Ivanchuk Express Steamrolls Latvia

by Alejandro Ramirez
3/31/2014 – The Riga Chess Federation organized the Latvian Railway Open, a rapid tournament held in the Latvian Railway Museum. The event attracted an amazing amount of stars, names such as Shirov, Malakhov, Alekseev, Zhigalko, Van Wely and countless others. But all they could do was fight for second place. Vassily Ivanchuk came in and crushed the event. He scored a staggering 13.0/14...
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The Riga Chess federation organized the Latvian Railway Open, one of the strongest rapid chess opens in the World.

The tournament was held on 28-30 March, 2014, at the Latvian Railway Museum in Riga. The tournament was comprised of three groups A, B and C.

The tournament was announced as having "leading Latvian grandmasters as well as very strong foreing grandmasters and chess lovers from around the world", but that hardly did justice to the spectacular field that showed up for the event.

The prize fund was relatively modest, a total of 10,000 euros in prizes and the first place only receiving 1,400 euro, but somehow or another the Riga Chess federation certainly pulled it off!

Using rapid FIDE ratings the tournament saw four 2700s, a few 2600s, and many more grandmasters in the mix. The pre-tournament favorites using the rapid rating system were Malakhov and Shirov, but nothing can ever be counted on when Ivanchuk is thrown in the mix.

The Ukrainian legend started off the event mercilessly. A jaw-dropping 9/9 to cement the lead after day two meant that the last day was simply a battle for second place. Ivanchuk started the last day off "slowly" with draws against Lysyj and Shirov only to return to his rampage with wins against Fedovseev, Al-Modiakhi and Kovalenko. If the tournament had lasted more than fourteen rounds, surely Ivanchuk would have won those games too!

Malakhov took second place while Fridman battled his way into third. The final standings were as follows:

Rk. Name Rtg FED Pts.
1 Ivanchuk Vassily 2722 UKR 13.0
2 Malakhov Vladimir 2777 RUS 10.0
3 Fridman Daniel 2649 GER 9.5
4 Bologan Viktor 2680 MDA 9.0
5 Shirov Alexei 2742 LAT 8.5
6 Van Wely Loek 2679 NED 8.5
7 Fedorov Alexei 2547 BLR 8.5
8 Kovalenko Igor 2653 LAT 8.5
9 Kovalev Vladislav 2488 BLR 8.5
10 Zhigalko Sergei 2704 BLR 8.5
11 Navara David 2648 CZE 8.5
12 Alekseev Evgeny 2635 RUS 8.5
13 Al-Modiahki Mohamad 2547 QAT 8.5
14 Azarov Sergei 2646 BLR 8.5
15 Shimanov Aleksandr 2582 RUS 8.5
16 Aleksandrov Aleksej 2616 BLR 8.5
17 Gleizerov Evgeny 2545 RUS 8.5
18 Fedoseev Vladimir 2681 RUS 8.5
19 Kulaots Kaido 2505 EST 8.0
20 Lysyj Igor 2675 RUS 8.0

What else did you expect to see in the Latvian Railway Museum?

An interesting contrast...

Vikto Bologan (left) and Sergei Zhigalko were two of the top players of the event

Spectators crowding around Latvian chess legend Evgenij Sveshnikov

Jan Ehlvest lives in the neighboring country of Estonia

The Vassily Ivanchuk Express demolished everything in front of it

Loek Van Wely suffered three losses (Fridman, Ivanchuk, Fedorov) but his 8.5/14 was still a good result

In rapid chess, all kinds of unusual things can happen!

Evgeny Alekseev, once Russian Champion, also finished with 8.5/14

The strongest player from Latvia, Alexei Shirov, only managed to score 1.5/4 in the last stretch
and that knocked him out from the fight for second place. In third: Daniel Fridman (right)

An expression everyone knows all too welll...

More rails! Actually the official page has many pictures of these antique locomotives

Zhu Chen, originally from China but now playing for Qatar,
took a half point off Alexei Shirov in the first round

Games of the tournament:

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1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.g3 d5 4.e5 c5 5.c3 Nc6 6.Bg2 e6 7.dxc5 Nxe5 8.f4 Nd7 9.Be3 Ngf6 10.Nd2 0-0 11.Nh3 Qc7 12.Nb3 b6 13.cxb6 Nxb6 14.Bc5 Re8 15.0-0 Nc4 16.Rf2 Ne4 17.Bxe4 dxe4 18.Qe2 e3 19.Bxe3 Nxe3 20.Qxe3 h6 21.f5 gxf5 22.Nf4 Bb7 23.h4 Rad8 24.Nh5 Ba8 25.Kh2 Kh7 26.Nxg7 Kxg7 27.Nd4 Kh7 28.Re1 Rg8 29.Qe5 Qb7 30.c4 Rg6 31.b3 Rdg8 32.Ne2 Rg4 33.Rd1 Rxh4+ 34.gxh4 Rg2+ 35.Kh3 Rxf2 36.Rg1 Qf3+ 37.Qg3 Rxe2 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Kantans,T2443Malakhov,V27170–12014B06Latvian Railway Open 20141.1
Shirov,A2713Zhu,C2461½–½2014C02Latvian Railway Open 20141.2
Sveshnikov,V2394Ivanchuk,V27530–12014C45Latvian Railway Open 20141.3
Zhigalko,S2671Sakalauskas,V23871–02014C02Latvian Railway Open 20141.4
Ladva,O2353Fedoseev,V26411–02014D16Latvian Railway Open 20141.5
Malakhov,V2717Oparin,G25261–02014A13Latvian Railway Open 20142.1
Ivanchuk,V2753Miezis,N25481–02014A52Latvian Railway Open 20142.2
Ulibin,M2491Zhigalko,S2671½–½2014B30Latvian Railway Open 20142.3
Van Wely,L2684Stupak,K24981–02014A40Latvian Railway Open 20142.4
Kovalenko,I2626Kulaots,K25600–12014A15Latvian Railway Open 20142.5
Fedorov,A2569Malakhov,V27170–12014C50Latvian Railway Open 20143.1
Gleizerov,E2531Ivanchuk,V27530–12014E00Latvian Railway Open 20143.2
Kulaots,K2560Van Wely,L26840–12014B40Latvian Railway Open 20143.3
Fridman,D2604Meskovs,N2438½–½2014D02Latvian Railway Open 20143.4
Shirov,A2713Shariyazdanov,A25681–02014B30Latvian Railway Open 20143.5
Malakhov,V2717Ivanchuk,V27530–12014A15Latvian Railway Open 20144.1
Van Wely,L2684Fridman,D26040–12014D31Latvian Railway Open 20144.2
Sulskis,S2531Shirov,A2713½–½2014B21Latvian Railway Open 20144.3
Navara,D2700Ulibin,M24911–02014C05Latvian Railway Open 20144.4
Alekseev,E2692Meskovs,N2438½–½2014B42Latvian Railway Open 20144.5
Ivanchuk,V2753Navara,D27001–02014D85Latvian Railway Open 20145.1
Fridman,D2604Ladva,O23531–02014D35Latvian Railway Open 20145.2
Sulskis,S2531Malakhov,V27170–12014B06Latvian Railway Open 20145.3
Shirov,A2713Miezis,N25481–02014B41Latvian Railway Open 20145.4
Meskovs,N2438Van Wely,L26840–12014E53Latvian Railway Open 20145.5
Ivanchuk,V2753Fridman,D26041–02014D44Latvian Railway Open 20146.1
Van Wely,L2684Shirov,A27131–02014D11Latvian Railway Open 20146.2
Malakhov,V2717Lysyj,I2655½–½2014C53Latvian Railway Open 20146.3
Navara,D2700Kulaots,K25600–12014D37Latvian Railway Open 20146.4
Ulibin,M2491Alekseev,E2692½–½2014B40Latvian Railway Open 20146.5
Van Wely,L2684Ivanchuk,V27530–12014E17Latvian Railway Open 20147.1
Kulaots,K2560Malakhov,V2717½–½2014B07Latvian Railway Open 20147.2
Fridman,D2604Kantans,T24431–02014D90Latvian Railway Open 20147.3
Shirov,A2713Fedorov,A2569½–½2014B41Latvian Railway Open 20147.4
Lysyj,I2655Miezis,N25481–02014A60Latvian Railway Open 20147.5
Ivanchuk,V2753Alekseev,E26921–02014D38Latvian Railway Open 20148.1
Malakhov,V2717Fridman,D2604½–½2014C07Latvian Railway Open 20148.2
Oparin,G2526Van Wely,L2684½–½2014B84Latvian Railway Open 20148.3
Kulaots,K2560Lysyj,I2655½–½2014C65Latvian Railway Open 20148.4
Kovalev,V2548Shirov,A27130–12014B35Latvian Railway Open 20148.5
Zhigalko,S2671Ivanchuk,V27530–12014C95Latvian Railway Open 20149.1
Fridman,D2604Kovalenko,I2626½–½2014E15Latvian Railway Open 20149.2
Van Wely,L2684Malakhov,V2717½–½2014D11Latvian Railway Open 20149.3
Shirov,A2713Oparin,G2526½–½2014D37Latvian Railway Open 20149.4
Lysyj,I2655Fedorov,A2569½–½2014E91Latvian Railway Open 20149.5
Ivanchuk,V2753Lysyj,I2655½–½2014E06Latvian Railway Open 201410.1
Azarov,S2603Fridman,D26040–12014C07Latvian Railway Open 201410.2
Malakhov,V2717Shimanov,A26491–02014A14Latvian Railway Open 201410.3
Kulaots,K2560Shirov,A27130–12014B35Latvian Railway Open 201410.4
Fedorov,A2569Van Wely,L26841–02014B20Latvian Railway Open 201410.5
Shirov,A2713Ivanchuk,V2753½–½2014C42Latvian Railway Open 201411.1
Fridman,D2604Fedorov,A2569½–½2014E65Latvian Railway Open 201411.2
Kovalenko,I2626Malakhov,V27170–12014A40Latvian Railway Open 201411.3
Al-Modiahki,M2549Oparin,G25261–02014B23Latvian Railway Open 201411.4
Lysyj,I2655Fedoseev,V26410–12014E10Latvian Railway Open 201411.5
Ivanchuk,V2753Fedoseev,V26411–02014B14Latvian Railway Open 201412.1
Malakhov,V2717Shirov,A2713½–½2014A07Latvian Railway Open 201412.2
Fridman,D2604Al-Modiahki,M2549½–½2014A52Latvian Railway Open 201412.3
Fedorov,A2569Zhigalko,S2671½–½2014B20Latvian Railway Open 201412.4
Oparin,G2526Kovalenko,I2626½–½2014B12Latvian Railway Open 201412.5
Al-Modiahki,M2549Ivanchuk,V27530–12014B23Latvian Railway Open 201413.1
Navara,D2700Malakhov,V27170–12014D15Latvian Railway Open 201413.2
Shirov,A2713Fridman,D2604½–½2014D45Latvian Railway Open 201413.3
Kovalenko,I2626Fedorov,A25691–02014A49Latvian Railway Open 201413.4
Zhigalko,S2671Alekseev,E2692½–½2014C50Latvian Railway Open 201413.5
Ivanchuk,V2753Kovalenko,I26261–02014A13Latvian Railway Open 201414.1
Malakhov,V2717Zhigalko,S2671½–½2014A05Latvian Railway Open 201414.2
Fridman,D2604Fedoseev,V2641½–½2014E34Latvian Railway Open 201414.3
Bologan,V2649Shirov,A27131–02014B32Latvian Railway Open 201414.4
Van Wely,L2684Kovalev,V2548½–½2014D77Latvian Railway Open 201414.5

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Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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