2009 Australian Open Chess Championships Midway Report

After 7 rounds in the 2009 Australian Open Chess Championships, Aleksander Wohl (2342) is leading the tournament with 6.5/7. He is a full point ahead of the closest competitors, who consist of Mark Chapman (2402), Vladimir Smirnov (2372), Jesse Sales (2340), Eugene Schön (2115) and Tony Davis (1967) on 5.5/7. Wohl is in a comfortable position, however a loss (but not a draw) would allow many players to catch up to him. There are 4 rounds to go.

(Continuation of report, after round 8) I must also mention the performance of Eugene Schön. In Round 6 Eugene defeated IM George Xie (2397) and today he defeated Vladimir Smirnov (2372) to move to 6.5/8, equal with Jesse Noel Sales and behind only IM Aleksander Wohl who sits on 7/8.

In the next round Eugene is paired against Jesse Noel Sales [ACF Rating: 2304, FIDE Rating: 2304]. Jesse is from the Philippines and the chess-mad Filipino press has been making regular reports on his progress: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/sports/01/06/09/sales-tries-rebound-aussie-chess-tourney. I'm sure that tomorrow they will be reporting on how he goes against Eugene!

Eugene has so far achieved a FIDE performance rating of 2487, and a true ACF performance rating of 2485!

See below for information on the 2009 Lidums Australian Junior Chess Championships.