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Strong Round Robin Begins in Chicago Print E-mail
By Jennifer Shahade   
October 29, 2007
Raylead.jpg The 6th North American FIDE Invitational (Chicago, October 28-November 3) kicked off yesterday. In a wild game, Ray Robson defeated IM Stephen Muhammad with a king walk. Ray leads with 1.5/2, along with David Vigorito and Mehmed Pasalic. The third round begins October 29 at 7:30 PM EST. You can watch the games live on monroi.com.

The event is being held at the Touch Move Chess Center (TMCC) in Chicago and is organized by Sevan Muradian and the North American Chess Association. IM Angelo Young, who is also playing in the event, owns and operates the TMCC. Look for more on Angelo and the TMCC in a future report.

6th North American FIDE Invitational
Standings after two rounds

1-3. IM David Vigorito, FM Mehmed Pasalic and FM Ray Robson - 1.5/2
4-7th- IM Stephen Muhammad, IM Angelo Young, ALbert Chow and WIM Ludmila Mokroaik- 1/2
8-10- FM Todd Andrews, FM Igor Tsyganov, Dale Haessel- 0.5/2

In the following topsy-turvy game, Muhammad had Ray Robson on the ropes, with a seemingly wide choice of winning continuations. However, when Ray's king made it to b3, the evaluation sharply changed.

1265

Ray35.jpg
Position after 34...Kd6


In this position, Muhammad's quickest win was  cutting off the white king with 35.Rc1! Instead he played the natural 35.Qf8+, after which he is still doing well. The real turning point occured with 40. Rc6+ Bb6, when Black suddenly has ample defences around his king and is able to run to b3 with all the important squares defended.

Look for more CLO reports on the 6th North American FIDE Invitational , including a photo gallery by Betsy Dynako and blogging from FM Todd Andrews.
 
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