Tragedy Strikes

It should be a time of great exhiliration after the finish of both Australia's top tournament, the Doeberl Cup in Canberra, and the Candidates tournament in London. While I'd like to pass on my congratulations to all participants, especially the winners, I can't focus on chess at the moment because of the tragic news last night of a car crash that involved a group of people from my chess club, some of whom I consider good friends.

The group were driving home from Canberra after playing in Doeberl when their car lost control on the Hume Highway, the main Melbourne-Sydney freeway. Two of the group died at the scene of the accident and my heart goes out to these guys and their families. Two more were airlifted to hospital in Melbourne and are in critical condition and my thoughts are with them and their fmilies. The other two had comparatively minor injuries (I don't know the details here, so they could both be badly injured) and were ambulanced to a nearby hospital.

All of the group were young, in their 20's or 30's and I really don't know what else to say. I am shocked, stunned and deeply saddened by this....

The story has been reported in the news, the details are here.