Riga Tech University is once again organising its traditional RTU Chess Festival, which this year is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the World Chess Federation FIDE. The festival comprises seven tournaments, including a birthday blitz tournament, a rapid chess tournament, four open tournaments and a midnight blitz tournament at the end.
The FIDE anniversary blitz tournament was held as the opening tournament last Saturday. No fewer than 240 players, including numerous title holders, including grandmasters, took part and played eleven rounds Swiss.
At the end of the day, it was Indian grandmaster Iniyan Pa who emerged victorious. The 22-year-old won ten of his eleven games and was only beaten by compatriot Ilamparthi A.R., who finished third in the final standings with nine points. Ilamparthi is only 15 years old and is sure to make more headlines with results like this.
German IM Jakob Pajeken
Second place went to German IM Jakob Pajeken. The International Master from Hamburg, who plays for SK Doppelbauer Kiel in the Bundesliga, also lost only one game - against Ilamparthi A.R - but also drew against Swedish Grandmaster Erik Blomquist.
Final standings Blitz
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Type | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | K | rtg+/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | GM | Iniyan, Pa | IND | 2442 | India | 10 | 77,5 | 82,5 | 2667 | 10 | 27,4 | ||
| 2 | 4 | IM | Pajeken, Jakob Leon | GER | 2472 | SK Doppelbauer Kiel | 9,5 | 77 | 83,5 | 2541 | 10 | 12,5 | ||
| 3 | 17 | IM | Ilamparthi, A R | U16 | IND | 2327 | Thulir Chess | 9 | 77,5 | 82,5 | 2587 | 20 | 75,2 | |
| 4 | 3 | GM | Kazakouski, Valery | LTU | 2585 | 8,5 | 78,5 | 84,5 | 2446 | 10 | -8 | |||
| 5 | 5 | GM | Antal, Gergely | HUN | 2461 | 8,5 | 77 | 82 | 2433 | 10 | 1,4 | |||
| 6 | 11 | IM | Rathanvel, V S | IND | 2405 | India | 8,5 | 76,5 | 82 | 2473 | 10 | 13,6 | ||
| 7 | 14 | IM | Trost, Edvin | U18 | SWE | 2391 | 8,5 | 74 | 80 | 2408 | 10 | 7,3 | ||
| 8 | 86 | FM | John, Veny Akkarakaran | U16 | IND | 1999 | Calicut | 8,5 | 72,5 | 76,5 | 2412 | 40 | 219,2 | |
| 9 | 12 | GM | Zanan, Evgeny | ISR | 2400 | 8,5 | 68,5 | 73,5 | 2380 | 10 | 5 | |||
| 10 | 9 | IM | Ondersteijn, Niels | NED | 2437 | Paul Keres Chess Club | 8 | 74 | 79 | 2352 | 10 | -6,1 | ||
| 11 | 13 | GM | Blomqvist, Erik | SWE | 2399 | 8 | 73,5 | 78,5 | 2321 | 10 | -5,1 | |||
| 12 | 16 | FM | Vardanyan, Aras | LTU | 2344 | Vilnius | 8 | 73 | 79 | 2380 | 20 | 16,6 | ||
| 13 | 26 | FM | Karthik, Rajaa | IND | 2275 | India | 8 | 70 | 75,5 | 2219 | 20 | -6,8 | ||
| 14 | 58 | FM | Sherman, Raem | U20 | ISR | 2104 | Hapoel Petach Tiqva | 8 | 68 | 71,5 | 2322 | 20 | 59,2 | |
| 15 | 40 | Paikens, Reinis | U16 | LAT | 2208 | Rīgas Šaha skola | 8 | 67,5 | 72,5 | 2346 | 40 | 88,4 | ||
| 16 | 7 | GM | Ehlvest, Jaan | S60 | USA | 2460 | 8 | 66 | 71 | 2321 | 10 | -10,8 | ||
| 17 | 32 | FM | Weber, Samuel | GER | 2259 | SV Oberursel | 8 | 59 | 63 | 2110 | 20 | -22,6 | ||
| 18 | 54 | CM | Bazilius, Augustinas | U16 | LTU | 2113 | Jaunųjų šachmatininkų rėmimo fondas | 8 | 58,5 | 63,5 | 2128 | 40 | 17,2 | |
| 19 | 1 | GM | Pultinevicius, Paulius | LTU | 2630 | Marijampole | 7,5 | 75,5 | 81,5 | 2375 | 10 | -20,4 |
...240 participants
This was followed on Sunday by the Riga City Rapid Chess Championship, which attracted even more players with over 250 participants. The quality of the rapid tournament was also better than the blitz tournament, with several more grandmasters taking part.
After nine rounds Swiss, Lithuanian Grandmaster and number one seed Paulius Pultinevicius won with 8.0/9. His compatriot Valery Kazakouski also finished with 8.0/9, but Pultinevicius had the better tiebreak.
| Rk. | Name | Elo | Pts. | Tb1 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Pultinevicius, Paulius | 2624 | 8 | 51 | |
| 2 | GM | Kazakouski, Valery | 2471 | 8 | 50,5 | |
| 3 | GM | Glek, Igor | 2439 | 7,5 | 53,5 | |
| 4 | GM | Piorun, Kacper | 2494 | 7,5 | 49 | |
| 5 | GM | Ehlvest, Jaan | 2482 | 7,5 | 47,5 | |
| 6 | CM | Rychagov, Nikita | 2327 | 7,5 | 43 | |
| 7 | GM | Safarli, Eltaj | 2614 | 7 | 49,5 | |
| 8 | GM | Prohaszka, Peter | 2537 | 7 | 49 | |
| 9 | IM | Pajeken, Jakob Leon | 2392 | 7 | 48,5 | |
| 10 | FM | Sahib, Singh | 2071 | 7 | 47,5 | |
| 11 | FM | Sherman, Raem | 2235 | 7 | 46,5 | |
| 12 | GM | Antal, Gergely | 2466 | 7 | 44,5 | |
| 13 | Sitbon, Itay | 2047 | 7 | 42,5 | ||
| 14 | IM | Ilamparthi, A R | 2316 | 6,5 | 51,5 | |
| 15 | GM | Iniyan, Pa | 2434 | 6,5 | 51 | |
| 16 | FM | Pidluznij, Gleb | 2319 | 6,5 | 48 | |
| 17 | Loy, Konstantin | 2087 | 6,5 | 47 | ||
| 18 | IM | Sakalauskas, Vaidas | 2274 | 6,5 | 47 | |
| 19 | GM | Harutjunyan, Gevorg | 2510 | 6,5 | 46,5 | |
| 20 | GM | Zanan, Evgeny | 2376 | 6,5 | 46,5 |
...250 participants
Sunday saw the start of two of the four classic time limit open tournaments. The remaining two open tournaments for children, juniors and seniors will start later in the week.
Nearly 20 grandmasters are taking part in the A-Open. The starting list is headed by Greek grandmaster Nikolas Theodorou. Polish grandmaster Kacper Piorun and Azeri grandmaster Eltaj Safarli also have ratings above 2600. A number of young players, including Polish U16 world champion Jakub Seemann and the aforementioned Ilamparthi, are sure to cause a few surprises.
Talking about surprises: In the first round, not all the favourites were able to live up to their role. Valery Kazakouski, for example, lost to 18-year-old Chinese player Chen Hongsen.
Games
