Jorge Sammour-Hasbun surprising winner Dos Hermanas
25 March 2007 22:13 PM | Last modified: 12:40
Jorge Sammour-Hasbun became the surprising winner of the ICC Dos Hermanas online tournament. Who? Many were wondering that of course. Sammour-Hasbun has been away from the game for ten years, but at some point he was a true prodigy. He won the world championship under 10 in 1988 and later also the Wch under 12, when his name was still Jorge Zamora. Jorge’s family emigrated from Palestina to America and there, at the age of 15 he already had a USCF rating of 2500. Amongst others he beat Gata Kamsky in those days.
When we check the databases, indeed we only see games of Jorge Zamora from between 1991 and 1997. A few months ago Jorge Sammour-Hasbun started playing some tournaments again and he’s still GM strength. He more than proved this at the ICC internet tournament Dos Hermanas, where he grabbed the 1800 euros first prize.
Most of the information above I got from the interview Macauley Peterson had with Sammour-Hasbun right after he won the tournament. If you want to know more about Jorge, I can really recommend listening to the whole interview (ICC membership required).
Here are the games from the winner during the final, playing under the name “NECF-InSchools”. Take care if you want to replay the last game, because this one lasted 227 moves!!
Top final standings:
1. NECF-InSchools Jorge Sammour-Hasbun EUR 1800 2. Anyuta GM Tigran L. Petrosian EUR 900 3-4. Smallville GM Hikaru Nakamura EUR 600 3-4. Nasimi GM Rasul Ibrahimov EUR 600 5-8. azerichess GM Shahriyar Mamedyarov EUR 250 5-8. Volf IM Farid Khanlar Abbasov EUR 250 5-8. Crest GM Sergey Shipov EUR 250 5-8. K-Georgiev GM Kiril Georgiev EUR 250
Full final standings here.
En meteen achter Georgiev op een gedeelde 9e-16e plaats: GM Jan Smeets / Holland!
Sowieso geen slechte blitz speler die Sammour-Hasbun want in 2000 won hij de Foxwoods Open Blitz sectie met 8.5 / 10 samen met GM Alex Wojtkiewicz.
Navrant detail: Sammour-Hasbun is in het verleden al een keer geschorst geweest op ICC vanwege computerabuse…..Blijkbaar kan het nou ook zonder, al had Smallville zn twijfels las ik.
Hier wint hij in 1999 als 11-jarige van GM Gata Kamsky !http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~rjcc/corn41.htm
@Frans, inderdaad zeg! Zamora is een naam uit het verleden, toen internetschaak nog spannend en nieuw was. Zijn naam is trouwens ooit briljant geparodieerd (door ik meen Schmaltz) als ‘Sammy Hasbeen’. Inderdaad hing er altijd een dubieus luchtje rondom zijn torenhoge ratings op ICC. Wel begrijpelijk dat Nakamura twijfelt. Zamora heeft de schijn helaas tegen.
Uit het ICC-interview blijkt dat afgelopen zaterdag GM Larry Christiansen bij hem in huis was, omdat er ook vanuit ICC twijfels waren. Ten onrechte dus…
Actually, LarryC was not himself present at Jorge’s house, but a USCF tournament director named Frank DelBonis WAS proctoring his play at the request of ICC. LarryC did however advocate on his behalf. Suffice it to say, I’m confident there was no computer assistance on Saturday, despite prior allegations against him. He just played some inspired chess. The 227 move draw that clinched it was a sight to behold!