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Tal Memorial LIVE!
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Jermuk hosts 6th Karen Asryan Memorial
June 17, 2013 - 10:17 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - 55 chess players are taking part in the 6th Karen Asryan Memorial in the Armenian resort town of Jermuk.
25 participants, including Armenian GMs Hrant Melkumyan, Robert Hovhannisyan, Samvel Ter-Sahakyan, Hovhannes Gabuzyan , Artashes Minasyan and others, won their first round games.
Karen Asryan, the champion of 2006 Chess Olympiad, died of stroke at the age of 28 in 2008. The Chess Giants tournament, which was stopped over his death, was later named after him.
Source: http://www.panarmenian.net
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Honour for Ken as he nears his century is a good move
Chess fan and coach Ken Dickson has been honoured for his many years of teaching young players the art of the brain testing game.
Ken, who lives in Little Gaddesden, celebrates his 100th birthday next month, proudly accepted the prestigious English Chess Federation President’s Award at the Hertfordshire Mega Final.
He was nominated for the award by the Herts Schools Chess Association in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of junior chess.
Association chairman Yogesh Jina said: “The Mega Final is one of the major junior events of the chess year, so it seemed a good time, with Ken’s 100th birthday only a few weeks away, to show our appreciation to someone who has given so much time and effort to help Hertfordshire children with their chess for so many years.
“Ken recently travelled with the Hertfordshire Under 11 team to the national finals in Nottingham and spent much of the day on his feet supervising games in the main playing hall”
The group has further honoured Ken by introducing a new award – The Ken Dickson Trophy – to be presented annually to the county’s under nine champion.
Source: http://www.hemeltoday.co.uk
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Geneva Masters with Kramnik, J Polgar, Nakamura, Mamedyarov
From the 26th to the 30th of June 2013, the City Council of Geneva is proud to present the 1st Geneva Chess Masters, organized by the Geneva Chess Federation (Fédération Genevoise d'Echecs).
Three World champions and a legendary woman grandmaster in Geneva!
Two four player groups challenging each other to qualify for the semi-finals and eventually the Grand Final. The concept is like the tennis masters tournaments - uncompromising games between the best players in the world.
In the end, only one remains!
Eight elite players will appear on the stage of Théâtre Pitoëff:
- Vladimir Kramnik, World N°3, World Champion from 2000 to 2007 and conqueror of the great Garry Kasparov.
- Judit Polgar, the greatest female player of all time, who has defeated nine male world champions.
- Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, newly crowned World Rapid Play Champion.
- Hikaru Nakamura, World Number 5, and fastest player in the world, undisputed king of Bullet chess, etc.
Website: www.genevachessmasters.ch
Each match starts with two rapid games (25 minutes + 10 seconds increment per move).
If the score is still equal, the match proceeds with two blitz games (4 minutes + 2 seconds increment per move).
Finally, if necessary, a "Sudden Death" blitz game is played (Black has one minute less but can afford a draw to qualify, whereas White must win). Lots will be drawn for the pairings during the
Opening Ceremony on Tuesday 25 June at 6:00pm.
The first round starts on Wednesday 26 June at 3:30 pm.
The qualifying phase takes place from the 26th to the 28th of June. Semi-finals are to be played on Saturday 29 June and the Final on Sunday 30 June.
All games will be broadcast live on the internet and spectators will have the possibility to follow the games with
French and English commentary. Website: www.genevachessmasters.ch
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Ponomariov perfect after 2 at Ukrainian Championship
Round 2 results:
Ponomariov - Eljanov 1-0
Volokitin - Moiseenko 1-0
Korobov - Efimenko ½-½
Kryvoruchko - Kravtsiv 1-0
Bogdanovich - Areshchenko 0-1
Baryshpolets - Neverov ½-½
Official website: http://ukrchess.org.ua
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Special trivia
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Harmon-Vellotti tops Shetty to take lead at U.S. Junior Closed
For more information, please contact:
Mike Wilmering
Communications Specialist
Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis
For pictures, visit www.uschesschamps.com/galleries
On a day where separation was on the order, just the opposite was on the plate. Report by Brian Jerauld.
“This tournament hasn’t even started yet,” said IM Daniel Naroditsky after the third round of the 2013 U.S. Junior Closed Championship. “Everyone is at the same place.”
Now everybody is throwing punches at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. Round 3 featured defeats of IM Victor Shen and FM Atulya Shetty, who had been the early frontrunners of the tournament heading into Sunday, and points on the board for both FM Jeffrey Xiong and WFM Sarah Chiang.
Three draws on the day tightened the rankings instead of providing distance, as now seven players of the field of ten all sit within a point of each other.
FM Luke Harmon-Vellotti now stands alone on top with 2.5 points, after a win that has been two months in the making. Payback rang in the Idaho FIDE master’s mind as he took the chair across from FM Atulya Shetty for the second time, the first coming in the final round of the record-breaking 2013 K-12 Super Nationals last April.
There, Shetty served Harmon-Vellotti a loss that not only disrupted the 14-year-old’s perfect 6-0 record, it also bounced him from the top spot to put Shetty in clear first. An instant rivalry.
“I really wanted revenge,” said Harmon-Vellotti, who will begin classes at UCLA in the fall after acing the math portion of his SATs. “I think having rivals is good for competition. They push you, give you something to focus on. Generally speaking, they help to spur better things.”
Shetty rolled out with an English attack and the game moved quickly through the first 14 moves, until Harmon-Vellotti knocked him from his prep with 14. … Nd8. The move looked to ready c6 and kick Shetty’s knight from the powerful d5, but Shetty retreated the knight willingly with 15. Ndc3 and Harmon-Vellotti’s response of 15. … c5 invited him right back in.
It brought a muddled and closed center where knights became the highlight, and Harmon-Vellotti found one to reign supreme. His 22. … Qb5 produced a fork for material advantage, but it brought much more. Shetty’s response of 23. b4 surrendered the pawn on d5, but also allowed Harmon-Vellotti’s knight a path toward a nasty outpost on e3. The position proved more valuable than the exchange, as the knight stayed put despite attacking Shetty’s rook for four moves. When it finally did move, 31. … Nd5, it produced a lethal discovery that left three of Shetty’s pieces attacked at once. Surrender came four moves later.
The tournament’s other leader IM Victor Shen, who had a perfect two points through two rounds, also stumbled with the white pieces in a marathon match versus Robert Perez. Shen’s e4 was met with a particularly sharp Najdorf line of the Sicilian, one Shen admitted that a lack of familiarity with helped aid his defeat.
Of particular focus was 12. Nxe7, a voluntary move from Chen that swung the pendulum heavily into Perez’ favor. While it did disrupt castling, the response of 12. … Ke7 put Perez’ monarch into perhaps an even cozier safe spot, as it never felt a whiff of danger for the rest of the game. It also made a streamline of mobility for Perez’ major pieces, which had a battery set just three moves later on the half-open c-file, beating down on Shen’s king.
“I don’t know what to say, I thought (12. Nxe7) was a good move, that I was getting two bishops,” Shen said. “But clearly, as the game showed, he gets a free attack out of it, and I get nothing. I traded my best piece for his worst piece. That’s not ideal.”
It pushed Shen’s forces into an extremely packed a1 corner and, with both a- and b-pawns charging, Perez looked to blow open the meager defenses. But Shen took advantage of some inaccuracies and played well with his back against the wall, ultimately wiggling free from the tight corner with minimal casualty. He finally traded his “piece of garbage” knight, which sat for 27 moves on the a1 corner, for a pawn and an opportunity to queen his a-pawn. Perez, however, offered some fantastic queen and knight work in the closing moves to secure the win.
Naroditsky discussed his decision to push forward into a draw against Harmon-Vellotti in round 2 as a “prudent decision,” but his draw against Kayden Troff in round 3 was more of a desperate cling. The two IMs paired off in one of the most anticipated matchups of the day, and despite the uneventful result, the game itself offered plenty of fireworks.
Naroditsky’s preparation knew of his opponent’s penchant for the Grunfeld, so he came at Troff with the Anti-Grunfeld System, refraining to play d4. All looked well for the California 17-year-old through the opening, until he decided he didn’t want to just pick a quiet fight with Troff. Instead, he put his head down and charged.
“I thought I would be making a statement with e5 and e6,” Naroditsky said about his 11th and 12th move, “but I missed a really nice refutation. I realized then that this wasn’t going to be so easy, and from there I was clinging to whatever I could cling to.”
Indeed, Troff was agile in his dodge of the premature attack, immediately swapping out the f3 knight and swallowing Naroditsky’s e-pawn. In four moves, Troff had completely unpacked his position, centralizing both knights with incessant harassment to the black queen. Though the loss of his d-pawn stacked Troff’s own d-file, a weakness Naroditsky would later recollect, his king cowered from several dangerous files and diagonals that Troff dominated for much of the game.
But Naroditsky held out, breaking the game down to a rook-and-pawn endgame and eventually converting his only remaining weakness – stacked and isolated e pawns – into a balanced position.
“All things considered, I’m happy to get away with a draw,” Naroditsky said. “I’m happy I didn’t collapse, as I have done in the past, happy with the fact that I was able to calm down and defend it.”
Both WFM Sarah Chiang and FM Jeffrey Xiong, scoreless through the first two rounds, were able to break the seal with draws in round 3. Chiang had white against FM Yian Liou and came with the Leningrad system in the Dutch defense. Though the center showed early signs of closing, it sprang open quickly by move 15, with both sides being relieved of their oft-problematic pawns in such positions – c4 for white, and d6 for black. The game stayed quiet throughout, mostly jockeying for better position between the two sides, and Chiang easily dealt with Liou’s only endgame threat in a passed pawn.
FM Sam Sevian played Xiong to a draw in a battle between the two youngest competitors in this year’s Juniors field – both 12 years old. And after a round 2 match versus Perez, where Sevian played a race through theory that went 26 moves deep, he was relieved of such preparation versus Xiong in just one move: Sevian prepped fully for a Xiong’s c6 or c5 response, and instead got 1. … e6.
It did, conveniently, enter them both into a line they were equally unfamiliar with, a Winawar variation of the French defense. The game stayed closed and confusing throughout, with Sevian testing options around an “annoying” g7 outpost, according to Xiong. His response offered an exchange sacrifice, which Sevian accepted at 25. Bxg5, that dramatically opened up black’s forces and momentarily sent white reeling. Xiong eventually earned the exchange back with 32. … Bxd2+.
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IM Stefan Mazur winner in Pula Open
Norwegian IM Frode Urkedal and Serbian GM Sinisa Drazic shared the second place half a point behind the winner.
The 27th International Open Tournament Pula was organized by the Chess Club Pula on 8-15th June, 2013, at the Park Plaza Histria in Pula, Croatia.
The 9-round Swiss open offered 11,000 EUR in prizes. Top prizes were EUR 1400, 1000, 700, 600, 500 etc.
Final standings:
1. IM Mazur Stefan SVK 2387 – 8
2. IM Urkedal Frode NOR 2470 – 7.5
3. GM Drazic Sinisa SRB 2463 – 7.5
4. GM Okhotnik Vladimir FRA 2399 – 7
5. GM Bosiocic Marin CRO 2556 – 7
6. FM Aabling-Thomsen Jakob DEN 2343 – 7
7. IM Zufic Miroslav CRO 2441 – 7
8. GM Yrjola Jouni FIN 2366 – 7
9. Pezelj Sinisa SRB 2172 – 6.5
10. FM De Filomeno Simone ITA 2365 – 6.5
11. GM Sulava Nenad CRO 2484 – 6.5
12. IM Jelen Igor SLO 2376 – 6.5
13. IM Lizak Peter HUN 2420 – 6.5
14. GM Zelcic Robert CRO 2537 – 6.5
15. FM Schnider Gert AUT 2360 – 6.5
16. IM Ledger Andrew J ENG 2389 – 6.5
17. GM Jovanic Ognjen CRO 2532 – 6.5
18. GM Romero Holmes Alfonso ESP 2522 – 6.5
19. Nelson Jonathan P ENG 2227 – 6.5
20. IM Molnar Bela HUN 2320 – 6.5
21. GM Tratar Marko SLO 2508 – 6
22. FM Medak Bojan CRO 2399 – 6
23. FM Karner Christoph AUT 2321 – 6
24. Kahleys Kevin GER 2191 – 6
25. Sevo Igor CRO 2206 – 6
26. FM Zvan Ziga SLO 2288 – 6
27. FM Plenca Julijan CRO 2351 – 6
28. GM Fercec Nenad CRO 2499 – 6
29. Blagojevic Marijan CRO 2133 – 6
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4 decisive games in rd 2 at Women's GP
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Anton Filippov and Mikhail Markov qualify for World Chess Cup in Tromso
A total of 35 players from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan competed in Open and Women’s section.
Grandmaster Anton Filippov from Uzbekistan won the Open section with 7,0/9 points. Local player Mikhail Markov finished second with 6,5 points and earned an IM norm.
Filippov and Markov are qualified for the World Chess Cup which will take place in August in Tromso, Norway.
WGM Guliskhan Nakhbayeva from Kazakhstan convincingly won the Women’s section with 8,5/9 points to qualify for the next Women’s World Chess Championship.
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Nakamura leads Tal Memorial after 4
Four rounds have passed at the Red October building in Moscow. Hikaru Nakamura is the first sole leader of the event. He got his third straight victory today over Fabiano Caruana to consolidate his position at the top of the standings. The rest of the games in the fourth round finished in draws. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Boris Gelfand share second place half a point behind the American. The Russian representatives are not having a very good run at this event.
Live games with analysis / Full list of participants
The only decisive game of the round saw Nakamura use the black pieces to put down Fabiano Caruana in 39 moves. Precisely these two young players have been showing steady progress in the last couple of years. The Italian is now fourth on the live ratings list, while Nakamura is right behind him on the fifth spot. Coincidentally, both of them played in the last two legs of the Grand Prix, drawing in both occasions.
The game was a Najdorf where white’s play did not give him any advantage out of the opening. In a dynamically balanced position, Caruana started to look for some edge on the kingside, however, his knight remained out of play on a5. Nakamura concentrated his forces on the side that had more action going and ended up creating enough mating threats with his heavy pieces to push the Italian towards resignation.
Both players have been showing great fighting spirit; both had four decisive results until now. Let us not forget that Caruana defeated favorite Magnus Carlsen in the third round.
Another interesting Sicilian was seen in the game that faced veterans Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand. The players must have taken a lot of time reviewing their preparation for their World Championship match, and the Israeli proved yet again that he had a very reliable repertoire to neutralize his rival with black.
A very positional struggle took place over the board. Gelfand was not afraid to put his light squared bishop on the not-very-attractive e8 square in order to equalize the position. The world champion tried to create some pressure in a very slightly superior rook endgame, but soon enough it was clear that there were not enough resources to create something threatening. The players signed the peace treaty right after passing the time control.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov showed very deep preparation with black in his game against Sergey Karjakin. He used the rarely seen Pirc Defense and sacrificed two pawns for activity. At some point, it seemed like the young Russian was going to get enough chances to look for a win in a rook endgame with a far away passed pawn, but the Azerbaijani defended stubbornly and got his half point on move 42.
Russians Alexander Morozevich and Vladimir Kramnik played very creatively in a Berlin Defense. The ex-world champion got an inferior position but managed to get enough counterplay to save the draw. Dmitry Andreikin and Magnus Carlsen also split the point after closing the position completely in 34 moves.
The leader Nakamura will play with white against Andreikin tomorrow, while the very expected duel between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand takes place in the next board.
Photos by Eteri Kublashvili
Standings after 4 rounds:
1 Nakamura, Hikaru USA 2784 3
2 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar AZE 2753 2½
3 Gelfand, Boris ISR 2755 2½
4 Caruana, Fabiano ITA 2774 2
5 Andreikin, Dmitry RUS 2713 2
6 Anand, Viswanathan IND 2786 2
7 Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2864 2
8 Karjakin, Sergey RUS 2782 1½
9 Morozevich, Alexander RUS 2760 1½
10 Kramnik, Vladimir RUS 2803 1
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Dzagnidze leads Women's GP after 2
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Practical tactic review
Black to move. How should Black proceed?
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Kasparov's Greatest Hits by GM Damian Lemos ... and more
Kasparov's Greatest Hits by GM Damian Lemos
Kasparov's Greatest Hits by GM Damian Lemos
Posted on June 17,2013 By William in Strategy & Game Review, Chess Openings, All Articles w/ Videos, Classic Games (Pre 2010). The King's Indian Defense is one of the most popular and dangerous chess openings of all time. Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov employed the King's Indian Defense at the highest levels of chess, achieving remarkable success with the black pieces by using this aggressive opening system against 1. d4. In this chess video excerpt from the 3+ hour chess DVD ¨Kasparov's Greatest Hits¨, Grandmaster Damian Lemos analyzes one of Kasparov's most[...]
A Chess Clinic with IM Andrew Martin
Posted on June 14,2013 By OnlineChessLessons.NET Contributor in Strategy & Game Review, All Articles w/ Videos, Beginner's Corner. IM Andrew Martin is a world-renown chess trainer that focuses on improvement for beginner and intermediate players. In the below chess video excerpt from the chess DVD A Chess Clinic IM Andrew Martin is analyzing an interesting encounter between one of his students (a club level player) and an opponent rated over 400 points higher. It is fascinating to hear IM Martin's advice on facing higher-rated players and how he advises his students to not o[...]
Black Shockers - The French Fort Knox by IM Andrew Martin
Posted on June 12,2013 By OnlineChessLessons.NET Contributor in Strategy & Game Review, Chess Openings, All Articles w/ Videos. The Fort Knox Variation of the French Defense is an extremely solid sideline that has remained under-appreciated until recent years. In the below chess video excerpt from the chess DVD ¨Black Shockers Vol. 2 - French Fort Knox - Old Benoni¨ IM Andrew Martin explains that the Fort Knox Variation of the French Defense is a very sturdy response against 1. e4 and that black will almost certainly be able to achieve a playable equality from the opening[...]
Kramnik Crushes Kasparov - Insane King's Indian Defense
Posted on June 10,2013 By William in Strategy & Game Review, Chess Openings, All Articles w/ Videos, Classic Games (Pre 2010). Vladimir Kramnik is one of the only chess players that has consistently achieved good results against Garry Kasparov. In this classic chess video footage from the 1994 Moscow Intel Grand Prix, Kramnik puts an absolute beating on Kasparov in one of the craziest chess games ever. Kasparov responds to Kramnik's 1. d4 with his favorite opening weapon with black - the King's Indian Defense! The opening is complicated and it appears that Kasparov has o[...]
OnlineChessLessons.net is a producer of thousands of free chess articles and free chess videos by FIDE chess masters. They recently released the renowned Empire Chess series that has been taking the chess world by storm. Please consider checking out their chess blog and chess shop with tons of free updated previews.
Kasparov's Greatest Hits by GM Damian Lemos
Posted on June 17,2013 By William in Strategy & Game Review, Chess Openings, All Articles w/ Videos, Classic Games (Pre 2010). The King's Indian Defense is one of the most popular and dangerous chess openings of all time. Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov employed the King's Indian Defense at the highest levels of chess, achieving remarkable success with the black pieces by using this aggressive opening system against 1. d4. In this chess video excerpt from the 3+ hour chess DVD ¨Kasparov's Greatest Hits¨, Grandmaster Damian Lemos analyzes one of Kasparov's most[...]
A Chess Clinic with IM Andrew Martin
Posted on June 14,2013 By OnlineChessLessons.NET Contributor in Strategy & Game Review, All Articles w/ Videos, Beginner's Corner. IM Andrew Martin is a world-renown chess trainer that focuses on improvement for beginner and intermediate players. In the below chess video excerpt from the chess DVD A Chess Clinic IM Andrew Martin is analyzing an interesting encounter between one of his students (a club level player) and an opponent rated over 400 points higher. It is fascinating to hear IM Martin's advice on facing higher-rated players and how he advises his students to not o[...]
Black Shockers - The French Fort Knox by IM Andrew Martin
Posted on June 12,2013 By OnlineChessLessons.NET Contributor in Strategy & Game Review, Chess Openings, All Articles w/ Videos. The Fort Knox Variation of the French Defense is an extremely solid sideline that has remained under-appreciated until recent years. In the below chess video excerpt from the chess DVD ¨Black Shockers Vol. 2 - French Fort Knox - Old Benoni¨ IM Andrew Martin explains that the Fort Knox Variation of the French Defense is a very sturdy response against 1. e4 and that black will almost certainly be able to achieve a playable equality from the opening[...]
Kramnik Crushes Kasparov - Insane King's Indian Defense
Posted on June 10,2013 By William in Strategy & Game Review, Chess Openings, All Articles w/ Videos, Classic Games (Pre 2010). Vladimir Kramnik is one of the only chess players that has consistently achieved good results against Garry Kasparov. In this classic chess video footage from the 1994 Moscow Intel Grand Prix, Kramnik puts an absolute beating on Kasparov in one of the craziest chess games ever. Kasparov responds to Kramnik's 1. d4 with his favorite opening weapon with black - the King's Indian Defense! The opening is complicated and it appears that Kasparov has o[...]
OnlineChessLessons.net is a producer of thousands of free chess articles and free chess videos by FIDE chess masters. They recently released the renowned Empire Chess series that has been taking the chess world by storm. Please consider checking out their chess blog and chess shop with tons of free updated previews.
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Women's GP LIVE!
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Tal Memorial LIVE!
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Nils Grandelius grabs the trophy in Golden Sands
Grandelius defeated Indian GM Arun Prasad in the last round to complete the tournament with 7,5/9 points.
Vladislav Nevednichy and MR Venkatesh were also victorious to catch Zbynek Hracek and Vladimir Georgiev on the shared second place.
WGM Mary Ann Gomes was the best placed woman with 6,5 points.
Last round video
Final standings:
1 GM Grandelius Nils SWE 2544 – 7.5
2 GM Hracek Zbynek CZE 2625 – 7
3 GM Nevednichy Vladislav ROU 2580 – 7
4 GM Georgiev Vladimir MKD 2532 – 7
5 GM Venkatesh M.R. IND 2506 – 7
6 GM Solak Dragan TUR 2598 – 6.5
7 GM Nabaty Tamir ISR 2579 – 6.5
8 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi IND 2554 – 6.5
9 IM Ashwin Jayaram IND 2472 – 6.5
10 GM Arun Prasad S. IND 2522 – 6.5
11 GM Spasov Vasil BUL 2565 – 6.5
12 GM Gupta Abhijeet IND 2600 – 6.5
13 GM Petrosian Tigran L. ARM 2649 – 6.5
14 IM Raznikov Danny ISR 2491 – 6.5
15 GM Rusev Krasimir BUL 2556 – 6.5
16 GM Chatalbashev Boris BUL 2560 – 6.5
17 GM Sengupta Deep IND 2548 – 6.5
18 GM Vajda Levente ROU 2617 – 6.5
19 WGM Gomes Mary Ann IND 2408 – 6.5
20 GM Solodovnichenko Yuri UKR 2565 – 6
21 GM Svetushkin Dmitry MDA 2605 – 6
22 GM Blagojevic Dragisa MNE 2524 – 6
23 GM Mareco Sandro ARG 2557 – 6
24 IM Bernadskiy Vitaliy UKR 2475 – 6
25 FM Bonafede Alessandro ITA 2353 – 6
26 GM Abasov Nijat AZE 2492 – 6
27 GM Grover Sahaj IND 2478 – 6
28 IM Givon Asaf ISR 2415 – 6
29 GM Shyam Sundar M. IND 2502 – 6
30 GM Sveshnikov Evgeny LAT 2512 – 6
31 GM Gopal G.N. IND 2522 – 6
32 GM Parligras Mircea-Emilian ROU 2565 – 6
33 IM Narayanan Srinath IND 2464 – 6
34 GM Drenchev Petar BUL 2485 – 6
35 IM Debashis Das IND 2482 – 6
36 IM Galinsky Timofey UKR 2439 – 6
37 IM Karthikeyan Murali IND 2435 – 6
38 IM Rombaldoni Axel ITA 2484 – 6
39 FM Ali Marandi Cemil Can TUR 2383 – 6
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Naroditsky Clear First at U.S. Junior Closed Championship
FM Luke Harmon-Vellotti entered atop the standings with 2.5/3 points, but he fell in glorious fashion to FM Samuel Sevian in round 4. The full-point victory was one of four on the day, with only one draw in the round between IM Victor Shen and FM Jeffrey Xiong. Report by Brian Jerauld.
The standings remain tight, with seven of the ten players still within one point of each other, entering round 5. California 17-year-old IM Daniel Naroditsky now sits atop the leaderboard on the proverbial hot seat and, with two wins and two draws in four rounds, is the last player in the field without a loss. Four players sit in a tie for second place, a half-point behind Naroditsky with 2.5 points.
Not 20 moves into Naroditsky’s game versus FM Atulya Shetty, things looked to be headed into a dead draw, which would have created a six-way tie for first place. Shetty gave fight with the French defense, producing an isolated queen’s pawn. It was one Naroditsky was up to the task of blockading, but unfortunately it was black’s only slight weakness.
But Shetty missed 19. … Bxd4 20. Bxd4 f6, which would have ushered in an opposite-colored bishop endgame and left white with no prospects. Naroditsky capitalized, with a powerful 24. Qg3 to set up the winning Re5 on the next move. Shetty blundered his major pieces to a knight fork soon after, and Naroditsky closed the game with some great back-rank tactical work.
“I just misevaluated the position,” Shetty said of his drawing chances. “I thought he would be able to keep pushing for awhile, with me suffering. I guess it was an easier draw than I thought it would be.”
Harmon-Vellotti had been nothing short of impressive through the first three rounds, including a win over IM Kayden Troff and a draw with Naroditsky, the field’s two highest-rated players. But his fourth-round match on Monday versus Sevian was a quick reminder that there would be no getting comfortable in this field.
Boise, Idaho’s 14-year-old pride looked solid through the earlygoings of a Ruy Lopez, prompting Grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan and Ben Finegold to comment on Harmon-Vellotti’s polished openings thus far in the tournament. But the middlegame held a different story.
If 16. c4 was confusing, then 18. Nfg5 was downright wrong. The former move, in a position that looked primed for white to push b4, greased the wheels for Sevian to come on the attack, and the latter simply sent a minor piece into the barbs of the enemy camp for no compensation.
“It was just one of those games where everything I calculated just didn’t work,” Harmon-Vellotti said. “I thought b4 didn’t work, because I was losing material – but I’m not. Then c4 was supposed to start this crazy kingside attack, where I thought I could get d4 and have something – but I don’t. Then Nb6, [Sevian] had several refutations – but I didn’t see any of them.”
Troff converted a solid endgame into a full point in his match versus FM Yian Liou. The Utah IM and reigning U-14 World Champion, who turned 15 while playing in his first U.S. Championship in May, came out clean against the Queen’s Gambit-Declined Slav defense and found himself with an early advantage. Liou’s 17. … b6 was suspect, especially without his king castled, and Troff created the first weakness in his opponent’s army with an isolated c-pawn.
But he fell a bit flat on his choice of attack, opting for 19. Bb5 which was met by Ra7, and Troff voluntarily traded minor pieces and queens to speed toward the endgame. But Liou missed 23. Bf6, which would have brought the devastating 24. … Bd4+ and paved the way for an easy draw. Instead, Troff cleaned up in an excellent rook-and-pawn endgame. Liou’s choice of 23. a5 was the one he wanted back.
“It wasn’t miscalculating as much as it was just misevaluating how much of an easy draw [Bf6] was,” Liou said. “I just thought a5 led to an easier draw.”
With a draw in round 3, her first points on the board, WFM Sarah Chiang looked to be warming up and cruising to a convincing win versus Robert Perez on Monday. She came with the Classical Nimzo-Indian, including c5 and Na6, to disrupt Perez’ middle and stack his c-pawns. After 20 moves, Chiang was looking strong and coming heavy with attack, while Perez played with under 15 minutes on his clock and another 20 moves needed before time control.
Chiang’s attack, however, seemed just a tempo late, as Perez had just enough defense set up to avoid an otherwise lethal 24. Rg4. As it was, the move did little more than trap her own rook. Still, Chiang hung solid all the way through 34. gxf3, a position which Perez had all but conceded to time troubles.
“After [34. Gxf3], I thought I was dead, because she was so far up on time. That position was really annoying to defend low on time,” Perez said. “After that, I didn’t know. I couldn’t figure out what to do. My pieces were passive, and her pieces were active.”
But her 37. Kg7, instead of Kh7 which would have drawn, brought Perez’ shocker of 38. Ne6+, bringing mate in several ways if 38. … fxe6. Chiang lost her queen to a fork with her king at move 40. Nf8.
The draw between Xiong and Shen also featured a Ruy Lopez, but one Xiong fell out of line of rather early. The result saw an early attack on his white-squared bishop and struggling to find initiative in the early going. He stumbled through an awkward advance through the center that momentarily left his king exposed, but he was able to eventually close the board and create a pawn fortress, where he weathered the storm through the endgame.
Shen found slightly more play with the black pieces throughout the middle game, but trading the knights at move 29 all but sealed the draw.
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Batchimeg and Stefanova score in round 3
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Magnus beat Anand, Gelfand beat Morozevich
| Nakamura, Hikaru | - Andreikin, Dmitry | ½-½ | |||
| Gelfand, Boris | - Morozevich, Alexander | 1-0 | |||
| Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | - Caruana, Fabiano | ½-½ | |||
| Carlsen, Magnus | - Anand, Viswanathan | 1-0 | |||
| Kramnik, Vladimir | - Karjakin, Sergey | ½-½ |
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