Millionaire Chess 01+02: The Richie Rich of Opens is back!
On 6th October the 3rd Millionaire Chess Tournament started in the Atlantic City. The venue has moved to a 'poorer' neighbourhood, and the prize fund has been reduced. But nonetheless, the charm remains, and so does the hunger among the players to win the prizes. Quite a handful of Indians are playing the mega-event this year. We bring you a brief report.
Millionaire Chess 01+02: The Richie Rich of Opens is back!
Photos by David Llada
Richie-Rich. That is precisely what happens when you play the richest open chess tournament in the world. You are pampered to the point of disbelief. If you win, you win prize money that may, frankly speaking, change your views about chess forever.
The richest open in the world is back! Millionaire Chess third edition is scheduled to take place from October 06 to 09, 2016, in Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City. The tournament is famous around the world for the quantum of prizes that it offers. The prize fund is mouth-watering even for the lower categories (eye-watering for those who cannot play it and are forced to watch others win).
The first prize in the Open is $30,000, with $12,000 category prize for first place in 2400-2549, and under 2400 each as well. Each of the U2200, U2000, U1800 categories has a first prize of $12,000, while the U1600 category has $10,800. Almost all the categories have prizes up till the 40th place! Considering that each dollar is worth Rs. 67 today, do the math!
In any case, winner or not, the concept is simple -- to provide chess players with a world class tournament that will give them memories of a lifetime.
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24-year-old Adhiban is on his career high rating of 2689. He is the top seed of the open category. In the first round, he won the game without any hiccups but in the second round, he drew his game against GM Alexander Ivanov (2476).
Here is the first game where Adhiban conducted a smooth attack:
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.10.06"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Perez, Robert M"]
[Black "Adhiban, B."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2323"]
[BlackElo "2689"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[TimeControl "7200"]
[WhiteClock "0:25:40"]
[BlackClock "0:38:30"]
Nf3 {288} Nbd7 {119} 6. g3 {642} O-O {515} 7. Bg2 {19} e5 {21} 8. O-O {148} Re8
{48} 9. a3 {638} Bxc3 {21} 10. Qxc3 {5} e4 {261} 11. Ne1 {85} Nf8 {244} 12. Nc2
{32} h5 {556} 13. h3 {742} a5 {232} 14. b4 {64} axb4 {259} 15. axb4 {0} Rxa1 {
47} 16. Qxa1 {6} d5 {118} 17. c5 {702} Bd7 {74} 18. Qb2 {37} Qc8 {143} 19. Kh2
{8} c6 {4} 20. Bg5 {638} N6h7 {467} 21. Bf4 {506} h4 {266} 22. Ra1 {124} Ng6 {
1221} 23. Qc1 {64} f6 {756} 24. Ra3 {240} Kf7 {87} 25. Bd6 {235} Ng5 {385} 26.
g4 {78} Kg8 {0} 27. Kh1 {1120} Nf7 {15} 28. Bh2 {0} f5 {1} 29. f3 {8} Kh7 {175}
30. fxe4 {373} fxg4 {31} 31. e5 {183} g3 {88} 32. Bg1 {45} Bxh3 {10} 33. Rf3 {
32} Rf8 {73} 34. Qf1 {105} Bxg2+ {75} 35. Qxg2 {0} Ng5 {37} 36. Rxf8 {0} Qxf8 {
2} 37. Be3 {0} Ne4 {34} 38. Ne1 {0} Qf5 {39} 39. Nd3 {5} h3 {95} 40. Qf3 {0}
Nh4 {50} 41. Qf4 {0} Qxf4 {0} 42. Nxf4 {0} Nf2+ {0} 0-1
Many Indians traditionally play this mega-event in the USA. There are a handful of Indians who are playing in the U2200, U2000, U1800, and U1600 categories.
Pairings for Round 03:
Bd | # | Res | White | # | Res | Black |
1 | 4 | GM Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli | 16 | GM Alexander Shabalov | ||
2 | 17 | GM Conrad Holt | 5 | GM Jeffery Xiong | ||
3 | 21 | GM Oliver Barbosa | 7 | GM Aleksandr Shimanov | ||
4 | 8 | GM Emilio Cordova | 23 | GM Mark Paragua | ||
5 | 25 | IM Akshat Chandra | 9 | GM Dariusz Swiercz | ||
6 | 27 | IM Awonder Liang | 11 | GM Varuzhan Akobian | ||
7 | 12 | GM Lazaro Bruzon Batista | 47 | FM Levy Rozman | ||
8 | 52 | Yoav Lederer | 14 | GM Samuel Sevian | ||
9 | 30 | GM Alexander Fishbein | 1 | GM B. Adhiban | ||
10 | 2 | GM Samuel L Shankland | 31 | GM Ashwin Jayaram | ||
11 | 28 | GM Alexander Ivanov | 3 | GM Rauf Mamedov | ||
12 | 6 | GM Gawain C B Jones | 33 | GM Denes Boros | ||
13 | 10 | GM Jianchao Zhou | 37 | IM Colomban Vitoux | ||
14 | 13 | GM Yaroslav Zherebukh | 39 | FM Igor Sorkin | ||
15 | 19 | IM Andrey Gorovets | 43 | IM Daniel Jere | ||
16 | 45 | IM Farai Mandizha | 20 | GM Ioan-Cristian Chirila | ||
17 | 50 | FM William Morrison | 26 | GM Eugene Perelshteyn | ||
18 | 15 | GM Alejandro Ramirez | 56 | IM Oladapo Adu | ||
19 | 57 | Qibiao Wang | 18 | GM Alexander Stripunsky | ||
20 | 59 | FM Kyron W Griffith | 22 | GM Magesh Chandran Panchanathan | ||
21 | 60 | FM Hans M Niemann | 24 | GM Kayden W Troff | ||
22 | 65 | Nasyr Akylbekov | 29 | IM Pablo Salinas Herrera | ||
23 | 32 | GM Nikola Mitkov | 62 | Rahul Srivatshav P | ||
24 | 34 | GM Pontus Carlsson | 67 | FM Rico Salimbagat | ||
25 | 72 | FM Zhuo Ren Lim | 35 | IM Aman Hambleton |
Find the rest of the pairings of open and other categories here
Interview with GM Maurice Ashley, organizer of the event.