2009 Australian Open Chess Championships

The 2009 Australian Open Chess Championships will be held at the Manly-Warringah Rugby Leagues Club in Sydney. It will be played from the 2nd-11th of January (shorter than the Juniors! Although one could argue that adults are 'busier'). This tournament is a an 11-Round FIDE-rated event. According to the website, the top seed was Mark Chapman (2402).

This tournament also encompasses an Under 1600 Tournament and the Australian Open Lightning Championship.

Here are the final results of Australian Open:
1st-2nd IM Aleksandar Wohl (2342), IM George Xie (2397) on 9/11
3rd-5th IM Mark Chapman (2402), Eugene Schön (2115), Jason Hu (2182) on 8/11

The Under 1600 Tournament was won by Calvin Bennet (1567) and Anton Smirnov (1440).

The Australian Open Lightning Championship was shared by CM Max Illingworth and FM Jesse Sales.

The results of the Australian Open and its sister events can be found at the official 2009 Australian Open Chess Championships website.

For information on the Australian Junior Chess Championships, see below.

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.

2009 Australian Open Chess Championships Begin

The 2009 Australian Open Chess Championships will be held at the Manly-Warringah Rugby Leagues Club in Sydney. It will be played from the 2nd-11th of January (shorter than the Juniors! Although one could argue that adults are 'busier'). This tournament is a an 11-Round FIDE-rated event. According to the website, the top seed is Mark Chapman (2402).

This tournament also encompasses an Under 1600 Tournament and the Australian Open Lightning Championship.

I may report halfway through this tournament and will have a full report at the end of the tournament.

For information on the Australian Junior Chess Championships, see below.