Unofficial: GMs Robson, Friedel, Mitkov win 2013 Chicago Open

GM Nikola Mitkov held up the local honor this year. Here's his very nice win in the money round (finished just a few minutes ago).

ADDENDUM: The cross-tables for the event are available here.

Not so drawish

GM Mesgen Amanov and IM Florin Felecan are not only two of the strongest players in Illinois, they're two of the nicest people in Chicagoland chess.  Over the board, however, no quarter is given or expected.

Opposite-color bishop endings are not nearly as drawish as some assume they are, especially when a pair of major pieces remain on the board,  Make the enemy bishop irrelevant, and you're attacking with an extra piece!  In achieving this end, a well-timed pawn sacrifice is useful: activity trumps materialism.

Grünfeld Defense, Russian Variation, Hungarian Defense

5.Qb3 is the Russian Variation.  I am old enough to remember the "Hungarian" 7...a6!? as a wild cutting-edge idea by some Hungarian players in the 1970's.  (Wikipedia attributes its popularization to Leko, but the name was coined before Leko was born.)  As a couple repertoire books recommend this move, you should expect to face it if you play 5.Qb3 as White.

Sam Schmakel was ready (or at least ready enough) and wins a nice game.

Crunch

From tonight's round: you can follow on Monroi.  Hmm, Yury Shulman makes me want to switch to 9.Nh4.

Defending a difficult position against a grandmaster

Sometimes the mundane losses are as impressive as the spectacular wins.  Earlier today, ten-year-old Awonder Liang held out for forty moves against GM Mesgen Amanov.  Not just forty moves... forty moves after a monster knight landed on d6.

From the Chicago Open

GM Nikola Mitkov responds to the Caro-Kann with the Two Knights Variation and demolishes the Georgian GM Mikheil Kekelidze.  Game score via Monroi.

Save a buck: preregister for the Chicago Open

Today is the last day to enter the top seven sections for $227.  (Of course, you can still enter after today, but it'll cost you more.)

Albert Chow annotates...

Albert selected some interesting games from the Chicago Open to annotate for the ICA website.  In this first installment, 1.e4 (best by test) is featured.

Enjoy!

Standard rook-for-four-pawns middlegame

Mesgen Amanov punishes a hungry queen. (And what's the name of this opening?)

One mysterious move deserves another

GM Nikola Mitkov gets mysterious with a colleague in the last round of the Chicago Open, and it works:

William Aramil, hypermodern Shirov

One thinks of the c6-d5-e6 triangle as an incredibly sturdy defensive formation for Black.  NM William Aramil simply goes around the triangle and mates Black's king in a miniature. Very cool, very impressive!

This win was worth $1,533.34 to William, who took a share of second in the Under 2300 section with an undefeated 5½/7   The loser, NM Kevin Wasikuk of Minnesota, was an even bigger winner: he had already clinched the $5,000 first prize in the section by winning his first six games.

Unofficial congratulations...

...to Chicagoland's newest National Master, Zack Kasiurak!

Final results, Chicago Open

Reposted from chicagoopen.net:

The 21st Annual Chicago Open was held May 24-28, 2012, at the Westin Chicago North Shore Hotel, 601 North Milwaukee Ave, Wheeling, Illinois.

The Open Section was won by Armenian GM Gabriel Sargissian, who finished undefeated with 7/9. A crucial 8th round win over GM Tamaz Gelashvili followed by a draw in the final round against GM Mesgen Amanov secured at least a share of first place. GMs Robert Hess and Milos Perunovic, the only other people capable of sharing the spoils, were unable to beat GMs Yury Shulman and Michael Adams respectively, leaving Sargissian all alone at the top.

IM Daniel Ludwig finished in joint 2nd-8th with 6½/9, scoring a GM norm, as well as taking the top U2500 prize, while FM Kayden Troff finished with 5/9, scoring an IM norm.

 Final standings, with prizes, are now posted for all sections.

Congratulations to Gabriel Sargissian: the Armenian grandmaster also won the Open in 2009. 

On the local front, a great comeback for Mesgen Amanov, who was upset in round 1, but then scored five wins and three draws against a field that included five GMs and one IM.  Nikola Mitkov also shared second place with a last-round win against GM Mikheil Kekelidze.

Games and reports to follow!

Game of the tournament

When two geniuses with a reputation for disdaining opening theory finally get around to playing an Open Sicilian, this is what happens.   Michael was effusive in his praise of Jon's play: both winner and loser had a lot of fun!

Chicago Open Round 1 results

GM Mesgen Amanov and IM Florin Felecan were both upset in Round 1 (it happens). Top seed GM Michael Adams was among those held to a draw. 19 Grandmasters this year: not shabby!

 Crosstables available here (click on "standings" on the right column of your browser).

Chicago Open Round 1: All in the family

GM Yury Shulman wins comfortably against WIM Viktorija Ni:

I am prepared to give Gabriel knight odds until age six. At age ten, he will probably be giving me knight odds:

Both photos and the cool video swiped from the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis.

Not bad for a sixth-grader (or a supergrandmaster)

GM Michael Adams (photo: Chicago Tribune)

Grandmaster Michael Adams (perhaps a few years past his peak, but still #18 in the world on the live ratings list and still Britain's top player) is in town for the Chicago Open (you have two days to preregister!).

This past Saturday, Adams lectured for six (!) hours at the North Shore Chess Center, then gave a simultaneous exhibition against nineteen twenty-one brave souls.  (GM Adams only lost one game: to a sixth-grader!  (To be fair, just as GM Adams is no ordinary grandmaster, National Elementary Co-Champion Alex Bian is no ordinary sixth-grader.)  The grandmaster makes a "typical" simul oversight: Alex finishes his task with steady and crisp technique.

Final score per Sevan Muradian: 16 wins, 4 draws, and the above loss.

One or two people may still be able to squeeze into the Adams simul in Downers Grove on May 23rd.

Earlybird entry fee for Chicago Open due tomorrow!

Time to open the piggy bank!  The Chicago Open will held in Wheeling May 24th to May 28th.  Only the Open Section has a 5-day schedule; most of us will be playing a 4-day, 3-day, or 2-day schedule.  Info here.

For the top seven sections, you can enter by tomorrow for $205 to $207; preregistration will cost about 10% more after tomorrow, and onsite registration will cost $250.

Players over 65 get a $100 discount; the Under 1100 and Under 900 sections are significantly less expensive.  Players who have never been rated over 2200 FIDE (like me) would have to pay an extra $100 to play in the Open Section.

While your primary goal in the Chicago Open is to have fun playing chess, a good secondary goal is to take more money from Bill Goichberg than you give him.  So enter early: it's good for you and good for him!

Enter online here.  Before you complete your entry, you can renew your Illinois Chess Association membership (I just did!.  Then, back on CCA's Chicago Open entry website, click the radio button that looks like the one below to receive $5 off on your Chicago Open entry fee AND be eligible for Illinois Tour prizes!

ICA member with paid entry?:

$5 off to ICA member

I have no clue what happened

In the last round of the Chicago Open, I kibitzed this wild Najdorf between Tatev Abrahamyan (who was just awarded the WGM title) and our own Adarsh Jayakumar. After move 24 or so, I thought Adarsh was simply winning, but perhaps it's not so clear. In fact, Abrahamyan brought home the full point. Ouch!

P.S. The FIDE ratings of both players substantially lag their USCF ratings; Abrahamyan is around 2450; Jayakumar, 2260.

Blood from a turnip

Mesgen Amanov has a gift for squeezing the maximum from apparently sterile positions on the White side of the Slav.