It’s Not Where You Start, It’s Where You Finish

Andrey Baryshpolets (2nd from the left) on the winning Texas Tech team at the 2015 Pan-Am Championship

Golden State Open Champion, Andrey Baryshpolets (2nd from the left), on the winning Texas Tech University team at the 2015 Pan-Ams. Photo: Al Lawrence

The 8^th Annual Golden State Open was held in the San Francisco area of Concord, California from January 13 to 16 and featured several turns of fortune that made for an exciting tournament finish. The $25,000 tournament drew 288 players in five sections. The 62 player open section was incredibly strong featuring ten grandmasters, four international masters, three FIDE masters, one woman international master and 18 national masters. GM Andrey Baryshpolets was seeded third but lost in round one to NM Trevor Showalter. Baryshpolets then went 6-0 in his remaining games to finish 6-1 and take clear first of $3000 and the $100 bonus for first. Losing in round one must be viewed as the ultimate “Swiss gambit.” Baryshpolets certainly doesn’t recommend this approach! The first round loss was a wild game that could have easily gone either way.

[pgn][Event "Golden State Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.13"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Showalter, Trevor"]
[Black "Baryshpolets, Andrey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E99"]
[WhiteElo "2226"]
[BlackElo "2657"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Nf3 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5
Ne7 9. Ne1 Nd7 10. Nd3 f5 11. f3 f4 12. Bd2 g5 13. Re1 Ng6 14. c5 Nf6 15. Nb5
a6 16. cxd6 axb5 17. dxc7 Qe8 18. Nc5 g4 19. Qb3 Nh4 20. Bxb5 Qg6 21. d6+ Kh8
22. Kf2 gxf3 23. gxf3 Ng4+ 24. fxg4 Qxd6 25. Qd5 Qb6 26. a4 Bxg4 27. Rg1 h5 28.
h3 Rad8 29. cxd8=Q Rxd8 30. hxg4 Rxd5 31. exd5 e4 32. Bxf4 Bd4+ 33. Kg3 Bxg1
34. Rxg1 Qxc5 35. Rc1 Qf8 36. Be5+ Kg8 37. Bd7 Ng6 38. Be6+ Kh7 39. Rc7+ Ne7
40. d6 Qf3+ 41. Kh4 Kh6 42. g5+ Kg6 43. Rxe7 Qf2+ 44. Bg3 Qd4 45. Bf7+ 1-0[/pgn]

In spite of the fact that he may have had slightly “easier” pairings for a few rounds, Baryshpolets faced two GMs on the final day including GM Vladimir Belous who led the tournament for the first six rounds. Belous was the second seed and started off 5-0 and was a full point ahead of the field going into the last day. It seemed like he would surly win the tournament, but on the last day he drew GM Conrad Holt before losing to Baryshpolets on board one in the last round.

[pgn][Event "Golden State Open"]
[Site "Concord"]
[Date "2017.01.16"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Baryshpolets, Andrey"]
[Black "Belous, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2657"]
[BlackElo "2670"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2017.01.14"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.16"]1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Nf3 c5 8.
Be3 Nc6 9. Rc1 Qa5 10. d5 Ne5 11. Nxe5 Bxe5 12. Qd2 O-O 13. h4 Bd7 14. h5 Rac8
15. f4 Bg7 16. Bd3 c4 17. Bb1 Bg4 18. hxg6 fxg6 19. O-O Rcd8 20. Qe1 e5 21.
dxe6 Bxe6 22. e5 Rf7 23. Bd4 b5 24. Qe3 Bf8 25. g4 Qa3 26. Rce1 Qe7 27. f5 gxf5
28. gxf5 Qh4 29. Rf2 Bh6 30. Rg2+ Kf8 31. Qe4 Rxd4 32. cxd4 Qxe4 33. Bxe4 Bxf5
34. Bxf5 Rxf5 35. d5 Ke7 36. Rh2 Rg5+ 37. Kf2 Rf5+ 38. Kg2 Bd2 39. Rxh7+ Ke8
40. Re2 c3 41. d6 Rf8 42. e6 1-0[/pgn]

Belous still tied for second with 5 ½ out of 7. He faced the strongest schedule of any player in the field playing four GMs and one IM and having the highest performance rating of anyone in the tournament at 2774. Here is Belous’ win over IM John Bryant.

[pgn][Event "Golden State Open"]
[Site "Concord"]
[Date "2017.01.15"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Bryant, John Daniel"]
[Black "Belous, Vladimir"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2599"]
[BlackElo "2670"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2017.01.14"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.16"]1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 d6 7. Bc4 dxe5 8.
dxe5 Ndb4 9. Qb3 e6 10. O-O Bd7 11. Bg5 Qc7 12. Qc3 Rc8 13. a3 Nd5 14. Bxd5
exd5 15. Rc1 h6 16. Bh4 Be6 17. Nbd2 Be7 18. Bxe7 Qxe7 19. Nd4 O-O 20. Qe3 Nxd4
21. Qxd4 b6 22. f4 Rc5 23. b4 Rc7 24. Nf1 Rc4 25. Rxc4 dxc4 26. Ne3 Rd8 27. Qe4
c3 28. Rc1 Qc7 29. f5 Bb3 30. f6 c2 31. Nf5 g6 32. Ne3 Qc3 33. e6 Qd2 0-1[/pgn]

GM Elshan Moradiabadi when he won the 2016 Washington International

Also tying for second was GM Elshan Moradiabadi. He was one of only two players to finish undefeated. Here is Moradiabadi’s win over FM Andy Lee.

[pgn][Event "Golden State Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.14"]
[Round "2.5"]
[White "Lee, Andy"]
[Black "Moradiabadi, Elshan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2361"]
[BlackElo "2634"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]1. d4 d6 2. e4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. g3 Nc6 5. Be3 Nf6 6. h3 O-O 7. Bg2 e5 8. Nge2
exd4 9. Nxd4 Ne5 10. O-O Nc4 11. Bc1 Re8 12. a4 Bd7 13. Kh2 c5 14. Ndb5 Bc6 15.
Qd3 a6 16. Na3 Ne5 17. Qd1 b5 18. f4 Ned7 19. Qxd6 Re6 20. Qd3 b4 21. Rd1 Ne8
22. e5 Bxg2 23. Kxg2 Ra7 24. Ne4 bxa3 25. Rxa3 Qc8 26. Kh2 Rc6 27. Qe3 Nf8 28.
Rad3 Rd7 29. Rxd7 Nxd7 30. Qd3 Nf8 31. Qc4 Ne6 32. c3 Bf8 33. g4 N6g7 34. Qd5
Qe6 35. c4 Rc8 36. Be3 Qb6 37. Rd2 Ne6 38. Nd6 Bxd6 39. exd6 Rd8 40. d7 Nf6 41.
Qd6 Qb3 0-1[/pgn]

The other undefeated player is a name from the past GM Jim Tarjan recently returned to chess after a several decade hiatus. Tarjan took two half point byes and finished with 3 wins and 2 draws in his other games to tie for 6^th place which did not cash but is still a good result In such a strong field. Two other players in the tie for second deserve special mention for outstanding results. Jack Zhu finished with 5 ½ points and had to play four of the GMs to do so. He scored two wins, one draw and one loss against the GMs and 3-0 versus his non GM opponents for a 2675 performance rating. Here is Zhu’s last round win over GM Conrad Holt.

[pgn][Event "Golden State Open"]
[Site "Concord"]
[Date "2017.01.16"]
[Round "7.2"]
[White "Holt, Conrad"]
[Black "Zhu, Jack Q"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D20"]
[WhiteElo "2656"]
[BlackElo "2399"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2017.01.14"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.16"]1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e3 e5 4. Bxc4 exd4 5. exd4 Nf6 6. Qb3 Qe7+ 7. Kf1 Qd7 8.
Nf3 Bd6 9. Bg5 O-O 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Nc3 Nc6 12. Nd5 Kh8 13. Qe3 Qg4 14. Nxf6
Qg6 15. Nd5 Rg8 16. Rg1 Qg7 17. Nc3 Bg4 18. Re1 Rad8 19. Ne5 Bxe5 20. dxe5 Rge8
21. f4 Nd4 22. Qf2 f6 23. h3 Bc8 24. g4 fxe5 25. f5 b5 26. Nxb5 Rf8 27. Rg3 Qh6
28. Rxe5 Qc1+ 29. Qe1 Qxc4+ 30. Kg1 Nxb5 31. Rge3 Nd4 32. Re7 Nxf5 33. gxf5
Rg8+ 34. Rg3 Rxg3+ 35. Qxg3 Rg8 0-1[/pgn]

The last player in the tie for second is Andrew Hong. He defeated GMs Andrey Stukopin and Enrico Sevillano on the final day to reach 5 ½ points. Here is his round six win over Stukopin.

[pgn][Event "Golden State Open"]
[Site "Concord"]
[Date "2017.01.16"]
[Round "6.5"]
[White "Hong, Andrew Z"]
[Black "Stukopin, Andrey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2370"]
[BlackElo "2680"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2017.01.14"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.16"]1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Qf3 Ne5 8.
Qg3 h5 9. f4 h4 10. Qh3 Nc4 11. Bxc4 Qxc4 12. O-O-O b5 13. Kb1 Bb7 14. e5 Rc8
15. Rd2 Ne7 16. Nb3 Nf5 17. Na5 Qc7 18. Nxb7 Qxb7 19. Rhd1 Rc7 20. Nd5 Rc4 21.
Nb6 Re4 22. Rxd7 Qxd7 23. Nxd7 Rxe3 24. g3 Re2 25. g4 Ne3 26. Qf3 Nxd1 27. Qxe2
Nc3+ 28. bxc3 Kxd7 29. Qe4 h3 30. Qb7+ Ke8 31. f5 exf5 32. gxf5 Be7 33. Qc6+
1-0[/pgn]

In the Under 1500 section, another player started at the bottom of the crosstable and finished in first place. Otgonbayer Suren is unrated and playing in his first tournament. He finished at 6-1 and tied for first in the section. As an unrated, he was limited to a prize of $350 and the beneficiary was Min Zhou who also scored 6-1 and tied for first and able take the entire prize due to Suren being prize limited.. The only player to finish with a perfect score was Thomas Zhu in the Under 1200 section. He clinched first place with a round to spare. Even if he lost the last round, he would have won clear first. He finished 1 ½ points ahead of the field and gained 259 rating points. The section winners were: