August 2013 Chess Roundup

If the reality of chess is too much to handle, a new movie "Computer Chess" just hit the silver screen. 

It seems chess prodigies keep getting younger and younger.   The youngest expert now goes to Carissa Yip from Chelmsford Massachusetts.

This month I've broken out some tournament highlights by continent.  As I expected, Antarctica was a no-show on the tournament boards.  I was surprised to not find results for Australia.  But here are some results from tournaments around the world.

Europe

Ukrainian GM Andrey Vovk won the Andorra Open. GM Eduard Iturrizaga won the Benasque Open on Tiebreak.  At the same tournament, US Junior Champion IM Daniel Naroditsky earned his final GM Norm.  In the Republic of Tatarstan, Wesley So won the gold medal at the 27th Universiade, aka World University Games.  Peruvian GM jorge Cori won the 18th Open Internacional D'Escacs Ciutat de Balaguer in Spain.  The Thracian Princess Championship in the Balkan city of Vratsa was won by WGM Iva Videnova.

Asia

What happens in Asia, stays in Asia.  At the World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad 2013 in Chongqing China, India beat up on Iran in the tenth round to gain enough points to finish in first place.   In India they hosted the 2nd All Bengal Chess Competition for the Blind which had over 100 players competing.  At the Fide Grand Prix in Bejing, Veselin Topalov earned enough points to be first qualifier for the 2014 Candidates Tournament.

Africa

Junior World Champion Alexander Ipatov from Turkey won the DSK International Chess Open 2013 in South Africa. The 2013 Commonwealth Open Championship in Port Elizabeth ended up with a three way tie with GM Abhijeet Gupta winning in tie-break.

North America

GM Timur Gareev and FM John Bryant tied for first at the Pacific Coast Open 2013.  GM Lazaro Bruzon won the Quebec Invitational Chess Championship in Montreal.  Los Angeles honored "Vishy" Anand.  The 41st World Open ended with a ten-way tie for first.  I won't list all the names but one of them was Illinois' own GM Yury Shulman.

South America

IM Leonardo Krysa wins semifinal to the 2013 Argentine Absolute Championship. IM Lucas LIasovich won the rapid championship tournament of the First MAIKOOVA Cup. 

Illinois

Closer to home in Illinois, here are the results of tournaments around the state:

July 5 to 7:  The Greater Midwest Classic in Rosemont, IL had 126 players.  In the Colias section, Sergey Kudrin swept all five rounds and his rating went up 8 points to 2579.  In the U2200 Section, Audrius Macenis lost one game in the third round but went on to win all the others and came in first place.  In the U1800 Section, Todd Freitag drew only one game and edged out Andrew Schremser to take first and gain 100 rating points.  In the U1400 Section, Sergey Antipov finished first with 5.5./6.0.  In the G/3+2 Blitz Tournament Audrius Macenius and Todd Freitag tied for first with 6/7 points.  Crosstables.

July 11: The Saint Charles 2013 Tournament had 14 players.  James Marshall swept with tournament with 4 wins.  Crosstable.

May 1 to July 12:  The Epic Quad Tournament in Oak Lawn had 14 players participating in the G/70 D5 event.  In the Top Section, Joesph Fennessey took first place.   In Section B, Michael Lenox finished with 3/4 points and increased provisional rating to 1347.  Crosstables.

July 13: The Evanston Chess Club July 2013 Tri-Level Tournament had 3 sections and 35 players.  In the Gold 1700+ Section, lone master Sam Schmakel won the section, but not without Bill Brock getting a draw from him in the third round.  In the Silver Section, Caelan Burke-Kaiser won 3.5 games (1 draw) and increased from 1301 provisional rating to a full rating of 1501.  The Bronze Section had Stephen Horvath and Philip Acquah Jr. tying for first with 3.5/4.0.  Crosstables.

July 13: Lincoln-way West Open and Reserve in New Lenox, IL had 18 players.  In the Open Section, Brian Villarreal and James Ronco tied for first place by drawing each other in the final round.  In the Reserve Section, Cesare Panici and Jinal Valand did the same thing.  Crosstables.

July 13: The 57th Kumbaya Tournament had 33 players and 3 Sections in Skokie, IL.  In the 1200 Above Section, Jonathan Lee and Scott Drier tied for first with 2.5/3.0 points.  In the U1200 Section, Abhinav Shankar lost the first round but swept the rest of the rounds to finish in first place.  In the U700 Section, Rahul Ravisundar took first place and gained 168 points.  Crosstables.

July 13:  The July Game 60 - Part 1 Tournament in Skokie, IL drew 17 players.  In the Open Section, Alex Ding took first place and went from a provisional rating of 2118 to a rating of 2134.  In the Under 1500 Section, Jordan Colby was undefeated. Crosstables.

July 14:  In the 91st Quest Tournament in Northbrook, IL there were 96 players.  In the Open Section, Alec Feygin won all four games and beat two higher rated players to increase rating 150 points to 1716.  Adam Wallach and Adam Bareket won all their games in the U1400 Section to tie for first place.  In the U1000 Section, Aidan Carey won all four rounds. This accomplishment was also shared by Anthony Yan in the U600 Section.  Crosstables.

July 14:  The July Game 45 Part I Tournament in Skokie, IL had 14 players.  In the Open Section, Dusan Tutush won all four rounds and increased rating to 2064.  In the U1500 Section, Robert Ferris lost to Krishna Appalaneni in the first round but won against Krishna in round four.  They ended up tying for first place.  Crosstables.

July 16:  The July 2013 Blitz Tournament in Moline had 8 players.   John Beydler went undefeated during the G/10 six rounds.  Crosstable. 

July 17: July Game-15 Part 1 Tournament in Skokie, IL had 6 players.  Michael Auger, the highest rated player in the tournament, finished with a near perfect record.  Crosstable.

July 19:  The July 19 Game 15 Tournament in Oak Lawn, IL had 6 players.  Adrian Zolkas won all three rounds.  Crosstable.

July 20:  The July Game-60 Part II tournament in Skokie, IL had 10 players.  Alex Ding won all four rounds.  Crosstable.

July 21:  The July Game-45 Part II tournament in Skokie, IL had 11 players.  Alex Ding won all four rounds.  Crosstable.

July 19 to 21:  The 6th Annual Chicago Class Tournament in Wheeling, IL drew 268 players. In the Master Section, Nikola Mitkov finished 4.5/5.0 to increase rating to 2607.  In the Class X Section, Vladimir Skavysh took first place and raised rating 73 points to 2138.  In the Class A Section, David Mcneil took first place with 4.5/5.0 points.  In the Class B Section, there was a three-way tie for first between Benjamin Spinello, Anuj Dahiya, and Cameron Heino.  In the Class C Section, Slavisa Djukic took first with 4.5/5.0.  In the Class D Section, Jeffrey Zhu finished in first.  In Class E, Stephen Horvath drew against Peicheng Jing and finished in first place.  The Under 1000 Section had Hersh Singh finishing with a perfect 5/5 record.  Crosstables.

July 26:  The July Game-15 Part II tournament had 8 players playing in this Skokie, IL event.  David Franklin won all five rounds.  Crosstable.

July 27: The Glenwood Chess Club July Open was held in Glenwood, IL and had 12 players participating. End of the day, high man on the rating totem pole, Joe Emole, swept all four rounds.  Cross table.

July 27:  The July Game-60 Part III in Skokie, IL had 24 players.  In the Open Section, Alex Ding drew against Petros Karagianis in the third round but finished first after another win (instead of a draw) in the fourth round to finish first.  In the U1500 Section, Adam Reese swept all four rounds to finish first.  He also increased his rating to 1501.  Crosstables.

July 28: The July Game-45 Part III in Skokie, IL had 21 players.  In the Open Section, Alex Ding and Petros Karagianis tied for first with 3.5 points.  In the U1500 Section, David Wallach swept all four rounds and increased rating by 60 points.  Crosstable.

July 8 to 29:  The Midsummerknightsdream Tournament in Peoria, IL had 22 players.  After five rounds, Wayne Zimmerle finished first with 3.5/5.0.  Crosstable.

July 30:  The July Themed: Ruy Lopez Bird Defense Tournament in Moline, IL had 8 players.  Brian Archibald finished in first with 3.5/4.0.  Crosstable.