Manhattan Open attracts surprise entries!
All photos by Adia Onyango.
The Manhattan Open is in full swing and some surprise entrants are competing. Besides U.S. Open Aleksandr Lenderman, GM Maurice Ashley is playing in his first major tournament since the 2003 U.S. Championship.
Poker star FM Ylon Schwartz is also playing as well as US Chess League Commissioner IM Greg Shahade. All eyes will be on these three players to see how they fare against the young lions like FM Alexander Ostrovskiy and FM Kassa Korley. German GM Jan Gustafsson is the top seed.
Link: https://manhattanopen.com/
Games: https://www.chesstournamentservices.com/viewer/games/manhattanopen2011.pgn
(Friday, 19 August 2011)
Crushing attack by Ashley!
Korley gets finesse win in ending… nice finish
Sarkar bumrushes the queenside, but ends with a kingside attack
Parker Zhao puts a damper in Ashley’s comeback
(Saturday, 20 August 2011)
Parker Zhao beats another GM!
Ashley topples young phenom
Beautiful attacking game by Kudrin
Nice shot at the end!
Garcia slays Ashley’s Dragon
Nice win for Kassa Korley
Thank you for the coverage.
Wish I had covered it more throughly. There are no daily reports as far as I can see.
(Sunday, 21 August 2011)
Going into the last day, Ukrainian IM Vladimir Romanenko still leads the field by half-point with 6/7 over GMs Sergey Kudrin and Alexander Shabalov. Within striking distance are six players with 5/7. Parker Zhao who nearly won this spring’s U.S. Junior Championship has scored an undefeated 3-1 against four Grandmasters, but lost his round seven encounter with Romanenko. Zhao may be looking at least an IM norm. GM Eltaj Safarli, the Azerbaijani junior, was a surprise entrant. He took three half-point byes and is playing FM Kassa Korley. The game has already reached complications.
IM Vladimir Romanenko vs. GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (1/2)
GM Alexander Shabalov vs. GM Aleksandr Lenderman (1-0)
Ukrainian IM Vladimir Romanenko drew his last game while Alexander Shabalov won giving both a share of 1st place. Shabalov got a very nice mating attack without the queens to vanquish Lenderman who was looking for his second major win since winning the U.S. Open.
Impressive win by Kassa Korley!
Wild game!
Azeri phenom ends on high note
Report on ChessVibes about Manhattan Open. Some very crass comments made in the article such as…
Huh??? The players were obviously not objecting to the rule, but objecting to being told this simple rule.
More gems like… “GM Joel Benjamin pocketed only $70.” I’m sure there were a lot better photos/captions than that! There is also the photo of the homeless person on a Manhattan street being described as a “typical” scene. Taking pictures of homeless picture and showing their shame to the world is a big no-no.
Link: https://www.chessvibes.com/reports/im-vladimir-romanenko-first-in-manhattan/
Norms go to IM Vladimir Romanenko (GM norm) and Parker Zhao (3rd IM norm).
Link: http://main.uschess.org/content/view/11359/639/
Daaim, very good coverage. I am surprise to see Maurice playing again; the Dragon and Caro-Kann were interesting games. I really hope the brothers keep tuning in and sharing their thoughts and games.
William,
On Facebook, Maurice gave some comments on each round. After round seven, he made the remark,
Round eight…
Round nine…
Daaim, Thanks for the coverage!
I wonder what Ashley’s goal is. Perhaps when he retired he didn’t think so-called “super” grandmasterdom was important. His highest rating I know of was just shy of 2600. Is he now on a quest for elite status? dare I say 2700?