Millionaire Chess Open: Day Two

Webster University: Susan Polgar, GM Le Quang Liem, GM Ray Robson, GM Wesley So, IM Aswin Jayaram

Webster University came in full-force to the Millionaire Chess Open with several players including world’s #14 Wesley So, Le Quang Liem and Ray Robson. Susan Polgar is in Las Vegas with the team and after today’s action all were in the thick of things. However, Yu Yangyi who had to find space in his trophy case for his Olympic gold medal ended the day on 4/4 with wins over two players from the other collegiate powerhouse, University of Texas-Dallas. Conrad Holt and Giorgi Margvelashvili went down against Yu.

Varzhan Akobian and Zhou Jianchao were in a serious time scramble!
Notice the expressions.

WIM Alisa Melekhina was among the several strong women in the open section.

There were a few celebrities in the crowd… FM Ylon Schwartz, poker superstar.

There is some serious equipment in that room!

The directing has been first class apart from a few pairing glitches. Frank Johnson directing India’s Sandhya Goli.

So the $100,000 prize is going to be hotly contested in the last three days with a number of players in the hunt. There are a couple of perfect scores still running in a couple of sections. Aderemi Adekola (under-2000), Zhiji Li (under-1800), George Terarakelian (under-1600), Christian Silvestre (under-1400). One nice feature of the tournament layout is seeing all of top boards in each section at one table. It also makes sense to ensure there are no improprieties at the top boards where there is so much at stake.

Standings: https://millionairechess.com/the_standings/standings-open-section/
Drum Coverage: https://www.thechessdrum.net/

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