The 120th NZ Chess Championship opened today in Wellington, and it could not have had a more dramatic start, in that the favourites of both the Championship and the Major Open lost to vastly lower rated opposition.
Anthony Ker lost as white against Brian Nijman's French Defence in 28 moves. Ben Hague and Scott Wastney, the seeds 2 and 3 respectively both won. Ben's game against Nathan Goodhue was particularly interesting, I thought.
Incidentally, further to my comment on Scott's performance in the Club Championship, Nathan Goodhue informs me that he achieved the same feat of defeating Anthony Ker and Russell Dive in successive rounds himself, back in 1985!
Ross Jackson, number one seed in the Major Open, lost to Nigel Cooper.
Here is Brian's win against a distinctly below par Anthony
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