Jobava wins Georgian Championship with 2½ point lead

by ChessBase
5/28/2012 – It is his third time (after 2003 and 2007): 28-year-old GM Baadur Jobava, rated 2721, won the title in the Chess Palace in Tbilisi with consummate ease. We asked our reporter WIM Sopho Nikoladze, to provide portraits of the players with personal data. This left her initially frustrated – "they are all chess professionals and like football", but she dug deeper and produced some frank and candid details.

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...

Georgian Championship 2012

Report from Tbilisi by WIM Sopho Nikoladze

The Georgian Men's Championship was held in the Chess Palace in the capital city of Tbilisi. Time limit: 40 moves in 90 min., then all moves in 30 min., with an increment of 30 sec after each move. Chief Arbiter was Evgeni (Tuga) Melikset-Begi. The prize fund of the twelve player round robin was 14,500 Georgian Lari, which translates to €7100 or US $9000.

In the final round Baadur Jobavabeat David Arutinian, Konstantine Shanava lost to Luka Paichadze, and Davit Zarkua drew Merab Gagunashvili. In the final standing it was Baadur Jobava who became the champion of Georgia, for the third time, after victories in 2003 and 2007.


Garry Kasparov was in Tbilis to give Jobava his trophy, together with
Giorgi Giorgadze (left), President of the Georgian Chess Federation

Merab Gagunashvili and Davit Zarkua had equal scores and had to play tie-breaks. The first rapid match ended 1:1, and in the following blitz games Gagunashvili defeated Zarkua 1.5:0.5, gaining a ticket to the European Championship 2013. It is remarkable that five participants fulfilled norms: Davit Zarkua and Luka Paichadze made GM norms, while Irakli Beradze, Davit Lomsadze and Zurab Javakhadze chalked up International Master norms. Here the final rankings after eleven rounds:

Pl 
Name
Title
Rtng
Born
Pts 
1
Jobava Baadur
GM
2721
26.11.1983
10
2
Gagunashvili Merab
GM
2570
03.01.1985
7.5
3
Zarkua Davit
IM
2446
28.01.1987
7.5
4
Paichadze Luka
IM
2480
06.03.1991
7.5
5
Shanava Konstantine
GM
2589
05.05.1985
6.5
6
Beradze Irakli
2298
02.02.1996
6
7
Lomsadze Davit
2345
12.02.1991
5.5
8
Arutinian Davit
GM
2561
31.05.1984
4.5
9
Quparadze Giga
IM
2471
23.08.1987
4
10
Javakhadze Zurab
2418
27.08.1993
4
11
Pantsulaia Levan
GM
2581
26.02.1986
1.5
12
Chighladze Iveri
IM
2390
18.10.1984
1.5


"And if you move it here...?" Kasparov analysing with Jobava,
while GMs Giorgi Giorgadze and Zurab Sturua look on.

The event took place in Chess Palace (above), which was built in 1973 in honour of the first world champion, Nona Gaprindashvili. In the same location where the men are competing tow women's world championship matches (second half of the closing) were held:

  • In 1975, between Nana Aleksandria and Nona Gaprindashvili
  • In 1981 between Maya Chiburdanidze and Nana Alexandria


The plaque at the entrance to the Chess Palace


The gardens of the Chess Palace, where players ...


... above Konstantine Shanava, Irakli Beradze, Zurab Javakhadze, Davit Lomsadze
can relax or infuse a popular alkaloid into their blood streams


Inside the Chess Palace, with a round of the Georgian Championship under way

We asked our report Sopho Nikoladze to send us some information on the players, as she had done in her exemplary reports (here and here) from the Women's Championship a few weeks ago. Initially she found this quite frustrating, replying "Regarding their occupation they are all basically either professional players, or trainers, and all give football as their main hobby." But a little digging did produce heroic results (and other notable hobbies), which we now share with you.


The winner: GM Baadur Jobava, rated 2721, 28 years old. He likes gambling and and extreme ice
hockey. Baadur is very popular with women, but is now married and has a little daughter named Izabela.


Second: GM Merab G. Gagunashvili G, 2570, 27 years old, is fond of Eastern
cultures and likes traveling in exotic countries seeking adventure


IM Davit Zarkua, 2446, 25 years old, is a telecommunication engineer. His hobbies
are football – he says he is a ardent fan of the England team – and swimming.


IM Luka Paichadze, 2480, 21 years old, is a professional chess trainer. He says
his hobby is football and the team that receives his full support is Real Madrid.


GM Konstantine G. Shanava, 2589, 27 years old, an economist who likes billiards.
He very frankly says he has four hobbies: drinking, women, women and women!

Part two with portraits of the remaining players and
a report on Garry Kasparov's visit in Tbilisi will follow soon.


Links

You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.

Copyright ChessBase


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

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register