The 2015 Australian Open Chess Championship is taking place on 2-11th January 2015 at The Lyceum, in Castle Hill, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

The event is split into two main tournaments – Open andMinor (U1600).

Both tournament will be played in an 11-round Swiss format.

The prize fund in the amount of $20,250 will be awarded as follows:
Open Section:
Main prizes: $6,000/ $2,900/ $1,400/ $1,000/ $600/ $400/ $300/ $250/ $150/ $150/ $100/ $100
Special prizes:
– U2200: $250/ $150/ 1 Year Diamond Membership to Chess.com valued at $123,
– U2000: $250/ $150/ 1 Year Diamond Membership to Chess.com valued at $123,
– U1800: $250/ $150/ 1 Year Diamond Membership to Chess.com valued at $123;
– Women: $300 + Australian Women’s Championship medal and plaque/ 1 Year Diamond Membership to Chess.com valued at $123
Minor Section:
U1600: $2,100/ $1,000/ $600/ $400/ $300/ $200;
U1400: $250/ $150/ 1 Year Diamond Membership to Chess.com valued at $123;
U1200: $250/ $150/ 1 Year Diamond Membership to Chess.com valued at $123

Chinese players GM Hua Ni (2677) and GM Qun Ma (2615) are top seeded.

Official website

Open Section list of participants:

Ni Hua 2677 GM China
Ma Qun 2615 GM China
Zhao Zong-Yuan 2600 2569 GM Australia (NSW)
Murtas Kazhgaleyev 2566 GM Kazakhstan
David Smerdon 2567 2506 GM Australia (QLD)
Vasily Papin 2499 GM Russia
Rustam Khusnutdinov 2472 GM Kazakhstan
Moulthun Ly 2508 2463 IM Australia (QLD)
Max Illingworth 2523 2450 IM Australia (NSW)
Bobby Cheng 2489 2435 IM Australia(VIC)
Alexei Khamatgaleev 2429 IM Russia
Junta Ikeda 2416 2418 IM Australia (ACT)
Kim Steven Yap 2416 IM PHI Phillipines
Anton Smirnov 2393 2415 IM Australia (NSW)
Richard Jones 2436 2414 IM Wales
Julia Ryjanova 2413 WGM Russia
Darryl Johansen 2436 2392 GM Australia (VIC)
James Morris 2425 2381 IM Australia (VIC)
Stephen Solomon 2401 2372 IM Australia (QLD)

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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