The 2003 World Open has been won by Jaan Ehlvest of Estonia.

After 9 rounds of play, 10 players were tied for first. Under the new
Goichberg Rules, the top two on tie-breaking points were to play a one
game play-off match at 6 minutes to 5 minutes with the player of black
having draw odds. Ehlvert and Smirin were the top two on tie-breaking
points. Ehlvert had better tie-breaks so he got to choose white or
black. Ehlvest chose to play black. Ehlvest won and became the World
Open Champion.

Jerry Hanken got Dean Ippolito and Alexandra Kostenuik (The Anna
Kournikova of Chess") to write down the moves of the game, which
Hanken says that he will publish in Chess Life.

http://www.worldopen.com/2003Results/open.htm

Ehlvest says that he is not going back to Estonia right away. He is
going to Pittsburgh now.

Sam Sloan

I apologize to Sam Sloan.

I was not correct when I wrote in the previous post in this thread that he did not play: He did act as a
filler in the U2200 section on the final day (which I why I originally knew he was not in the primary event
since he had not been there during the week and I attended every day Wednesday-Sunday). And yes, Sam did
beat young Michael Thaler, as the crosstable at http://www.worldopen.com/2003Results/2200.htm will confirm
Sam's "perfect" 2-0 Sunday.

- Dan H

On Mon, 07 Jul 2003 12:42:07 -0400, Dan Heisman
wrote:

I apologize to Sam Sloan.

I was not correct when I wrote in the previous post in this thread that he did not play: He did act as a
filler in the U2200 section on the final day (which I why I originally knew he was not in the primary event
since he had not been there during the week and I attended every day Wednesday-Sunday). And yes, Sam did
beat young Michael Thaler, as the crosstable at http://www.worldopen.com/2003Results/2200.htm will confirm
Sam's "perfect" 2-0 Sunday.

- Dan H

Correct, and thank you.

After the start of Round 9, Steve Immitt asked me if I wanted to play
another game as a filler. I replied, "Yes, as long as my opponent is
White."

This made my prospective opponent, who was standing nearby, just about
jump out of his skin, because he was a black guy. Steve Immitt said,
"You just said the wrong thing." I hastily explained that I wanted to
play the black pieces in the chess game. I did not tell my opponent
the reason, which is I wanted to spring my Damiano's Defense on him.

Sad to relate, my opponent spoiled my experiment by playing 1. d4, so
I had to resort to my staid and stodgy Englund Gambit. I soon regreted
this, as I damn near lost. My opponent missed a mate, but I will bet
that you cannot find it without a computer.

Just before I was going to be checkmated, my opponent overlooked my
mate threat and so I won the game. I calculate that I gained 31 rating
points from these two games.

A good, though imperfect, game.

http://www.worldopen.com/2003Results/2200.htm

Sam Sloan

On Mon, 07 Jul 2003 12:42:07 -0400, Dan Heisman
wrote:

I apologize to Sam Sloan.

I was not correct when I wrote in the previous post in this thread that he did not play: He did act as a
filler in the U2200 section on the final day (which I why I originally knew he was not in the primary event
since he had not been there during the week and I attended every day Wednesday-Sunday). And yes, Sam did
beat young Michael Thaler, as the crosstable at http://www.worldopen.com/2003Results/2200.htm will confirm
Sam's "perfect" 2-0 Sunday.

- Dan H

Correct, and thank you.

After the start of Round 9, Steve Immitt asked me if I wanted to play
another game as a filler. I replied, "Yes, as long as my opponent is
White."

This made my prospective opponent, who was standing nearby, just about
jump out of his skin, because he was a black guy. Steve Immitt said,
"You just said the wrong thing." I hastily explained that I wanted to
play the black pieces in the chess game. I did not tell my opponent
the reason, which is I wanted to spring my Damiano's Defense on him.

Sad to relate, my opponent spoiled my experiment by playing 1. d4, so
I had to resort to my staid and stodgy Englund Gambit. I soon regreted
this, as I damn near lost. My opponent missed a mate, but I will bet
that you cannot find it without a computer.

Just before I was going to be checkmated, my opponent overlooked my
mate threat and so I won the game. I calculate that I gained 31 rating
points from these two games.

A good, though imperfect, game.

http://www.worldopen.com/2003Results/2200.htm

Sam Sloan

[Event "World Open"]
[Site "Philadelphia USA"]
[Date "2003.07.06"]
[Round "09"]
[White "Fredericks, Jason"]
[Black "Sloan, Sam"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1850"]
[BlackElo "1925"]

1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 Qe7 4.e4 Nxe5 5.Be2 Nf6 6.Nc3 c6 7.O-O
d6 8.Bf4 Bd7 9.Qd4 Ng6 10.Bg3 c5 11.Qd3 Bc6 12.Nd5 Qd7 13.c4
O-O-O 14.Qa3 Kb8 15.Bd3 Re8 16.Rfe1 Nh5 17.b4 Nxg3 18.hxg3 Ne5
19.Nxe5 dxe5 20.bxc5 h5 21.Red1 h4 22.Bf1 Qe6 23.Qa5 hxg3 24.Qc7+
Ka8 25.Nb6+ axb6 26.Rd8+ Rxd8 27.Qxd8+ Ka7 28.cxb6+ Ka6 29.c5+
Ka5 30.Qd2+ Ka4 31.Qc2+ Ka3 32.Qc3+ Ka4 33.Rb1 Rh1+ 34.Kxh1 Qh6+
0-1