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The 2011 Chicago Open started the day after the Robson match. Actually, I decided to attend the Saint Louis premier of “Bobby Fischer Against the World” an HBO production, which was simply fabulous! The movie premiered at the beautiful Tivoli Theater in the heart of “The Loop.” Since I was going to miss the first round, I decided to take things easy, so I took half-point byes the first two rounds (I get one point total for the two games I missed) and started playing in round 3. In such a long event (nine rounds) taking byes to relax is normal for a lot of players.
Round 3 (for most people) was to be my first game. I was paired with my former student and one of the top juniors in the USA under age 15, Atulya Shetty. I can still remember Atulya winning the first grade nationals 6-0, at the ripe young age of 6! Unfortunately for Atulya, he walked right into my Robson prep (!) and afterwards said he had not played over my games with Ray. So, after finally not getting paired with Ray Robson, I still use my prep! Atulya was actually able to equalize after inexact play by me, but he used too much time in the opening/middlegame, and after 21 moves (I was still in my prep) Atulya had only 15 minutes left to get to move 40! He could not figure out the minefield of tactics with so little time, and resigned just after making the time control.
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Round 4 was quite funny, as I played FM Michael Dougherty, and he knew much more theory than I in a c3 Sicilian sideline. Due to my ignorance, I played the unusual 12.Qc2, and was able to achieve the slightest of advantages. I had nothing special (my opponent thought I was better throughout, but my engine does not agree) when Michael made the terrible error 31…f6? (never play f6!) and my passed e pawn was soon too much to handle.
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Somehow I was white again in round 5, and, as usual, I got nothing out of the opening! My opponent played a little too actively with 22…e4? and soon found himself in a pawn-down rook ending, which I converted pretty easily. Three games down, three wins, and I wasn’t playing Ray Robson in any of those games!
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Round 6 was a bit tougher, as I was black against GM Alex Lenderman. I have had black all three times against Alex and things went well the first two games (1.5-0.5 for me), but this time I got crushed! I could have equalized early with 15…Nxe4 16.Rxe4 bxc5, but instead played too passively and never got anything going. At least I didn’t lose a six-hour game lasting over more than 80 moves, which seems to be my specialty!
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Round 7 was terrible, as I got less than nothing from the opening with white, and I struggled to equalize against the lower-rated IM Michael Mulyar. At least I did not lose, but the game was a real snoozer.
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Round 8 was a bit odd. I equalized easily with black, then couldn’t seem to get anything going. Luckily my opponent, FM Karl Dehmelt was in time trouble, and made a tactical oversight with 32.Bxa5? I was able to win a piece and he resigned soon thereafter.
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My tournament ended with a whimper, as I was black against GM Gildardo (you heard me!) Garcia. We both needed to win to get some $$$ but, unfortunately, Garcia seemed content with a draw, repeating moves early. I played a bit riskily to go for the win, and things worked out, as I got a nice position, where it seemed like a draw was unlikely. I thought I was winning in mutual time trouble, but things did not work out that way, and after 5.5 hours of trying, I had to acquiesce to a draw, and no prize money
That’s chess for ya! I think the reader will enjoy the games, as they all had interesting points, time trouble, and blunders!
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