Three way tie at Southern Open

The 2016 Southern Open was held at the Wyndham resort in Orlando, Florida from July 25^th to 27^th.  The $15,000 prize fund attracted 221 players including 30 in the Open section.  The Open section was headlined by three GMs, two IMs, two WGMs, and three FMs.  After 5 rounds, IM Ruifeng Li finished first on tiebreaks over GMs Julio Becerra and Sandro Pozo.  Each won $1166.67 with Li getting the $100 bonus for best tiebreaks.  All three players were undefeated winning three and drawing two.  Li drew the other two co-champions while Pozo and Becerra each also ceded a draw to IM Daniel Fernandez. Round four seemed to be the most significant round of the tournament.  Becerra and Li were on boards one and two of the tournament and were leading with 2 ½ out of 3, but were joined in the scoregroup by WGM Yanira Vigoa Apecheche and NM Grant Xu.  Becerra defeated Apecheche in a long maneuvering game.  Between moves 45 and 57 white just “passes” by moving the same piece back and forth while black places his pieces on the ideal squares and prepares for the breakthrough.

[pgn]

[Event "Southern Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.07.24"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Vigoa Apecheche, Yanira"]
[Black "Becerra, Julio"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E99"]
[WhiteElo "2281"]
[BlackElo "2635"]
[Annotator "Becerra,Julio"]
[PlyCount "194"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2015.04.03"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5
Ne7 9. Ne1 Nd7 10. Be3 f5 11. f3 f4 12. Bf2 g5 13. c5 Nxc5 14. b4 Na6 15. Nd3
b6 16. Rc1 (16. Qa4 Nb8) 16... Qd7 17. a4 Bb7 18. Qb3 Ng6 19. Nb5 h5 20. h3 Bf6
21. Rc3 Bd8 22. Rfc1 Rf7 23. Be1 Rg7 24. Nf2 Kh8 25. Kf1 Nf8 26. Bd2 Nh7 27.
Ke1 Nf6 28. Kd1 Ne8 29. Na3 Nb8 30. Be1 a6 31. b5 a5 32. Kc2 Qf7 33. Kb1 Nd7
34. Qc2 Nc5 35. Nc4 Bf6 36. Nb2 Bc8 37. Nc4 Rh7 38. Nd2 Bd7 39. Kb2 Qg6 40. Ka3
Be7 41. Nf1 Nf6 42. Nh2 Rg8 43. Rc4 Qe8 44. Rb1 Rgg7 45. Qd1 Bc8 46. Rbc1 Qg8
47. Qc2 Rh6 48. Qd1 Rhg6 49. Qc2 Rh7 50. Qd1 Kg7 51. Qc2 Kf8 52. Qd1 Rhg7 53.
Qc2 Qf7 54. Qd1 Ng8 55. Qc2 Nh6 56. Qd1 Bd8 57. Qc2 Qe8 58. Ka2 Kg8 59. Ka3 Kh8
60. Qd1 Rg8 61. Qc2 R6g7 62. Qd1 Qf7 63. Qc2 Qf8 64. Qd1 Nd7 65. Bc3 Nf6 66.
Bb2 Rh7 67. R1c3 Qe8 68. Rc2 Qg6 69. Rc1 g4 70. hxg4 hxg4 71. fxg4 Nhxg4 72.
Nfxg4 Nxg4 73. Nf1 (73. Nxg4 Bxg4 74. Bf3) 73... Nf2 74. Qd2 (74. Qb3) 74...
Nxe4 (74... Qxg2 75. Qxf4) 75. Qxf4 Nc5 76. Ne3 Bg5 77. Qf3 Qh6 78. R1c3 Rf8
79. Qg3 Bh4 80. Qh2 Be1 (80... Qg5) 81. Qxh6 Rxh6 82. Rc2 Rg6 83. Bf3 Kg8 84.
Re2 Bb4+ 85. Ka2 Rg7 86. Nc2 Nxa4 87. Nxb4 axb4 88. Rxb4 Nc5 89. Re3 Rg3 90.
Ra3 Bf5 91. Rh4 Bd3 92. Ra7 Rg7 93. Bc1 e4 94. Bg4 Bc4+ 95. Ka3 Bxd5 96. Bb2
Nd3 97. Bxg7 Rf2 0-1[/pgn]

Meanwhile on board two Li kept up the pace by defeating Xu.  Li was able to launch an attack against Xu’s king that was stuck in the center.  He won a couple pawns and transitioned to an ending where his two rooks and extra pawns were decisive.

[pgn]

[Event "Southern Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.07.24"]
[Round "4.2"]
[White "Li, Ruifeng"]
[Black "Xu, Grant"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A01"]
[WhiteElo "2624"]
[BlackElo "2352"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. b3 b6 2. Bb2 Bb7 3. d4 e6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. e3 c5 6. Nge2 cxd4 7. exd4 Be7 8. f3
d6 9. Qd2 Nbd7 10. O-O-O a6 11. Kb1 b5 12. d5 Nxd5 13. Nxd5 Bxd5 14. Bxg7 Rg8
15. Bb2 Nf6 16. Nd4 Bb7 17. Bd3 Qb6 18. Rhe1 d5 19. Qh6 Kd7 20. Nxe6 fxe6 21.
Bxf6 Bxf6 22. Qxf6 Raf8 23. Qh6 Rf7 24. Re2 Bc8 25. Rde1 Kc7 26. Bf5 Qd6 27.
Bxe6 Re8 28. Bxf7 Qxh6 29. Rxe8 Qxh2 30. Rg8 d4 31. Be6 Bxe6 32. Rxe6 Qg1+ 33.
Kb2 d3 34. Rg7+ Kd8 35. Rd6+ Ke8 36. Rxd3 Qc5 37. Rg4 Qe5+ 38. Rdd4 Qc7 39.
Rge4+ Kf8 40. g4 a5 41. a4 b4 42. Rd5 Qb6 43. Ree5 Kg7 44. Rxa5 Qd4+ 45. Ka2
Qd1 46. Rac5 Qxf3 47. Re7+ Kh6 48. Re6+ Kg7 49. Rg5+ 1-0[/pgn]

Also in round four, the largest upset of the tournament occurred as FM Corey Acor defeated top seeded GM Yuniesky Quesada Perez on board four.  Accor gives up a piece for three pawns and throughout the game shows his passed pawns dominate the extra piece.

[pgn]

[Event "Southern Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.07.24"]
[Round "4.4"]
[White "Acor, Corey"]
[Black "Quesada Perez, Yuniesky"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B25"]
[WhiteElo "2365"]
[BlackElo "2722"]
[Annotator "Hater,David"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. Be3 e5 7. f4 Nge7 8. Nf3
Nd4 9. O-O O-O 10. Qd2 Be6 11. Rf2 b5 12. Bxd4 cxd4 13. Nxb5 Rb8 14. c4 a6 15.
Na3 Nc6 16. b3 Bh6 17. Nc2 f6 18. b4 Rb7 19. a4 a5 20. b5 Nb8 21. Ra3 Nd7 22.
Nfxd4 exd4 23. Nxd4 Bf7 24. Nc6 Qb6 25. Qxa5 Qc5 26. Qc3 g5 27. Ne7+ Kh8 28.
Nf5 Bg7 29. fxg5 Be6 30. d4 Qa7 31. Nxg7 Kxg7 32. a5 Rbb8 33. b6 Qa6 34. c5 d5
(34... dxc5 35. d5 Bg4 36. gxf6+ Nxf6 37. e5 Ne4 38. Bxe4 Rxf2 39. Bd3 Qb7 40.
Kxf2 Qxd5 41. e6+ Kg8 42. Bxh7+ Kxh7 43. Qd3+ Qxd3 44. Rxd3 Bxe6 45. Rd6 Bc4
46. Rc6 Ba6 47. Rxc5 Kg6 48. g4 Rd8 49. h4 Kf6 50. Ke3 Rd1 51. Rf5+ Ke6 52. h5
Rd3+ 53. Kf4 Rd4+ 54. Kg5 Be2 55. Rf4 Rd5+ 56. Kh6 Ba6 57. Rb4 Rd7 58. g5 Bb7
59. g6 Rd8 60. g7) 35. exd5 Bg4 36. gxf6+ Nxf6 1-0[/pgn]

In this tactic from round four, FM Girones Barrios brings home the full point against Logan Wu. Black to Move Show Solution So going into the last round, Becerra and Li were leading the tournament and faced each other on board 1.  They were followed by 4 players at 3-1:  Pozo, Fernandez, Acor and Marraro Lopez.  I expected a quick draw on board 1, but they actually played for a couple hours before eventually agreeing to a draw.  Pozo then joined the winner’s circle by defeating Acor but Marraro Lopez and Fernandez drew so there would only be a three way tie.  In round three, Pozo used a nice tactic to finish the game against Rafael Rodriguez.  Can you spot the way to end the game? White to Move Show Solution Also in round 5 another large upset occurred at the lowest rated player in the section Steve Abrahams defeated WGM Yanira Vigoa Apecheche on board 6 to take the Under 2300 prize of $800.  Abrahams had a very unusual path to winning the class prize as he only played two games!  In round 1, he received the bye as the lowest rated player.  He then informed us that he would take half point byes in rounds two and four.  He only played the evening rounds 3 and 5.  However he played an FM and WGM and scored 1 1/2 for a 2449 performance rating.  In the last round, he sacs a pawn and while it may not have been completely sound, his opponent eventually succumbs to an attack. The other section winners were: Under 2010 Theodore Slade 5-0 $1500 Under 1710 Metin Colak 4 ½ - ½ $900 Ricardo Bottino 4 ½ - ½ $900 Under 1300 Philip McCully 5-0 $800 Mixed Doubles Mellissa Suarez 4-1 & GM Sandro Pozo 4-1  $150 each WFM Adianet Perez Crux 4-1 & Lester Machado 4-1 $150 each Yaniet Marraro Lopez 3 ½- 1 ½ & Metin Colak 4 ½ - ½ $150 each Rachael Li 4-1 & IM Ruifeng Li 4-1 $150 each Blitz Tournament Corey Acor 8-0 $140 NTD David Hater directed the event assisted by NTD Harvey Lerman. Full details including many games can be seen at www.southernopen.com. Previous Continental Chess tournaments can be found at the Continental Chess website at  http://www.chesstour.com/cross.html.