58th Greek Championship
This all-play-all tournament with 11 players finished today in Rhodos. Two players were sharing the lead going into the last round – IM Spyridon Kapnisis and GM Hristos Banikas. And in that round they had to face each other! GM Banikas won and became the new Greek Champion.
Final Standings:
1. GM Banikas (2572) 8/10
2-3. IM Kapnisis (2418) and GM Papaioannou (2597) 6½, etc.
Source: ChessToday.net
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
This was the 7th title for Banikas,he needs one more to reach Kotronias’ record with 8 championships.IM Kapnisis lost GM norm in last round by half a point after losing to Banikas.
He plays a mean game of bullet chess too!
if they were neck & neck in the penultimate round then i don’t see why their final scores are separated by 1.5 points. so maybe the IM did get his norm..?
A player winning a championship so many times is proof of overall general national chess weakness and stagnation. There are mistakes in the copied reporting, typical of Greek journalists. Never trust a Greek gift.
Greek chess deteriorated after they sacked their best-ever national coach, due to player complaints that he is not a poker player.
This report is false.
Final standings in 58th Greek Ch are:
1.Banikas (GM 2572) 8 points
2-3. Papaioannou(GM 2597),Kapnisis(IM 2418) 7 points
4. Kotronias (GM 2587) 6,5
5-6.Nikolaidis I.(GM 2529), Mastovasilis A.(GM 2495)6
7.Papadopoulos I(GM 2452)5,5
8-9.Gavrilakis(IM 2426),Filippas
(2221) 3 points
10.Darmarakis 2194 2,5
11.Dagkakis(2272) 0,5
Papadopoulos was last year champion while GM Halkias and GM Mastrovasilis D. refused to play.