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MACA Chess Horizons Magazine Article
 Alex Fikiet wins 77th Greater Boston Open
 George Mirijanian
  March 2011
 

Alex Fikiet, a 16-year-old master from Storrs, Connecticut, posted a perfect score of 4-0 to win the 77th Greater Boston Open, held Sunday, October 31, at the Katherine Kennedy Senior Center in Natick. Among his wins were victories against three of the four top-rated masters in the Open section. Tying for second place with 3-1 tallies were top-ranked FIDE master William Kelleher of Watertown, who lost to Fikiet in the final round, and national master Lawyer Times of Hyde Park, who lost to Fikiet in the second round. Tying for the Under 2150 prize with 2-2 results were Winston Huang of Newton and Alan Shalk of Berwick, Maine. Richard Judy of York Beach, Maine won the Under 2000 section with a score of 3.5-0.5. Siddharth Arun was second with a 3-1 tally. Capturing the Under 1850 prize with a 2.5-1.5 performance was Nicholas Zhang of Lexington. The Under 1700 section ended in a tie between John Watters of Gloucester and Kostandinos Sideras, a visitor from Rochester, Minnesota. Both tallied 3-1. Deadlocked in a tie for the Under 1550 prize with scores of 2.5-1.5 were Mark Seedner of York Beach, Maine, Jason Tang of Belmont, and Daniel Blessing of Medfield. Andy Li of Acton won the Under 1400 section with a score of 3.5-0.5. Tying for 2nd-3rd place and sharing the Under 1200 prize with 3-1 results were Rahul Krishnan of Hopkinton and Conway Xu of Lexington. The four-section tournament drew a disappointing 45 players and was directed for the sponsoring Massachusetts Chess Association by associate national TD Alex Relyea of Bedford, New Hampshire. He was assisted by his wife, Nita Patel,  national TD Ken Ballou of Framingham, and senior TD Bob Messenger of Nashua, N.H. 

In the first round, expert Ed Astrachan almost upset NM Lawyer Times in this interesting game.
 
Lawyer Times (2263)
Ed Astrachan (2028)
[D05] Queen's Pawn Game
77th Greater Boston Open Natick, MA, 31.10.2010
[Bob Messenger]
 
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 c5 4.c3 e6 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Nbd2 cxd4 7.exd4 Bd6 8.0-0 0-0 9.Re1 Qc7 10.Qe2 a6 11.Ne5 b5 12.Ndf3 b4 13.Bd2 bxc3 14.bxc3 Bb7 15.Ng5 h6 16.Nh3 Ne4 17.Nf3 f5 18.g3 Rf6 19.Kg2 Raf8 20.Rac1 Qf7 21.Bf4 Bxf4 22.gxf4 Qh5 23.Ne5 Qh4 24.Qf3 Nxe5 25.fxe5 Rg6+ 26.Kh1 Rg4 27.Rc2 Bc6 28.Bxa6 Be8 29.Bf1 Bh5 30.Qd3 f4 31.Rb2 f3 32.Re3 Rf5 33.c4 (D)
 
 
[White won in sudden death. According to Fritz Black should have won after 33...Ng5 34.Ng1 (if 34.Nxg5 Rgxg5 followed by 35...Qg4 -+, or if 35.h3 Rg6 followed by 36...Qg5 -+) 34...Rxg1+! 35.Kxg1 Qg4+ 36.Kh1 Nh3 with a forced mate] 1-0