Nakamura wins Gibtelecom 2008 after a playoff with Bu Xiangzhi

results, standings, pgn, and videos

Going into the last round, there were six players able to get the title or enter a playoff match. On top of the standings were GM Zahar Efimenko and GM Bu Xiangzhi with 7,5/9 followed by Victor Bologan, GN Gopal, Hikaru Nakamura, Ni Hua, all with 7,0/9.

Bu Xiangzhi and Ni Hua drew in 27 moves, played in 22 minutes. Efimenko depended on himself, but he was stunned by Hiraku Nakamura, who took the victory and finished with the same points as Bu. After a narrow miss by Gopal, his game with Bologan finished draw. That meant a two way tiebreak between Bu and Nakamura (games bellow).

The two way tiebreak rules were simple. It would consist of two games played at 10m + 10s. If these were tied 1-1, then the player with the highest average of opponents' ratings in the tournament having the choice of White or Black in an Armageddon game played at 5m v 4m (which would be Bu Xiangzhi).

John Saunders reports:

We've been treated to the most dramatic of finales this afternoon. Starting at 15:00 (GMT+1), Hikaru Nakamura and Bu Xiangzhi played off to decide who would win the £12,000 first prize and title of 2008 Gibtelecom Master, with £8,000 going to the loser. Hikaru made a great start with an assured win with the white pieces. But Bu Xiangzhi seemed likely to hit back in the second game when he produced a tactic to win Nakamura's queen for rook and knight. The computer predicted a win for the Chinese GM but he failed to break down the fortress position set up by the American. Eventually, despairing of the win, he even allowed himself to be mated when his chances of victory had clearly ebbed away and he was well down on the clock. So, to Hikaru Nakamura, the big cheque and the plaudits. Congratulations to him!

Title norms achieved after nine games

As we reported yesterday Australia has its new grandmaster. This is the 21 years old Zong-Yuan Zhao who achieved his final norm at Gibtelecom. Here is the list of norms awarded at the tournament.

GM: Zong-Yuan Zhao (AUS, final norm); Robert Bellin (ENG); Viktorija Cmilyte (LTU)

IM: Max Devereaux (ENG), Shen Yang (CHN), Zhao Xue (CHN), Joachim Thomassen (NOR), Ismael Karim (MAR).

Gibtelecom PGN

PGN round 1 / PGN round 2 / PGN round 3 / PGN round 4 / PGN round 5 / PGN round 6 / PGN round 7 / PGN round 8 / PGN round 9 / PGN round 10

2008 Gibtelecom Masters Play-off Nakamura-Bu video

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Gibtelecom impressions

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2008 Gibtelecom tournament

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