Last minute addition Ian Nepomnishtchi finished second
The Maccabiah International Chess Festival 2009, part of the 18th Maccabiah Games, is taking place on 12-17th July at Blue-Bay Hotel, 37 Hamelahim Street, Natanya, Israel. The main event is the Richard Riordan Chess Festival – a rapid super-tournament including 13 grandmasters. Initially the participants were twelve, but the organizers added GM Ian Nepomniashtchi, which caused a player to get a bye each round.
Ten out of the thirteen participants are among the top 100 players in the international rating list of FIDE. In addition, it is noteworthy that Boris Gelfand, Boris Avrukh, Michael Roiz and Maxim Rodshtein were members of the Israeli team which took silver medals in the World Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany.
The last round, with the extreme tension involved, brought off some surprising results. Emil Sutovsky, who up to this round lost almost all his games, decided nevertheless to fight for a win against the leader Evgeny Najer, and mated his opponent after a short, brilliant game. Evgeny, however, didn’t lose the gold medal, as his main rival Ian Nepomniaschi tried an unsuccessful desperation attack which led to his defeat against Boris Avrukh. Even so, the two Russians had a fantastic tournament and they are indeed worthy winners.
The bronze medal went to Alexander Beliavsky after drawing against Golod. Judit Polgar, who could endanger him lost to Gelfand in the final game to finish. Smirin and Eljanov gave up their hopes for a share of 3rd after playing a short draw. Maxim Rodshtein reached 50% after a concluding win over Daniel Fridman.
News by Ram Soffer and Ido Ran
Last round results:
GM Ilia Smirin 2650 0.5-0.5 GM Pavel Eljanov 2716
GM Emil Sutovsky 2675 1-0 GM Evgeniy Najer 2663
GM Maxim Rodshtein 2623 1-0 GM Daniel Fridman 2665
GM Boris Gelfand 2755 1-0 GM Judit Polgar 2687
GM Alexander Beliavsky 2662 0.5-0.5 GM Vitali Golod 2599
GM Boris Avrukh 2641 1-0 GM Ian Nepomniachi 2632
Final standings (W L D Points):
1. Evgeniy Najer Russia 2663 (8 1 3) – 9.5
2. Ian Nepomniachi Russia 2632 (7 2 3) – 8.5
3. Alexander Beliavsky Slovenia 2662 (5 3 4) – 7.0
4. Boris Gelfand Israel 2755 (3 2 7) – 6.5
5. Pavel Eljanov Ukraine 2716 (4 3 5) – 6.5
6. Ilia Smirin Israel 2650 (4 3 5) – 6.5
7. Judit Polgar Hungary 2687 (4 4 4) – 6.0
8. Maxim Rodshtein Israel 2623 (4 4 4) – 6.0
9. Michael Roiz Israel 2658 (4 5 3) – 5.5
10. Boris Avrukh Israel 2641 (3 4 5) – 5.5
11. Vitali Golod Israel 2599 (1 3 8) – 5.0
12. Daniel Fridman Germany 2665 (2 7 3) – 3.5
13. Emil Sutovsky Israel 2675 (1 9 2) – 2.0
Official site: http://mchess.co.il/
