Erenburg, Shetty & Katz Top Liberty Bell

The 51st Liberty Bell Open was held January 18th to 21st at the Sonesta Hotel in Philadelphia. This year’s attendance was the first time in 13 years that the event did not exceed the based on and increase the prize fund. Weather on the East Coast led to numerous cancellations and there are more choices than ever for tournament players, so this year’s event was the smallest since 2002. While the tournament wasn’t as large as in past years, it was still quite strong. There were three GMs, three IMs, one FM and eighteen masters in the 45 player Major section. After seven rounds of hard fought chess, GM Sergey Erenburg and IMs Atulya Shetty & Alexander Katz finished with undefeated scores of 5 ½ - 1 ½ to tie for first. Each won $1018.34 with Erenburg receiving an extra $80 for the best tiebreaks. IM Shetty played in the four day schedule and economized his time on Saturday. He used only 38 minutes on his clock for his two games and played only 27 moves in the two games! Round three was a quick draw against GM Popilski, but in round two Shetty demonstrates what can happen when your king gets stuck in the center.

[pgn]

[Event "Liberty Bell Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.01.19"]
[White "Shetty, Atulya"]
[Black "Rivers, Ryan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2500"]
[BlackElo "1894"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 d5 4. Nf3 c5 5. O-O Bd6 6. d4 h6 7. Nc3 cxd4 8. Nxd4
dxc4 9. Ndb5 Ke7 10. Nxd6 Qxd6 11. Qxd6+ Kxd6 12. Nb5+ Kd7 13. Rd1+ Nd5 14. e4
Kc6 15. Nd4+ Kc5 16. exd5 exd5 17. Be3 Kd6 18. Nb5+ 1-0[/pgn]

The Major section had a three day or a four day option. The two schedules merged in round three. After the merge, all three GMs had perfect scores. GMs Erenburg, Gil Popilski and Bryan Smith were joined by IM Atulya Shetty and SMs Lev Paciorkowski and Daniel Cremisi. The pairings were: Paciorkowski – Erenburg on board one, Popilski versus Shetty on board two and Smith versus Cremisi on board three. Erenburg provides comments on the critical parts of his win over Paciorkowski.

[pgn]

[Event "Liberty Bell Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.01.19"]
[White "Paciorkowski, Lev"]
[Black "Erenburg, Sergey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E09"]
[WhiteElo "2236"]
[BlackElo "2589"]
[Annotator "Sergey Erenburg"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3qnrk1/p2nbppp/4p3/3pP3/2rN4/6P1/PB3PBP/R2QR1K1 w - - 0 18"]
[PlyCount "22"]
[EventDate "2017.09.03"]

{[#] Black is a pawn up, and White's best chance is to counter attack. Of
course, before grabbing White's pawn, I had to foresee the consequences of 18.
Nxe6.} 18. Nxe6 ({After} 18. Bf1 Rc7 $15 {Black is slightly better, because of
extra pawn and strong center. This very strong center will allow Black to
bring forces back to the game.}) 18... fxe6 19. Bxd5 Rb4 {This was all planned.
} ({I also considered} 19... Rc7 20. Bxe6+ Kh8 {But here I was worried that
white's compensation was too strong. However, the engine is convinced that Black
is better here. For example,} 21. Qh5 g6 $1 22. Qe2 Ng7 23. Bc4 Bc5 24. Rf1 Qe7
$15) 20. Bxe6+ Kh8 21. Bc3 $2 {Finally, Lev goes wrong. I did see 21.Re2 and
was not sure if I have more than a draw.} ({Stronger was} 21. Re2 Rb7 $1 ({
I was mostly considering} 21... Qb6 22. Qxd7 Rxb2 23. Rxb2 Qxb2 24. Qxe7 Qxf2+
(24... Qxa1+ 25. Kg2) 25. Kh1 Qf3+ 26. Kg1 Qe3+ ({I saw that White survives
after 26...Qe3+, but was hoping that bringing my knight to the center would
give me winning changes. Once again, the engine says that White is fine here
} 26... Nc7 27. Bh3 Nd5 28. Qd6 Qf2+ 29. Kh1 Ne3 30. Rc1 Qf3+ 31. Kg1
$11) 27. Kh1 $1 (27. Kg2 $4 Rf2+ 28. Kh3 Qh6+ 29. Kg4 Nf6+ 30. exf6 Qg6+ $19)
27... Qe4+ 28. Kg1 Qe3+ $11 (28... Qd4+ 29. Kg2)) 22. Rd2 Qb8 $15) 21... Qb6 $1
$19 22. Bxb4 (22. Bb3 Rxf2) (22. Bd5 Rxf2 23. Kh1 Rc4 (23... Qh6 24. Bg2))
22... Bxb4 {This was all calculated by me before White went for Nxe6, but
apparently, 22...Rxf2 would finish the game even faster.} ({It was even more
aesthetically pleasing to play} 22... Rxf2 $3 23. Ba5 (23. Kh1 Qxe6 24. Qd4
Qc6+ 25. Re4 (25. Qe4 Qh6 26. h4 Bxb4 27. Qxb4 Qc6+ 28. Qe4 (28. Re4 Qc2) 28...
Rf1+ $19) 25... Qc2 $19) 23... Qb2 {This is what I did not see.} 24. Qd5 Bc5
$19) 23. Re2 ({Perhaps the best chance was} 23. Re4 Nc5 24. Rxb4 Qxb4 25. Bb3
Ne4 $19 {, but Black's material advantage is sufficient to win the game.}) (23.
Qxd7 Qxf2+ 24. Kh1 Qf3+ 25. Kg1 Bc5+) (23. Bxd7 Rxf2 24. Kh1 Qb7+) 23... Qxe6
$19 {The rest needs no comments.} 24. Qb3 Qxb3 25. axb3 a5 26. e6 Nc5 27. e7
Rf6 28. Rd1 Kg8 0-1[/pgn]

Since both boards two and three drew Erenburg emerged as the only 3-0. Round four saw the first GM vs GM pairing as Erenburg had white versus Popilski on board one. That game ended in a draw which allowed players with 2 ½ points to catch up. IM Shetty took advantage as he defeated IM Thomas Bartell to catch up with Erenburg, but IM Katz and GM Smith drew so there would be only two players in the lead: Erenburg and Shetty. Shetty and Erenburg played a quick draw in round five to reach 4-1. Their draw allowed several players to catch up as GM Popilski defeated SM Daniel Cremisi, IM Katz defeated NM Gus Huston, and FM Gabriel Petesch defeated GM Smith. So, going into the final day five players shared the lead: GMs Erenburg & Popilski, IMs Katz & Shetty and FM Petesch. Erenburg and Katz faced each other on board one. They played a long game, but it eventually ended in a draw. Shetty and Petesch also drew on board two. The one decisive result was not a game at all. GM Popilski got a forfeit win when IM Bartell misread the round time and failed to show up in an hour! This meant Popilski entered the last round in clear first place at 5-1. Popilski just needed a draw for first place, but IM Katz was able to defeat Popilski and secure at least a tie for first. Meanwhile on board two, Shetty defeated Paciorkowski to claim his share of first place.

[pgn]

[Event "Liberty Bell Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.01.21"]
[White "Paciorkowski, Lev"]
[Black "Shetty, Atulya"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "2441"]
[BlackElo "2500"]
[PlyCount "42"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bg5 Nc6 6. Bxf6 gxf6 7. e3 e6 8.
g3 Bd7 9. Bg2 Rc8 10. Nge2 Na5 11. O-O b5 12. Nf4 Nc4 13. e4 dxe4 14. Qh5 f5
15. d5 e5 16. Ne6 Qf6 17. g4 Qg6 18. Qxg6 hxg6 19. Nxf8 Kxf8 20. Rfc1 Nd6 21.
a4 bxa4 0-1[/pgn]

Erenburg defeated Petesch to also get to 5 ½ points with the best tiebreaks. Here Erenburg provides notes to the critical part of the game:

[pgn]

[Event "Liberty Bell Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.01.21"]
[White "Petesch, Gabriel"]
[Black "Erenburg, Sergey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D12"]
[WhiteElo "2240"]
[BlackElo "2589"]
[Annotator "serge"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3rr1k1/1p3ppp/2p1pb2/2Pn4/1q1P4/pP3NB1/P3QPPP/3RR1K1 b - - 0 26"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2017.09.03"]

{[#]} 26... b6 $2 {This game was played in the last round, before which I had
a very long game against IM Katz. Apparently, both Gabriel and I were tired
and did not see a very strong resource for Black.} (26... e5 $1 {The whole
point of this move is to open up the "d" file, which would give Black control
over the d2 square and make Nc3 work.} 27. dxe5 (27. Bxe5 Bxe5 28. Nxe5 f6 $19)
(27. Nxe5 Bxe5 28. Bxe5 f6 $19) 27... Nc3 28. Qc4 Qxc4 29. Rxd8 Ne2+ (29... Qe6
{is good, too}) 30. Kh1 Nxg3+ 31. hxg3 Qe6 32. Rxe8+ Qxe8 33. exf6 Qd8 $19) (
26... Nc3 {is met by} 27. Qd2) 27. Rc1 bxc5 28. Rxc5 (28. Rc4 {would lead to a
playable, but probably balanced position.} Qb7 29. Rxc5 Nb4 $11) 28... Nc3 $1 {
Now that White can't respond Qd2, I am transferring my knight to b5 to attack
White's central pawn.} 29. Qc2 (29. Qc4 $2 Nxa2 30. Qc2 (30. Ra1 Bxd4 $19) (30.
Rd1 Be7 {with a very big advantage.}) 30... Rxd4 31. Rxc6 (31. Rh5 g6 $19) 31...
Qxe1+ $1 32. Nxe1 Nb4 33. Qc1 a2 $19) (29. Qd2 $4 Qxc5) 29... Nb5 30. Rf1 $2 {
It is hard to find a good square for the rook, but White had a better
alternative.} (30. Be5 Nxd4 31. Bxd4 Rxd4 32. Rxc6 Red8 33. g3 $15 {/=}) 30...
Nxd4 31. Nxd4 Rxd4 32. Rxc6 $6 (32. Qc1 $17 {gave White more chances.}) 32...
Rd2 $19 {Now White is in real trouble. The a2 pawn is falling, and black's a3
pawn becomes the decisive factor.} 33. Qc1 (33. Rc8 Rxc2 34. Rxe8+ Qf8 35.
Rxf8+ Kxf8 36. Bd6+ Be7 37. Bxe7+ Kxe7 38. Ra1 Kd6 $19) (33. Qb1 Rb2 34. Qd3
Rxa2 35. Bd6 Qb7 36. Qa6 Qa8 37. Qa4 Rd8 $19) 33... Rxa2 34. Ra6 Ra1 (34... Be7
$19) 35. Qc6 (35. Qxa1 Bxa1 36. Rxa1 Rc8 37. h3 e5 $1 38. R6xa3 f6 $19) 35...
Rxf1+ 36. Kxf1 Rd8 37. Ra8 {Forced. White's king would otherwise be in big
trouble.} Rxa8 38. Qxa8+ Qf8 39. Qa6 Qd8 40. Ke2 Bc3 (40... Be7 {was simpler
perhaps.}) 41. Bc7 (41. Bf4 Bb4 42. Qa4 Qd4 $19) 41... Qd2+ 42. Kf3 h5 (42...
h5 43. Qxa3 Qd3+ 44. Kf4 Bd2+ 45. Ke5 Qd5#) 0-1[/pgn]

Alexander Katz, who goes by "CryptoChess", tweeted about his shared victory in Philly. https://twitter.com/IMCryptochess/status/1087529884350599168 The winners of each section were: Under 2100 Bryan Luo & Aryeh Shlionsky, 6-1, $723.50 Under 1900 Teddy Willis & Rodney Bardwell. 6-1, $723.50 Under 1700 Gordon Houston, 6-1, $804 Under 1500 George Davis-Diver, 6-1, $804 Under 1250 Aaron Kuo, Harshith Dhanapal, & Aarav Gaur, 6-1, $375.34 Mixed Doubles Yassamin Ehsani and Felix Dyadyuk, 10-4, $402 to each player Blitz Tournament Karthik Ramachandran, 7-1, $130 NTD Steve Immitt directed for Continental Chess Association assisted by Harold Stenzel, Jabari McGreen, Andy Rea, and Ernesto Rivera. Full tournament details can be found at www.libertybellopen.com.