Gajewski wins in Cappelle la Grande, Tiviakov best on tiebreak in Fajr

Grzegorz Gajewski won the strong open tournament in Cappelle la Grande, France. The Polish grandmaster finished clear first with a score of 7.5/9. In Fajr, Iran it was Dutch GM Sergei Tiviakov who won on tiebreak, after finishing shared first with seven other players, among them Rustam Kasimdzhanov.

The playing hall in Cappelle la Grande

The 27th edition of the traditional open in Cappelle la Grande took place February 26-March 5. The town, a commune in the Nord department in northern France, is very close to Dunkirk. With about 8,500 inhabitants it's very small, but the chess tournament is one of the biggest on the calendar. This year the 9-round Swiss event saw 548 international participants, including no less than 71 GMs and 54 IMs.

Top names were Sasikiran, Zhigalko, Harikrishna, Kryvoruchko, Delchev, Mareco, Vuckovic, M. Gurevich and Eduardo Iturrizaga. However, it was Polish grandmaster Grzegorz Gajewski who finished clear first with a score of 7.5/9. GM Evgeny Sharapov, GM Yuri Vovk (the winner in 2009) and IM Alexander Ipatov shared second place. For the latter this success also meant a second GM norm.

Photos © Dominique Primel

Selection of games Cappelle

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Cappelle la Grande Open 2011 | Round 9 Standings (top 50)

Rk	Name	Ti	FED	Rtg	Pts	TB1	TB2	Perf
1	GAJEWSKI Grzegorz	g	POL	2569	7.5	40.5	50	2724
2	SHARAPOV Evgeny	g	UKR	2468	7	44.5	53.5	2700
3	IPATOV Alexander	m	ESP	2512	7	44	54	2722
4	VOVK Yuri	g	UKR	2539	7	41.5	51.5	2656
5	JANKOVIC Alojzije	g	CRO	2564	6.5	46.5	58	2679
6	HARIKRISHNA Pentala	g	IND	2667	6.5	44	55	2669
7	SHNEIDER Aleksandr	g	UKR	2518	6.5	44	55.5	2609
8	CORNETTE Matthieu	g	FRA	2544	6.5	43	53	2607
9	ZHIGALKO Sergei	g	BLR	2671	6.5	42.5	52	2617
10	PETROV Marijan	g	BUL	2535	6.5	42.5	53	2571
11	KRYVORUCHKO Yuriy	g	UKR	2640	6.5	42	52.5	2636
12	SPASOV Vasil	g	BUL	2590	6.5	42	52.5	2629
13	SASIKIRAN Krishnan	g	IND	2690	6.5	42	52	2617
14	VOROBIOV Evgeny E.	g	RUS	2556	6.5	42	53	2609
15	PANTSULAIA Levan	g	GEO	2610	6.5	41.5	52	2667
16	BRODSKY Michail	g	UKR	2554	6.5	41.5	51	2578
17	TIKKANEN Hans	g	SWE	2550	6.5	41	51	2619
18	PROHASZKA Peter	g	HUN	2542	6.5	41	50.5	2612
19	NYZHNYK Illya	g	UKR	2530	6.5	41	51	2581
20	APICELLA Manuel	g	FRA	2531	6.5	41	50	2570
21	TESKE Henrik	g	GER	2520	6.5	41	51.5	2537
22	GUREVICH Mikhail	g	TUR	2613	6.5	40.5	51	2649
23	SOLOMON Kenny	m	RSA	2425	6.5	40.5	50	2582
24	DELCHEV Aleksander	g	BUL	2629	6.5	40	49.5	2590
25	ARUTINIAN David	g	GEO	2578	6.5	40	50	2580
26	SANDULEAC Vasile	g	MDA	2442	6.5	40	49	2513
27	HOUSIEAUX David	m	FRA	2423	6.5	39.5	48.5	2480
28	ZHEREBUKH Yaroslav	g	UKR	2565	6.5	39	49	2561
29	BURMAKIN Vladimir	g	RUS	2603	6.5	39	48.5	2539
30	MEKHITARIAN Krikor Sevag	g	BRA	2528	6.5	38	48	2451
31	GEORGIEV Vladimir	g	MKD	2579	6.5	37.5	46.5	2554
32	LEON HOYOS Manuel	g	MEX	2565	6	45.5	56.5	2609
33	KUZMICZ Krystian	m	POL	2406	6	44.5	54.5	2631
34	KANEP Meelis	g	EST	2531	6	43.5	53.5	2564
35	SPRAGGETT Kevin	g	CAN	2575	6	43	53	2608
36	VOVK Andrey	g	UKR	2528	6	42.5	52.5	2559
37	SEPP Olav	m	EST	2485	6	42.5	51.5	2517
38	VUCKOVIC Bojan	g	SRB	2623	6	42	53	2588
39	SOLODOVNICHENKO Yuri	g	UKR	2577	6	42	52	2571
40	KHARITONOV Alexandr	g	RUS	2552	6	42	51.5	2509
41	BRYNELL Stellan	g	SWE	2492	6	41.5	51	2531
42	ZAGREBELNY Sergey	g	UZB	2481	6	41	50.5	2501
43	MENG Roger		NED	2132	6	41	50	2492
44	POETSCH Hagen	f	GER	2408	6	41	50.5	2420
45	HASANGATIN Ramil	g	RUS	2508	6	40.5	50	2549
46	ITURRIZAGA Eduardo	g	VEN	2611	6	40.5	50	2533
47	NAUMKIN Igor	g	RUS	2499	6	40	49	2547
48	NARODITSKY Daniel	m	USA	2419	6	40	50	2525
49	LALIC Bogdan	g	CRO	2491	6	40	50	2517
50	SIECIECHOWICZ Marcin	m	POL	2441	6	40	48.5	2396

19th Fajr Open

We'd like to mention another open, held at the same time in Iran. From February 26 till March 7 the city of Mashad hosted the 19th Fajr Open, and among the 25 GMs and 15 IMs there was a number of strong players.

The tournament lasted eleven rounds. In the end Tiviakov won on tiebreak after finishing first with Evgeny Gleizerov, Davit Benidze, Gadir Guseinov, Mikhail Ulibin, Nidjat Mamedov, Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Merab Gagunashvili.

Where in Cappelle la Grande even the lowest boards were entered (and therefore can be found in this week's TWIC), unfortunately thus far no games are available from Fajr.

Photos from the event taken by tournament winner Sergei Tiviakov can be seen here at Chessbase.

19th Fajr Open (Mashhad, Iran) | Round 11 Standings (top 30)

Rk	Name	Ti	FED	Rtg	Pts	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	Tiviakov Sergei	GM	NED	2623	8.5	79.5	72.5	71.0
2	Gleizerov Evgeny	GM	RUS	2581	8.5	78.5	72.0	70.0
3	Benidze Davit	IM	GEO	2522	8.5	76.0	70.0	67.5
4	Guseinov Gadir	GM	AZE	2591	8.5	75.5	69.0	67.0
5	Ulibin Mikhail	GM	RUS	2547	8.5	75.0	69.0	66.5
6	Mamedov Nidjat	GM	AZE	2580	8.5	74.5	69.0	66.0
7	Kasimdzhanov Rustam	GM	UZB	2681	8.5	74.5	68.0	66.0
8	Gagunashvili Merab	GM	GEO	2619	8.5	71.0	65.5	62.5
9	Dzhumaev Marat	GM	UZB	2493	8.0	74.5	68.5	66.0
10	Moiseenko Alexander	GM	UKR	2670	8.0	74.5	68.0	66.0
11	Ghaem maghami Ehsan	GM	IRI	2604	8.0	73.5	68.0	65.0
12	Sharbaf Mohsen	FM	IRI	2392	8.0	72.5	66.5	64.0
13	Sebenik Matej	IM	SLO	2526	8.0	71.0	65.5	63.0
14	Moradiabadi Elshan	GM	IRI	2558	8.0	70.5	64.5	62.0
15	Shanava Konstantine	GM	GEO	2560	8.0	70.5	64.0	62.5
16	Grover Sahaj	IM	IND	2462	8.0	68.5	63.0	60.5
17	Guliev Logman	IM	AZE	2464	8.0	67.0	61.0	59.0
18	Pourramezanali Amirreza	FM	IRI	2326	8.0	66.0	60.5	58.0
19	Ahmadinia E	FM	IRI	2417	7.5	76.0	70.0	67.5
20	Fedorov Alexei	GM	BLR	2593	7.5	75.0	68.5	66.5
21	Volkov Sergey	GM	RUS	2602	7.5	74.5	69.0	66.0
22	Mchedlishvili Mikheil	GM	GEO	2641	7.5	74.0	68.0	65.5
23	Darini Pouria	IM	IRI	2423	7.5	72.5	66.5	64.0
24	Noroozi Omid		IRI	2307	7.5	71.5	65.5	63.0
25	Maghalashvili Davit	IM	GEO	2453	7.5	70.5	65.0	62.5
26	Khademi Mohammad Miran		IRI	2242	7.5	68.0	63.0	59.5
27	Morchiashvili Bachana	IM	GEO	2400	7.5	67.5	63.0	59.0
28	Dizdar Goran	GM	CRO	2544	7.5	67.5	62.0	59.5
29	Babapour Hossein		IRI	2041	7.5	63.5	58.5	55.0
30	Hosseinipour Mehdi	FM	IRI	2261	7.5	62.0	57.5	53.5

Links

• Official website Cappelle la Grande
• Games in PGN via TWIC
• Official website Fajr Open