by Sam Sloan
Tied for second with 7-2 were Igor Kenkhin (Germany) (2622), Nick De Firmian (USA) (2570), Alexander Goldin (Israel) (2566) and Alexander Ivanov (USA) (2541).
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Scoring 6-3 were Gregory Kaidanov (2599), Artashes Minasian (2598), Victor Bologan (2596), Alexander Shabalov (2592), Igor Novikov (2591), Gregory Serper (2587), Alexander Galkin (2566), Julio J Becerra (2541), John P Fedorowicz (2540), Alexander Fishbein (2513), Pavel Blatny (2512), Yaacov Zilberman (2505), Sarunas Sulskis (2499), Throstur Thorhallsson (2489), Tom Wedberg (2487), Virg Grabliauskas (2463), Mikheil Kekelidze (2461), Gildardo Garcia (2444), Kamil Miton (2425), Jay R Bonin (2419), Mark Paragua (2368), Nelson Gamboa (2340), Boris Privman (2235), Elvin Wilson (2203) and Aaron Pixton (2181).
After that with 5 1/2 - 3 1/2 were Vladimir Epishin (2667), Evgenij Agrest (2604), Joel Benjamin (2591), Bu Xiangzhi (2565), Bogdan Lalic (2548), Igor A. Nataf (2529), Maurice A Ashley (2499), Julen Arizmendi (2445), Yurij Lapshun (2429), Dario Alzate (2415), Irina Krush (2399), Cyril Marzolo (2396), Immanuel Guthi (2367), Miikka Maki-Uuro (2341), Emory A Tate (2309), Johan Alvarez (2265) and Vladimir Yershov (2079).
Grandmaster Babakuli Annakov (2600) led the group with 5-4.
Peter Aravena Sloan scored 4 1/2 - 4 1/2, defeating FIDE Master Danny Shapiro in the last round.
With 38 grandmasters, this will be the strongest open chess tournament in the USA and probably in the world this year. Noteworthy were the large number of highly rated and very strong young grandmasters, who had never previously played in the USA and were previously unknown here. For example, numbers 3-6 on the wall chart were Igor Kenkhin (2622), Pavel Tregubov (2615), Evgenij Agrest (2604) and Babakuli Annakov (2600). None of these players had been heard of before here.
Perhaps the best explanation for this is that the organizer, Jose Cuchi, provides free airplane tickets from Spain and hotel rooms to players ranked in the top 100 in the world. Famous players probably want to be paid as well, but the new young grandmasters who are not yet well known are perhaps satisfied to have this opportunity for a free trip to America and a chance to win the $14,000 first prize.
Among the highlights were three big upsets in round one: The draw by 12-year-old Hikaru Nakamura against Vladimir Epishin, the highest rated player in the tournament, on board one, the loss by former USA Champion Nick DeFirmian to Renard Anderson, and the loss by the world's youngest grandmaster, Bu Xiangzhi of China, to Shearwood Mc Clelland (2186).
However, DeFirmian never lost another game in the tournament. In the last round, he defeated 1998 winner Artashes Minasian of Armenia to finish second with a score of 7-2.
When 14-year-old Bu lost his first round game to another talented junior player, Shearwood Mc Clelland, questions were raised as to whether he was really grandmaster strength. However, Bu also never lost another game, defeating International Master Jay Bonin along the way, until he finally lost to Norik Kalantarian in the last round. Bu finished with 5 1/2 - 3 1/2.
Hikaru Nakamura did not do well because, right after drawing Epishin, he lost to the unheralded Osvaldo Pena Cabrero (2260) in round 2.
Hikaru Nakamura later drew FIDE Master Cyril Marzolo (2396). However, he dropped out before the end of the tournament to fly to Dallas to play in the National Elementary Championship this weekend.
It will no doubt be quite a shock for him to shift from playing against the strongest players in the world in the New York Open to playing against little kids his own age in Dallas. Hikaru Nakamura will undoubtedly be the overwhelming favorite to win in Dallas because he is rated 200 points higher than any other elementary school kid in America.
Everybody's sweetheart love-affair Irina Krush entered the tournament with two IM norms and hoped to earn her third and final norm and thereby the title here, but in round 6 she incredibly put her bishop en pris against Johan Alvarez (2257). She managed to swindle a draw anyway. In round 8, she had a clearly winning position against Grandmaster Julio Becerra, who defected from Cuba last year, but she blundered again, allowing him to win her queen. She won her last round game, finishing with a respectable score of 5 1/2 - 3 1/2, but far short of a norm.
The other sweetheart, Anna Khan, has changed her name to Anna Hahn. Anna was born and raised in Latvia, but is of Indian origin. Anna explains that when her entire family got USA citizenship recently, her grandmother wanted everyone in the family to change their names. The "Kh" sound in Khan, which is a velar unvoiced fricative, the same Kh as in Ayatollah Khomeini, sounds to English speakers more like "H" than like "K", so Khan was changed to Hahn. I spell the name of my Pakistani wife as Honzagool, even though her own people spell it KhonzaGul, for the same reason. Anna Hahn had a good result, drawing with Fabio LaRota (2360) of Colombia in Round 9 to finish with 5-4.
In the last round, Ilya Smirin faced Alexander Grischuk on board one. Whomever won the game would win the tournament. However, the position was symmetrical, with both players having pawns only on the a, b, f, g and h files. A draw seemed likely, although Smirin had a slight pull. Observing that the winner would get $14,000 whereas, if the game ended in a draw, there would be a tie of 6 to 8 players for first prize money, Grandmaster Lombardy confidently predicted that somebody would win the game. Lombardy was right!
My own son, Peter Aravena, whose real name is Peter Sloan, started out by losing to Grandmaster Sarunas Sulskis of Lithuania in round one. In round two, he lost to a 12-year-old kid named Benjamin Philip who was rated 1618. My son was naturally upset at such a big loss, but it later was discovered that Benjamin Philip also has a FIDE rating of 2062. That made it better. My son lost his third round game as well and some were questioning my judgment in paying his entry fee. However, my son never lost another game and in the last round won an excellent game against FIDE Master Danny Shapiro (2287), to finish the tournament with a very respectable even score of 4 1/2 - 4 1/2.
NOTE: All of these are FIDE ratings, as USCF ratings were not considered in this tournament, except for those players without a FIDE rating. FIDE ratings are generally considered to be 100 points lower than USCF ratings.
However, 4 1/2 - 4 1/2 was not nearly enough to win the under 2300 prize. That prize was won by Aaron Pixton (2181), age 14, in an unusual manner.
Pixton has to attend school and so announced before the beginning of the tournament that he was taking a half-point bye in rounds 6-9 and would only play the first five rounds.
As it turned out, Pixton had the tournament of his life, losing in round one to Grandmaster Becerra (2541), but then defeating Alexander Kalikshteyn (2395), Mark Paragua (2368) and Norik Kalantarian (2474).
These victories set him on course for an IM norm, but he was already committed to dropping out of the tournament, so he had to take four byes and finish with a 6-3 score.
In the last round, four players scored upset victories against higher rated opponents to create a 5-way tie with Pixton for the under-2300 prize.
Thanks must be given to Jose Cuchi who runs the New York Open year after year at a big financial loss, with no hope for a profit, solely because of his love for chess.
Here are some of the most interesting games from the tournament:
[Event "New York Open"] [Site "Manhattan"] [Date "2000.05.11"] [Round "9"] [White "Smirin, Ilya"] [Black "Grischuk, Alexander"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C90"] [WhiteElo "2665"] [BlackElo "2580"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "2000.05.11"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. d3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. Nbd2 Nc6 12. Nf1 Re8 13. h3 h6 14. Ng3 Bf8 15. d4 cxd4 16. cxd4 exd4 17. Nxd4 Nxd4 18. Qxd4 Be6 19. Be3 Rc8 20. Qd2 Nd7 21. Rac1 Ne5 22. b3 Nc6 23. Bb1 d5 24. exd5 Qxd5 25. Qc2 g6 26. Rcd1 Ne7 27. Qb2 Bg7 28. Bd4 Bxd4 29. Rxd4 Qc5 30. Rdd1 Red8 31. Ne4 Rxd1 32. Rxd1 Qc7 33. h4 h5 34. Ng5 Bf5 35. Qf6 Nd5 36. Qxa6 Bxb1 37. Rxb1 Rd8 38. Re1 Qc3 39. Nf3 b4 40. Rd1 Qc5 41. Qc4 Qd6 42. Qd4 Rd7 43. Ne5 Rd8 44. Nc4 Qf8 45. Nb6 1-0 [Event "New York Open"] [Site "Manhattan"] [Date "2000.05.11"] [Round "9"] [White "Ivanov, Alexander"] [Black "Shabalov, Alexander"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B32"] [WhiteElo "2541"] [BlackElo "2591"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2000.05.11"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. a4 Be7 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3 Be6 9. Nc4 Rc8 10. Nd5 Bxd5 11. exd5 Nb8 12. a5 Nd7 13. Be2 Ngf6 14. Be3 O-O 15. O-O h6 16. Kh1 Ne4 17. f3 Ng5 18. Nb6 Nxb6 19. Bxb6 Qd7 20. c4 Bd8 21. Bg1 f5 22. b4 h5 23. c5 h4 24. c6 Qf7 25. b5 h3 26. g3 f4 27. b6 Bf6 28. Rc1 e4 29. gxf4 Qg6 30. Be3 exf3 31. Bd3 Qh5 32. fxg5 Bxg5 33. Bxg5 Qxg5 34. Rf2 Kh8 35. Qd2 Qxd5 36. c7 Rce8 37. Bf1 Qf5 38. Qxd6 Qg5 39. Qd2 Qg4 40. Rc4 Qh5 41. Rf4 1-0 [Event "New York Open"] [Site "Manhattan"] [Date "2000.05.10"] [Round "8"] [White "Krush, Irina"] [Black "Becerra, Julio"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D15"] [WhiteElo "2399"] [BlackElo "2541"] [PlyCount "79"] [EventDate "2000.05.10"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 a6 5. a4 Bf5 6. Qb3 Ra7 7. Bg5 e6 8. e3 Nbd7 9. Be2 h6 10. Bh4 Bd6 11. Rd1 Qb8 12. Bg3 Bxg3 13. hxg3 O-O 14. Nd2 Re8 15. Rh4 b5 16. cxb5 axb5 17. axb5 c5 18. dxc5 Nxc5 19. Qb4 Rc8 20. Nb3 Nxb3 21. Qxb3 Ne4 22. Kf1 Rac7 23. Nxe4 dxe4 24. g4 Bg6 25. g3 Rc2 26. b6 Qb7 27. g5 hxg5 28. Qxc2 gxh4 29. Qb3 hxg3 30. fxg3 Rb8 31. Rd6 Qe7 32. Qb4 Qf6+ 33. Ke1 Qg5 34. Kd2 Qxg3 35. Qc5 Kh7 36. Qc7 Qf2 37. Qxb8 Bh5 38. b7 Bxe2 39. Qc7 Bd3+ 40. Kd1 0-1 [Event "New York Open"] [Site "Manhattan"] [Date "2000.05.11"] [Round "9"] [White "Miton, Kamil"] [Black "Rogers, Norman"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E81"] [WhiteElo "2425"] [BlackElo "2265"] [PlyCount "39"] [EventDate "2000.05.11"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Bg5 Na6 7. Qd2 e5 8. Nge2 exd4 9. Nxd4 Nc5 10. Be2 a5 11. O-O c6 12. Kh1 a4 13. Rfd1 Qa5 14. Bh4 Re8 15. Nc2 Re6 16. b4 Ncxe4 17. fxe4 Qe5 18. Bg3 Qxc3 19. Qxc3 Nxe4 20. Qd3 1-0 [Event "New York Open"] [Site "Manhattan"] [Date "2000.05.10"] [Round "8"] [White "Leitao, Rafael"] [Black "Smirin, Ilia"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E73"] [WhiteElo "2565"] [BlackElo "2665"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "2000.05.10"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Bg5 Na6 7. Qd2 e5 8. d5 c6 9. f3 Qa5 10. Bd3 Nc5 11. Bc2 b5 12. cxb5 cxd5 13. exd5 Bb7 14. Rd1 a6 15. a3 Ncd7 16. bxa6 Bxa6 17. Nge2 Nb6 18. Bd3 Bxd3 19. Qxd3 Rfc8 20. O-O Nc4 21. Rb1 Nd7 22. Na2 Qb6+ 23. Kh1 Nxb2 24. Qe4 Rxa3 25. Nac3 Qa6 26. Rxb2 Raxc3 27. Rd1 Ra3 28. Rbd2 Nc5 29. Qb1 f5 30. Bh4 e4 31. fxe4 Ra1 0-1 [Event "New York Open"] [Site "Manhattan"] [Date "2000.05.06"] [Round "3"] [White "Khenkin, Igor"] [Black "Fedorowicz, John"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E81"] [WhiteElo "2622"] [BlackElo "2541"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "2000.05.06"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Nge2 c5 7. d5 e6 8. Ng3 exd5 9. cxd5 a6 10. a4 h5 11. Bg5 Qc7 12. Qd2 Nh7 13. Bh4 Re8 14. Bc4 Nd7 15. O-O Bf6 16. Bxf6 Ndxf6 17. Rfe1 h4 18. Nf1 Nh5 19. f4 Qd8 20. e5 dxe5 21. fxe5 Bf5 22. d6 h3 23. Ng3 Qh4 24. Nxf5 Qxc4 25. Ne7+ Kh8 26. Re4 Qe6 27. g4 Ng7 28. Ncd5 Rad8 29. Qh6 Rxe7 30. Nf6 1-0 [Event "New York Open"] [Site "Manhattan"] [Date "2000.05.06"] [Round "3"] [White "Thorhallsson, Throstur"] [Black "Shabalov, Alex"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B32"] [WhiteElo "2489"] [BlackElo "2592"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "2000.05.06"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Be7 7. Be2 f5 8. exf5 Bxf5 9. Be3 Nf6 10. N1c3 a6 11. Na3 O-O 12. O-O Qd7 13. Nc2 Rae8 14. Nd5 Bd8 15. Nxf6+ gxf6 16. Bh6 Rf7 17. Ne3 Bg6 18. c5 dxc5 19. Bc4 Nd4 20. f4 exf4 21. Bxf7+ Kxf7 22. Bxf4 Bc7 23. Bxc7 Rxe3 24. Bg3 Qd5 25. Rf2 Qe6 26. Kh1 h5 27. Qd2 Kg7 28. Raf1 Rd3 29. Qf4 Nf5 30. Rf3 Rd7 31. b3 h4 32. Bf2 b6 33. Re1 Qc6 34. Qg4 Rd5 35. Rxf5 Rxf5 36. Re7+ 1-0 [Event "New York Open"] [Site "Manhattan"] [Date "2000.05.07"] [Round "4"] [White "Anderson, Renard"] [Black "Zlotnikov, Mikhail"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B06"] [WhiteElo "2204"] [BlackElo "2356"] [PlyCount "23"] [EventDate "2000.05.07"] 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Bg5 c5 5. dxc5 Qa5 6. Qd2 Qxc5 7. Nd5 Bxb2 8. Rb1 Qa3 9. c3 h6 10. Be3 e6 11. Nc7+ Kd7 12. Nb5 1-0 [Event "New York Open"] [Site "Manhattan"] [Date "2000.05.06"] [Round "3"] [White "Blatny, Pavel"] [Black "Formanek, Edward"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A06"] [WhiteElo "2512"] [BlackElo "2305"] [PlyCount "35"] [EventDate "2000.05.06"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. b3 Bf5 3. Bb2 e6 4. d3 h6 5. Nbd2 Nf6 6. e3 Be7 7. Qe2 O-O 8. h3 Bh7 9. g4 Nfd7 10. h4 c5 11. g5 h5 12. Bh3 Bf5 13. Ng1 Bxh3 14. Nxh3 g6 15. Nf4 Bd6 16. Nxh5 gxh5 17. Qxh5 e5 18. Rg1 1-0 [Event "New York Open"] [Site "Manhattan"] [Date "2000.05.07"] [Round "4"] [White "Sulskis, Sarunas"] [Black "Bologan, Victor"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B06"] [WhiteElo "2499"] [BlackElo "2596"] [PlyCount "107"] [EventDate "2000.05.07"] 1. e4 g6 2. Nc3 c6 3. Bc4 Bg7 4. h4 e6 5. h5 d5 6. Bb3 Na6 7. d4 dxe4 8. Nxe4 Qxd4 9. Qe2 Nf6 10. h6 Bf8 11. Ng5 Be7 12. N1f3 Qd8 13. Be3 O-O 14. Rd1 Qc7 15. Bd4 Nd5 16. O-O b5 17. Bg7 Re8 18. c4 bxc4 19. Bxc4 Nc5 20. b4 Na4 21. Bxd5 exd5 22. Rfe1 Bf5 23. Nxh7 Kxh7 24. Qxe7 Qxe7 25. Rxe7 f6 26. Rf7 Kg8 27. Rxf6 Nc3 28. Ng5 Re7 29. Rd2 Rc8 30. Rxf5 Rxg7 31. Rf3 Ne4 32. Nxe4 dxe4 33. Rf6 Rb7 34. Rxg6+ Kh8 35. a3 c5 36. bxc5 Rxc5 37. Re6 Rb1+ 38. Kh2 Rh5+ 39. Kg3 Rg5+ 40. Kf4 Rxg2 41. Rd8+ Rg8 42. Rxg8+ Kxg8 43. Kxe4 Rb7 44. f4 Kh7 45. f5 Rc7 46. Kf4 Rb7 47. Kg5 Rc7 48. a4 Rb7 49. a5 Rc7 50. Rg6 Rd7 51. a6 Rc7 52. Rg7+ Rxg7+ 53. hxg7 Kxg7 54. f6+ 1-0 [Event "New York Open"] [Site "Manhattan"] [Date "2000.05.09"] [Round "7"] [White "Nataf, Igor"] [Black "Paragua, Mark"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B47"] [WhiteElo "2529"] [BlackElo "2368"] [PlyCount "33"] [EventDate "2000.05.09"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be2 Nf6 7. O-O Nc6 8. Kh1 Nxd4 9. Qxd4 Bc5 10. Qd3 h5 11. Bg5 Ng4 12. f4 b5 13. e5 Bb7 14. Bf3 Nh6 15. Bxb7 Qxb7 16. Ne4 Rc8 17. Nxc5 1-0 [Event "New York Open"] [Site "Manhattan"] [Date "2000.05.11"] [Round "9"] [White "Aravena, Peter"] [Black "Shapiro, Dan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E25"] [WhiteElo "2109"] [BlackElo "2287"] [PlyCount "101"] [EventDate "2000.05.11"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Qd3 Nc6 9. e4 Nde7 10. dxc5 Qa5 11. Be3 O-O 12. Qc2 Rd8 13. Be2 e5 14. Bc4 Nd4 15. Bxd4 exd4 16. Ne2 Be6 17. Bxe6 fxe6 18. Rd1 d3 19. Rxd3 Qxc5 20. Rxd8+ Rxd8 21. Qb3 Qe3 22. Qxe6+ Kf8 23. Qe5 Ng6 24. Qc7 Rd2 25. Qc8+ Kf7 26. Qxb7+ Ne7 27. Qb3+ Kf6 28. e5+ Kg5 29. f4+ Kh5 30. Qf7+ Kh6 31. Qe6+ g6 32. Qh3+ Qxh3 33. gxh3 Ra2 34. Kf2 Nd5 35. Kf3 Rxa3 36. Rc1 a5 37. Ke4 Ne7 38. Nd4 Ra2 39. Rc2 Ra1 40. c4 Re1+ 41. Re2 Rc1 42. Kd3 Rf1 43. Ne6 Nc6 44. c5 Rc1 45. Ke4 Nb4 46. Rd2 Na6 47. Kd5 a4 48. Rd4 Ra1 49. c6 a3 50. Ra4 Rd1+ 51. Kc4 1-0