The Estonian Sports Association Kalev organized the 23rd Paul Keres Memorial on 10-12h January in Tallinn, Estonia.
The Preliminary 7-round Swiss tournament with the time control 15’+5” was held on Friday and Saturday. 78 players competed. Top five finishers qualified for the Main tournament which was played on Sunday.
The Main tournament was 10-player round robin with the time control 15’+10”. Five players from the Preliminary event were joined by five invited players: Igor Kovalenko, Igor Khenkin, Jaan Ehlvest, Tomi Nyback and Kaido Kulaots.
Latvian GM Igor Kovalenko narrowly edged GM Igor Khenkin to take a clear first place with 7,0/9 points.
Main tournament final standings:
1. GM Kovalenko Igor LAT 2681 – 7,0
2. GM Khenkin Igor GER 2650 – 6,5
3. GM Ehlvest Jaan USA 2620 – 6,0
4. GM Nyback Tomi FIN 2576 – 5,5
5. GM Kanep Meelis EST 2446 – 5,0
6-7. IM Sepp Olav EST 2442 and GM Kulaots Kaido EST 2568 – 4,0
8. IM Sveshnikov Vladimir LAT 2386 – 3,5
9. GM Shvyrjov Igor EST 2351 – 3,0
10. Soot Margus EST 2123 – 0,5
