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Although the event has always been graced with female players, this year there was a firm commitment to balance the field with four male players, and four female. This is not to suggest it is a Men vs Women event, as it is still very much every man (or woman) for himself. The eight players this year are:
Playing at a time control of 25 minutes plus 10 seconds increment, the eight players will meet each other twice, for a total of 14 rounds. Each day two round are played, and at the end of the seven days, the top four players will qualify for the semi-finals, and then the final.
The start of the final between Karpov (left) and Fressinet (right)
It would be unjust to call the French player lucky, even if this is not an entirely uncalled for description, but such things are the nature of sport, and fighting spirit counts just as much as the purity of the chess concepts.
The first two Rapid games, comprising the main phase of the final, went smoothly for both players, and if Karpov had a small nagging edge in game one, ending in a draw, in game two the reverse was true. The two draws were quite representative how the struggles, and high standard of chess.
The lovely amphitheatre with colorful lighting, the players in the center, and the giant screen
in the background, so no one would miss a thing.
This led to the blitz tiebreakers, in which two games would be played to decide the winner. In both games it is no exaggeration to say that the 12th World Champion had a dead won position, first as white then as black. Unfortunately, possibly due to time pressure, late into the games he fumbled and blundered do badly that within a couple of moves he went from winning to lost, and with two losses his hopes of a repeat victory were ended.
In spite of this, one cannot take anything away from Laurent Fressinet's victory, since he was the a dominating force in the qualifiers, being the only player to defeat Karpov in that stage. He then defeated Tigran Gharamian cleanly, and after a difficult final, still managed to be the last one standing. A great result.
Laurent Fressinet was not to be denied
All photos are copyright Pierre TEXTORIS /capechecs
LinksThe games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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