CHESSDOM: Topalov Wins Villarrobledo

Topalov wins Villarrobledo Chess Festival

Mamedyarov takes silver, Ponomariov bronze

Villarrobledo chess festival 2008 saw an exciting finish. Four players had equal points after round 5 at the first day of the competition. Today GM Mamedyarov had a fly start and with a series of victories had 6.5/7 just a few rounds before the end of the competition. At that moment Mamedyarov was alone at the top, as Ponomariov and Topalov finished draw. However, in round 8 the Azeri player finished draw with Shirov and the victory of Topalov against Paunovic put him first on tiebreak. The last round victory of the ex world champion and the draw by Mamedyarov, left Topalov as the sole winner of the competition.

Mamedyarov was clear second, while bronze was for Ponomariov, who had the same score as Palac, Malakhov, Ljubojevic, and Arizmendi, but a better tiebreak.

Villarrobledo Chess Festival results

1 GM Topalov Veselin BUL 2777 8,0 53,0 58,0 41,0

2 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE 2742 7,5 52,0 56,5 41,0

3 GM Ponomariov Ruslan UKR 2718 7,0 52,0 57,0 37,0
4 GM Palac Mladen CRO 2587 7,0 50,0 53,5 36,0
5 GM Malakhov Vladimir RUS 2689 7,0 49,5 54,0 38,0
6 GM Ljubojevic Ljubomir SRB 2555 7,0 47,5 51,0 36,5
7 GM Arizmendi Martinez Julen Luis ESP 2524 VAL 7,0 47,0 50,0 35,0

8 GM Shirov Alexei ESP 2741 EXT 6,5 52,0 56,5 37,0
9 GM Paunovic Dragan SRB 2539 GAL 6,5 48,5 53,5 36,5
10 GM Sokolov Ivan NED 2658 CAN 6,5 48,0 52,5 34,0
11 GM Van Wely Loek NED 2644 6,5 48,0 52,0 36,0
12 IM Abreu Delgado Aryam CUB 2502 6,5 46,5 49,0 34,5
13 IM Perez Candelario Manuel ESP 2537 EXT 6,5 43,5 47,5 34,0
14 GM Dreev Alexey RUS 2657 6,5 43,5 47,5 32,5
15 GM Guliyev Namig AZE 2510 6,5 42,5 46,0 34,5
16 IM Lafuente Pablo ARG 2505 CAT 6,5 42,0 46,0 32,5
17 IM Minzer Claudio Javier ARG 2457 ARA 6,5 42,0 45,0 31,0

18 GM Milov Vadim SUI 2705 6,0 48,5 53,5 35,0
19 GM Fedorchuk Sergey A UKR 2624 6,0 47,5 51,5 35,5
20 GM Kolev Atanas BUL 2565 CAT 6,0 46,0 50,5 34,5
21 GM Rivas Pastor Manuel ESP 2508 AND 6,0 45,0 49,0 31,0
22 IM Roa Alonso Santiago ESP 2465 MAD 6,0 44,5 47,5 33,5
23 FM Gonzalez Somoza Oliver ESP 2357 MAD 6,0 43,0 46,0 31,0

Total: 163 players

[Event "Villarrobledo International Rapid Open"]
[Site "Villarrobledo ESP"][Date "2008.08.03"][Round "8"]
[White "Dragan Paunovic"]
[Black "Veselin Topalov"]
[ECO "A20-English Opening - King's English Variation"]
[WhiteElo "2539"]
[BlackElo "2777"]
[PlyCount "88"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. O-O
Be7 7. d4 e4 8. Ne5 f5 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Nd2 O-O 11. Nb3 a5
12. Bd2 a4 13. Na5 Bd7 14. Qxa4 Qe8 15. Qb3 Kh8 16. Nc4 c5
17. Ne3 Nb6 18. dxc5 Bxc5 19. Qc2 Bd6 20. Rfe1 Qf7 21. Nd1
Rxa2 22. Rxa2 Qxa2 23. Nc3 Qf7 24. Bf4 Bxf4 25. gxf4 h6 26. e3
Be6 27. Nb5 Bc4 28. Nd4 c5 29. Nc6 Nd7 30. Qc3 Bd3 31. Ra1 Qe6
32. Ne5 Nxe5 33. fxe5 c4 34. Qd4 Re8 35. Ra5 Kh7 36. h3 Be2
37. Rd5 Qe7 38. Kh2 Qh4 39. f4 Bf3 40. Qd2 Ra8 41. Rd7 Ra6
42. Rd6 Ra2 43. Rd8 Bxg2 44. Kxg2 c3 0-1