Chess Palace

A-Once-In-A-Lifetime Ocho
June 26th, 2010
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A surprise visit from two world class GMs became the talk of the players as they made a rare appearance to a regular Chess Palace Ocho tournament. The elite players told the organizer about their search for a practice venue and wondered if CP can host it. More and more players are becoming aware that Chess Palace is serving the chess community by its willingness to incur the rental charges. This event will be the second of three. The first was the Candidate Tournament and the third this year will be the US Chess League in mid August. Nevertheless, it was worthwhile as the club regulars admitted that this was the strongest group that they have seen. Titled players GM Melikset Khachiyan, GM Alejandro Ramirez, FM Alexander Kretchetov, and FM Garush Manukyan formed their elite quad and demonstrated very instructive games. Undoubtedly the GMs won the group and literally took a grandmaster draw in the last round! The second group included class A, expert and a master was topped by Bobby Hall in a nice win against master Yurenk. His upset is demonstrated below. In a rarely seen incident where the third group is composed of six 1800s, the participants felt it simulated the competition of a regional class tournament which usually requires three time the admission fee. In this group, David Portwood won clear first amongst his class with 2.5 points. In the final Ocho, up and coming Zach Chandler swept the field with 3.0 points. Another commendable player who went undefeated with a mere draw was Michael Lane. The next similarly formatted tournament will be held on July 24th in the Octos with larger prize awards - $120$ cash for every group of eight!! It’s an effort to revive what was once a consistent set of quality tournaments popularized by Senior Organizer Mike Carr in Costa Mesa a couple of years ago.

(1) Yurenok,Sergey (2225) - Hall,Bobby (2070) [D03]
Ocho (1), 26.06.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nbd2 d5 5.e3 0–0 6.Bd3 c5 7.c3 cxd4 8.exd4 Nc6 9.0–0 h6 10.Bh4 Nh7 11.Re1 f5 12.Qc2 Nf6 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.Ne5 Nxe5 15.dxe5 Bg7 16.Nf3 e6 17.Nd4 Bd7 18.Bb5 Rc8 19.Qa4 Bxb5 20.Qxb5 Qe7 21.Re2 g5 22.a4 f4 23.f3 h5 24.Qd3 a6 25.Qg6 Qf7 26.Qxg5 Kh7 27.Ra3 Rg8 28.Qh4 Bf8 29.Rb3 Rg7 30.g4 fxg3 31.hxg3 Bc5 32.Kf2 b6 33.Qf6 Qg8 34.Ke1 Bxd4 35.cxd4 Rgc7 36.Qh4 Qg6 37.Rxb6 Rc1+ 38.Kf2 R8c7 39.Qf6 Qd3 40.Rxe6 Qxd4+ 41.Kg2 Qg1+ 42.Kh3 Qh1+ 43.Rh2 Qxh2+ 0–1

Black to move mate in five
(Yurenok vs Hall move 41)