Kamsky Wins Washington International
By Michael Regan   
August 17, 2015
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GM Gata Kamsky
Heading into the last round of the 4th Annual Washington International, the race for A section champion was down to just two players. After starting out 4-0, GM Gata Kamsky had drawn three games out of four, allowing GM Arun Prasad Subramanian (IND), whom he defeated in round 3, to join him in the lead with a score of 6.5. A full point behind the leaders at 5.5 were GM Sergei Azarov (BEL), GM Michael Roiz (ISR), GM Victor Mikhalevski (ISR), IM Akshat Chandra (USA), FM Ruifeng Li (USA), and FM Nicolas Checa (USA).

Kamsky's last round apponent was Li who had already earned an IM norm and only needed a draw to get a GM norm. Li's problems were that Kamsky needed a win to ensure at least a tie for first and that Kamsky had white.

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FM Ruifeng Li
The other leader, Subramanian, was paired as white against Roiz. The game was close, but Subramanian ending up losing in a queen and bishop ending when he fell into a mating net. Thus, Roiz and Subramanian ended up tied for 2nd a full point behind Kamsky.

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The other player who had already secured an IM norm heading into the last round was FM Nicolas Checa. Checa drew his final game against GM Victor Mikhalevski (ISR) to tie for 4th with Mikehalevski, GM Azarov (BEL), GM Sevian (USA), GM Steingrimsson (ISL), IM Chandra (USA), and IM Yang (USA). Three other players needed to win their final games to secure IM norms, but FM Atulya Shetty (USA), Igor Sorkin (ISR), and Joshua Sheng (USA) all lost.

The tournament ran from August 8th - 13th with a total of 94 players in the A and B sections. The B section was won in a tie with 5.5/7.0 by Zinwin Zhou and Franco Jose. Both won $1500. The tournament was organized by the Maryland Chess Association, and the Chief Arbiter was Michael Regan.

4th Annual Washington International Final Standings
Picture Gallary from the Tournament