2012 Chess Olympiad
Reports | December 12, 2011 13:01

Jobava dominates in Milan to re-enter live rating list

The Memorial E. Crespi in Milan is the strongest and biggest Italian open, with 290 players in various categories including 58 in the Master Group. Before the event, the organizers proudly announced top seed Baadur Jobava with the words "Dalla Georgia con furore" but probably didn't expect how true this would become.

Jobava scored 8.5/9 (TPR 2910) to finish two points clear of the field – part of his motivation to keep pressing may have been that he needed this result to regain and then keep a spot on the live rating list. GM Drazic said that the presence of Jobava 'killed' the tournament and predicted that he will soon become a top 20 player.

Most of Jobava's win were with rather simple, seemingly effortless but efficient chess. In the early rounds, two Italian youngsters played more spectacular games: In round 1, 14-year old Paolo Formento beat second seed GM Solodovnichenko in "coffeehouse style", one day later 19-year old FM Alessio Valsecchi upset GM David with a typical, here probably speculative Sicilian piece sacrifice. For Alberto David, who was born in Milan but currently plays for Luxemburg, this may have been 'déjà vu': last year he had lost in similar fashion to the eventual surprise winner, untitled American Matthew Herman. Formento eventually finished "about where he belongs in the field".

Valsecchi – from nearby Bergamo and a regular guest at the Milan chess scene – continued to play well, including in total 3/6 against GMs, to obtain his final IM norm. As he now also crossed Elo 2400 he will soon be an official IM. The very youngest player in the Master Group was 11-year old Luca Moroni who scored a respectable 3.5/9.

Selection of games

PGN file

Final standings (top 30)

# Title Name Rtg Perf Pts Buc1 BucT
1 GM Jobava Baadur 2678 2910 8.5 46.50 50.50
2 GM Malaniuk Vladimir P 2504 2582 6.5 47.00 50.00
3 GM Shishkin Vadim 2449 2542 6.0 47.00 51.50
4 GM Drazic Sinisa 2537 2570 6.0 47.00 50.50
5 GM Kosic Dragan 2502 2538 6.0 44.50 48.50
6 GM David Alberto 2597 2546 6.0 44.00 46.00
7 GM Solodovnichenko Yuri 2629 2475 6.0 42.00 46.50
8 IM Colovic Aleksandar 2451 2428 6.0 42.00 45.50
9 IM Bellia Fabrizio 2418 2435 6.0 41.50 44.50
10 GM Sedlak Nikola 2592 2494 5.5 48.50 53.00
11 IM Martinez Rolly 2420 2469 5.5 47.00 51.00
12 GM Salvador Roland 2500 2423 5.5 47.00 50.00
13 GM Lazic Miroljub 2459 2394 5.5 46.00 50.00
14 FM Valsecchi Alessio 2376 2528 5.5 45.50 49.50
15 IM Doric Darko 2504 2471 5.5 45.00 49.00
16 FM Sbarra Marco 2245 2378 5.5 39.00 43.00
17 -- Anurag Mhamal 2222 2330 5.5 38.50 40.00
18 -- Massironi Marco 2171 2264 5.5 37.50 41.00
19 -- Miracola Massimilian 2007 2338 5.5 37.50 40.50
20 FM Bove Alessandro 2369 2329 5.0 41.50 45.00
21 IM Stella Andrea 2448 2283 5.0 40.50 44.50
22 -- Giretti Kanev Jasen 2199 2404 5.0 39.50 42.50
23 IM Vezzosi Paolo 2321 2230 5.0 37.00 40.00
24 -- Cacciola Alfredo 2080 2183 5.0 34.50 36.00
25 WIM Brunello Marina 2221 2281 4.5 40.50 43.00
26 -- Salmoiraghi Angelo 2174 2205 4.5 40.00 44.00
27 -- Thakur Akash 2324 2164 4.5 40.00 43.00
28 -- Formento Paolo 2133 2218 4.5 38.50 42.00
29 -- Cani Gazmir 2174 2209 4.5 38.50 42.00
30 -- Gongalov Bojan 2084 2223 4.5 35.50 37.00

 

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Author: Thomas Richter

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Comments

RainPiper's picture

RainPiper

5 months 1 week ago

Great success by Formento against Solodovnichenko. But has anyone a clue what Solodownichenko's idea with 29. .. Qc8 was? Stockfish says that 29. .. Nxd4 would have been winning. OK, this might have been horribly difficult to see, but what does 30. .. Qc8 contribute to the defence? With the hindsight of the rest of the game it seems quite obvious that giving up b6 and letting the white bishop join the attack on c5 must be disastrous.

S3's picture

S3

5 months 1 week ago

Jobava, one of the most interesting players atm. I'm happy when he does well!

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