George Xie on a tear

After narrowly missing out on a GM norm at the Doeberl Cup, IM George Xie looks to be going one better in scoring 4.5/5 to lead the 2009 Sydney International Open. He played a trio of GM's in rounds 3 to 5, scoring wins over GM Das Neelotpal (Rd 3) and GM Gawain Jones (Round 5) and drawing with GM Darryl Johansen (Round 4). In round 6 he is playing his 4th GM in the shape of Australian number 1 GM Zong Yuan Zhao.

Xie,G (2402) - Neelotpal,D (2514) [B22]
Sydney International Open Parramatta, NSW (3.2), 16.04.2009

1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Bc4 Nb6 6.Bb3 c4 7.Bc2 Nc6 8.0-0 d6 9.exd6 Bxd6 10.d4 cxd3 11.Qxd3 Be7 12.Qe4 Nd5 13.Rd1 Qc7 14.Na3 a6 15.Bg5 b6 16.Bxe7 f5 17.Qa4 Kxe7(D)
18.Bxf5 Nf4 19.Re1 Bd7 20.Nc4 b5 21.Qa3+ Kf6 22.Ne3 exf5 23.g3 Nh3+ 24.Kg2 Be6 25.Qc5 Qc8 26.Rad1 Rd8 27.Rxd8 Nxd8 28.Qe5+ Kf7 29.Nxf5 Bxf5 30.Qe7+ Kg6 31.Ne5+ 1-0