Nyzhnyk nails it

World Open 2018

Organized by the Continental Chess Association, the Philadelphia World Open began on July 4th, to sounds of fireworks and… a singing arbiter? I can’t say for sure, having been late to the first round, but Steve Emmitt is known, among other things, for warbling the national anthem tolerably well.

Steve Emmitt directs | Photo: Daaim Shabazz

As per tradition, the main event was a nine-round, five-day Swiss in the Downtown Marriott, with a time control of 40 moves in 2 hours, then sudden death 30 minutes plus a 10-second delay from move one. This 46th edition, like the previous, produced a clear winner: Ukrainian GM Illya Nyzhnyk, who is a senior at Webster University in St. Louis.

Back: Nyzhnyk vs. Sevian; fore: Liem (and a banana) vs. Swiercz | Photo: Ruifeng Li

Vietnamese superstar Le Quang Liem (also a Webster alumnus) was the tournament’s rating favorite, with a stratospheric 2728 Elo, but this year featured a remarkable list of young 2600+ GMs who snapped at his heels. Among them were Jeffery Xiong, Anton Kovalyov, Alex Shimanov, Alex Lenderman, Alex Ipatov, Varuzhan Akobian, Lazaro Bruzon, Darius Swiercz, Emilio Cordova, Samuel Sevian, Nyzhnyk, and last year’s victor Tigran L. Petrosian.

Le (and banana) vs. Nyzhnyk | Photo: Ruifeng Li

The critical rounds proved to be seven and eight, as Nyzhnyk notched up two difficult points against Sevian and Le for a total of 7.0 / 8. Shimanov and Bruzon also won in those rounds and thus trailed by merely half a point, but in the final round, the former drew with Nyzhnyk and the latter with Sevian, enabling the Ukrainian to obtain a well-deserved clear first and USD $20,500. Shimanov, Bruzon, Lenderman, and Petrosian tied for 2nd-5th places.

Annotations by GM Ruifeng Li

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The London System with 2.Bf4

"Simple yet aggressive!" Enjoy this new exciting DVD by Simon Williams. Let the famouns Grandmaster from England show you how to gain a very exciting yet well founded opening game with the London System (1.d4 d5 2.Bf4).

The Solid Slav Defence

This Slav DVD is a complete opening repertoire for black after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6. GM Nick Pert has played the Slav defence for over 10 years and provides all his latest and most up to date analysis crammed into one video series. Nick has spent many hours studying the best Slav lines, and he explains his favourite variations, plus includes some interactive clips where the viewer is tested on a range of theoretical questions and tactics arising from Slav games.

Thereafter followed a blitz tournament, where GM Jeffrey Xiong duly zipped the field 10-0. That was probably decent consolation for his making five draws in a row in the main event and scoring six points in total, as I did. On the other hand, I can only show off a few nice moves and philosophize that there’s always next year.

Lenderman vs Li — believe in the banana 👍🏼

Left, seated from front: Akobian, Ipatov, Awonder Liang, Nyzhnyk, John Burke
Right, seated from front: Denys Shmelov, Alex Stripunsky, Shimanov, and others who are similarly hiding their faces | Photo: Ruifeng Li

Final standings (top 15)

All available games

Links

• Official site