A US Open Pictoral Photos Report!

Congrats to the 6 winners (GM Alex Lenderman, GM Alex Yermolinsky, IM Jacek Stopa, GM Jesse Kraai, GM Sergey Kudrin, GM Dimitry Gurevich) who all tied for first and additional congratulations to the 5 who will be at the 2010 US Championship in St. Louis. While the politicians were playing their dirty game during the day, 453 players came to play chess during the night! A fantastic event even if the host city was quite barren of things to do. A bit of irony, Lenderman might have set a record by winning a tournament 7.5/9 and STILL losing rating points. Usually those two things do not go hand in hand!

And now it is time for the 110th US Open Photo Report:

In the game 15 side event, GM Alex Lenderman won 4.5/5.

In rd3, WIM Alisa Melekhina- GM Alex Lenderman



Lenderman is already slightly better, play continued with: 1... Rxh3 2. Rxf7 Rh2+ 3. Ke3 Na5 4. Kd3 b6 where Alisa blunders with 5. Rb1?? and Lenderman tactically finishes the game Nc4 6. a3 e5 7. Rf6+ Ke7 8. Rxf5 e4+ 9. fxe4 dxe4+ 10. Kxe4 Nd6+ 11. Kf4 Rf2+ resigns 0-1

In rd4, GM Alex Lenderman vs GM Kaufman:


It can be seen that Kaufman has 7 seconds left, the following moves are played
1. Bd3 Qc2 2. Qd5 d2 which creates the following position:



Play continued 3. b5 Bc5 and Lenderman blunders with 4. Qc6?? (and the amazing 4. Be2 keeps equality!) and ... d1=Q 5. Bxd1 Qxf2+ 6. Kh3 Qf1+ 7. Qg2 Qxd1 8. Qa8+ Bf8 9. b6 Qh5+ and Kaufman manages to draw by perpetual check with 2 seconds on his clock!

Co Winners GM Sergey Kudrin and GM Alex Lenderman battling out their 9th round draw:


GM Alexander Shabalov





2009 US Champion, San Sebastion 2009 Winner, GM Hikaru Nakamura at the beginning of his 25 person simul (which he won 25-0).






Local Hero Fide Master Jim Dean vs Official winner GM Dimitry Gurevich:






A trendmendous event for the young Eric Rosen who finished on 6.5/9 by defeating GM John Fedorwicz in the final round (and drawing Co-winner GM Jesse Kraii in rd3!) to become Illinois' newest National Master. Congratulations to Eric Rosen! Here is a photo of Eric and two of his games:

[Event "US Open"]
[Site "Indianapolis"]
[Date "2009.08.09"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Fedorowicz, John P"]
[Black "Rosen, Eric"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2531"]
[BlackElo "2184"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "2009.??.??"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 Bf5 7. g4 Be6 8. h3
Nbd7 9. f4 Nb6 10. Bd3 Be7 11. Nf3

Pictured left to right are IM Emory Tate, GM Mesgen Amanov, NM! Eric Rosen making his 11th move.



... Qd6 12. f5 Qg3+ 13. Kd2 Ne4+ 14. Nxe4 dxe4
15. Bxe4 Qf2+ 16. Kc3 Bb4+ {resigns in light of} 17. Kxb4 Qxb2+ 18. Qb3 (18. Kc5 Qa3#) (18.
Ka5 Qc3#) 18... c5+ 19. Kxc5 Bxb3 0-1

[Event "US Open"]
[Site "Indianapolis"]
[Date "2009.08.05"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Kraai, Jesse"]
[Black "Rosen, Eric"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteELO "2584"]
[BlackELO "2184"]
1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4 Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bf4 Nd5 11. Nc3 Nxf4 12. gxf4 Bd6 13. e3 Nd7 14. Kh1 Nf6 15. Rg1 Ne4 16. Nxe4 Bxe4 17. Ng5 Bxg2 18. Rxg2 Be7 19. Rag1 Bxg5 20. Rxg5 g6 21. Rc1 c6 22. a5 Qe7 23. Qc5 Qxc5 24. Rgxc5 Rfd8 25. Kg2 Rd5 26. b4 Rad8 27. h4 h5 28. Kf3 Kg7 29. Ke4 Kf6 30. Kd3 Ke7 31. Kc4 Ke8 32. Rg1 Ke7 33. Rb1 Ke8 34. Rxd5 Rxd5 35. e4 Rb5 36. Rg1 Kd7 37. Rg5 Kd6 38. f3 b6 39. axb6 Rxb6 40. Ra5 Kd7 41. f5 exf5 42. exf5 Rb5 43. fxg6 fxg6 44. Rxa6 Rf5 45. Ra7 Kd6 46. Rg7 Rf6 47. Rg8 Kc7 48. Kc5 Rf5 49. Kc4 Rf6 50. b5 cxb5 51. Kxb5 Rxf3 52. Rxg6 Rf4 53. Kc5 Rxh4 54. Rg7 Kd8 55. Rh7 Rg4 56. Rxh5 Rg6 57. Rh8 Kc7 58. Rh7 Kd8 59. Ra7 Rh6 60. Rb7 Rg6 61. Rh7 Rf6 62. d5 Rg6 63. Rh5 Rf6 64. d6 Rf1 65. Kc6 Rc1 66. Rc5 Rxc5 67. Kxc5 Kd7 68. Kd5 Kd8 69. Kc6 Kc8 70. d7 Kd8 71. Kd6

1/2-1/2

A picture of the playing hall:

World Open 2009

Congratulations to Hikaru Nakamura and Najer for being the lucky lottery winners of 2009. During my 1st (and consequently only) trip to the World Open, I was discussing with my friends whether the probability of being A) Hit by Lightning, B) Winning the World Open or C) Winning the Lottery was more a likely proposition. I think option A wins out but I would love to hear others opinions.

As I rode along in the passage seat on the great American highway... I heard all the stories of the world opens past. From near success stories, to cheating attempts, to dreamers of big money. Unfortunately, the World Open is never going to be a profit making prospect for your average chess player so why does the big money draw have the big crowd draw?

My own personal experience at the world open was awful. I had to withdraw after a TD witnessed my opponent cheat and refused to do anything about it. Still, Philadelphia's cheesesteaks and the all day bughouse extravaganza combined with watching a last round swindle over IM Angelo Young over IM Timothy Taylor... almost made the trip worth while! Until you consider it cost me $350 entry fee, $250 hotel fee and that doesn't even cover: Gas, tolls and food! It was a good experience though that I shall never repeat.

A special congratulations to IM Alex Lenderman who scored his 3rd and final GM norm!!