Nigel Short triumphs in Pühajärve Rapid Chess Tournament
An international rapid chess tournament held in the Pühajärve Spa
and Holiday Resort was won by Great Britain's grandmaster Nigel Short, who collected
28.5 points out of 31. On the second place was Estonia's leading chess player
GM Kaido Külaots with 24.5 points, and in third place was Finland's leading
player GM Tomi Nybäck with 23 points.
View
Larger Map
Pühajärve is a small village with approximately 200 inhabitants,
situated in Valga county in South-Estonia.

The Pühajärve Spa and Holiday Resort, where the tournament was held,
is located on the territory of the old Pühajärve manor, which was
first mentioned in 1417. In the vortex of war in 1944, the main building of
the complex was destroyed, while in the outhouses the rest home continued its
activity during the post-war period.

After the war, during the 1950s, the main building was restored in a modified
way, first into a sanatorium and then back into a rest home. Today it has developed
as a result of lots of reconstructions and extensions into a well-known spa
and holiday resort with a lot of attention having been paid to designing the
environment.

GM Alexandr Volodin, rated 2498, vs IM Olaw Sepp, 2446, both from Estonia

Finland's leading GM Tomi Nybäck, rated 2638

IM Tarvo Seeman of Estonia, rated 2384

Panu Laine of Finland, rated 2195

Mark Lapidus of Estonia, rated 2129
32 people participated in this year's traditional Pühajärve Rapid
Chess Tournament. This was played in a handicap system: the players were divided
into different strength groups, which determined the amount of time each player
was allocated. For example, the time ratio between the first and the fifth group
was two minutes to 18 minutes, the time ratio between the players of the same
group was 10:10. The system where a grandmaster had two minutes of thinking
time against an amateur chess fan's 18 minutes made the games very intense and
full of surprises.

Ants Vihmand of Estonia, rated 2176, against GM Nigel Short, GB, rated 2704

Nigel playing GM Normunds Miezis of Latvia, rated 2578

"Two minutes against 18 can be a real nightmare," said Nigel Short,
"even if your
opponent is many hundreds of points below you on the rating scale,"
After the top three, the fourth and the fifth places were shared by grandmasters
Normunds Miezis from Latvia and Aleksandr Volodin from Estonia, both men having
collected 22.5 points. The sixth and the seventh places were also shared –
international masters Tarvo Seeman and Riho Liiva from Estonia both collected
an equal of 22 points. The top ten was finished by FIDE master Olev Schults
from Estonia with 20.5 points and international masters Axel Smith from Sweden
and Olav Sepp from Estonia, who both got 20 points.

Pavel Vorobjov, 2156 facing GM Meelis Kanep, 2542, both from Estonia
The chess tournament, held already for the 13th time this year, has offered
Tiit Vähi, the owner of the Pühajärve Spa and Holiday Resort,
lots of good emotions and pleasant encounters with known chess grandmasters.
Vähi is always in Pühajärve during the tournament if possible.
"I am very, very glad that chess people come to Pühajärve and
that they come back time and again. I believe that all the people who come here,
from Estonia and elsewhere, enjoy the game, the vacation and meeting friends,"
said Vähi.
"This tournament fits well into the conception of the Pühajärve
Spa and Holiday Resort. The first tournaments were held in the time of the former
sanatorium's restoration. We planned to make a place for active vacation, where
it would be possible to enjoy the nature, have conferences and seminars, business
meetings and, of course, participate in various sports competitions. When the
offer came to start organising chess tournaments in Pühajärve, it
was accepted," explained Vähi.
The results, the most fascinating games and thorough statistics can be found
in the tournament's website.
The main organiser of Pühajärve Rapid Chess Tournament was Stamina
Sports Club and the main sponsor was the Pühajärve Spa and Holiday
Resort.

14-year-old Henrik Haavamae of Estonia, rated 1950
One of the most beautiful games of the tournament was held in the 18th round,
a genuine masterpiece, which would run for the prettiest game in any chess tournament.
Ants Vihmand, who belonged to the third strength group, attracted the youngest
participant of the tournament, 14-year-old Henrik Haavamäe, into falling
into an odd opening trap.
1.e4 e5 2.Ne2 Nf6 3.f4 exf4 4.Nxf4 Nxe4? 5.Qe2! Qe7 6.Nd5! Qe5 7.Nbc3 c6 8.d4!
Qxd4 9.Be3!! Nxc3 10.Bg5+ Nxe2 11.Nc7# Checkmate! The ending position definitely
deserves a diagram:
Final Ranking after 31 Rounds

The winner by four full points: English GM Nigel Short
Rk. |
Ti. |
Name |
FED |
Rtg |
Pts. |
TB1 |
1 |
GM |
Short Nigel D |
ENG |
2704 |
28.5 |
414.25 |
2 |
GM |
Kulaots Kaido |
EST |
2570 |
24.5 |
348.00 |
3 |
GM |
Nyback Tomi |
FIN |
2638 |
23.0 |
320.25 |
4 |
GM |
Miezis Normunds |
LAT |
2578 |
22.5 |
308.75 |
5 |
GM |
Volodin Aleksandr |
EST |
2498 |
22.5 |
296.00 |
6 |
IM |
Seeman Tarvo |
EST |
2384 |
22.0 |
298.50 |
7 |
IM |
Liiva Riho |
EST |
2451 |
22.0 |
294.00 |
8 |
FM |
Schults Olev |
EST |
2300 |
20.5 |
261.75 |
9 |
IM |
Smith Axel |
SWE |
2491 |
20.0 |
274.25 |
10 |
IM |
Sepp Olav |
EST |
2446 |
20.0 |
257.00 |
11 |
|
Vorobjov Pavel |
EST |
2156 |
19.0 |
239.00 |
12 |
|
Valgmae Toomas |
EST |
2218 |
18.5 |
252.25 |
13 |
|
Leito Priit |
EST |
2333 |
18.0 |
233.75 |
14 |
GM |
Kanep Meelis |
EST |
2542 |
17.5 |
249.25 |
15 |
|
Lapidus Mark |
EST |
2129 |
17.0 |
211.50 |
16 |
|
Puusepp Kaimar |
EST |
2273 |
17.0 |
210.25 |
17 |
|
Vihmand Ants |
EST |
2176 |
17.0 |
203.75 |
18 |
|
Laine Panu |
FIN |
2195 |
16.0 |
175.75 |
19 |
|
Siemer Tambet |
EST |
2046 |
15.5 |
191.50 |
20 |
|
Haavamae Henrik |
EST |
1950 |
14.5 |
168.25 |
21 |
|
Rõtov Igor |
EST |
0 |
14.5 |
162.00 |
22 |
|
Simson Urmas |
EST |
0 |
14.0 |
179.50 |
23 |
|
Porrasmaa Timo |
FIN |
2064 |
11.0 |
138.75 |
24 |
|
Ozolins Aris |
LAT |
2177 |
11.0 |
120.00 |
25 |
|
Järvet Jüri |
EST |
2056 |
10.5 |
105.25 |
26 |
|
Rebane Raul |
EST |
2147 |
10.5 |
98.25 |
27 |
|
Kelder Hendrek |
EST |
2065 |
8.0 |
89.50 |
28 |
|
Otsmann Villu |
EST |
1800 |
6.5 |
71.25 |
29 |
|
Tuulik Ülo |
EST |
1923 |
5.5 |
46.75 |
30 |
|
Poom Mati |
EST |
1816 |
4.5 |
26.75 |
31 |
|
Kapp Viljar |
EST |
0 |
3.0 |
24.25 |
32 |
|
Meidla Lauri |
EST |
0 |
1.5 |
19.75 |
Copyright
ChessBase