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By Kostya Kavutskiy for the Saint Louis Chess Club
Last month I participated in the first-ever Saint Louis Super Swiss, an incredibly strong open tournament hosted at Saint Louis University from March 12-16 featuring both local and national talent. The turnout was stacked with titled players, with 16 grandmasters in a densely packed field of just 40 competitors. This was largely thanks to local students participating from Saint Louis University, Webster University, and The University of Missouri.
IM Kostya Kavutskiy | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Crystal Fuller
A Complete Black Repertoire against 1.d4, 1.Nf3 & 1.c4
These video courses feature a black repertoire against 1.d4, 1.Nf3 and 1.c4. The recommended variations are easy to learn and not difficult to remember, but also pose White serious challenges.
Scoring 6½/9 and winning clear first place was GM Brandon Jacobson, who won his final two games against GMs Bruzon and Quesada to finish a half-point ahead of several players. Tying for second place were GMs Christopher Yoo, Nikolas Theodorou, Harshit Raja, and Mikhail Antipov, each with 6/9.
My own result was quite decent, as I finished with 5/9 and a FIDE performance rating of 2470. Obviously short of the 2600 performance needed for a GM norm, but these days any rating gain is very much appreciated!
I started off with a win against NM Ralph Tan and then a draw with White against GM Nikolas Theodorou. Then in Round 3, I unfortunately lost to the eventual tournament winner, GM Brandon Jacobson. Moving on through the event, I won games against WGMs Annamaria Marjanovic and Thalia Cervantes while losing to GM Harshit Raja.
Finally I broke the Swiss rollercoaster with a win over GM Balaji Daggupati in round 7, but then continued the tournament with a loss to GM Yasser Quesada Perez in round 8, before finishing the event with a difficult and lengthy draw against my former coach, local GM Varuzhan Akobian.
My experience overall was quite enjoyable. The Saint Louis Super Swiss was a great event highlighting the serious depth of Missouri’s chess scene. Hopefully, it is the start of many more super Swisses to come. Everyone loves a strong tournament, but there’s nothing better than a strong tournament in your own backyard!
Find all available games from the tournament at the end of the article
Middlegame Secrets Vol.1 + Vol.2
Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!
GM Christopher Yoo | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes
GM Nikolas Theodorou | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Crystal Fuller
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