The 2014 Australian Chess Championships were held at Springvale Town Hall, Springvale, Victoria from 2nd to 11th January 2014.
The Australian Chess Championship is the most prestigious event on the Australian Chess calendar, which features many of the country’s strongest competitors, striving for the title of national champion.
The 2014 Championships was comprised of 4 different events: Australian Championship, Reserves, Challengers and Blitz Championships with over 190 entrants.
The total prize fund was over $13,000.
The main section had 42 participants. IM Max Illingworth emerged new national champion after concluding the event with 8,0/11 points.
Karl Zelesco made another fantastic result by defeating GM Darryl Johansen in the last round to share the second place. In recent Australian Masters 2013 Zelesco made an IM norm.
Championships final standings:
1. IM Max Illingworth 2434 – 8,0
2-4. IM Moulthun Ly 2416, GM Tu Hoang Thong 2428 (Vietnam) and Karl Zelesco 2242 – 7,5
5-9. IM Bobby Cheng 2433, GM Vasily Papin 2510 (Russia), IM Igor Goldenberg 2373, FM Anton Smirnov 2338 and Eugene Schon 2195 – 7,0
10-12. IM Igor Bjelobrk 2339, IM Stephen Solomon 2371 and GM Darryl Johansen 2406 – 6,5
The Reserves had 93 participants. FM Douglas Hamilton convincingly won the section with 9,5/11 points.
The Challengers had 57 participants. Calixto Dilag won the section with 7,5/9 points.
Did he get a GM norm?