Australian FM (2007) and IM (2009), each title being gained through results at the respective Oceania Zonals held in those years.
Morris' first strong internationally rated results came in early 2007 at the age of 12 years old, when he came outright 5th at the MCC January Invitational and =6th at the 2007 Australian Junior Championship. Strong results in the following months at the Ballarat Begonia Open (4.5/7), the Doeberl Cup Premier (3.5/7) and the Oceania Zonal (5/9) added 77 Elo points and the FM title to the 13 year old's resume. Further results in 2007, including 3rd place in the Noble Park Club Championship (6/9), =3rd at the 2007 Victorian Open 5.5/7 behind GM David Smerdon and FM Christopher Wallis, and 1st place (with 7.5/11) at the Noble Park A Grade tournament in Melbourne established his reputation as an up and coming young player.
A string of relatively mediocre results in 2008 - the exceptions being 2nd place in the 2008 Noble Park Chess Club Open and =4th at the Ballarat Begonia Open - including 5.5/11 at the World U16 Championship in Vung Tau, were followed by significant improvements in 2009, including his 5/7 at the Ballarat Begonia Open in March, 5.5/9 in the Sydney International Open, the 2009 Oceania Zonal where his 6.5/9 earned him his IM title, 2nd place with 8/11 behind GM Darryl K Johansen at the Victorian State Championship and 2nd behind IM Stephen John Solomon at the 2009 Australasian Masters. Apart from =3rd at the MCC ANZAC Day weekender behind GM David Smerdon and FM Bobby Cheng, 2010 was another mediocre year that ended on a high note with =4th at the Melbourne Cup Weekender and 5/9 at the Australasian Masters.
In 2011, Morris won the Begonia Open with 6.5/7 in March, scored 5.5/9 in the powerful Thai Open in April, won the MCC Open in May 2011 with 8.5/9 (the draw coming from his game with Domagoj Dragicevic), placed =3rd with 7/11 in the Victorian Championship, and scored 5/9 at the 8th IGB Dato Arthur Tan Malaysia Open Chess Championship. Morris finished 2011 by winning the Australasian Masters with 8.5/10 ahead of Bobby Cheng. He started 2012 with a positive 6/9 result in the Queenstown Chess Classic (2012), regaining ground lost in a mediocre 5.5/11 result in the Australian Championship 2012. In May 2012, he came a stunning outright 1st in the Victorian Championship when he scored 9.5/11 - adding 40 Elo points to his rating - and in June, he came =1st with 6/7 in the Victorian Open 2012. He scored 3.5/4 at the Bob Brooking Round Robin 1 2012 and finished 2012 with a strong performance by scoring 6/9 and sharing =1st at the Australasian Masters 2012. He started 2013 equally strongly by taking outright first with 6.5/7 at the Begonia Masters in Ballarat in March, lifting him into the Australian top 10.
On his way home from the 2013 Doeberl Cup, he was seriously injured in a fatal car accident in which two other chess players were killed.
Morris first internationally rated outing since his accident was the Melbourne Chess Club Cup Weekender 2013, where he scored 7/9 and placed 2nd, half a point behind the winner Zuhao Luke Li. The following month, in December 2013, he won the Lidums Australian Young Masters 2013 with a score of 8/10 with 2 rounds to spare. 2014 started out poorly for Morris, scoring an unplaced 6/11 at the Australian Championship and 4.5/7 at the Melbourne Chess Club Australia Day Weekender, which between them have decreased his rating by 26 points. Since then however, he scored 5/7 at the Begonia Open in Ballarat, 6/9 at the Doeberl Cup, a disappointing 4.5/9 at the Sydney International 2014, followed by improvements with 3rd at the Victorian Championship with 8/11, =1st at the 2014 Victorian Open with 6/7 and 2nd at the 2014 MCC Hjorth Open in Nov 2014. He finished 2014 with outright 3rd at the Lidums Australian Young Masters 2014, scoring 5/7, conforming with rating expectation. Just before Christmas, Morris placed outright 2nd at the Victorian Blitz Championship 2014 with 10.5/13, half a point behind the winner Moulthun Ly.
2015 started with winning at the Australian Blitz Championship 2015 and =3rd at the Australian Open. In March he placed 2nd with 6/7 at the Begonia Open behind Azeri IM Kanan Izzat.
Morris' highest rating to day was 2503 in 2018.
Kibitzing
