After both of the schedules merged and the dust had settled there was just one player sat remaining at the top of the Open Section with a perfect score, GM Giorgi Kacheishvili. Kacheishvili managed to win in round 4 against GM Slavko Cicak in quite convincing fashion, taking just 20 moves.
Position after 11…Nc5
Here Kacheishvili played 12.Nxd6+! and the game finished quickly after 12…Qxd6 13.Qxa5 Qxd4 14.Be3 Qxc4 15.Bxc5 Qb5 16.Qc7 Qd7 17.Qf4 Ne7 18.Rfd1 Nd5 19.Bxd5 exd5 20.Qe5+ 1-0
Kacheishvili explained to me before the game that he was feeling quite tired having come to Vegas from the 10-day Berkeley Masters that he won. A few more games like that one should really help him get over his tiredness.
One thing I would like to point out about Kacheishvili is his likeness to George Clooney as demonstrated below.
Is it just me and my eyesight? Maybe we should change his name to Giorgi Kacheishclooney? 🙂
Just a half-point behind the leader is a pack of 5 players. GMs Zviad Izoria and Jaan Ehlvest came via the 3-day schedule while the two major surprises of the tournament, IM Sam Shankland and 15 year old Michael Lee are joined by GM Melikset “Melik” Khachiyan.
Lee’s road to his current 3½ points came virtue of his first ever win against a GM, Julio Becerra. Lee played the game extremely well for the most part and was able to capitalize on Becerra’s blunder in the following position.
Position after 45.f5
Here Becerra played 45…Rc5? (45…Rf7! and black should hold) and Lee showed no mercy as he found the right moves to finish off the GM 46.f6 Rxd5 47.R8e7 Rd8?? (47…Kg6 makes white work harder for the win) 48.Rxg7+ Kh8 49.Ree7 Rg5 50.Rh7+ Kg8 51.f7+ Kf8 52.Rxa7 1-0
Shankland is playing the Swiss Gambit having drawn his first round game and now won three straight, his latest in a battle of the talented young American IMs against Robert Hess. The game started off as a Closed Sicilian but came to life in the middle game with a melee of tactics. Shankland found a way to emerge with an extra piece although Hess had a couple of pawns for it in compensation. However, showing great technique, Shankland activated his pieces and was about to start mopping up the pawns when Hess resigned.
Remember, you can download all of the games mentioned above in the PGN file for the tournament.