Tuesday 13 March 2018

2018 ACT Chess Championship - Lo and Brown share title

The final day of the 2018 ACT Chess Championship could not split the overnight leaders, leaving IM Andrew Brown and Willis Lo sharing the title of 2018 ACT Champion. Lo had the slightly tougher run to the finish, but also had fortune go his way, after a dramatic round 6 win over FM Michael Kethro. Short of time Kethro played an unsound combination which left Lo a piece up, but Kethro still had possible drawing chances. However he lost on time after mishitting his clock, giving Lo the point. In the final round against Brian Butler, Lo gambled on a king and pawn ending which was still drawn after both players queened, but a misstep by Butler allowed Lo to reach another king and pawn ending, but this time a winning won.
IM Andrew Brown played two pretty convincing games against Adrian de Noskowski in round 6 and Joshua Lee in round 7. The game against Lee was probably the best game of the event, with Brown offering a rook for a number of moves while building up a winning attack. These wins left both Lo and Brown on 6.5/7, and joint champions.
Equal third was shared by Sankeertan Badrinarayan and Tim Pearce on 5/7. Ricky Luo and Lachlan Ho shared the Under 1500 prize, with Ho picking up the best performance against rating prize (otherwise known as W-We). Thomas Lin was the best FIDE unrated with 4/7, while Liam Miller won the best newcomer prize.
Full results, plus a selection of games (including the top 4 boards from each round) can be found at http://tournaments.streetchess.net/actchampionship2018/

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