Time blunder

13th European Individual Chess Championship
Round 6
Plovdiv, March 19 to April 1, 2012

Seven Forfeited Games in the Sixth Round

Seven players did not show up for the round and lost their games by forfeit in the sixth round, despite the reminders about changing the clocks to daylight saving time. Chief Arbiter of the championship Zdravko Nedev spread clear and visual aids about setting the clocks one hour ahead on Saturday night. In addition there was an announcement in the playing halls before the start of the fifth round on Saturday.

Yet, predictions that there might be absent minded players came true. Six young Georgians and a Greek lady did not show up for the round and automatically lost their games. There are nine Georgian players taking part in this Championship.

It is worth noting that Georgia is one of the countries that do not observe daylight saving time. A full point home and a rest day took: Anton Korobov against Shota Azaladze (4), Viktor Laznicka against Davit Lomsadze (3), Ivan Salgado Lopez against Davit Benidze (3), Evgeny Postny against Luka Paichadze (2,5), Kanan Izzat against Gaioz Nigalidze (2), Filip Kumic against Maria Manelidou (1) and Vladimir Sergeev Petrov against Khelaia Giorgi (½).

Apart from forfeited games the quickest win of the tournament was scored by Ivan Saric 2649 (CRO) against Momchil Nikolov 2550 (BUL). Bulgarian GM blundered in a theoretical position on the 11th move and resigned in less than an hour on move 23.

The two top board games Laurent Fressinet 2693 (FRA) – Gawain Jones 2635 (ENG) and Baadur Jobava 2706 (GEO) – Yuriy Kuzubov 2615 (UKR), all at 4,5/5.0, were drawn. Thus the leaders were caught up by the winners from the cohort with 4.0/5.0: Nikita Vitiugov, 2709 (RUS) – Denis Khismatullin 2656 (RUS) 0-1, Arkadij Naiditsch 2702 (GER) – Ivan Sokolov 2653 (NED) 1-0, Maxim Rodshtein 2652 (ISR) – Ernesto Inarkiev 2695 (RUS) 0-1, Maxim Matlakov 2632 (RUS) – Ferenc Berkes 2682 (HUN) 1-0 , Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2682 (FRA) – Julian Radulski (BUL) 1-0, Sanan Sjugirov 2610 (RUS) – Sergei Azarov 2667 (BLR) 0-1.

After six rounds ten players are in the lead with 5.0/6.0 points – Arkadij Naiditsch 2702 (GER), Laurent Fressinet 2693 (FRA), Yuriy Kuzubov 2615 (UKR), Gawain Jones 2635 (ENG), Ernesto Inarkiev 2695 (RUS), Denis Khismatullin 2656 (RUS), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2682 (FRA), Maxim Matlakov 2632 (RUS), Anton Korobov 2679 (UKR) and Sergei Azarov 2667 (BLR). The cohort with 4.5/6.0 shares 11-34 place.

Second seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2752 (AZE) made a sixth draw in a row, this time against Romanian Vlad-Cristian Jianu 2497 (ROU). In the Serbian derby Ivan Ivanisevic 2645 won with the black pieces against Branko Damljanovic 2582.

Bulgarian GMs Ivan Cheparinov and Kiril Georgiev demonstrated solid play and both drew their games against Vladimir Malakhov 2705 (RUS) and Mircea-Emilian Parligras 2614 (ROU) accordingly. Antoaneta Stefanova 2531 drew as Black against Alessio Valsecchi 2429 (ITA) while Boris Chatalbashev 2570 defeated Iulian Baltag 2420 (MDA).

Some interesting pairings of the seventh round:

Sergei Azarov 2667 (BLR) – Arkadij Naiditsch 2702 (GER)
Ernesto Inarkiev 2695 (RUS) – Gawain Jones 2635 (ENG)
Laurent Fressinet 2693 (FRA) – Maxim Matlakov 2632 (RUS)
Denis Khismatullin 2656 (RUS) – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2682 (FRA)
Yuriy Kuzubov 2615 (UKR) – Anton Korobov 2679 (UKR)
Ivan Cheparinov 2664 (BUL) – Dmitry Jakovenko 2729 (RUS)
Kiril Georgiev 2671 – Tamas Banusz 2583(HUN)
Julian Radulski 2552 – Mikheil Mchedlishvili 2626 (GEO)

All results and pairings for round seven: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr66864.aspx?lan=1
More details and the official website of the organizers: http://www.eicc2012.eu