Arad Chess Open: GM Imre Balog Wins Title for Second Consecutive Time

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012


Hi everyone,


The latest chess news via Chessdom is that Grandmaster Imre Balog has won the Arad Chess Open for the second consecutive time. The 5th Arad PAB Romania Open took place from July 27 to August 2 in the Great Concert Hall of the Arad City Cultural Palace. The 9-round open Swiss tournament was valid for international titles and the FIDE elo List.

GM Imre Balog with winner's trophy

Hungarian Grandmaster Imre Balog scored a victory in the last round to emerge a clear winner of the tournament, defending the title that he won in the previous edition. His earlier co-leaders IM Gabriel Battaglini and GM Andrei Murariu went for a  quick draw and remained in shared second place. A total of 182 players from nine countries took part in the event. These included 12 Grandmasters and 11 International Masters.


The PAB Romania Open was organised by Sah Club Vados and tournament director was IO Alin Campeanu. This year the prize fund was doubled to more than 8000 EUR, with 1st prize being 1350 EUR (6000 lei). IM Corina Peptan, despite the loss in the last round, took the 1st prize among women players. 

Final top standings:
1 GM Balog Imre HUN 2542 – 7.5
2 IM Battaglini Gabriel FRA 2419 – 7
3 IM Arngrimsson Dagur ISL 2366 – 7
4 GM Murariu Andrei ROU 2498 – 7
5 GM Szabo Gergely-Andras-Gyula ROU 2533 – 7
6 IM Meszaros Andras HUN 2296 – 7
7 IM Tarlev Konstantin UKR 2524 – 7
8 GM Manolache Marius ROU 2549 – 6.5
9 FM Georgescu Tiberiu-Marian ROU 2401 – 6.5
10 GM Milanovic Danilo SRB 2507 – 6.5
11 IM Itkis Boris ROU 2437 – 6.5
12 GM Sanduleac Vasile MDA 2405 – 6.5
13 Strugnell Carl FRA 2234 – 6.5
14 GM Nanu Costica-Ciprian ROU 2528 – 6.5
15 IM Vedmediuc Serghei MDA 2468 – 6.5
16 IM Florescu Codrut-Constantin ROU 2299 – 6.5
17 CM Bida Mihai-Eugen ROU 2206 – 6.5
18 GM Chirila Ioan-Cristian ROU 2504 – 6
19 WGM Peptan Corina-Isabela ROU 2420 – 6
20 FM Szalai Kornel HUN 2413 – 6

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com