With a $10,000 total prize fund, this year’s Wellington Open attracted a very strong field.
Despite facing higher-rated opposition in five of his six games, James performed admirably to finish equal third in the Under 1450 category. His excellent victory in round 5 against a 1600+ rated opponent set up a tense final-round clash against another 1600+ player.
The last game was fiercely contested, swinging back and forth, but ultimately went his opponent’s way. Despite the final-round loss, it was a strong overall performance in a highly competitive tournament.
The Open Division was won by Candidate Master William Rui Liu from Auckland, who went unbeaten.
Final Standings
Open
1st: CM William Rui Liu
2nd =: FM Nicolas Croad, CM Cohen Young
3rd = : CM Justin Zhide Wang, CM David Cilia Vincenti, Matthew Keith, Philli Park-Tamati, Patrick Cordue, Hugo Lawrence
Best Junior: CM Justin Zhide Wang, Matthew Keith
Best Veteran: Patrick Cordue
Best Senior: IM Anthony Ker
Best Female: WCM Luna Yuexiu Xu
U1450
1st =: Zachary He, Muhammad Mangera
3rd=: Shashank Gavini, John Hao, James Patterson, Vrajesh Ravi
U1650
1st =: Hugo Lawrence
2nd =: Elena Moshakova, Hugh Masters, Afique Nazeer, Plaso Kusay
U1850
1st=: Daniel Winsley, Karthik Sethuramalingam
3rd=: Edgar Benitez, Wei Kai Chen, Robert Hurndell, Finn O’Brien, Jarrod O’Brien, Aristotle Santos, Toby Shannon, Gregory Familton
