CZECH OPEN 2010

22^th year of international chess, bridge and games festival

14.7. - 31. 7. 2010, Pardubice, CEZ Arena

http://www.czechopen.net

Festival news

In this final press news you can find results of main turnaments.

PARDUBICE OPEN – ELO FIDE and LOK CR credited grand master tournament, part of ACP TOUR

After eight rounds, the main grand master tournament resulted in a dramatic endgame on first two chessboards. Four players were pursuing to obtain the champion's title and they were playing against each other in the final two games. GM Kononěnko played white pieces against the running tournament leader GM Stefansson. “The Islander had an unlucky draw. He had to play defensively with black pieces in the round before, and this round is no better for him. In order to become the champion, Kononěnko has to beat him,” IM Pisk remarked at the beginning of the game.

At the second table, two more candidates of victory met – GM Shanava from Georgia and GM Jovanovič from Croatia. “If either of them wins, they can get above GM Kononěnko in the final score. And if Kononěnko defeats Steffanson, he would lose gold only in the auxiliary criteria,” IM Pisk explained the complicated situation before the final round.

On the first chessboard, GM Kononěnko managed to defeat GM Steffanson in a two-hour match, which meant the Islander lost his chances to become the champion. “Steffanson lost control of the match at the very beginning and had to surrender. The result was crystal clear,” the tournament expert IM Pisk said.

However, Kononěnko had to wait three more hours for the result of the second match. “Jovanovič had a slight advantage at first, but Shanava defended well and the game resulted in a tie. Shanava thus gave gold to Kononěnko and moved to the third place in the tournament score,” IM Pisk described the final round. The final standings thus were as follows:

The best Czech player in the tournament, GM Štoček (number two seed), ended up 13^th with 6.5 points. The second and third best performance among the Czech players gave GM Cvek (19^th place with 6 points) and GM Martin Petr (22^th place with 6 points).

Jaroslav Bureš, member of A64 Grygov, completed an excellent tournament. As a junior of 18 years, he finished at the 30^th position with the performance of 2503, which granted him the grand master norm.

The best woman in the tournament proved to be IM Marina Romanko (2402) from Russia, who finished 72^th. The best woman from the Czech Republic was WIM Kristýna Havlíková (2280) who scored 5 points and ended up 101^st.

The trophy for the best senior player will go to another Czech player, Vlastimil Jansa (2493), who finished 90^th with 5 points.

TEV OPEN – ELO FIDE credited rating tournament

            With total of 8 points, Enno Escholz from Germany dominated the TEV OPEN final table, followed by Kirill Budarev from Ukraine and Andrey Gorovets from Belgium – both with 7.5 points. The best Czech performance gave Jan Petr, who finished 16^th.

ČESKÁ PODNIKATELSKÁ POJIŠŤOVNA OPEN rating tournament

The 8-point winner of this tournament, Gennadiy Belousov from Russia, also got the title of the best senior player. Grigory Sharankov from Russia finished after him, with the total score of 7.5 points. The Russian dominance was disrupted only by Vladislav Sergienko from Ukraine who won the bronze medal and the U16 category at the same time. The best Czech performance gave Jakub Šafařík, who ended up 4^th, only because of the auxiliary criteria.

CHLÁDEK A TINTĚRA OPEN – ELO FIDE < 2000 Amateur European Championship

            The European title in this category went to Sergei Polich from Ukraine, who scored 8 from the total 9 points. Alexander Liberman (RUS, 7.5 points), the best senior player, finished second, and third spot went to Russia as well thanks to Pavel Kornakhov, who also scored 7.5 points, but the auxiliary criteria granted him only bronze.

            The European master in the female category was a 14-year-old Natalia Zotova; the best Czech performance gave Jindřich Bauer from ŠK 2222 Polabiny with 7 points.

KONTAX OPEN – ELO FIDE < 1800 Amateur European Championship

            The title of European champion remained in Pardubice along with its winner, Sergej Kuzmin from the local ŠK Bohemia Pardubice club. Viatcheslav Stavorevov from Russia ended up second and the best woman – and thus the European champion in female category – was Nataliya Pavlova with 7.5 points.

STEN.cz OPEN – rating tournament

In the seventh, final round, Emanuel Veselý from Rapid Pardubice, playing white figures, lost to the paper favorite of the tournament IM Andrejs Strebkovs from Latvia. Strebkovs scored 6.5 from the total 7 points and won by a margin of 1.5 point.

Evgeny Golcman from Russia confirmed his quality with the silver spot, and bronze medal went to 11-year-old Nikita Skripka.

The best Czech player in this tournament was FM Jan Bartoš who finished 5^th with 4.5 points.

This year, fifteen norms were played – 11 international masters', two international mistresses' and two norms for grand mistresses.

All results, photographs, games and information are available online at www.czechopen.net/en.

Yours sincerely,

Kateřina Levínská

CZECH OPEN 2011 press officer

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