Shirov wins Cellavision Cup

by André Schulz
8/9/2018 – In Sweden there is currently "Extremadura" (it's been a hot dry summer) and so the T-shirt of Aleyey Shirov was very suitable for the Cellavision Cup in Lund. The recently re-Spaniard played all eight decisive games and won the tournament thanks to better tiebreak score over tied Jonny Hector. Both scored 7.0 / 8. | Photos: Lars OA Hedlund

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At the Cellavision Cup — August 3rd to 5th in Lund in southern Sweden — rounds one to four are played with 15 minutes plus 5 seconds, i.e. quick chess time control, followed by rounds five to eight with a longer thinking time of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds. 185 mostly Scandinavian chess fans found their way to the Swedish traditional tournament, including 16 grandmasters and numerous other champions.

The former world-class grandmaster Alexei Shirov has now declined on the Elo list significantly and is currently not even in the top 100 with his current 2631, but in Lund, he remains one of the favourites in the race and is regardless of rating still Shirov's tactical flair can flare up at any time. The Latvian grandmaster is now once again playing for Spain and was second on the starting list for the tournament after Nils Grandelius at 2658. 

After the eight rounds, two players scored seven points, Alexei Shirov and Jonny Hector, who defeated Grandelius in the final round. Thanks to the better Buchholz tiebreak, the first place fell to Shirov. Shirov lost to Grandelius but won the remaining seven of his eight games, including against Hector.

Shirov-Hector | Photo: Lars OA Hedlund

 

Shirov played 25.Rfe1 here, setting up the ugly threat 26.Bf4. Black can not take f4 because of Qh8#. Hector tried 25...Re6, but after just 26.Bf5 he faced the problem that the rook does not have a good square due to the same threat. The Swede had to give up the exchange.

Shirov's only defeat came against Nils Grandelius. Behind the top two scorers were three more Swedish grandmasters with Grandelius, Tiger Hillarp Persson and Pia Cramling each finishing with 6½ points and shared 3rd-6th with the Ukrainian Vitaly Sivuk. 

In the "family rivalry" category Pia Cramling scored ahead of her husband GM Juan Lopez Bellon finished who came 22nd with 5½. Daughter Anna reached 76th place with 4½ points.

Pia Cramling led her family | Photo: Lars OA Hedlund

Final standings (top 20)

Rk   Name Club/Country Rating +   =   - Pts
1   GM Alexei Shirov Wasa SK 2631 8   7   0 7.0
2   GM Jonny Hector Limhamns SK 2491 8   7   0 7.0
3   GM Nils Grandelius Malmö AS 2658 8   6   1 6.5
4   GM Tiger Hillarp Persson Lunds ASK 2542 8   6   1 6.5
5   GM Vitaly Sivuk Ukraine 2535 8   6   1 6.5
6   GM Pia Cramling Wasa SK 2453 8   6   1 6.5
7   GM Andrey Sumets Ukraine 2575 8   5   2 6.0
8   GM Frode Urkedal Farsta SK 2537 8   5   2 6.0
9   GM Nikita Maiorov Belarus 2504 8   5   2 6.0
10   IM Pontus Sjödahl Västerås SK 2404 8   5   2 6.0
11   GM Carsten Høi Denmark 2380 8   5   2 6.0
12   IM Björn Ahlander Lunds ASK 2433 8   5   2 6.0
13   GM Sharma Himanshu India 2436 8   5   2 6.0
14   Dusan Schwarz Slovakia 2274 8   6   0 6.0
15   GM Jens Kristiansen Denmark 2366 8   6   0 6.0
16   GM Torbjorn Ringdal Hansen Norway 2422 8   5   2 6.0
17   IM Linus Johansson Limhamns SK 2457 8   5   2 6.0
18   GM Sune Berg Hansen Lunds ASK 2589 8   4   3 5.5
19   FM Kåre Hove Kristensen Helsingborgs ASK 2342 8   5   1 5.5
20   FM Mikkel Strange Denmark 2370 8   5   1 5.5

...185 Players

All available games

 

In addition to the main tournament, a children's tournament was played, the Lilla Cellavison Cup.

Translation from German: Macauley Peterson

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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