Westwood Summer Open final

Prize Winners:
Open: 1st: GM Melikset Khachiyan, 4.5-.5; 2nd-3rd: IM Andranik Matikozyan, Joel Banawa, 4-1; U2200: Vadim Kudryavtsev, 3.5-1.5; U2000: Austin Hughes, Daniel Alvira, 2-3.
Reserve: 1st: Naollin Olguin, 4.5-.5; 2nd: Wendell Salveroin, Jeffrey Ding, 4-1; U1600: Lauro Ancheta, Anna Karapetyan, 3.5-1.5; U1400: Shauraya Rai Jain, 3-2; U1200: Winston Chin Zeng, Shelley Anthoupoulos, David Khachiyan, 2-3.

Final standings

Photo: Andranik Matikozyan and Melikset Khachiyan plot their last-round strategy.

Joel Banawa - GM Melikset Khachiyan
Westwood Summer Open, Los Angeles 2008
A45 TROMPOVSKY ATTACK

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 d5 4. f3 Nf6 5. e4 c6 6. Nc3 e6 7. Nge2 Be7 8. g3 0-0 9. Bg2 c5 10. exd5 exd5 11. Be3 Nc6 12. dxc5?! Re8 13. Kf1 Bf8 14. Bf2 b6 15. cxb6 axb6 16. Kg1 Bc5 17. Nd4? Nxd4 18. Bxd4

(diagram)

18. ... Re1! 19. Qxe1 Bxd4 20. Kf1 Ba6 21. Ne2 Ng4! 22. Qd2 Ne3+ 23. Kf2 Bc5 24. Nd4 Nxc2 25. Qxc2 Bxd4 26. Ke1 Qe7 27. Kd1 Re8 28. Qd2 Be2+ 29. Kc2 Qc5+ 30. Kb1 Qc4!, White Resigns

Westwood Summer Open

Forty players are competing in the Westwood Summer Open at the Los Angeles Chess Club, led by GM Melikset Khachiyan and IMs Enrico Sevillano and Andranik Matikozyan. Standings will be posted throughout the day here.

McDonnell - La Bourdonnais, London 1834

The McDonnell-La Bourdonnais encounters marked the beginning of modern chess -- a set match of serious games, all of which were recorded and published. This was the Frenchman’s most famous win of the match (really a series of six matches, won by La Bourdonnais +45, =13, -27), in which we have the unusual spectacle of a swarm of pawns overcoming a Queen.

McDonnell - La Bourdonnais

62nd Match Game, 1834

B32 SICILIAN DEFENSE, La Bourdonnais Variation

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nxc6

A positional error, strengthening Black’s central pawns, but such niceties were little known in the 1830s.

5. ... bxc6 6. Bc4 Nf6 7. Bg5 Be7 8. Qe2 d5 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. Bb3 0-0 11. 0-0 a5 12. exd5 cxd5 13. Rd1 d4 14. c4 Qb6 15. Bc2 Bb7 16. Nd2 Rae8 17. Ne4 Bd8 18. c5 Qc6 19. f3 Be7 20. Rac1 f5

Not 20. ... Bxc5? 21. Nxc5 Qxc5 22. Bxh7+. Black offers an Exchange sacrifice to get his central pawns moving.

21. Qc4+ Kh8 22. Ba4 Qh6 23. Bxe8 fxe4 24. c6 exf3 25. Rc2

And not 25. cxb7?, as 25. ... Qe2+ 26. Kh1 fxg2+ 27. Kxg2 Rf2+ would lead to mate.

25. ... Qe3+ 26. Kh1 Bc8 27. Bd7 f2

In turn threatening 28. ... Qe1+ 28. Qf1 Qxd1 30. Qxd1 f1=Q+.

28. Rf1 d3 29. Rc3 Bxd7 30. cxd7 e4 31. Qc8 Bd8 32. Qc4 Qe1 33. Rc1 d2 34. Qc5 Rg8 35. Rd1 e3 36. Qc3

(Diagram)

36. … Qxd1 37. Rxd1 e2, White resigns

48th Pacific Southwest Open final

In a dramatic finish, IM Tim Taylor and master Gregg Small tied for first in the 2008 PSW with 5-1. Taylor held the draw against IM Enrico Sevillano, who trailed him by half a point, while Small upset IM Jack Peters on Board 2. Next at 4.5-1.5 were Sevillano, Joel Banawa, and Julian Landaw. In the Amateur section, Jose Eduardo swept the field with a perfect 6-0. Complete standings of all sections are available at the Western Chess web page.

Prize Winners

Open: 1st-2nd: IM Tim Taylor, Gregg Small, 5-1; 3rd-5th: IM Enrico Sevillano, Joel Banawa, Julian Landaw. 4½-1½; U2200: Sam Hamilton, Jeremy Stein, Takashi Kurosaki, Michael Yee, Matt Robertson, 4-2; U2000: 1st: Michael Brown, 4-2; 2nd-3rd: Bobby Hall, Konstantin Kavutskiy, Austin Hughes, 3½-2½.

Amateur: 1st: Alejandro Ruiz, 6-0; 2nd: Wendell Salveron, 5-1; 3rd: Naollin Olguin, 4½-1½; U1600: 1st: Anna Karapetyan, 3½-2½; 2nd-3rd: Henry Wang, Ryan Hughes, Daniel Gong, Zheng Zhu; Yash Pershad, Daniel Lin, David Minasyan, 3-3; U1400: Hariharan Ramachandran, Darren Chow, 3-3; U1200: Robert Bryan Martin, 1-5; Unrated: Theodore Zhenyu Gao, 2½-3½

Hexes: 1st: Richard Henderson, 3-0; 2nd-3rd: Jimmy Sweet, Aldrich Ong, 2-1.

48th Annual Pacific Southwest Open, day 3

After five rounds, IM Tim Taylor leads the field with 4 1/2. While IMs Enrico Sevillano and Jack Peters battled to a draw on board 1 (see photo), Taylor ground out a win against "giant-killer" Michael Yee in the last game to finish. Taylor now faces Sevillano in the last round, while Peters, Joel Banawa, Julian Landaw and Gregg Small remain in contention at 4-1. Standings through round five are posted here.

48th Annual Pacific Southwest Open, day 2

With all sections merged, four players are tied for the lead: IMs Enrico Sevillano, Tim Taylor and Jack Peters, and youthful Expert Michael Yee, who upset IM Andranik Matikozyan. In the Amateur section, Alejandro Ruiz holds the top spot with 4-0, but no less than eight players are within a point of the leader.

In the PSW Scholastics, both sections saw clear winners, as Dwayne Edwards scored 4 1/2 in the Open, while Gregory Kuhn turned in a perfect 5-0 in the Reserve. Complete standings of all sections are posted here.

Michael Yee - IM Andranik Matikozyan [E84]
48th Pacific Southwest Open (3), 05.07.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Be3 Nc6 7.Nge2 a6 8.Qd2 Rb8 9.0-0-0 b5 10.h4 Na5 11.Nf4 Nxc4 12.Bxc4 bxc4 13.h5 c6 14.g4 Qa5 15.g5 Nd7 16.Qh2 Re8 17.hxg6 hxg6 18.Qh7+ Kf8 19.Rh6 e5 20.Nxg6+ fxg6 21.Rxg6 Re7 22.f4 Rf7 23.f5 exd4 24.f6 Qb4

(Diagram)

25.Rd2 dxc3 26.Rxg7 cxd2+ 27.Kd1 Nxf6 28.Qh8+ Ke7 29.gxf6+ Kxf6 30.Bg5+ Ke5 31.Rxf7+ Kxe4 32.Rf4+ Kd5 33.Qd4+ 1-0

48th Annual Pacific Southwest Open

The Pacific Southwest Open has begun at the LAX Hilton. 44 players have entered the 3-day schedule, led by IMs Tim Taylor and Jack Peters. They are expected to be joined tomorrow by 40-50 more, including IMs Enrico Sevillano and Andranik Matikozyan. Standings will be available throught the weekend here.

IM Tim Taylor – Matt Robertson [A03]
48th Pacific Southwest Open (1), 04.07.2008
1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.0–0 0–0 6.d3 b5 7.e4 dxe4 8.Ng5 Bb7 9.Nc3 b4 10.Ncxe4 Nxe4 11.Nxe4 Qd4+ 12.Kh1 Qb6 13.f5 Nd7 14.Qe2 c5 15.a3 a5 16.axb4 axb4 17.Rxa8 Bxa8 18.Qf2 b3 19.c4 gxf5 20.Qxf5 Ne5 21.Bg5 f6 22.Be3 e6 23.Qh5 Bxe4 24.Bxe4 f5 25.Bh6 fxe4 26.Rxf8+ Bxf8 27.Bxf8 Kxf8 28.Qxe5 exd3 29.Qh8+ Ke7 30.Qxh7+ Kf6 31.Qxd3 Qb4 32.Kg2 Qe1 33.Qf1+ Qxf1+ 34.Kxf1 Ke5 35.h4 Ke4 36.Ke2 e5 37.h5 Kf5 38.g4+ Kg5 39.Ke3 1–0


Arkadiy Onikul – IM Jack Peters [E97]
48th Pacific Southwest Open (1), 04.07.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0–0 6.Nf3 e5 7.0–0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Nd2 c5 10.a3 Ne8 11.b4 f5 12.Qc2 f4 13.bxc5 dxc5 14.a4 a5 15.Rb1 b6 16.Nb5 Nd6 17.Rb3 Nf7 18.Bb2 Bd7 19.Bc3 Nc8 20.Qb2 h5 21.Rd1 Qf6 22.Qa1 Kh7 23.Nf3 Rd8 24.Nc7 Ra7 25.d6 Bc6 26.Nd5 Bxd5 27.Rxd5 Rxd6 28.Nxe5 Rxd5 29.Nxf7 Rd4 30.e5 Qxf7 31.Bxd4 cxd4 32.Qxd4 Rc7 33.Rb5 Qf5 34.Bd3 Rd7 0–1