Kovalenko wins the Keres Memorial - ACP Open

by Johannes Fischer
1/10/2016 – With a strong finish Igor Kovalenko became sole winner of the Keres Memorial - ACP Open in Tallinn. He started the last day with 6.5/8, sharing second place with four other players. But after winning against Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Peter Svidler he only needed a draw against Boris Gelfand in the final round to take sole first place with 9.0/11.

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The Keres Memorial - ACP Open is an 11-round rapid tournament organised by the Association of Chess Professionals, the  Estonian Chess Federation and the Kalev Sports Association. Each player has 15 minutes for the whole game and gets an additional 10 seconds per move.

The crucial game for Igor Kovalenko came in round ten. He played with white against top seed Peter Svidler, won the game and started the last round as sole leader. In the last round Kovalenko decided to play it safe and made a quick draw against Boris Gelfand. This safe approach paid off because Kovalenko's closest rivals failed to win their games and Kovalenko became sole tournament winner. Half-a-point behind followed David Howell from England, Boris Gelfand from Israel and Surya Shekhar Ganguly from India. Howell, who had led the field after day two, became second on tie-break. Place three went to Gelfand.

The proud winner: Igor Kovalenko

After a few moves they shook hands again.

Final standings after 11 rounds

Rg. Snr     Name sex Land Elo Pkt.  Wtg1   Wtg2 
1 2
 
 GM Kovalenko Igor   LAT 2734 9,0 73,5 67,5
2 10
 
 GM Howell David W L   ENG 2646 8,5 73,5 67,5
3 3
 
 GM Gelfand Boris   ISR 2733 8,5 73,0 67,5
4 11
 
 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar   IND 2615 8,5 71,0 65,0
5 14
 
 GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof   POL 2603 8,0 76,0 70,0
6 12
 
 GM Georgiev Kiril   BUL 2612 8,0 76,0 69,5
7 1
 
 GM Svidler Peter   RUS 2736 8,0 75,5 69,0
8 6
 
 GM Berkes Ferenc   HUN 2685 8,0 73,0 67,0
9 9
 
 GM Motylev Alexander   RUS 2651 8,0 72,5 67,0
10 27
 
 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra w RUS 2514 8,0 71,0 65,5
11 20
 
 GM Tregubov Pavel V.   RUS 2566 8,0 71,0 65,0
12 16
 
 GM Miton Kamil   POL 2597 8,0 69,0 63,5
13 19
 
 GM Neiksans Arturs   LAT 2579 8,0 69,0 63,0
14 8
 
 GM Vitiugov Nikita   RUS 2665 7,5 73,5 67,0
15 18
 
 GM Mikhalevski Victor   ISR 2590 7,5 73,0 67,0
16 5
 
 GM Matlakov Maxim   RUS 2686 7,5 73,0 66,5
17 35
 
 GM Yevseev Denis   RUS 2442 7,5 71,0 65,5
18 17
 
 GM Jumabayev Rinat   KAZ 2590 7,5 70,5 64,5
  26
 
 GM Romanov Evgeny   RUS 2529 7,5 70,5 64,5
20 4
 
 GM Fridman Daniel   GER 2688 7,5 69,5 63,5
21 13
 
 GM Sutovsky Emil   ISR 2604 7,5 68,5 62,5
22 21
 
 GM Rakhmanov Aleksandr   RUS 2564 7,5 67,0 61,5
23 7
 
 GM Eljanov Pavel   UKR 2683 7,5 64,5 59,0
24 38
 
 GM Balashov Yuri S   RUS 2423 7,0 72,0 66,5
25 22
 
 GM Lintchevski Daniil   RUS 2549 7,0 70,0 64,0
26 24
 
 GM Goganov Aleksey   RUS 2545 7,0 69,5 64,0
27 29
 
 IM Sveshnikov Vladimir   LAT 2467 7,0 68,0 62,5
28 44
 
 IM Kashtanov Ruslan   RUS 2379 7,0 67,5 62,5
  45
 
   Putka Verners   LAT 2366 7,0 67,5 62,5
30 28
 
 GM Kulaots Kaido   EST 2484 7,0 67,0 61,5
31 32
 
 GM Lanka Zigurds   LAT 2456 7,0 65,5 60,5
32 34
 
 GM Novik Maxim   RUS 2454 7,0 65,0 61,0
33 15
 
 GM Postny Evgeny   ISR 2601 7,0 64,0 58,5
34 36
 
 GM Cramling Pia w SWE 2432 7,0 63,5 59,0
35 62
 
   Laimins Lauris   LAT 2247 7,0 63,5 58,5
36 57
 
   Dubrovin Robert   EST 2286 7,0 59,5 54,5
37 78
 
   Nestor Kaarel   EST 2181 7,0 56,5 53,5
38 31
 
 GM Volodin Aleksandr   EST 2457 6,5 71,5 66,5

...177 players

Emil Sutovsky, European Champion 2001 and President of the Association of Chess Professionals, which
organised the tournament together with the  Estonian Chess Federation and the Kalev Sports Association.
Sutovsky finished 21st with 7.5/11.

Peter Svidler

Alexandra Kosteniuk won the women's prize.

The second women's prize went to Pia Cramling from Sweden, the third women's prize went to Rout Padmini from India.

The winners

Games

 

Official site...

Rapid tournament...

The Keres Memorial - ACP Open on the website of the ACP...

Chess-results...

Fotos: Vladimir Barsky

Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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