2017 NSW Open Day 2

Day 2 of the 2017 NSW Open has ended with the top 4 seeds sharing first place on 4.5/5. The key game from the 5th round was the clash between IM Anton Smirnov and GM Max Illingworth, which ended in a hard fought draw. This allowed GM Zong Yuan Zhao and IM Gary Lane to catch the leading two, setting up an exciting finish tomorrow. Lane recovered from his draw in round two the win all 3 of his games today, while Zhao was held to a draw by IM Andrew Brown in round 4.
Although the winner is likely to come from the current set of leaders, there is still some dangerous players in the group of players on 4.
In the Minor Jigando Balin leads on 5/5. However the fact that Balin does not have an ACF rating (although he does have a FIDE rating below 1600) complicates matters, as he is ineligible for the major prizes. This means that it may be a  battle between Eva Ge (on 4.5) and a group of players on 4/5 to decide where the cash goes.
The 6th round starts at 9:45 tomorrow, with round 7 starting at 2:15. The top board sees GM Illingworth against GM Zhao, while on board 2, IM Lane plays IM Smirnov.


Brown,IM Andrew - Zhao,GM Zong-Yuan [A80]
2017 NSW Open (1.1), 11.06.2017

1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 g6 4. e3 Bg7 5. Bc4 d6 6. h3 e6 7. O-O O-O 8. a4 Nc6 9. a5 a6 10. c3 Kh8 11. Nbd2 Qe7 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. d5 exd5 15. Bxd5 Ne7 16. Bc4 g5 17. Nh2 Bd7 18. Re1 Ng6 19. Bd5 c6 20. Bb3 Rae8 21. Nc4 d5 22. Nb6 Be6 23. Nf3 f4 24. Bc2 fxe3 25. Rxe3 Nf4 26. Qd2 c5 27. Rae1 d4 28. cxd4 cxd4 29. Rxe6 Rxe6 30. Nd7 Rxe1+ 31. Nxe1 Qd6 1/2-1/2