Amonatov Wins Eurasian Blitz Chess Cup
In something of a shocker, Farrukh Amonatov of Tajikistan won the Eurasian Blitz Chess Cup on tiebreaks ahead of the well-known GM and blitz specialist Ian Nepomniachtchi. (A blitz event concluding in tiebreaks rather than a playoff strikes me as bizarre, but that's how it ended.) Both players scored 16/22. Baadur Jobava of Georgia and Russian youngster Vladislav Artemiev tied for third (half a point behind), with the former enjoying the better tiebreaks. Three players tied with 15 points apiece: Sergey Karjakin, Peter Svidler, and Vladimir Onischuk.
Some of the other players further down in the table (in scoring and/or tiebreak order): Igor Kovalenko, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Ruslan Ponomariov, Boris Gelfand, Rauf Mamedov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (who led after two days' action), Wang Hao, Alexander Grischuk (the current and three-time World Blitz Champion; he finished 20th on tiebreaks), Le Quang Liem (the 2013 World Blitz Champion), Alexey Dreev (39th!), Laurent Fressinet (46th!).
It was a brutally strong tournament, so it's incredible that the Amonatov, the 24th seed, managed to win the event.
Games available here.
Reader Comments (1)
Some additions: Not explicitly mentioned by Dennis, this was a Swiss event with 11 two-game minimatches - actually held Saturday and Sunday, "action" on Friday may have been arrival of participants and opening ceremony.
My eternal mantra is that tiebreaks shouldn't have a major effect on standings and prize money. The chosen ones were slightly bizarre IMO: First direct result is OK, but was non-existing for first vs. second and third vs. fourth, and incomplete for fifth to seventh place (Svidler beat Karjakin 1.5-0.5, Karjakin beat Onischuk 2-0, Svidler and Onischuk didn't face each other). Second tiebreaker was number of wins, which seems odd in blitz and for a Swiss event. Third tiebreaker was rating performance (I would prefer Buchholz as blitz ratings are at best semi-reliable at the moment). Amonatov edged out Nepomniachtchi on number of wins (15 vs. 13), TPR was near-identical but would have favored Nepomniachtchi (2827 vs. 2822). 30,000$ for Amonatov, 20,000$ for Nepo who was probably still rather happy. First women prize was even closer and arguably more controversial: Harika and Hou Yifan both scored 12.5/22, Harika (11 wins, TPR 2504, 2500$) was "better" or "more equal" than Hou Yifan (10 wins, TPR 2650, 1500$). But organizers can do whatever they want, and players accept the regulations (regardless of whether they really checked them) by playing in the event .... .
As often, the event was decided in the final rounds, with Amonatov coming from behind. In double round 10, Grischuk lost 0-2 against Nepomniachtchi (a "normal" or "possible" result), three other top matches were drawn, Amonatov beat Megaranto from Indonesia (the other main surprise of the event, 43th seed finishing in eighth place) 2-0. In round 21 (or 11.1), Jobava lost with white against Nepo, Karjakin lost with white against Svidler, Mamedyarov (risking too much or miscalculating?) lost with white against Amonatov, Grischuk lost with white against Onischuk. In round 22, Nepo and Jobava drew in eight moves - even Jobava wasn't in the mood of taking risks with black. He is after all a professional weighing his options: win possibly 30,000$, draw in the end 14,000$, loss at most 7,000$ (or less if Karjakin and Svidler hadn't drawn their second game).
Nepomniachtchi thereby "won the event", because Mamedyarov wouldn't lose again against Amonatov, or would he? His Pirc went horribly wrong, he was duly crushed. Another unhappy favorite was Grischuk, who again lost against Onischuk. Before double round 10, he was in sole third place - Jobava 14/18, Karjakin 13.5, Grischuk 13, Amonatov well behind with 12/18. Losing the last four games, as Grischuk did, is never a good idea .... .