|
|
|
|
Results of the Third PreliminaryThere was some delay starting round three of the ACP Internet blitz tournament, since Johann Alvarez had some trouble getting into the tournament room. At 18:20h the games at last began – with one player completely dominating the field. After six rounds Alexander Grischuk had collected six points, with Zhang Zhong ("Dragon") and Tigran Petrosian following with 5/6. In round seven Grischuk gave up his first half-point to Petrosian, allowing Zhang to come withing striking distance. In round eight the young Russian star lost for the first time against Joel Lautier and allowed Zhang to take the lead. The top Chinese player never let go of it again. In the tenth round Petrosian, who was doing very well, suddenly lost a game against Lautier due to a disconnect. After that he disappeared from the server, obviously having difficulty with his ISP. His opponents got a full point each after that.
In the 12th round Grischujk and Zhang drew against each other, while popular Anna Sharevich was able to score her first win against Thomas Luther. One round before the end had Zhang leading with 13.5/16, a point and a half ahead of the field. Joel Lautier, the ACP board member who was the driving force behind this tournament, was able to catch up and secure a place amongst the top four. So the qualifiers for the finals on Saturday are Zhang Zhong, Vladimir Belov, Alexander Grischuk and Joel Lautier. Tomorrow the fourth qualifier will feature top seed Peter Svidler as well as the two very strong women players Pia Cramling and Almira Skripchenko. Remember it begins at 15:00h Paris/Berlin (= 13:00h GMT). You will not want to miss this one!
Preliminary 3
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
