9/3/2018 – GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan (pictured left) outpaced the competition in the Masters Section of the Washington International, held in Rockville, Maryland, adjacent to the US capital city from August 11-15, 2018. A full point behind him in the nine-round Swiss open tournament was a trio of international grandmasters including NICLAS HUSCHENBETH (pictured right) who annotated two games for our report. The top American player was US number ten and the sixth best Junior player in the world, GM Sam Sevian, who finished with 6 points. | Photos: Maryland Chess Association
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Gabuzyan leads the pack
The Masters section attracted a total of 71 players, including 22 GMS and 15 IMs. Gabuzyan moved into sole first place after winning his first four games. After that, no one could catch him, and he finished with a final score of 7½ out of 9, earning the first place prize of USD $4,500.
Russian GM Andrey Stukopin, who studies at the University of Texas at Brownsville, finished second with 6½ alongside GMs Niclas Huschenbeth (GER) and Evgeny Postny (ISR). Each took home $1,400 for the week.
Andrey Stukopin and Evgeny Postny rounded out the top four | Photo: Maryland Chess Association
Gabuzyan's most interesting game was his third round win over GM Gil Popilski. You don't often see a player sacrifice a queen twice in one game and win!
Despite there being five players in the running for Grandmaster norms going into the last round, only Nico Checa (pictured) earned a norm. In fact, he didn't need to score any points going into the last round, having already reached the required score threshold, but still drew his last game.
Checa also went over 2500 during the tournament, leaving him just one norm short of the GM title. Nico showed signs of being in good form from the start when he won the blitz event by a full point ahead of seven GMs. One of his best games was his win against the top-seeded player in the tournament, GM Sam Sevian, which came already in the first round in a Queens Gambit Declined exchange variation.
The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation is one of the most important opening systems, having been played by most of the great players in history and from both sides of the board. The most outstanding specialists in this method of play include Garry Kasparov, Mikhail Botvinnik and Samuel Reshevsky. The Black side proponents include Anatoly Karpov, Boris Spassky and Paul Keres. It is truly an opening of champions!
Sam Sevian, with 6 points, had to settle for fifth place | Photo: Maryland Chess Association
A total of 142 players competed in the Masters, Experts, and Contenders sections combined. The Experts section (under 2201 USCF national rating) ended with a five-way tie at 6½/9 between Akshay Indusekar, Noah Thomforde-Toates, Richard Tan, David Siamon and Daniel Pomerantz, while the Contenders section (Under 1800 USCF) ended in a three-way tie between Barzin Badiee, Duane Smith, and Ariel Joshi.
The tournament was organized by the Maryland Chess Association, and the Chief Arbiter was Michael Regan.
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How grandmasters win without fireworks: GM Jan Markos shows you 11 very practical tips from "How to play in a lost position" to "Be patient like Carlsen" that will improve your tournament chess.
The Nimzo-Indian has stood the test of time for over a century: Still a top choice for elite players today, from Magnus Carlsen to Praggnanandhaa, it remains one of Black's most reliable ways to fight for real chances against 1.d4 2.c4 3.Nc3.
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4!? is an opening idea well worth considering. Black immediately threatens to double the pawns on c3 in the style of the Trompowski or Sicilian Grand Prix attack.
Italian Game Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains 8571 top class games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 479 are annotated.
Videos: Nico Zwirs discusses the Sicilian with 2…e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Qe3 Nf6 6.Nc3. Mihail Marin examines Sindarov’s 6.Ne5 in the Queen’s Pawn Defence. Plus the ‘Lucky bag’ featuring 41 analyses by Berg, Ftacnik, Gupta and many others.
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Despite there being five players in the running for Grandmaster norms going into the last round, only Nico Checa (pictured) earned a norm. In fact, he didn't need to score any points going into the last round, having already reached the required score threshold, but still drew his last game.
