The Tachikawa Chess Open 2020
by Seiji Nakagawa
CM Alex Averbukh of Japan won Tachikawa Chess Open 2020 with a 100% score 5.0/5. He finished a full point ahead of the field. Four players finished at 4.0/5. Koji Naguchi and Atsuhiko Kobayashi secured second and third place respectively according to their tie-break score.

The beautiful tournament trophies | Photo: Seiji Nakagawa
2019 February saw a change of the official Japanese representative to FIDE, from JCA (Japan Chess Association) to NCS (National Chess Society of Japan). Some of the objectives of the new NCS is to run more FIDE-rated tournaments in Japan, as well as to help local organizers hold casual open tournaments. One such tournament was the Tachikawa Chess Open 2020 where the organizing entity was not NCS, but Qinlan (Shinran) Xie and the Tachikawa Chess Club were backed up by executive members of NCS.

Tachikawa Chess Open 2020 at the Hamamatsucho location | Photo: Seiji Nakagawa
Tachikawa Chess Open was an Open tournament for players rated under 2200. This was strictly because the time control was 60 minutes + 30 seconds increment. FIDE does not rate games where one (or both) player is over 2200 if the time controls were less than 90 minutes + 30 seconds. There were five rounds, two played on the first day and three played on the second day. One interesting aspect was the change of playing venue. Day one was played in Hamamatsucho which is the heart of Japanese foreign trade, located close to the Takeshiba pier. Day two was played in Tachikawa, the organizer’s home base in West Tokyo.

View of the Takeshiba Pier, Hamamatsucho | Photo: Seiji Nakagawa
The tournament initially had over 50 players registered, thanks to Qinlan’s connections with chess players from China. Unfortunately, due to the outbreak of Covid-19 (a.k.a. Coronavirus) there were many last minute cancellations, yet despite the setback, the tournament gathered 36 participants. On top of the list are the trinity of 2100s, followed by a former Japanese Champion (2018), Koji Noguchi. The top seed Atsuhiko Kobayashi has recently been selected for the 2020 Olympiad team for Japan. Second seeded CM Alex Averbukh is a pioneer in English chess education in Japan, teaching at many institutions across the Tokyo area. Yours truly was a student of his, albeit 13 years ago.

The tournament hall, with some players taking face mask precautions | Photo: Seiji Nakagawa
After two rounds (the end of day 1), the favourites unsurprisingly won their games and round 3 saw interesting pairings on the top boards:
- Kobayashi, Atsuhiko (2133) - Noguchi Koji (1969)
- Mitsui, Ryoya (1842) - Averbukh, Alex (2126)

Kobayashi - Noguchi played via a DGT board | Photo: Seiji Nakagawa
Noguchi amazingly won his game against Kobayashi. Mitsui - Averbukh game went overtime, but in the end CM Averbukh pulled through. Round 4 pairings were done in advance:
- Noguchi, Koji (3) - Higashino, Tetsuo (3)
- Averbukh, Alex (3) - Saito, Hiromasa (2.5)
- Nakagawa, Seiji (2.5) - Mitsui, Ryoya (2)
Noguchi kept winning, but CM Averbukh kept the pace so obviously the finals were between the two of them in Round 5:
- Noguchi, Koji (4) - Averbukh, Alex (4)
- Kobayashi, Atsuhiko (3) - Nakagawa, Seiji (3
CM Averbukh won the game and the tournament overall. Noguchi, who got second place deserves credit for having played three 2100s on the same day and winning against two of them!
This DVD offers Black a complete repertoire against all weapons White may employ on move six. The recommended repertoire is not as risky as other Sicilians but still offers Black plenty of counter-play.

Award Ceremony with Qinlan making announcements in the centre | Photo: Seiji Nakagawa
The Award Ceremony welcomed special guests, FM Masahiro Baba and more importantly World Championship Candidate Wang Hao! Trophies and Prizes were given to the top players, as well as top juniors, top senior and top women. Of course, those trophies were handed to by GM Wang Hao!
Here are a couple of games of Seiji Nakagawa himself against Mitsui Ryoya and Atsuhiko Kobayashi from Round 4 and 5 respectively.
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Qa4 d6 7.e5 dxe5 8.Nxe5 Qd4 9.Qxd4 Nxd4 10.Bb5+ Bd7 11.Nxd7 Nxd7 12.Ba4 0-0-0 13.Be3 Nc5 14.Rd1 Bg7 15.0-0 Nxa4 16.Nxa4 Kb8 17.c3 Nc6 18.Nc5 Kc7 19.Ne4 h6 20.b4 Rxd1 21.Rxd1 Rd8 22.Rxd8 Nxd8 23.c4 b6 24.Bd2 a6 25.Kf1 Kc6 26.Ke2 b5 27.Kd3 Ne6 28.h4 f5 29.Ng3 h5 30.Ne2 Be5 31.g3 Nd8 32.Nd4+ Bxd4 33.Kxd4 Nf7 34.Bf4 bxc4 35.Kxc4 e5 36.Be3 Nd6+ 37.Kb3 Kb5 38.a4+ Kc6 39.Bc5 Ne4 40.Be3 Nd6 ½–½
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Seiji Nakagawa | 1673 | Ryoya Mitsui | 1842 | ½–½ | 2020 | B27 | Tachikawa Chess Open 2020 | 4.3 |
Atsuhiko Kobayashi | 2133 | Seiji Nakagawa | 1673 | 1–0 | 2020 | E90 | Tachikawa Chess Open 2020 | 5.2 |
Please, wait...
Bologan: "If you study this DVD carefully and solve the interactive exercises you will also enrich your chess vocabulary, your King's Indian vocabulary, build up confidence in the King's Indian and your chess and win more games."

The tournament winners with their Trophies, FM Baba and GM Wang Hao to the left | Photo: Seiji Nakagawa
Overall we hope this tournament will be the first of many Open FIDE rated tournaments in Japan hosted by local organizers.
Final standings (top 10)
Rk. |
SNo |
|
Name |
Typ |
sex |
Gr |
FED |
RtgI |
RtgN |
Pts. |
TB1 |
TB2 |
rtg+/- |
1 |
2 |
CM |
Averbukh Alex |
|
|
|
JPN |
2126 |
2310 |
5,0 |
0,0 |
13,0 |
14,8 |
2 |
4 |
|
Noguchi Koji |
|
|
|
JPN |
1969 |
2147 |
4,0 |
0,0 |
15,5 |
27,4 |
3 |
1 |
|
Kobayashi Atsuhiko |
|
|
|
JPN |
2133 |
2323 |
4,0 |
0,0 |
13,5 |
-8,0 |
4 |
3 |
|
Higashino Tetsuo |
|
|
|
JPN |
2104 |
2210 |
4,0 |
0,0 |
13,0 |
-6,6 |
5 |
28 |
|
Tamura Hikaru |
|
|
|
JPN |
0 |
1826 |
4,0 |
0,0 |
11,5 |
|
6 |
10 |
|
Nagataki Kota |
U18 |
|
R1By |
JPN |
1761 |
1755 |
3,5 |
0,5 |
12,5 |
12,0 |
7 |
19 |
|
Yasuno Naoki |
|
|
|
JPN |
1614 |
1631 |
3,5 |
0,5 |
11,5 |
48,0 |
8 |
6 |
|
Mitsui Ryoya |
|
|
|
JPN |
1842 |
1955 |
3,0 |
0,0 |
14,0 |
-1,2 |
9 |
8 |
|
Saito Hiromasa |
|
|
|
JPN |
1803 |
1793 |
3,0 |
0,0 |
14,0 |
4,4 |
10 |
13 |
|
Yamagami Hiroki |
|
|
|
JPN |
1708 |
1733 |
3,0 |
0,0 |
13,0 |
20,4 |
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