"That Other Tournament" in Saint Louis

While coverage was rightfully focused on the U.S. Championship and U.S. Women’s Championship just completed in St. Louis, there was another tournament in town that also drew some attention. The 23rd Annual Mid-America Open was held in Clayton, Missouri on March 22-24th, just a few miles from the Saint Louis Chess Club. While the Mid-America didn’t draw quite as many grandmasters, the event drew ten GMs, four IMs, and three FMs, with a total of 329 players across six sections.  One of these GMs was Timur Gareyev, who was also playing in the U.S. Championship. Much has been written about Gareyev’s decision to play in both events; here, we stick to the facts. This is Gareyev’s Round 1 game from the Mid-America, played at a time control of G/60 with a 10 second increment against Aria Hoesley. He opted for a half point bye in round two of the Mid-America.

[pgn]

[Event "Mid-America Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.03.25"]
[White "Gareyev, Timur"]
[Black "Hoesley,Aria"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A42"]
[WhiteElo "1999"]
[BlackElo "2649"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. c4 d6 4. Nc3 Nd7 5. h4 h5 6. Nf3 c5 7. d5 Nh6 8. Be2 Ng4
9. g3 Nde5 10. Ng5 Nh6 11. a4 a5 12. Ra3 Bd7 13. Kd2 Neg4 14. Qe1 Qb6 15. Kc2
Qb4 16. Bd2 Qb6 17. Nb5 Bxb5 18. axb5 a4 19. f3 Ne5 20. Rf1 Bf6 21. Rf2 Qa7 22.
Bf1 b6 23. Kb1 Qb8 24. Qd1 Qa7 25. b3 Qc7 26. bxa4 O-O 27. Ne6 fxe6 28. Bxh6
Bg7 29. Bxg7 Kxg7 30. dxe6 Rf6 31. Qd5 Ra7 32. f4 Ng4 33. Rfa2 Ra5 34. Bh3 Qc8
35. Bxg4 hxg4 36. f5 Qf8 37. Rf2 Qh8 38. Rf4 Qh5 39. Qb7 Kf8 40. Qc8+ Kg7 41.
Qe8 gxf5 42. Qxh5 1-0

[/pgn]

Had Hoesley chosen to play until mate, she might have caused Gareyev to forfeit at the U.S. Championship. As things stood, Gareyev was 27 minutes late for his game against GM Sam Sevian.  Even though he got back in time and eventually drew, Gareyev had to hold a rook and bishop vs. rook ending until move 117 to do it!  This caused him to forfeit round three at the Mid-America and end his simultaneous exhibition. Still, after drawing with Sevian, Gareyev returned to the Mid-America Open to play in the blitz tournament.  After starting 6-0, he lost to NM Julian Proleiko in the last double-round and had to settle for a shared second place. While Gareyev was creating a lot of buzz for the event, there was plenty of excitement in the games actually being played.  Top seed GM Lazaro Bruzon Batista lost to NM Nicholas Rosenthal in round one.  In round two, GM Jayaram drew with NM Thomas Polgar-Shutzman.  And the top five boards in round three were all decisive! GM Andrew Tang’s win over NM Grabinsky was the most interesting of the bunch.

[pgn]

[Event "Mid-America Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.03.24"]
[White "Tang, Andrew"]
[Black "Grabinsky, Aaron"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2583"]
[BlackElo "2433"]
[PlyCount "81"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 c5 4. Nc3 e6 5. Nb5 Na6 6. c3 Be7 7. Nf3 O-O 8. a4
Bd7 9. Be2 Ne8 10. Ne5 Nac7 11. Nxc7 Nxc7 12. O-O Be8 13. Bd3 Bd6 14. Qg4 Qe7
15. Qh3 f5 16. Qg3 Qd8 17. dxc5 Bxc5 18. Bh6 Bg6 19. Nxg6 hxg6 20. Bf4 Ne8 21.
Qxg6 Nf6 22. Rad1 Qe7 23. c4 Rad8 24. cxd5 Nxd5 25. Bg5 Qe8 26. Qxe8 Rdxe8 27.
Bb5 Rb8 28. Bc4 Nc7 29. Rd7 Rf7 30. Rxc7 Rxc7 31. Bf4 Bb6 32. Bxe6+ Kf8 33.
Bd6+ Ke8 34. Bxf5 Rd8 35. Bg6+ Kd7 36. Bxc7 Kxc7 37. Rc1+ Kb8 38. g4 Rd6 39.
Bf5 a6 40. Rc8+ Ka7 41. Rg8 1-0

[/pgn]

Round four was completely different than the previous round, with all the 3-0 score group drawing.  NM Jason Wang joined the leaders in somewhat unusual fashion. He was the beneficiary of Gareyev’s forfeit to get to 2.5 and he then defeated NM Roman Kozelov to get to 3.5/4. Round five was the money round, and people fought for their places on the leaderboard. Kovalyov defeated Quesada on board one.

[pgn]

[Event "Mid-America Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.03.24"]
[White "Quesada, Yuneisky"]
[Black "Kovalyov, Anton"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2704"]
[BlackElo "2677"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h4 e5 7. Nb3 Qc7 8. f3
Be6 9. g4 Nbd7 10. Be3 Nb6 11. Qd2 Be7 12. O-O-O Rc8 13. g5 Nh5 14. Qf2 Nc4 15.
Bxc4 Qxc4 16. f4 exf4 17. Bxf4 Nxf4 18. Qxf4 h6 19. Kb1 hxg5 20. hxg5 Rxh1 21.
Rxh1 b5 22. Rd1 g6 23. a3 Qc7 24. Qd2 Qc4 25. Na5 Qc5 26. Nd5 Qa7 27. Rh1 Kd7
28. Nb3 Rc4 29. e5 Qb7 30. exd6 Qxd5 31. dxe7 Qxd2 32. Nxd2 Rg4 33. Nf3 Kxe7
34. Rg1 Rxg1+ 35. Nxg1 Bg4 36. b3 Ke6 37. Kc1 Kf5 0-1

[/pgn]

On board two Durarbayli defeated Wang.  The game was very interesting.  Durarbayli sacrificed a piece on move 12 and then followed it up with an exchange sacrifice on move 18.  The sacrifice may not have been entirely sound, but it was incredibly complicated, and Durarbayli managed to brought home the full point on move 40.

[pgn]

[Event "Mid-America Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.03.24"]
[White "Durarbayli, Vasif"]
[Black "Wang , Justin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2697"]
[BlackElo "2351"]
[PlyCount "79"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. g3 b5 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. d3 Nc6 7. O-O d6 8. Ng5 Be7
9. f4 Nf6 10. Kh1 Qc7 11. f5 h6 12. Nxf7 Kxf7 13. fxe6+ Kg8 14. Nd5 Qd8 15. c3
Ne5 16. d4 Ng6 17. Be3 Nf8 18. Rxf6 Bxf6 19. e5 Bg5 20. Bxg5 Qxg5 21. e7 Ng6
22. Qf3 Kh7 23. h4 Bxd5 24. Qxd5 Qxg3 25. h5 Qh4+ 26. Kg1 Qxh5 27. exd6 Qxd5
28. Bxd5 Ra7 29. Be4 cxd4 30. Bf5 d3 31. Kh2 Re8 32. Rg1 Raxe7 33. Bxg6+ Kg8
34. dxe7 Rxe7 35. Bxd3 g5 36. c4 Rd7 37. Rd1 Kg7 38. c5 Kf6 39. c6 Rd6 40. Rc1
1-0

[/pgn]

Durarbayli, Kovalyov, and Tang (who defeated Shimanov) finished in a three way tie for first at 4.5/5.  Each won $1200 with Durarbayli winning an extra $100 for the best tiebreaks.  GMs Batista, Jayaram and IM Drozdowski scored 4-1 to split fourth place and take $133.34. Class winners included: Under 2100 Hemachandra Rhamba & Jared Taylor, 4.5/5, $1100 Under 1900 Ako Heidari, 4.5/5, $1500 Under 1700 Angelo Fleming, Malik Brewley & Ian Jackson, 4.5/5, $866.67 Under 1500 Xueyi Chen & Max Xu, 4.5/5, $900 Under 1250 Chengxi Li, 5-0, $900 Mixed Doubles Jenna Song and Samuel Chen, 8-2, $400 each player Blitz Tournament NM Julian Proleiko, 8-0, $145 NTD David Hater directed for Continental Chess Association assisted by Bill Buklis, Jeff Smith, and Steve Plotnick. Full tournament details can be found at www.midamericaopen.com. Previous Continental Chess tournaments can be found at the Continental Chess website at  http://www.chesstour.com/cross.html.