Vallejo, Sokolov, Almasi, and Volkov lead in Nakhchivan

Vallejo, Sokolov, Almasi, and Volkov lead in Nakhchivan
Photos, standings, and more from the top open of April

The Super Open Nakhchivan 2011 continues in Azerbaijan. After round 4 there are 4 players sharing the leading position - Francisco Vallejo Pons (Spain), Zoltan Almasi (Hungary), Sergey Volkov (Russia), and Ivan Sokolov (Bosna and Herzegovina). They are facing each other in direct battles today, always eying their back, as Wang Yue, Ilia Smirin, Alexander Ipatov, Eltaj Safarli, Mikheil Mchedlishvili, Evgenij Miroshnichenko, and several other top contenders are withing 1/2 to 1 points distance.

The International Chess Festival Nakhchivan Open, dedicated to the memory of President Heydar Aliyev, is scheduled to take place from 23rd April to 1st May at the "Nakhchivan Chess Center" in Nakhchivan.

The Festival is organized by the Azerbaijan Youth & Sport Ministry, Azerbaijan Chess Federation and Nakhchivan AR Chess Federation. Nine rounds according to Swiss system will be played in the tournament. The total prize fund is $ 66.500.

Follow the live games at www.chess.az and www.azerichess.az.

Undefeated Champ

Zoltan Almasi becomes European Rapid Chess Champion
Tuesday, 21 December 2010 19:17

After two days, 13 rounds and two tie-break games Zoltan Almasi of Hungary became the best player in the European Rapid Chess Championship that took place in Warsaw during last weekend. Almasi did not participate in the European Blitz Championship 2010 for a simple reason - he couldn't make it through Warsaw in time. Perhaps this boosted his chances to win the rapid, because the top players from the blitz event (Vachier-Lagrave, Ponomariov) flopped on the second day. Zoltan Almasi was in the leading group throughout the entire competition, and didn't lose a game during both days. The biggest chill gave the final game against Gashimov. The Hungarian needed only a draw to secure victory, but the game was very unclear and the advantage was passing from one side to another. Finally Zoltan managed to exchange queens and transpose the position into an endgame with no chances for Gashimov. Bronze medal came to Vassily Ivanchuk, who defeated Alexei Shirov. Two other players who participated in tie-breaks were Anton Korobov and Arkadij Naiditsch.

Best Pole was the national champion, GM Mateusz Bartel, who had a plenty of luck in the final game, but deserved it throughout entire tournament (for example he drew to Ponomariov) and lost only one game against Shirov. A big disappointment was result of GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek, who was happy to get 21th place. He lost one game in 12 moves, leaving his bishop unprotected to GM Tomasz Markowski attack!

The biggest surprise was a splendid placing of the 14-years old Jan Krzysztof Duda, who made 9.5/13 and came finally as 32th out of over 700 players. He was worse then another wunderkind, Ilya Nyzhnyk of Ukrain, but only by Bucholtz points.

Prize for the best woman came to Judit Polgar, as everybody expected. Though she can't be pleased with final result, she managed to be in front of Monika Socko and Julia Kochetkova of Slovakia.

Official website

Almasi wins European Rapid Playoff

In the European Rapid Championship Armegeddon Playoff, GM Almasi defeated GM Gashimov in a wild game to win the title. GM Ivanchuk defeated GM Shirov to finish 3rd.

Congratulations to GM Almasi!

Full standings here: http://www.poloniachess.pl/amplico2010/rapid/tournament_table_acc_places.html

Judit finished one point behind the winner in a tie for 15th overall, and top woman.

6 way tie for 1st at European Rapid Championship

6 players tied for 1st at the 2010 European Rapid Championship. I believe GM Almasi won on tiebreaks.

M-ce	Tyt.	Nazwisko Imię	Fed.	Elo	Pkt.
1	GM	Almasi, Zoltan	HUN	2721	10.5
2	GM	Ivanchuk, Vassily	UKR	2764	10.5
3	GM	Gashimov, Vugar	AZE	2733	10.5
4	GM	Korobov, Anton	UKR	2684	10.5
5	GM	Shirov, Alexei	ESP	2735	10.5
6	GM	Naiditsch, Arkadij	GER	2685	10.5
7	GM	Bartel, Mateusz	POL	2617	10.0
8	GM	Mchedlishvili, Mikheil	GEO	2637	10.0
9	GM	Rublevsky, Sergei	RUS	2678	10.0
10	GM	Lysyj, Igor	RUS	2627	10.0
11	GM	Jussupow, Artur	GER	2589	10.0
12	GM	Movsesian, Sergei	SVK	2721	10.0
13	GM	Romanov, Evgeny	RUS	2605	10.0
14	GM	Jobava, Baadur	GEO	2707	10.0
15	GM	Halkias, Stelios	GRE	2578	9.5
16	GM	Andriasian, Zaven	ARM	2585	9.5
17	GM	Fridman, Daniel	GER	2645	9.5
18	GM	Riazantsev, Alexander	RUS	2689	9.5
19	GM	Polgar, Judit	HUN	2686	9.5
20	GM	Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	2744	9.5
21	GM	Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	POL	2726	9.5
22	GM	Gajewski, Grzegorz	POL	2555	9.5
23	GM	Bologan, Viktor	MDA	2686	9.5
24	IM	Nyzhnyk, Illya	UKR	2535	9.5
25	GM	Popov, Valerij	RUS	2559	9.5
26	GM	Zhigalko, Andrey	BLR	2570	9.5
27	GM	Inarkiev, Ernesto	RUS	2667	9.5
28	IM	Stupak, Kirill	BLR	2530	9.5
29	GM	Tkachiev, Vladislav	FRA	2636	9.5
30	GM	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	FRA	2703	9.5
31	GM	Krasenkow, Michal	POL	2621	9.5
32	FM	Duda, Jan-Krzysztof	POL	2247	9.5
33	GM	Moranda, Wojciech	POL	2578	9.5
34	FM	Malakhov, Igor	RUS	2425	9.5
35	IM	Okhotnik, Vladimir	FRA	2428	9.5
36	GM	Maiorov, Nikita	BLR	2546	9.5
37	GM	Socko, Bartosz	POL	2660	9.5
38		Maevsky, Nikolay	RUS	2309	9.5

Full results here: http://www.poloniachess.pl/amplico2010/rapid/tournament_table_acc_places.html