Zhao and Illingworth win 2016 NSW Open

GM Zong Yuan Zhao and and GM Max Illingworth have tied for first in the 2016 NSW Open. Zhao lead by half a point going into the final round, but a 3 move draw with IM Anton Smirnov (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 =) allowed Illingworth to catch him with a win over IM Richard Jones. Zhao went through the event undefeated (taking a half point bye in round 5), while Illingworth lost to Smirnov in round 5. The short draw gave Smirnov a share of 3rd place, alongside IM Igor Bjelobrk, FM Kevin O'Chee and Donato Mallari who all scored 5.5.
In the Minor Frank Low and Michael Gong tied for first with 6/7. Low had a quick win over Gordon Yank, while Michael Gong held off a strong attack from Lee Forace to grab his share of the top prize.
The results for the Open can be found here, with the Minor here. From an arbiters point of view the event ran well, although with an increase in the number of players (144 this year) there was always going to be a few issues to deal with. However these were dealt with sensibly (by players and officials) and hopefully every found the event pleasant and enjoyable.


Bjelobrk,Igor (2389) - Zhao,Zong-Yuan (2541) [A05]
2016 NSW Open (6.1), 13.06.2016

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. h3 e5 7. d5 a5 8. Be2 Na6 9. Bg5 Qe8 10. g4 Nd7 11. Qd2 Ndc5 12. Rg1 Kh8 13. Nh4 Bd7 14. f3 c6 15. O-O-O cxd5 16. Nxd5 Ba4 17. Bh6 Rg8 18. Bxg7+ Rxg7 19. Rdf1 Bb3 20. Qxa5 Bxa2 21. Qxa2 Nb4 22. Nxb4 Rxa2 23. Nxa2 Nb3+ 24. Kb1 Qa4 25. Rd1 Rg8 26. Nc1 Ra8 27. Nxb3 Qxb3 28. Rd3 Qa2+ 29. Kc2 Qxc4+ 30. Kd2 Qb4+ 31. Kc2 0-1