Najer wins World Open

Again, an "Armageddon" game had to decide a major event in the United States, but the spectators and winner Evgeny Najer probably didn't complain. Last Sunday, the Russian won the World Open in Philadelphia.

The World Open took place July 1-6 in Philadelphia, United States. The nine-round Swiss tournament ended with a four-way tie for first between Evgeny Najer, Parimarjan Negi, Lubomir Ftacnik and Alexander Moiseenko. They all scored 7 out of 9 and earned over US $12,000.

Because Najer and Negi had the highest tiebreaks, they advanced to the playoff. This involved one Armageddon game for an extra 400$, with seven minutes for the White pieces and a must win, and Black getting five minutes and draw odds. Najer, who had the best tiebreaks, chose White and scored a great win in Tal-style.

After the game Negi commented that even with 6 to 5, he would prefer playing White! (Source: Chess Life Online.)




Here's a video report by Vijay Kumar which includes an interview with Parimarjan Negi. We hadn't heard from the now 15-year old Indian for a while, after he became the second youngest grandmaster ever, two years ago. His shared first at the World Open is excellent of course, as was his first place at the Philadelphia International.



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