George Xie


George Xie is an Australian chess player who tied for first in the 2009 and 2011 Australian Open Chess Championship tournaments, winning the Australian Open Champion title on countback in 2011. He became an International Master in 2006 and was ranked 3rd in Australia. He was a board 4 member of the Australian national team at the 2008 Dresden Olympiad, and board 3 member of the Australian national team at the 39th Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Manisysk, Russian.
At age 16, Xie won the NSW state championship with a perfect score of 9/9, and he did it again in 2004 NSW state championship.
He gained his first GM norm at the 2009 Sydney International Open, tying =1st with 3 other GMs. He exceeded the score required for a norm by half a point. Earlier, he had missed a norm at the 2009 Doeberl Cup in Canberra by half a point.
He came equal first with Aleksandar Wohl in the 2009 Australian Open Chess Championship held in Manly, Sydney. No playoff was held and the title was awarded to Wohl on tiebreak.
In 2010, Xie came second after Zhao Zong-Yuan in the 2010 Australian Chess Championship held in Sydney. He was equal first with Zhao before the last round with 9/10. He lost against Stephen Solomon in the last round while Zhao had won his game.
Xie's next major tournament in the same year was the 48th Doeberl Cup held in Canberra, Australia. By finishing second after Li Chao with 7/9, he was expected to be awarded a GM norm. In the tournament, Xie managed to share a point with Li Chao and defeated the 2010 Australian Chess Champion Zhao Zong-Yuan.
In January 2011, Xie defended his title in the Australian Open Chess Championship 2011 which he won two years earlier. The crosstable saw him tied with Moulthun Ly and Zhao Zong-Yuan with 8.5/11. The title was awarded to Xie because he had played the highest rated opposition.
Xie was a member of the 2008 and 2010 Australian Chess Olympiad teams.
As of 25 May 2010, Xie has all three Grandmaster norms, qualifying to be a grandmaster once his FIDE rating reaches 2500 and return to competitive chess.

Tournament wins