IM Burke Outdistances GMs to Win the Eastern Congress

IM John Burke scored 4 ½ out of 5 to take clear first in the 21^st Eastern Chess Congress held from October 27-29^th in Princeton, New Jersey.  This year’s Eastern Congress had record breaking attendance with 402 players competing in seven sections.  The number of players far surpassed last year’s total of 270 players.  The Premier section was especially strong as it drew seven GMs, four IMs, ten FMs and a total of 34 players over 2200 in the 71 player section. The first round of the tournament started off with some surprises.   On board one, GM Sergey Erenburg surrendered a draw to Yi Song.  Erenburg worked his way back into contention and was on board one in the last round.  He could have won clear first if he had won his last round game against Burke, but he drew the game and finished tied for second. Of course, pairings would have been different had he won, but this half point would clearly come back to haunt Erenburg.  Some other players were not as fortunate. The nature of the Swiss system pretty much requires the higher rated players to play for a win, especially in the early rounds when the rating differences are the greatest.  Two of the masters pressed very hard for a win and may have even over-pressed.  The following two games were the last games to end and featured players trying to win, perhaps when it was not there. FM Max Lu was playing Angelica Chen on board 13.  One move before time control, the following position is reached:

[pgn][Event "Eastern Chess Congress"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.10.27"]
[Round "1.13"]
[White "Chin, Angelica"]
[Black "Lu, Max"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2030"]
[BlackElo "2278"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/p3k2p/P7/1K6/5b2/1PP4P/8 w - - 0 40"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]{White has just given up her last piece to prevent black from queening. Black
is up a piece for two pawns, but the position is dangerous for both sides. The
evaluation is roughly equal as white’s queenside pawns create enough
counterplay for the piece. Play continued} 40. Kc5 {and black can maintain
the balance by keeping the king on the queenside and restraining white’s
pawns. Black doesn’t have quite enough time to run to the kingside and
capture on h2.} h5 41. c4 Kf5 42. Kb6 {White is now better, and Black has to
be very careful.} Kg4 43. c5 {White is now winning, though there is still a
lot to calculate.} Kh3 44. c6 Bxc6 {Now white has a winning pawn ending which
will transition to a winning queen ending.} 45. Kxc6 Kxh2 46. b4 Kg1 47. b5 h4
48. b6 h3 49. b7 h2 50. b8=Q h1=Q+ 51. Kb6 Qh6+ 52. Ka7 Kf1 53. Qb6 Qf4 54.
Qxa6+ Ke1 55. Qe6+ Kd2 56. Qd5+ Ke1 57. a6 {and white was able to queen the
pawn and win.} 1-0[/pgn]

Three boards away Evan Park was playing NM Kennedy Onokpite.  They reached this pawn ending:

[pgn][Event "Eastern Chess Congress"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.10.27"]
[Round "1.16"]
[White "Onokpite, Kennedy"]
[Black "Park, Evan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2213"]
[BlackElo "1988"]
[Annotator "Hater,David"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/p7/1p3k1p/3Pp3/6P1/P5K1/7P/8 b - - 0 50"]
[PlyCount "14"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]{The position is equal, but white does have to be careful because of the
queenside majority’s ability to create an outside passed pawn and the fact
that black king can defend white’s passed pawn much easier than the white
king defending black’s potential passed pawn. Black continued with the
correct plan of} 50... b5 51. h4 a5 52. d6 Ke6 53. g5 hxg5 54. hxg5 {White is
now lost because the black king can defend both of white’s passed pawns
while creating the winning passed pawn.} ({White could have drawn by taking a
queen ending with} 54. h5 b4 55. axb4 axb4 56. h6 b3 57. h7 b2 58. h8=Q b1=Q) {
Instead after} 54... Kxd6 55. Kf3 Ke6 56. Ke4 a4 57. g6 {Black wins.} 0-1[/pgn]

While the three day schedule on Friday produced those minor surprises, many of the titled players chose the two day schedule. This year, five of the seven GMs were in the two day schedule which also had a lesser number of players overall.  This created round two pairings in the two day schedule where several of the top players were playing each other at the G/60 time control.  One notable result was GM Giorgi Kacheishvili defeating IM Victor Shen.  Meanwhile, GM Elshan Moradiabadi surrendered a draw to FM Brandon Jacobsen. Playing black against Shen, GM Kacheishvili builds up a winning advantage. Can you find the move that decisively ends the game in the GM’s favor?

Victor Shen vs. Giorgi Kacheishvili

Black to move and win.

Show Solution When the merge occurred, there were nine perfect scores, and GMs would start playing each other.  There were a number of draws as GM Irina Krush drew with GM Alex Lenderman.  Also, GM Alex Fishbein drew with FM Gabriel Petesch.  The decisive games of the round were GM Kacheishvili defeating FM Kapil Chandran and IM Burke defeating FM Jennifer Yu.

[pgn][Event "Eastern Chess Congress"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.10.28"]
[Round "3.4"]
[White "Yu, Jennifer"]
[Black "Burke, John"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D71"]
[WhiteElo "2398"]
[BlackElo "2557"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. g3 Bg7 6. Bg2 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c5 8.
e3 Qa5 9. Bd2 O-O 10. Qb3 Nc6 11. Rb1 Bf5 12. e4 Bd7 13. d5 Ne5 14. c4 Qa6 15.
Bf1 Ba4 16. Qe3 Bc2 17. Rc1 Qxa2 18. f3 a5 19. Qxc5 Bd3 20. Qf2 Bxc4 21. Bxc4
Nxc4 22. Bg5 Qb3 23. Bxe7 Ne5 24. Rd1 Nd3+ 25. Rxd3 Qxd3 26. Qe2 Qb1+ 27. Qd1
Qxd1+ 28. Kxd1 a4 29. Bxf8 Kxf8 30. Ne2 a3 0-1[/pgn]

This setup a 4^th round pairing of Burke versus Kacheishvili as the only two perfect scores.  However, there were seven players who trailed by ½ point and 20 players at 2-1.  Burke defeated Kacheishvili to emerge as the only 4-0 score.

[pgn][Event "Eastern Chess Congress"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.10.29"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Burke, John"]
[Black "Kacheishvili, Giorgi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2557"]
[BlackElo "2665"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Qd2 Nf6 8.
O-O-O Be7 9. f3 b5 10. Nxc6 dxc6 11. g4 O-O 12. Qf2 Rd8 13. Rxd8+ Qxd8 14. h4
e5 15. Bh3 Be6 16. g5 Nh5 17. Bxe6 fxe6 18. Bc5 Rb8 19. Rd1 Qf8 20. b4 Nf4 21.
Rd7 Bxc5 22. Qxc5 Qxc5 23. bxc5 b4 24. Na4 Rb5 25. Kb2 Ra5 26. Kb3 Ne2 27. h5
Nd4+ 28. Kxb4 Rb5+ 29. Kc4 Nxc2 30. Nb6 Ne3+ 31. Kd3 Ng2 32. h6 gxh6 33. gxh6
Nf4+ 34. Kc4 Nh5 35. Nc8 Rb2 36. Ne7+ Kf7 37. Nxc6+ Kg6 38. Nxe5+ Kxh6 39. c6
Rxa2 40. Kb3 Ra5 41. c7 Rc5 42. Nf7+ 1-0[/pgn]

In round 5, Burke would have the black pieces versus Erenburg on board one.  If Erenburg wins, he gets at least a tie for first while Burke only needed a draw. GMs Lenderman and Moradiabadi were also at 3 ½ points and could join the tie for if one of them could win and if first if Erenburg won or drew.  Moradiabadi versus Lenderman was the first top board to finish, but ended in a draw ensuring that there would be a clear winner at 4 ½ - either Burke or Erenburg.  Erenburg pressed for the win and was up a pawn for a time, but Burke defended well and held the draw.

[pgn][Event "Eastern Chess Congress"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.10.29"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Erenburg, Sergey"]
[Black "Burke, John"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2653"]
[BlackElo "2557"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. a4 Rb8 8. c3
d6 9. d4 Bb6 10. Na3 O-O 11. axb5 axb5 12. Nxb5 Bg4 13. Bc2 exd4 14. Nbxd4 Nxd4
15. cxd4 Bxf3 16. gxf3 Nh5 17. Kh1 Qf6 18. f4 Nxf4 19. Qf3 Nd5 20. Qh3 Nf4 21.
Qf3 Nd5 22. Qxf6 Nxf6 23. Rd1 c5 24. dxc5 Bxc5 25. f3 Rfc8 26. Ba4 Rc7 27. Bf4
Nh5 28. Bxd6 Bxd6 29. Rxd6 g6 30. Rd2 Ra7 31. Ra2 Rb4 32. b3 Nf4 33. Kg1 Ne6
34. Rac2 Nd4 35. Rc8+ Kg7 36. Rd3 Rab7 37. Rc4 Rxc4 38. bxc4 Ne6 39. Bb5 Ra7
40. Rd2 Ra3 41. Kg2 Rc3 42. h4 h5 43. Kg3 g5 44. hxg5 Nxg5 45. Rd5 Kg6 46. Rd6+
f6 47. Be8+ Kg7 48. Kh4 Nxf3+ 49. Kxh5 Ne5 50. Bd7 Rxc4 51. Bf5 Rc1 52. Kh4 Rg1
53. Ra6 Nf3+ 54. Kh3 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

There was a seven way tie for second.  GMs Kacheishvili, Lenderman, Erenburg, Moradiabadi, IM Shen and FMs Yu and Chandran all scored 4-1 to take $257.14.  The tie for the master prize was even more crowded as ten players Under 2300 scored 3-2 and each won $120. GM Irina Krush did not cash in the premier section, but her half of the mixed doubles prize was worth more than the second place tie!  Krush commented that this was the first time she has won a mixed doubles prize.  That is shocking news for the highest rated female player in the country.  Krush attributes her newfound mixed doubles success to picking a good partner.  Her partner, Joshua Kerr, obtained the only perfect score in the tournament.  He scored 5-0 winning clear first in the under 1500 section taking home $1200 and picking up 160 rating points in the process. The Under 1700 section had a three way tie for first and had several interesting storylines.  Dmitry Argon was one of the players in the tie.  Three weeks earlier, Dmitry won the Under 1700 section of the Washington Chess Congress with 6 ½ out of 7.  In those two tournaments, he finished with 10 wins, 2 draws and no losses and picked up a total of 163 rating points and $2500. Another player in the tie is Jack Silver.  Jack normally plays up a section, but in this tournament there was enough distance between his rating and the upper limit that he opted for his assigned section.  Jack won the 2015 Junior Grand Prix and is obviously rapidly improving. The final player is new to US tournaments. Alexander Vekker is playing in only his third US tournament.  However, he has won them all in convincing fashion giving up only a last round draw each time.  He was 6 ½ - ½ in the Under 1100 section of the Philadelphia Open, 5 ½ - ½ in the Under 1600 section of the New Jersey Open, and now 4 ½ - ½ at the Eastern Chess Congress.  He moves up sections each time!  Next time, he will have to move up again! The top blitz prizes were won in somewhat unusual fashion.  Yerim Treger and Isaac Chiu both had long round 3 games.  They had to enter the blitz tournament with a first round bye.  Treger then went 6-0 in the rest of his games to finish at 7-1 and win clear first.  Chiu went 5 ½ - ½ in his games and finished 6 ½ - 1 ½ in clear second!  Sometimes it pays to be late! The section winners were:

Under 2100

Leon Deng, Joseph Mucerino, Alexander Ilnytsky, David Zhurbinsky, Tanishq Iyer, & Joseph Prentice, 4-1, $450

Under 1900

Marc Dicostanzo & Henry Li, 4 ½ - ½. $1050

Under 1700

Dmitry Agron, Alexander Vekker, & Jack Silver, 4 ½ - ½. $800

Under 1500

Joshua Kerr, 5-0, $1200

Under 1300

Paul Stricker, Vaibhavi Borra, & Wenyong Chen, 4 ½ - ½. $600

Under 1100

Joseph Baca, Max McGougan, & Keegan Herron, 4 ½ - ½. $333.34

Mixed Doubles

GM Irina Krush & Johua Kerr, 8-2, $400 each

Blitz Tournament

Yefrim Treger, 7-1, $140

            NTD Steve Immitt directed for CCA assisted by David Hater, Jabari McGren, and Harold Stenzel. Full tournament details can be found at www.easternchesscongress.com. Previous Continental Chess tournaments can be found at the Continental Chess website at  http://www.chesstour.com/cross.html.