New Zealand's Igor Bjelobrk today defeated Australian International Master David Smerdon to join Grandmaster Murray Chandler in the lead at the Queenstown Chess Classic which will conclude at the Millennium Hotel on Tuesday. Chandler drew his game with Australian Grandmaster Ian Rogers who remains in a small pack half a point a behind the two leaders who will face each other tomorrow. Bjelobrk also joins Chandler in the race for the New Zealand Championship title. Chandler, who now plays for England has retained his New Zealand citizenship and is therefore eligible to win the New Zealand Championship.

Bjelobrk had to overcome a bout of illness early in the tournament which had prevented him from reaching the top boards earlier but now he is almost certain to gain his first International Master result. Three 'IM results' are required to be awarded the Internatioal Master title by the World Chess Federation. Bjelobrk is also staking his claim to be selected for New Zealand at the upcoming Turin Chess Olympics; he was inexplicably omitted from the last New Zealand Olympic team but is likely to be placed on a high board this time. Bjelobrk, 24 was born in Croatia but came to Auckland at the age of 12 where he began to play tournaments twice winning the New Zealand Junior Championship and representing New Zealand at the World Junior in India in 1998. He has just completed an electrical engineering degree at Melbourne University and won the Australian Chess Grand Prix for 2005 but he still finds time to compete in tournaments back home in New Zealand.

Leading Results Round 8:

 
M Chandler   (ENG)     1/2      I Rogers        (AUS)
I Bjelobrk   (NZL)    1 - 0     D Smerdon       (AUS)
T Civin      (CZE)    0 - 1     D Sermek        (SLO)
H-J Hecht    (GER)    1 - 0     A Wohl          (AUS)
G West       (AUS)    0 - 1     S Solomon       (AUS)
ZY Zhao      (AUS)    1 - 0     H Van Riemsdijk (BRA)
G Lane       (AUS)    1 - 0     M Geveke        (GER)
I Berezina   (AUS)    0 - 1     T Karolyi       (HUN)
P Green      (NZL)    0 - 1     P Froehlich     (GER)
P Garbett    (NZL)     1/2      A Susilodinata  (INA)
W Forster    (NZL)     1/2      R Wade          (NZL)

Leading Scores:
M Chandler (ENG), I Bjelobrk (NZL) 7/8
I Rogers, S Solomon (both AUS), D Sermek (SLO), H-J Hecht (GER) 6.5
Zy Zhao, D Smerdon, G Lane (all AUS), P Froehligh (GER), M Wojnar (NZL), T Karolyi (HUN) 6.

Photos:

Board 1, GM Murray Chandler vs GM Rogers. Photo by Cathy Rogers.

Board 2, New Zealand FM Igor Bjelobork defeated Australian IM David Smerdon to join
GM Murray Chandler as tournament leader. Photo by Cathy Rogers.

IM Bob Wade provided this morning's lecture to crowd of enthusiastic spectators.
Each morning one of the top seeds provide a 1 hour lecture. Photo by Cathy Rogers.