The annual North American Open attracted 583 chess enthusiasts to Bally's Casino (above photo taken by official webmaster Chris Bird) at the heart of the Las Vegas Strip. Between the Christmas and New Year's holidays, the city bustles with tourists, gamblers and revelers--plus a few wood pushers amongst the crowds. The winter weather offered a perfect excuse to spend long hours at the chess board (
especially for those under the legal gambling age of 21). Everything, from the tournament hall to hotel rooms to restaurants, is conveniently located under one roof. In fact, you can walk from Bally's to France--or at least to the adjacent
Paris Casino.
About
40 Northern California players and their parents took the 1 hour flight or drove for 8-10 hours. Fortunately, gas prices are quite reasonable now! Those who arrived in the evening on Christmas Day battled heavy traffic and even an ice storm, but the rest of the week was sunny and cold, but dry.
Nine of my students showed up for their final chess competition of 2008.The tournament began rather auspiciously. Nobody could have predicted that IM
David Pruess and FM
Daniel Naroditsky would each start 0-2 against substantially weaker opponents, yet as a testiment to their fighting spirit, they both recovered to finish above 50%. Somehow, all five of my students in the U2100 section lost in round 1, but one still ended up tied for third. Even I struggled with draws against two low experts, perhaps a consequence of a bout with the stomach flu.
Fortunately, the final results were far more encouraging. Below are some notable scores from local players. Please click on the link for the
USCF ratings report.
- IM Sam Shankland, 5.0 in Open (top U2500, see photo above)
- IM David Pruess, 4.5 in Open
- FM Daniel Naroditsky, 4.0 in Open
- NM Steven Zierk, 4.0 in Open (broke 2300 USCF)
- NM Michael Aigner, 4.0 in Open
- NM Rohan Agarwal, 3.5 in Open (broke 2200 USCF)
- Yian Liou, 5.5 in U2100 (tied for 3rd place)
- Karim Seada, 5.5 in U2100 (tied for 3rd place)
- Michael Da-Cruz, 6.0 in U1900 (tied for 2nd place)
- Mukund Chillakanti, 5.5 in U1900 (tied for 5th place)
- Samuel Sevian, 4.5 in U1900
- Roland Zhu, 4.5 in U1900 (+137 rating points up to 1760)
- Seid Seidov, 7.0 in U1700 (clear 1st place)
- Rahul Desirazu, 5.5 in U1700
- Merak Arriola, 6.0 in U1300 (tied for 2nd place)
- Jeffrey Zhang, 5.5 in U1300 (tied for 5th place)
- Rohan Kapre, 5.5 in U1000 (tied for 3rd place)
Five local juniors had an especially memorable tournament and deserve special recognition. Two won significant money and the other three all achieved rating milestones.
- IM Sam Shankland tied for 7th place overall and earned top U2500 with 5.0/7. After a disappointing draw in round 1, he caught fire and beat his major rival IM Robert Hess with black and then drew GM Jaan Ehlvest. At least there's still room for improv
ement: Sam got schooled by GM Zviad Izoria in the penultimate round. - NM Steven Zierk (see photo at right) impressed with 4.0 against 7 FIDE titled players with an average rating of 2408 USCF. His highlights included a solid draw against GM Varuzhan Akobian, ranked #5 in the USA, and a crushing win against IM Emory Tate. Steven also can still improve: he lost quickly to IM Shankland in the final round.
- Please join me in congratulating California's newest master, NM Rohan Agarwal! He had quite a memorable tournament, defeating IM Emory Tate and drawing with GM Anatoly Lein on his way to a 2335 performance. Rohan's style and opening repertoire always generate many exciting tactical slugfests.
- Young expert Yian Liou no doubt has his eyes on the master title after he tied for third place in the U2100 section with a 2219 performance. He got a much needed kick in the rear end by losing round 1, but after five straight wins, he was on board 1 in the final round (a draw with section winner Jared Tan).
- Las Vegas was my first opportunity to watch new student Roland Zhu (see p
hoto at right) play. Suffice it to say that he left quite an impression, far exceeding my expectations by scoring 4.0/7 while playing up in the U1900 section. As a reward, his rating jumped from 1623 to 1760!
The winner of the Open section was--
no, not me!--Grandmaster
Giorgi Kacheishvili with 6.0 out of 7. He took control in the fourth round and never relinquished the lead, picking up three wins and two draws against fellow Grandmasters. Five GMs tied for second:
Zviad Izoria,
Melik Khachiyan,
Alexander Shabalov,
Julio Becerra and
Jaan Ehlvest.
Check out the interesting tournament blog by USCL's Blogger of the Year Chris Bird for further details and a few key positions from the top boards.
oys in the Open section (not really surprising since four are masters). I hope to update the highlights list below whenever I have free time between rounds.
Check out Chess Life Online for the official recap of North American Open in Las Vegas at the end of December. Georgian GM Giorgi Kacheishvili took clear first place in his second major tournament in a row after a spectacular sacrificial game against Armenian-American GM Varuzhan Akobian in the penultimate round.
(Rohan Agarwal in deep thought at the CalChess Scholastics in San Jose last May.)
under the mentorship of Richard Shorman at Weibel, accomplished a milestone. I congratulate Rohan not because he was trained better than other Fremont players, but because he worked harder and had the perseverance and determination to go all the way. I might add that he is also a great all around person. I know he will spend the remainder of his High School years teaching the students at his Elementary School alma mater. I look forward to seeing him, in the future, win many more titles." Coach Agarwal's (see photo at right) young proteges won first place team trophies in both 5th and 6th grade last month at the CalChess Grade Level Championships in Stockton.
The annual North American Open attracted 583 chess enthusiasts to Bally's Casino (above photo taken by official webmaster Chris Bird) at the heart of the Las Vegas Strip. Between the Christmas and New Year's holidays, the city bustles with tourists, gamblers and revelers--plus a few wood pushers amongst the crowds. The winter weather offered a perfect excuse to spend long hours at the chess board (especially for those under the legal gambling age of 21). Everything, from the tournament hall to hotel rooms to restaurants, is conveniently located under one roof. In fact, you can walk from Bally's to France--or at least to the adjacent Paris Casino.
ement: Sam got schooled by GM Zviad Izoria in the penultimate round.
hoto at right) play. Suffice it to say that he left quite an impression, far exceeding my expectations by scoring 4.0/7 while playing up in the U1900 section. As a reward, his rating jumped from 1623 to 1760! 
Hello from Bally's Las Vegas, site of the North American Open. The hotel lies in the center of the world famous Las Vegas Strip. The Eiffel Tower (photo above) stands outside my window and Bellagio is just across the street. Indeed, Bally's appears to be an appropriate venue for one of the biggest prize funds on the American chess calendar. I expect to see nearly 600 players and upwards of a half dozen Grandmasters. The winners last year were GM Hikaru Nakamura and Berkeley native IM David Pruess. Regretably, Nakamura will not attend due to a commitment in Norway against GM Magnus Carlsen!
