Epress.am News from Armenia
Norway’s Magnus Carlsen settled for a draw after a mere 19 moves with black from a Chigorin against Russia’s Alexander Grishuk (see picture) to finish the tournament in third place.
Hikaru Nakamura of the United States took the 10,000-euro first prize in the 73rd Tata Steel Tournament after an exciting scramble for the top spot in the final round of the annual Wijk-aan-Zee chess spectacular Sunday. World champion Viswanathan Anand of India finished second, half a point behind Nakamura, to earn 7,000 euros.
Norway’s Magnus Carlsen settled for a draw after a mere 19 moves with black from a Chigorin against Russia’s Alexander Grishuk to finish the tournament in third place. Levon Aronian of Armenia fought Dutch national champion Jan Smeets to a draw over 61 moves from a semi Slav to come alongside the Norwegian. They share the 6,000-euro combined third and fourth prize.
Though Aronian didn’t win the coveted prize, it can be said this tournament was a victory for him: the Armenian Grandmaster won 3 games in 13 rounds and settled for a draw in the remaining 10. Aronian became one of only two chess players in the Wijk-aan-Zee tournament who didn’t lose any of the games he played (the other player was Anand).
In Group B, Armenian Grandmaster Gabriel Sargissian concluded the tournament with 7.5 points, sharing the 4th to 6th places with Le Quang Liem of Vietnam and Wesley So of the Philippines.
Third place in Group B was Ukraine’s Zahar Efimenko (8 points) and sharing the 1st and 2nd places were England’s Luke McShane and David Navara of the Czech Republic, both with 8.5 points.