CHESS: AKOBIAN LEADS DOEBERL CUP
by Peter Parr
Sydney Morning Herald
March 24, 2008 Monday
Australia
leader in the 46th O2C Doeberl Cup Easter Weekend Tournament at the
Hellenic Club, Canberra, which this year attracted a record entry of
229 players – although 31 were in a reduced two-day event this year
(the previous record was 226 in 2006). Akobian, 24, moved from Armenia
to Los Angeles in 2001 and became a Grandmaster one week after his
20th birthday in 2003. He won the World Open in the USA in 2007.
Akobian drew with 15-year-old NSW Junior Champion Max Illingworth in
round one after trying to win for almost 100 moves but he won his next
five games defeating Smerdon,Johansen and Ganguly. GM Darryl Johansen
of Melbourne was the sole leader after four rounds with 4/4 defeating
second seed GM Malakhatko after recovering from a lost position.
Johansen lost his next two games against third seed Akobian and top
seed Zhang with the black pieces in the next two rounds. Australian
Champion Stephen Solomon is the only Australian in the top nine
after round six. Draws by mutual agreement in under 30 moves are
not allowed without permission of the arbiter. Some leading players
agreed to draws without penalty and in round seven Akobian-Zhang was
agreed drawn after only 14 moves with permission from the arbiter.
The top 12 rated players are in the top 12 places after six rounds
with three rounds left to play. Leading scores after round six (82
players, 31 are titled including 8 GM, 11 IM, 2 WGM) GM V. Akobian
(USA 2599) 5.5, GM Z. Zhang (SIN 2617), GM M. Gagunashvili (GEO 2553)
5, GM S. Ganguly (IND 2579), GM G.Jones (ENG 2562), GM D. Antic (SER
2480), GM V. Malakhatko (BEL 2600), IM S. Solomon (QLD 2468), WGM R.
Li (SIN 2425) all 4.5, GM D. Johansen (VIC 2475),IM D. Smerdon (ACT
2459), IM I. Bitansky(ISR 2424) and 12 others are on four points.
Leading Major U2000 scores afterround four (49 players seven rounds)
– B. Mandla 1942 4, A. Huynh 1837, M.
Dizdarevic 1930, R. Voon 1856 3.5 Leading Minor U1600 scores after
round four (67 players, seven rounds) E. Guo 1598, J. Dalton 1446 4.
The U1200 division(31 players,2 days)was won by Andrew Pan with 6/6.
GM Akobian also won the Doeberl Cup lightning(68 players scoring 8/9
followed by IM D. Smerdon 7.5, J. Hu and GM G. Jones 7. The Sydney
International Open 25-29 March at Parramatta Town Hall has
attracted 146 players from 23 countries. 100 are competing in the
main event including 29 titled players (11 grandmasters). IM George
Xie, FM D. Swiercz and E. Puzon jointly won the 22 player Canterbury
Lightning with 8/9. WGM Hou Yifan who turned fourteen three weeks ago
won the Women Masters in Istanbul scoring five wins and four draws
for an impressive 2674 rating performance. Leading final scores (10
players, nine rounds) H. Yifan (CHN 2527) 7, GM P.Cramling (SWE 2524)
, WGM Z.Xue (CHN 2 17) 5.5, IM E. Atalik (TUR 2408) 5, IM L.
Javakhishvili (GEO 2470) 4.5 Progress scores after 14 rounds in the
14th Amber Rapid and Blindfold tournament in Nice, France (12 players
including 11 of the top 14 in the world, 22 rounds) L. Aronian (ARM
2739) 9, V. Anand (IND 2799) 8, M. Carlsen (NOR
2733),V.Kramnik (RUS 2799), P.Leko (HUN 2753) 7.5, V. Ivanchuk (UKR
2751), A. Morozevich (RUS 2765), V.Topalov(BUL 2780) 7, S. Karjakin
(UKR 2732)6.5, S. Mamedyarov (AZE 2760)6,B.Gelfand (ISR 2737),
L. Van Wely (NED 2681)5.5. Aronian leads the rapid section on 5.5/7
and Morozevich leads the blindfold on 5/7.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress