Old Dominion domination at year-end Eastern Open chess tournament

The usual contingent of invading grandmasters and IMs didn’t make the trip this time, allowing some local talent to rise to the top at last week’s 46th annual Eastern Open, played at the Westin Hotel in Tysons Corner.

Three-time Virginia state champion Macon Shibut took top honors in the 40-player Open section with an undefeated 5½-1½ result, a half-point ahead of FMs Valerii Semonov and Daniel Lowinger and experts Terry Luo, Evan Maxwell Ling and Samuel Zhang. Fellow Virginians Sean Senft and Leonardo Diperna scored the event’s only perfect 7-0 score, capturing the Under 2200 section and the Under 1600, respectively, while yet another Virginia player, Tyson Brady, tied with Florida’s Aron Cheng in the Under 1900 section.

The decisive clash in the Open section came in Round 6, when Shibut upset top-seeded master Justin Paul in a complex Ruy Lopez struggle. At a critical point, Black makes a very au courant exchange sacrifice that never quite pays off, leaving him down material and facing a renewed White attack. The analysis here relies heavily (i.e. steals liberally) from the postgame notes of Shibut, a superb annotator and longtime editor of the Virginia Chess Federation newsletter.

Paul gets some good early queenside pressure after 13. b3 c5 14. Bb2!? (Shibut said 14. Be3 is more logical here) b4 15. Ne2 d5 16. e5 c4, and White needs to generate some kingside activity going soon if he not just going to be swept off the board.

The game’s turning point comes on 20. exf6 Bxf6 21. Bh6, when White doubted he had much play after the patient 21…Rf7! 22. Ng4 Bxg4 23. Qxg4 Qc8!, with Black able to turn his attention once again to his queenside ambitions. Instead, Paul opts for the more dynamic and speculative 21…Qb6?! 22. Bxf8 Rxf8, counting on White’s weak d-pawn and Black’s more active pieces to justify the exchange sac.

But after 23. Qe2! Bxd4 24. Rae1 (the e-file proves a significant weakness for Black in the ensuing play) Nf5 25. Nxf5 Bxf5 26. Bxf5 Rxf5 27. Ng4!, the classic White Ruy kingside attack takes shape, helped by a slew of weak squares around the Black king.

On 27…Bg7 (Rf8 28. Qe7 Bg7 29. Re6 is very strong) 28. bxc4 Nxc4 (on 28…dxc4, Shibut gives the nice line 29. Qd2! c3 30. Re8+ Bf8 [Rf8 31. Qd5+ Kh8 32. Rxf8+ Bxf8 33. Qf7 Qd6 34. Nf6 and wins] 31. Nh6+ Kh8 32. Nxf5!) 29. Qe8+ Rf8 30. Qd7, the Black d-pawn is attacked, 31. Rd7 is threatened, and the White attack is hitting on all cylinders.

It’s over on 33. Rc1! Ne5 34. Rc8 Nxg4 (Nd7 35. Rc7 Nf6 36. Nxf6 Bxf6 37. Rf7 Rxf7 38. Qxf7 Bg7 39. Re1) 35. hxg4 d3 36. Rd1 a5 37. Rxf8+ Bxf8 38. Qf7 Bg7 39. Rxd3! (decisive — Paul generously plays it out to the end) Qxd3 40. Qe8+ Bf8 41. Qf8 mate.

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The year-end holidays are actually among the busiest days on the chess calendar, with top American players having their choice of strong tournaments across the country. One of the top late-December draws is the annual North American Open in Las Vegas, which typically draws a slate of grandmaster gunslingers, including this year’s champ, Armenian GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan.

Some nice action came on one of the lower boards at the National — a sacrificial mating attack authored by IM Alexander Katz against FM Spencer Lehmann. White’s king is already in dire straits from today’s diagrammed position, where Katz as Black has just played 22…Nd6-f5, with a nasty threat on the e-pawn.

White’s efforts to cover up just make things worse: 23. e4 Ncxd4! 24. exf5 Qa6+! (offering a second knight as 25. Kxd4?? Qc4 is mate) 25. Kd2 Re2+! (the rook offer is the only clearly winning move; 25…Qa5+ 26. Bc3 Nb3+ 27. Kc2 Qxa3 28. Kb1 Rac8 29. Bb2 Qa5 is far less compelling) 26. Nxe2 (Kc1 Qc4+ 27. Kb1 Qc2+ 28. Ka1 Qxb2 mate) Qxe2+ 27. Kc3 Qc4+28. Kd2 Qc2+ 29. Ke3 Re8+! (one more knight offer seals the deal) 30. Kxd4 Qc4 mate.

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The FIDE women’s world championship title match opened Jan. 4, with defending champ Wenjun Ju and Russian challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina drawing their first two games in Shanghai. We’ll have some color and action from the 12-game match in the coming weeks.

Shibut-Paul, 46th Eastern Open, Tysons Corner, Va., December 2019

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 b5 5. Bb3 g6 6. c3 Bg7 7. d4 exd4 8. cxd4 Nge7 9. O-O d6 10. h3 O-O 11. Nc3 Na5 12. Bc2 Bb7 13. b3 c5 14. Bb2?! b4 15. Ne2 d5 16. e5 c4 17. Bc1 Bc8 18. Ng3 Be6 19. Nh2 f6 20. exf6 Bxf6 21. Bh6 Qb6 22. Bxf8 Rxf8 23. Qe2! Bxd4 24. Rae1 Nf5 25. Nxf5 Bxf5 26. Bxf5 Rxf5 27. Ng4 28. bxc4 Nxc4 29. Qe8+ Rf8 30. Qd7 Qb5 31. Qe6+ Kh8 32. Rd1 d4 33. Rc1! Ne5 34. Rc8 Nxg4 35. hxg4 d3 36. Rd1 a5 37. Rxf8+ Bxf8 38. Qf7 Bg7 39. Rxd3! Qxd3 40. Qe8+ Bf8 41 Qxf8 mate.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email dsands@washingtontimes.com.