Quesada and Andriasian succeed in Saint Louis Winter Chess Classic

by Eugene Perelshteyn
12/21/2018 – Each season the Saint Louis Chess Club organises two ten-player strong round robins that include players from all around the globe mixed with young American talents. This year's winter edition was won by Cuban Yuniesky Quesada and Armenian Zaven Andriasian. The mix of ambitious players and excellent playing conditions generated many interesting battles over the board. GM EUGENE PERELSHTEYN participated in the B group and sent us a report with highlights and analyses. | Photos: Austin Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

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Instant classics

Saint Louis is now synonymous with great chess in the United States. This past November, top GMs and IMs arrived in the famous Saint Louis Chess Club to match wits in the two round robin tournaments known as the Winter Classic.  The Classics are the brainchild of Tony Rich, the Executive Director of CCSCSL. The 2018 winter edition featured two groups — the A Group, with an average rating of 2648, and the B group, with an average rating of 2538. The combined prize fund of over $30,000 and a relaxed pace of one-game-a-day make these tournaments a definite outlier in the American landscape of open tournaments.

Tony Rich, on the right, is the chief arbiter in most of these tournaments | Photo: Austin Fuller

Group A

The surprise winner of the A group was ninth seed GM Yuniesky Quesada Perez from Cuba, who scored an impressive 7 out of 9 with a 2870 rating performance!  The talented Cuban is also a freshman at Webster University, clearly a strong addition to the powerhouse team.

Yuniesky Quesada dominated the A Group | Photo: Austin Fuller

Sharing second to fifth were GM Sasikirian of India, GM Melkumian of Armenia and two American youngsters, Jeffery Xiong and Sam Sevian, who all finished on 5/9 points. Despite their young age, Jeffery, who recently turned 18, and Sam, turning 18 in December, are already very experienced GMs and the bright future of American chess.  I believe they will follow in the footsteps of Sam Shankland and will cross the 2700 rating barrier in the near future!

Former Junior World Champion Jeffery Xiong | Photo: Austin Fuller

Sam Sevian, an imminent talent | Photo: Austin Fuller

Some important highlights from the A Group:

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,166,62354%2421---
1.d4947,29855%2434---
1.Nf3281,60256%2441---
1.c4182,10256%2442---
1.g319,70256%2427---
1.b314,26554%2427---
1.f45,89748%2377---
1.Nc33,80151%2384---
1.b41,75648%2380---
1.a31,20654%2404---
1.e31,06848%2408---
1.d395450%2378---
1.g466446%2360---
1.h444653%2374---
1.c343351%2426---
1.h328056%2418---
1.a411060%2466---
1.f39246%2436---
1.Nh38966%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.Nf3 Bc5 5.0-0 d6 6.e3 0-0 7.d4 Bb6 8.h3 exd4 9.exd4 h6 10.Nc3 a6 11.a3 Ne7 12.Re1 c6 Diagram
13.d5?! I don't like this move as White willingly allows the dark square bishop to enter the game. 13.b3 maintains the slow-improving strategy with idea Ra2!? 13...cxd5 14.cxd5 Ng6 15.Be3 Re8 16.Qd2 Bd7 17.Bd4 Bxd4 18.Qxd4 Qc7 Diagram
Black is happy with his position as his light square bishop is superior to his counter-part 19.Nd2 Rac8 20.Rxe8+ Rxe8 21.Qb4 a5 22.Qd4 Ne5 23.a4 Rc8 24.Bf1 h5! 25.Ra3 Bf5 26.f4? Diagram
this creates a chronic weakness on the K-side and allows Black to execute his main idea ...h4 26...Ng6 27.Nb5 Qd7 28.Nc4 Rc5 Diagram
29.Bg2? 29.Nbxd6! with accurate play White maintains equality Rxd5 30.Qa7! Bxh3 31.Nb6! Qxd6 32.Nxd5 Qxd5 33.Bxh3 Qd1+ 34.Bf1 Ng4 35.Qxb7 Qc2 36.Qg2 Qc5+ 37.Kh1 Nf2+ 38.Kh2 Ng4+= 29...Bxh3! the tactical comlications favor Black and Quesada executes the attack flawlessly 30.Nbxd6 b6! 31.Bxh3 Qxh3 32.Ne4 Nxe4 33.Qxe4 Diagram
33...h4! the rest is straight-forward 34.gxh4 Qg4+ 35.Kf2 Nxf4 36.Qe8+ Kh7 37.Rg3 Nh3+ 38.Kg2 Qxc4 39.Kxh3 Qxd5 40.Qe2 Qh1+ 41.Kg4 f5+ 42.Kh5 Qc6 43.Qd2 f4+ 44.Rg5 Qf3#
0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Robson,R2676Quesada Perez,Y26120–12018A20St Louis Winter A 20181.5
Shimanov,A2620Xiong,J26750–12018B23St Louis Winter A 20182.5
Xiong,J2675Sevian,S2641½–½2018C50St Louis Winter A 20184.5
Shimanov,A2620Quesada Perez,Y2612½–½2018D37St Louis Winter A 20186.3
Shimanov,A2620Swiercz,D2636½–½2018C53St Louis Winter A 20188.2

Final standings - Group A

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All games - Group A

 
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Group B

Group B was a nice mix of youth and experience.  Three-time US Champion and Hall of Famer Joel Benjamin, aged 54, was the veteran in the field, while the Dutch duo of IM Lucas van Foreest and IM Robby Kevlishvili are only 17 — a 37 years age difference! In what other sport is this impressive blend possible?

Joel Benjamin playing Black against Robby Kevlishvili | Photo: Austin Fuller

The tournament unsurprisingly was won by the top seed, 29-year-old Armenian Zaven Andriasian, who showed solid chess and strong nerves as he had to battle it out in Armageddon against 46-year-old Israeli GM Viktor Mikhalevski.  The dramatic rapid playoff saw Viktor win game one and lose the return match — the action can be replayed with excellent commentary by GM Jesse Kraai and Ben Simon:

GM Jesse Kraai and Ben Simon

Zaven Andriasian won the B Group on play-offs | Photo: Austin Fuller

As for myself, I had a good run and was tied for second with 4/7 in a very tight race to the finish.  However, playing a risky Pirc Defense versus Lucas vsn Foreest in round 8 perhaps was not a wise decision, as the youngster showed excellent positional understanding and duly outplayed me from a better position.  See full game in the highlight section.

Lucas van Foreest | Photo: Austin Fuller

Perhaps the most exciting GM in the field was blindfold king Timur Gareyev, who did not have a good tournament as he was late for his round one game.  The speculation was that he was too busy skydiving, as seen in his famous YouTube video.  However, we later found out that the simple explanation was that he had a game in Saint Petersburg the day before and missed his plane.

Who said chess players are boring?

Some important highlights from the B Group:

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 d6 5.c3 Nf6 6.d3 a6 7.a4 Ba7 8.Re1 0-0 9.h3 b5 10.Ba2 b4 11.d4 Rb8 12.Be3 bxc3 13.bxc3 exd4 14.cxd4 Nb4 15.Nc3 Nxa2 16.Rxa2 d5 Diagram
In this position, young Dutchman shows some nice calculation skills by spotting a mating idea on move 21! 17.Bg5! dxe4 18.Nxe4 Qd5 19.Nxf6+ gxf6 20.Bxf6! Qxa2 Diagram
21.Qc1! And Black is forced to give up material and go into an endgame a pawn down Qb1 22.Qxb1 Rxb1 23.Rxb1 Bb6 24.Re1 a5 25.Re3 h6 26.Ne5 Kh7 27.Nc6! Diagram
White continues powerful chess by totally paralyzing all of Black's pieces 27...Kg6 28.Rf3 Bf5 29.Be5 Bd7 30.Ne7+ Kh7 31.Bf6 Re8 32.Rg3 Diagram
Once again, a mating net is created around the enemy king 32...h5 33.Rg7+ Kh6 34.Ng8+ Rxg8 35.Rxg8 Bxa4 36.f4 A powerful performance from young Lucas! Expect big results from him in the near future.
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Van Foreest,L2499Hakobyan,A25651–02018C50St Louis Winter B 20181.1
Theodorou,N2539Perelshteyn,E24931–02018E60St Louis Winter B 20183.4
Mikhalevski,V2574Gareyev,T25841–02018E15St Louis Winter B 20183.5
Theodorou,N2539Andriasian,Z26030–12018B13St Louis Winter B 20187.2
Benjamin,J2526Van Foreest,L24991–02018A18St Louis Winter B 20189.5

Final standings - Group B

All games - Group B

 
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Eugene Perelshteyn is a GM from Boston, MA, who works as a chess coach, author, Twitch streamer and popular online video lecturer. He co-wrote the best-selling repertoire books "Chess Openings Explained" with GMs Alburt and Dzindzichashvili, now available on his website ChessOpeningsExplained.com.

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