Mini Max

Round 1 of the 2016 NSW Open has just finished, and although there were a few upsets, most games went according to ratings. The top seeds all collected their expected points, and most of these games were over fairly quickly.
Newly minted GM Max Illingworth had the shortest win, over Stephen Ireland. However the victory may have less to do with GM technique and more to do with an over ambitious opening strategy by White. Although the king is a strong piece in the ending, and can sometimes hold its own in the middlegame, straying too far from safety in the opening can be disastrous. With the king quickly ending up on e3 Max had a choice of strong finishes, settling on g5, when White decided he had played enough moves.
Second round is underway, and you can follow all the action on the links given in the previous post.


Ireland,Stephen (1799) - Illingworth,Max (2458) [C00]
2016 NSW Open (1.3), 11.06.2016

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Bd3 c5 4. c3 dxe4 5. Bxe4 Nf6 6. Bf3 Nc6 7. Ne2 e5 8. Bxc6+ bxc6 9. dxe5 Qxd1+ 10. Kxd1 Ng4 11. Ke1 Nxe5 12. Bf4 Nd3+ 13. Kd2 Bf5 14. Ke3 O-O-O 15. Nd2 g5 0-1