Gufeld's Greatest Games from the 1999 US Open Chess Championship

by Sam Sloan

Grandmaster Eduard Gufeld, formerly of the Soviet Republic of Georgia where he was the personal trainer of Woman's World Champion Maya Chiburdanidze and many other chess luminaries while often being called upon to be an official Soviet spokesman, now lives in Hollywood, California. He arrived four rounds late for the 1999 US Open Chess Championship in Reno. Nevertheless, the most talked about game in the event was his knock down drag out battle against Grandmaster John Fedorowicz.
Grandmaster John Fedorowicz


Fedorowicz felt that he was simply a pawn ahead but blundered and gave Gufeld the game. Gufeld however felt that he played a brilliant positional sacrifice and was winning all along. He intends to publish the game in Chess Informant.

Gufeld is already the author of 56 chess books. Gufeld has probably written more chess books than any other grandmaster, with the exception of English grandmaster Raymond Keene, who has written 102 published chess books.

Gufeld was crying after he failed to defeat Miles in the last round. Gufeld said he had many ways to win, and then when it was a dead draw Miles insisted on playing another 50 moves unnecessarily.

Gufeld was crying because the players who scored 7.5-1.5 received $3,733.33 each. However, Gufeld and the others who scored 7-2 received only a few hundred dollars each.

The tournament was held on August 10-20, 1999 and was directed by Jerome V. Weikel and his family. It was organized by Barbara Woodward and the Sands Regency Hotel in Reno. A total of $63,300 in prizes were paid.

Complete results have been posted at: http://www.mb3.net/100usopen/100usopenstandingh.html

Eduard Gufeld
Eduard Gufeld

Here are the Greatest Games of Gufeld. It is for you to decide if Gufeld was winning all along or not.



[Event "U.S. Open"]
[Site "Reno USA"]
[Date "1999.08.17"]
[Round "7"]
[White "GM Eduard Gufeld"]
[Black "GM John Fedorowicz"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2530"]
[BlackElo "2634"]
[PlyCount "109"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bc4 c6 5. Bb3 Nf6 6. Qe2 e5 7. dxe5 dxe5 8.
Nbd2 Qe7 9. Nc4 Nbd7 10. O-O O-O 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bh4 b5 13. Na5 Qc5 14. Qe3 Qxe3
15. fxe3 g5 16. Be1 c5 17. a4 c4 18. Ba2 a6 19. b3 cxb3 20. cxb3 Nxe4 21. Rc1
Ndf6 22. b4 Be6 23. Bxe6 fxe6 24. axb5 axb5 25. Nd2 Nxd2 26. Bxd2 Ne4 27. Rxf8+
Rxf8 28. Be1 Nd6 29. Rc6 Nf5 30. Bf2 Rd8 31. g4 Rd1+ 32. Kg2 Nd6 33. Bg3 Rd2+
34. Kf1 Rd5 35. Ke2 Bf8 36. Nb3 Kf7 37. Nc5 Nc4 38. Be1 Be7 39. Rc7 Rd8 40. Rb7
Ra8 41. Rxb5 Ra3 42. e4 Re3+ 43. Kf2 Rh3 44. Kg2 Ra3 45. Bf2 Ra2 46. h3 Rb2 47.
Rb7 Kf6 48. Nd7+ Kg6 49. Rc7 Nd6 50. Nxe5+ Kg7 51. Nd3 Rd2 52. Rxe7+ Kf6 53.
Rd7 Nxe4 54. Kf3 Nxf2 55. Ke3 1-0

[Event "U.S. Open 99"]
[Site "Reno USA"]
[Date "1999.08.19"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Finegold,Benjamin"]
[Black "Gufeld,Eduard"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[Opening "Benoni defense, Hromodka system"]
[ECO "A56"]
[NIC "BI.38"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 d6 4. Nc3 g6 5. e4 Bg7 6. h3 O-O 7. Nf3 e6 8. Bd3
exd5 9. exd5 Re8+ 10. Be3 Na6 11. O-O Nc7 12. Qd2 b5 13. cxb5 Ncxd5 14. Nxd5
Nxd5 15. Bg5 Qc7 16. Rfe1 Bb7 17. Be4 Nb4 18. Bxb7 Qxb7 19. a3 Nd5 20. Rxe8+
Rxe8 21. Rd1 Nc7 22. Qxd6 Ne6 23. a4 h6 24. Be3 Rd8 25. Qxd8+ Nxd8 26. Rxd8+
Kh7 27. b3 Qe4 28. Bxc5 Qb1+ 29. Kh2 Qxb3 30. Rd7 Qxa4 31. Bxa7 Qxb5 32.
Rxf7 Qd5 33. Rf4 g5 34. Rg4 Bf8 35. Bb8 Bc5 36. Bg3 Qd3 37. Ra4 Qc2 38. Rg4
Bxf2 39. Bxf2 Qxf2 40. h4 gxh4 41. Rxh4 Qc5 42. Rd4 Qc7+ 43. Kg1
{Game drawn by mutual agreement}
1/2-1/2

[Event "U.S. Open 99"]
[Site "Reno USA"]
[Date "1999.08.20"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Gufeld,Eduard"]
[Black "Miles,Anthony"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[PlyCount "91"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ke8 10. h3 a5 11. Bd2 Bb4 12. Rad1 Bxc3 13. Bxc3 c5 14.
Rfe1 Ne7 15. Ng5 Nc6 16. e6 f6 17. Ne4 Ke7 18. Nxc5 b6 19. Nd3 Rd8 20. f4 g6
21. g4 Nd4 22. Kf2 Ba6 23. g5 fxg5 24. Ne5 Nxc2 25. Rxd8 Kxd8 26. Nc6+ Ke8 27.
Rc1 Nb4 28. Bxb4 axb4 29. Nxb4 Bc8 30. Rxc7 Bxe6 31. fxg5 Ra5 32. h4 Bxa2 33.
Rxh7 Kf8 34. Ke3 Bf7 35. Rh8+ Bg8 36. Nd3 Kg7 37. Rh6 Bf7 38. Kd4 Rd5+ 39. Ke4
Rb5 40. Ne5 Rb4+ 41. Kd3 Rxb2 42. Nxf7 Kxf7 43. h5 gxh5 44. Rxh5 Kg6 45. Rh1
Kxg5 46. Rf1 {Game agreed drawn after another 50 moves of play} 1/2-1/2


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