A spooky gathering of ghouls and ghosts at the 2023 Coomera Halloween Rapid

On Saturday 28th of October, beneath an otherworldly moon, a number of chessboards materialise. On this haunted stage, players duel in silence. Ghostly echoes of past grandmasters whisper from the shadows. Welcome to the 2023 Coomera Halloween Chess Rapid, where each move conjures a spine-tingling game of strategy, and checkmate holds a mysterious power that may haunt your dreams long after the final piece has fallen.

This year the tournament was split into 2 divisions - Open and the Under 800 QJ Junior Division.

Open Tournament

In the Open tournament was a three-way tie for 1st with Micah Young, Bruce Williams and Austin Chen sharing the prize money.

Game from the Top 4 Boards: https://lichess.org/broadcast/coomera-halloween-rapid-2023/round-1/8YvDNLsq

Prizes - Open Division

Equal 1st Micah Young 5.5/7 $200

Equal 1st Bruce Williams 5.5/7 $200

Equal 1st Austin Chen 5.5/7 $200

Rating Prize U1600

Oleg Kitikov and Bryan Yang 4.5/7 $75 each

Rating Prize U1300

Charles Fu 5/7 $150

Rating Prize U900

Ahmad Hizwani Abdul Rahman 3.5/7 $150

Open Standings

Open Cross table

U800 QJ Junior Tournament

The Under 800 QJ Tournament was won by Batman (aka Nickolas Chen) with a perfect score of 7/7. Isaac Chen came second with 6 out of 7. Third Place went to Gladiator (Rayden Tiong.)

Well Done to Surya for scoring 4.5/7 narrowly missing out of 3rd place, due to tiebreaks.

The Gruffalo (Sebastian Williams) scored 4.5/7 as the youngest player in the tournament, he will certainly be a name to watch out for in the future.

Standings

1st Place - Nicholas Chen 7/7

2nd Place - Isaac Chen 6/7

3rd Place (countback) - Rayden Tiong 4.5

Well Done to Surya for scoring 4.5/7 narrowly missing out of 3rd place, due to tie breaks.