The 2009 Oceania Zonal Chess Championships was held at the Outrigger Twin Towers Resort on the Gold Coast, Australia from 20-26 June. With the event being a world championships cycle qualifier, the big names in Oceania Chess were out to win the event.

Local National Champion Manoj Kumar will be the official representative to the Open event. He is joined by Damien Norris, Calvin Prasad, Dr. Sanmogam Goundar and Gaurav Raicar.

The Womens Category will see local representative unrated Hilda Vukikomoala face a tough of competitiors from the Oceania. Fortunately she will also have veteran Gloria Sukhu to guide her along for the event.

Round 8 & 9 update (UPDATED 26/06/09 2300hrs)

The 2009 Oceania Zonal Chess Championships came to a dramatic end with GM David Smerdon and WIM Arianne Caoili qualifying for the World Chess Championships later this year.

The local contingent faired well with Gloria Sukhu (18) finishing her tournament with 1 point and Hilda Vukikimoala (17), having defeated Sukhu in earlier play, with 2 points in the Women’s competition.

The Open competition was another battleground as Gaurav Raicar (70) drew his final match to rise off the floor ending the event with 2 points. Damien Norris (68)had a slight below par performance in the event as he only managed to amass 2.5 points.

Dr. Sanmogam Goundar (39) had several very good rounds in the latter of the championship to find himself on 4.5 points at the end of 9 rounds. No doubt a good performance of 50% score.

CM Manoj Kumar (27) who was expected to finish on a high did not disappoint as he surged to 5 points and an exceptional equal 24th finish in the championships. With the bar set CM Calvin Prasad (28) raked in a point in his final round to also tie for 24th and have an exceptional rating performance of 2138.

Fiji Chess Federation President Dr. Virgilio De Asa congratulated all representatives for their splendid performance in the championships adding that this had been the best finish so far, not only by the record points scored but also the big wins over highly-rated players. .

Round 7 update - CM upsets FM (UPDATED 24/06/09 2345hrs)

The Fiji contingent had good results in the seventh round of the Oceania Zonal Chess Championships with CM Manoj Kumar (4.5/7 points) leading the charge after recording a surprise victory over fifth seed FM Endre Ambrus of Australia in a match that saw national champ Kumar play over 3 hours of intense chess to record one of the highlight wins of his career against a much stonger international opponent.

Not to be outdone CM Calvin Prasad (4/7 points) recorded yet another solid vicotry over Australian Andrew Fritzpatrick, Prasad was clinical and secured his win by outplaying his opponent. Dr Sanmogam Goundar (3.5/7 points) missed a midgame opportunity to claim a win against Jason Chan settling for his well earned draw. Damien Norris (2.5/7 points) suffered a loss to WIM Alexandra Jule, meanwhile Gaurav Raicar (0.5/7 points) succumbed in a tough match against Annuraj Sanidhanam.

The ladies did not fear so well both going down to their much stronger international opponents. Gloria Sukhu has one point from her games while Hilda Vukikomoala has managed to get two points from her seven games. Round eight starts at 6pm local time tomorrow (Thurs).

Round 5 & 6 (UPDATED 23/06/09 1700hrs)

The Oceania Zonal chess championships completed its fifth and sixth rounds of play with the Fiji contingent recording good results against their international counterparts.

CM Manoj Kumar made up for his earlier loss to Eddy Levi with a calculated win over Alexander Stahnke to salvage a point from the two games while Damien Norris secured two points against his Australian opponents. Candidate Master Calvin Prasad managed a tough draw against Yi Yuan and was happy with his results adding that he has played higher rated opponents in all rounds so far. Dr Sanmogam Goundar and Gaurav Raicar had mixed results each managing to secure vitals points in their matches.

In the female category the much anticipated clash between the local girls proved an upset when Hilda Vukikomoala turned the tables on her mentor and defeated Gloria Sukhu.

Round 3 & 4 (UPDATED 22/06/09 1700hrs)

The local lads had a good outing in the third and fourth rounds of the Oceania Zonal Chess Championships held at the Gold Coast in Australia.

CM Manoj Kumar continued to add to his overnight tally with another win in the third but his night was made after a hard fought draw with higher rated Gareth Oliver of Australia. Gaurav Raicar salvaged a draw against his Australian opponent while Dr Sanmogam Goundar added 2 points to his tally with the cherished scalp of the Solomon champion. Damien Norris earned himself a draw while CM Calvin Prasad fought his way to two wins from two matches on the day taking his personal tally up to two and a half points.

The Women had a harder draw but both managed to pickup a bye point and sit with one point each The event resumes today with more tough action for the Fiji contingent.