2009 Sydney International Open - Day 1

Just a days break between the end of the O2C Doeberl Cup and the start of the 2009 Sydney International Open. The fields are pretty similar at the top, although the Sydney tournament has a larger field (in the top section) with a slightly longer tail.
The main difference is GM Zong Yuan Zhao comes in as top seed (exchanged for IM David Smerdon in a sense), IM Solomon joins the field (in exchange for IM Andras Toth), while at the end of the field, the more relaxed qualification rules have resulted in an extra 25 players.
The gruelling nature of two 9 round swisses with 2 rounds a day being played back to back is already having an effect with a number of draws on the upper boards. Of course not playing both tournaments back to back seeme to have a negative effect on IM Stephen Solomon as he lost to Canberra junior Yi Yuan in the first round.
Full coverage of the event can be found at ChessAustralia (the tournament organisers) with all the usual goodies like live coverage of the top boards, replayable games and standings and pairings.