Swiercz and Jones win MC3

by kevinspraggettonchess · Published October 12, 2016 · Updated October 12, 2016

LAST MILLIONAIRE TOURNAMENT ?!

Congrats to GMs Darius Swiercz and Gawain Jones for tieing for first prize at the 3rd edition of America’s richest chess tournament. On tiebreak the Polish GM won , pocketing a cool $30k, while GM Jones took home an equally cool $15k.

The tournament was held in Atlantic City from the 6th to the 10th of this month, and was run as a 7-round Open tournament with numerous sections. The top 4 finishers go into an elaborate system of tiebreaks. Time control for the first 7 rounds was a relaxed 2 hours for 40 moves and then 30 minutes for finish (plus 5-sec per move).

The tournament saw much less interest on the part of American players (total participation was just slightly above 400) after the traditional $100k first prize was reduced to $30k (with corresponding cuts in the lower sections)

Congrats also to Amy Lee and Maurice Ashley for trying to inspire others to follow the American Dream. No one can fault their efforts, and American Chess is richer because of them.

MY GAME SELECTION

[Event "Millionaire Chess Op 2016"] [Site "Atlantic City USA"] [Date "2016.10.9"] [Round "7.13"] [White "Barbosa, Oliver"] [Black "Valdes Escobar, Alvaro"] [Result "1-0"] [Eco "E11"] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 O-O 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 d6 7.Bd3 e5 8.O-O exd4 9.Nxd4 Re8 10.Re1 Nfd7 11.Nf5 Bf6 12.Ne3 Nc5 13.Bc2 a5 14.Rb1 a4 15.Nd5 Nc6 16.Nf1 Nd4 17.Be3 Ndb3 18.Nd2 Nd4 {[#]} 19.Nxf6+ Qxf6 20.e5!! Qh4 21.g3 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Millionaire Chess Op 2016"] [Site "Atlantic City USA"] [Date "2016.10.7"] [Round "3.11"] [White "Ivanov, Alexander"] [Black "Mamedov, Rauf"] [Result "0-1"] [Eco "B06"] 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 a6 4.Nf3 d6 5.Bc4 e6 6.a4 Ne7 7.O-O O-O 8.Re1 Nbc6 9.Be3 d5 10.Bb3 h6 11.exd5 exd5 12.h3 Be6 13.Ne2 Na5 14.Ba2 Nc4 15.Nf4 Bf5 16.Bc1 Re8 17.c3 c6 18.Nd3 g5 19.Nde5 Nd6 20.Nh2 Qc7 21.Bd2 f6 22.Neg4 Ng6 23.Ne3 Be6 24.Bb1 f5 25.Bd3 Ne4 26.Bc1? {[#]} Nxf2! 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Millionaire Chess Op 2016"] [Site "Atlantic City USA"] [Date "2016.10.8"] [Round "6.7"] [White "Swiercz, Dariusz"] [Black "Bruzon Batista, Lazaro"] [Result "1-0"] [Eco "C67"] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.h3 h6 10.Rd1+ Ke8 11.Nc3 Ne7 12.Bf4 Ng6 13.Bh2 Bc5 14.Ne4 Bb6 15.c4 Bf5 16.Ng3 Be6 17.Rac1 c5 18.Nh5 Rg8 19.g4 Rd8 20.Rxd8+ Kxd8 21.Nd2 Ne7 22.f4 g6 23.Nf6 Rh8 24.Nde4 Kc8 25.Kg2 Rd8 26.Bg1 Nc6 27.b3 Nb4 28.Rf1 Nxa2 29.f5 gxf5 30.gxf5 Bd7 31.Nxd7 Kxd7 32.Nf6+ Kc6 {[#]} 33.e6 fxe6 34.fxe6 Kd6 35.Re1 Ke7 36.Nd5+ Ke8 37.Nf6+ Ke7 38.Nd5+ Ke8 39.Bf2 Nb4 40.Bh4 Nxd5 41.Bxd8 Ba5 42.cxd5 Bxe1 43.Bxc7 Ke7 44.Kf3 b5 45.Ke4 Bb4 46.Ke5 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Millionaire Chess Op 2016"] [Site "Atlantic City USA"] [Date "2016.10.8"] [Round "6.5"] [White "Chirila, Ioan-Cristian"] [Black "Jones, Gawain C B"] [Result "0-1"] [Eco "E73"] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 O-O 5.Be2 d6 6.Bg5 Na6 7.f4 c6 8.Qd2 Nc7 9.Bf3 d5 10.cxd5 cxd5 11.e5 Ne4 12.Nxe4 dxe4 13.Bxe4 f6 14.Bh4 fxe5 15.fxe5 {[#]} Bxe5 16.Nf3 Bf4 17.Qd3 Bf5 18.O-O Nd5 19.Rae1 Qd7 20.Bg5 Rad8 21.Bxf4 Nxf4 22.Qe3 Bxe4 23.Qxe4 Nd5 24.h3 Rf4 25.Qe6+ Qxe6 26.Rxe6 Rc8 27.Re5 Rf5 28.Rfe1 Rc6 29.R5e2 Rc4 30.Re5 Rc6 31.Re6 Rxe6 32.Rxe6 Kf8 33.Re2 Nf4 34.Rf2 Ke8 35.Ne5 Ne6 36.Rc2 Kd8 37.Nf3 g5 38.Kf2 Kd7 39.Ke3 Kd6 40.Ke4 Rf4+ 41.Ke3 h6 42.Rc8 Kd5 43.Rb8 Re4+ 44.Kf2 b6 45.g3 Kc6 46.Rh8 Nxd4 47.Nxd4+ Rxd4 48.Rxh6+ Kd5 49.Ke3 Rc4 50.Kd3 g4 51.Rh4 Rd4+ 52.Ke3 Re4+ 53.Kd3 Rd4+ 54.Kc3 Rc4+ 55.Kd3 Ra4 56.Rxg4 Rxa2 57.Rd4+ Ke5 58.Re4+ Kf6 59.Rf4+ Ke5 60.Re4+ Kf6 61.Kc3 e5 62.g4 Ra1 63.h4 a6 64.h5 Rh1 65.Re3 Rg1 66.Rf3+ Ke6 67.h6 Rxg4 68.Rh3 Rg8 69.h7 Rh8 70.Rh5 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Millionaire Chess Op 2016"] [Site "Atlantic City USA"] [Date "2016.10.7"] [Round "4.8"] [White "Shabalov, Alexander"] [Black "Jones, Gawain C B"] [Result "0-1"] [Eco "A65"] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 O-O 5.Nge2 d6 6.f3 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Bg5 h6 9.Be3 exd5 10.cxd5 a6 11.a4 Nbd7 12.Qd2 Ne8 13.Nf4 Ne5 14.Be2 Nc7 15.O-O Bd7 16.a5 Qe8 17.Rac1 Kh7 18.b4 c4 19.Nb1 f5 20.exf5 Bxf5 21.Na3 g5 22.Ne6 Nxe6 23.dxe6 d5 24.Bc5? {[#]} Qxe6! 25.Bxf8 Rxf8 26.Rfe1 Qf7 27.Kh1 Nd3 28.Bxd3 Bxd3 29.Re3 Bg6 30.Qe1 Qf4 31.Rd1 d4 32.Re7 c3 33.Qe6 c2 34.Nxc2 Bxc2 35.Qd7 Rg8 36.Rde1 d3 37.R1e3 Kh8 38.h3 Qd4 39.Rxg7 Qxg7 40.Re7 Qxe7 41.Qxe7 d2 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.