The 2023 Byron Capital Darling Downs Open was held in Toowoomba at Toowoomba Grammar School on 13 and 14 May 2023. We had 171 players participate in this 7-round tournament from all over the country with a total prize pool of $14,000, the second-biggest prize pool in Australia for 2023.
Our Titled Players, Key Chess People and Major Sponsor
Pictured Below (Left to Right): IM Brodie McClymont, FA David Esmonde, Toowoomba Chess Club President Ross Mills, IM George Xie, CM Jayden Ooi, FA Graeme Gardiner, IM Junta Ikeda, IM Stephen Solomon, GM Moulthun Ly, Our Major Sponsor Brett Walker from Byron Capital, FM Sravan Renjith, GM Dr. David Smerdon, FM Yi Liu
Absent From Photo: IM Aleksandar Wohl
Prize Money
Prize money was divided up into the following categories:
- Over 1800
- 1200 – 1799
- 701 – 1199
- 1 – 700
- Unrated
- Local Primary
- Local Secondary
There were several prizes in each group.
A huge congratulations to all the players who placed in their respective divisions.
The prize winners can be viewed here.
Top Rating Group
Here are the results at the end of round 7 for the top rating group.
The overall winners with a tied score of 6.5 out of 7 were GM Moulthun Ly and GM David C Smerdon who fought through the final round but came out a draw to close the tournament.
Our top seed IM Junta Ikeda tied for second place.
You can view the final round online between GM David C Smerdon and GM Moulthun Ly.
For full results of this tournament, visit Live Chess here.
Our Major Sponsor
Established in 1986, Byron Capital is a privately owned financial advisory firm run by a team of highly experienced, authentic, and trusted investment professionals.
As innovators in private wealth management, our primary objective is to place our clients’ interests at the centre of everything that we do. We pride ourselves on upfront and clear communication, providing personal service with a global reach. We understand that clients want to protect and grow their hard-earned wealth, without the hassle of day-to-day maintenance.
Other Sponsors
We would like to once again, thank all of our sponsors for their contribution to helping make this event such a success.
Next Year
We are in early preparations for the 2024 tournament. We have secured the long weekend ending Monday 6 May 2024. Further information will be announced as we finalise more details.