Sunday 11 January 2015

GM Hua Ni dominates 2015 Australian Open

Chinese GM Hua Ni has completed a dominating performance in the 2015 Australian Open, scoring 10.5/11. Ni conceded a single draw to GM Rustam Khusnutdinov, and won all his other games. Apart from Khusnutdinov (who finished in a tie for 4th) he beat the next  6 highest placed players (on tie-break). The margin of victory was 2.5 points, with GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev and IM Max Illingworth sharing second place on 8/11.
Apart from Ni streeting the field, the rest of the tournament was very competitive. A number of the top seeds found it tough going against the young Australian players. IM's Morris, Cheng and Ly all finished in a tie for 4th place (7.5/11) while FM Chris Wallis and FM Eugene Schon both score IM norms. Apart from deciding the Australian Open title, the tournament saw the 2015 Australian Women's Champion title go to WIM Heather Richards, who won her last round game to finish on 6/11.
The win by Ni completes a trio of successful international events for Chinese GM's. GM Jun Zhao won the Hastings International with 8/9, while GM Xue Zhao won the 2015 New Zealand Open with the same score. All 3 players went through their events undefeated, conceding only 5 draws in a total of 29 games.
Final standings for the 2015 Australian Open can be found here.

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