Carlsen retains title @ Shamkir 2015; Wesley So @ 3rd?place
By Jose "joeyj" Jereos Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 28 Apr 2015
The ?Shamkir Chess 2015?also known as ?the 2nd Vugar Gashimov Memorial? held in Shamkir, Azerbaijan, 17-26 April 2015, in memory of the late Azerbaijan?s great and famous chess player GM Vugar Gashimov?was won for the second straight year by the?reigning World Champion (WC)?Magnus Carlsen.??It was a very impressive conquest?by the World Champion as ?he ?defeated Rauf Mamedov ?in the final round and relegating?the former World Champion ?Viswanathan Anand?to?second place, a full point behind with 6.0/9 points.??WC Carlsen, also the winner last year (2014 edition), retained his title undefeated with a ?7.0/9 score from his ?5-wins, No-loss &?4-draws (+5-0=4) ?record and a TPR of 2983, ?one of his most impressive tournament results ever.
Carlsen describing?his victory to last year?s tournament:??It was a bit of the same: with a good start, a good finish, five wins total but yeah, this time I managed to avoid the collapse in the middle. That was the difference between a good performance and a very good performance.?
The tournament was participated by 10 of the strongest players in the World with an average rating of?2771.33, a category 21 (2751?2775) round-robin tournament. ??The Top 9 seed players had ratings of 2800+/2700+ with the 10th player rated at 2651.
Wesley So tied for 3rd place ?(3rd overall)
Philippines born?GM Wesley So who?now represents U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) since?28 October 2014, ?a first?timer in this strong?Category 21??Shamkir Chess 2015?tournament,? scored?5.0/9?points ?and tied for 3rd place with the #2 seed?GM Fabiano Caruana (2802)?but after?tiebreak?with So?s?3-wins versus Caruana?s 2-wins, Wesley So finished 3rd place overall & Caruana placed ?4th.?Another former World Champion?Vladimir Kramnik?placed 5th place with 4.0/9 points.
The #5 seed Wesley So Tournament Performance Rating (TPR) was?2814?a +26 higher than his current official rating of 2788. ?He had gained a +2.8 in rating points. Summing this up with his ?ELO loss -12.5 @ US Chess Championships ?2015?resulted to a net loss ?of -9.7 and a Live Rating of??2778.3? that placed?him back to?#7?in the?World Chess rating list.
Wesley So?had an amazing run?on the earlier rounds (R1-R4) when he defeated his longtime nemesis the #4 seed?Anish Giri?for the first time in his career in R1. ?He followed this up with a ?draw against the #6 seed?Vladimir Kramnik? in R2. ?Successive wins in R3 & R4 versus ?Michael Adams?&?Rauf?Mamedov?respectively propelled him to a sole lead with 3.5/4 and an impressive TPR of 3079 after R4.
The last five rounds produced 2 sorry losses in the hands of the prolific former world champion?Viswanathan? Anand in R5 and the current world #2 rated?Fabiano?Caruana in R7, ?The other 3-rounds?produced fighting draws with??Shakhriyar?Mamedyarov (R6), WC Magnus?Carlsen?(R8) & ?Maxime Vachier-Lagrave?(R9).
Wesley So posted @ FB at the end of the tourney saying ???It?has been a great honor for me to play chess at the Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir, Azerbaijan. Coming in third behind the present World Champion and the Past World Champion, is mind boggling?.
??I want to thank the people from SYNERGY for supporting the development of chess in Azerbaijan and treating the players they invite, so graciously.?
?I also want to extend gratitude to my amazing opponents at the board. Thank you, Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Fabiano Caruana, Vladimir Kramnik, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Michael Adams, Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Rauf Mamedov.
AMDG.?
Next stop for GM Wesley So
French Team (Top 12) Championships 2015 ~ French League
May 30, 2015???June 9, 2015
FRANCE
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Jose "joeyj" Jereos Jr..
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