Another 6.0/6 — Ni Hua Still Perfect At Australian Open
Like his compatriot GM Zhao Jun in Hastings, GM Ni Hua started with six straight wins at the Australian Open.
At the start of the new year Australia sees one of its strongest events of the calendar: the Australian Open. It takes place January 2-11 at The Lyceum at Castle Hill, a suburb in northwest Sydney.
The record-breaking total prize fund is 20,250 Australian dollars (€13,700, $16,350), with a first prize of 6,000 Australian dollars (€4050, $4850).
It's the biggest prize pool for any chess tournament held in Australia — an excellent achievement for the young organizers Kevin Tan (21) and Peter Yang (22).
As a result, nearly all top national players are playing, but the top favorite is GM Ni Hua (2689) of China. He's more than 100 points ahead of number two, GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev (2573) of Kazakhstan.
There are 16 GMs in total among 150 participants. Local heros include GM Zhao Zong-Yuan (2564), GM David Smerdon (2519, now living in The Netherlands), IM Max Illingworth (2476), IM Moulthun Ly (2460), IM Bobby Cheng (2436) and IM Anton Smirnov (2432).
Only 13 years old, Smirnov is Australia's big hope. He recently was very close to his third and final GM norm, and now he has another chance. However, so far Smirnov is on 4.0/6 with a disappointing 2134 performance rating.
Six rounds have been played so far, with double rounds on January 3 and 5.
The top seed hasn't erred yet: Ni Hua started with six straight wins! And that includes second-seeded Kazhgaleyev, who was surprisingly helpless.
Illingworth did better, but also lost. The 22-year-old IM managed to get a clear advantage with the white pieces and rightly avoided a move repetition. However, he couldn't find a way to make progress and then missed some chances to draw the ending.
2015 Australian Open| Round 6 Standings (Top 20)
| Rk. | SNo | Title | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | 1 | GM | Ni Hua | CHN | 2689 | 6 | 22,5 | 15,5 | 22,5 |
| 2 | 7 | GM | Khusnutdinov Rustam | KAZ | 2476 | 5 | 23,5 | 16 | 19,25 |
| 3 | 17 | IM | Morris James | AUS | 2378 | 5 | 22,5 | 15,5 | 18 |
| 4 | 2 | GM | Kazhgaleyev Murtas | KAZ | 2573 | 4,5 | 26,5 | 17,5 | 18 |
| 5 | 6 | IM | Illingworth Max | AUS | 2476 | 4,5 | 26 | 17 | 17,75 |
| 6 | 3 | GM | Zhao Zong-Yuan | AUS | 2564 | 4,5 | 24 | 17 | 17 |
| 7 | 5 | GM | Papin Vasily | RUS | 2513 | 4,5 | 23,5 | 15,5 | 17 |
| 8 | 23 | FM | Schon Eugene | AUS | 2318 | 4,5 | 22,5 | 15 | 15,75 |
| 9 | 8 | IM | Ly Moulthun | AUS | 2460 | 4,5 | 22 | 15,5 | 15,25 |
| 10 | 20 | FM | Wallis Christopher | AUS | 2348 | 4,5 | 21,5 | 14 | 15,25 |
| 11 | 16 | GM | Johansen Darryl K. | AUS | 2404 | 4,5 | 21 | 14 | 14,5 |
| 12 | 12 | IM | Ikeda Junta | AUS | 2416 | 4,5 | 20,5 | 13 | 13,75 |
| 13 | 9 | IM | Cheng Bobby | AUS | 2436 | 4,5 | 20 | 13,5 | 15,25 |
| 14 | 18 | IM | Solomon Stephen J. | AUS | 2372 | 4,5 | 20 | 13 | 14,25 |
| 15 | 28 | FM | Nakauchi Gene | AUS | 2213 | 4,5 | 19 | 13,5 | 12,5 |
| 16 | 4 | GM | Smerdon David | AUS | 2519 | 4 | 24,5 | 17 | 15,75 |
| 17 | 21 | FM | Li Zuhao Luke | NZL | 2337 | 4 | 22 | 15 | 13 |
| 18 | 34 | Loh Zachary | AUS | 2076 | 4 | 22 | 14,5 | 12,75 | |
| 19 | 26 | IM | Brown Andrew | AUS | 2276 | 4 | 22 | 13 | 13 |
| 20 | 33 | Atzmon-Simon Barak | AUS | 2087 | 4 | 21,5 | 14,5 | 14 |
(Full standings here)
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
Peter's first book The Chess Revolution is out now!
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