DAVID R. SANDS: Gata Kamsky dominates the Washington International chess tourney

It was a wire-to-wire wipeout as U.S. GM Gata Kamsky dominated the fourth annual Washington International open tournament in Rockville last week.

The premier section attracted an impressive roster of nine grandmasters, but Kamsky bolted out of the gate with four straight wins and never looked back, finishing a full point ahead of the field and taking home $4,000 with a 7-1 result. Indian GM Arun Prasad Subramanian, defeated by Kamsky in Round 3, still had a chance to tie for first but lost to Israeli GM Michael Roiz in the ninth and final round. The two settled for a tie for second at 6½-2½.

In the Under 2200 section, experts Franco Moncera Jose of Virginia and Ziwen Zhou of Pennsylvania shared the honors at 5½-1½.

One of Kamsky’s most impressive wins came on the Black side of a Dutch Defense against IM Andrew Tang in Round 2. White’s queenside play comes to naught and soon Black’s push on the kingside starts to bear fruit. Kamsky’s queen appears to be in a bit of a spot after 26. Nd5 Qh4 27. g3 Qh3, but Black’s attack arrives well before the queen can be trapped.

The mate threats around his king and his overworked queen prove to be White’s downfall: 34. Qc2 Bg6! 35. f5 (Qxg6 Rxe3! 36. fxe3 Qg2 mate) Rxe3! (anyway) 36. fxe3 Bxf5! 37. Qf2 Be4, and White’s forces are paralyzed. White’s effort to break the bind only hastens the end — 38. g4 Qxg4+ 39. Qg3 Qh5 40. Rxd6 Rg8 41. Kf2 Bc3!, and Tang resigns as 42. Qf4 Rg2 is mate.

In their key encounter, Roiz played the Black side of the Queen’s Gambit Declined to near perfection in denying Subramanian a share of first place. White’s a-pawn gets a little too far afield and eventually falls to Black’s concerted pressure. But just as White moves to contain Black’s extra pawn on the queenside, Roiz shifts the field to whip up a surprising mating attack.

The nimble Black queen centralizes with powerful effect on 33. b3 Qc2 34. e5 Qd1+ 35. Kh2 Qd4! 36. Bg3 f5 37. f4 Bc5!, targeting the vulnerable g1 square. In the finale, White can run but can’t hide — 39. Kh3 Qh1+ 40. Bh2 Qd1 41. Bg3 Bg1, and the coming check on g4 will be deadly; Subramanian resigned.

A full list of tournament winners and games from the event can be found at the Maryland Chess Association homepage at www.MDChess.com.

Tang-Kamsky, 4th Washington International, Rockville, Md., August 2015

1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. Bf4 d6 6. e3 c6 7. Be2 Be6 8. 0-0 h6 9. d5 Bf7 10. Nd4 0-0 11. Bf3 Qc8 12. Rc1 c5 13. Nc2 Nbd7 14. h3 Ne5 15. Be2 e6 16. dxe6 Qxe6 17. Na3 a6 18. Qb3 Qe7 19. Qc2 g5 20. Bh2 g4 21. rcd1 Rac8 22. hxg4 fxg4 23. Qd2 Kh8 24. b3 Rg8 25. Nc2 Nh5 26. Nd5 Qh4 27. g3 Qh3 28. Ne1 Rge8 29. Nf4 Nxf4 30. exf4 Nc6 31. Ng2 Nd4 32. Ne3 Nf3+ 33. Bxf3 gxf3 34. Qc2 Bg6 35. f5 Rxe3 36. fxe3 Bxf5 37. Qf2 Be4 38. g4 Qxg4+ 39. Qg3 Qh5 40. Rxd6 Rg8 41. Kf2 Bc3 White resigns.

Subramanian-Roiz, 4th Washington International, Rockville, Md., August 2015

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bd3 dxc4 8. Bxc4 b5 9. Bd3 Bb7 10. O-O a6 11. a4 Rc8 12. Qe2 O-O 13. Ne4 Nxe4 14. Bxe4 Qb6 15. Bd2 b4 16. a5 Qa7 17. Ra4 c5 18. Bxb7 Qxb7 19. dxc5 Bxc5 20. Rc1 Be7 21. Raa1 Rfd8 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. Rc1 Rxc1+ 24. Bxc1 Qc7 25. Qd1 Nb8 26. e4 Qxa5 27. Bf4 Nc6 28. h3 Qd8 29. Qa4 Qc8 30. Ne5 Nxe5 31. Bxe5 f6 32. Bf4 Kf7 33. b3 Qc2 34. e5 Qd1+ 35. Kh2 Qd4 36. Bg3 f5 37. f4 Bc5 38. h4 Qg1+ 39. Kh3 Qh1+ 40. Bh2 Qd1 41. Bg3 Bg1 White resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.