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Millionaire Chess 01+02: The Richie Rich of Opens is back!

by Hinduja Reddy - 07/10/2016

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

Remember this cartoon?

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. 

The playing venue: Harrah's Resort Atlantic City

The conference hall 

The food court

The stage is set

.

GM B. Adhiban (2689) has slipped to 1.5/2

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:

[Event "Millionaire Chess Open 2016"]
[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"]
1. d4 {3} Nf6 {10} 2. c4 {0} e6 {8} 3. Nc3 {13} Bb4 {0} 4. Qc2 {9} d6 {70} 5.
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 

USA's GM Sam Shankland, the second seed, is also on 1.5/2

World Junior champion GM Jeffery Xiong is on 2.0/2. [We have an in-depth interview under production. Will be out soon!]

Rahul Srivatshav P (2277) is playing in the open category and posing here for his red-carpet moment, one of the unique features of the event! (You're welcome, chess24.)

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. 

For example, Meet Puri (1468) is playing in the U1600 category, with his eyes firmly on the prize-money.

The event has a 'Best Dressed Player' award for every round. The first round prize went to Malcolm Barrington who dressed up in an Indian Sherwani!

A small tactic to savour: Griffith-Shimanov; Black to play 

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 


PGN Download

Interview with GM Maurice Ashley, organizer of the event.

More photos by David Llada


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