Illingworth started playing competitive chess at the age of nine. He played for team Australia in the 2007 World Youth U16 Olympiad. In the same year he competed for the first time in the
Oceania zonal championship, which was held in
Nadi,
Fiji. His result in this tournament gained him a direct award of the title
Candidate Master by
FIDE. Illingworth scored 6/9 points to finish in a tie for third at the 2009
Commonwealth Chess Championship in
Singapore. The next year, he was awarded the title of
FIDE Master. Illingworth won the
First Saturday GM tournament of September 2011 on tiebreak from
Levente Vajda scoring 7/9. Thanks to this result he achieved his first
norm for the title of Grandmaster. He scored 7/10 for Australia at the
2012 Chess Olympiad in
Istanbul. These results earned him the title of
International Master, which FIDE awarded him in the congress held during the Olympiad, and established him as one of Australia's strongest chess players. Illingworth won the MCC Cup Weekender 2012 with a score of 8½/9 points. He has also won the New South Wales State Championship for three consecutive years (2011–13) and tied for first place in the 2011 and 2013 NSW Open. In 2013, Illingworth tied for second place in the Australian Open with a score of 8½/11 points and in the 10th IGB
Dato' Arthur Tan Malaysian Open with a score of 7/9. Illingworth won the 2014
Australian Chess Championship in
Springvale, Victoria with a score of 8/11. He scored 6½/9 for Australia at the
2014 Chess Olympiad in
Tromsø. Strong domestic results include winning the 2014 MCC Hjorth Open with a score of 9/9 and shared second place with
Murtas Kazhgaleyev in the 2015 Australian Open. Illingworth won the 2015 Oceania zonal championship after a playoff match against Brodie McClymont. As a result, he qualified to play in the
FIDE World Cup. In January 2017 Illingworth won the Australian Open Championship in Brisbane. He won the Oceania zonal again in 2019, held in
Guam. Illingworth is a contributor to the Australian chess magazine
50 Moves and the
New In Chess Yearbook. He also writes surveys for the ChessBase Magazine as well as opening articles for ChessPublishing. Illingworth is a professional chess coach and has worked with several of Australia's most promising junior players. He was awarded the title of
FIDE Trainer in 2014. Illingworth retired from competitive chess in March 2019, to concentrate on coaching and writing. == References ==