Michael Adams, Paco Vallejo Pons, Jan Gustafsson and Chanda Sandipan qualified for the semifinals
English Grandmaster Michael Adams has won the 8th Gibtelecom Masters after a four-player play-off. He did it the hard way, losing the first game of his semi-final against German GM Jan Gustafsson and having much the worst of the second game before Gustafsson blundered a piece. There followed an Armageddon game, with Adams obliged to win, which he did in some style. In the other semi-final Paco Vallejo Pons of Spain won his first game quite comfortably against Chanda Sandipan of India. He was comfortable in the second game but Sandipan fought back to the point where he should have won, only the make a terrible blunder which cost him the win.
The final saw Adams in his best form, soon securing a strong advantage which he carried through to victory. In the return, Vallejo Pons got a bad position but his attempt to mix the game up cost him a piece and he could only draw. The two-game mini-matches were played at a time control of 10 minutes with 10 second increments and the Armageddon game at 5 minutes to 4.
By John Saunders, for the official website
According to the tournament regulations, the first prize of £15,000 may not be shared. All other prizes shall be shared where players have the same score or same relative rating performance as appropriate. Similarly, if there is a tie for the top women’s prize, the tie is resolved in favour of the woman with the highest performance rating, who will receive the prize of £8,000. WGM Natalia Zhukova from Ukraine and GM Humpy Koneru from India both finished with 7.0 points, but the big purse goes to Zhukova who had higher TPR (2686, in comparison to Koneru’s 2663). Total prize fund for the entire Festival was £112,500. Full results and standings.
Francisco Vallejo Pons – Michael Adams
Jan Gustafsson – Sergei Movsesian
Lela Javakhishvili – Chanda Sandipan (all photos by John Saunders)
Pairings round 10 (Thursday 04 February 2010)
GM Gustafsson Jan GER 2627 – GM Movsesian Sergei SVK 2708 ½-½
GM Vallejo Pons Francisco ESP 2705 – GM Adams Michael ENG 2694 ½-½
GM Bacrot Etienne FRA 2713 – GM Cramling Pia SWE 2528 1-0
GM Bindrich Falko GER 2512 – GM Kamsky Gata USA 2693 0-1
WGM Zhukova Natalia UKR 2462 – GM Fressinet Laurent FRA 2670 ½-½
GM Fridman Daniel GER 2654 – IM Lenderman Alex USA 2560 0-1
IM Javakhishvili Lela GEO 2493 – GM Sandipan Chanda IND 2622 0-1
IM Boskovic Drasko SRB 2454 – GM Koneru Humpy IND 2614 ½-½
GM Geetha Narayanan Gopal IND 2584 – GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2545 1-0
IM Kapnisis Spyridon GRE 2510 – GM Cheparinov Ivan BUL 2660 0-1
GM Istratescu Andrei ROU 2607 – IM Krush Irina USA 2455 1-0
GM Hoffmann Michael GER 2508 – GM Felgaer Ruben ARG 2591 1-0
GM Halkias Stelios GRE 2566 – IM Vernay Clovis FRA 2442 1-0
GM Lemos Damian ARG 2556 – IM Dworakowska Joanna POL 2374 ½-½
IM Cori Jorge PER 2483 – GM Malakhatko Vadim BEL 2549 0-1
IM Sarkar Justin USA 2378 – GM Naumann Alexander GER 2525 ½-½
FM Avalos Parra Joao CHI 2245 – GM Speelman Jon S ENG 2525 0-1
Ivanov Stojan Emilov BUL 2198 – GM Guliyev Namig AZE 2516 0-1
Final Standings:
1-9. GM Gustafsson Jan GER 2627, GM Adams Michael ENG 2694, GM Vallejo Pons Francisco ESP 2705, GM Sandipan Chanda IND 2622, GM Kamsky Gata USA 2693, GM Bacrot Etienne FRA 2713, GM Movsesian Sergei SVK 2708, GM Geetha Narayanan Gopal IND 2584 and IM Lenderman Alex USA 2560 – 7.5
10-20. WGM Zhukova Natalia UKR 2462, GM Fressinet Laurent FRA 2670, GM Koneru Humpy IND 2614, GM Halkias Stelios GRE 2566, GM Hoffmann Michael GER 2508, GM Malakhatko Vadim BEL 2549, GM Cheparinov Ivan BUL 2660, GM Istratescu Andrei ROU 2607, GM Speelman Jon S ENG 2525, IM Boskovic Drasko SRB 2454, GM Guliyev Namig AZE 2516 – 7.0 etc (224 players)
Video by Zeljka Malobabic of MonRoi.com
