Josh Friedel Blogs from Miami
By GM-elect Josh Friedel   
September 13, 2008
joshlead.jpg
GM-elect Josh Friedel, Photo Betsy Dynako
Miami Update: As of Saturday night, IM Ray Robson leads with 6.5/7 a full point ahead of the field. However, he can't win a GM norm because he didn't play enough GMs throughout the event. Scroll down to see complete standings after 7 rounds.

California weather must be getting to me.  It was about 11 PM, not that hot, yet somehow sweat was pouring down my face like no tomorrow.  I was out looking for a place to eat with my roommate, Vinay Bhat.  Neither of us had eaten since about noon, and despite the fact we were in a major city known for nightlife, somehow nothing was open.  While Ike luckily missed Miami, its presence was certainly felt, and our shirts were beating in the wind like jibs in the America’s Cup.  After wandering around aimlessly for almost an hour, we finally found a place that was open – Hooters, of all things.  Not ideal, especially for my vegetarian companion, but we made do.  Anyway, that was my first day in Miami, and I think it was an indication of what my tournament would be like. 

The playing site this year is the Hyatt Regency in downtown Miami, and I must say it’s a very nice one.  The hotel is quite upscale, and there isn’t a 24/7 fiesta downstairs from the playing hall, which was quite a problem last year.  The tournament organization seems pretty good, and the rounds start on time.  But I’m supposed to mainly do chess in my report, so I suppose I’ll get to it.  The field, while a bit small due to the hurricane, is still a somewhat impressive one.  The GMs include Victor Mikhalevski, Alexander Shabalov, Julio Becerra, Jaan Ehlvest, Alexander Ivanov, and Darmen Sadvakasov.  After three rounds, there were only two perfect scores, IMs Ray Robson and John Bartholomew.  This was in large part due to several GMs getting nicked for draws.

Raylead225.jpg
IM Ray Robson in Miami

After five rounds, Ray Robson was the sole leader with 5/5. Unfortunately, Monroi and ICC aren't covering the event so I don't have access to all the games. Play through Ray Robson's fourth round win against Salvijus Bercys. Also see Ray's game against Josh below-Ed.

2393

Now I’ll just have to bore you with my own games!  They aren’t exactly masterpieces, but here goes:

This game is so highly ridiculous, I don't even know how to annotate it.  Suffice it to say I got a fishy position which I somehow won. 

2395
 
My game against Ray Robson was already published in the third round report. It was an odd game- it seems Ray was already winning after 20. e5!

2388

One nice point is that if 40...g2 (instead of 40...Rd2) 41.Bc6!! g1Q+ 42.Ka2+-
 
40...g2.jpg
Analysis 40...g2



The following was probably my best game thus far.

2396

Instead of 12...g6, better was 12...Nxf4 13.Rxf4 e5 14.Nf5 exf4 15.Nd5 Qd8 16.Bb6 Bxf5 17.exf5 Qd7 18.Qh5, when I still have an attack. 26.Rd7+! was a nice blow.

Ed.Note-Josh also graciously annotated his loss over Keaton Kiewra, who recently earned  his first GM norm in Greece.


2394

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.d3 Nd7 7.Nbd2 Bd6 8.Nc4 0–0 9.0–0 c5 10.h3 Re8 11.Nxd6 cxd6 12.Nh2 Nf8 13.f4 exf4 14.Bxf4 Ng6 15.Be3 Qe7 16.Qh5 Qe5 17.Qxe5 Nxe5


17...Nxe5.jpg
Position after 17...Nxe5


This is dead =, but I try to play it on for a win.
18.Nf3 b6 19.a4 Nc6 20.Bf4 Rd8 21.Rf2 f6 22.Rd2 Be6 23.d4 d5?!
 Trying to play a dead even ending for a win can be dangerous, but here I totally blank out.
23...Nxd4 24.Nxd4 cxd4 25.Rxd4 Rac8 26.c3 Rc6= was safer.
24.exd5 Bxd5 25.Bc7 Rdc8?
25...Re8 was better.
 26.dxc5 Rxc7
26...Bxf3 27.cxb6 (what I had missed) 27...Rxc7 28.bxc7 Bh5 29.g4 Be8 30.Rad1+-
 27.Rxd5 Rb8 28.cxb6 Rxb6 29.Rc5

29.Rc5.jpg
Position after 29.Rc5


 This ending is pretty hopeless, and my opponent wins without much trouble.
29...Rbb7 30.Rd1 Nd4 31.Rxc7 Nxf3+ 32.gxf3 Rxc7 33.c3 Rb7 34.b4 Rc7 35.Rd6 a5 36.bxa5 Kf7 37.a6 Rc4 38.Rd4 Rc6 39.a7 Ra6 40.Rd7+ Ke6 41.Rxg7 h6 42.Kf2 Rxa4 43.Ke3 Kd5 44.c4+ Kc5 45.Ke4 Ra6 46.Kf5 Kxc4 47.h4 Kd4 48.Re7 h5 49.Kg6 Kd5 50.Kxh5 Kd6 51.Rb7 Ke5 52.Kg6 Kf4 53.h5 f5+ 54.Kg7 0–1

SwissSys Standings. 2008 Miami Open: Standings after 7 rounds



#

Name

Rd 1

Rd 2

Rd 3

Rd 4

Rd 5

Rd 6

Rd 7

Tot

1

IM Ray S Robson

W48

W6

W28

W2

W8

D9

W11

6.5

2

IM John Bartholomew

W35

W49

W7

L1

W40

D4

W9

5.5

3

GM Victor Mikhalevski

W29

D14

W30

D15

L9

W40

W19

5.0

4

GM Julio J Becerra

W42

D16

W14

D22

D15

D2

W24

5.0

5

GM Darmen Sadvakasov

L40

W55

W27

W11

D16

D7

W21

5.0

6

IM Joshua Ed Friedel

W43

L1

W32

L29

W30

W45

W22

5.0

7

IM Dionisio Aldama

W25

W32

L2

W30

W29

D5

D8

5.0

8

IM Salvijus Bercys

W51

D19

W26

W24

L1

W20

D7

5.0

9

Marc R Esserman

W59

D24

W21

W10

W3

D1

L2

5.0

10

GM Jaan Ehlvest

W23

D15

D16

L9

W31

W29

D13

4.5

11

IM Renier Gonzalez

W55

W40

W12

L5

D22

W15

L1

4.5

12

IM Davorin Kuljasevic

W36

W57

L11

L40

W54

W42

D16

4.5

13

IM Jacek Stopa

W34

L30

D54

W47

W17

D16

D10

4.5

14

IM Vinay S Bhat

W45

D3

L4

D54

W34

D18

W26

4.5

15

IM Andrei Co Florean

W50

D10

W18

D3

D4

L11

W28

4.5

16

IM Dean J Ippolito

W46

D4

D10

W34

D5

D13

D12

4.5

17

IM David Pruess

L49

W25

D33

W56

L13

W37

W40

4.5

18

GM Alexander Shabalov

D58

W44

L15

D23

W53

D14

D20

4.0

19

GM Gildardo J Garcia

W47

D8

L22

D31

W25

X23

L3

4.0

20

IM Drasko Boskovic

W37

D27

L40

W36

W26

L8

D18

4.0

21

IM Justin Sarkar

D44

W58

L9

W33

W28

D22

L5

4.0

22

FM Marcel Martinez

W38

D26

W19

D4

D11

D21

L6

4.0

23

Patrick Scharrer

L10

D48

W38

D18

W55

F19

W43

4.0

24

Victor Kaminski

W33

D9

W56

L8

D42

W43

L4

4.0

25

Ernesto Alvarez

L7

L17

W59

W41

L19

W54

W42

4.0

26

GM Alexander Ivanov

W31

D22

L8

W58

L20

W47

L14

3.5

27

IM Marko Zivanic

W53

D20

L5

D37

L43

W56

D32

3.5

28

IM Irina Krush

W54

W39

L1

D42

L21

W49

L15

3.5

29

FM Keaton Kiewra

L3

W45

W49

W6

L7

L10

D34

3.5

30

Eric Rodriguez

W61

W13

L3

L7

L6

W46

D38

3.5

31

Evan S Rosenberg

L26

D38

W48

D19

L10

D35

W45

3.5

32

Artem Edm Ruppert

B---

L7

L6

L45

W44

W55

D27

3.5

33

Sylvain Leburgue

L24

W59

D17

L21

L49

W50

W48

3.5

34

Brian Goldstein

L13

X61

W39

L16

L14

W53

D29

3.5

35

Troy Daly

L2

H---

L58

H---

W60

D31

W51

3.5

36

Gregory J Kimmel

L12

W53

D37

L20

L38

W52

W49

3.5

37

Ryan Joseph Moon

L20

B---

D36

D27

D39

L17

W47

3.5

38

Alexander Velikanov

L22

D31

L23

W50

W36

D39

D30

3.5

39

IM Daniel Fernandez

W52

L28

L34

W44

D37

D38

U---

3.0

40

FM Kazim Gulamali

W5

L11

W20

W12

L2

L3

L17

3.0

41

Tautvydas Vedrickas

D60

L56

D44

L25

L46

W59

W57

3.0

42

Corey Acor

L4

W46

W60

D28

D24

L12

L25

3.0

43

Andres Santalla

L6

D50

D51

W60

W27

L24

L23

3.0

44

Matan Prilleltensky

D21

L18

D41

L39

L32

B---

W53

3.0

45

Christopher Heung

L14

L29

W52

W32

W58

L6

L31

3.0

46

Juan Camilo Arango

L16

L42

B---

L48

W41

L30

W54

3.0

47

FM Renard W Anderson

L19

D51

W50

L13

W48

L26

L37

2.5

48

Misael D Mestres

L1

D23

L31

W46

L47

W58

L33

2.5

49

Robert M Perez

W17

L2

L29

H---

W33

L28

L36

2.5

50

Hans M Morrow

L15

D43

L47

L38

B---

L33

X60

2.5

51

Humberto Cruz

L8

D47

D43

H---

D56

H---

L35

2.5

52

Alonso USCF Jaramillo

L39

L54

L45

D59

W57

L36

W56

2.5

53

Rodelay Medina

L27

L36

W57

B---

L18

L34

L44

2.0

54

Karel Gonzalez

L28

W52

D13

D14

L12

L25

L46

2.0

55

Jose Cabrera

L11

L5

B---

W57

L23

L32

U---

2.0

56

Leonardo Campiz

H---

W41

L24

L17

D51

L27

L52

2.0

57

Juan E Dominguez

B---

L12

L53

L55

L52

W60

L41

2.0

58

FM Charles A Galofre

D18

L21

W35

L26

L45

L48

U---

1.5

59

Emilio Gustavo Hernandez

L9

L33

L25

D52

H---

L41

H---

1.5

60

Jose Antonio Carrillo

D41

H---

L42

L43

L35

L57

F50

1.0

61

Rainer Selva

L30

F34

U---

U---

U---

U---

U---

0.0