Barrow - van Riel Shield

Ballarat wins by a nose

The 5th annual match between Ballarat Chess Club and Bendigo Chess Club, for the Barrow-van Riel Shield, was hosted by Ballarat in our Club rooms at the Ballaarat Mechanics Institute. This year, the match was played over 8 boards and proved to be very competitive, with Ballarat scraping to a 4.5-3.5 victory, our 3rd in a row. The Ballarat team was somewhat weakened this year with Scott Stewart isolating, and Ruari Coffey having “defected” to the Bendigo team!
On Board 1 Nigel Barrow cleaned up Bas van Riel, finishing with a brilliant Queen sacrifice. On Board 2 Paul Dao played an excellent endgame to defeat Ruari Coffey. On Board 3 Angus Blenkiron whipped up a lethal attack from nowhere that stunned David Lumsdon. On Board 4 Patrick Cook lived up to his “drawmaster” reputation, holding a difficult and lengthy game against Leigh Healey. On Board 5 Om O'Carroll played a solid and disciplined draw against Gaurav Movalia. On Board 6 David Schepisi gained revenge for his loss last year to Jules Feinberg. On Board 7 Ken Czuczman was quickly brushed aside by Vipin Jyani. On Board 8 Tom Oppenheim fought stubbornly to hold an inferior position against Russell Stanley.