I wanted to make the best tournament, at the best possible place.

This is how Murray Chandler explained his decision to choose Queenstown as the place of the Classic tournament, an extremely rare event in the chess calendar which takes place every three years.

By GM Dejan Bojkov

Murray is the only Kiwi GM so far. He has lived for a very long time in London, UK, but recently moved back to his native New Zealand. Even though he is a proud citizen of Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, he uses every possible moment to visit Queenstown. And with a good reason!

Picturesquely surrounding the Wakatipu Lake, the town is a real jewel with its fresh air, clear waters, the remarkable mountain range and nature. It is also the birthplace of the most extreme sports ever, like bungee and zorbing ball.There is a little bit of something for everyone, no matter if you like the extreme, or the silent way of spending your time.

This is also the place where 148 people from 19 countries competed in a chess event, between 15th and 23rd January. Eleven of those players had the highest chess title, and there were 46 titled players in total.

The rate of the play reminded of the good old days: 1 hour and 40 minutes for 40 moves, then 50 additional minutes for the next 20 moves followed by 15 more till the end of the game, all of these with an increment of 30 seconds per move.

Some games lasted more than 7 hours. One example was the game Zhao Xue vs Max Illingworth from round seven, which lasted for 177 moves! In that game the young Australian spoiled an extra three-pawn advantage in the endgame, and had to defend a rook-and-knight versus rook endgame.

The trick was, however, that this position arose on move 98, and Illingworth did not want to claim the draw, but to break the record for the longest game! I am quite sure he did it just for this one though…

There was an additional rule for the top ten boards. They were not allowed to make draws before move thirty, and some severe punishments were introduced. Here is a quote from the tournament regulations:

The aim of this rule is to encourage a competitive, fighting tournament, and we trust all players will adhere to this in a sportsmanlike manner. Genuine draws by repetition are allowed.

The first penalty of disobeying the rule was a 50% deduction of any price money won, and the second 100%. I do not know if this was the main reason for it, but the top players gave everything they could to make the event lively.

The top seeded player, Li Chao, was leading, or co-leading throughout the whole event, but before the last round things became very complicated. The Chinese GM, and his compatriot Zhao Jun, were leading with 7/8 (they had already played together) followed by a group of three players with 6.5 each. Two of them were facing the Chinese. Trevor Tao (6.5)-Li Chao(7), Sune Berg Hansen(6.5)-Zhao Jun (7), and Gawain Jones (6)-Darryl Johansen (6.5) were the top three boards.

The top player’s chances seemed higher because of the almost three-hundred point difference that he had with his opponent. Furthermore, he caught his opponent in a home prepared line straight from the opening, and took over the initiative right from the start.

Li Chao could have entered a risk-free endgame with an extra pawn on many occasions, but preferred instead to keep the pressure, and try to outwit his less experienced opponent. Trevor Tao was a completely new name for me, but his stubbornness in this decisive game was indeed impressive!

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At the closing ceremony, the arbiters pointed out that he rarely plays international tournaments, but when he does them, he plays them well. This was the case here, too, as he not only managed to repel the attack, but after taking an advantage of some of his opponent’s mistakes even emerged with position with two extra pawns in the endgame. Alas, he blundered the exchange, and the Chinese GM escaped slightly scared only. (Trevor Tao did score his third IM norm in the event.)

Meanwhile, on board two Zhao Jun was defending after getting caught in an extremely sharp and dangerous home-prepared attack. The Chinese showed nerves of steel and managed to save the half point and share the victory after a prolonged battle, and a model defense.

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But, those two did not have the chance to take the trophies back home, as there was a big surprise on board three. Gawain Jones sacrificed a piece for two pawns, had a chance to force perpetual but rejected it to lose to the eventual winner Darryl Johansen. He finished first on countback (most wins).

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Queenstown Chess Classic 2012 | Final standings (top 30)

The winners Zhao Jun, Darryl Johansen and Li Chao

Darryl had just become Australian champion for the sixth time, and could not hide his excitement. “If anyone have told me before the event that I will win both the Australian championship, and tie for the first in Queenstown I would have considered him completely insane”, said the modest gentleman at his closing speech. But he did it, despite the early draw in round two, and thanks to the seven wins which he scored in total (three of them in the last rounds).

Darryl Johansen wins to events in a row

Gawain Jones did not leave New Zealand empty handed and took back home the price for the most beautiful game, and Michael Steadman collected the New Zealand’s trophee.

Michael Steadman, best of the local participants

Naturally beautiful, nature beauty!

Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu

You can find Dejan's blog at www.dejanbojkov.blogspot.com