Chandler wins Queenstown Chess Classic

Final scores:
First: Murray Chandler 8.5
Equal second: Ian Rogers & David Smerdon 8
4-12: Zhao, Sermek, Hecht, Bjelobrk, Susilodinata, Civin, Ker, Lukey, Dougherty 7.5
(Bjelobrk, Susilodinata and Lukey made IM norms and Hecht took the Seniors trophy)
13-18: Lane, Karolyi, Froehlich, Dive, Garbett, Sutton 7 points
(Sutton won the NZ Senior prize)
Grading prizes:
Under 2000 M.Wojnar (also winner of the NZ Major Open) & G.Oliver
Under 1800 B.Lazarus
Under 1600 M.Zhang

$700 Best Game Prize (donated by Grant Kerr)
Three way tie between:
Anthony Ker (for his win over Alek Safarian, round 2)
Ian Rogers (for his win over Andrean Susilodinata, round 5)
Peter Froehlich (for his win over Gary Lane, round 9)

Rapid Championship
1= Sermek and Hecht 7.5/9
3= Karolyi and Puchen Wang (Puchen becomes NZ Rapid Champion)

Blitz
1st Zong-Yuan Zhao
Anthony Ker took the title of NZ Blitz Champion

Tournament Arbiters: Bob Gibbons (NZ), Gary Bekker (Australia), Cathy Rogers (Australia), and Jashint Maharaj (Fiji).
Chief Organiser: Paul Spiller (NZ)