Five Tie in Record North American Open

The 27^th Annual North American Open at Bally’s Las Vegas after Christmas featured both a record turnout of 805 players and a hotly contested battle for first place in the Open section. Fourth seed GM Robert Hess of New York, 26, had the best tiebreak among these 7-2 scores and got a $200 bonus added to his $3940 prize. The two of the top 16-year-olds in the US (and first and third seeds respectively), GMs Samuel Sevian and Ruifeng Li,  were also in the tie, along with GM Arun Prasad Subramanian, 29, of India, and the veteran of the group, IM Dionisio Aldama, 49, who plays for Mexico but lives in San Diego. Li instructively counters IM Michael Lee’s overly ambitious 5…f6 in Round 6; after 6.e4!, 6…dxe4 is well met by 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Qe2, but the game continuation also favors White. 9…Bb4 would have minimized the damage. In the game, both development and pawn structure favor White in the ending, and Black blunders in a difficult position. After the knight moves, 21.Ba5+ would have followed.

[pgn][Event "27 Annual North American Open"]
[Site "Las Vegas, NV"]
[Date "2017.12.28"]
[Round "6.3"]
[White "Li, Ruifeng"]
[Black "Lee, Michael"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A01"]
[WhiteElo "2569"]
[BlackElo "2406"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2016.11.30"]1. b3 c5 2. Bb2 Nc6 3. Nf3 d5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 f6 6. e4 e5 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8.
exd5 Qxd5 9. Nc3 Qxd1+ 10. Rxd1 Bf5 11. Bd3 Bxd3 12. Rxd3 Rd8 13. Rxd8+ Kxd8
14. Ke2 Ne7 15. Rd1+ Kc7 16. Ne4 Nd5 17. g3 Be7 18. c4 Nb6 19. Bc3 Rd8 20. c5
1-0[/pgn]

The early running was actually made by another player, IM John Daniel Bryant of Southern California. Though seeded only 17^th, he was 5-0 after upsetting GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan. A draw with Subramaian left Bryant still alone in first with 5½.  But successive losses to Sevian and Li knocked him out of the race, though his fine start ultimately earned Bryant a GM norm. Hess, Li, and Subramanian, who had all drawn their first round games, now moved into contention, as did Sevian, who had been upset by Michael Lee in Round 3. After beating IMs Denys Shmelov and Advait Patel, Sam had 6 of 7. His treatment of the White side of a French in Round 4 is instructive, though Black falters after the time control; 41…Bb3 would have kept him in the game. 41…Be4 simply loses, as White gets connected passers.

[pgn][Event "27TH ANNUAL NORTH AMERICAN OPEN"]
[Site "Las Vegas, NV"]
[Date "2017.12.27"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Sevian, Samuel"]
[Black "Aaron, Deepak"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C06"]
[WhiteElo "2614"]
[BlackElo "2307"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[SourceDate "2016.11.30"]1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ne2 a5 8. O-O a4
9. a3 cxd4 10. cxd4 Nb6 11. Nf3 Be7 12. Be3 Bd7 13. Rc1 Na5 14. Nf4 g6 15. Nd2
Bc6 16. Qe2 Qd7 17. Rc3 Nc8 18. Rfc1 Na7 19. Nh3 b5 20. Bh6 b4 21. axb4 Bxb4
22. R3c2 Bxd2 23. Qxd2 Nb3 24. Qf4 Nxc1 25. Rxc1 O-O-O 26. Ng5 Kb8 27. Qxf7
Rhe8 28. Be2 Rc8 29. Qf4 Bb5 30. Bg4 Rxc1+ 31. Qxc1 Bd3 32. h4 Rc8 33. Qd2 Bf5
34. Bd1 Ka8 35. g4 Bb1 36. Kg2 Qc6 37. Qb4 Qb5 38. Qxb5 Nxb5 39. Nxe6 Be4+ 40.
Kh2 Bc2 41. Bf3 Be4 42. Bxe4 dxe4 43. d5 Kb7 44. Be3 Nc3 45. d6 Kc6 46. Nd4+
Kd7 47. bxc3 a3 48. Bf4 a2 1-0[/pgn]

Hess, who had drawn with Aldama in the fourth round, downed Patel and IM Cameron Wheeler to reach the same score. Hess’s third round win over Under 16 Champ, WIM Annie Wang, features a queenside squeeze followed by an attractive kingside mating attack.

[pgn][Event "27TH ANNUAL NORTH AMERICAN OPEN"]
[Site "Las Vegas, NV"]
[Date "2017.12.27"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Hess, Robert"]
[Black "Wang, Annie"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2568"]
[BlackElo "2330"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[SourceDate "2016.11.30"]1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 Be7 4. c4 d5 5. Nc3 O-O 6. Qc2 c6 7. e3 Nbd7 8.
O-O-O Qa5 9. Nd2 a6 10. c5 Re8 11. Bd3 Qd8 12. Nf3 Nf8 13. Na4 N6d7 14. h4 b5
15. Nc3 a5 16. Ng5 Nf6 17. e4 g6 18. e5 Nh5 19. Be3 Ba6 20. g4 Ng7 21. Nf3 b4
22. Bxa6 Rxa6 23. Ne2 Nd7 24. h5 gxh5 25. Ng3 h4 26. g5 a4 27. Rxh4 Nf8 28. Qd3
Qa5 29. Rdh1 Bd8 30. Rxh7 Nxh7 31. Qxh7+ Kf8 32. Qh8+ Ke7 33. Qxg7 Qb5 34. g6
Qc4+ 35. Kd2 Ba5 36. Qxf7+ Kd8 37. Bg5+ 1-0[/pgn]

Subramanian, having drawn Bryant and Li, trailed by a half point along with Bryant, Li, and GM Eshan Moradabadi, who had just beaten Aldama. The latter was a full point behind. Also, at 5-2 were GM Eshan Ghaemmaghami (an Iranian who plays regularly in the US), GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez of Missouri, GM Andrey Gorovets of Texas, IM Shmelov, IM Wheeler, IM Nicolas Checa, and IM Artiom Samsonkin of Canada. This murky situation naturally clarified itself in the penultimate round. Sevian and Hess drew a lengthy endgame, while Li moved into the tie by downing Bryant. Trailing these three by a half point were Subramanian and Moradiabadi (who drew with each other), Corrales (who beat Samsonkin), Aldama (a victor over Gorovets), and Wheeler (who disposed of Checa). In the finale, Hess as White drew quickly with Moradiabadi to reach 7 points. Li and Sevian also split the point in short order to reach the goal line, though Stockfish suggests that 14.Nxd5 Bxd5 15.Rc1 would have given White some pull.

[pgn][Event "27 Annual North American Open"]
[Site "Las Vegas, NV"]
[Date "2017.12.30"]
[Round "9.1"]
[White "Li, Ruifeng"]
[Black "Sevian, Samuel"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2569"]
[BlackElo "2614"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2016.11.30"]1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Be2 d6 6. h3 c5 7. O-O b6 8. c4 Bb7
9. Nc3 cxd4 10. exd4 d5 11. Ne5 dxc4 12. Bxc4 e6 13. Re1 Nd5 14. Qf3 Nc6 15.
Bxd5 exd5 16. Nxc6 Bxc6 17. Be5 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

Subramanian outplayed Wheeler, who needed a win to tie first and secure a GM norm. White gets an advantage in a classic isolated d-pawn opening, but gives most of it away with 16.Bxd5; 16.Ne5 greatly improves. By move 20, the game is dead equal, but White regains a small edge which is magnified after the Black king steps into danger with 35…Kg6. After time control, 41.Qb4 would have cemented White’s advantage. Tired of passive defense, Wheeler makes the last error with the pseudo-aggressive 47…Qh1, which allows White’s d-pawn to progress toward the end zone.

[pgn][Event "27TH ANNUAL NORTH AMERICAN OPEN"]
[Site "Las Vegas, NV"]
[Date "2017.12.30"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Subramanian, Arun"]
[Black "Wheeler, Cameron"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D46"]
[WhiteElo "2490"]
[BlackElo "2384"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[SourceDate "2016.11.30"]1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bd3 dxc4 8.
Bxc4 O-O 9. O-O e5 10. h3 Qc7 11. Bb3 exd4 12. exd4 Nb6 13. Re1 Nbd5 14. Bg5 g6
15. Qd2 Bf5 16. Bxd5 Nxd5 17. Nxd5 cxd5 18. Rac1 Qb6 19. a3 f6 20. Bf4 Rac8 21.
Bxd6 Qxd6 22. Nh2 Kg7 23. Nf1 Rxc1 24. Rxc1 Rc8 25. Ne3 Rxc1+ 26. Qxc1 Be6 27.
Qc3 Qb6 28. Nc2 Qb5 29. Ne3 Bf7 30. h4 h5 31. Qd2 Be6 32. f3 Qb6 33. Kf2 Qd6
34. g3 g5 35. Ng2 Kg6 36. f4 g4 37. f5+ Bxf5 38. Nf4+ Kh6 39. Nxd5+ Kg7 40. Nf4
Bg6 41. Qc3 Bf7 42. Qd2 Qe7 43. Qc2 Qd6 44. Ke3 Qb6 45. b4 Qa6 46. Qd3 Qc6 47.
Kd2 Qh1 48. d5 Qa1 49. d6 Qb2+ 50. Ke1 Qc1+ 51. Kf2 Qb2+ 52. Ne2 Bg6 53. Qe3
Qc2 54. Qe7+ Bf7 55. d7 Qf5+ 56. Kg1 Qb1+ 57. Kg2 1-0[/pgn]

Aldama won his second straight game with Black, defeating fellow Cuban émigré Corrales in a known line of the Scotch thought to offer little for White. Black has done well with 15…Qa5, but 15…Qa2 is good also, and should be answered with 16.Bd4, equal. After 16.Ke2?! d5!, White should retain near-equality with 17.Qc2. Instead, 17.exd6?? leaves the White king in danger as Black’s rook suddenly enters the game. Stockfish gives the line 18.Re1 Qa5 19.h3 cxd6 20.Bd4 c5 21.Be3 f5 22.Kf1 Nd7 when White’s awkwardly placed pieces leave him at a clear disadvantage.  Instead, a shell-shocked Corrales walks into another deadly pin, and Black wins quickly. Aldama’s strong finish, which gave him a GM norm as well as a share of first, was reminiscent of his triumph in the 2012 Los Angeles Metropolitan International, when he won his last four games to tie for first and then won an Armageddon playoff against GM Timur Gareyev.

[pgn][Event "27 Annual North American Open"]
[Site "Las Vegas, NV"]
[Date "2017.12.30"]
[Round "9.3"]
[White "Jimenenz, Fidel"]
[Black "Aldama, Dionisio"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2512"]
[BlackElo "2403"]
[PlyCount "42"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2016.11.30"]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8.
c4 Nb6 9. b3 a5 10. Bb2 a4 11. Nd2 axb3 12. axb3 Rxa1+ 13. Bxa1 Qa3 14. Qd1 Bb4
15. Bd3 Qa2 16. Ke2 d5 17. exd6 O-O 18. Bd4 Re8+ 19. Be3 Bg4+ 20. f3 Bc5 21.
Be4 Rxe4 0-1[/pgn]

Thus, the five-way tie for first place materialized. Bryant, Moradiabadi, and Patel (who won his last two games to recover from a first round upset and a sixth round loss to Hess) tied for sixth place. Among the Under 2400 prizewinners (6 points), it was youth all the way. IM Wheeler was joined by IM Craig Hilby (they respectively occupy the fourth and second spots on our age 17 list), Senior Master/FM Be Li (sixth among age 15 players), and FM Andrew Hong (first age 13). Hong, after a 1-2 start, stormed back with 5-1, and joined Wheeler among the few players with no draws. Selective mention of non-winners always risks missing worthy players, but we note that FM Christopher Woojin Yoo, the top ten-year-old in the US, made an even score, beating one IM and drawing with another as well as a 2500, and increased his rating to 2316. Matikozyan began to go downhill on move 20 (20…exf3 or 20…Re8 are equal), and Yoo soon cashed in.

[pgn][Event "27TH ANNUAL NORTH AMERICAN OPEN"]
[Site "Las Vegas, NV"]
[Date "2017.12.28"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Yoo, Christopher"]
[Black "Matikozyan, Andranik"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2254"]
[BlackElo "2418"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[SourceDate "2016.11.30"]1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3
Nbd7 9. Qd2 b5 10. a4 b4 11. Nd5 Bxd5 12. exd5 Nb6 13. Bxb6 Qxb6 14. a5 Qb7 15.
Bc4 Be7 16. Ra4 Rb8 17. Nc1 Bd8 18. b3 O-O 19. Kd1 e4 20. Na2 Nd7 21. Rxb4 Qa7
22. Rxb8 Qxb8 23. fxe4 Re8 24. Nb4 Ne5 25. Nc6 Nxc4 26. Qd4 Nb2+ 27. Qxb2 Qc8
28. Qc3 f5 29. Re1 Bf6 30. Qf3 fxe4 31. Rxe4 Rf8 32. Qg4 Qb7 33. Rb4 Qc7 34.
Qe6+ Kh8 35. Rf4 Qb7 36. g4 Rg8 37. Rf5 Qb5 38. g5 Bc3 39. Qxg8+ 1-0[/pgn]

The Open section sported 14 GMs, 24 IMs, 27 FMs, and three WIMs. (There were another six players with FIDE ratings over 2300 – 116 points over in one case – who apparently are unwilling to pay the requisite fee for the title.) The Under 2300 section included another two IMs, ten FMs (including 85-year-old Tibor Weinberger of Santa Monica, who played in the US Championship 50 years ago), and two WIMs. Unsurprisingly, the largest end of the year tournament had major ramifications for the 2017 US Chess Grand Prix. Moradiabadi went in with a 42 point lead over Li, and his three-way tie for sixth, as opposed to Ruifeng’s five-way equal first place, left the margin at 29 points. In 2016,  Li’s three-way tie for first, had put the icing on a Grand Prix triumph. All the class sections had clear winners! In Under 2300, WIM Megan Lee of Seattle (whose brother, IM Michael, had a less stellar result in the Open despite his upset of Sevian) brought home a victory as two of her rivals played a quick draw. Black’s acceptance of doubled pawns in this game is fine if properly followed up; the computer says 14…c4 or a doubling of rooks on the e-file are dead equal. Instead, Black’s ambitious 14…d4 secures the d5 square for minor piece placement but virtually assures the eventual loss of the c5 pawn. Stockfish prefers 20.f5, but White retained an edge. 26…Qf7 was another bad choice by Black, and his concluding effort to eliminate all the pawns led only to a self-mate for his monarch.

[pgn][Event "27th North American Open, U2300"]
[Site "Las Vegas, NV"]
[Date "2017.12.29"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Lee, Megan"]
[Black "Korba, Nicky"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B23"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[SourceDate "2016.11.30"]1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. f4 d5 4. exd5 exd5 5. Bb5+ Nc6 6. Qe2+ Be7 7. Nf3 Nf6 8.
Bxc6+ bxc6 9. Ne5 Bd7 10. d3 O-O 11. O-O Bd6 12. b3 Re8 13. h3 Qc7 14. Na4 d4
15. Qf2 Nd5 16. Nc4 Nb6 17. Nxd6 Qxd6 18. Nb2 Re7 19. Bd2 Rae8 20. Rae1 Be6 21.
Re2 Bd5 22. Rxe7 Rxe7 23. Re1 f6 24. Rxe7 Qxe7 25. a4 Nc8 26. Qe1 Qf7 27. a5
Qg6 28. Qe2 Nd6 29. Na4 Nf5 30. Qg4 Qxg4 31. hxg4 Nh4 32. Kf2 Nxg2 33. Kg3 g5
34. fxg5 fxg5 35. Nxc5 Nh4 36. Bxg5 Nf3 37. Bf4 Kf7 38. Bb8 Ne1 39. Bxa7 Nxc2
40. Bb6 Nb4 41. a6 Nxa6 42. Nxa6 Bxb3 43. Bxd4 Kg6 44. Kh4 Bd1 45. Nb8 Bf3 46.
Nd7 Bg2 47. Ne5+ Kh6 48. Nf7+ Kg6 49. Nh8+ 1-0[/pgn]

Under 2100 winner Colin Albert of Northern California tallied a perfect 7-0 score and racked up a 153 point rating gain. Nicholas Gross trailed by a point. In Under 1900, Nathaniel Albion Zhang, 12, another Northern Californian (Fremont) took the honors with 6½, barely ahead of Gerald Ruiz. Under 1700 laurels went to Khalid Shawkat of Kentucky, also with 6½ and at 48 the oldest among the class winners. Khalid knows Vishy Anand, but has never had a lesson from him! Froilan Daigan and Kally Wen trailed by a half point. The biggest upset winner was 17-year-old Kaprao Fuegner of Scottsdale, Arizona, who started as the 95^th seed among 128 players but went 7-0! He credits his victory (and 360 point rating gain) to extensive online practice. The only downside was that as a provisionally rated player, his prize was capped at $3000, leaving $2000 to be added to the next prize group. These six-pointers included Brian Yang of British Columbia (not to be confused with the prominent tournament director of the same name), Joseph Paolercio of Kansas, Bria Castro from Arizona, and Minnesotan Calvin Lee. Finally, in Under 1250, Byron Rios of Miami (but currently stationed with the Navy in San Diego), who recently emerged from a 20-year break, was tops with 6½, narrowly ahead of John Chen of Hawaii and Mexican Marco Hernandez. The Mixed Doubles competition, combining the scores of one male ad one female averaging under 2200, is always a focus of attention, especially with 73 teams competing! GM Ruifeng Li and his sister Rachael finished on top (11-3) as they have many times before (they’re not sure how many, and this writer’s not gonna try to figure it out!). Rachael’s rising rating (she went from 1668 to 1870 in 2017)  has already left their average above the threshold once, but with a FIDE rather than USCF rating in use for Ruifeng, they qualified for what may be the last time. The team of US Girls’ Junior Championship participant, WFM Thalia Cervantes, and Jaisuraj Kaleeswaran was second at 10½. The Blitz drew 177 players for five double rounds that, alas, didn’t finish until 2:30 am. GM  Ghaemmaghami and FM Hans Niemann topped the first group with 8½, while Langston Tillman and Bechly Buccat split the honors in Under 1900 with the same score. Floor directors must deal with an array of questions/claims/complaints, and after the first two or three rounds they get less of “Can you set this clock?”or “Where’s the restroom?” and more exotic ones. There was the young rules maven we’ll call Player A, who complained that Player B had written A’s move down before it was made. The director (who occasionally does the same thing himself) observed that the move was de facto forced (the only other way to get of check would have entailed giving up a queen for a rook) and issued a mild warning. Then, there was the interfering parent who announced that his 16-year-old son’s opponent was tinkering with the clock. The director glanced over and observed that stopping the clock is an accepted method of resignation. Another player complained that a neighbor was noisily munching potato chips. A bag was indeed observed by the neighbor’s board, but before another bite could occur, the director glanced over and saw that the complainant was dead lost and about to resign. The presumed muncher’s opponent had no complaints, so the director moved on. And yet another case involved a complaint that the opponent (not a novice player) had made an improper en passant move. Indeed, she had attempted to take Black’s pawn that had just advanced to b4 with her pawn on c4. The director resisted the temptation to deliver a lecture about how en passant is reserved for capturing pawns that have utilized the special privilege of advancing two squares on their first move, and the complainant graciously declined to invoke a time penalty. Another tournament curiosity was the player who flew in from out of state, taking the permissible half point byes for the first four rounds, played one game, and took zero point byes for the remaining two games. Yes, the one game he played was a draw. Hope the investment was worth it! Continental Chess organizer Bill Goichberg looks forward to another record-setter in Las Vegas in 2018!  This writer thanks Dylan Quercia and Brian Glover for photography. MSA at http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201712309822 Tournament website at http://chessevents.com/northamericanopen/