next game beating Ari Dale.

The juniors in the hall are not looking their brightest at the moment. In fact exhaustion is the best description of the character of the main playing hall. Half the games of the round are already finished, and mistakes are being made across the board. Arbiter, David Hacche, who hasn't fitted in an afternoon nap today, has just commented on an inaccuracy by the top seed, though I haven't actually seen the game. I'm sure it is nothing too major, though.

I would definitely be looking at scheduling as an issue to remedy from this tournament. Earlier I talked with CV Treasurer Trevor Stanning, and CV President Leonid Sandler, and the general feeling is that there is too much tournament chess being played for our population in Victoria, which means that tournaments such as the Victorian Juniors, and even the State Championship do not seem overly exciting. I will be coming up with some formulae and ideas to try to remedy this situation, because the State Championships and the State Junior Championships should be flagship events.