Gawain Jones Wins Commonwealth Champs
The English GM Gawain Jones (pictured) won the 2011 Commonwealth Chess Championship, just ahead of his countryman Nigel Short.
The championships were part of the South African Open, held at the Emperors Palace Hotel Casino & Convention Resort in the city of Ekurhuleni from 25 June - 3 July.
The prize fund was R205,000 (approx USD30,000).
Gawain Jones and Nigel Short both finished the 11-round Swiss with a score of 9½ but Jones won the Gold medal thanks to his superior tie-break score.
The top standings are below. The full results are here.
| Name | Elo | Nat | Pts | TB | |
| 1 | Jones Gawain CB | 2596 | ENG | 9.5 | 56.5 |
| 2 | Short Nigel D | 2682 | ENG | 9.5 | 55.5 |
| 3 | Smerdon David | 2520 | AUS | 9.0 | 54.0 |
| 4 | Huschenbeth Niclas | 2502 | GER | 9.0 | 53.0 |
| 5 | Kunte Abhijit | 2526 | IND | 9.0 | 50.5 |
| 6 | Lafuente Pablo | 2555 | ARG | 8.5 | 55.0 |
| 7 | Jere Daniel | 2344 | ZAM | 8.5 | 54.0 |
| 8 | Grover Sahaj | 2485 | IND | 8.5 | 53.5 |
| 9 | Laxman Rajaram | 2446 | IND | 8.5 | 51.5 |
| 10 | Ringoir Tanguy | 2399 | BEL | 8.5 | 50.5 |
| 11 | Karavade Eesha | 2343 | IND | 8.5 | 48.5 |
| 12 | Gupta Abhijeet | 2604 | IND | 8.0 | 54.5 |
| 13 | van der Nat Nicholas P | 2308 | RSA | 8.0 | 54.0 |
| 14 | Harika Dronovali | 2520 | IND | 8.0 | 53.5 |
| 15 | Kobese Watu AKW | 2355 | RSA | 8.0 | 52.0 |
| 16 | Ghate Swati | 2317 | IND | 8.0 | 52.0 |
| 17 | Mokal Prathamesh S | 2405 | IND | 8.0 | 51.5 |
| 18 | Bouah Lyndon | 2147 | RSA | 8.0 | 49.5 |
| 19 | Subbaraman Meenakshi | 2317 | IND | 8.0 | 49.0 |
| 20 | Dole Anant | 2103 | RSA | 8.0 | 49.0 |
Picture from the official website.
