Oceania Zonal 2011

Surprisingly little is known of this zonal tournament which is the first step towards the World Championship for most chess players. Australia used to be in the same zone as Malaysia. Some time back Australia managed to convince FIDE that they and surrounding nations deserve a zone of their own. The result was the formation of the Oceania zone consisting of Australia, New Zealand , Papua New Guinea, Palau, Fiji and Solomon Islands. I am sure none of you have heard of Palau, I certainly did not and had to look it up. It is a small island nation - nearest neighbour is Philippines about 500 miles away.

Now it does not take a chess genius to figure that Australia is the only strong chess playing country in this zone and it will be a an extended version of their national championship.

Malaysia is in Zone 3.3 with three strong countries, Philippines , Vietnam and Indonesia as well as lesser ones such as Singapore, Thailand and Mongolia. At least China is also out of our zone, once upon a time they were always the favourite to qualify from this zone. But still Zone 3.3 is a very tough one.

For the record, the 2011 Oceania zonal was held in Rotorua, New Zealand from 25 till 31 January. Full results below.

Place Name Feder Rtg Loc Title Score

1 Zhao, Zong-Yuan AUS 2586 2579 gm 8.5
2 Brown, Andrew AUS 2175 2168 7 -- IM title
3-4 Illingworth, Max AUS 2311 2284 fm 6.5
Ly, Moulthun AUS 2321 2288 6.5 -- FM title
5-8 Feldman, Vladimir AUS 2262 2181 im 6
Cheng, Bobby AUS 2335 2207 fm 6
Xie, George AUS 2478 2463 im 6
Lukey, Stephen G NZL 2244 2318 fm 6
9-15 Lane, Gary W AUS 2373 2319 im 5.5
Smerdon, David C AUS 2531 2488 gm 5.5
Reilly, Tim AUS 2276 2358 fm 5.5
Morris, James AUS 2270 2190 im 5.5
Oliver, Gareth AUS 2210 2167 5.5 -- FM title
Zulfic, Fedja AUS 2024 1958 5.5
Steadman, Michael V R Nzl 2242 2362 fm 5.5
16-21 Ikeda, Junta AUS 2262 2238 fm 5
Schon, Eugene AUS 2157 2153 5
Ansell, Alan NZL 2001 2050 5
Safarian, Alek AUS 2013 1951 5
Ogada-Osir, Ibrahim AUS 2152 1997 5
Bennett, Hilton P NZL 1974 2046 5
22-35 Smith, Robert W NZL 2287 2371 fm 4.5
Stevens, Tristan AUS 2050 2004 4.5
Pinic, Noel NZL 2058 2121 4.5
Dordevic, Ivan NZL 2019 2080 4.5
Fitzpatrick, Andrew AUS 2023 1851 4.5
Flitney, Adrian AUS 1973 1764 4.5
Press, Shaun P PNG 2067 1732 4.5
Kumar, Manoj FIJ 2011 1859 4.5
Fuatai, Fuatai NZL 2015 2027 4.5
Voon, Richard AUS 1904 1758 4.5
Jones, Brian A AUS 2067 1968 fm 4.5
Forster, William NZL 1908 1990 4.5
Setiabudi, Allen AUS 1906 1864 4.5
Goundar, Sanmogam FIJ 1904 1671 4.5
36-42 Johnson, Quentin J F NZL 2128 2072 4
Guo-Yuthok, Sherab AUS 1975 1849 4
Nyberg, Michael NZL 1969 2036 4
Milligan, Helen NZL 2048 2148 wfm 4
Wang, Oscar AUS 1942 1801 4
Bennett, Matthew AUS 1650 1546 4
Tan, Justin AUS 2161 2067 4
43-47 Marcos, Joselito PNG 2095 1747 3.5
Kempen, Leon AUS 2003 1834 3.5
Bishop, Joshua AUS 1797 1549 3.5
Cooper, Nigel NZL 1769 1731 3.5
Lynn, William NZL 1962 1914 3.5
48-50 Davis, Justin M NZL 2023 2111 3
Yao, Winston Yow-Jen NZL 1676 3
Qin, Tomson AUS 1028 3
51-54 Deen-Cowell, Nicholas AUS 1917 1722 2.5
Dolejs, Dan NZL 1892 1788 2.5
Gloistein, Bruce NZL 1817 1714 2.5
Mitchell, Robert S NZL 1672 1726 2.5
55 Shaw, Robin A AUS 1903 1687 2
56 Antoniazzi, Francesco AUS 1685 1506 1.5