Fressinet & Wojtaszek tie for first in Pamplona
Radoslav Wojtaszek edged out Laurent Fressinet on tiebreak at the 4th Magistral Internacional de San Juan in Pamplona. The tournament saw a disappointing performance for top seed Alexander Morozevich, who finished on 4/9.
The Magistral Internacional de San Juan took place July 26 - August 1 in Hotel Iruña Park in Pamplona, Spain. It was a 10-player single round-robin with Alexander Morozevich (RUS, 2715), Laurent Fressinet (FRA, 2697), Radoslaw Wojtaszek (POL, 2663), Sergey Fedorchuk (UKR, 2665), Igor Kurnosov (RUS, 2662), Vadim Zvjaginsev (RUS, 2656), Julio Granda Zuniga (PER, 2639), Eduardo Iturrizaga (VEN, 2614), Manuel Lopez Martinez Josep (ESP, 2543) and Roi Reinaldo Castineira (ESP, 2511).
Radoslav Wojtaszek won the tournament with a score of 6.5/9 (4.5/5 with the white pieces and four draws with the black pieces). He finished shared first with Frenchman Laurent Fressinet, but had the better tiebreak on both the first rule (the Koya System; the number of points achieved against all opponents who have achieved 50% or more) and the second rule (Buchholz).
Wojtaszek is known for being one of the seconds of World Champion Viswanathan Anand. Recently he gave an interview to the Polish magazine Mat in which he tells about the last World Championship match in Sofia - topics included the help provided by Kramnik & co., Topalov’s play and the effect of the volcano on Anand’s plans. You can read it in full at Chess in Translation.
Of course many chess fans followed the tournament with special interest because of the participation of former World's number 2 Alexander Morozevich. The Russian was still the top seed in Pamplona though his rating dropped to 2715. But despite starting well with 2.5/3, the tournament became another disappointment for the Moscovite, who finished on minus one and might even have dropped below 2700 now - we'll soon find out when Hans Arild Runde updates his live rating list.
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Founder and editor-in-chief of ChessVibes.com, Peter is responsible for most of the chess news and tournament reports. Often visiting top events, he also provides photos and videos for the site. He's a 1.e4 player himself, likes Thai food and the Stones.
Comments
rogge
1 year 6 months ago
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"the tournament became another disappointment for the Moscovite, who finished on minus one and might even have dropped below 2700 now – we’ll soon find out when Hans Arild Runde updates his live rating list. "
Morozevich's live rating is 2699.5
http://chess-results.com/tnr34216.aspx?art=9&lan=1&fed=RUS&turdet=YES&fl...
midi
1 year 6 months ago
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someone knows why Morozevich didn't play for so long?
test
1 year 6 months ago
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Alexander Morozevich:
"Most top-ten players are more professional in their approach to chess. They devote most of their time to it. Anand, Leko or Topalov do not necessarily play better than I do, but they are more serious in their work, in their regularity. I can beat any player in a game, I can get ahead in a tournament, but they logically defeat me on the whole. I consider myself partly amateur. Chess remains my greatest passion, of course, but I can do other things for months, before getting back to it. I have other centers of interest; I have friends outside of the chess world. This is my way of life and it suits me."
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3279
experia
1 year 6 months ago
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Very disappointing
noyb
1 year 6 months ago
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Long lay-offs take their toll.
Thomas
1 year 6 months ago
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If Morozevich is like Ivanchuk, there is still hope for his fans: From April to July 2009, Chucky lost 43 rating points (and fell below 2700 for a day on the live rating list). From July to September 2009, he (re)gained 53 rating points. Of course such extreme swings are only possible with his nonstop schedule.
BTW, in between Moro's bad result and Wojtaszek's good one, Fressinet may have been 'forgotten' a bit - he will now cross 2700, after being stuck in the mid-to upper 2600's for seven years. There is still hope at his age (*1981)?
Antichrist
1 year 6 months ago
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Fressinet's current live rating is 2708.9, not far behind Vachier-Lagrave (2721.1) and Bacrot (2720.0).
Sergio
1 year 6 months ago
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I think the first tiebreaker should be more traditional. Running from the bulls or something.
ikalel
1 year 6 months ago
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@test, that's a good post but it doesn't really say what he was doing during his time off from chess.
What are his other interests? Is he an actor? Businessman? Who are his friends outside of the chess world and what do they do?
ikalel
1 year 6 months ago
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that's a good one, Sergio! Keep it up ;-)
Thomas
1 year 6 months ago
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@ikalel: Maybe part of his private life outside of or beyond chess is ... to keep it private and share it only with his friends and not with all of us? Methinks that would be legitimate and understandable ... .
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