Kovalenko wins the 33rd Zalakaros Chess Festival

The 33rd Zalakaros Chess Festival was held from 23rd to 31st May, 2014 in the Hungarian city of Zalakaros, famous for its thermal bath.

The 9-round Swiss Festival with the hefty prize fund in the amount of 16 130 € was split into two open tournaments – Open A, Gyula Sax Memorial, dedicated to the memory of Hungarian chess legend Grandmaster Gyula Sax, who passed away earlier this year and – Open B, open to under 2400 participants. More informationhere.

The reigning Latvian chess champion GM Igor Kovalenko won the Master Section with 7/9 points, half a point ahead of the nearest followers.

Second place was shared in a 5-way tie by GM Axel Bachmann (PAR), GM Alexander Kovchan (UKR), GM Gawain Jones(ENG), GM Alexander Beliavsky (SLO) and IM Siegfried Baumegger (AUT) with 6.5/9 points each.

IM Fancsy Imre (HUN) claimed Open B with 7,5/9 points. GM Vladimir Okhotnik (FRA) shared the silver in a 3-way tie with IM Attila Kiss (HUN) and IM Leonid Kernazhitsky (UKR) with 7/9 points each.

Replay the games with triple engine analysis/ Tournament website

Open A final rankings (top finishers):

1 GM Kovalenko Igor LAT 2611 7
2 GM Bachmann Axel PAR 2589 6,5
3 GM Kovchan Alexander UKR 2558 6,5
4 GM Jones Gawain C B ENG 2645 6,5
5 GM Beliavsky Alexander G SLO 2620 6,5
6 IM Baumegger Siegfried AUT 2469 6,5
7 GM Berkes Ferenc HUN 2665 6
8 GM Erdos Viktor HUN 2647 6
9 GM Onischuk Vladimir UKR 2594 6
10 GM Rapport Richard HUN 2698 6
11 IM Bokros Albert HUN 2461 6
12 GM Czebe Attila HUN 2409 6
13 GM Horvath Adam HUN 2531 5,5
14 GM Gonda Laszlo HUN 2563 5,5
15 IM Donchenko Alexander GER 2498 5,5
16 FM Csonka Balazs HUN 2361 5,5
17 GM Chernyshov Konstantin RUS 2508 5
18 GM Fodor Tamas Jr. HUN 2462 5
19 GM Romanishin Oleg M UKR 2482 5
20 GM Banusz Tamas HUN 2607 5
21 IM Nemeth Miklos HUN 2492 5
22 GM Antal Gergely HUN 2529 5
23 GM Horvath Jozsef HUN 2507 5
24 FM Korpa Bence HUN 2415 5
25 GM Grigoriants Sergey RUS 2595 5
26 IM Nagy Gabor HUN 2438 5
27 FM Gledura Benjamin HUN 2395 5
28 Havasi Gergo HUN 2302 5
29 IM Petenyi Tamas SVK 2448 5
30 GM Berczes David HUN 2482 5
31 GM Medvegy Zoltan HUN 2515 4,5
32 GM Portisch Lajos HUN 2464 4,5
33 GM Seres Lajos HUN 2435 4,5
34 FM Sean Winshand Cuhendi INA 2385 4,5
35 GM Tolnai Tibor HUN 2469 4,5
36 FM Bagi Mate HUN 2378 4,5
37 IM Ekdyshman Mikhail RUS 2351 4,5
38 IM Madl Ildiko HUN 2328 4,5
39 IM Almasi Istvan HUN 2403 4,5
40 GM Hoang Thanh Trang HUN 2509 4,5
41 IM Meszaros Tamas HUN 2438 4,5
42 WGM Gara Ticia HUN 2338 4,5
43 GM Papp Gabor HUN 2580 4
44 IM To Nhat Minh HUN 2329 4
45 GM Horvath Csaba HUN 2560 4
46 Balazs Gabor HUN 2397 4
47 FM Tesik Csaba HUN 2329 4
48 FM Radnai Adam HUN 2329 4
49 IM Boguszlavszkij Jevgenyij HUN 2217 4
50 IM Gara Anita HUN 2326 4