Kamsky wins First Annual Washington International

by ChessBase
8/13/2012 – It was not a foregone conclusion: facing the likes of GMs Onischuk, Gareev, Shabalov, Azarov, Gelashvili and Friedel – who ended up in places 2-7 – Gata Kamsky showed his class by taking first place and not having to share the very nice US $5,000 prize with anyone. Michael Regan sent us an extensive illustrated report with many replayable games and nicely captioned pictures of the players.

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1st Annual Washington International

Report by Michael Regan

The 1st Annual Washington International was held from July 28 to August 1 just outside of Washington, DC. The strong field was led by Gata Kamsky, Alexander Onischuk, and Timur Gareev. A total of 55 players participated in the nine-round tournament, with a time control of 40/90, SD/30 with a 30" increment. The first two rounds had a large number of upsets. The highest rated to lose was GM Sergi Azarov from Belarus. He lost to local untitled player Jared Defibaugh.


Jared Defibaugh (2263) attends college in Maryland. He is a former Maryland high
school state champion. He tied for second in this year's Maryland Open.

[Event "Washington International"] [Site "Rockville, MD"] [Date "2012.07.28"] [Round "1"] [White "Azarov, Sergei"] [Black "Defibaugh, Jared"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C63"] [WhiteElo "2658"] [BlackElo "2263"] [PlyCount "50"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. d3 fxe4 5. dxe4 Nf6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. O-O Nxe3 8. fxe3 Bc5 9. Kh1 Qe7 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Nd5 Qd8 12. Nxc7 Qxc7 13. Qd5+ Kh8 14. Qxc5 d6 15. Ng5 Bg4 16. Qd5 h6 17. Ne6 Rxf1+ 18. Rxf1 Qe7 19. Bc4 Re8 20. Nxg7 Qxg7 21. Rf7 Qg6 22. Rxb7 Ne7 23. Qb5 a6 24. Qb6 Bh3 25. Bf1 Bxg2+ 0-1

WGM Sabina (2356) and IM Ovidiu Foisor (2356) are just two of the four Foisors playing in the tournament. Sabina recently played in the Woman's Championship and is currently enrolled at chess powerhouse University of Maryland Baltimore County. She will be a member of the US Women's team at the Olympiad.


WIM Mihaela Foisor (2220), the youngest of the Foisor family playing the
tournament, defeated GM Kidambi Sundararajan in the first round.

Another upset was the defeat of GM Kidambi Sundararajan (IND) by WIM Mihaela Foisor (ROU) in Round 1. In addition to Mihaela, three other members of the Foisor family played in the tournament, IMs Ovidu-Doru and Cristina-Adela and WGM Sabina. After two rounds, the Foisor clan was at plus six having won six out of eight games with only two draws! In Round 2, FM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy (2351) was able to draw GM Gata Kamsky (2744). Alex was under time pressure from move 30 with around one minute on his clock until they reached the time control. He was able to trade into an even endgame and then sack his knight for the second to last pawn, leaving Kamsky with a rook pawn and the wrong bishop.

[Event "Washington International"] [Site "Rockville, MD"] [Date "2012.07.28"] [Round "2"] [White "Ostrovskiy, Aleksandr"] [Black "Kamsky, Gata"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B42"] [WhiteElo "2351"] [BlackElo "2744"] [PlyCount "99"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 g6 6. O-O Bg7 7. Nb3 Ne7 8. c4 O-O 9. Nc3 Nbc6 10. Bf4 d5 11. exd5 exd5 12. Be2 dxc4 13. Bxc4 b5 14. Be2 Qb6 15. Bf3 Be6 16. Qd6 Rad8 17. Qc5 Qxc5 18. Nxc5 Nd4 19. Bg5 Rfe8 20. Nxa6 Nxf3+ 21. gxf3 Bxc3 22. bxc3 Rc8 23. Rfd1 Nf5 24. Nb4 h6 25. Bf6 g5 26. Nc2 Nh4 27. Nd4 Bh3 28. f4 Kh7 29. fxg5 Kg6 30. f4 Re4 31. Kf2 Bd7 32. Be5 hxg5 33. Re1 Rxe1 34. Rxe1 f6 35. Bd6 Rxc3 36. fxg5 Rd3 37. Bc5 fxg5 38. Re3 Rd1 39. Re1 Rxe1 40. Kxe1 Kh5 41. Kf2 Kg4 42. Be7 Ng6 43. Bd8 Nf4 44. Nf3 Nh3+ 45. Ke3 Be8 46. Nxg5 Nxg5 47. Bxg5 Kxg5 48. Kd4 Kg4 49. Kc3 Kh3 50. a4 1/2-1/2


Sixteen-year-old FM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy (2351) is from New York. He recently
tied for first in the US Cadet Championship. He just missed an IM norm.

In Round 3, most of the GMs won except for the big upset when World U-8 Champion Awonder Liang defeated local GM Larry Kaufman. The clock was a big factor at the end of this game.

[Event "Washington International"] [Site "Rockville, Md"] [Date "2012.07.29"] [Round "3"] [White "Liang, Awonder"] [Black "Kaufman, Lawrence"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C45"] [WhiteElo "1922"] [BlackElo "2382"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8. c4 Nb6 9. Nd2 a5 10. Qe4 g6 11. Bd3 Bg7 12. Nf3 Qb4+ 13. Nd2 O-O 14. O-O Re8 15. Nf3 d5 16. Qh4 Nxc4 17. Bxc4 Qxc4 18. Bf4 Bd7 19. Rac1 Qb4 20. a3 Qf8 21. Rfe1 c5 22. Bg5 Rab8 23. Bf6 c4 24. Qd4 Be6 25. Qa7 c5 26. Rc2 Ra8 27. Qc7 Rec8 28. Qb6 Bxf6 29. exf6 Qd8 30. Rxe6 fxe6 31. Qxe6+ Kf8 (31... Kh8 32. Ng5) 32. Ng5 Ra7 33. Re2 Qd7 34. Nxh7+ Qxh7 35. Qxc8+ Kf7 36. Re7+ Rxe7 37. fxe7 1-0


Christopher Gu (2225) was one of the four players who tied for first at the US Cadet.
Christopher beat GM Joel Benjamin in Round 3.

Entering Round 4, only two players had perfect scores: GM Timus Gareev (UZB now USA) and IM Justin Sarkar (USA). They played an 88-move game that Justin was able to draw after he recreated a position that had also occurred on moves 82 and 86 (click on the black moves below and see how the position does not change). In the final position, Timur had a queen, bishop, and three pawns against a queen and four pawns.

[Event "Washington International"] [Site "Rockville, MD"] [Date "2012.07.30"] [Round "4.1"] [White "Gareev (2658), GM Timur"] [Black "Sarkar (2396), IM Justin"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D85"] [PlyCount "175"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] [WhiteClock "0:09:53"] [BlackClock "0:00:57"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Be3 c5 8. Qd2 cxd4 9. cxd4 Nc6 10. Bb5 O-O 11. Ne2 Bd7 12. Rc1 a6 13. Bd3 b5 14. O-O Rc8 15. Rc3 Bg4 16. e5 Bxe2 17. Bxe2 Qd7 18. Rfc1 e6 19. a4 Ne7 20. Rxc8 Rxc8 21. Rxc8+ Qxc8 22. axb5 axb5 23. Bxb5 Qb7 24. Bd3 h5 25. Bg5 Nd5 26. Be4 Qb3 27. h3 Bf8 28. Bxd5 Qxd5 29. Qf4 Qd7 30. Bf6 Kh7 31. Kh2 Bh6 32. Qe4 Qd5 33. Qh4 Bd2 34. Be7 Kg8 35. Bc5 Ba5 36. Qe7 Qd8 37. Qa7 Bc3 38. Qa4 Kg7 39. g3 Be1 40. Kg1 Qd5 41. Qa3 Qe4 42. Bf8+ Kg8 43. Bh6 Kh7 44. Qf8 Bxf2+ 45. Kxf2 Qc2+ 46. Ke1 Qe4+ 47. Kd1 Qf3+ 48. Kd2 Qg2+ 49. Kc3 Qf3+ 50. Kb2 Qe2+ 51. Kc3 Qf3+ 52. Kb4 Qb7+ 53. Kc4 Qd5+ 54. Kd3 Qb3+ 55. Ke2 Qc4+ 56. Ke1 Qc3+ 57. Bd2 Qxg3+ 58. Kd1 Qf3+ 59. Kc1 Qh1+ 60. Kb2 Qb7+ 61. Qb4 Qg2 62. Qc3 Qb7+ 63. Kc2 Qe4+ 64. Qd3 Qc6+ 65. Kd1 Qh1+ 66. Be1 Qg2 67. h4 Kg7 68. Qe3 Qb2 69. Bd2 Qa1+ 70. Bc1 Qa2 71. Qh6+ Kg8 72. Qf4 Qb3+ 73. Ke1 Qc3+ 74. Bd2 Qa1+ 75. Kf2 Qa2 76. Kg3 Qc4 77. Be3 Qd3 78. Qf3 Qa3 79. Kf4 Qe7 80. Qh1 Kg7 81. Kg3 Qc7 82. Qf3 Kh7 83. Kh3 Qd7 84. Qf6 Qb7 85. Kg3 Qa7 86. Qf3 Qc7 87. Qe4 Qd7 88. Qf3 1/2-1/2

Timur Gareev (above, 2658), from Brownsville, Texas, just switched his FIDE affliation to the USA on August 1st. This year he was one of the recipients of the Samford Chess Fellowship allowing him to devote his full energies to chess.

In Round 5, Gata Kamsky defeated Timur Gareev in a queen and pawn endgame. Gata was only up a pawn but was able to turn it into a win.

[Event "Washington International"] [Site "Rockville, MD"] [Date "2012.07.30"] [Round "5.1"] [White "Kamsky, Gata"] [Black "Gareev, Timur"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B53"] [WhiteElo "2744"] [BlackElo "2658"] [PlyCount "119"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. c4 Nf6 8. Nc3 g6 9. O-O Bg7 10. Qd3 O-O 11. Nd4 Ng4 12. b3 Qb6 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. Bb2 Qa5 15. h3 Ne5 16. Qe2 Rab8 17. f4 Nd7 18. Rf3 Nc5 19. Kh1 Qb4 20. e5 a5 21. Ne4 Nxe4 22. Qxe4 d5 23. Qe2 e6 24. Rc1 Rfd8 25. Rc2 Qb6 26. Ba3 c5 27. cxd5 Rxd5 28. Rfc3 Bf8 29. Qf2 Rc8 30. Kh2 Qd8 31. Rc4 Rd3 32. Bxc5 Rxc5 33. Rxc5 Bxc5 34. Qxc5 Kg7 35. Qf2 Rd4 36. Re2 h6 37. Qf3 Rd1 38. Qf2 Qd3 39. Qe3 Qb1 40. Qf2 Rh1+ 41. Kg3 Rf1 42. Qe3 Rd1 43. Qe4 Qa1 44. Qe3 Rc1 45. Qd2 Rd1 46. Qb2 Rd3+ 47. Kf2 Qh1 48. Rd2 Rxd2+ 49. Qxd2 Qh2 50. a3 h5 51. Qe3 h4 52. b4 axb4 53. axb4 Kh6 54. b5 Qh1 55. Qe1 Qh2 56. Kf3 g5 57. fxg5+ Kxg5 58. Qe3+ Kg6 59. Qf4 Qg1 60. Qf6+ 1-0

In the other top game of Round 5, Alex Onishuck won a very nice game against Justin Sarkar.

[Event "Washington International"] [Site "Rockville, MD"] [Date "2012.07.30"] [Round "5.2"] [White "Sarkar, IM Justin"] [Black "Onischuk, GM Alexander"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E32"] [WhiteElo "2396"] [BlackElo "2666"] [PlyCount "56"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 b5 7. cxb5 c6 8. f3 cxb5 9. e4 Ba6 10. Be3 Nc6 11. Ne2 Rc8 12. Qd3 Qa5+ 13. Nc3 d5 14. e5 Nd7 15. Ra2 Ndxe5 16. dxe5 d4 17. b4 Qc7 18. f4 dxe3 19. Ne4 Ne7 20. Nc5 Nd5 21. Rc2 Rfd8 22. Qe4 Bb7 23. Bd3 g6 24. Nxe6 Nc3 25. Nxc7 Nxe4 26. Bxb5 Rd2 27. Rc4 Nf2 28. O-O Ng4 0-1

At the end of Round 5, two players were tied for 1st at 4.5: Kamsky and Onischuk. Alex Shabalov was alone at 4.0. At just past the half way point, several players were having outstanding tournaments and were within reach of IM norms. Two players had met their non-US player requirement and were at 3-2: FM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy (2351) had a 2510 performance and Francsico Guadalupe II (2214) had a 2460 performance. Three players needed to play one more non-US player and were playing quite well. Four players were at 3-2: Christopher Gu (2225) with a 2585 performance, Jared Defibaugh (2263) with a 2480 performace, Mihaela Foisor (ROU) with a 2459 performace and FM Michael Bodek (2324) with a 2394 performace.

FM Michael Bodek (above left, 2324) is playing GM Mikheil Kekelidze. Michael won a playoff at the US Cadet Championship (Under 16) the week before the tournament to earn a four-year scholarship to the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Nine-year old Awonder Liang (above, rated 1922) was even at 2.5 and had a 2272 performace with a win and a draw against GMs. His FIDE rating is clearly far from his current playing strength. Awonder is the World Youth under 8 champion. He is from Madison, Wisconsin and is the highest rated player for his age in the US. In this tournament he obtained his first win against a grandmaster.


Josh Colas (2136) has won the K-8 Scholastic Championship and the K-12 Blitz
Championship. He also participated in the Cadet Championship.

On the top boards, Kamsky and Onischuk drew in Round 6 while Gareev defeated Shabalov, leading to a tightening of the race with GMs Azarov, Gareev, and Gelashvili only a half a point behind the leaders. Of the six players on pace for norms, five lost with the only win coming when Ostrovskiy defeated Mihaela Foisor.

[Event "Washington International"] [Site "Rockville, MD"] [Date "2012.07.30"] [Round "6.2"] [White "Gareev, Timur"] [Black "Shabalov, Alex"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D45"] [WhiteElo "2658"] [BlackElo "2534"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. g4 h6 8. Rg1 b5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Bd3 Qe7 11. Bd2 Nb6 12. h3 Bd7 13. Ne2 Ne4 14. Bxe4 Qxe4 15. Qxe4+ dxe4 16. Ne5 Bxe5 17. dxe5 Nc4 18. Bc3 b4 19. e6 Bxe6 20. Bxg7 Rg8 21. Bf6 Rg6 22. Bd4 c5 23. Bxc5 Ne5 24. Nf4 Bc4 25. Nxg6 fxg6 26. O-O-O Bxa2 27. Bxb4 Nd3+ 28. Rxd3 exd3 29. Kd2 a5 30. Bc3 Bc4 31. Rc1 Bb5 32. Bg7 h5 33. Rc5 Rb8 34. gxh5 gxh5 35. Rxh5 Kd7 36. h4 a4 37. Rg5 Bc4 38. Rg4 Rc8 39. Bc3 1-0


In Round 7, Kamsky (above left, 2744) drew with Azarov, and Onischuk drew with Gelashvili. With Gareev defeating FM Thomas Bartell and GM Shabalov defeating Ostrovskiy, there were now three players at 5.5 (Kamsky, Onischuk, and Gareev) and three at 5.0 (Azarov, Gelashvili, and Shabalov).

In Round 8, the top three boards were all draws (Gareev-Onischuk, Shabalov-Kamsky, and Azarov-Shabalov). But wins by GMs Joel Benjamin, Josh Friedel, Mikheil Kekelidze, and IM Adam Hunt led to seven players being 1/2 point behind the leaders. So going into the last round, 10 players were in position to at least tie for first.

Given that the top three players had already played each other, they were paired with players in the 5.5 score group. While Onischuk drew Azarov and Gareev drew Gelashvili, Kamsky was able to defeat Benjamin in a wild game to finish first at 7-2 and collect the first prize of $5000. Tied at Second - Fourth were Shabalov, Gareev, and Onischuk, and each took home $2000.

[Event "Washington International"] [Site "Rockville, MD"] [Date "2012.08.01"] [Round "9.1"] [White "Kamsky, GM Gata"] [Black "Benjamin, GM Joel"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B04"] [WhiteElo "2744"] [BlackElo "2559"] [PlyCount "171"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 c6 6. Be2 Bf5 7. O-O Nd7 8. Ng4 e6 9. c4 N5f6 10. Ne3 Bg6 11. f4 Qc7 12. Nc3 Bd6 13. g3 Rd8 14. Qe1 O-O 15. c5 Be7 16. f5 exf5 17. Nxf5 Bxf5 18. Rxf5 Rfe8 19. Qf2 Nf8 20. Bf4 Qd7 21. Be5 Ng6 22. Rf1 b6 23. cxb6 axb6 24. Qf3 Qe6 25. Kh1 Nxe5 26. dxe5 Nd7 27. Qe4 b5 28. Bg4 Qc4 29. Qxc4 bxc4 30. Be2 g6 31. Rxf7 Nxe5 32. R7f4 Rd2 33. Re4 Bd6 34. Bxc4+ Kg7 35. Re2 Rxe2 36. Bxe2 Nf7 37. Bf3 Ne5 38. Be2 Nf7 39. Rd1 Bb4 40. Bc4 Ne5 41. Bb3 Re7 42. Kg2 Rb7 43. Ne4 Be7 44. h3 Rb4 45. Nc3 Rb8 46. Rd2 Bb4 47. Re2 Bd6 48. Ne4 Be7 49. Be6 Nd3 50. b3 Bb4 51. Bc4 Ne5 52. Ng5 Bd6 53. Rc2 Re8 54. Be2 Ba3 55. Ne4 Nf7 56. Bf3 Ne5 57. Nd2 Bb4 58. Ne4 Ba3 59. Be2 Nf7 60. Nf2 Ne5 61. Bf3 Re6 62. Re2 Kf7 63. Ne4 Re7 64. Rd2 Kg7 65. Rd8 Ra7 66. Re8 Be7 67. a4 Kf7 68. Rb8 Nd7 69. Rc8 Ne5 70. Bd1 Ke6 71. Bc2 Kd5 72. Kf2 c5 73. Nc3+ Ke6 74. Ke2 Rd7 75. Ne4 Kd5 76. Ke3 Rb7 77. h4 Rd7 78. b4 Nc4+ 79. Kf4 Na3 80. Nxc5 Bd6+ 81. Kg4 Re7 82. Bb3+ Ke5 83. a5 Nb5 84. a6 Nd4 85. Nb7 h5+ 86. Kh3 1-0

Local player Kevin Wang (above, 2186) finished strong winning three out of his last four games and won the top under 2300 prize. Kevin gained the most FIDE ratings points in the tournament. In the end, two players, Aleksandr Ostrovskiy and Kevin Wang, missed earning IM norms by only a few performance rating points as the GMs and IMs were able to come back in the second half of the tournament. Of the top 18 finishing players, there were only two FMs and one non-titled player (Wang). All the others were GMs or IMs.

#
Name
Rtng
Club
Tot
Prize
1
GM Gata Kamsky
2744
USA
7.0
5000.00
2
GM Alexander Onischuk
2666
USA
6.5
2000.00
3
GM Timur Gareev
2658
UZB
6.5
2000.00
4
GM Alexander Shabalov
2534
USA
6.5
2000.00
5
GM Sergei Azarov
2658
BLR
6.0
740.00
6
GM Tamaz Gelashvili
2604
GEO
6.0
740.00
7
GM Joshua E Friedel
2503
USA
6.0
740.00
8
IM Adam Hunt
2447
ENG
6.0
740.00
9
IM Dean Ippolito
2429
USA
6.0
740.00
10
GM Joel Benjamin
2559
USA
5.5
162.50
11
GM Mikheil Kekelidze
2494
GEO
5.5
162.50
12
GM Kidambi Sundararajan
2459
IND
5.5
162.50
13
FM Thomas Bartell
2410
USA
5.5
162.50
14
IM Justin Sarkar
2396
USA
5.5
162.50
15
IM Michael A Mulyar
2386
USA
5.5
162.50
16
IM Ovidiu-Doru Foisor
2381
ROU
5.5
162.50
17
FM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy
2351
USA
5.5
162.50
18
Kevin Wang
2186
USA
5.5
700.00
19
IM Cristina-Adela Foisor
2401
ROU
5.0
20
WGM Sabina-Francesca Foisor
2356
USA
5.0
21
Benjamin W Krause
2205
USA
5.0
300.00

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