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