Acropolis 2008: Smirin wins ahead of Parligras on tiebreak

by ChessBase
8/26/2008 – The 23rd Acropolis 2008 International Open Chess Tournament was won by the Israeli GM Ilia Smirin, for the second consecutive year. He tied for first place with the Romanian GM Mircea Parligras but won on tiebreak points. WGM Anastasiya Karlovich provides us with impressions of the tournament location in Athens and portraits of the players in her big pictorial report.

ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024 ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024

It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.

More...

The 23rd Acropolis 2008 International Open Chess Tournament took place at the President Hotel (43 Kifissias Avenue, "Europa" Hall) in Athens, Greece, from August 9th to 17th 2008. The Israeli Grandmaster Ilia Smirin was the winner for the second consecutive year. This time he tied for first place with the Romanian GM Mircea Parligras, but had superior tie-breaks (average rating of opponents). In the games in the 9th and final round Smirin preferred not to take any chances against the Bulgarian GM Atanas Kolev, while Parligras played a very double-edged game against the Moldavian GM Dmitry Svetushkin, which eventually ended in a draw after many adventures.


The three winners (in the middle): Mircea Parligras, Ilya Smirin, Nana Dzagnidze

Half a point behind the leaders were Kolev, the German GM Alexander Graf (who beat Zubarev) and two female players, the Georgian IM Nana Dzagnidze and the Armenian IM Elina Danielian, who beat Maric and Kotanjian respectively. Dzagnidze finished third on tie-breaks, while her victory today secured her a Grandmaster norm.

Further down the standings, on 6 points out of 9 games, is the top junior of the tournament, the 17-year-old Spanish GM Ivan Salgado Lopez, as well as the top Greek player GM Hristos Banikas. The first Greek woman was IM Yelena Dembo and top girl honors were won by Zoe Iordanidou. The top Greek juniors were Tasos Pavlidis, Antonis Pavlidis and Paminos Kourousis.


Natalia Zhukova, Elina Danielian and, covered with a Georgian flag, Nana Dzagnidze

"Acropolis 2008" was organized by the Greek Chess Federation and the Prefecture of Athens, which actively supported the event for the second consecutive year. The Hellenic Post Bank was the sponsor of the tournament.

The event was held and was covered by the GCF website with results, standings, games, photos as well as live transmission of the most important games of each round.

Rk

Name

SNo.

FED

Rtg

Pts

RtgØ

Fide

BH.

1

Smirin Ilia

GM

ISR

2637

7

2523

38½

51½

2

Parligras Mircea

GM

ROU

2588

7

2513

39

48

3

Dzagnidze Nana

IM

GEO

2458

2449

33

46½

4

Graf Alexander

GM

GER

2621

2448

32½

49½

5

Danielian Elina

IM

ARM

2495

2429

32½

46

6

Kolev Atanas

GM

BUL

2565

2391

32

46

7

Salgado Lopez Ivan

GM

ESP

2532

6

2460

34

50½

8

Banikas Hristos

GM

GRE

2572

6

2442

33

48

9

Svetushkin Dmitry

GM

MDA

2587

6

2432

31

47½

10

Managadze Nikoloz

IM

GEO

2444

6

2378

29

41½

11

Mastrovasilis Dimitrios

GM

GRE

2563

6

2354

28

43½

12

Rakhmanov Aleksandr

GM

RUS

2489

2483

31½

50½

13

Zubarev Alexander

GM

UKR

2517

2464

32½

49½

14

Zhukova Natalia

WGM

UKR

2489

2433

30½

45½

15

Atakisi Umut

IM

TUR

2388

2429

29½

47

16

Maric Alisa

IM

SRB

2412

2428

31½

46

17

Romanishin Oleg M

GM

UKR

2530

2426

32

50½

18

Caselas Cabanas Jacobo

IM

ESP

2418

2385

30

41½

19

Rasmussen Allan Stig

IM

DEN

2519

2381

30

43

20

Kotanjian Tigran

GM

ARM

2578

2379

29½

46

21

Dembo Yelena

IM

GRE

2431

2374

29½

45

22

Roy Chowdhury Saptarshi

IM

IND

2411

2356

26

42

23

Secer Ata

FM

TUR

2320

2341

26½

42

24

Zawadzka Jolanta

WGM

POL

2389

2336

26½

41½

25

Tirard Hugo

IM

FRA

2461

2277

24

37


Work and play at Acropolis 2008

Pictorial report by WGM Anastasiya Karlovich

The international chess tournament Acropolis 2008 took place for second time in the current form. In different years the organizers staged round robin tournaments, with women’s opens and men’s opens on the side, but in the last two years they decided to have a common tournament for men and women, while retaining the same attractive prize fund.

Acropolis 2008 was organized by the Greek Chess Federation and the Prefecture of Athens, the sponsor of the tournament was the Hellenic Post Bank This year 84 chess players from 22 countries took part in the event, including 25 holders of GM and WGM titles.


Israeli GM Ilia Smirin took first with 7.0 out of 9 points


IM Nana Dzagnidze finished third after winning the last round game against Alisa Maric. During the tournament Nana also defeated GM Alexander Graf and Tomaz Gelashvili, making a GM norm in the process.


17-year-old GM Ivan Salgado Lopez from Spain, 6 points, 7th place


GM Oleg Romanishin, Ukraine, 5.5 points


IM Natalia Zukova, Ukraine, 5.5 points, third place among women


IM Yelena Dembo, the best Greek woman player, 5.5 points


IM Alisa Maric, Serbia, 5.5 points, fouth place among women


IM Salome Melia, Georgia, 5 points, sixth place among women


WIM Vera Papadopoulou, Greece, 4 points


WGM Maria Velcheva, Bulgaria, 4.5 points


WGM Ann Rudolfa, Hungary, 4.5 points


12-year-old Daniel Howard Fernandez from Singapore, the youngest participant in the tournament

Athens and the chess cafe Acapus

Athens is the capital of Greece and the largest city which holds half the population of the country. It is a city of narrow streets, ancient monuments and modern buildings, a city which has its own spirit and special timetable (city life goes faster in the evening and at night).


Athens, the capital and center of Greece


The Parthenon on the Acropolis


The entrance of the national library in Athens


A Google Earth satellite view of the President hotel in the middle of Athens


The 20-storey hotel where the tournament took place


On top of the hotel a swimming pool and recreation area (see satellite picture above)


Marcea Parligras and Dmitriy Svetushkin enjoying a refreshing dip


Likewise WIM Anna Burtasova, whom we know from the North Urals articles


Greek players in the bar of President Hotel

During the last years the players of the Acropolis tournament created a tradition of visiting the sport (chess) cafe Acapus, a bar which is located in the Pagrati district of Athens. It is a friendly and accessible place, with all kinds of table games and rhythms of Greek and foreign rock music. So after the closing ceremony many chess players moved there...


Young greek chess players enjoying blitz...


... or a round of table football...


... or ping pong


...while we say goodbye to Athens and the 23rd Acropolis Open 2008


Anastasiya (Nastja) Karlovich was Ukrainian champion and vice-champion among girls under 16, 18 and 20. She was European Champion with the Ukrainian team in the Youth Team Championships. She is also

  • a candidate officer in the National Law Academy “Yaroslav the Wise”,
  • a member of the chess club “Law Academy”
  • a member of the German club Grosslehna
  • one of the organisers of WGM and GM closed tournaments “Cup of Rector”.
  • a Woman Grandmaster since 2003

Links


Reports about chess: tournaments, championships, portraits, interviews, World Championships, product launches and more.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register