Let’s hope the World Cup finale comes close to matching the drama of the finale of the World Open.
Even as the globe’s best soccer teams were competing across North America this month in a battle for supremacy, an international cast of more than 1,200 chess players took over Washington’s Omni Shoreham Hotel for the 54th World Open, annually one of the biggest Swiss events on the American chess calendar.
A day after the Fourth of July, there were fireworks aplenty in Sunday’s remarkable ninth and final round, with fighting chess and decisive results on the top seven boards.
In the end, a trio of teenagers shared top honors at 7½-1½ in the elite 231-player Open section: Chinese GM Xue Haowen, Indian GM Prraneeth Vuppala and Pennsylvania IM Evan Park, with Xue winning a blitz playoff (mercifully, there are no penalty kicks in chess) to take home the trophy.
We’ll have more World Open action and color in future columns, but we have to highlight Prraneeth’s epic journey to the winner’s circle, a classic “Swiss gambit” that started with a shocking Round 1 upset at the hands of California expert Raffi David Ghazaryan.
Ghazaryan as White acquits himself well in the early stages of this Moscow Sicilian, and Black may have let frustration and impatience get the better of him in the pressure to defeat a much lower-rated foe: 24. Rd6 Qh5 25. Rxa6 f5? (much better was 25…e4; dreaming of kingside attack that never materializes, Black opens himself up for a devastating blow) 26. Ra7! Ra8 27. Rxg7+! Kxg7 28. Qxb5, and White’s queen and bishop pair completely dominate the board.
White never lets go of his grip, freezing Black’s center pawns with 32. Bd5! and turning back Black’s last desperate attack with 40. Qxf6! gxf3+ 41. Kxf3 Rxf6 42. a4. Prraneeth’s lone rook is no match for the advancing Black pawns, and Black resigned three moves later.
The 19-year-old Indian GM rebounded with six wins and a draw in his next seven games, and capped his comeback with a victory over GM Zhou Jianchou, who has been one of the most successful players in recent times on the American Swiss circuit.
Zhou had been undefeated before the final round, but his tournament comes undone in shockingly quick fashion from the White side of an English Opening: 22. Bb1 Red8 23. Qxa6 (Rxc7?! Bxg2! 24. Rxd6 Qxd6 25. Bxe5 Qxe5 26. Qc4 Bd5) Nc4, attacking the bishop on b2 and blocking a key escape route for White queen.
White picks the wrong square for his bishop with dire consequences on 24. Ba1?? (Bc3! is the right move, meeting the queen-trapping threat of 24…Qd7 with 25. Rxd5! Rxd5 26. Qxc4 Rd1+ 27. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 28. Kh2 Qxb1 29. Qxc7, and his dominance of the long diagonal leaves White at least equal) Qd7! 25. a4 (Rxd5 now fails to 25…Rxd5! 26. Qxc4 Rc5! 27. Qf1 Rxc1 28. Qxc1 Qd1+ 29. Qxd1 Rxd1+ 30. Kh2 Rxb1 31. Bf6 c5, with a won ending for black) Ra8, and Zhou resigned facing 26. Qb5 Qxb5 27. axb5 Rxa1, winning the badly-placed bishop.
—-
An impressively strong field — including 37 grandmasters, including the five highest-rated U.S. players in the world — gathered last week for a rapid and blitz tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina, honoring the late, much-missed GM Daniel Naroditsky, who passed away at the age of just 29 in October.
Uzbek GM Javokhir Sindarov, who will soon challenge Indian GM Dommaraju Gukesh for the world title, took the rapid tournament, despite losing to fellow rising star GM Andy Woodward of Texas during the event.
Play is mostly level in this offbeat Sicilian line until Sindarov as White gets in trouble trying to find a haven for his rook along the fourth rank: 22. Ra4?! (Nc4 was safer) Bc5 23. Rf1 Qg5 24. Rg4?! Qf5 25. c4? (a definite mistake, cutting off the rook’s options) h5! 26. Rh4 (better might have been 26. cxd5 Qxg4 27. Qxg4 hxg4 28. dxe6 fxe6 29. Nc4, with some compensation in Black’s ugly pawn formation) Bxg2! 27. Kxg2 Qg5+ 28. Kh3 — White has saved the rook (for now), but Black’s pieces now flood his position.
Nice is Woodward’s 30. Bc2 Bxa3!, removing the knight that guards the bishop, which prevents the pins that win the queen. With 31. Qxa3 Rxc2 32. Qg3 (Qxa7?? Rd3+) Qxg3+ 33. hxg3 Rxb2 34. Rf4 Rxa2 35. Kg2, White avoids immediate disaster but finds himself down three pawns in a hopeless ending. Sindarov packs it in after 43. Rf4 f5, with his rook once again trapped along the fourth rank and not hope to be seen in lines such as 44. Ra5 Kf6 45. Ra6 Rd1 46. Ra5 Rcc1.
Organizers said the turnout reflects Naroditsky’s lasting influence as a player, author and online commentator. In a related news development, FIDE has imposed a two-year playing ban for cyberbullying on Russian former world champ Vladimir Kramnik, who lodged controversial, never-substantiated charges that Naroditsky had cheated in online chess before his death.
—-
Cleaning up a little business from last week’s column, we present here the solution to the Sam Loyd mate-in-three problem from last week. The 1858 composition was an early effort by the great American problemist and relies on an unlikely waiting move to force Black to walk into various mates. The solution: 1. Ba8! (threatening 2. Qb7, with unstoppable mate on h1) f4 (1…Kf1 2. Qxf5+; 1…Nb6 2. Qxb6, while 2. Qb6 wins on any other knight move) 2. Qg6, and 3. Qg1 mate cannot be blocked.
(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)
Ghazaryan-Prraneeth, 54th World Open, Washington, July 2026
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. c3 Ngf6 5. Qe2 a6 6. Ba4 b5 7. Bc2 Bb7 8. d4 cxd4 9. cxd4 g6 10. a3 Bg7 11. Nc3 O-O 12. O-O Rc8 13. h3 Qc7 14. Bb3 e5 15. dxe5 dxe5 16. Be3 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 Bxe4 18. Ng5 Qb7 19. Rad1 Bxg2 20. Rxd7 Qxd7 21. Kxg2 h6 22. Rd1 Qf5 23. Nf3 Kh7 24. Rd6 Qh5 25. Rxa6 f5 26. Ra7 Ra8 27. Rxg7+ Kxg7 28. Qxb5 f4 29. Bc5 Qf5 30. Bxf8+ Rxf8 31. Qb7+ Kh8 32. Bd5 Qf6 33. Be4 Rf7 34. Qb8+ Kg7 35. b4 g5 36. b5 h5 37. Qxe5 g4 38. hxg4 hxg4 39. Qg5+ Kf8 40. Qxf6 gxf3+ 41. Kxf3 Rxf6 42. a4 Ke7 43. a5 Rh6 44. b6 Rh3+ 45. Kxf4 Black resigns.
Zhou-Prraneeth, 54th World Open, Washington, July 2026
1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. b3 Bd6 5. Bb2 O-O 6. Nc3 Re8 7. d4 b6 8. Bd3 Bb7 9. O-O Nbd7 10. Rc1 a6 11. Re1 dxc4 12. bxc4 e5 13. Bc2 exd4 14. Nxd4 Ne5 15. Qe2 g6 16. Red1 Qe7 17. h3 Rad8 18. Nd5 Nxd5 19. cxd5 Bxd5 20. Nf5 Qe6 21. Nxd6 Rxd6 22. Bb1 Red8 23. Qxa6 Nc4 24. Ba1 Qd7 25. a4 Ra8 White resigns
Sindarov-Woodward, Naroditsky Memorial Rapid Tournament, Charlotte, July 2026
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. Bd2 g6 9. Bc3 Nf6 10. e5 dxe5 11. Bxe5 Qd5 12. Bxf6 Qe6+ 13. Qe2 Qxf6 14. c3 Bh6 15. O-O O-O 16. Re1 Rd8 17. Na3 Be6 18. Red1 Rab8 19. Bc4 Bd5 20. Rd4 e6 21. Bb3 Bf8 22. Ra4 Bc5 23. Rf1 Qg5 24. Rg4 Qf5 25. c4 h5 26. Rh4 Bxg2 27. Kxg2 Qg5+ 28. Kh3 Rd2 29. Qf3 Rbd8 30. Bc2 Bxa3 31. Qxa3 Rxc2 32. Qg3 Qxg3+ 33. hxg3 Rxb2 34. Rf4 Rxa2 35. Kg2 Kg7 36. Rb1 Rd7 37. Rb8 g5 38. Rf3 Rc2 39. Rb4 Kg6 40. Rb8 Kg7 41. Rb4 c5 42. Ra4 g4 43. Rf4 f5 White resigns.
• Got a hot tip or a cool game to share? David R. Sands can be reached at davidrsands18@gmail.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.