The Foxwoods Open was held from April 5th to 8th, 2007 in the Foxwoods Resort
Casino + Hotel, Ledyard, Connecticut. Foxwoods is billed as the largest casino
in the world, with 340,000 sq. ft (31,587 sq m) available for gaming on over
380 tables, which provide blackjack, craps, roulette, and poker. The casino
has over 7,400 slot machines, the hotel 1,416 rooms.
Full information on the
Foxwoods Resort + Casino
The annual Foxwoods chess tournament is one of the big Swiss events held in
the US. There are high entry fees, ranging from $100 to $250 for online
registry, and up to $300 if you simply show up and want to play. The prize
fund is unclear since it depends on the number of participants. But the organisers
project $150,000 and guarantee a minimum of $100,000. The distribution is $15,000,
$8,000, $4,000, $2,500 etc. for the open section, under optimum circumstances,
but can drop to under $10,000 if attendance is poor. The final prize sums were
not posted on the official web site two days after the end of the event. Players
are expected to bring their own clocks and play two games per day.
The winner of Foxwoods 2007: top US GM Gata Kamsky
Most of the leading GMs from America (but few foreign players) took part in
this year's event, which ended in a four-way tie for first between Gata Kamsky,
the top rated player in the US at 2752, Zviad Izoria (2722), Ildar Ibragimov
(2675) and Alexander Stripunsky (2638). All scored seven points in nine rounds.
Kamsky and Izoria led on tie break points, and a blitz decider was played by
them. Gata won this in 29 moves, with the black pieces.
GM Zviad Izoria of Georgia, who took secong [photos by Michael Atkins]
One of the favourites did not fare so well: GM Hikaru Nakamura, rated 2755,
finished at 4½ points at place 50. On the other hand IM
Jesse Kraai, 34, who defeated Nakamura and Shabalov in this event, scored
6½ and complete his final GM norm. He still needs a few Elo points to make the
2500 rating required for the title. Note that the ratings given in the table
below are US ratings. On the FIDE scale Kamsky is 2705, Ibragimov 2602, Stripunsky
2569 and Nakamura 2663.
Top standings of the Foxwoods Open Section
| Rnk |
Name |
Rtng |
Points |
| 1 |
GM Gata Kamsky |
2752 |
7 |
| 2 |
GM Zviad Izoria |
2722 |
7 |
| 3 |
GM Ildar Ibragimov |
2675 |
7 |
| 4 |
GM Alexander Stripunsky |
2638 |
7 |
| 5 |
GM Jaan Ehlvest |
2675 |
6½ |
| 6 |
GM Yury Shulman |
2662 |
6½ |
| 7 |
GM Alexander Ivanov |
2646 |
6½ |
| 8 |
GM Eugene Perelshteyn |
2609 |
6½ |
| 9 |
IM Jesse Kraai |
2561 |
6½ |
| 10 |
WGM Irina Krush |
2480 |
6½ |
| 11 |
IM David Pruess |
2461 |
6½ |
| 12 |
GM Alexander Shabalov |
2656 |
6 |
| 13 |
IM Joshua E Friedel |
2544 |
6 |
| 14 |
GM Dashze Sharavdorj |
2522 |
6 |
| 15 |
IM Peter Vavrak |
2464 |
6 |
| 16 |
IM Justin Sarkar |
2438 |
6 |
| 17 |
IM David E Vigorito |
2419 |
6 |
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