IM Bryant, GM Gareyev, & GM Khachiyan Win LA Open

The Los Angeles Open was held from November 4-6, in Ontario, California, a suburb of Los Angeles.  The $15,000 guaranteed prize fund drew 180 players in six sections including two GMs and five IMs in the 31 player open section.  The two GMs both tied for first, but the top prize on tiebreaks went to IM John Bryant.  Bryant won $900 plus the $100 bonus while GMs Timur Gareyev and Melikset Khachiyan each won $900.  Bryant started 3-0 by defeating Pranav Nanur, WIM Annie Wang, and IM Joshua Sheng.  Here is the round two win over WIM Wang.

[pgn] [Event "Los Angeles Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2016.11.05"] [White "Wang, Annie"] [Black "Bryant, John"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A43"] [WhiteElo "2273"] [BlackElo "2570"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. d4 e6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 exd5 4. cxd5 d6 5. Nc3 g6 6. e4 Bg7 7. h3 a6 8. a4 Ne7 9. Bd3 O-O 10. Nf3 Nd7 11. O-O f5 12. exf5 Nxf5 13. Bg5 Qb6 14. Qd2 Ne5 15. Nxe5 Bxe5 16. a5 Qc7 17. Ne2 Qf7 18. Rac1 Bd7 19. b4 Rac8 20. bxc5 dxc5 21. Bc4 Nd6 22. Be3 Rfe8 23. Rfd1 Ba4 24. Re1 Rf8 25. f4 Bg7 26. Ba2 Bb5 27. Ng3 c4 28. Qb4 Rfd8 29. Rcd1 c3 30. Bc5 c2 31. Rc1 Rxc5 32. Qxc5 Qxf4 33. Ne2 Bxe2 34. Qxc2 Bd4+ 35. Kh1 Be5 36. Kg1 Rf8 0-1[/pgn]

In rounds four and five, Bryant drew both Gareyev and Khachiyan. Gareyev gave up draws to IMs Bregadze and Bryant and defeated NMs Albert Lu and Ilia Serpik and Gordon McNeil.

[pgn] [Event "Los Angeles Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2016.11.06"] [White "Gareyev, Timur"] [Black "Bryant, John"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D40"] [WhiteElo "2692"] [BlackElo "2570"] [PlyCount "87"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 c5 8. O-O cxd4 9. exd4 Nc6 10. a3 b6 11. Qd3 Bb7 12. Bg5 h6 13. Be3 Bd6 14. Rad1 Ne7 15. Ne5 Rc8 16. f4 Nfd5 17. Ba2 Nxe3 18. Qxe3 Nf5 19. Qf2 Qe7 20. Rfe1 Rfe8 21. Nb5 Rcd8 22. Rd3 h5 23. Nxa7 Bxe5 24. fxe5 Qd7 25. d5 Bxd5 26. Bxd5 exd5 27. Nc6 Qxc6 28. Qxf5 g6 29. Qf2 Re6 30. h3 Rde8 31. Qd4 Qc7 32. Qxd5 Rxe5 33. Rxe5 Rxe5 34. Qd8+ Qxd8 35. Rxd8+ Kg7 36. Kf2 b5 37. Rd6 g5 38. b3 f6 39. a4 bxa4 40. bxa4 Kg6 41. Rd2 f5 42. Ra2 Ra5 43. Ke3 g4 44. hxg4 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

GM Khachiyan drew with Bryant and NM Albert Lu and defeated IM Sheng, NM Daniel Mouserri and Aaron Jones. There was a four way tie for 4^th at 3 ½.  NM Danial Asaria won the first Under 2250 prize of $600 while IM Keaton Kiewra, WIM Annie Wang, and NM Ilia Serpik each won $150. US Chess News reporter NM Vanessa West and NM Anthony Ge each won $150 for splitting the second under 2250 prize. The section winners were: Under 2050 Ed Cohen, 4  ½ - ½ $1200 Under 1850 Charles Smith, 4 ½ - ½ , $1200 Under 1650 Alexander Garber & Fausto Castro, 4 ½ - ½ , $750 Under 1450 Leo De Vera, 5-0, $1000 Under 1200 Malachi Fowler, 5-0, $986 Under 1000 Ryan Qu, Imaad Rana, Johnny Li, Omya Vidyarthi, Ivan Lin, & Austin Mitchell, 4-1, $250 Mixed Doubles Omya Vidyarthi & Vyom Vidyarthi, 8-0, $300 each Blitz Tournament IM Levan Bregadze 7-1, $120 NTD David Hater directed for CCA assisted by Randall Hough and Scott Hunt. Full tournament details can be found at www.losangelesopen.com. Previous Continental Chess tournaments can be found at the Continental Chess website at  http://www.chesstour.com/cross.html.