Sevian and Arribas Win Philadelphia Open – Brodsky and Hong Achieve IM Norms

The 11th Annual Philadelphia Open, held April 12th-16th at the Philadelphia Downtown Marriott Hotel, ended in a victory for GMs Samuel Sevian and Angel Arribas Lopez, each with a score of 7-2.  Each won $5615.50 with Sevian earning an extra $204 for the superior tiebreaks.  The somewhat odd dollar amounts are due to the prize fund being increased! The tournament had an $80,000 prize fund based on 500 full paid entries.  The actual paid entries were 102.1% of based on, so the prize fund was increased proportionally.  The actual attendance was 573 players, though some were reduced or free entries. Sevian finished the tournament with 5 wins and 4 draws.  He played a total of 5 GMs, 1 IM, and 1 FM.  He gave up two early round draws to Andrew Hong and GM Mackenzie Molner, but then won three straight games against IM Guillermo Vazquez, GM Magesh Panchanathan and GM Vladimir Belous before drawing with GMs Lopez and Alexander Shimanov to secure first place. In round seven, Sevian was on board one versus 2nd seeded GM Vladmir Belous.  Sevian had the black pieces and trailed Belous, who was in clear 1st place by half a point.  Sevian won the game and was then in clear 1st place, and he never relinquished the lead!

[pgn][Event "Philadelphia Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.04.15"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "GM Belous, Vladmir"]
[Black "GM Sevian, Samuel"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2574"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. O-O Be7 8.
a3 O-O 9. b4 Be6 10. d3 a5 11. b5 Nd4 12. Bb2 f6 13. Nd2 Qc8 14. e3 Nf5 15. Qc2
a4 16. Rfd1 Nd6 17. Rdc1 Ra5 18. Nde4 Nxb5 19. Nxb5 Rxb5 20. Qxc7 Qxc7 21. Rxc7
Nd5 22. Rc2 Rc8 23. Rac1 Rd8 24. Bf1 Rxb2 25. Rxb2 Bxa3 26. Rbb1 Bxc1 27. Rxc1
a3 28. d4 exd4 29. exd4 Nb4 30. Nc5 Bd5 31. Bc4 b5 32. Bxd5+ Nxd5 33. Nb3 b4
34. Rc5 Nc3 35. Rc4 Rb8 36. Kg2 a2 37. Rc7 a1=Q 38. Nxa1 b3 39. Nxb3 Rxb3 40.
Rd7 Nb5 41. h4 Rd3 42. d5 h6 0-1[/pgn]

GM Angel Arribas Lopez also played 5 GMs, but he took a slightly different path to the winner’s circle. Arribas started out 4-0 and was in clear 1st place after round four.  In round five, he was on board one with the black pieces against GM Belous.  Belous won the game and was tied for 1st after 5 rounds.

[pgn][Event "Philadelphia Open"]
[Site "Philadelphia "]
[Date "2017.04.14"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "GM Belous, Vlad"]
[Black "GM Arribas Lopez, Angel"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2498"]
[BlackElo "2509"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]1. c4 d6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. d4 g6 4. e4 Bg7 5. h3 O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. d5 a5 8. Be2 Na6
9. Nf3 Nh5 10. Nd2 Nf4 11. Bf1 Nc5 12. Nb3 b6 13. g3 Nh5 14. Be2 Nf6 15. Nd2
Ne8 16. g4 f5 17. gxf5 gxf5 18. Rg1 Kh8 19. Qc2 Na6 20. Bg5 Bf6 21. Bh6 Bg7 22.
Bg5 Bf6 23. h4 Rg8 24. Nf3 Nc5 25. exf5 e4 26. Nxe4 Bxf5 27. Nxf6 Bxc2 28. Nxg8
Qd7 29. Nh6 Bg6 30. h5 Bxh5 31. Ne5 dxe5 32. Bxh5 Qg7 33. Nf7+ Kg8 34. Ke2 0-1[/pgn]

Arribas Lopez then played FM David Brodsky on board two, trailing the FM by half a point. Arribas Lopez defeated Brodsky while on board one Belous defeated GM Ruifeng Li to set up his game with Sevian.

[pgn][Event "Philadelphia Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.04.15"]
[Round "6.2"]
[White "GM Lopez, Angel"]
[Black "FM Brodsky, David"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2498"]
[BlackElo "2313"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nce2 Nc6 7. c3 Qb6 8. Nf3
f6 9. g3 cxd4 10. Nexd4 fxe5 11. fxe5 Bc5 12. Bd3 Ndxe5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. Qh5+
Nf7 15. Bb5+ Kf8 16. O-O Bxd4+ 17. cxd4 Qxd4+ 18. Rf2 Qxf2+ 19. Kxf2 e5 20. Bd2
Be6 21. Rc1 Kg8 22. Rc7 g6 23. Qh4 1-0[/pgn]

Arribas then drew with GMs Li and Sevian and would need a win in the last round to tie for 1st place.  In the last round, Sevian was on board one versus Shimanov.  Sevian was in clear 1st leading the field by half a point.  A draw ensued, but it was not the quick variety.  It went several hours and 36 moves. Only two other players trailed by half a point.  On board two, the winner of IM Nicolas Checa versus GM Lopez would tie for 1st with the added drama that Checa would make a GM norm if he won.  Even though Checa had the white pieces, Arribas did win.

[pgn][Event "Philadelphia Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.04.16"]
[Round "9.2"]
[White "IM Checa, Nicolas"]
[Black "GM Arribas Lopez, Angel"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E91"]
[WhiteElo "2400"]
[BlackElo "2498"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Be2 Bg4 7. Be3 Nfd7 8. Rc1
e5 9. d5 a5 10. a3 Bf6 11. Nd2 Bxe2 12. Qxe2 Bg5 13. b4 axb4 14. axb4 c5 15.
dxc6 Nxc6 16. Nd5 Ra2 17. O-O f5 18. exf5 gxf5 19. f4 exf4 20. Nxf4 Qe7 21.
Rce1 Nxb4 22. Qh5 Ne5 23. Nd5 Bxe3+ 24. Nxe3 Qf7 25. Qg5+ Qg6 26. Qxg6+ hxg6
27. Rb1 Rxd2 28. Rxb4 f4 29. Nd5 f3 30. Rxb7 f2+ 31. Kh1 Rd1 32. Ne3 Re1 33. g3
Nxc4 0-1[/pgn]

This tournament also has norm opportunities.  Many players were in contention for GM or IM norms right up until the final round.  In the end, FM David Brodsky and Andrew Hong achieved IM norms. Brodsky achieved the IM norm with two rounds to spare!  He scored 5 ½ points, even though he only needed 5 for an IM norm.  He could have made a GM norm and tied for 3rd if he had won his last round game versus Ruifeng Li.  Interestingly, Brodsky was paired down in the 1st round and drew!  He then won four in a row and was tied for 1st after five rounds.  In round four, Brodsky beat the tournament’s highest rated player, GM Alexander Shimanov.

[pgn][Event "Philadelphia Open"]
[Site "Philadelphia"]
[Date "2017.04.14"]
[Round "4.6"]
[White "GM Shimanov, Alex"]
[Black "FM Brodsky, David"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2650"]
[BlackElo "2313"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. h3 Bh5 6. g4 Bg6 7. Ne5 Nbd7 8. Nxg6
hxg6 9. Nc3 e6 10. Qb3 Qc7 11. g5 dxc4 12. Qxc4 Nd5 13. Bg2 N5b6 14. Qe2 e5 15.
O-O Be7 16. dxe5 Qxe5 17. f4 Qe6 18. Qf3 O-O 19. e4 f5 20. b3 Nc5 21. e5 Rfd8
22. Qe2 Nd5 23. Bd2 Nxc3 24. Bxc3 Ne4 25. Be1 Rd4 26. Rc1 Rad8 27. Rc2 Bc5 28.
Kh2 Bb6 29. h4 Kf7 30. Rf3 Qd5 31. Rh3 Rd3 32. Rxd3 Qxd3 33. Bf3 Be3 34. Bg3
Nxg3 35. Kxg3 Rd4 36. e6+ Ke7 37. Rc4 Bxf4+ 38. Kf2 Qxe2+ 39. Bxe2 Rxc4 40.
Bxc4 b5 41. Be2 Kxe6 42. Bf3 Kd6 43. Bg2 Kc5 44. Bf3 a5 45. a4 Kd6 46. Bd1 Bh2
47. Kg2 Be5 48. Kf2 Bc3 49. Be2 Kc5 50. Bf3 Bd4+ 51. Kg2 Be3 52. Kg3 Kd6 53.
Be2 bxa4 54. bxa4 Ke5 55. Bc4 Ke4 56. Bf7 c5 57. Kg2 Kd3 58. Bxg6 c4 59. Bxf5+
Ke2 60. Kg3 c3 61. Bb1 Bf2+ 62. Kg4 Kd2 63. h5 c2 64. Bxc2 Kxc2 65. Kf3 Bh4 66.
Kf4 Kb3 67. Kf5 Be1 0-1[/pgn]

This is Brodsky’s third IM norm.  He still needs to gain 20 FIDE rating points to get the IM title, but I would expect him to do that soon.  He gained nearly 25 US Chess rating points this tournament and is closing in on 2500.  Brodsky played six GMs this tournament scoring 3 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw. The other IM norm was earned by Andrew Hong.  Hong played six GMs and drew 5 of the games, losing only to GM Julio Sadorra.  Hong won both games in which he was paired down and had the black pieces.  In round four, can you find the winning continuation?

Balaji Daggupati vs. Andrew Hong

Black to move.

Show Solution One game that did not directly determine prizes, but was very interesting occurred in round one.  GM David Berczes had black against Justin Paul on board nine.  Both players used about 1-2 minutes for the first three moves. By move 6, White had used 35 minutes and Black had used 76 minutes. Before move 20, White had less than 20 minutes remaining and Black had less than 5.  The position was complicated and crazy, so I can’t blame the players for burning a lot of time.  The game didn’t reach time control.  Black had less than a minute on his clock, and White had only a few minutes.

[pgn][Event "Philadelphia Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.04.12"]
[Round "1.9"]
[White "Paul, Justin"]
[Black "GM Berczes, David"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A09"]
[WhiteElo "2179"]
[BlackElo "2500"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 d4 3. b4 g5 4. Qa4+ Bd7 5. Qb3 a5 6. Bb2 axb4 7. Bxd4 f6 8.
Nxg5 Nh6 9. Qf3 Bg4 10. Qd5 e5 11. Qxb7 Qxd4 12. Qxa8 fxg5 13. Qxb8+ Kf7 14.
Qxc7+ Be7 15. e3 Qb2 16. f3 Bf5 17. e4 Be6 18. Be2 Qxa1 19. O-O Qd4+ 20. Kh1
Ra8 21. f4 gxf4 22. Bh5+ Kf6 23. g4 Qxe4+ 24. Kg1 Rg8 25. d3 Qe3+ 26. Kh1 Qxd3
27. Rg1 Qe4+ 28. Rg2 Nxg4 29. Qb6 Ne3 0-1[/pgn]

The Under 2400 class prizes were won by IM Michael Mulyar and FM Akshita Gorti both with 6-3.  Mulyar finished 50% against the 5 GMs he played and scored 3 ½ out of 4 against the others, but it wasn’t quite enough for a GM norm. Gorti had a much different route.  She lost in round one, beat the lowest rated player in round two and drew four games.  She then won her last three games, including a last round win over IM Praveen Balakrishnan.  She was paired down 8 rounds in a row from rounds one through eight!  Both Mulyar and Gorti won $1531.50. Gorti’s sister, Atmika Gorti, paired up with GM Kayden Troff in the mixed doubles competition. They scored a combined 10 ½ points to take clear 1st in the mixed doubles, each winning $510.50.  Atmika also won $929.50 for tying for 3rd in the Under 1800 section. Atmika Gorti benefited by a prize limiting rule that CCA has. At the largest CCA events (World Open, North American Open, Chicago Open, and Philadelphia Open), CCA has several rules that limit a player’s winnings in class sections. Specifically, limits apply to any player who:

• has played less than 26 games,
• has been rated more than 30 points over the section limit anytime in the last 12 months, or
• is unrated.

The winner of the Under 1800 section was a Class C player, who was playing up a class.  Anthony Kozikowski was rated 1585 and started seeded 70th of 89 players.  He started 6-0 before agreeing to a last round draw.  He finished in clear 1st place, but he had played only 25 USCF games as of the April rating supplement, so he could only win $2000. The clear 2nd place winner was Guillermo Huertas, and he won $5105 (the 1st place amount).  Second prize was $2552.50, and Kozikowski could only take $2000 of that, so the remaining $552.50 floated down to the 3rd place winners. The Under 1100 and Under 1400 sections had an even more complicated distribution. In the Under 1100 section, Ezekiel Shonola, an unrated player, started 6-0 before agreeing to a last round draw.  He could only win $300.  Two of the three players who tied for 2nd had only 26 games and could only win $500.  The other 2nd place winner was able to win the full 1st prize of $1021. In the Under 1400 section, Patrick Tenorio started 6-0 before agreeing to a last round draw.  He had less than 26 games and could win only $1000.  In 2nd place was Hakim Buchanan and Jose Mrasol.  Buchanan had less than 26 games and won $1000.  Mirasol won $3062, which was the 1st place amount.  Even with Mirasol taking 1st place money, the additional 2^nd/3^rd place money floated down to the next players. Class players don’t often get their games published in these articles, but this game is instructive.

[pgn][Event "Philadelphia Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.04.13"]
[Round "1.206"]
[White "Chin, Spencer"]
[Black "Ramprasad, Manav"]
[Result "?"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "1488"]
[BlackElo "1683"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "7k/pp5p/3P2p1/4p2r/5rQ1/2q5/P5PP/3R2RK w - - 0 31"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]{Here, White made a mistake with} 31. Qxf4 $2 ({However, White is winning. The
win is} 31. d7 $1 {and if Black plays} Rxg4 {then} 32. d8=Q+ Kg7 33. Qd7+ {and
Qxg4}) 31... exf4 32. d7 {when it seems that the d-pawn
will promote. Black has an answer. What is Black's win?} *[/pgn]

Show Solution The section winners were:

Under 2200

Nabil Feliachi, 6-1, $5105

Under 2000

Hamilton Fiallos, 6 ½ - ½ $5105

Under 1800

Anthony Kozikowski, 6 ½ - ½, $2000 (prize limited)

Guillermo Huertas, 6-1, $5105

Under 1600

Noah Marinelli, 7-0, $4080

Under 1400

Patrick Tenorio, 6 ½ - ½, $1000 (prize limited)

Hakim Buchanan, 6-1, $1000 (prize limited)

Jose Mirasol, 6-1 $3062

Under 1100

Ezekiel Shonola, 6 ½ - ½, $300 (prize limited)

Mohammed Sobh & Ian Jacobson, 6-1, $500 (prize limited)

Arad Badiee, 6-1, $1021

Mixed Doubles

GM Kayden Troff & Atmika Gorti, 10 ½ - 3 ½, $521.50 each

Blitz Tournament

FM Arvind Jayaraman & Aaron Jacobson, 7-1, $135

            International Arbiter & NTD Bill Goichberg directed for CCA assisted by David Hater, Harold Stenzel, Mike Atkins, Jabari McGreen, Bob Messenger, Andy Rea, Eric Stenzel and Brenda Goichberg. Full tournament details can be found at the Philadelphia Open Website.  We are in the processing of posting all the Open section games on the website. Once completed, there will be well over 200 games posted.  Early rounds are already online with later rounds on the way. Previous Continental Chess tournaments can be found at the Continental Chess Website.