
42-year-old Konstantin Chernyshov won the strong Moscow Open with 7 out of 9. The Russian GM finished shared first with another 40+ grandmaster, Evgeny Bareev, and both Le Quang Liem and Ernesto Inarkiev also ended on 7 points. Chernishov had the best tiebreak: most wins.The 6th Moscow Open took place January 30-February 7 at the Russian State Social University in Moscow, Russia. The festival consisted of many different events, and attracted 1,500 participants from 30 countries worldwide. The main event, a very strong 9-round Swiss, consisted of 187 players, including 73 grandmasters and 49 masters. The time control was 1 hour and 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move 1.The tournament was surprisingly won by 46th seeded Konstantin Chernyshov. In the last round the grandmaster from Voronezh drew with Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem and so the two ended the tournament with 7 points, together with Evgeny Bareev and Ernesto Inarkiev. Chernyshov was declared winner as he had the highest number of wins. Le Quang Liem ended second and Bareev third. The prize fund of the main tournament was 2,500,000 rubles (60,000 Euros) and the first prize 500,000 (12,000 Euros).

Chernyshov and Liem shaking hands for their last-round game
Moscow Open 2010 | Final Standings (top 40)

Full final standings hereSelection of games
Game viewer by ChessTempo
Another famous name who could be found in the playing hall almost every day was Alexei Shirov. The reason? He came to support his girlfriend Olga Dolgov, who played in the women's tournament (and who could be found in the playing hall of the Corus Chess Tournament almost every day, supporting her boyfriend). Besides, Shirov decided to meet with relatives and school friends, as he mentioned in an
interview at the tournament website. Apparently the two believe in the power of love. The interview was conducted when Sasikiran was leading the tournament. Shirov: "Naturally, he is very high class player. Besides, not so long ago he got married, and this also gives an additional impetus."

Winter in Moscow, chess in Moscow

One of the playing halls in the university

Second on tiebreak: Le Quang Liem

Third on tiebreak, still going strong: Evgeny Bareev

Fourth on tiebreak: Ernesto Inarkiev

Krishnan Sasikiran had a good start, but finished on shared 5th-15th

Vladimir Belov, also shared 5th-15th

Bu Xiangzhi, also shared 5th-15th

Open tournament tiger Evgeny Najer, this time shared 15th-28th

Top seed Alexander Motylev, also shared 15th-28th

Giovanni Vescovi from Brazil, shared 15th-28th

Semen Dvoirys ended on 5.5 points

Ian Nepomniachtchi, also shared 15th-28th

Hou Yifan ended on a disappointing 4.5/9

Evgeny Sveshnikov still plays and ended on 4 points
Photos © Maria Fomynikh, Eldar Mukhametov, Yana Melnikova
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