Gawain Jones wins Commonwealth Championship on tiebreak

by ChessBase
7/5/2011 – Jones defeated Abhijit Gupta in the final round of the Commonwealth & South African Open Chess Championships in Ekurhuleni to record an impressive total of 9.5/11 and secure the title of 2011 Commonwealth Chess Champion. In doing so he edged out compatriot Nigel Short on tie-break whilst GM David Smerdon of Australia made a later charge to get bronze. Final report and videos.

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Commonwealth Chess Championships debut in Africa!

Report by Graham Jurgensen, Convenor of the Championships

GM Gawain Jones defeated GM Abhijit Gupta in the final round of the Commonwealth & South African Open Chess Championships to record an impressive total of 9.5/11 and secure the title of 2011 Commonwealth Chess Champion. In doing so he edged out compatriot GM Nigel Short on tie-break whilst GM David Smerdon of Australia made a later charge to secure the bronze medal.


The winner on tiebreak: GM Gawain Jones, ENG, 9.5/11 points


Second on tiebreak: GM Nigel Short, England, 9.5/11 points


Third place on tiebreak for GM David Smerdon, AUS, 9.0/11


Fifth place on tiebreak for GM Abhijit Kunte, IND, 9.0/11


The beaded trophies for the winners

Final top rankings after eleven rounds

Rk. Title Name FED Rtg Pts.  TB1   TB2   TB3 
1 GM Jones Gawain CB ENG 2596 9.5 56.5 74.25 2254
2 GM Short Nigel D ENG 2682 9.5 55.5 73.00 2286
3 GM Smerdon David AUS 2520 9.0 54.0 63.00 2117
4 IM Huschenbeth Niclas GER 2502 9.0 53.0 64.25 2095
5 GM Kunte Abhijit IND 2526 9.0 50.5 63.00 2131
6 GM Lafuente Pablo ARG 2555 8.5 55.0 63.00 2191
7 FM Jere Daniel ZAM 2344 8.5 54.0 62.00 2182
8 IM Grover Sahaj IND 2485 8.5 53.5 61.75 2154
9 GM Laxman Rajaram IND 2446 8.5 51.5 59.75 2099
10 IM Ringoir Tanguy BEL 2399 8.5 50.5 59.00 2090
11 IM Karavade Eesha IND 2343 8.5 48.5 58.25 1992
12 GM Gupta Abhijeet IND 2604 8.0 54.5 57.25 2269
13 FM van der Nat Nicholas P RSA 2308 8.0 54.0 55.50 2183
14 IM Harika Dronovali IND 2520 8.0 53.5 57.00 2164
15 IM Kobese Watu AKW RSA 2355 8.0 52.0 56.50 2126
16 WGM Ghate Swati IND 2317 8.0 52.0 55.75 2099
17 IM Mokal Prathamesh S IND 2405 8.0 51.5 57.00 2095
18 CM Bouah Lyndon RSA 2147 8.0 49.5 53.50 1992
19 WGM Subbaraman Meenakshi IND 2317 8.0 49.0 54.50 1980
20 Dole Anant RSA 2103 8.0 49.0 53.00 1987
21 IM Mabusela Johannes M RSA 2272 8.0 49.0 52.75 2059
22 Makoto Rodwell ZIM 2166 8.0 48.0 53.00 1957
23 Anderson Gavin A RSA 2157 8.0 47.5 52.25 1943
24 CM Cawdery Daniel J RSA 2274 8.0 47.5 51.00 1986
25 FM Phiri Richmond ZAM 2165 8.0 47.0 48.25 1991
26 Simutowe Musa ZAM 2119 8.0 46.5 50.50 1958
27 Ovcina Denis RSA 2248 8.0 46.5 49.00 2069
28 CM Notha Moakofi BOT 2123 8.0 44.5 50.25 1777

The woman’s section was dominated by the India ladies and was won by IM Eesha Karavade, ahead of IM Harika Dronovalli and WGM Swati Ghate. On the left: President of resident of Chess South Africa (CHESSA) Emelia Ellappen.


India's rising female talent Harika Dronovali

Medals were also awarded in age group categories with the following players securing gold in their respective categories:

Section Boys Girls
Seniors (50+) Mark Rubery (RSA) N/a
U/20 IM Sahaj Grover (IND) R Bhuvaneshwari (IND)
U/18 Anant Dole (RSA) Aparajita Gochhikar (Ind)
U/16 Thomas Feng (Aus) Rachelle Mari Voges (RSA)
U/14 Daniel Barrish (RSA) WFM Ivana Maria Furtado (IND)
U/12 Victor Spirou (RSA) Alida de Bruyn (RSA)
U/10 Chopra Aryan (IND) Alida van der Walt (RSA)
U/8 Kevin Willathgamuwa (Aus) Nadia Schmidt (RSA)

Whilst the chess was hard fought, the event will also be remembered for some unusual excursions and functions which arranged for the chess tourists and officials during the tournament. These included a trip to the Lion Park as well as some social evening activities including the “convenors dinner” and a more relaxed South African braai.


A giraffe tries to steal a kiss from Dr. med. Nida Mishraz Siddiqui of Pakistan

One of the key goals of this type of event is to bring together players of differing levels and abilities and to share cultural experiences. The fact that so many youngsters have had an opportunity to play in the same venue as some of the World elite have made the event a huge success from a development perspective and hopefully this will serve as a precursor for similar tournaments in the future.

Video reports by Vijay Kumar


Round seven report


Round eight report


Round nine report


Round ten report.

Vijay Kumar IBS [Retd] is the former Chief Producer of TV News & Sports, Doordarshan Indian TV Network


Links

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