33 players visited Geelong to compete in the 2018 Victorian Country Chess Championship. Top seed was Carl Gorka (2175), who had recently moved to Drouin and therefore qualified under the eligibility criteria of having a main place of residence outside of a 50km radius of the Melbourne GPO.
Carl wasn’t expected to have it all his own way however, with many times champion, Stewart Booth also playing, along with some of the best players from the Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo Chess clubs.
Results went mainly to seedings in the early rounds, with the exception of a couple of higher rated players being held to draws. The most notable among these were Ruari Coffey drawing with Alistair Anderson in Round 1, and Geoff Barber holding Stewart Booth to a draw in Round 2. Carl Gorka elected to take advantage of the half point bye in Round 4, while Ruari Coffey continued his good form, holding Stewart Booth to a draw. In Round 5, Gorka’s achieved an overwhelming position against Nigel Barrow as his greater feel for the position allowed him to recognize the need regroup pieces from the queenside to the kingside before his opponent. Leigh Healey achieved the upset of the round defeating Stewart Booth in a bishop and pawn endgame.
In Round 6, Gorka proved too strong for Healey, to take outright first with 5.5 points. After a couple of draws in the early rounds, Reza Daneshvar moved into outright second place with a win over Omar Bashar. Ruari Coffey finished a strong tournament, defeating Bas Van Riel to take outright third, as well as first place in the Reserves. The top three players were undefeated.
1: Carl Gorka 5.5
2: Reza Daneshvar 5.0
3: Ruari Coffey 4.5 (also first Reserve).
Equal 2nd – 3rd in the Reserves were Kevin Perrin and Jack Smith 3.5.

Carl and Ruari receive their prizes... but where did the wine bottles end up?

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Isaac Smith of Geelong Chess Club reports:

Well, we've just seen the end of the Victorian Country Championship 2018, and I must say it was an excellent event. Well run, competitive, friendly, and exciting.

It wasn't a question of who would win this year, it was a question of how much he would win by. Carl Gorka, who's recently moved to the countryside out of Melbourne, decided to come along and check out what the country players had to offer. He won all the games he played, although he did elect to take a bye in round 4, giving him 5.5/6 points. Hopefully he'll become a regular attendee now that he's eligible!

Second place went to Geelong's own Reza Daneshvar, on 5/6 Reza, also undefeated, drew with Andrew Wemyss and Khosrou Ghafouri and went on to win against 4 others, including stalwart tournament goers Patrick Cook and Alistair Anderson. A well played tournament by Reza!

Then, in third place, we saw the phenomenal performance of Ballaratian Ruari Coffey. Ruari, who is rated only 1487, went undefeated and scored 4.5/6. Just looking at it, one might be tempted to think this was luck of the draw, but in fact, Ruari had a very tough lot. He drew both Alistair Anderson and Stewart Booth, and defeated Barboros Kara and Bas Van Riel, all four of whom are 1800 level players. If you keep that up, Ruari, you might not be in the reserves anymore and some of us can have a shot!

Tied for second place in the reserves were myself and Kevin Perrin on 3.5/6. Kevin had a solid tournament. After losing to Nigel Barrow in Round 1, he lurked around the bottom boards for a while, and came up with a swing in the last two rounds, drawing with Mio Ristic, and beating Rod Hessing in a fascinating game where Kevin gave up the queen for a rook and a few minor pieces. Kevin's minor surrounded Rodney's king, and, although I didn't watch the game through to the end, it looked as though Rod gave back the queen, but at that point it was too late, and Kevin scored the full point..

For myself, I took a bye in Round 1, and arrived at the venue to find myself paired as Black against Alistair Anderson. Not a leisurely start to the day, and unsurprisingly I lost after giving fairly tame effort. Sunday was my day, first winning a fighting game against Andrew Wemyss, then drawing with both Khosrou Ghafouri and Barboros Kara. A more in depth discussion of my games can be found attached for those interested.

But, as much as I focused on just the prize-winners, everyone put in a solid effort; no easy games, no short draws... In fact, some of these games went for 4 hours or more, no mean feat when the time control is 60 + 30! Congratulations to all those who participated, it was a wonderful day, and I hope to see you all next year as well!