The Dog Ate My Prize and Other Happenings at the George Washington Open

Having directed tournaments for over 35 years, there is a tendency to believe I’ve seen just about everything that could occur at a tournament.  Every once in a while I am proved wrong!  After round five at the George Washington Open, I wrote prize check to the various winners.  Carissa Zheng tied for first Under 1600 in the Under 1800 section and won $300.  Having claimed her check, I was surprised to see her a few hours later as I was packing up.  It seems she set her check on a table at home and her dog jumped up and started eating the check.  I might be skeptical, but she produced the remains of her original check.  I replaced it and recommended that she use part of her winnings to buy some dog treats! It seems a lot of the stories come out of the Under 1800 section.  A repeat story was Vernon McNeil.  Jamaal Abdul-Alim chronicled McNeil’s previous win in a Washington Chess Congress where he needed the money for tires for his car.  This year at registration Mr. McNeil told me he was delayed by car trouble.  I did remember him from the Washington Chess Congress, but didn’t think too much more of it until he claimed his clear second place prize of $500.  I had to ask about this car.  Vernon told me it is a 1973 Grand Am with many miles on it.  He drives it from North Carolina to Virginia to play in these tournaments.  He said he needs about $3000 to get it fixed up to where he wants it.  It seems to me if he keeps playing in CCA events, he will be there in no time! This year’s George Washington Open drew 214 players in five sections, which was a bit of a disappointment.  Some speculation was that the unseasonably warm weather might have led to players opting for other pursuits instead of playing in the tournament.  The Open section had only 24 players, but it was quite strong.  There were 3 GMs, a brand new IM, 3 FMs, 1 WIM, and a total of 13 players over 2200.  GMs Sergey Erenburg and Alexander Shabalov were the clear favorites, and that is exactly the way it turned out.  They drew each other in round four and beat everybody else to share first place.  The two played each other in round four when they were both a full point ahead of the field.  The TDs thought the over/under on the length of the game was 15 minutes, but the players had other thoughts.  They played for several hours before agreeing to a draw just before the first time control.  I mentioned to Erenburg that we all thought they would draw quickly and he explained that he had white and when he has white against anybody, he may play for an advantage rather than just take a short draw.  Also, it not being the last round and he would likely have black against a 2500+ player in the last round factored into the equation.  Erenburg thought he achieved an advantage (though not a winning one).  Take a look at the game to see for yourself.

[pgn][Event "George Washington Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.02.26"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "GM Erenburg, Sergey"]
[Black "GM Shabalov, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2633"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 Bb4+ 6. Nbd2 Nd7 7. O-O Ba5 8. Re1
f6 9. exf6 Ngxf6 10. c3 O-O 11. Nf1 Bc7 12. Ng3 Ne4 13. Bd3 Ndf6 14. Bg5 Nxg3
15. hxg3 Bg4 16. Qc2 h6 17. Bd2 Nd7 18. Nh4 Rf6 19. Ng6 c5 20. Bf4 Bb6 21. Ne5
Bf5 22. Nxd7 Qxd7 23. Be5 Rf7 24. Bxf5 Rxf5 25. g4 Rff8 26. Re3 Rac8 27. Rd1
Qf7 28. Rf3 Qe7 29. Qe2 Rxf3 30. Qxf3 Qf7 31. Qd3 cxd4 32. cxd4 Rc6 33. Re1
1/2-1/2[/pgn]

Erenburg did in fact face third seeded Prav Balikrishnan who was just recently awarded the IM title in the last round.  He did bring home the full point, but as befits a game between two strong players, it was a struggle. Shabalov also played Balkrishnan in round two (at the accelerated 2 day time control).  He also defeated GM Larry Kauffman in the last round to take clear first.  Here are two of Shabalov’s critical wins from the tournament.

[pgn][Event "George Washington Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.02.26"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "GM Shabalov, Alexander"]
[Black "GM Kaufman, Lawrence"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2633"]
[BlackElo "2378"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. Qa4+ c6 6. Qxc4 b5 7. Qd3 a6 8. e4
c5 9. dxc5 Qxd3 10. Bxd3 Bxc5 11. e5 Nfd7 12. a4 b4 13. Ne4 Nc6 14. Bf4 Bb7 15.
Rc1 Be7 16. O-O h6 17. Nd6+ Bxd6 18. exd6 O-O 19. Nd2 Rac8 20. Nb3 Rfd8 21.
Rfd1 Nce5 22. Be2 Bd5 23. Na5 Ng6 24. Be3 Nh4 25. Bxa6 Ra8 26. Nc6 Bxc6 27.
Rxc6 Nb8 28. Rc8 Rxc8 29. Bxc8 Rxa4 30. Bb6 Nf5 31. g4 Nxd6 32. Rxd6 Kh7 33.
Bc7 Ra1+ 34. Kg2 Rc1 35. Bxb8 Rxc8 36. Rb6 Rc4 37. h3 Kg6 38. Bd6 h5 39. Rxb4
Rc6 40. Bf4 hxg4 41. hxg4 1-0[/pgn]

[pgn][Event "George Washington Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.02.25"]
[Round "2"]
[White "IM Balakrishnan, Praveen"]
[Black "GM Shabalov, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2510"]
[BlackElo "2633"]
[Annotator "Hater,David"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. f4 a6 5. Nf3 b5 6. Bd3 Bb7 7. a4 b4 8. Ne2 c5
9. c3 cxd4 10. cxd4 Nf6 11. Ng3 O-O 12. O-O a5 13. e5 Nd5 14. f5 dxe5 15. dxe5
Nc6 16. e6 Qb6+ 17. Kh1 Rad8 18. exf7+ Kh8 19. Qe2 Nd4 20. Nxd4 Qxd4 21. fxg6
Ne3 22. Bxe3 Qxd3 23. Qxd3 Rxd3 24. Bg5 hxg6 25. Rf4 Bf6 26. Bxf6+ exf6 27.
Rxf6 Rd2 28. Rxg6 Rxf7 29. Rg1 Rxb2 30. Nh5 Kh7 31. Rb6 Ra2 32. Nf6+ Kh8 33. h3
Rg7 34. Ng4 Rc7 35. Re1 Bxg2+ {With both players short of time in the G/60 TC,
black goes on to win} 0-1[/pgn]

One thing I noticed as I was entering games is that there were a couple players who played every game they lost to checkmate.  I’ve noticed in the last several Master sections that there were multiple games being played to checkmate where the player playing on was down lots of material and was playing a Master or even Grandmaster.  Invariably, it seems the players doing this are juniors who are playing up a section.  While I am used to seeing this in lower sections, this seems to be out of place in a Grand Prix tournament labeled as a “Master” section.  Sometimes it seems that the players doing this are unintentionally making a strong argument that they do not belong in that section, and, while I am generally not in favor of restricting one’s ability to play up, my attitude on that may be softening after seeing games like that. Speaking of things that seem out of place in a Master section, here is a miniature from the top section.  Black, who clearly does belong in this section, plays in a somewhat unorthodox manner.  While this often works at taking one’s opponent out of book, in this case black missed a tactic and gets swiftly punished.  In spite of the miniature, he showed he does belong, and at least he didn’t play until checkmate!

[pgn][Event "George Washington Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.02.25"]
[Round "3.6"]
[White "Dilshad, Mohammad"]
[Black "Fellman, Mike"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2284"]
[BlackElo "2173"]
[PlyCount "24"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 f6 3. Bh4 Nh6 4. e3 Nf5 5. Bg3 g6 6. c4 c6 7. cxd5 Nxg3 8. hxg3
cxd5 9. Nc3 Bg7 10. Rc1 e6 11. Bd3 Nc6 12. Rxh7 Kf7 1-0[/pgn]

The Under 2100 section saw Jason Morefield win with a 5-0 score and finish a point ahead of the field.  Second place was shared by two players playing the ultimate Swiss gambit.  Paul Yavari and Stephen Jablon both lost in round one of the three day schedule to lower rated players.  Neither one re-entered. They both won their next four games to finish 4-1 and share 2nd and 3rd.  Many other players had a chance to finish with 4 points, but there were a lot of draws on the top boards which created a nine way tie for 4th place.  There was also an eight way tie for second Under 1900.  These ties mean 21 of the 53 players in the section won money.   Morefield could have drawn the last round and still take clear 1st.  His game ended early, but it was not a draw.  He is already winning in this position. Can you find the crushing blow to end the game quickly?

Garrett Heller vs. Jason Morefield

Black to move.

Show Solution Morefield counts his best game as his fourth round win over Aasa Dommalapati who is currently the number 5 girl in the country for her age (13 years old).

[pgn][Event "George Washington Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.02.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Morefield, Jason"]
[Black "Dommalapati, Aasa"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2081"]
[BlackElo "2015"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c4 b4 12. Nc2 a5 13. g3 O-O 14. h4 Be6 15.
Bh3 Bxh3 16. Rxh3 Be7 17. Qg4 Qc8 18. Qxc8 Raxc8 19. Nce3 Rfe8 20. Nf5 Bf8 21.
Rd1 Re6 22. h5 g6 23. Nfe3 Nd4 24. g4 Be7 25. Nxe7+ Rxe7 26. g5 Rb7 27. b3 Ra8
28. Nd5 Kg7 29. Kd2 a4 30. hxg6 Kxg6 31. Rdh1 axb3 32. Rh6+ Kxg5 33. Ke3 Nc2+
34. Kf3 Nd4+ 35. Kg2 f5 36. f4+ exf4 37. R1h5+ Kg4 38. Nf6# 1-0[/pgn]

The section winners were:

Under 2100

Jason Morefield, 5-0, $1000

Under 1800

Jason Zipfel, 5-0, $1000

Under 1500

Laszlo Offertaler, 4 ½ - ½, $800

Under 1200

Shubo Zhang, Diya Deepak, & Arjun Suryawanshi, 4 ½ -  ½, $300

Mixed Doubles

Jason Zipfel/Zoe Bredesen & Georgina Chin/Rahul Ponugati, 7-3 each team won $450

Blitz Tournament

Mohammed Dilshad, 8-0, $70

            NTD David Hater directed for CCA assisted by Andy Rea and Anand Dommalapati. For more information, visit:

• George Washington Open Website
• CCA Crosstables