Ivanchuk wins 2015 Vladimir Petrov Memorial

by Albert Silver
3/8/2015 – During the weekend, the Vladimir Petrov Memorial was held in Jurmala, Latvia. The blitz and rapid tournament enjoyed a rather prestigious turnout with names such as Sergey Karjakin, Vasil Ivanchuk, Alexander Morozevich, just to name a few, while accepting inscriptions from players of all levels. The tournament was a high level with plenty of photos.
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If the name Vladimir Petrov does not ring a bell, do not worry, he is not a recent name from the rosters. The Latvian player, born in Riga, Latvia in 1907, passed away in 1943 after having been sent to the Gulag for criticizing decreased living standards in his country after the Soviet annexation in 1940. He played for Latvia in seven chess Olympiads from 1928 to 1939, and his most prestigious tournament result was his victory at Kemeri in 1937, tied for first with Samuel Reshevsky and Salo Flohr, ahead of Alexander Alekhine, Paul Keres, Endre Steiner, Savielly Tartakower, Reuben Fine, Gideon Ståhlberg and others.

At the opening, Alexei Shirov, one of Riga's most famous chess players, receives a book

The Memorial held in his name would have made him proud, as it was not only played in the City Museum of Jurmala in elegant surroundings, but included numerous players from the elite yet with no imposition of exclusivity, allowing anyone to play and enjoy the chance to try and be that hero.

On Friday, the blitz tournament was held with over 130 players

Chess battles were waged on the board and off

It was won by Vladimir Malakhov, tied for first with 8.0/10, edging out on tiebreak Daniel Fridman,
Valentina Gunina, and Loek Van Wely, who all shared 8.0/10 as well

Valentina Gunina showed that women are not to be trifled with

Final blitz standings

Rk SNo Ti. Name FED Rtg Pts  TB  rtg+/-
1 1 GM Malakhov Vladimir RUS 2738 8.0 57.0 9.2
2 7 GM Fridman Daniel GER 2618 8.0 54.0 20.6
3 5 GM Gunina Valentina RUS 2630 8.0 53.5 21.6
4 4 GM Van Wely Loek NED 2663 8.0 48.5 1.4
5 22 GM Ehlvest Jaan USA 2482 7.5 53.5 49.2
6 10 GM Popov Valerij RUS 2580 7.5 51.0 13.8
7 6 GM Socko Bartosz POL 2630 7.5 50.0 -7.4
8 9 GM Sakaev Konstantin RUS 2591 7.5 50.0 -1.4
9 2 GM Fedoseev Vladimir RUS 2682 7.5 49.0 -3.6
10 20 GM Gleizerov Evgeny RUS 2502 7.0 54.0 38.0
11 28 GM Kovalev Andrei BLR 2430 7.0 52.5 43.0
12 21 GM Yevseev Denis RUS 2494 7.0 52.0 19.4
13 23 FM Przybylski Wojciech POL 2482 7.0 51.5 37.6
14 14 GM Novikov Stanislav RUS 2544 7.0 46.0 -15.6

Click for complete standings (note that ratings are FIDE Blitz)

The tournament was held in the elegant surroundings of the City Museum of Jurmala

Top players such as Boris Gelfand came to play. The Israeli finished third with 8.5/11.

Sergey Karjakin also participated, beating Gelfand on tiebreak, and finishing second with 8.5/11

Several top female players were also present such as Alexandra Kosteniuk

WGM Olga Girya was the top scoring woman in the rapid with 6.5/11

The key game was between Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Vasil Ivanchuk. Ivanchuk won a
fine game with a nice finish and took sole first with 9.0/11. He also gained 26 Rapid Elo, and
is now world no.4 in FIDE Rapid.

Mamedyarov - Ivanchuk

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5 5.dxc5 0-0 6.Nf3 Na6 7.a3 Bxc3+ 8.Qxc3 Nxc5 9.e3 d6 10.Be2 e5 11.b4 Nce4 12.Qc2 Bg4 13.Bd3 Bxf3 14.gxf3 Ng5 15.Ke2 Rc8 16.Rd1 Qe7 17.h4
17...Nxf3! winning material. 18.Kxf3 e4+ 19.Bxe4 19.Kg2 isn't really an improvement. exd3 20.Rxd3 Ng4 21.Rd4 Qxh4 with a decisive advantage. 22.Qf5 Qh2+ 23.Kf1 Ne5 etc. 19...Nxe4 20.Bb2 The reason for the move played in the game is that after 20.Qxe4 Qf6+ Black picks up the rook on a1. 20...f5 21.Rg1 Rf7 22.Ke2 Qe6 23.Rac1 f4 24.Qd3 fxe3 25.f3 Nd2 26.Qd4 Rcc7 27.Qxa7 Qh3 28.Qxe3 Rce7 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Mamedyarov,S2756Ivanchuk,V27310–12015E39Petrov Memorial Rapid7

Evgeny Sveshnikov was the surprise winner over Evgeny Tomashevsky

Polish GM Monika Socko also took down rising star Vladimir Fedoseev in round seven

German GM Daniel Fridman who finished 7th with 8.0/11 was born in Riga

Richard Rapport's girlfriend Jovana Vojinovic also joined the fun

Final rapid standings

Rk
SNo
Ti.
Name
FED
Rtg
Pts
 TB
rtg+/-
1 1 GM Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2809 9.0 66.5 25.6
2 2 GM Karjakin Sergey RUS 2798 8.5 65.5 7.4
3 6 GM Gelfand Boris ISR 2724 8.5 64.5 27.0
4 7 GM Rapport Richard HUN 2724 8.5 61.0 12.2
5 3 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE 2766 8.0 66.0 17.6
6 17 GM Sakaev Konstantin RUS 2615 8.0 62.0 29.2
7 13 GM Fridman Daniel GER 2643 8.0 56.5 4.6
8 15 GM Shirov Alexei LAT 2622 7.5 59.5 2.6
9 4 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny RUS 2748 7.5 58.5 -17.2
10 18 GM Khalifman Alexander RUS 2585 7.5 57.5 16.8
11 26 GM Fedorov Alexei BLR 2547 7.5 57.0 24.4
12 24 GM Krasenkow Michal POL 2550 7.5 56.5 26.2
13 20 GM Popov Valerij RUS 2583 7.5 55.0 -6.2
14 11 GM Van Wely Loek NED 2662 7.5 53.5 -23.4
15 23 GM Shomoev Anton RUS 2551 7.0 60.5 29.0
16 9 GM Malakhov Vladimir RUS 2706 7.0 59.5 -6.0
17 8 GM Fedoseev Vladimir RUS 2714 7.0 59.0 -16.4
18 10 GM Naiditsch Arkadij GER 2698 7.0 59.0 -24.0
19 39 GM Ehlvest Jaan USA 2479 7.0 58.5 41.0
20 12 GM Socko Bartosz POL 2661 7.0 58.5 -17.6

Click for complete standings (note that ratings are FIDE Rapid)

Photos by Maria Emilianova

Links

The 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.
Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.

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