Alexander Motylev wins Karpov tournament
Submitted by
avishka on Fri, 06/26/2009 at 4:53am.
The 10th annual Karpov tournament ended June 12 in Poikovsky, a small city of 20,000 in western Siberia. Former world champion Anatoly Karpov designed this event as a 10-player round robin, and the tradition has continued as the tournament has gradually grown into one of the world's strongest, with an average rating of 2695. A Russian gas company helps sponsor the tournament.
Alexander Motylev of Russia took first prize by defeating chief rival Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan in the penultimate round. Motylev scored an undefeated 7-2, while Gashimov finished second with 6-3.
Alexander Onischuk of Maryland, the 2006 U.S. champion, scored a very respectable 4 1/2 -4 1/2 and tied for fifth place with Viorel Bologan of Moldova and Sergey Rublevsky of Russia. The trio are Poikovsky stalwarts. Onischuk, the 2003 winner, and Bologan, a three-time winner, have played in all 10 Karpov tournaments. Rublevsky, the 2008 winner, missed only the first one.
Alexey Shirov of Spain, the tournament's highest-rated player, finished last with 2-7. Shirov, the 2006 winner, had the greatest success of his career at the M-Tel Masters in Bulgaria last month, but he suffered a colossal letdown in Poikovsky. He started with four losses and failed to win a game.
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