Ilya Smirin wins Acropolis 2007

by ChessBase
8/26/2007 – This international event is the biggest in Greece and took place for the 22nd time, with 82 players, including 19 GMs. It was won by Israeli GM Ilia Smirin with 7.0/9 and a 2748 performance. He was followed by Kiril Georgiev of Bulgaria and Mircea Parligras of Greece, both half a point behind. We bring you results, games and lots of pictures from the excellent tournament web site.

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The Acropolis International Chess Tournament 2007 took place in the Europa conference hall of the President Hotel, Athens, Greece, from 14 - 22 August, 2007. It was co-organized by the Greek Chess Federation and the Prefecture of Athens, thanks to the eagerness shown by Mr. Giannis Sgouros, a man whose name is bound with great triumphs of Greek sports. Sponsor of the games is PROMOT E.I. Lainopoulos company.

This year was the 22nd year that the tournament was held, giving it the longest history of any international tournament in Greece. The first was held in 1968 and three other tournaments followed in the 70's between 1977 and 1979. In the 80's there wasn't any activity except for the year 1981, while the last 17 years the Greek Chess Federation has organized the tournament of Acropolis in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. Here are the previous winners:

No. Year Winner
1 1968 Pachman Ludek (CSR)
2 1977 Stoica Valentin (ROM)
3 1978 Soos Bela (FRG)
4 1979 Urzica Aurel (ROM)
5 1980 Raikovic Dusan (YUG)
6 1982 Skalkotas Nikolaos  (GRC)
7 1983 Padevsky Nikola (BUL)
8 1984 Velickovic Sasa (YUG)
9 1985 Stoica Valentin (ROM)
10 1986 Grivas Efstratios (GRC)
11 1987 Vasiukov Evgeni (URS)
12 1988 Kotronias Vassilios (GRC)
13 1989 Velikov Petar (BUL)
14 1991 Grivas Efstratios (GRC)
15 1992 Knaak Rainer (GER)
16 1993 Stefansson Hannes (ICE)
17 1997 Gelashvili Tamas (GEO)
18 2003 Kotronias Vassilios (CYP)
19 2004 Mastrovasilis Athanasios (GRE)
20 2005 Gashimov Vugar (AZE)
21 2006 Gelashvili Tamaz (GEO)

"Acropolis 2007" is part of the tournaments of the Association of Chess Professionals, known as "ACP Tour". The tournament had 82 players, amongst them 19 GMs, 15 IMs and a number of WGMs and WIMs (some of which are also regular IMs). Here is a list of all participants.


The winner: Israeli GM Ilia Smirin, with a 2748 performance

The tournament was won by GM Ilia Smirin, who scored 7 points in 9 games. According to tie-break criteria, GM Kiril Georgiev and GM Mircea Parligras took 2nd and 3rd place respectively both scoring 6½ points.


Second: Kiril Georgiev of Bulgaria


Romanian GM Mircea Parligras came in third (on tiebreak behind Georgiev)

Final standings after nine rounds (6.0 points and higher)

Rk. Ti. Name FED Rtg Pts.  TB1   TB2   TB3 
1 GM Smirin Ilia ISR 2649 7.0 0.0 2531 39.0
2 GM Georgiev Kiril BUL 2663 6.5 0.0 2510 34.5
3 GM Parligras Mircea ROM 2542 6.5 0.0 2487 34.0
4 GM Mastrovasilis Dimitrios GRE 2541 6.5 0.0 2462 32.0
5 GM Malakhatko Vadim BEL 2596 6.5 0.0 2446 31.0
6 GM Banikas Hristos GRE 2567 6.5 0.0 2439 33.5
7 GM Svetushkin Dmitry MDA 2618 6.5 0.0 2438 30.5
8 GM Rozentalis Eduardas LTU 2551 6.0 0.0 2493 34.0
9 GM Halkias Stelios GRE 2580 6.0 0.0 2472 32.5
10 GM Gelashvili Tamaz GEO 2604 6.0 0.0 2463 31.5
11 IM Esen Baris TUR 2441 6.0 0.0 2460 32.5
12 GM Macieja Bartlomiej POL 2596 6.0 0.0 2438 30.5
13 GM Kotronias Vasilios GRE 2602 6.0 0.0 2424 29.5
14 GM Romanishin Oleg M UKR 2546 6.0 0.0 2423 31.0
15 GM Mastrovasilis Athanasios GRE 2538 6.0 0.0 2323 28.0

First female player of the tournament is IM Nana Dzagnidze scoring 5½/9 (17th in overall ranking). The top Greek player GM Dimitrios Mastrovasilis with 6½/9 and fourth in overall ranking. The first young player (under 20) was I. Papadopoulos, who achieved his third IM norm and won the title of International Master scoring 5½/9 (21st in overall ranking). Full results are available on the first page of the (excellent) tournament web site. You can find all the games and bulletins for download on this page. This is the kind of service we wish all international tournaments would provide. Congratulations to the organisers!


Picture Gallery


The Acropolis of Athens, one of the most famous historical sites in the world

The Acropolis is the elevated ground, which many ancient Greek cities (Athens, Argos, Thebes, and Corinth) had, and which became the nuclei around which the houses were built. The Acropolis of Athens has several famous buildings erected upon it, most notably the Parthenon, and is generally simply referred to as "The Acropolis".


The Parthenon, a temple of the Greek goddess Athena, built in the 5th Century BC


The Porch of Maidens, part or the Erechtheum on the north side of the Acropolis

Photos of Athens by Natalia Kiseleva-Straub

The following selection of pictures of participants comes from the "Photos" section of the official web site. There are almost 150 meticulously captioned shots, mostly of players – possibly of all of them. Did we mention that this kind of tournament coverage on the Internet is exemplary?


The playing hall


Greek participants: Vasilios Kotrotsos, Alexandros Dounis, and Antonios Pavlidis


4th: GM Dimitrios Mastrovasilis, Greece, 2541, 6.5 points


5th: GM Vadim Malakhatko, 2596, Belgium, 6.5 points


8th: GM Rozentalis Eduardas, 2551, Lithunia, 6 points


11th: IM Esen Baris, 2441, Turkey, 6 points


15 th: Athanasios Mastrovasilis, 2538, Greece, 6 points


14th: veteran GM Oleg Romanishin, 2546, Ukraine, 6 points


17th: IM Nana Dzagnidze, 2404, Georgia, 5½ points (best female player)


21st: Ioannis Papadopoulos, 2395, Greece, 5½ (best player under 20)


WIM Vera Papadopoulou, 2192, Greece, 4½ points


IM Yelena Dembo, 2464, Greece, 4½ points


WIM Alexandra Stiri, 2251, Greece, 4 points


WIM Anastasia Sorokina, 2208, Austria, 4 points


WIM Jana Krivec, 2340, Slovenia, 4 points

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