THE 19-YEAR old GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov of Uzbekistan won the 2021 Asian Hybrid Continental Chess Championship on a better Bucholz tiebreak score over 21-year old IM Tin Jingyao of Singapore after both finished the tournament with identical seven-point outputs.
The 82-player, nine-round Swiss event, which ended over the weekend at the tornelo.com playing platform, saw five players finishing half-a-point behind Vokhidov and Jingyao with 6½ points apiece. The five are GMs Nodirbek Yakubboev, Temur Kuybokarov, Javokhir Sindarov, M. Amin Tabatabaei, and IM Mohamad Ervan.
It was a rather peaceful last round with only three decisive games on the top ten boards. In contrast, the turning point that altered the leaderboard was the penultimate round where Vokhidov defeated erstwhile solo leader Kuybokarov, and Jingyao upset top seed GM Parham Maghsoodloo. Their victories propelled the two to the joint leadership of the tournament – a position they kept when they drew their last round showdown while Kuybokarov was held by Sindarov, a compatriot of Vokhidov.
The best Filipino performer was IM Michael Concio Jr. who finished with 5½ points and a share of 14th to 24th places. IMs Daniel Quizon and John Marvin Miciano wound up with five points and a share of 25th to 35th places.
Vokhidov, S (2529)-Kuybokarov, T (2549)
tornelo.com (8.1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Bc5 6.c3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.d4 Bb6 9.Be3 0-0 10.Nbd2 h6 11.h3 Re8 12.Re1 exd4 13.cxd4 Nb4 14.Qb1 c5 15.a3 Nc6 16.d5 Ne7 17.Nf1 Ng6 18.Ng3 c4 19.Bc2 Bd7 20.b3 Rc8 21.b4 a5 22.Bxb6 Qxb6 23.bxa5 Qxa5 24.Qb4 Qc7 25.Nd4 Rb8 26.Ndf5 Rb6 27.Qc3 Re5 28.Rf1 Qc5 29.Kh2 Nf4 30.Qf3 Bxf5 31.Nxf5 Rxf5 32.exf5 N4xd5 33.Rfe1 b4 34.axb4 Nxb4 35.Ra8+ Kh7 36.Ba4 Nd3 37.Re7 Rb2 38.Rxf7 Ne5 39.Qg3 Nfg4+ 40.hxg4 Nxf7 41.Rf8 Rb7 42.Be8 c3 43.Qd3 Qe5+ 44.g3 Qf6 45.Qd5 Rb8 46.Rf7 Qe5 47.Rf8 Qd5 48.Bg6# 1-0
Maghsoodloo, P (2698)-Jingyao, T (2482)
tornelo.com (8.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd2 d5 6.Nf3 Re8 7.Rc1 a6 8.Bd3 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Be2 Bd6 11.Ng5 Nbd7 12.Nce4 Bb7 13.Bf3 Rb8 14.Ba5 Nxe4 15.Nxe4 Bxe4 16.Bxe4 e5 17.Bc6 Re7 18.0-0 exd4 19.Qxd4 Ne5 20.Rfd1 Qc8 21.h3 h6 22.Bd5 c5 23.Qh4 Qf5 24.Be4 Qe6 25.Bc3 Rbe8 26.Qh5 Bc7 27.b3 Rd7 28.Rxd7 Qxd7 29.Rd1 Qe7 30.Bd5 Kf8 31.Qf5 Rd8 32.Qh7 Qf6 33.Qc2 Qg6 34.Qe2 Nc6 35.g3 Ne7 36.Bb7 Rxd1+ 37.Qxd1 Qb6 38.Ba8 Qe6 39.Kg2 Nf5 40.Qf3 Be5 41.Bxe5 Qxe5 42.Qc6 Nd6 43.Qxa6 c4 44.bxc4 bxc4 45.Qc6 Kg8 46.a4 Qa5 47.Kf1 Qd2 48.Qd5 Qb4 49.Qd1 c3 50.Bd5 Nc4 51.Qd3 Na3 52.Kg2 c2 53.Qg6 Qb7 0-1
Tabatabaei, MA (2613)-Xu, Y (2554)
tornelo.com (9.5) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Nce2 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.f4 f6 8.Nf3 Qb6 9.a3 Be7 10.b4 cxb4 11.axb4 0-0 12.Ng3 Qc7 13.Be2 Nb6 14.exf6 Bxf6 15.0-0 a5 16.bxa5 Rxa5 17.Rxa5 Nxa5 18.Qc2 Nac4 19.Nh5 g6 20.Nxf6+ Rxf6 21.h4 Bd7 22.Ne5 Be8 23.Bd3 Rf8 24.Re1 Qe7 25.Nf3 Qd7 26.h5 Kg7 27.Ng5 Rf6 28.Qe2 Bf7 29.hxg6 hxg6 30.Qg4 Nc8 31.Qh4 Bg8 32.Bxc4 dxc4 33.Ne4 Rf8 34.f5 1-0
Murshed, N (2404)-Maghsoodloo, P (2698)
tornelo.com (9.7) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Qa4+ Nc6 7.Bg5 0-0 8.e3 h6 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.Bb5 Bg4 11.Nd2 Nxd4 12.exd4 Bxc3 13.bxc3 a6 14.Bd3 Rfe8+ 15.Kf1 Re3 16.Qc2 Rae8 17.Kg1 Re2 18.Rf1 Qf4 19.Bxe2 Rxe2 20.Qb3 Rxd2 21.Qxd5 Be2 22.Re1 Bb5 23.Qf3 Re2 24.Rf1 Qxf3 25.gxf3 Re6 26.Kg2 Bxf1+ 27.Rxf1 Rg6+ 28.Kh3 Rc6 29.Rb1 b6 30.Rb3 Kf8 31.Kg4 Rg6+ 32.Kf4 Rg2 33.Ke3 Rxh2 34.c4 Rh5 35.Ra3 a5 36.Ke4 Ke7 37.c5 bxc5 38.Rxa5 Rh4+ 39.f4 cxd4 40.Rc5 Kd6 41.Rd5+ Ke6 42.Re5+ Kd7 43.Rf5 Ke8 44.a4 g6 45.Re5+ Kd7 46.a5 g5 0-1
Susanto, M (2550)-Bilguun, S (2454)
tornelo.com (9.8) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 Nf6 7.Nc3 Qd8 8.Bd3 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Bg5 Nc6 11.a3 b6 12.Rc1 Bb7 13.Bb1 Rc8 14.Qd3 g6 15.Rfe1 Re8 16.Ba2 Nd5 17.Ne4 Bxg5 18.Nexg5 Kg7 19.h4 Qf6 20.b4 Nf4 21.Qe3 Nxd4 22.Nxd4 Nxg2 23.Ne4 Bxe4 24.Qxe4 Nxe1 25.Rxe1 Red8 26.Nf3 Rc3 27.Kg2 Rdd3 28.Ne5 Rd2 29.Re2 Rxe2 30.Qxe2 Qxh4 31.Nd3 Qg5+ 32.Kf1 Qh5 33.Qe1 0-1
Concio, M Jr. (2297)-Mosadeghpour, M (2486)
tornelo.com (9.15) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.g3 d6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.d3 Nf6 7.Nge2 Bd7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Rb1 Ne8 10.Be3 Rc8 11.a3 Nc7 12.d4 cxd4 13.Nxd4 Ne6 14.Nxe6 fxe6 15.c5 dxc5 16.Bxc5 Ne5 17.Bd4 Bc6 18.Bxa7 Qa5 19.Be3 Nc4 20.Qe2 Nxb2 21.Qxb2 Qxc3 22.Qa2 Kh8 23.Rfc1 Qf6 24.e5 Qxe5 25.Bxc6 Rxc6 26.Rxc6 bxc6 27.a4 Ra8 28.Bb6 Qd5 29.Qc2 Bf6 30.Rd1 Qf3 31.Rd3 Qf5 32.Qxc6 Rxa4 33.Rd8+ Kg7 34.Qxa4 Qb1+ 35.Kg2 Qxb6 36.Qa8 h5 37.h4 Qb4 38.Rh8 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qe5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Kb4 2.Rxb5#; 1…Kxb6 2.Qxb5#; 1…Qd5+/xe5 2.Nc4#./PN
