World Open Heating Up
By Jennifer Shahade   
July 4, 2008
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Darwin Yang, Photo Jennifer Shahade
The theme of upsets continued at the World Open in Philadelphia. (Check out Jonathan Hilton's blog for the story of round 1's many upsets. ) 11-year old Darwin Yang decided to play in the World Open instead of the Pan-Am Youth due to the stronger competition and his decision paid off quickly--in round two he beat his first GM ever, Josh Friedel. This loss marks the first icy spot in Josh's recent hot streak. Darwin, like Josh, has made some changes in the past six months to his training regimen including beginning work with GM Gregory Kaidanov. After meeting at a U.S. Chess School session last year, Darwin and Kaidanov began to work together, using skype and ICC to bridge the distance between Dallas and Lexington.

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In other good news for Dallas, John Bartholmew defeated GM Eugene Perelshteyn and went on to draw the elite Israeli GM, Ilya Smirin in a game in which Bartholomew had most of the winning chances.

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Tonight the 7-5 and 4-day schedules merge and the action will get hotter and hotter in the top-heavy Open section. Keep up to date with results and live games on Monroi.com.

Here are some of the highlights:
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Can you spot the GM in the foreground?