World Open Festival Underway in Philly

The 2018 version of the World Open kicked off at the Philadelphia Downtown Marriott last week.  Counting blitz and action events, the World Open “Festival” is eighteen separate events over a twelve day period.  The first two events are already in the books, and each section produced a clear winner. The first event to begin was the five day schedule of the World Open Senior.  That schedule allowed senior to play one game a day in the evening for four consecutive days and finish the even by merging with the 3 day schedule and playing two games on the final day. This leisurely pace appealed to a few players and a total of 15 players kicked off the World Open event on Wednesday June 27^th.  These players were joined with the three day schedule and a total of 47 seniors vied for the $3000 prize fund. This year because the Philadelphia International overlapped, the senior ran as an amateur event in two sections – Under 2210 and Under 1810.  The Under 2210 section had 25 total players, but 8 were over 2000.  After 6 rounds, the clear winner of the top section was Connecticut expert Derek Meredith.  He won his first five games and took a quick draw in the last round to finish in clear first place with 5 ½ out of 6 a clear point ahead of the rest of the field.  In round two, he had a nice tactic to win against fellow expert Brian Lawson.  Rather than the obvious capture, can you find the winning move? Show Solution In round 3, Meredith continued his winning ways by defeating expert Michael Carey.

[pgn][Event "World Open Senior Amateur"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.06.30"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carey, Michael"]
[Black "Meredith, Derek"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2111"]
[BlackElo "2157"]
[Annotator "Hater,David"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Qd2 a6 6. O-O-O b5 7. f3 Nbd7 8. Bh6
Bxh6 9. Qxh6 b4 10. Nce2 c6 11. Kb1 Qa5 12. Nc1 Bb7 13. h4 Qb6 14. Nh3 a5 15.
Ng5 a4 16. Qg7 Rf8 17. Nxh7 Nxh7 18. Qxh7 c5 19. Qg7 Rc8 20. h5 gxh5 21. Rxh5
c4 22. Rh8 a3 23. Rxf8+ Nxf8 24. d5 f6 25. Qh6 axb2 26. Kxb2 Qa7 27. Kb1 Qa3
28. Rd4 Ba6 29. Ne2 b3 30. Nc3 bxa2+ 0-1[/pgn]

Here is a tactic from the last round of the Under 2210 section.  Can you find the winning move? Show Solution In the Under 1810 section, Tha Dun and Christian Call tied for first with scores of 5-1 to win the Under 1810 section.  Dun gave up two draws while Call lost in round two.  Both had to win the last round to take home the money.  Here is Dun’s victory on board one.

[pgn][Event "World Open Senior U1810"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.07.01"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "Dun, Tha"]
[Black "Melehkin, Aleksandr"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "1699"]
[BlackElo "1724"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Nc3 O-O 6. Be2 Be6 7. d4 c6 8. Bf4
Nh5 9. Be3 f5 10. exf5 Bxf5 11. Qd2 Nf6 12. h3 b5 13. a3 a5 14. Bd3 Be6 15. O-O
h6 16. Bxh6 gxh6 17. Qxh6 Bc4 18. Bxc4+ bxc4 19. Ng5 Qd7 20. Qg6+ Kh8 21. Nf7+
Rxf7 22. Qxf7 Ra7 23. Rfe1 d5 24. Re3 Bd8 25. Qg6 Qf7 26. Qh6+ Qh7 27. Qf4 Rb7
28. Rae1 Qd7 29. Qh6+ 1-0[/pgn]

The World Open Warmup is also in the books.  Eitan Genger won the section with a score of 4 ½ out of 5.  The warmup was also limited to players under 2100.  The event drew 31 players. Grandmaster Sam Sevian won the Philadelphia International. Here is Sevian's 9th round victory against Julio Sadorra.

[pgn][Event "12th Philadelphia International"]
[Site "Philadelphia"]
[Date "2018.07.02"]
[Round "9.1"]
[White "Sevian, Samuel"]
[Black "Sadorra, Julio Catalino"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C17"]
[WhiteElo "2624"]
[BlackElo "2546"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2018.06.??"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Ba5 6. Bd2 Nc6 7. Nb5 Bxd2+ 8. Qxd2
Nxd4 9. Nxd4 cxd4 10. Nf3 Ne7 11. Nxd4 O-O 12. f4 Nc6 13. Nf3 f6 14. O-O-O fxe5
15. fxe5 Bd7 16. Bd3 Qe8 17. Qg5 Qf7 18. Kb1 Qf4 19. h4 g6 20. Rh3 Qxg5 21.
hxg5 Kg7 22. Rh4 Rf7 23. Re1 Rh8 24. Reh1 Rff8 25. b4 Nd8 26. Ka2 a6 27. Kb3
Bb5 28. Bxb5 axb5 29. Nd4 Rf2 30. R1h2 Rf1 31. R2h3 Rb1+ 32. Ka2 Re1 33. Rc3
Rxe5 34. Rc7+ Nf7 35. Rf4 Rf8 36. Re7 Kg8 37. Nxe6 Rc8 38. Rfxf7 Rxe6 39. Rg7+
Kf8 40. Ref7+ Ke8 41. Rxb7 Kf8 42. Rxh7 Kg8 43. Rhc7 Rxc7 44. Rxc7 Re5 45. a4
bxa4 46. b5 Re6 47. Ka3 Kf8 48. Kxa4 Ke8 49. Ka5 Kd8 50. Rc5 1-0[/pgn]

Look for a full report, including info on norm winners, next. In the meantime, you can follow the events online at followchess.com. Bob Messenger directed for Continental Chess Association.  He was assisted by David Hater, Brian Yang and Harold Scott. Full tournament details including a list of all winners can be seen at http://chessevents.com/worldopen. Previous Continental Chess tournaments can be found at the Continental Chess website at  http://www.chesstour.com/cross.html.