THE Charlotte Chess Center & Scholastic Academy in North Carolina hosted the 2021 CCCSA Spring GM Chess Tournament which ended in its facilities on March 21 in a victory on tiebreak for Russian GM Vladimir Belous (2521).Belous has tied for 1st to 2nd places with IM Abhimanyu Mishra (2370), but surprisingly took the champion’s trophy despite losing to the latter in Round 3.
Besides Belous and Mishra, the other participants are GMs Peter Prohaszka (2581) and GM Tanguy Ringoir (2474), IMs Craig Hilby (2454), Aleksandr Ostrovskiy (2431), Carissa Yip (2423), Kevin Wang (2402), Sahil Sinha (2353), and FM Gauri Shankar (2353). The event was a single round robin, Category 8 (average Elo: 2436) classical competition with a 90-minutes base reflection time and a 30-seconds increment per move.
The final standings: 1-2. Belous, Mishra, 5½; 3-6. Prohaszka, Ringoir, Yip, Shankar, 5; 7. Sinha, 4½;
8-9. Hilby, Ostrovskiy, 3½; 10. Wang 2½.
Mishra, A (2370)-Belous, V (2521) [A58]
Charlotte (3.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 g6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.e4 0-0 8.Bc4 Qa5 9.a7 Rxa7 10.Bd2 Ba6 11.b3 Bxc4 12.bxc4 Qb4 13.e5 Nh5 14.Nb5 Qxc4 15.Nxa7 Bxe5 16.Rc1 Qxa2 17.Nf3 Bb2 18.Rc2 Qb3 19.Qb1 1-0
Yip, Carissa (2423)-Prohaszka, P (2581) [B12]
Charlotte (4.3) 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Ne7 6.0-0 Nd7 7.Nbd2 Nc8 8.Nb3 Be7 9.c3 0-0 10.Ne1 f6 11.f4 Ncb6 12.Nd3 Be4 13.Nf2 Bg6 14.Bg4 f5 15.Be2 c5 16.dxc5 Nxc5 17.Nd4 Qc8 18.b3 Ne4 19.Bb2 Bc5 20.Rc1 Rd8 21.Kh1 Qd7 22.Nd3 Bxd4 23.cxd4 Rac8 24.Nc5 Qf7 25.a4 Na8 26.Ba3 a6 27.Qe1 Rc7 28.Qb4 h6 29.Kg1 Kh7 30.Rfd1 Nxc5 31.Rxc5 Rxc5 32.Qxc5 Bh5 33.Bxh5 Qxh5 34.Rf1 Re8 35.Qc2 Qg4 36.h3 Qg3 37.Rf3 Qe1+ 38.Kh2 Qe4 39.Qc5 Qe2 40.Qa7 Qd2 41.Qxb7 Qxd4 42.Qf7 Rg8 43.Bf8 Nc7 44.Rg3 Qxf4 45.Qg6+ 1-0
Ostrovskiy, A (2431)-Yip, Carissa (2423) [C84]
Charlotte (7.5) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 d6 7.c4 Bd7 8.Be3 0-0 9.h3 Re8 10.Nc3 Bf8 11.Rc1 g6 12.Nd5 Bg7 13.Bg5 Nb8 14.Bxd7 Nbxd7 15.Re1 c6 16.Nc3 Nc5 17.Be3 Ne6 18.d4 exd4 19.Nxd4 Nc5 20.f3 Nfd7 21.b4 Ne6 22.Nxe6 Rxe6 23.Ne2 Qc7 24.Qd2 Rd8 25.Red1 Ne5 26.a4 Rde8 27.Nd4 R6e7 28.Nb3 Qc8 29.Bg5 f6 30.Bf4 f5 31.exf5 Qxf5 32.Nd4 Qf7 33.Bg5 Nxc4 34.Qc3 Ne3 35.Rd3 Nd5 36.Qd2 Re5 37.b5 Rxg5 38.Qxg5 Nf4 39.Rcd1 Nxd3 40.Rxd3 Qc4 41.Qd2 Qxa4 42.bxc6 bxc6 43.Ne2 Qa1+ 44.Kh2 Qe5+ 45.Ng3 d5 46.f4 Qb2 47.Qd1 a5 48.Rb3 Qd4 49.Qg4 a4 50.Rb7 a3 51.Qd7 Ra8 52.Qxc6 a2 53.Rxg7+ Kxg7 54.Qb7+ Kh6 55.Qxa8 a1Q 56.Qf8+ Qg7 57.Qd8 Qgf6 58.Qxd5 Qxf4 59.Qd8 Qae5 60.Qd3 Qfe3 61.Qxg6+ 0-1
Belous, V (2521)-Ostrovskiy, A (2431) [D15]
Charlotte (8.1) 2021
1.c4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.g3 Nbd7 6.Bg2 g6 7.a4 a5 8.0-0 Bg7 9.e4 0-0 10.Qe2 Nb6 11.h3 Nfd7 12.Bg5 Re8 13.Rad1 Qc7 14.g4 e5 15.d5 Nc5 16.Nd2 Ncxa4 17.Nxa4 Nxa4 18.Nxc4 cxd5 19.exd5 e4 20.d6 Qc6 21.Be7 f5 22.Rc1 Qb5 23.gxf5 gxf5 24.Qh5 Bd7 25.Kh1 Rac8 26.Rg1 Qd5 27.Bf3 Qe6 28.Qg5 Qg6 29.Bh5 Qxg5 30.Rxg5 h6 31.Rxg7+ Kxg7 32.Rg1+ 1-0
Prohaszka, P (2581)-Wang, K (2402) [E06]
Charlotte (9.5) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Nc3 dxc4 7.Ne5 Qd6 8.a4 Qa6 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Nb5 Nxe5 11.dxe5 Rd8 12.exf6 Rxd1 13.Rxd1 Bd6 14.Bf4 Qa5 15.Nxd6 cxd6 16.Rxd6 gxf6 17.Bh6 e5 18.Rad1 Be6 19.Bxb7 Rb8 20.Bg2 Qc7 21.h4 f5 22.Kh2 Re8 23.Bc6 Rc8 24.e3 Rb8 25.R1d2 Qa5 26.Rd1 Qc7 27.e4 fxe4 28.Bxe4 Re8 29.Bc6 Rb8 30.R1d2 Qe7 31.Bg5 f6 32.Bh6 Kh8 33.Bd7 Bf7 34.Bf5 Bg6 35.Rd7 Qe8 36.Bxg6 hxg6 37.R2d6 Qc8 38.Rf7 Qe8 39.Rdd7 Qg8 40.Bg7+ Kh7 41.Bxf6+ Kh6 42.Bg5+ Kh5 43.Kh3 Rc8 44.g4# 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qxd6!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Se6, Qe7/xd6/c6/xb5 2.Sf5#; 1…cxd6 2.Bb6#; 1…Sxd6 2.Bf6#; 1…exf3 2.Qf4#; 1…exd3 2.Rf4#; 1…Ba3 2.dxe3#; 1…Bxd3 2.c3#./PN
