Summary
Finishing first is only half the battle at the World Open. The giant Philadelphia tournament, held annually over the Independence Day holidays, has traditionally produced a massive knot of players at the top of the leaderboard, with sole winners the rare exception.
This year's event held true to form with a nonet of grandmasters all winding up at 6 1/2-2 1/2, including reigning U.S. champion Alexander Shabalov and former champ Hikaru Nakamura. The pileup came in large part because the top seeds piled up the early wins and were content to draw with one another coming down the stretch.See the full content of this document
Extract
A Win-Win Situation
In the blitz playoff, Armenian-born California GM Varuzhan Akobian was the last man standing, defeating GM Alexander Stripunsky in the finals to claim the trophy.
It was actually Akobian's second win over the New York-based Stripunsky in the tournament. The 24-year-old Akobian scored a s...See the full content of this document
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