My son, Peter, played the sensational game of the 2002 World Open

The game was on board one of round one. It started as your typical dull positional opening, but then Grandmaster Yermolinsky started sacrificing all his pieces.

The game is too complicated for me to analyze. Somebody should get out Fritz. Anyway, here it is:

Sam Sloan









Position after Black played 21. ... Ke5. Black is now a rook and a knight ahead.


[Event "World Open"]
[Site "Philadelphia USA"]
[Date "2002.07.01"]
[Round "01"]
[White "Yermolinsky,Alex"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena,Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2642"]
[BlackElo "2251"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 O-O 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 d5
7.Bd3 dxe4 8.Nxe4 Bd7 9.Qc2 h6 10.Be3 Nxe4 11.Bxe4 Bc6
12.d5 exd5 13.O-O-O Qe8 14.Bxd5 Ba4 15.Qg6 Kh8 16.Qh5 Bxd1
17.Bxh6 Bxf3 18.Bxg7+ Kxg7 19.gxf3 Rg8 20.Rg1+ Kf6 21.Qh4+
Ke5 22.Rxg8 Qd7 23.Qe4+ Kd6 24.Bxb7 c6 25.Qf4+ Kc5 26.Qe3+
Kd6 27.Bxa8 Qf5 28.Qd4+ Ke6 29.Qg4 1-0

My son Peter had a very good result in the just concluded World Open. His only losses were to grandmasters and players rated over 2400. In Round 8, he defeated a player rated 2460. This victory put him in first place for the Under-2300 prize of $3000. Unfortunately, the computer paired him against Grandmaster Rohde for the last round. Peter protested, but Goichberg ruled that computer pairings are accepted unless clearly wrong. Unfortunately, Peter lost to Rohde in the last round and finished out of the money. The World Open results are posted at http://www.worldopen.com/results/open.htm . Here are two of Peter's victories:

Sam Sloan


[Event "World Open"]
[Site "Philadelphia USA"]
[Date "2002.07.06"]
[Round "07"]
[White "Sloan Aravena,Peter"]
[Black "Vanenk,Steven J."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D36"]
[WhiteElo "2251"]
[BlackElo "2200"]

1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 O-O
7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.Qc2 Re8 9.Nf3 Nf8 10.O-O c6 11.Rae1 Ne4
12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.Bxe4 dxe4 14.Nd2 f5 15.f3 exf3 16.Nxf3 Ng6
17.e4 fxe4 18.Rxe4 Qd8 19.Qb3+ Kh8 20.Ng5 Rf8 21.Nf7+ Rxf7
22.Qxf7 Bd7 23.h4 1-0

[Event "World Open"]
[Site "Philadelphia"]
[Date "2002.07.07"]
[Round "08"]
[White "Duong,Nha Thanh"]
[Black "Sloan Aravena,Peter"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2460"]
[BlackElo "2251"]

1.c4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.Ngf3 Bf5 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.e3 Nc6
7.Bb5 Qb6 8.Qb3 Bc2 9.Qxc2 Qxb5 10.a3 e6 11.Nb1 Ne4
12.Nfd2 Nxd2 13.Bxd2 e5 14.Nc3 Qc4 15.b3 Qa6 16.Nxd5 Bd6
17.Bc3 exd4 18.exd4 O-O 19.Qe2 Rfe8 20.Ne3 Qb6 21.O-O Nxd4
22.Qg4 Be5 23.Rad1 Ne2+ 24.Qxe2 Bxc3 25.Qd3 Be5 26.Nd5 Qd6
27.f4 Bf6 28.Qf5 Bb2 29.a4 Rad8 30.Rd2 Bc3 31.Rd3 Qc5+
32.Kh1 Bd4 33.Rh3 Qxd5 34.Qxh7+ Kf8 35.Qh8+ Ke7 36.Qh4+
Kd7 37.Rd3 Kc7 38.Rfd1 Bf6 39.Qf2 Qxd3 40.Rxd3 Rxd3 41.h3
Kb8 42.b4 Bd4 43.Qh4 g5 44.Qxg5 Re1+ 45.Kh2 Bg1+ 46.Kh1
Bf2+ 47.Kh2 Bg3+ 48.Qxg3 Rxg3 49.Kxg3 Kc7 50.Kg4 Kd6 51.h4
Ke6 52.Kg5 f6+ 53.Kg6 Rg1 54.f5+ Ke7 55.h5 Rxg2+ 56.Kh7
Rg4 57.h6 Rxb4 58.Kh8 Rxa4 59.h7 Rh4 0-1

Here are links:
Sam Sloan's Chess Page

My Home Page


Contact address - please send e-mail to the following address: Sloan@ishipress.com