OCEANIA ZONAL 3.6 CHESS TOURNMENT

The Oceania Zonal 3.6 Chess Tournament was held in Melbourne, Australia from 23rd to 28th January 2023. It was hosted by Chess Victoria Inc. under the auspice of the Asian Chess Federation and International Chess Federation-FIDE,
Representing Solomon Islands in the tournament was Fred Resture. Despite the delay of his visa, he managed to travel to Melbourne on Wednesday 26th January to compete in the tournament.

There were well over 250 participants, with majority from Australia. It was a 9 Round tournament andFred was able to play from Round 6 to 9. He managed to finish off with 2.5/9.

He wasn’t able to play from Round 1 to Round 5 because of the delay but was able to play 4 games and finished with 2 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw.

The tournament is a classic, with 90 mins plus 30 secs per player. On top of that, Fred was fortunate to take part in the Blitz championship. It was a 3 minutes per player and it takes fast thinking to win games. Out of the 7 rounds, Fred scored 4.5/7and it was 4 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses for his first time to play in such an international tournament.

That in itself is a record as no Solomon Islander has ever played in international tournaments and made spectacular results like what he did. That in itself is a bonus for our local players.

Solomon Islands after becoming a FIDE member in 2008, sent our first Oceania tournament player toAustralia, We then sent two in 2013 for the Oceania zonal in Fiji. We then sent a team to take part in the FIDE Olympiad in 2014 in Norway.

Over the years Fred had built his reputation as a prominent player after winning individual and team tournaments organized including the Sir Peter Kenilorea Chess Championship.For 2023, we are hoping to have more tournaments to be held locally and regionally.

Solomon Islands ChessFederation will use this year to select players and prepare well for the FIDEOlympiad next year in Hungary.

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