2015 George Trundle Masters

The Auckland Chess Centre is once again hosting the George Trundle Masters, which provides opportunities for both New Zealand and Australian players to earn title norms. This years event sees a field of 4 Australian's, 5 Kiwi's and 1 Frenchman taking part. Top seed is Australian GM Darryl Johansen, with the rest of the field pretty evenly matched in the 2260-2360 range.
The first round saw 4 of the 5 games ending decisively, with 3 of the 4 wins going to Australian players. Darryl Johansen played a nice game against FM Bob Smith, while FM Karl Zelesco's win over FM Tim Reilly gives a good start to his chase for an IM norm.
Results of the event (and the Challengers) can be found here. Unfortunately there does not seem to be a live broadcast of games, but games should be available at some point.
(Thanks to FA Alana Chibnall for providing me with the game scores from round 1)


Smith,Robert W (2233) - Johansen,Darryl (2419) [B23]
George Trundle NZ Masters 2015 (1.3), 26.09.2015

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. f4 a6 4. Nf3 b5 5. Qe2 Nc6 6. d3 Nd4 7. Qf2 Nxf3+ 8. Qxf3 Bb7 9. Qf2 d5 10. exd5 exd5 11. Be2 Nf6 12. O-O Be7 13. Bf3 Qd7 14. Bd2 O-O 15. Rae1 Rfe8 16. b3 Rac8 17. Ne2 Ne4 18. dxe4 dxe4 19. Bc3 exf3 20. Qg3 Bf8 21. gxf3 Qf5 22. Rf2 Qxc2 23. Be5 Qf5 24. Qg4 Qxg4+ 25. fxg4 f6 26. Bc3 b4 27. Bb2 c4 28. bxc4 Bc5 0-1