Xiong Wins Spring Classic

If past is indeed prologue, as the Bard told us in The Tempest, then GM Jeffery Xiong must be a confident young man right now. His victory in the A Section of the 2019 Spring Classic, held March 2-10 in Saint Louis, should give him confidence going into the 2019 U.S. Championship, which runs from March 18-April 1 and is also hosted by the Saint Louis Chess Club.

Jeffery Xiong, Spring Classic (photo STLCC)

Xiong scored 6/9 to take clear first place in the 10-player event, followed closely by a trio of Webster University players and alums. GM Illya Nyzhnyk finished in second place at 5.5/9, and GMs Liem Quang Le and Ray Robson tied for 3rd/4th place with 5.0/9.

Xiong’s incisive finish against Le in Round 6 was among the more satisfying tactics of the event.

[pgn]

[Event "St Louis Spring A"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2019.03.07"]
[White "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Black "Le, Quang Liem"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E00"]
[WhiteElo "2663"]
[BlackElo "2715"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3Q4/6pk/4p1q1/4P2p/4PRbP/6P1/7K/8 w - - 0 49"]
[PlyCount "5"]
[EventDate "2019.03.02"]

49. Rf8 Qxe4 50. Rh8+ Kg6 51. Qe8+ (51. Qe8+ Kf5 52. Rxh5+ Bxh5 53. Qxh5+
g5 54. Qxg5#) 1-0

[/pgn]

The Spring Classic is part of a quarterly series of tournaments held at the Saint Louis Chess Club, and the top section of the event usually includes multiple top-100 players. This edition featured two players of note: former World Champion and current Caruana trainer Rustam Kazimdzhanov, and GM Vassily Ivanchuk, perhaps one of the greatest players never to be World Champion.

Ivanchuk had a rough debut in Saint Louis, finishing at the bottom of the table with a score of 3.0/9. This did nothing to diminish the respect that the other players had for “Chucky.” GM Varuzhan Akobian was delighted to defeat “the legend,” as he described in this Tweet. The game featured a neat tactical conclusion. https://twitter.com/VarAkobian/status/1102062790460751877

[pgn]

[Event "St Louis Spring A"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2019.03.02"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Akobian, Varuzhan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2698"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2019.03.02"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 a6 8. Ne2 b5
9. c3 b4 10. cxb4 cxd4 11. Nexd4 Bxb4+ 12. Bd2 Bxd2+ 13. Qxd2 Nxd4 14. Qxd4 Rb8
15. a3 a5 16. Rc1 a4 17. Be2 Ba6 18. Bxa6 Qa5+ 19. Kf2 Qxa6 20. Rc7 Qb5 21.
Rhc1 O-O 22. Kg3 h6 23. h3 Rfd8 24. R1c2 Nf8 25. Qe3 Rd7 26. Rc8 Rd8 27. R8c5
Qe8 28. Nd4 Rdc8 29. Qc3 Rxc5 30. Qxc5 Ng6 31. Qd6 Rb7 32. Kf3 Qa8 33. g3 Kh7
34. Kg2 Qa7 35. Rd2 Qa5 36. Re2 Ne7 37. g4 Ng6 38. Kg3 Rb6 39. Qd7 Qc5 40. Qxa4
Qc1 41. Nf3 Rxb2 42. Rxb2 Qxb2 43. Qb4 Qe2 44. a4 Qe3 45. Qd4 Qa3 46. Kf2 Qa2+
47. Kg3 Qa3 48. Kf2 Qa2+ 49. Kg3 Qa3 50. Qa7 Kg8 51. Qa8+ Kh7 52. Qe8 Qe3 53.
Qxf7 d4 54. g5 $2 h5 $1 55. Qxe6 h4+ 56. Kg4 Qxf4+ 57. Kh5 Qxf3+ 58. Qg4
Nf4+ (58... Nf4+ 59. Kxh4 Ng2+ 60. Kh5 (60. Qxg2 Qxg2 61. a5 Kg6 62. a6 Qxg5#)
60... g6#) 0-1

[/pgn]

Kasimdzhanov also struggled, ending up with 3.5/9. He did manage to win his last round game when his opponent, GM Aryan Tari, decided (perhaps unwisely) to test Kasimdzhanov’s knowledge of the Sveshnikov.

Tari-Kasimdzhanov, Spring Classic (photo STLCC)

[pgn]

[Event "St Louis Spring A"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2019.03.10"]
[White "Tari, Aryan"]
[Black "Kasimdzhanov, Rustam"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2613"]
[BlackElo "2663"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2019.03.02"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Rb8 12. Nc2 Bg5 13. a4 bxa4 14. Ncb4
Nxb4 15. cxb4 O-O 16. Rxa4 a5 17. h4 Bh6 18. b5 Bd7 19. Nc3 d5 20. exd5 e4 21.
Be2 e3 (21... f5 22. d6 Kh8 23. g3 f4 24. Rxe4 Bf5 25. Re5 Qf6 26. Qd5 fxg3 27.
fxg3 Qg6 28. g4 Bc8 29. Ne4 Bb7 30. h5 Qxe4 31. Qxe4 Bxe4 32. Rxe4 Rfd8 33. Rd4
Bc1 34. d7 Bxb2 35. Rd5 Rb7 36. O-O g6 37. h6 Ba3 38. Rf7 a4 39. Re5 Rbb8 40.
Bc4 Bf8 41. Kg2 a3 42. Ba2 Bd6 43. Re6 Bf8 44. b6 {1-0 (44) Ganguly,S (2654)
-Shirov,A (2682) Edmonton 2016 CBM 173 [Ganguly,S]}) 22. f4 (22. f3 Re8 23. Qd4
g6 24. h5 Bg7 25. Qh4 g5 26. Qc4 Rc8 27. Qb3 Qc7 28. O-O Qg3 29. f4 Bh3 30. Bf3
e2 31. Raa1 Bd4+ 32. Kh1 Bxg2+ {0-1 (32) O'Gorman,T (2130) -Brilej,J (1883)
Mureck 2016}) 22... g6 23. g3 Bg7 24. Qb3 Qe8 25. O-O $6 (25. Rxa5 $142) 25...
Bxc3 26. Qxc3 Bxb5 27. Bxb5 Qxb5 28. Rxa5 Qe2 29. Qe1 Qxb2 30. Qxe3 $2 Rfe8 $40
31. Qa3 Qd2 {with ... Re2 to follow} 32. Rf2 Rb1+ 33. Kg2 Qe1 34. Kf3 Qd1+ 0-1

[/pgn]

The B section of the Spring Classic was won by Chinese GM Bai Jinshi, who also scored 6.0/9, a half-point ahead of second-place finisher GM Aleksander Mista.

Bai’s only defeat came at the hands of another Caruana second, GM Cristian Chirila, the newly-announced chess coach at the University of Missouri.

Chirila-Bai, Spring Classic (photo STLCC)

[pgn]

[Event "St Louis Spring B"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2019.03.10"]
[White "Chirila, Ioan-Cristian"]
[Black "Bai, Jinshi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "2566"]
[BlackElo "2593"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2019.03.02"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Bf4 Nc6 5. e3 Nf6 6. Nc3 Bf5 7. Qb3 Na5 8.
Qa4+ Bd7 9. Qc2 e6 10. Bd3 Be7 11. h3 Rc8 12. Nf3 b5 13. a3 O-O 14. O-O a6 15.
Ne5 h6 16. Qe2 Qb6 17. g4 Be8 18. g5 hxg5 19. Bxg5 Qd8 20. Kh1 Nd7 21. Nxd7
Qxd7 22. Rg1 f5 23. Rg3 Bxg5 24. Rxg5 Rc7 25. Rag1 Qd6 26. Qf3 Nc4 27. Ne2 Nxb2
28. Nf4 Nxd3 29. Nxd3 Rf6 30. Nf4 Rh6 31. Qg3 Qe7 32. Kh2 a5 33. Nd3 Rh5 34.
Rxh5 Bxh5 35. Nf4 Be8 36. Nxe6 Rc6 37. Qxg7+ Qxg7 38. Rxg7+ Kh8 39. Re7 Bh5 40.
Kg3 b4 41. axb4 axb4 42. Kh4 Bd1 43. Kg5 Rb6 44. Nf4 Kg8 45. Ng6 1-0

[/pgn]

The next tournament in the series, the 2019 Summer Classic, is tentatively scheduled for June 17-27th.