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With the GM Challenge inaugurating the chess playing festivities, it was time for everyone to focus over the board. The International Open section was not weak by any means, and it had some interesting personalities. The tournament was split into the 3-day and the 4-day section, but none of the top players ventured into playing three games on Friday, two on Saturday and one on Sunday, rather opting to play 1-2-2-1 starting on Thursday.
The top seed was... Timur Gareev! He bravely decided that he would play both the International Open and the GM Challenge. A decision that proved to be somewhat too ambitious as he was forced to take a bye on the second round and he was positionally destroyed by Ahasaryan on the third round.
I personally started well, with 4.0/4 after beating Samy Shoker, but fell to the eventual winner of the tournament Hovhannes Gabuzyan. Both he and Aghasaryan traveled all the way from Armenia to participate in the event, and they are going to Moscow for the Aeroflot Open!
Final Standings
| # | Name/Rtng/ID | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Rd 6 |
| 1 | GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan | W 13 | B 8 | W 24 | B 10 | W 2 | B 3 |
| 2603 (2553) (13303732) | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.5 | |
| 2 | GM Alejandro Ramirez | B 14 | W 18 | B 3 | W 4 | B 1 | W 8 |
| 2579 12688291 (2590) (6500617) | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.5 | |
| 3 | GM Samy Shoker | W 17 | B 6 | W 2 | B 5 | B 12 | W 1 |
| 2535 15496384 (2466) (627143) | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.5 | |
| 4 | GM Robert Aghasaryan | B 20 | W 26 | W 11 | B 2 | W 9 | B 5 |
| 2381 13997295 (2511) (13302841) | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.5 | |
| 5 | GM Niclas Huschenbeth | W 25 | bye | B 19 | W 3 | B 14 | W 4 |
| 2609 14965043 (2536) (24604747) | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 | |
| 6 | IM Ryosuke Nanjo | B 22 | W 3 | B 20 | W 15 | B 27 | W 14 |
| 2437 15614071 (2349) (7000634) | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | |
| 7 | IM Shinya Kojima | W 16 | bye | B 12 | W 14 | B 26 | W 15 |
| 2320 12910637 (2403) (7000812) | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | |
| 8 | IM Nikolai Andrianov | B 29 | W 1 | B 15 | W 20 | W 10 | B 2 |
| 2475 12542088 (2421) (4101642) | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 3.5 | |
| 9 | Yogesh Gautam | W 30 | B 24 | B 26 | W 19 | B 4 | W 18 |
| 2266 15460336 (2180) (5009324) | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.5 | |
| 10 | IM Anthony F Saidy | W 28 | bye | B 18 | W 1 | B 8 | bye |
| 2263 10439949 (2330) (2000903) | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 3.5 | |
| 11 | GM Timur Gareev | W 21 | bye | B 4 | —- | W 29 | bye |
| 2604 13262157 (2668) (13262157) | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | U1.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | |
| 12 | WIM Sabrina L Chevannes | B 31 | bye | W 7 | B 24 | W 3 | —- |
| 2239 14813470 (2172) (411280) | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | U3.0 | |
| 13 | NM Oliver Chernin | B 1 | W 22 | B 27 | W 23 | B 15 | W 17 |
| 2236 10502772 (2133) (2002531) | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | |
| 14 | Patrick N Perry | W 2 | B 16 | W 31 | B 7 | W 5 | B 6 |
| 2189 11207707 (2149) | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | |
| 15 | CM John Doknjas | W 24 | B 28 | W 8 | B 6 | W 13 | B 7 |
| 2145 14702671 (2115) (2608367) | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | |
| 16 | Joshua Doknjas | B 7 | W 14 | B 28 | B 25 | W 31 | W 27 |
| 2035 14702692 (1960) (2614316) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | |
| 17 | Coel Tadas Oshiro | B 3 | bye | W 29 | bye | B 22 | B 13 |
| 2029 14779576 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | |
| 18 | FM Josip Asik | - 33 | B 2 | W 10 | W 22 | B 23 | B 9 |
| unr. 15699635 (2307) (916030) | X1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | |
| 19 | NM Cornelius Rubsamen | B 23 | W 27 | W 5 | B 9 | bye | W 20 |
| 2219 12625417 (2226) (2013851) | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | |
| 20 | Paul Y Iinuma | W 4 | B 30 | W 6 | B 8 | W 21 | B 19 |
| 2168 12747819 (2084) (2031809) | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | |
| 21 | Ryu Matsuda | B 11 | W 29 | B 23 | W 30 | B 20 | —- |
| 2151 11500404 (2159) (7000502) | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.5 | U2.5 | |
| 22 | Anthony A Blessing | W 6 | B 13 | W 25 | B 18 | W 17 | B 26 |
| 2035 12910323 (1904) (2091054) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | |
| 23 | Evan Zheng | W 19 | B 25 | W 21 | B 13 | W 18 | B 30 |
| 1703 13499821 (1653) (2097125) | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | |
| 24 | GM Alexander Shabalov | B 15 | W 9 | B 1 | W 12 | —- | —- |
| 2593 12544264 (2544) (2008572) | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | U2.0 | U2.0 | |
| 25 | Lawrence Wolfley | B 5 | W 23 | B 22 | W 16 | B 30 | W 31 |
| 2142 12605341 (2092) (2024691) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | |
| 26 | William Wenz | bye | B 4 | W 9 | B 31 | W 7 | W 22 |
| 2000 10832756 (1950) | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | |
| 27 | Kevin Lynn Erick | bye | B 19 | W 13 | B 29 | W 6 | B 16 |
| 1913 13434233 (1863) | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | |
| 28 | Charles M Sonido | B 10 | W 15 | W 16 | —- | bye | bye |
| 1849 12862847 (1799) (2029723) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | U1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 | |
| 29 | Eric Sakurai | W 8 | B 21 | B 17 | W 27 | B 11 | —- |
| 2031 12537602 (1981) | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | U1.5 | |
| 30 | Alden Ortolano | B 9 | W 20 | bye | B 21 | W 25 | W 23 |
| 1700 14744172 (1650) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | |
| 31 | Frank Alejandro | W 12 | bye | B 14 | W 26 | B 16 | B 25 |
| 1601 10328616 (1551) | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Saturday was probably the craziest chess day I have ever experienced. I played a total of 14 chess games, two of them Classical Time control (in the afternoon) preceded by a marathon 12-round blitz tournament.
The blitz tournament was a 5+0' double round Swiss (meaning that every round the players would face their opponent twice, once with black and once with white).
The pairings were done with the somewhat unreliable USCF Blitz rating, which created some weird pairings. For example, I was the top seed at 2822, which is not exactly my strength by any means, while Shankland was paired using a bizarre 2400 some rating. He beat me 0-5-1.5 in the third round in what is probably going to be the last upset he pulls off that is almost a 400 rating point difference.
Sam continued with good pace, eventually reaching 10.5/12. I was somewhat lucky to steamroll through my opponents, including Gabuzyan and Huschenbeth, and finished also with 10.5/12. We tied for first and claimed the small prize.
GM Challenge - Day Two
The main event was also the conclusion of the event. The four players sat down for their last six games late Sunday evening.
To recap, these were the standings before the start of day two:
Shankland came in with a one point lead over Hou Yifan and Gareev, but that dissipated quickly.
Kojima fell to Hou Yifan. The Japanese player was a little to eager to sacrifice a pawn for positional compensation, but he never seemed to have enough.
Meanwhile Shankland's knight saw itself in trouble:
Round Eight
Kojima and Gareev played a solid draw where neither side had real chances. Meanwhile Hou Yifan and Shankland went all out:
Round Nine
The last rapid game of the festival saw the black players convincingly outplay their opponents. Hou Yifan played a nice positional game, won a pawn and converted it in the endgame against Gareev. Meanwhile Kojima played a very clean Slav to beat Sam Shankland - the American's third loss in a row!
Round Ten
Shankland blundered a pawn in the opening against Gareev, but that was ok because it is blitz after all. He recovered, tricked his opponent, and won his first game of the day.
Hou Yifan meanwhile tricked Kojima:
Round Eleven
Shankland was unable to keep his recovery and fell to Hou Yifan
Meanwhile Gareev essayed 1.g4?! against Kojima and... won in 25 moves! Blitz is blitz, after all.
Round Twelve
The final round had a couple of interesting games. Shankland outplayed Kojima, reached a technically winning endgame and... lost. Just sealing a horrible day for the American player.
Meanwhile Hou Yifan and Gareev played a strange game. A perpetual when Hou Yifan was up a pawn finished the tournament.
Final Standings
An amazing performance by the Women's World Champion in the last day, scoring a brilliant 5.5/6. Kojima also had a good day, with 2.5/6, much better than Shankland's 1.0/6. Gareev just had to score 50% to secure his second place prize of $2500 (Hou Yifan received $5000, Shankland $1500 and Kojima $1000).
Closing Ceremony
Shinya Kojima traveled with his girlfriend, Natsumi Fukuya, probably the most formal person I have ever met - true to her Japanese culture. She played in the open reserve section.
Mrs. Mueller handed out the prizes, and we all know she made the tournament happen
Niclas Huschenbeth and Sabrina Chevannes were doing the commentary.
They had the chance to interview the winner.
Shankland was, for some reason, feeling a little down
Timur Gareev receiving his lei
and showing it off
Hou Yifan's first place trophy was made from a local mango tree
The photo speaks for itself, mostly
A proud mother always has her iPhone ready
Beau Mueller hosted a fantastic event, and I am already booking my tickets to go back to Hawaii... The beauty of the place, and even more than that, the kindness and attentiveness of the people that we met, is incomparable. Mahalo, Beau, and Mahalo to all the people in Hawaii that made this happen.
Finally a VIP dinner to close the event. Here with Niclas Huschenbeth,
David Pruess who was casually visiting his Hawaiian in-laws, and Sam Shankland.
Finally a picture with the winner!
The organizers have promised a second edition of the festival coming to Honolulu next year. Keep your eyes peeled for the opportunity to witness, play and participate in a fantastic chess festival, that just happens to be in the most paradisiac place you can imagine.
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