East Coast Continental Chess Events Roundup

On the weekend of July 27-29, Continental Chess Association held three separate events that collectively drew 560 players and awarded $41,000 in prizes! There were six GMs, six IMs, and five FMs.  These numbers are all slightly lower than the previous weekend’s events, but they still represent a lot of players, substantial prize funds, and a lot of fighting chess played by titled and non-titled players alike.

The Southern Open

The largest of the three tournaments was the Southern Open.  It drew 244 players and paid $17,000.  The tournament was very strong as there were only 18 players in the Major section, and there were 5 GMs, 2 IMs, 2 FMs and a total of 11 players over 2200.  This resulted in several GM vs. GM matchups throughout the weekend and every GM had to play at least two other GMs and in some cases 3 other GMs in this 5 round weekend swiss.  GM vs GM pairings started occurring in round two, and there was at least one such pairing in every round after that. The relatively large number of titled players and relatively small number of players had the effect of eliminating perfect scores fairly quickly.  The bloodletting for the top players began as early as round one when second seeded Andrey Stukopin gave up a draw to NM Martin Hansen.  FM Corey Acor also gave up a draw to Munir Bilal Ben Jemaa and while there were no full point upsets, the first round indicated that the top players would have their work cut out for them in order to win the $2000 first prize. Round two saw GM vs. GM pairings in both the 3 day and two day schedules.  Top seeded GM Yun Quesada Perez faced GM Julio Becerra on board one of the three day and drew quickly while GM Vladimir Belous defeated GM Fidel Corrales Jiminez on board one of the two day schedule to join IM Daniel Fernandez as the only two perfect 2-0 scores as the schedules merged. Belous defeated Fernandez in round three to emerge as the lone perfect score at 3-0.  The final day of the tournament was Belous’ birthday, and he would make the most of it.  In the morning, he defeated GM Yun Quesada Perez to get to 4-0 and had already secured at least a tie for first place with one round to go.  He then drew quickly with Stukopin in round five and finished in clear first at 4 ½ - ½ to take the $2000 first prize and $100 first place bonus.  Here is the critical fourth round win with notes provided by GM Belous.

[pgn][Event "Southern Class"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.07.29"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Belous, Vladimir"]
[Black "Quesada, Yun"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2649"]
[BlackElo "2701"]
[Annotator "Belous"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.30"]{It was a morning game on my birthday, so I was going to play very safe
because usually chess players play bad on their birthdays.} 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6
3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 Bb4 5. Qc2 Bxc3 6. Qxc3 Qe7 7. a3 a5 (7... d5 {I prepared
this line with a little advantage.} 8. d4 exd4 9. Nxd4 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 c5 11. Qh4
dxc4 12. Bxc4 O-O {White has two bishops}) 8. b3 O-O 9. Bb2 d6 {My opponent
offered me a draw, but I liked my position, so I declined it.} (9... Ne4 10.
Qc2 Nc5 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. d4 d6 13. dxc5 dxc5 14. Be2 $11) 10. h3 $6 {I
confused some lines... Better is d3.} (10. d3 $5) 10... Ne4 $1 11. Qc2 Nc5 $15
{Very good square for black's N} 12. Be2 $6 (12. d4 $5 exd4 13. Nxd4 (13. Bxd4
f5 14. Be2 a4 15. b4 Nb3 16. Rd1 Ncxd4 17. Nxd4 f4 $36) 13... Nxd4 14. Bxd4 f5
15. Be2 f4 {Black is slighly better.}) 12... e4 13. Nh2 $2 (13. Nd4 Qg5 14. Kf1
Nxd4 15. Bxd4 a4 16. b4 Nb3 17. Re1 Nxd4 18. exd4 f5 $15) 13... f5 $2 (13...
Qg5 $1 14. O-O-O (14. Kf1 Qg6 $17) 14... Ne5 15. f4 Qxg2 $1 $17 {In this line
I blundered - my B on e2 is hanging.} (15... exf3 $2 16. Nxf3 $14)) 14. O-O Be6
{My opponent prefer to not force anything, but delelops his pieces.} (14... Ne5
15. b4 Ncd3 16. f4 Nxb2 17. fxe5 Qxe5 18. Rab1 Nd3 19. Bxd3 exd3 20. Qxd3 $11)
15. Bc3 $5 {I also was waiting for a good moment to play f3.} (15. f3) 15... b6
$6 16. f3 {This is a good moment to play f3, because my opponet made a weak
diagonal h1-a8 with his move b6.} (16. b4 axb4 17. axb4 Nd3 18. Bxd3 exd3 19.
Qxd3 Qf7 20. Qe2 Bxc4 21. d3 Bd5 $11) 16... Qh4 17. b4 axb4 18. axb4 Nd3 (18...
Rxa1 19. Bxa1 $1 Nd3 (19... Nxb4 $2 20. Qb2 $18) 20. Qc3 Qg5 21. Bxd3 exd3 22.
f4 Qf6 23. Qxd3 Qf7 24. Qc3 Bxc4 25. Rf3 $1 $16) 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. fxe4 fxe4
21. Ng4 $1 {Very strong move. I put the last piece into the game!} (21. Qb1 $5
Nce5 (21... Bxc4 $2 22. Bxd3 exd3 23. Rf4) 22. Bxe5 dxe5 23. Ng4) 21... h5 (
21... Bxc4 22. Bf6 $18) 22. Bxd3 $1 (22. Nh6+ $5 {I was calculating this move,
but after Kh7 I did not see anything good.} gxh6 (22... Kh7 23. Nf5 (23. Ng4 $3
) 23... Bxf5 24. Rxf5 Qe1+ 25. Bf1 h4) 23. Bxd3 exd3 24. Qxd3 Bf7 25. Rxf7 (25.
Rf6) 25... Kxf7 26. Qd5+ Ke7 27. Qxc6 Rg8 28. Qxc7+ Ke6 29. Qc6 Qe1+ $11) 22...
exd3 23. Qxd3 hxg4 24. Qe4 Bd7 (24... Qe7 25. Qxc6 Rf8 26. Rxf8+ Kxf8 27. hxg4
Bxg4 28. Qd5 $16) 25. b5 $1 {That is the main move of my calculation.} (25.
Qd5+ Kh8 26. b5 Re8 27. bxc6 Be6 28. Qd4 Qg5 29. h4 $16) 25... Qe7 26. Qd5+ Be6
(26... Qe6 27. bxc6 Qxd5 28. cxd5 $18) 27. Qxc6 Ra4 28. h4 $1 {Very important
move. With the P on h4 I can create more danger for Black's K} Rxc4 29. Qa8+
Kh7 30. Rf8 $1 Kg6 31. Re8 $6 (31. Rh8 $5 {It would be a more consistent move.}
Bf7 32. Qa1 $1 $18) 31... Qf7 $2 (31... Qd7 $1 32. Rd8 (32. g3 $16) 32... Qxb5)
32. Qd8 $18 Qf5 33. Rf8 Bf7 34. Qe7 Qb1+ 35. Kf2 g3+ 36. Ke2 Qf5 37. Rxf7 {It
was not a perfect game from both opponents, but in was interesting and I am
really happy that I could win against a very strong chess player.} 1-0[/pgn]

GMs Andrey Stukopin, Fidel Corrales Jimenez, and Yun Quesada Perez all finished at 3 ½ - 1 ½ tied for second and won $600 each.  Here is Quesada’s last round win over IM Rafael Prasca.

[pgn][Event "Southern Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.07.29"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "Prasca, Rafael"]
[Black "Quesada, Yun"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B49"]
[WhiteElo "2435"]
[BlackElo "2701"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Be2 b5 8. O-O
Bb7 9. Nb3 Nf6 10. Nc5 Bc8 11. Re1 Be7 12. a3 O-O 13. Nd3 d6 14. f4 Bb7 15. Nf2
Na5 16. Qd4 Rac8 17. Rad1 Nc4 18. Bxc4 Qxc4 19. Qxc4 Rxc4 20. Bd4 Nd7 21. Re2
Rfc8 22. Red2 R4c6 23. Nd3 Rc4 24. Nf2 h6 25. g3 Rf8 26. h3 e5 27. Ba7 Nf6 28.
Re1 h5 29. fxe5 dxe5 30. Nd3 Bd6 31. Nf2 Bxa3 32. Nxb5 axb5 33. bxa3 Nxe4 34.
Nxe4 Bxe4 35. Rde2 f5 36. g4 g6 37. gxf5 gxf5 38. Rf1 Kf7 39. Rb1 Ra8 40. Bb6
Rxa3 41. Rxb5 Ke6 42. Be3 f4 43. Bc1 Ra1 0-1[/pgn]

One of the players who deserves special mention is Munir Bilal Ben Jemaa.  He was rated 1993 on the wallchart (though 2053 unofficially), but elected to play up in the Major section.  He tied for 2^nd place Under 2300 with an even score.  He was seeded 17^th of the 18 players and played an average field of 2225.  He drew all five games against significantly higher rated players and picked up 25 rating points. The section winners were:

Under 2100

Elio Otero Arencibia, Kai Tabor, Bach Ngo, Javier Cordovez, and Ryan Edward Hamley, 4-1, $520

Under 1800

Carlos Rivas, Sasha Creighton, and Jerry Yao, 4 ½ - ½, $833.34

Under 1500

Joseph Jacob Hayes, 5-1, $1100

Under 1200

Matteo Labrecque, Rene Santin, and Advait Nair, 4 ½ - ½,  $433.34

Mixed Doubles

Sisira Yerrajennu and Kyle Ziegler, 6 ½ - 3 ½, $300 each

Blitz Tournament

GM Vladimir Belous, 8-0, $95

NTD David Hater directed for Continental Chess Association assisted by Harvey Lerman and Charles Hatherill. Full tournament details can be found at www.southernopen.com.

The Pittsburgh Open

The Pittsburgh Open had almost as high of a prize fund, but drew less than half the number of players as the Southern Open.  There were only 139 players even though the prize fund was $15,000.  The 22 player Major section had one GM, two IMs, and one FM.  GM Brian Smith and NM Alexander Heimann each scored 4-1 to tie for first and win $1150, with Smith earning an extra $100 for superior tiebreaks.  Everyone with a plus score won a prize with 9 of the 22 players cashing in. Round one saw only one upset and one draw, but the higher rateds winning and being paired significantly down would not last long.  The eventual tournament winner GM Bryan Smith brought home the full point against NM Tom Magar

[pgn][Event "Pittsburgh Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.07.29"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Smith, Bryan"]
[Black "Magar, Thomas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B41"]
[WhiteElo "2512"]
[BlackElo "2208"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Qc7 7. Be2 Nc6 8. O-O
Bb4 9. Bg5 Ne5 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Rc1 b6 12. f4 Nc6 13. Kh1 Bb7 14. Nd5 exd5 15.
cxd5 Bd6 16. dxc6 dxc6 17. e5 fxe5 18. fxe5 Bxe5 19. Rxf7 Qxf7 20. Bh5 O-O-O
21. Bxf7 Rxd4 22. Qe2 Bc7 23. Bh5 Kb8 24. Bf3 Rhd8 25. Qc2 Rd2 26. Qb3 c5 27.
Bxb7 Kxb7 28. Rf1 R8d3 29. Qe6 Rd7 30. a4 R2d4 31. b3 R7d6 32. Qf7 Rd7 33. Qf3+
Ka7 34. g3 a5 35. Kg2 Rd2+ 36. Rf2 R2d3 37. Qc6 R3d6 38. Qb5 Re7 39. Re2 Red7
40. Qc4 Rd5 41. Qe4 Bd8 42. Rf2 Rd4 43. Qe8 Kb7 44. Rf7 Kc7 45. Qe5+ Kc6 46.
Qe6+ Kc7 47. h4 R4d6 48. Rxd7+ Rxd7 49. Kh3 Rd6 50. Qf7+ Rd7 51. Qf5 Kd6 52. g4
Bc7 53. g5 Re7 54. h5 Bd8 55. g6 1-0[/pgn]

Round two saw many more upsets as there were two masters losing in round two and there were four draws including IM Alexander Matros drawing with eventual tournament winner NM Alexander Heimann.  After only two rounds, the number of perfect scores was down to two:  GM Bryan Smith and FM Gabriel Petesch.  These two would play in round three with Smith emerging as the only 3-0. On Sunday morning, Smith would be paired with second seeded IM Matros and Smith was leading by one half point.  He drew the game to maintain the lead, but this allowed Heimann to catch up by defeating SM William Sedlar. Occasionally, it is nice to recognize the efforts of class players. Though they are not in the top section and they don’t play at the GM level, their victories and tournament wins are worthy of recognition. Vitas Vitkusakas plays in many CCA events, and, though only a solid class B player, his love of the game is undeniable.  At Pittsburgh, he tied for first in the Under 1800 section. Here is a fighting draw where he had an advantage and tried for over 100 moves to bring home the full point against eventual fourth place winner Gary Lewis. The game finally ends in king versus king!

[pgn][Event "Pittsburgh Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.07.29"]
[Round "4.26"]
[White "Vitkauskas, Vitas"]
[Black "Lewis, Gary"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "1747"]
[BlackElo "1796"]
[PlyCount "206"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]1. c4 c6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nf3 Bf5 5. O-O e6 6. Qb3 Qb6 7. Na3 Be7 8. d3
O-O 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Be3 Qxb3 11. axb3 a6 12. Nd4 Bg6 13. Bh3 Nbd7 14. Nf5 Bxf5
15. Bxf5 Rfe8 16. d4 Nb6 17. Nc2 Nc8 18. f3 Nd6 19. Bd3 g6 20. Kf2 Bf8 21. Rae1
Bg7 22. Bf4 Bf8 23. e4 dxe4 24. Bxd6 Bxd6 25. fxe4 Bc7 26. Kf3 Re7 27. d5 cxd5
28. exd5 Nxd5 29. Be4 Nf6 30. Bxb7 Rxe1 31. Nxe1 Rb8 32. Bxa6 Rxb3+ 33. Nd3 Nd7
34. Ke4 f5+ 35. Kd4 Bb6+ 36. Kc4 Rxd3 37. Kxd3 Nc5+ 38. Kc4 Nxa6 39. Kb5 Bd4
40. Kxa6 Bxb2 41. Rb1 Bg7 42. Kb5 Kf7 43. Kc4 h5 44. Rb6 g5 45. Kd5 Bf6 46.
Rb7+ Kg6 47. Ke6 f4 48. gxf4 gxf4 49. Rf7 Be5 50. h3 h4 51. Rf5 Bc7 52. Rb5 Bd8
53. Ke5 Bc7+ 54. Ke4 Kh6 55. Kf3 Kg6 56. Rc5 Bb8 57. Kg4 f3 58. Rc6+ Kg7 59.
Kxh4 f2 60. Rc1 Bf4 61. Rb1 Kg6 62. Kg4 Be3 63. h4 Bd4 64. h5+ Kf6 65. Rc1 Kg7
66. Rd1 Kh6 67. Kf5 Bc3 68. Rh1 Be1 69. Rf1 Kg7 70. Ke4 Kh6 71. Rh1 Bb4 72. Kf3
Bc5 73. Kg2 Be3 74. Kf3 Bd4 75. Ke2 Bc5 76. Rh3 Bd4 77. Rd3 Bc5 78. Rd5 Be3 79.
Re5 Bd4 80. Rf5 Ba7 81. Kf1 Be3 82. Kg2 Bg5 83. Kxf2 Kxh5 84. Kg3 Kg6 85. Kg4
Bf6 86. Ra5 Bc3 87. Ra6+ Kf7 88. Kf5 Ke7 89. Rc6 Bd2 90. Ke5 Kf7 91. Re6 Bc3+
92. Kf5 Bb4 93. Rb6 Bc5 94. Rb7+ Ke8 95. Ke6 Kd8 96. Rb5 Be3 97. Re5 Bf4 98.
Rc5 Bg3 99. Rd5+ Kc8 100. Rd7 Bf4 101. Ke7 Bg3 102. Ke8 Bc7 103. Rxc7+ Kxc7
1/2-1/2[/pgn]

Going into the last round, Smith and Heimann were leading at 3 ½ - ½.  They drew to secure first place.  Matros would have a chance to join the tie if he could beat Petesch on board two.  However, Petesch won to finish at 3 ½ - 1 ½ and took the third prize of $400 as the other 3 ½ pointer, Maxim Yaskolko won the Under 2300 prize of $600. The section winners were:

Under 2100

Behnam Esmayli, 4 ½ - ½, $1200

Under 1800

Vytautas Vitkauskas, Timothy Cao, and Robert Oresick, 4-1, $767.67

Under 1500

Tom Collopy, 5-0, $1000

Under 1200

Josh Keegan, 5-0, $700

Mixed Doubles

Trinity Murphy and Samuel Kagle, 7-3, $300 each

Blitz Tournament

FM Gabriel Petesch, 7-1, $60

NTD Steve Immitt directed for Continental Chess Association assisted by Robert Greer. Full tournament details can be found at www.pittsburghopen.net.

The Bradley Open

The Bradley Open had the smallest prize fund of the three events at $9000 but still drew a very respectable 177 players.  The Major section was actually larger than the other two events at 28 players but did not have any GMs in attendance.  There were, however, two IMs, one FM, and one WIM. IM Matthew Larson and NM Michael Isakov each scored 4 ½ - ½ to win $800 each.  Larson had signed up for a last round half point bye and started the tournament at 4-0.  The last round bye allowed others to catch him.  Isakov had drawn FM Hans Niemann in round two and then after two wins against lower rated players, he defeated NM Alejandro Botta in the last round to join the winner’s circle.  Niemann also had a chance to tie for first.  He entered the last round at 3 ½ - ½ and could tie for first with a win over IM Raja Panjwani.  However, Panjwani won to finish in clear third with 4-1, his only loss being to IM Larson.  The last round pairings were interesting because of Larson’s half point bye and the fact that Niemann and Heimann had played each other in round 2.  There were three players art 3 ½ but Larson was not playing and the other two had already played.  There was only one player at 3, so Niemann would play Panjwani and Heimann would play the top player at 2 1/2 : NM Botta. While Larson started at 4-0 and took a last round bye, another section winner did it the opposite way.  Aiden Teitelman took a half point bye in round one and then won his remaining four games to finish at 4 ½ - ½ and tie for first in the Under 1500 section.  He did this despite being paired up in the last three rounds.  He was rewarded with $550 and 174 rating points! The section winners were:

Under 2100

Jack Cheng, 4 ½ - ½, $800

Under 1800

Winslow Renderer, 5-0, $800

Under 1500

Dennis Wigg and Aiden Teitelman, 4 ½ - ½, $550

Under 1200

Suma Dendi, 4 ½ - ½, $400

Mixed Doubles

Christopher Lamtan and Sovannary Tan, 8-2, $100 each

Blitz Tournament

Yelfry Torres, 7-1, $60

NTD Harold Stenzel directed for Continental Chess Association assisted by Bob Messenger. Full tournament details can be found at www.bradleyopen.com. Previous Continental Chess tournaments can be found at the Continental Chess website at  http://www.chesstour.com/cross.html.