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Gata Kamsky was the name of the event, as he stormed to the lead with a perfect 4-0 but three draws in the second half put his ‘sure thing’ at risk, allowing GM Arun Prasad Subramanian, whom he defeated in round three, to join him in the lead.
The top was quite tight after that. A full point behind the leaders at 5.5/8 were GM Sergei Azarov, GM Michael Roiz, GM Victor Mikhalevski, IM Akshat Chandra, FM Ruifeng Li, and FM Nicolas Checa.
At this point there were several players in the running for norms. The most notable was FM Ruifeng Li, fourteen years old, who had already earned an IM norm at this point, and a 'mere' draw would earn him a coveted GM norm. There was only one hitch to this plan, and not an insignificant one: his opponent was Gata Kamsky. Gata Kamsky on the other hand, was in a win-at-all-costs situation, since he had allowed Indian GM Arun Prasad Subramanian to catch up with him with 6.5/8, and a poor roll of the dice might see him in second… or worse.
Gata Kamsky faces 13-year-old FM Akshit Gorti who never got the ball rolling for her event
FM Ruifeng Li had a fantastic event, nearly scoring a GM norm
As it turned out, Gata's no.1 rival lost his final game, finishing third with 6.5/9, just behind Michael Roiz on tiebreak. As a result, Gata Kamsky took clear first with 7.5/9 a full point ahead of the field.
Ashritha Eswaran showed grit, but was unable to produce her best form
13-year-old FM Nicolas Checa scored an IM norm
Sergey Azarov from Belarus came in fourth in spite of five draws at the end
ChessBase contributor IM Akshat Chandra scored a nice win against IM Andrew Tang. See the finale:
GM Samuel Sevian (right) had a solid tournament, gaining a few Elo. Here he drew Kamsky.
|
Rk
|
Name
|
Rtg
|
Pts
|
Prize
|
| 1 | GM Kamsky, Gata | 2670 | 7.5 | $4000 |
| 2 | GM Roiz, Michael | 2595 | 6.5 | $1500 |
| 3 | GM Subramanian, Arun Prasad | 2503 | 6.5 | $1500 |
| 4 | GM Azarov, Sergei | 2602 | 6.0 | $650 |
| 5 | GM Sevian, Samuel | 2553 | 6.0 | $650 |
| 6 | GM Steingrimsson, Hedinn | 2550 | 6.0 | $650 |
| 7 | GM Mikhalevski, Victor | 2526 | 6.0 | $650 |
| 8 | IM Chandra, Akshat | 2496 | 6.0 | $650 |
| 9 | IM Yang, Darwin | 2465 | 6.0 | $650 |
| 10 | FM Checa, Nicolas De | 2362 | 6.0 | $650 |
| 11 | FM Li, Ruifeng | 2408 | 5.5 | |
| 12 | IM Eggleston, David J | 2392 | 5.5 | |
| 13 | FM Song, Michael | 2319 | 5.5 | |
| 14 | IM Ruiz C, Joshua D | 2390 | 5.0 | |
| 15 | IM Tang, Andrew | 2387 | 5.0 |
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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