
Chess News
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
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
GM Christopher Yoo | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes
GM Nikolas Theodorou | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Crystal Fuller
Advertising |