I played even worse than usual at the 2009 World Open. I also came late.
The reason I came late was that I wanted to finish my latest book, “A Grammar of Pashto” before departing for the tournament. However, I expected to get to Philadelphia about noon and to only miss the first round. When I got to the Greyhound Bus Station in New York City, I was horrified to see hundreds of people waiting in line to catch the bus to Philadelphia. Of course, this being July 4th weekend it was expected that traffic would be heavier that usual. However, I went to World Opens in years past and it was never this crowded.
I had no choice but to wait in line.
I finally got to the front on the line at 1:00 PM. I had already missed Round 2 which was scheduled to start at 1:30 PM but I felt that surely I would get there in time for Round three.
However, when the Greyhound Bus I was riding finally got on the road, there was a terrible traffic jam. It seemed like a slow moving parking lot.
The bus driver later revealed that he had not driven this route in more than 20 years, when they had the last major Greyhound strike. Today, he had been on his way to the barber shop and did not have his normal Greyhound uniform on and they had called him in as an emergency driver, because they had too many passengers or not enough drivers.
As a result, he did not know his way to the Greyhound Bus Station in Philadelphia. We, the passengers, had to direct him to the way.
I finally got to the chess tournament at 3:47 PM. Round three had started at 3:30 PM, so I was 17 minutes late. I was committed to playing anyway. However, with three half-point byes there would no chance to win money in the section where I belonged. Therefore, since there was no chance to win money anyway, I decided to play in the Open Section, which had 34 grandmasters!!! I also hoped to get paired against The Most Beautiful Girl in the World!!!
Bill Goichberg gave me three half-point byes and entered me in round four. I later discovered that there had been an odd number of players without me. This meant that when I entered, it made the number of players even, I should have been paired against the player who had been given the full point bye. I asked Goichberg why he had not done that. He seemed surprised and said that he had not even thought of it.
I think that old age is setting in. In years past, Goichberg would have done that automatically, without even having to think about it. Goichberg is after all 67.
I have the same excuse. I am 64. This must explain why I played so badly. Here are the games:
My first opponent, who has a FIDE rating of 2400 cleverly avoided my opening trap of 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f6 3. Nxe5 fxe5 winning a piece, by playing 1. Nf3, so I was forced to play a normal game. The game was basically even and drawish, although he always had the slight advantage by being White.
My first mistake was 12 … h5, creating an unnecessary weakness and accomplishing nothing. Prior to that move, I was perfectly OK.
My next much bigger mistake was 23. … Rh8, dropping two pawns. Had I simply played 23. … Bb7 I would have been OK.
[Event “World Open 2009”]
[Site “Philadelphia PA”]
[Date “2009.07.03”]
[Round “04”]
[White “Hungaski,Robert”]
[Black “Sloan,Sam”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “A90”]
[WhiteElo “2385”]
[BlackElo “1901”]
1.Nf3 f5 2.d4 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 e6 5.O-O Bd6 6.c4
c6 7.b3 O-O 8.Ba3 Ne4 9.e3 b6 10.Ne5 Ba6 11.f3 Ng5
12.Qc1 h5 13.Bxd6 Qxd6 14.Qa3 Qxa3 15.Nxa3 Nf7
16.Ng6 Re8 17.Nf4 h4 18.gxh4 Nd7 19.Rfe1 Nf6
20.Rac1 Rac8 21.Kf2 Nd6 22.Red1 Kf7 23.Bf1 Rh8
24.cxd5 Bxf1 25.dxe6+ Ke8 26.Rxf1 Rxh4 27.Kg1 g5
28.Ng6 Rh6 29.Ne5 Nd5 30.e4 fxe4 31.fxe4 Nxe4
32.Rce1 Nec3 33.Nf7 Rh4 34.Nd6+ Kd8 35.Nxc8 Rg4+
36.Kh1 Kxc8 37.e7 1-0
In the second game my opponent fell into one of the traps I have invented. I won a bishop, a knight and a rook for a queen. I was clearly winning but I blundered and lost anyway. All I had to do was play 24. Rf4 and I would have had a bishop, two knights and a rook for a queen. He would have had a few mate threats but they could have easily been avoided. I was discouraged to have lost this game.
[Event “World Open 2009”]
[Site “Philadelphia PA”]
[Date “2009.07.03”]
[Round “05”]
[White “Sloan,Sam”]
[Black “McLoren,Sean”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “A00”]
[WhiteElo “1901”]
[BlackElo “2082”]
1.g4 d5 2.Bg2 Bxg4 3.c4 Be6 4.Qb3 Nf6 5.Qxb7 Nbd7
6.cxd5 Rb8 7.dxe6 Rxb7 8.exd7+ Qxd7 9.Bxb7 c6
10.Ba6 g6 11.Nf3 Bg7 12.Nc3 O-O 13.Bc4 e6 14.d3
Nd5 15.Bd2 Rb8 16.Bb3 Nb4 17.Rc1 a5 18.h4 h6
19.Rg1 Kh7 20.Rg4 Nd5 21.Rc4 Nb4 22.Ba4 Nxd3+
23.exd3 Qxd3 24.Bxc6 Qxc4 25.Bd7 Rxb2 26.Bb5 Qg4
27.Be2 Qh3 28.Kd1 Qh1+ 29.Be1 Bxc3 30.Rxc3 Rxa2
31.Rc7 Kg7 32.h5 gxh5 33.Ra7 h4 34.Rd7 h3 35.Rd4
h2 36.Rh4 Ra1+ 37.Kd2 Ra2+ 38.Ke3 Ra3+ 39.Kf4 Ra4+
40.Kg3 Rxh4 41.Bc3+ f6 42.Kxh4 Qg1 43.Nxg1 hxg1=Q
0-1
My next opponent, who was from France and did not know me, fell into one of my opening lines. I would appreciate it if somebody would run this through Rybka, as this line comes up all the time. The key question is whether to play 9. … Nd7 or 9. … Ne7 Against International Master Lenderman (who, by the way, earned his third GM Norm and thereby got the Grandmaster Title in this tournament) I played 9. … Ne7.
chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1507517
I nearly equalized against Lenderman except for a mistake on move 11. I need to solve the question of what to do in this key position.
The advantage to this line is, if Black can survive the opening, he is a piece up. Unfortunately, in this game, I sacrificed my extra bishop for a king side attack, failing to see an obvious defense that he had. I still need to solve this line.
[Event “World Open 2009”]
[Site “Philadelphia PA”]
[Date “2009.07.04”]
[Round “06”]
[White “Heinis,Vincent”]
[Black “Sloan,Sam”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C40”]
[WhiteElo “2182”]
[BlackElo “1901”]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6 3.Nxe5 fxe5 4.Qh5+ Ke7 5.Qxe5+
Kf7 6.Bc4+ d5 7.Bxd5+ Kg6 8.Qg3+ Qg5 9.Qxc7 Nd7
10.O-O Ngf6 11.Bxb7 Bxb7 12.Qxb7 Bd6 (12… Be7)
13.d4 Bxh2+ 14.Kxh2 Qh4+ 15.Kg1 Ng4 16.Bf4 Ndf6
17.Nc3 Rhf8 18.Bg3 Qh5 19.e5 Rab8 20.Qf3 Ng8
21.Qc6+ N8f6 22.exf6 Rb6 23.Qe4+ Kxf6 24.Nd5+ 1-0
In the fourth game, my opponent played what I call the “Damiano’s Defense Declined”. This is one of many games that prove that if White fails to play 3. Nxe5, Black can nearly equalize. This game was headed for a draw, I simply overlooked 21. Rxe5. Instead, all I had to do was play 20. … Bd6 and the game would have been a fairly dead draw.
Even after my blunder, I still was not completely lost. He had an extra pawn, but it was doubled and almost useless. I still had some slight drawing chances until I played 43. … Rf8, dropping a whole rook.
[Event “World Open 2009”]
[Site “Philadelphia PA”]
[Date “2009.07.04”]
[Round “07”]
[White “Thurim,Richard J.”]
[Black “Sloan,Sam”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C40”]
[WhiteElo “2106”]
[BlackElo “1901”]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6 3.d4 d5 4.dxe5 dxe4 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8
6.Nfd2 fxe5 7.Nxe4 Nf6 8.Bg5 Be7 9.Nbc3 c6
10.O-O-O+ Kc7 11.Bd3 Be6 12.Rhe1 Nbd7 13.a3 Rae8
14.Nd2 h6 15.Bh4 Rhf8 16.Bg3 Nd5 17.Nxd5+ Bxd5
18.Bg6 Rd8 19.f3 Rf6 20.Bd3 g5 21.Rxe5 Bd6 22.Re2
Bxg3 23.hxg3 Nc5 24.Bc4 Rd7 25.Bxd5 cxd5 26.Nf1
Na4 27.Ne3 Nb6 28.Red2 Kc6 29.g4 Kc5 30.b3 Kc6
31.a4 a5 32.Kb2 Rdd6 33.Nf5 Rd7 34.Rh1 Rh7 35.Kc3
Kc5 36.Re2 d4+ 37.Kd3 Nd5 38.Re5 Kc6 39.Kxd4 Nf4
40.Rxa5 Nxg2 41.Rc5+ Kb6 42.Rb5+ Kc6 43.Ke5 Rf8
44.Nd4+ 1-0
I was happy to play the famous master and Gold Medal Winner at the Chess Olympiads, Captain Bill Hook, the Captain of the British Virgin Islands Chess Team. We were both having bad tournaments. I decided to play a sort-of “Benko Gambit Reversed”. I am not sure if I will do that again, as I did not seem to get much for the pawn.
However, Hook enterprisingly sacrificed a piece. I was two pieces up at one point, but all of my pieces were hanging. So, I blundered again with 30. Kg2, dropping my bishop. Had I played 30. Kf1 I had some drawing chances, although my position would have been difficult.
This time I have an excuse. I was coughing badly during the game. So as not to disturb the other players, I went out during the game and bought a bottle of Robitussin Cough Medicine. Every time I felt the urge to cough, I took another swig of Robitussin Cough Medicine. So, I stopped coughing. However, by the time I made the blunder on move 30, I was so drunk on Robitussin Cough Medicine that my head was spinning. After I resigned the game, I discovered that I could not stand up. So, I sat in my chair at the chessboard for at least 15 minutes after the game was over to try to gain the strength to stand up. I then went downstairs to the hotel lobby and found one of the lounge chairs and sat there for at least two hours waiting for my head to clear and probably dozing off once or twice. I stayed there until it was time for the next round.
[Event “World Open 2009”]
[Site “Philadelphia PA”]
[Date “2009.07.05”]
[Round “08”]
[White “Sloan,Sam”]
[Black “Hook,William”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “A00”]
[WhiteElo “1901”]
[BlackElo “2200”]
1.g4 d5 2.Bg2 e5 3.c4 d4 4.d3 c5 5.h3 Ne7 6.b4
cxb4 7.a3 Ng6 8.Nf3 Nc6 9.O-O bxa3 10.Nxa3 Bc5
11.Bg5 f6 12.Bd2 O-O 13.Qa4 Qe7 14.Rfb1 Rb8 15.Nc2
Bd7 16.Qb3 f5 17.gxf5 Bxf5 18.Ng5 Nf4 19.Bxf4 exf4
20.h4 Ne5 21.Bxb7 Kh8 22.Ra5 h6 23.Qb5 Nxd3
24.exd3 Bxd3 25.Qxc5 Qxc5 26.Rxc5 hxg5 27.Rxg5 g6
28.Rbb5 Bxc2 29.h5 Rf6 30.Kg2 Rxb7 31.Rxb7 Be4+
32.f3 Bxb7 33.hxg6 Kg7 34.Kf2 Rxg6 35.Rc5 Rb6
36.Rc7+ Kf6 37.Ke2 Rb3 38.c5 Bxf3+ 39.Kd2 Rc3
40.Rxa7 Be4 41.Ra4 Ke5 42.Ra5 f3 43.Ke1 Kf4 44.Kf2
Rc2+ 45.Ke1 Ke3 46.Ra3+ d3 0-1
Finally, I won a game. (Of course, this was my only game against an opponent rated lower than me.) This was a fairly nice roll-up. I do not know enough about the Albin Counter Gambit to know if this game has any value or not.
[Event “World Open 2009”]
[Site “Philadelphia PA”]
[Date “2009.07.05”]
[Round “09”]
[White “Gittrich,Dennis”]
[Black “Sloan,Sam”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “D09”]
[WhiteElo “1832”]
[BlackElo “1901”]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.g3 Be6 6.b3
Qd7 7.Bg2 Nge7 8.Bb2 Ng6 9.Nxd4 Bb4+ 10.Kf1 Rd8
11.e3 Ngxe5 12.Qc2 O-O 13.Nxe6 fxe6 14.a3 Ng4
15.Kg1 Rxf2 16.Qxf2 Nxf2 17.Kxf2 Rf8+ 18.Ke2 Bd6
19.Nd2 Be5 20.Bxc6 Qxc6 21.Bxe5 Qg2+ 22.Kd3 Rd8+
23.Bd4 e5 24.Rag1 Qc6 25.Rf1 exd4 26.exd4 Qg6+
27.Ne4 Qb6 28.d5 Qxb3+ 29.Nc3 b5 30.Rb1 Qxc4+
31.Kd2 Rf8 32.Rbc1 Rf2+ 33.Ke3 Qc5+ 34.Ke4 Qe7+
35.Kd4 c5+ 0-1
In the final position, my opponent resigned because if 36. dxc6 e.p., I have Rd2# mate !!!
Or if, 36. Kd3 c4+ 37. Kd4 Rd2# mate.
The final result of this tournament was that Grandmasters Evgeny Najer and Hikaru Nakamura tied for first and International Master Alex Lenderman won the GM title.
Sam Sloan
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