GM Daniel Fridman wins the GRENKE Chess Open!

Written by Aditya Pai on 23 April 2019.

At the conclusion of the ninth and final round of the GRENKE Chess Open, it was crowded at the top. As many as seven players had made it to the top of the leaderboard with a score of 7½/9. After the application of the tiebreaks it was once again, a German Grandmaster, GM Daniel Fridman, who was declared the title winner. He will be seen playing in the Grenke Chess Classic next year.

GM Daniel Fridman took the title in an eight way tie for first due to a better Buccholz score |  Photo: Georgios Souleidis

The top two boards featured clashes between the leaders. A decisive result on either board would have assured the winner, depending on the result of the other game, a two way shared first or the clear title. And with the added incentive of getting a ticket into the Classic leg for the title winner, it would not have been wrong to expect fierce battles on the top boards.

But not too long after the round began, both boards had concluded their games in short draws, leaving the door open for any pursuers who won their game to hop into shared first. As a result, four more players made it to 7½/9 and staked their claim to the title, doubling the list of first placers.

The youngest Grandmaster in the world, currently, GM D Gukesh was the first to win his game and make it among the leaders. Talking about his game, he said he had played the opening badly but had won due to a serious error on the part of his opponent, Marin Bosiocic. Other players to hop onto the top spot were Andreas Heimann, Tamas Banusz and Matthias Bluebaum.

Yuliya Shvayger of Israel took the top prize in the women's category | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

Yuliya Shvaygar of Israel bagged the first prize among women with a score of 6/9.  Klaudia Kulon of Poland and Alexandra Obolentseva of Russia had also reached the same score, but a better Buccholz gave Shvayger the top prize.

A similar scenario was witnessed in the best veteran prize category. Ventzislav Inkiov, Karl-Ernst Bluebaum, Anatoly Donchenko and Hans-Werner Ackermann had all finished with a score of 5½/9 but after the application of the tiebreaks, it was Inkiov who was declared the winner.

Besides, the tournament also saw two GM norms being scored by Pere Garriga Cazorla and Luis Engel. For the 16-year-old Engel, this is already his second norm. His first one had come from the recently concluded Bundesliga season.

Final standings (top 10)

 The video team of the GRENKE Chess Open made numerous videos. The interviews and impressions of the events in Karlsruhe can be viewed on the YouTube channel GRENKE Chess.