World Senior 2009 - Final

We got the Junior Champion last week and now show time for the Seniors. Played in Condino Italy, this year edition was a 13 rounds Swiss for men and 9 rounds for female. 16 GMs in Men category may say something about the strenght of the tournament. After final round the standing said it clear for GM Miso Cebalo from Croatia and GM Janis Klovans from Latvia to shared first. Miso is official in first place due to tie break. This is first senior title for Cebalo. For Klovans, he was also a winner in 1997 and 1999.

Main attraction for public chess is due to the participating of Larry C. Kaufman, winner of last year edition. Most stories and in sight of the tournament can be found in USCF website. Larry is famous to be the "mentor" of Rybka, and most of his success due to his "second", the Rybka itself. He shared third place with 7 others players with 8 point. Untitled Bo Jacobsen from Danmark also finished strong. Sources in internet stated Bo was once a Danmark champion.

In female category legendary Nona Gaprindashvili finished as number one. She had a slow start but the last two rounds wins enabled her to jump as the winner. Official website is here but information not well presentated.

Top 20 Final Standing World Senior 2009:

1. Miso Cebalo GM CRO 8.5
2. Janis Klovans GM LAT 8.5
3. Vitaly Tseshkovsky GM RUS 8
4. Oleg Chernikov GM RUS 8
5. Bo Jacobsen DEN 8
6. Mihai Suba GM ROU 8
7. Algimantas Butnorius GM LTU 8
8. Larry C Kaufman GM 8
9. Lev Gutman GM GER 8
10. Nikolai M. Mishuchkov FM 7.5
11. Clemens Werner FM GER 7.5
12. Vladimir Onoprienko IM RUS 7.5
13. Riemsdijk Herman Van IM 7.5
14. Alexander Kuindzhy RUS 7.5
15. Josip Rukavina IM CRO 7.5
16. Mark d. Tseitlin GM 7
17. Nikolai Pushkov GM RUS 7
18. Jorgen Jorgensen DEN 7
19. Georg Danner IM AUT 7
20. Boris Malisov ISR 7

To 20 Final Standing World Senior Female 2009:

1. Nona Gaprindashvili GM GEO 7.5
2. Elena Fatalibekova WGM RUS 7
3. Tatyana Fomina WIM EST 6.5
4. Valentin Kozlovskaya WGM RUS 6
5. Helene Mira WIM AUT 6
6. Tatiana Voronova WIM LAT 5.5
7. Nina Shushpanova WFM RUS 5.5
8. Galina Strutinskaya WIM RUS 5
9. Swietlana Miednikova WFM RUS 5
10. Tamara Vilerte WGM LAT 5
11. Tatiana Bogumil WFM RUS 5
12. Larisa Khropova WFM RUS 4.5
13. Margarita Komysheva WFM RUS 4.5
14. Rimma I Bilunova WIM RUS 4.5
15. Valeria Dotan WFM ISR 4.5
16. Ludmila Lychkova RUS 4.5
17. Panu Abdikasova KAZ 4
18. Alla Mkrychian WFM UZB 4
19. Natalja Chernova RUS 4
20. Serafim Sokolovskaya WFM USA 4

Few PGN at the moment but USCF posted some nice win by Larry Kaufman. Here wins by Black over a Wing Gambit. These are excellent addition to the Surreal Sicilian label, attributes to miniature victory by Black in Sicilian Defence.

[Event "World Senior Championship"]
[Site "Condino"]
[Date "2009.11.05"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Jude Acers"]
[Black "GM Larry Kaufman"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 c5 2. b4 cxb4 3. a3 e5 4. Nf3 {improved from Josy Feller game which is 4.axb4} Nc6 5. axb4 Bxb4 6. c3 Be7 7. Bc4 Nf6
8. d4 d6 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Nxe5 dxe5 11. Qa4+ {White opted to not exchange the Queen but this leave Black extra pieces development by attacking White Queen} Bd7 12. Qb3 O-O 13. Qxb7 Bc5
14. Be3 Rb8 15. Qa6 Bxe3 16. fxe3 Ng4 17. O-O Qh4 18. h3 Nxe3 19. Nd2 Nxf1
20. Rxf1 Bxh3 {20..Rb2 should be strong move here} 21. Rxf7 Rxf7 22. Bxf7+ Kh8 23. Qd6 Rd8 24. Qxe5 Bxg2 25. Bd5
Qe1+ 26. Kxg2 Qxd2+ 27. Kg3 Rf8 28. Bf7 h6 29. c4 Qd3+ 30. Kg2 Qd7
0-1


[Event "World Senior Championship 2009"]
[Site "Condino"]
[Date "2009.11.02"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Josy Feller"]
[Black "GM Larry Kaufman"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 c5 2. b4 cxb4 3. a3 e5 4. axb4 Nf6 {Main line including immediately pawn take by Bishop Bxb4} 5. Bc4 Bxb4 6. Nf3 Nxe4 7. Qe2 d5
8. Bb5+ Nd7 9. Nxe5 O-O 10. Nxd7 Bxd7 11. O-O Re8 12. Bxd7 Qxd7 13. Qd3 Bc5
14. g3 {White resign seeing no remedy for Qh3! and Nxf2}
0-1

Interactive game viewer here:

Josy Feller - Larry Kaufman,0-1
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Jude Acers - Larry Kaufman, 0-1
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