Mechanics' Institute Chess Room Newsletter #47"I shall observe for the thousand and first time: years of analysis and minutes of play are not quite the same thing."Mikhail Tal 1) Onischuk, Goldin and Lputian tie for first in Continental Open 2) Nakamura wins US Junior Closed 3) Upcoming Events 1) Onischuk, Goldin and Lputian tie for first in Continental OpenThe Continental Open, held in Las Vegas from July 26-29, attracted 576 players including 13 GMs. Top rated Alexander Onischuk (formerly representing the Ukraine and now living in Denver), as White, defeated MI Members GMs Walter Browne and Alex Yermolinsky and IM John Donaldson in rounds 2, 4 and 5 to tie for first at 5-1 with fellow GMs Alexander Goldin and Smbat Lputian.Six-time US Champion Walter Browne, who came very close to drawing with Onischuk, battled back, defeating GM Yury Shulman in the last round to join the prize winners. Shulman played a Kings Indian, but the game soon transposed into the Modern Benoni, a opening that Walter seems to beat almost evey time he faces it. Chess Room Director John Donaldson was leading the event after four rounds with a perfect score courtesy of victories over GM Alexander Wojtkiewicz and FM Emory Tate, but as mentioned earlier, was then ground down by Onischuk who is the now the highest rated player living in America at 2667 FIDE. Chethan Narayan and Vivek Nambiar of Milipitas both played well, each collecting several scalps enroute to 3 1/2 - 2 1/2 scores in the Open section.
Final Standings: Tiebreak by FIDE Rating 4-11 Sulskis, Sarunas g 2573 LTU; Gurevich, Dmitry g 2550 USA; Finegold, Benjamin m 2522 USA; Ivanov Igor V m 2461 USA; Browne, Walter S g 2447 USA; Akobian, Varuzhan m 2442 ARM; Donaldson, John W m 2435 USA; Anka, Emil m 2390 HUN - all 4 1/2 points 12-15 Yermolinsky, Alex g 2571 USA; Gufeld, Eduard g 2466 USA; Mulyar, Michael A m 2430 USA; Tate, Emory f 2377 USA - all 4 points 2) Nakamura wins US Junior ClosedHikaru Nakarmura tied Bobby Fischer's record by winning the US Junior at the age of 13 by scoring a record 7 1/2 points from nine rounds. Nakarmura, whose older brother was also playing in the event, rebounded from an early loss to Dmitry Schneider by winning his last six games in a row.Bay area players did very well. UC Berkeley student David Pruess led for much of the way and finished in a tie for second with a score of six and a half points, which is usually enough to win. Vinay Bhat loss his first two games but rallied to take fourth at plus two. Stanford student Phillip Wang's score of 3-6 was a little unlucky. Final standings: 1. H Nakamura 7 1/2 2-3. D. Pruess and D.Schneider 6 1/2 4. V. Bhat 5 1/2 5. A. Zaremba 4 1/2 6-8. T. Andrews, J. Srakar and P. Wang 3 9. S.Winer 2 1/2 10. A. Nakamura 2 3) Upcoming Events at the MIAugust 18Vladimir Pafnutieff Memorial (5 rounds G/45 at 1/2 K)
September 22
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November 9-11
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