Midwest Class results

Yes, I'm still blogging, but I've been doing procrastinators' tax returns for the past couple weeks.  Back in business later this week.

The Midwest Class was rather strong this year!  Check out the results.  Dmitry Gurevich won the top section 4-1, on tiebreaks over his GM colleagues Nikola Mitkov, Yury Shulman, and Swiss Gambiteer Mesgen Amanov.

2013 Illinois Open

Crosstables here.  I had a lot of fun this weekend!  We were worried about tournament fatigue just a few weeks after the US Open in Madison, but I believe we had 138 noses, all with players attached. The group was very strong and very congenial.  On behalf of the Illinois Chess Association, thank you for playing! (And if you didn't play this year, why not put it on your calendar for next Labor Day weekend?)

Congratulations to the 2013 Co-Champions, Grandmaster Mesgen Amanov and Grandmaster Nikola Mitkov.  (Mesgen was first on tiebreaks.)

And thanks to ICA President Carl Dolson, who organized on behalf of ICA, directors Tim Just, Wayne Clark, and Chris Baumgartner, Illinois Chess Tour impresario Mike Cardinale, postcard mailer Adrian Brock, and everyone else who made this event possible.

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.

The double-pawn advantage, redoubled

It is not fun to defend a Bishop's Opening against one of its foremost practitioners, GM Nikola Mitkov. Even GM Vladimir Georgiev, who knew very well what to expect, has serious problems....

We're all taught that when in doubt, we should make pawn captures towards the center.  Consider the diagram below: White has two sets of doubled pawns, and no central pawns at all, as he's captured away from the center twice.  Yet White's rooks both sit on semi-open central files.  Who has the pressure?

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.

Great way to start the summer: chess camp in Lisle June 10-4

Grandmasters Dmitry Gurevich, Nikola Mitkov, and Atanas Kolev will be conducting the Benet Academy Summer Chess Camp in Lisle on June 10-14. For more info, see the announcement on the ICA Calendar.

2012 Illinois Tour standings

Here are the complete standings with one event to go, the 2012 Illinois Class.

NM Tenzing Shaw and GM Nikola Mitkov lead the Open section with 22 points.  GM Dmitry Gurevich is right behind with 21½ points, and NM Jonathan Kogen and NM Sam Schmakel remain with striking distance of the title at 21 points.

Jim Froehlich seems very close to clinching the Reserve title at 28 points.  Joe Delay (23) and Michael Penway (22) are most likely battling for second.

And here are the leaders in the Reserve Scholastic section:

Andrew Fei										29.0
Maximilian Zinski										23.5
David Peng										22.0
Jason Daniels										21.0
Akshay Indusekar										20.0
Caeley Harihara										20.0
Ethan Brown										19.0
Aydin Turgut										18.5
Aakash Meduri										18.0

You still have time to change your fate (or, less dramatically, move up a couple notches in the standings): enter the Illinois Class!

Midwest Class results: GMs Shulman & Mitkov tie for first

Results here!  And the post-event ratings are already up on MSA.

It's procrastinators' tax deadline day: more when I catch my breath.

2012 Illinois Open coverage in Chess Life Online

Dmitry Gurevich's game with George Li is featured: check it out!  (The first half of the article covers the U.S. Masters in North Carolina.)

Mitkov, Gurevich share Illinois Open title

Congratulations to Grandmasters Nikola Mitkov and Dmitry Gurevich, the 2012 Illinois state champions!

Grandmaster in motion: GM Nikola Mitkov (vs. NM Sam Schmakel)

Not the first time: GM Dmitry Gurevich took down Tam Nguyen in the last round

 I'll expand this blog post this evening:-)  soon—I'm waiting for Chess Life Online to publish my report, then I'll use what they didn't....

Here are the final standings.

A bizarre ending

One of those games that demonstrates why Grandmasters are Grandmasters. I think there was a double blunder on move 44, but please don't trust this analysis. (If you're looking at this with a computer, please keep the horizon effect in mind: the engine's initial evaluation of the pawn ending may be wildly inaccurate.)

Mitkov, Gurevich win Illinois Open

Congratulations to Grandmasters Nikola Mitkov and Dmitry Gurevich, the 2012 Illinois state champions!

Much more tomorrow.

Chicago Class recap: Master Section

You know it's a tough event when you beat a GM and finish out of the money.  WGM Anna Sharevich knocked off GM Nikola Mitkov in round 4, but lost to GM Mesgen Amanov in round 2 and IM Qignam Liu in the final round: ridiculously difficult pairings.  And Gopal Menon defanged GM Mitkov's Grand Prix attack and drew IM Angelo Young in the first two rounds, but had less fun on Saturday night, as he got ground down by GM Dmitry Gurevich in a rather harmless-looking ending. You have just joined a very large club, Gopal.

Oh yes, prizewinners.  GM Amanov converted against IM Young in the last round and made his 4-1 first place on tiebreaks ($1,366.67) look routine.  FM Carl Boor continues to impress: he beat GM Gurevich's pet anti-Catalan system, grinding the grinder down in an ending (no mean feat). IM Qignam Liu also had a very steady event, highlighted by his last-round win against WGM Sharevich.  Both Boor and Qignam Liu won $1,266.67.

I had the pleasure of losing to Guijue Zhou in round 4: in the postmortem, she had the most kind and tactful way of suggesting to me the stupidity of my middlegame planning.  She, Matthew Marsh of Tennessee, and super-junior Kevin Cao of Missouri each won $466.67.

Preregister for the Illinois Open in Oak Brook this Labor Day weekend

$64, such a deal!  GMs Nikola Mitkov and Dmitry Gurevich are among the preregistrants.  (Yury Shulman is coaching the U.S. team at the Olympiad, and Mesgen Amanov may be repeating his Board 1 appearance for Turkmenistan, so you only have to fight your way past two Grandmasters this year.)  Angelo Young and Albert Chow are among the many-time winners looking to add another title to the collection.

Here's a link.

From the World Open

GM Nikola Mitkov finds some weaknesses to exploit:

One mysterious move deserves another

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

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!

Mitkov leads North American Open

Local Grandmaster Nikola Mitkov is tied for first with four other GMs (including Spanish super-GM Vallejo) at the North American Open at Bally's Casino Resort in Las Vegas. 

Standings are here.  FM Aleksandar Stamnov is tied for first in the Under 2300 section, and Jim Egerton has a perfect 4-0 in the Under 1900 section.

Midwest Class Championsips results-Master Section

This weekend's results are in from Wheeling!

Bulgarian Grandmaster and opening theoretician Atanas Kolev won the top section of the 20th Midwest Class Championship with a 4½-½ score.  Kolev  beating GM Dmitry Gurevich and Illinois Co-Champ Aun Thant Zin in rounds 3 and 4, and drawing Seth Homa of Michigan (who finished second with 4-1) in the final round.  This section was a tough one for the most of the locals: Aun Thant Zin did beat GM Nikola Mitkov in round 3, and Mitkov and Gurevich were paired with each other in the last round.

Age is catching up with 96-year-old Erik Karklins.  He lost all his games in the Expert Section: when he got a bye in round 4, he used the opportunity to play up to the Master Section, and beat NM James Ellis of Iowa.

Illinois Open in Oak Brook Labor Day weekend!

Here's the calendar listing.  I just checked the preregistration: GMs Gurevich and Amanov head the three-day schedule, while GM Mitkov and IM Young top the two-day schedule.  Both schedules merge after the third round.

The time control for all rounds of the three-day schedule is game/90 plus 30-second increment (that is, each player has 90 minutes to complete the game, plus 30 extra seconds added to the clock with each move made).  You'll never have a crazy time scramble with this control!  In fact, those of you accustomed to blitz play will need to learn to think prior to moving.  Minor downside: restroom breaks after move 40 must be efficient pit stops.  I'd like to see the time control for next year's championship be something like 40/90, sudden death/30, still with the 30-second increment from move 1.  But this is a quibble: the thirty-second increment is a big improvement over five-second delay.

Save a few dollars and enter now: I just did!  $79 for three days of play is incredibly reasonable.  If you're entering by mail, play it safe and enter today (mail entries must be postmarked by Tuesday).