Hastings & Rilton Cup finished
Yesterday was the last round of two open tournaments with a very long tradition: the Hastings Chess Congress and the Rilton Cup. In Hastings Indian GMs Deep Sengupta and Arghyadip Das emerged as the winners after a dramatic last round, while in Stockholm Sergey Volkov was the strongest with 8/9.L-R Deep Sengupta, Arghyadip Das (winners in Hastings) and Sergey Volkov (winner of the Rilton Cup)Deep Sengupta and Arghyadip Das win Hastings Chess Congress 2010-11
This year's congress saw its 86th (!) edition and as you probably know, it's the longest running tournament in the world. Although the London Chess Classic is now clearly the strongest British event, the great tradition continues in the small town on the South coast of England, in East Sussex.This year featured one of the strongest Masters events for some years, with a field of 103 participants including 10 Grandmasters and 15 International Masters. Local hero GM David Howell, who came fresh from London, had an excellent start with 5/5. Then he lost to French GM Romain Edouard, who continued strongly and led the field with 6.5/8 and one round to go.Things went horrible wrong on the last day, when Indian GM Deep Sengupta played a splendid attacking game against the French GM. The other co-winner, Das, achieved his success at the expense of his compatriot, Shyam, who needed to win to make a GM norm.
Below you can find a number of games from Hastings, selected by FM Steve Giddins. You can find his round reports and commentary to the games here.
Selection of games Hastings
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Sergey Volkov wins Rilton Cup 2010-11
This year the Rilton Cup celebrated its 40th edition. It still is Sweden’s biggest and most famous international chess tournament. The event was initiated by a donation from doctor Tore Rilton and since 1985 the tournament is financially safe. The tournament has over the years been very helpful for the Swedish juniors.Like in Hastings the top group played a 9-round Swiss. It was a bit stronger in fact than its English counterpart, with 18 GMs and 9 IMs and among the favourites Arkadij Naiditsch, Ivan Sokolov and Bartlomiej Macieja.After six rounds GMs Arkadij Naiditsch, Bartomiej Macieja, Sergey Volkov, Nils Grandelius and Aleksandr Shimanov were sharing the lead with five points. A crucial game in round seven was Naiditsch-Volkov. In a French McCutcheon Naiditsch played for a win too long with White, and eventually lost to the Russian GM.Volkov then beat Swedish GM Karlsson, but with one round to go still had Shimanov next to him on first place, who had won against Furhoff and Grandelius, both with Black. In the last round Shimanov was held to a draw by Ivan Sokolov, while Volkov won yet again with the black pieces, against Macieja.
Selection of games Rilton Cup
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