What a thrilling finish of the 54th Reggio Emilia tournament! As both leaders, Nakamura and Morozevich, were defeated in the last round, the talented Dutch Anish Giri sprints in the final yards to claim a clear first place with 16 points.
Giri concluded the first leg of the tournament, played in 2011, with only five points, but then the New Year started beautifully as he scored another three wins and two draws to finish with 16 points.
Hikaru Nakamura seemed unstoppable as he grabbed the 4-points advantage after the 7th round. But then something incredible happened as Nakamura caught the “Ivanchuk virus” and lost the last three games. Not only that Giri overtook him in the standings, but also Morozevich and Fabiano Caruana collected 15 points each to share the 2nd place.
Anish Giri
Vassily Ivanchuk woke up after the horrible row of four losses and right on time to trip Nakamura. At the same time the last-placed Nikita Vitiugov won against the then co-leader Alexander Morozevich.
Many decides games and upheavals will mark a memorable event in Reggio Emilia.
Photos by Martha Fierro
Replay the games with computer analysis
Sopiko Guramishvili
Final standings, men (3 points for a win, 1 for a draw):
1. Giri Anish 2714 NED – 16
2-4. Nakamura Hikaru 2758 USA, Morozevich Alexander 2762 RUS and Caruana Fabiano 2727 ITA – 15
5. Ivanchuk Vassily 2775 UKR – 12
6. Vitiugov Nikita 2729 RUS – 8
Final standings, women (regular scoring):
1. Sopiko Guramishvili – 8.0
2. Anna Sharevich – 7.0
3. Marina Brunello – 6.5
4. Iva Videnova – 3.5
5. Maria De Rosa – 3.0
6. Marianna Chierici – 2.0
Round 1 report / Round 2 report / Round 3 report / Round 4 report
Round 6 report / Round 7 report / Round 8 report
