Tigran L. Petrosian wins ICC's Gibraltar qualifier

There must be something in the name after all. The young Armenian with the famous namesake, Tigran L. Petrosian, proved yet again he's one of the top dogs on ICC after winning his second major online qualfier of the year. Petrosian, who beat Gata Kamsky earlier in the year to win the Mainz qualifier, this time beat GM Gadir Guseniov to win an all-expenses paid trip to the Gibtelecom Master in Gibraltar, coming up in January 2008.

Petrosian was the top seed in the 16-player final, and along the way he beat the young Australian hopeful Max Illingworth, fellow titled players Viktor Komliakov and Safarli Eltaj, before winning the title with a convincing 3.5-0.5 victory over Guseniov.

Eindstand:

1. GM Tigran L. Petrosian trip to Gibraltar tournament 2. GM Gadir Guseinov $400 3./4. IM Safarli Eltaj $150 3./4. GM Zaven Andriasyan $150

Out of a total entry of 1,560 players taking part in 4 qualifiers, 15 players won through from three ICC qualifiers and one player from World Chess Live (WCL - ICC's sister server) to contest the finals. The full 16-player lineup for the finals (with their handles) was:

Qualifier 1: olimpus (IM Axel Bachmann), B-Savchenko (GM Boris Savchenko), Vanych (GM Viktor Komliakov), KRASAVCHIK (IM Safarli Eltaj) and Kgt1 (IM Gaby Livshitz)

Qualifier 2: Franchesko (GM Rauf Mamedov), VerdeNotte (GM Gawain Jones), mightymax (Max Illingworth), TRADE (IM Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian) and Imperator15 (IM Yuri Vovk)

Qualifier 3: GGuseinov (GM Gadir Guseinov), ZavenGrozny (GM Zaven Andriasyan), TIGRANO (GM Tigran Petrosian), Igrok (GM Alexey Dreev) and hernandez (GM Gilberto Hernandez).

WCL: Gasa (IM Dragan Stamenkovic).

Final 16:

GM Tigran L. Petrosian   3-0   Max Illingworth
GM Viktor Komliakov      3-0   IM Axel Bachman
IM Safarli Eltaj         3-0   IM Dragan Stamenkovic
GM Rauf Mamedov        2.5-0.5 GM Gilberto Hernandez
GM Zaven Andriasyan      4-2   IM Gaby Livshitz
IM Yuri Vovk           2.5-3.5 GM Boris Savchenko
GM Gadir Guseinov        3-1   GM Gawain Jones
GM Alexey Dreev          5-4   IM Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian

1/4 final:

GM Tigran L. Petrosian 2.5-0.5 GM Viktor Komliakov
IM Safarli Eltaj       2.5-1.5 GM Rauf Mamedov
GM Zaven Andriasyan      3-0   GM Boris Savchenko
GM Gadir Guseinov        3-0   GM Alexey Dreev

1/2 final:

GM Tigran L. Petrosian 2.5-0.5 IM Safarli Eltaj
GM Zaven Andriasyan    0.5-2.5 GM Gadir Guseinov

Final:

GM Tigran L. Petrosian  3.5-0.5 GM Gadir Guseinov

Download all games of the finals here. The games of the final:



Report by John Henderson