THE 51st Annual Continental Open ended on Monday, at the Sturbridge Host Hotel in Massachusetts, with a clear and convincing victory for top seed GM Samuel Sevian who scored a full point ahead of his nearest rival.
The 21-year old Sevian tallied 7½ points in the 32-player (whittled down by withdrawals after the opening round), nine-round Swiss event, one point ahead of second seed GM Jianchao Zhou who scored 6½ points, and is the only other super-grandmaster in the field. Third-seed GM Viktor Mikhalevski took third place on tiebreaks versus GM Brandon Jacobson and IM Irakli Beradze after all three scored identical six points.
IM Alexander Ross Katz took solo sixth with five points while Filipino GM Mark Paragua took seventh place on better tiebreaks over untitled Rajesh Shanmugasundaram of India. Rounding up the top 10 are Kirk Vagho Ghazarian and Nathaniel Philip Moor, both untitled, who scored 4½ points apiece.
Sevian, S (2647)-
Mikhalevski, V (2579) [D85]
Sturbridge (5.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Be3 Qa5 9.Qd2 0-0 10.Rc1 Rd8 11.Be2 b6 12.d5 e6 13.c4 Qxd2+ 14.Nxd2 Na6 15.a3 f5 16.Bg5 Re8 17.d6 Nb8 18.e5 h6 19.Be3 Bxe5 20.Bf3 f4 21.Bxa8 fxe3 22.fxe3 Bxd6 23.0-0 Kg7 24.Ne4 Be5 25.Rfd1 Bd7 26.Nd6 Re7 27.Rd2 Ba4 28.Nb5 Bxb5 29.cxb5 Nd7 30.Bc6 Nf6 31.Rc4 h5 32.g3 Bc7 33.Ra4 Be5 34.Rd8 Bc3 35.h3 Ba5 36.Kf2 g5 37.Ke2 g4 38.hxg4 hxg4 39.Rc4 Kg6 40.Rh8 Kg7 41.Rb8 Kg6 42.Rb7 Rxb7 43.Bxb7 Kf7 44.Be4 Nd7 45.Rc1 Ke7 46.Bd3 Ne5 47.Bc4 Kd6 48.Ba2 Ke7 49.Rh1 Kd6 50.Rh8 c4 51.Rc8 Kd7 52.Ra8 c3 53.Bb3 Kd6 54.Re8 Kd7 55.Rh8 Nf3 56.Rh6 Nd2 57.Bxe6+ Ke7 58.Kd3 Nf3 59.Bb3 Ne1+ 60.Ke2 Nf3 61.Re6+ Kd7 62.Re4 Nh2 63.Bd1 Kd6 64.Kd3 Kc5 65.Re5+ Kd6 66.Rf5 c2 67.Kxc2 Be1 68.Rg5 Bxg3 69.Bxg4 Nf1 70.Kd3 Be5 71.Bf3 Ng3 72.Bg2 Ke6 73.Rg8 Kd6 74.Rd8+ Ke6 75.Bh3 Kf6 76.Rd7 Bb2 77.Ra7 Ke5 78.Kc2 Kd5 1-0
Mulyar, M (2366)-
Jacobson, B (2481) [A47]
Sturbridge (5.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 b6 3.c4 Bb7 4.g3 c5 5.d5 b5 6.Bg2 d6 7.0-0 bxc4 8.Nc3 Nbd7 9.Nd2 g6 10.Nxc4 Bg7 11.Bf4 0-0 12.Rc1 Rb8 13.Nxd6 exd6 14.Bxd6 Re8 15.Bxb8 Qxb8 16.Qb3 Nb6 17.Rfd1 Bf8 18.e3 Rc8 19.Rd2 c4 20.Qc2 Nbd7 21.Rcd1 Ne5 22.Ne4 Nfd7 23.Rd4 Bg7 24.b3 Ba6 25.bxc4 Nxc4 26.Qa4 Bb5 27.Qb4 Bxd4 28.Rxd4 Nce5 29.h3 Be2 30.Qxb8 Rxb8 31.Nd2 Rb2 32.f4 Nd3 33.Nc4 Rb1+ 34.Kh2 Ne1 35.Be4 Nf3+ 36.Bxf3 Bxf3 37.g4 Rb4 38.d6 f6 39.g5 fxg5 40.fxg5 Bc6 41.Kg3 Ra4 42.Kf4 Kf7 0-1
Paragua, M (2477)-
Beradze, I (2475) [A45]
Sturbridge (6.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bf4 c5 4.d5 e6 5.f3 Qa5+ 6.c3 Nf6 7.e4 exd5 8.exd5 d6 9.Na3 Be7 10.Ne2 b5 11.Ng3 a6 12.Nc2 0-0 13.a4 bxa4 14.Ne3 Bd7 15.Bd3 Qb6 16.Nc4 Qc7 17.0-0 Re8 18.Ne4 Rd8 19.Nxf6+ Bxf6 20.Bxd6 Qa7 21.Re1 Bb5 22.Kh1 Nd7 23.Be7 Re8 24.d6 Bxe7 25.Rxe7 Rxe7 26.dxe7 Nf6 27.Qe2 Re8 28.Re1 Qd7 29.Qe3 Nd5 30.Qxc5 Rxe7 31.Rd1 Qe8 32.Qxd5 Rd7 33.Nd6 Bxd3 34.Qxd3 1-0
Mikhalevski, V (2579)-
Katz, A (2396) [A09]
Sturbridge (7.3) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.c4 dxc4 4.Na3 Bg7 5.Nxc4 Nc6 6.d3 e5 7.Bg5 Nge7 8.Qc1 Be6 9.Bg2 0-0 10.Bh6 Bxh6 11.Qxh6 Nf5 12.Qc1 Re8 13.0-0 Nfd4 14.Re1 Bd5 15.Nxd4 Nxd4 16.e3 Nf3+ 17.Bxf3 Bxf3 18.e4 Qf6 19.h3 g5 20.Re3 Bh5 21.Qc3 Rad8 22.b4 Rd4 23.Rc1 Qe7 24.g4 Bg6 25.b5 Qc5 26.Qb2 Red8 27.Rc3 f6 28.Rf3 Bxe4 29.Nd2 Qxc3 30.Qxc3 Bxf3 31.Nxf3 Rxd3 32.Qxc7 R8d7 1-0
Zhou, J (2619)-
Bartell, T (2354) [D37]
Sturbridge (9.3) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 a6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Bg5 Be6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 8.Qb3 b5 9.a4 b4 10.Nxd5 Qd8 11.e4 c6 12.Qe3 cxd5 13.exd5 Qxd5 14.Rc1 Be7 15.Bd3 Qd8 16.Be4 Nd7 17.d5 Bg4 18.d6 Rb8 19.dxe7 Qxe7 20.Nd4 f5 21.Nc6 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nf5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…c6, Qf2 2.Nxh6#; 1…c5, Qd6/g6 2.Nfe3#; 1…Nxf5 2.Qh5#; 1…Ne4/f1 2.Bf3#./PN
