“Semi Swiss Gambit” by Kiril Georgiev, Wins Karpos Open

PeterDoggers

Updated: Apr 6, 2014, 1:27 AM | 6 | Chess Event Coverage

Kiril Georgiev of Bulgaria won the strong Karpos Open in Skopje, Macedonia on Saturday. The 48-year-old Bulgarian grandmaster was the only player to finish on 7.5 points; after a somewhat slow start he won his last four games to pass by all his rivals.

Photos courtesy of Opstina Karpos on Facebook

The Karpos Open was held March 29th-April 5th at the five-star hotel Aleksandar Palace in Skopje, Macedonia. It was organized by the municipality Karpos (one of the municipalities in Macedonia's capital) in collaboration with Chess Club Gambit Asseco SEE.

It was a 9-round Swiss with a time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes to finish the game, with 30 seconds increment from the start. There was a 25,000 Euro prize fund, and a 5,000 Euro first prize.

For the prize distribution the Hort system was applied: every player gets 50% of his specific prize money, and 50% of the shared money. This system was invented by the Czech grandmaster Vlastimil Hort.

The tournament was pretty strong: the list of top entries included 17 players above 2600. The two players above 2650 were the favorites for tournament victory: Ferenc Berkes (2687, Hungary) and Julio Granda Zuniga (2680, Peru).

The playing hall

However, open tournaments have their own rules. Ratings don't say too much; it's more about finding your form and being a bit lucky. And... making sure you finish well. Because that's how Kiril Georgiev managed to finish in clear first place! His compatriot, Dejan Bojkov of Bulgaria, described Georgiev's victory in Skopje as follows:

Kiril's semi Swiss Gambit- http://t.co/uSIuNg37Co
— Dejan Bojkov (@dejanbojkov) April 6, 2014

So what was this about? Well, Georgiev dropped half a point as early as the first round, with the white pieces, to Fjodor Zugaj rated 2194. Then, after beating an 1800-player, he drew again, with Cemil Can Ali Marandi (2380). And then, after another black win (against Sasho Nikolov, 2358), he drew yet another game as White, against Muhammad Batuhan Dastan (2416).

With four rounds to go, Georgiev was in shared 27th place - not a great start for a 2625 player. But then the Bulgarian machine started rolling, and he finished with a perfect 4.0/4 score. The following game was pretty spectactuar:

Before the last round Ukrainian grandmaster Andrey Vovk was the sole leader with 7.0 points. He was followed by Ivan Salgado Lopez (2605, Spain), David Anton Guijarro (2559, Spain), Robert Markus (2608, Serbia) and Georgiev, who beat the leader after a tough fight. He almost spoilt a winning advantage, but Vovk completely collapsed at the very end.

Salgado Lopez and Markus drew their game on board 2 after 95 moves (!), and so they finished half a point behind Georgiev together with five other players.

Kiril Georgiev receiving a beautiful trophy, and 5,000 Euro in his pocket

Karpos Open 2014 | Final Standings (Top 30)

Rk.	SNo	Title	Name	Fed	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	rtg+/-
1	8	GM	GEORGIEV Kiril	BUL	2625	7,5	44	2652	34,5	8,5
2	14	GM	SALGADO LOPEZ Ivan	ESP	2605	7	50	2725	40	14,7
3	3	GM	ITURRIZAGA BONELLI Eduardo	VEN	2645	7	49	2675	34,5	4
4	12	GM	MARKUS Robert	SRB	2608	7	48	2705	37	9,7
5	15	GM	VOVK Andrey	UKR	2605	7	48	2660	37,5	7,2
6	21	GM	KOZUL Zdenko	CRO	2586	7	47,5	2677	36,5	11,5
7	29	GM	KULJASEVIC Davorin	CRO	2567	7	46	2642	35	10,6
8	26	GM	GRIGORIANTS Sergey	RUS	2574	7	43,5	2586	32,5	2,9
9	31	GM	ANTON GUIJARRO David	ESP	2559	6,5	50	2643	39	13,1
10	4	GM	SMIRIN Ilia	ISR	2644	6,5	48	2662	35,5	3,6
11	24	IM	BOK Benjamin	NED	2575	6,5	48	2636	36	9,7
12	9	GM	ROZENTALIS Eduardas	LTU	2623	6,5	48	2633	35	3
13	27	GM	GOLOD Vitali	ISR	2573	6,5	47	2640	36	10,7
14	13	GM	PREDOJEVIC Borki	BIH	2607	6,5	47	2638	36,5	5,2
15	48	IM	GEORGESCU Tiberiu-Marian	ROU	2468	6,5	46,5	2601	34	18,2
16	20	GM	ROIZ Michael	ISR	2591	6,5	46	2623	35	5,7
17	22	GM	JUMABAYEV Rinat	KAZ	2580	6,5	45	2591	34	3
18	6	GM	ROMANOV Evgeny	RUS	2636	6,5	44,5	2581	32,5	-4,3
19	33	GM	DJUKIC Nikola	MNE	2551	6,5	44	2528	32,5	0,1
20	37	GM	BARON Tal	ISR	2513	6,5	43	2510	31,5	2
21	32	GM	SALEM A.R. Saleh	UAE	2558	6,5	42	2569	33	4,5
22	2	GM	GRANDA ZUNIGA Julio E	PER	2680	6,5	41,5	2544	30,5	-10
23	58	IM	SMIRNOV Artem	RUS	2445	6	49	2576	32,5	18,4
24	30	GM	DAMLJANOVIC Branko	SRB	2566	6	48	2585	34,5	4,9
25	17	GM	GRANDELIUS Nils	SWE	2600	6	48	2558	35	-3,2
26	70	GM	DRAZIC Sinisa	SRB	2415	6	47	2560	33	22,9
27	52	GM	ANTIC Dejan	SRB	2462	6	47	2541	31,5	11,4
28	65	IM	DASTAN Muhammed Batuhan	TUR	2416	6	47	2479	32	11,8
29	50	IM	DONCHENKO Alexander	GER	2463	6	46	2553	33	12,8
30	5	GM	DELCHEV Aleksander	BUL	2638	6	45,5	2526	32	-9,1

(Full final standings here)

Peter Doggers

Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”

Peter's first book The Chess Revolution is out now!

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“Semi Swiss Gambit” by Kiril Georgiev, Wins Karpos Open

Karpos Open 2014 | Final Standings (Top 30)

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