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Chess Life Online 2008 May Akobian Wins; Friedel and Zenyuk Wow
Chess Life Online 2008 May Akobian Wins; Friedel and Zenyuk Wow | Akobian Wins; Friedel and Zenyuk Wow |
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| By J.Shahade/B. Dynako | |
| May 26, 2008 | |
Varuzhan Akobian in Tulsa last week, Photo Betsy Dynako
1996 Nakamura and Petrosian set themselves up for tie for a first by winning their sixth round games against fellow GMs Kolev and Mitkov. Then, in round 7, Nakamura and Petrosian were paired and had a quick draw. 1993 1992 Akobian defeated Mexican GM Alonso Zapata in the final round to earn his spot in the winner's circle. 1998 
Josh Friedel won his third GM norm in Tulsa and in Chicago, he earned the rating points for the title.
The other big news in the tournament included striking performances by young players such as Josh Friedel and Iryna Zenyuk. Josh Friedel earned the necessary points for his GM title- he defeated GMs Hikaru Nakamura and the current champ, Yury Shulman. In his creative win against Shulman, Friedel made an unclear piece sack. 
Position after 23.fg3
Friedel played Nxg3 hxg3 Bxg3, earning an exchange back as well as a scary attack that eventually prevailed. 1995 
Iryna Zenyuk in Chicago
Iryna Zenyuk scored two upsets in Chicago, including a last round miniature win over Matt Parry. Parry erred with 17.c4? which allowed 17...Qf3! winning instantly since Qd1 is mated in two to Qe4. Instead, d3 holds on the e4 square and the game would go on. 1997 Chicago Open Final Standings Open- 1-3 Varuzhan Akobian, Tigran Petrosian and Hikaru Nakamura- 5.5 U2300 Alexander Betaneli and Justin D Daniel- 6 U2100 John Rinaldo and Steve Saidi- 6 U1900 Alex Gianos-Steinberg-6.5 U1700-Ariel Gerardo- 6.5 U1500 David Jin- 6.5 U1300 Fedor Titov- 6.5 U1000 Chad Hirsch and Corbin Rudnick- 6 U700 Joshua J. Herman- 6 Unrated James M. Pavese-7 Correction: Previous standings for the Under sections were incorrectly labelled as "Final" when they were actually after six rounds. For complete results and more information including games and reports, go to the Chicago Open's official website. Also look for a follow-up blog by Jonathan Hilton (read his first here ) and a Chess Life Magazine article by Jerry Hanken. Chicago Open Photo Gallery by Betsy Dynako 
IM John Donaldson provided game analysis at the Chicago Open
GM Hikaru Nakamura tied for first in the Chicago Open but missed out on tiebreaks
GM Alexander Shabalov
Hana Itkis
Nikola Mitkov
Emory Tate
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