The 37th Zurich Christmas Open took place on 26-30th December at the Crowne Plaza Zürich in Zurich, Switzerland.
The seven-round Master Tournament, for players rated over 2000, drew 118 participants of which 50 were titled, including 23 grandmasters. Top seed Polish grandmaster Radoslaw Wojtaszek took clear first with 6.0/7 to claim the top prize of CHF 5000.
Grandmasters came from as far as Argentina, such as Sandro Mareco...
...or Brazil such as GM Alexandre Fier
French GM Christian Bauer
Wojtaszek scored an important last-round win against GM Ivan Popov, while the co-leader entering the last round, Igor Kovalenko, was unable to achieve more than a draw and remained in second.
Top seed Radoslaw Wojtaszek was in excellent form and finished first with
6.0/7 and a 2823 performance
Igor Kavalenko had an excellent tournament, coming in second with 5.5/7 and
performing over 100 Elo above his actual rating
Ivan Popov
15-year-old FM Lars Oskar Hauge from Norway
Second seed Evgeny Alekseev, rated 2698, had a lukewarm
tournament and finished with 5.0/7 and ninth
20-year-old WGM Alina Kashlinskaya finished strong with two wins and 5.0/7
Ukrainian WGM Evgeniya Doluhanova
The General Tournament (Under 2050 Elo) with 229 participants was also a seven-round Swiss Open. Martin Schweighoffer of Uster emerged the sole winner with 6.5/7 and took the top prize of CHF 1000.
The total prize money of both tournaments exceeded CHF 30,000.
Organizer Georg Kradolfer together with the winners Igor Kovalenko (second),
Radoslaw Wojtaszek (first), and Csaba Balogh (third)
|
Rk
|
Ti.
|
Name
|
Rtg
|
Fed
|
Pts
|
TB
|
|
1
|
GM
|
Wojtaszek Radoslaw |
2711
|
POL
|
6.0
|
32.0
|
|
2
|
GM
|
Kovalenko Igor |
2643
|
LAT
|
5.5
|
32.5
|
|
3
|
GM
|
Balogh Csaba |
2648
|
HUN
|
5.5
|
31.0
|
|
4
|
GM
|
Georgiev Kiril |
2648
|
BUL
|
5.5
|
30.5
|
|
5
|
GM
|
Bogner Sebastian |
2558
|
SUI
|
5.5
|
30.0
|
|
6
|
GM
|
Gallagher Joseph |
2495
|
SUI
|
5.5
|
26.5
|
|
7
|
GM
|
Van Kampen Robin |
2601
|
NED
|
5.0
|
33.0
|
|
8
|
GM
|
Bartel Mateusz |
2649
|
POL
|
5.0
|
33.0
|
|
9
|
GM
|
Alekseev Evgeny |
2698
|
RUS
|
5.0
|
30.0
|
|
10
|
GM
|
Grachev Boris |
2669
|
RUS
|
5.0
|
30.0
|
|
11
|
GM
|
Miezis Normunds |
2554
|
LAT
|
5.0
|
30.0
|
|
12
|
GM
|
Sengupta Deep |
2570
|
IND
|
5.0
|
28.0
|
|
13
|
GM
|
Sebenik Matej |
2496
|
SLO
|
5.0
|
28.0
|
|
14
|
GM
|
Turner Matthew J |
2509
|
SCO
|
5.0
|
28.0
|
|
15
|
GM
|
Mareco Sandro |
2581
|
ARG
|
5.0
|
27.0
|
|
16
|
WGM
|
Kashlinskaya Alina |
2422
|
RUS
|
5.0
|
24.5
|
|
17
|
GM
|
Malakhatko Vadim |
2542
|
BEL
|
5.0
|
24.0
|
|
18
|
GM
|
Bauer Christian |
2630
|
FRA
|
4.5
|
32.0
|
|
19
|
GM
|
Popov Ivan |
2644
|
RUS
|
4.5
|
31.5
|
|
20
|
GM
|
Fier Alexandr |
2572
|
BRA
|
4.5
|
31.0
|
A special thank you to the organizer for not only providing excellent pictures but taking the time and effort to identify the players.
Pictures by Georg Kradolfer
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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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