Nakamura retains lead, Karpov on 1/7

15 July 2009, 8.24 CET | Last modified: 8:42 | By Peter Doggers  | Filed under: Reports | Tags:

After seven rounds Hikaru Nakamura still leads the top group of the Donostia Chess Festival in San Sebasti?°n. The American GM is half a point ahead of Ponomariov and a point of Svidler. Anatoly Karpov is having a very tough tournament; the former World Champion is at the bottom of the standings with two draws and five losses.

The Donostia Chess Festival takes place July 6-16 in San Sebasti?°n, Spain. It consists of four different, 10-player round-robins: the “San Sebastian European Cultural City 2016″, the “Kutxa Tournament”, the “Euskal Xake Eskola Tournament” and the women tournament ‚ÄúDiputaci??n Foral de Gipuzkoa‚Äù. For all details see our first, big pictorial report.

Rounds 5-7

After his excellent start Hikaru Nakamura followed up with another win and two draws to reach 5.5 points and that’s half a point more than former FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov. On Sunday Nakamura beat San Segundo with the black pieces in another ending and on Monday he took a semi-restday, drawing in 14 moves with Ponomariov – normally something we wouldn’t appreciate, but who can blame him in this situation? Yesterday he defended a difficult rook ending against Granda to a draw.

Nakamura is clearly in top form and this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, as he’s been playing very well for months already: he won the U.S. Championship with 7/9 and in the French League he scored an amazing 7.5/8! We’re not even counting the World Open where he finished shared first, but with five quickplay games.

On the other end of the leaderboard we see a poor Anatoly Karpov getting beaten by almost everyone. After his 1/4 score he went down twice in a kingside attack, against Svidler and Movsesian. Against the latter Karpov blew a probably winning advantage. Yesterday he lost in a queen ending against Vallejo.

It makes you wonder how he will do against Kasparov in September, but such a match is something special of course and Kasparov hasn’t played at all except for simuls (and besides, it’s rapid and blitz).

In the second group, Van Wely lost his pole position; after his four wins he drew with Ubilava and Bauer and then he lost with the white pieces against Hamdouchi yesterday. The Dutchman was caught by Spanish GM Jordi Magem Badals who is on 5.5/7. Glenn Flear and Eric Prie lead in group 3 and in the women only event Yana Melnikova and Sophie Milliet share first place.

All photos © David Llada published with permission

Donostia European Cultural City 2026 | Round 7 Standings

				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1	Nakamura,Hikaru	2710	+190	*	½	½	1			1	½	1	1	5.5/7
2	Ponomariov,Ruslan	2727	+98	½	*			½	1	1	1	½	½	5.0/7
3	Svidler,Peter	2739	+35	½		*	½	½	½	1		½	1	4.5/7
4	Vallejo Pons,Francisco	2693	+47	0		½	*	½	½	½	1		1	4.0/7
5	Kasimdzhanov,Rustam	2672	+13		½	½	½	*	½	0	1	½		3.5/7	12.00
6	Movsesian,Sergei	2716	-45		0	½	½	½	*		½	½	1	3.5/7	9.25
7	Vachier-Lagrave,Maxime	2703	-23	0	0	0	½	1		*		1	1	3.5/7	8.50
8	Granda Zuniga,Julio E	2647	-73	½	0		0	0	½		*	1	½	2.5/7
9	San Segundo Carrillo,Pablo	2570	-27	0	½	½		½	½	0	0	*		2.0/7
10	Karpov,Anatoly	2644	-250	0	½	0	0		0	0	½		*	1.0/7

Kutxa Tournament | Round 7 Standings

				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1	Magem Badals,Jordi	2534	+185	*			1	½	½	1	1	½	1	5.5/7
2	Van Wely,Loek	2655	+16		*	0	½	½	1	1		1	1	5.0/7
3	Hamdouchi,Hicham	2589	+25		1	*	½	½		0	½	1	1	4.5/7
4	Bauer,Christian	2602	-33	0	½	½	*	1	½	1			½	4.0/7
5	Ubilava,Elizbar	2547	-13	½	½	½	0	*	½		1		½	3.5/7	12.75
6	Hauchard,Arnaud	2528	+8	½	0		½	½	*	½	½	1		3.5/7	11.00
7	Fernandes,Antonio	2415	+41	0	0	1	0		½	*	½	½		2.5/7	8.50
8	Fernandez Garcia,Jose Luis	2465	-64	0		½		0	½	½	*	½	½	2.5/7	7.25
9	Cifuentes Parada,Roberto	2539	-191	½	0	0			0	½	½	*	½	2.0/7	6.25
10	Argandona Riveiro,Inigo	2364	+38	0	0	0	½	½			½	½	*	2.0/7	6.00

Euskal Xake Eskola Tournament | Round 7 Standings

				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1	Flear,Glenn C	2490	+55	*		½	1	1	1	½	½	½		5.0/7	17.75
2	Prie,Eric	2491	+20		*	½	½	1	0	1		1	1	5.0/7	14.50
3	Galego,Luis	2435	+7	½	½	*		½	½		½	½	1	4.0/7	12.25
4	Michna,Christian	2224	+236	0	½		*		½	1	½	1	½	4.0/7	11.75
5	Gonzalez De La Torre,Santiago	2390	+67	0	0	½		*	1	½	1		1	4.0/7	11.25
6	Hoffman,Alejandro	xxxx		0	1	½	½	0	*			1	½	3.5/7	11.50
7	Llaneza Vega,Marcos	2521	-125	½	0		0	½		*	1	½	1	3.5/7	9.50
8	Franco Alonso,Alejandro	2480	-136	½		½	½	0		0	*	½	1	3.0/7
9	Huerga Leache,Mikel	2456	-209	½	0	½	0		0	½	½	*		2.0/7
10	Martin Alvarez,Inigo	2239	-158		0	0	½	0	½	0	0		*	1.0/7

Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa Tournament | Round 7 Standings

				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1	Milliet,Sophie	2388	+142	**		1	½	1	½		½	1	1	5.5/7	17.00
2	Melnikova,Yana	2285	+255		**	1	1		½	½	½	1	1	5.5/7	16.50
3	Tania,Sachdev	2410	0	0	0	**	½	11		½	1		1	5.0/8
4	Pokorna,Regina	2381	+1	½	0	½	**	1	½	1	½			4.0/7	15.25
5	Zakurdjaeva,Irina	2305	+40	0		00	0	**		1	1	1	1	4.0/8	8.50
6	Rozic,Vesna	2239	+79	½	½		½		**	0	½	½	1	3.5/7
7	Michna,Marta	2379	-129		½	½	0	0	1	**		½	½	3.0/7
8	Hamdouchi,Adina-Maria	2324	-101	½	½	0	½	0	½		**	½		2.5/7
9	Ionica,Iulia-Ionela	2263	-117	0	0			0	½	½	½	**	½	2.0/7
10	Karlovich,Anastazia	2211	-198	0	0	0		0	0	½		½	**	1.0/7

All games for replay

• Donostia 1
• Donostia 2
• Donostia 3
• Donostia 4

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN: Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, Group 4

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