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Chessville
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2006 Mayor's Cup
Invitational
June 25 - 26, 2006
New York Athletic Club
Reported by Paul Truong
Prestige, action and excitement in NY City at the 2006 Mayor's Cup Invitational
Susan was the chief organizer. She was the one who came up with the idea of the event to promote chess in the US, especially in NY City. She contacted the NYAC, NYC Sports Commission, raised funding and personally contacted the players.
The tournament consists of six players who were invited based on a number of criteria such as: ratings, current titles, location of residence, past invitations, etc. The six players who took part in this historic event are:
Mr. Bill Hall, the Executive Director of the USCF was on hand to welcome all the participants at the Opening Ceremony. In addition, he also gave a special recognition to the three members of the 2006 US Olympiad Bronze Medalist team.
Most of the games were very hard fought and they were basically decided in the last minute or two, sometimes even in the last few seconds.
All games were drawn in round one after big battles. Boris with the white pieces created an incredible sacrifice against Susan that almost gave him a full point. She defended very well to hang on and even missed a winning combination toward the end of the game. The game ended with each player netting ½ point.
In round three, Boris maintained his lead with a draw against Alex O. because Susan lost to Gata. In a complicated position in harsh time pressure, Alex S. blundered his Queen to give Ildar a full point. That blunder may have played a major role in Alex S.' final outcome.
In round four, Gata caught up with Boris for a share of the lead as he won his second game in a row. This time, it was against his Olympiad teammate Ildar. Susan and Alex O. were ½-point behind with a draw against each other. The battle between Boris and Alex S. ended in a draw but not without excitement.
In round six, the first game of day two, Gata took his first sole lead of the tournament with 4/6 by defeating Alex S., while Boris lost his first game of the tournament to Susan. With this win, Susan was tied with Boris for 2nd place, ½-point behind Gata. Alex O. drew again, his 6th in a row, this time against Ildar.
In round seven Susan once again surged into a tie for first with Gata as she defeated Ildar again while Gata drew Boris. Alex O. broke his drawing streak with his first win against Alex S. in a very nice game.
In round nine, Gata drew Ildar to safely maintain his lead. Susan, with the black pieces, surprised Alex O. right out of the opening and got the upper hand. Unfortunately, she was not able to capitalize on it and soon faced a lost position. A blunder by Alex O. with very little time left on the clock turned the tide and the game ended in a draw.
Gata and Alex O. quickly drew and Gata secured his first place finish. For a while, it seemed that Alex O. would get at least a share of 2nd. It was then up to Boris and Susan to do their things. Boris ended up losing to Ildar while Susan had a bad game against Alex S. She fought hard to hold on to the game and succeeded in getting a somewhat even endgame. True to his fighting spirit throughout the entire tournament, Alex S. decided to push very hard for a win but he did not succeed after an overly ambitious Knight sacrifice. He ended up losing and Susan finished in clear 2nd.
The tournament had incredible excitement and extremely high fighting spirits. Even though these six players get along well with each other, all friendships were left outside of the chess boards as they fought hard to defeat each other in every round.
These six players gave their all to try to win the prominent Mayor’s Cup. Gata played very well and deserved to win the tournament. He lived up to “the Grinder” nickname as he mowed down his helpless opponents. Alex Onischuk was truly the "Rock". He was the only player not to lose a single game! He even joked that he was the “Rock” and the “Invincible” at this event. Boris Gulko started out very well but he was tired at the end. Ildar Ibragimov fought valiantly and he was the unlucky loser in some of the games after outplaying some of his opponents. Alex Stripunsky fought hard until the last game and the clock did him a few times. But he never gave up. Susan had her ups and downs as she is clearly still rusty.
Mr. Ken Podziba, NY City Sports Commissioner, was on hand at the Closing Ceremony to congratulate all the participants and gave out the Mayor’s Cup. Unfortunately, Mayor Bloomberg was not able to make it as planned due to a last minute official function.
On behalf of the Susan Polgar Foundation, I would like to thank the NYAC, the NY City Sports Commission (and Commissioner Ken Podziba), the Office of Mayor Bloomberg, the Sponsors and supporters of the Susan Polgar Foundation, the Arbiters (Frank Berry and his brother Jim) and everyone involved for supporting this wonderful tournament.
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.jpg)
After
many months of preparing and planning, the 2006 NY City Mayor’s Cup Chess
Invitational tournament took place on June 25 – 26, 2006 at the prestigious
New York Athletic Club. The event was organized and sponsored by the Susan
Polgar Foundation in collaboration with the NY Athletic Club, the NY City
Sports Commission and the Office of Mayor Bloomberg..jpg)
This
was the highest rated double round robin chess tournament in US history.
The average USCF rating of the six players was 2665+. The time control
of the tournament was 25 minutes per game with 5 seconds delay. One
notable name that was missing in this event was Hikaru Nakamura, who was
invited and participated in the previous Mayor's Cup Invitational. The
organizing committee and sponsors wanted to see different players in this
event..jpg)
.jpg)
In
round two, Boris and Susan took the early lead by defeating Gata and Ildar
respectively. Gata over-pushed and Boris displayed his impeccable endgame
technique to score a full point. Susan and Ildar played one of the
most exciting games in the tournament. She played very well and was up
a pawn early on. But Ildar did not back off. He fought valiantly
and a few inaccuracies by Susan in mutual time pressure gave Ildar some
life. The game went on for nearly 90 moves with almost no time left at
the end. After the smoke cleared, Susan’s tactics prevailed.
Alex O. and Alex S. settled for a draw after a hard fought game..jpg)
In
round five, the last game of day one, Boris regained the sole lead by
defeating Ildar while Gata drew Alex O. Susan and Alex S. (who happen to be
neighbors in Forest Hills, NY) also ended up a wild draw..jpg)
In
round eight, the two leaders, Gata and Susan, faced each other while Boris
and Alex O. (tied for 3rd and 4th) squared off against
one another. Rather than playing safe, Susan tried to go all out for
an attack on the Kingside against Gata. However, Gata took full
advantage of a Susan’s inaccuracies to take a full point lead with just two
rounds to go. With this loss, Susan fell into a tie for 2nd
with Boris and Alex O. as they drew each other..jpg)
Heading
into round 10, Gata maintained his full point lead while Susan, Alex O. and
Boris were all tied for 2nd. All three also had Black in
the last round. Alex O. faced Gata; Boris took on Ildar while Susan
faced Alex S..jpg)
