The quarterfinal matches of the Chessable Masters Tournament have yet to be played as we write this, so we’ll report meantime the rare online classical chess event played on the chess.com server in late May that drew a surprisingly strong field despite the small prize fund offered.
The Pacific Northwest Chess Center Masters attracted 108 players, including many super-GMs, even if the organizers only offered a $6,000 prize fund.
The 9-round Swiss competition, which had a time format of 60 minutes plus a 5-second increment per move, was won by Russian GM Vladimir Fedoseev who tallied 7 points, half-a-point behind runner-up GM Hrant Melkumyan.
Five GMs – Jeffery Xiong, Grigory Oparin, Samuel Sevian, Vitaliy Bernardskiy, and Daniil Lintchevski – scored 6½ point apiece and shared 3rd to 7th places.
Top seed Nikita Vitiugov led seven others that included super-GMs Gadir Guseinov, Yuriy Kuzubov, Borki Predojovic, and Daniel Fridman in a share of 8th to 15th slots.
Vitiugov, N (2722)-Fedoseev, V (2678) [B51]
chess.com (9.1) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.0-0 a6 5.Bd3 Ngf6 6.c3 e6 7.a4 b6 8.Bc2 Bb7 9.Re1 c4 10.Na3 Qc7 11.Bb1 Be7 12.Ba2 Bxe4 13.Bxc4 0-0 14.Bf1 Bb7 15.d4 e5 16.Nc2 Rfe8 17.Ne3 e4 18.Ng5 h6 19.Nh3 d5 20.Nf5 Bf8 21.Bf4 Qc6 22.Rc1 b5 23.axb5 axb5 24.Qb3 Ra5 25.Ne3 Nb6 26.Be5 Nfd7 27.Bg3 Nc4 28.Nf4 Nxe3 29.Rxe3 Nb6 30.Ree1 Nc4 31.Be2 Rea8 32.Bxc4 bxc4 33.Qd1 Rb5 34.Rc2 Qb6 35.Qd2 Bc8 36.h4 Bf5 37.Qe3 Be7 38.Rd2 g5 39.hxg5 hxg5 40.Ne2 Ra2 41.f3 Rbxb2 42.Rxb2 Qxb2 43.Bf2 Bg6 44.f4 Qd2 45.g4 f6 46.fxg5 Qxe3 47.Bxe3 fxg5 48.Kf1 Bf7 49.Rb1 Be6 50.Rb8+ Kf7 51.Rb7 Ke8 52.Rb8+ Kd7 53.Rb7+ Kd8 54.Rb5 Kc7 55.Ng3 Kc6 56.Rb8 Bd6 0-1
Melkumyan, H (2663)-Guseinov, G (2665) [E83]
chess.com (9.3) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Nge2 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.Qd2 Bd7 9.Ng3 e5 10.d5 Nd4 11.Nge2 Nxe2 12.Bxe2 Nh5 13.0-0-0 Nf4 14.Bf1 f5 15.Kb1 b6 16.g3 Nh5 17.Be2 Qe7 18.Rhg1 Rae8 19.a3 a5 20.Ka2 Kh8 21.Rde1 Qf7 22.Bd1 Re7 23.exf5 gxf5 24.f4 Nf6 25.fxe5 dxe5 26.Rgf1 Ne8 27.Bg5 Bf6 28.Bxf6+ Qxf6 29.g4 Nd6 30.Ne4 Nxe4 31.Rxe4 f4 32.Qc3 Qg7 33.Bf3 a4 34.Rfe1 Rfe8 35.h3 h6 36.Rd1 Qf6 37.Ka1 Kg8 38.Rde1 Kf8 39.Bd1 Kg7 40.Rg1 Kf8 41.Rf1 Rf7 42.Bf3 Kg8 43.Rh1 Rg7 44.Rhe1 Rge7 45.R1e2 Kg7 46.Qe1 c6 47.h4 cxd5 48.cxd5 Qd6 49.g5 Bf5 50.Rxa4 Bd3 51.Rg2 e4 52.Bh5 f3 53.gxh6+ Kxh6 54.Qe3+ Kh7 55.Bxf3 Qh6 56.Rg5 Bc2 57.Rh5 Qxh5 58.Bxh5 Bxa4 59.d6 Re5 60.Bxe8 Bxe8 1-0
Xiong, J (2709)-Aditya, M (2438) [B51]
chess.com (8.3) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4 cxd4 5.Qxd4 a6 6.Bxd7+ Bxd7 7.Nc3 e5 8.Qd3 h6 9.Nd2 Nf6 10.Nc4 Be6 11.Ne3 Rc8 12.0-0 Qc7 13.a4 Be7 14.Rd1 0-0 15.a5 Rfd8 16.Bd2 Bc4 17.Nxc4 Qxc4 18.Be3 Qxd3 19.Rxd3 Rc4 20.f3 Rdc8 21.Kf1 Kf8 22.Ke2 Ke8 23.Kd1 Kd7 24.Ra3 Bd8 25.Rb3 Bxa5 26.Rxb7+ R8c7 27.Rxc7+ Kxc7 28.Nd5+ Nxd5 29.Rxd5 Bb4 30.g4 Bc5 31.Bd2 Ra4 32.Bc3 Ra1+ 33.Ke2 Rc1 34.Bxe5 dxe5 35.Rxc5+ Kb6 36.Kd2 Rh1 37.Rxe5 Rxh2+ 38.Kd3 Rf2 39.Rf5 f6 40.b4 Kb7 41.c3 Kb6 42.Ke3 Rc2 43.Kd4 Rd2+ 44.Kc4 Kc6 45.Rc5+ Kb6 46.Rd5 Rf2 47.Rd7 Rxf3 48.Rxg7 Kc6 49.Rg6 Rf4 50.Kd4 Kb5 51.Rxh6 Rf1 52.Rh5+ Kb6 53.Rf5 Rd1+ 54.Ke3 Rd6 55.e5 fxe5 56.g5 Rd1 57.Rxe5 Rc1 58.Kd4 Rg1 59.Kd5 Rg3 60.c4 Rg4 61.Re6+ Kc7 62.g6 Kb7 63.Kc5 Rg5+ 64.Kd6 Rg4 65.Ke7 Rxc4 66.g7 Rg4 67.Kf7 1-0
Bosiocic, M (2625)-Sevian, S (2660) [D00]
chess.com (6.3) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.e3 c5 4.Nc3 e6 5.Nb5 Na6 6.h3 Be7 7.Nf3 0-0 8.c3 Bd7 9.a4 Qb6 10.Be2 Bxb5 11.axb5 Nc7 12.Qa4 c4 13.Bxc7 Qxc7 14.Nd2 e5 15.0-0 exd4 16.exd4 Qf4 17.Rfd1 Bd6 18.Nf1 Ne4 19.Bf3 Ng5 20.Bxd5 Qf5 21.Qxc4 Rac8 22.Qb3 Qg6 23.c4 Kh8 24.Rxa7 f5 25.Rxb7 f4 26.Qd3 Qh5 27.Bf3 Nxf3+ 28.Qxf3 Qxf3 29.gxf3 Rxc4 30.b3 Rb4 31.Rd3 Rb8 32.Rxb8+ Bxb8 33.Rc3 1-0
Postny, E (2600)-Vitiugov, N (2722) [E92]
chess.com (5.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.d5 a5 8.h3 Na6 9.Bg5 Qe8 10.Nd2 Nd7 11.a3 f6 12.Be3 f5 13.f3 Qd8 14.0-0 Nf6 15.b4 Nh5 16.c5 Nf4 17.Kh2 Qg5 18.Rg1 Qh5 19.Bf1 Bh6 20.Nc4 Bd7 21.g3 Nxh3 22.Bxh3 Bxe3 23.Nxe3 fxe4 24.Ng4 exf3 25.Nf2 axb4 26.axb4 Bxh3 27.Nxh3 Qg4 28.cxd6 cxd6 29.Re1 Qxb4 30.Ne4 Nc5 31.Qd2 Qxd2+ 32.Nxd2 f2 33.Rf1 Rxa1 34.Rxa1 Nb3 35.Nxb3 f1Q 36.Rxf1 Rxf1 37.Na5 Rb1 38.Nc4 b5 39.Nxd6 b4 40.Nc4 Rc1 41.Nxe5 b3 42.Nd3 b2 43.Nxb2 Rc2+ 44.Kg1 Rxb2 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.f5!. Black’s futile options are 1…Rxe4 2.Qg7#; 1…Sd5/e2/d1 2.Sb5#; 1…Sxe4 2.Qa1#./PN
