Fiji Fight On in Oceania Competition
Fiji Fights on in Oceania Competition
The 2017 Oceania Zonal Chess competition got underway in Auckland, New Zealand last Saturday. The opening ceremony was officiated by New Zealand parliamentarian Jamie-Lee Ross and observed a minute of silence for Fijian chess player Russell Taloga who lost his life while swimming. Taloga was due to make his international debut for Fiji at the tournament. Candidate Master Manoj Kumar started his campaign by quickly disposing Stephen Murdoch of New Zealand in the first round. Kumar lost to a tough secondround opponent in Australian FIDE Master (FM) Patrick Gong before bouncing back in round three by beating Tito Cabunagan from Palau. The veteran is paired against FM Nicolas Croad of New Zealand in the fourth round. Zen Borg, 19, who is playing in his first Oceania Zonal event got off to a rocky start losing to Leo Zhang of New Zealand in the first round. Borg struck back in round two and beat Kimberly Yuan of New Zealand before going down to Tom Crossman of Australia in the third round. The USP student is paired against William Jiewen Zhang of New Zealand in the fourth round and is expected to notch his second win of the tournament. Deenbandhoo Primary School student Rudr Prasad lost his first two games to Jack James and Cameron Yuen before getting on the scoreboard in the third round by holding Viney Kumar of New Zealand to a draw. Prasad is paired against Leo Xiang Yu Li of New Zealand in the fourth round and should do well against the same rated opponent. Nine-year-old, Tanvi Prasad had a rocky start in the women’s division losing to Vivian Smith, Fiona Shen and Krystal Lal in her first three games. The winners in the Open and Women’s divisions will qualify for the Chess World Cup 2017- a 128-player tournament in Tbilisi, Georgia, which is from September 1-25. The Oceania Zonal is a nineround Swiss event that will finish on January 20.