Arkadij Naiditsch Triumphant in Montreal

10th Montreal International Chess Tournament, 27th August until 7th September

Arkadij Naiditsch

The 10th Montreal International Chess Tournament under sponsorship of Empresa Group was held from 27th August until 7th September in Montréal, Canada. Étienne Bacrot had a flying start but later he drew one game after another and maintained the lead together with Arkadij Naiditsch. The German Grandmaster, on the other hand, was much more aggressive. This attitude brought him one painful loss (in only 16 moves), but he also won a number of games, including a key last-round encounter against American Vinay Bhat. With this result, Naiditsch emerged as winner of the tournament, while Bacrot finished clear second.

Young French Grandmaster Sébastien Mazé retained the excellent third place, which also added 14 elo points to his account. Vinay Bhat, whose form varied from weak to crushing and back, earned 12 elo points despite finishing bellow 50 percent.

Four players qualified for this tournament from the Quebec Invitational Chess Championship. See also round 9 report and official website.

Round 11 results:

Mark Bluvshtein (CAN 2558) ½-½ Sébastien Mazé (FRA 2546)
Alexander Moiseenko (UKR 2682) ½-½ Yuri Shulman (USA 2648)
Arkadij Naiditsch (GER 2697) 1-0 Vinay Bhat (USA 2473)
Alexander Onischuk (USA 2699) ½-½ Thomas Roussel-Roozmon (CAN 2487)
Varuzhan Akobian (USA 2626) ½-½ Sergei Tiviakov (NED 2674)
Anton Kovalyov (ARG 2571) ½-½ Étienne Bacrot (FRA 2721)

Final standings:

1. Arkadij Naiditsch (GER 2697) - 7.5
1-2. Étienne Bacrot (FRA 2721) - 7.0
3. Sébastien Mazé (FRA 2546) - 6.5
4-5. Anton Kovalyov (ARG 2571) and Sergei Tiviakov (NED 2674) - 6.0
6. Mark Bluvshtein (CAN 2558) - 5.5
7-9. Vinay Bhat (USA 2473), Alexander Onischuk (USA 2699) and Varuzhan Akobian (USA 2626) - 5.0
10-11. Yuri Shulman (USA 2648) and Alexander Moiseenko (UKR 2682) - 4.5
12. Thomas Roussel-Roozmon (CAN 2487) - 3.5