Mikhail Chigorin Memorial 2009

Zaven Andriasian wins rapid tournament

The 17th International Chess Festival "Mikhail Chigorin Memorial" is being held on 14-25th October at Holiday Inn Moskovskie Vorota hotel in St. Petersburg, Russia.

A rich prize fund of about 40.000 EUR, provided by the sponsor pool led by Russian giant Gazprom, initiated a huge turnout of 264 players in the main open tournament, among them 24 rated above 2600 elo. Top seed is Indian Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna.

The Festival opened with a two-day rapid tournament on 14-15th October. 159 participants fought over 11 rounds with a time control 15 min + 5 sec per player. Armenian Grandmaster and former World Junior Champion Zaven Andriasian convincingly won the race with 9.5 points, full point ahead of the chasing pack.

Rapid tournament final standings:

1. GM Andriasian Zaven ARM 2612 - 9.5
2-4. GM Khairullin Ildar RUS 2604, IM Kovalenko Igor UKR 2484 and GM Vorobiov Evgeny RUS 2606 - 8.5
5-11. GM Epishin Vladimir RUS 2590, GM Dreev Alexey RUS 2659, GM Vysochin Spartak UKR 2550, GM Aleksandrov Aleksej BLR 2639, GM Shomoev Anton RUS 2566, GM Savchenko Boris RUS 2638 and GM Zhigalko Andrey BLR 2601 - 8.0 etc

Zaven Andriasian receiving the trophy

The main open event started on 16th October. After five rounds, GM Alexei Fedorov of Belarus and GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev from Kazakhstan are sharing the lead with 4.5 points each. The two will meet each other in round six on Wednesday. There follows a group of 25 players with 4.0 points, while the top rated GM Harikrishna is with 3.5 points after a 2nd round setback against GM Klimov.

Round 6 top pairings (21st October):

GM Fedorov Alexei 4.5 BLR 2600 - GM Kazhgaleyev Murtas 4.5 KAZ 2643
GM Kurnosov Igor 4.0 RUS 2669 - GM Epishin Vladimir 4.0 RUS 2590
GM Deviatkin Andrei 4.0 RUS 2593 - GM Areshchenko Alexander 4.0 UKR 2667
GM Dreev Alexey 4.0 RUS 2659 - GM Kryakvin Dmitry 4.0 RUS 2571
GM Zhou Weiqi 4.0 CHN 2593 - GM Kobalia Mikhail 4.0 RUS 2648
GM Amonatov Farrukh 4.0 TJK 2643 - GM Malakhatko Vadim 4.0 BEL 2569
GM Romanov Evgeny 4.0 RUS 2588 - GM Savchenko Boris 4.0 RUS 2638
GM Volkov Sergey 4.0 RUS 2616 - GM Rychagov Andrey 4.0 RUS 2552
GM Maletin Pavel 4.0 RUS 2576 - GM Negi Parimarjan 4.0 IND 2615
IM Chadaev Nikolai 4.0 RUS 2561 - GM Vorobiov Evgeny E. 4.0 RUS 2606
GM Evdokimov Alexander A. 4.0 RUS 2556 - GM Burmakin Vladimir 4.0 RUS 2599
IM Yudin Sergei 4.0 RUS 2599 - GM Wen Yang 4.0 CHN 2538
GM Popov Valerij 4.0 RUS 2595 - GM Shimanov Aleksandr 4.0 RUS 2508
IM Bellaiche Anthony 4.0 FRA 2435 - GM Azarov Sergei 3.5 BLR 2625

GM Vadim Zvjagintsev

GM Pentala Harikrishna

GM Boris Savchenko

More information and photos on the official website