[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Ongoing Events: Chicago, Sarajevo, and the Tournament of Draws

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Ongoing Events: Chicago, Sarajevo, and the Tournament of Draws
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1211688874.shtml


   I had considered following up the IM norm tournament that just
   finished with the Chicago Open, but decided there probably wasn't
   enough gas in the tank to make it worthwhile. That said, before
   returning home this evening I visited that event last night and this
   morning. It was a pleasant trip, meeting some old acquaintances and
   having a few people introduce themselves, having recognized me from
   the ads for my weekly ChessBase show. Naturally, there was some
   interesting chess going on, too, and the round 2 pairing between
   GM-elect Joshua Friedel and long-time GM Hikaru Nakamura was
   especially intriguing. The point is that while Nakamura would normally
   be a routine favorite, given the rating difference between them, he
   had lost to Friedel at least twice before. And now...it's at least
   thrice. It's not that Friedel isn't a very strong player; he obviously
   is. But it seems that he has some special mojo when it comes to facing
   Nakamura. Those interested in replaying that game, and seeing more of
   the action from the first three rounds, can find it on the
   [1]monroi.com site.
   Next up, [2]Sarajevo. There's really not much to report here: after
   two days, four of the six games have been drawn, with the exceptions
   coming at Predojevic's expense. He lost in round 1 to Dominguez, and
   in round 2 to Morozevich.
   Finally, the [3]Tournament of Draws (aka "The King's [sic?]
   Tournament") in Bazna, Romania. Here were the results from round 1:
   Beliavsky - Portisch 1/2-1/2
   Murariu - Andersson 1/2-1/2
   Short - Mecking 1/2-1/2
   Sokolov - Vaganian 1/2-1/2
   Suba - Timman 1/2-1/2
   As fun as it is to hassle these guys, it seems from the move count
   that at least two of the games were hard-fought. Beliavsky's game
   (he's a reliable warrior) went 62 moves, and Short-Mecking made it to
   move 53. Still, I'd be very surprised if the overall drawing
   percentage in this tournament wasn't exceedingly high, especially if
   we exclude Beliavsky and Short from consideration.

References

   1. http://monroi.com/
   2. http://www.skbosna.ba/?jezik=bos
   3. http://www.clubulregilor.ro/