Howell, Xiong, Ganguly, Oparin, and Neiksans Lead in Summer Classics

The 18 players contesting the three Summer Chess Classic groups are on their rest day today in Saint Louis. With five more rounds to be played in the three double-round robin sections, all three sections are still up for grabs, but five players can boast having at least a share of the lead in their respective tournaments. GROUP A David Howell and Jeffery Xiong share first place in the A Group after five rounds. With an 80% draw rate thus far, one might assume that the section has been a bit of a snoozefest, but many of the draws have been marathon fighting affairs. 2018 U.S. Champion Sam Shankland got back to 50% with this fifth round win over Dariuz Swiercz, proving that opposite colored bishop endings are not always drawn. (Just most of the time!)

[pgn]

[Event "St Louis Summer A"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2019.06.22"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Shankland, S."]
[Black "Swiercz, D."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2717"]
[BlackElo "2667"]
[PlyCount "199"]
[EventDate "2019.06.18"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Nbd7 5. d4 Bb4+ 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. O-O b6 8.
cxd5 exd5 9. Ne5 Bb7 10. Qa4 a5 11. Nc6 Qe8 12. Nxb4 axb4 13. Qxb4 Qxe2 14. Nf3
Qc4 15. Bd2 Ra4 16. Qb3 Qxb3 17. axb3 Rxa1 18. Rxa1 Ra8 19. Rc1 c6 20. Bh3 h6
21. Bb4 Re8 22. Ra1 c5 23. Bc3 Bc6 24. b4 Ne4 25. Ra7 cxb4 26. Bxb4 Ndf6 27.
Ne5 Bb5 28. Nxf7 Ng5 29. Nxg5 hxg5 30. Bf5 g4 31. Rc7 Ra8 32. Rc8+ Rxc8 33.
Be6+ Kh7 34. Bxc8 Be2 35. Bd6 Ne4 36. Bf4 g5 37. Be3 Kg6 38. Be6 Nf6 39. Bd2
Bd3 40. Bc8 Be2 41. Bb7 Kf5 42. Bc8+ Kg6 43. Bb4 Kf7 44. Bd6 Ne4 45. Bc7 b5 46.
Ba5 Nd6 47. Bd7 Ke7 48. Bc6 Ke6 49. Bb4 Ne4 50. Bb7 Nf6 51. Bc8+ Kf7 52. Kg2
Ne4 53. Ba6 Ke6 54. Bb7 Nf6 55. Bc8+ Kf7 56. Be1 Ke7 57. Bf5 Kf7 58. Bd2 Ne4
59. Be3 Bf3+ 60. Kf1 Ke7 61. Ke1 Kd6 62. Bd2 Kc6 63. Bb4 Kc7 64. Be6 Kc6 65.
Be7 b4 66. b3 Nd6 67. Bxg5 Nb5 68. Bf6 Nc3 69. Be7 Ne2 70. h3 gxh3 71. Bxh3
Nxd4 72. Kd2 Nxb3+ 73. Ke3 Bh5 74. Bxb4 d4+ 75. Kf4 Kb5 76. Be1 Nc5 77. Bf1+
Kc6 78. Bb4 Bg6 79. g4 Nd3+ 80. Bxd3 Bxd3 81. Ke5 Kd7 82. f4 Ke8 83. f5 Kf7 84.
Kxd4 Be2 85. g5 Bb5 86. Ke5 Be8 87. Bc3 Bb5 88. Kf4 Kg8 89. g6 Bd3 90. Kg5 Bc4
91. f6 Kf8 92. Bb4+ Kg8 93. Kf4 Bb3 94. Ke5 Bc4 95. Be7 Bb3 96. Kd6 Bc4 97. Kc7
Bb3 98. Kd8 Bc4 99. Ba3 Bb3 100. Ke7 1-0

[/pgn]

GROUP B Surya Ganguly and Grigoriy Oparin are co-leaders in the B Group, with both players at +2 (3.5/5). With two wins in his first two games, Ganguly played the part of “rabbit” and set the pace for the group. Here is his second round victory over Hovhannes Gabuzyan.

[pgn]

[Event "St Louis Summer B"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2019.06.19"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Gabuzyan, H."]
[Black "Ganguly, S."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2619"]
[BlackElo "2642"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2019.06.18"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. d4 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. Bg5 c5 6. dxc5 h6 7. Bh4 Na6 8. e3
Nxc5 9. Nge2 Nce4 10. a3 Qa5 11. Bxf6 Nxf6 12. O-O-O Be7 13. Nd4 a6 14. g4 b5
15. Rg1 b4 16. axb4 Bxb4 17. Nb3 Qe5 18. Na2 Be7 19. h4 Ne8 20. Nd4 Bb7 21. g5
h5 22. Bd3 g6 23. Nc3 Ng7 24. Nde2 Rab8 25. Nf4 Qa5 26. Kd2 Bf3 27. Ra1 Qb6 28.
Ra2 Bd6 29. Nfe2 Be5 30. Rga1 Rfc8 31. Rxa6 Qxb2 32. Nd4 Nf5 33. Bxf5 gxf5 34.
R6a2 Qxc2+ 35. Rxc2 Bxd4 36. exd4 Rxc4 37. Ra4 Rxa4 38. Nxa4 Rb4 39. Rc8+ Kg7
40. Nc5 Bc6 41. Ke3 f4+ 42. Kd3 Rb2 43. d5 exd5 44. Rd8 Rxf2 45. Nxd7 Bb5+ 46.
Kd4 Rd2+ 47. Kc3 Rd3+ 48. Kc2 f3 49. Nf6 Kg6 50. Rd6 Kf5 51. Nxh5 Kg4 52. g6
fxg6 53. Ng7 f2 54. Rxg6+ Kh3 0-1

[/pgn]

Long one of Russia’s most promising juniors, Oparin is showing impressive maturity and technique in Saint Louis. His win against  Daniel Fridman involved the proverbial “drawing blood from a stone,” as he had to grind out the full point from an equal position.

[pgn]

[Event "St Louis Summer B"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2019.06.20"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Oparin, G."]
[Black "Fridman, D."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2644"]
[BlackElo "2644"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/2r2p2/5k1p/8/7P/R3PK2/5P2/8 w - - 0 41"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2019.06.18"]

41. e4 Rc2 42. Kg3 Kg7 43. f3 Rc1 44. Ra7 Rg1+ 45. Kf4 Rh1 46. Kg4 Rg1+
47. Kf5 Rh1 48. Kg4 Rg1+ 49. Kf4 Rh1 50. Kg3 Rg1+ 51. Kh2 Re1 52. Kg2 Re2+ 53.
Kg3 Re1 54. Ra2 Kf6 55. Rg2 Rh1 56. Kg4 Kg6 57. e5 Kg7 58. f4 Rf1 59. f5 Kf8
60. Ra2 Re1 61. f6 Kg8 62. Kf5 Rf1+ 63. Ke4 Rh1 64. Kd5 h5 65. Kd6 Rb1 66. Ra8+
Kh7 67. e6 Rb6+ 68. Ke7 Rxe6+ 69. Kxf7 Re4 70. Kf8 Rxh4 71. f7 Re4 72. Re8 Rf4
73. Ke7 Kh6 74. f8=Q+ Rxf8 75. Rxf8 Kg5 76. Ke6 Kg4 77. Ke5 h4 78. Ke4 Kg3 79.
Ke3 h3 80. Rg8+ Kh2 81. Kf2 Kh1 82. Re8 h2 83. Re1# 1-0

[/pgn]

GROUP C Latvian GM Arturs Neiksans stands alone at the top of the C Group with a 3.5/5 score. His cleanest win came against an out-of-form Cristian Chirila.

[pgn]

[Event "St Louis Summer C"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2019.06.21"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Neiksans, A."]
[Black "Chirila, I."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B27"]
[WhiteElo "2566"]
[BlackElo "2561"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2019.06.18"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. d4 Nc6 5. dxc5 Qa5+ 6. Bd2 Qxc5 7. Nc3 Nf6 8.
Be2 O-O 9. O-O e6 10. Rc1 b6 11. Bf4 Ne8 12. a3 Qe7 13. e5 Bb7 14. Qd3 f6 15.
exf6 Qxf6 16. Bg3 Rf7 17. Rfd1 h6 18. Rc2 g5 19. h3 Rd8 20. Rcd2 Qe7 21. Nb5 e5
22. Qe3 d6 23. b4 Kh8 24. c5 bxc5 25. bxc5 d5 26. Rxd5 Rxd5 27. Rxd5 e4 28. Nd2
Ne5 29. Rd4 Ng6 30. Nd6 Nxd6 31. cxd6 Qf6 32. d7 Qd8 33. Bc7 Rxd7 34. Bxd8 Rxd4
35. Ba5 1-0

[/pgn]

Elshan Moradiabadi and Aram Hakobyan are tied for second place with their 3/5 scores. Moradiabadi netted his first full point of the event on Saturday against Brandon Jacobson. The opening was a fairly standard Italian, but the game soon took on a very different shape and pawn structure.

[pgn]

[Event "St Louis Summer C"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2019.06.22"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Jacobson, Brandon"]
[Black "Moradiabadi, E."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C53"]
[WhiteElo "2486"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2019.06.18"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O a6 7. a4 O-O 8. Nbd2
a5 9. Re1 h6 10. h3 Ne7 11. Bb3 Ng6 12. Nf1 Re8 13. Ng3 Be6 14. d4 Bb6 15. Bc2
c6 16. Be3 Qc7 17. Qc1 Rad8 18. Nf5 Bxf5 19. exf5 Nf8 20. Bxh6 N8h7 21. Be3 e4
22. Nd2 d5 23. g4 Qd6 24. Kg2 Bc7 25. Rh1 g6 26. fxg6 fxg6 27. Qg1 Rf8 28. Kf1
Rf7 29. Ke2 Nf8 30. Re1 b5 31. Kd1 Rb8 32. Kc1 bxa4 33. Bxa4 Ne6 34. f3 Nf4 35.
Bc2 a4 36. fxe4 dxe4 37. Bxf4 Qxf4 38. g5 a3 39. bxa3 Nd5 40. Rxe4 Qd6 41. Nc4
Qf8 42. Qg4 Rf1+ 43. Rxf1 Qxf1+ 44. Kd2 Qxc4 45. Qf3 Ba5 46. Qd3 Bxc3+ 47. Kd1
Qxd3+ 48. Bxd3 Kf7 49. h4 Bb2 50. Bc4 Bxa3 51. Re5 Rh8 52. Re4 Bd6 53. Rg4 Kg7
54. Kd2 Re8 55. Rg1 Re4 56. Kd3 Re3+ 57. Kd2 Bb4+ 58. Kd1 Re4 59. Kc2 Rxh4 60.
Ra1 Rxd4 61. Ra7+ Kf8 62. Ra8+ Kf7 0-1

[/pgn]

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Play continues each day at 1pm CDT through June 27th, and final round action begins on June 28th at 11am. There will be live commentary for the three events on the Saint Louis Chess Club YouTube channel each day. Broadcasts begin at 3:30 CDT for rounds 1-9, and at 1:30pm for the tenth and final round. CLO will offer periodic updates in the coming days.