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The 30th Annual Chicago Open was held on the 2021 Memorial Day weekend after a 15-month break. // photo Sean Sean Hennessy

Overthe 2021Memorial Dayweekend,Grandmaster Dariusz Swiercz wonthe30thAnnual Chicago Open and theContinental Chess Associations(CCA) return toOver-The-Board chessin Wheeling, Illinois.

The last OTB event prior to the Chicago Openwas the Western Class Championshipnearly15 months ago!Just as players may have had to shake some rust off their play, tournament directors also needed to regain some skills that may have declined.

CCA President BillGoichbergcommentedthat very difficult decisionswere requiredwhen shutting down OTB chess,buteven more difficultwasdeciding how and when to bringitback again.BalancingCOVID protectionand regulationswithplayerscomfortandconveniencewas a constant challenge for the organizer and directing staff.While most players were appreciative that OTB chess had returned,there was a split between those who feltthe eventwenttoofar with COVID restrictions, and othersnot enough.Maskswererequiredand socialdistancingwas encouraged, with most players acceptingthese as necessaryregulations.On the bright side, everyone played attheir own six-foot table, so playing conditions were very spacious!

Restarting a major event under such unique conditionswas a challenge, the least of which was planning how many people would come to Chicago to play.While COVID conditions have trended mostly betterover the past months, advertisingchanged as new detailswere learned.One game per tablemeant twice as muchspace, andplanningnew details with the hotel,in turn,meant coordinating withlocalgovernmentto determine necessary protections.

Despite these challenges, the30thedition of the Chicago Openwas held with 559 total players, battling over chess boards for $100,000 in prizes.The Open section featured 69 players,including 8 Grandmasters, 9 International Masters, and 14 FIDE Masters.Champion Swiercz entered as the highest-rated player and led the event in its entirety, playing every round on Board 1 and finishing undefeated 7/9. He scored five wins, including victories over second-placefinisher GM Christopher Repka andthreeIMsPraveen Balakrishnan, SamSchmakeland Josiah Stearman.

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The 30th Annual Chicago Open Final Standings

There was little drama in the first round, withall titled players scoringfull points.GM OleksandrBortnyk, who would go on to tie for second place,played a nice tactic to bring home the full point.Can you find the winning combination?

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GM Oleksandr Bortnyk - FM Matthew Stevens after 20. ... Nxf6 -- can you find the winning combination for White?

Grandmasterswere being paired with International Mastersby Round 2, and most of the GMs made it to 2-0 though not all.FM Justus Williams knocked off GMAwonderLiang on the top board, andFM Joshua Posthuma nicked GM Alexander Shabalov for a drawon Board 3.Williams wenton toscore 6/7 andtie for the U2400 FIDEprizewith anIM-worthyperformance,though he did not receive anorm because he did not play enoughplayers from a foreign federation.

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FM Justus Williams tied for the U2400 FIDE Prize with an IM-worthy performance in the 30th Annual Chicago Open, though missed the norm. // photo Sean Hennessy

In this equal position,NM MikeZaloznyymadethenatural-looking15. Ne7, but his opponentNM Andrew Titusshowedthe positional move fails to a tactic.

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NM Andrew Titus NM Mike Zaloznyy after 15. Ne7. Black saw 16. Qc3 and intended Nxd5, however that fails to 16. Qc3 Nxd5 17. Nf5! And black gets mated.

More GMs paired with IMs in Round 3, withonly one draw on the top boards.GM Swierczrecountsthis win over IMSchmakelas one of his best games of the event.In the game, hegives up an exchangebut stays betterdespite the material deficit,ultimately earningthe full point.

Onlyfive playersremained with perfect scores after three rounds:GMsDariuczSwiercz, OlexandrBortnyk, Hans Niemann, Christopher Repka and IM Robby Kevlishvili.GM Repkawas served his only loss of the tournament, to the champion. Here, Swiercz has been winning for many moves andRepkas position is desperate, though Black has a miracle defense that could have saved equality.

White has manythreatsand it looks likeBlack might be lost, but he has a defense.44. Rd445. gxf6 Bd5 saves the game for black.

Swierczslowed his pace with a draw in Round 5, allowingGM Niemann back intoa first-place tie with this win overGM Shabalov.

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GM Hans Niemann at the 30th Annual Chicago Open. // photo credit Sean Hennessy

Niemann dropped from the leadersgroupafteran uncharacteristic blunder in the opening of his Round 7 game against IM Praveen Balakrishnan, and Swiercz separated himself from the pack in Round 8, defeating Balakrishnanwith the Black pieces after turning down an early draw offer.

Section winners for the 30th Annual Chicago Open:

U2300: NMCaleb Denby, 6.5/7

U2100: Kameron Tolliver, 6.5/7

U1900: Stephen Jennings and DaniloBucal, 6/7

U1700: Mohammad Khan, Theodore Epstein, and Aaron Marian, 6/7

U1500: Louisa Zhang, 6.5/7

U1250: Nathan Melnikov, 7/7

Mixed Doubles: BadakhandNorovsambuuand Max Zinski; Nura Baala and Aditya Gupta,10.5/14

Blitz: FM Aydin Turgut, 9/10

NTD Boyd Reed directed for Continental Chess assisted by David Hater, SteveImmitt, Jeff Wiewel, Jeff Smith, Tracey Vibbert, Terry Winchester, Chris Baumgarter, AdamRubinberg, Harold Scott, Gary Janssen, Danny Rohde, and Steve Plotnick.

Full tournament details can be found atwww.chicagoopen.net.Previous Continental Chess tournaments can be found at the Continental Chess website athttp://www.chesstour.com/cross.html.

Solution to GM OlexandrBortnykn - FM Matthew Stevens above:21. Rxf6Qxa122. Qxg6 Qc1(22. . Re723. Nf5)23. Qf7+Kh824.Rf5 Qh625.Rh5 Qxh526. Qxh5+ Kg827.Nf5

Read the rest here:
CCA Returns to OTB Chess with 30th Chicago Open - uschess.org

Indias three strongest woman players are all set to make their best moves as yet another high profile online chess tournament kicks off on Saturday.

Koneru Humpy, Dronavalli Harika and R. Vaishali could face some of the biggest names in the game at the Womens Speed Chess championship, organised by FIDE and chess.com.

The second edition of the tournament features 16 players, including World No. 1 Hou Yifan of China, the Russian trio of Kateryna Lagno, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Valentina Gunina, Ukraines Anna Muzychuk and Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria.

The knockout event will have games of varying time controls, from one to five minutes. Humpy, the reigning womens World champion in rapid chess, said the format made the tournament unpredictable. Anything can happen in a knockout tournament, she told The Hindu.

Last years event was held over four legs, so you could play right through the event till the two finalists were decided, she said.

Humpy had finished runner-up in the fourth leg and seventh overall. I had played with no expectations and I wasnt too keen on playing online chess then, she said. This time, I have been preparing for the tournament by playing against the computer.

Though she is one of the eight players seeded directly for the tournament Harika and Vaishali made it after winning qualifying events she is taking nothing for granted.

It is a very strong tournament with so many fine players, she said.

I am glad that three Indians are in the fray.

Humpy will take on Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan in the opening round on Saturday. Harika will face a stronger challenge on June 16, against Kosteniuk, a former World champion. Vaishali too has a tough opponent in Chinas Lei Tingjie.

The final will be played on July 3. All games will be streamed live on YouTube.

Read the original:
Womens Speed Chess from May 12 - The Hindu

The Hempel World Cup Series - Allianz Regatta entered the second part of the competition on Wednesday 9 June as the 49er and 49erFX fleets took to the water in Medemblik, The Netherlands.

Apart from last Sunday's Medal Races, light wind has been prevalent in Medemblik throughout the event, and the first day of racing for the 32-boat 49er fleet and 16-boat 49erFX fleet was a tactical affair.

"It was a bit like playing chess on the water," commented France's Emile Amoros.

Amoros and his helm, Lucas Rual, were the grandmasters in the 49er fleet on Wednesday as they took a pair of seconds and a race win to grab the early initiative.

"It was a really good day," continued Amoros. "We were fast and it was just a pleasure to get back on the water. The conditions were really tricky.

"There were a lot of tactics out there, but we had three good starts and once you're out in front, it's always a bit easier. We were going fast today and I hope we can keep this up."

The French crew, selected to race for their nation at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, have already opened up a healthy advantage. They lead on five points and are followed by Germany's Jakob Meggendorfer and Andreas Spranger on 16-points.

The day's other race wins went to Erwan Fischer and Clment Pequin (FRA), who are fourth overall, and Bart Lambriex and Pim van Vugt (NED), who are fifth.

Tokyo-bound Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz (NED) put together the perfect performance in the 49erFX, claiming all three race wins.

"It was pretty light and super unstable," explained Bekkering on the day's action. "It was never the same up or downwind, which was a lot of fun. We tried to play the shifts, look out for the pressure and it worked quite well."

"We're quite happy to sail in a light wind event after so much wind during the winter. We're doing our final preparations at home, and we have a good fleet, which is nice to prepare for the Games."

Germany's Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille and Great Britain's Isabelle Fellows and Alice Masterman trail the Dutch pair, tied on 11 points in second and third respectively.

HOW TO FOLLOW

EVENT WEBSITEClick here for further information on Medemblik and the Hempel World Cup Series - Allianz Regatta http://www.allianzregatta.org.

ENTRIES / RESULTS / SCHEDULEClick here to view the entry list in full.

Click here for the schedule.

Results will be available here.

SOCIAL MEDIAFollow the event on World Sailing's social networks and get involved in the conversation using #Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/worldsailingofficial/Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/worldsailingofficial/Twitter - @worldsailing

PRESS RELEASESAll World Sailing international press releases throughout the duration of the Hempel World Cup Series, including the latest news and reports, are available to read here - https://allianzregatta.org/the-event/news/.

Originally posted here:
Chess on the water at Hempel World Cup Series - Allianz Regatta - International Sailing Federation

Rook and pawn endgames are the most common type of endgames. Last week, we looked at the principle of cutting off the king in a rook endgame. This week the importance of a rook on the 7th rank is illustrated.

In this weeks position, black has a pawn advantage. Even so, black is in trouble. Whites well-located rook is more threatening than blacks pawn. With this hint in mind, please try to find whites winning attack.

The white rook has the black king corralled on the 8th rank. To fully exploit this whites king enters the fray with king to e5. Blacks best reply is to advance its pawn to f4. Whites king next moves to e6 (see next diagram).

White now threatens to win blacks rook and pawn with rook to a8, check. This is because the black king must move to c7 and abandon its rook, allowing white to skewer blacks rook. Meanwhile, the black rook has no safe square along the f file.

As for the 8th rank, if the black rook moves to any other square than e8, whites rook skewers blacks rook. If the black king moves to e8, white mates with rook to a8. This leaves black opting for rook to d8. But now white moves its king to d6 (see next diagram).

White threatens to mate with rook to a8. To avoid mate black must move its king to c8. Nevertheless, whites rook checks black, skewers its rook, and then snatches blacks run away pawn.

The lesson this week is that a rook on the 7th rank is worth at least an extra pawn.

Reach Eric Morrow at ericmorrowlaw@gmail.com or (505) 327-7121.

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Chess Corner: Sitting on the 7th rank - Muskogee Daily Phoenix

Joe Burows competitive streak is a big part of the reason hes on track to start the regular season in Week 1 despite his rehab from a season-ending injury.

Its also part of what made him so appealing to the franchise in the draft and now to teammates, too.

Understandably, this competitive fire translates to off the field, where Burrow even trash talks teammates like C.J. Uzomah overchess?

The Athletics Paul Dehner Jr. shared the fun note from the veteran tight end:

The good thing I can say is we have been talking crap about chess right now. We havent played yet but he thinks hes good at chess. He probably watched Queens Gambit. I have been playing chess for longer than that. I think Ive probably got him on that. He knows I like traveling a lot and he will hit me with, So, where we going? You going somewhere and going to get another dumb tattoo? I say yes the majority of the time.

In other words, while Chad Johnson just had his first pro boxing match, maybe Burrow will land in the chess scene after his football career.

Kidding aside, its always fun to get a look at the players behind the scenes and this comment from Uzomah about the teams franchise passer doesnt come as much of a shocker.

View post:
Joe Burrow is so competitive he's trash talking teammates about...chess - Bengals Wire