In chess slang, adoption means beating an opponent 10 games in a row. It’s an impressive accomplishment against any strong player, but GM Vladimir Fedoseev managed it against a whole field of opponents in 3 0 Thursday on July 23. He won his first 10 games in the third tournament before succumbing under time pressure against GM Jeffrey Xiong in the final round. It didn’t matter for the standings, as Fedoseev still won the tournament by a 1.5-point margin. Earlier in the day, GM Oleksandr Bortnyk won with a similar dominant performance, marred by a final-round defeat. The only winner to run all the way through the finish line was GM Christopher Yoo in the second tournament. He could have afforded a loss as well, as his 10 points put him 1.5 points ahead of GM Pranav Anand in second place.
First Tournament: Bortnyk’s Dominant Start Holds Up In Tiebreaks
The final score didn’t show it, but Bortnyk dominated throughout the first event of the day. He won his first seven games, including this dominant performance against GM Ihor Samunenkov
Bortnyk scored another two draws and a win in rounds eight through 10, leaving him with nine points and tournament victory with a round to spare. GM Pranav V flagged Bortnyk in a long opposite colored bishop endgame in the final round, which allowed GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Rudik Makarian to tie for first place, but Bortnyk’s superior tiebreaks assured him of the title.Â
Nakamura recovered from two early losses to win his final six games. He also played perhaps the most impressive combination of the day, an amazing queen sacrifice against WIM Margarita Potapova.
Potapova bounced back to nearly take the title for the top woman in the event, but WIM Zarina Nurgaliyeva won their final-round game to take that prize with 6.5 points.
Second Tournament: Yoo Cruises To Victory
In the second tournament, Yoo won in the first five rounds. That fifth game proved critical, as his opponent finished the tournament in second place.
Yoo drew his sixth and seventh round games before starting another winning streak. One of his best games came in the tenth round against Fedoseev.
Yoo won the final round as well to finish with an impressive 10/11 score. Pranav Anand took second with 8.5 points, ahead of GMs Sina Movahed and Pranav V on tiebreaks. Potapova took the women’s prize with seven points, highlighted by victories over Bortnyk and GM Benjamin Bok.Â
Third Tournament: Fedoseev Nearly Perfect
Perhaps Fedoseev used his defeat against Yoo as motivation in the next tournament, where he played arguably the most impressive 3 0 Thursday in history, winning his first 10 games.Â
In the seventh round he confidently defeated GM Alexander Grischuk from the black side of a Caro-Kann Defense.
Fedoseev continued with victories against past 3 0 Thursday winners GM Jose Martinez and IM Yoseph Theolifus Taher in rounds eight and nine. In the 10th round, he won a miniature against IM Reza Mahdavi, another previous winner of the tournament.
With a 2.5 point lead on the field, Fedoseev continued to play sharp chess in the final round. However, Xiong out-calculated him to prevent Fedoseev from reaching the first-ever perfect score in a 3 0 Thursday event. That win gave Xiong second place with 8.5 points. Grischuk took third with eight points and IM Le Thao Nguyen Pham captured the women’s prize with six points.
3 0 Thursday is a set of three weekly Swiss tournaments for verified titled players featuring their favorite time control. Each of the three tournaments is an 11-round Swiss with a 3+0 time control. The combined prize fund is $3,000 every week.