Archive for May 31st, 2009

He had at least joint victory after the third day. Ukraine’s top GM Vassily Ivanchuk won the first game on day four, with the black pieces in just 28 moves. The second game lasted 56 moves and ended in a draw for the final 5.5-2.5 victory. Ivanchuk’s performance was close to 2800, Navara played about 50 points below his nominal rating (for tournament chess). Illustrated report.

GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly of India and Zhang Xiaowen of China won the Asian Open and Women’s Championships 2009, respectively, in Subic Bay Freeport Zone in northern Philippines. A total of $50,000 was at stake in the Open and $15,000 in the Women’s Championships, from FIDE and the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP). Big pictorial report.

After trailing 1:3 from their first four games Czech GM David Navara came out fighting in round five, dominating his opponent for most of the game and then playing a nice ending to take the full point. In game six Vassily Ivanchuk fought back, outplaying his opponent to maintain his commanding lead. The President of the Czech Republic Václav Klaus attended the event. Pictorial report.