Basel: Naiditsch wins again

by ChessBase
1/12/2016 – After winning the Open in Zurich at the end of 2015 GM Arkadij Naiditsch also won the tournament in Basel at the start of 2016. The tournament was marred by an incident when the Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami refused to play against Yuliya Shvayger from Israel. Chessplayers from Iran are advised by their government not to play against Israelis. Press release...

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Press Release

GM Arkadij Naiditsch wins 18th Chess Festival Basel

The 18th Chess Festival Basel took place from 1st to 5th January 2016 in the Hotel Landgasthof in Riehen. 58 participants started in Basel, among them GM Arkadij Naiditsch, who had won the tournament in 2015, and players such as GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (Iran), GM Adrien Demuth (France), GM Mihajlo Stojanovic (Serbia) and GM Vlastimil Hort (Germany).

Naiditsch, who currently plays for Azerbaijan, suffered a surprising loss against the number eight seed Dutch IM Arthur Pijpers in round two, but still managed to finish the tournament as sole winner with 5.5/7.

Eight players finished half-a-point behind Naiditsch and of this group Adrien Demuth and IM Bilel Bellahcene had the best tie-break and finished on places two and three. The best Swiss player was Nicolas Curien from Bern. He started as number 25, scored 4.0/7 and finished on place 21.

The generally peaceful atmosphere of the tournament was marred by an unpleasant incident when the Iranian Grandmaster Ehsan Maghami refused to play against Yuliya Shvayger because she is from Israel. Shvayger would have liked to play.

After his win in 2014 Daniel Kopylov from Germany won the Amateur Tournament for the second time. Place two went to the Australian Christopher Skulte while Michael Bonath (Germany) finished third. The local junior Lucas Pao became fourth.

A premiere in Basel was the tournament for school children up to 16 years of age. This was won by the Indian Aman Chokshi from Mumbai, the brothers Domenico and Valerio Job from Therwil in Switzerland finished second and third.

The blitz tournament, in which 33 players started, was won by IM Bilel Bellacahane. Places two and three went to GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami and GM Mihajlo Stojanovic. Andrea Huber (Elo 1348) was the only woman player in the field and won first prize in the rating-group of players with a rating of less than 1700!

In the Hotel Hilton 44 children from 5 to 13 years of age played in the junior tournament. Noah Sesia from Huningue won the U13, Christian Ninomina from Wintherthur won the U10. But no one had to leave the tournament empty-handed because every junior player was awarded with a medal or a cup.

The tournament also attracted some media interest. The Swiss newspaper "Tageswoche" published regular reports and "Radio Basilisk" conducted interviews with the players. The games on the top eight boards were transmitted live on the internet and could be followed all over the world.

 

Final standings

Rang Teilnehmer Titel TWZ At Verein/Ort Land S R V Punkte PktSu Buchh
1. Naiditsch,Arkadij GM 2696 M   AZE 5 1 1 5.5 22.5 32.0
2. Demuth,Adrien GM 2535 M   FRA 4 2 1 5.0 24.0 32.5
3. Bellahcene,Bilel IM 2465 M Porrentruy Echi FRA 3 4 0 5.0 23.0 31.0
4. Pijpers,Arthur IM 2463 M Zoetermeer NED 4 2 1 5.0 21.5 30.0
4. Sprenger,Jan Mich IM 2496 M Tilburg GER 3 4 0 5.0 21.5 30.0
6. Heimann, Andreas IM 2552 M Riehen Schachge GER 4 2 1 5.0 20.5 29.5
6. Shvayger,Yuliya WIM 2381 W   ISR 4 2 1 5.0 20.5 29.5
8. Stremavicius,Tita IM 2468 M   LTU 3 4 0 5.0 20.5 27.5
9. Stojanovic,Mihajl GM 2507 M Zürich Réti ASK SRB 4 2 1 5.0 19.5 26.5
10. Riff,Jean-Noel GM 2512 M Porrentruy Echi FRA 3 3 1 4.5 21.5 30.5
11. Hort,Vlastimil GM 2430 M Luzern SK GER 3 3 1 4.5 20.0 28.0
12. Ghaem Maghami, Eh GM 2594 M Gonzen IRI 4 1 2 4.5 19.0 27.5
13. Filipovic,Branko IM 2369 M Birsfelden beid CRO 4 1 2 4.5 18.5 27.0
14. Derakhshani,Borna CM 2178 M Gonzen IRI 3 3 1 4.5 17.5 25.0
15. Kopylov,Michael IM 2406 M SK Norderstedt UKR 4 1 2 4.5 17.0 23.0
16. Starostits,Ilmars GM 2422 M SG Speyer-Schwe LAT 2 4 1 4.0 19.5 30.0
17. Minko,Vladimir FM 2361 M   RUS 3 2 2 4.0 18.5 29.5
18. Habu,Yoshiharu FM 2398 M Tokyo JPN 3 2 2 4.0 16.5 28.0
19. Derakhshani,Dorsa WIM 2315 W Gonzen IRI 3 2 2 4.0 16.5 25.0
20. Metz, Hartmut FM 2323 M Chess Tigers Sc GER 2 4 1 4.0 16.0 25.5
21. Curien,Nicolas   2199 M Bern Schwarz-We SUI 3 2 2 4.0 16.0 25.0
22. Wirz, Heinz   2099 M Therwil SUI 3 2 2 4.0 13.0 22.5
23. Berset,Philippe   2104 M Neuchâtel CE SUI 4 0 3 4.0 12.0 23.0
24. Aerni, Andreas   2178 M Birseck SUI 4 0 3 4.0 12.0 19.5

... 58 players

Bruno Zanetti (Organiser) - Arkadji Naiditsch - Adrien Demuth

Christopher Skulte - Daniel Kopylov - Michael Bonath

Games

 

 

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