We are the world, or at least we will be for a couple of years. The Continental Chess Association, which organized the Continental Class Championships in Arlington featured in this column last week, announced it will be temporarily relocating its flagship World Open tournament to the area in 2013 and 2014 from its traditional home in Philadelphia.
The Continental Class Championships, which wrapped up last week in Arlington, featured a couple of players punching well above their weight.
Texas GM Alejandro Ramirez and surprising Maryland IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat shared the lead entering the final turn in the Continental Class Championships, held over Columbus Day weekend in Arlington. The nine-round event, one of the strongest on the area's chess calendar, concluded too late Monday night for the results to be included in this column.
There's no thrill quite like beating your first grandmaster. So I'm told. Virginia expert Eric Most can offer a firsthand account of the experience in the wake of his stunning shared first place in last month's 43rd annual Atlantic Open downtown.
New York IM Yury Lapshun weathered a hurricane and navigated a shoal-filled, upset-laden Atlantic Open to take the city's biggest summer tournament on tiebreaks over Virginia expert Eric Most on Sunday, played despite the elements at the event's traditional site, the Westin Washington Hotel downtown. Lapshun and Most were the only two undefeated players in the Open section, drawing their final-round game to finish at 4 1/2- 1/2, a half-point ahead of veteran Connecticut GM Sergey Kudrin.
He came up just short the last two years, but Chicago GM Yury Shulman wouldn't be denied this time.
A good guy won, and the mid-Atlantic contingent performed spectacularly at the 108th U.S. Open, the country's premier open event, which wrapped up play last weekend in Cherry Hill, N.J.
July still has 10 days to go, but the month is already shaping up as a very productive one for California GM Varuzhan Akobian.
July still has 10 days to go, but the month is already shaping up as a very productive one for California GM Varuzhan Akobian.
