The final Grand Prix event for 2008 - the Christmas Open (6 rounds) was held over the weekend of 6th & 7th of December at Legacy House.
17 players turned up to contest the Christmas Open, down a little on previous years.
The range of ratings was more widespread than usual and it looked like there would be many predictable results. It did not take long before that assumption was proved unsound. In Round 1, Mohammad Jahangirian lost to newcomer Aaron McHugh, Dennis Holland lost to Chirag Saroha (one of our promising Juniors), and Ganesh Viswanath lost to Gary Donaldson!
Stephanus Kurniawan drew with Dave Dempster in Round 2 but won all his other games. Perhaps his most critical win was against Tom Donaldson in Round 5 when Tom had 4/4. Marc Vlietstra recovered from a Round 2 loss to Tom and finished second. If there had been another round, Marc’s clash with Stephanus would have been interesting.
Ganesh Viswanath had an even bigger recovery, losing his first two games then winning four in a row (including a win against Tom in the last round) to share third place. Edik Gilmetdinov had a huge result, beating Ganesh and Gordon Dunlop along the way, and only losing to the top two rated players. Dennis Holland was another who staged a big comeback, winning his last three games to also share third.
Alex De Heer kept his nerve, winning his last two games after losing three in a row, to take the Under 1500 prize.
Open
1st Stephanus Kurniawan (5.5)
2nd Marc Vlietstra (5)
=3rd Tom Donaldson, Ganesh Viswanath, Edik Gilmetdinov & Dennis Holland (4)
U1800
=1st Edik Gilmetdinov & Dennis Holland (4)
U1500
1st Alex De Heer (3)
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Final Standings
Place Name Loc Score M-Buch. Progr.
1 Kurniawan, Stephanus 2125 5.5 13.5 18.5
2 Vlietstra, Marc 2010 5 10.5 17.0
3-6 Donaldson, Tom 2048 4 15.5 18.0
Gilmetdinov, Edik 1566 4 13.0 14.0
Viswanath, Ganesh 1833 4 11.0 10.0
Holland, Dennis 1799 4 9.5 11.0
7-10 Dunlop, Gordon 1875 3 13.0 15.0
Booth, Guy 1512 3 12.5 6.0
Dempster, Dave 1789 3 10.0 11.0
de Heer, Alex 1482 3 10.0 9.0
11-13 Sam, Ryan 1600 2.5 14.0 9.5
Saroha, Chirag 1244 2.5 13.0 9.0
Jahangirian, Mohammad 1701 2.5 11.5 10.0
14-15 Donaldson, Gary 1353 2 12.5 10.0
McHugh, Aaron 2 10.5 9.0
16-17 Watkins, Lucian 1176 1 12.5 5.0
Bermudez, Hector 1400 1 5.5 2.0
18 Kuklinski, Andrew 1946 0 2.5 0.0
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Cross Table
No Name Loc Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 1. Kurniawan, Stephanus 2125 5.5 10:W 8:D 7:W 15:W 2:W 11:W 2. Donaldson, Tom 2048 4 11:W 13:W 3:W 5:W 1:L 6:L 3. Vlietstra, Marc 2010 5 12:W 16:W 2:L 10:W 9:W 5:W 4. Kuklinski, Andrew 1946 0 13:- : : : : : 5. Dunlop, Gordon 1875 3 14:W 18:W 8:W 2:L 11:L 3:L 6. Viswanath, Ganesh 1833 4 15:L 11:L 12:W 14:+ 10:W 2:W 7. Holland, Dennis 1799 4 16:L 12:W 1:L 17:W 15:W 9:W 8. Dempster, Dave 1789 3 17:W 1:D 5:L 9:L 18:W 10:D 9. Jahangirian, Mohammad 1701 2.5 18:L 14:W 16:D 8:W 3:L 7:L 10. Sam, Ryan 1600 2.5 1:L 15:W 13:W 3:L 6:L 8:D 11. Gilmetdinov, Edik 1566 4 2:L 6:W 17:W 16:W 5:W 1:L 12. Booth, Guy 1512 3 3:L 7:L 6:L :+ 17:W 18:W 13. de Heer, Alex 1482 3 4:+ 2:L 10:L 18:L 16:W 15:W 14. Bermudez, Hector 1400 1 5:L 9:L :+ 6:- : : 15. Donaldson, Gary 1353 2 6:W 10:L 18:W 1:L 7:L 13:L 16. Saroha, Chirag 1244 2.5 7:W 3:L 9:D 11:L 13:L 17:W 17. Watkins, Lucian 1176 1 8:L :+ 11:L 7:L 12:L 16:L 18. McHugh, Aaron 2 9:W 5:L 15:L 13:W 8:L 12:L |