2008 Christmas Open


The final Grand Prix event for 2008 - the Christmas Open (6 rounds) was held over the weekend of 6th & 7th of December at Legacy House.

17 players turned up to contest the Christmas Open, down a little on previous years.

The range of ratings was more widespread than usual and it looked like there would be many predictable results. It did not take long before that assumption was proved unsound. In Round 1, Mohammad Jahangirian lost to newcomer Aaron McHugh, Dennis Holland lost to Chirag Saroha (one of our promising Juniors), and Ganesh Viswanath lost to Gary Donaldson!

Stephanus Kurniawan drew with Dave Dempster in Round 2 but won all his other games. Perhaps his most critical win was against Tom Donaldson in Round 5 when Tom had 4/4. Marc Vlietstra recovered from a Round 2 loss to Tom and finished second. If there had been another round, Marc's clash with Stephanus would have been interesting.

Ganesh Viswanath had an even bigger recovery, losing his first two games then winning four in a row (including a win against Tom in the last round) to share third place. Edik Gilmetdinov had a huge result, beating Ganesh and Gordon Dunlop along the way, and only losing to the top two rated players. Dennis Holland was another who staged a big comeback, winning his last three games to also share third.

Alex De Heer kept his nerve, winning his last two games after losing three in a row, to take the Under 1500 prize.



Prize Winners


  Open
   1st	Stephanus Kurniawan  (5.5)
   2nd	Marc Vlietstra  (5)
  =3rd	Tom Donaldson, Ganesh Viswanath, Edik Gilmetdinov & Dennis Holland  (4)  

  U1800
  =1st	Edik Gilmetdinov & Dennis Holland  (4)

  U1500
   1st	Alex De Heer  (3)


Final Standings


 Place Name                  Loc  Score  M-Buch. Progr.  

 1     Kurniawan, Stephanus  2125 5.5      13.5   18.5
 2     Vlietstra, Marc       2010 5        10.5   17.0
 3-6   Donaldson, Tom        2048 4        15.5   18.0
       Gilmetdinov, Edik     1566 4        13.0   14.0
       Viswanath, Ganesh     1833 4        11.0   10.0
       Holland, Dennis       1799 4         9.5   11.0
 7-10  Dunlop, Gordon        1875 3        13.0   15.0
       Booth, Guy            1512 3        12.5    6.0
       Dempster, Dave        1789 3        10.0   11.0
       de Heer, Alex         1482 3        10.0    9.0
 11-13 Sam, Ryan             1600 2.5      14.0    9.5
       Saroha, Chirag        1244 2.5      13.0    9.0
       Jahangirian, Mohammad 1701 2.5      11.5   10.0
 14-15 Donaldson, Gary       1353 2        12.5   10.0
       McHugh, Aaron              2        10.5    9.0
 16-17 Watkins, Lucian       1176 1        12.5    5.0
       Bermudez, Hector      1400 1         5.5    2.0
 18    Kuklinski, Andrew     1946 0         2.5    0.0


Cross Table


 No  Name                  Loc  Total  1    2    3    4    5    6    

 1.  Kurniawan, Stephanus  2125 5.5   10:W  8:D  7:W 15:W  2:W 11:W
 2.  Donaldson, Tom        2048 4     11:W 13:W  3:W  5:W  1:L  6:L
 3.  Vlietstra, Marc       2010 5     12:W 16:W  2:L 10:W  9:W  5:W
 4.  Kuklinski, Andrew     1946 0     13:-   :    :    :    :    : 
 5.  Dunlop, Gordon        1875 3     14:W 18:W  8:W  2:L 11:L  3:L
 6.  Viswanath, Ganesh     1833 4     15:L 11:L 12:W 14:+ 10:W  2:W
 7.  Holland, Dennis       1799 4     16:L 12:W  1:L 17:W 15:W  9:W
 8.  Dempster, Dave        1789 3     17:W  1:D  5:L  9:L 18:W 10:D
 9.  Jahangirian, Mohammad 1701 2.5   18:L 14:W 16:D  8:W  3:L  7:L
 10. Sam, Ryan             1600 2.5    1:L 15:W 13:W  3:L  6:L  8:D
 11. Gilmetdinov, Edik     1566 4      2:L  6:W 17:W 16:W  5:W  1:L
 12. Booth, Guy            1512 3      3:L  7:L  6:L   :+ 17:W 18:W
 13. de Heer, Alex         1482 3      4:+  2:L 10:L 18:L 16:W 15:W
 14. Bermudez, Hector      1400 1      5:L  9:L   :+  6:-   :    : 
 15. Donaldson, Gary       1353 2      6:W 10:L 18:W  1:L  7:L 13:L
 16. Saroha, Chirag        1244 2.5    7:W  3:L  9:D 11:L 13:L 17:W
 17. Watkins, Lucian       1176 1      8:L   :+ 11:L  7:L 12:L 16:L
 18. McHugh, Aaron              2      9:W  5:L 15:L 13:W  8:L 12:L