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Tourney structure: seven-round round robin |
The grandiose playing hall
The 21st edition of the Sigeman & Co. tournament held in Malmö, Sweden, was undecided until the end and beyond. After seven rounds of competition, it was not for lack of fighting spirit that three of the eight players ended in a tie for first but rather because of it. Not all of the players were in a position to fight for first but even those out of contention fought to the end.
No player was able to avoid losing a game, an indication of how contended it was
Going into the last round, the leaders were Nigel Short and Ivan Sokolov with 4.0/6, both of whom had led throughout, followed by Richard Rapport, Loek van Wely, and Nils Grandelius, the best local performer all with 3.5/6.
In round seven, the Swedes were delighted to see their compatriot Nils Grandelius defeat Ivan Sokolov after the Dutch player made a mistake which turned out to be decisive. This allowed Nils to leapfrog Sokolov, while Richard Rapport vigorously punished Jonny Hector as black for a thorough mishandling of his position, and had a mating attack by move 30.
It was a hero's performance as Nils Grandelius defeated leader Ivan Sokolov
in the last round.
Nigel Short was a leader throughout
The result was a three-way tie for first between Nigel Short, Richard Rapport, and Nils Grandelius with 4.5/7.
Jonny Hector was defeated by Richard Rapport in the last round. The Hungarian
prodigy
had a superb finish.
The excellent production values brought spectators both live and online
Pictures from official site
LinksThe games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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