Almasi wins Reggio Emilia 2008

by ChessBase
1/7/2008 – He led practically from the start, and never let go to the end. Hungary's third strongest GM took the 50th edition of the prestigious Italian tournament by half a point, ahead of Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan, Ni Hua of China and Pentala Harikrishna of India. Almasi's performance was 2747. Veteran Viktor Korchnoi scored 4.0/9. Illustrated final report.

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    50th Torneo di Capodanno in Reggio Emilia, Italy

The 50th Torneo di Capodanno in Reggio Emilia, Italy took place from December 29th, 2007, to January 6th, 2008. The final standings were as follows:

Statistics: 67% draws, 29% white wins, 4% black wins.


Almasi vs Navara in round eight. Almasi won the only decided game in this round

Almasi,Zoltan - Navara,David
50th It Reggio Emilia ITA, 2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Bb7 10.d4 Re8 11.Nbd2 Bf8 12.d5 Nb8 13.Nf1 Nbd7 14.N3h2 Nc5 15.Bc2 c6 16.b4 Ncd7 17.dxc6 Bxc6 18.Bg5 Qc7 19.Bxf6 Nxf6 20.Ng4 Be7 21.Nxf6+ Bxf6 22.Bb3 a5 23.bxa5 Rxa5 24.Qf3 Bd7 25.Ne3 Be6 26.Nd5 Bxd5 27.Bxd5 Rc8 28.Re3 Qd7 29.Rd1 Bd8 30.Qh5 Bb6? 31.Rf3 Rf8

32.Bxf7+ Rxf7 33.Rxd6 Qa7 34.Qxf7+ [34.Qxe5 would have netted White even more pawns] 34...Qxf7 35.Rxf7 Kxf7 36.Rxb6. White is two pawns up and has no real problems winning this game. 36...g5 37.g3 h5 38.Kf1 h4 39.Kg2 Rxa2 40.Rxb5 Kf6 41.Rb6+ Ke7 42.gxh4 gxh4 43.Rh6 Rc2 44.Rxh4 Rxc3 45.Rh5 Ke6 46.Rf5 Rc4 47.f3 Rc2+ 48.Kg3 Rc1 49.h4 Rg1+ 50.Kh2 Rg6 51.Kh3 Rg8 52.h5 Rg1 53.Kh4 Rh1+ 54.Kg5 Rg1+ 55.Kh6 Rg3 56.Kh7 Rg2 57.h6 Rg3 58.Kh8 1-0. [Click to replay]


David Navara and Zoltan Almasi in their post mortem


Almasi ananlying alone with his 17-inch dual core notebook


Korchnoi and Marin analyse their round eight game, which was drawn in 58 moves


This round ten game Navara vs Godena ended in a win for the Czech player

Navara,David - Godena,Michele
50th It Reggio Emilia ITA, 2008
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 c6 4.Qd3 Nf6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.e4 dxe4 7.Nxe4 Nxe4 8.Qxe4 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Bxd2+ 10.Nxd2 c5 11.dxc5 Qa5 12.a3 Qxc5 13.Bd3 Nf6 14.Qe2 0-0 15.0-0 Rd8 16.b4 Qc7 17.Rac1 Bd7 18.c5 Bc6 19.Nf3 Rd5 20.Bc4 Rh5 21.g3 a5 22.Nd4 Bd5 23.Nb5 Qc6 24.Nd6 axb4 25.Bb5 Qc7 26.axb4 b6?

27.Ne8 Qe5 (27...Nxe8 is impossible because of 28.Qxh5), 28.Qxe5 Rxe5 29.Nc7 Rb8 30.Na6 Ra8 31.cxb6 Bg2 32.Kxg2 1-0. [Click to replay]


The Indian grandmaster won this round nine game in 29 moves

Harikrishna,Penteala - Landa,Konstantin
50th It Reggio Emilia ITA, 2008
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 Nc6 4.Nf3 Bc5 5.c3 a6 6.Bb3 d6 7.0-0 0-0 8.Bg5 h6 9.Be3 Ng4 10.d4 Ba7 11.Nbd2 Ne7 12.h3 Nxe3 13.fxe3 exd4 14.exd4 c5 15.Kh1 cxd4 16.Nxd4 d5 17.N2f3 dxe4 18.Ne5 Be6 19.Nxe6 Qxd1 20.Nxf8 Qxb3 21.axb3 Rxf8 22.g4 Nd5 23.Rae1 Re8 24.Rf5 g6?

25.Nxg6 Ne3 [25...fxg6 26.Rxd5] 26.Re5 Rd8 27.Nf4 Nd1 28.Rd5 Nf2+ 29.Kg2 Rc8 1-0. [Click to replay]


Mihail Marin, Romania, vs Ni Hua, China, in round nine. Ni won in 42 moves

Ni Hua - Marin,Mihail
50th It Reggio Emilia ITA, 2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 d5 7.Bb5 Ne4 8.cxd4 Bb6 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Be3 Bg4 11.Qc2 Bxf3 12.gxf3 Ng5 13.Bxc6 bxc6 14.0-0-0 Nxf3 15.Qe2 Nh4 16.Rhg1 f6 17.Qh5 Ng6 18.Rg3 fxe5 19.Rh3 Qf6 20.Rg1 exd4

21.Qxh7+ Kf7 22.Rxg6 Qxg6 23.Rf3+ Qf6 24.Rxf6+ Kxf6 25.Qh4+ Ke5 26.Qe7+ Kf5 27.Qd7+ Kg6 28.Bxd4 Bxd4 29.Qg4+ Kh7 30.Qxd4 Rf6 31.Nd1 a6 32.Ne3 Re8 33.Ng4 Rfe6 34.Qd3+ Kh8 35.Qxa6. White now has queen and knight for two rooks, with no problems ending the game successfully. 35...c5 36.Qd3 c4 37.Qh3+ Kg8 38.Ne3 c6 39.Qg4 Rf6 40.Qd7 Re4 41.Nf5 Rf7 42.Qd8+ 1-0. [Click to replay]


The winner, Zoltan Almasi of Hungary, with his trophy (right organiser Silvano Ferraroni)


Group photo with participants and organisation

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