Round Reports (rounds 4-9)
Geoff Hyde
Daniel Does it Again – Final Round of the St George 2023 Swiss
Daniel Melamed playing Nick Kordahi in Round 9. John-Stuart Plant in the background.
Daniel Melamed’s big year at St George got even bigger on the night of the final round of the 2023 Swiss. Daniel finished the tournament with a win, and, on 8/9 points, he took first place in the tournament overall. This added to Daniel’s sole first place in the 2023 Club Championship, his equal first (with John-Stuart Plant) in the Club Allegro and his second place to John-Stuart in the August Club Lightning. Daniel’s FIDE rating (2005) has already climbed 100 points in 2023, and will no doubt finish the year even higher. In second place was Terrence Tang, on 7/9, and third place was shared between JSP, Jeremy Plunkett and FM Clive Ng, all on 6.5. The final crosstable is here.
The final round was quiet in terms of numbers, and in terms of unexpected results: only one of the latter, a win to Kane Phillips who beat an opponent 25 points above him in the initial standings.
2023 St George Swiss: Round 8 update
Click to see the crosstable after round 8, and the provisional round 9 pairings.
With one round to go, Daniel Melamed (7/8) has held onto his half point lead, but those on his heels have been reduced from three to one – Terrence Tang. John-Stuart Plant and Nicholas Kordahi, on 6, are still in with a chance. In his Round 8 game, JSP was able to capitalise on a few errors by his opponent, FM Clive Ng, in what he feels was one of his best-ever games. See the game here, including some comments by JSP.
It was a relatively quiet night, in terms of unexpected results. Only five players scored a win or draw against opponents ranked 10 or more spots above them in the initial standings (the number in parentheses indicates the size of the ranking gap): Emad Nasif (win, 20); Ted Power (draw, 45); Kevin Liu (draw, 21); Jason Touma (draw, 19); Stephen Manwarring (draw, 16).
2023 St George Swiss: Round 7 update
Click to see the crosstable after round 7, and the provisional round 8 pairings.
Round 7 saw far fewer unexpected results across the field than in previous weeks, and Daniel Melamed (6/7) regained his sole position at the top of the standings. But Terrence Tang, FM Clive Ng, and Jeremy Plunkett are all hoping to change that in the final two rounds, all sitting just a half-point back.
Nine players scored a win or draw against opponents ranked 10 or more spots above them in the initial standings (the number in parentheses indicates the size of the ranking gap): Kevin Liu (win, 27); Chris Brown (win, 17); Robert O’Connor (win, 12); Jason Touma (draw, 15) and Andrew Li (draw, 10).
2023 St George Swiss: Round 6 update
Click to see the crosstable after round 6, and the provisional round 7 pairings.
The top of the table saw a major reshuffle, as Terrence Tang’s win against Daniel Melamed means that Terrence now shares the lead with Daniel and Clive Ng, all on 5/6. Jeremy Plunkett and Ted Power sit a half-point back.
Nine players scored a win or draw against opponents ranked 10 or more spots above them in the initial standings (the number in parentheses indicates the size of the ranking gap): Volkan Soker (win, 39); Kane Phillips (win, 32); Maan Beydoun (win, 24); James Robbie (win, 24); Ramu Srinirasa (win, 19); William Liu (win, 19); Emad Nasif (win, 19); Dimitrios Stathos (win, 11); and Ted Power (draw, 38).
2023 St George Swiss: Round 5 update
Daniel Melamed, fresh from a strong performance at the Ryde Eastwood Open, increased his lead in the St George Swiss with his win against John-Stuart Plant. Daniel (5/5) now sits a full point clear of four players: Terrence Tang, FM Clive Ng, Ted Power and Mal O’Donoghue. The surprise item on that list is unrated young gun, Ted Power, who had his strongest win yet, against club captain Charles Zworestine (ACF 1903).
Eleven players scored a win or draw against opponents ranked 10 or more spots above them in the initial standings (the number in parentheses indicates the size of the ranking gap): Ted Power (win, 49); Volkan Soker (draw, 45); Pascale Maddock (draw, 23); Kane Phillips (win, 20); Kevin Liu (win, 20); Emmanuel Vardakis (win; 19); Jason Touma (win, 14); Stephen Manwarring (draw, 14); Ethan Currie (win, 14); and Brian Connell (win, 12).
Sixty players are registered, with 12 of those rated over 1800. Click to see the crosstable after round 5, and the provisional sixth round pairings.
2023 St George Swiss: Round 4 update
Round 4 saw a clear-cut single leader emerge: Daniel Melamed, still on a perfect score of 4 points after his win against FM Clive Ng. Four players sit a mere half-point back: Jeremy Plunkett, Terrence Tang, John-Stuart Plant and Richard Eccles. It was a week for upsets across the table with the following players getting a win or draw against opponents ranked at least ten spots above them: Peter Swinton, Emmanuel Vardakis, Kane Phillips, Ramu Srinirasan and Emad Nasif, and three real outperformers scoring wins against players ranked at least 30 spots above: Maan Beydoun, Ted Power and Volkan Soker.
Sixty players are registered, with 12 of those rated over 1800. Click to see the crosstable after round 4, and the provisional fifth round pairings.
In the tourney, each player has 60 mins for their moves, with a 30s increment per move. It’s a Swiss-structured event, which means that if there are 60 players, ranked 1 through 60, then in round one, player #1 is paired with player #31, player #2 with player #32 etc. In subsequent rounds, the same logic is used, but is applied within groups of players on the same score, and with adjustments made such that (amongst other considerations) people never play each other twice, and ideally alternate between black and white.