GM Aghasaryan & Kudrin Win Coast to Coast Opens

On the weekend of August 12^th-14^th, Continental Chess Association held two different weekend swisses, one on each coast. On the West Coast, the Pacific Coast Open was held in the Los Angeles suburb of Ontario, California at the Ontario Airport Hotel.  The tournament drew 234 players in six sections.  There were 3 GMs, four IMs, one WGM, two WIMs, and five FMs in the 44 player Open section. GM Robert Aghasaryan was not the top seeded GM and was seeded behind several of the IMs, but he dominated the tournament finishing a point ahead of the field with a score of 5 ½ - ½. His only draw was in the last round versus IM John Daniel Bryant.  Enroute to his victory he defeated              FM William Duckworth and WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan.  Here is his round five win over Duckworth.

[pgn]

[Event "21st Pacific Coast Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.08.14"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "FM Duckworth, William"]
[Black "GM Aghasaryan, Robert"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2284"]
[BlackElo "2475"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2016.08.14"]
[SourceDate "2016.08.14"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 f6 3. Bh4 Nh6 4. e3 Nf5 5. Bg3 h5 6. Be2 h4 7. Bh5+ Kd7 8. Bf4
g5 9. e4 dxe4 10. d5 gxf4 11. Bg4 c6 12. Bxf5+ Kc7 13. Bxe4 e6 14. c4 f5 15.
Bf3 e5 16. Nc3 e4 17. Be2 Rg8 18. Nh3 Bh6 19. c5 Qf6 20. d6+ Kd8 21. f3 Rxg2
22. Rg1 Rxg1+ 23. Nxg1 Qg7 24. Kf1 Nd7 25. Na4 Ne5 26. Nc3 Be6 27. Rc1 Kd7 28.
Nh3 Rg8 29. Qa4 exf3 30. Bxf3 Nxf3 31. Rc2 Qg4 0-1[/pgn]

Tying for second place with 4 ½ - 1 ½ were IM Bryant, GM Erico Sevillano, IM Phillip Wang and FM Duckworth,  Each received $1000 except for Duckworth who earned $1200 for clear first Under 2300. The major upset of the tournament was in round one when 12 year old Anthony Ge defeated GM Sevillano.   Here is that game,

[pgn]

[Event "21st Annual Pacific Coast Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.08.12"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Ge, Anthony"]
[Black "GM Sevillano, Enrico"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B15"]
[WhiteElo "2215"]
[BlackElo "2488"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2016.08.12"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 c6 4. Nc3 d5 5. exd5 cxd5 6. Bb5+ Nc6 7. h3 e6 8. O-O
Nge7 9. Bf4 O-O 10. Qd2 Nf5 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. Na4 f6 13. Rfe1 Re8 14. Nc5 Nh6
15. b3 Nf7 16. Nd3 a5 17. Qc3 Qb6 18. a4 Bf8 19. Bg3 Nd6 20. Bxd6 Bxd6 21. Re3
Ra7 22. Rae1 Rae7 23. Kh1 Kf7 24. g4 g5 25. h4 h6 26. hxg5 hxg5 27. Kg2 Rh8 28.
Rh1 Rxh1 29. Kxh1 Kg8 30. Kg2 Rh7 31. Re1 Bd7 32. Qd2 c5 33. dxc5 Bxc5 34. Nxc5
Qxc5 35. Qd3 Kg7 36. c4 Bc6 37. Rxe6 dxc4 38. bxc4 Rh4 39. Kg3 Rh8 40. Nd4 Be8
41. Re7+ Qxe7 42. Nf5+ Kf7 43. Nxe7 Kxe7 44. Qe4+ Kf8 45. Qf5 Kg7 46. Qxa5 Bf7
47. Qc7 Rh1 48. c5 Rg1+ 49. Kf3 Ra1 50. Qd7 Kg6 51. c6 1-0[/pgn]

Sevillano did bounce back though winning the rest of his games until a last round draw with IM Wang.  Here is Sevilano’s win versus Siddharth Banik,

[pgn]

[Event "Pacific Coast Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.08.14"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "Banik, Siddharth"]
[Black "Sevillano, Enrico"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C16"]
[WhiteElo "2305"]
[BlackElo "2499"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 b6 5. a3 Bf8 6. Nf3 c5 7. Bg5 Be7 8. h4 a6
9. Ne2 Nc6 10. c3 c4 11. Ng3 Na5 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Nd2 Bd7 14. f4 Nh6 15. Qf3
O-O 16. Nh5 f6 17. exf6 gxf6 18. O-O-O Kh8 19. Be2 Rg8 20. Rdg1 Be8 21. Ng3 b5
22. Ngf1 Ng4 23. Ne3 f5 24. Nxg4 fxg4 25. Qe3 Nc6 26. Re1 Qf6 27. Bd1 Bd7 28.
Bc2 a5 29. Rhf1 Rg7 30. g3 Rb8 31. Nb1 b4 32. Ba4 bxc3 33. bxc3 Nxd4 34. Qxd4
Qxd4 35. cxd4 Bxa4 36. Rxe6 Rb3 37. Nd2 Rc3+ 0-1[/pgn]

The section winners were: Under 2100 Wan Kim & Alejandro Ruiz 5-1 $1500 Under 1900 Gabriella Kay 6-0, $2000 Under 1700 Philip Leung & Leonard De Leon III, 5-1 $1350 Under 1500 Shawn Baker & Miles Zhou 5-1, $950 Under 1250 Sean Franco 5 ½ - ½ $800 Mixed Doubles Cindy Zhang & Wan Kim, 10-2, $500 each Blitz Tournament Leo Creger V, 7-1 $135 NTD Steve Immitt directed the event assisted by Randy Hough and Scott Hunt. On the East Coast there was also a 6 round event.  The Continental Open was held at a resort, the Host Hotel at Cedar Lake in Surbridge, MA.  The $30,000 prize fund attracted 271 players in seven sections. The open section featured four GMs and five FMs among the 33 players.  The event had a clear winner – GM Sergey Kudrin scored 5 points to win $3000 plus the $200 first place bonus. Kudrin drew with GMs Alexander Stripunsky and Alexander Ivanov. Here is Kudrin’s round one versus Life Master Oscar Maldonado.

[pgn]

[Event "Continental Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.08.12"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Kudrin, Sergey"]
[Black "Maldonado, Oscar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B56"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2220"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Bb5+ Bd7 7. Bxd7+ Qxd7
8. Nb3 Nc6 9. O-O Be7 10. Bg5 Rd8 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Nd5 Be7 13. a4 O-O 14. Nd2
Rfe8 15. Nc4 Bf8 16. c3 Re6 17. Qe2 Rg6 18. Nce3 Ne7 19. Rfd1 Nxd5 20. Rxd5 Rc8
21. Qb5 Qc6 22. a5 Re6 23. Ra4 a6 24. Qb3 Qd7 25. Rb4 Rb8 26. Rb6 Ree8 27. h3
Rec8 28. Qd1 Rc6 29. Rxe5 Rxb6 30. axb6 Qc6 31. Rd5 Qxb6 32. Nc4 Qc6 33. Nxd6
g6 34. e5 Rd8 35. c4 Bg7 36. Nf5 Re8 37. Nxg7 Kxg7 38. Qd4 Re6 39. Rd6 Qa4 40.
Rxe6 1-0[/pgn]

There was a three way tie for second between GMs Stripunkiy & Michael Rohde and NM Carrissa Yip.  Rohde and Stripunsky each won $1100 and Yip won $1400 for clear first Under 2300.   Stripunskiy had he toughest pairings.  He faced all three of the other GMs.  He drew with Rohde and Kudrin and defeated Ivanov in the last round. Stripunky also drew with Yip.  Rohde drew with Stripunsky, but lost to Ivanov. He defeated four NMs including this win over Brandon Wu.

[pgn]

[Event "Continental Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.08.12"]
[Round "1.6"]
[White "Rohde, Michael"]
[Black "Wu, Brandon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A16"]
[WhiteElo "2502"]
[BlackElo "2200"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. Ne5 Nxc3 7. bxc3 Bd7
8. Nxd7 Qxd7 9. Rb1 Rb8 10. g3 a6 11. Bg2 Nd8 12. Qxd7+ Kxd7 13. d4 Bg7 14. O-O
e6 15. Rd1 b6 16. c4 Nc6 17. d5 Ne7 18. Ba3 exd5 19. cxd5 Be5 20. f4 Bd6 21.
Bb2 Rhf8 22. e4 f6 23. Bh3+ Kd8 24. Be6 h5 25. Kh1 Nc8 26. e5 fxe5 27. fxe5 Bc5
28. Rf1 Ke8 29. Rxf8+ Bxf8 30. Rf1 Ne7 31. Ba3 b5 32. d6 1-0[/pgn]

Yip had a slightly unusual path to the winner’s circle. She lost in round one to an expert and then score 4 ½ out of the remaining 5 including her draw with Stripunsky.  Here is her round two win versus Life Master Oscar Maldonado.

[pgn]

[Event "Continental Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.08.12"]
[Round "2.11"]
[White "Maldonado, Oscar"]
[Black "Yip, Carissa"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C94"]
[WhiteElo "2286"]
[BlackElo "2220"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. a4 Bb7 11. d3 Nbd7 12. Nbd2 c5 13. d4 Qc7 14. d5 c4 15. Bc2
Nc5 16. Nf1 g6 17. N1h2 Qd7 18. g4 Rfc8 19. a5 Qd8 20. g5 Nh5 21. Ng4 f6 22. h4
Qd7 23. Nfh2 fxg5 24. Nh6+ Kg7 25. hxg5 Rf8 26. Qg4 Qxg4+ 27. N6xg4 Nf4 28. Nf3
Nxd5 29. Nfxe5 Nc7 30. f4 dxe5 31. f5 Bd6 32. Nf6 Ne8 33. Rd1 Rd8 34. Be3 Nxf6
35. gxf6+ Rxf6 0-1[/pgn]

Most of the time, we focus on the open section. However, here is a miniature from the Under 2100 section.

[pgn]

[Event "Continental Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.08.12"]
[Round "1.21"]
[White "Ayayath, Athira"]
[Black "LeCours, Alan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A01"]
[WhiteElo "1723"]
[BlackElo "1932"]
[PlyCount "32"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 Nc6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bb5 d6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. d4 e4 7. Nfd2 a6 8. Bxc6
bxc6 9. c4 d5 10. Nc3 Bd6 11. O-O Bxh2+ 12. Kxh2 Ng4+ 13. Kg3 h5 14. cxd5 h4+
15. Kf4 Qf6+ 16. Kxe4 Qf5# 0-1[/pgn]

The section winners were: Under 2100 Mateos G Sahakian, Anthony Andreevich Levin & Michael Chen 5-1 $1167.67 Under 1900 Michael Cole, 5 ½ - ½ , $2000 Under 1700 Mark Neale, 5-1, $2000 Under 1500 Blaise Loya 5 ½ - ½ $1400 Under 1300 Surya Vamsi Pulukuri & Kian Thompson 5 -1, $1050 Under 1000 Jane Stripunsky, 5 ½ - ½ $800 Mixed Doubles Jane Stripunsky & GM Alexander Stripunsky 10-2, $400 each Melodie Loya and Blaise Loya 10-2, $400 each Blitz Tournament Mika Brattain, 7 ½ - ½ $170 Bill Goichberg directed for CCA assisted by Bob Messenger. Full details including many games can be seen at www.continentalopen.com. Previous Continental Chess tournaments can be found at the Continental Chess website at  http://www.chesstour.com/cross.html.