GM Imre Balog Wins Arad Open 2011
5-11th August in the Great Concert Hall of the Arad Cultural Palace
After a tumultuous battle on the top boards, Arad Open 2011 ended with the victory of the main favourite – Hungarian GM Imre Balog. In the final round Balog defeated GM Andrei Murariu in 109 moves, reaching 7.5 points, while his pursuers GM Marius Manolache and IM Dan Bogdan agreed to a short draw.
Following a loss in the second round, Balog had a spectacular comeback, with six victories and one draw with FM Anton Teodor, who finished on 2nd place. The 3rd position was occupied by the Romanian FM Tamas-Kristof Balla.
The first tie-break criteria chosen in the lottery was the number of wins, with advantage for Anton and Balla, while the other players with 7 points finished outside the podium – 4th place GM Marius Manolache, 5th place GM Petar Drenchev (Bulgaria) and 6th place IM Dan Bogdan.
Top 15 finishers:
The ex-leader of the tournament, IM Lucian-Costin Miron, finished on 7th place, being the first between the nine players with 6.5 points. Among them are also the talented 16-years old junior Radu-Marian Doros, the beautiful WFM Silvia-Raluca Sgircea and the last year winner GM Vlad-Cristian Jianu.
It was an elegant award ceremony at the Cultural Palace of Arad, honoured by Levente Bognar, Deputy Mayor of the city, personally invited by the organizer IO Alin-Vivian Campeanu.
The tournament website www.aradopen.com provides photos and daily chronicles with interviews, all in a modern presentation.
Final standings:
1 GM Balog Imre HUN 2539 – 7.5
2 FM Anton Teodor ROU 2355 – 7
3 FM Balla Tamas-Kristof ROU 2406 – 7
4 GM Drenchev Petar BUL 2523 – 7
5 GM Manolache Marius ROU 2533 – 7
6 IM Bogdan Dan ROU 2362 – 7
7 IM Miron Lucian-Costin ROU 2506 – 6.5
8 GM Murariu Andrei ROU 2499 – 6.5
9 NM Doros Radu-Marian ROU 2338 – 6.5
10 I Ungureanu Sandu ROU 2050 – 6.5
11 IM Florescu Codrut-Constantin ROU 2266 – 6.5
12 GM Jianu Vlad-Cristian ROU 2518 – 6.5
13 FM Petre Nad-Titus ROU 2354 – 6.5
14 FM Dobre Claudiu-Cristian ROU 2353 – 6.5
15 WFM Sgircea Silvia-Raluca ROU 2224 – 6.5
Congrats!