Arthur Koelle Tournament 2024
2024 Champion: Scott Stewart
Reserves Winner: Johan Stanley
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Our last Classical tournament for the year was played as 2 separate tournaments with an overall entry of 43 players; 20 in the 'A' group, and 23 in the 'B' group for the Reserve title. An excellent turnout, that included a host of enthusiastic juniors.
Top seed in the 'A' was Declan Smith, followed by Scott Stewart, and, surprisingly, veterans Kevin Perrin and Patrick Cook. In the Reserve group Julian Laffey headed the list, with Maximus Thekkan and Nigel Block just behind.
As is usual in Swiss events, the early rounds allow the big guns to flex their muscles against the lower ranked players, but it is also where big upsets occur, and there were a few! In round 1, veteran Kevin Perrin fell to new President Peter Stickland, while Lucas Ware took down old President Patrick Cook after a rare endgame blunder by the veteran. In the Reserves, top seed Julian Laffey was defeated by junior Johan Stanley.
In round 2 it was junior Shanaya Guha holding ambitious Jamie Brotheridge to a draw. Round 3 saw the key pairing of top seed Declan Smith versus second seed Scott Stewart, and Scott won an excellent game. Jamie Brotheridge played well to defeat strong newcomer Dean Bown. In round 4, Scott Stewart continued his fine form with a win over strong junior Sam Song, while Declan Smith kept pace with a win over Jamie Brotheridge. Shanaya Guha continued to impress with a draw against Lucas Ware.
The action continued in round 5 where Dean Bown held Scott Stewart to a draw, while Sam Song fell to Declan Smith, and Kanishk Mahasuar defeated Kevin Perrin, with Paul Marko unable to handle Shanaya Guha. Checking in on the Reserves, junior Johan Stanley defeated the leader and fellow junior Zachariah Jacob to share the lead.
In round 6, Jamie Brotheridge lost to the leader Scott Stewart, while Declan Smith kept his hopes alive with a win against Dean Bown. Shanaya Guha fell to Kanishk Mahasuar and old President, Patrick Cook defeated new President Peter Stickland with excellent endgame play after Peter missed a crushing attack earlier in the game. In the Reserves, Zachariah Jacob defeated top seed Julian Laffey, while Johan Stanley kept pace with a win over Alberto Biju.
The last round, and both titles were still undecided. Scott Stewart made sure of victory with a win over Kanishk Mahasuar, while Patrick Cook was crushed by Declan Smith, to no avail for Declan. Thus, Scott Stewart is the Koelle Champion for 2024, becoming only the 4th player to win all 4 Classical events in our history, joining Bas van Riel, Patrick Cook, and Rob Loveband. In the Reserves, Julian Laffey again fell to a junior in Johan Stanley, while Anirudh Weerakkody held Zachariah Jacob to a draw to hand Johan Stanley outright victory.
Scott Stewart and Johan Stanley receive their medals from President Peter
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Mr. Arthur Koelle was Victorian Junior champion in 1968 at 14, Country Victorian champion in the same year, and Club champion, also in 1968 as well as 1969. Most of these achievements are age records to this day! He went on to win the Australian Junior championship in 1971. Arthur has been living in Germany since 1982 and competed in the famous Bundesliga club competition, mixing it with experienced grandmasters, up until the mid-1990’s when work commitments became more pressing. Due to rising numbers of participants the original round robin format for the A Grade has now become a Swiss tournament, while the B and C Grade tournaments' format depends on the number of entries. The inaugural tournament was held in 2011.
