GM Manuel Leon Hoyos wins the open, Bulgarians rule round robins

GM Manuel Leon Hoyos

The 14th Guingamp International open chess tournament was held in this French city on 20-27th February. In addition, two round robin tournament were held concurrently, for women and men IM norms.

Mexican GM Manuel Leon Hoyos (2516) convincingly won the open tournament with 93 participants. He collected 8 points from nine rounds and finished a full point ahead of the fellow Grandmasters Petar Genov (BUL 2473) and Krzysztof Jakubowski (POL 2502) and the event’s most pleasant surprise Yannis Aubry (FRA 1956).

On shared 5-8th with 6.5 points were Rafal Kazmierczak (POL 2191), FM Stephane Crouan (FRA 2229), Pierre Barbot (FRA 2097) and Laurent Bouvet (FRA 2118). Full standings

Women IM tournament saw a fearless battle in all games and only a couple of them finished in draws. FM Lyubka Genova (BUL 2260) won seven games, lost two, and took a clear first place half a point ahead of Evgenij Piankov (UKR 2343). Full crosstable.

Genova’s compatriot IM Tervel Serafimov (2432) was impressive in the men IM tournament, which he won with 7.5 points, leaving the opposition far behind. FM Pierre Bailet (FRA 2367) was second with 6.0 points, while Vitali Koziak (UKR 2482) and IM Martha Fierro Baquero (ECU 2354) shared the third with 5.5 points. Full crosstable.