Thursday 10 January 2013

2013 Australian Open - Cheng surges

After 8 rounds of the 2012 Australian Open, FM Bobby Cheng has taken the outright lead on 7/8. Cheng took a half point bye in round 1 after a late return from New Zealand, but has scored 6.5/7 to lead by half a point. In today's round he defeated tournament top seed GM Igor Khenkin to not only take first place, but also improve his chances of scoring an IM norm. In second place are IM Moulthun Ly who defeated IM Max Illingworth, and FM Gene Nakauchi he leapfrogged a number of higher seeded players with a win over FM Greg Canfell. Another crucial result was the drawn game between GM Zong Yuan Zhao, and FM Junta Ikeda. This leaves Ikeda needing only a draw in tomorrows game against fellow ACT player IM Andrew Brown to secure a second IM norm.
Tomorrow Chneg is up against Nakauchi, while Khenkin plays Ly. Illingworth and Zhao meet on the third board.
Full coverage of the event, as well as results and games can be found at the tournament website.


Cheng,Bobby - Khenkin,Igor [D30]
Australian Open Sydney, 10.01.2013




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