Kovalenko Wins Najdorf Memorial With 2902 Performance
GM Igor Kovalenko won the Najdorf Memorial in Warsaw, Poland most convincingly. The 26-year-old Ukrainian-born Latvian GM scored 8.0/9, good for a 2902 performance rating and the € 5,000 ($5,500) first prize.
Photo courtesy of the Najdorf Memorial.
He's not that well known yet, and probably scored his career's best result last week in Poland: Igor Kovalenko. Born in Novomoskovsk, Ukraine in 1988, he switched federations to Latvia in 2013 and immediately won the Latvian championship that year and the next.
In the past few days, Kovalenko was in top shape. We know that he started with four out of four, just like GM Andrey Zhigalko of Belarus. Obviously the two played each other in round five, and despite playing Black, Kovalenko managed to keep his perfect score:
The playing hall: the Warsaw Sports and Recreation Center. | Photo courtesy of the Najdorf Memorial.
The next round he drew his white game with top seed Ivan Cheparinov, and then Kovalenko duly continued winning: he beat both Ukrainian GM Zahar Efimenko (Ukraine) and IM Nikita Meskovs (Latvia). Efimenko missed one move, and it was all over:
With a 10-move draw (yes, they still exist!) with Michal Krasenkow, Kovalenko clinched the 5000 euro first prize. His 8.0/9 was a full point more than that of runner-up Cheparinov, and Kovalenko performed just above 2900.
2015 Najdorf Memorial | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Place | S.No. | Title | Name | Fed. | FIDE | Total | MBch. | Bch. | Perf |
| 1 | 2 | GM | Kovalenko, Igor | LAT | 2682 | 8.0 | 40.50 | 52.00 | 2902 |
| 2 | 1 | GM | Cheparinov, Ivan | BUL | 2683 | 7.0 | 37.50 | 48.00 | 2739 |
| 3 | 8 | GM | Krasenkow, Michal | POL | 2610 | 6.5 | 40.00 | 52.50 | 2652 |
| 4 | 21 | IM | Kanarek, Marcel | POL | 2508 | 6.5 | 36.00 | 45.00 | 2667 |
| 5 | 14 | GM | Tomczak, Jacek | POL | 2579 | 6.5 | 35.00 | 46.00 | 2621 |
| 6 | 15 | GM | Zhigalko, Andrey | BLR | 2574 | 6.0 | 40.50 | 52.00 | 2658 |
| 7 | 30 | IM | Meskovs, Nikita | LAT | 2457 | 6.0 | 39.00 | 52.00 | 2695 |
| 8 | 5 | GM | Safarli, Eltaj | AZE | 2649 | 6.0 | 39.00 | 50.00 | 2603 |
| 9 | 10 | GM | Piorun, Kacper | POL | 2591 | 6.0 | 37.50 | 48.50 | 2597 |
| 10 | 16 | GM | Markowski, Tomasz | POL | 2566 | 6.0 | 37.50 | 48.50 | 2634 |
| 11 | 4 | GM | Efimenko, Zahar | UKR | 2652 | 6.0 | 35.50 | 46.00 | 2591 |
| 12 | 26 | IM | Klekowski, Maciej | POL | 2475 | 6.0 | 35.00 | 42.00 | 2597 |
| 13 | 20 | GM | Bajarani, Ulvi | AZE | 2515 | 6.0 | 33.50 | 43.50 | 2564 |
| 14 | 19 | GM | Rozentalis, Eduardas | LTU | 2530 | 6.0 | 32.00 | 40.50 | 2508 |
| 15 | 13 | GM | Miśta, Aleksander | POL | 2585 | 5.5 | 41.00 | 52.00 | 2611 |
| 16 | 31 | IM | Warakomski, Tomasz | POL | 2449 | 5.5 | 37.50 | 47.50 | 2584 |
| 17 | 29 | IM | Drozdowski, Kacper | POL | 2468 | 5.5 | 36.00 | 45.00 | 2522 |
| 18 | 9 | GM | Neiksans, Arturs | LAT | 2597 | 5.5 | 35.50 | 45.50 | 2519 |
| 19 | 25 | IM | Sunilduth Lyna, Narayanan | IND | 2475 | 5.5 | 34.50 | 45.50 | 2547 |
| 20 | 23 | IM | Sadzikowski, Daniel | POL | 2477 | 5.5 | 34.50 | 44.50 | 2488 |
Full final standings here.
L-R Cheparinov, Kovalenko, Krasenkow. | Photo courtesy of the Najdorf Memorial.
The Najdorf Memorial took place July 10-18 in the Warsaw Sports and Recreation Center in the Polish capital. The top group had 21 players rated above 2500 and a rating threshold of 2200. The tournament was a memorial for the great Polish and Argentinian player Miguel (Mieczysław) Najdorf.
Previous report
- Rounds 1-4: Strong Najdorf Memorial Underway In Warsaw
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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