Australian Open Day 7

Round 7 of the Australian Open saw the first all-GM clash, with Igor Khenkin & Zong Yuan Zhao drawing their top board clash. IM Max Illingworth & FM Bobby Cheng also won their games to join Khenkin in the lead on 6/7. There are four players a further half point behind, with GM Zong-Yuan Zhao, IM Moulthun Ly & FMs Junta Ikeda & Gene Nakauchi on 5.5/7, while 13 others are on 5/7, so the tournament is still very much up for grabs.
The first GM v GM clash, Khenkin v Zhao

 GM Johansen bucks the trend of the day & plays in jeans, while all of the other top players preferred shorts on the 40+ degree day!

The videos for the last few rounds have been delayed a little as I have been busy with a number of things, but hope to get something up in the next day or two.

Australian Open Day 6

Round 6 of the Australian Open saw two leaders emerge from the pack of five that were leading overnight. GM Igor Khenkin once again proved too strong for his opposition, this time winning against IM Andrew Brown, while FM Junta Ikeda continued his excellent start to the tournament with a nice win over IM George Xie to join Khenkin in the lead on 5.5/6. FM Bobby Cheng & GM Zong-Yuan Zhao drew their clash to move to 5/6 & they were joined by IM Max Illingworth & WGM Irene Sukandar, who both won their games.
I've also managed to get through a few round review videos, so they are now available online & will hopefully be much closer to the time the games are played than they have been thus far.
Round 3 in review

Round 4 in review

Round 5 in review, featuring an interview with GM Ian Rogers

Australian Open Day 5

Round 5 of the Australian Open saw GM Igor Khenkin beat IM Max Illingworth on board 1 to overtake Max & regain a share of the lead in the event. GM Zong-Yuan Zhao was a little lucky against New Zealander Luke Li, who missed a few opportunities against the Australian number 1. IM Andrew Brown demolished fellow FIGJAMmer IM Moulthun Ly in a game Moulthun would prefer to forget, while FMs Junta Ikeda & Bobby Cheng also won to join the other leaders on 4.5/5. This should definitely make for some exciting games in round 6 as the leaders look to stay at the head of the field.
Today saw a number of firsts, with GM Ian Rogers beginning his live commentary to a room full of eager players & spectators, as well as the first day of the bookstore from Australian Chess Enterprises.
Another first saw possibly largest size differential in the event, with Kevin Willathgamuwa playing Ben Encel, with Kevin overcoming his larger (and higher rated) opponent to take the full point.

 Brian, Margaret & Lee Jones at the bookstall

GM Ian Rogers commentating on games to a room full of keen spectators

The video of the day is highlights from the Opening Ceremony. I hope to be able to put together a few round review videos after play today, so in future these should not be so far behind the round being played. 

Australian Open Day 4

Round 4 of the 2013 Australian Open finally saw an outright leader emerge, with IM Max Illingworth again winning to take the sole lead on 4/4. All top 4 boards finished in draws, though some were more fighting than others, with FM Junta Ikeda 7 GM Igor Khenkin playing 101 moves before agreeing to a draw in a queen & pawn ending in their game.
Clubhouse leader in the unofficial 'T-shirt of the tournament' competition goes to Danish visitor Henrik Mortensen for this fantastic t-shirt he wore during round 4, which has a sentiment shared by many players in the room.

Strangest chess variation goes to IM Trevor Tao, who was demonstrating his creation of Rubik's Cube Chess in the analysis room, where players attempt to solve a Rubik's cube while playing a game of chess. The Rubik's Cube acts as the clock, with solving of the Cube only allowed while it is your opponent's turn. Victory can be claimed by Checkmate, solving the cube, or having your opponent resign.

I have also continued with my round reviews, with my review of round 2 now online 

Australian Open Day 2 & 3

Rounds 2 & 3 of the Australian Open have continued to sort out the players at the top end of the field, with only 10 players now remaining on 3/3, with a number of players conceding draws to lower rated players. The very top players are still motoring along however, with GMs Igor Kenkin & Zong-Yuan Zhao leading this group on 3/3.
As usual, full results for the Open are available on Chess Results.
Also keep an eye on the official tournament website for more results & information.

I'm also attempting to put short summary videos of each days play, however they tend to be a day or two behind the rounds being played, so only round 1 is online at present & it can be seen below.

Finally a few photos from the top boards

 GM Igor Khenkin was pushed by Ganesh Viswanath in round 2, but eventually managed to win.

David Webster held GM Darryl Johansen to a draw in their round 2 clash.

Australian Open Day 1

Day 1 was an interesting day, both on an off the chess board at the Australian Open Chess Championships today. The day started with the opening ceremony, featuring the usual speeches & formalities, but highlighted by two musical performances, a rendition of 'Love Never Dies' by Yvette Keong, accompanied by Oscar Wang, as well as a solo piano tune 'Tribute to the Yellow River' by Oscar.
Once the opening ceremony was out of the way, the usual dilemmas faced at the start of a big tournament such as this needed to be overcome, with a number of players arriving late, or needing to be contacted to ensure that they were on their way. Overnight it was learnt that IM Trevor Tao's flight from Adelaide had been cancelled & the earliest flight he could take to Sydney left at 3pm, so he unfortunately had to take a half point bye for round 1 & will be joining the tournament in round 2. Other players arrived & were checked off, however with over 150 players to sort out, the tournament proper did not get underway until after 2pm.
Once underway, it looked like it was unofficial Grunfeld Day on the top boards, with three of the top boards seeing some sort of Grunfeld position on them early on in the game. Most of the top seeds managed to make it through the round with wins, although FMs Greg Canfell & Chris Wallis both lost to lower rated opponents & will have to start their tournament recoveries a little sooner than planned. A number of games were also drawn.
In total, there are 112 players in the open, 50 in the Minor & 13 in the Classic, for a grand total of 175 players in the three events, which makes for a fairly sizable tournament.
Full results for the Open are available on Chess Results.
Results & pairings for all tournaments are available on ChessChat.

 Play underway in the 2013 Australian Open!

 GM Igor Khenkin v Ken Holt on board 1

 Paul Glissan hosting the opening ceremony

Yvette Keong singing at the opening ceremony

The video report I had hoped to do for round 1 is proving a little trickier than I imagined for a variety of reasons, but I'm hopeful (or at least optimistic) of being able to get something up tomorrow.

2013 Australian Open Player Profiles

Today I spent the afternoon at norths with the other arbiters & the organising team for the 2013 Australian Open getting the venue set up for the tournament that begins tomorrow. The playing hall is now set up, with 4 DGT boards ready to show games live online. With 3 GMs, 6 IMs & over 100 players in the Open event, it promises to be an event well worth watching! I'll see how I go with my time with my arbiting duties, but I'm hoping to be able to continue with the video reports, albeit a little shorter in length than the Player Profile video at the end of this post.

 My fellow arbiters Alana Chibnall & Charles Zworestine 'at work' this afternoon ...

 DGT boards all set up & ready for action tomorrow!

The tournament hall ... all we need now is the 150+ players to arrive!

Please note that the video is correct in terms of player ratings - somehow my ability to read momentarily disappeared & I knocked a few points off Bobby Cheng's rating, while also turning Junta Ikeda into a GM with a 2500 FIDE rating ... hopefully the brain-mouth connection will return to normality for future videos!