By A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
GM Ahmed Adly of Egypt won the Sunway Sitges Online Open via blitz chess tiebreak on the chess.com server.
The event, which ended on April 27 and in my mind is the first open online Swiss tournament with standard time controls, attracted 224 players from all over the globe including Filipino IM John Marvin Miciano.
Because of the coronavirus disease 2019 crisis, more online tournaments with standard time controls are expected to be organized despite technical glitches that often rear heads during online competitions.
At any rate, Adly won the knockout tiebreaks that featured the top 16 players emerging from the 9-round Swiss qualifier. The Swiss qualifier saw 9 players tie for 1st to 9th places with 7 points apiece.
Miciano tallied 5½ points and finished in a tie for 33rd to 53rd slots. They and 7 players from the next score group advanced to the blitz tiebreak knockouts. Adly defeated GM Jesper Sondergaard Thybo in the Round 1 knockouts, ousted untitled Bobir Sattarov in the quarterfinals, booted out IM Christopher Woojin Yoo in the semifinals, and then slammed GM Liam Vrolijk in the finals.
Espinoza Palomino, W (2400)-Shevchenko, K (2592) [B90]
chess.com (6.3) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nf3 Be7 8.Bc4 0-0 9.0-0 Be6 10.Qe2 b5 11.Bb3 Qc7 12.Bg5 Nbd7 13.Rfd1 b4 14.Bxf6 Nxf6 15.Nd5 Nxd5 16.Bxd5 Bxd5 17.Rxd5 Rfc8 18.Rc1 Qb6 19.Qd3 Rc6 20.c4 bxc3 21.Rxc3 Rac8 22.Rxc6 Rxc6 23.Qd2 Rc4 24.Rd3 Qc6 25.Rb3 h6 26.h3 Qxe4 27.Qe3 Qb1+ 28.Kh2 Rc1 29.Rb4 Kh7 30.Qa7 f5 31.Qxe7 f4 32.Ng5+ hxg5 33.g3 f3 34.Rh4+ gxh4 35.Qxh4+ Kg6 36.Qg4+ Kf6 37.Qh4+ Ke6 38.Qg4+ Qf5 0-1
Bachmann, A (2599)-Das, S (2431) [A16]
chess.com (4.1) 2020
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.Nge2 c5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d3 a6 9.h3 Rb8 10.a4 Ne8 11.Be3 Nc7 12.d4 cxd4 13.Nxd4 Bd7 14.Nd5 Ne6 15.Nxe6 fxe6 16.Nb6 Be8 17.Rb1 e5 18.b4 Kh8 19.a5 Bf7 20.h4 Be6 21.h5 gxh5 22.Qxh5 Qe8 23.Qxe8 Rbxe8 24.Nd5 Rc8 25.Rfc1 Bxd5 26.cxd5 Nd4 27.Kf1 Bf6 28.Bh3 Rb8 29.Bd7 Kg7 30.Rc7 h6 31.Kg2 Bg5 32.Bxg5 hxg5 33.Bg4 b6 34.Rxe7+ Rf7 35.Rxf7+ Kxf7 36.Rc1 bxa5 37.bxa5 Rb7 38.Rc8 Nb3 39.Rc6 Ke7 40.Rxa6 Nc5 41.Ra8 Nxe4 42.a6 Rb2 43.a7 Rxf2+ 44.Kg1 Ra2 45.Rh8 Nf6 46.a8Q Rxa8 47.Rxa8 Nxg4 48.Ra7+ Kd8 49.Rg7 Nf6 50.Rxg5 Nxd5 51.Kf2 Ke7 52.Kf3 Kf6 53.Rg8 Kf7 54.Rd8 Ke7 55.Rh8 Kf7 56.Ke4 Ne7 57.Rh6 Ng6 58.Kf5 Ne7+ 59.Kg5 d5 60.Rf6+ Ke8 61.Re6 Kd7 62.Rxe5 Kd6 63.Re1 d4 64.g4 Nd5 65.Kh6 d3 66.g5 Ne7 67.Rd1 1-0
Adly, A (2615)-Vrolijk, L (2502) [E06]
chess.com (8.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Bg5 Bc6 10.Qxc4 Nbd7 11.Nc3 h6 12.Bxf6 Nxf6 13.b4 Bd5 14.Nxd5 exd5 15.Qb3 c6 16.e3 Bd6 17.Rfc1 Re8 18.Ne1 h5 19.Nd3 h4 20.b5 axb5 21.axb5 Rxa1 22.Rxa1 hxg3 23.hxg3 Ne4 24.bxc6 bxc6 25.Qc2 Qc8 26.Rc1 Qe6 27.Qxc6 Nxg3 28.Bxd5 Qe7 29.Rb1 Nf5 30.Rb7 Qg5+ 31.Kf1 Re7 32.Rxe7 Bxe7 33.Qe8+ Kh7 34.Qxf7 Qg4 35.Ne5 1-0
Thybo, JS (2590)-Miciano, JM (2337) [A88]
chess.com (5.10) 2020
1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.0-0 0-0 6.c4 d6 7.Nc3 c6 8.b3 Qc7 9.Ba3 Rd8 10.Qc2 Na6 11.Rac1 Qa5 12.Bb2 e5 13.dxe5 dxe5 14.Rcd1 e4 15.Rxd8+ Qxd8 16.Rd1 Qe7 17.Nd4 Bd7 18.f3 Re8 19.Qc1 exf3 20.exf3 Qe3+ 21.Qxe3 Rxe3 22.Kf2 Re8 23.Ba3 Bf8 24.Bxf8 Kxf8 25.Bf1 Nc7 26.b4 Be6 27.Na4 Bc8 28.Nc5 Nd7 29.Nxd7+ Bxd7 30.Nb5 cxb5 31.Rxd7 Re7 32.Rd8+ Re8 33.Rxe8+ Kxe8 34.cxb5 Ke7 35.Bc4 Ne6 36.Ke3 b6 37.g4 h6 38.h3 Kf6 39.f4 Ke7 40.Be2 Kd6 41.Bc4 Ke7 42.Bd3 Kf6 43.a3 Nc7 44.Bc4 Ne6 45.a4 Ke7 46.Bd3 Kf6 47.Bc2 Ng7 48.Kd4 Ne6+ 49.Kd5 Nxf4+ 50.Kc6 Nxh3 51.gxf5 g5 52.a5 Nf2 53.Bb3 Kxf5 54.Kb7 g4 55.Kxa7 g3 56.axb6 g2 57.b7 g1Q 58.b8Q Ne4+ 59.b6 Qd4 60.Qc8+ Kg5 61.Qg8+ Kf4 62.Qc4 Qa1+ 63.Ba2 Qg1 64.Qf7+ Ke5 65.Qe6+ Kf4 66.Qxh6+ Ke5 67.Qe6+ Kf4 68.Bd5 Qa1+ 69.Kb8 Nf6 70.b7 Kg5 71.Kc8 Qc3+ 72.Bc6 1-0
Vrolijk, L (2502)-Adly, A (2615) [E11]
Sunway Sitges Online KO chess.com INT (4.2), 28.04.2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 0-0 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 d6 7.Be2 Nfd7 8.b4 e5 9.d5 a5 10.Bb2 c6 11.0-0 g6 12.Bc3 f5 13.Bd3 axb4 14.axb4 Rxa1 15.Qxa1 cxd5 16.cxd5 Nf6 17.Qa7 fxe4 18.Nxe4 Nxe4 19.Bxe4 Nd7 20.Bd2 Qb6 21.Qxb6 Nxb6 22.Rc1 Bf5 23.Bxf5 gxf5 24.Rc7 Nxd5 25.Rxb7 f4 26.g3 fxg3 27.Kg2 gxf2 28.Bh6 Rxf3 29.Rb8+ Kf7 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.c7!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Sd5/f5/g4/g2/d1/f1 2.a3#; 1…Sc4 2.Sbd5#; 1…Sc2 2.c6#./PN
