Accidental prizes at Ciudad de Ferrol
At the Atlantic coast of north-west Spain, from 15-20 July the 23rd edition of open tournament “Ciudad de Ferrol” took place. Besides the regular ones, “accidental prizes” were given during the closing ceremony.
By IM Dejan Bojkov
The tournament in Ferrol formed the second part of the Galego circuit, a traditional event that is not as popular as the Catalan circuit, but nevertheless survived for more than twenty years. In this circuit, Ferrol is usually is the strongest event (with almost fifty title-holders this year) with approximately 15 000 euro in prizes.
One special feature that might inspire chess organizers is the presence of accidental prizes for all of those who did not collect a normal prize in the event. A special lottery is made at the closing ceremony, and ten lucky players receive a hundred-euro note. It is an excellent way to attract players, who are not chess professionals, and play for the pleasure. And to keep them interested at the closing ceremony, since those who do not attend, cannot make use of their luck.
The competition became a triumph for GM Julian Radulski from Bulgaria. He shared the first place together with five other players but claimed the title and the silver plaque due to his best progressive. This is his hat-trick in the Ferrol tournaments so far where he never lost a game. The other players who shared the win were: Isam Ortiz Suarez from Cuba-young player about whom you will hear again (he won the first tournament from the circuit in Burgas less than a week ago scoring a GM norm), Nanko Dobrev from Bulgaria (the most uncompromised-no draws at all), two Indian players with difficult names- Kidambi Sundararajan and Ponnuswamy Konguvel, and the young Dutch player Robin Swinkels who started poorly losing in round two, but managed to recover at the end.
Ferrol 2008 Final Standings (top 40)
| Rk. | 0 | Nombre | Elo | FED | Pts. | Des 1 | Des 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Radulski Julian | 2516 | BUL | 7,0 | 38,0 | 0,0 |
| 2 | IM | Ortiz Suarez Isam | 2392 | CUB | 7,0 | 37,0 | 0,0 |
| 3 | IM | Dobrev Nanko | 2423 | BUL | 7,0 | 37,0 | 0,0 |
| 4 | IM | Sundararajan Kidambi | 2446 | IND | 7,0 | 37,0 | 0,0 |
| 5 | IM | Konguvel Ponnuswamy | 2415 | IND | 7,0 | 34,5 | 0,0 |
| 6 | IM | Swinkels Robin | 2459 | NED | 7,0 | 33,5 | 0,0 |
| 7 | GM | Tratar Marko | 2486 | SLO | 6,5 | 37,0 | 0,0 |
| 8 | Valles Moreno Ivan | 2386 | ESP | 6,5 | 37,0 | 0,0 | |
| 9 | IM | Sriram Jha | 2429 | IND | 6,5 | 34,0 | 0,0 |
| 10 | IM | Rusev Krasimir | 2508 | BUL | 6,5 | 33,5 | 0,0 |
| 11 | IM | Petrov Marijan | 2490 | BUL | 6,5 | 32,5 | 0,0 |
| 12 | IM | Starostits Ilmars | 2497 | LAT | 6,5 | 32,0 | 0,0 |
| 13 | GM | Manolache Marius | 2521 | ROU | 6,5 | 29,5 | 0,0 |
| 14 | GM | Petkov Vladimir | 2423 | BUL | 6,0 | 35,5 | 0,0 |
| 15 | IM | Veingold Aleksandr | 2485 | EST | 6,0 | 34,5 | 0,0 |
| 16 | FM | Almagro Llamas Pablo | 2492 | ESP | 6,0 | 34,0 | 0,0 |
| 17 | IM | Alvarez Pedraza Aramis | 2453 | CUB | 6,0 | 33,5 | 0,0 |
| 18 | FM | Pozo Vera Sandro | 2454 | CUB | 6,0 | 33,5 | 0,0 |
| 19 | GM | Spassov Liuben | 2428 | BUL | 6,0 | 33,0 | 0,0 |
| 20 | IM | Dolezal Cristian | 2435 | ARG | 6,0 | 33,0 | 0,0 |
| 21 | IM | Larino Nieto David | 2426 | ESP | 6,0 | 33,0 | 0,0 |
| 22 | Filip Lucian | 2461 | ROU | 6,0 | 32,5 | 0,0 | |
| 23 | WGM | Arribas Robaina Maritza | 2323 | CUB | 6,0 | 32,0 | 0,0 |
| 24 | GM | Del Rio Angelis Salvador Gabriel | 2526 | ESP | 6,0 | 31,5 | 0,0 |
| 25 | IM | Sakelsek Tadej | 2390 | SLO | 6,0 | 31,5 | 0,0 |
| 26 | IM | Van Oosterom Chiel | 2420 | NED | 6,0 | 31,0 | 0,0 |
| 27 | GM | Barsov Alexei | 2481 | UZB | 6,0 | 31,0 | 0,0 |
| 28 | Patiño Romaris Juan Roberto | 2272 | ESP | 6,0 | 30,0 | 0,0 | |
| 29 | FM | Suarez Pousa Diego | 2436 | ESP | 6,0 | 29,5 | 0,0 |
| 30 | Fernandez Borrego Pablo | 2229 | ESP | 6,0 | 28,5 | 0,0 | |
| 31 | FM | Gallardo Garcia Andres | 2408 | ESP | 5,5 | 33,5 | 0,0 |
| 32 | GM | Krivoshey Sergei | 2504 | UKR | 5,5 | 33,0 | 0,0 |
| 33 | IM | Drenchev Petar | 2450 | BUL | 5,5 | 33,0 | 0,0 |
| 34 | IM | Rodriguez Lopez Rafael | 2311 | ESP | 5,5 | 31,0 | 0,0 |
| 35 | FM | Valmana Canto Jaime | 2376 | ESP | 5,5 | 31,0 | 0,0 |
| 36 | Arruebarrena Rafael | 2266 | VEN | 5,5 | 30,0 | 0,0 | |
| 37 | IM | Bojkov Dejan | 2498 | BUL | 5,5 | 29,5 | 0,0 |
| 38 | GM | Dimitrov Vladimir | 2450 | BUL | 5,5 | 29,0 | 0,0 |
| 39 | FM | Eggleston David J | 2372 | ENG | 5,5 | 28,5 | 0,0 |
| 40 | FM | Milchev Nikolay | 2356 | BUL | 5,5 | 27,5 | 0,0 |
GM Julian Radulski
IM Nanko Dobrev
IM P. Konguvel
IM Kidambi Sundararajan
IM Jha Sriram
IM Jordan Ivanov
Ortiz Suarez-Radulski: a quick draw in round nine, and so Radulski wins the tournament for third time
The Ferrol Football Stadium
The Port of Ferrol
Galician Pigeons
Glass Houses, typical for Galicia
Your reporter, who just wrote his very first report for ChessVibes, visiting a musem
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