Kanwal Hardex Top of the Hill 1986
report taken from the Central Coast Chess Newsletter of that year
Kanwal-Hardex Top-of-the-hill Under 1600
by Mal Murrell (DOP)
This inaugural tournament attracted a satisyng 26 entries; about half these players came from the Central Coasdt and most the remainder came from Newcastle and Sydney. One player, Graham Forsyth, even came from Toowoomba, Queensland to compete and with a rating of 1599 it was thought he had a good chance of taking home the $250 first prize, but the combination of driving down from Toowoomba and a hard first round took its toll and Graham finished out of the money.
The first round of the tournament being accelerated achieved the desired result of reducing the possibility of too many players finishing on a perfect score and increasing the probability of having an outright winner.
After three rounds there were only two players on a perfect score - they were Barry Mann and Jason Williams, both members of the White Kniight Chess Club. Maybe playing on their home turf gave them a slight edge. WilliAMS and Mann met in the fourth round and Williams emergeed as the sole leader on four points going into the fifth and final round - in this round Jason Williams on four points met Mathew Trumble, the NSW under 1600 champion, who was on 3.5 points. Trumble needed a win to take outright first place; Williams needed only to draw to be outrigh winner, in their game Trumble was a pawn up but in an inferior position so he offered a draw being content with a share of 2nd place, Williams obviously accepted the draw winning the tournament and $250 with 4.5/5. Then came Larry Ermacora; Mathew Trumble and Mike McLoon equal second place ($84 each) with 4 points. Harry Urbach of Ettalong Chess Club won the $100 prize for the best under 1400. Patrick Keuning from Newcastle won the $100 prize for the best under 1200.
Many thanks to :
Ettalong and Gosford Chess Clubs for the loan of chess sets and clocks,
Keith Farrell for supplying up to date local ratings
CHESS DISCOUNT SALES for donating the book prizers which went to the following players :
Leif Anderson - Best Senior Citizen over 50
Thelma Clarke - Best Lady
Norm Tate - Best Junior
The running of the tournament went smoothly except for the fact that two players withdrew without notifying the Director of Play. This thoughtless action should be condemned by all chess players, it causes players to gain free p[oints by forfeit and causes the Director to work out two possible variations of the draw just in case the forfeited player turns up for the next round with an acceptable excuse. It takes less than a minute to notify the D.O.P. of a withdrawl and it saves a great deal of hassle.
A lightning tournament was held after the main event. Jason Williams also won this six round swiss which I directed and played in and my head is still spinning! The lightning results were :
5/6 - Williams
4 McLoon; Anderson; Murrell; Howells; Lyons
3.5 Forsyth
3 Trumble; Urbach; Smith
2 Parsons; Mnn; Farrell
Standings
1 Williams, Jason 4.5
2-4 Ermacora, Larry 4
Trumble, Mathew 4
McLoon, Mike 4
5-6 Archer, Howard 3.5
Keuning, Tony 3.5
7-11 Urbach, Harry 3
Colquhoun, Rob 3
Mann, Barry 3
Keuning, Rick 3
Anderson, Leif 3
12-13 Forsyth, Graham 2.5
Parsons, Col 2.5
14-20 Smith, Eric 2
Wallington, Laurie 2
Giles, Tony 2
Tate, Norm 2
Farrell, Keith 2
Cohen, Stan 2
Williams, Clint 2
21-22 Howells, Dave 1.5
Lyons, Jason 1.5
23 Clarke, Thelma 1
24 Tique, Norrie 0.5
25-26 Byrnes, Bob 0
Hopkinson, S 0
Cross Table
No Name 1 2 3 4 5
1. Forsyth, Graham 7:= 24:1 6:1 4:0 10:0
2. Ermacora, Larry 8:0 10:1 14:1 13:1 9:1
3. Tique, Norrie 9:0 17:= 26:- : :
4. Trumble, Mathew 10:= 7:1 16:1 1:1 8:=
5. McLoon, Mike 11:1 15:0 18:1 21:1 12:1
6. Keuning, Tony 12:1 16:= 1:0 26:1 11:1
7. Parsons, Col 1:= 4:0 10:0 24:1 16:1
8. Williams, Jason 2:1 18:1 15:1 9:1 4:=
9. Mann, Barry 3:1 19:1 21:1 8:0 2:0
10. Archer, Howard 4:= 2:0 7:1 16:1 1:1
11. Giles, Tony 5:0 20:1 :- 17:1 6:0
12. Colquhoun, Rob 6:0 22:1 19:1 15:1 5:0
13. Anderson, Leif 20:1 21:0 24:1 2:0 18:1
14. Cohen, Stan 21:0 23:1 2:0 19:1 26:0
15. Urbach, Harry 22:1 5:1 8:0 12:0 21:1
16. Howells, Dave 23:1 6:= 4:0 10:0 7:0
17. Lyons, Jason 24:0 3:= 20:1 11:0 22:0
18. Smith, Eric 25:+ 8:0 5:0 22:1 13:0
19. Farrell, Keith 26:1 9:0 12:0 14:0 23:1
20. Byrnes, Bob 13:0 11:0 17:0 23:- :
21. Wallington, Laurie 14:1 13:1 9:0 5:0 15:0
22. Williams, Clint 15:0 12:0 23:1 18:0 17:1
23. Clarke, Thelma 16:0 14:0 22:0 20:+ 19:0
24. Tate, Norm 17:1 1:0 13:0 7:0 :1
25. Hopkinson, S 18:- : : : :
26. Keuning, Rick 19:0 :1 3:+ 6:0 14:1