Moradiabadi Wins Continental Class

GM Elshan Moradiabadi won the 2019 Continental Class (June 14-16, Falls Church, VA) with a score of 4-1. Moradiabadi started the event as the top seed, but he had to navigate an early setback to take the title. This year’s Continental Class drew 261 players which is slightly above average.  The 30 player Master section had 1 GM, 1 IM, 6 FMs, 1 WGM, and a total of 22 Masters vying for their share of the $20,000 prize fund. One surprise of the event was that board one ended in a draw the first three rounds. GM Moradiabadi drew NM Marcelino in round one, as alluded to above.  Then in round two IM Balakrishnan drew with NM Ridvan Sakir. In round three, SM Daniel Cremisi and FM Joshua Colas drew, which ended the perfect scores. Moradianadi’s win over Eidemiller in round three enabled him to catch up with the leaders and retake board one.

[pgn]

[Event "Continental Class"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.06.15"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Moradiabadi, Elshan"]
[Black "Eidemiller, Mark"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2642"]
[BlackElo "2302"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. h4 h5 5. Bd3 Bxd3 6. Qxd3 e6 7. Bg5 Qa5+ 8. Nd2
Qa6 9. c4 Bb4 10. b3 Ne7 11. Ngf3 Nd7 12. O-O Nf5 13. Rfc1 O-O 14. Nf1 Rae8 15.
Ne3 Nxe3 16. Bxe3 Be7 17. a4 c5 18. Ng5 g6 19. Qd2 dxc4 20. Rxc4 Rd8 21. Nf3
Nb6 22. Rcc1 cxd4 23. Bxd4 Rd7 24. b4 Nxa4 25. Qh6 b6 26. Be3 Qb5 27. Bg5 Nb2
28. Bf6 1-0

[/pgn]

Going into Sunday’s rounds, there were four players with 2.5/3: GM Moradiabadi, IM Balakrishnan, FMs Colas, Justin Paul and SM Cremisi. Moradiabadi defeated FM Colas, but IM Balakrishnan drew with SM Cremisi and FM Paul lost to FM Yip. This left Moradiabadi going into the last round in clear first with 3-1. Four players were just a half-point point behind the leader: IM Balakrishnan, FM Yip, WGM Foisor, and NM Sirkar. WGM Foisor won a long struggle against NM Black. The game was back and forth for quite a while, though NM Black was better for a long time. In an equal R + P ending, Black blundered and Foisor took advantage.

[pgn]

[Event "Continental Class"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.06.16"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Foisor, Sabina"]
[Black "Black, James"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A96"]
[WhiteElo "2337"]
[BlackElo "2226"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 d6 7. b3 Ne4 8. Bb2
Bf6 9. Nfd2 Nxd2 10. Qxd2 e5 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. Qxd8 Rxd8 13. Nc3 c6 14. Rad1
Rxd1 15. Rxd1 Na6 16. e4 g6 17. Na4 Kf7 18. Bc3 Be6 19. Nb2 Nc5 20. exf5 gxf5
21. b4 Ne4 22. Bxe4 fxe4 23. Re1 Bf5 24. c5 b5 25. Rd1 Be6 26. Rd6 Rc8 27. a3
Bd8 28. Nd1 Be7 29. Rd2 Kf6 30. Ne3 Bh3 31. f4 exf3 32. Kf2 Ke6 33. Kxf3 Rf8+
34. Ke4 Bf5+ 35. Nxf5 Rxf5 36. Rd7 Rf2 37. Rc7 Re2+ 38. Kd3 Rxh2 39. Bxe5 Bd8
40. Rc8 Kxe5 41. Rxd8 Rh3 42. Re8+ Kf5 43. Rg8 h5 44. Kd4 h4 45. Rh8 Rxg3 46.
Rxh4 Rxa3 47. Rh6 Rb3 48. Rxc6 Rxb4+ 49. Kd5 Rb1 50. Ra6 Rd1+ 51. Kc6 b4 52.
Rxa7 b3 53. Rb7 Rb1 54. Rb5 Ke5 55. Kb7 b2 56. c6+ Kd6 57. c7 Rc1 58. c8=Q b1=Q
59. Qd8+ Ke6 60. Qb6+ 1-0

[/pgn]

In the last round, Moradiabadi was white versus Balakrishnan, but still took a relatively quick draw. That gave him at least a tie for first as either boards 2 or 3 could have been decisive to join the first place tie. Both boards ended in fighting draws which left Moradiabadi in clear first and winning $2100. I’m sure Elshan would have been happy to have his fiancé WGM Foisor tie for first with him. She had a good chances and actually missed a late win over FM Carissa Yip.

[pgn]

[Event "Continental Class"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.06.16"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "Yip, Carissa"]
[Black "Foisor, Sabina"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C29"]
[WhiteElo "2362"]
[BlackElo "2337"]
[Annotator "Hater,David"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. Qf3 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Be6 7. Qg3 d4 8.
Bb2 dxc3 9. Bxc3 Nc6 10. Nf3 Qd5 11. Bd3 h6 12. O-O O-O-O 13. Rfc1 Bb4 14. Bxb4
Nxb4 15. Be4 Qc5+ 16. d4 Qc3 17. a3 Nd5 18. Rab1 Nb6 19. a4 g5 20. a5 Qxa5 21.
Ra1 Qc3 22. Rxa7 g4 23. Nh4 Qxg3 24. hxg3 Rxd4 25. Bxb7+ Kb8 26. Rca1 Rhd8 27.
Bc6 Rd1+ 28. Kh2 Rxa1 29. Rxa1 Rd2 30. Be4 Re2 31. Bf5 Rxe5 32. Bxe6 fxe6 33.
Rf1 Re2 34. Rf6 h5 35. Rh6 Nd5 36. Rxh5 Ne3 37. c3 Nf1+ 38. Kg1 Nxg3 39. Rh8+
Kb7 40. Rg8 Re4 41. Kf2 Ne2 42. c4 Kc6 43. Rg7 g3+ 44. Kf3 Rxh4 45. Kxe2 Rxc4
46. Rxg3 Kd5 47. Rg8 Ra4 48. g4 Ke4 49. Rc8 Ra2+ 50. Kd1 Ra7 51. Re8 Ra6 52.
Re7 Rd6+ 53. Ke2 c6 54. Rf7 c5 55. g5 e5 56. Rc7 Kd4 57. Rg7 c4 58. g6 Kc3 $2 (
58... c3 $1 59. Kd1 (59. Rg8 e4 60. g7 Rd7 61. Kd1 Kd3) 59... Kd3 60. Rg8 e4
61. g7 c2+ 62. Kc1 Rd7 63. Rc8 Rxg7 64. Rd8+ Ke2 65. Kxc2 Rc7+ 66. Kb1 e3) 59.
Rg8 Rf6 60. g7 Rg6 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

The Moradiabadi/Foisor “team” did very well in the mixed doubles standings. Moradiabadi’s team won first mixed doubles and Foisor’s team won clear second mixed doubles. Elshan won $2100 plus $300 mixed doubles and Sabina won $428.57 plus $200 mixed doubles. These two players took 15% of the total prize fund! The draws on boards two and three allowed FM Colas and Paul to catch up to second place. This left a giant seven way tie for 2nd/3rd/1st Under 2400/2nd Under 2400. Each player won $428.57: IM Balakrishnan, FMs Colas, Yip, & Paul, WGM Foisor, SM Cremisi, and NM Sakir. The section winners were: Expert Madhavan Narkeeran, 4.5/5, $1400 Class A Barzin Badiee, 5-0, $1400 Class B Noah O’Neill, 4.5/5, $1400 Class C Asorjon Tohirjonov, 5-0, $350 (prize limited as unrated) Grant Peed & Tariq Amin, 4-1, $1000 Class D Justin Trey, 4.5/5, $800 Class E Zachary Bensky & Anton Janezich, 4.5/5, $600 Mixed Doubles Carla Naylor & GM Elshan Moradiabadi, 8 points, $300 to each player Blitz Tournament Justin Paul & Isaac Chiu, 7/8. $116.50

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NTD Steve Immitt directed for Continental Chess Association assisted by Andy Rea, Adam Chrisney, F. Prestia, and R. Prestia. Full tournament details can be found at www.continentalclass.com. Previous Continental Chess tournaments can be found at the Continental Chess website at http://www.chesstour.com/cross.html.