Short and Alina l'Ami win CUCA International

by ChessBase
5/29/2011 – British GM Nigel Short won this GM Open in Luanda, with a resounding 8.0/9 points, but he was outshone by Romanian WGM Alina l'Ami, who took the women's section with a perfect 9.0/9 points. Equal second in the open section was Dutch GM Sergei Tiviakov, who together with Alina has been sending us photos from the Angolan capital. Final report with an unusual picture of Nigel Short.

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From May 15 to May 28 the CUCA International Chess tournament took place in Luanda, Angola. It was comprised of two events, an Open and a Women's event, both of which were nine-round swiss tournaments played at 40 moves for 90 minutes, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game and a 30-second increment as of move one.

The event was sponsored by CUCA brewery, the largest in Angola, and had generous conditions including room and board for IM/GMs as well as WGM/WIM/WFMs. The first prizes for the men's event were 1st - US$ 5000, 2nd - US$ 4000, 3rd - US$3000, 4th US$ 2000, 5th - US$ 500. The top prizes in the Women's event are 1st - US$ 3000, 2nd - US$ 2000, 3rd - US$1500, 4th US$ 1000, 5th - US$ 500.

Torneio Internacional Taça Cuca 2011

The winner, a full point ahead of the field, was British GM Nigel Short, who appears to be going after a record: win tournaments in more countries than any other GM. Equal second and 1.5 points ahead of the rest of the players were GM Antonio Fernandes from Portugal and our reporter GM Sergei Tiviakov from Holland.


Winner Nigel Short with GM Antonio Fernandes of Portugal, who came second


Equal second (with Fernandez): GM Sergei Tiviakov of Holland

Final standings after nine rounds

Rnk Ti. Name FED
Rtng
Pts.
 TB1 
 TB3 
1 GM Short Nigel D ENG
2682
8.0
8.0
39.5
2 GM Fernandes Antonio POR
2404
7.0
7.0
35.0
3 GM Tiviakov Sergei NED
2622
7.0
7.0
35.0
4 CM Solomons Deon RSA
2214
5.5
5.5
29.5
5 IM Gwaze Robert ZIM
2429
5.5
5.5
28.0
6 GM Galego Luis POR
2501
5.0
5.0
28.0
7 Simoes Joao ANG
2220
5.0
5.0
27.0
8 FM Ramos Aristotle ANG
2215
5.0
5.0
26.0
9 Oliveira Luciano ANG
2186
5.0
5.0
25.0
10 Pascoal Eduardo A ANG
2210
5.0
5.0
25.0
11 IM Agnelo Amorin ANG
2176
5.0
5.0
19.0
12 IM Aderito Pedro ANG
2339
4.5
4.5
28.5
13 Soares Erikson Roberto Maurici ANG
2196
4.5
4.5
24.0
14 Fernandes Carlos ANG
-
4.5
4.5
22.5
15 Felix Claudio ANG
-
4.5
4.5
21.5
16 Domingos Ediberto ANG
2201
4.5
4.5
21.5
17 Cambando Jose ANG
2015
4.5
4.5
17.5
18 Miguel Sergio ANG
-
4.0
4.0
20.5
19 IM Sousa Armindo ANG
2193
4.0
4.0
14.0
20 Sapalo Gabriel ANG
-
3.5
3.5
20.0
21 Agostinho Tito Andre Quiela ANG
2276
3.0
3.0
17.0
22 António Manuel ANG
-
3.0
3.0
16.0
23 Dias Vanderson ANG
-
3.0
3.0
13.0
24 IM Mamombe Kudzanai ZIM
2089
3.0
3.0
11.5
25 Camilo Angelico Armando ANG
2215
2.0
2.0
12.0
26 Gonzalez Hernandez Humberto CUB
1824
1.5
1.5
8.5

Alina sent us the above picture of a local newspaper headline reporting Nigel Short's 8.0/9 victory. Pity, we thought, why is there a picture of "some other dude" next to the report? On his return Nigel explained it to us. The newspaper reporter had apparently done a Google search for "Nigel Short" images and picked up the one from this page (take a look, really!). Unfortunately, it is not the chess player but the musician Nigel Short, best known as the conductor and founder of the a cappella chamber choir Tenebrae. Oops!

In the women's section our second reporter, WGM Alina l'Ami of Romania, went through the field like a hot knife through butter: Alina won all her nine games – every single one of them. The next best player was 1.5 points behind her, with another 1.5-point gap to the candidate master in third place.


The invincible Alina l'Ami in the news – with a proper picture


Winner WGM Alina l'Ami of Romania and second placed Anzel Solomons of South Africa


In third place: Tshepiso Lopang of Botswana


Fifth: unrated Sonia Rosalina of Angola


In sixth place: Valquiria Rocha, 1803, from Angola


Eighth: Gabriel G Irineia, rated 1418, from Angola

Women's section – Final standings after nine rounds

#
Ti.
Name Rtng Nat.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Pts.
 TB 
1
WGM 
L´Ami Alina 2303 ROM
*
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
9.0
36.00
2
WIM
Solomons Anzel 1914 RSA
0
*
½
1
1
1
1
1
1
+
7.5
31.50
3
WCM
Lopang Tshepiso 1861 BOT
0
½
*
½
0
1
1
1
1
1
6.0
19.50
4
WFM

Mudongo Boikhutso 

1864 BOT
0
0
½
*
1
1
1
0
½
1
5.0
16.75
5
Rosalina Sonia
-
ANG
0
0
1
0
*
½
1
1
½
½
4.5
15.50
6
Rocha Valquiria 1803 ANG
0
0
0
0
½
*
1
1
½
1
4.0
10.50
7
Conceicao Maria 1916 ANG
0
0
0
0
0
0
*
1
1
+
3.0
8.00
8
Irineia Gabriel G 1418 ANG
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
*
1
1
3.0
9.00
9
Oliveira Engracia 1797 ANG
0
0
0
½
½
½
0
0
*
1
2.5
8.25
10
Lopes Nelma
-
ANG
0
-
0
0
½
0
-
0
0
*
0.5
2.25

Chess and general impressions from Luanda

Photo report by WGM Alina l'Ami and GM Sergey Tiviakov


Winner Nigel Short being interviews for Luandan TV


Alina, Anzel, Tshepiso, Nigel, Sergei (l'Ami, Solomons, Lopang, Short, Tiviakov)


Ladies' table, with participants of the women's section


Once the chessboard hostilities have ended we are all great friends (Alina l'Ami,
Anzel Solomons, Tshepiso Lopang, Boikhutso Mudongo)


Sponsors with Dr. Jaime Aguinaldo, President of the Angolan Chess Federation
(middle) and Portugese Chess Federation President on the right


Signing a cooperation agreement between the Angolan and Portuguese Federations


Dinner at the closing ceremony


Red crab and Angolan Cuca beer: treats at the closing ceremony


Look who's going to take on that red crab


Afterwards a little dancing, here with Antonio Santos


Nigel Short finds the entire party pretty hilarious


Outside, local women carry fish to the market


A final day view of the Angolan city of Luanda, which hosted the chess tournament


Our reporter WGM Alina l'Amim whose web site you should visit

Alina was born in Romania, but now lives with her husband GM Erwin l'Ami in Holland. She graduated cum laude from the Al. I. Cuza University Lasi, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences. As a chess player she won the world champion under 10 in Sao Laurenco, Brazil, the European Championship under 18 in Peniscola, Spain, the Women's Balkan Chess Championship in Istanbul, Turkey, and many other similar events. The Woman International Grandmaster title came in 2005. Alina speaks Romanian, English (fluently – it is the language she uses to communicate with her husband, "and we understand each other quite well!"), French, Dutch ("my husband's language – very beautiful, but so difficult at the moment"), Spanish and Italian.

Previous ChessBase reports

Chess and general impressions from Luanda
22.05.2011 – The CUCA International Chess in Angola's capital of Luanda is a generously staged event in an exotic part of the world. We have problems coming by the games, but two of the participants, Romanian-born WGM Alina l'Ami and GM Sergey Tiviakov, originally Russia – both now live in Holland – took time off to explore the town and its culture. From them we have received this giant pictorial report.

CUCA International in Angola
18.05.2011 – In a sign of the enormous reconstruction efforts being made in Angola, the CUCA international Chess event is being held in the capital Luanda. The Open brought star chess globetrotters, Nigel Short and Sergey Tiviakov, not to mention the generous prize fund, and the Women's event has also been given its due. With his tireless camera, here is a large pictorial by Sergey Tiviakov.

Reports about chess: tournaments, championships, portraits, interviews, World Championships, product launches and more.

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