Ten-way Tie at World Open
The 41st World Open ended in an unusually large tie for first place. After nine rounds of fighting chess during the 4th of July weekend, a group of ten grandmasters finished on 6.5 points and shared the top prizes: Varuzhan Akobian (Kansas), Lazaro Bruzon (Cuba), Viktor Laznicka (Czech Republic), Tamaz Gelashvili (Georgia), Yuniesky Quesada Perez (Cuba); Sergey Erenburg (Pennsylvania) Parimarjan Negi (India), Alejandro Ramirez (Texas) and Yury Shulman (Illinois). The last time the World Open ended in a ten-way tie for first place was exactly ten years ago.
Photo courtesy Chris Bird
This year the 41st edition of the annual World Open took place in the Crystal City Hyatt just outside of Washington, D.C. There were 1204 participants, among them 30 GMs and 17 IMs or WGMs, who played for $250,000 projected prizes over 9 sections.
The last round saw many draws on the top boards as none of the players were willing to take big risks. This way Akobian, Bruzon, Laznicka, Gelashvili, Quesada, Erenburg and Negi finished on 6.5 points and shared first. Winning their last round games, Ramirez and Shulman joined this group and all took home $3912.90.
All but one: Akobian defeated Quesada (the two players with the best tiebreak score) in an Armageddon game where the American played the black pieces with draw odds, with 3 minutes on the clock, against Quesada who needed to win with White, with 5 minutes on the clock. As the game ended in a draw after 52 moves, Akobian earned the title of World Open Champion and earned $3990.90.
Below are a few more games from the tournament. Don't miss the final report by CLO.
World Open 2013 | Final standings (top 30)
| # | Name | Rtg | St | Tot | TB1 | Prize |
| 1 | GM Varuzhan Akobian | 2612 | KS | 6.5 | 42.5 | $3990.90 |
| 2 | GM Yuniesky Quesada Perez | 2639 | CUB | 6.5 | 43 | $3912.90 |
| 3 | GM Lazaro Bruzon Batista | 2689 | CUB | 6.5 | 42 | $3912.90 |
| 4 | GM Viktor Laznicka | 2684 | CZE | 6.5 | 42 | $3912.90 |
| 5 | GM Sergey Erenburg | 2615 | PA | 6.5 | 41 | $3912.90 |
| 6 | GM Tamaz Gelashvili | 2572 | GEO | 6.5 | 40.5 | $3912.90 |
| 7 | GM Parimarjan Negi | 2634 | IND | 6.5 | 40 | $3912.90 |
| 8 | GM Alejandro Ramirez | 2583 | TX | 6.5 | 37 | $3912.90 |
| 9 | GM Yury Shulman | 2542 | IL | 6.5 | 37 | $3912.90 |
| 10 | GM Conrad Holt | 2531 | KS | 6.5 | 36.5 | $3912.90 |
| 11 | GM Vadim Milov | 2643 | SUI | 6.0 | ||
| 12 | GM Giorgi Kacheishvili | 2588 | GEO | 6.0 | ||
| 13 | GM Alex Shabalov | 2553 | PA | 6.0 | ||
| 14 | GM Victor Mikhalevski | 2552 | ISR | 6.0 | ||
| 15 | GM Marc T Arnold | 2525 | NY | 6.0 | ||
| 16 | GM Alexander Fishbein | 2504 | NJ | 6.0 | ||
| 17 | GM Ray Robson | 2628 | MO | 5.5 | ||
| 18 | GM Sam Shankland | 2601 | CA | 5.5 | ||
| 19 | GM Magesh Panchanathan | 2583 | IND | 5.5 | ||
| 20 | GM Zviad Izoria | 2574 | NY | 5.5 | ||
| 21 | GM Aleksandr Lenderman | 2548 | NY | 5.5 | ||
| 22 | IM Mackenzie S Molner | 2501 | AZ | 5.5 | ||
| 23 | IM Irina Krush | 2480 | NY | 5.5 | $462.50 | |
| 24 | IM Leonid Gerzhoy | 2469 | CAN | 5.5 | $462.50 | |
| 25 | IM Kayden W Troff | 2427 | UT | 5.5 | $462.50 | |
| 26 | IM Bindi Cheng | 2406 | ON | 5.5 | $462.50 | |
| 27 | IM Bogdan Vioreanu | 2404 | ROM | 5.5 | $462.50 | |
| 28 | FM Luke Harmon-Vellotti | 2368 | ID | 5.5 | $462.50 | |
| 29 | IM Darwin Yang | 2485 | TX | 5.0 | ||
| 30 | IM Tegshsuren Enkhbat | 2428 | MD | 5.0 |
Full final standings here.
