Chicago Beats Tehran

We won pretty smoothly in round 2, beating Tehran 3-1.  I was black against a 2420 GM, and I equalized pretty easily.  I had more time, and when a repetition was looming I decided to grab it since we were doing well on the other three boards. Var drew next and Ehlvest and Hungaski both looked to be winning, and they both did win.

We play Paris (the top seed) in the next round, but Paris won 4-0 against Kampala, so we are already both qualified to the Knockout stage.  However, we need to win to ensure we don't play The Netherlands in round 1 of the KO!

There have been a few upsets thus far, so it seems likely a few of the better teams will not make the knockout stage.

We went to Al Ain Mall before the round and also walked around the city center a bit.  The weather is sunny and 80-85 degrees everyday.  I am feeling a bit under the weather, so I'll probably take a day off sightseeing before our match with Paris.

Au revoir.....

Morteza Mahjoob - Ben Finegold
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Qb3 dxc4 5. Qxc4 Bf5 6. g3 e6 7. Bg2 Nbd7 8. O-O Be7 9. e3 O-O 10. h3 Ne4 11. Qe2 Qb6 12. Nfd2 Nxd2 13. Nxd2 c5 14. dxc5 Nxc5 15. Nc4 Qa6 16. e4 Bg6 17. Bd2 Rac8 18. b3 Bf6 19. e5

19...Bd3 20. Qg4 Bf5 21. Qe2 Bd3 22. Qg4 Bf5 23. Qe2 Bd3 24. Qg4 1/2-1/2