2024 Canadian Open (July 13-18)

[Hans Jung]

Going into round nine (last round) After doing a double Swiss gambit Zachary Dukic has won six in a row. Congratulations Zach!

[Hans Jung]

Zachary Dukic earns himself a GM in the last round. White against GM Komarov! Go Zach go!

[Hans Jung]

Rd 9 Pairings GM Stefannson vs GM Van Foreest

GM Kantans vs GM Mikhalevski

Can GM Stefannson use his white advantage to create a winning position. Interesting to see the preparation. Will he play against GM Van Foreest's French Defence?
Can GM Kantans pull off a win in a must win situation?

[Hans Jung]

Will Shawn RL give the youngster Yang a good lesson?

[Hans Jung]

Can IM Jonathan Han finish top Canadian?

[Hans Jung]

I predict 4 decisive games in the last round.

[Hans Jung]

GM Stefannson vs GM Van Foreest A Queen's Indian Defence.

GM Van Foreest grabbed a pawn on f3 in the opening and survived.

Fantastic defence by GM Van Foreest in the endgame!

Its now an interesting knight and pawn endgame. Black has a passed B-pawn.

[Hans Jung]

GM Kantans vs GM Mikhalevski 1. E4 Bishop's Opening with an early d5 thrust for Black.

Interesting strategy of play on the f5 square,

Really enjoying this endgame.

[Hans Jung]

GM Shawn RL vs CM Yang A Sicilian Defence Shawn plays his favorite kingside fianchetto line.

Black grabs the pawn on e5 and lives awhile to regret it. The lesson begins.

[Hans Jung]

FM Dukic vs GM Komarov Sicilian Defence

White's quick g4-g5-h5 thrust pays dividends as he finds key outpost squares for his bishop and knight.

White's positional advantages pay pay off as Black sacrifices the exchange to relieve the pressure. Still White's position looks overwhelming.

Zachary Dukic queenside castles on move 31! What a game!

White triples on the E-file. He's determined to knock his opponent out with Alekhine's Gun! but its not going to be that easy. Black has the killer bishop on b7!

[Hans Jung]

IM Han vs IM Lawson Sicilian Defence

White breaks open the queenside and sends his passed pawn down to a7.

Black's position was so hard to defend. He thought he had finally corralled the a7 pawn but White spots the critical weakness of the black squares around the black king's position. Nice exploitation!

[Hans Jung]

FM Stevens vs IM Migot Queen's Gambit

White's position evolves to a classic C5 outpost and half open C-file on a backward pawn.

[Hans Jung]

Interesting how almost all the games started with E4 openings - three with Sicilian Defences - indicating fighting intentions and yet have evolved to highly strategical positions and positional games.

[Hans Jung]

Rd 9 The only exception was the Shawn RL game where he got an overwhelming position which ended in a king hunt. Quite the lesson. Shawn was the first to finish with a win on the top six boards.

[Hans Jung]

Rd 9 In section E Grace Taylor made quite the surge and was in clear first going into the last round but alas lost to Jean-Francois Gauthier and the tables were turned as Jean-Francois finished clear first. Congratulations to both!