
The 27th Metz International Open Chess Tournament
Report by GM Kevin Spraggett
Reputed to be France's third most prestigeous open tournament of the calender
year, the organizing Metz Alekhine Chess Club succeeded in surpassing expectations
with the participation of 26 GMs and ten IMs in a field of 101 players from
more than a dozen countries. The chief organizer and long time promoter of chess
in Metz, Salvatore Centonze, aided by the very competent Chief Arbiter Pierre
Becker, has kept the tournament's tradition alive in Metz for many years now,
and guarantees a prize fund of 10,000 Euros, of which 3,000 goes to the winner.

Cathedral St. Etienne in Metz in the northeast of France

The city center of Metz (pronounced Mes – or Divodurum in Roman times)
Counting on the continued financial support of the tournament's chief sponsors
(the local newspaper Le Republicain-Lorrain, le Conseil Regional, le
Conseil General and the Ville de Metz), Mr. Centonze is confident that next
year's event will be an even greater success! It is hoped that as many as 150
players will take part in the 2010 edition.

The playing hall

In the heat of battle: left GM Vereslav S Eingorn (translates to "unicorn")
of Ukraine
The time control was a very reasonable 1hr 40 minutes for the first 40 moves
(with 30 seconds for each move played), followed by another 20 minutes (plus
30 seconds per move) to finish. All of the players appreciated this time control
and I think that the overall quality of the games is reflected in the additional
time. Few grandmasters today are satisfied with the constant efforts of FIDE
to erode the quality of the game with continued reductions of the standard playing
time, and this makes the Metz tournament an even bigger draw on the European
circuit.
Another excellent feature of the tournament was the inclusion of the draw rule:
no game could be agreed drawn before at least two hours of play had passed (exceptions
at the discretion of the chief arbiter). My view of this rule is very positive:
I think that all open tournaments should follow the Metz example!

GM Alberto David of Luxenburg

WGM Elvira Berend, rated 2316, from Luxenburg

WGM Adina-Maria Hamdouchi, 2314, ROU
This year's event was marked by two double-round days, which made for an even
tougher competition than usual. The course of the tournament held few surprises,
with most of the top places going to the established grandmasters. However,
going into the final round, not less than four players had chances for the GM
norm (Tigran Gharamian, Oleg Spirin, Anthony Wirig and the youngster Clovis
Vernay) and two players were looking at making an IM norm (Elvira Berend and
Tanguy Migot).

GM Alexei Barsov, 2505, UZB vs GM Friso Nijboer, 2562, NED
What was unusual about this year's tournament was the exceptionally close nature
of the fighting: there were many draws (fighting draws!) and the competition
at times resembled more the Tour du France bike race than a chess competition!
Perhaps many of the participants were more concerned about quality of play than
on winning first prize alone!? Difficult to say, but from my own experience
in this year's tournament I have to say that it was very frustrating at time
not being able to outplay opponents 200 points below me! Certainly the overall
quality of play has been improving in French tournaments in recent times.
Pl. |
Ti. |
Player |
Elo |
Nat. |
Pts |
Tr. |
Bu. |
Perf. |
1 |
GM |
GULIYEV Namig |
2534 |
AZE |
6.5 |
42 |
50.5 |
2617 |
2 |
GM |
SPRAGGETT Kevin |
2601 |
CAN |
6.5 |
40.5 |
50.5 |
2642 |
3 |
GM |
NIJBOER Friso |
2562 |
NED |
6.5 |
40.5 |
49 |
2629 |
4 |
GM |
HORVATH Adam |
2519 |
HUN |
6.5 |
40.5 |
48.5 |
2615 |
5 |
GM |
BAUER Christian |
2605 |
FRA |
6 |
42.5 |
52 |
2626 |
6 |
GM |
DAVID Alberto |
2587 |
LUX |
6 |
42.5 |
51 |
2584 |
7 |
GM |
BOROVIKOV Vladislav |
2584 |
UKR |
6 |
41.5 |
51.5 |
2611 |
8 |
GM |
IORDACHESCU Viorel |
2608 |
MDA |
6 |
41.5 |
51 |
2605 |
9 |
IM |
GHARAMIAN Tigran |
2600 |
FRA |
6 |
41.5 |
50.5 |
2571 |
10 |
GM |
SAVCHENKO Stanislav |
2529 |
UKR |
6 |
41.5 |
49 |
2582 |
11 |
GM |
EINGORN Vereslav S |
2560 |
UKR |
6 |
41 |
49.5 |
2538 |
12 |
IM |
SPIRIN Oleg |
2437 |
RUS |
6 |
40 |
49 |
2589 |
13 |
GM |
ZUBAREV Alexander |
2566 |
UKR |
6 |
40 |
49 |
2536 |
14 |
GM |
AGREST Evgenij |
2588 |
SWE |
6 |
39.5 |
49 |
2544 |
15 |
GM |
ABBASOV Farid |
2577 |
AZE |
6 |
39.5 |
48 |
2502 |
16 |
GM |
EPISHIN Vladimir |
2591 |
RUS |
6 |
39.5 |
47.5 |
2520 |
17 |
IM |
VERNAY Clovis |
2440 |
FRA |
6 |
39.5 |
45.5 |
2560 |
18 |
GM |
CHATALBASHEV Boris |
2571 |
BUL |
6 |
38 |
46.5 |
2514 |
19 |
IM |
DRENCHEV Petar |
2450 |
BUL |
6 |
38 |
45.5 |
2495 |
20 |
GM |
SVETUSHKIN Dmitry |
2615 |
MDA |
6 |
36.5 |
44.5 |
2493 |
21 |
GM |
CZEBE Attila |
2472 |
HUN |
5.5 |
41.5 |
48 |
2513 |
22 |
GM |
SHCHEKACHEV Andrei |
2532 |
FRA |
5.5 |
40 |
49.5 |
2525 |
23 |
IM |
WIRIG Anthony |
2472 |
FRA |
5.5 |
40 |
48.5 |
2561 |
24 |
IM |
FARGERE Francois |
2459 |
FRA |
5.5 |
40 |
47.5 |
2519 |
25 |
GM |
LALIC Bogdan |
2508 |
CRO |
5.5 |
39.5 |
49 |
2527 |
26 |
GM |
BARSOV Alexei |
2505 |
UZB |
5.5 |
39 |
48 |
2442 |
27 |
IM |
MILCHEV Nikolay |
2346 |
BUL |
5.5 |
39 |
47.5 |
2366 |
28 |
IM |
GRIGOROV Grigor |
2488 |
BUL |
5.5 |
38 |
46.5 |
2465 |
29 |
GM |
ZINCHENKO Yaroslav |
2531 |
UKR |
5.5 |
37.5 |
46 |
2461 |
30 |
FM |
LE QUANG Kim |
2333 |
BEL |
5.5 |
36 |
43 |
2299 |
31 |
FM |
BAUDUIN Etienne |
2272 |
BEL |
5.5 |
35 |
41.5 |
2300 |
32 |
|
RUSSO Julien |
2088 |
BEL |
5.5 |
34.5 |
40 |
2245 |
- Full final classification is available here.
Four GMs tied for first place: Namig Guliyev (AZE), Kevin Spraggett (CAN).
Friso Nijboer (NED) and Adam Horvath (HUN), each with 6.5 points. Guliyev won
the title on tiebreak. With six points each were not less than 16 (!) players,
of which 12 were GMs.

The winner: GM Namig Guliyev of Azerbaijan

GM Kevin Spraggett of Canada
The top female prize went to GM Adina Hamduchi; the top French player went
to the young talent Clovis Vernay, who narrowly missed his GM norm in the final
round; the top Lorrain prize went to Joaquim Iglesias; the top Veteran prize
went to Claude Maury ; the top Metz Alekhine Club prize went to Viktoriya Schweitzer;
the top Mosellan prize went to Olivier Pucher and the top Messin prize went
to Dominique Hartmann. Special mention should go to the very talented youngster
Geoffrey Lemaire who won the prize for best player rated less than 1600.

The closing ceremony in Metz