Argentine impressed me deeply. The country gradually recovers from the financial default, which happened a couple years ago. The food is fantastic and the girls yield only to the Russian ones! I really do not understand, how could Maxim Sorokin leave this country. There was not much fighting in the tournament. Goldin and Giovanni Vescovi were responsible for it: very soon each of them scored +6 and just 'drifted' the rest of the tournament. The situation was much tenser in the next, the lower group. Lazzaro Bruzon (Cuba), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), who obtained the GM title in a younger age than Bobby Fischer did, and Pascal Charbonneau (Canada) felt themselves quite confidently, having scored

Alexandr Goldin

+5. The remaining three qualifying places were a subject of the most serious struggle. The first lucky one happened to be Ivan Morovic, an ethnic Croatian from Chile. When having scored +4, he was paired with a girl player rated 2200! How could it happen? Well, here is it!
[Granda Zuniga - Caroline Lujan]
Two remaining places were played off in games Onishchuk - Woitkevich and Shulman - Novikov and Domingez - Kudrin. Two former games ended in their due course, while Domigez failed to realize huge advantage in an endgame…
Technical results:
1-2. Goldin, Vescovi - 8.5 of 11
3-8. Morovic, Nakamura, Charbonneau, Bruzon, Onishchuk, Shulman - 8 of 11
9-18. Domingez, Milos, Gulko, Vasqez, Kudrin, Shabalov, A.Ivanov, D.Gurevich, R.Felgaer, Ramirez - 7.5 of 11, etc.
Summer season in Denver finished in September (1st prize - $8000, 5 rounds). In its composition, the tournament differed not much from those ones I already reported, only it was shorter.
Technical results:
1. A.Shabalov - 4.5 of 5
2-4. Stripunsky, Mikhalevsky, Firman - 4 of 5, etc.

16.10.2003 [By GM A.Shabalov]
The next major tournament is World Open, which takes place on the Independence Day week in Philadelphia (9 rounds, 1st prize - $14000). Definitely, it is the most prestigious tournament from the entire 'American cycle'. It is also the most attractive event for the European legionaries. Approximately 1400 players are divided into 8 sections - the entrance fee about $220-250, the prize fund reaches $180000, and that is all about the arithmetic. As it happens frequently in this kind of events, the two 'early' leaders, Shabalov and Ehlvest, failed to retain the minimal advantage and it all resulted in a grandiose clash - the first 10 players got it all.
Technical results:
1-10. Ehlvest, Smirin, Onishchuk, Goldin, Shabalov, A.Woitkevich, Yudasin, N.Firman, G.Zaichik, B.Annakov - 7 of 9
11-17. D.Sadvakasov, B.Gulko, A.Ivanov, A.Yermolinsky, A.Kosteniuk, S.Kudrin, V.Georgiev - 6.5 of 9, etc.

In the end of July the Canadian Open tournaments took place in Curasao (9 rounds, 1st prize - $3000). The first one of them resulted in following:
1. B.Macieja - 8 of 9
2. D.Sadvakasov - 7.5 of 9
3-5. A.Stefanova, A.Shabalov, A.Woitkevich - 6 of 9, etc.
August is the month of US Open (like in tennis). The site varies each year, this time it was Los Angeles (12 rounds, 1st prize - $8000). In the critical game of the last round, my old rival from the USSR junior championships reacted not very aptly to the Filipenko variation, Sicilian defense B30.

09.10.2003 [By GM A.Shabalov]
The summer is a 'high season' in America's chess life. It started traditionally with a 7 round tournament in Chicago on the last weekend of May - the Memorial Day Weekend. The first prize was $10000.
The author succeeded with a finishing spurt scoring 3 of 3 for a half point ahead of the closest competitors.

Technical results:
1.Shabalov, Ehlvest, Goldin, Stripunsky, N.Firman, N.Mitkov and Feingold - 5.5 of 7
Among those ones who scored 5 points and shared places 8-20, we can find Kaidanov, Yermolinsky, I.Novikov, I.Ibragimov, Yudasin and Shulman.
Suddenly the National Open in Las Vegas was postponed until July. A huge crowd of participants and briefness of the tournament mean money for anyone scoring 5.5 points. Finally no one managed to break ahead and 8 participants shared the first place. After the 'Russian tourist' Petr Kiriakov beat me I was 'off the race', but then managed to improve my tournament position in the last round.

Technical results:
1-8. A. Woitckevich, S.Kudrin, P.Kiriakov, H.Nakamura, G.Serper, I.Ibragimov, A.Shabalov, J.Ehlvest - 5 of 6, etc.

The next in list was the 'European' tournament in Vermont (the first prize of $4000, 10 rounds). One game per day high in mountains, your cell phone out of functioning - real Europe! The tournament was designed especially for those ones who seek the norm. It is not about some 'fixed' games, but just the judges are very kind ad if you really need, they can help you with drawing lots. A rather long competition with 10 rounds provides an extra chance.
John Donaldson, one of the active participants of Elena Akhmylovskaya escape to the West, obtained his second grandmaster norm. Jan Ehlvest won the competition traditionally - he did so twice before and that explains 'the tradition'. Of course, chess is not cycling, but in some strange way the lack of oxygen gives Jan an indisputable advantage when in mountains!

Technical results:
1. J.Ehlvest - 7.5 of 10
2-5. A.Woitkevich, P.Kiriakov, Var.Akopian, J.Donaldson - 7
6. Ibragimov - 6.5
7-9. A.Shabalov, A.Ivanov, R.Bernet - 6, etc.