Results of the Second Preliminary

The second leg of the ACP Inaugural started quite punctually at 22:10 h (10:10 p.m. European Central Time). The tournament director in charge was Holger Lieske, who had done such excellent work on the first day.

Two players were missing. WGM Martha Fierro had to cancel her participation for personal reasons, GM Boris Avrukh simply did not appear. For this reason the round was started with 18 players, all fighting for four places in the finals. After seven round the young German talent Arkadi Naiditsch was in the lead, with six points (he had conceded just two draws). Mikhail Kobalia, Evgeny Bareev and Murtas Kazhgaleyev were chasing him with 5.5 points each.

Russian GM Andrei Kharlov had a lot of bad luck with his connection, losing against his colleague Maxim Notkin due to a disconnect in a won position. Similarly he lost due to technical difficulties to Tatiana Grabuzova.

In the break after eleven rounds Naiditsch and Kazhgaleyev were in the lead, 1.5 points ahead of the rest. In round twelve Naiditsch lost his first game in this tournament, against Erenburg, who advanced to place three. In round 15 Naiditsch and Erenburg were equal second with 11.5 points, behind Kazhgaleyev, who had scored 13/15. This ranking order remained unchanged at the end of the tournament. Mikhail Kobalia took the fourth qualification place. Evgeny Bareev, who looked like a clear winner in his final game, lost quite tragically on a mouse slip.

Currently all the games are being thoroughly checked for computer assistance.

Gaby Assmann

Preliminary 2
Tuesday, 13th April 2004, 11.00 CEST (GMT +2)
Tournament Director: Holger Lieske

1	kazhgaleyev		½	½	0	½	1	½	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	14.0
2	A.Naiditsch	½		0	1	1	1	½	½	1	1	½	½	1	1	1	½	1	1	13.0	101.75
3	Sergey Erenburg	½	1		1	0	0	½	1	½	1	1	1	1	1	½	1	1	1	13.0	98.25
4	Mikhail Kobalia	1	0	0		½	1	1	1	½	1	1	1	½	1	1	0	1	1	12.5
5	Ehsan21	½	0	1	½		½	0	1	1	½	1	1	1	½	1	1	½	1	12.0
6	Evgeny Bareev	0	0	1	0	½		1	1	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	0	½	1	11.0
7	kharlov	½	½	½	0	1	0		0	1	1	½	1	1	½	1	0	1	0	9.5
8	Jan Gustafsson	0	½	0	0	0	0	1		1	½	½	½	0	1	1	1	1	1	9.0
9	Michele Godena	0	0	½	½	0	0	0	0		1	½	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	8.5
10	Igor Glek	0	0	0	0	½	0	0	½	0		½	½	1	1	1	1	0	1	7.0
11	Carlos gallegos	0	½	0	0	0	1	½	½	½	½		0	0	0	0	1	1	1	6.5	47.50
12	Anton Shomoev	0	½	0	0	0	0	0	½	0	½	1		0	0	1	1	1	1	6.5	39.50
13	sagalchik	0	0	0	½	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1		0	1	1	0	½	6.0	40.25
14	Natalia Zhukova	0	0	0	0	½	0	½	0	0	0	1	1	1		0	0	1	1	6.0	37.75
15	G. Vescovi	0	0	½	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1		1	1	1	5.5
16	Maxim Notkin	0	½	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0		0	½	5.0	47.00
17	Macieja	0	0	0	0	½	½	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	1		0	5.0	38.00
18	Grabuzova	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	½	0	0	½	1		3.0