1.
Chess960 Open 2002
20 Min./Game
+ 5 Sec./Move
11 Rounds on Thursday 15th and Friday 16th.
Thursday
Round 1: No big surprises in this first round of this historic
event. The Chess960 shuffler shuffled an interesting position in which
castling was very difficult. Edvins Grienze (2172) managed to score
a draw against GM Andrei Kharlov (2609)
Round 2: Peter Svidler lost in the second round in only 15 moves
against IM Sergey Galduns. "It is difficult to play with the black pieces",
Peter said. The editor of the German chess magazine KARL Harry Schaack
won his game against chess legend Vlastimil Hort.
Round 3: In this round we see some of the top-seeds against each
other. Epishin won against Gallagher , Dautov won his game against Naumann.
German GM Eric Lobron lost against Milov and Robert Rabiega from Berlin
lost against Murtas Kazhgaleyev from Kazachstan.
Round 4: Milov and Kazhgaleyev keep winning their games and have
a 100% score. (4/4) They won against Iordachescu and Komarov. Klaus
Bishoff, Rustem Dautov and Daniel Fridman won good games.
Round 5: Another strong player from India is present in Mainz:
Krishnan Sasikiran is having a lot of fun in the Chess960 Open. And
the young Indian is one of the leaders after day 1 together with Bischoff,
Dautov, Milov and Kazhgaleyev.
Friday
Round 6: There is no clear favourite in this tourney and that
makes things pretty exciting. The leaders play a few draws but one could
watch some nice battles in the back: Epishin beats Bischoff, Motylev,
Lobron and Ivanov made some big point in this round.
Round 7: Only 9 draws in 66 games! Dautov won an important game
against Sasikiran, Vadim Milov won against Hort. Lobron keeps winning
his games. Svidler won against German GM Teske and is ready for a strong
finish.
Round 8: It is a real battlefield in this Open! No short draws
in this round. Two strong Milovs are playing here in the Rheingoldhalle:
GM Vadim Milov won against Motylev, IM Leonid Milov won against Epishin.
Vadim Milov has 7 out of 8, the other leader is Eric Lobron. Black was
OK in this round: on the top 10 boards black was able to score 7,5 points
!
Round 9: Vadim Milov is the sole leader after 9 rounds, he won
against Kiril Georgiev. He now has 8 points. On board 1 Lobron and Leonid
Milov played a fantastic game that suddenly ended in a draw. Svidler
won again, this time against Lalic. He has 7 points now.
Round 10: A major upset in the penultimate round: leader Vadim
Milov lost his game against Victor Bologan. Peter Svidler won his game
in only 23 moves against Lobron. Fridman and the other Milov played
a friendly draw agaisnt each other and Alexander Motylev won against
living legend Lajos Portisch.
Round 11: Everything is set for a spectacular showdown in this first
Chess960 Open. Peter Svidler, who won all his game this Friday, has
8 points. His opponent Victor Bologan has 8 points as well. Vadim Milov
(8) plays against Daniel Fridman (7,5). Motylev (7,5) and Bischoff (7,5)
still have chances for first place.
Svidler wins the Chess960 open!
Peter Svidler from St. Petersburg is the first winner of the Chess960
Open in Mainz! He won his last game of the day against Bologan. He won
all his games on Friday, even with the black pieces and with 9 points
out of 11 games he scored a fine result. "It is nice to win a tournament
again, and this 960 Chess is a good warm-up for the Ordix open", Svidler
told us afterwards. Vadim Milov lost again in the last round against
Daniel Fridman. Motylev won against Lobron and shared the second place
with Fridman. They have scored 8,5 points.
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Impressions from the Chess960 Open
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