Chicago Open 2008

Although I didn't play I stopped by during the 6th round. This year's edition attracted 702 players. Attenedance since 2001:

Final results here.

Notable performances by WI players:

Under 2300
Alexander Betaneli tied for 1-2 with 6 points (worth $4000)
Alexander Velikanov, 10 years old and rated 2028 played up to finish with 3 points, beating 2 masters.

Under 1900
Alex Gianos-Steinberg clear first with 6.5 (worth $5000)
Alex has played in only 7 tournaments 6 of them Chicago Opens. His rating jump: 1786 => 1927. He also won the under 1600 section in 2005 with an identical score.

Under 1500
David Jin clear first with 6.5 (worth $5000)
*Correction - Jin was limited to $1500 due to rating over 1530 in past year
Under 700
Edward Larkin clear second with 5.5

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I had a chance to meet Chessloser and he gave me a couple of his "HARDCORE PAWNOGRAPHY" stickers. (Click here for his interview with Hikaru Nakamura)

Chessloser anlyzing after round 6

Back

After starting the year on a high note (highest published rating), I am back on my floor after a dismal 0-7 performance in my last event. I took two weeks completely off of any chess acivity.

I will not be able to go to the Chicago Open this year.

On a personal note, my daughter was born on May 16th

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

I managed to lose seven games in a row. Lack of chess skill had a lot to do with it, but there was a big phsychological barrier that I was not able to navigate around once I lost a few early games.

In todays game I got a great game after my oponent misplayed the opening. I am Black in the following position. There is absolutely no reason not to play ...e5 here. In fact playing ...e5 was my plan all along, but for some reason I decided to delay it. Then lost to a simple tactic.

Click here to replay game

Starting tomorrow I am going to take a 2 week break completely away from chess. I am going to concentrate on physical fitness and practicing my violin.

Waukesha Chess Club Championship

There are a record 42 players in 5 sections.

Bill & Sasha are joint champions. Congratulations!

Section 1

2200 WILLIAMS, W
2100 HAYES, R
2027 VELIKANOV, A
1961 ROYCHOUDHURY, S
1882 VELIKANOV, P
1858 COONS, J
1839 WIJETUNGE, I
1784 GARVIN, S

6.0 WILLIAMS ,VELIKANOV,A
5.0 ROYCHOUDHURY
4.0 VELIKANOV,P
3.5 COONS
2.0 HAYES
1.5 GARVIN
0.0 WIJETUNGE

Week 1 (March 19)
1-0 ROYCHOUDHURY vs VELIKANOV,P
0-1 COONS vs VELIKANOV,A
1/2 GARVIN vs HAYES
0-1 WIJETUNGE vs WILLIAMS

Week 2 (March 26)
PPD VELIKANOV,P vs WIJETUNGE
1-0 WILLIAMS vs GARVIN
1/2 HAYES vs COONS
PPD VELIKANOV,A vs ROYCHOUDHURY

Week 3 (April 2)
1-0 VELIKANOV,A vs VELIKANOV,P
1-0 ROYCHOUDHURY vs HAYES
1-0 COONS vs WILLIAMS
1-0 GARVIN vs WIJETUNGE

Week 4 (April 9)
1-0 VELIKANOV,P vs GARVIN
0-1 WIJETUNGE vs COONS
1-0 WILLIAMS vs ROYCHOUDHURY
0-1 HAYES vs VELIKANOV,A

Week 5 (April 16)
0-1 HAYES vs VELIKANOV,P
0-1 VELIKANOV,A vs WILLIAMS
1-0 ROYCHOUDHURY vs WIJETUNGE
1-0 COONS vs GARVIN

Week 6 (April 23)
1-0 VELIKANOV,P vs COONS
0-1 GARVIN vs ROYCHOUDHURY
0-1 WIJETUNGE vs VELIKANOV,A
1-0 WILLIAMS vs HAYES

Week 7 (April 30)
1-0 WILLIAMS vs VELIKANOV,P
1-0 HAYES vs WIJETUNGE
1-0 VELIKANOV,A vs GARVIN
1-0 ROYCHOUDHURY,S s COONS

Make up games - May 7
1-0 VELIKANOV,P vs WIJETUNGE
1-0 VELIKANOV,A vs ROYCHOUDHURY