Yermolinsky wins 1999 US Open Chess Championship in Reno, Nevada

by Sam Sloan

After a blitz playoff, Alex Yermolinsky has won the 1999 US Open Chess Championship, which was held in Reno, Nevada from August 10-20, 1999.

The tournament was organized and directed by Jerome V. Weikel and his family and was organized by Barbara Woodward and the Sands Regency Hotel in Reno. A total of $63,300 in prizes were paid.
Grandmaster Alex Yermolinsky


This was the strongest US Open ever, with 26 grandmasters playing, many of whom had been eliminated in the early rounds of the World Chess Championship being held concurrently in Las Vegas.

The grandmasters in the tournament were Yermolinsky, Golden, Rozenthalis, Shabalov, Schwartzman, Ehlvest, Wojtkiewicz, Miles, Benjamin, Serper, Barua, Blatny, Macieja, Shulman, Arencibia, Gufeld, Lein, Aleksandrov, Adianto, Kudrin, Browne, Andres Rodriguez, Bisguier, Fedorowicz, Hoffman and Denker.

At the end of the 9 regular rounds of play, Grandmasters Yermolinsky, Golden, Rozenthalis, Shabalov, Schwartzman and Michael Mulyar were tied for first with 7.5 - 1.5. The playoff was held the next day but Schwartzman and Rozenthalis left before the playoff could be held.

In the playoff, Yermolinsky defeated Mulyar by 1.5 -0.5 and Golden tied with Shabalov with 1-1. Two more games were played between Golden and Shabalov, with Golden winning by 2-0. Yermolinsky then defeated Golden in the final playoff.

All six winners split the top prize money, with each receiving $3,733.33.

Sixteen players tied for the 7-15 prizes with 7-2 each. They were: Ehlvest, Wojtkiewicz, Miles, Benjamin, Serper, Barua, Blatny, Macieja, Shulman, Arencibia, Kreiman, Gufeld, Donaldson, Wilhelmi, Lein and Ippolito.

The prize for 2300-2399 was split by John Curdo, Axel Stephan and Robert Rowley with 6.5 - 2.5 each.

The sensation of the tournament was Hikaru Nakamura, who won the $2000 prize for best player rated 2200-2299. Nakamura won with a brilliant sacrificial attack against Grandmaster Alejandro Hoffman in the last round. Nakamura drew grandmaster Aleksandrov in an earlier round. Nakamura's only losses were to grandmasters Wojtkiewicz and Rodriguez.

Complete results have been posted at: http://www.mb3.net/100usopen/100usopenstandingh.html

As a final touch, all $63,300 of the prize fund was paid in cash green dollars by the casino sponsor at the cashier's window. No checks here! Has this ever happened at a chess tournament before?

The games were of exceptionally high quality and many will no doubt wind up in Chess Informant and other leading chess publications. Here are a few of the many outstanding games from this event:


[Event "U.S. Open 99"]
[Site "Reno USA"]
[Date "1999.08.19"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Macieja,Bartlomiej"]
[Black "Rozentalis,Eduard"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Opening "Petrov: modern attack, Symmetrical variation"]
[ECO "C43"]
[NIC "RG.02"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5 Nd7 6. Nxd7 Bxd7 7. O-O Bd6
8. c4 c6 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Qh5 O-O 11. Qxd5 Bc6 12. Qh5 g6 13. Qh3 Ng5 14.
Bxg5 Qxg5 15. Nc3 Rae8 16. Rad1 Re7 17. d5 Bd7 18. Ne4 Rxe4 19. Qxd7 Rd8 20.
Qxb7 Bxh2+ 21. Kxh2 Rh4+ 22. Kg1 Qh6 23. g3 Rh1+ 24. Kg2 Rh2+ 25. Kf3 Re8
26. Qd7 Qh5+ 27. Qg4 Rxf2+ 28. Rxf2 Qxd5+ 29. Kf4 Qd4+ 30. Kg5 Qxf2 31. Qf4
Qc5+ 32. Bf5 Qe7+ 33. Kh6 f6 34. Bxg6 Qg7+ {White resigns} 0-1

[Event "U.S. Open"]
[Site "Reno USA"]
[Date "1999.08.17"]
[Round "7"]
[White "GM Walter Browne"]
[Black "GM Anthony Miles"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A40"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2669"]
[PlyCount "84"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6 3. e4 Bb7 4. Bd3 f5 5. exf5 5... Bxg2 {} 6. Qh5+ g6 7. fxg6
Bg7 8. gxh7+ Kf8 9. Bg5 Nf6 10. Qh4 Bxh1 11. Ne2 Qe7 12. Nf4 Qf7 13. Ng6+ Ke8
14. Ne5 Qf8 15. Nc3 d6 16. O-O-O dxe5 17. dxe5 Ke7 18. Rxh1 Nbd7 19. Re1 Nxe5
20. Rxe5 Kd7 21. Qh3 Re8 22. Bg6 Re7 23. Kb1 Kc8 24. Rxe6 Kb8 25. Bxf6 Bxf6 26.
Nd5 Rxe6 27. Qxe6 Bg7 28. f4 Qc5 29. Qg8+ Qf8 30. Ne7 {} 30... c6 31. Qe6 Qxf4
32. Nxc6+ Kb7 33. Qe7+ Qc7 34. Be4 Qxe7 35. Nxe7+ Kc7 36. Ng8 Kd7 37. Kc2 a5
38. a3 Ke8 39. Bg6+ Kf8 40. b4 axb4 41. axb4 Rxg8 42. hxg8=Q+ Kxg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "U.S. Open 99"]
[Site "Reno USA"]
[Date "1999.08.20"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Hoffman,Alejandro"]
[Black "Nakamura,Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E61"]
[PlyCount "70"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Bf4 d6 6. h3 c5 7. d5 a6 8. a4 Nh5
9. Bd2 f5 10. e3 e5 11. dxe6 Bxe6 12. Be2 Nc6 13. O-O f4 14. Nd5 Bh6 15. Ra3
Bxd5 16. cxd5 Ne7 17. e4 Nf6 18. Qb1 g5 19. a5 Ng6 20. b4 cxb4 21. Bxb4 Qe7 22.
Bd3 g4 23. Nd4 Nh4 24. hxg4 Nxg4 25. Ne6 Nf3+ 26. gxf3 Qh4 27. fxg4 Qxg4+ 28.
Kh2 Qh4+ 29. Kg1 Qg4+ 30. Kh2 Qh4+ 31. Kg1 Kf7 32. Bc3 b5 33. Bg7 Qg4+ 34. Kh2
f3 35. Rg1 Qh4# 0-1

[Event "U.S. Open"]
[Site "Reno USA"]
[Date "1999.08.17"]
[Round "7"]
[White "GM Eduard Gufeld"]
[Black "GM John Fedorowicz"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2530"]
[BlackElo "2634"]
[PlyCount "109"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bc4 c6 5. Bb3 Nf6 6. Qe2 e5 7. dxe5 dxe5 8.
Nbd2 Qe7 9. Nc4 Nbd7 10. O-O O-O 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bh4 b5 13. Na5 Qc5 14. Qe3 Qxe3
15. fxe3 g5 16. Be1 c5 17. a4 c4 18. Ba2 a6 19. b3 cxb3 20. cxb3 Nxe4 21. Rc1
Ndf6 22. b4 Be6 23. Bxe6 fxe6 24. axb5 axb5 25. Nd2 Nxd2 26. Bxd2 Ne4 27. Rxf8+
Rxf8 28. Be1 Nd6 29. Rc6 Nf5 30. Bf2 Rd8 31. g4 Rd1+ 32. Kg2 Nd6 33. Bg3 Rd2+
34. Kf1 Rd5 35. Ke2 Bf8 36. Nb3 Kf7 37. Nc5 Nc4 38. Be1 Be7 39. Rc7 Rd8 40. Rb7
Ra8 41. Rxb5 Ra3 42. e4 Re3+ 43. Kf2 Rh3 44. Kg2 Ra3 45. Bf2 Ra2 46. h3 Rb2 47.
Rb7 Kf6 48. Nd7+ Kg6 49. Rc7 Nd6 50. Nxe5+ Kg7 51. Nd3 Rd2 52. Rxe7+ Kf6 53.
Rd7 Nxe4 54. Kf3 Nxf2 55. Ke3  1-0

[Event "U.S. Open"]
[Site "Reno USA"]
[Date "1999.08.15"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Sloan, Sam"]
[Black "Cavallo, Michael"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[PlyCount "68"]

1. g4 d5 2. Bg2 c6 3. h3 e5 4. e4 dxe4 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. g5 Nd5 7. Nxe4 Be7 8. d3
O-O 9. Nf3 f5 10. gxf6 Bxf6 11. Bg5 Bxg5 12. Nfxg5 Nf4 13. Rg1 h6 14. Nf3 Nxg2+
15. Rxg2 Bxh3 16. Rg3 Bf5 17. Nxe5 Qa5+ 18. Qd2 Qxe5 19. O-O-O Bxe4 20. Rdg1
Bd5 21. c4 Be6 22. Qxh6 Qf4+ 23. Qxf4 Rxf4 24. Rxg7+ Kf8 25. Rxb7 Rxf2 26. Rgg7
Nd7 27. Rh7 Nc5 28. Rbc7 Nxd3+ 29. Kb1 Rxb2+ 30. Ka1 Rab8 31. Rh1 Bxc4 32. Rxa7
R2b7 33. Ra4 Nb4 34. Rc1 Bd3 0-1


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