The Byron Capital Darling Downs Open 2024 was held from 2-6th May at the Concordia Lutheran College in Harristown, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.
The event was organized by the Toowoomba Chess Club and sponsored by the Byron Capital Financial Advisors.
The turnout was huge with 250 players participating across three sections: Premier Division, Major Division and Minor Division. The total prize fund was $AUD 30,000.
Premier Division was a 9-rounds Swiss tournament open to all players with an ACF or FIDE Rating 1900 and above. GM David Smerdon and FM Jack Rodgers shared the first place with 6.5/9 points each. This section had 25 players.
Premier standings:
1-2. GM Smerdon David C 2480 QLD and FM Rodgers Jack 2073 QLD – 6.5
3-4. IM Morris James 2435 VIC and GM Zhao Zong-Yuan 2485 NSW – 6.0
5-7. 10 Xu Yang 2150 CHN, FM Liu Yi 2269 QLD and IM Solomon Stephen 2259 VIC – 5.5 etc
Major Division was a 7-rounds Swiss tournament open to players with a 1200 ACF Rating and above. This section had 95 players. Joel Leong 1886 QLD and Ben Peach 1878 QLD shared the first place with 6.0/7 points each.
Minor Division was a 7-rounds Swiss tournament open to players with an ACF Rating 1200 and below. 130 players competed in this section. Elijah Hadikusumo 1192 QLD took a clear first place with 6.5/7 points.
