Wang Hao beats Ponomariov in Kings’ Tournament’s final round

In the last round of the Kings’ Tournament in Bucharest Wang Hao defeated Ruslan Ponomariov in a Semi-Tarrasch to finish on 4.5/8. The Chinese GM ended only half a point behind tournament winner Fabiano Caruana, who drew his last-round game with Teimour Radjabov quickly.

Fabiano Caruana became the winner of Kings’ Tournament 2013. After a quick draw in the last round with the black pieces against Radjabov, the Italian GM scored 5 points out of 8 and secured the first place.

Wang Hao-Ponomariov was a long game, where Black equalized after the opening, but then started to face some problems which the Ukrainian GM failed to solve. In the resulting endgame with rooks and opposite-coloured bishops Wang Hao won a pawn and then converted his material advantage to achieve his second win in a row in Bucharest.

Caruana tweeted:

Not a great finish, but still managed to win the Kings' Tournament. Traveling to Rodos tomorrow for the ECC. Hoping my team SOCAR will win!

— Fabiano Caruana (@FabianoCaruana) October 16, 2013

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Kings’ Tournament 2013 | Final Standings

#	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	Score	Perf
1	Caruana,F	2779		½0	1½	1½	½1	5.0/8	2808
2	Wang Hao	2733	½1		0½	½½	½1	4.5/8	2775
3	Nisipeanu,LD	2674	0½	1½		½½	½½	4.0/8	2746
4	Radjabov,T	2723	0½	½½	½½		½½	3.5/8	2691
5	Ponomariov,R	2751	½0	½0	½½	½½		3.0/8	2639

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Photos courtesy of the Kings’ Tournament; round reports thanks to GM Dorian Rogozenco