GM Ivan Cheparinov crowned himself the 7th Sunway Open champion after beating GM Matthieu Cornette in the final round action at Sitges in Barcelona, Spain on Dec. 23.
Cheparinov, the second seed in the 138-player Swiss event, emerged the solo champion after his erstwhile co-leaders GMs Jaime Santos Latasa and Jules Moussard drew their last round games. Latasa and Moussard ended up sharing second to fifth places with GMs Alexandr Fier and Vladislav Nevednichy, who defeated IMs Hans Moke Niemann and Christophe Sochaki respectively.
A seven-player group that include top seed GM Anton Korobov, third seed GM Karen Grigoryan, fourth seed GM Maxime Lagarde, and GMs Nicolas Checa and Miguel Santos Ruiz, and IMs Leon Luke Mendoca and Daniel Dardha wound up tied for sixth to 12th places.
The victory was worth 5,000 Euros for the 34-year old Cheparinov, a second of former world champion Veselin Topalov who has left his native Bulgaria and now represents the Georgian flag.
Cornette, M (2558)-Cheparinov, I (2660) [B23]
Sitges (10.2) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bc4 Nc6 6.0-0 e6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nb5 Nge7 9.Bb3 0-0 10.Nbxd4 a6 11.c3 Na5 12.Bc2 e5 13.Ne2 b5 14.Qe1 f5 15.fxe5 dxe5 16.exf5 Bxf5 17.Bxf5 Nxf5 18.Ng3 Qb6+ 19.Rf2 Nxg3 20.hxg3 Nc4 21.Qe4 Qc5 22.g4 Rad8 23.Bg5 Rd7 24.b4 Qd5 25.Re2 Qxe4 26.Rxe4 h6 27.Bh4 Rf4 28.Rae1 Rxe4 29.Rxe4 Rd1+ 30.Kh2 Kf7 31.a4 Nd6 32.Re2 e4 33.Nd4 bxa4 34.Rf2+ Ke8 35.Ra2 Nb5 36.Ne2 a3 37.c4 Ra1 38.cxb5 Rxa2 39.bxa6 Rc2 40.a7 Rc8 41.b5 Kd7 0-1
Fier, A (2549)-Niemann, HM (2478) [C88]
Sitges (10.4) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.a4 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.Nc3 Na5 11.Ba2 b4 12.Ne2 c5 13.Ng3 Bc8 14.c3 Rb8 15.d4 cxd4 16.cxd4 b3 17.Bb1 Bg4 18.dxe5 dxe5 19.h3 Be6 20.Nxe5 Bb4 21.Rf1 Bd6 22.Nd3 Bxg3 23.fxg3 Nxe4 24.Qe1 f5 25.Bf4 Rc8 26.Nf2 Nc5 27.Nd3 Bc4 28.Nxc5 Bxf1 29.Ne6 Qd5 30.Kxf1 Rfe8 31.Qd2 Qxe6 32.Qxa5 Qe2+ 33.Kg1 Qxb2 34.Qxf5 Qd4+ 35.Kh2 g6 36.Qd3 Qxa1 37.Qxb3+ Kh8 38.Qb7 a5 39.h4 Qf6 40.Bd3 Qg7 41.Qb6 Re1 42.Bg5 Rf8 43.Bd2 Re7 44.Qxa5 Rc8 45.Qa6 Rf8 46.Bb4 Rc7 47.Bxf8 Qxf8 48.Qb6 Qc5 49.Qf6+ Rg7 50.Be4 Qe7 51.Qd4 Qd7 52.Qb4 Qe7 53.Qd4 Qa7 54.Qc4 Rc7 55.Qd5 Qc5 56.Qd8+ Kg7 57.Bd5 Qe7 58.Qb8 Ra7 59.Qb5 Qd8 60.Bb3 Qd2 61.Qe5+ Kh6 62.g4 Rd7 63.Bc4 Qf2 64.Kh3 1-0
Korobov, A (2693)-Maurizzi, MA (2445) [A11]
Sitges (10.7) 2020
1.c4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Bg5 Nc6 6.Bxf6 gxf6 7.e3 a6 8.Bd3 e5 9.Nge2 Be6 10.0-0 h5 11.Bc2 h4 12.dxe5 h3 13.g3 fxe5 14.Bb3 d4 15.exd4 exd4 16.Bxe6 dxc3 17.Bxf7+ Kxf7 18.Qb3+ Kg7 19.Nf4 Nd4 20.Qxb7+ Kg8 21.bxc3 Rh7 22.Qe4 Nb5 23.Ne6 Qc8 24.Rae1 Qb7 25.Qg4+ Kh8 26.Nf4 Qg7 27.Ng6+ Kg8 28.Re5 Nd6 29.Rg5 Nf7 30.Ne7+ Bxe7 31.Rxg7+ Rxg7 32.Qxh3 Rd8 33.Qe6 Bc5 34.Qxa6 Nd6 35.Qc6 Ba7 36.Rd1 Rgd7 37.Rd2 1-0
Sochacki, C (2469)-Nevednichy, V (2546) [B43]
Sitges (10.5) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.a3 Nc6 7.Be3 Nf6 8.f4 d6 9.Qf3 Be7 10.Bd3 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 0-0 12.0-0 e5 13.Be3 exf4 14.Qxf4 Be6 15.Nd5 Bxd5 16.exd5 Rae8 17.Bd4 Nd7 18.Bxh7+ Kxh7 19.Bxg7 Kxg7 20.Qg4+ Kh8 21.Rf3 Nf6 22.Rh3+ Nh7 23.Qf5 Bh4 24.Rxh4 f6 25.Rf1 Re5 26.Qd3 Rf7 27.b4 Qe7 28.Rf3 Rg7 29.g3 Kg8 30.Rc4 Qd7 31.Qc3 Re8 32.Re3 Rge7 33.Rxe7 Rxe7 34.Qf3 Re5 35.h4 Qh3 36.Kf2 Qh2+ 37.Kf1 Qh3+ 38.Kf2 Rf5 39.Rf4 Qh2+ 40.Ke3 Rxf4 41.Qxf4 Qg1+ 42.Ke4 Qh1+ 43.Kd4 Qd1+ 44.Kc3 Qxd5 45.Qg4+ Kh8 46.Qc8+ Kg7 47.Qg4+ Kh6 48.Qf4+ Kh5 49.g4+ Kg6 50.Qd4 Qe5 51.Kd3 d5 52.c4 Qg3+ 53.Kd2 dxc4 54.Qxc4 Qxh4 55.Qe4+ Kh6 56.Qxb7 Qf2+ 57.Kc3 Qe3+ 58.Kc2 Qe2+ 59.Kc3 Ng5 60.Qh1+ Kg7 61.a4 Nf3 62.b5 a5 63.b6 Qd2+ 64.Kb3 Qb4+ 65.Ka2 Qxa4+ 66.Kb2 Qb4+ 67.Ka2 Qc4+ 68.Kb2 Qd4+ 69.Ka2 Qd5+ 70.Ka1 a4 71.g5 Qd4+ 72.Ka2 Qc4+ 73.Ka1 Qc3+ 74.Ka2 Qb3+ 75.Ka1 Qa3+ 76.Kb1 fxg5 77.Qg2 Qb4+ 78.Kc1 Qc3+ 79.Kd1 a3 80.Qa2 Qd3+ 81.Kc1 Nd4 0-1
Stefanova, A (2466)-Lagarde, M (2651) [A41]
Sitges (10.8) 2020
1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 f5 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Bf4 c6 7.Qd2 h6 8.h4 Be6 9.0-0 Nbd7 10.Rfe1 Bd5 11.Nxd5 cxd5 12.c3 Rc8 13.Nh2 Ne4 14.Qd1 g5 15.hxg5 hxg5 16.Bxe4 dxe4 17.Bxg5 Bf6 18.Bxf6 Nxf6 19.Kg2 Qd7 20.Rh1 Kf7 21.Qb3+ d5 22.f4 Rcg8 23.e3 Qe6 24.Rag1 Qa6 25.Qc2 Qxa2 26.Qe2 Qb3 27.Nf1 Ng4 28.Nh2 Nxe3+ 29.Qxe3 Qxb2+ 30.Qf2 Rxg3+ 31.Kf1 Qb1+ 32.Qe1 Rxg1+ 33.Rxg1 Qxe1+ 34.Kxe1 Rxh2 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qxb4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sd6 2.Sc5#; 1…c5 2.Qxb5#; 1…f5 2.Se5#./PN
