Sjugirov, Inarkiev and Meier lead at European Championship
11 March 2009, 12.05 CET | By Peter Doggers | Filed under: Reports | Tags:
Sanan Sjugorov, Ernesto Inarkiev (both from Russia) and Georg Meier (Germany) are leading the pack in Budva, Montenegro where the European Championship has reached the 5th round.
Photo © Nebojsa Baralic
The 10th European Chess Championship, an 11-round Swiss, takes place in Budva, Montenegro from March 5th (day of arrival) until March 19th (day of departure) 2009. It’s organized by the Montenegro Chess Federation under the auspices of the City of Budva and the European Chess Union.
Budva is a coastal town in Montenegro with around 15,000 inhabitants. The coastal area around Budva, called the Budvanska rivijera, is the centre of Montenegro’s tourism, and is well known for its sandy beaches, diverse nightlife, and beautiful examples of Mediterranean architecture. Budva is 2,500 years old, which makes it one of the oldest settlements on the Adriatic sea coast. (Source: Wikipedia.)
The tournament hall is the congress hall of the “Splendid spa & resort hotel”.
The European Championship is a qualification event for the next World Cup. According to FIDE regulations and the decision of the ECU Board, 22 players will qualify. The first prize is € 15,000, second is € 12,000 and the third player earns € 10,000.
After five rounds only Sjugirov, Inarkiev and Meier are on 4.5 points. Among Sjugirov’s scalps are Cheparinov, Nikolic and Van Wely – the Dutchman had started well with three wins and a draw. Inarkiev, the Russian GM who is named after Ernesto “Che” Guevara, had a slightly lighter program but he did beat the champ of 2006, Zdenko Kozul.
Georg Meier is repeating his great form at the Olympiad: in Budva he started with 4/4 (beating e.g. Popov and Gagunashvili) before drawing with Inarkiev.
Leaders Meier and Inarkiev drew in the fifth round | Photo © Nebojsa Baralic
Below you’ll find a selection of interesting games from the first five rounds. Special attention please for Motylev-Nijboer – a fantastic, hyper sharp game! The Dutchman also grinded down Postny and is having an excellent tournament so far, after his dreadful Corus C where he blundered in so many great positions. A Nijboer in good shape is worth at least 2650!
Joe Gallagher (2480, Switzerland)
Jan Timman, that other big name from The Netherlands, plays his first tournament since the Wold Open in Leon in December, but that was rapid. Antwerp, August 2008, was his last in classical chess, and it shows – the former world’s no. 2 is extremely rusty thus far, losing to IMs Anisimov (2488) and Talla (2407) in rounds 2 and 3. He showed his love for endings, and a sparkle of his great knowledge, in his round 5 game.
Another ChessVibes favorite, Greek GM Vasilios Kotronias, started with a loss in the first round against compatriot IM Ioannis Georgiadis (2383) but then recovered well with four wins in a row. Yesterday he defeated top seeded Francisco Vallejo Pons.
I’ve also included a game by former opening theoretician Joe Gallagher from Switzerland, who was a professional poker player already when “colleagues” like Grischuk and Gustafsson were still in high school! Perhaps somebody disclosed to him that the King’s Indian is playable again? In any case, Gallagher (2480) is performaning at a 2685 level so far!
Games selection
The playing hall in Budva | Photo © Nebojsa Baralic
European Championship 2009 | Round 5 Standings (top 50)
| Rk. | T | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | Rp | rtg+/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Sjugirov Sanan | RUS | 2562 | 4,5 | 10,5 | 2933 | 20,9 |
| 2 | GM | Inarkiev Ernesto | RUS | 2656 | 4,5 | 8,5 | 2920 | 13,1 |
| GM | Meier Georg | GER | 2608 | 4,5 | 8,5 | 2903 | 15,4 | |
| 4 | GM | Fedorchuk Sergey A | UKR | 2633 | 4,0 | 10,5 | 2773 | 8,3 |
| 5 | GM | Kurnosov Igor | RUS | 2602 | 4,0 | 9,5 | 2714 | 6,4 |
| 6 | GM | Bartel Mateusz | POL | 2594 | 4,0 | 9,5 | 2748 | 9,4 |
| 7 | GM | Hillarp Persson Tiger | SWE | 2586 | 4,0 | 9,5 | 2764 | 11,1 |
| 8 | GM | Shomoev Anton | RUS | 2567 | 4,0 | 9,5 | 2752 | 11,9 |
| 9 | IM | Nanu Ciprian-Costica | ROU | 2506 | 4,0 | 9,5 | 2754 | 17,6 |
| 10 | GM | Volokitin Andrei | UKR | 2671 | 4,0 | 9,5 | 2735 | 3,1 |
| 11 | GM | Banikas Hristos | GRE | 2582 | 4,0 | 9,0 | 2799 | 13,7 |
| 12 | GM | Kobalia Mikhail | RUS | 2634 | 4,0 | 9,0 | 2768 | 7,9 |
| 13 | GM | Naiditsch Arkadij | GER | 2693 | 4,0 | 9,0 | 2775 | 4,7 |
| 14 | GM | Cheparinov Ivan | BUL | 2679 | 4,0 | 8,5 | 2750 | 4,1 |
| 15 | GM | Sokolov Ivan | NED | 2657 | 4,0 | 8,5 | 2783 | 7,5 |
| 16 | GM | Jobava Baadur | GEO | 2669 | 4,0 | 8,5 | 2760 | 5,2 |
| 17 | GM | Areshchenko Alexander | UKR | 2673 | 4,0 | 8,0 | 2712 | 2,6 |
| 18 | GM | Timofeev Artyom | RUS | 2671 | 4,0 | 8,0 | 2788 | 6,9 |
| 19 | GM | Bocharov Dmitry | RUS | 2647 | 4,0 | 7,5 | 2756 | 6,4 |
| 20 | GM | Papaioannou Ioannis | GRE | 2609 | 4,0 | 7,5 | 2733 | 7,2 |
| 21 | GM | Nyback Tomi | FIN | 2644 | 4,0 | 7,5 | 2743 | 5,8 |
| GM | Navara David | CZE | 2638 | 4,0 | 7,5 | 2739 | 5,9 | |
| 23 | GM | Grachev Boris | RUS | 2655 | 4,0 | 7,5 | 2707 | 3,2 |
| 24 | GM | Rodshtein Maxim | ISR | 2650 | 4,0 | 7,5 | 2713 | 3,6 |
| GM | Petrosian Tigran L | ARM | 2623 | 4,0 | 7,5 | 2686 | 3,5 | |
| 26 | GM | Kotronias Vasilios | GRE | 2603 | 4,0 | 7,0 | 2693 | 5,9 |
| 27 | IM | Spoelman Wouter | NED | 2493 | 3,5 | 11,0 | 2623 | 12,0 |
| 28 | FM | Rasulov Vugar | AZE | 2391 | 3,5 | 10,0 | 2728 | 33,3 |
| 29 | GM | Lupulescu Constantin | ROU | 2608 | 3,5 | 10,0 | 2646 | 2,6 |
| 30 | GM | Mastrovasilis Athanasios | GRE | 2485 | 3,5 | 10,0 | 2622 | 13,1 |
| 31 | GM | Predojevic Borki | BIH | 2650 | 3,5 | 9,5 | 2681 | 2,2 |
| 32 | GM | Van Wely Loek | NED | 2625 | 3,5 | 9,5 | 2673 | 3,3 |
| 33 | GM | Mikhalevski Victor | ISR | 2608 | 3,5 | 9,5 | 2624 | 1,0 |
| 34 | GM | Iljushin Alexei | RUS | 2564 | 3,5 | 9,5 | 2673 | 8,1 |
| 35 | GM | Kovacevic Aleksandar | SRB | 2543 | 3,5 | 9,5 | 2690 | 10,7 |
| 36 | GM | Gallagher Joseph G | SUI | 2480 | 3,5 | 9,5 | 2685 | 10,9 |
| 37 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | RUS | 2687 | 3,5 | 9,0 | 2698 | 0,8 |
| 38 | GM | Guseinov Gadir | AZE | 2661 | 3,5 | 9,0 | 2659 | 0,1 |
| 39 | GM | Parligras Mircea | ROU | 2605 | 3,5 | 9,0 | 2599 | -0,1 |
| 40 | GM | Kozul Zdenko | CRO | 2594 | 3,5 | 8,5 | 2699 | 7,1 |
| 41 | GM | Iordachescu Viorel | MDA | 2584 | 3,5 | 8,5 | 2603 | 1,3 |
| GM | Halkias Stelios | GRE | 2578 | 3,5 | 8,5 | 2567 | -0,3 | |
| 43 | GM | Nijboer Friso | NED | 2559 | 3,5 | 8,5 | 2729 | 12,0 |
| 44 | GM | Stevic Hrvoje | CRO | 2592 | 3,5 | 8,5 | 2635 | 3,1 |
| 45 | GM | Yemelin Vasily | RUS | 2578 | 3,5 | 8,5 | 2707 | 8,9 |
| 46 | GM | Tiviakov Sergei | NED | 2685 | 3,5 | 8,5 | 2699 | 1,0 |
| 47 | GM | Dreev Alexey | RUS | 2688 | 3,5 | 8,5 | 2694 | 0,4 |
| GM | Georgiev Kiril | BUL | 2634 | 3,5 | 8,5 | 2657 | 1,5 | |
| 49 | GM | Lysyj Igor | RUS | 2620 | 3,5 | 8,5 | 2615 | -0,2 |
| 50 | GM | Tomashevsky Evgeny | RUS | 2664 | 3,5 | 8,5 | 2696 | 2,2 |
Full standings here.
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Los favoritos est?°n decepcionando. Aunque hay bastantes sorpresas agradables, por ejemplo el MI Ciprian -costica de ruman??a
Why are you favoritizing players? I thought your site is objective, now it is all about “I like Dutch players” and “I like this and that player”. The objectivity of the site is going away, just powered by Arne’s opinions columns.
I liked it when it was pure reporting more, now it is personal blog.
There’s nothing wrong with displaying a certain positive feeling about players as long as it’s directed to things such as playing style. We won’t stop saying that we like players who always fight, like Nijboer and Kotronias, or who sometimes show greatness of the past, like Timman, but also Andersson, who is included in the games section. This article did focus a bit on Dutch players perhaps, because in the end a big number of our readers is Dutch, but this is an exception, so take it easy please.
And concerning Arne’s “opinion columns”: it would be very boring to only provide objective tournament reporting, wouldn’t it? A medium needs to take a standpoint for certain issues as well, in my opinion. So if you don’t like all this, well, you know what to do. Can’t keep everybody happy.
I don’t see how this article is “favoritizing players” anyway.
p.s. sporty, this site started out as a personal blog if i am not mistaken..
I think it´s fine if you support your local players, it´s logical. I don´t like it when in some sites (probably many of you already know what I mean) they clearly favor some individual players for no apparent reason and focus especially on their games and their lives. Maybe I don´t like Dutch players especially, but if I were Dutch I would love to have a site where I can follow the local stars´performance.
????? ??????????…
Sanan Sjugorov, Ernesto Inarkiev (both from Russia) and Georg Meier (Germany) are leading the pack in[...]…
I don’t know what’s up with all the haters. It’s normal for a dutch blog to mention a few dutch players, isn’t it? I like that, it gives the reporting a more personal note without harming the objectivity.
Anyway, who needs objectivity. GO MEIER AND NAIDITSCH! Show em who’s boss!
I’m also glad to see Hillarp Persson and Gallagher do so well.
OK, I understand. But why not have Dutsch version then like before? I guess not more than 50% of the readers are Dutsch?
I wanted to hear about Vallejo as top favorite, about the young guys (not only the leader). Information is missing, but I guess it is not only Chessvibes, the organizers do not provide it.
And there is also a women section, even though it is in another city http://wiecc2009.com/
trust me sporty, you don’t want to hear about vallejo. Unfortunately he has only a 50 percent score so far.
Does anyone know why Ulf Andersson forfeited two games? Are they enforcing some ridiculous ‘zero minutes late tolerance’ rules?
I notice that, after doing very well in the opening rounds, Ulf Andersson has defaulted his last two games. Is he unwell? I certainly hope not. Can you shed some light on this matter, Peter?
Oops, sorry. I see that “Curious” (perhaps another Ulf booster) has asked the same question.