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TWK93.814
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1993-08-17
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THE WEEKLY KNIGHT
===================
(for August 14, 1993)
Considering the amount of money that can be won by all
classes of players in large Swiss System tournaments in the
US, and the prevalence of master-strength computers, it's
hardly surprising that someone may have tried to forge a
dubious link between the two.
Similar to previous years, the 1993 World Open played in
Philadelphia over the July 4th weekend, again featured a
significant cash prize ($2,000) for the unrated player who
finished with the best score in the Open section. By
definition, the winner of this particular prize is almost
always an unknown--and, more often than not, a foreign
visitor.
One of the co-winners of the unrated prize was someone named
John Von Neumann who, according to IM John Watson in INSIDE
CHESS (Issue #15 dated 8/9/93), wore "dreadlocks and
headphones" and spent much of his time "staring at the
ceiling". Von Neumann, in fact, lost several games on time,
including one after the 9th move (with a time control of 40
moves in 2 hours), one after the 27th move and another where
he only had to make a few relatively easy moves in four
minutes--but, in all cases, seemed unable to play faster than
one move about every three minutes.
Von Neumann's play was perhaps even more puzzling than his
behavior. After receiving a first round bye, he drew with
Icelandic GM Helgi Olafsson, the winner of the 1993
St.Martin's Open; lost on time (in 27 moves) in an even
position against a 2400 player in the third round; lost on
time after nine(!!) moves in the fourth round; dropped a
bishop in the next game; won the sixth round; lost on time in
the seventh round; defeated a 2300 player, despite expending
40 minutes of thought on a simple recapture; and won the
final game to tie for the top unrated prize.
Before Von Neumann could receive his cash, however, he was
requested by the tournament director, Bill Goichberg, to
provide identification. Goichberg also asked if he would
solve "a simple back-rank mate", according to Andy Soltis in
today's NEW YORK POST. Von Neumann refused both requests and
proceeded to hurriedly leave the area--claiming his wife was
having a baby--but quickly returned to demand his share of
the money. Having failed to produce identification, coupled
with the other allegations, he was steadfastly refused a
prize.
INSIDE CHESS also pointed out that the choice of a name was
curious, as well, in that "John Von Neumann" was a well-known
mathematician and computer scientist who lived in the first
half of this century.
Unfortunately, the foregoing incident may have distracted
attention from a fine tournament performance by GM Alex
Yermolinsky, who finished clear first with a 7.5-1.5 score in
a field that featured 21 players rated over 2600. One-half
point back at 7-2 were GMs Gata Kamsky, Alexander Shabalov,
Walter Browne, Lubomir Ftacnik, Alonso Zapata and Alexander
Ivanov.
Shabalov defeated FM Vivek Rao with some "wild and woolly"
opening play in the seventh round.
White: V.Rao Black: A.Shabalov Benoni
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 g6 6.d6 Qb6 7.Bf4
Qxb2 8.Be5 Ne4 9.Rc1 f6 10.Nxe4 Qxe5 11.Rxc5 Qxe4 12.Rc8+ Kf7
13.Qb3+ Kg7 14.Rc4 Qd5 15.e4 Qa5+ 16.Kd1 Qb6 17.Qxb6 axb6
18.Rc2 Bxd6 19.Bc4 Bc5 20.f3 Nc6 21.Ne2 Ra3 22.Rc3 Ra5 23.Kc1
Nb4 24.Kb1 Rha8 25.Rd1 d5 26.Bxd5 Nxa2 27.Bxa2 Rxa2 28.Rd7+
Kh6 29.Rc2 Ra1+ 30.Kb2 R8a2+ 31.Kc3 Ra4 32.Rxb7 Rb4 33.Rb2
Ra3+ 34.Kc2 Rc4+ 35.Kd1 Be3 36.Ng3 Rc1+ 37.Ke2 Rg1 38.R7xb6
Bxb6 39.Rxb6 Rxg2+ 40.Kf1 Rxh2 0-1
Glenn Budzinski
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