2013 Las Vegas International Chess Festival

The Open attracts a lot of talent from around the country and the world because of the possibility of taking clear first place and the $10,000 top prize.  What usually happens, though, is a whole lot of players split prizes because they finish "tied."  That happened this year; Tatev Abrahamyan was the highest-finishing female player, tying with players 12 through 22 with 4.0.  From the score, it looks like Tatev played her usually uncompromising fighting chess, scoring 4 wins and 2 losses! 

Here is the top finisher (GM Wesley So) and the femmes whose names I was able to pick out from the Open final standings -- hope I didn't miss anyone!

There were 91 players but as the event went on many of the players at the bottom of the rankings dropped out:

No. Ttl Name                     St  Rate Pts Rnd1 Rnd2 Rnd3 Rnd4 Rnd5 Rnd6 Prize                         
  1 GM  So,Wesley                CAN 2728   5 W 19 D 26 W  9 W 25 W 12 D  4 $2,175
22 WGM Abrahamyan,Tatev         CA  2407   4 L 26 W 19 W 18 L 14 W 47 W 50 $114  
45 WFM Labedz,Patrycja Anna     TX  2267   3 L 12 W 73 L 31 L 76 W 86 W 71
46 FM  Melekhina,Alisa          PA  2267   3 L  3 W 74 D 29 D 26 L 30 W 72
 55 WFM Chiang,Sarah             TX  2243 2.5  -H- W 52 L 28 L  9 L 61 W 82
71 WIM Gutierrez,Paloma         AZ  2212   2 L 15 L 77 L 52 W 81 W 83 L 45

You can find all of the results for sections here. 

2013 National Open in Las Vegas Getting Ready to Rock 'n Roll!

Note to self, next trip I plan to LV, make sure it's while this tournament is running!  I wanna see it in action!

The National Open (Open prizes guaranteed at $80,000), June 6 - 9, 2013 at the venerable Riviera Hotel.  I have fond memories of the Riviera, stayed there several times during my visits to Las Vegas, including in 1999 when I watched the FIDE World Championship Knock-Out tournament at Casesar's Palace -- the first and last time I saw Judit Polgar in action live!  The memory still thrills...

The big guns registered thus far (who have their eyes set on clear first place in the Open and the guaranteed $6,500 first place prize): 

1	2728 GM		Wesley So	CAN
2	2698 GM	2620	Ray Robson	MO
3	2687 GM	2585	Aleksandr Lenderman	NY

Holy Hathor! Wesley So now plays for Canada?!  Thus far, 60 players are pre-registered for the Open.  I am very fond of Ray Robson, a native son, and I absolutely adore Alex Lenderman, whom I "met" when I read the wonderful book "The Kings of New York."  There is just something about him that touches my heart, don't know what it is and no, darlings, it's not a sexual thing, LOL!  I'm old enough to be his grandma :)  I do think he's cute, though.

There are several chess femmes pre-registered for the Open as well:

2407 WGM	2280	Tatev Abrahamyan	CA
2267 WFM	2103	Patrycja Anna Labedz	TX

2243 WFM

2098

Sarah Chiang

TX

2212 WIM

2181

Paloma Gutierrez

AZ

Abrahamyan is coming off another good performance at the recently-concluded U.S. Women's Chess Championship in St. Louis, Missouri; Sarah Chiang also premiered in the U.S. Women's Chess Championship this year.  She performed better in the second half, once she got her chess legs underneath her.  Here's the final cross-table from that event:

Cross table after round 9

Rank	Name	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Score
1	IM Krush, Irina	2470	x	1	1	1	½	½	1	1	1	1	8.0
2	IM Zatonskih, Anna	2466	0	x	½	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	7.5
3	WGM Abrahamyan, Tatev	2280	0	½	x	1	1	1	1	½	½	1	6.5
4	WIM Zenyuk, Iryna	2243	0	0	0	x	½	1	½	½	1	1	4.5
5	WGM Baginskaite, Camilla	2278	½	0	0	½	x	1	½	½	1	½	4.5
6	WGM Foisor, Sabina	2300	½	0	0	0	0	x	0	1	1	1	3.5
7	WGM Belakovskaia, Anjelina	2263	0	0	0	½	½	1	x	0	1	0	3.0
8	WFM Kats, Alena	2144	0	0	½	½	½	0	1	x	0	½	3.0
9	WFM Chiang, Sarah	2098	0	0	½	0	0	0	0	1	x	1	2.5
10	WIM Ni, Viktorija	2262	0	0	0	0	½	0	1	½	0	x	2.0