In a surprising twist of events, Gms Jeffery Xiong and M. Amin Tabatabaei emerged as the champions of their respective groups in the PNWCC Super Invitational which ended on July 17 on the chess.com server.
Xiong defeated long-time leader GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the final to claim the champion’s belt in the Summer of Seattle (SOS) group while Tabatabaei thrashed erstwhile leader GM Awonder Liang in the penultimate round to take the Rising Stars group title.
For a while, Mamedyarov and Liang were poised to win their respective groups but heady plays by both Xiong and Tabatabaei changed all that.
All told, the Category 19 (average Elo: 2715) Summer of Seattle (SOS) and the Category 16 (average Elo: 2644) events turned out to be successful classical chess online events, and we expect to see more classical, not blitz or rapid, tournaments on the usual chess servers soon. It is, however, sad that the FIDE have decided to conduct the 2020 Chess Olympiad online between July 22 and August 30 this year with a rapid time format of 15 minutes plus 5 seconds increment per move. Well, better rapid than none.
SOS final standings: 1. Xiong, 4; 2. Mamedyarov, 3½; 3. Fedoseev, 3; 4. Le Quang Liem, 1½.
Rising Stars final standings: 1. Tabatabaei, 3½; 2-3. Maghsoodloo, Liang, 3; 4. Esipenko, 2½,
Mamedyarov, S (2764)-Xiong, J (2709) [A57]
chess.com (6.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.Nd2 bxc4 5.e4 e6 6.dxe6 dxe6 7.Bxc4 Bb7 8.Ngf3 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Qe2 Nc6 11.Rd1 Qc7 12.b3 Nd4 13.Nxd4 cxd4 14.Bb2 e5 15.Rac1 Bb4 16.Bd3 Qe7 17.Nc4 a5 18.a3 Bc5 19.Qe1 Ba6 20.Nxa5 Bxd3 21.Rxd3 Bxa3 22.Nc6 Qe6 23.Bxa3 Rxa3 24.Qb4 Rfa8 25.f3 h6 26.Qb5 Nd7 27.h3 Ra2 28.Nb4 Rb2 29.Qd5 Ra3 30.Rc7 Nf6 31.Qd8+ Kh7 32.Kh2 Nh5 33.Nc2 Nf4 34.Rd2 Raxb3 35.Re7 Qf6 36.Qd7 d3 37.Rxf7 Qg6 0-1
Fedoseev, V (2678)-Le, Quang Liem (2709) [E12]
chess.com (6.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Bb7 5.Bf4 Bd6 6.Bg3 0-0 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Nxe4 Bxe4 9.e3 f5 10.Bd3 Qf6 11.0-0 Bxg3 12.hxg3 Bxd3 13.Qxd3 Nc6 14.b4 a5 15.b5 Ne7 16.c5 d6 17.Rac1 dxc5 18.dxc5 Rfd8 19.Qb3 a4 20.Qc4 Rd5 21.cxb6 cxb6 22.Nd4 Qe5 23.Qc7 Qxc7 24.Rxc7 e5 25.Ne6 Re8 26.Rb7 Rd6 27.Ng5 e4 28.Rc1 Nd5 29.Rc6 Rg6 30.Nf7 Rf6 31.Rxf6 Nxf6 32.Nd6 Rd8 33.Rxb6 g6 34.Rc6 Kf8 35.b6 Ke7 36.b7 Rb8 37.Nc8+ Kf7 38.Rc7+ Ke6 39.Na7 Nd5 40.Rxh7 Kd6 41.Rg7 Kc5 42.Nc8 g5 43.Kf1 Kc6 44.Ke1 Rxb7 45.Rxb7 Kxb7 46.Nd6+ Kc6 47.Nxf5 Nc3 48.f4 exf3 49.gxf3 Kc5 50.Nd4 Kc4 51.Ne6 Nb5 52.Nxg5 Nxa3 53.Ne4 Nc2+ 54.Kd2 Nxe3 55.Kc1 ½-½
Liang, A (2592)-Tabatabaei, M (2629) [A45]
chess.com (5.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 g6 3.Nd2 Bg7 4.e4 c5 5.d5 Nh5 6.Be3 Bxb2 7.Be2 Nf6 8.Rb1 Bc3 9.Rb3 Bxd2+ 10.Bxd2 Nxe4 11.Bh6 Qa5+ 12.Kf1 Qxa2 13.Re3 Nd6 14.g4 Kd8 15.Nh3 b6 16.Nf4 Ba6 17.Kg2 Bxe2 18.Qxe2 Qc4 19.Qf3 Na6 20.Nd3 f5 21.h3 Nc7 22.Nf4 Ncb5 23.Rhe1 Nd4 24.Qg3 Nxc2 25.Rxe7 Nxe1+ 26.Rxe1 Kc8 27.Re7 Re8 28.Rxh7 Re1 0-1
Esipenko, A (2682)-Liang, A (2592) [E97]
chess.com (6.1) 2020
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.e4 d6 4.d4 Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Nh5 10.Re1 f5 11.Ng5 Nf6 12.Bf3 c6 13.b5 h6 14.Ne6 Bxe6 15.dxe6 fxe4 16.Nxe4 Nxe4 17.Bxe4 d5 18.cxd5 cxd5 19.Ba3 dxe4 20.Qxd8 Rfxd8 21.Bxe7 Re8 22.Bc5 Rxe6 23.Rxe4 a6 24.bxa6 Rexa6 25.a3 Bf8 26.Bxf8 Kxf8 27.Re3 b5 28.Rb3 b4 29.Rxb4 Rxa3 30.Rxa3 Rxa3 31.g3 ½-½
Tabatabaei, M (2629)-Maghsoodloo, P (2676) [C67]
chess.com (6.2) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 0-0 9.d4 Bf6 10.Re1 Re8 11.c3 Rxe1 12.Qxe1 Ne8 13.Bf4 d5 14.Bd3 g6 15.Nd2 Ng7 16.Nf3 Bf5 17.Bxf5 Nxf5 18.Qe2 c6 19.Re1 Ng7 20.Be5 Ne6 21.Bxf6 Qxf6 22.Ne5 Re8 23.Ng4 Qd8 24.Qe5 Ng7 25.Qxe8+ Nxe8 26.Rxe8+ Qxe8 27.Nf6+ Kf8 28.Nxe8 Kxe8 29.f4 f5 30.Kf2 Kf7 31.Ke3 Ke6 32.b4 b5 33.Kf3 Kf6 34.Ke3 a6 35.a3 Ke6 36.Kf3 Kf6 37.Ke3 Ke6 38.Kf3 Kf6 39.Ke3 ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rd2! Black’s futile options are 1…d4 2.Qxd4#; 1…Bxf4 2.Qe7#; 1…Ba2/d3 2.S(x)d3#; 1…Be4 2.Qb8#; 1…Bxg6+ 2.Sxg6#./PN
