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TWK93.731
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1993-08-05
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3KB
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THE WEEKLY KNIGHT
===================
(for July 31, 1993)
Usually one of the US Chess Federation's more popular
tournaments due to its high profile, Las Vegas location, this
year's National Open was perhaps the most star-studded yet.
Twenty Grandmasters and fifteen International Masters,
including two near-World Champions--David Bronstein, who tied
Mikhail Botvinnik in the 1951 title match and Viktor
Korchnoi, who narrowly lost to Karpov--were among the 940
participants.
As anticipated, four of the top rated GMs tied for first and
split $10,000 of the $30,000 total cash prizes: Gata Kamsky,
Alex Yermolinsky, Sergey Kudrin and Max Dlugy. Each posted
5.5-0.5 scores, one-half point ahead of a 13 player group of
GMs, IMs, Senior Masters and one unrated player who finished
at 5-1.
Similar to most large, open tournaments run according to
Swiss System rules (where similar scores are paired) the
National Open had its share of upsets, emergence of unknowns
and pairing anomalies.
The upsets started as early as the second round when two GMs
went down to players rated 400 points beneath them: 2600-
rated Nick DeFirmian lost to a provisional master, Artak
Akopian, and Leonid Shamkovich was put away in spectacular
fashion by Arizona expert Paul Lane (this week's featured
game).
A few unknown players emerged out of nowhere to finish high
in the final standings. Emil Sutovskiy was probably the most
impressive. An unrated foreigner, Sutovskiy drew with GM
Alexander Shabalov (who recently won the Hudson Invitational)
in the 5th round and defeated strong GM Alexander Ivanov in
his final game for a 5-1 record--and a 2716 provisional
rating.
Although the Swiss System is probably the best method
available to ensure equitable pairings among a large group of
players, quirks are inevitable. Take the case of California
Senior Master Larry Remlinger who was paired with an expert
in each of the first three rounds, followed by three of the
best players in the nation in succession: Dlugy, US Champion
Patrick Wolff and Shabalov. He drew with Dlugy and Wolff and
lost to Shabalov for a quite respectable 4-2 score.
Seldom does a player rated about 2000 defeat a Grandmaster in
head-to-head competition. Victories in less than 20 moves,
such as expert Paul Lane's delightful miniature against GM
Shamkovich, are so rare that they usually end up in
anthologies.
White: P.Lane Black: L.Shamkovich Sicilian
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be2 a6 7.a4
Nc6 8.0-0 Bd7 9.Be3 Be7 10.Nb3 Na5 11.Nd2 Qc7 12.f4 0-0
13.Bd3 Nc6 14.g4 d5 15.g5 Nxe4 16.Ncxe4 dxe4 17.Nxe4 Nb4
18.Nf6+ gxf6 19.Bxh7+ 1-0 (In INSIDE CHESS issue # 14 dated
July 26, 1993, IM Peters gives the following analysis:
19...Kxh7 20.Qh5+ Kg7 21.Qh6+ Kg8 22.g6 fxg6 23.Qxg6+ Kh8
24.Rf3 )
Glenn Budzinski
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