Morris is finally realising his potential. The title is well deserved as James recently also won the Doeberl Cup, with big shots like GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly and GM Hrant Melkumyan finishing behind James. So, IM James Morris won the title of ‘Grand Champion’ in this 150 th Anniversary championship. So Vishal Bhat with seven points had an excellent chance to win the tournament going into the final round and he was closely followed by IM James Morris with 6.5 points to set up a thrilling finish in the final round. IM Ari Dale dented IM James Morris’s chances with a fine draw. Vishal took the lead in the penultimate round with a fine win over experienced Carl Gorka in a tense game. In seventh round Vishal beat IM Guy West in a tense game to share the lead with IM James Morris (Both at six points). IM James Morris and IM Guy West drew their games in round six allowing Vishal Bhat, who won his game, to tie for the first place with five points after six rounds with James and Guy. The second half of this tournament held on one round/week basis became very exciting. In the previous article published on our newspage, we mentioned that IMs Guy West and James Morris where sharing the lead with 4.5 and Vishal Bhat was following them closely at four points out of five rounds. The cool entrance of the Melbourne Chess Club (picture by Carl Gorka) The special Indian interest was ignited by the excellent performance of the 15-year-old Vishal Bhat. The tournament consisted of nine rounds and was held on a weekly basis. Forty-six players and the top seed being IM James Morris (Elo-2449) meant that it was going to be a keenly contested event. The historic 150 th Anniversary Melbourne Chess Club Championship took place from from 1 st of February to 11 th of April for the special title of 'Grand Champion'. Melbourne Chess Club, the Southern Hemisphere's Oldest chess club, is celebrating its 150th Year Anniversary. Anandaram Jothibabu has sent us the final report of this exciting tournament. Although James Morris won the event, it was Vishal Bhat, 15-year-old boy of Indian origin with a rating of 1967, who made the headlines by finishing as the runner-up. Dr. Guy West and Mirko Rujevic took part in the event.
The Melbourne Chess Club celebrated its 150th anniversary by holding a tournament to determine the Grand Champion.