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Kamsky Wins World Open in Playoff

Gata Kamsky defeated Vadim Milov in a blitz playoff to take first place at the 2006 World Open in Philadelphia. Kamsky and Milov were part of a nine-way tie for first in the Open, with each of the co-leaders scoring 7 points over 9 rounds.

The other players involved in the tie, all GMs, were: Ildar Ibragimov, Jaan Ehlvest, Leonid Yudasin, Alexander Ivanov, Giorgi Kacheishvili, Aleks Wojtkiewich and Joel Benjamin. Each of the players who tied for first won $7,127, except for Kamsky, who took home $7,485.

In all, 237 players competed in the Open, including 46 Grandmasters and 26 International Masters. There were a total of 7 sections in the tournament, featuring a combined field of approximately 1461 players.

Here is Kamsky's playoff win over Milov:

White: Kamsky, G (2671)
Black: Milov, V (2625)
World Open Blitz Playoff Game
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6 7.c3 c5 8.Ne5 a6 9.Qa4+ Bd7 10.Nxd7 Qxd7 11.Qxd7+ Kxd7 12.dxc5 Bxc5 13.Be2 Kc7 14.a4 Rad8 15.Bf4+ Bd6 16.Bg5 h6 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Bh5 Rd7 19.g3 Rg8 20.f4 f5 21.Ke2 f6 22.Rad1 Rgd8 23.Rhf1 Bc5 24.Rxd7+ Rxd7 25.b4 Bf8 26.a5 b6 27.Ra1 e5 28.Bg6 exf4 29.gxf4 Rg7 30.Bxf5 Rg2+ 31.Ke3 Rxh2 32.axb6+ Kxb6 33.Bd3 Rh3+ 34.Kd4 Bd6 35.Rxa6+ Kc7 36.Ra7+ Kb6 37.Rf7 Rh4 38.Kd5 Bxf4 39.Rxf6+ Kb7 40.Rf7+ Kb8 41.c4 Be3 42.Be4 Rf4 43.Rh7 Rg4 44.c5 Rg8 45.Kc6 Rf8 46.Kb5 Bd2 47.Bc6 Rf4 48.Kb6 Rf8 49.Ra7 1-0.