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Short wins in Romania
4 June 2008 10:21 AM | Last modified: 22:52
The King’s Tournament in Romania was won by Nigel Short. He scored 7 out of 10, half a one and a half point more than a Lajos Portisch and Ulf Andersson.
The King’s Tournament was held May 24-June 3 in Bazna, Romania. It was an 11-player round-robin and so in every round, one of the participants had a free day.
It turned out that Nigel Short, who was to have his rest day in the final 11th round, secured tournament victory (and his 7,000 Euro cheque) already in his last 10th round. He didn’t lose a single game and defeated Andersson, Vaganian, Sokolov and Murariu.
Bazna 2008 Final Standings
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | |||||||
| 1 | Short,N | 2660 | +51 | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 7.0/10 | 2713 | |
| 2 | Portisch,L | 2523 | +89 | ½ | * | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 5.5/10 | 26.50 | 2613 |
| 3 | Andersson,U | 2537 | +74 | 0 | 1 | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 5.5/10 | 26.00 | 2612 |
| 4 | Suba,M | 2487 | +94 | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 5.0/10 | 25.50 | 2581 |
| 5 | Beliavsky,A | 2641 | -74 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 5.0/10 | 25.00 | 2566 |
| 6 | Khalifman,A | 2628 | -60 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 5.0/10 | 25.00 | 2567 |
| 7 | Mecking,H | 2565 | +8 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 5.0/10 | 24.00 | 2573 |
| 8 | Murariu,A | 2483 | +98 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 5.0/10 | 23.25 | 2581 |
| 9 | Vaganian,R | 2617 | -118 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | 0 | 4.0/10 | 20.00 | 2498 |
| 10 | Sokolov,A | 2596 | -95 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | 0 | 4.0/10 | 20.00 | 2496 |
| 11 | Timman,J | 2565 | -61 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | * | 4.0/10 | 19.00 | 2501 |
After the first four rounds, it seemed that the “Kings” were being a bit too friendly, since out of the first 20 games, 16 ended in a draw. In the end it was a bit better than that: out of 55 games, 13 games were won by White and 4 by Black, still a drawing percentage of 69%. You’ll find a selection of interesting games from rounds 5-10 on the right.
56-year-old Ulf Andersson and especially 71-year-old Lajos Portisch played an excellent tournament; Jan Timman (56) on the other hand had quite a disappointing result. Last year’s winner Alexander Khalifman apparently lacked energy after all that writing and was the only player to draw all his ten games.
Alexander Beliavsky - Alexander Khalifman
Henrique Mecking - Jan Timman
Andrei Murariu - Rafael Vaganian
Nigel Short - Ulf Andersson
Mihai Suba - Lajos Portisch
Links:
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Short was 1.5 points clear of the pack.
Good to see former top players such as Portisch and Andersson playing well once again.
Interestingly, had Andersson beaten Short in their game, he would have won the torunament!
Hoezo stelde Timman teleur? Hij was de enige speler die minder dan de helft van zijn partijen in remise liet eindigen. In zijn offerpartijen tegen Portisch en Andersson mag hij zich dan hebben vergalloppeerd, hulde voor zijn strijdlust!