he Israeli grandmaster Victor Mikhalevski won the strongest tournament of the year so far, the Maia Chess Open, a competition on the national circuit Portugal Chess Tour, which brought together more than 300 chess players at TecMaia's facilities.
Mikhalevski, one of the 14 grandmasters present at the event, ended the race alone in front, with 7.5 points, half a point more than a group of seven players, led by Lithuanian grandmaster Titas Stremavicius, in second place, and by grandmaster Greek Stelios Halkias, who closed the podium, in third position.
o win the open maiato, Victor Mikhalevski had to stage one of the biggest surprises in the tournament, beating on the ninth and final round the number 1 and favorite to win, the North American grandmaster Awonder Liang, the current 96th player in the tournament. world ranking.
The winner of the tournament conceded only three draws, the first of which in the first round, against young Portuguese talent Rodrigo Sarabando (CX Colégio Português).
The best Portuguese at the Maia Chess Open was, however, the national champion and international master André Ventura Sousa (Vitória SC), who closed the top-10, after a quality test, which only lacked the grandmaster standard. The defeat in the eighth round against the Greek Halkias prevented André from reaching the desired standard, which, interestingly, he had achieved in the 2022 edition of the open maiato.
In addition to André Sousa, FIDE master José Guilherme Santos (A.XAT Montemor-o-Novo) also developed a positive tournament, in which he was very close to the second international master standard. The U-20 national champion finished 25th. with 6 points and a performance of 2412 Elo points
Other lesser-ranked Portuguese players also shone in this strong tournament. Let's look at the best performances:
- Tomás Santos (Vitória SC), 25.º, 6,5 pontos (+75,4 pontos Elo)
- Samuel Gonçalves (Ferroviários do Barreiro), 32.º, 6 (+46,6)
- Tiago Pina (GX Alekhine), 45.º, 6 (+32)
- Sandro Batista (CA Téssera), 76.º, 5,5 (+61,8)
- Gustavo Ribeiro (CA Téssera), 78.º, 5 (+66,8)
- Rodrigo Ribeiro (CA Téssera), 87.º, 5 (+53,6).
It should be remembered that Gustavo Ribeiro managed, on the third day of the tournament, to reach the title of FIDE master, having surpassed the threshold of 2300 Elo points.
The Maia Chess Open, listed in category A of the Portugal Chess Tour, was organized by the Maia Chess Academy, with the support of the Maia City Council and the Portuguese Chess Federation.
The next event on the Portugal Chess Tour is the 14th Marquês de Pombal International Open, to be held between September 29th and October 5th.
The published photo of the tournament winner is by Serguei Popov.
Mais Chess Open 2023:
Classificação final:
1.º Victor Mikhalevski (GM, Israel), 7,5 pontos
2.º Titas Stremavicius (GM, Lituânia), 7
3.º Stelios Halkias (GM, Grécia), 7
4.º Preveen Balakrishnan (GM, Estados Unidos), 7
5.º Evgeny Postny (GM, Israel), 7
6.º Luca Moroni Jr (GM, Itália), 7
7.º Omar Quintana (GM, Cuba), 7
8.º Alex Garrido (MI, Espanha), 7
9.º Awonder Liang (GM, Estados Unidos), 6,5
10.º André Sousa (MI, Portugal), 6,5.
Resultados e classificação completa em:
