The Sigeman & Co Chess tournament is taking place from April 18 to 26 in central Malmö, Sweden. The participants include veteran Jan Timman, who won the tournament three times in the past, and some newcomers, like 20-year-old Bulgarian Ivan Cheparinov, second of Veselin Topalov, Dutch star Erwin L’Ami, 22, and the world’s youngest grandmaster, 14-year-old Parimarjan Negi, India.
With just one round to go Bulgarian talent Ivan Cheparinov is already the clear winner of the Sigeman & Co tournament in Malmö. He clinched victory by beating the youngest player in the field, Parimarjan Negi in round eight.
Ivan Cheparinov, left, clinching victory in the tournament by beating Parimarjan
Negi, right
Meanwhile veteran Jan Timman scored a fine black-piece victory over Tiger Hillarp-Persson, who had been in second place practically since the beginning of the tournament. With that Timman has joined Hillarp and Emanuel Berg in joint second.
A key game: Tiger Hillarp-Persson vs Jan Timman, 0-1
GM Emanuel Berg |
– | GM Tiger Hillarp Persson |
GM Jan Timman |
– | GM Ivan Cheparinov |
GM Parimarjan Negi |
– | IM Emil Hermansson |
GM Erwin l'Ami |
– | GM Jonny Hector |
GM Vassilios Kotronias |
– | IM Pontus Carlsson |
The Gausdal Chess Classics is taking place from April 18-26, 2007 in the Thon Hotel in Gausdal, Norway. The rate of play is 2 hours for 40 moves, 1 hour for 20 moves and 30 minutes for the rest of the game. The prize fund is Euro 1300, 1000 and 700 for first to third in the GM A Group and Euro 800/600/400 in Group B. The Elo Group gets prizes in NOKs – Norwegian Kroner. The winners of first prize get an additional troll.
After eight rounds Magnus Carlsen, the highest rated player in the field, still leads by half a point. Second is now Polish GM Michal Krasenkow, who has lost only one game so far, to 70-year-old Lajos Portisch in round five. Portisch, who was in second place after this victory, has dropped to third, mainly due to a loss to Carlsen in round seven. IM Irina Krush, who was doing excellently in the first four rounds, and even had chances to score a GM norm, lost three in a row in rounds five to seven. In round eight the US player held Magnus Carlsen to a draw. Irina is still playing at a level that is 73 points higher than her 2464 rating.
GM Magnus Carlsen |
– | GM Michal Krasenkow |
IM Gawain Jones |
– | GM Lajos Portisch |
Eric Moskow |
– | IM Irina Krush |
GM Alexei Dreev |
– | GM Eduardas Rozentalis |
GM Kjetil A. Lie |
– | GM Kaido Kulaots |
The game of the day on Thursday will of course be Carlsen vs Krasenkow. Magnus needs just a draw with the white pieces to clinch overall victory, Michal Krasenkow might decide to slug it out in an attempt to relegate him to place two.
