The “Candidates” stage of the SA Closed tournament was played this weekend, September 17 and 18. Each day is a three round Swiss tournament, with the top four players from day one progressing to day two. The top four players from day two move on to the “Contenders” stage of the tournament.
Congratulations to James and Adru on their promotions to 2k and 5k respectively. David Lubinsky played through from day one to qualify for Contenders, his first time qualifying. His last recorded game in the SAGA ranking system was in 2011. It seems that he’s come back from a break in good form.
Day One:
1: James Gelant
2: Christiaan Maasdorp
3: David Lubinsky
4: Adru van Niekerk
5: Pieter-Francois Theron
6: Michael Rapson
7: Fred Strauss
8: Pico Geyer
Day Two:
1: Rocco Vivier
2: David Lubinsky
3: Ben Bredenkamp
4: Paul Edwards
5: James Gelant
6: Adru van Niekerk
7: Christiaan Maasdorp
8: David Gale
Positions 2-4 and 5-7 are determined by “sum of opponent scores”.