Shirov wins Cañada de Calatrava Rapid and Fischer

4/9/2007 – The 2nd Chess Festival 'Villa Cañada de Calatrava', which was held from April 6th to 8th Spain, consisted of three tournaments: Rapid, Fischer Random and Blitz. The first two were won by Alexei Shirov, the last by perennial Vassily Ivanchuk. The total prize fund was 90,000 Euros. So it was a happy Easter for Alexei.

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The 2nd Chess Festival 'Villa Cañada de Calatrava' was held from April 6th to 8th in the Hotel Guadiana in Cañada de Calatrava (Ciudad Real region, Spain). It consisted of three tournaments: rapid, Fischer random and blitz. The total prize fund was 90,000 Euros (with an entry fee of €5 per participant). The first prize was €22,000, second €16,000, third €10,000.

The rate of play was 25 minutes for each player without increment. There was a special rule to look after errors during the game: the first two illegal moves gave the opponent an additional one minute each on the clock, the third illegal move resulted in a loss of the game.

The lineup of 286 players was impressive. We counted 67 GMs and 16 IMs. Here to give you an impression is a list of the top twenty seeds:

1 Anand Viswanathan IND 2786   11 Karpov Anatoly RUS 2668
2 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE 2757   12 Krasenkow Michal POL 2661
3 Gelfand Boris ISR 2733   13 Sokolov Ivan NED 2655
4 Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2729   14 Miton Kamil POL 2653
5 Polgar Judit HUN 2727   15 Fressinet Laurent FRA 2644
6 Grischuk Alexander RUS 2717   16 Fridman Daniel LAT 2635
7 Bacrot Etienne FRA 2709   17 Gagunashvili Merab GEO 2625
8 Shirov Alexei ESP 2699   18 Baklan Vladimir UKR 2618
9 Sasikiran Krishnan IND 2690   19 Sadvakasov Darmen     KAZ 2618
10 Milov Vadim SUI 2676   20 Pantsulaia Levan GEO 2616

The winner of the event was the eighth seed Alexei Shirov, who scored 7½/9 points, beating his colleagues Daniel Fridman, Ivan Sokolov and Boris Gelfand on tiebreak points. They were followed by a group of ten players with 7/9. This group included Anand, Mamedyarov, Ivanchuk, Polgar, Girschuk, Krasenkow, Miton, Fressinet, and Baklan from the list of the top 20. Bacrot finished at place 27, Sasikiran at 15, Karpov at 31.


The winner of the Villa Cañada de Calatrava Rapid Alexei Shirov (right)

Final standings of the Villa Cañada de Calatrava Rapid

Rank Seed Title Name Rtg FED Pts
1  8 GM Shirov Alexei 2699 ESP 7½
2 16 GM Fridman Daniel 2635 LAT 7½
3 13 GM Sokolov Ivan 2655 NED 7½
4  3 GM Gelfand Boris 2733 ISR 7½
5  5 GM Polgar Judit 2727 HUN 7
6  2 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2757 AZE 7
7  6 GM Grischuk Alexander 2717 RUS 7
8 15 GM Fressinet Laurent 2644 FRA 7
9 12 GM Krasenkow Michal 2661 POL 7
10  4 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2729 UKR 7
11 18 GM Baklan Vladimir 2618 UKR 7
12  1 GM Anand Viswanathan 2786 IND 7
13 14 GM Miton Kamil 2653 POL 7
14 76 FM Del Rey Diego 2405 ESP 7
15  9 GM Sasikiran Krishnan 2690 IND 6½
16 19 GM Sadvakasov Darmen 2618 KAZ 6½
17 24 GM Kazhgaleyev Murtas 2603 KAZ 6½
18 45 GM Marin Mihail 2533 ROM 6½
19 50 GM Kovchan Alexander 2527 UKR 6½
20 48 GM Shchekachev Andrei 2530 FRA 6½
21 56 IM Perez Candelario Manuel   2511 ESP 6½
22 51 GM Arizmendi Martinez Julen 2525 ESP 6½
23 31 GM Mamedov Rauf 2584 AZE 6½
24 10 GM Milov Vadim 2676 SUI 6½
25 84 IM Panelo Marcelo 2392 ARG 6½
26 34 GM Akobian Varuzhan 2574 USA 6½
27  7 GM Bacrot Etienne 2709 FRA 6½
28 60 GM Kosyrev Vladimir 2505 RUS 6½
29 17 GM Gagunashvili Merab 2625 GEO 6½
30 20 GM Pantsulaia Levan 2616 GEO 6½
31 11 GM Karpov Anatoly 2668 RUS 6½

Selection of the Rapid Chess games in zipped PGN

Fischer Random

The Fischer Random tournament was also won by Alexei Shirov, who just before the event visited ChessBase in Hamburg to record a new training DVD. Dare we assume that this session inspired him to his extraordinary success in Cañada de Calatrava? Anand did not participate.

Rank Seed Title Name Rtg FED Pts
1  6 GM Shirov Alexei 2699 ESP 8
2  7 GM Sasikiran Krishnan 2690 IND 7½
3 12 GM Fressinet Laurent 2644 FRA 7½
4  2 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2729 UKR 7½
5  4 GM Grischuk Alexander 2717 RUS 7½
6 17 GM Pantsulaia Levan 2616 GEO 7
7  8 GM Milov Vadim 2676 SUI 7
8 50 IM Herraiz Hidalgo Herminio 2498 ESP 7
9 21 GM Kazhgaleyev Murtas 2603 KAZ 7
10 23 GM Spasov Vasil 2592 BUL 7

Blitz

In the blitz tournament (again without Anand) Shirov finished in tenth place. It was won by Vassily Ivanchuk, a full point ahead of the field.

Rank
Seed
 Title Name Rtg FED Pts
1  3 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2729 UKR 8½
2 27 GM Mamedov Rauf 2584 AZE 7½
3  4 GM Grischuk Alexander 2717 RUS 7½
4  8 GM Milov Vadim 2676 SUI 7½
5 35 IM Zubov Alexander 2542 UKR 7½
6 38 GM Marin Mihail 2533 ROM 7½
7 25 GM Guliyev Namig 2590 AZE 7
8  2 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2757 AZE 7
9 33 GM Kolev Atanas 2553 BUL 7
10  6 GM Shirov Alexei 2699 ESP 7
11  9 GM Krasenkow Michal 2661 POL 7
12 42 GM Kovchan Alexander 2527 UKR 7
13 45 GM Barsov Alexei 2521 UZB 7

Link

The home page of the event, created with great ambitions, is not (yet?) filled with the intended content. You can find one three intended reports, and a selection of the games. There is more information on the Spanish site, which you may want to browse, if you understand the language.

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