Titled Tuesday on June 14 was won by American GM Jeffery Xiong in the early tournament and Ukrainian GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy in the late tournament. Both players won outright with scores of 9.5/11. Bernadskiy, seeded 51st in the late field, defeated Xiong in the final round to lock in the upset.
Bernadskiy’s countryman GM Oleksandr Bortnyk finished just behind him in second place in the late event, while GM Dmitry Andreikin finished third in both.
Early Tournament
Although GM Daniil Dubov was the last player with a perfect score in the field of 381, after starting 6-for-6, Xiong took the outright tournament lead in the eighth round and never let it go. In that round, Xiong beat GM Vladimir Fedoseev to reach 7.5/8.
Then, in the ninth round, Xiong knocked off another rival, GM Alexander Grischuk (who had been the one to end Dubov’s perfect tournament). Despite the exchange of mutual chess blindness on moves 16-20—the computer keeps screaming for Bxg6, which wins material for White—it’s the point that counts, and Xiong ground Grischuk down in a piece-up ending to get it.
Xiong had earned himself some rest in the last two rounds, making draws of 20 moves against Dubov and one move vs. IM Renato Terry to wrap up an undefeated tournament.
In the final round, after Xiong’s draw, only Dubov could catch him. Instead, Andreikin defeated Dubov to take his place in third.
Xiong had earned himself some rest in the last two rounds, making draws of 20 moves against Dubov and one move vs. IM Renato Terry to wrap up an undefeated tournament.
In the final round, after Xiong’s draw, only Dubov could catch him. Instead, Andreikin defeated Dubov to take his place in third.
Born in 1994, Bernadskiy earned his grandmaster title in 2014, and for the rest of the tournament, he demonstrated why. After the third-round loss, the only full point Bernadskiy didn’t attain was from a draw with GM Hikaru Nakamura in the 10th round.
That left the two of them still tied entering the last round, and once again Andreikin played the role of spoiler in the process of taking third place. While Andreikin was defeating Nakamura in the finale, Bernadskiy was taking on the early tournament victor, Xiong.
Bernadskiy won $1,000 for first place and Bortnyk took $750 for second. In third, Andreikin won another $300 for a daily total of $600. Dubov won $150 for fourth place while GM Alexey Sarana won the $100 for fifth and GM Alexandra Kosteniuk the $100 women’s prize.
