2012 World Open in Philadelphia - Chess and Board Game Strategy

TexAg06 · 07-05-2012, 08:16 AM

This tournament is going on right now and I was going through the standings on their website, seen below.

http://www.worldopen.com/

What made me post this is I couldn't believe some of the upsets in the first round of the 5-day schedule. Some huge rating differences here. The ratings in parentheses are FIDE ratings.

FM Kazim Gulamali (2318) def GM Ilya Smirin (2647)
WGM Nadya Ortiz (2230) def GM Ray Robson (2601)
Luke Harmon-Velotti (2265) def GM Alejandro Ramirez (2576)
Andrew Ryba (2162) def GM Mikheil Kekelidze (2494)
Manuel Valerio Nieto (1949) def IM Tania Sachdev (2394)

Chess is a great game

timotheeeee · 07-05-2012, 10:38 AM

I went to the World Open a few years back. My friend and I ended up in a taxi with GM Anatoly Lein. He charmed us with stories from when he lived with Tal. He also pissed off the taxi driver. At one point the driver was asking us questions about where we were going. (My friend and I obviously didn't know Lein but we also obviously had a connection, what with our discussions.) Lein says, in full-on thick Russian accent, "You are very curious." The driver went silent. When he got Lein's bags out, he gave Lein an earful.

I've known Kazim Gulamali since he was like 13 and under expert strength. Not personally or anything. We went to the same chess store/club in Atlanta a bunch. He's good. Doesn't surprise me he's making waves against GMs.

Do it Right · 07-05-2012, 11:00 AM

I was about to go on some drunken rant about Gulamali vs Smirin making some sense since Smirin is probably starting the reach the age about where motivation starts declining, etc. Then I see Ortiz vs Robson - yeah I think I'll just shuddap now.

TexAg06 · 07-05-2012, 04:42 PM

Cool story timotheeeee. Do you play much anymore? I haven't seen you post much here but fire away with stories like that

TexAg06 · 07-05-2012, 04:44 PM

The rating scale is supposed to be linear, correct? So in theory, a 1500 has as good of a chance to upset a 1900 as a 2200 has to upset a 2600, right?

Vempele · 07-05-2012, 05:02 PM

Logarithmic, but that's what it means. Linear would mean 2200 vs. 2600 = 1100 vs. 1300.

TexAg06 · 07-05-2012, 05:11 PM

That's it, you're right, thanks.

If someone did a huge study of actual games, I wonder what the results would look like. Just from my own observations, I would think a 1500 could much more easily upset a 1900 than a 2200 can a 2600. The lower level games are so much more high variance. Plus, it seems like 2400+ players are significantly better than 2200 players, much more than 200 points. Again, these are just random thoughts from my own experience.

**RoundTower** · 07-06-2012, 12:50 AM

same score, not same number of wins.

Noir_Desir · 07-06-2012, 03:46 AM

For a tournament of this size and prize fund, i have to say that the homepage is tilt-inducingly abominable. There's no information about schedule, starting times, when the different groups merge and how, etc. 3 different pages with live games for which 3 different viewers are needed, the downloadable pgn gives a seemingly random selection of games, i could go on and on.

mightytiny · 07-06-2012, 08:17 AM

Werent at least one of the odd cases in chess cheating happened here with Rosenberg? I wonder how they monitor for cheating even at the class level where the prizes are good.

TexAg06 · 07-06-2012, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noir_Desir

For a tournament of this size and prize fund, i have to say that the homepage is tilt-inducingly abominable. There's no information about schedule, starting times, when the different groups merge and how, etc. 3 different pages with live games for which 3 different viewers are needed, the downloadable pgn gives a seemingly random selection of games, i could go on and on.

Could not agree more, it's so frustrating. It looks like my 7th grade project in computer class when I first learned HTML.

TexAg06 · 07-06-2012, 08:42 AM

Here are some results through round 3 of the 5-day schedule. These are just some tidbits I think are interesting, not necessarily who's leading.

-Curtains is doing well, sitting at 2/3 after beating a lower rated player, drawing IM Marc Arnold, and impressively drawing GM Atanas Kolev, a 2600 FIDE guy.

-The guy I'm rooting for now is Luke Harmon-Vellotti. He's an untitled player (2265 FIDE, 2356 USCF), 14 years old, and is currently at 2.5/3 after beating GM Alejandro Ramirez (2576 FIDE), IM Shyam Nikhil (2502 FIDE), and drawing GM Alonso Zapata (FIDE 2488). Fantastic start for the youngster, really hope he keeps it going.

-Sarah Chiang, a 15 year old NM from Dallas, is doing well at 1.5/3. She beat FM Kassa Korley and drew IM Michael Mulyar. Nothing outstanding like Harmon-Vellotti, but I always root for the Dallas Chess Club kids. She's really a good kid and I hope she does well.

timotheeeee · 07-06-2012, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexAg06

Cool story timotheeeee. Do you play much anymore? I haven't seen you post much here but fire away with stories like that

Don't play much anymore. Probably played/studied eight hours a day in high school, and I was president of the chess club in college, but work and relationships got in the way of everything I love about life.

TexAg06 · 07-07-2012, 01:30 PM

Luke Harmon-Vellotti (FIDE 2265) is still on fire. Currently sitting at 3.5/5, and last round beat IM Qingan Liu (FIDE 2509). So far he has beat 1 GM and 2 IMs, drawn 1 GM, and lost his only game to GM Shabalov. Crossing my fingers he keeps it going.

I can't imagine playing 5 games against GMs and IMs and having a 3.5/5 score.