2015 NSW Open - Day 2

The second day of the 2015 NSW Open got off to a dramatic start when IM Gary Lane scored a surprise win over GM Zong Yuan Zhao. Zhao had held the advantage for most of the game, but lost track of his time, and let his clock run down to 0 without realising it. In the next round Lane then faced IM Igor Bjelobrk, and in a rook v 2 minors ending, Bjelobrk was able to catch Lane's king in a mating net. IM Anton Smirnov then took the opportunity to take the outright lead, with a win over IM Max Illingworth. This left Smirnov half a point ahead of Igor Bjelobrk and IM Richard Jones, who had a win over Glenn Ingham.
The the final round of the day saw the lead change one more time after Smirnov fell apart against Jones, while Melkumyan and Zhao drew the longest game of the round. The win by Jones leaves him half a point ahead of a chasing pack that includes Smirnov, Illingworth, Melkumyan, Bjelobrk, Pengyu Chen, and Arthur Huynh. Tomorrow round sees Melkumyan against Jones on Board 1, with Smirnov v Hunyh, Bjelobrk v Chen, and Illingworth v Bruce Murray.
In the Minor (Under 1600) Albert Winkelman leads with 5/5. He holds a full point lead over a group of 7 players, and is up against Thomas Johnston in tomorrow mornings round.
Full results from the tournament, plus games and live coverage can be found at nswopen.nswca.org.au The first round starts at 9:45 am with the final round starting at 2:15pm