Timur Gareev Wins the Chicago Open
Monday, May 30, 2011 at 11:00PM
Dennis Monokroussos

The event is still finishing up, but GM Timur Gareev (of Uzbekistan, though he has lived in the U.S. the past five years) has clinched clear first place (and $10000) with 7.5/9. Going into the last round there was a four-way tie at 6.5 with Gareev, Pentelea Harikrishna, Tamaz Gelashvili and Alejandro Ramirez in the lead. In the last round Harikrishna - Ramirez was a tough draw, while Gareev won a nice game with White in a Ragozin. Gareev's structure was better, and over time WPDO - weak pawns dropped off.

There are surely many exciting and interesting games from the event, but I'll present one that I found amusing:

Howard Chen (2350) - Jacek Stopa (2460), Round 8:

1.d4 f5 2.Nc3 g6 3.e4 fxe4 4.Nxe4 Bg7 5.h4 d5 6.Ng5 Nc6 7.N1f3 Qd6

White's rabid approach hasn't burned any bridges yet, but that changes now:

8.h5? h6 9.Bd3? hxg5 10.Bxg6+?

White's compensation is inadequate (read: "nonexistent") even after an oblivious reply like 10...Kf8, but there's even better...

10...Qxg6! (Oops.) 0-1

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