Ni Hua scores dominant victory in 2015 Australian Open

GM Ni Hua (China) scored an emphatic victory in the 2015 Australian Open, finishing with 10,5/11 to win the tournament by 2,5 points.

Ni conceded a single draw in round 8 to GM Rustam Khusnutdinov but won all his other games to collect the $6000 first prize. He defeated 5 of the 6 top seeds and finished the tournament with a 2850+ TPR.

Tied for second on 8/11 were GM Murtas Khazgaleyev (KAZ) and IM Max Illingworth (AUS). Both players lost to the unstoppable Ni, but were undefeated in their remaining games.

A number of tournament top seeds ended up tied for 4th place on 7,5, including GM’s Rustam Khusnutdinov (KAZ), Zong Yuan Zhao (AUS), Vasily Papin (RUS), David Smerdon (AUS) and defending champion IM Bobby Cheng (AUS).

WIM Heather Richards was awarded the title of 2015 Australian Women’s Champion as the highest placed Australian Women player, scoring 6/11.

FM Chris Wallis (AUS) and FM Eugene Schon (AUS) scored IM norms in the event.

More than 200 players took part in the Open and supporting events, competing for $20,000 in prizes. Full tournament details can be found at the 2015 Australian Open website.

Replay games with analysis

(Report by Shaun Press)

Final standings (top finishers):

1 GM Ni Hua CHN 2689 – 10.5
2 GM Kazhgaleyev Murtas KAZ 2573 – 8
3 IM Illingworth Max AUS 2476 – 8
4 GM Khusnutdinov Rustam KAZ 2476 – 7.5
5 IM Morris James AUS 2378 – 7.5
6 IM Cheng Bobby AUS 2436 – 7.5
7 IM Ly Moulthun AUS 2460 – 7.5
8 GM Zhao Zong-Yuan AUS 2564 – 7.5
9 GM Papin Vasily RUS 2513 – 7.5
10 GM Smerdon David AUS 2519 – 7.5
11 WGM Ryjanova Julia RUS 2413 – 7.5
12 IM Bjelobrk Igor AUS 2361 – 7.5
13 GM Johansen Darryl K. AUS 2404 – 7
14 IM Khamatgaleev Alexej RUS 2429 – 7
15 IM Solomon Stephen J. AUS 2372 – 7
16 IM Jones Richard S. WLS 2414 – 7
17 IM Yap Kim Steven PHI 2416 – 7
18 Loh Zachary AUS 2076 – 7
19 IM Brown Andrew AUS 2276 – 7
20 De Paiva Pedro Henrique BRA 2285 – 7
21 IM Smirnov Anton AUS 2432 – 7
22 CM Puccini Jack AUS 2287 – 7
23 FM Schon Eugene AUS 2318 – 6.5
24 FM Wallis Christopher AUS 2348 – 6.5
25 FM Canfell Gregory AUS 2331 – 6.5

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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