Koneru Humpy wins Kaupthing GM Open
Report by Vijay Kumar
Differdange, a sleepy township south west of Luxembourg, known as the city
of Steel, organized its first ever International Chess meet to mark 100 years
of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg’s third largest Township and 75 years
of Chess Club Le Cavalier.
Altogether 177 chess players from all over the world graced the championship,
played as an Open Meet. A number of Grandmasters like Koneru Humpy, Antoaneta
Stefanova, Vadim Malakatko, Petr Velicka, Viktor Erdos Tigran Gharamian, Kritz
Leonid, Inna Goponenko and the oldest Grandmaster from Czech Republic, Vlastimil
Jansa, were there to compete for the 3000 Euro first prize.

The winner of Kaupthing: Indian GM Koneru Humpy

Equal first, second on tiebreak: GM Hannes Stefansson
At the end of the eighth round there were six players who staked their claim
for the Trophy. After a strong battle Koneru Humpy was able to beat Sebastia
Siebrecht in the final round, played on Saturday, and lift the coveted trophy.
Final standings (6.0/9 or higher)
No. |
Player |
Rtng |
Pts |
TB1 |
TB2 |
1. |
Koneru,Humpy |
2572 |
7.0 |
36.5 |
49.5 |
2. |
Stefansson,Hannes |
2568 |
7.0 |
33.0 |
46.5 |
3. |
Erdos,Viktor |
2523 |
6.5 |
36.0 |
50.5 |
4. |
Gharamian,Tigran |
2517 |
6.5 |
35.0 |
51.0 |
5. |
Kritz,Leonid |
2571 |
6.5 |
33.0 |
50.5 |
6. |
Steingrimsson,Hed |
2470 |
6.5 |
32.5 |
44.0 |
7. |
Feller,Sebastien |
2478 |
6.5 |
32.0 |
45.5 |
8. |
Velicka,Petr |
2507 |
6.0 |
35.0 |
53.5 |
9. |
Hoffmann,Michael |
2481 |
6.0 |
33.5 |
47.0 |
10. |
Siebrecht,Sebasti |
2431 |
6.0 |
33.0 |
51.5 |
11. |
Bojkov,Dejan |
2520 |
6.0 |
32.0 |
49.0 |
12. |
Schlosser,Philipp |
2562 |
6.0 |
32.0 |
45.5 |
13. |
Meijers,Viesturs |
2483 |
6.0 |
31.5 |
48.5 |
14. |
Stefanova,Antoaneta |
2481 |
6.0 |
30.0 |
43.0 |
15. |
Valuet,Bertrand |
2303 |
6.0 |
28.5 |
39.0 |
16. |
Van Dooren,Dirk |
2331 |
6.0 |
27.0 |
45.0 |

The joint winners of Kaupthing: Hannes Stefansson and Koneru Humpy
According to our tentative calculations (we don't have all the games) Humpy
could be very close to breaking the 2600 barrier. That would make her the second
female player in history to achieve this. Here are the current top ten women:
FIDE July 2007 rankings
Rnk |
Name |
Title |
Country |
Rating |
1 |
Polgar,
Judit |
g |
HUN |
2707 |
2 |
Koneru,
Humpy |
g |
IND |
2572 |
3 |
Cramling,
Pia |
g |
SWE |
2533 |
4 |
Hou,
Yifan |
wg |
CHN |
2523 |
5 |
Zhu,
Chen |
g |
QAT |
2522 |
6 |
Kosteniuk,
Alexandra |
g |
RUS |
2515 |
7 |
Kosintseva,
Tatiana |
m |
RUS |
2502 |
8 |
Ushenina,
Anna |
m |
UKR |
2502 |
9 |
Zhao,
Xue |
wg |
CHN |
2500 |
10 |
Chiburdanidze,
Maia |
g |
GEO |
2496 |
Picture gallery

Reflections: the Old City of Differdange and the Alzette River

Luxemberg Cathederal

A new super-GM in the making: Koneru Humpy

14th: GM Antoaneta Stefanova

WGM Turkan Mamedyarova (sister of the great Shakhriyar)

WGM Anna Wagener of Luxembourg

GM Vastimil Jansa of the Czech Republic

GM Viesturs Meijers vs GM Koneru Humpy

GM Vadim Malakhatko vs IM Anthony Wirig (with the remarkable hairstyle)

Three tufts of hair to intimidate opponents: French IM Anthony Wirig

Our man in Differdange: Vijay Kumar, Indian TV producer and reporter
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