Mikhail Chigorin Memorial 2009

Mikhail Chigorin Memorial 2009
Zaven Andriasian wins rapid tournament

The 17th International Chess Festival “Mikhail Chigorin Memorial” is being held on 14-25th October at Holiday Inn Moskovskie Vorota hotel in St. Petersburg, Russia.

A rich prize fund of about 40.000 EUR, provided by the sponsor pool led by Russian giant Gazprom, initiated a huge turnout of 264 players in the main open tournament, among them 24 rated above 2600 elo. Top seed is Indian Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna.

The Festival opened with a two-day rapid tournament on 14-15th October. 159 participants fought over 11 rounds with a time control 15 min + 5 sec per player. Armenian Grandmaster and former World Junior Champion Zaven Andriasian convincingly won the race with 9.5 points, full point ahead of the chasing pack.

Rapid tournament final standings:

1. GM Andriasian Zaven ARM 2612 – 9.52-4. GM Khairullin Ildar RUS 2604, IM Kovalenko Igor UKR 2484 and GM Vorobiov Evgeny RUS 2606 – 8.55-11. GM Epishin Vladimir RUS 2590, GM Dreev Alexey RUS 2659, GM Vysochin Spartak UKR 2550, GM Aleksandrov Aleksej BLR 2639, GM Shomoev Anton RUS 2566, GM Savchenko Boris RUS 2638 and GM Zhigalko Andrey BLR 2601 – 8.0 etc

Here is the full article by chessdom.com.