News
17 November, 2023
Former Kilcoy man takes part in Spanish chess event
Justin Turner, formerly of Kilcoy, won four of the first five games in the Under 2000 Division of the Benidorm (Spain) annual chess tournament.
There were 114 players entered in the Under 2000 Division (for which first prize was 3,000 Euro, equal to $A5,100), and 68 players in the Open Division.
Justin (son of the first owner of the Sentinel) had a terrible loss as he had the win in his grasp, but didn’t play the winning move because he missed one of his possible responses.
“One of the best games I’ve played, up until then, because I got a bad position but managed to turn it completely around [before losing],” he said.
“The next game I won; last game to finish, four hours, against an unrated player. Crazy. He played just as well as the four 1950 players I’ve faced [the unrated player had beaten four other players].”
Justin, formerly a civil engineer in Brisbane and now a teacher of English as a foreign language, finished the tournament well by beating in the ninth game a player rated 1915.
“So I lost to three players rated above 1900 and beat two rated above 1900, and won all my games against lower rated players.”
Of the players level in fourth place on six points (of nine), Justin was the only one to have achieved six wins. He started the tournament ranked 34th and finished 16th on count-back.
Justin was awarded 250€ for being fourth placed of those players who resided in Valencia State. Justin usually resides in Valencia, the State capital.
