IMs on the West Coast, GMs on the East Coast

From August 19^th – 21^st, CCA held two tournaments – one in the West and one in the East.  Both had relatively small but strong open sections.  In the West the Open section had several IMs in attendance, while the East had several GMs.

The Central California Open

The Central California Open is co-sponsored by the Fresno Chess Club.  Without their generous support this tournament would not exist.  Within the CCA hierarchy, it is a smaller tournament with only $10,000 in guaranteed prizes and four sections.  This year’s tournament was dedicated to the memory of Vannes French III.  He was a dedicated member of the club and assisted in directing the tournament last year.  Among his other contributions, he coached scholastic chess including coaching teams that have won at USCF National Scholastics.

This format did not draw any GMs, but there were three IMs, a WIM, and an FM in the 22 player open section.  There was a lot of depth to this section as nearly half of the players were over 2200.  IMs John Bryant and Ray Kaufman each scored 4-1 to tie for first.  Each won $1000 with Bryant earning an extra $100 for his better tiebreaks.  The two IMs drew with each other in round 3.  Each also drew his last round game against a master.  Bryant drew with Ivan Ke who won the U2250 prize while Kauffman drew with Gabriel James Bick who was among those who tied for third.  Along the way each of the IMs dispatched some of his competition.  Here is Bryant’s round 4 win over FM Ildar Salakhutdinov:

[pgn][Event "2016 Central California Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2016.08.21"] [Round "4"] [White "IM Bryant, John"] [Black "FM Salakhutdinov, Ildar"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B15"] [WhiteElo "2547"] [BlackElo "3424"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"]1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c6 4. Nf3 d5 5. Be2 Bg4 6. Bf4 dxe4 7. Nxe4 Qb6 8. c3 Nd7 9. Nfg5 Bf5 10. Bc4 Bxe4 11. Nxe4 Ngf6 12. Ng5 O-O 13. Qe2 Nd5 14. Bxd5 cxd5 15. O-O-O e6 16. Kb1 a5 17. h4 h6 18. Nh3 f6 19. Qe3 h5 20. Rhe1 Rac8 21. Qd3 Kh7 22. a3 Qc6 23. Bg5 Bh6 24. Rh1 Qc7 25. Nf4 1-0[/pgn]

In the same round, Kaufman defeated Kyle Haining to keep pace.

[pgn][Event "2016 Central California Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2016.08.21"] [Round "4"] [White "Haining, Kyle"] [Black "IM Kaufman, Ray"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C60"] [WhiteElo "2273"] [BlackElo "2370"] [PlyCount "124"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. c3 Nge7 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Re1+ Be6 10. Ne5 O-O 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. Nxc6 Qd6 13. Ne5 c5 14. Na3 Nb4 15. Be3 cxd4 16. Bxd4 Rad8 17. Bc3 Qxd1 18. Rexd1 Rxd1+ 19. Rxd1 Nxa2 20. Nc6 Nxc3 21. bxc3 Bxc3 22. Nxa7 Re8 23. N3b5 Bb3 24. Rc1 Bb4 25. Rc8 Rxc8 26. Nxc8 Bc5 27. Ncd6 f5 28. Nb7 Bb6 29. Nc3 Kf7 30. Nd6+ Ke6 31. Ndb5 Bc4 32. Na3 Bd3 33. Nab5 Kd7 34. Nd5 Bxb5 35. Nxb6+ Kc6 36. Nc8 Bc4 37. f4 Be6 38. Na7+ Kb6 39. Kf2 Kxa7 40. Ke3 Kb6 41. Kd4 Kc6 42. Ke5 Bd5 43. g3 Bf3 44. Kf6 Kd6 45. Kg7 Ke6 46. Kxh7 Kf6 47. Kh6 Bg2 48. Kh7 Bd5 49. Kh8 Bg2 50. Kh7 Bf1 51. Kh6 Bh3 52. Kh7 g5 53. Kh6 gxf4 54. gxf4 Ke6 55. Kg5 Kd5 56. Kh4 Bg4 57. h3 Be2 58. Kg5 Ke4 59. Kh4 Bf1 60. Kg3 Bxh3 61. Kxh3 Kxf4 62. Kg2 Ke3 0-1[/pgn]

There was only one perfect score in any of the sections.  Russell Bik scored 5-0 in the U2050 section to earn $1000. There were two unrateds who did very well and won or tied for first in their sections.  However, they did not win the full prize as CCA limits the amount that unrated players can win in most “Under” sections.  In the Under 1650 section, Jonathan Dodson was playing in his first tournament. He lost his first round, but won the next four to tie for first.  He was limited to $500 by the unrated rule.  His two co-champions, Bilgehan Yilmaz and Devery Sturges also scored 4-1 and won $600.  In the Under 1250 section Ronald M. Cusi Jr, son of FM Ronald Cusi, was playing in his first tournament.  He scored 4 ½ to win clear first, though as an unrated he could only win $200.  The second place winner was benefitted by this as he also tied with an unrated playing in his first tournament.  Supunay Nagpal lost only to Cusi.  He still won $500 which was the entire first prize because the unrated ahead of him and the unrated he tied with were both prize limited.  This sort of prize distribution seems to strike a balance between unrated players in their first tournament who may not be true beginners and the rated players who do fall under the rating limit. The mixed doubles prize this year had a repeat customer.  Last year Ashleann Chen was rated 1322 and scored 4 points in the Under 1650 section tying for second and winning in the mixed doubles category.  Within the last year her rating has improved 300 points to 1622!  She could have entered the under 1650 section where she surely would have been a favorite to win the section.  However, she opted to play up in the Under 2050 section.  She took a half point bye and then scored 2-2 even though she was paired up every round.  Her 2 ½ coupled with her partner’s 3 ½ won the mixed doubles prize.  She also picked up 25 rating points in the process.  One has to wonder how she will do in next year’s tournament and in what section. The section winners were:

Under 2050

Russel Bik, 5-0, $1000

Under 1650

Bilgehan Yilmaz, Devery Sturges, & Jonathan R Dodson 4-1, $600, $600, & $500

Under 1250

Ronald M. Cusi Jr, 4 ½ - ½ $200

Mixed Doubles

Ashleann Chen & Ivan Ke, 6-4, $100 each

Blitz Tournament

Brendyn A Estolas, 7-1, $90

NTD Steve Immitt directed for CCA assisted by Dr. Robert Roberts. Full tournament details are at www.centralcaliforniaopen.com.  

The Southern Congress

On the other side of the country the tournament was twice as large both in terms of prize fund and number of entries.  The Southern Congress had 218 players in 7 sections competing for the $20,000 prize fund. The Open section can best be described as small, but powerful.  While California was dominated by IMs, Georgia was dominated by GMs.  There were only 17 players in the Open section.  However, more than 1/3 were over 2500 and FIDE titled - there were 5 GMs and 1 IM. Ten of the 17 players were over 2200! Round one started with unusual occurrences.  IM Awonder Liang had entered in advance but did not show up for round one.  This is highly unusual as CCA directors could not recall him ever forfeiting.  It turns out that Awonder had sent an email before the tournament cancelling the entry, but the email was sent when Awonder was overseas and due to poor connectivity was never received. Another forfeit was narrowly avoided.  GM Alonso Zapata went to the wrong board and started his opponent’s clock.  After getting the round started and checking for clocks and no shows, the TDs noticed that Zapata was sitting at the wrong board.  We directed him to the correct board, but he had already lost more than 20 minutes.  Perhaps because of this, in the largest upset of the tournament, Zapata lost to Wesley Sharpe.

[pgn][Event "Southern Congress"] [Site "?"] [Date "2016.08.19"] [Round "1.6"] [White "Sharpe, Weston"] [Black "(GM) Zapata, Alonzo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E60"] [WhiteElo "1912"] [BlackElo "2506"] [Annotator "Weston"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"]1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. d5 {Funny story about this game: My opponent was not late to the game, but he sat down at the wrong board. He might have been trying to intimidate me, but seriously, did he really need an intimidation tactic? I was not the one who lost 30 minutes... The move order played in the game is designed to circumvent the Grunfeld Defense.} Bg7 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 O-O 6. Nf3 e6 $6 {I do not understand this move. I guess he plays the Benoni type KID?} 7. Bd3 {Not a pretty square for the bishop, but where else can it go? On e2 it just gets in the way of things. Also the e4 pawn needs some defending.} Na6 8. O-O Nc5 9. Bc2 a5 {Blah blah blah support the knight blah blah blah this is the new Berlin blah blah blah. At least I hope it is not!} 10. Nd4 { This is how it ends uplooking like a Saemisch. My plan is f3, Be3, b3, a3, and then b4.} Re8 11. f3 Nfd7 12. Be3 exd5 13. cxd5 Ne5 {I think white is a little better here. His rook is misplaced, it should be on f8 to support f7-f5. } 14. Bf2 Bd7 15. Nb3 Nc4 $6 {I think this is where the grandmaster started to lose his head. He is not satisfied with a slight disadvantage in the first round against a below-2000 player, and tries to whip up a storm. Black should have played Rf8 with the idea of f7-f5.} 16. Qc1 b5 17. Nxc5 dxc5 18. Bd3 Nxb2 19. Qxb2 c4 $2 {I don't know what this is. Maybe he wanted the two bishops? But I don't think that's worth it here. This deserves two question marks, but since he can still play on it gets only one.} 20. Bxc4 bxc4 21. Qc2 {Also possible was 21.Qd2 preparing Bd4.} Qe7 22. Rad1 $1 {Preparing Bd4} Rab8 23. Bd4 Bxd4+ 24. Rxd4 $16 Qc5 25. Rfd1 Rb4 26. Qf2 a4 27. d6 $1 {Shutting down the black bishop since Nd5 must be stopped.} c6 28. f4 $1 {The first wave has begun their attack!} a3 29. e5 {One would think to go f4-f5-f6. However I need to get the knight into the attack.} f5 {I thought for ten minutes on whether or not I should capture en passant. I decided yes on these grounds: 1. My knight gets access to e4. 2. It sets up mating threats which eventually led to the victory 3. If all else fails, I am up a pawn.} 30. exf6 Qf5 31. Qh4 Re6 {I'm about to play the best move of my career (thus far).} 32. Ne4 $3 {Bang. Game over. My opponent expected this and played...} Rxe4 33. Rxe4 Qxe4 34. Qh6 { Apparently he only saw 34.f7+. This is the snap the GM back into reality move. Amazingly, there is no defense.} Kf7 35. Qg7+ Ke6 {I could have just played f7, but I wanted the satisfaction of driving his king down the board.} 36. Qe7+ Kf5 37. g4+ Kxf4 38. Rf1+ Qf3 39. f7 Qxf1+ 40. Kxf1 Rb1+ 41. Kf2 Rb2+ 42. Ke1 { I'm now 1-0 vs GMs!} 1-0[/pgn]

The next morning in the two day schedule, there were more odd occurrences.  There were only three players in the open section!  The top two had to play. GM Andrey Stukopin played senior master Deepak Aaron and Aaron pulled off the upset!

[pgn][Event "Southern Congress"] [Site "?"] [Date "2016.08.20"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Aaron, Deepak"] [Black "Stukopin, Andrei"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B40"] [WhiteElo "2444"] [BlackElo "2700"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"]1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nb3 Nf6 6. Bd3 d5 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. O-O Bd6 9. Qh5 Nf4 10. Bxf4 Bxf4 11. Nc3 g6 12. Qf3 Be5 13. Rad1 Qe7 14. Bb5 O-O 15. Rfe1 Qc7 16. h4 a6 17. Bxc6 bxc6 18. Ne4 Bg7 19. Nf6+ Kh8 20. Nc5 Qe7 21. Nce4 h5 22. Rd3 Rb8 23. Nxh5 gxh5 24. Qxh5+ Kg8 25. Ng5 Re8 26. Rf3 Rb7 27. Qh7+ Kf8 28. Qg6 Rd8 29. h5 Bxb2 30. h6 c5 31. h7 Bg7 32. Qh5 Bh8 33. Qg6 Bg7 34. Qh6 1-0[/pgn]

The other player (an expert playing up) got the bye. There was an even number of players with the bye, so at least in theory we could get everybody a game.  However, the only player left was an Open player and an Under 1100 player.  I figured neither would want to play each other given an over 1000 point rating difference.  The Under 1100 player was insistent on getting a game and the open player graciously agreed. Round two was really bizarre.  The only player in the open section with zero points was Stukopin.  He got a full point bye as the lowest rated (only) player in the bottom scoregroup.  I don’t think I have ever seen a 2700 GM get a bye as the lowest rated player!  This sounds like a trivia question. While all this was going on, there were some significant pairings on the top boards.  In round 2, Gata Kamsky on board one was facing IM Kaiqi Yang.  They drew while GM Julio Sadorra defeated NM Chao Zheng on board two to emerge from the three day schedule as the only perfect score.

[pgn][Event "Southern Congress"] [Site "?"] [Date "2016.08.20"] [Round "2.1"] [White "Yang, Kaiqi"] [Black "Kamsky, Gata"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C47"] [WhiteElo "2515"] [BlackElo "2732"] [PlyCount "87"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8. exd5 cxd5 9. O-O O-O 10. h3 h6 11. Qf3 Rb8 12. Bf4 Bd6 13. b3 c6 14. Rfe1 Rb4 15. Bxd6 Qxd6 16. Na4 c5 17. c3 Rf4 18. Qe3 c4 19. Bc2 cxb3 20. axb3 d4 21. cxd4 Rxd4 22. Rad1 Rxd1 23. Rxd1 Qc7 24. Qc5 Qxc5 25. Nxc5 Re8 26. b4 Be6 27. Ra1 Re7 28. Nxe6 fxe6 29. Bg6 Kf8 30. Ra6 Rb7 31. Rxe6 Rxb4 32. Ra6 Rb7 33. g4 Ke7 34. Kg2 Kd7 35. Bf5+ Ke7 36. h4 g5 37. hxg5 hxg5 38. Ra5 Kf7 39. Kg3 Kg7 40. Bc2 Kh6 41. Ra6 Kg7 42. Ra5 Kh6 43. Ra6 Kg7 44. Bd3 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

Deepak Aaron emerged from the two day schedule as the only perfect score.  They played in round three with Sadorra coming out on top.

[pgn][Event "Southern Congress"] [Site "?"] [Date "2016.08.20"] [Round "3.1"] [White "Aaron, Deepak"] [Black "Sadorra, Julio"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C15"] [WhiteElo "2444"] [BlackElo "2659"] [PlyCount "96"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"]1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nge2 Nc6 5. a3 Ba5 6. e5 Nge7 7. g4 O-O 8. Be3 Ng6 9. Qd2 f6 10. exf6 Qxf6 11. O-O-O b5 12. h4 Qf3 13. h5 Nge7 14. Rh3 Qxg4 15. Rg3 Qxh5 16. Nf4 Rxf4 17. Bxf4 Nf5 18. Rg5 Qf7 19. Be5 Nxe5 20. dxe5 c5 21. Qd3 c4 22. Qf3 Rb8 23. Bh3 Bd8 24. Rgg1 Nh4 25. Qxf7+ Kxf7 26. Ne4 Bd7 27. f4 Bb6 28. Rh1 Ke7 29. Ng5 Ng6 30. Nxe6 Bxe6 31. f5 Nxe5 32. fxe6 Be3+ 33. Kb1 d4 34. Rhe1 Rf8 35. Rf1 Nf3 36. Ka2 g5 37. Bg4 Ne5 38. Rxf8 Kxf8 39. Bh5 Ke7 40. a4 b4 41. Rh1 g4 42. Bxg4 Nxg4 43. Rxh7+ Kxe6 44. Rxa7 d3 45. Ra6+ Ke5 46. cxd3 cxd3 47. Ra8 d2 48. Re8+ Kd4 0-1[/pgn]

So going into the Sunday “money” rounds, Sadorra was the only 3-0.  Kamsky was the only 2 ½.  They would play in round four with Sadorra having white.  Kamsky had a bit of bad luck as his blacks were against the titled players and his whites were when he was paired significantly down (though this would change in the last round).  Sadorra and Kamsky drew.  This setup some interesting last round pairings.  GM Ben Finegold signed up for half point byes in rounds 3 and 4 when he entered.  He started 2-0 and had three points along with Kamsky and Stukopin and Deepak Aaron.  Sadorra was alone with 3 ½.  The last round pairings had Sadorra white against Stukopin.  The earlier bye messed up Stukopin’s colors and Stukopin got white in rounds 3 and 4 and was now a forced black.  Sadorra benefitted as he now got two whites in a row (versus the top two seeds Kamsky and Stukopin).   Meanwhile on board 2, Kamsky finally got white against a titled player as he faced Finegold. On board 3, the tournament wildcard Deepak Aaron was paired “down” (by points not rating) to IM Kaiqi Yang. Sadorra defeated Stukopin to finish in clear first and take the $2000 prize plus $100 bonus.  Kamsky defeated Finegold to finish 4-1 in clear second and win $1000.  Aaron drew Yang and finished in clear third with 3 ½ points winning $500.  Stukopin, Finegold, and Yang finished with 3 points and split 4^th place.  The other players with 3 points were Arthur Guo, Carter Peatman, and Sijing Wu who split the Under 2250 class prizes and won $400 each.  Nine of the 17 players in the section won money.  Everybody in the Open section who finished with a plus score won money! The section winners were:

Under 2200

Nicholas Williams, 4  ½ - ½ $1400

Under 2000

Darrell Bourne III, 4 ½ - ½ $1400

Under 1800

Grant Bomar 4 ½ - ½ $1400

Under 1600

Ethan Smith, 5-0, $1200

Under 1400

Thomas Harris, 4 ½ - ½ $800

Under 1100

Khyathi Chava & Bhavin Shah 4 ½ - ½ $400

Mixed Doubles

Vaishnavi Tammali  & Tanish Potula 7-3, $400 each

Blitz Tournament

Troy Daly, 6 ½ - 1 ½ $50

            NTD Boyd Reed directed for CCA assisted by David Hater and Scott Parker. Previous Continental Chess tournaments can be found at the Continental Chess website at  http://www.chesstour.com/cross.html.